#some of my favorite moments from dnd campaigns were friends and I fighting in character

[theladyragnell]

Hi, I saw your recent tag and was just wondering if you could say more about the surveys you send your players? I've been thinking about doing something similar with my dnd group but I'm not quite sure the best way to go about doing it. Thanks!

Hello, I'd love to!

I've done a few surveys now (all just through Google Forms, if you're looking for the practicalities), and they've varied pretty widely! It tends to be a decent mix of how's-my-driving and what-do-you-want, with some help-me-flavor-things thrown in and the occasional piece of outright psychological warfare. Your own group will probably need different mixes of these, but some examples!

How's My Driving

I'm making a habit of starting each survey off with a "I would like to see more ... " and "I would like to see less .." and I like doing it that way! It's a way of asking for feedback that doesn't feel judgmental to me and while my players haven't given me anything in the "less" category yet, but I like to give them that option. I've also done things like give number lines for whether pacing is fast or slow, encounters are hard or easy, things like that.

What Do You Want

I do a lot of this, and a broad variety! Everything from "what's your priority for upgrading equipment" to "are there any monsters you think it would be cool to fight" is fair game. I've also asked my players things like what order they'd like to tackle adventures in (to avoid spoilers I've done it where I give an adventure a few keywords and ask them to mark which ones they want to do first) or, on the survey I sent out tonight, to prioritize what dangling plot threads they think they'd like to deal with first. I know my friends well, but I also want to make sure that all the work I'm putting in goes to something they'll care about, so while I avoid spoilers as best I can, I'm not afraid to ask them plenty of questions! I fairly recently did a one-question survey that was essentially "how much do you want me to fuck you up" and the answers were very helpful!

Help Me Flavor Things

One of my favorite questions I've asked my players is just what images and emotions the PCs associate with their magic! I got some really cool answers that I can use when I really want to make a meal of a good moment. I'm a pretty flavor-first DM, but I think it's really cool to have a character roll perception or arcana and really try to flavor the resulting explanation like I think the character would conceptualize it. There's a decent overlap between this category and the previous one, because players telling you what they want can explain PC goals and thus make it easier to flavor.

Psychological Warfare

Look, sometimes it is VERY fun to ask "how much does your character trust their patron/deity" and see what response they make. I needed to know, because the warlock's patron was lying to her and it would have flavored any insight vs. deception DCs if she'd started suspecting anything, and also the question struck fear into her heart. Or @sovinly, who DMed our last campaign, also did some surveys, and at some point asked our PCs' greatest hopes and fears and then used the hopes to devastating effect literally one session later when it had been implied to be a long-term survey. Not every table enjoys the psychological warfare! But yours might.

[agentldiddy]

My Favorite DND campaign I played in

We were a group called "The Leviathan Company," but I forgot how exactly we got that name (might've been the leviathan we fought). The players were -Zeta: Warforged Barbarian (my character). The very first thing he did in life was make a religion on their origins (Which involve Red vs Blue references, warforgeds, and gnomes). They then proceeded to absentmindedly harass the country side before joining the party. He has an absurd and nonsensical view of the world, and little thing like "common sense" isn't going to stop him from doing something ridiculous. He has handaxes installed in his hands and a crossbow in his mouth that he ate. While not confirmed, I often joked that Zeta's innard are rather lovecraftian and eldritch. After the campaign ended, he invented Mac n Cheese on accident. -Dar MakDerlad: Human Fighter, noble from a fictional country that his player wrote lots of lore about--including a language--which is Australia and Ireland combined, put in snow, and with the same general views of a warhammer city. He is quickly-angered, prone to graphic threats, heavily racist, but loyal to the point that he'd give his life if he betrayed his friends. He chills out at least a slight bit, don't worry. Also, he is both gay and homophobic, and half the campaign is about trying to revive his dead boyfriend (and other war buddies too). -Anakiir Mortis: Drow Sorceror, skilled in alchemy, a scholar, hails from beyond the lands. He is the smartest of the group and tries to expand his knowledge. Tied with Dar as the morally worst person in the party. He used to have a pet fish named Marvin that he would feed magic items to increase the strength of. However, he released Marvin to fight the Leviathan. He is also gay, but I'm pretty sure his player confirmed that to one-up Dar. His backstory is spoilers, and I might tell this story later (and Dar's player is trying to write a novel on it) -Lily: High Elf Rogue and Sorceress who works in an underground crime syndicate, stealing riches from nobles. Unsurprisingly, she hates nobles with a burning passion. She tries to live her best life. Racist against Dwarves and Gnomes for personal reasons. She joined the party because her syndicate had to lay low as there weren't many jobs at the moment. She is also a Lesbian, and bought a Tiefling slave girl to romance (Btw, her player probably made her for horny reasons, but he ended up giving her excellent development) -Sir Ivan, Human Paladin of Emotep, the God of Food, Money, Bitches. He is the moral compass and straight man of the group (due to being the only one who isn't gay--or asexual, in Zeta's case). He is the standard lawful good, except it's actually done in a good way instead of a stupid way. He also has a backstory that's spoilers, so I'll refrain from telling. Some NPCs that joined them: -Cyren Arafir: High Elf Bard originally hired as a one-night stand for Anakiir, ends up becoming an integral party member. -Doc: Human Cleric of Emotep the party yoinked one day. The DM accidentally gave him Dr Ned's voice from Borderlands. -Lila: Tiefling Rogue, mute slave girl that Lily bought. She got killed in the fight with the Fish King, but she got better. -Marvin: Fish-turned God, was fed magic items by Anakiir until he ascended in the fight against the Leviathan of Kua-Toa making. Current Wherabouts are unknown. -Child: I forgot his name but luckily it's spoilers, so I don't have to tell you right now.

I might detail some of the sessions that happened in this campaign.

[kirchenaere]

How goes your Curse of Strahd campaign? I really love your art for Van Richten! He's my favorite in that campaign module ngl

Hey Anon, and thank you for the compliment! Thanks for asking, get ready for a small essay because I love talking about DnD haha XD I'm throwing this behind a cut so I don't spoil anybody for CoS on accident.

We're on a little bit of a break while our DM does real life job things, but we recently hit level five and cleared Vallaki and the Feast of St. Andral and all that came after it, and we're about to head out to check on the Martikov's delayed wine shipment. Our DM is doing an amazing job fleshing the module out and we love to take our time with things, so we're definitely going pretty slow - the Feast was followed up by another fight that ended in almost every single key player in Vallaki dying (Fiona, the Baron, Victor, and Izek all went down in one big dramatic Shakespearean fight, it was a wild ride). There's a lot of questions still open about the town, like why are our buddies the ravens hanging around the Blue Water and what was with some of the stuff we found in the Reformation Center our DM fleshed out for us, but we're leaving our good friend Rictavio behind to do whatever business he needs to do and keep an eye on things in the meantime. He hasn't told us what his business is beyond "collecting stories" but we're pretty confident he's trying to built a circus in the woods. A totally normal circus. A very normal thing to do. Anyway, we are definitely currently in the process of trying to convince him to come with us when we finally depart the area.

On a totally unrelated note (jk very related), Van Richten is also easily my favorite at the moment and despite the fact that I love all the NPCs we've met so far, even the ones I hate, I don't expect that to change because one of my favorite character types is "salty sarcastic old man who screams at the sky and has A Lot Of Baggage" - plus the whole aesthetic is just A+. This old man really rolled into Barovia saying "time to fuck around and find out" with those shoes and those sideburns, a vibe which is amplified by the fact that our RvR has not disguised himself beyond possibly changing a few facial features and the kinds of clothes he's wearing (we still haven't seen him without the hat on, but my boy Vrinn has Eldritch Sight as an invocation and has narrowed down the general categories and whatever disguise he has on is subtle). The party at large has yet to meet him properly, but Vrinn ,who was immediately obsessed with the old man, managed to get his hands on a copy of Van Richten's Guide and rolled a nat 20 to notice some similarities between the writer and wonderful not-a-big-deal-don't-worry-about-me-I'm-normal Rictavio.

So that's where we're at. Our DM has changed a bunch (for example, he let Vasili be a real Vasili and not a Strahd disguise which added a lot of depth and a really really really REALLY intense dinner where we assumed we were with a man who might be Strahd even though Vrinn has Eldritch Sight and Divine Sense and has used it multiple times and detected nothing, only to have him use both of those while sitting next to Vasili at dinner for a totally unrelated reason because I thought there might be an imp and realize oh fuck they're two different people and I'm five feet away from THE DEVIL disguised as Vasili and have to ACT NORMAL, truly one wild session) and so there's a lot happening that probably doesn't compare super well to other campaigns. I'm currently working on 1 or 2 more poster-style illustrations for our little stint in Vallaki, and possibly some small comics, but it's slow going!

[burr-ell]

New Fan here again. I'm so happy to hear that villainesses and women with grey morality get to shine in Critical Role! I love them but they're a rare find. I'm invested in checking out more! But looking into CT Channel and it's a bit intimidating.

That's a lot of hours and I have yet to make sense of the rules. All I get so far is Nat 20 is good and 1 is really bad. Characters can't exactly do anything they want in the story because of some checks?

I am really amazed by the players! This whole thing is just like a round robin story in real time. How does that work?

The most astonishing fact I found so far is that Percy's long ass name I see going around is actually his real name. I thought it was just a joke! And for all his posh accent and dapper looks, he's just a berserk kitty fueled by R A G E that's ready to throw hands with anytime! If I didn't know any better, I'd think he's just compensating for being the only 100% human in his group.

Delilah is already one of my favorites but the other is Pike. I just love how her crisis of faith was handled and her big damn heroes moment was so awesome! Then her just carrying like most of final fight against the Briarwoods on her own! I love her. I love her. I love her! Best thing about it all, is her friends acknowledges it too!

I may have some of the characterizations wrong since I'm just going off from the cartoon but I like what I'm seeing so far and excited for more.

Thank for introducing this to me. If it weren't for you being so enthusiastic about this, I really wouldn't look twice to TLoVM or Critical Role at all.

Oh for SURE—it's a lot of content! I actually got into CR because i have a friend from when I was in undergrad who loves it, and I kinda understood that each episode was hours' worth of content and there were over a hundred episodes for each campaign...which is why, when I realized I needed something new to listen to while I worked that could kinda keep me in one place for a while, I started watching Critical Role. (That and I had a gigantic crush on Chrom Fire Emblem and I'm not embarrassed by that.) It's definitely a commitment if you really decide you want to get into it.

I think "berserk kitty fueled by R A G E that's ready to throw hands" is a pretty apt description of Percy by this point in the story 😂 Without spoiling too much, he does mellow out by the end, but he's still kind of a standoffish snooty cat. And Pike's crisis of faith was in my opinion a really good adaptation that kind of welded where she was in the campaign to her role in the Briarwood arc—Ashley Johnson wasn't always able to appear because she played a supporting role on the TV show Blindspot, so Pike was absent a lot in the original stream; I'm really excited to see more of her and get some development that she wasn't fully able to get (through no fault of her own, and to Ashley's credit when she was there she was still journeying!).

If it weren't for you being so enthusiastic about this, I really wouldn't look twice to TLoVM or Critical Role at all.

hnnnnnghhhhh <33333333 i cant form words just know that this was like injecting serotonin directly into my brain stem

That's a lot of hours and I have yet to make sense of the rules. All I get so far is Nat 20 is good and 1 is really bad. Characters can't exactly do anything they want in the story because of some checks?

I am really amazed by the players! This whole thing is just like a round robin story in real time. How does that work?

So short answer: TTRPGs are like an unholy fusion of writing and math.

Long answer (and I mean really long; I apologize if I'm explaining anything you already knew or inferred!): Part of the appeal of actual play (playing a TTRPG for an audience and not just for the group) is that you're basically watching a story being written in real time...and the dice rolls reflecting the unpredictability of real life adds an extra layer of genuine unpredictability.

(I wrote up an explanation of the basics of DnD mechanics under the cut if you're interested—though part of the reason Critical Role gained a lot of traction is that the players aren't uber-nerds who have everything memorized, so there's a lot of back-and-forth on screen about what the rules are that has the added benefit of being friendly to people who are completely new to DnD and TTRPGs in general.)

You've got a DM (or Dungeon Master, specifically in DnD; since every TTRPG is different, the broad term is GM, or Game Master) who builds the world and establishes the setting and general plot threads, and the players have built characters that explore that setting. Part of the way they do that is through roleplay back and forth with each other and with the NPCs (non-player characters) played by the GM, and when the characters do something where there might realistically be a chance for success or failure (i.e. obtaining important information, persuading someone, recalling relevant knowledge, performing some physical feat), they roll their dice and let the numbers decide how well they do on various "skill checks" or "saving throws" (depends on the situation). Now when characters are rolling for these skill checks and saving throws, they're trying to meet what's called a DC, or Difficulty Class, which the DM sets depending on how difficult the challenge would reasonably be. So the exact outcome, based on the result, is still ultimately the GM's call, but generally rolling a natural 20 means the result is exceptionally good and specifically in a lucky, all-the-stars-have-aligned kind of way, while rolling a natural 1 means the result is exceptionally bad in the same sense.

But! It's not entirely up to the dice. Part of character creation in DnD is character stats (which are also decided by dice rolls; it's been a hot minute since I've done this myself, but you basically roll a D20 for your value in each stat and you choose which stat will have each value based on what you think is best for your character). The stats are Wisdom, Intelligence, Charisma, Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution, and those stats then influence a variety of what are basically subskills. (Stuff like Animal Handling, Survival, History, Performance, Investigation, et cetera. History, for example, is an Intelligence-based skill.) And the number assigned to each of those base stat determines what's called a "modifier", the number that will be added to any roll for a task that requires that particular skill. (So whatever your Intelligence modifier is will also be your modifier for a History check.)

So, to use Critical Role as an example, Grog's Intelligence score is a 6, so his modifier to any Intelligence-based skill check or saving throw is -2. His Strength, however, is 24, which means his modifier to any Strength-based skill check or saving throw is +7.

Characters may also have what's called a Proficiency Bonus, which they can add to a skill check in something they're proficient in, so that way a character who would reasonably be very good at a particular skill isn't just left up to the dice and a modifier. For example, Percy has a Proficiency Bonus in tinkering because he makes all his own weapons and it's part of his background that he's good at intricate handicraft work. So when he's trying to fix his guns, there's a greater chance of success because that's realistic given his character...but there's still always a chance he could mess up, just like anyone who's good at something, which is why there's a dice roll to begin with.

Combat functions in essentially the same way—instead of a Difficulty Class, when a character rolls to attack, they're trying to meet or exceed an enemy's AC, or Armor Class, and there are different bonuses given to specifically modify a character's attack (based on their personal skillset as well as any bonuses from a particular weapon), but it runs on the same principle. (Characters who use magic usually don't have to roll for an attack; instead their opponent rolls a saving throw against that character's spell-save DC. This is, incidentally, why the notoriously dice-cursed Wil Wheaton usually plays casters.) Combat also has what's called an initiative order, where every player rolls a d20 and the combat round goes in order of highest to lowest result.

The more roleplay-heavy aspects of it are where things can get a bit tricky, because you don't want one character hogging all the spotlight at the expense of everyone else, but you don't want characters getting ignored. DMs generally account for who is and isn't experienced with this sort of thing by having a heavier or lighter hand in guiding the players, and at a table like Critical Role's where everyone is good friends and they all know and trust each other, there's a general understanding that they're all going to get equal time in the overall narrative. They're good about letting everybody have their day in the limelight and picking up on cues from each other—and the fact that they're all professional actors who are trained in improv specifically is part of why it works as well as it does.

Now sometimes the rules as they are don't work for what a particular table is trying to do, which is why you'll often see something "homebrewed" by a DM. Matt actually had to do a lot of homebrewing for Campaign 1 because it had been going on for a couple of years as a home game prior to Felicia Day getting them to broadcast it for her company Geek & Sundry; they were using a DnD-adjacent system called Pathfinder and they had to transplant everything into the actual DnD system because DnD was the bigger name and therefore the bigger draw. (Percy in particular required a lot of work and even nerfing on occasion because the Gunslinger class doesn't exist in DnD at all, and some of the confusion regarding rules in those early days was because they were coming from a different system than what they were used to and still trying to figure out how it worked.)

I hope this helps! And for what it's worth—if watching a whole streamed campaign isn't ultimately right for you, that's okay! As far as I'm concerned, you're just as welcome in the fandom, and I'm delighted that I was able to introduce you.

[fixing-bad-comic-art]

fun asks for boredom: do you read books? have you been to the LIBRARY lately now that it’s open again? do you want book recs? (bc im full of them PLS) - if not books, what are you doing with your free time? tv video games movies? what’s occupying your thoughts, what are you obsessed with right now? wanna infodump on anything? or vent? i want to listen :D

ive been a few times! i love the work area at my local library bc its always quiet and its got really nice views, so i visit it a lot. but im not a big reader tbh. im dyslexic and a lot of books are just too hard to get through unless theyre digital and i can change the font to something thats easier to parse which not all books/apps/websites let you do. and anybody who says the built in tts systems that these apps have are good enough, are lying to themselves. so most of the time when i buy/burrow a book its usually just a reference book of some kind.

and on that note, this is a Big reason i dont read a lot of comics, that crowded faux handwritten font a lot of them use is hellish for me to try and parse.

and its a bit of a joke amongst my friends that if im not actively making something im probably yakking on deaths doormat, lmao. right now im mostly into writting and doing digital paintings, but spinning and crochet are old favorites

and like, right now my biggest obsession is dnd, i love dming and the more role play focused sand box campaigns. and before anyone points out that theres better systems for role play focused games, i know, i actually like how janky dnd is on this front because it gives both sides of the table way more freedom to do what feels right.

like This is my rant, letting the players Genuinely argue through their character to try and get something done is Way more interesting than just making them role 1 die and do some math.

like, theres this one moment in the first campaign i ran for my best friend that i keep coming back too.

she had accidentally (on her part, this was my plan all along) traded away a mcguffin to the absolute last person she would want to have that.

when Summer(the npc) came to collect the mcguffin from Shiana(the pc) i Could have had zen(my bff) role 1 d20 and add shiana's persuasion modifier to it. and just on a role of the dice i could have decided where this litteraly game ending mcguffin would land.

if Summer gets it an eternal summer would ravenge the world. but her brother in law would be given more time with his family and a chance at survival.

if he didn't Shiana's brother in law and close friend was more likely to... not die, but also not exist anymore. but her holding onto it gave her time to maybe save both him and the world.

by not basing this on a dice role shiana got to Argue with this fairy to try and get her way out of this deal. zen got the experience of him arguing right back and trying just as hard as she was to get the damn thing.

and because she couldn't just role to persuade him they ended up having one of the most intense fights while she was Running For Her Life because she, Zen and shiana, not a trick of luck, royally pissed off the embodiment of Summer. she got to call on the power of both gods she had a connection to and nearly died from overwhelming herself with their power in a desperate bid to buy herself some time.

because we weren't using any strict rules for this, or really Any rules, we were able to tell a story that was much more engaging than one dice roll ever could be.

like, tldr, dnd Is good for role play because its Very easy to just ignore the clunky/underdeveloped rp rules when needed.

also dnd has tieflings. i like tieflings. think theyre Real Neat.

[spiderman-withgreatpower]

Important please read!

OOC: So I love Spiderman and one of the things I really like is the different variations and portrayals. I love how the writers of Spider-Man based stories feel free to play around with the character, his backstory and his story lines. So I'm going to have some fun with my version of Peter Parker. He will be a combination of the Toby Maguire version of Peter and the MCU Tom Holland version. I will also put in some influence from the comics as well. Obviously to have that all make sense i`m gonna have to get a bit creative with his background. I hope you guys have fun interacting with Peter as much as I enjoy writing him. Please read his bio since there will be a few things that will vary from the movies.  For the most part with my muse, it will be as if the MCU Spider-Man had grown up to be the Toby Maguire Spider-Man. Don't worry I will explain everything! Here's his story:

Muse Bio:

Childhood

So Peter`s parents died when he was very young and he was raised by his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Both of whom he is very close and love very much. His Uncle Ben was someone whom he looked up to and longed to grow up to be like. Uncle Ben and Aunt May, both taught Peter good morals and how to always be kind. 

As a child he was close friends with the girl next door, Mary-Jane Watson. The two were inseparable and from the moment he saw her he knew he had fallen in love with her. He could never tell her though, he feared that she would not love him back, or worse that it ruin the friendship they had. So rather than take the risk, they remained friends. They spent almost everyday together: talking, doing homework, going to local spots. The summer after they graduated middle school, Mary-Jane moved to another state with her parents. Peter and her tried to keep in touch, they even visited each other a few times during the first few year. Yet eventually the distance made them drift apart. 

Teenage years

High school started and Peter attends Midtown School of Science and Technology where he easily becomes friends with Ned. On a school field trip Peter is bitten by a radio active spider and gains his powers. At first he used his powers to gain money to help his family. Yet when his uncle is killed by a mugger, Peter decides to use his powers to fight crime and keep the city safe. After Uncle Ben`s death Peter and Aunt May grew to lean on each other and provide one another with love and support. They become closer than ever because they were all each other had left.

Eventually Peter is recruited to help Tony Stark fight the other Avengers in the superhero Civil War. Which Peter finds exciting and thrilling. Shortly after, he is anxious to work another mission with Tony but nothing comes along. So Peter decides to go off on his own mission using the tech Tony gave him. So from there everything from Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and the other MCU movies with Spider-Man happens according to the movies in regarding to his teen Spider-Man adventures. 

During his freshmen year of college, Peter meets Harry Osborn, whom is his roommate at the New York Institute of Technology. The two of them quickly become close friends. Harry would eventually become a life long friend of Peter. Harry is a loyal friend to Peter and they confide in each other with their thoughts, feelings and secrets...well expect for the secret that Peter is Spider-Man. Ned is still the only friend that Peter had trusted with that secret. Ned is still Peter's best friend and he also follows Peter to the same college. Ned choose to dorm with his girlfriend instead. Ned and Peter have weekly DND games and movie marathons together. While in college Peter works a part time job at the Daily Bugle as a photographer, mainly sending in photos of Spider-Man. Mr. Jamerson, the editor of the paper seems to really hate Spider-Man and wants to tear him apart in the press, which he does. Yet many dont seem to pay his speculation much attention at first.

Adulthood

During his early college years him and MJ break up. He spends a year being heart broken, but is able to move on and start dating again with Harry and Ned as his wing men. Harry tries to teach Peter different ways to charm a women, none of which actually work for Peter. Often his shy and anxiousness get the better of him. 

Then one day Peter runs into Mary-Jane Watson at coffee shop near his work and he is overjoyed to catch up with her. The two sit at a table and chat for hours. They catch each other up on everything that has happened in both their lives. The conversation felt natural and easy. They talk to each other like close friends again and he realized his heart still longs for her. The two of them pick up their friendship where they left off and continue to spend time together as they build on their friendship.

As Aunt May is getting older in age Peter is her primary care taker. He quits his job as a photographer and works at Stark Industries, which Pepper still runs. He helps build different kinds of tech among other prominent scientists and inventors. Peter also continues to do hero work. 

   Johan Jamerson, the editor, and publisher of the Daily Bugle still seems to think that Spider-Man is no good and starts a smear campaign against the hero. While working and still doing superhero work, Spider-Man continues to be a favorite a hero of the city among the members of the city. However cops and some civilians begin to feel unsure about the hero. Some tended to believe the things they read in the papers and rumors that spread about his past and current alliances.

Harry begins to date Mary Jane whom he too found attractive, even though he knew how Peter felt about her. He sees it as a way to get even with Peter as Harry feels his father admires Peter more than his own son. Harry takes Mary-Jane to a fair where the Green Goblin attempts to kill her and she is saved by Spider-man. Spider-Man also saves many people at this event. Then Peter goes through the events of  Spiderman, Spiderman 2 and Spiderman 3.

[theladysexpistol]

I saw your request for requests! Can I have a Kakyoin X Reader? Anything fluffy would do it ^^

Don’t get me wrong part 5 is probably my favorite part in jojo (so far) but I’m so excited to get a request for a different part! Especially for my favorite character in Stardust crusaders! 🍒

I hope you don’t mind me doing a part 4 Kakyoin? My irl Jojo friends and I have been talking about Kakyoin in part 4 a lot lately so he’s on my mind 😬

This got much longer than I intended - sorry, not sorry?

Side note I’ve been using Kakyoin’s theme in my homebrew dnd campaign. why is Kakyoin’s theme still the best Jobro theme to exist ever? 🤩

~~~

   Bright, midmorning sunlight filtered into the kitchen of your small city home. You were cooking to get your mind off the absence of your husband, but you weren’t as successful as you would have liked. Your hands were trembling.

   Of course, you trusted the word of Noriaki Kakyoin, the man you had chosen to spend the rest of your life with, as well as that of Jotaro Kujo, his best friend. But the bombshell the two of them had dropped on you, along with everything else they had decided to explain, had your head spinning. Kakyoin had probably wanted to spend a little more time with you, to ease your worries further; but Jotaro had insisted it was urgent. And that, it was, you had to agree. But the thought of either of them getting hurt - or worse - wouldn’t leave your mind.

~

   You had basically grown up with Jotaro, only a few streets away from his home. You both attended all the same schools. He had always counted you among his small group of friends, on account of how you neither fawned over him like most girls nor were you interested in fighting him in a vain attempt to become popular like most boys. Several of his fan girls did not like you because of this, but it never bothered you. In fact, you found some entertainment in watching him groan even after being pushed aside by his groupies.

   But the transfer student that Jotaro returned with from a long, unexplained absence in the middle of your third year of high school was another story.

   Both of them were covered in bandages under their uniform, and both avoided any questions as to their condition. You and Kakyoin hit it off immediately, and in fact your feelings for him emerged quite quickly. The two of them became your closest friends, but there was alway something there, something you could feel but could never quite place, something that the two of them had in common that you didn’t have.

   When all three of you graduated, Jotaro left to study marine biology abroad. Suddenly you were spending more and more time with Kakyoin, and your silly childhood crush blossomed as you fell in love with him. By the time Jotaro returned to see the two of you in Japan, he was more irritated than ever.

   “Good grief you two, I was hoping you would’ve gotten together by now.” he had said. It had been mortifying, but in a way it was a blessing. After all, that was how you and Kakyoin had gotten together. Even as Jotaro dated, then married a woman he had met in America, had a beautiful baby girl, and continued his studies, you and Kakyoin remained together.

   Kakyoin had informed you when Jotaro returned to Japan from New York where he had been visiting his ailing grandfather, but that he would not be able to visit the two of them for some time as he was investigating a series of odd family events in a small town called Morioh. You were disappointed but thought nothing of it; until Jotaro showed up in your living room.

   “I’m going to need your help,” he told Kakyoin. “I can’t handle a serial killer-Stand user alongside a handful of high schoolers and a manga artist.”

   “A what?!” you exclaimed. Both men looked at you after your outburst as though they had forgotten you were there. “Stand user? A serial killer? Jotaro, you’re the strongest person I know but this still isn’t your responsibility... shouldn’t you go to the police?”

   Per habit, Jotaro sighed, tugging his hat over his eyes. “Good grief... I forgot you don’t know about Stands.”

   Kakyoin smiled, but you could tell his smile was strained; forced, on your behalf. “You’re not usually one to slip up like that, Jotaro.”

   “Both of you! Tell me what’s going on!” you demanded, getting frustrated. They were both acting as though this was nothing, as though they dealt with serial killers normally!

   Finally, after some more frustrated convincing, the two of them explained everything. Dio, and Jotaro’s mother, the involvement of Jotaro’s grandfather and Avdol and Iggy and Jean Pierre Polnareff and their absence from school as they traveled to Cairo in order to put an end to their suffering. They explained how all along they’d had spirit guardians called Stands at their sides, and how their Stands had watched over you, too. Tears pooled at your eyes as they explained how Kakyoin had nearly fell to the same fate as Avdol and Iggy at the hands of the vampire, but by some miracle he had survived. But before you could fully comprehend everything they had told you, the two men had left for Morioh.

~

   Honestly, it was all unbelievable. If it hadn’t been Kakyoin and Jotaro, the two people you trusted most in the world, who explained all this madness to you, you probably wouldn’t have believed it. But the existence of Stands made sense; that was the thing they had always shared, that unexplainable presence you sensed between the two of them. So you had to believe the rest of it; and Stands, they sounded wondrous; but dangerous in the wrong hands. And the two of them had just willingly returned to Morioh to hunt down a person using their Stand to deliberately kill people.

   The more you thought about it, running through every event they had described to you in detail - on top of Jotaro’s young relative Josuke - who was technically his uncle? God, it was all confusing - the harder you trembled. Kakyoin, the most precious person to you in the world, had almost never survived. You imagine every happy moment he had brought you - your wedding, meeting Jotaro’s daughter, buying the house together - and it’s almost too much to bare.

   A face full of smoke breaks you out of your revere.

   “Shit!” you exclaimed, having become so lost in your thoughts and your worry that you burned what had been cooking on the stove in front of you. All the pent up frustration and emotions are released upon this mistake, like popping the cork off a bottle of champagne. You collapse in the kitchen in tears. Kakyoin had left about a week ago, and yet you didn’t think you could stand another moment away from him.

   You sat there on the kitchen floor for who knows how long. At some point, the soft ringing of the telephone caught your attention. You weren’t sure how long it had been ringing for, so you pulled yourself together the best you could and picked it up without looking at the number. “Hello?”

   There was a familiar sigh on the other line, before the one voice that would normally fill your heart with warmth answered. “It’s so good to hear your voice. I hope you’ve been all right.”

   But now, it just filled you with worry and longing, and you struggled to keep your voice from cracking. “Noriaki, I can’t stop thinking about everything. I can’t stand this, knowing where you two are.”

   “I’m so sorry,” he replied, sounding disappointed. “But I will be okay, I promise you. Josuke, he is Joseph’s son that Jotaro told us about; he and his friends are quite talented Stand users. They want to protect their town. It reminds me of Jotaro and myself, on our journey to Egypt.”

   You could hear the smile in his voice. It was the first thing that soothed your worried heart.

   “Noriaki,” you said, after the two of you had talked for some time; mostly listening to him talk about Morioh, and what a wonderful city it was, potentially for raising children; once this mysterious serial killer was taken care of. “Let me come visit you. Just for a week, and I’ll stay safe, I promise. I feel like I’ll feel better once I meet everyone, once I see the city for myself. It’s just that... well, ever since you told me how close to death you had been before we even met, it’s all I can think about. You, dying, against this horrible person.”

   “I’m sure they don’t even hold a candle to Dio,” he gave a bitter chuckle, as if knowing what a terrible thing a joke like that would do to your heart. “I’ll... let me think about it and talk it over with Jotaro, okay? You can’t see Stands. That’s what makes this guy so dangerous.”

   Your heart clenched. “Okay.”

   “I love you.”

   You hung up the phone, and immediately went to your bedroom with a suitcase. As soon as the idea had came to your mind, you were already set. You weren’t going to give him time to think it over. Before leaving for the train station, you only emailed Jotaro of your plans.

   And when you checked your email on the train, you were unsurprised by his short reply. It honestly made you smile a bit.

   Good grief. I’m not sticking up for you.

~

   The train arrived at Morioh Station early in the morning. As you descended the steps to the station, you could see several students of differing ages all waiting for the bus. You were immediately charmed by the quaint, peacefulness of the town.

   And then you remembered the dark secret lurking in the shadows of the cheery buildings, and fear gripped your heart once again.

   Making your way toward the taxi stop, you were careful not to accidentally bump into anyone. It was honestly even more terrifying than you could have imagined, the idea that any of the people around you - laughing and smiling to their friends or dressed in a fine suit, speaking loudly on the phone as they headed to work for the day, even the friendly gentleman driving the taxi that came to take you to the Grand Hotel - could be the one killing innocents with a spirit they couldn’t see. You wondered what their victims knew in their last moments, what they felt as they were killed by an unseen enemy.

   You could practically hear your heartbeat in your ears as the hotel loomed over the city street. You just had to get there. Kakyoin would probably be furious with you, but you would be safe. Jotaro knew you were coming. He’d know not to let Kakyoin leave.

   You bounded up the steps of the hotel so fast you nearly forgot to pay the taxi driver. The Morioh Grand Hotel was beautiful, living up to its name; it would almost be romantic if your husband wasn’t staying there in order to catch a murderer with supernatural powers.

   The woman at the front desk, prim and well-dressed, greeted you immediately. “How may I help you?”

   “Ah, I um- I’m waiting to meet someone here... you haven’t seen two men, one with a white hat and the other with ginger hair leave, have you?”

   The receptionist looked as though she were about to explain “We can’t give away details of our guests, for security reasons you know.” when someone called your name indignantly. You turned to find just who you were looking for, a bewildered-looking Kakyoin and an exasperated, but amused, Jotaro.

   Kakyoin swept you up into a tight hug, before planting a kiss on you. Despite obviously being frustrated that you had made your way to Morioh on your own, it was also clear he was just as relieved to see you as you were him.

   “I should be furious right now,” he mumbled into your ear. “But I’m glad to see you.”

   “One week, Noriaki,” you whispered back. “Give me one week. That’s all I need.”

   When he pulled away, you beamed up at Jotaro. He mumbled something under his breath, something that wasn’t hard to take a guess at, before Kakyoin spoke up again.

   “I hate to be the paranoid husband but... I’d prefer it if you didn’t leave the the hotel by yourself,” he gave a sigh. “I want to keep you as far away from danger as I can.”

   “There’s a simple solution, you know,” Jotaro said with a smirk on his face and stuffed his hands into his pockets as he continued walking toward the door to the hotel. Presumably, the two of them had been leaving to meet with Josuke and the others. You grabbed a hold of Kakyoin’s hand, intent on going with them to meet these other Stand users. “Make sure they never leave your side.”

~~~

[A/N: This fic is already so super long I know... I just wanted to add that after I wrote all the stuff about the reader being scared that any of the people they passed on the street being the killer... well I was this close to putting in a Kira cameo at the end where he noticed that the reader had such beautiful hands, with a beautiful golden ring holding an emerald in the center (kakyoin, emerald splash, obviously) but decided against it because this fic WAS supposed to be fluff... probably a little more angst than you were expecting but i hope you all liked it! i spent my entire shift at work today imagining what i was going to write!]

[skoomroom]

(click for higher quality) My character died in Dnd last week, and was revived but it was my first PC death. I decided to draw her watch after her death, and tbh this is my favorite thing I’ve ever drawn. It took two days but it’s honestly the first time I’m really happy with every aspect. More about the session that she died below the cut if you’re interested. 

We were fighting one of the bosses of the campaign (we’re only level 7 but we’ve been playing for a year). Kyne is a druid and I’ve been waiting for an outdoor fight to pull off some of her bigger power game moves. I ended up using a series of spells that pulled off a ton of damage, which pissed off the boss significantly. He had an ability that would let him slowly freeze a character, and when ice reached their head, they would die with no death saves. She was not only frozen, but also was taking the most damage from attacks, and was essentially paralyzed since the saving through was strength and that’s my dump stat (just spellcaster things). I was useless the entire fight after my power gamer moment, and for the 1.5 hours left in that fight, I was just convinced that I was going to die. She would get down to 1 hp, cast healing word, get knocked out, make death saves, pop up, go down, get healed by the cleric, get melted out of the ice slightly, go back down, over and over. At the end, she was on her second failed death save, frozen in ice, and the boss was killed a couple of people before her turn. On her turn she failed her last death save because of the ice, and died. 

At this point I was thinking that the ice was actually a spell, not actual ice. My party members were smarter than that lol and realized that they could break me out. They did and with 15 seconds to spare the cleric cast revivify. I didn’t know that the cleric knew that spell yet, so I was thinking that it was over. 

Honestly, I was super shaken up about it. Kyne is my favorite character I’ve ever played and I was excited to see where her story went because it hasn’t been her time in the spotlight yet. I think that it’s going to be good for her development though. I’ve been playing her as very happy go lucky, invincible character. I think as a young elf she’s always seen herself as having all the time in the world left to live, and she definitely loves to be alive. She’s never been afraid of fights because she never thought she would die. Now she has. I think that the change I want to take her down is one where she is more afraid. She’s going to be desprate to ensure that she and her friends are safe. I’m going to have her try and find a scroll of revival, spending all of her money, and have her harp on telling all of her party where she keeps it and how to use it in case any of them ever die. She’s going to be scared and I’ll probably take her down a darker path than where she was before. I hope eventually there will be an event that brings her out of it, but I’m excited to be able to play her with a major personality change, it’s going to be interesting. 

[winchest09]

Our Virtual Lockdown - Lowdown

Hey everyone!

Our lockdown livestream was once again one fulled of fun, laughter, fic recs, games and...one unplanned round of charades! Ahaha!

6 hours we were talking...SIX and again, I loved every single second. It was so nice to see so many gorgeous faces, and I’m so happy that so many of you joined us! We had 18 in our party at one point! I just hope that all of you had a blast and enjoyed yourselves.

Me and @katehuntington​ love holding these events and we are already planning the next live stream (date to be announced) but it will be in this month (May).

This is the lowdown for the third lockdown party!

Below you will find:

Everyone who joined - their tags, what’s coming up fic wise and their masterlist.

A Challenge to join

Blogs who want to help with your writing

Fic Recs

Supernatural DnD

Announcements

Q + A’s with the writers.

So without further ado… *cracks fingers*

To everyone that joined...

You are the guys that make it the live stream what it is.  So below is a list of everyone who was on the chat last night accompanied by their masterlist and what they have coming up soon! In no particular order…

@katehuntington​​: Kate is currently working on the next instalment of Ride With Me, All I Want and a two part commission. We will see this on her blog soon!

Her masterlist can be found HERE

@flamencodiva​​​: This babe is currently working on Call of the Ocean, A revoluntionary war fiction, an ABO Greek Goddess fic AND an untitled angst filled fic including Dean, a girlfriend and secrets! She is also rewriting Underworld and Legend of Van Helsing.

She’s one busy gal and we LOVE IT. <3

Check out her masterlist HERE

@whatareyousearchingfordean​​​: Alex is currently writing the ending to her Jensen fiction Et Cetera and she already has a sequel in mind! At the moment she’s trying to decide her next move...Firefighter Dean OR Secret Service Dean? Head over there and let her know!

Her masterlist can be found HERE

@talesmaniac89​​​:  This beaut also has a lot that she’s working on at the moment. The next instalments of The Man in Apartment 43. The next chapters of Lost (which is a little darker), a fluffy Dean oneshot and a Castiel comfort fic.

Behind the scenes, she’s also working on a Heist AU, Another ‘Choose your own adventure’ fic and a Ghost Writer AU.

Check her out guys, her masterlist is HERE

@superfanficnatural​​​:  This babe is currently working on the next chapters of The Bringer of balance as well as the next chapters of The Choice! He’s posted a few oneshots in the past two weeks and is writing Male!Reader fics!

Behind the scenes he’s currently working on an RPF called Matchmaker, A reader knight of hell/demon dean fic which is a love hate relationship as WELL as a Marvel SPN crossover. OOFFT.

A new writer that is nailing it! Go and give him some love, his masterlist can be found HERE

@emoryhemsworth​​​: This beaut is currently working on a series which is based off of an album called ‘Losing Sleep’ Each song will be a chapter and we’ve already been treated to some of her plans! She also has some other goodies on her masterlist.

Check our her masterlist HERE:

@anathewierdo​​​: Is yet to create a masterlist but she is currently working on Call of the Ocean with Flamencodiva. Not only that, she’s also working on a Princess Diaries AU, a Serial Killer AU and after the livestream...a gunshow fic!

By gunshow we do mean The Winchester’s muscles.

*drools*

@girl-with-a-fandom-fettish​​: This wonderful lady joined us briefly on the live stream and although she left before we could find out what she has coming up!

Check our her masterlist HERE:

Me: I’m currently working on two series, Life for Rent and Man’s Best Friend! I also have a couple of Dean series being worked on in the background as well as a couple of oneshots…watch this space!

To the new writers...

These guys were all new to the live stream this week and were welcomed with open, loving, spn fam arms! After speaking to these babes, we know that they are fairly new to writing to the supernatural fandom. They all have AMAZING idea’s when we played our prompt game and hopefully all of them will bite that bullet and post their ideas soon.

Remember guys - we’re all here to love and support you! My inbox is always open if you want to talk fics, want me to look over one etc.

Go and follow and give them some love!

@janicho88​​ @queenbeesback​​ @imjustadrummer​​ @malfoysqueen14​​

and to the readers that joined…

@leissa1287​​​ @waywardbeanie​​​ @dawnie1988​​

We love you, we thank you for reading and we thank you for all the support and love you give us constantly. Thank you for joining the chat and we hope you had an amazing time <3

-------------------------

CHALLENGE TIME

Ohhhh yes! One of our amazing writers, the darling @flamencodiva​​ is holding a celebration in regards to reaching 1700 followers!

Congrats babe!

Not only is she hosting a character take over on her blog she’s also posted a writing challenge for all us writers out there!

Check it out HERE

-------------------------

Need Help with a fic?

We’ve got you covered!

Need to has out a plot with someone?

The lovely @malfoysqueen14​​ has offered herself up to be a plot buddy to anyone that needs it. Stuck on a plot point, want to talk through a story line with someone? Give her a message! She’s here to help <3

Need help writing those all important fight scenes?

Give our babe @imjustadrummer​​ a message! They are filled with knowledge and even give us a demonstration on how to punch correctly on the livestream! Definitely one to have on your contacts list! <3

Need help with research for a fiction?

The most wonderful @waywardbeanie​​​ has offered herself up to be a researcher for anyone who wants help with their fiction. She has been a die hard SPN fan forever and she’s like the Ellen of our live stream.

Need a researching buddy? Give her a message! She’s a doll <3

-------------------------

Fic & blog Recs!

In our live stream, we want to highlight what we’ve been reading and the amazing authors behind the words. So below is a list of all the fics that we recommend for some good ol fic binging!

@deansdirtylittlesecretsblog​​: We were told of this lovely little gold mine by Alex and we just have to include it on here! This writer has so many fics on her masterlist...you’re gonna be there for a while!

Check them all out HERE

When You Least Expect It by @coffee-obsessed-writer​​

Summary: After a hard breakup, Jensen decides to throw himself into organizing a Music Festival in Austin that is meant to raise money for a few of his most cherished charities and organizations. As he throws himself into planning it, he stumbles upon a spirited, undiscovered performer, who he convinces to come aboard to help plan and coordinate the event with him.

What transpires after that takes both Jensen and his new friend, by surprise. But when their respective pasts come back just before the event kicks off in Austin, they will both have to decide if the unexpected feelings are worth perusing, or if they should just walk away and go on with their lives.

Dear Dean by @smol-and-grumpy​​

Summary: After taking Saint Lo, by sheer dumb luck, Lieutenant Dean Winchester from the 29th Infantry Division, Baker Company, received a truckload of replacements for his platoon that was falling apart. Little did he know, that one recruit would change his life forever.

Almost Paradise by @amanda-teaches​​

Summary: Dean finds himself looking at pictures of old loves. Will he ever be able to find that paradise again?

Turned Sideways by @crashdevlin​​​

Summary: (Rockstar AU)  When Y/n gets an opportunity to meet her favorite band backstage at their concert, she assumes they won’t even ask her name. But when she impresses the front man, Dean, with her voice and knowledge of their entire catalog of songs, it launches a chain of events that is sure to change her entire life.

Crash Into Me by @crashdevlin​​

Summary:  Dean meets and befriends a witch in NW Florida. This is their interactions over the course of season 8 through season 14.

Midwife Crisis by @ellewritesfix05​​

Summary: (Elle hasn’t written one it appears but in my words) - You were heavily pregnant with Dean’s child, hormones raging and Dean was receiving the brutal end of it. Needing a break, he fakes a case to get away. When your good friend Gabriel hears of this...he decides he needs to teach Dean a lesson with a little help from is prankster ways...

PHEW! I definitely think we have enough fics on here to last us for a few days…don’t you? ;) Please guys don’t forget to give these writers some love when reading their fics, comments, reblogs, asks. It means the world.

-------------------------

Interested in roleplaying & DnD?

@imjustadrummer​​ is setting up a Dungeons and Dragons campaign set in the Supernatural (main) universe!

If you’re into role playing, fancy bringing one of your OFC’s to life or just wanna be badass yourself...why not consider joining?!

All the information you need on this is HERE

Make some new friends, live out your dreams of being a hunter, angel or demon and HAVE FUN!

-------------------------

ANNOUNCEMENTS!

We have three wonderful announcements to make this time! We have THREE blogs celebrating followers!

A massive congratulations to:

@flamencodiva​​: This beautiful mama has reached 1700!

@whatareyousearchingfordean​​: This absolute babe has reached 1000!

@superfanficnatural​​: This beaut has reached 200!

WOOHOO!

*pops the party poppers*

-------------------------

Q & A With The Writers!

During this live stream, we asked everyone to join in and ask questions to the writers you want to know more about...the write up is below :)

- If you could collab with any other writer on here, who would it be? Alex ( @whatareyousearchingfordean​​) : @superfanficnatural​  because of the male reader aspect/sides of things! 

Emory (@emoryhemsworth​) : I’d like to collab with @winchest09​ (Tabby)

- Has anyone ever guessed the plot twist of one of your fics before you posted it?

@talesmaniac89​ : This did happen once and what was once a fluffy ending got turned into a bad ending because it was guessed. It happened once that they managed to get it so i changed it. 

- What was the last line you wrote?

@katehuntington​ :  “The cowgirl smirks and gently pushes him into the tack box in order for them both to be out of sight. Once they are safe from Bobby’s eyes, she kisses him, short and sweetly, but it’s enough to make Dean’s head spin”

- Have you ever cried whilst writing a fic?

@superfanficnatural​ : I cried to one last time, the angsty fic i wrote. I  was trying to get into the mood, i was mad, so went fuck it i’m gonna break peoples hearts. And then i cried haha.

- Can you tell us what writers you really admire?

@emoryhemsworth​ :   All of you are included in this live stream, that’s a given but I am going to talk about people who aren’t in here.  @impala-dreamer​, @kittenofdoomage​, @supernatural-jackles​, @ravengirl94​ are just a few. In regards to Rhi (Kittenofdoomage), everything she writes is just gold. She’s not written anything that’s bad! For Beka (impala dreamer) I just love her as a person. Oh and @bringmesomepie56​, her fics are just amazing.  

- Have you ever amended a story due to criticisms you’ve received after posting it?

@flamencodiva​ : No, not really. My stories tend to evolve in the writing process. Underworld princess and Call of the Ocean were meant to be super different than what they are now. We realised we had changed certain plot points as we were writing but that was before we started to post it. 

- Are there any stories that you wished you’d ended differently?

@winchest09​ :  Yes and no. I’ve had stories which were originally meant to end a certain way and they changed over time. Sometimes I do wonder what the reactions would have been like if i had gone with the original ending for Shatter Me and if hadn’t have gone down the angsty road for Yesterday but then I think fics choose their own path as you write them. It felt right at the time. 

- What is your favourite genre to write for?

@malfoysqueen14​ :  Angst. Never mind the fluff, the smut, the crack, it’s all about the angst. The angst is my ultimate goal. 

- Where do you get your inspiration from?

@imjustadrummer​ : A daily situation, or films. If the kids I worked with have said something weird i’d be like…”oh yeah, hey that can be a fic!”  A lot of different places really!

- Funniest story you’ve written?

@queenbeesback​ : It was an online thing, where they met online and it took a while for them to meet up. That was quite light hearted. 

- What is everyone's favourite ships?

Everyone: Dean and Donna. Benny and Dean. Sam and Eileen. Dean and Jo. Charlie and Alex. Sam and Gabriel

- What’s your favourite trope to write?

@anathewierdo​ : Friends to lovers and enemies to lovers

- Which part of your upcoming fic was the hardest to write?

@imjustadrummer​ : Trying to work out all the clues and cleverness to it. Like codes and things, working out how to put in all the easter eggs in my upcoming fic. It’s like a treasure hunt so I need to ensure there is cleverness in there.

- If you could write only angst, fluff or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why?

@superfanficnatural​ : Oh that’s...ok...most definitely...Smuuuuttttt (pretty much how he announced it)

-------------------------

I think that’s it!

Thank you so much once again to everyone who joined the chat, we had 6 hours of laughs and i cannot wait to do it again. I’d appreciate it if you could share this to spread the love of the fics and authors on here!

Keep an eye out for the next date for our next livestream! It will be in a couple of weeks, date to be announced. If you guys have any idea’s or want something included, let us know. If you want to be tagged when we announce, let us know!

@deanwanddamons​ - tagging you babe as you asked so you can catch up on what we talked about <3 

THANK YOU.

xox

[lynndoublelegacy]

just a cool dnd meme i saw

Yook so it’s less a meme and more like. a big ol questionare but hey, might as well do it. originally saw it on @/probablyottrpgideas, go check them out

1. Game Master, Player, or both? Why?

Ok so technically I’ve DMed twice but I really don’t find it fun? and don’t ever want to do it again. so. Player. I like building characters and their connections with fellow PCs more than building worlds

2. When did you start roleplaying? How old were you?

oh god, if we’re talking about roleplaying in general? I’ve been doing it basically as long as I can remember. As a kid I would play House, and then once I got older in like 5th grade I actually started making characters and playing out their stories with friends. Google+ is what made me realize this was actually like, a THING, though, and I got into some roleplaying groups there, then on DevaintArt. Dungeons and Dragons is a newer development? I got into it in late 2018 when my sister’s friend invited us to a one-shot, and... well, yea, I got hooked lol

3. What was the first roleplaying book you ever owned?

dude, bold of you to assume I really own any. I don’t have that kind of money and literally only own the Guide to Wildemount, and that was a gift

4. Describe the first game you ever ran or played in.

I mean... it’s not a game but ima describe the one shot, bc my first campaign was a hot mess without a true storyline and I used the same character for it anyway. I played a tiefling bard called Aisling Kai (I didn’t know this was a cliche combo at this point, and I honestly played her like a rogue with a music motif but Whatever) and we were a little group tasked to figure out why the hell anyone who goes into this cave never comes out. So we go in, make our way through the dungeon, fight some frog people (I made one of their ears bleed just by getting a nat 20 on a performance check to play a high f# on flute, that was fun, FWEET), and turns out yep, theres a hill giant down here. We kicked his ass and collapsed the cave on top of us (dw I think we were fine but my memory is a little screwy)

5. What system did you grow up with? / 6. Which system do you play now?

i learned on and currently play dnd 5e. I don’t really know anything else, but I’m debating checking out Vampire of the Masquerade.

7. Longest campaign you’ve run or played in?

That would be my Tal’Dorei campaign group, aka The Fatefallen! Started in the Fall of 2019 and still going to this day, just played our 45th session last week. I play Ilia Liadon, the drow grave cleric, and the only member of our party who has been there for every single session since the beginning.

8. Where did you meet your current gaming group?

...well first I feel the need to mention that I have 3 different groups (2 of them are on hiatus now for pandemic related reasons but! we’re still groups). My first group (with Aisling) was formed slowly over time as friends adopted friends into the group, I think it started as a school club? but that didn’t last long. The other two started from a different school club as well, though one has since branched out into other people as well. 

9. Strategic combat or dramatic plotlines?

I am a roleplayer first and a gamer second. Give me all of the backstories and dramatic plotlines. Don’t get me wrong, I still like combat, but story takes precedent for me.

10. Favorite RPG genre?

I don’t tend to define myself by genre? But I tend to fall into more of a fantasy, at most arcanapunk style. Give me all of the magic, and magic powered tech.

11. Your first character.

I got into her a little bit earlier, but my first character was Aisling, aka Calypso Kai. She was a homebrew subclass bard with a criminal background, who honestly? should’ve been a rogue. I’ve since rebuilt her into an Assassin Rogue/College of Eloguence Bard multiclasser, but this iteration was like. Baby her, baby me new to dnd, I did not know what I was doing. She tried to be edgy, but my mom energy came through HARD and she just. Never really had a set characterization. She deserves better and I plan on playing her better sometime in the future.

12. Your favorite character.

You are making me choose between my children. BUT, if I had to pick, either Ilia Liadon, or! Ashe Wednesday, a protector aasimar drunken master monk and my profile picture. Ashe also deserved a lot better from their campaign, so I have a massive soft spot for them, they were made during a really tough time in my life (as was Ilia) and was going through an equally rough time in-game, since I made them for a Curse of Strahd campaign without understanding what I was getting into. They’re my little rebellious asshole and I love them dearly, someone get this kid therapy. Ilia, on the other hand, is just... she’s a comfort character for me at this point. mostly soft edges, such a mom- while Ashe was me yelling “come at me” at the world while crying, Ilia was just... embracing it. Making it better. basically, if they actually existed, I would die for both of them.

13. Your most ridiculous character.

I don’t usually play super ridiculous characters, but! I would say Keothi “Bookfinder” Vaimeil counts. She was basically me looking all of the goliath barbarian stereotypes in the eye, and going “nah. she’s a nerd.” She’s literally a massive puppy dog, just the sweetest big old thing, sitting in her house and reading all the books she can get her hands on in order to make up for her amnesia. Oh, and did I mention that she’s a zombie? ...yea. She’s wacky, but I love her.

14. The best in-character line you’ve ever had.

“I need sleep. I don’t even sleep and I need sleep.”

~Ilia, after a particularly tough fight and an emotionally draining day

15. Your most epic death.

Ok so... none of my characters in game have ever actually died during the storyline? Keothi obviously has in her backstory, and Ilia might have in hers as well, it was never explicitly stated, but during the game? Nope. Ashe got stupid close, but nope. Since Keothi is my only death period, and her death was pretty epic, I’m just gonna describe that. Her parents and siblings in her Goliath tribe had all fallen ill, so she decided to go searching for a possible cure, and ended up getting conned into helping this cult, since they said they would cure her family. Turns out, yea, they were lying, they just needed a goliath willing to sacrifice themselves with a cursed sword. They made the mistake of revealing this before Keothi was actually dead, so as she was dying, she brought the entire goddamn cultist temple down to the bottom of the sea and took the cultists with her. The sword was why she was undead, in the Shadowfell, and couldn’t remember anything.

16. Your most disappointing death. 

As mentioned, I’ve never died in campaign, but I feel like I have to mention this one that happened to our party in Curse of Strahd. We were in the death house, all 5 of us, still level 1, and our barbarian falls into a pit trap with spikes. None of us realize she’s actually dead, so we send out paladin down to get her... with the monk, the bard, and the warlock holding the rope. ....yea both of them died.

17. Something that shouldn’t have worked, but it did.

I’m stuck between two options for this one. First one was the time our water genasi paladin/rogue bloodbended our gnome cleric into a bridge to keep her from falling all the way down a ravine. The second time was when our party managed to defend a small seaside town from a pirate raid with just an NPC with Control Water, a ballista, ourselves, and some explosives. Neither should’ve worked, but both did. Having a triton in your party can really come in clutch in a seaside campaign.

18. Something that went hilariously awry.

I have one that’s hilarious and one that’s horrifying. Hilarious one: in my first ever campaign, someone from Aisling’s backstory popped up and our sorcerer went “that’s shady” (to be fair, he was) and then went to investigate BY HIMSELF. He obviously got kidnapped by the mafia, and then we went all stealth mission to break him out. Stealth was immediately abandoned after our other bard used a SCREAMING SWORD to break open the locks, then we proceeded to go out the way we came, setting everything on fire on the way out, and with our bard lying their way out the front door (with the rest of us in tow as “prisoners”) by pretending to be a fellow mafia member. It was great. Horrifying one: Ilia tries to Send to a member of the party who left in order to let him know that a fellow party member had died. Forgot that he left bc his mind was invaded by a previously dead, very evil old god, and ends up trapped there with him for a while. Ended up with all of our main spellcasters trapped in their own heads while the barbarian paced around worriedly and the rogue decided he was going to get smashed instead of worrying himself silly.

19. Your most memorable in-character moment.

There are a LOT in Ilia’s campaign, but! If I had to pick one, it would actually be a pretty recent one involving Ilia and our party’s wizard, Liara. They’re basically the embodiment of head vs heart? Anyway, Liara is currently suffering from something called magic corruption, though idk if suffering is the right word. Anyway! It basically resulted in her getting... possessed? by her own magic during the night during Ilia’s watch, and they had a really, really interesting conversation regarding guilt, death, and grief, and yea basically I love them. Honorable mention to our druid’s death (he’s back and better now, but that was my first long-time death in a game, we didn’t know he was coming back) and also the moment that Ilia realized that her childhood bff/crush had been revived in a new body and that this NPC was her best friend. That was a trip.

20. The coolest item you ever got and how you came to possess it.

I got this item in the revamp of my first ever campaign and nothing has topped it since which is Sad but hey. Anyway! I got this really cool, possibly cursed dagger after I threw a knife at an absolutely eldritch being and it got stuck in him as he transformed. It looked really badass, and allowed me to cast Inflict Wounds on occasion when I stabbed someone with it. So yea, we love that. Honorable mention to my paladin/bloodhunter’s Helm of the Aberrant Gladiator which allows you to basically do a bunch of fear based affects and psychic stuff.

Numbers 21 through 30 don’t apply to me but. yea. enjoy this summary of my dnd history I guess

[today-only-happens-once]

Have you talked about your DnD PCs before? Can you talk about your game on tumblr? What's all been going on last few sessions :o

ANON you are one of my favorite people today this ask made me so freaking happy. (So is @psychedelicships  who said I had an invitation to ramble about my d&d campaign) Sorry for my excited gushing and rambling slkdfjdsklfjskldfj

My D&D Player Character

So my current D&D PC is named Kyssarda. She’s a half-elf neutral-good monk. I’ve rambled about her backstory before but the condensed version is that there’s a pattern of people leaving her/abandoning her in her life. Her parents died in a fire that her older brother rescued her from when she was four. She passed out on the way out, and when she woke up, she’d been told that she’d been left on the doorstep of the temple. Her brother was no where to be found. When she eventually made her way back home, her home was ash. Monks trained her, but they weren’t really equipped to raise a small child, so Kyssarda had a very lonely upbringing. The monks follow Sehanine (d&d deity), so she was raised on the tenants of her teachings and the teachings about following your own path led to her eventually striking out on her own. As a result of her upbringing and past, the people in her life (i.e. the party) are super important to her, because they are the first friends she ever chose and in some ways, they’ve chosen her too. She has abandonment issues up the wazoo, and hoo has she been reminded of that in recent sessions.

She’s very... empathetic and soft. She pays close attention to the mental/emotional state of her party members. Part of that is just who she is, but a lot of that is informed by her own loneliness. She doesn’t want others to feel like they’re alone, because she knows very intimately how much that can suck. Her loyalty and protectiveness of her friends leads her to sometimes not make the most tactically advantageous decision in combat, and also means that she has basically no self-preservation instincts (which is the main reason I’m pretty sure she’s gonna die before the campaign is over).

Campaign Stuff/Ramblings (under a cut because I’m literally just never going to shut up lets goooo):

So the original party consisted of a Teifling Paladin, a Wood Elf Rogue (who is multiclassing in monk), a Leonin Blood Hunter, and Kyssarda. We met during a fighting tournament and was contracted by the king to retrieve something for him. We teamed up for that, and convinced the king to come along too. So we traveled to some ruins, fought some stuff, and found the relic the king needed. We ran into a Jotenheim giant and fought that. In the process, the Leonin ended up attacking Kyssarda (cuz he’s basically a werewolf lion, and when he goes to his hybrid form and drops below half-health, he has to save on a wisdom saving throw or he just attacks the closest figure which happened to be meeee). 

Later on in a different fight in the same place, Kyssarda freaking died thanks to 2 chain lightnings (I took damage while unconcious and then rolled a Nat1 on the death save). But the king we brought along was a cleric who had what was needed for revivify. So Kyssarda came back, with a withered left hand. The Leonin felt responsible for her death because he’d attacked her earlier, and vowed to help her fix her hand. 

I forget exactly when, but during this journey, Kyssarda and the Leonin learned that there was a war brewing between two different kingdoms and that the Elf Rogue seemed to have a personal (but vague?) stake in the outcome of that war.

but ON OUR WAY BACK to the city, we got side-tracked with a quest to help a little girl rescue her family. So we also fought a troll and a hag. And when we were getting her family out, we also found (Surprise!!) the estranged (kinda) sister of the Elf Rogue. 

This lead to some downtime back at the main city. Kyssarda got her hand fixed at a temple. We got the sister of the Elf Rogue healed up at the same temple. The Leonin had a hilarious and embarrassing fight with a creature I can’t remember the name of. And lots of research was done by all about various things. Kyssarda did the most research, as she grew up working in the library section of the monk monastery so she’s always curious. So she starts looking into things about the war going on, and learns that Mr. Elf Rogue is in fact ROYALTY. He’s a prince of one of the countries at war. And we had learned already that he had fled the city with his siblings but not that he was royalty?? So that was a trip to learn. 

Meanwhile, Kyssarda is also helping the Teifling Paladin with some research because he’s been having weird dreams. And while they’re chillin’ in the library, the Paladin finds this book and gets sucked into it. Like. One minute he’s there, one minute he’s not and the book is floating before it closes and slams on the table. So Kyssarda (Ms. Abandonment Issues and also Freshly Traumatized By Havivng Died) panics and takes the book and runs. Our Paladin is still in the book. We sent him a Sending Scroll asking if he was okay and he basically said “Yeah im fine I’ll be back eventually”. Kyssarda also had a nice heart-to-heart with the Elf Rogue about the reemergence of his sister and told him a little about how her own brother abandoned her and encouraged him to just be patient with her (because the sister is not happy with him). 

But the show must go on, and our Elf Rogue really wants to get back to his home and help in the war effort somehow, plus find his brother who also is MIA. So Kyssarda, the Leonin, the Royal Elf Rogue, his sister, AND another human PC (a guy who helped sneak the Elf Rogue and his siblings out the city all those years ago and was being played by the guy who used to be the Paladin) all travel out headed towards the Elf Rogue’s homeland. 

But we get to the border at a bridge, and the party finds themselves facing down some harpies, some marrows, and a water elemental. In the fight, Kyssarda casts silence to help against the siren song the harpies were singing. Which was mostly a good thing. The water elemental was something else though. It engulfed both Kyssarda and the Elf Rogue, and Kyssarda was down to 1 HP when the Leonin yanked her out. However, because of a REALLY unfortunate roll by the human pc to save from a drop into the river (rolled a 2 and had a minus 2 on the modifier), he was unconcious and drowning. And none of our characters knew because. y’know. Silence. He kept drowning as the fight went on. And he eventually got washed up on some rocks and could make one death save after two failed ones. And he failed. And we had no cleric, and besides... it was more than a minute before we found his body down river. 

And all of our characters felt terrible. Kyssarda has a tendency to take blame for things that maybe aren’t strictly her fault, so she definitely feels a weight of responsibility for complicated reasons. The Leonin expressed that he felt some level of responsibility as well, and also hesitation about going forward with the journey though some conversation between Kyssarda and him lead to him continuing on regardless. The Elf Rogue was pretty torn up about it. 

We got some Elf Rogue backstory that addresses the fact that he was royalty (which was something Kyssarda had thought about asking) and more explanation of what’s been going on with him and his connection to the land we’re heading towards. We run into a fey creature that was an old ally of the Elf Rogue and Teifling Paladin, and we agreed to help him.

Cue the session last night.

We go to get some stuff of his back from an Incubus/Succubus pair. And sh!t hit the fan. Our Elf Rogue rolled really high stealth and decided that was a fine reason to dive through the broken window. Meanwhile, we were going on this side-quest with a half-orc barbarian (played by the guy that’s usually the paladin and who had the first PC death of the game the session prior). And the Incubus and Succubus can each essentially mind-control people, or try to. And both our barbarian and our Leonin Blood Hunter failed their wisdom save and so our two biggest heavy hitters were mind-controlled by the enemy. THAT went about as well as you’d expect. 

Over the course of the fight, the Leonin went unconcious twice. Kyssarda once. The Elf Rogue twice. And the barbarian would have gone unconcious but thanks to relentless endurance, he was brought back to one HP. In fact, we reached a point towards the end where the Leonin, Kyssarda, and the Elf Rogue were all unconcious and our barbarian was the only one standing...at one HP. That’s when the incubus (we’d killed his mate by then) took the Elf Rogue’s sister and made a break for it. The barbarian brought me back first (because I was dying in acid and therefore automatically failing death saves). Then I brought back the Leonin and we got the Elf Rogue up too. We managed to chase down the Incubus and save the sister as well. but HOLE. EE. SH!T. Most terrifying, stressful D&D combat of my LIFE. Kyssarda came very, very close for two rounds to offering herself up as a willing victim/slave/whatever if they’d let her friends go. She didn’t because the tide was starting to turn by then in the fight but it was a ROLLERCOASTER.

Before we closed the session, we went back to that fey guy and got paid though Kyssarda stormed off kind of? She didn’t vibe with the guy because she almost lost her friends over his stupid book and she was shaken and upset. But she had a conversation with the Leonin at the end of the session just kinda... dealing with the trauma of the past few days in-game. It was actually a really nice moment. I think my favorite RP moment for Kyssarda so far. 

So yeah! If you read all of this, I’m surprised and touched. Heh. I literally love D&D so freaking much, and I’m especially attached to this party and this character... though her lack of self-preservation does have me starting to plan for another back-up character just in case. ^u^

[ily-rly]

6, 9, and 12!

6. Favorite death: OH boy, that’d have to be my first player death as a DM. Spoilers for Rime of the Frostmaiden below. I’m running the module for some good friends of mine. I really liked the “doppleganger” secret included in the module but I felt it’d work better if the player didn’t know they were a doppleganger, so I secretly assigned it to the party fighter—the idea being the doppleganger had absorbed his memories during an avalanche before the campaign started and now believed itself to be the original. I was hoping for it to be a slow reveal, but things didn’t turn out that way. The party was out on a lake fighting a water weird, and the fighter had tied his wrist to the rogue in the other boat with a long piece of rope so the boats wouldn’t lose each other. At one point during the encounter the fighter dove into the water and got hit hard enough to kill him instantly, much to my horror. I was so bummed out that my fun reveal was sinking to the bottom of the lake, and wasn’t until one of the players reminded me that I remembered the rope! After the fight, they hoisted the body out of the lake to find that it had changed into something alien as the doppleganger reverted to its true form upon death, still tied at the wrist to the rogue. It was a delightfully creepy moment that fit the horror vibe of the module so well, and everyone lost their minds; that scene was SO much fun and definitely my “breakout moment” as a DM lol.

9. Your favorite thing about D&D: That’s seriously tough. Nothing about DnD beats actually sitting down and playing with some good pals, and the absolute best feeling in the universe is finishing a session and having your players thank you for a good time. Outside of that though I’m one of those people that just really loves character creation and has a million character concepts floating around that I want to play someday. Coming up with all these different cool builds possible in 5e really appeals to my mechanics-crunchy gamedev brain, yknow??

12. Your in game inside jokes/memes/catchphrases and where they came from: I recently started playing in a Discord game where the party Barbarian is a six-foot kuo-toa sweetheart named Bibple and in a moment of idiocy I joked that the new party name was “Bibple and the Short Kings” and now that’s what the roleplay channel is called. It’s an objectively wrong name because of the three other party members, one is honorarily short and the other is honorarily a king and there’s really only one true short king among them, but we all love Bibple and the Short Kings so much that it doesn’t really matter :’)

thanks so much, these were really fun to answer!! <3

[relentless-endurance]

I'm sorry you miss critical role, I just barely caught up and I kinda already miss it too. Tell me about your favorite episode, your favorite moment between two or more characters, or your favorite recurring joke! Or all of the above!!!

RIGHT I know why they’re not live right now but god I miss them so much! I’ll do all three because I like talking about Critical Role.

Favorite Episode: Its a tie off between 86: The Cathedral and 97: The Fancy and the Fooled.

Everything about that fight in the Cathedral was just so fucking GOOD. Caleb crashing through the window, PUMAT, the parallel between Beau and Molly; and the ending: Yasha ripping off Obann’s wings. (”Do you hear that?”). Also special shout out to Caleb’s “Stay the fuck away from my friends.” (Miles away from “You shouldn’t have killed my cat”.) Also that map?? Hello? 

Also when Taliesin hugged Ashley it added years to my life ;A;

For the Fancy and the Fooled it was. !!! The Essek reveal, the fancy nein, Beau and Fjord at the party. Jester once again locking Sharpe out on a balcony; but THAT ENTIRE CONVERSATION WITH ESSEK. I watched it live and when i tell you i was SOBBING...

“You were not born with venom in your veins.” is one of the best fucking lines in this entire campaign. And the Molly callback! Seeing that he still has an impact on the M9 after all this time is. He may have died, his story may have ended, but you can see the places he still touches. GOD I’M TEARING UP THINKING ABOUT IT.

Essek is a good character and I love him! I love that Matt had plans for him that got thrown off the rails because of the party, because they went through the effort of befriending him.

Your favorite moment between two characters: 

I have.. I have a lot, actually. But two that really stick with me are: 

The moment between Cadeuceus and Yasha in episode 91. Cad and Yasha are my favorites and I was dying for a one on one interaction with them and it didn’t disappoint me at all. I can’t even verbalize exactly what was said that made me really enjoy it; I was just so delighted my two faves interacted.

The other moment that really stuck with me is the watch talk between Caleb and Yasha in episode 92.

Yasha: "So [regret] never goes away?" Caleb: "No. But. It's easier, with people around you, to make you feel more like you.

Its so good, its so good!!

"I feel a little bit like... The forgiveness is almost harder to deal with. I feel like anger is... an emotion that I know how to deal with because that's where I live. But I feel like with everyone being so nice and accepting I don't know how to handle it.”

I don’t even know what to say its SO GOOD JUST. ASFKJHSLKFH

Favorite recurring joke: 

Jester’s sending shenanigans always delight me. Poor Essek, lmao.

Oh! The Syphilis Bandits, oh my god. Everytime they show up its just great. A lighthearted reminder that they’ve had impact on the world, even if in a small way. 

I will also say while I understand why people will tell you not to compare your dnd stuff to critical role, it warms my heart that in some ways they remind me the dnd silly stuff I get up to. They have their in jokes and absolutely off the rails shenanigans and moments where they’re laughing so hard they can’t talk, and like. Me too man! It makes me happy.

[drinkingdeadpeopletea]

What are your favourite subclasses/schools/colleges/ways etc within each class (you don’t have to do all of them! Just the ones that come to mind or you have feelings about)

oh BOY ANON LET’S GO THERE

okay so first off, the School of Divination Wizard. this one jumped to mind immediately because I’m playing one right now, and i love her. the main thing this subclass has going for it is it’s special Portent ability, where you get to roll 2 d20s once per long rest and replace any roll by any character that you can see with that roll. so, up against a really nasty demon and want to hit it with Polymorph? give it that 3 you rolled on your portent this morning on its saving throw and make sure the spell sticks. absolutely need to make sure your Barbarian doesn’t get charmed and start attacking the party? give him the 16 you rolled this morning so you can be sure he passes. it’s so clutch and it makes you feel so powerful. 

i also adore the Inquisitive Rogue. this is a Xanathar’s subclass for the rogue, and it lends a different flavor to rogues that I really like, as someone who likes doing sneak attack but also likes playing good-aligned characters that don’t want to be labelled a “thief” or an “assassin.” I get to play a detective and do 4d6 damage just by making a successful insight check? sign me the fuck up! also, as a player I’m kind of obsessed with knowing things–i never want to dump wisdom or intelligence because I want to make sure i can get those good insight checks and arcana checks in. so Inquisitive works really well for me and is just a very easy headspace for me to slip into. my Inquisitive Rogue Marigold is probably my favorite character I’ve ever played. when i played her at level 12 for a one-shot she had 25 passive perception. 

i also feel very strongly that the Great Old One Warlock is underrated. for starters, the storytelling potential is phenomenal. sure, it’s fun to have a patron who’s actively interested in you and toying with you, but it is also so fun to have encountered a being so great and terrible that it fundamentally changed the way you interact with the world, but your patron probably won’t even notice your existence until you’re like level 15, if it notices you at all. and then mechanically–you get telepathy!!! holy shit!!! how kickass is that!!! and you get access to all these fucked up eldritch spells!!! LOVE to have a cosmic horror as a patron. 

little bit of bias here because I’ve never seen the other subclasses in action, but I played an Artillerist Artificer in a one-shot recently (side-note, it was a Christmas one-shot and my character was a hafling child named Kev McAllister) and i LOVED that eldritch cannon. the customizability, the fact that it can walk around on its own, the fact that it only takes an action to build–that rules. and it can do some serious damage!

now getting into subclasses I’ve never actually played but love the idea of, Oath of Redemption Paladin. first off, any backstory that leads you to take that oath is absolutely beautiful and absolutely My Shit. bonus points if you were another class first and then have a big moment and start taking paladin levels…holy shit. holy shit. it also provides a fun challenge to be playing this class that’s typically known for its martial prowess and ability to do crazy amounts of damage and be actively trying to avoid battle. I don’t know if i’d ever actually want to play a Redemption paladin just because i actually love combat and am pretty much always Down To Fight but oh boy do i love the idea of them. 

on the other hand, a class that i would love to play and am in fact low-key obsessed with is the Horizon Walker Ranger. i adore the DnD planar system, and an entire subclass that’s built around travelling between them??? that fucking RULES!!! yeah, i’m just casually phasing through the Ethereal Plane, what about it? yeah, i’m friends with a bunch of gods and “benevolent dragons, fey, and elementals” that protect goodness in the multiverse, do you have a problem? “venturing to the Inner Planes and Outer Planes as needed to pursue their foes” SOMEONE PLEASE LET ME PLAY IN A CAMPAIGN WHERE A HORIZON WALKER RANGER MAKES SENSE. I KNOW IT REQUIRES A VERY SPECIFIC TYPE OF CAMPAIGN BUT. PLEASE. 

I love a good Light Domain Cleric because it both plays off the “light in the darkness” imagery that’s personally really important to me, but it also explores the side of light that is burning and ferocious and damaging and terrifying. radiant damage is…..very cool. but then I also really love “atypical” cleric domains–in particular, Knowledge and Trickery. the 4e deity Avandra, goddess of luck, is one of my absolute favorites, and I would love to play a trickery cleric of her sometime, and I also really like the idea of seeing “knowledge is power” coming to play in an extremely literal way. and that Channel Divinity “Read Thoughts” is cool as FUCK. 

i’ve never seen the Battle Master Fighter in action but I think they’re super cool. I really like subclasses and classes that do a lot of damage but have some fun other options for you do to as well–so monks, rogues, paladins, etc. Battle Masters fit that well, and I like the manuevers that let you buff the rest of your party. Plus, my love of knowing things about the world around me and the NPCs around me kicks in with that 7th level feature. 

those are all the ones I have strong feelings about. i love monks but i don’t have strong feelings about any of the subclasses over the others, although that desire to Know Everything definitely makes Matt Mercer’s Cobalt Soul subclass very appealing to me. I also like the Zealot Barbarian and the Divine Soul Sorcerer just because I like characters who interact with divine powers so much and I think the sorcerer in particular can add this super cool “i don’t need the church i’ve got the gods IN ME” flavor that i would love to see played out in the game. 

bards and druids are my least favorite classes to play so i don’t have many opinions on them, but I do think Circle of the Moon Druids are very cool and useful to have in the party, and i like the College of Valor Bard a lot because it lends itself well to the “battle poets” from Celtic folklore which is a particular academic interest of mine, and what did i spend thousands of dollars on a college degree on if not to use it to enhance my Dungeons and Dragons game? plus the ability to use Inspiration on a damage dice is *chef’s kiss.*

[dearheartwitcher]

ocs masterpost

for ease of access! in-depth descriptions of all my favorite ocs, all in one post. you can find even more of my ocs (brief descriptions + reference images) over on my art fight page! (you have to be logged in to view!)

[[MORE]]

DnD Characters:

note: for some of these, i have to omit large portions of info as i am either actively playing them, or saving them for a future campaign, and i dont want anyone im playing with to see and accidentally spoil themselves

Fennryn Autumntide—

They were separated from their parents as a baby, and instead raised by an older dwarven woman named Rhiannon Autumntide (AKA Anna). They lived in the forest on the mountain together. She taught them how to fend for themself, and a basic respect for nature and other living things. Their relationship was very teacher/student, but as the years went by they saw each other as family. Fenn solidified this by taking Anna’s last name when they were of age. Eventually, Anna passed away, and Fenn was left in the woods alone.

Fearful of dying alone without ever having experienced life off of the mountain, Fenn sets out to find an adventure. And they find one, alongside a younger tiefling man named Finn. Finn is an experienced pirate, but he is vulnerable. Finn and Fenn trust each other explicitly, and after some time, they fall in love.

Fenn is tall, muscular, and an older elf. They’re around middle aged.

Alistair—

Alistair is a mystery. They are a bizarre-looking half-elf, with a wicked grin, and glowing cyan eyes that lack pupils. They are seemingly fairly young, despite their hair beginning to grow white at the roots.

Alistair is extremely curious, and values sating that curiosity above most things. They spend much of their time exploring and researching. They also have a complete lack of respect for personal boundaries, and love to study and inspect whoever they can get their hands on. (They’re good with a pair of pliers, if you’re willing to let them pull a tooth. They’d be happy to show you their collection.)

Alistair also thrives on positive attention, especially from people who don’t give it easily. Perhaps that’s why they insist on hanging off of Frey as much as they do. Frey Matthias Wolfe is a rich bastard. He’s a man of study as well, but he’s a real mean bitch. And Alistair loves him.

Alistair’s patron... Is a whole other story. One that will remain secret, for now.

Jesse—

Jesse was spawned from the thought “I should make a mean nerd for everyone to bully!” And the execution, imo, was flawless. A 24 year old human man. Jesse is a bard, and he hates it. He has been traveling on his own for a while, and finished his bard college education a couple years ago. He’s pretty studious, and he’s determined to learn everything related to magic that he can.

Despite being a jackass, and kind of a stick in the mud, he does have some semblance of a sense of humor. He also likes to use his intelligence and skill to feel superior to the people around him as often as possible. He is visibly extremely disturbed by corpses.

Jesse is very vague about his past and his reasons for traveling alone.

Ford—

Ford is my newest character! He is a firbolg cowboy. Extremely tall (approaching 8’), with a powerful build. I can’t say much about him yet! He is seemingly very friendly and happy to lend a helping hand whenever he can. He has a sister, named Clementine, who owns a small grocery store.

Cressida:

(note: cressida city + the world its a part of belongs to my boyfriend @ghost-gore ! all the characters that mine know belong to him as well. warning for gore on his blog.)

Ellis—

Ellis is a demon who works in limbo under a man named Crow. Ellis is technically speaking, pretty old, but he looks just as much the young man he was when he died. He keeps his long hair back in a ponytail, and can’t seem to ever wear his suit properly.

Ellis’ powers allow him to see and alter people’s memories. Limbo, as it works out, is a mess of memories. He is always very busy keeping things in order. He’s no stranger to making mistakes, but he has a knack for fixing them to make up for it. When he has a moment to himself, he likes to slip into the dreams of humans. He thinks they’re interesting! (But he keeps accidentally bringing them nightmares...oops. Don’t worry, he can fix it!)

Ellis is in love with his boss, and has been for over a century. He has a hard time keeping it subtle, but fortunately(??) Crow is oblivious. But a century is a long time... And things have gotten intimate between them more than once.

He is also good friends with a much older demon, named Cordia. They like to meet up for drinks, and bond over funny cat pictures.

Rosier—

Rosier is an old, powerful demon. He was once a high-ranking officer in “Hell”’s military. He was charming, and an excellent strategist. (Having a powerful beast form also helps.)

However, something triggered him severely. In a frenzied panic, he shifted into his beast form and flew off.

As a beast, he has large red eyes, long antennae, sharp claws, and huge black wings. Years passed as he isolated himself, and legends spread of the Mothman. Rosier lost himself more and more, until he lost the ability to speak. He stopped seeing any people as the apocalypse happened all around him.

Later, living in the ruins outside of Cressida, he is found by a young hero named Ghost. Ghost is initially intimidated by Rosier, and treats him as an enemy. They fight a few times, before Ghost realizes that Rosier isn’t necessarily a foe— he’s just defending himself. Ghost then begins to treat Rosier almost as a pet.

After some time rehabilitating Rosier, Ghost brings him back to Orion HQ, where they work for Cordia. Cordia is one of very few demons old enough to recognize Rosier.

Eventually, Rosier is able to read, speak, and transform back into a more human shape. He still retains a few of his moth form’s traits, including fully red eyes, fur here and there, and limbs that fade to near-black at the tips.

Cyrus Darcy—

Cyrus is a rich bitch whore. He cares about three things ONLY: wine, sex, and himself. Money is power and he has more than enough of it. His parents passed away when he was a teenager, and they left him a fortune.

Cyrus always gets what he wants. If money can’t get it for him, he has another trick up his sleeve that can. Cyrus is a celestial, meaning a human born with supernatural powers. Cyrus has the power of suggestion, meaning that he can give anyone a short command that they are compelled to follow.

Cyrus has all the makings of a villain, but in actuality he is very neutral. He just wants to have a good time unbothered. He uses his powers mostly to get randos to leave him alone. (Randos like Arley and Kier, who are sent by Cordia to recruit Cyrus for Orion. It takes a while.)

Evelyn—

Evelyn (AKA Evie) was born in the Victorian Era, to a rich father. With money and good looks, she was often pursued by men wishing to court and marry her. She was disinterested in all of them. She preferred to spend her time reading and studying. Evelyn loved to learn, but she also loved a good romance or fantasy to sweep her off her feet.

Enter Cordia, who spent her Victorian days posing as a man. They had a passionate love affair, until Cordia made a sudden exit from Evelyn’s life.

Many years later, Evelyn awakens in the afterlife as an angel. When she and Cordia meet again, it is as equals and business partners.

She is now working as a librarian/an archivist. She also boxes, because she likes to feel strong.

Marcy—

Marcy is a thotty rave twink. They love music, they love neons, and they love to flirt. Marcy is very enthusiastic, and they are a little bit in love with basically everyone. They flirt constantly, and are not shy with physical affection. They like to do drugs and make out and they’re happy to do that with pretty much anyone who’s willing.

Marcy is also a celestial. Their powers allow them to control their personal gravity. They can jump really high, and come down hard, among other things! They mostly use it to help themself go fast. They used to be in roller derby! And they still love to skate.

(ps they have thighs for days and an ass that wont quit. thank u)

Other:

Bonnie Briary—

My newest oc! She belongs to a world where monsters are real, but hidden. Monsters aren’t super common, and they generally avoid integration with human society. (The setting is also a blend of modern + victorian fantasy. Think Lemony Snicket ambiguity.)

Bonnie is shy, sweet, and curious. She likes to study plants in particular. Her style of choice is cottagecore/fairycore blend. She has a garden that she loves very much.

Faust (belongs to tovomiel on ig), is a trash punk gargoyle monster, who for some reason has decided he likes Bonnie. He teases her relentlessly and loooooves to make her flustered. The catch is, he’s too shy to make a move beyond teasing and the occasional kiss. Bonnie, sweet as she is, is dying for him to stop leaving her hanging. Shenanigans ensue.

[starshipsandsuperheroes]

Top 5 DnD moments from a campaign you were in?

Ok so this is the most difficult ask to answer because when I sat down to come up with my top 5 I accidentally came up with a list of my Top 46 that I might post later and offer to expand on any story that piques anyone’s interest because lbr all I ever want to do is talk about the incredible stories I feel blessed to be able to tell, because my friends and party members are so fucking talented as actors and as storytellers and are just wonderful people and I -

Anyways

I’l put my top 5 under a cut, and y’all stay tuned if you want more where this came from for the teaser version of what I consider my “best of” list

Ask me my top 5 anything!

This is literally the hardest list in the world but ok in no particular order

1.) The Ship In A Storm

I’ve told this story before on here so I’ll keep it brief, but the moment that truly led me to understand how DND really could be anything was the day wizardsoup had us roll initiative to help handle a ship caught in a storm.  The campaign’s no longer running, but it changed how I play, no word of a lie.  We made skill checks and decided what needed to be done (and the order it needed to be done in), then on the storm’s “turn,” based on what we had done/not done, the action progressed accordingly.  It was creative and flexible and so so cool, and was super formative in my understanding of what you could actually do with DND.

2.) Slightly Damaged Horse Mug

From the Ambiscade campaign, run by my wife of twelve years wizardsoup.  This is a more recent one, and decidedly not a long one, but in raiding a criminal group’s hideaway, ding-dong-diddly-dick’s mullet cowboy bard found the best fucking item ever to come out of an investigation check, the Slightly Damaged Horse Mug.  Does it do anything?  Well it holds liquid.  Is it magic?  No.  Does it have a slightly damaged horse head protruding from it that gives it a certain… je ne sais qui?  Absolutely.

3.) The Eris Arc’s Culmination

The longest campaign I’ve ever played in has run for three years, and we’ll be going into our fourth year come September.  The first arc of the campaign ran for a little over a year with sammygiddings at the helm (where she remains, champion of DM’ing and my heart).  It’s a campaign based and flavored in antiquity, blending Greco-Roman and Egyptian mythological theming primarily with splashes of other mythologies here and there for taste.  I’m so fucking lucky to be a part of it, y’all have no idea.

The arc, for the most part, saw us retrieving items off a list provided to us by an “ally" in an attempt to gain power necessary to locate and rescue the gods from whatever had been slowly taking them and hiding them away.  Eventually, we learned that the angel worked for Eris, the manifestation of chaos older than almost everything in the world, whom we had previously identified as the antagonist of this campaign.  Unfortunately, everything we did in our attempt to stop her played straight into her hands.  We led her to Heh, her counterpart, in an attempt to get his help - which is what she had wanted all along.  Almost like it was nothing had our two demigods get kidnapped alongside the one we had gone to find so we could warn him, since it turned out that list was actually meant to more give the universe a hard reset, and the secret ingredient was three demigods.  

The session where everything broke down, the party (save for my and one other PC) travelled to the Shadowfell to free the gods, while the demigods tried to frenetically figure out how to not get used for Bad Ending Soup.  The party was on top of their fucking game, freeing the gods so they could return to their domains.  We managed not to get made into Soup, but it was primarily because Heh was looking out for us - when Eris moved to strike after a particularly moronic “What are you gonna do, kill me?” on my part, he leapt out and engaged her in battle.

It was a fucking treat to watch.  They fought each other like it was the best thing that had happened to them in hundreds of thousands of years, and sammygiddings played the parts incredibly.  There was a rip open to Tartarus, which would imprison either of them were they to fall.  Eventually, Heh caught her in a hug, whispered to her a moment, and tipped the both of them down the pit.  The utter silence that the room was filled with will never leave me.  I just remember shaking, looking around the rest of the room in disbelief, and the utter silence followed by the quiet murmuring that started up as we processed that it had really worked.

Also, after something like that, reuniting with your party Hits Different.

4.) Snow in Giza

This is a moment from during the Eris arc when the Gods Getting Taken thing started to go in a very serious direction.  Our paladin suddenly lost access to his powers, and, knowing what that might mean, we rushed to Giza (his home city and the location of the temple of Horus, his father) to see what was going on.  He jumped off the boat and sprinted through the city, my character hot on his tail to make sure he didn’t run into trouble alone.  

We made it to the temple and pushed past the perimeter the Temple of Mat (basically the police) had set up to find the ceiling cracked, the statue fallen, and the clerics in disbelief.  What really sticks out in my mind, though, was when we left the temple.  The paladin and I were the only two PCs from Egypt - which made it all the more impactful when we stepped just out the doorway and sammygiddings, in an artful moment of setting a terrifying tone, described the small, white, cold flakes that had begun to fall from the sky.  It was snowing in Giza.

It wasn’t a huge moment, technically?  But for whatever reason, every time I think through that experience, I lose my entire mind because it’s so vibrant.

5.) The Popcorn Fight

I debated for a while which experience from the Lakewood Campaign (a wild west, anti-capitalist, anarchist, and overall delightful campaign) I was gonna put on this list.  I almost put our Astral Plane Adventure, but I could dedicate an entire post to that, so I picked something a little more succinct from literally two sessions ago - the popcorn fight.

The characters in this campaign have taken a long time to get to what most parties fall into easily.  There’s been, for a long time, a lack of trust, a lot of secrets, and conflicting motivations between characters that made it hard to settle into a comfortable rhythm, mostly as a PC but even to some extent as a player.  The story was thrilling, the characters were electric, but the conflict made it difficult for them to connect.  

Recently, that’s started to shift a lot.  Our characters trust each other, even if they won’t say it.  Dare I even speak it, they like each other, and they care for each other.  I could have told you this was the direction everything was going without this moment, but the popcorn fight solidified it.  Having retrieved an NPC party member from a deal gone wrong (long story) with the help of a guest player, the main party returned to where we’ve been staying, and immediately our snack devolved into a full-out food fight.  Said NPC party member was hanging by the door, and had almost decided to go out again, when she realized what was happening inside and came in to join us in battle.

It was lighthearted and fun, something rare to find in this campaign.  More than that, it was a sign and manifestation of something shifting in the party’s dynamic that was really fulfilling.

Ok sorry for the ASS long answer and I’ll probably post the abbreviated list of my favorite moments with the offer to elaborate on any of them for anyone interested in a bit lakjsdfa ty for the amazing question and excuse to ramble about how creative and talented my friends are