#some of the npcs just made me feel so good about myself. I loved getting emails from them

[floral-hex]

Anyway, I finished Death Stranding, and by finished I mean I sat and watched 2 hours of cut scenes with the occasional walking around

and I loved it.

[iraprince]

I love the entire concept of Cookie... the look, the fashion, the gender... Would you mind telling us a little more about him? I'm also intrigued about why she's named Cooking with Gorgeous!

HI i would LOVE to talk about george thank you so much. also this makes me realize i've never actually sat down and just made a post unabashedly infodumping at length abt an oc before and it seems silly that i haven't. i ask only for all dear readers to please temper their expectations for this post with the knowledge that i just smoked half a joint before sitting down to answer it. a small one. but still. anyway

FIRST OF ALL FOR THE UNACQUAINTED THIS IS COOKING WITH GORGEOUS, aka cookie or george for short. he uses he/him and she/her pronouns interchangeably!

hi sorry that's not cookie that's a horse in a bridal veil that i. found in my stuff while trying to scroll and find my cookie art. i just got distracted and had to show you. okay no for real here's cookie

he's the character i'm playing in a playtest campaign of the absolutely mesmerizing sapphicworld, an in-development ttrpg!!! and if i'm going to be talking about cookie i feel like i HAVE to say i think a huge amount of her charm and dazzle and charisma comes directly from the charm and dazzle and charisma of the setting i created her for. i know i am laying it on really thick right now but that is on purpose. i want, desperately and unashamedly, for this game to get really popular bc 1. it's genuinely that good. and it's not even DONE yet and 2. i want everyone to get into it so that everyone will make sapphicworld characters and then i'll get to see everyone's sapphicworld characters.

EDIT i'm scrolling back up here and adding a readmore bc this is already getting so long lol. you asked for "a little more" and apparently i have graciously decided this means "literally every fact about cookie that exists in my brain"

SO a lot of the info/tidbits i haven't shared about cookie are i guess gameplay-specific stuff... his title (which is like a class/playbook) is "The Noble Sweetheart," though in sapphicworld "nobility" no longer has anything to do with wealth or class, and is instead entirely about amassing a court purely via devotion/popularity; her subculture (which is like, Who You Hang Out With; drifters, goths, poets, debauchers, cowpokes, etc) is Babe; and her kind (which is like ancestries but in sapphicworld is really just like, a physical form, which u can change more or less at will) is Lunarthrope, which is basically a werewolf!! or more broadly a furry, since u always look like whatever were-animal you are 24/7. just MORE at night, tho i suppose i don't represent that aspect much in my cookie art... ANYWAY i am restraining myself from just sitting here and like. transcribing her entire character sheet. but basically what all this means is that cookie's role in the world (at least at the beginning of the campaign) is "Professionally — no, VOCATIONALLY Hot Person who everyone loves so so so so so so much." cookie really enjoys this role.

he's named cooking with gorgeous because he's an avid cook, and he wants to share that with you, and he's gorgeous!! though honestly the cooking hasn't ended up as important to his character as it was when i first came up with him, lol — but my initial concept was kind of like, what's the equivalent of a bouncy normie recipe blogger/lifestyle influencer but in the context of the lush horny trans deathless psychedelic universe of sapphicworld. and it's cooking with gorgeous, a doggirl dyke with big blue boobs (six of them!!) who is so devastatingly cute and darling that a bunch of people just kind of pledge their fealty to him for no real reason other than he feeds them. and is cute

also her name is def influenced by the fantastic names of many canon sapphicworld npcs! like, quick example list of some npc names off the top of my head: the booty commie, death cybernetic, princess eureka!, the culinary goof (whom cookie dislikes. btw.), pizza friday (whom cookie loves!!!)

cookie is very very determined, and she's ALMOST always very confident. even when she isn't feeling confident, she's still very good at forcing herself to keep putting one foot in front of the other — maybe just while screaming or crying or uncontrollably barking or at least very ardently complaining. he has a tendency to be spoiled and, like, tactless-via-obliviousness, so sometimes he can be grating to interact with, and he has a petty/vindictive streak; but in general he's an AGGRESSIVELY kind person and usually aims all his shrill, cheerful stubbornness directly toward the goal of refusing to accept anything but the best for everyone.

at the beginning of our campaign cookie has JUST received a brand new castle!!!! (chateau gorgeous.) which he doesn't actually "own" bc, remember, no wealth or class in sapphicworld, but he's the ENTHUSIASTIC new caretaker and is chomping at the bit to renovate it so ppl can live there and he can throw a bunch of magnificent parties and basically continue living exactly as he has been, But Even More Fabulous. obviously this is exactly when the main plot threat of the campaign shows up and spoils everything and compels cookie to go on his First Ever Adventure!!!!!! she HAS to save the world otherwise NOBODY will be able to go to the first big party at chateau gorgeous :((((

at this point to prevent myself from just like, giving you guys a play by play of the entire campaign so far i am going to just start listing every cookie fact i can think of as bullet points

🎀 he owns a magical sword in the shape of a giant microplane. it's called The Microplane. he pronounces this "mee-crow-plah-nay"

🎀 george desperately wants to resurrect The Dog-Lich, an entity that once ruled over all beasts from its palace on the moon but was murdered and torn to pieces in a cosmic war far in the past. her attitude towards this desire is 50% devoted lunar cultist, 50% parasocially obsessive twitter stan

🎀 this isn't really a cookie fact but going back to how his title is The Noble Sweetheart — just for a glimpse at party composition, his fellow party members' titles are The Intimate Scholar, The Tentacle Advocate, and The Tw*nk Controversial (the * is the canon spelling).

^ aforementioned tw*nk. its name is Mwah ("pronounced like the kiss you blow at someone you just fucked over"). mwah is played by @/squiddelyfather on twitter!

🎀 mwah and cookie used to be very, very tight, BEFORE mwah became the tw*nk controversial. now that it's so.... you know.... controversial, well. they're still very close, but it has gotten a little stilted and weird (and watching them slowly un-weird it together as the campaign goes on has been one of my fav roleplay experiences ever honestly)

🎀 cookie's other adventuremates, skarligge and delaryn, are both very indulgent towards him. delaryn acts the most grumpy/dismissive about it but is honestly sometimes the worst about spoiling cookie out of anyone in the party (skarligge's player is twt@/clown_dream and delaryn's is twt@/glaiveguisarme and hey while im at it our fantastic gm is the sapphicworld dev, twt@/ddemoneclipse. hi guys i hope u don't mind me chattering abt ur ocs here lol it's just hard to talk abt the best of cookie w/o bringing up everyone else's characters and roleplay also!!!)

🎀 cookie is very VERY sensitive and will burst into tears at the drop of a hat. the precursor to this is her eyes getting So So So Big And Wet And Round. one of my favorite bits to menace the other party members with is when something is not going cookie's way i will lean into my mic and say "cookie's eyes are getting so so so big. they're getting so big and wet and round and shiny. they're so so round and fucking big her eyes are like big wet black glass marbles" and this is like kryptonite to them. this is like getting hit with deadly radiation

🎀 oh speaking of fashion!!!! one of cookie's perks from being a Babe is that she can always change her look whenever she wants. she will ALWAYS have whatever outfit she needs and can quickchange instantly. wait this reminds me i have a bunch of seasonal holiday outfits sketched out and i don't think i've ever posted them here but it'll only let me put one more image in this post. well here have this one

🎀 okay well suddenly i have forgotten all other george facts so that's all for now!!! from now on i will try to just dump oc facts like this more often tho this is really fun. ty for getting me going lol!!!

[watchingyoufromthestars]

Hhhhhhhh more Hermie thoughts. I think the difference in s2 deaths for me is something like this, as articulate as I can make myself right now. With Terry Jr., there was some expectancy that we’d probably see him again. It had already been set up that the dead will ‘return’ in that they’re very easy to visit with some quick realm hopping. My feelings towards this was that I was unsure if I wanted to be able to see him again because of it being too late for Scary to make up with him properly and never seeing him again would really cement this. I do like that they got a moment together in Hell, and it was necessary to happen in terms of all the Daddy Magic memory collection, but all the same it’s too late for Scary to make things right with Terry in a ‘normal’ way.

With Hermie, I genuinely don’t expect to ever see him again. It’s been set up that permadeath exists. The void. Nothing and nowhere.

Hermie is chronologically two years old. He was created out of a scam, nothing of love. He was dropped into reality as a joke (literally and meta-wise). Nobody has ever loved or cared for him, and that’s only made more known to him the more he learns about his birth parents.

And then here’s Normal. Nobody really knows Hermie, but Normal sees him. Normal may fall victim to the constant oops-Hermie-is-here-we-forgot, but he does his best to make space for him and include Hermie, even if a good chunk of that time is alongside romantic feelings. It’s still recognition.

But in the end, none of that matters. Because Hermie is just an NPC. An NPC that the DM doesn’t even care too much about, despite how interwoven he became with the plot and gets dragged along. He’s important but at the same time he never mattered. In Anthony’s own words from Teen Talk 2-46, Hermie is a free kill because it does nothing to affect the podcast. And he hates Hermie because “he isn’t Paeden.”.

The said the entire next episode is just about the fact that he died. Hermie’s finally getting the attention he so desperately craved but would never receive, but now he’s not here to even see it. And after that? When they’re done being sad about Hermie for one episode? He’ll probably be barely brought up ever again, just like always. Except this time it’s because he no longer exists and never will again.

And that kills me.

[ganondoodle]

feeling much better now having gotten some sleep (the dont trust how you feel about yourself past 9pm is good advice no joke)

of course all my criticism of totk still applies but im feeling less depressed about it, tho i will say its honestly kinda baffling how many times the game actually got me interested and excited about stuff and then just kinda drops it in a dead end, of course they were those kind of things in botw as well but it seems much less .. balanced in totk

(not even just the big things like making me want to actively do something to help zelda turn back when it just gets solved on its own in the end, but also some lil things like the fact that so many NPCs tell you about that newly discovered animal species and when you find the dongos they are just gem vending maschines)

in the end i can say, no, i dont like totk, tho i still love the graphics and the way the world is made ( botw showed me jsut how immersive and alive a world can feel i love it to death), i liked the gameplay and that it kept the freedom botw had established, the bossfights are mostly fun (tho i wish you could refight more of them), i LOVE the yiga and im glad they got more of a spotlight, the music is FANTASTIC i keep catching myself humming along, alot of the sidequests are much bigger and feel like you are actually doing something, i like how the sages are a bit more integrated into the story, the majority of the new designs are great, both the japanese and german voice acting is great, and the end fight has some of the best build up i have ever experienced, my heart starts to race when that music build up starts even tho i have beaten it 3 times already-

however, the story is both simple and incredible flat with lots of stuff that doesnt make sense especially when it was said to be a sequel, the zonau should have stayed a mystery imo, they failed to make me care about them even a little bit and often felt forcefully crammed into the world and its history, i think you could have told an incredible story taking place in the present and leave the past be the past, you easily could have connected botw and totk in a much better way than they did, i dont like how it changes aspects about botw all the while nigh ignoring it ever happened, it still feels like it was trying to be a replacement and not a sequel and all the referencing and callbacks to the old titles may have been done in good faith but that and including time travel yet again ultimately lead to people ripping each other to shreds over trying to prove its placed in the old timeline despite it making no sense at all and confusing people even more; often when the game made me care or be excited about something it was dropped in a dead end, there was a ton of missed opportunities and lost potential to tell a much more nuanced and interesting story/lore, and thinking about it only makes me sad for the things that could have been

overall i think my disappointment is outweighing my fun and the only way i can keep playing it while having fun is ignoring everything that isnt, which works quite well most of the time since im pretty much done with all story stuff but i keep slipping into my little rants nonetheless; i will say its making me a little worried about the future of the franchise, but i know im in the minority and maybe i will just have to accept that the new stuff wont be for me anymore and i should not hope for anything that interests me xD

except for some meme material or specific characters i love i dont think i will make much use of anything totk tried to establish, and i hope thats fine with the lot of you (<3) hopefully that also means my ranting days are over xD

anyway, back to making niche art i go! (sorry for making you endure these long ass rambling posts :,) )

[mcnuggyy]

✨ Rainbow Factory TTRPG! ✨

HIII!!!! As promised here is my silly little reskin of KOB (kids on bikes/brooms)!!! :o] <3

EDIT: This post got a bit long eek!! sorry!! if you just wanna see the silly stuff I did then just check out the links! You can ignore all the other text on this post jajaja!

Mini Rule Book  ( for GMs & Players!)

PDF Version!  

Here is the document I gave all my players beforehand! This is a simplification of all the KOB rules, character creation process, and the worldbuilding for Unicopia! Please feel free to use as much or as little of it as you like for your game! It goes step by step through the character creation process and has a wide variety of examples and references. I try to be as thorough as possible but ofc I may have missed something! Please feel free to make up what i miss or shoot me a message if you're really curious jaja!

Here is a jpg of the Player Character Sheet of needed! :o]

RFTTRPG: NPC Stats & BG Characters! (For GMs!)

This is what I used while GMing! Feel free to use these as you like! I tried to keep it simple and loose for the big characters like Hev and Trixie! And even simpler for the background characters. I didn't give the BG chars any stats as I knew I wouldn't need them for the one-shot I was running but please feel free to make your own BG chars, and stats, and all of that good stuff!

I also have a rough RF building chart for exploration! Our campaign was set inside the Rainbow Factory so it felt like a good idea to make this for my players! However please feel free to set your one-shot anywhere else in Unicopia! I hope to make a map of  the districts one day to add to the mini rule book later on! :o] You can also set it at another Happiness Factory such as the Tear Factory or Heart Factory! You could even have your unicorns visit Earth! The world is your oysta! ♡ 

Overall I tried to keep everything super simple and clear for both myself and my friends! I imagine other Factories in smaller districts would be much smaller than this but this is a rough idea of what I think most of them would sort of be like!

RFFTTRPG: One-shot Ideas & More! (For GM's)

I love love loved using the KOB system and reskinning it for my silly little world! and I love when a TTRPG gives you nice sort of rules to follow while still being super free and open in other aspects! It made it  easy for me to just come up with a simple problem/plot for my players! However I know coming up with something from scratch is also super intimidating and overwhelming! So here is the idea I did, along with some others I've thought of for fun! (and might even do in future games jejeje)

Kid on the Run!  This is super Monsters Inc inspired. Have the party over at a Factory for any reason you choose. I chose a tour/ted talk hosted by the lovely Trixie! It can also be a company party, or breaking and entering, or they already work there, etc.! Have one of the portals go haywire allowing a child to enter Unicopia! It's now up to the party to not only capture the child but return them back home safe and sound to the human world! All while keeping the child secret from the rest of unicornkind! RF: Happiness Special Forces The Counsel has decided to create a special task team in charge of going down to earth! Go undercover and stop those who cause great risk to Unicornkind! This could be stopping a huge evil corporation that is creating an excess amount of unhappiness, reducing the magic of Unicopia. Or having to go in and save multiple children in danger such as a field trip gone wrong! Or making an adult human who remembered their childhood unicorn forget about them again before things get dicey! Your players will have to keep their existence as unicorns a secret, all while saving their world, and exploring Earth as characters who may be unfamiliar with humans and their ways! Unicorn Hunters & the End of Unicopia What if unicorns biggest threat finally found out where they had been hiding all this time? and not just knew but had access to a portal? It's up to the players to stop them at all costs and save their world.  A high stakes adventure full of lore, magic, and potential unexpected allies!  The Daily Life of a Field Op/Happy Tech This is more of a slice of life concept! This would work well for smaller parties of 1-4 Players! Have your Players form teams and deal with the daily troubles a helping a kid/teen/pre-teen  as a Field op or Happy Tech! (You could even have one of your Players play one of the kids themselves!) While still balancing their social lives, self needs, etc.! A look inside what it's like for Unicopias most essential workers, their interpersonal dramas, relationships, etc. Great for those who love character centric collaboritive storytelling!

ANYWAYS!!! Sorry for the ridiculously long post </3 I just wanted to cover all my bases in case someone decides they wanna play this reskin!! If you do end up playing pleaseee let me know eeek!! very very exciting!!! <3 regardless i hope you have fun looking at all this silly stuff I did to make my friends smile and laugh :o]

You can check out our one-shot over on my Patreon yahoo!

[mostmagical]

nicole my love will you rank your top three or top five or top ten video games… whichever number you wish to gush about… i love you…

hi sunny..... oughh I have a tough time picking favorites.... I looked at this question like a homework assignment.. I did a top 10 and I put reasoning even though you did not ask for that but I'm putting it under this read more in case you want it... you don't have to read more though... but you can... i love you...

Top 10

Kingdom Hearts - Obviously of course. I don’t always even rank KH1 as my favorite KH game but basically this was my “oh games can be like that?” game. Until I played this, I mostly played simulator games and movie tie-ins and Barbie games, and I loved those but this one had a STORY I could bury myself in. I forced the friend I played this game with to sit and wait while I read through every journal entry and character file looking for MORE, because I was so immediately hooked on everything.

Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories - This one always ranks high not just because of the story, which I love, but because this was the first game I ever beat entirely by myself. A lot of people skip or can’t stand this game so I’m extra proud of myself tbh. But this is the game where one of my favorite characters became one of my favorite characters, so it’ll always have a special place.

Ōkami - I love this game so much… It’s so visually stunning, I love the unique game play, and Amaterasu is such an amazing protagonist despite the fact that she does talk outside of barking and howling and also she is literally a dog. But she’s so good. There’s a dedicated bark button, which is important. AND THERE’S FISHING!

Final Fantasy X - I’ve literally never sobbed more over a piece of media in my entire life. The game wasn’t even over yet. I had to fight a boss with tears in my eyes. This was my first FF game and oh my god. Oh my god. I can say no more.

Horizon Zero Dawn - I got so sucked into this game. It was all I could think about for months. I love the environmental storytelling and the world-building and Aloy is a female protagonist WITHOUT a love interest in this game and it’s so huge to me and ugh. UGH.,

Hades - This game is so fun… I usually don’t like games that make me feel like I’m struggling but they somehow made it such a joy to die over and over again and see what’s up in the house. The sheer amount of unique dialogue makes it impossible to get annoyed. And it’s just FUN. Full of complicated family dynamics and Greek mythology… Collectibles… WOO (also has fishing)

Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life - This is a really sentimental add, but it’s genuinely one of my favorites. I have so many memories of me and my childhood best friend staying up until the wee hours of the morning playing this game, only to go to bed and set an alarm to get up and play it again. AWL has some of the best NPCs of all HM/SOS games, and also the cutest cows. Ever.

Final Fantasy XV - FISHING. And also stories about bonds we build… friendship… ough.. I love sitting in the back of the car and letting Ignis drive and feeling like we’re all on a friendship road trip together. Random stops for pictures and bathroom breaks included. Luna deserved better but the hours I spent fishing made up for that.

Persona 5 Strikers - It probably seems silly to put this here and not Persona 5, but I really loved Strikers so much. It had such satisfying gameplay, completely different from the source material, yet still somehow felt like such an homage to the classic movesets. It was a really good adaptation to a new genre. I loved the story and the new characters, who MADE ME CRY! and I think it’s such a shame, because a lot of Persona players skipped this one!!! Ryuji gets to say fuck. Come on, people.

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles - I love the characters in this game so much… I miss them… I love the original AA trilogy, but this one was so much fun for me. I love Herlock Sholmes… I love him so much I forgot that his real name is not Herlock Sholmes. All the characters are so dynamic and the cases are so fun… That was a game I wished never had to end.

Special mention to Animal Crossing: Wild World, Barbie Horse Adventures Mystery Ride, Secret Agent Barbie, Ni No Kuni, God of War (2018), Gris... I love video games. Damn.

[du-buk]

8:11 Questions+Answers Pt.2

Got behind again:,D Thank you all for the questions and support though! I hope these don’t disappoint!💙✨✨✨🦭

General Characters Asks;

I’m SOOOO behind on these asks, I apologize to you anons😭💙 But thank you so so much 2nd anon! I love rambly asks, so no worries💙 Thank you for supporting BOTH versions of the game, and liking it! I am honored and I hope you enjoy the sequel; and Gabriel’s next upcoming content then! Thanks again!

For anon 1; hahahaha, I love that! What a cool dream......... I would love to try making such a thing in real life...... but no idea how to structure jokes into four-panels......

But it would be really cool! Newpaper comics and the like were some of my biggest drawing inspirations as a young kid. It would be so nice to give it a go:)

I’ve thought about it, and, sadly no 💔 I’m incredibly busy, especially as of late due to family tragedy, and my health makes it hard to be online all the time.

I’m a mod for one discord server my friends made, and, I do a terrible job at being a mod. I’m never online and just don’t check in with servers, sorry! But I can always happily promote a fan one👍✨

Hmmm......

There’s a small linkage to this. To be honest there was an grand, but old concept for this; but I might drop it as it doesn’t really impact the story in a positive way (as I see it). Or maybe I’ll continue with this, and see what I can do with it in the future.....! Maybe I’ll surprise myself, hahaha. Let’s find out!

But in general it was used before to signify angels, or death’s presence. I don’t know if I like this as I didn’t really use it for every angel in chapter one. For fun, this is what the map looks like when Gabriel and Vittorino talk and the static occurs. The Basilica walls change, and some angels appear.

Hmmm..... oh boy. I think there were a few changes, so I will attempt to remember, but I believe I changed;

Gabriel’s co worker plot line: Meh. It’s a good excuse for him to get to the Basilica. But it’s not so heavily talked about anymore. She is most likely just dead, or missing, and Gabriel can now use Vittorino to help regain his memories. Gabriel’s past overall has done a lot of last minute changes; I think all for the best.

Gabriel’s age: I made him younger. Just to look more helpless and you feel sorry for the guy.

Vittorino and Gabriel dialogue; Vittorino is meant to be ambiguously-taken by the audience when he meets Gabriel. You can decide to trust him, or not.

Accardi and Vittorino’s dialogue in Act 3: I believe I changed some things when they talk about Dante. The old version, I believe, there were indications that Accardi knew who Dante was? He still does for the updated full game, but, now with V2 he claims he can’t remember specifically just Dante’s appearance/face. Lots of face imagery here hahaha

Lots of little details I believe; like what notes Ryker found and such.

The static noise. Also is the reason why in the demo; Leon told Ryker to ignore the static noises; and why it’s not in the full game now. I really just didn’t care for that concept, and wish to use something better.

In the future, if given the chance; I would like to re-make the town and the townspeople. In general just change NPC outfits, way of speech, beliefs, etc. to really give the town a stranger feeling and making the player feel so out of place.

Hmmm..... sometimes I throw an intentional curve ball. Sometimes I don’t give a yes or a no to not spoil the future fun.  And yet, I have also deleted some asks that said too much. I try to delete outdated asks but I’m also just..... not online much and forget to go through my archive, hahaha^^;

Off the top of my head; nothing was spoilered in my answers, but, a lot of people ask me about “how will X character react to Accardi being outed as a cannibal?”

Well.... I’ve already decided to change someone’s reaction. I think this will be fun to write dialogue for, when I’m at that scene, hehe.

To give an idea; 8:11 is has been fully written for years now. But, it’s been a struggle to create a game with my health, busy schedule, etc. as a one-man-team. So, sometimes bits and pieces of the story, or characters, change over time like I do. New things inspire me, challenge me, etc. and I like to implement it in my stories. So far, the ideas and sets I’ve made for 8:11′s sequel overall make me extremely proud, and I hope to show it sometime in the near future when completed. 💙👍💙🦭💙

Hmmmm...... only recently! As a challenge I wish to find voices in the same language characters grew up speaking (i.e, Ryker = French, Gabriel = Italian, etc.) My girlfriend actually pointed out a really nice headcanon voice someone had for Ryker, which is this video;

I’ve shared before that I think Leon sounds like this, but, other than these two, I have no ideas yet on voice claims.

Hmmm...... I don’t know much about instruments, so, I might leave it up for fans to think about, hahahah^^;

I like to think Juliek was forced by his parents to learn violin or something; but he didn’t care for it. So he doesn’t pressure Amalia to pick up instruments if she doesn’t want to. But he loves to hear Accardi play. Maybe Susan knows how to play as well? Maybe instrument-playing is reserved for more upper class people in this world, as it sounds with above hahahaha.

Hahahaha, weeeeell...... ummm.... [weapons/guns talk below warning]

Sorry for a disappointing answer anon, but, I just like arrows! They are often in my dreams, and fun to draw, so it’s common to just see in my artwork and stories hahahaha. I’ve had practice with shooting arrows and guns; and just like them. So I like to draw characters with weapons. Nothing much to it for 8:11′s story(symbolism wise); but maybe for future stories of mine.

Yep! But I cannot say who ;) But I find the secret couples cute

I’m glad you like them anon, thank you!!

After playing Pathologic, and re-watching Twin Peaks, I really wish I developed Dakota and Wankou more. Side characters can be so fun to talk to and interact with. I hope in the future to develop them more 💙💙💙

Yep! Go ahead anon, please help yourself to any of the ADULT characters! Have fun!

Ryker asks;

Are you referring to this?⬇️

Then yes! My dear best friend @jirachi​ made that for me, in support of the game! I actually have it up on my wall, next to my work station 💙😭 So everyone say thank you to her! And since time is played around with in the Basilica, like loose strings, I figured it fit best there:)

He would, if you’re Ryker. If not, but you can see him, he might be alarmed (”why are you able to see someone else’s guardian angel?” he’s thinking) but if you are friendly......he can hug you. He would be so warm, yet probably smell like soil.

They certainly smell bad. They were going to take a bath in act 3, but then found Beetle in the tub instead.

Hi anon! Well.....

It wasn’t my intention, but, if you see fit; then who am I to stop you? Ryker wasn’t written with anything like that, but in general if I write a character with something; I will state it in text. (Which is why there’s so much talk about depression and anxiety disorders hahah)

Leon asks;

Hello anons! He technically had someone he was very close with, but, NOT in a romantic sense. Just a friendly way.

I’ve never written a love interest for Leon, sadly. If you want him though, you can have him. Just be gentle....

He also has no canon last name, so, you can give him yours. 👍💙💙💙

Hahaha, surprised (but glad) to hear! I didn’t think Francis would gather any fans until chapter two. Here’s some fun facts;

He was a morning person until the incident

He enjoys □ □ □ 

□ □ □ □ □  □ □ □ □ □

Yes! Francis is just spoken with in a non-human form, so, it can be tricky to tell.

Accardi+Juliek asks;

He probably had to drag them around, got dizzy, and threw up on them. What’s a few more bruises to Ryker when they’re covered in them, hahahaha.

Hannibal, definitely. Your mom is very right👍 I love Mads Mikkelsen’s portrayal of him. Other than Hannibal, Accardi was inspired by other characters like Koito from Golden Kamuy and Westley from the Princess and the Bride.

Are you referring to his pixel sprites? It honestly might have been a mistake, as, pixel art hurts my eyes 😭 I think 8:11 will be the last game I make with pixel art, as, the little details are too difficult for me to keep up with. My bad!

Hello! Yes, I confirmed it over on Twitter a while back I believe. But don’t be fooled........it’s not a long history between them, and anything about them will just be implied. Juliek just likes to fuck.

Uh, no clue, sorry anon. He’s just always had that.

Remember when Accardi told Ryker he gave stitches to Vittorino once? When he bumped his head on a table? Maybe Accardi had to do something similar with Juliek after a crazy night with the boys..... who knows....

Vittorino+Gabriel+Dante asks; 

There’s no cure. We’re just going to have to put you down. Sorry.

He would chase you with an axe.

I don’t mind! I’ve never really thought about it myself.... but I don’t mind it, hahaha. Chapter two might be a wild ride though if you do ship them ;P

Dante enjoyed hunting as it relieved stress, and a way to escape from the madness at the Basilica for a moment. Though, he was never taught proper gun safety (no surprise).

🔞🔞🔞🔞Asks;

....Or in the past, possibly. I doubt Gabriel would want to do anything in a sewage area.

Hello! I am, thank you for asking! You’re free to draw whatever you want, I don’t care.

You might have to ask off anon. I don’t know exactly how to send these images, as, I don’t want to upload them on my archives 😭Just a heads up, I don’t think anything other than bare chests are shown so don’t get any hopes up👍I believe for the priest zine I only drew Leon and Vittorino.

LOOOL yeah okay, pretty funny. But we will have to see, hahha. I don’t really draw NSFW images but I can try my best.

Well.... in honor of Noda, the author behind Golden Kamuy ranking  sizes.....sure. I will do that too 👍✨

Wankou (the biggest)

Dakota

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[barbaracleboy]

Etrian Odyssey Series: Compilation of Archetypal Town Characters

I really love the NPCs that show up in each Etrian Odyssey game, in the town you keep coming back to between dungeon visits. Unironically, I'm always excited to see the new shopkeeper, innkeeper, barkeeper, etc. of any given EO game. Because of that, just for fun, I decided to gather official art for all characters of the archetypes: guildmasters (whom you speak to when growing and organizing your guilds), innkeepers (whom you speak to when resting at an inn or storing/taking back items), shopkeepers (whom you speak to when buying goods and armor/weapons), barkeepers (whom you speak to to get and report sidequests), and...mission givers? (officials whom you speak to to get or report important story missions).

Now, some of this art was a bit tough to find, mainly for Etrian Mystery Dungeon 2 and the Mobile game, since neither was released outside of Japan and the latter is more or less lost. For EMD 2 I went to some Japanese articles on 4gamer talking about it (https://www.4gamer.net/games/375/G037512/20170720039/ and https://www.4gamer.net/games/375/G037512/20170622014/) and for the Mobile game I went to this Japanese Article that that talked about playing it a little (http://dihyhi.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-47.html), which to my knowledge is one of the only documentations of that game, so credit to those sources for the art. I also machine translated those sites for info on the Characters' names and whatnot, so take it with a grain of salt. I know machine translations are rarely very helpful but it's all I had right now, sorry.

It should also be noted that there will be light spoilers for some of the games here, mainly Etrian Odyssey 3. Nothing too egregious, at worst it's for something you find when you beat the second Stratum, but I still feel I should mention it.

One last thing, I will be listing most games as EO plus their respective number (so the first game will be EO1), the Mystery Dungeon games will be listed as EMD and EMD2, for the first and second respectively, the Mobile game will written EOM, and even though in America it's called Etrian Odyssey Nexus I will write that game as "EOX", simply because that's more distinctive as an acronym. I've seen others on here do that so it's probably not so weird but I still felt I should clarify.

But enough talk! It is time to meet the guildmasters, some of the most important NPCs in any Etrian Odyssey game! Mostly rather well-armored looking (except for in EO3, EMD2, and Mobile), these tend to be pretty cool characters, and while we don't always get to see them fight much it's welcome when the chance does arrive.

My favorite of these is probably Marion, with Asuka and Egar as runner ups.

[The rest will be under the Keep reading, otherwise this post would just be way too long by default]

And now, for the group that, to be real, is a big part of why I wanted to make this post: the Innkeepers! Friendly, helpful folks that run the inns where your characters can rest, healing up and saving progress. As some likely remember, I already listed most of these characters in that meme I made some time back, featuring characters I like that have constantly closed eyes (https://barbaracleboy.tumblr.com/post/722662911985778688/forgive-me-if-ive-posted-this-here-already-but-i). I intentionally tried to list every Innkeeper from the Etrian Odyssey series (minus some whose eye aren't closed all the time, whom I will get into later), and I largely succeeded!...except it turns out that there's a unique innkeeper in the Etrian Odyssey Mobile game. Granted, I can't really get on myself for that, it's a Japan-only mobile game that barely anyone seems to have played or heard of and is also not available anymore. Still, that was a slight bummer for me. But look! They're all here now!

My favorites of these is probably Hanna, with Jenetta and Dalla as runner ups.

And now, I can truly have them lined up together.

Look! They're friends!

Next up are various shopkeepers! Fun fact! Napier is not only the Shopkeeper to have run the shop in two separate games (not counting remakes), but one of, if not the only one of these NPCs to have hosted a facility in two separate games.

My favorite of these is probably Shilleka, with Edie and Wynne as runner ups.

This group consists of characters in similar not identical roles to the prior group: if I'm correct, in Etrian Odyssey One medicines and equipment were sold at different shops, and at medicine shops you could also revive characters and cure petrification (EO2 brought medicine at the main shop but kept the revival at the hospital). Hoffman, Stiles, and Muse(?) here ran their respective games medicine shops/hospitals, Angie supported Dr. Stiles, Don Chano supported his daughter, Elizabeth (from the prior group), and Lizley and the Merchant of Darkness(?) acted as merchants you coukd run into within the dungeon itself. Also, apparently Hoffman, Stiles, and Angie are (based on) characters from Trauma Center, which is neat.

My favorite of these is probably Don Chano, with either Lizley and the Merchant of Darkness as runner ups.

Another big favorite of mine, the Barkeeps! It's always fun chatting with these friendly types, hearing them cheer you on before many quests and compliment you for having completed one. They're so pleasant!...Though. yeah, Kvasir can be quite suspect with some of the things he says.

My favorite here is probably Kirtida, with Niralda and...either Missy or Mukkoran as runner ups...I love them too much, ha.

I don't know what to call this grouo really but they give the story missions and are about all in some position of power. Some are more involved in the story than others, but overall you will be seeing them often...Also, for some reason I couldn't find anyone that fills this role for Etrian Mystery Dungeon 2? Maybe I just did a bad job at looking but I don't know, I just couldn't find anybody. It's odd.

My favorite here has GOT to be the Outland Count (massively fond of his face, his moustache, and his dog), with Flowdia and Persephone as runner ups.

Last group here, being a variety of characters that act as alternatives or support for some of the other ones. This also has spoilers for etrian Odyssey 3 (the thing being spoiled is discovered after you beat the second Stratum but still).

Visil is a character you'll occasionally see during tbe story of EO1, Quona is Hannah's daughter who will sometimes greet you at the inn instead of or in addition to her mother, Gradriel is someone you'll see a bit throughout EO2's story, Gutrune is the Princess of Armoroad whom you'll see and/or hear about throuought EO3's story, Seyfreid is the Abyssal King whom you'll speak with and get Subclasses from in the Deep City of EO3, Napier's Sister (who, unfortunately, seems to have no confirmed name) runs the shop of the Deep City in EO3, Angie (who I would presume isn't the same one from EO2 but is based on the same Trauma Team character? I think?) runs the inn of EO3's Deep City, and finally, Yobo is Traoré's brother in Etrian Mystery Dungeon 2, and I...think he assists Mukkoran in giving out quests?...Him being a recolor is pretty lame, tbh.

My favorite here is probably Visil, with Napier's Sister and Seyfreid as runner ups.

HOO! THERE WE GO! Hope you guys liked this little trip down memory lane I guess, ha. I love many of these characters, and if and when EO6 happens I can't wait to see who it introduces that'll enter my heart just like many of these have!

[miss--river]

💕 self-love time! talk about which ones of YOUR creations (edits, artworks, fanfics) you like the most then send to other creators to do the same 💕

thank you so much!❤️ sorry this took me so long to answer 😅

i'll start with jori since she's the first one i created! i know it may not seem like it lately but she's the main baby of the other 2 main babies i have! ive projected so much of myself and interests onto her that i became attached quickly lmao! she's also the one who i insert into every piece of media that im consuming and like enough. like, if im playing dead space i totally imagine her in the place of isaac. or if im playing a backrooms game she's the one running around and trying to escape from the monsters lmfao! her story has taken different shapes and changes since i actually brought her over from red dead online. her twin brother, mika, doesnt exist in red dead online and was solely create for cyberpunk purposes. i love the pic on the left because i just think she looks really badass lmao! and i like the one on the right because im not usually patient enough to set up sets and backgrounds but this time i stuck it out and i loved it! it's simple compared to what others can do but im still proud of it!

next is the love of her life, driss! back when i first started getting into modding my game i actually shipped her with river. i was trying to get a cute shot of her and river looking out at the sunset over the ocean, but sine i was so new to modding i didnt know bigger characters like river had a different locomotion type so i couldnt get any poses to work. as a test i replaced an NPC couple with jori and driss and that was when i fell into a hole lmfao! i thought they looked so much better together so i kept them going! their ship name is Broken and Beautiful because both of them have past traumas that still effect them but they found comfort and understanding in each other. i love how soft both of these pics are! especially the fire behind them in the one on the right!

lottie is my second of the main 3! she also started out as a red dead online OC! i usually try to make her come off as a flowery, cottage core, disney princess aesthetic type. she's the softest and shyest of my OCs but she can be fierce too! she smiles at strangers in the street and will lend a hand if they look like they need it but she does it with caution because... its night city lmao! i chose these pictures in particular because i just thought they were the coolest ones. i do have some pics that showcase her as soft and flowery but i just couldnt resist showing these ones instead! the one on the left was made to be a tarot card called The World. the pic on the right was me trying out a greaser AU on her! i really love how they both came out!

the last of the main 3 is phoenix! i made her fully expecting to just leave her to collect dust, just like certain other OCs, (and i feel so bad for them 😔) but i became attached to her very quickly too. i based a chunk of her personality off of vash the stampede from the 1998 anime trigun. after a short while of that i actually ended up shipping her with him lmfao! currently she doesnt have a backstory because nothing has really inspired me yet but at least i know some things about her current life! i think these pics are perfect for show casing her as she currently is. she lives in clutter but not, like, dirty clutter if that makes sense? she just likes having stuff and buying things that interest her. i mean doesnt everyone? haha! she doesnt really save her money for anything other than rent and bills, everything else is purely impulse. her favorite treat is donuts and when she's willing to share one with you thats how you know she likes you! her favorite thing is to make people smile!

onto stuff that i made for other people! i really loves these pics that i took of mishka and claire for @thelonestrider! mishka looks SO GOOD in purple! and claire is chef's kiss! i had a lot of fun taking pics of her! i got such freeing vibes from her so i had to have her enjoying the sun's rays!

i took these ones for @holofishes and i totally consider wren to be one of jori's besties! i think they'd have so much to talk about and i get such warm vibes when i see them together! jori is usually very sweet and kind but when it comes to her friends she'd kick anyone's ass 😉 the sunflowers and butterflies in the first pic took so long to place! but it was totally worth it! they're both rays of sunshine!

[silverdestiny]

Thinking about how The Legend of Vox Machina is such a good translation of a D&D game into a visual medium.

I got hooked to Percy specifically because so much that they do with him to set the tone and mood are beautiful. The transitions where he puts on his mask. The smoke, noticeable but not too obtrusive until it gets too powerful to ignore.

I adore the entire way they did Orthax. I've been playing D&D inspired ttrpgs for long enough that Demon has become just an enemy type with specific weaknesses but the entire way that they depicted him really captured what demons SHOULD be. And I haven't listened to the podcast campaign yet and I know that at least some of that comes from the DM himself but it's so easy to look at a stat block and think of that as all a demon is. But the way that he's shown in the animated series, the battle in the center of percy's mind, everything they did with the effects when he was trying to fight him to keep from killing those he loved, the way you translate dice rolls and character actions into a visual medium, it was just done masterfully.

I've seen people saying 'Percy is extremely anime' and they're RIGHT but my favorite D&D campaigns have always had that kind of high drama, high fantasy, rule of cool feel that makes people identify him as that. And Percy's arc honestly is SUCH a good tone setter in many ways- if I choose to get into the campaign now I feel like I know what I'm in for. I'm in for drama, character trauma, close calls, described viscera and gore, npcs who can't be saved, but I'm also in for hope and the power of friendship pushing forward to solve problems together (for as long as it can, at least), as well as villains that have just as much power and cool invested in them, as much thought behind them as the PCs which is always an excellent experience.

So being able to watch this and see that how fleshed out all the characters are, how the undead are truly undead, the demons have meaning, but there's still so much lightness and brevity between the dour moments is really inspiring, and the way that it translates the rich world that has been made makes me want to build rich worlds myself because I so rarely see worlds as colorful but as serious as the ones I want to make portrayed in media like this.

And it makes me really want to listen to the Critical Role podcast, I'll give them that.

[fareehaandspaniards]

Hi Fareeha! I was wondering, about your bloodborne ships what was your first impressions of them?

What intrigued you and what happen that made you like them that much now? Or did it just came naturally? ;)

I am sorry it took so long! It's 1 PM right now, I managed to GOT up somehow lol... Don't even remember how fell asleep yesterday. Also was occupied with fanfic, trying my best, etc... But to the topic:

Since my first ship was gehrmaria, I’ll start with it.

Romance, sadness, age difference... An old hunter grieving for his beloved who has passed away. All this reminded me of old european ballads that I was reading in my 16... A very beautiful story, unexpectedly romantic for Bloodborne (although it can be interpreted in different ways, not only romantically, but still it is fascinating). Let me add that they both look aesthetically stunning! They are classical, they are tragical, they are... perfection.

First impression for all other ships was: "How do you guys know anything about them?? There is nothing in game about them!!! How can you ship Caryll, mf is not even NPC?? Where do you get an information?? Who tf is Edgar? Oh, I killed him?..."

I swear I was shocked, when learned that fandom has CRAZY amount of ships. First Playtrough I barely got who is Laurence lmao, what IS Healing Church and so on... I can say sincerely - I started to Really understand, why is Valtr insane, why Laurence is VICAR, not bishop, why Annalise's hair are white and not brown, who tf can be siblings in a damned Research Hall and etc ONLY because of @katyahina timeline. My brain can't contain SO MANY info I swear, but I am trying, getting Insight every time I read this (in a good way ofc, I want to see Amygdalas in my sweet Yharnam-like city!)

So. Ships with Micolash. At first I brought him together with my hunter, Guillermo, and was pleased with myself - my story for them sounded convincing, thoughtful and hot xdd Guillermo - a madly in love hunter who, for seeing a drop of light in Micolash (in his past) and hearing Kos's whispers, is ready to die a hundred times, endure literally everything... Poor man! xD And Micolash who is insane enough to feel neverending cycle of NewGames, I mean, that he may even remember that he died already from hunter's hand, that hunter killed him 4 different ways, and I think Micolash would be frightened and lost? He genuinely thought that Nightmare is a perfect realm, HIS realm, but it turns out that someone else is good as Micolash himself to eat cords and ascend but succesfully. Oooof. I like that, Love and Despair, Love/Hate and etc. Oc x canon is really fine, when there are FEELINGS and TENSION between your char and canonical char.

After some time I got to know that silly guy with glasses on from a bridge is somehow really interesting deep character! xD And he's a cutie himself! (I mean look at him. My sweet accountant, my beloved nerd, and it's not a sarcasm!! He looks exquisite) I really like Edgar x Micolash for my beloved love/hate theme, slight toxicity and Edgar’s unspoken dependence on his enemy (Micolash is often made too “submissive” in their pairing. He may be and even must be bottom, but he is too much dominant as a person to be so naive and crying because Edgar-senpai is ignoring him). Edgar is a choir boy, soft, afraid of Micolash, is angry with him, but inside he cannot live without his attention. And Micolash - I think he liked Edgar as something unusual, fresh in his life (or death), something absolutely different from everything he had seen. Moreover, a spy. Moreover, he is so confident in the Church. But can change his opinion and most likely will. A perfect object of entertainment and moral debate. You can break him and win him over to your side. Nice pairing. I'm still in love.

Laurence x Micolash - kjdsflak;sdjfwernmfklaaaawoooooo!!!11!1! This ship is driving me crazy, I can't!! xD They look great together, they are similar, they are two brilliant minds seeking for knowledge, two scientists, two rivals, two assholes. But it seems to me that they would definitely have separated, because such similar people are unlikely to be together for a long time. I mean, they both need primacy too much. And it would destroy them. I also don't like Laurence, I can't help it. Maybe because I still don't fully understand his character?.. Maybe.

Damian x Micolash - amazing! I am now captivated by this pairing and am writing a story based on it. They are beautiful combination of an adult, serious Damian and an energetic, hot-tempered Micolash, as a couple they are divine. Damian... still waters run deep and all that. He is strong, thoughtful, cold, he can knock out any threat to his loved one. As a former Tomb Prospector and a Mensis Scholar, a byrgerkinght student, he must be really educated and smart, but also well-built and powerful, graceful and deadly. Micolash is his master and also a little boy. I headcanon that Damian is like 15 years older than him? And that's great. Wonderful, soft ship with a deep conflict of Damian's humanity and Micolash's curiosity and confidence.

Am I shipping anything else? With such passion - no. But in general, I like Laurence/Ludwig, Caryll/Rom, recently one nice person helped me realize the potential of Micolash/Adeline and I am kinda hmmmmm interested? XD I need more time to think of it. I met this pairing earlier but was like "pppft they couldn't even met!", don't blame me :'D

I respect all pairings, if they have something like plot in them. It’s especially nice to see when an artist or writer is truly devoted to his favorite couple and describes it with soul, it just makes you look at the couple from a different angle and start scrutiny.

[dungeonsandblorbos]

Hello and Welcome!

it's a new year and a lot has happened since the last time i did an intro, including a new campaign starting and me making a new years resolution to indulge my creative side more, so i'd like to re-introduce myself and also say hello to the writblr community!

my main blog is @persnickety-peahen, so that's where all my follows will come from. you can call me any variation of either of my blog names, or just C; they/she pronouns. i'm in my mid-twenties, happily married, queer, and neurodivergent.

i've been enamored with the idea of writing from childhood, but since university a lot of that energy has gotten channeled into TTRPGs due to life circumstances, so now instead of writing i obsess over my PCs and make long, detailed documents full of exploitable backstory content, NPCs, and worldbuilding elements for my DM(s)! :D

yes i am and have always been the designated note-taker in all of my campaigns, why do you ask?

aside from writing and TTRPGs, i enjoy baking, taking wiki walks, and playing Stardew Valley, and lately i've also started teaching myself how to do pixel art. i love the blorbos from my campaigns so much and will impulsively share stories about them to anyone who will listen, hence me making this blog as a place to infodump about my beloveds! content here includes fun stories from the big four campaigns i've been part of, out of context session notes, and especially various kinds of mentally ill blorbo posting, as well as a bunch of reblogs of stuff from the writblr, whumpblr, and TTRPG communities (including pretty dice and dice trays!). someday i might also get around to posting an actual ongoing narrative recap of one of my campaigns, and some of the blorbo-related pixel art i've been making.

i'd love to be more active here, so please feel free to send me asks about any of the characters or campaigns, or even just TTRPG things in general, as i'm always happy to talk about them. i'm also open to writblr tag games, even if they don't fully apply to a TTRPG context—if it gives me an excuse to blab about my blorbos, i will make it work!

see below the cut for a description of my big four campaigns and my player characters from them!

Curse of Strahd Homebrew Status: on haitus but hopefully resuming soon! System: DnD 5e Story: this is a heavily homebrewed version of the 5e Curse of Strahd campaign book (like, we're talking a good 80% or more homebrew) DMed by my husband, @somethingclevermahogony. it's all of your dark queer gothic horror dreams come true! (and also body horror. lots of body horror. and whump, for good measure) it follows a group of naive young adventurers who find themselves lured to and trapped in Barovia, a country banished to its own little pocket dimension in the Shadowfell over 400 years ago as punishment for the atrocities committed by its dread king Strahd von Barovich. here, they encounter challenges and horrors beyond anything they've ever experienced before, including hordes of vengeful undead, capitalist hags who sell hallucinogenic pies made with 'shrooms and children's brain matter, an eldritch not-quite-god and his/their cursed corn farm, a delusional angel who repairs people's broken bodies without care for consent, and, of course, the dread king Strahd himself, as well as his many powerful and loyal followers. all of them seek to manipulate our would-be heroes to their own ends—and unfortunately for everyone, they've been rather successful so far. Main Blorbo: in this campaign, i play a 23-year-old human tempest cleric called Cerris, who is a solid 80% of the reason i made this sideblog. he's my comfort character. he's my bisexual disaster babygirl. he's my rotten soldier, my sweet cheese, my good bad time boy. he's like the dysfunctional lovechild of Clark Kent and Jonathan Harker: a sheltered farmboy of debatably noble birth granted a sliver of divine power by circumstances beyond his control, who just left home for the first time to answer the call of adventure and got stuck here in fantasy Transylvania instead, where he has since become Strahd's new favorite plaything. among other poor decisions, he has 1) gotten romantically entangled with Ireena Kolyana, a fiery though equally sheltered young noblewoman who is unfortunately the object of Strahd's obsessive plans to escape Barovia and conquer Faerun, 2) inadvertently adopted the sweet but chaotic Milo, a halfling boy turned into a horrible monster by Strahd's experiments 400 years ago (the Bagman. Cerris adopted the Bagman), and 3) gotten himself possessed by the angry ghost of Strahd's little brother, Sergei, whom Strahd killed and cannibalized in an unfortunately effective bid to gain godlike power. he has a lot to learn before he's ready to face Strahd, but i believe that one day, Cerris will help save Barovia. Bonus Blorbo: if Cerris is my babygirl, then Milo is my precious little meow meow—hence my tag for him being #meow meow Milo. yes he is the Bagman, and yes he did almost eat my other party member among many other horrible things, but he's also just a traumatized smol bean and i forgive him for everything. if anything happened to him, Cerris would kill everyone in Barovia and then himself.

Ruins of Runet Status: active System: DnD 5e Story: an entirely homebrew campaign also DMed by my wonderful husband! it's a horror campaign at heart, this time focusing more on eldritch and existential horror. once, the world of Runet was just like any other, vibrant and fantastical and full of magic, connected to the vast network of other worlds and planes across the universe. and then, suddenly, the gods all vanished. magic left Runet with them, and the planet's connections to other worlds were severed irreparably. the result was nothing less than apocalyptic: entire peoples and species died out instantly, cities and nations collapsed, famine and disease and war ran rampant. but the survivors adapted, building a new world from the ashes. now, 600 years after the collapse, magic has returned, throwing the world into chaos once again. and though magic has come back, the gods have not. various powerful factions have all launched investigations into this sudden reappearance, hoping to claim the secret of magic for themselves. at the center of it all sits the Church of Divine Repentance, and a millenia-old conflict between eldritch forces known only as the Mother and the Eternal Body, with the people of Runet caught in the crossfire. Main Blorbo: in this campaign, i play a 29-year-old human fighter/sorcerer named Don Ariel Feliciano Rosalio Sentera Alvedes, from the barely unified country of Restitos*. Ariel is an hidalgo, a member of the untitled nobility, and as the youngest of four sons, he had very little expectations of inheriting anything; even so, excellence was demanded of him since childhood. as a result, he's grown up ambitious and hungry, willing to make himself into whatever kind of person he needs to be in any given moment in order to accomplish his goals. he's charismatic and self-assured, and while he can be slimy and artificial (or else callous and abrasive if he feels you aren't worth his time), he is nonetheless noble in character, enduringly loyal, and committed to the values of noblesse oblige. he's also a bisexual, gender-fucky horse girl and (un?)ethical slutty secretary with a daily skincare routine and a cringefail romantic history! :D he's almost gotten engaged but then ruined everything—twice. his only serious long-term relationship was a secret affair with his employer, a married duke who's old enough to be his father (but don't worry, the duchess knew and was cool about it), which ended abruptly when the duke got assassinated and Ariel found his disfigured body the next morning. and then the duke's oldest son informally accused him of the murder and that conversation went so terribly that he fled the country immediately afterwards to avoid being arrested and executed. no, he's not actually guilty, just a convenient scapegoat, stop fucking asking him if he did it. in conclusion, Ariel is such a fucking mess and i love him. Bonus Blorbo: Malva Oriana is Ariel's 13-year-old warhorse, a beautiful perlino Catalencian Pure (essentially a fantasy Andalusian) he trained himself. she's a bold, intelligent, and well-tempered horse, albeit more than a bit spoiled, and she and Ariel are terribly co-dependent on each other in light of the recent trauma they've experienced. *Additional Note: Restitos is largely culturally inspired by post-Reconquista Spain, and since my character ended up being the only PC from that country, i got to help with a lot of the worldbuilding for it! a fact i took full advantage of! so more than likely, any worldbuilding stuff i post here will specifically be about Restitos

Cauldron & Kettle Questing Co. Status: completed System: DnD 5e Story: this was my second campaign with my university TTRPG group, where my husband was also a player. set in the world of Acquisitions, Incorporated, an actual play podcast by Penny Arcade based around the idea of classic adventuring parties but make it ~capitalism~, this campaign was primarily played out of the official Acquisitions, Inc. playbook, with some additional homebrew expansions and a nice little extra homebrew arc on the end that introduced us to the incredible chaos of the D10,000 wild magic table. the story ended up going real hard on the queer found family vibes, and there were several story beats that made us all real emotional together. we played as the Cauldron & Kettle Questing Company, a Phandalin-based subsidiary branch of the larger Acquisitions, Inc. corporation. we also owned a tea shop called the Cauldron & Kettle Cafe, and we had a steam-powered teapot-shaped vehicle dubbed the Tea Trolley which we put to excellent use in combat. the story followed the Cauldron & Kettle Questing Co. as we established our branch and completed increasingly dire quests for our parent corporation that we were not remotely qualified for. and uh, no, we did not really get any special rewards or pay raises or anything after saving the world—twice—but hey, that's business baby! Main Blorbo: for this campaign, i played a 30-year-old half-elf light cleric/bard named Jun Vyardes. having grown up the daughter of a traveling bard, she's great with change, but never learned how to put down roots. when she left Daddy Bard's side and devoted herself to Vestia, a human goddess of domestic fires and revelry, she thought she'd found her home. for some time, she really was content there—but the road still called to her, so with her goddess's blessing, she set out on a new adventure. she's fiercely devoted to her friends and committed to justice, plays a mean fiddle, and has some great recipes for edibles. after joining Acq, Inc. and meeting the rest of her party, it only took Jun a couple of months to realize that her new teammates—along with her one true love Eleni, a fellow devotee of Vestia—were exactly the home she had always been searching for. and she's going to protect that, whatever it takes. Bonus Blorbo: my husband played Tim Cobbletoss, a 34-year-old half-orc barbarian with the temperament of a british grandma on account of being raised by halfings . . . after his human bard father abandoned him at an orphanage because he couldn't take care of two half-human bastard children at the same time. yes, that's right, Tim and Jun are half-siblings! at first they both hated each other because Jun was jealous that Tim got to have a stable childhood with a loving parent who understood proper boundaries and didn't exploit their musical talent for money or use them as an unwilling wingman, and because Tim was jealous that Jun got to have an actual relationship with their father and learn things from him when all Tim got from Daddy Bard was the family signature ginger hair and abandonment issues. fortunately, though, they eventually got over the mutual jealousy and started bonding over parental trauma, terrible workplace conditions, and a shared love of fantasy weed. and now they're best friends and ruthlessly defend each other against Daddy Bard's nonsense whenever he tries to re-insert himself into their lives.

The Orphic Uprising and The Amazonomachy Status: Completed System: Cypher Story: these were two continuous arcs that together formed the first campaign with my university TTRPG group. it was a homebrew story set in the world of Percy Jackson, following a small group of simultaneously inept and hyper-competent demigods from Camp Half-Blood on their various (mis)adventures. out of character, we called ourselves the Confusion Crew due to the sheer absurdity of some of the shenanigans we got up to. it was delightful. in the first arc, The Orphic Uprising, Dionysus got kidnapped and four campers were singled out by prophecy to go rescue him from the Underworld and stop the children of Nyx from taking over Olympus. and in the second arc, The Amazonomachy, set a year later, the mad queen of the Amazons got it into her head (through children of Nyx-related manipulation, it seems) that, just like the titans had been overthrown by the gods, it was high time the gods were overthrown by their own children. so three of us from the last quest, plus two new unlucky campers who happened to be in the wrong right place at the wrong right time, set about saving the Olympians' asses again. Main Blorbo: in this campaign, i played Nina Grayson, a (at the end of the campaign) 19-year-old daughter of Nike, goddess of victory. Nina was an impulsive, reckless, extremely determined little fighter (emphasis on little, she's 5' tall and like 110lbs), as well as a talented gymnast, dancer, and rock climber, who put so much pressure on herself to succeed—because, ya know, literally the daughter of victory—that she was more than willing to fight dirty if that's what it took to win. she was an absolute monster in combat, nigh unkillable with high damage output and multiple debuff abilities. she was also a menace outside of combat because she put all of her points into physical abilities and left nothing for brains or charisma. yes, indeed, she was a badass buff socially inept himbo lesbian and she ruled. iconic himbo acts of hers include solving a puzzle by punching a horse statue in the face, getting set on fire then putting it out by drenching herself in monster blood, solving a locked door problem by punching the lock open, splitting the party to play double agent without telling her friends she was only fake-betraying them, and solving a bitchy goddess problem by punching said goddess in the face so hard it temporarily killed her. at some point she also acquired the nickname Larry and we made all the appropriate three stooges jokes about it, don't you worry. Bonus Blorbo: in the first arc we picked up a funny little grain alcohol demon who looked like if a cabbage patch doll was an actual baby-shaped root vegetable. we named him Hops and fed him illegally acquired beer. he was our mascot and team pet and beloved child, and sometimes my husband's character, a son of Dionsysus named Chuck Hickey, would throw him like a football at enemies and use him like an Entangle spell. other times he'd just carry him around in a baby björn. both activities were excellent enrichment for Hops.

and that's it! thank you for reading and please enjoy my blog!

[pinkyjulien]

ALRIGHT ALRIGHT Actually I'm going to share my fresh, sleep-deprived thoughts that I wrote yesterday- or more like, this morning gfhhgf bear with me cause I was loosing it :>

⚠ Heavy spoilers under read more!

As a heads up as to why the formating is all weird, this was sent to a friendo who worked on PL :3 Did a list of things that stuck to me in those 4-5 first hours right before falling asleep! I stoped at the little hideout with Myers, didn't met Reed or Kurt or MrHands or Anybody elses yet really 👁👄👁✋ taking my sweet time with it!

The start : I LOVED the glitchy holocall with songbird, it set the tone immediately

God walking up to the gate and seeing all those cars and npcs waiting to enter- THE BIT with the cops who cant go in ?? omg loved it, again its such a tiny thing that set the tone right up

Songbird introduction oh my goddddddd…. HGJG I love HER SHE'S SO COOL… When she was like "were going to crash so I woobled into your relic" I was???? Ok so How and What and What and What UH… Also I can see why people won't like her, already just cause she mute Johnny and isnt a Samurai fan fhdjbqg BUT I PERSONALLY REALLY LIKE IT

Dogtown itself???? Holyshit. Like, I remember dev saying that Night City itself was a character, the main character even, and they nailed it hardcore with Dogtown too- all of the civilians are fucking so memorable too??? how good the random crowd npcs look as well!! Its a glowup from vanilla and it shows (special kudos to the netrunner kid vendor, and the flame thrower elbow guy and his little dance ghdjs)

I wheezed when trying the AR googles HGKHQ

The crash : God. Even tho I knew what was going to happen, the amount of chills I had during that scene!! It reminded me of one of my favorite DLC from Mass Effect 3, Citadel, there is a scene where Shepard eat shit and fall through a big aquarium / building and is truly alone, hurt and all- gave me the same vibes of "the world is too big, too Much and I'm just one Guy" ??? It got me so hookt, god. ALSO THE TITLE POPING??? UUUGGGHHH. GOD.

Rush to the crash, the sneaking to the ship and getting Myers got me Alert and excited

Escorting Myers feels nice cause she's not useless, she knows how to handle herself (DUH!) but I mean her A.I as a NPC, I like that she also sneak attack on ennemies when you do, like Jackie did

Part I had struggle with was the Driving Myers to the Garage bits, was getting frustrated- I love driving in FPP but with this car, in those streets and in this stressful situation YUOOOCK it wasnt IT FHFJJG switched to TPP and managed after a few tries UwU

OK GOD. The museum- amazing visuals and lore crumbs ofc BUT THE CHIMERA???? HELLO???????? THEY FUCKING POPPED OFF. I havent felt this stressed on a boss battle in FOREVER! Funny enough it reminded me of my first time against Nefarious from Ratchet and clank 3, and its positive HKGJ I was a wee kid back then and its my favorite game from the ratchet serie (which is my favorite console serie tbh) and it made me so nostalgic of that time??? REALLY Comf, really challenging, I shat myself.

District itself is FUCKING INSANE. Of course, it looks amazing, the sound design, the VIBES- I thought everything was already done in night city, how much different nuance of CyberPunk can you do when you already have such a big city with such different districts?? but dogtown is so different and yet fit perfectly

I LOVE. THE. NOMAD DIALOGUE OPTIONS… One of my big "fear" was being left out of the fun cause yeah Nomads really just have the badlands kinda hfjdjg but!!! I already been fed from the few choices I had, especially the one when cutting out the tracker from Myers neck, mentioning the uhh ritual thing, I was !!!!!!! AAAAAH FOOD FOR THOUGHTS AND ROTS I LOVE IT

talking about Nomads I LOVE THE DIVERSITY in the new garments!! Had a lot of corpo and barghest armor loot at the start, so I didnt expected to see some cool denim harnesses, practical jeans and worker gears OwO Excited to see more cause AZHHHGFH

[mongoose-bite]

Not a full liveblog; just some things.

This is Sardax, stormblooded sorcerer and charlatan, seen here after completely failing to use his sorcerous charisma to open a book, getting mad and smacking it open despite his -1 strength with a nat 20. Is he reading it? No, he's just gloating about it.

Act 1

He helps people out of mild contempt; his attitude is very much 'aren't you lucky I'm here and decided to help.' Thus he expects rewards and is prepared to turn on a dime. Lies a lot.

I let Asterion kill him when he bit him, but then reloaded because you don't get a long rest if you're dead and I was out of spell slots. I'll save that interaction for Dyce.

He gets on pretty well with Asterion; fellow liars and all that, but did not wish to share his evil book with him so he didn't. It's actually not helping me like Asterion any better; I think they bring out the worst in each other

Between Asterion, Laz'ael, taking up Volo's offer and getting Loviatar's Blessing, I think this guy is a top with a pain kink of the 'I demand you hurt me' variety. I love emergent storytelling.

Asterion pointed out power in exchange for a wretch we don't know is a good deal and Sardax was pretty much 'yeah, you're right,' and he traded Marina away without a backwards glance. And he'll happily murder the hag later if it's in his interest.

I'm taking my time and getting so much more dialogue out of some people, especially Gale for some reason?

I forgot I wasn't a strength-based human and managed to over-encumber myself by taking all the meat from the goblin camp. See him staggering back to camp laden with pig's heads like an idiot.

Watching Laz'ael go from 'ugh gross lizard' to 'let me lick you' pleased him no end, and he batted away Asterion twice to stick with her. He thinks he has no deeper feelings for her.

I got the owlbear cub I love him ;_; I then failed every single skill check when it had a nightmare, so no approval boost for me.

Even using the wiki I struggled to find the Kua-toa. I told them to raise an army for me.

Didn't bother rescuing the gnome slaves. I feel terrible, Sardax is indifferent. Word to the wise, don't pay him in advance.

Handed the lady an owlbear egg; didn't bother looking for a real one.

Sardax doesn't take it personally when people lie to him; he does the same to others, it's just business. But I think he's angry at what Vlaakith did to Laz'ael.

Act 2

Went to the Shadowlands via the Underdark just to see what difference it made and found some guy with a crow. I missed so much the first time through.

It's actually more relaxing to play a character who doesn't care about saving everyone they come across. By this point Faye was overwhelmed and exhausted by all the things she felt she needed to do. Sardax is merely poking his nose in.

He likes Moll a lot. I wouldn't say he's father material, but he's keeping a genial eye on her. Raphael best watch himself.

We got Minthara! She's got a lovely voice. *sighs and starts brainstorming for another run*

She took over Halsin's spot completely! And stole his child. This feels kinda dirty tbh, I might recruit her the evil way next time.

As charlatans, Sardax and Asterion walked out of Moonrise dripping with inspiration. I think they're actually friends. They both know they keep things from each other and egg each other on. Sardax is definitely considering Asterion's 'let's run the cult' plan as a distinct possibility.

Sardax finally turned on Balthazar at the Nightsong, and Karlach killed him eventually by picking up a pile of bones she'd just murdered and throwing them at him; which was both hilarious and poetic justice.

I found Zevlor this time! And I now understand why people like him so much. I just beelined for Mizora the first time I played and didn't even notice him...

Act 3

Met best NPC again. I love Popper. Got extra dialogue for being a dragonborn. Sent Gale up on stage and felt bad about it. Jahira approved.

As one manipulative arsehole to another, Sardax doesn't have a problem with the Emperor, but, dude, his girlfriend's a githyanki. There ain't no way he's messing with tadpoles.

Mamzell was hilariously off-base with Faye, but when she suggested a short lady with a whip to Sardax, I was just, hoo boy, she's got your number, buddy. I'm unsurprised Laz'ael doesn't share though; she's worked too hard for this.

YOU CAN STAY AT THE ELFSONG??!! Faye was too busy to bother with chatting to innkeepers, and it honestly never occurred to me...

Orin took Halsin this time and her decoy was heartbreaking. Faye would have been so upset (weird she stole the other tav's love interest each time though.) Even Sardax was discomforted.

Faye missed like half of the mage's tower? So much good caster loot! Sardax feels appropriately geared.

Sardax couldn't be bothered helping the Gondians, so no Iron Throne. Faye dashed in, dropped the bomb and ran, but Sardax stayed to kill the steel watch titan, which for a storm sorcerer was not a challenge, also Us kept that 6 int robot stunned for half the fight. That lil brain is so useful.

found a house with a cool dead guy in it who had also read the evil book but sardax hadn't bothered to buy the artist off the guild so they had nothing to talk about :(

ascended Asterion. No one (except Asterion) liked that, apparently. The game keeps giving you options to back out, but like, it's not like fucking a bear or anything.

Sardax is also happy to support Wyll in becoming Duke. Like it'll matter which mortal is in  charge once he has the crown, but he supports his friends in their little ambitions.

Sardax wanted to duel Orin so badly, but she didn't give him the option and it was just a normal fight, even though he killed Gortash for it. Disappointing!

Talking to more NPCs in the House of Hope this time. Gortash is still not my favourite, but it feels a little poetic that the grenades you pick up when you go to kill him are so useful against Raphael.

Sardax was more sympathetic to the Emperor than Faye was; she was taken in by the dream vision and felt angry and foolish, Sardax looked at the Emperor and thought he would have done exactly the same thing all along the line. Oh well.

Ascended Asterion's 'creatures of the night' summons for the final battles are kind of hilarious. Where did he get them?

THE OWLBEAR CUB ;_;

Asterion was all 'take over the brain and rule the world' so I *saved* and did so. And two minutes later he was a blank-faced thrall. Congrats, Fang Features, you played yourself. Also that weird pink throne is...eugh. Disconcerting.

Sardax's canon ending is at the last minute he realises he can't do that to Laz'el. And he gets the coolest ending instead

Gale is god of self-help and motivational speakers? Kinda cringe tbh.

Halsin spent most of act 3 in Orin's basement (sorry buddy) so he didn't actually get the chance to make a play for Sardax, but like, talking to him at the party, he clearly liked him regardless. I love him. Sardax only has room in his heart for one person.

[sorcerous-caress]

sorry if this is annoying but why don’t you like astarion?

Hey it's alright, it doesn't sound annoying and I'm happy to answer.

I like Astarion, I actually love Astarion a lot. He was the sole reason I bought the game in early access and learned DnD mechanics, i have never played a game like Baldur's Gate 3 before.

A detailed overview below bc I love talking.

I saw a tiktok, thought he looked hot and he is an elf that's a bonus and I installed the game thinking it will like the witcher where you waltz around sleeping with any hot person.

I was severally wrong. I was so blind to his manipulation ingame at the first act because I was too focused on sleeping with him. And when act 2 came and he confessed how he truly felt, It was like a waking up slap to the face.

But i managed to move on yk? Bury it and keep playing the game. Part of me still hoped there will be some hot scenes in the future and this is just a stepping stone.

Again, I was very wrong. When the Cazador fight came and Astarion had to face all the people in the cages, when he tells you that you would've just as easily been one of them. It made me leave the game, stop playing for a week despite how big the hype was since I was at the end of it.

I just felt disgusted with myself, it made me feel very uncomfortable how I used to precive him, how he encouraged it. Especially since I resonated with his storyline, I myself have been in a relationship where someone only used me for sex, it hit deeper to home than I could've imagined.

Which is why I don't do nsfw requests of him, it feels too inappropriate. The wound is still fresh and I can't do it without sacrificing my self respect because of how I saw myself in Astarion.

His ascended treatment of us, it was everything my act 1 self wanted out of him in terms of powerful hot vampire craving you, but to the current me, it felt unimaginably gross.

His writers are amazing, you get to know him throughout the game. You are a witness to how clumsy he is with romance, how reluctant he is with sex when he gets the choice. You see the 180° flip and know this is someone else wearing his skin.

But I have zero problems with other people writing his nsfw. It's not a holier than thou deal where it's sfw or bust. Just because something isn't my preference it doesn't mean I can police people about it.

And I did read nsfw Astarion stuff a lot before, before I reached act 3.

Maybe my opinion will change one day and I'll go back to taking his nsfw requests, maybe it won't. It doesn't really matter, there are a lot of talented and good writers who make nsfw works for him and I'm happy for their existence.

-

As for why I don't write solo pieces for him in general? Well I only have so much free time and inspiration to write with, and Astarion has a chokehold on both the writers and artists of this fandom. He probably has more works under his name than Wyll, Halsin, Minthara and Karlach combined.

There is a lot of Astarion content, it feels like everything has been explored already. Every idea pushed to the limit then flipped, every concept fullfilled.

I only write for him when someones requests it, or when I feel like I have something new to say that no one did before. Like my only story about him posted "to dance with you."

I much rather explore the characters that no one paid much attention to like Wyll, Minthara etc. Npcs too.

Astarion is very loved by the fandom, he will be fine.

-

My third point is that he can get too loved by the fandom, borderline obsessively so by certain groups.

Part of the reason why I didn't write for Astarion at all at the start of the blog, and why I'm still hesitant to write about him is because I don't want to interact with his fanbase.

Take your ask for example, i won't assume malice anon, I hope you just sent this out of curiosity.

But literally no other characters fanbase would ask this. I'm one of Minthara's biggest simp and if i thought someone didn't like her, I'd be like "understandable, have a nice day."

For so long I have been slandering Gale and bashing on him, and yet never received a single ask about why I dislike it. Which I don't for thr record i just like bullying him.

But it only took a single Astarion slander post, that wasn't truly about him, for someone to ask this.

I thought it was a hehe haha joke at the start when everyone was talking about how much better he is than the others, how they can't even imagine romancing someone else. When they called the game Astarion dating simulator.

It wasn't a joke. Larian got the most spam and hate reports to fix Astarion's kissing but while Minthara's whole romance is still broken.

I saw a tweet that mentioned how some Astarion fans act like araj oblodra in moonrise tower, the drow that wants him to bite her, and they're really spot on.

He might as well be second coming of Edward Cullen. People are writing paragraphs upon paragraphs in response to every small joke about him and how he approves morally bad stuff? Spinning a false narrative that he wouldn't hurt a fly that he is a sweet little bean that needs to be protect but also he is super loyal and would only want their blood?

Which yeah i get the irony of since I am writing paragraphs upon paragraphs of me complaining about it, and to that i say, shut up :"(

I hate how watered down he is, I hate how artists draw him romanticly thin and hollow. I hate how forgotten his trauma is unless it's time to baby him. I hate the wrinkles removing mods, I hate the ereasing of his flaws and I hate how they run up to the voice actor to confirm their headcanons.

His voice actor is great, even amazing. But he is still a stranger and you shouldn't ask him nsfw questions, you should keep it respectful and still admire his other works, not just flood him about Astarion.

But maybe I'm wrong, i won't pretend I know what his voice actor feels. But I hope the Astarion fanbase aren't being weird to him.

And let's be honest, Cazador is just as bad as all the other evil characters in this game. Gortash, Ketheric and Orin probably commited more bad stuff than him, yet he is the single unpopular evil guy.

Can you guess why? Does him being tied to hurting the beloved golden goose of the fandom ring any bells?

Mizora hurts Wyll, Gortash sold Karlach, Viconia abused Shadowheart. Yet all of them are seen as evil but loved, while liking Cazador bc of how much of a fucked up character he is, gets you blocked.

That's why I include him in my works, there is no content for him, but also so it weirds out any hardcore Astarion fan and they leave my blog.

Man, I talked a lot. I hope that answered you anon, again no hate for you if you happen to be one of the hard-core Astarion fans. You do you and I do me, i genuinely wish the best for you <3 at the end of the day they're just fictional characters and can't be hurt, but you and me are real people with real feelings.

[mejomonster]

Now that I have given Sherlock Holmes Chapter One more time to unfold. I really love the writing. Like just cannot get over it tbh. I want to wrap myself in it. I'm having euphoria after the pains of (what moffat did once upon a time) and my villaineve girlies (and the ending after so much solid stuff beforehand).

It feels 1 like i real Sherlock Holmes story (as in written well, flawed growing characters, respectful to source material AND respectful to us the audience) while also feeling fresh (its a prequel so a lot of freedom to show a new young sherlock with flaws turning into someone more recognizable as he heals and grows, cases i dont know the answer of, and a pretty damn grounded childhood trauma emotional pains fucking relatable heart thread through a wilder more dramatic murder cases arc). The only game i can think ti compare it to is the Ryu Ga Gotoku games, specifically Judgement if you took just the detective gameplay. Like? While I think Judgements gameplay is a bit funner, I think Sherlock Holmes Chapter One has more in depth side cases so if you're a mystery lover it balances out (now Judgement's main case appears more in depth a bit, but its a huge fucking game so its to be expected). What I think they both do Right, is make u feel like ur the detective

In SHCO case the moral dillema of how well or sucky u solve a case and the consequences and the fact u CAN be wrong and arrest an innocent party make the stakes feel very high, the fact most suspects are guilty of Some cruel stuff but not always the murder means ur also debating morally what u think is gonna be the best thing to do out of multiple imperfect options even if u feel sure you know who the killer is... i am truly IMPRESSED with how well SHCO handles morally grey suspects and the choices u make about the outcomes, i havent seen it in many games and its made me question myself in Even Less games. The opening tutorial case is a basic example of whats to come: if u dont collect all evidence, u may not be totally sure who killed the victim, and can justify accusing either suspect. Then once u accuse them, u have to justify to Yourself if u are going to advocate they be punished severely or given some leniency. The rest of the cases play with this but go deeper.

Also like Judgement (and all yakuza games), it just does a very good job of building a realistic world (as much as budget allows anyway). Judgement is in Tokyo, so theres OLD people! Kids! Americans! Koreans! Countryside people! Rich, poor, middle class etc. Criminals, police, civilians, politicians, celebrities! illegal immigrants. There's east asian people, white people, black people, south asian people, there's people with mixed heritage, there's people that speak or don't speak various languages. Basically Judgement feels more like how you'd actually expect interacting in a city to feel, compared to a significant chunk of games (especially if u go older) where there is just no thought put into immigration or class or the myriad of real complexities of life for the variety of people that exist in the real world. There's some game simplifications like repeated npc lines, and then side quests and main stories flesh out various characters more (and SHCO uses case notes and info to flesh out in the way RGG game side story cutscenes and mini game plots do). Those are budget and time constraints. But like. SHCO has this grounded sort of game feel where you run across a city that feels like a realistic city of various people, and the social issues affecting people in it, where the characters in cases are a more fleshed out reflection of the people in the city, and where the social situations impacting everyone play out in more detailed ways as part of the case stories. Like fuck, I'm in the case with the painting now and. Its both got a lot to say about 1880s british empire and effects on a myriad of fucking people (and systematic abuses and damaging power structures), and as with much of history its got a lot to say about now. From the way power and social position influences ability to abuse and lack of remorse, immigration, international trade, colonization, racism, patriarchy, the extreme differences in personal background in how everyone involved acts and reacts and considers whats going on. Or the elephant case, where sherlock both in some ways reflects the society he exists in (sexism wise) and is also growing from that (self aware that the daughter is a person with as much decision power or more than him, unlike her own father's view of her, respecting Paul's situation while navigating a society where they both know the norm in comparison, recognizing that he's driven by his own desire to understand his Mom as a person when for so long he's had her on a pedestal and convinced himself of lies to himself about meek/strong Mothers and how it clouded his actual understanding of Violet as a person possibly struggling mentally in many similar ways to how he is). Like the elephant case is so simple in a lot of ways... but how many storiea have i seen where women just wouldnt have been written as equal, or as fleshed out characters, where Violet wouldnt be considered this in depth? Not just set in this time period but any time period tbh (it wasnt until the last maybe 10 years that movies and shows, sometimes, got a lot better with this to the point i could find it easier to avoid media that wrote women like lamps). I remember reading Fingersmith by Sarah Waters and how THRILLED i was to see realistic women in that time setting for a story (phenomenal novel btw). So like, starting SHCO i didnt know how fair the story would be to all inhabitants in it, and so far its wonderfully gone for a realistic grounded approach with characters that feel thoughtful in a world that is fleshed out and feels solid.