man i’m just really sad today. thinking about some of the stuff i’ve read over the last few years (laura robinson’s crossing the line and kristi allain’s thesis work with juniors players and alexis n. peters’ thesis) and how nothing’s really changed since in a meaningful way. and even knowing what i know about the culture and still, this. i’m like kind of obligated to keep engaging with hockey to a certain extent but also sort of want to just. not.
if your "original story/rpg" idea is rooted in the premise of "what if [existing franchise] was good?" then just start over. i am not kidding. your ego is like insulation spray foam being inserted into the cracks of the premise-- sure it fills the gaps, but it's beyond ugly and everyone can see it.
'the GM is also a player' is something every ttrpg writer should take to heart. just becase d&d treats their GM as (as i have often said) an unpaid game designer doesn't mean you have to
has anyone gotten the idea that odysseus' storyline in hades 2 is a depiction/exploration of trauma over his SA and how he's blaming himself for things that were out of his control? because that's the impression i'm getting from what i've seen. he talks about "goddesses" as his "greatest weakness" and that "he's not one to say no to them"...
when mel invites him to the bath, he brings up mortals having different standards for intimacy than gods and how it usually has a more romantic/sexual connotation. she then asks if he's uncomfortable and he has a startled reaction and brings up circe and calypso again (but never actually by name)
(this isn't ship/romance bait btw. odysseus knew mel as a kid and they're stated in-game to have a sibling/uncle-niece relationship)
also he grew apart from penelope after his return, but the game makes a point of showing that his love for penelope and telemachus is what drove him on at all so that element of his character isn't brought into question
Leo being put into a situation where there is absolutely no fighting, just verbal manipulation and perception games, would be amazing to witness. We see a lot in the series how good he is at subterfuge and how he uses his perception to manipulate to great effect, so it’d be so cool to really see it put to the test even more.
Manipulation is one of the most effective tactical strategies of all time, so just imagine Leo putting this skillset of his to the full test. Imagine the boys slowly get up to busting bigger and more powerful criminals, including those with networks of crime under their belt, and a simple fight isn’t enough to take them down. For criminals like this, Leo’s skills in subterfuge would be deadly.
I'm gonna start posting some original fan Pokémon music I've been slowly making for my Cobblemon server. Here's a theme I did for Professor Acacia, an archeologist and fossil expert based in the spawn town "Apricorn Town."
had never heard of James Somerton before but now very suspicious that his stranger things and nostalgia video essay directly compares it to ready player one when one of the few published works of mine on the internet from college was an analysis of stranger things and nostalgia that compares it to ready player one 🤔
The lack of media literacy in the baldurs gate fandom is astounding. There's a good ending for Astarion and a bad ending for him and people keep picking the bad ending for him and being shocked when he's mean to them LMAO.
When Danny had mentioned dungeons and dragons to his new family, he wasn't expecting all of them to latch on like they had. Hadn't realized they'd want him so desperately to DM for them.
But, Danny's in-between campaign's right now, so he agrees. Why not? Besides, it might be a good way to hint that he knows about their late night activities.
Long time no see. Sorry, I'm usually a little... drained around this time.
Concepts for a D&D race for my players, called the Elunin. They took inspiration from the Khajiit (and obviously Viera), where they appear differently based on what phase of the moon they were born.
More info about them/me rambling under the cut.
So my players in my main campaign were interested in trying Pathfinder 2E, and I wanted a chance to play Kjosev more. So we decided we'd start a potential one-shot right before the Eclipse (a period in our world about 200-ish years ago when the sun went out for an entire year that set the world back drastically).
One of my players adores Viera, and he wanted to bring his FFXIV character into D&D/Pathfinder. We looked at adapting Beastkin or Harengon... but it didn't quite fit what we wanted. So the player and I worked together to conceptualize a race. He decided to call them the Elunin. The name isn't based off of the WoW goddess Elune -- he randomly generated it and happened to really like the name -- but it's a coincidence we're fine with.
Like I stated above, they took inspiration from the viera (obviously) and the khajiit. Depending on their birthday, they take on a different form. Those born under the new moon appear almost completely human, and those born under the full moon appear almost fully rabbit. Those born on the in-between phases sit somewhere... well, in-between.
They are effectively genderless until they reach a certain age, upon which they choose their gender role. Some never choose.
They do not have a traditional two-parent family unit -- rather, the entire group of them raise kids, and are effectively all treated as parents.
They revere the moon, thinking of it as their true parent, and so they view the stars as their siblings. They're heavily interested in the skies and space above (which they call the Great Warren), because they dream of one day visiting their siblings.