#this is just like the eldermourne finale....

[katiefratie]

Hes a living spell?????? Magehand guy....... what the shit that rules!!!!!!

[chompe-diem]

relistening to the d&d court with ify (wifeworm!) and i forgot at the end he says how d&d shows cheese good story moments here and there LMAO

[im-your-mommy-now]

This may be extremely obvious but I just have to say that Eldermourne is so queer.

Of course it’s queer! Fia and Ireena are girlfriends. But but BUT every element of their story is a metaphor for queerness, especially queerness being forbidden by the church.

Fia grew up the daughter of a priest of The Reaper and in a town full of Reaper zealots. Every time she was caught doing Trickster magic with Ireena she was punished. Usually her father would take her back home and teach her the “right way” to do magic, which he believed was Reaper magic. Even though Fia had no belief in The Reaper she was still able to perform Reaper magic. This, of course, would make her father very proud but she would still go back to Ireena and learn magic from her. The worst of it was the final time Fia was caught doing Trickster magic with Ireena. Fia’s father decides he is going to take Ireena and judge her on the scales (a literal death sentence) and he is going to have Fia be sent away to a convent where she can learn to accept The Reaper and repeat her old ways. Fia and Ireena end up switching places in an effort to save each other’s lives. Ireena is taken away and removed from Fia’s life for many years. Fia is then on the scales in Ireena’s place because she believes that her father would never kill his own daughter…but no. Her sins are two great and she is judged anyway. At the last moment she is saved by Batilda (the queer role model she needed) Batilda then takes her in and teaches her Trickster magic and allows Fia to be her full self. But then one day Batilda is gone. She is in a tough line of work. It’s hard to be someone like Batilda. Many people are after you when you live like that. And Fia is left with only an animated book. The book that Ireena awakened for her all those years ago. Fia is left to wait until any of her loved ones return. Then when things start to pick up in her life it turns out her girlhood friend is in great danger. Ireena is not in control of her powers. She saw someone getting judged on the scales and in a fit of rage and demigod power she killed everyone at the scene…everyone except the person being judged. Fia goes on a world saving, queer pining quest to get her love back. And once again at the last moment Moxaura shows up adorned like The Reaper to once again keep Fia and Ireena apart. Moxaura convinces a scared Ireena that Fia doesn’t even love her. I mean she literally asked her friends if Ireena was worth all this loss. Was this one little life worth all this pain and suffering? But once Moxaura is defeated and all is well they are able to get on a boat together and go wherever they want. They are finally allowed to be themselves on their terms and surround themselves with people who appreciate them for who they are.

God I love Eldermourne

[naddpod-encounter-tourney]

Option 1:

Enemy: Heradecia and Cerenysus

Episode: C2 E41: Cerenysus

Time: 4:04-2:46:22

Finish: Fia (Cerenysus), Jabari (Heradecia)

Notes: 2 concurrent battles. 2 spellcasting enemies. 2 players juggling 2 PCs each. Surprise Lou and Hexbuds! Caldwell as Lake, Lou ass the spells. Emboldening bond and damage sponging. Living spells for Fia to fight. Jabari trapped in banishment with dry toads. Corbeau staying up and almost forgetting the death ward. Zirk's fucking crown removal and the deal he makes for his life. Hank breaking the curse. Tarragon's halfling abilities coming in clutch. Fia casts the first revivify in Eldermourne in centuries.

Propaganda: (anonymous) Fia won't fight Irina. The hexbloods are fighting their mom again. Lou Wilson voices the living spells. Caldwell gets to be the dog. Zirk fucking dies and then Fia tells hank to kill her girl(hood) friend it's all so crazy. It's 4 players and 6 PCs across 2 locations fighting 2 demigods and one demigod is kinda mind controlling the other. It's just a great final fight.

Option 2:

Enemy: Thiala's Cataclysm

Episode: C1 E89: Apocalypse

Time: 27:10-1:30:00 (1:35:17) (I think that distinction is when they leave initiative vs when Bev is safe.)

Finish: Hardwon (Chain 1), Moonshine (Chain 2), Paw Paw (Chain 3)

Notes: Would you like to roll 100 d10s? Hardwon and Apple get hit by lightning an insane number of times. Moonshine is alone but has a sphere of annihilation. Mee Maw and Balnor are somewhere having fun. Bev and Erlin are looking for new gods, being cute, and becoming official. Cobb and Mavrus attempt to save the Dwarphans, become besties, and are saved by Jaina. Bev somehow has an even worse time at Smuggler's Bounty.

Propaganda: (anonymous) The end of days in Campaign 1 is so well done and I think this really shines in the Cataclysm encounter. Not only does Murph balance three different locations with five players, but the Apple/Hardwon duo being a little competitive is so fun, Moonshine wielding the Sphere of Annihilation is very good, Mavrus and the Goo Gone Gang are a dynamic of all time & Beverly and Erlin scrambling to deal with things in their darkest moment is heart-warming. It all comes out with the scoring and a sort of frantic energy this encounter has. Also - Pendergreens cameo.

[riverblujay]

You just reblogged my FHSY post with some EXCELLENT tags and I wanted to say you're so right the pair the spare stuff was bizarre. I ended up liking where Sandra Lynn and Jawbone went in SY but at the end of FY it's so weird. Also I'm following you now because you're a self proclaimed Murph girlie and SPMGs like us need to stick together

(aforementioned tags)

ty bestie!!

truly TRULY the worst part of FY for me. like, i super get that they were trying to wrap stuff up after having a super intense combat, so i also don't, like, hold it against d20 that much?? and maybe it would be even less tasteful to me if we didn't have icon and aroace ally murph (and brennan ig but murph like. INITIATED this plot line) giving us Allo/Amatonormativity Personified as baron.

fwiw, im not 100% romance repulsed either. and i GET that teen romance is part of the genre they're trying to convey in fh!! i just think maybe it should have been limited to the teens, at the very least in FY. it's SO awkward and personally i think reads as "brennan had some (head)canons abt who got together with who, eventually, but it's the last episode so there's no time to seed that in a graceful way if he wants his two cents out there." which is his right to have ideas for who among the adults get together, but like--the entire focus of the whole season was the bad kids, not their parents. so it feels weird when your thoughts abt who ends up dating, even if there is SO MUCH context and build up in brennan's head, are presented as a loose thread being tied up in a bow.

ignoring my complicated and by no means exhaustive feelings/rambling on the topic, if you have not listened to naddpod yet i cannot recommend it enough!!!! yes im a murph girlie and i LOVE his dm style (recently saw a comment on a post saying naddpod has less patrons than wbn bc "brennan is a better dm" and it made me FERAL. i get it i shouldn't have read the comments in the first place, and also you (the commenter) hate consequences and dope encounters. literally no one can say a DROP of MURPH SLANDER unless they have listened to eldermourne finale AND c3e27 the king of dragons. combat and encounter design dm of all time FR!!!!)

but i just love how despite naddpods tight editing, you can tell just how much murph, emily, caldwell, and jake care abt each other both as people and as their pcs. emily has literally said the way jake INSTANTLY decided that hardwon loved the crick made her feel always welcome at a table with him. how much the cast makes each other laugh, or cry, or feel any kind of emotion.

ALSO moonshine is SO aroallo coded to me. axmurph aspec allies fr fr. naddpod dnd podcast of all time in my heart <3

[operationslipperypuppet]

22 and 30 for the fic ask game! Tell me your secrets!!

Ooh fun okay.

22. Share an excerpt from your favorite scene.

“Hey, it’s just one Hell now. I hear some nerds named it The Ruby Dawn. And you’ve got a few more days to be stuck with me, at least.” / They both laughed at that, allowing the sense of relief that came from one of his jokes to envelope them completely. Some solace from what the days to come would hold. / There was a period of silence once more as they both separately wondered if this would be the last time the two of them were alone together. Brushing the thought away, Jolene spoke up once more. / “I don’t say it enough, but I really do like having you around.” / “I know, Jolene.” He smiled at her, and she offered a small smile back. “I have truly loved having you as my best friend. And it has been an honor to have you as MeeMaw.” / “Oh, enough of that.” / “I love you, Jolene.” / “I love you, too, Cheswick.” (Burdens of Best Friends)

This feels cheap because it is basically one scene but I’m weirdly proud of my dumbass joke I put at the end of this. Plus the fic is newer so I’m proud of it. This is one of my favorite scenes I’ve ever written because I feel like Cobb and Jolene in naddpod have such an untapped but deeply profound relationship and I needed to explore that.

30. What’s something you want to write in 2024?

I’m gonna list a coupe of things and then I’ll see this a year from now and likely have not followed through on any of it. I want to tap into the 200 years we don’t know about in Bahumia and possibly explore Hardwon and Moonshine during that time. I think I want to write something figayda and but maybe as a thing where Ayda and Zelda are hanging out a lot and the figayda is secondary to that. I have a couple of eldermourne ideas, and I want to finally commit to at least one, but hopefully it will be to add some Billie/Krissy/Johnny fics to the fold because the last time I checked there aren’t any.

Fic writer asks list - ask

[befuddledmackem]

I was tagged by @todayiwrotenothing to post ten songs and tag some other people. I refuse to actively tag people because my anxiety spiked when I thought about it (ffs) but rest assured that if you're reading this I'd love to know what's been rattling around in your head recently!

No rules were given, so I've just picked songs that I've caught myself singing recently.

Inkpot Gods by The Amazing Devil (honestly, I'm yet to find a song of theirs that I don't like, but this has been my shower song of choice lately - see also Blossoms by them)

Daytona Sand by Orville Peck ("It's not that I don't care / it's just hard to make a plan" hits me hard, also that voice tho)

Thick as Thieves by The Jam (my brain just latches onto "we're no longer as thick as thieves / no we're not as thick as we used to be" and repeats it in an endless, maddening loop.)

Supernatural by Barns Courtney (another shower concert banger. I also love the acoustic version. A wailed "Yeah, I must be outta my mind" goes through my head multiple times a day.)

My Silver Lining by First Aid Kit (Pretty voices, innit?)

A Case of You by Joni Mitchell ("I could drink a case of you, darling / and I would still be on my feet" my heart!)

Good Life by Shayfer James (this is a fucking bop. Another song in the shower concert line up. I first heard it through a Disco Elysium animatic which used it perfectly. Spoilers though!)

Handshakes by Do Nothing (Another song I like to wail along to)

Obstinate Brain by Päter (This is such a bop and also describes my own relationship with my goddamn brain so well.)

Riverboat Shanty by Emily Axford (ELDERMOURNE MY BELOVED. The first time I heard this I was crying at the Eldermourne finale, on a bench, in public, and let me tell you, this song did not help the situation re: tears.)

[tarakaybee]

Flaws First

IMO, Jake Hurwitz in Not Another D&D Podcast is a very underrated D&D player. I like that in all three of the main campaigns he’s played Fighters, two of which have been humans and they all manage to be different and interesting. I did enjoy Hardwon Surefoot in the first Bahumia campaign but it was clear that he saw Hardwon as “cool” for a while until he learned to emphasise his flaws for for the sake of comedy, as well as drama. Compared to Henry Hogfish in the Eldermourne campaign who’s my favourite of his main three characters, where Jake tends to emphasise his flaws, and only makes him cool when it’s earned, so Henry’s default is that he’s sad, he’s divorced, he’s “Ill-Luck Henry”, which makes it all the cooler when he saves the day in the finale.

This is something that I’ve been trying to take on board in my own D&D playing, I have a tendency to design my characters as if their qualities on paper are objectively true rather than based on my rolls and my skill at roleplaying. A campaign I played in recently I played a Cleric who I wanted to be the group’s moral centre, but in-game when I tried to portray this she ended up looking a bit too self righteous, and the role of the moral compass ended up going to somebody else who played it a bit better rather than just talking about it. So with my new characters since then I try this “flaws first” attitude where their qualities stay in my head until I actually earn them by playing well. With one of my current characters I designed her to have high CHA skills because I wanted to play a character with the gift of the gab, but before I tried anything big with her speech skills I spent some time in the first few sessions showing her being clumsy and lacking in general knowledge about the world, building up her base traits before going for a big character moment. 

[rooolt]

simply no one understands eldermourne the way I do. It’s about gothic horror, it’s about book pizza in a train car, it’s about hot plates and shrimp scampi, it’s about blades and smiths, it’s about family, it’s about friendship, it’s about the company of dusty old books or weird glowing beakers, it’s about zombie girlfriends, it’s about lesbians, it’s about 69 lives, its about getting it right this time, it’s about killing your mom, it’s about “shout out to the two crew”, and it’s about “I’m sorry I didn’t make it to the ocean”

[carlsdraws]

ah naddpod how i’ve missed u

[pricklepicklepie]

👀 gonna ramble about my oc okay

i had been thinking about my eldermourne oc Penelope, and what her life would be like after the series finale and I had this idea that Olwen would come to her and tell her where to get the all cure to bring her father back. And at first she thinks he is asking her to go on an adventure to find the cure herself but he tells her the cure has already been found, she just has to wait for a certain zirk vervain to come to town. She kind of learns that it's this guy zirk who got to go on a grand adventure to save the people he loves, and all she had been doing was staying at home, using her power to fight off horrors but never going anywhere or fixing anything. Now the all cure is there to undo all the people she helped preserve. She's happy they are all okay and to have her father back, but is disappointed that her abilities were just a consequence of something that had nothing to do with her, and she never really got to be the hero she thought she was.

After her father is brought back, Olwen takes his power away from Penelope and she is no longer a Warlock. From his perspective, he is making it so that she will not have to fight horrors to protect her home and from now on, since she won't have the fairy magic that lures them. She'll live a normal, happy life. Penelope feels like the only thing that made her interesting is now gone and gets really depressed about it. She was never meant to be the star or the hero, and has to go back to her old life with no resolution.

Leanora catches wind of this woman who wants to be a hero but never got to have her hero's journey and decides to bestow her power on her, making Penelope an archfey warlock again, and thus go on some grand adventures! also they kiss and fall in love

anyway I had just been thinking about her,,, also her blue/grey hair would turn to brown, her natural color, when olwen removed his power, and maybe with leanora's blessing it would turn green or something.

[chompe-diem]

also heyyyyy ik nobody gives a shit but i'm futzing around with a new blog theme; hopefully it's temporary but LOL we'll see if and when i'll get around to making better stuff for it

[noassallclass]

I've been binge listening to NADDPod campaign 2 Eldermourne and have finally caught up so I decided to make a design of Fia Boginya as a love letter to one of my favorite characters in the campaign.

I have just started dipping my toes into character design and Fia really inspired me to do a character design for her with influences like German expressionism which involves lines and sharp exaggerated points, but also characters of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Asta Nielsen as Hamlet

I also wanted to make her tall and spindly with enough of a solid shape to her so she can at once look naturally like the weirdo she is while also still be fitting in her more badass moments which led to these doodles while working on the design

[ambassadorquark]

let’s see if i can rate the naddpod seasons’ accessibility for new listeners bc i’ve been asked a few times and i keep changing my mind as to which one would be the best to start with:

OG bahumia: pre eldermourne i really was like i feel like you can just go into this season from ep 1 if you want to try naddpod and it’s good so i’m sure you’ll enjoy it. now i think there are shorter/ongoing seasons enough that you can try a quicker to get through one first and then come back to it, it’s 100 episodes but they are fairly short for actual play. in terms of just the plot if that’s what you are using to determine which sounds most interesting to listen to first, the premise is that a party of three adventurers has recently saved the world and slain the evil demon god Asmodeus, but all three of them have sort of gone mysteriously missing and even though the world was technically saved there’s still a lot that still needs to be fixed or actually got worse. so the PCs almost need to pick up where the other party left off. it’s so good you guys. in my opinion it really pops off in like, the late teens to twenties episodes but is still very entertaining before that. however it is a little shaky at first just BC they hadn’t gotten into the groove yet so you may want to try a later season first in order to approach the slightly janky first few eps with more goodwill

trinyvale: a short season, 20some episodes. i can’t imagine starting with this one. here’s the thing about trinyvale: I genuinely think it’s one of the funniest podcasts ever recorded, but the run-up of the first few episodes is like, eh. it’s okay. it takes a minute to get really great. there is a different DM than the long form seasons, caldwell, so maybe if you’re familiar with his oeuvre and liked his work DMing drawga you would be able to get right into it but his style is quite different from murph’s. it has no relation world wise to the first season. it concerns three deeply unpleasant people who have been tasked by the shadowy organization they work for with retrieving various Crystals Of Significance from around the world. it’s very silly and most of the humor comes from the pcs being unbelievably awful. i love it but i don’t think i would recommend it as a first season unless you have some very specific interests re: wanting to hear Brian Murphy roleplaying as a bitchy gold digging stripper

hot boy summer/the mavrus chronicles: actually technically a spin-off from Bahumia DMed by emily and starring breakout guest character Mavrus, portrayed by zac oyama, who of course plays d&d with murph and emily on d20. same setting as season 1 but only like, 1.5 overlapping characters who aren’t even main pcs and a totally unrelated story. only 7 episodes! i saw people saying this is a good season to start with and i was like no way but it actually… might be?! zac isn’t a regular player and emily isn’t the regular dm but they’re both very good and if you just want to see what the hype around campaign 1 is about in a very quick, digestible format this season ain’t bad. it’s another short comedy season and is about what a guest character who appears several times in bahumia does when he hangs out with his boys. formatted basically like Dude, Where’s My Car? the reason i was dubious about it as a first season is bc it’s pretty different from the main ones but it is very funny, very short, and a good time had by all so why not

eldermourne: slightly divisive… it was plagued by scheduling issues during a turbulent time for the recording of the podcast and you can see it in the structure, but the PCs and world are probably my personal favorites overall. it’s only 40something episodes and set in a different, slightly more gothic setting than the previous season. the finale is somewhat open-ended due to its brevity so i believe they will be coming back to it in some capacity someday, i dunno. the premise is that three very sad people get involved with an ancient order of monster hunters in a world plagued by undead creatures and must find a mysterious demigod who the order is sworn to protect. i think this season has a really different feeling to it, it’s smaller and more melancholy. i recommend it as a first season just BC it’s pretty short, avoids the growing pains in the early eps of season 1 by simply being a well established podcast already and the characters are just so so good (henry is like my favorite NADDPod character full stop), plus i think you can listen to it, get endeared to the hosts and their chemistry, and then when you listen to the extended bit about dragon genitalia in the first episode of campaign 1 you’ll already like them and will simply find it funny. but if you’re looking more for an accessible “in” to the WORLD of the 100-ep season everyone talks about it may not be what you’re looking for bc it has nothing to do with it, haha. you will want to try hbs or perhaps even…

c3, or as i like to call it, ba2mia: THE NEW ONE… only has like 4 episodes so far… you can get in while the iron’s hot…! i think this one is starting to look like a great place to start and/or simply sample the vibe before committing to a huge archive binge… it’s set in the same setting at the first campaign but 200 years later and will not involve many actual NPCs and so forth from c1, but has already had some very fun references and developments from stuff that was introduced in the original campaign; it’s all explained in such a way that you could go into it with no context for any of it though. there’s even a stated goal that if you should listen to this one first you can listen to c1 as a “prequel”. it’s about three shitty defect supersoldiers at the bottom rung in the hierarchy of knights who protect a scientifically advanced magical city run by a shady corporation. I’ve really been enjoying it… and you can too

[acepalindrome]

Friends, if you enjoy D&D/tabletop actual plays or fantasy or just great stories and great characters that are equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, I am begging you on bended knee to give NADDPOD (Not Another D&D Podcast) a try. It is truly so good and never gets enough love. To compare to other well know actual plays, it’s closest in vibe to TAZ Balance, so I would especially recommend it if you love TAZ Balance.

The episodes are about 90 minutes long on average and are very listenable. I tend to get bored with combat in actual plays sometimes, but the fights in NADDPOD are so fun and fast paced while not cutting any of the zaniness of a bunch of goobers playing D&D.

And what do you like? World building? DM Murph’s worlds are so fun and fresh and play around with existing D&D concepts of alignments and gods in ways that are so very satisfying.

How about some fantastic characters? The PCs are so entertaining and can be extremely goofy but they will make you cry, that is a threat and a promise. And Murph’s NPCs range from being complex and fascinating and lovable to the biggest shithead losers that are so fun to hate.

Want some queer characters? We got you covered, both the main campaigns and Trinyvale have canon queer PCs who end up in canon relationships.

Okay, but where do you start? There are two main campaigns and a ton of side stuff! I would recommend starting either Campaign 1 (Bahumia) or Campaign 2 (Eldermourne.) I love Trinyvale but I don’t think it’s the best introduction to NADDPOD, and Hot Boy Summer is best saved for after finishing Campaign 1. If you listen to the Donkey Kong oneshots first you might die in real life. You gotta build up to that shit.

I think Campaign 1 is overall the stronger story, but it does take a bit to get really really good, about 12 episodes in. It’s fun enough before that, and you should listen to the first chunk to get to know the characters, but once you hit the Galaderon arc the show goes from about 7/10 to 12/10. The basic plot is that it’s the ‘campaign after the campaign.’ The world has already been saved by a team of legendary heroes, but it turns out maybe the world isn’t as saved as we thought and maybe those heroes actually fucked some things up in a pretty big way. ‘Kill your idols’ is a big theme and it’s fantastic.

Campaign 2 jumps right in and is good from the start, but it’s a much shorter campaign and it has some pacing issues. That said, it’s still an excellent campaign and I’ve been crying about the finale all day. This campaign takes place in a dark fairytale inspired world torn apart by a conflict between two gods, the Reaper and the Trickster. Deals a lot with religion and faith and how they can be used to manipulate (like me, Murph is an ex-Catholic and his portrayals of this stuff hit me so hard.)

One of my favorite things is how well NADDPOD balances humor and drama. It’s easily the funniest actual play I’ve ever listened to, and someday I will learn to stop listening to it on earphones when I’m out on public because I always end up laughing out loud like a weirdo. But when the drama hits? It’s so good and poignant and both campaigns have god-tier found families that constantly destroy my heart with how much they love each other and make each other better and stronger in their darkest times.

I really can’t say enough good about NADDPOD. Please give it a try if you haven’t. And then tell me all about it because I love seeing people enjoy my favorite things.

And also be warned that if you start with campaign 1, there is a long bit about dragon genitalia in the first episode. People either love it or hate it. You’ve gotta just get through it.

[vethbrenatto]

okay im not usually picky about d&d mechanics because truly i am here for the narrative and the goofs with all my actual play shows i listen to or watch, but i gotta comment on this one.

in ep 27 of eldermourne, zirk is down with 2 death saves after rolling a natural one, henry is grappled, and it’s moxora’s turn. moxora seemingly holds her turn (not explicitly stated) to talk to henry while henry tries to barter for zirk, but using his deception, henry fails multiple deception checks AND fails to get out of his grapple. fia is far, far away and not really fully aware of the situation- murph allows for bukvar to be used to cast healing word with a successful arcana check even though it’s technically rule bending, which ultimately brings zirk back up.

it just felt kind of... stake-dropping i guess? like the team was just gonna get as many chances as it took to bring zirk back up until it worked. i have no problem with the actual rulebending, using bukvar and casting healing word, but the way moxora held when i feel like it would’ve made full sense with the way of the rolls for her to kill zirk in that moment. just a little :/

i think i’m ultimately probably just a little bit salty about it because i think zirk’s death here could’ve been really narratively impactful. we had just had a hugely zirk-centric episode where he finally stood up to his mother- how tragic would it have been to see stella react to losing her son after they had parted on that note of zirk throwing his top hat to the ground in defiance of her? 

i also think it wouldn’t have been hard to fit a resurrection ritual in there- a chance to bring zirk back (unless... and maybe this is where the real logic for murph’s ruling comes in, eldermourne resurrection doesn’t exist? it’s been a long time since i listened to ep0 and the eldermourne world building so maybe resurrection doesn’t exist or is very difficult in this world) after that hugely narratively impactful death. it kinda just felt like they didn’t want to get sidetracked from the “main quest” with irina and so therefore, zirk couldn’t die, they couldn’t get pulled down a different route, etc etc. 

anyway, i’ll shut up now, just wanted to word vomit all that