warden-commander-aeducan

[warden-commander-aeducan]

Another table pair I’m really hoping for is Aabria and Travis. They’re both highly strategic jocks, role play heavy weights, and have a sniper sight constantly trained on the big red button waiting for the most dramatic moment to hit it. Them bouncing off each other in calamity was already amazing, and that was a miniseries. Imagine how good a campaign would be.

[warden-commander-aeducan]

CHAPPELL ROAN

Edinburgh Summer Sessions (26.08.25)

[warden-commander-aeducan]

I don't get how weird people are already when it comes to the soldiers temple? Considering that there are a lot of people who hype up the HWYDT or which character makes the most damage etc. I would have thought people would be way more exciting about it.

Hi anon,

So here's the thing. People who genuinely love D&D combat? The real fucking sickos? LOVE a zero damage move. We're the ones who always believed that one day, Fjord's Marine Layer would do something, and now look at us. We look at spells like Color Spray and Guards and Wards like they're upscale cocktails. We earnestly say that our favorite ever move we did while playing D&D was a well-placed Dimension Door or Geas. Obviously we also like damage and tanking and numbers; we'll point out that we managed to finagle a swords bard/paladin with an AC of 33 if we deploy every single possible trick or even, and I have to drop the "we" here because this might be just me, but I'll even begrudgingly admit that yeah that time the rogue crit from invisibility and was able to one-shot an archmage was pretty great. But Combat Sickos are looking for combat to be both mechanically interesting and tell a story. The combat in 2x98 surrounding Fjord's assassination is a fantastic example of that; the grueling Cathedral gauntlet of 2x86 is as well; as are all of the dragon fights in Campaign 1. The final blow only matters so much as it's narratively interesting, because really, in D&D, the person who gets it is opening a jar with a lid everyone else has been loosening. Big Damage is fun, but it's more fun if you did some cool shit to achieve it, or if you found a weak point or a clever strategy.

And then there's another view, that of Blorbo Make Big Number. These people are here not for the love of the game. They are here for Blorbo to do one of two things:

HDYWTDT

Make Big Damage Number, Bigger Than Other Characters' Damage Number

Those people often kind of resent combat unless they can pretend very basic combat things like a tank taking damage are ship fodder. Otherwise, for them combat is kinda ruining the vibe of the 99 million millisecond supercut (longer than the pre-COVID lockdown Cannonball Run Record! Disregard that it's basically just answering the question "what if they used Stan Freberg's John and Marsha in Inception instead of Non, je ne regrette rien") and also it is supporting the military-industrial complex to use the word "soldier" without shaking your head and doing the dance from Once In A Lifetime to show you disapprove, and also combat is scary because if Black Leaf dies in the game she will die in REAL LIFE.

So anyway. They just want their favorite character to waltz in with their +100 sword of doing 200d8 damage forged from the heart of a star (don't worry the star was an organ donor and their death was quick and painless), roll with advantage because they are a good person who is pure of heart, crit because they deserve it after their sad sad backstory, kill something that is on the list of Certified Acceptable Targets [that's funny, it just reads "metaphors for a wildly incorrect definition of neoliberalism"], curtsy, trip as they curtsy, and leave to a(n) [hey are we going for the Persecution Angle or the Beloved Hero Of The Realm Angle this week? eh I'll fill in the adjective when we decide] crowd.

Now, if you're asking me "what table is that style" the answer is, of course, "Fisher Price." But anyway, they don't actually like combat, and they look down on it unless it makes Blorbo Make Big Number, and as there is only so much you can do with Blorbo Making The Big Number as the main focus if you do not understand combat as intrinsic to a particular type of narrative, and as with all things they do not understand, they fear, loathe, and Las Vegas belittle it. Which is their loss, because I do not expect the soldier table to be lacking in incredible RP moments, and indeed, as high stakes and danger can easily drive conflict and emotion, they may have some of the best ones of all.

[warden-commander-aeducan]

Okay I’ve done some sweet ones now let’s get spicy.

[warden-commander-aeducan]

you know I think we should have gotten to kill mizora on screen actually. after breaking Wyll’s pact. like if you do astarion’s quest line you get to kill cazador and I know gortash dies in the end regardless of whether you kill him yourself or not but still karlach does still get a special scene if you kill him yourself. we should’ve gotten to kill mizora with wyll if you break his pact. that would have been a nice big scene for the end of his quest since ansur turns out to be about emps.

[warden-commander-aeducan]

Obsessed with the tables for Campaign 4 being decided based on what the players wanted to explore in a story. The Soldiers table will be exploring stories that centre conflict and combat where the violent solution is not only the right answer but often the only answer. The Seekers table will be digging into mysteries and lore and magic and problem-solving on a cosmic scale. And the Schemers table will be focusing on the dynamics of power and institutions and relationships to those things and each other, with plenty of intrigue along the way.

Love this because not only are all of these kinds of stories that D&D is well-equipped to tell, but because it also indicates the prep work was done to make sure all the players were on board with the type of story each of their tables would be telling so they could design their characters -not just mechanically (though I am currently very excited to eventually learn the class/sub-class distributions between all three tables based on which type of story the characters are in), but also in terms of personality- to fit that type of story their table will be telling, Especially because the lack of this kind of prep work unfortunately hamstrung Campaign 3, so I'm very happy to see they seem to have learned from the experience.

[warden-commander-aeducan]

자, 용기를 주는 모습이야!

[warden-commander-aeducan]

Critical Role @ Robbie Daymond at the Beginning of Campaign 3: Would you like to stay for a guest spot?

Critical Role @ Robbie Daymond at the Beginning of Campaign 4: Would you like to stay forever?

[warden-commander-aeducan]

The cast for Campaign 4 (x)

[warden-commander-aeducan]

listening to Matt's Yearning for being a player building the story peer-to-peer with the other players as opposed to always from the DM storyteller seat. man I am SO psyched to see what he cooks up with the table in C4

[warden-commander-aeducan]

Brennan IS in fact wearing the same exact shirt during this fireside chat (left) as he was during the almond rant (right)

[warden-commander-aeducan]

Help needed while off work on medical advice

So... some of you might have seen on my personal blog that I spent today in hospital. I'm not really comfortable sharing the full story because I'm still processing things myself. I'm not under any immediate threat to life! But I was told I will likely need surgical intervention, to be confirmed by a specialist.

In the meantime, I was given some strong painkillers and something to counter the nausea that will come with it, and was advised to stay at rest for 3-4 days before I have to follow-up. But this means missing work, and I do not have any sick time left to cover me.

I'm asking for some extra help so that my family can keep afloat during this time. Even if I we can just raise $300 CAD, that would at least be enough to cover the car payment for Friday... but I won't lie, we need more food and gas as well. I would also like to get my phone service back if possible - this seems prudent if I'm going to be arranging lots of appointments.

Anything you can share with me helps. Reblogging this post also helps. I sincerely appreciate both parts of assistance!

Wela'lioq!

[P*yPal] [K*fi]

[warden-commander-aeducan]

"The bottom line isn't how Israel treats queer people... it would still be a country that's committing genocide and killing 100,000 Palestinians... It is important to point out that this [pinkwashing] is also a lie and propaganda, but the bottom line is that it doesn't matter. There is no amount of 'progressivism' a country can achieve that could permit it to commit genocide and mass starvation. [...]

The bottom line of my refusal [to join the Israeli military] is that no aid, no resources, no cooperation should be given to a state that's committing genocide. And of course, that's not to say that before October 7th, Israel was a 'moral' state that was 'suddenly corrupted.' Obviously it's a state that's upholding an apartheid system that's been committing ethnic cleansing for 77 years. But the reality as it exists today makes the question of what is to be done very simple: We need to employ every tool that we have to withhold as much help as we can from [Israel] to continue advancing its goals.

For me, it's withholding myself as a resource for the continuation of genocide. For people living abroad, it's putting pressure on governments, institutions, businesses, to cut all ties and aid with the state of Israel, and to take matters into their own hands and block the flow of weapons into the state of Israel... What I'd encourage everyone to do is to find a group that wants to exert as much pressure as possible, and organize with them, and do it, because that's what needs to be done."

- Yona Roseman, "The Trans Teen Imprisoned for Refusing to Join the IDF" | matt bernstein

[warden-commander-aeducan]

Bottoms (2023) + References

[warden-commander-aeducan]

How haints work. They switch places with the soul of a man. But vampires is different. Maybe the worst kind. The soul gets stuck in the body. Can't rejoin the ancestors. Cursed to live here with all this hate. Can't even feel the warmth of a sunrise. SINNERS (2025) dir. Ryan Coogler Cinematography by Autumn Durald Arkapaw

[warden-commander-aeducan]

Mixing

Can’t wait for the anime to drop this July I’ve been waiting for so long 🫶🫶🫶

[warden-commander-aeducan]

Brennan just wants to share his passion with Matt