...The fuck were the Tories doing. Did they seriously just. NOT visit Dublin for five whole years?
I mean, I guess that 2019 IS around about the point where the Tories had a little miniature communist-style purge of every competent, sensible politician in the party that wouldn't kiss BJ's ass and allow for a godawful Brexit deal to be shoved through against a changed public will and also common sense, so actually the five year failure to uphold basic obligations makes a lot of sense when taken in context with that particular timeframe...
Yeah, that makes a ton of sense.
Armchair general opinion here, but basically: It pretty much doesn't matter how much armour you pile onto something- it adds weight, fuel costs, and reduces speed, and all the armour in the world will still only last a limited amount of time against powerful explosives specifically designed to destroy armour. The most basic thing about armoured vehicles is doing something in the time that that armour buys you. And to do stuff, you need speed, firepower, and a good optics system.
The Bradley has those three things in spades. Even if it's not the most heavily armoured vehicle ever seen, it's really fucking cost effective, WAY easier to maintain with Ukraine's more limited resources than the US army, and versatile as hell. It uses the time that it has before the armour inevitably fails exceedingly well.
Even if Blizzard games haven't had a high note since 2016, I would like to remind everyone that the company still had absurd amounts of goodwill and customer loyalty for a large and corporate studio at the time, with fans owning and actively collecting literal decades of merchendise.
Things only really truly collapsed for Blizzard and saw their goodwill vanish when they openly supported and endorsed the chinese oppression of Hong Kong.
Specifically, the winner of a Hearthstone tournament was interviewed after his win and gave the pro-Hong Kong slogan "free Hong Kong, the revolution of our times", which there was absolutely no rule or stipulation against. China demanded that the company not endorse that (because authoritarianism), but Blizzard ACTIVELY WENT THE EXTRA MILE to strip the player of his prize money and ban him from all future events alongside other punishments, specifically in the name of appeasing the chinese government.
It wouldn't be fair to expect a game company to singlehandedly stand up to an authoritarian regime that loves to make people disappear. But it is absolutely fair to recognize that Blizzard's actions very clearly demonstrated that they weren't just doing this because they were threatened into it- they were more than happy to actively endorse the chinese government's oppression of Hong Kong. And THAT is what we should always remember about Blizzard's morals and principles, or lack thereof.
"You call talking to a fox a survival skill?"
"Eh, whatever works."
Bro how much oil is even in there. How long should it be taking for the whole thing to go up if it's just burning???
Yeah, makes sense. They're an online community that is famously the gateway drug for rightwing hate groups before they move onto harder stuff. "Execute the furries" into "gays are bad" is basically a core part of the rightwinger life cycle
Ok, so this IS the Daily Mail, they're notoriously shit reporters. That said:
Please please please please please please please
Shoutout to the spike in women drinking when Trump got elected
Correlation is not causation, but...
Oh, big wins! Given how notoriously shit russian logistics have been (and how hard logistics are in general), every bit of pressure on the supply chain is a huge deal.
Insane how the Republicans made 'unconstitutional' into another meaningless buzzword in order to try and dodge the responsibility for Jan 6th.
Well. That's, uh. Certainly one way to do a marketing stunt. Giving a free car to a second rate genocidal dictator asskisser.
Now there's an interesting one. If this is actually enforced properly then it could really have a big impact on some sites that are notorious for bot spamming to make themselves look impressive.
3 days, actually. Perhaps that was just a slight translation error and they actually meant 3 decades?
I'll be completely honest with you sir:
It's just that none of the other popular TTRPGs (as in, ones I can find a group for) have much content on dragons.
On one hand: I know damn well that formatting is a huge bitch, because I've made my own huge homebrew for the game.
On the other hand: This is a multi-million dollar company that's been around for bloody ages. Hiring a professional formatter shouldn't even be a blip in the budget.
I have to say, this is both incredibly impressive and absolutely fascinating. After such a long stalemate, it's wonderful to see Ukraine make such progress towards repelling their invaders.
Young Black Dragon called Gendridd, wasn't meant to be a major obstacle, his personally is that he's evil mostly just because he's having a fantastic time being an asshole and constantly taunting people (to the extent that the first and so far only lair effect he's got is the ability to heckle people at any location in the lair). Anyways he was fully aware that he'd get one-rounded trying to fight a party of four level 7 PCs, so instead of fighting them stole the party's unattended bags and sat in a tree to taunt them about it before flying off (he did not consider this might lead to fighting them anyway).
The party's plan was to ambush him in his own territory, so their plan was to cut through some of the most overgrown parts of the swamp to get behind his lair and set up an ambush, instead of confronting any of his minions. However, between several spellcaster party members who had both completely dumped their strength/dexterity and couldn't cast spells while drowning, party members wearing full heavy armour that weighed them down significantly, and bad rolls, then two of them fell into a bog, and in trying to rescue them the others also fell in and they all drowned, resulting in the first TPK.
Obviously that wasn't a super satisfying ending, so for closure I offered to run a oneshot with a level 5 party in Gendridd's lair, sent to avenge the original party, on condition that I wouldn't hold back with enemy strategy and tactics (no bullshit with magic, just good enemy postioning, balanced teams that had lots of options in fights, and had actual battle plans). They made it through most of the dungeon pretty well, while constantly trading off verbal barbs with Gendridd who basically ran a snarky sports commentary the entire way through, letting them know how eager he was to crush them when they made it to HIS big boss chamber. Anyways they reached the outside of the chamber and they were just preparing to fight the skeletons who were guarding his door when he jumped out of an acid river behind them and got a Surprise Round, hitting two of them with a breath weapon and then rolling good enough initiative to knock out their fragile backline casters.
After that then he's become popular/respected enough to get Promoted To NPC.
TLDR: First wipe due to RNGiamat cursing the d20 and a party badly suited to dealing with falling in a bog. Second wipe because Gendridd employed the secret chromatic dragon art of 'lying to people'.
Credit to VexAtlas from the Lancer community for the meme format
Here's the homebrew this is based on, in case you hadn't seen it here before! The art is still being added, but mechanically it's in a pretty refined state now.
https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/liOJvZSBDaur
Ha, you know, I forgot this community was a thing!
Anyways, here's my contribution: a homebrew for levels 11-20, which should be great for your Eve of Ruin game if you're running that, or just your custom world~
It's not perfect but I've carefully refined it and balanced it for the last 9 months, it's in the best state it's ever been and should feel fair at any table that uses more than one encounter per Long Rest.
https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/liOJvZSBDaur
I offer you this meme. It isn't much but it's mine.
By the way here's my dragon homebrew. It's still undergoing playtesting and balancing, and it assumes that you're willing to start your game (or oneshot) at 11th level, but I'd be honoured if you'd use it.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eFc2qQTY9P3ym9fyMNYHC\_mIogpt9kNrOdm5n\_yj1cs/edit
Why do I not simply play a different system? Because I like the DnD dragons. Next question.
I can also give a 5 hour class on the matter if you're interested.
Spoilers below, I want to complain, not ruin anybody else's experience with the game.
Okay, so. The main reason I play dungeons and dragons? Aside from the sense of adventure and the ability to write my own story? It's the dragons.
Now my problem is that in any and all official DnD content (and most other media tbh), dragons get absolutely fucking screwed, ESPECIALLY the good ones. It's why the ability to write my own stories with DnD appeals to me so much.
I didn't go into Baldur's Gate 3 with high expectations. I know that the idea of having a powerful force of good that isn't under player control or completely useless is beyond the comprehension of most game/show/book writers (It's really unimaginably fucking easy to have one that doesn't destroy character agency btw, just putting that out there. I can write a whole god damn essay on how to have Big Good forces that aren't fucking useless while maintaining narrative tension).
All I wanted, in the game that advertises itself on how lets you approach every problem from your own angle and with your own methods, was to be able to share a little conversation with a dragon and make sure they were okay. I didn't have unrealistic expectations. I know games aren't made around what one man wants, so I didn't hope for more than maybe three lines of dialog and an ambiguous ending where they're free and alive. I'd have been happy with that.
And Baldur's Gate 3, despite allowing you to spare, or befriend, or protect, save, speak with or at least bring some hope to EVERY OTHER ENTITY IN THE GAME, doesn't just give none of that to their one dragon that can speak. It actively goes out of its' way to make it so that the dragon has the absolute worst fate possible, significantly worse than death, will never speak to you (only to another NPC), is killed pre-adventure, has their spirit tortured for eternity, and cannot be saved, helped, or even given a ray of hope. Just. Like. For FUCKS SAKE.
I wouldn't be so pissed off it this wasn't such a common thing in games like this! But I sunk 70 hours into this game intending a little interaction with a dragon as my reward, and as far as I'm concerned, I got a flaming pile of shit thrown in my face for making it to the end. It wouldn't sting so much if they weren't the only character to get screwed to anywhere near this magnitude. It wouldn't sting so much if shit like this didn't also happen so ridiculously frequently.
Please tell me I'm not the only one frustrated with how dragons (ESPECIALLY good dragons) get treated in any form of adult media. Is it really, really so much to ask for a story where dragons don't get the deck stacked against them so unbelievably hard that even actual gods would be pretty much screwed?
So which kind of dragon is your favourite, anyways? Sapphires are my favourite Gem (although Amethysts have some epic tail going on), Bronze for Metallic, and Chromatic is a tough call, I actually really like four of them... But I'll have to pick Green.
For the uninitiated, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBLdQ1a4-JI
cross-posted from: https://yiffit.net/post/484280
> As promised, here I am! It's time to talk about how I decided to handle the Felkin in my original world, after having fleshed them out a bit. > > > The World in General > > > Let's start of with a quick rundown of my world itself. Initially, then the humans and the human-similar races were on Pherica, and most of the furry races like Tabaxi, Dragonborn etc were on Geodeus. There was a Pherican exodeus to Geodeus in process because Pherica was experiencing Plot. > > > After the party's level 3 Wizard smashed the two planets into each other by sheer power of RNG and overconfidence, then that wiped out most Pherica races because they'd concentrated in the impact area during their exodus, and it quite thoroughly fucked over most of the furry races too. > > > Now, an important distinction: The furry races here were all of the ones that, while common and popular in furry art, needed to have actual species names assigned, rather than just being referred to as Anthro Wolves, Anthro Eagles, Anthro Cats, and so forth. I didn't place furry races that already had their own species on the main world, but rather on a parallel plane. From a game design standpoint, this is to make sure that my non-furry players had time to go through a graduated process of steadily more furry stuff without getting overwhelmed. Start with the official content, progress to official-adjacent homebrew, and then finally break out the Specifically Furry stuff. > > > The Broken Plane > > > So that brings us to where the Felkin are found within my setting: An alternate plane of existence known as The Broken Plane. Called as such for two reasons: Firstly, the flow of time there is distorted, and has a tendency to have small patches blink out of existence, jitter around, or warp forwards. Secondly, when Castoria was young, then a specific kind of dragon took a voluntary planar exile to this dimension: That being the Mercury Dragon. As Metallic Dragons, Mercuries are inherently good-natured, but this is at severe odds with their innate magic. Unlike other Metallic dragons, Mercuries in my world slowly poison the world around them. The only way to ensure they didn't render Castoria uninhabitable was to take themselves out of Castoria, to the least populated plane they could find. > > > Over time, several other races would also end up on the Broken Plane. Pink Dragons, which represent obession and love turned dark were defeated on a global scale and forced to flee here. And similarly, Obsidian Dragons brought so much danger upon the other Gem Dragons that they were also banished to this poisoned plane of few useable resources, to prevent them from scheming. But there was also a second voluntary newcomer: The Avali. > > > Avali within my world formed one of the proto-civilizations and were some of the first to understand Arcane magic. At the time, they looked much different and were seekers of biological advancement; evolution that would defy the need for time. To that end, they relocated to the Broken Plane, and their arcanists attempted to use a spell that would progress their race several hundred generations, as a way to evolve at hyper-speed. This spell however, was too much for a proto-civilization to ever handle, and in turn it destroyed the entire flow of time on the Broken Plane. The only Avali to remember this now is their god, also known as The Commander, but despite the catastrophe, they retained enough survival skill to live on as residents of the now Broken Plane. > > > Get to the point. > > > Fair enough. We've put all the relevant pieces on the board. > > > So, Obsidian Dragons want to scheme. They can't scheme, because they don't have the resources. So, one of the more powerful Obsidian Dragons invests her resources in creating the perfect livestock. Capable of being beasts of burden, guard dogs, a food source, trimmed for fur or skinned for pelts, slaves that can power machinery, and servants for castles and lairs. Intelligent. Not quite capable of independence. And most importantly, capable of feeding themselves off all the poisons of the Broken Plane. And after a great deal of design, then the perfect crossing point between a draft horse, a wolf, and a dragon was reached. Lo and behold: > > > https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Felkin_(5e_Race) > > > We have our first Felkin, about 700 years ago. (Playable template created by me, its' lore being a generalized draft of this) > > > Anyways, the Mercury Dragons find out about this, and decide 'Wow, intelligent creatures as livestock? Fuck that.', because they do in fact have morals. As a result, some of them band together and set the Felkin free into the rest of the Broken Plane, where unlike everyone else, they THRIVE. No need to cook meals for five hours to get the poison out! > > > In any case, they're intelligent, but they don't have hands. After about a year, they hit a population of 100, which is the normal population needed in my setting for one member of a race; the member that best represents its' ideal, to ascend to divinity. Deities draw power from all members of their race, so Sarga the Beast of Colours? Even if he grew bigger and stronger, still a very minor god at his moment of ascension. Only barely stronger than his own creator dragon if it were a 1v1, and there's no way you'll ever get to 1v1 an Obsidian Dragon. They will stick an army on you. > > > So what Sarga does is go to The Commander and propose an Avali-Felkin alliance. Being outright designed for farmwork and self-sufficiency, then their aid would be a huge boon to the Avali, and in turn, the Avali had the opposable thumbs and technological know-how to outfit the Felkin with medicines, armour, and shelter. Even if the two races didn't merge into one civilization, it became an extremely close alliance, especially since they covered each other's weaknesses so well- Muscle and Magic. > > > Felkin Culture > > > Right, so forwards another 690 years(nice). The Felkin have actually had some time to get established now, develop their own culture, find their place in the world. > > > What Felkin are great at on the Broken Plane is farming, travelling, and helping. Farms are always a ridiculously precious investment, especially for the Avali who count on them to grow the two 'miracle crops' that they derive their setting's equivalents to nanofibers and aegis gel from (Silkgrass, and Guardian Gel), but also for all the default crops of the Broken Plane, which are liable to become impossible to tend if you can't feed yourself while they grow, or get stolen by the desperate or imperious once they have grown. Felkin can manage a field with ease, feed themselves for free, and chase off even a small band of actual armed soldiers from an Obsidian or Pink Dragon that's gotten too big for their boots. > > > Similarly, as far as travelling goes, then unlike a horse they don't need grain, they're not liable to drop dead from a single issue, they can care for themselves, and they can memorize important routes for traders, doubly relevant when most Avali are semi-nomadic. A Felkin trader can outpace any rival that isn't using magic, and if you have magic, why on Castoria are you working as a trader? > > > And their ultimate trait? Even if the lack of hands often holds them back from a main role, they are some of the best supporters out there. They were made to be a pack animal that could do everything an animal could do. They've got the strength, the will and the natural skill for just about any task you can hire someone for. > > > But on a more individual level, what do they believe? Well, let's take a look at Sarga, the Beast of Colours. Twice the size of a normal Felkin, fur coat that's covered in swatches of almost every colour imaginable, and having taken the Harlequin Opal as his sacred material for its' resemblance to him. He lives in a secret grotto that allows him to watch over the heartlands of the Broken Plane for signs of trouble, wearing little more than a gold mantle set with one of his sacred gems, a nose ring, and a pair of golden anklets wrapped with Silkgrass cloth that complete the look. He keeps a pack of six Felkin at his side as both an honour guard and close companions, and as a holy symbol? Well, the Obsidian Dragons designed his race to default to gay, to make it easy to control how much livestock they had on hand. He decided that fuck that, it was part of their identity and that if you wanted to be able to channel his magic, you'd accept them- everything about them- hence his holy symbols always depicting 'acts of love' that would make the ancient greeks proud. And more than that, he also treasures his race's bonds to both the Avali and the Mercury Dragons, and he puts a genuine effort into maintaining that bond through thick and thin. > > > Much like Sarga, other Felkin also believe in the ideals of bonding into a pack, supporting the team, harmonic balance between wilderness and civilization, gay sex, and ensuring that one's team has the physical and emotional support needed to succeed. > > > Anything else? > > > Yeah I couldn't figure out how to work this in naturally, but the reason that Felkin and Avali both have extremely wide colour palettes in this setting? And often look absolutely crazy colours? Well, the Broken Plane's plants are all extremely brightly coloured as well. Even after getting the poison out, eating a crop from the Broken Plane is about the same as eating three cartridges of printer ink. Over time, then just like how flamingoes are turned pink by what they eat, the food of the Broken Plane eventually turns your fur (or hair) Fursona Colours.
cross-posted from: https://yiffit.net/post/337017
> Not just to share the characters and the stories with a wider audience, but also to get worldbuilding tips from likeminded people, and more ideas on how I can be creative. Let's see if I can get your attention with this opener... > > > --- > > > Welcome to the world of the Two Collided, also known as Castoria. > > > This planet was of a bizzare shape maintained by a cosmic reaction; as it was not one sphere of rock hurtling through the void, it was two. They were their own distinct landmasses, however their extremely close proximity along with some magical intervention allowed the oceans of the two planets to link, creating a stream known as the River of Deaths. > > > The two planets that now make up Castoria are Pherica, the world of Skin, and Geodeus, the world of Hide. > > > Recently, humankind and its' relative races had fallen on hard times. Elvenkind's individualism was used against them by a creeping curse that required collective action. Dwarvenkind's life below the rocks was shattered by an earthquake the likes never seen before, further disasters growing only more intense. Humanity's livable territory was all but wiped out by a huge internal war. The Tieflings have been afflicted by a dire famine, all the lands they own turning to barren dust. The list is endless, with one great calamity after another striking each race- None on Pherica seemed to be safe. > > > It was though the planet itself was determined to kill everyone who lived there. > > > As a result, many nations of Pherica launched exodus ships along the River of Deaths. These settlers had two purposes... Firstly, to scour the lands of Geodeus to see if there is a root cause of Pherica's affliction, and secondly, in the event that Pherica really is doomed, to ensure that the races will live on. > > > Many ships were lost along the violent tides, astral winds, and extreme magics of the River of Deaths, but some have reached shores on Geodeus to establish settlements, where their adventures would unfurl... > > > Of the initial adventures, one of them was of particular note. In the chaos of the exodus, Chromatic Dragons attacked, and they destroyed a ship that wasn't meant to carry refugees, but to transport something never meant to see the world again. A Deck of Many Things. Obtaining the deck, an actor who only the surviving gods know undid the cosmic reaction that held Geodeus and Pherica apart, sending them crashing into each other. Through the intervention of the god of Metallic Dragons, Castoria avoided total extinction... But with almost all of Pherica having aggregated around the River of Deaths, then the impact all but wiped out Phericans entirely. > > > Now, the survivors of Geodeus need to weather the storm and rebuild. Whether they come from the old and mighty nations that were founded by the first of their kind, or the newer and more far-sighted offspring nations- all will be tested, in the World of Two Collided. > > > [Current common Races] > > > Official DnD > > > -Dragonborn (Metallic, Chromatic, Gem) > > -Aarakocra (Birdfolk, normally eagle-coded) > > -Tabaxi (Catfolk) > > -Leonin (Lionfolk) > > -Minotaur > > -Giff (Hippofolk) > > -Kobold > > -Owlin (Birdfolk, normally owl-coded) > > -Centaur > > -Kenku (Corvidfolk) > > -Harengon (Rabbitfolk) > > -Tortle (Turtlefolk) > > -Yuan ti (Serpentfolk) > > -Lizardfolk > > -Warforged (Constructs with their own intelligence and will) > > > Homebrewed > > > -Kitsune > > -Wolfkind > > -Gnoll > > -Avali > > -Felkin > > > --- > > > Fun fact, in my original plans for campaigns on this world, then the campaigns as a whole were meant to be about saving humanity and the other refugees by ultimately preventing Pherica's impact and destruction, and a general lesson on compassion. However, I gave the players one chance to get one card from the Deck of Many Things, the wizard promptly obtained The Fates and undid the cosmic reaction that was keeping Geodeus and Pherica held apart, not realizing what they were doing until Impact, resulting in The Derailment Of All Time.