OOC Discussion

Len, thanks for the openness to share the account. Very kind.
I have seen D&D Beyond advertised on the internet, but I never have known what it was. I'm pretty sure I thought it was play-testing run by WOTC directly. Man, I was way off!
Digital copies of all the resources would be pretty cool.

Will try it out. Thanks, Len!

Ryco would of had a field day at The Tumescent Faun! All the workers, the wait staff, the other patrons, probably a few people from the building over! Him and Archelaus are more than likely brothers that were separated at birth. With good reason to, I think the world would implode if they ever met.

That's pretty neat, Len. Big surprise that it has been out for a year already! It looks a lot nicer than I remember. Thank you for your contribution.

I've been meaning to ask whether the negative reactions to the mutilation was purely RP or did I genuinely upset some of you? No one batted an eyelash at this:
But this post got a real rise out of the majority of the PC's.
I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable. I want this to be fun. If I crossed some line I'd like to know so it hopefully doesn't happen again.

It was purely RP from me. A little peak behind the curtain: Rydler was intent on killing the child or at least interrogating her; the lock of gazes when they first met rubbed him wrong, thinking he'd been made or something. So spikes through her cheeks weren't a huge concern in his mind at that time. After learning her situation, he thought it was the work of the demon. After Aditya told them sacred, his reaction was negative more to the fact that they hindered her from calling for help and not necessarily because of the mutilation.

All in all, I'm loving everything you're doing with the game and my only wish is that I have more free time to post more.

Personally, I'm good. Ybus' seeming ignorance of the ritual piercings reflects the fact that he doesn't care. Of course, he's not blind to it all and is likely filing away his observations for a later purpose.

Assuming he doesn't forget in, like, two minutes.

Also good here. Thought it was cool how you all RP'ed your characters' reactions, and enjoyed RPing the flip side. I figured orcs and half-orcs would be all about the piercings and stuff. Also, in a world with magical healing, s'all good.

In addition, I like the non-European fantasy setting that you've crafted. I'd love to see more world building based on mythologies outside of Europe.

No problem here, Jabes. There is nothing you did out of line, nothing in bad taste.

I can see now, didn't really notice before, that there was a difference of reaction from the initial writing to the posting of the picture. That is interesting. I would say that the picture does deliver the shock value with more punch than the written phrase.

I was just sending RP from the character, who is a mixture of a guy who on one hand is inquisitive of religion and longs for the truth and wisdom they claim to offer, but on the other hand he is an impulsive hothead who has an underlying resentment of religions, suspecting that they may either be corrupt or that they demand foolish devotions founded on untrue beliefs.

Also made the assumption that Urban comes from a culture that does NOT have this sort of practice, so it would have legitimately been a rather shocking sight for him, at least something that he would have to work it out in his head of how to deal with and respond to.

I was not upset in real life at all, I thought it was a good touch. I guess I just didn't really see it on the first pass, or at least the implications didn't dawn on me.

Erden sees it as child abuse. He has a real soft spot for kids and this really rubbed him the wrong way. After seeing that the child is apparently happy and healthy, he's willing to let it slide, but still doesn't like it.

I think you're doing an awesome job with this game and I can't wait to see where it goes from here!

I'm really glad no one was offended in real life. I just wanted to make sure. Great RP from everyone, I really enjoyed it!

Maybe something that I should've asked you guys in the very beginning is what sort of things or topics you would rather not see here. As always, feel free to PM me.

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I'm glad you're enjoying it! While we're on the topic, what other non-European cultures are you interested in having the PC's explore? So far we've established Camaxacal (Aztec analogue) and Qinglai (China analogue). I've got some pre-colonial Philippine culture somewhere on the map, too.

I have a visceral reaction to depictions of rape or blatant child abuse. I'd rather not see those.

The Golden Child is a different scenario in which IRL I know of and recognize similar religious practices, and OOC knew that it was more or less consensual.

I will say that you're doing a fantastic job of presenting a non-European setting. This is something that I always struggle with, so I applaud the work that you've done here!

I would 100% love to see more Philippine cultural content. I might not get that opportunity in any other game I play in. I regret to say that I'm totally ignorant of the history of the Philippines before the colonial period.

I was listening to the official D&D Podcast where they interviewed Russel Thomas who's from the Philippines. He talked about the history of D&D, but also talked about gaming from the Philippines, including a bit about how he included Filipino culture in his game. It's one of my favourite interviews from that show and I thought about you when I heard it. Here's a link if anyone wants to watch / listen (it's a twitch stream and podcast).

Agreed 100%

It sure was! Fun and awesome! Personally I enjoy handing off the reins once in a while, especially with a group like this of really creative people!
Yeah no worries, man! I am really enjoying all the different personalities of these PC's, and that certainly includes Urban's interest in all things divine, which he probably thinks is academic but is really the fervor within him that he has yet to acknowledge. Great stuff!

Don't worry, I have no intention of going in that sort of direction. Not even to characterize a villain as particularly abhorrent.
Don't worry, few Filipinos know as much as they should about our precolonial history! I listened to the podcast, and while the guy doesn't sound like the kind of person I'd like to game with, it's encouraging that there are people in the industry who are trying to shine some light on our culture. Okay, I promise this team will get a taste of indigenous Pinoy culture at some point! :-)

Jabes, I'm all in for any alternate cultures that you have interests in. You know from the other game we are in together that I'm a junkie for non-European imagery. I've got so many goals to run or play in games that are framed in fake versions of cultures we know (or think we know. Ha!), it's not even funny. This India-inspired setting is a great example - really enjoy it.

I have always loved reading history about the Mediterranean lands of antiquity, a true crossroads of cultures. The Roman Empire having territories as varied as Britannia, Spain, Egypt, and Asia Minor (Turkey)- always something I remember when I find myself associating Rome only with fat guys in robes at a fancy coliseum. Even later stories of the crusades when French and German Catholic dudes ended up diving into all sorts of old eastern mysticism and ancient rituals while on war volleys in the Middle East. Afghanistan/Pakistan, Sub-Sahara Africa, Pre-Columbian Americas - The real world has so many cool settings and stories that I think go largely untapped!

I think it's just sometimes a lot to bite off to get the imagery and culture snapshots going, and takes some buy-in from a good group of players to keep it afloat with something more than just different clothing and weapons. But I really appreciate your willingness to tackle it, and also think this group of players would be able to embrace alternate settings whatever they are. So I'm game for just picking ones that capture your imagination. That upcoming Philippines set sounds dope track already.

Often when introducing any culture (even one's own) you have to content yourself with the Hollywood version because anything more requires way more research than most of us have time for. There's the danger of misrepresenting the culture and so I'm glad this is fantasy, and I always say "loosely modeled" or "inspired by" and try to be as respectful of the source as I possibly can.

All in good fun! :-)

Maybe that's my problem, I try to go authentic... but there's just SO much to a culture that you can't learn about from a day or two of reading!

Are these magic items overpowered for your level? Maybe, but I don't care. I just want you guys to have cool shit. I tried my best to tailor-fit these to your PC's, taking into account the feats and features you said you wanted your character to learn.

Are these items equal in power? Maybe not. Perhaps a question for the How Do I Even...? thread is, "how does a magic item that is equivalent to a feat compare to an item that duplicates a spell, versus an item that grants a class or racial feature, versus an item with a static bonus? My idea is for these items to grow in power as your character levels.

Xiphos: If you go back to the Sardo Numspa fight you'll notice Xiphos overcoming the demon's damage reduction. ;-)

Captain's Shield: I'm actually not a huge fan of Capt. America's new shield in Infinity Wars, but I went with that because I wasn't sure if Urban would like the blue & white stripes. :-D I certainly think he would rock the original design!

Heart of the Ocean: Basically Gift of the Depths, but that invocation has 5th level warlock as prerequisite. So Ybus will have to content himself with copying the ritual into his book for now.

Eastwood Cigar: Lucky feat, as requested. Added easter egg: Just like Clint Eastwood's characters, the leader of the A-Team was also fond of cigars.

I'm still working on Rydler's because I'm undecided on the direction I'm taking flavor-wise.

By the way, I welcome critique of those items.
:-)