Do Things With Joy, Wonder, And Spite

A critical role blog “Long May He Reign”

[ju-chaan]

I only have one comment:

[midnigtartist]

“She’s a child.” “She’s a goblin” “Those aren’t mutually exclusive.”

[krianath]

Be the chaos you want to see in the world

[midnigtartist]

[tastysemochka]

[oc] be born again

[distorted-prince]

Some Nott and Caleb doodles

[aubrat]

This art makes me so happy. That's them. That's the dynamic.

[maxknightley]

personally, even ignoring any other implications of the "cozy" / "wholesome" Marketing Label, I'm averse to them because they suggest you couldn't think of any better reason to play your video game.

[maxknightley]

you know when people talk about how the villagers in Animal Crossing used to be more rude and demanding, and it was frustrating at times, but it gave the whole thing a lot of character? and now they're all just sort of Generically Pleasant, even the ones that are nominally supposed to be kind of standoffish? that's where I'm at on "wholesome" games. you don't have to be edgy but for the love of god don't be edgeless. don't be twee.

[maxknightley]

thinking about the Moomin books and how they're stories about cute, silly cartoon animals that are also very aware of loneliness and longing. thinking about the way "Ghibli films" are often reduced to Well Rendered Anime Food and Pretty Meadows when people post about them, because the actual stories and characterizations aren't as GIF-able or easy to generalize. thinking about Recettear, a fun and cute little shop simulator where the core concept is "if you fall behind on your bills you are ruined. you are a child and you will be completely ruined."

there have to be ideas. you know? there have to be ideas.

[sahonithereadwolf]

I'm glad I'm not the only one driven off by it as a marketing label. Conflict doesn't need to be big or dire to be meaningful, and comfort is not a sin. But sometimes it's milquetoast palatablility as conflict aversion. And when it's packaged as a moral stance it bothers me and feels ignorant of the larger workings of an entire medium. One of my favorite games recently is Venba

it's very much been marketed as a cozy game in a lot of corners. Bright colors, simple gameplay, a story centered around food. It's easy enough to get. But the game is more interested about what these recipes you're cooking mean. The story centers around an Indian mom who immigrates to Canada in the 1980's and suffers the grief and longing that comes with diaspora. She starts cooking and restoring family recipes as a way to reconnect with the home she left behind. Each of those recipes carries with it a weight. Personally I just keep thinking about how much of a disservice it was given by simplifying it into a cooking game about Indian dishes by these comfort game collectives. Complete with tinkly music and exclamations of "yummy". I know especially as a smaller dev what it means to get eyes on what you made but I hate how bone-crunchingly flattening it is to the games that do have teeth.

[theminttu]

Orym 🌙🍃 Two of Swords 🍃🔴

Oh sweet leaf Why did you leave? Why didn't you stay? How can I be your guardian angel when you are away?

[otterlyart]

New Intro!

[utilitycaster]

I love how Percy is SO bitchy about wizards like sir you have wizard intelligence you just decided to major in Gun instead, this is on you

[counterspelling]

Endless 4SD

[maikuuro]

Molly ✨🌙

[doomburgerdoodles]

Shadow Over Ruidus

I got this visual stuck in my head way back in January, so I put it on canvas. 5 months and 161 hours later it’s finally done

[luckthebard]

I’m at a D&D themed burlesque show tonight and I can’t decide which was better, the CR themed act which used the D&D Beyond ad, Welcome to Wildemount, and Your Turn to Roll, or the mimic act for which the performer sat on stage in a cardboard chest for the whole first act before popping out and dancing it off to “Maneater”.

[oddthesungod]

long may he reign 👑✨

[quietsphere]

Anybody can make lights. Little sparks of possibility.

[calicostorms]

[ID: A chest up drawing of Caleb and Essek. Caleb is holding one scarred arm up so his hand hovers over one of Essek's hands beneath his, holding a purple and orange flame between them. The flame lights up Caleb's face in orange tones while he smiles and his hair is ruffled; the flame extends to the left then over their heads in a semicircle. Essek is leaning over his shoulder and looking down at the flame with a smile. He has many earrings in his visible ear and his free hand rests on Caleb's left shoulder. Background is a purple toned color near black. /END ID]

[vethbrenatto]

for pride month, I’m going to be putting all the critical role bisexuals in my pockets. oh god there’s too many of them, they’re falling out. percy just escaped confinement and caleb is chasing him. please someone catch them-