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How do you come up with character names?
The stupidest pun you can think of
Boblin the Goblin every time
Translating a defining character trait into a different language
A name with deep symbolism
Smash letters together
Running off shiggles and vibes
hot, dominant phrases you can say during sex, but it’s all things from the call of cthulhu campaign im in rn:
- don’t touch me
- i…might need a minute…
- oh, i’m about to take a whole lot more from you than just your tongue
- FUCKING COWARDS, ALL OF YOU
- does this count as cheating?
- everything’s always about you, you, you
- oh! that might be the stupidest thing you’ve ever done
- i tried to kill my girlfriend—or, wife, well, i mean—
- *through gritted teeth, hands twitching* it is yours to do with as you wish
- you know i was tasked with potentially killing you, right?
- it was much bigger when we saw it
something I love about watching Aabria play ttrpgs is her absolute delight in character conflict and specifically characters who insist upon sitting in conflicts of deeply held convictions that don't have an easy resolution.
I feel like in Failed Save alone there are multiple times where both Fess and Chi have interrupted someone (PC and NPC!) who is trying to move past or minimize or make light of a conflict in order to make things easier or more comfortable (spitting over Dew, Amelia, everything about the contract in s6). it's such a cool way to interrupt the assumed 'yes and' / narrative flow of a ttrpg by forcing not just continued focus on a scene, but refocus in the framework of - no, you don't get to be comfortable, the camera isn't going to turn away, we're going to sit with the implications of this conflict and take it seriously even if it's hard because there's something here for us to dig in to, if you'll trust me to do it together and go there together.
I just think it's such a fun approach to this medium of fantasy and creative freedom and shared storytelling, especially in a game like Failed Save that is so over the top and lackadaisical with reality - until it's not, until the characters face something very, very real. and of course the GM has a lot of tools to manipulate that contrast and set up those emotionally intense scenes, which vince does very well, but it's very cool to see a player* using their more limited scope of tools to do the same thing.
I imagine it's a style that not everyone is comfortable with, given the way it challenges cultural expectations around conflict and specifically conflict in improv / ttrpg settings (and coming from a Black woman especially). I think it's not something a player can pull off well without a) an excellent sense of narrative pacing to know when it's appropriate and b) more importantly, a ton of trust at the table, with both other players and the GM. and naturally it's harder for the audience to be certain of the latter when we're watching through a screen and don't have the same context, so I don't think it's an uncomplicated thing by any means.
but god is it marvelous to watch when it lands.
*everyone in the Failed Save cast does this in really interesting ways, actually, but I think Aabria's style is the most overtly challenging to common ttrpg sensibilities and so the most stark. Gina's emotional sneak attacks with Murray and Saige's decidedly unheroic choices for Dasle are also always on my mind but. that's another post entirely lmao.
obligatory plug to go check out Failed Save (and other shows) @PixelCircus on twitch/youtube for high-octane high-chaos ttrpg fun
26 - Making a Product of the Void in Voidheart Symphony
Voidheart Symphony is a game by UFO Press which draws heavy inspiration from the Persona video game series. It may not have kept the anime aesthetic, but we felt it belonged. Our cat's been in the void since it made contact with reality, and while there, he's become distorted beyond recognition. Almost. You could probably figure out he's a cat, still. BUT IT'S NOT A MORGANA SITUATION!!!
28, 29, 40, and 63 for ithren!! 👀
thank youuuu my favorite pen pal!!
28. who would they kill? Who would they kill for?
The party. The party. 💀
No, more seriously -- it largely just wouldn't occur to them to kill because it never occurs to them that other people would be a threat. They killed some soldiers when they walked from Typhna to Karaff, but that was early in their time interacting with people and probably largely incidental to just, getting them out of the way. Nowadays they're more likely to just step into the ethereal plane - more efficient. They're busy. They don't have any particular moral feelings about it.
They'd love to kill Aelrard though, absolutely. Anyone who stops them from teleporting like that. If Yerm weren't already dead I'd kill him myself. Although, I guess there did actually turn out to be some logic to the temporal harbor blocking conjuration. Ithren still maintains that it's a needlessly broad restriction as a result of lazy arcane design and is endlessly irked by it.
(They wouldn't actually kill the party, even if you attack them. Not on purpose, anyway. For legal reasons that was a joke.)
29. who would they save? who would they be saved by?
The party. The party. 😭
Nullira, Harbor. Iniko, I hope. No one else really registers instinctively. Though honestly - they'd save anyone they were pointed towards as being in danger. People should be safe.
Someone would have to point them, though, because danger is a very, shall we say abstract concept to them.
40. do they enjoy poetry?
Oh, fun. I think ithren would enjoy poetry that fucks with formatting and language, because language is a very artificial thing to them. Post campaign ithren is going to go become a prolific post-structuralist poet, I've decided. You can't stop me.
63. what fight has scared them the most?
Hahaha. Ithren has never felt fear because the things that matter to them have never been threatened. Never could be, really. They also have a particular, like -- idk, isolationist fatalism?? When it comes to other people's actions. They weren't afraid or worried about the party/Mahety choosing to kill them at Halkifell, because they saw it as not something they could (or should, or would) change or influence. You'd make your decision, as is your right, and then they'd proceed accordingly. There's no point fearing something that is going to happen regardless.
Oh wait, I'm wrong, ithren has been scared. Not technically a fight, but - that first convo in Pasra, when Ingot drew on them, Ithren asked if we were still friends & Kempa made them answer whether they thought the party were their friends first. They didn't like that at all, and wound up giving some qualified answer, because they were scared of saying "yes" and being told that they were wrong.
4, 7, 31, 42, 65 for ithren
there were a lot more questions that I really liked and wanted to ask but I could not fathom their being applicable
also g-d just the idea of doing an ask game for ithren is so gjsnfhhd wild
listen I love to think about my g*rl and I love to make that everyone's problem, thank you for enabling me
4. if they could learn one spell that isn’t available to them at present, which spell would it be?
They have everything they need.
However. They would love a teleport spell that can't be blocked by some fucking bullshit lmao.
7. which party member do they understand the least?
Saube, the divine. I'm thinking about the conversation we had in damavand, about ithren's certainty and davidaiah's guidance and how to decide whether to do what has been set before you. Nothing has ever baffled ithren more lmao, the concept of not immediately knowing. As if there's a choice involved. As if it is separate from your self.
They were perhaps equally baffled by Saube asking them for advice, or at least sharing her feelings and questions and waiting for them to respond?? Implying that this was a concept that could also relate to them somehow? For all Whitlock and Ingot explicitly teach ithren about how to relate to people, Saube did it first 1:1 and ithren was. Unsettled by it lmao. Calling her the divine is both true and a useful way to create distance from themselves. Sorry Eli I love you.
31. they’re given a blank piece of paper–what do they do with it?
I mean, Whitlock my friend Whitlock did this very recently. In general though they probably give it to the spider to put in their bags to maybe dissolve later for an experiment.
Or they eat it. A lot of things people give them turn out to be for eating. Eventually they're going to start guessing.
42 - what are three words they would use to describe themselves?
What is needed.
Or, assuming they felt like understanding the assignment... Focused, effective, righteous necessary.
65 - what is holding them back?
Oh that's fun. [redacted] mainly. Which is to say - the celestial's resistance to conjuration. But they don't feel hindered by it, it's just the next step of the problem to solve.
They might have said Whitlock's hope that they humor the marid's notion of control -- they did not like that, even as they implicitly acceded to doing it -- but Whitlock pitching it as a thing to learn really resolved that conflict for them lmao. Now it's a side project they're doing on purpose, like an experiment. If they're doing it on purpose, it's not an obstacle to what is needed. It could be useful. Right?
actually all things considered, being able to play after only a couple months isn’t THAAAT long of a gap
