Hey! First post here, I'm just curious if anyone had any tips for finding specific animals from sets for a decent price. I want to use them to make little animal versions of my own and my friend's dnd characters, and I have specific animals in mind for each but I can't really justify paying full price or more for a family just for one animal from the set, so I thought I would see if anyone had any tips. Thank you!!

Hi there, Just a quick heads up:
There is a 2023 update to the German language character sheet. - Re-sorting of military science - +1D4 instead of +1 for skill advancements
Have fun!
https://www.chaotisch-neutral.de/spielmaterial/delta-green/

I feel like I’ve read something about this here before but I couldn’t track it down. I know the world of dnd is pretty diverse but I also recognize there are published settings. My group and I (I’m a first time dm) are going to be reaching the end of our intro module and i wanted to start prepping for what might come next since they’re all really attached to these characters so far. Is there like a rundown of the published settings or is there a setting that is better or worse for beginners. Any information on the settings would be great coming from people who have played. Wiki was sorta helpful but also confusing. Thanks!

Sources:
Japanese recap (https://twitter.com/AQNAWNA/status/1629486778980900865)
Traditional Chinese translation based on Japanese recap (https://forum.gamer.com.tw/C.php?bsn=10039&snA=18737)
Simplified Chinese translation based on Japanese recap (https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv22081147)
There is already an English translation on Twitter by IceFairy, but not every tweet is translated because according to IceFairy, some of them have already known information, so I wanted to translate some of the skipped tweets with the help of DeepL Translator and Chinese translations. If you want to see the other questions, check out IceFairy's English translation on Twitter.
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​
司会「その後、靈異伝が1996年に発売されるわけですが……」
ZUN「いや、靈異伝が発売されたのって1995年だよ。1996年って言ってるのはWikipediaだけ。原作者の言う事の方が上だと思うんだけど、Wikipediaは客観的な事実が無いと正しいと認めてもらえないらしい（笑）」
Host: After that, Highly Responsive to Prayers was released in 1996......
ZUN: No, Highly Responsive to Prayers was released in 1995, only Wikipedia says it was 1996. I think what the original author says is better, but apparently Wikipedia won't accept it as correct without objective facts. (laughs)
​
司会「スペカはどういうイメージで作った？」
ZUN「弾幕STGって東方と同時多発ぐらいに出て来て、紅魔郷の頃は黎明期だけど、今後消えゆくジャンルのような気がしていた。弾幕STGの良いところを出すにはどうしたらって考えて、楽しい部分に名前をつけて識別出来るようにすれば良いんじゃないかって」
Host: What kind of image did you have in mind when you created Spell Card?
ZUN: Bullet barrage STGs came out at about the same time as Touhou, and although it was in its infancy at the time of Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, I had the feeling that it was a genre that would disappear in the future. I thought about how to bring out the best in barrage STGs, and I thought it would be a good idea to give names to the fun parts so that people could identify them.
​
司会「必殺技みたいな感じですね」
ZUN「そうそう。自分ではかなり良いアイデアだと思ったので、思いついてすぐ会社で企画書を書いた。けど通らなくて（笑）、だったら自分で作るしかない！ってなった」
Host: It's like a special move.
ZUN: That's right, I thought it was a pretty good idea myself, so I wrote a proposal at work as soon as I thought of it. But it didn't pass (laughs), so I decided I had to make it myself.
​
司会「風神録以降の3部作について」
ZUN「永夜抄までは僕が作りたいものを作っていた。それ以降は『東方Projectって何？』をどんどん詰めていく作業。世界観のクォリティアップをしたかった」
Host: Tell us about the trilogy after Mountain of Faith.
ZUN: Until Imperishable Night, I was making what I wanted to make. After that, I was working on the work of filling "What is Touhou Project?". I wanted to improve the quality of the worldview. I wanted to improve the quality of the worldview.
​
司会「風神録は長野県舞台ですが、特別な思いがありましたか？」
ZUN「『東方とは何か？』を考えるに連れて、自分が子供の頃に体験してきたものを入れようと思った。東方でないと出来ないやり方だし、だからこそ僕は東方しか作れないんだけどね」
Host: Mountain of Faith is set in Nagano Prefecture. Did you have any special thoughts about this?
ZUN: "What is Touhou?" as I thought about it, I decided to include what I had experienced as a child. It's a way that only Touhou can do it, and that's why I only make Touhou.
​
司会「ゆっくりについて」
ZUN「話すと色々……（笑）。元は2chの文化だけど、あの頃は2chって東方が出禁になってたんだよね。したらばでしか話せなくなっちゃった（会場爆笑）。で、東方アンチが2chの東方関係ないとこに貼りまくるAAとして生まれたんだよね」
Host: Tell us about Yukkuri.
ZUN: A lot to talk about...... (laughs). It's originally from 2ch culture, but back then Touhou was banned from 2ch. I could only talk about it in Shitaraba bulletin board system (venue explodes into laughter), and it was born as an AA (ASCII art) that anti-Touhou people post all over 2ch in places not related to Touhou.
​
司会「それが今やこんなに広まることに」
ZUN「色んな人がそういうの経由で東方を知ってくれてて、東方はサブカルの王様、みたいに言われることがあるけど、でも実際は名前だけ知ってて中身を知らないことが多くて、大きいのかそうじゃないのか分からないジャンルだよね」
Host: And now it's so widespread.
ZUN: A lot of people know about Touhou through that kind of thing, sometimes people say that Touhou is like the king of subculture, but in reality, many people only know the name and don't know what's in it, so it's a genre that may or may not be big.
​
（ここから客席からのQ&A）
Q.小中学生からの人気をどう思いますか？
ZUN「例大祭ほんと多いよね。オタクコンテンツは大学生が主流だと思ってたし、実際東方のメインターゲット層はそこなんだけど。原作って小中学生が遊ぶには難しいよね。でもそっちに合わせにはいかないようにしてる」↓（続）
(Q&A from the audience)
Q. What do you think of the popularity of Touhou among elementary and middle school students?
ZUN: There are really a lot of them at Reitaisai. I thought otaku content was dominated by college students, and in fact, they're the main target audience for Touhou. The original games are difficult for elementary and middle school students to play, but I try not to go along with them.
​
ZUN「結果として原作買いに来るのはおっさんばっか（笑）。二次創作の方には小中学生がいっぱい居てずるいなって思ったり（笑）」
ZUN: As a result, the only people who come to buy the original games are old men (laughs). I think it's unfair that derivative works are so favored by elementary and middle school students (laughs).
​
Q.ZUNさんの好きなキャラは？
ZUN「うーん……そりゃ霊夢だよ。そうしておこう。……正直この質問、良い答えが無くて困るよね（笑）」
Q. Who is Mr. ZUN's favorite character?
ZUN: Hmmm...... that would be Reimu. Honestly, I'm having trouble finding a good answer to this question (laughs).
​
Q.好きなお酒は？
ZUN「ビール。ハートランド美味しいよね……いやこれ高校でする話題じゃないな（笑）」
Q. What's your favorite alcoholic beverage?
ZUN: Beer. Heartland is delicious...... Oh, this isn't a topic I should be talking about in high school (laughs).
​
Q.ZUNさん自身が傑作だと思う東方曲は？
ZUN「（しばらく考えて）いっぱいあるなぁ」
Q.「最近のだと？」
ZUN「『あの賑やかな市場は今どこに』かな。ファンの評価低いけど（笑） 僕自身は『こんなに自分は色んな表情の曲を作れるのか』って感動したんだけどな」
Q. Which Touhou track does Mr. ZUN consider to be a masterpiece?
ZUN: (Thinking for a while) There are a lot of them.
Q. What is the most recent one?
ZUN: "Where Is That Bustling Marketplace Now". I know fans don't rate it highly (laughs), but I myself was impressed by the fact that I can write a song that has so many different expressions.
​
Q.結婚したりお子さんが産まれたりしましたが、何か心境の変化は？
ZUN「大学では寝て起きてゲーム作って、そこから30代ぐらいまでは修羅場がオッケーだった。体力無くなったり、子供の頃から培ってきた知識を全部吐き出しちゃって、今は気力も知識もないのに気概だけは大きくなって（笑）」↓（続）
Q. Now that you are married and have children, has your mindset changed in any way?
ZUN: In college, I slept, woke up, and made games, it was ok until I was in my 30s or so. I lost my strength and all the knowledge I had accumulated since I was a child, and now I have no energy and no knowledge, but only my spirit has grown (laughs).
​
ZUN「でも、家庭を持つことで強制的に自分の知らない情報が色々と手に入る。創作するにあたってとても重要なことだと思う。子供と生活できて良かった」
ZUN: But having a family forces you to get all sorts of information that you don't know. I think it's very important in creating works. I'm glad I got to live with my kids.
​
Q.星蓮船から曲調が変化したような気がしますが、ご自身ではどう思いますか？
ZUN「えっ、そう？ 確かに星蓮船と地霊殿はテーマとしても明確に差をつけて作ってるけど、それ以前以後では……ちょっと分からない。あ、そういえばその頃結婚したから私生活の変化かも。でもそんな変わってないと思うよ」
Q. It seems like the tune of the music has changed since Undefined Fantastic Object, what do you think about it yourself?
ZUN: Eh, really? It's true that I'm making a clear difference between the themes of Undefined Fantastic Object and Subterranean Animism, but before and after that...... I'm not sure. Oh, come to think of it, I got married around that time, so maybe it was a change in my personal life. But I don't think it's changed that much.
​
Q.蓬莱山輝夜の性格はどんな感じですか？
ZUN「二次創作でよくある引きこもりのイメージで間違ってないと思うよ。外に興味がなくて、お嬢様気質。そもそも昔話のかぐや姫って結構ひどいやつだよね（笑）」
Q. What is the personality of Kaguya Houraisan?
ZUN: It's similar to the image of a hikikomori (a person who avoids social contact) that's so common in the derivative works. No interest in the outside world, ladylike temperament. In the first place, Princess Kaguya in the old tale was a pretty terrible person (laughs).
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Q.昔はスペプラを付けるの嫌がっていたようですが、何か心変わりが？
ZUN「永夜抄にあったのは、永夜抄が最終作の予定だったから。今入ってるのはゲームの遊び方の変化だね。難しいとこだけつまんでやるのは昔はNGだった。スコア稼ぎが目的だったか、雰囲気を楽しんでもらうかの変化が大きい」
Q. You used to be unwilling to add Spell Practice, why did you change your mind?
ZUN: The reason it was in Imperishable Night was because Imperishable Night was planned to be the final work. It's due to the change in the way the game is played. It used to be a no-no to just pick the hard parts. There's a big change in whether the goal was to score or to have people enjoy the atmosphere.
​
Q.一番ビジュアルで苦労したキャラは？
ZUN「大体難産ばっかだけど……最近だと、ラスボスの装飾がごちゃごちゃしてるのは苦労した証。描いてるウチに分からなくなっちゃって。埴安神袿姫とか」
Q. Which character did you have the most difficulty in drawing
ZUN: Most of them are difficult to draw...... Recently, the messy decoration of the last boss is a sign that I had a hard time drawing it. I lost track of it as I was drawing it. For example, Keiki Haniyasushin.
​
Q.妹キャラの方が強いのは何故？
ZUN「こだわりがあるわけじゃないけど……クセなのかもしれない。若い方が元気で、年取ってると落ち着いた感じになるとか、そういうイメージがあるのかも」
Q. Why do the younger sister characters have stronger personalities?
ZUN: I'm not particular about it...... maybe it's just a habit. The younger ones are more energetic and the older ones are more calm.
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Q.最近読んだ中で一番人におすすめしたい本は？SFとかお好きだと思いますが
ZUN「ここ最近は現実の方が面白い。フィクションはあんまり読まないな。宇宙の話とか、量子力学なんかも面白いなって思い始めてる」↓（続）
Q. What book have you read recently that you would recommend to others? I think you like science fiction.
ZUN: Reality is more interesting these days. I don't read much fiction. I'm starting to think that the universe and quantum mechanics are interesting.
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Q.SFで「三体」とか話題ですが、ご存知ですか？
ZUN「読んじゃうと影響受けちゃうから……」
Q.ではノンフィクションだと？
ZUN「皆がオススメしてたものは大体面白いよ、サピエンス全史とか。……本当は自分の中にはいっぱいあるんだけど、作品のネタになるから言いたくないんだよ（笑）」
Q. Have you heard of "The Three-Body Problem" science fiction novel?
ZUN: If I read it, I will be influenced by it, so......
Q. What about non-fiction?
ZUN: Most of the stuff everyone recommended is interesting, like "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind"...... The truth is, I have a lot of books that I find interesting, but I don't want to talk about them because I plan to use them as the subject of my work (laughs).
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Q.一番楽しかったSTGは？
ZUN「ダライアス。……ごめん、こういう話しようとするといつまでも喋っちゃうからやめておく。30年も前のゲームだよ（笑）」
Q. What STG (Shmup) did you enjoy the most?
ZUN: Darius...... Sorry, if I try to talk about these things, I'll talk forever, so I'm not going to. It's a 30 year old game (laughs).
​
Q.天空の花の都はどういった気持ちで作りましたか？
ZUN「妖々夢の4面道中だよね、良いよねアレ。妖々夢は冬コミで３面まで出来てて、夏コミまで結構時間あったから、4面作る時に色々考えちゃって、雲の上に来た瞬間に優しいピアノが始まるようにとか……その結果道中が長くなりすぎたのは反省（笑）」
Q. What did you feel when you created "The Capital City of Flowers in the Sky"?
ZUN: It's the stage 4 theme of Perfect Cherry Blossom, isn't it? It's good. I had already finished the first three stages of Perfect Cherry Blossom at the time of Winter Comiket and had quite a bit of time before Summer Comiket, so I thought a lot when I made the fourth stage, like having a gentle piano starts the moment you reach above the clouds...... and as a result, the stage became too long, I regret that (laughs).

Love the game, but I do see a common discussion of our character being a murder machine. I like that we have the stealth tree and mechanics along with some spells that aren’t damage focused, but I would like more passive combat and stealth mechanics to fit certain playthroughs. It would be awesome to compliment both passive and aggressive combat and stealth scenarios with various fantastic beasts (similar to the herbology mechanics). Imagine having niffler steal items from a chest or off enemies for you, summing a Zouwo to fight alongside, or getting a demiguise to distract enemies for you.
As with many mechanics in this first game, amazing job but definitely plenty of room to expand.

My wife's wizard died. Beholder. Tears were shed.
Now we're planning her replacement. Problem is, we have a kid now that she is often putting to bed, or watching, during gametime while I DM. So she wants to go much simpler, her plan was fighter or barbarian. Pure martial, little to no spells to juggle. She was inspired by my one shot character (Dirty Bugbear Echo Knight/Gloomstalker) and said she wanted something deadly and munchkin-y like that. But not a copy.
So we're thinking going for the classic Crossbow mastesharpshooter pure fighter. I've been running 5e since the start and never had anyone go that route surprisingly.
Our tentative idea so far is:

• Custom lineage to grab one of the necessary feats.
• Sharpshooter
• Max dex
• We picked samurai for all those xbow shots at advantage only to realize that it conflicts heavily in the bonus action department. So now maybe battlemaster?
• Also looking for a fair weapon to give at this level that fits the build. I was thinking a dragons wrath xbow but wow would that escalate things.
• Any other magic item suggestions to round out the build?

What are your thoughts? We also considered going the elven accuracy route, I think there's enough space for the extra feat without hurting the asis too much. Getting the advantage either from trip attack or samurai and such.

It was just before recess when Zach asked me to hold his egg. We were doing a school project where the goal was to keep an egg safe for an entire week, as if it were your own baby. If you dropped your egg and broke it, you got an F.
Mr. Marco had signed all of the eggs with a Sharpie, so there was no chance of cheating. Everyone in class had devised a plan to keep their prized egg safe for the week, and Zach was no exception. He was using a white and red thermos lined with tissue paper inside. It looked secure, and I wasn’t worried about breaking it. In fact, it looked safer than mine, and I was starting to consider changing my design.
Maybe because I was distracted thinking about my own egg container device, I didn’t have a firm enough grip on Zach’s thermos. When I got bumped from behind by another kid I fumbled it.
The whole contraption went flying and landed right in front of the teacher’s desk. Mr. Marco saw the egg jump from the thermos and a second later it went SPLAT, right on the floor in front of his desk.
“Jason! Was that your egg?” he demanded, leaping up from his chair.
Mr. Marco had always hated me. I had him in the sixth grade, after he replaced the best teacher in school at the last minute. Then in the eighth grade, he surprised me again by replacing the second best teacher in school and taking over for his class which I was entering. The first day I couldn’t believe it, seeing Mr. Marco sitting behind the desk where Mr. L was supposed to be sitting. Mr. L was my older brother’s favorite teacher ever. Three years prior I’d heard all the stories of how he’d taken his students on field trips every month and entertained them with his comedic lectures, using characters and voices and props that captivated even the most “unteachable” students.
Mr. Marco, by contrast, was a Phys Ed major who thought gym class was superior to everything and barely understood math or science. He was highly favored among the jocks and bullies and despised by the geeks and nerds, like myself.
That first day of eighth grade, Mr. Marco was sitting up front, and he must have seen the disappointed look on my face, because he scowled at me and yelled at me to take my seat. It was as if he had read my mind, and knew I hated him, and that I was disappointed he was my teacher again.
For almost two full years I’d suffered under Mr. Marco. He was mean, rude, and somehow managed to become friends with all of the bullies in school who regularly beat me up during recess. One of those bullies was Zach, whose egg I had just broken.
“No, Mr. Marco,” I said, showing him my egg, safe and sound. “That was Zach’s.”
I turned around and looked at Zach, then wished I hadn’t.
“Sorry,” I mumbled under my breath.
The teacher’s face went a shade redder. Zach was his favorite student. Zach was the quarterback on the football team which Mr. Marco coached. And Zach, despite being the worst student in class, was adored by Mr. Marco.
The teacher’s eyes shifted and I saw he was looking at Zach sympathetically. Zach, who was standing behind me, vibrating with rage. The freckles on his cheeks became harder to see, as his entire face went crimson.
Despite the fact that I knew he wanted to fail me, a precedent had already been set and everyone knew what had to happen next.
“Unless that was a decoy, you get an F, Zach,” Mr. Marco said, sitting back down and marking something in his notebook with a red pen. “Next time pick a smarter person to hold your baby.”
Somehow that stung worse than anything yet.
*
It didn’t take long for Zach to find me during recess.
His tall, lanky, hyena-voiced friend Chris accompanied him as they held me up against a wall and began to lay a beating on me. It didn’t help that Zach now had both hands free, while I had to hold onto my precious egg for dear life.
Zach punched my arm again and again, giving me a Charlie Horse that would last for weeks.
At first I didn’t protest. I felt like I deserved it. But then it started to hurt worse and worse and I needed to get away more than anything. It felt like something in my arm was about to rupture or break or worse. But no matter how hard I struggled, the two larger, stronger boys held me in place.
Finally, after what felt like hours, I could take no more, and crumpled to the ground, curling into a ball, still trying to protect my egg.
Zach said some parting words which I barely heard, no longer caring what he thought of me. Once upon a time we’d been friends. I’d gone to his house and gone to his birthday parties. But that felt like a different lifetime. A century ago, in another universe.
*
I walked home from school feeling crushed and weak, wincing every time someone ran past me on the sidewalk, thinking it might be Zach coming to lay another beating on me. Looking over my shoulder again and again, I had a feeling he would be coming for me. What he’d done to me at recess wasn’t enough. It would never be enough.
When I glanced back I saw him running down the sidewalk trying to catch up with me. I pretended not to notice, then when I went around the next corner I began to run.
A few seconds later I looked back to see he had several of his friends from the hockey team with him. They were running full-tilt, laughing and screaming at me as I ran away. Their threats made me certain that if they caught me they would hurt me worse than I’d ever been hurt before. And I really wanted to avoid that.
I turned onto a path, leaving the road, racing towards the forest. Immediately I regretted the decision, knowing that I was headed towards an even more secluded area, far away from the relative safety of city streets and plenty of witnesses.
But it was too late to turn back now. The bullies were right behind me, gaining on me fast. I threw my backpack to the ground, trying to gain any advantage I could, and heard one of them tumble to the ground when they tripped over it.
“I’ll kill you for that,” I heard him yelling after me, but I didn’t look back.
By the time I got to the forest I realized they weren’t right behind me anymore. They were still trailing me, but at a jogging pace now. And they were pulling binders and school books out of my backpack and scattering them everywhere as they walked.
“Man, you really shouldn’t litter,” Zach was saying, joined by jeers and laughter from the others. “All this stuff has your name on it, you should really come back and pick it up! Look, there goes your math textbook, that’s gotta be worth like fifty bucks, right?”
I winced, hearing him tear pages from it as they followed me into the forest. It probably cost more than a hundred dollars, I thought, which I’d have to pay back after the school year ended. Either way, I wasn’t turning around for the backpack. I would take my life over my school books any day.
The path was too obvious, I realized. Knowing I had temporarily lost them in the trees, I decided to veer off from it. I had to get creative if I wanted to lose them.
So I went off the path and ran through some bushes, heading away from the trail.
It didn’t take long for them to notice, and I heard them crunching through leaves as they followed after me a few seconds later.
“I SEE YOU!” Zach shouted, and I looked back and saw he was pointing right at me. “And I’m gonna fucking KILL YOU!”
It was an accident, I wanted to scream. But it wouldn’t make a difference. None of it mattered to him. He just wanted blood.
Running as fast as I could through the fallen leaves, I tripped over a branch. It was hidden by the rusted brown and yellow foliage and so I hadn’t seen it.
When I looked up, I realized there was a hiding place just beside me that I would not have noticed if not for tripping.
A large, hollowed-out log was to my right, and I crawled inside of it.
It was large enough for me to fit inside, but just barely. I held my breath, hearing the sounds of footsteps coming closer. The other boys were right outside, looking for me.
“He was here a second ago,” one of them said. “I saw him.”
Patiently I waited for them to leave, hoping they wouldn’t linger too long. The log was wet beneath my ass and I felt the rotten moisture leaking through my pants. I noticed movement to my right and looked to see a fat spider crawling on the ceiling of my hiding spot, and just beyond there were millipedes, potato bugs, and little red worms which squirmed and wriggled as they poked their heads from the decaying wood. There were probably more of them beneath me, and I realized I felt movement under me. The entire rotten log was alive with insects and creepy-crawlies.
Horrified and sick to my stomach, I nearly burst out of there, screaming. But I stayed where I was and hoped they would leave. Instead, they lingered nearby, far too close for comfort.
“Is he in there?” I heard one of them ask.
With fear overwhelming my revulsion, I set down my precious egg and clambered further into the decaying log. I crawled through thick spider webs as things skittered down my back and into my pants, biting back a scream and forcing myself to continue onward. All the way to the end, or at least, what I thought was the end of the hollow log.
Instead of bumping up against a rock or roots or cold hard ground, I kept crawling. Into the darkest place I’d ever been.
Something about it was calling to me, even more than my sense of curiosity at this strange world which seemed to be opening up all around me.
I sensed by the noise of my movements that I was now in a wide open space, damp and cold like a cave, and I felt around, realizing I could stand up now. I sensed there was something just ahead of me, and I reached out to feel a smooth wooden surface.
My hand probed the flat surface for any marker or indication of what it might be, and suddenly I felt something round and polished jutting out from it.
For a few seconds I couldn’t figure it out, because the context clues were all wrong. Whatever this was didn’t belong here. It belonged in a house, not a cave beneath the forest.
It was a door knob.
Which meant this was a door.
But where could it possibly lead to?
I decided to take my chances with whatever was on the other side, rather than risking another confrontation with Zach and his friends.
My heart was pounding fast as I turned the handle, deciding to take a chance and explore further in this strange place. Maybe it was a hobbit’s hole, my young mind thought. Or the home of a leprechaun.
As I stepped through, into another world, I forgot all about Zach and the other boys who were looking to beat me up.
As the door swung open I was hit by a blast of cold air, much more chilly than the damp basement feeling of the cave I had just been in. This new place was in the middle of winter, and it was full of blowing snow, whereas the place I’d just come from was relatively warm. I was wearing jeans and a hoodie, and I was immediately freezing cold and shivering.
“Whoa,” I exclaimed, unable to stop myself from wandering forward.
Scared of going too far from the door, I hesitantly began to explore this new place.
I pushed my way out through thick fir trees, and eventually found myself in a clearing, surrounded by forest. It was dim outside, but it was daylight. The sky overhead was obscured by thick, swirling gray clouds which dumped snow down constantly. My feet were instantly soaked and freezing cold, since my running shoes were not made for this sort of weather.
Clutching myself and rubbing my arms to regain some warmth, I decided this was too much to bear. I was about to turn back, but then I heard the sound of tiny bells jingling, and a voice speaking to me from nearby. It was a woman’s voice, soft and sweet, like music to my ears.
“Oh, dear boy,” she said, emerging from behind a tree. Her hair was dark and she was dressed in gray robes, the same color as the clouds, covered in little silver bells. “How did you find yourself stranded in the forests of Hollow’s End?”
Part of me wanted to turn and run, but her smile was warm and friendly, and the tinkling bells reminded me of Christmas, so I found myself staying.
“Oh, hello. Nice to meet you. Actually, I’m not stranded. There’s a door back there. I found this place by accident and… Brrrrr, it’s beautiful… but cold! I think I’ll have to be heading back now.”
She came a little closer and I saw she was very pretty. Her face looked like it belonged to a supermodel or a famous actress whose name I couldn’t place, and I found myself staring at her intently, despite my desire to go back to where I’d come from where it was warmer.
Then, before I knew it, she was standing right in front of me.
“If you’re cold, I can get you a coat. And some hot cocoa. Would you like that?”
I felt myself nodding, and she took my hand in her own freezing cold one, and when she touched me my entire body became covered with goosebumps, and I found myself going with her. She led me away from the door I’d come in through, and deeper into the cold and wintery world of Hollow’s End.
*
A little while later we were sitting inside someplace warm, although I didn’t remember walking there. I had a fur coat around my shoulders and I was sipping cocoa, staring at the beautiful woman across from me. She was old enough to be my teacher, and it should have felt rude, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away. And she didn’t say anything, only looked at me with that same warm smile.
But then her happy expression dropped and she looked away, as a tear dripped down her cheek, spilling to the floor, where it immediately froze solid. Her lower lip quivered as she said a silent apology to me.
“What’s wrong,” I asked.
“Nothing,” she said. “How’s your hot chocolate?”
“Delicious!”
And it was. The best I’d ever tasted.
“Are you hungry?” she asked, wiping away the tears which had turned to snowflakes on her face.
“Yes, I’m very hungry,” I replied. I couldn’t help it, I was starving. My stomach was rumbling and I felt like dinner should have been hours ago, and yet time was funny here. I wasn’t entirely sure how long I’d been in this world, on the other side of the door. But the groans from my belly were saying it had been a long time.
“What is your favorite thing in the world to eat?”
I thought about this for a second, and it didn’t take long to come up with an answer.
“My mom’s beef stew,” I said. “It’s the best!”
Her face lit up in a warm grin again and she got up and went to the stove. I noticed for the first time there was a black pot simmering there.
“Well, what do you know? That’s exactly what I’m making for dinner tonight. Beef stew!”
My mouth started watering at the smell. It was exactly like what I remembered from home. Which reminded me I should be going back there. My mom would be worried about me.
Something about this was creeping me out too, the more I thought about home and about the strange situation I was in. Images of Hansel and Gretel crossed my mind, although I hadn’t yet labeled this woman with the dreaded “W” word. I didn’t think she’d like it if I called her that, even if it was true.
As I was about to open my mouth to say I had to leave, she presented me with a steaming bowl filled with beef stew, and I forgot what I had been thinking about. The dish looked just like my mom’s, and the smell was overwhelming. Next she set down a board with a freshly-baked loaf of bread sitting atop it, steaming and warm with butter ready for spreading.
I couldn’t possibly leave right after she’d done all this for me, I thought to myself, and began to dig in.
The meat was tender, the broth perfectly thick and seasoned, and the carrots, potatoes, and onions had just the right amount of bite. It was the best beef stew I’d ever eaten - peppery and hot - and I quickly downed two bowls, devouring four slices of warm, crunchy fresh bread slathered in salted butter, which I used to mop up the puddles at the bottom of the bowl.
Wiping my face with a napkin, I belched loudly and excused myself, my face turning red with embarrassment.
“No need to apologize. A healthy burp is a sign of a properly cooked meal, in my books,” she said from across the table.
I realized then that she hadn’t eaten anything, and felt bad for not noticing earlier.
“I’m just not very hungry these days,” she said, as if reading my thoughts. “But I’m glad I could make you happy with a meal. The greatest joy in life is in feeding people, I always say.”
“That’s what my mom always says too!”
It wasn’t quite what she said, but close enough.
The woman’s face broke again and frozen tears began to pour from both eyes, as she let out a gut-wrenching sob.
It was startling, after our pleasant conversation so far, but obviously there was something deeply troubling this woman.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. “I’m not sure if I can help, but I’d be happy to try.”
“That’s sweet of you to offer,” she said. “But you’re just a boy. I need someone… Well, someone who can be very, very sneaky. No, I’m sorry. It’s too dangerous.”
“What’s too dangerous?” I asked, curious now.
She walked over to the fireplace and looked into the flames. Then, after some time, she began to speak.
“It’s been years since I’ve been trapped in this place. An outcast sent to live at the edge of the forest.”
Her voice was sad, and almost brought me to tears as she continued her tragic tale.
“My family once ruled this land. We were fair and just. Everyone in Hollow’s End had enough to eat. It was warm and the sun was shining every day. Crops grew tall in the soil of our lands, towering to the heights of trees. There was always more than enough to go around.
“But then a great beast emerged from the forest. It was a jungle cat, large and white, and with it came the snow. The great tiger was intelligent, and could speak and enthrall the hearts of men. He convinced them to take my crown from me, and with it, I lost my power to hold back his never-ending winter. The trees went bare overnight. The crops began to wither and fail. And soon there was little to eat, and never enough to go around.”
She showed me the bottom of the pot of stew, and the few scraps that remained, then set it down to rest on the stove.
“You gave me all of it?” I asked, stunned and heartbroken. “But you don’t even know me.”
“My mother always taught me to be kind. To help strangers lost in the cold.”
I thought about this for a few moments before making an impulse decision I would come to greatly regret.
“Well, my mom taught me stuff too! And I want to help you. Just tell me what you need me to do. If you need someone to be sneaky, well, I’ll be the sneakiest sneak you’ve ever seen. I’ll get your crown back for you from that tiger!”
She smiled at me, and this time it didn’t feel so warm. In fact, I felt a chill run up my spine as she began to laugh and nod, telling me, “Good boy. Very good boy.”
*
I found myself outside, dressed in a thick black fur coat and boats, trudging through the snow. There was a sword in a scabbard attached to my belt, and I had a vague memory of being taught how to use it.
How much time has passed? How long did you spend learning how to use that sword? Your mother must be missing you…
Panicked thoughts ran through my mind but they were suppressed now. They were at the back. Hidden. Far away where I couldn’t get to them. The only thing that was important now was the mission. Getting the crown. And I could see the glow of it in the distance, shining silver with the magic beacon cast by the (witch, she’s a witch!) woman who was so kind and so good to me. Heading further and further away from the door which had brought me to this strange place - but that thought didn’t really trouble me anymore. Now I was focused on my mission. Getting back the crown was all that mattered. The crown. The crown. The crown.
At some point I realized I was standing right in front of a gate. Not only that, but someone was speaking to me.
“Your NAME, sir?”
“Revere Frostborne the eighth,” I answered, the strange words coming out with no conscious effort. My voice sounded deeper, I noticed, and looked down to see my hands were lined and cracked, calluses formed at the tips of my fingers from many years of hard labor - or swordplay.
“Ah, we’ve been expecting you for some time,” the man said.
I looked him up and down and saw he was a guard dressed in a suit of armor, and there were dozens of others like him all around me. I was in a castle, like something out of Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings. There were tapestries on the wall and flickering torches hung beside them as I was marched down a long corridor, deeper and deeper into the heart of a grand and ancient keep.
After going through numerous lines of guards, each larger and more ornately armored than the last, we finally arrived at a massive entryway. There, the guard who had been my escort left me.
I looked up at the eight new guards who stood at the doorway, far more formidable-looking than my previous escort, each dressed in gold armor fringed with red, brandishing the sharpest and most ornate-looking spears I’d ever seen. They blocked my entrance and said nothing.
For a moment I couldn’t think what they could be expecting of me, but then the words came from my lips before I could consider their meaning.
“The armies of the Frostborne Giants have a proposal,” I said. “I must speak to him.”
The guards parted for me and I walked through their midst, entering the largest and most lavishly-decorated throne room I’d ever seen.
Sounds of clanking, rattling armor could be heard behind me and I realized the guards were escorting me the rest of the way, towards what appeared to be a huge throne in the distance.
As I got closer I realized it wasn’t a person sitting on the purple throne. It was a white tiger. Much larger than any jungle cat I’d ever seen on Earth, this beast was easily three times the size of a White Bengal Tiger. And sitting atop its head was a golden crown.
THE CROWN. GET THE CROWN. YOU MUST GET THE CROWN.
The words ran through my head feverishly, running over every other consideration like a steamroller.
Once I was close enough to smell the fish on the great cat’s breath, it spoke.
“Why did you come here?” it asked in a deep baritone voice which rattled my eardrums. “Do you seek to steal my crown for the Silver Witch of the forest?”
GET THE CR…
The command running through my mind was interrupted somehow, and for the first time in a long while, I could think for myself. But I wasn’t sure how long it would last.
“How did you know I came for your crown?”
The guards’ spears were suddenly at my throat from eight different angles, less than an inch away. My heart was pounding fast.
“I could smell her on you. Cats have much better noses than people, you know. Lower your weapons, he did not realize what he was doing. He still doesn’t. The Silver Witch is cunning, you all know that.”
The guards lowered their spears reluctantly.
“Blikjin, Frija, go. Ready the men for an attack. This is likely a diversion,” the tiger said, and two of the guards ran off. The other six formed a defensive formation all around us.
"Frederick! Come quickly! I need your expertise."
A white haired wizard carrying a staff shuffled over and immediately began pawing at my head, as if inspecting for lice.
"Ah yes, just as I would have suspected."
He pulled something out from the back of my skull which continued to emerge for a long, long time as he yanked at it. It felt as if he were pulling a snake from my brain.
As he gathered it and looped it into a coil, the great tiger began to whisper in my ear.
“She can’t hear us anymore. Now, listen closely, boy. This is what you must do…”
*
I was walking again. The cold wind was blowing in my face and the snow was stinging my skin, but I had my wits again. I could think for myself.
The King of Hollow’s End devised a plan to rid the land of the witch once and for all, but it would be up to me to implement it. If I failed, she would have everything she needed to take over again. And to plunge this other world into permanent darkness.
“She’s far too powerful even for me to defeat,” the king told me. “But you will have the advantage. You will be able to catch her by surprise in a way none of us could.”
The crown was in my hand, the snow crunching beneath my boots. There was a long road ahead of me, although I didn’t remember traveling it the first time, I would be present for every moment of this leg back.
Fortunately for me, the king’s throne room was imbued with a powerful magic, put in place by the wizard, Frederick. The witch wasn’t aware of his power, or his presence, otherwise she wouldn’t have risked sending me alone. But now I was in a place of advantage. All I had to do was get her to put on the crown and it would drain all of her magic, making her powerless, due to a hex placed upon it by the wizard. Without her magic, the witch would freeze like ice and shatter into a million pieces
I continued to walk, pondering my plan and every possible thing that could go wrong. For years, I marched through the cold and the snow, attacked by bandits some days while on others I had nothing to eat. There were good friends made along the way, enemies vanquished and companions lost to sickness and arrows. Yet somehow I managed to survive.
By the time I made it back to that frozen forest I was a changed man. No longer a boy - those days were long since forgotten. I hardly remembered how I had come to be in this place, and part of me suspected I’d lived here all along - that those previous memories were simply another hex placed upon me by the witch.
The sound of tinkling bells broke me from my thoughts, and I looked up to see her standing there, right in front of me. Only inches away.
“You’re back,” she said with that same smile like an eel about to eat supper. “Do you have it?”
No questions of how I was or whether I’d run into trouble. No thank you for my years - no - decades of journeying to fetch it for her.
My hands shaking with barely concealed rage, I fetched it from beneath the folds of my tattered cloak and handed it to her.
“You’re shaking,” she said, taking it from me. Her voice was nervous, and slightly suspicious. “Are you alright?”
“The years have done a number on me, m’lady. I am not the boy I once was. I’ve grown old in my quest to find this for you. And to slay the great tiger who stole your throne.”
“But you have done it? He is dead?”
I nodded.
“Yes. He is dead.”
Smiling wider, she began to put the crown on top of her head. Lowering it to the point where it almost rested there, it hovered for several long moments… But then she pulled it away.
“No…” she muttered. “Too easy…”
Her face was getting red with rage, and I realized she had caught me.
“You shouldn’t be able to tell your own age. That was part of the spell. It was supposed to keep you blind to how much time you spent here - a variation on the hex which enchants my forest.”
She raised her hand and a bolt of energy deformed the air in front of me, causing it to shimmer, and then it moved over me, enveloping me. It was pure heat. Like the air just above a fire, where you would toast your marshmallows.
I screamed as the boiling air began to melt my skin, setting my fur cloak ablaze.
“You will learn not to disobey me again,” said the witch, inspecting the crown in her hands with disinterest. “But for now. Pain.”
The scorching air got even hotter somehow, and my hair caught on fire a second later. Now I couldn’t even scream. My voice was caught, my face frozen in a grimace of sheer agony.
Time stretched out forever, although it only lasted a few instants.
Then thankfully the burning haze was extinguished by a snowy gust of wind.
“Enough, witch! You have destroyed this poor boy’s life. Now you will pay!”
It was the wizard, I realized with relief. He had come to save me. And not only that, but he was riding on the back of the great white tiger king.
Frederick leapt from his back and began to advance on the witch at the tiger flanked her from the other side. He held his staff out in front of him and cast bolts of white lightning at the witch - who in turn sent them ricocheting in every direction, deflecting them with a swirling gray cloud which she manipulated expertly.
One bolt of lightning deflected back exactly at Frederick, hitting him centermass, and sending him flying backwards. After hurtling through the air several yards, he landed against a rock, where he lay motionless.
“FREDERICK!” the tiger-king shouted, abandoning his attack and racing across the snow to his fallen friend.
The gray witch was moving towards the king, slowly closing the distance from behind, and I realized she would kill him if I didn’t do something.
And then I saw the crown lying in the snow.
I would only have one chance. And I would need to be very sneaky.
“You thought you could kill me?” the witch was saying, sending a shimmering orb of heat towards the tiger-king. “You really thought you could kill ME?”
The tiger lunged at her ankle, ducking beneath the orb of magic at the last second and grabbing hold of her leg in his jaw.
“NOW!” he yelled around the bloody flesh in his mouth. “DO IT NOW!”
I didn’t hesitate.
As the witch was distracted, screaming in pain, I jammed the crown on top of her head, twisting it further onto her forehead until it covered her eyes, and was impossible to remove.
It began to turn red, then white-hot, as she howled in pain and tried to pry it off. But it wouldn’t budge.
The witch burst into flame, and I held my hands up to the bonfire of her body to warm myself up as I watched her turn to cinders.
*
Sadly, a few minutes after the witch died, so did Frederick, the wizard. He managed to hang on for a little while, just long enough for his magic to send the witch back to hell where she belonged, but then his injuries overcame him. He had used the most powerful magic available to him in his effort to stop the witch - and she had turned it around on him, deflecting it right back at his heart.
A tear ran down the tiger-king’s cheek, and I held out my hand to stroke his soft, warm fur. His eyes were brimming with tears as he spoke.
“You should go home. Your family must be missing you.”
“That was just a lie from the witch. This is my home. It always has been. The rest was just a dream.”
“Come,” said the tiger-king. “Let me show you something.”
He led me towards a thicket of trees. Pushing a few branches aside with his great paw, he went into them, the sticky sap leaving brown smears on his white coat.
“In there,” he said, pointing to a strange door, isolated in the middle of the forest. “That is where your true life lies. Looking back, one day you will think that THIS was just a dream.”
Memories flooded back of my mother and father, my friends and family, and of course, the bullies who had tormented me.
“It’s been so long. There’s nothing left for me there.”
“Time works differently in some worlds - at least that’s what Frederick told me. He, himself, was from another world. And he said one day he would return there and only a few hours would have passed. Perhaps it will be the same for youu. There is only one way to find out."
I looked at him and found that now I was crying. I gave the giant tiger a hug and he lifted his paw to hug me back, retracting his enormous claws to do so.
"You are always welcome in my kingdom if you wish to return one day."
And with that, I left him behind, pushing open the door and going back into the cave on the other side.
I found myself back on Earth, and once again in the form of a boy. Unsure how much time precisely had passed, I scrambled out of the log and looked around for any sign of the bullies who had tormented me so many years ago.
Something crunched beneath my foot as I made my way out of the log, and I looked down to see it was my egg. The sacred egg which I'd been tasked with keeping safe.
It seemed so silly now.
I had a good average in all of my classes. Failing the egg project didn't mean anything, really. Except maybe for Zach, who was barely passing. Maybe he would have to be held back because of my blunder.
Suddenly I felt bad for dropping his egg, even if he had beaten me up for it. I hoped he would pass and get to graduate.
I found my backpack at the entrance to the forest, with all of my papers tossed on the grass. My math textbook was fine, though. Despite what he'd said, Zach hadn't ripped it up - he'd only torn out blank pages from a notebook. Maybe he felt bad.
After I'd gathered up my belongings, I began walking home again.
Halfway there, I looked up and saw Zach. He was on the front porch of his house, looking like he didn't really want to go inside. A man and a woman were yelling at each other loud enough to be heard from the street.
"Hey, Zach!" I called over to him.
He looked up and seemed angry for a second, but then seemed to do a double-take. He walked over to me and looked me up and down.
"What's up with you? You look different," he said.
"I've just had some time to think," I replied. "It doesn't give you an excuse to be a dick to me, but I'm sorry I smashed your egg. It was a mistake. Somebody pushed me from behind and it went flying."
"Yeah, okay," he said. "No big deal. I'm still gonna graduate. Just barely, though."
"That's good."
I thought for a second to myself.
"Hey, do you want to come hang out at my place for a bit? I've got the new Street Fighter game. And I've got some eggs and a Sharpie. After two years in his class, I've gotten pretty good at forging Mr. Marco's signature."
He smiled and nodded, and the two of us left the sounds of muffled arguments on the other side of the door and walked away down the street together.
*
This all happened many years ago. I'm in my late thirties now, and the memories of my other life in that other world have faded. But I still remember how to use a sword. And I still remember the terror I felt as the Silver Witch of Hollow's End set me on fire with her magic. That time while it consumed me felt like it was drawn out forever - and I realized over the years why that was.
In the case of the witch's magic, time does not heal all wounds. It makes little difference.
I think about that sometimes when I'm trying to fall asleep at night, tossing and turning from the unquenchable pain. In the darkness of my bedroom. Every time I see a shadow that looks vaguely like a person I'm still convinced it's her. And that she's laughing in the darkness, tormenting me with her magic.
It doesn't matter that she's dead.
Now I know that there are an infinite number of different worlds out there.
And an infinite variety of horrific things waiting just in the shadows out of sight.
How many doors leading to other worlds are out there?
And what do we do if someone like the Silver Witch steps through, into our world?
What if they're already here?
Or someone else much worse?
YT
[TCC]https://www.reddit.com/TheCrypticCompendium?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share)

Hi /Games! My name is Alex Leone, and I'm the solo dev behind Upheaval (now on Mac and Linux since the latest update)!
Upheaval is a text-based open world fantasy adventure RPG, inspired by Zork, Majora's Mask, Dungeon World, and Stardew Valley.
Watch Upheaval gameplay from an earlier release, or watch me broadcasting gameplay footage from the latest version for the rest of this week as part of the Storyteller's Festival.
You've got just 30 days before the enigmatic Magician arrives! Explore the wilds, track down magical treasures, aid or disrupt encroaching factions, and master the world's secrets over multiple playthroughs as you take what you've learned into each new adventure.
Change is coming, and time is not on your side. Will you be ready this time?
Your choices matter. Change the balance of power and the fates of everyone you meet! Or, you know, don't. You can drink in the tavern, go fishing, ignore everyone, or just do your own thing. The choice is completely up to you.

• Incredibly replayable: Complete each adventure in 30-90 minutes. Play multiple times to discover more about the world and explore multiple endings.
• Explore an open, living world that changes around you, not a static adventure that waits for you.
• Detailed maps so that you always know where you are in the world.
• Mobile-friendly: Made to be easy to play on your phone. Play for a few minutes or a few hours.
• No typing: Use buttons or choose options to choose where to go next. You always know what your options are in any situation, no need to guess.
• Accessible: Blind and vision-impaired players can play with their favorite screen reader using the Console versions on Windows, Mac, or Linux.
• All your favorite fantasy tropes: Goblins, bandits, spells, curses, undead spirits, faeries, visions, true love, and more!

Download the free demo on itch.io.

Available in early access on itch.io and Google Play for 50% off ($4.99).

The full game will be available on Steam for Windows/Mac/Linux next year. Wishlist to get an email when it's out!

Join our Discord or subreddit /upheavalgame to follow development and contribute your feedback to future releases.
Thanks! :D
Screenshot #1 Screenshot #2 Screenshot #3 Screenshot #4

Basically we’re playing an Icewind Dale campaign and we had to climb Kair Dinival (I think) to rescue this guy from yetis after his dog came and found us. After around 2 days of climbing (narrowly escaping an avalanche caused by a slip) we reached the guy.
Cure wounds saved him from death and we then fought off two cragg cats before continuing further up to look for anymore survivors. We reached the yeti cave and after scouting it with a familiar we went in and we’re caught by one of the yeties and their son, but I was able to talk the situation down since my secret allows me to speak yeti.
We then hid to try and escape the cave with a halfling we found but the male yeti spotted me when I wild shaped into a rat and I was turned back but managed to convince him I was alone and just leaving and he let me go since I could speak yeti.
As we were leaving I hear the child yeti say “and there were five of them” and so I shout RUN and we start sprinting down the mountain side, I wildshape into a dire wolf and carry the halfling and our elf on my back and the other two use my shield and some spells to sled down the mountain side, unfortunately I kick up another avalanche and was caught up in it.
The sledders were chased to a cliff side by the avalanche and one decided to jump, plummeting 100 feet. The other tried to throw him a rope but the faller rolled a nat one to grab it and fell. We thought he was dead but the dm made a mistake when rolling fall damage and so in the end he took 25 fall damage, one less than the amount that would have out right killed him.
I tracked him down through the snow and we were able to cure wounds him at the last second on death saves. We all managed to survive and escape the mountain and yetis although he lost a leg and I lost my shield (which was important to my character)
It’s moments like these that I love so much, the tension, the excitement over each roll, the cheering when we saved him.
Closest moment to this so far was when we fought the violent moose and only the rouge was left standing.

There is a two part war that Meghan herself declared privately behind closed doors to more than one public figure and at least one journalist. It’s not just a media phrase. Meghan sees this as a war in almost every sense of the word.
Flashback to Megxit. Meghan leaked it to Laineygossip before it hit mainstream news to force Harry’s decision into leaving when he was still on the fence. They went on the “freedom flight”. The Sandringham summit did not go their way. They really believed the half in, half out commercial apparatus would be granted to them. It was not. They had thousands of merchandise with SUSSEX ROYAL—pencils, shirts, backpacks—sitting in inventory that had to be jettisoned. Meghan was utterly livid with the Queen over her forbidding use of the word Royal. She declared war—whether she actually informed the Queen of this, directly or indirectly, we’ll never know. I personally think she did and QEII called her bluff.
Elaine Lui of Laineygossip was the first to be briefed, off the record, by Meghan herself, of two wars which would come to materialize. Oprah was after. Part one: war on the British media. This would be facilitated by leveraging the American media, thus far friendly to their PR coverage, to use to destroy the British media. Oprah first, then Netflix. Use Oprah to decry the entire UK as tabloid frenzied racist zombies who believe everything written. You know what happens from here.
Part two: war on the BRF. First William, then Kate, then Charles, then Camilla last. This would be achieved by the set of memoirs. The rest is history.
There was a war map, contingency planning, and MANY plans drawn into place. Do not be foolish enough to think Meghan did not fancy herself a master strategist like Napoleon or Machiavelli. She did. It is hard to be objective and judge ourselves for what we really are. Meghan was so confident this would be a quick Blitzkrieg, a double victory, that she even told Michelle Obama of these plans in a private meeting sometime before Oprah. Michelle Obama was “highly alarmed”. She advised Meghan to take it slow, regroup and rethink, do not start a war, let alone two wars, that you might lose. She could not abide Meghan and said privately she found her fanaticism disturbing. Meghan probably shrugged this off since she had Oprah on her side—not a chance that Oprah wasn’t debriefed on all this before the interview.
Meghan did not consider that the first loss would have grave repercussions for the next siege. When you go to war with one country’s entire press, the global press becomes your enemy. First Britain mobilized, then Australia, then the rest of European reporters. FINALLY, in 2022, the resistance to coercive propaganda beyond the boundaries of race baiting began to take root in America. Even PR magazines like the Cut started to fact check Meghan.
What did this mean for Part Two of the Meganic wars? The golden goose was dead. Harry broke the spell of collective hysteria, awe and mystique. He was no longer a prince, he was a crybaby petulant wooden boy on a reality show that only had one half of its headline characters on stage. The purported villains, his stated archnemesis did not even glance his way. At best it was an Oxygen TV special. In alienating the press on a global level their credibility was so obliterated no more accusations against anybody would be believed. William won by never lifting a finger.
I have to wonder what part three will look like, for Meghan is not someone who recognizes defeat or has the ability to discard plans in the wake of unexpected outcome. It stands to reason that her next move will be another offensive from a different angle, something that preserves her victimhood by attacking her enemy obliquely from the side of her children, but does not learn the lessons from two consecutive failures. A memoir about Charles snubbing his black grandson at the coronation and endowing his black granddaughter with more of the same generational colonial and imperial traumas, etc. And so on. There will always be a way to draw more blood from her arm.

Ever since Queen Constantine's rise to power after her father's death, many consider the she would follow in her father's footsteps and improve and keep growing the kingdom to even greater heights....
Well that couldn't be further from the truth. By many accounts, she started an oppressive regime and tightened the laws. Taxes have been drastically increased and people say they can barely afford food. Even punishments for crimes have severely worsened. A simple thief can have two fingers cut off for stealing an apple. Nobles have been forced to bend the knee or be beheaded and any and all businesses are constantly hounded if the Queen's right hand man believes they are holding out. People have been strung up, noosed and beaten severely, especially in public. Everyone says the queen wants them to be a demonstration of what will happen if they step out of line. People say it's a nightmare for them, that they can't handle more and that things need to change. What you never hear about is what happens to people who are caught saying all those things.
Hi there. My name is Zoroth and I am male, 20. I am offering a story driven roleplay where you are can decide who you are and what you want to be. The main focus of the story is making connections with people, learning key information about certain factions and allying with the people you deem fit your cause. You can be one sided, you can be open minded but what you also need to be is careful. The queen's spies are everywhere. They are there to root out her enemies and any other factions that she deems dangerous. This is DnD inspired and I have a built world for this, with most foundations finished, the only one not being your character. So if you like political intrigue, an engaging story or perhaps a DnD style venture, let me know. I roleplay only on discord and please be at least semi-literate.

Ever since Queen Constantine's rise to power after her father's death, many consider the she would follow in her father's footsteps and improve and keep growing the kingdom to even greater heights....
Well that couldn't be further from the truth. By many accounts, she started an oppressive regime and tightened the laws. Taxes have been drastically increased and people say they can barely afford food. Even punishments for crimes have severely worsened. A simple thief can have two fingers cut off for stealing an apple. Nobles have been forced to bend the knee or be beheaded and any and all businesses are constantly hounded if the Queen's right hand man believes they are holding out. People have been strung up, noosed and beaten severely, especially in public. Everyone says the queen wants them to be a demonstration of what will happen if they step out of line. People say it's a nightmare for them, that they can't handle more and that things need to change. What you never hear about is what happens to people who are caught saying all those things.
Hi there. My name is Zoroth and I am male, 20. I am offering a story driven roleplay where you are can decide who you are and what you want to be. The main focus of the story is making connections with people, learning key information about certain factions and allying with the people you deem fit your cause. You can be one sided, you can be open minded but what you also need to be is careful. The queen's spies are everywhere. They are there to root out her enemies and any other factions that she deems dangerous. This is DnD inspired and I have a built world for this, with most foundations finished, the only one not being your character. So if you like political intrigue, an engaging story or perhaps a DnD style venture, let me know. I roleplay only on discord and please be at least semi-literate.

So in the book it says "roll a number of combat dice listed by a weapons damage rating." Which is fine of it wasn't that the character sheet that modiphius offers you has a column for damage and another for rate. I originally thought that rate was the amount of dice you rolled, and the damage was a multiplier for each point of damage inflicted. But I'm still not sure.

I thought this could make for a fun exercise and foster some discussion! I'll use Pathfinder 2e and D&D 5e here, because I've been playing both for a while (and because I made this post on the 5e sub as well out of curiosity as to how the responses would vary)
Something I like about PF2e: The system for crafting and upgrading gear is super easy to use, balanced, and really fun. It's a snap to make my character fantasy of an inventor building his own gear and upgrading it with magical properties. My 4th level inventor has his own custom bow with magical upgrades, several different kinds of arrows to choose from, and more.
Something I dislike about PF2e: I wish that the spells you got from taking a caster archetype would come online at earlier levels. A 20th level character who invested fully in a caster archetype is gonna have taken 5 feats (dedication, basic spellcasting, breadth, expert spellcasting, master spellcasting) to get a total of 14 spell slots, but a 10th level character with the same pattern of investment is gonna have put in 3 feats (dedication, basic spellcasting, breadth) to get a total of 4 spell slots.
Something I like about 5e: I love how easy it is for me as a DM to get new players going with 5e. As long as someone's actually interested in learning, you can just show them the options for a class and subclass, help them whip up a character in like 10-20 minutes, plop them down at a table, and teach as you play. It just works.
Something I dislike about 5e: I get annoyed sometimes when the system that claims it's simple actually kinda isn't. This is especially an issue with spellcasting: things like the technical RAW about spell foci meaning you can't cast a spell that doesn't have a material component if you have a sword and shield + Warcaster, or how annoying the Bonus Action casting rules are to explain.

Kinda of a long question but, I create my own Character Sheets using the Adobe ecosystem, Stories, and modules using the same. When I run my campaigns I find that Miro works the best along with Trello and Slack as a complete system.
The one thing I don't have is great mapbuilding software that I can integrate into my campaigns using a very large wall-mounted flatscreen TV. I've tried Inkarnate and several others but they are crazy klunky, and I freaking HATE editing maps in a browser window. Plus Inkarnates servers are sluggish at best.
Does anyone have a REALLY great piece of software out there? I'm not looking for a 'cheap' way to do this, I'm more than happy to shell out the required GP's for it. ;)