Walmart monster high g3

The episode on Gargwiki.
The episode on Ask Greg.
How long has it been: it's been five days since the previous episode.
Now this is much better. We begin with Dracon and his men stealing Xanatos' prototype weapons - a nice, if brief, scene; I love seeing Owen take part in the action a bit, and I love his visibly peeved expression at the end. Dracon makes a good first impression too, with that laught right after he managed to pull off his heist (although it's a bit strange to see him without the streak in his hair).
Remember how I said, back in Awakening Part Four, that the fight between Elisa and the Commandos was the "I'm not April O'Neil!" scene? Well, this is the "I'm not April O'Neil!" episode, introducing just about every part of Elisa's not-Gargoyles-related life: her parents, Derek, Beth (as a mention and a photograph), Chavez, Cagney, her loft, her precint (with the first appearance of the Clock Tower) and even a silent cameo for Matt; the characters don't get much in the way of characterization here, but it's nice to have them established.
Elisa and Chavez talk about Dracon at the precint - and hot damn, Elisa is pissed! That doesn't happen often. "Come on, captain, you know it was Dracon! Who else could it have been?" I don't know, one of those other criminal guys Weisman recently introduced in the comics? Not sure why it had to be old Tony, but whatever, Angry Elisa entertains me. Owen arrives, clarifies how many guns are out there and how dangerous they are - and then gives Elisa a rapid glance while smiling: I love how manipulative he is in this episode.
Elisa and Dracon's confrontation is AWESOME:

• It implies there's a lot - and I do mean A LOT - of history between these two; it's a pity Weisman doesn't seem to have any interest in Elisa's pre-Gargoyles life, because I think you could get a couple of great flashbacks out of her earlier confrontantions with Dracon.
• As I already mentioned, Angry Elisa entertains me.
• I love how sure of himself Tony is: "Hey, I told you, I'm not the guy. And if I was the guy, you couldn't do anything about it. In fact, if I were to tell one of my associates here to go sell off some... merchandise to raise some operating capital, you couldn't do anything about that either. Face it, Sugar: you got nothing." Awesome squared.

(There is, admittedly, one problem with the scene: when Elisa appears, Glasses and Pal Joey immediately reach for their guns; uh, I don't think you want to shoot a cop in a public place, you guys.)
Elisa goes home and tells Cagney "Be glad you've got a home, cat: the streets just got a whole lot meaner"; pat line is pat.
Broadway shooting Elisa is still a very effective scene (although, how unlucky can you get? Broad points that gun in literally every direction, and then, just when he's pointing at Elisa, it fires; had it gone off half a second before, there would have just been a round hole in the sofa. The rules of drama can be real c**ts sometimes); Broadway taking her to the hospital and then seeing her blood on his hands is arguably the least child-friendly scene in the entire show ("Out, damned spot!").
Dracon and his men trying out the weapons in the forest is another great scene:
GLASSES: "Hey, did you hear about Maza?"
DRACON: "Yeah... dangerous to leave a gun lying around, uh?"
What an a-hole; I love him. And speaking of a-holes, Owen makes sure to tell Goliath that Elisa "was trying to get a stolen shipment of particle-beam weaponry off the street. It was... very important to her." And then he leaves to go to his appointment with Tony: awesome. Goliath sends Brooklyn and Lex to search for Broadway, while Hudson stays home "to guard the Castle": hope you like that division of tasks, Old Soldier, because it won't be the last time you hear it.
Dr. Sato tells the Mazas that "The bullet hit high in the chest, ricocheted off the collar bone, nicked the heart muscle and passed through the right lung; I removed it from the base of her spine"; I honestly have no clue if any of this makes sense, medically-wise, so if anyone wishes to enlighten me, feel free to do it.
Then it's Goliath's turn to visit Elisa; according to Weisman, he already loves her by this point: "It's so clear to me. The way he touches her hair. The way he reacts to her being shot. He loves her. He doesn't know it yet. But it is SO there." I don't think you necessarily have to read the scene like that, but I suppose it makes sense. After that scene, Goliath immediately finds Dracon's house - how the hell did he manage to do it? - but doesn't attack him yet because he wants to be brought to the weapons first.
Meanwhile, that mugger that appears in a handful of episodes has the misfortune of meeting Broadway, who has now become the Reverse-Punisher: "What's this? A new kind of gun? A new way to kill people? WHERE DID YOU GET THIS? WHO GAVE IT TO YOU?" The real theme of this episode is people getting angry and looking awesome while they do it, and we haven't even reached the best part yet.
(Also awesome: Broadway lifting Glasses by the head - a veritable WTF moment.)
I love Goliath's reaction when him and Broadway meet at the place of Dracon's appointment: "How did you...? Oh, never mind. You're just in time to help me deal with the one who shot Elisa." And the fight scene that follows is amazing: kinda like the second part of the fight with the Pack from two episodes ago, there's almost a reversal of roles here - not two heroic Gargoyles fighting with human gangsters, but a bunch of poor humans desperately trying to fend off two rage-filled monsters. The tension doesn't come from the idea that the Gargs may possibly lose this fight - the way it's staged never leaves any doubt about the eventual winners - but from the fear that they might actually go over the edge here.
(Also awesome #2: the place they're in falling into darkness except when it's being illuminated by the lasers - another fantastic choice.)
Anything bad? Well, Goliath being so gung-ho about killing Dracon to avenge Elisa is a bit weird, considering that it was Elisa who, just three episodes ago, told him that by taking revenge he would become "the same as Demona"; moreover, him forgetting that lesson will become a bit of a recurring problem, going forward.
Broadway fesses up, and Goliath tells him they "have much to talk about" - bit of a pity we didn't see that conversation; then Owen arrives and makes the frankly dumb mistake of telling Goliath that Xanatos "will be pleased that you have recovered his property". Goliath doesn't like the idea of Xanatos being happy, and reacts accordingly by "Making sure that no more of these fall into the wrong hands".
OWEN: "Mr. Xanatos isn't going to like this..."
GOLIATH: "I'll be happy to discuss the matter with him."
We end things with another visit to Elisa and by regurgitating the episode's moral:
BROADWAY: "Elisa, it was all my fault: I was... playing with your gun and... it went off. I'll never touch a gun again."
ELISA: "I should have been a lot more careful about where I left it. We both made mistakes."
BROADWAY: "Yeah, but you nearly paid for those mistakes with your life."
ELISA: "Then let's not repeat them."
A bit louder, you guys, I'm not sure the sleeping two-years-old in the back have quite figured it out yet. Still, Goliath and Broadway watching over Elisa during the day is nice; final verdict: really really good, best episode yet, in fact.
RANKINGS:

1. Deadly Force
2. Awakening Part Four
3. Awakening Part One
4. Awakening Part Two
5. Awakening Part Five
6. The Thrill of the Hunt
7. Awakening Part Three
8. Temptation

So I got into D&D in my second year of college, my friend had convinced me to try it and I fell in love with the world, lore, monsters and creativity behind it. So he decided to give me and my other friends a one shot to try and we were all having a good time, the problems popped up when I noticed whenever it was my turn, he’d actually try to skip my turn unless I said something or would get visibly annoyed when I tried to do anything behind a single action even if I had more actions via my characters build. Such examples include when we were all having a tavern brawl and my character was immediately charged by a drunk patron with a broken bottle, he stabs me taking a good chunk of my level 1 characters health away but when I wanted to react as I had the ability to, he’d get frustrated saying “no that’s your turn”. this had happened multiple times when we we were in combat. To the point where during combat in another campaign, there were a few players ahead of me on initiative so I ran to the bathroom quick, two minutes flat and I sprint back, despite me letting him know I had to go and would be back in two minutes or less, he never stopped the game.
After the session the other players even brought up to me the fact he seemed to rush when I left and it seemed like he was making sure the combat ended before I could get back. And he didn’t even bother to tell me what happened while I was gone despite me asking. Despite this I was still undeterred and wanted to even try DMing, as I garnered an interest in the campaign books and various one-shots available online and in our local stores.
But I told him I wasn’t confident enough to manage everything that comes with being a DM , but he encouraged me for weeks to give it a shot. And I really did want to DM as it rekindled a lot of my creativity, so I agreed eventually and decided to try DMing but only if he’d help as co-dm/ player, I’d keep a set of notes for what I had planned for the session to share with him so we could bounce ideas off eachother, and a sword are set for myself to still surprise him throughout the campaign. So I spent weeks preparing a session zero, I laid out the rules, and throughout the ongoing sessions, he tries to deliberately stop combat encounters I added in on parts of quests where it felt like there were little to none, and he’d also actively try to rush through quests without exploring the towns I set up in them. Then would complain that he didn’t let the party explore, I did but he was the only one insisting on no exploration, just follow the monsters trail right to the source or go directly where the party is initially supposed to go without looking for clues. The other two party members were a rogue and cleric, they were fairly chill and understood I was new to DMing. Then came a combat encounter in the woods where I placed a frost Druid who would assume the party were trappers encroaching on her land, speaking as the Druid I was telling the party she was raising s horn she was attempting to blow into in order to summon a mammoth to her aid, until that guy/friend interrupts me mid sentence saying “can I climb up the tree and stab her?” Then he shows me his sheet and wow, the stats were remarkably high with almost all 17 or higher, then he shows me how his character has almost double the average movement speed and climbing speed. By the way I put this encounter in the notes I shared with him and we talked for days about the encounter itself, and how he was excited to fight the Druid and mammoth.
Now he’s actively trying to prevent the entire encounter. I did some on the spot improvisation and managed to make the encounter still happen. Which he admitted annoyed him. I brought up post session how we talked about making the encounter good and fair, and he just blatantly tells me he was gonna try and prevent it the whole time. I felt so deflated and due to two of the party members who were dating breaking up, we all agreed it was too awkward to continue and ended the campaign there. Afterwards he wanted to DM another one shot where when we reached the final boss, he killed my character immediately with no chances of revival or even saving throws. The final straw was three or so weeks later when I asked that guy and one other player I’d they wanted to just do a simple dungeon crawl, again o spend days prepping for it, and admittedly I was late getting back to campus cause I was out to dinner with my gf and her family, which I did tell them in advance. And when I get back I’m setting up the session and that guy arrives last. When he sits down my other player noticed he didn’t bring dice or a sheet, just his own miniature. Which is one thing but I did tell him I’m advance I made miniatures for everyone cause I was theming the dungeon crawl like a retro game so I had the PC’s made to look like sprite models along with the monsters etc. but he ignored me I guess, it all ended when I mentioned “crap I forgot my phone downstairs I’ll just be a sec” to which he relies “yeah I’ve got to go somewhere at 9” we were just getting started at 8 and he even told me way before that he would be 100% free that night. He then suggests I should go to the local game store and ask to DM there. Then says “I’m sure the dungeon crawl was gonna me awesome” with the most uninterested expression ever, gets up and leaves. I was so distraught after he had blown the other player and I off multiple times before for him to just ditch now after we finally got a day to do it. With that the other player and I were left bewildered and I just broke. I told him I needed to go for a walk to clear my head and took a long walk across the beach that night. Couldn’t go in the water though cause a sewage pipe burst making it unsafe till now. To this day the guy completely ghosted us. Idk what to do

I am a longtime follower of VR technology, ever since I watched Sword Art Online in High School and even now that it's "future" date of full dive neurological VR has come and gone in the real world. I was able to get an Oculus headset over quarantine, and enjoy Beat Saber and Ragnarock, and even a short story based game called Virtual Virtual Reality. All of these were stationary or teleport based experiences. I then tried VR Chat, and whether it was inexperience, an older headset, or personal bias, I almost threw up, but I see people making tons of social content all the time, and wonder how they can put up with it.
Now I see all the newest things they're pushing for, and I get pulled in by AR and big screen stationary experiences. I know that some people think using VR as a glorified desktop experience is a waste, but I enjoy doom scrolling with a headset on on my couch. I also see the promise of more immersive game experiences, and I see the VR gaming locations popping up in malls that offer large room mobility or omnidirectional treadmills like in Ready Player One. This solves a lot of the limits of VR, but not all.
My question is, is there a point where tracking, space and image quality improvements can act as a substitute for the sci-fi dream a full dive, no body matrix like experience? Are there applications other than fighting a giant monster and watching an IMAX size film at home? Is there a middle ground between Stationary demo-like experiences and enthusiast level game experiences for people who can fight the nausea?

Here's a bunch of theories of mine. Might not make a part 2, lots of them I didn't put here have zero evidence. But, these have "scraping the bottom of the barrel" evidence. Not much better but it's something lol I was going to add something about Burning Sky but I have literally nothing lol
Serket, Roedra, and Vyrn are related
Incredibly simple, they look related. Maybe it's convergent evolution who knows. Maybe the dutchess specifically had Vyrn bred, like with what happened to Oship.
Serket is a descendent of Omozon
Very simple: One of the cross breeds highly resembles Omozon
Stallune is a corpse
Stallune has rib-like protrusions from its body, a skull-like head, cracks on its legs, and most importantly, the moon that hovers over it.
Canite BD has a cresent moon on it. BD transformations are often corpses and skeletal in nature.
I fully understand this is a huge stretch, but I think it's a interesting thing to point out. Unstable Stallune's head is also a straight up skull. Aso to note, Stallune has a star on its body, which is also seen on Canite BD, and one of Hooclaw BD's Cross Breeds has a wand-like energy adorned with a star-like tip.
Beutarius is man-made
Beutarius is neither magically made nor is it a cross breed of another monster so, I assume it's man-made.
Echelk is reanimated
Very simple, one of the cross breeds has several pustules on it, reminiscent of those you can find on one of Laz's.
Maloom BD
This isnt a theory, but meh. I don't know the full lore of Maloom, but I know it's a possessed toy. The bio states it's rumored to be the product of a child murderer.
The Book Of The Dead can be seen doing strange things to already alive Monsters. So, if Maloom is a possessed toy, perhaps the Book Of The Dead could help it in one way or another.
Be this it going after it's killer, or telling us who did it, I think the Book Of The Dead could help it. Or maybe we'll unleash some ungodly demonic spirit from it. Either way I hope we see Maloom BD one day.

Sorry in advance for the length of this post, but I can't let it all just keep festering inside. Apologies for any typos.
Life has been hell lately and it's left me dwelling on something I really need to get off my chest.
When I was 12 I began being raped by a "friends" father. I won't go into all the details, but he first used coke, then eventually meth to keep me coming back. Make me willing to degrade and humiliate me in ways I can't allow myself to recall. When they surface I drink until I'm comatose.
The rape, torture and humiliation ended when I turned 14. By that time his wife had left him, taking his son along with her. To this day I don't know if I'll hug him if I see him or beat him to death.
In any case, that made him spiral, he'd always been a "functional" addict. Good at feigning normalcy while a monster his behind the mask. That mask wasn't on when I was with him. He nearly killed me strangling me with a silk scarf multiple times. Stuck needles in my feet. Between my fingers, sodomized me with objects when he was too high to rape me himself. Every session ended with him giving me something to keep me high till the next time. Like clockwork, when I ran out, I went over and he was literally expecting me.
This time was a bit different. He told me to come over the very next night. (I usually went over between 10 and midnight and snuck back in at 3 or 4. I always came in through the back patio door, but it was usually closed, unlocked, but closed. Tonight it was wide open. He didn't like me speaking unless told to, so I silently went through the house. It didn't take long to find him in the bathroom, dead. He'd overdosed. I didn't even touch his body. I just left.
I left in tears, sobbing. Because he'd fucked up my perception of love and intimacy that I genuinely thought he was my lover. Not my rapist, not my sadist.
I was saved, I was finally safe. I was also heartbroken and suicidal. When I got home, I tried to cut off my own penis with a pair of scissors but only ended up with a slice and a lot of blood. Then the detoxing started. After 2 years of stimulants and forcibly going cold turkey with only a basic understanding of what was happening to me. I was a wreck. I'd leave the house all day and just hide away from people crying in drainage ditches or off trail at a nearby park.
This all happened at the beginning of summer, by the time school started again, I was able to stay stable with the help of copious amounts of weed and Robitussin.
But it was my secret, my burden. My parents never knew, my friends never new. And I quieted the trauma by immersing myself in things that interested me. Easier to not think about yourself when your mind is focused on history, or physics, or world religions. It worked for far longer than it should have. But there was a darkness I was keeping at bay. I craved the feeling of being used, being hurt, being humiliated, being raped with no ability to fight back.
I liked women, and men, but I never pursued relationships because I could never trust myself enough to be who I wanted to be around others. Some of those friends I wanted to become lovers I pushed away and burned the bridges I had between them, all because I hated who I was, who I still am to this day.
Eventually I got sober before the drinking killed me. I opened up to my family about what happened, got therapy, got medicated. I even found kink communities I can enjoy myself at from time to time.
But in spite of all this positive progress, I still feel trapped. Destined to a life where the best I can hope for is being kinda okay most days.
Be comfortable being a deviant and damaged goods. And most of the time that's okay with me.
Now I'm not so sure. A dear member of my family nearly died and will be in the ICU for months in total before and after receiving a heart transplant. During the transplant she had a stroke and can now barely speak. It's killing my father taking care of her but he's too stoic to be vulnerable.
Then last week I got a massive amount of dental work done, 13 teeth pulled and 2 bridges. Less than a week later my backpack was stolen with the bridges inside. $3000 worth of dental work gone in an instant and it feels insignificant compared with everything else in my life.
Everything is fucked up and the world's on fire, and at times like this, all I can think of is the last time everything was fucked up and my world was on fire. I feel like I'm hanging on by my fingernails and I just want to let go. Grab a handle of vodka and jump in front of a train.
But I have a family that loves me in spite of all these scars, inside and out. I have nieces and nephews I want to watch grow up and have a normal happy life. One where there's not a monster of self destruction lurking deep inside. People I can guide away from my own mistakes, protect from the monsters that left me black inside.
But it's so hard right now. I never thought I'd say this, but I want to go back to just being depressed. Feeling nothing but emptiness is so much better than this.
So for now I just try to keep moving, day by day, hoping it gets better. I wish I was doing it for myself, but it's for all the others in my life. My mom, my father, my stepfather, all the kids in my life who I can be a positive influence on. I genuinely don't care about my own life, but I care about hurting them. But I just don't know how long that will be enough to keep me going.
Anyway, if you've read this far, thank you and I'm sorry. I'm not looking for advice. I just needed to put all this shit into words. Something about doing so helps.
To end this, all I can say is hold onto the ones you love. Sometimes they're the only ones keeping you from falling into that void. You matter to them, even when you don't matter to yourself.
That's all, Im off, I need a cigarette.

We all know about the defence mechanism of just teleporting the entire city to the very bottom of the labyrinth. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about, everyone knows that already.
Because of Veldora and Ramiris, Tempest is able to grow so much Hipoktue Herb without any problems, when 5 years ago, the idea of farming Hipoktue Herb was a joke.
Because of the magicule density, Tempest creates huge amounts of high quality Magisteel in short time, which they use for weapons and experiments on a daily basis.
Because of its instant resurrection effect, the tons of monsters that spawn from Veldora and the huge area available, Military training is ridiculously gruesome and thorough compared to anywhere else.
Ramiris can also restrict access to any floor or area within her labyrinth, so classified research is kept a secret and away from the public eyes. She can also revamp or prepare new floors for any specific experiment or project within a few minutes.
The labyrinth can also be sculpted to basically create whatever environment you want, so making a forest or a beach is very simple, which will increase the places for tourists to visit and can always be modified to grab more people’s attention.
The adventurers basically feed Tempest’s economy, making the labyrinth a goldmine that is self sustaining and an inexhaustible resource.
Ciel monitors every inch of the labyrinth constantly analysing techniques and spells while also providing maximum surveillance security. There’s nowhere to hide from her.
Finally, there is nowhere else in the entire world that can have a place like the labyrinth, making it wholly unique and impossible to copy.
Rimuru better treat Veldora and Ramiris with some respect!

Hello All! I'm doing some basic polling and playtesting with an option I'm about 50/50 on for my game Project Chimera: E.C.O. currently in alpha development.
Basic information:
Players take on the role of a black ops super soldier working for a PMSC (Chimera Group International). The game heavily focuses on stealth and social objective completion over combat, ie, there is no incentive for combat, it's a way to achieve an objective, but it's the worst ROI since it is potentially lethal and consumes resources much faster than other methods and doesn't offer special rewards, also there's not really "loot" per se like in a DnD game. Loot is most likely to be information that advances the plot.
The game is crunchy, while easy to learn the core game loops (there's a 1 page overview that will get any experienced RPer able to sit for their first session and 3 points of entry: pregen, table roll/select, and full custom) it's mostly that it has lots of flexibility and character options, which is great for players that want that, but it's a known limitation it will not appeal to rules light/casual gamer preferred experiences.
The game takes place in a five minutes into the future dystopian mirror alt earth with cyberpunk and sci fi elements. Characters have access to things like advanced training, gear, bionics, psionics, super powers, feats, etc. A character's starting template doesn't restrict them, it just figures out their initial boosted areas, ie if you take the bionics aspect, your character will have more bionics than a general build character, you can still access everything else, but it's more a question of where you want the thematic focus of the character to be. All characters are baseline competent in the areas of stealth, socialization, survival and gunplay/combat (you absolutely can use HTH and melee with extensive options, but as one might expect, guns are usually more effective, though those options definitely have their place).As such consider these things to be relevant to potential players, ie if you hate stealth/social, prefer rules light casual, opinions are less relevant in this case because it's not a game built for that kind of player.
The Actual Concern:
Currently I'm considering removing the concept of a critical hit in combat doing double damage automatically and there's a good amount of relevant information:

1. Players have others ways to boost damage
2. This wouldn't remove the option, it just expands the option to more options.

​
The concept works like this:
Characters have 4 meta currencies, one of them is called Essence.
This is a daily regen pool and is used for "enhanced performance" of some kind. Presently it can be used for things like a small bonus to a roll for a save, or gaining +1 standard action on a turn, remove a level of exhaustion, rally, etc., the point being it does have a level of utility. It might be also be used to fuel a special ability from a feat, augment a powepsionic, allow for a special application move, etc.
Crits occur in combat (skills can also crit) similar to PF2e in that you can gain one on a nat 20 or if you exceed the TN by 10+ (in most cases, there are other ways to finagle this but they are niche).
Essence is described in game as:
Essence represents the total abstract humanity of a character as well as their general combined physical and mental well being, focus, and general willpower. It is utilized to overcome general limitations and perform above expectations. Essence is most commonly associated with the concept of the superego.
The proposed change would be a character gains 1 essence (up to max pool, this can be spent immediately if it exceeds) on a crit, but double damage would cost 2 essence.
A typical early level character is likely to have somewhere around 10-20 essence total in the pool (could be more or less but this is an estimated average).
Some positives of this proposed change:
This provides another opportunity for essence regen for players.
This provides additional utility and tactical choice in combat (ie they might opt for double damage and spend the extra, bank it, apply a status effect instead, etc.), particularly because more damage is not always a preferred option. In many cases disabling an opponent quickly and without drawing attention is preferred over killing them, and in some cases capturing a target alive is the mission itself.
This can open up other combat applications for essence use.
Some negatives of the proposed change:
Adding a player choice here can slow down combat for indecisive players.
This puts more emphasis/reward on combat, which isn't really the intent of the game. Essence is easier to earn in game in other ways, but adding incentive in combat assumes that this is a reward for player behavior, when open combat is, by design, meant to be more of an "oops, we screwed up moment". With that said, characters are black ops super soldiers so the game is less about never being in combat and more about trying to stave off combat as much as possible and if you have to enter combat, doing so with control of the battlefield in a smart and tactical manner.
This requires additional book keeping. Not a whole lot, we already have to track essence use, but we now have to consider that it will fluctuate more often (as part of combat).
Why I'm split:
The game is built and meant to be focused on providing experiences other than combat (ie the goal is to get as far away from typical game loop of "punch monster until it drops loot" as possible), but it would be fair to say it also has extremely robust options and tactical choice for combat. To be clear, the combat is highly tactical and has more moves available in and out of combat than probably any other known game on the market, but it's also not meant to appeal specifically to "combat only players" and the system design directly reflects this.Basically my design values are in a bit of conflict here.
Obviously I'll play test this regardless, but I'm curious about:
Are there additional reasons foagainst this?
Given the premises of the game, which do you think is likely to be more fun for you specifically? For the type of gamer this game is meant to appeal to? Why?
View Poll

Hello All! I'm doing some basic polling and playtesting with an option I'm about 50/50 on for my game Project Chimera: E.C.O. currently in alpha development.
Basic information:
Players take on the role of a black ops super soldier working for a PMSC (Chimera Group International). The game heavily focuses on stealth and social objective completion over combat, ie, there is no incentive for combat, it's a way to achieve an objective, but it's the worst ROI since it is potentially lethal and consumes resources much faster than other methods and doesn't offer special rewards, also there's not really "loot" per se like in a DnD game. Loot is most likely to be information that advances the plot.
The game is crunchy, while easy to learn the core game loops (there's a 1 page overview that will get any experienced RPer able to sit for their first session and 3 points of entry: pregen, table roll/select, and full custom) it's mostly that it has lots of flexibility and character options, which is great for players that want that, but it's a known limitation it will not appeal to rules light/casual gamer preferred experiences.
The game takes place in a five minutes into the future dystopian mirror alt earth with cyberpunk and sci fi elements. Characters have access to things like advanced training, gear, bionics, psionics, super powers, feats, etc. A character's starting template doesn't restrict them, it just figures out their initial boosted areas, ie if you take the bionics aspect, your character will have more bionics than a general build character, you can still access everything else, but it's more a question of where you want the thematic focus of the character to be.
All characters are baseline competent in the areas of stealth, socialization, survival and gunplay/combat (you absolutely can use HTH and melee with extensive options, but as one might expect, guns are usually more effective, though those options definitely have their place).As such consider these things to be relevant to potential players, ie if you hate stealth/social, prefer rules light casual, opinions are less relevant in this case because it's not a game built for that kind of player.
The Actual Concern:
Currently I'm considering removing the concept of a critical hit in combat doing double damage automatically and there's a good amount of relevant information:

1. Players have others ways to boost damage
2. This wouldn't remove the option, it just expands the option to more options.

​
The concept works like this:
Characters have 4 meta currencies, one of them is called Essence.
This is a daily regen pool and is used for "enhanced performance" of some kind. Presently it can be used for things like a small bonus to a roll for a save, or gaining +1 standard action on a turn, remove a level of exhaustion, rally, etc., the point being it does have a level of utility. It might be also be used to fuel a special ability from a feat, augment a powepsionic, allow for a special application move, etc.Crits occur in combat (skills can also crit) similar to PF2e in that you can gain one on a nat 20 or if you exceed the TN by 10+ (in most cases, there are other ways to finagle this but they are niche).
Essence is described in game as:
Essence represents the total abstract humanity of a character as well as their general combined physical and mental well being, focus, and general willpower. It is utilized to overcome general limitations and perform above expectaions. Essence is most commonly associated with the concept of the superego.
The proposed change would be a character gains 1 essence (up to max pool, this can be spent immediately if it exceeds) on a crit, but double damage would cost 2 essence.A typical early level character is likely to have somewhere around 10-20 essence total in the pool (could be more or less but this is an estimated average).
Some positives of this proposed change:
This provides another opportunity for essence regen for players.
This provides additional utility and tactical choice in combat (ie they might opt for double damage and spend the extra, bank it, apply a status effect instead, etc.), particularly because more damage is not always a preferred option. In many cases disabling an opponent quickly and without drawing attention is preferred over killing them, and in some cases capturing a target alive is the mission itself.
This can open up other combat applications for essence use.
Some negatives of the proposed change:
Adding a player choice here can slow down combat for indecisive players.
This puts more emphasis/reward on combat, which isn't really the intent of the game. Essence is easier to earn in game in other ways, but adding incentive in combat assumes that this is a reward for player behavior, when open combat is, by design, meant to be more of an "oops, we screwed up moment". With that said, characters are black ops super soldiers so the game is less about never being in combat and more about trying to stave off combat as much as possible and if you have to enter combat, doing so with control of the battlefield in a smart and tactical manner.
This requires additional book keeping. Not a whole lot, we already have to track essence use, but we now have to consider that it will fluctuate more often (as part of combat).
Why I'm split:
The game is built and meant to be focused on providing experiences other than combat (ie the goal is to get as far away from typical game loop of "punch monster until it drops loot" as possible), but it would be fair to say it also has extremely robust options and tactical choice for combat. To be clear, the combat is highly tactical and has more moves available in and out of combat than probably any other known game on the market, but it's also not meant to appeal specifically to "combat only players" and the system design directly reflects this.
Basically my design values are in a bit of conflict here. Obviously I'll play test this regardless, but I'm curious about:
Are there additional reasons foagainst this?
Given the premises of the game, which do you think is likely to be more fun for you specifically? For the type of gamer this game is meant to appeal to? Why?

Comment down below or message me to get the specifics.
Welcome to The Gathering: Evolution
The Gathering is a unique RPG Minecraft experience, designed from the ground up by a dedicated developer. Inspired by the MUDs of old, The Gathering’s extensive set of features are all managed under a single cohesive interface and backend (called the Legends system), improving on the often-seen assortment of commonly used plugins.
Embark on epic quests, discover secret locations, gain attunement to end-game areas, battle powerful world bosses. All without the typical spam, gaudy interface, and disjointed feel of a large multi-plugin server. This is a cohesive experience from top to bottom, following the vision of a very enthusiastic developer, and demonstrating years of channeled inspiration.
Vast, Deep, Simple, Elegant, and Growing.
The Gathering aims to enhance basic minecraft gameplay with a full suite of RPG-focused features and tools:

• Select from 8 unique breeds with their own skill progression and lore. Become a follower of one of the powerful Deities that shape reality.
• Gain experience by killing monsters, mining, building, crafting, and just playing Minecraft.
• Level up to unlock new skills and abilities. Progress high enough to unlock breed hybrids, raising the level cap and adding a second breed’s skills to your toolbox.
• Bind your skills to items, and deck out your action bar with utility and lethality.
• Commune with your breed’s Diety through prayer and sacrifice. Earn their favor and bounty. Roleplay.
• Establish a home, using the custom Village system. Claim plots of land for protection, and allow friends and allies to share your space. Fly inside your claimed village plots.
• Engage in all manner of role-playing, with proximity communication (/say, /yell, /whisper) and express yourself with emotes. Become a part of the lore.
• Earn coin by slaying monsters. Set up your own item shops to trade goods and equipment with other players.
• Embark on epic quests with exciting finales and unique rewards.

The world of The Gathering is entirely custom-generated using the Terra system. The map is extensive, with over 120 new biomes, custom trees, structures, caves, and more.
Hostile monsters are generated with health/damage scaling based on their level. The further you get from the server spawn village, the greater the level of danger.
We've made this for you. We hope you come join us.

Server IP: GatheringMC.com
Discord: https://discord.gg/msBdnnmPcg
Welcome to The Gathering: Evolution
Trailer
The Gathering is a unique RPG Minecraft experience, designed from the ground up by a dedicated developer. Inspired by the MUDs of old, The Gathering’s extensive set of features are all managed under a single cohesive interface and backend (called the Legends system), improving on the often-seen assortment of commonly used plugins.
Embark on epic quests, discover secret locations, gain attunement to end-game areas, battle powerful world bosses. All without the typical spam, gaudy interface, and disjointed feel of a large multi-plugin server. This is a cohesive experience from top to bottom, following the vision of a very enthusiastic developer, and demonstrating years of channeled inspiration.
Vast, Deep, Simple, Elegant, and Growing.
The Gathering aims to enhance basic minecraft gameplay with a full suite of RPG-focused features and tools:

• Select from 8 unique breeds with their own skill progression and lore. Become a follower of one of the powerful Deities that shape reality.
• Gain experience by killing monsters, mining, building, crafting, and just playing Minecraft.
• Level up to unlock new skills and abilities. Progress high enough to unlock breed hybrids, raising the level cap and adding a second breed’s skills to your toolbox.
• Bind your skills to items, and deck out your action bar with utility and lethality.
• Commune with your breed’s Diety through prayer and sacrifice. Earn their favor and bounty. Roleplay.
• Establish a home, using the custom Village system. Claim plots of land for protection, and allow friends and allies to share your space. Fly inside your claimed village plots.
• Engage in all manner of role-playing, with proximity communication (/say, /yell, /whisper) and express yourself with emotes. Become a part of the lore.
• Earn coin by slaying monsters. Set up your own item shops to trade goods and equipment with other players.
• Embark on epic quests with exciting finales and unique rewards.

The world of The Gathering is entirely custom-generated using the Terra system. The map is extensive, with over 120 new biomes, custom trees, structures, caves, and more. To see the complete world map, visit the dynmap at http://gatheringmc.com/.
Preview
Hostile monsters are generated with health/damage scaling based on their level. The further you get from the server spawn village, the greater the level of danger.
We've made this for you. We hope you come join us.

edits to a few thangs here and there
That’s kind of a dramatic title, huh? It’s the title of the book I’m reading and I didn’t really know what to name this entry. It kind of reminds me of “Alice In Wonderland”and “Through the Looking Glass”-Both stories of a girl and her wavering sense of self through various trials. I fckin knew I identified with those stories too much. Go figure. Sigh.
My therapist suggested this book; but she had to suggest it in such a way that I would pick it up from a point of curiosity rather than a place of needing help, otherwise I wouldn’t read it. I fell for the bait. She’s admittedly, pretty good.
You know. I don’t like any of this, for a lot of reasons. Some of the qualities that are used to describe people like me are really scary. “Splitting”?!!! That’s terrifying. “Black and white thinking”?! How incredibly limiting and isolating. “Fragmentation”?!!! Fuck offffffff. I’m not crazy, bro.
Some of it makes me really sad because it’s not a brain chemical thing. It’s an impact thing. I was born a normal, fully functional person…really bad stuff happened and then it kept happening over and over and over again until I became… this monster. I feel sad for little me. I remember what it was like to be little me too. I don’t think she deserved any of that shiz and I feel angry that from the start we didn’t have a chance to succeed. It makes me feel more hopeless.
Once I read about splitting it became a little bit less frightening. As an infant, we see our caregivers as good or evil dependent upon how they care for us and whether they meet our needs. Eventually, as we age, we form a whole picture of our caregivers and can integrate both the good we see in our caregiver and the bad. We use the “good” and “evil” narratives to identify our caregivers and justify our relationships with them. For someone like me, we continue the “good” and “evil” perceptions in order to protect ourselves. A small example of this is how I saw my father. I’ve always adored him. He is charming, popular, creative, funny, handsome, intelligent and magnetic. He was constantly attracting people to him and I loved that when I was in his good graces, I was his favorite. We talked about words and meanings behind song lyrics, we talked about movies and what they meant, we played puzzles and performed on his radio shows/commercials together. I worshipped him.
However, my dad also scared me. He had a darkness that I didn’t understand. When he was angry he hurt us. He threw things. Drug us out of bed in the middle of the night. I hated myself for loving him so much even when he was being violent. I tried to figure out his algorithm… what could I do to make him happy? Over time I learned that I needed to leave him alone… he would come to me when he wanted me and that’s how it’s been ever since.
I made small connections; the biggest one being that when he wore his glasses, he was angry. Somehow in my mind I believed that the glasses made him evil. When he wore his glasses, I made myself scarce. Having this belief helped me maintain the adoration I had for “good dad”. The book says that we have to make these kinds of “good” and “evil” connections if we are still reliant on caregivers because it helps us rationalize why we can love someone who hurts us so.
My mother’s abuse was more consistent. She was just “evil”. Though in adulthood I have found a great deal of compassion for her. Her childhood years were filled with sexual abuse and neglect. I find myself wondering if she and I are more alike then we realized.
The problem I have with this is that there ARE bad people in the world. I was with a man for a long time who did terrible, unspeakable things to me. He is not good. He is dangerous and I am only now coming to understand the depth of impact his abuse has had on me. My experience is not illegitimate because I have a condition.
My therapist says that acknowledging a disorder and treating it is no different than treating diabetes or high cholesterol. But it’s not really seen that way outside, is it? If you take a gander at support groups even within Reddit you’ll see so much hatred towards people like me. As if any of this was a choice. As if I woke up one day and decided that being an absolute villain would be a barrel of laughs. I saw my own ex questioning the validity and realness of our experience together on one of those sites and it broke my heart. My existence, my love language, my hard work, my investment…. My goodness all in question. And you know it’s funny that these so called normal people talk about us as being all bad because isn’t that why they are frustrated to begin with? Black and white thinking isn’t limited to people with disorders.
One thing that has stood out to me in my readings is the “magical nature” of people like me. The book describes how we are storytellers, whimsical… we can bring fairytales to life. And I like that. I don’t want to change that part of myself. People like me can’t be all bad, right? I started looking up good things about people like me because we just can’t all be evil. I appreciated what I found but the internet is kinda gross because it insinuates that the good things are basically mirages or part of an illusion carefully crafted to manipulate. There’s more of that black and white thinking. I’m Unsure of how I am supposed to tame this beast if I am being told that even my goodness is bad. My therapist says that I am no less authentic than someone who doesn’t have this monkey on their back. She says every piece of me is just as real as the nose on my face. She says that I can learn how to manage overwhelming emotions and that’s since become our goal.

• After you rebuild Lurelin Village, the Village Head will hold a feast in Link's honor. At the feast, the villagers will officially announce that Link has free use of all the establishments in Lurelin Village, including a NEW Lucky Treasure Shop!! Link can open a chest every single day for FREE and receive a special reward. Tweaking with the game's clock, players can exploit this shop and get their hands on infinite treasure, including powerful fushion materials!! You can also give the owner a roasted armored porgy to choose from the remaining two chests!!
  
• You don't ever need a minecart!! Just use a shield by itself on minecart rails to jump from track to track.
  
• With ANY gerudo weapon, any fushion added will double that fushion's attack bonus!! For example the base attack of The Scimitar of the Seven is 28, fuse it with a silver lynel Saber horn who's original attack power added is 55, and it will double it to 110, giving you a high durable sword with an attack of 138 permanently, in any weather or condition!!!
  
• At the Horse God's Spring, Malanya can not only bring your horse back to life, but she can now upgrade your horse's stats to all 5 stars in all categories if you bring her certain meals!! Malanya will also describe the ingredients of these meals in the Malanya dreams you can have at the stables
  
• If you throw a dazzlefruit at any Stal monsters (skeletons) it will defeat them instantly!! *Does not include Stalnox
  
• If you give a horse an Endura Carrot, it will add 3 extra stamina boosts for up to 8 hyas if your horse already has 5!!
  
• You can make your own home with the possibility of having up to 3 rooms each of bow, weapon, or shield stands! There are also rooms with blessing statues, cooking pots, and a room called gallery where you can use one of your photos that you've taken to make into and display a large painting on the wall!!And a stable where you can display a horse of your choice!!
  
• If you have a weapon that is about to break or even if it's been used a little bit, if you place it before a rock octorok, it will suck it in and when it's thrown out, it will be repaired instantly AND give it a white bonus such as critical hit or attack+!! Use that weapon until it's about to break, then place it before a 2nd different octorok and it will become new again with a yellow bonus such as durability or higher attack+!! After using said octorok, mark its location on your map and kill it. Whenever a blood moon occurs, you can go back to said octorok and repair your weapons/roll your stats on it.
  
• If you fuse any mushroom to the weakest of shields, it will disarm and throw into the air, even the strongest enemies, if you face them with it and press A to shield parry when they swipe at you!!
  
• If you fuse a mushroom to a weapon and attack them, it will disarm them AND send them flying through the air as they bounce away!!
  
• If you first make a campfire (using a bundle of wood, adding flint, and striking it with a sword or shooting the wood with a fire fruit) then add a Hylian Pine Cone AND an Oil Jar at the same time, it will make a super powerful updraft that will send you flying high in the air. Alternatively, if you dont have a flame emitter on hand, placing a twig in the center of a Zonai Air Balloon, lighting it on fire, then placing the Hylian Pine Cone and Oil Jar on top will send the Air Balloon zooming into the air with a powerful burst!! When you light a wooden weapon on fire with this combination, it will stay lit, even in the rain!!
  
• Lynel Hoofs break Talus and Frox weak points better than bomb arrows and do considerably more damage.
  
• If you attach a sapphire to any weapon and swipe it, it will cause all materials on trees, walls, or ceilings to fall right to the ground for you!!
  
• You can can earn a FREE extra heart or stamina container (you choose) no shrines required!! Go to coordinates -0556, -1503, 0019 on the outside base of the great plateau where you will see a bomb rock in the wall. Destroy it and it will drain the largest lake on the great plateau leaving a bargain statue at the bottom. Talk to it and complete "A Call From the Depths" side adventure and you'll get a free heart or stamina container!!!
  
• You can fuse pieces of island that have fallen from the sky to any weapon for a quick, powerful fushion!!
  
• If you collect 4 Sage's Wills, take them to a blessing statue and you can strengthen the powers of a sage of your choice. There are 20 total to upgrade them all!!
  
• If you're fighting a Stone Talus and they throw their rock at you, you can recall it and it will stun the talus so you're able to jump on
  
• If you fuse a frozen slab of meat to your shield, you can shield surf on any surface without the meat falling off or being destroyed, even flat surfaces, and surfaces covered in gloom without taking any damage!!
  
• A great but slightly weaker alternative to Sundelions are Sun Pumpkins. Speak to Mayor Reede after completing the Mayoral Election questline in Hateno Village. He'll be standing in a vegetable field on the west side of the village. He wants your help to protect his crops at night from monsters. Agreeing will take you straight to nighttime where there will be a few waves of stal monsters you have to defeat. Just throw a dazzlefruit at each group to instantly kill all stal enemies! After he will give you a few Sun Pumpkins and you'll also then be able to buy them at the Hateno General Store!!
  
• You can grow 1 crop from a list of fruits and vegetables, including Big Hearty Radishes, Hearty Radishes, Endura Carrots, Swift Carrots, Pumpkins, Hylian Tomatoes, Hylian Rice, Tabantha Wheat, Hydromelons, and Wildberries!! Go to the school in Hateno Village between 9 am to 3 pm and complete the 2 side quests the teacher asks you to do, then in the field down the hill to the southwest of the school, an old lady (Uma) will tend a crop of your choice for free!!
  

*In the depths there are 34 yiga schematics you can collect with yiga designed machines!! Also with each yiga schematic, there is a treasure chest with 20 crystallized charges, that's a total of 680 crystallized charges, almost enough for 7 battery upgrades!!

• If you fuse a zonai wing to your shield and do a shield hop, and you can fire slow-motion arrows when jumping from flat ground!!

*If you shoot an arrow with a Muddlebud attached at a Battle Talus, it will aggravate the Talus and throw off ALL enemies that were on board!!
*When fighting a Flux Construct, if you take out a weapon and fuse it with one of the Flux Construct squares, it will cause it to fall apart!! Alternatively using Ultrahand on the head, you can wiggle it until it detaches, also causing it to fall apart!!
*Turn Luminous Stone into gems by feeding them to Dondons, located in the Bronas Forest by Lake Floria and collecting their "poop" (this is one of the best ways of farming rupees in TOTK!!!
*Fuse a Lizalfos Tail to a weapon to make a whip (and use the elemental ones for a magical whip)!!
*Put a beehive on a stick to create a bee wand, which sends bees after enemies and briefly distracts them when you wave it. Alternatively attaching a beehive to an arrow and firing from a Lynel bow with x3 or x5, it will then create 3 or 5 hives respectively that will attack enemies!!

• Whenever you defeat a larger scale monster in the depths such as a Frox, Hinox, or Lynel, when you defeat it you always get 20 crystallized charges that count towards getting another battery upgrade!!
  
• If you're having trouble finding the caves that have Bubbul Frogs in them, find one of the many Cherry Blossom Trees and offer a piece of fruit. Satori the blue horse will appear and blue beams of light will shoot up in the air in the area that you're in, showing you all the caves that have Bubbul Frogs!
  
• You don't need stairs when building your house, just use ascend, it will give you a few extra rooms!!
  

Hi everyone,
Please refer to the pricing below. All of the newer stuff will be right below where it says “Picture (Picture 1, Picture 2, etc)
As always, everything equal to or greater than $20 includes shipping. Anything less will be a flat $3-$5 shipping. Not intending to split any of the sets unless noted. If you need any more pictures, feel free to ask.
https://imgur.com/a/DUFHL4Z
Picture 1:
Corpse Party 1-3 - $45
Gunslinger Girls 13-14 - $70
Uzumaki & Loneliness Bundle - $35
Attack on Titan Before the Fall 1-17 - $110
After School Nightmare 1-10 COMPLETE - $120
Lucky Star 1, 3 - $30
Hinowa Ga Crush 1,2,4 - $25
Code Geass Stage 0, Anthology for Girls 1-2 - $35
Alice in Murderland 2 - $25
Lone Wolf and Cub 8,19,20,22,25- $60
Path of the Assassin 10 - $20
IWGP Volume 4 - $15
Kurosagi Delivery Service 1 omnibus - $12
Wotakoi 1 - $10
Monster 11 - $25
Dorothea 1,3 - $30
Blood + 1 - $15
Big Order 1 - $10
Devil Ecstasy 1 - $10
Cipher 10 - $30
Magic Knight Rayearth 1 omnibus - $20
X2 (times 2) COMPLETE - $20
Ace Attorney 1 & Official Casebook 2 - $30
Twin Knights 2 - $10
The Kurosagi Delivery Service 3 - $10
Maga-Tsuki 11-13 - $15
Plunderer 1 - $15
An Older Guy’s VR First Love (Oneshot) - $10
Masamune Kun’s Revenge 1,2,8 - $35
Attack on Titan 1,2,4,5 before the fall 1, no regrets 1 - $20
Shadow star 2,3 - $25
Ninja Slayer Kills 1-5 COMPLETE - $30
Master Keaton 6,9 - $30
Genshiken Omnibus 3 - $20
Castle in the Sky Ani-Manga 2-4 - $25
Reborn as a Polar Bear (all sealed) - $25
Picture 2:
Blade of the Immortal Deluxe 1-6 - $200
Tokyo Revengers 1-6 - $40
Kinos Journey 1-8 COMPLETE - $70
Young Miss Holmes 7-8 - $25
Kill La Kill 1 - $15
Voyeur COMPLETE - $50
Tramps like Us 1-7 (missing 6) - $110
Umineko 1-2 - $120
Jack Frost 1-7 - $75
Maga-Tsuki 1-13 COMPLETE - $90
A Certain Scientific Railgun 7,8,11,13 - $50
Saikano 1-6 - $90
Children of Whales 7,9-11,13,16,17 (7 volumes) - $65
Ikigami 6,7,9 (3 volumes) - $30
Canon 1-4 COMPLETE - $40
High School Girls 1-9 COMPLETE - $75
Picture 3:
Berserk 1-10 Deluxe Editions - $320
Picture 4:
Glephnir 1-11 - $90
Hellsing 1-3 Deluxe Editions - $90
Im Great Priest 1-9 - $80
Neon Genesis Evangelion 1-14 omni - $100
No Gun’s Life 1-12 (missing 10) - $95
Attack on Titan Junior High 1-5 COMPLETE - $50
Picture 5:
Everything in Picture 5: is: $7 + shipping. Buy 4 and you get it for $25 with free shipping. $5 add on for any sets from Picture 1-4.

In the first Penumbra game, Penumbra: Overture, the player had access to three melee weapons:
A Hammer, a Pickaxe and a broom.
The Hammer was a weak starting weapon, the pickaxe was better and the broom was kinda of a joke but it did have more range in exchange for much less damage.
These were removed in Black Plague (And The Bunker, while bringing back combat, decided to omit melee, likely since guns can be easily limited by bullets.) due to how overpowered they were.
I have only played the demo for the Bunker and I never encountered the monster so (at least directly, I did hear noises that could have been it but I hid right away.) I won't bring it up in this post. (But feel free to if you have experience.)
To me, the big problem with Overture melee was two things:

1. Health, If you aren't playing Hard, Philip's Health regenerates relatively quickly, (While on Hard, you can go minutes with it seemingly not increasing but I think it's still there? just super slow and not too useful against the high enemy damage.) so you could be aggressive to take out one enemy then just wait and be ready for the next encounter
2. Lack of enemy types, the main enemy for most of the game was Zombified Dogs, who would get knocked down on every strike, making stun locking easy.

Some people didn't like the moving your mouse to swing feature, I personally did and weirdly there actually is an option to have "normal" melee (Tap mouse to swing) but it's only in the game's files and has to be enabled from there rather than an in-game setting for some reason.
Having health not regenerate, more monster types (and more encounters with multiple monsters at once, if it had combat, trying to melee fight two Amnesia Brutes at once would be nearly impossible. ) and possibly having melee weapons break or giving monster a counter attack of sorts if we try to stunlock them could probably have melee without breaking the game.

Was curious what people thought, say you logged in on an account from before they existed. You wanted to rush the hard or elite tier rewards.
Which tasks would you rush?
The various monster kills + 1 kbd kill is like 20 points so I'd prob knock that out first. Or maybe barrows/dks. Toa I'd have to unlock first to start working on it, but there are a ton of easier tasks there.
Leaving out extremely high level content as most returning players would struggle with a sub17 chambers, or other various "Free" tasks.
Been thinking about this a lot though.