Neverwinter Nights 2 : Mask of the Betrayer
Quick worldbuilding hack, if you want to make a coherent political system for your fantasy world:
Basically, between the fall of Rome and early modern times, in Europe* most political organization wasn't actually kingdoms ruled by One True King like it's usual in fantasy, but something like this:
Now, besides the history lesson, why is this important? Because there are reasons why rulers had their power, and you should know that.
A king never ruled alone. He was only the head of nobles tied by vassallage (feudalism), or the head of a inherited state bureaucracy and army ("empire"). If you killed the king, another one would rise from the prominent families. Often by bloody civil wars or conquest yes, but the system overall would stay. A king did not reign by its own power or virtue, but because the system itself supported him, and of course, he maintained the system.
A new king who wants to replace the bad old king (a common fantasy storyline) needs to also deal with the allegiances of all its vassals (who would probably rather kill him and take the throne themselves) or build a bureaucracy and an army, supremely expensive endeavors in those times, which took decades if not centuries to build. In fact, the Byzantines and the Arabs inherited most of their state aparatus, in one way or the other, from the Romans.
This is also why these systems lasted so long, too. The appearance of modern republics and other systems of goverment needed the coordination of people and revolutions that did not just kill the king, but also replace it with something else, and for that you need literacy, economic changes, an empowered populace... But that's for another time.
I hope this is fucking helpful because I don't want to spell allegiance ever again.
*I would love to do more about goverments outside Europe, especially Precolombine American ones like the redistrubitionist state-based economy of the Incas, or the Mesoamerican city-states. But that's for another time.
Worldbuilding stuff:
If your story has an idle nobility class, their culture shouldn't just be different from the general population, it should be an over-the-top caricature of the common folks' culture. Whatever the population generally agrees is ideal, fair, admirable, or good, the nobility will take into stupid extremes.
Contrary to the beliefs of many, people are actually not at all happy when they're idle - a person with no assigned task or duty will go out of their way to come up with one. And all around the world, whenever there's been an upper class with nothing to do, they've started to compete with each other over stupid shit, but always stupid shit that the culture they live in considers positive qualities.
From the noblemen in Europe challenging each other to a possibly lethal duel over insulting someone's hat, to a Chinese noblewoman being moved to tears by the beauty of someone's calligraphy, bored elites everywhere have always wanted to outdo each other in their expressions of possessing all the noble traits that this culture in particular holds in value.
You can, and should, use this as a way to highlight what the actual values of this society is. In a setting where being religious is held as an admirable trait, there is nobility coming up with new ways to one-up each other in their expressions of worship. Society that values art and music will have them competing over who hires the most artists, and who employs the most talented musicians. Aggressive, war-like people will have fuels to the fucking death over a stupid hat.
Literally anything can be competed in, and bored people with far too much time and money in their hands will become competitive over the most ridiculous things. This isn't just an useful tool in worldbuilding, but also a fun one.
(or ways to make your players feel even worse when the villain destroys the town later on :) )
an incomplete collection of tweets i consider to be short poems
i have some too
we moan about how we're reblogging memes about being an adult or with adult themes (not in a sexual way in this case) and how it means we're all getting old, but isnt it great that despite everything we still find fun and humor in our adult lives?
i forgot what website i was on, hold on
you: So, I was wanting to start working at your firm because I’m considering accounting as a career.
the man you agreed to interview with in this cafe: I see. I have to say, it’s a welcome change to have someone your age looking for a career instead of something to support their….I dont know, rock band, haha!
you: Haha, yes, well, I try to stay focused. [you take a drink from your coffee]
the man: While we’ve hired people with little to no experience, I have to ask– would you happen to have any previous experience in this field?
you: Oh! I understand completely. The past three years I’ve actually interned a-
spiderman:
think in terms of nostalgic brainfeel the CRPG that felt the best is neverwinter nights 2 but I have no idea if I would enjoy it if I played it again now
Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous is fantastic but it takes commitment because you don't get into the story until later (or at least I didn't) because theres so much to set up you cant get in depth on anything to get attached until like act 3. But then it's wonderful.
Neverwinter Nights 2 is my all time favorite. I'd recommend playing through again with your sights on playing Mask of the Betrayer after with the same character. MotB is the best games writing I've ever encountered and its not even really close. Provides such a satisfying conclusion to the main game. I play both as chaotic good usually and the choices all felt good and natural but I've heard really good things about the evil playthrough, especially for MotB.
Loved working at my school because it was a charter that didn't fall for the normal charter issues and what charters are criticized for. We served only the most vulnerable people in our city and did everything for them. This year (and apparently behind the scenes its been shifting a while) it has just flipped. We're expelling students who make us look bad on paper, we're firing teachers that question the admin (we question because the culture and goals of the school seem to have shifted). Its just awful.
Do you identify with the label “tumblrina”
border guard asking me this off a checklist and then unclasping his holster when i hesitate to answer
great lakes kids are like "you wanna go to the lake this summer" as if any of us have a fucking choice
if you're from here ↓
you're Going to the Lake
post is a hit with the great lakes region residents
Don't forget all the other smaller lakes all over the area because of the glaciers that made the great lakes made many others as well. Finger lakes in WNY for example
If you are thinking about it on paper, the bus running every half hour doesn't sound so bad, until you're waiting at the stop and you miss a bus or it's delayed. Then you're waiting a very, very long time. To people who never take transit, that's probably fine. Why do you care. To people who only take transit, they're expecting it, it's baked in their lives. But the important part, what really impacts our cities, is what happens to people for whom transit is an option.
The spiral goes like this. You go to take the bus instead of driving, thinking "I'm going to o have a couple drinks" or "I don't want to worry about parking where I'm going." So you take bus. First bus is right on time. But then you transfer from your neighborhood line to the line that takes you where you actually want to go. And your bus is delayed. And it only comes every 30 minutes. And then you're waiting, 40 minutes later, wondering where your bus is, knowing you could have driven there in 20 minutes.
Why would you ever chose to take a bus again? The bus made you waste precious time on your day off just sitting there. So next time you drive. Ridership goes down. When the transit authority asks for more money for more buses and more drivers, people point to the ridership numbers and say "why should we pay for this instead of paying for our schools/police/baseball stadium/parks/police again (let's be real that's who's taking all the money)?" If we want to increase ridership we need to actually design and fund functional transit networks. If we want people to actually ride the bus we need to make it a better option than driving, which means reliable service, which you don't get with a bus every 30 minutes.
Every 15 minutes, everywhere, all of the time.
The nuance that is missing is every 15 minutes how far? I lived in a country that did every 15 minutes in the main city, then every 30 to go from suburbs to city or further.
i need all the weird neo-puritans of tumblr and toktok and twitter to realize that people have been having fun casual sex for literally all of human existence and that’s a good thing
you think our ancestors weren’t making sexy eyes at each other over a mug of mead and fucking nasty behind the tavern??? you think cavepeople weren’t having fun animalistic sex??? pull your head out of your ass
the people of pompeii: *openly have brothels and dicks on the floors and picture sex menus*
2023 twitter user: people are only having casual sex because their brains are rotted by porn and capitali- what’s that? yes i was raised catholic why do you ask?
“oh no we’re all doomed by the narrative” maybe you are. i’m the narrative’s favourite.
update: turns out this is not a good thing for me
Had a dream about my two lost students last night, shit is still haunting me despite me losing any hope of finding them
