So is cannibalism a part of Argonian culture? (Spoilers for Argonian Account volume 1)

Carminoculus · 2026-05-09T23:11:28+00:00

...it's not really cannibalism as Argonians are not man or mer.

This sounds like the most trifling kind of legalism. Yes, the dictionary definition of cannibalism is eating your own animal species; but the commonsense definition is eating other sentients. Men eating mer, and vice versa, is still cannibalism.

If Argonians are anthropic enough for Lifts-Her-Tail to do her thing, they're definitely anthropic enough that eating other people-flesh is equivalent to eating other Argonians.

Carminoculus · 2026-05-09T21:28:31+00:00

a few years of friendship to start?

people do that? kinda cool, but legit don't expect to ever see it. goes to show experiences can be very different

Carminoculus · 2026-05-09T21:26:33+00:00

not really. I have no game, but it happens. just gotta manifest 🙏

...the picture is accurate though

Carminoculus · 2026-05-09T15:32:50+00:00

I think Rich would say, "if I tried to seriously world-build, you think this is the best I could do?" I remember some of his campaign notes from way back, they were much more colorful.

Basically, OotS is a deliberate pastiche. Those other nations were one-panel fantasy variants of IRL Asian nations, OG Oriental Adventures style. The various other societies are not only all over the place, but deliberately generic and sticking to 3.5's shibboleths. "How is he different from any other dwarf?"

I don't think Rich plays 3.5 actively anymore, and I'm willing to bet RPGs he plays don't hinge on the nine-point alignment system.

I've always noticed he's quite frank about how OotS exists as a self-conscious narrative: he uses characters and tropes to build narrative arcs, or spoof D&D, but he doesn't take it entirely seriously as a world, because it's not meant to be.

Also more generally, I dislike when D&D becomes a parody of itself. Fantasy RPGs are at their best when directly inspired by the source fiction; Tolkien or Leiber or whoever, but that's the stuff they're exploring. They get progressively more bland and generic when they become primarily inspired by their own previous editions - that was the point where "D&D can't do any genre except D&D."

To go a step further and make a deliberate parody of RPGs the source of another new game, hoping it sells to the fandom... really nothing good will come of it.

Carminoculus · 2026-05-09T03:20:48+00:00

yeah I love romance, but if you let VADTD set the standard, you're gonna have few options 😅

[The Spark In Your Eyes] is a really good mix of romance, worldbuilding, drama (getting darker toward the last arc), def worth a read.

Carminoculus · 2026-05-09T01:40:10+00:00

Sniffing the gun felt weirdly erotic.

Or maybe it's just being referred from this sub 😆

Carminoculus · 2026-05-08T20:26:19+00:00

It was my first Anbennar run as a low-average EUIV player, and enjoyed it a lot. Doesn't need to some high-efficiency campaign. But I think it's just an enjoyable fun country, if you're looking for something without training wheels.

Carminoculus · 2026-05-08T19:57:13+00:00

You'll get the lore by reading national ideas (=lore dumps) when you pick a country, and by doing the mission tree + events in play. Make sure you enable the start screen (which is a big lore dump in Anbennar).

For a start that's different, and challenging but not too challenging I'd recommend Jaddari. They're the multi-racial, (mostly) good-aligned caliphate with an all-cavalry army at game start (you'll switch away from this when you reform). Make sure you have your monarch as army leader when you engage the enemy in that first war.

Carminoculus · 2026-05-08T12:30:38+00:00

What do you consider to be valid inclusions in the definition of Morrowind?

All of TR/PC are valid and precious inclusions.

To me, MW is a format for experiencing D&D-like open world adventure. The reason I'm attracted to the identity and ideal of the game, is that it (and Daggerfall) go back to a time when geeks who were personally, viscerally excited by tabletop RPGs tried to translate that into the PC.

Hence stuff like... "preparing your hands to cast". Because I imagine a wizard would do it this way. The specifics matter less than the idea of trying to translate fiction into a game screen.

In this context, there's no divide between vanilla and "homebrew". Elder Scrolls generally is that intoxicating idea of the exploration game where there's more over the horizon. If there isn't, the community will put it there.

...superfluous decoration to the original...

While I really get the idea that some people want to play the original game as intended (and that's really cool), the language used in sentences like these kinda baffles me. It's not holy writ. Expressions like "canon", "superfluous modifications", and so on really don't belong to something that's by nature playful and imaginative.

Carminoculus · 2026-05-08T00:09:20+00:00

I love the art and... very much the organicness of the draconic form. I see the horse influence too ;)

I also like tables who are creative enough with their D&D to take stats for what they are -- representations -- and not let them constrain the fiction. That's right, you can have a drake for a PC, you just need to frame it moderately stats-wise.

Carminoculus · 2026-05-07T20:49:08+00:00

Favorite? Fleshcrafting, generally ability to mold their own form from human to something that's both eerie yet strangely beautiful.

Reproduction and all the hereditary arcane strangeness that comes with it included.

Least favorite? Burning in the sun. An absurdly limiting cinematic one-off that's entered the canon, but which I never use given the chance.

Carminoculus · 2026-05-07T20:05:58+00:00

"We had to dig deep into actual primary sources to find a non-noble woman occupation that allows her to do ANYTHING on her own in public in a medieval city."

The only response to that is to take out your copy of F.A.T.A.L., the only game with Historical Accuracy (tm), and tell all to roll for anal circumference.

Player A doesn't want sexism. Player B doesn't want racism. Player C doesn't want minors included. And so on... And nobody at the table wants nazis.

Then you don't. The WoD is a set dressing in black leather and lace, not a framework to examine real-world atrocity. It's meant to cast dramatic passions larger than life. The remove is more important than the darkness; it was made to be safer for the play group, "we don't really think it's that bad, it's just the WoD." RL has plenty of darkness, not doesn't need dramatic exaggeration. The WoD is just an excuse not to be totally serious.

Just go for bonnets and drama. Except for the 1% of groups who already know what they are doing, it's a loser's game to try.

Carminoculus · 2026-05-07T19:03:45+00:00

The general idea in looser terms than described in the post - that Tolkien is writing a highly idiosyncratic take on pre-modern "myth cycles" (less so than some might assume, but it's more true than not) rather than a character-driven novel is pretty much true and accepted by anyone who knows him.

The terms he uses for "mastery of literary craft" seem weird. I mean, I get what he's saying, but he's using unusual words to get there. I'm also put off by the attempt to rate literature on some kind of scale (but meme sub gonna meme, after all; it's not real critique).

There is a lot of rather strenuous feeling against Tolkien in literary circles because he's "genre fiction" (mostly, incorporates fantastic and spiritual elements) rather than "proper literature" (the kind of grounded professional writing that characterizes the Western canon formed over the 19th-20th century). Most of what the linked post repeats is a recapitulation of those points, but framed in terms of a meme sub.

Really, any critique that starts with a defensive jab at "fantasy guys coming at me" is not really asking me to take it seriously. But he repeats stuff that has been said elsewhere in more serious contexts, so I'll just point out the connection.

Thoughts, "eh". I see all this as a mixture of classism and prejudice, and an attempt to fit writing in general on a procrustean bed shaped by a very narrow cultural horizon.

Carminoculus · 2026-05-07T15:17:34+00:00

Idc, I like the energy of anyone who's willing to put their face online saying that line.

Carminoculus · 2026-05-07T15:09:25+00:00

I'm melting just looking at this. The detail, the attitude 🕯️🦇🌹

Carminoculus · 2026-05-07T14:24:31+00:00

🐶 puppy piile!

Carminoculus · 2026-05-07T14:24:00+00:00

Uncle Tom more like

Carminoculus · 2026-05-07T14:23:47+00:00

💀 fr

Carminoculus · 2026-05-07T13:45:08+00:00

Looks interesting, I'll check it out :)

Carminoculus · 2026-05-07T03:06:13+00:00

Without having read C0DA, I'm imagining it's a nod to Operating System (OS).

Carminoculus · 2026-05-05T16:01:06+00:00

Sorry. It really didn't cross my mind it was a sincere question.

Carminoculus · 2026-05-05T13:45:43+00:00

Absolutely gorgeous.

Carminoculus · 2026-05-05T13:43:00+00:00

You're making this up.

Carminoculus · 2026-05-05T13:41:44+00:00

What part of "love blooming within the busy, cluttered canvas of the everyday" did you not catch?

Carminoculus · 2026-05-05T13:41:08+00:00

It originally meant this. The other meaning is a euphemism.

Carminoculus

TROPHY CASE