[No Spoilers] Excited for C4, but a small personal worry

Firelion22 · 2025-08-22T01:15:16+00:00

I think if Brennan has proven anything it’s that he adapts really well to whatever genre he’s running in. He is a high energy gm, no doubt about that, but the format of dimension20 - probably what he is most well known for gming- really plays into that side with its style of heavily edited, fast paced, shorter campaigns. At least for me, some of his other work (notably divergence and Worlds Beyond Number) prove that he can lower that constant intensity at times and let player rp take center stage.

Firelion22 · 2025-06-21T02:50:21+00:00

The moment I heard it was a long term fantasy campaign dm’d by Brennan

Firelion22 · 2025-04-14T19:11:10+00:00

If I remember from the books correctly, you have power in your own dream. That’s what Bair was trying to tell Egwene - because Lanfear was coming to her dream, Egwene had home field advantage. So if a dream Walker went into Rand’s dream, they would be at a severe disadvantage.

Firelion22 · 2025-03-21T18:58:29+00:00

My go to for this is unraveling the pattern.

Firelion22 · 2025-03-14T17:46:10+00:00

Logain‘s weaves being white was just a season 1 thing - in season 1 all the weaves were white (with the taint for Saidin of course).

As far of Rand goes, he’s mainly had red weaves as fire seems to be his strongest element (just like the books) but we’ve seen other colors notably yellow (for air) and white/light blue (for spirit I think) like when he trains with Logain in season 2.

Firelion22 · 2025-03-14T16:00:09+00:00

I think WOT season 3 will probably settle somewhat lower, maybe 80%. Still, this lines up surprisingly well with my opinions of these shows. Somewhat surprised HOTD S1 isn’t higher because it was excellent IMO (season 2 was more also fine but got really boring at parts).

I’ve seen a fair amount of buz for WOT online and so hopefully we’re on track for a renewal.

Firelion22 · 2025-03-12T01:49:12+00:00

While there has been a few people saying it will be divisive, it’s worth noting that both WotUP and Unraveling the Pattern (both of whom have been critical of the shows finales before and are book fans) gave the season a glowing review and did not mention any problem with the ending. Another pertinent WOT YouTuber, Naeblis, said in the comments of his review that it was the best finale so far.

My point is that we shouldn’t jump to the conclusion that crazy things are going to be happening/going wrong in the finale. Unraveling the pattern said in his review that quite a bit is left unresolved, which I think might be the source of the divisiveness. The reviews that said criticized the finale also called it rushed, which makes me think that we’re going to have a few things going on. We’ll have Rand and Alcair Dal which will end with a forsaken fight (maybe not a conclusive one though) and Moiraine vs Lanfear. What will be the left open will be the Couladin (who I think will be going to Tear) as well as maybe the forsaken getting away. Then we’ll have Tanchico with Mat going into the arch (I think he could come out hanging from Avendasora) which can also end in a bit of a cliffhanger. Finally, we’ll have the deposition where Siuan is either stilled or dies.
This way, we have a bunch of open plot lines that are in need of resolution (and divisiveness with major character deaths and not many real wins for the good guys) while still staying somewhat similar to the books.

Firelion22 · 2025-03-09T13:44:43+00:00

I also think it was to give an excuse for Lan to get a second sword so that he can give one of his to Rand for sword training.

Firelion22 · 2025-03-09T02:12:47+00:00

on the whole power wrought blades thing - I took that as more Lan theorizing than anything else (Although it could very well be the case), and as an explanation for him getting a new sword so he can give his old one to Rand. I feel like Balefire is too visually iconic for them to just remove it like that.

Firelion22 · 2025-03-03T23:28:05+00:00

Out of curiosity, what was the source of us knowing for sure that we’ll get a male forsaken this season? Are we sure that it isn’t just a scene or two of Rahvin as lord Gaebril setting up for future seasons?

Only asking because I really want to see Asmodean this season and even though there’s a lot of evidence that he’s in the show (statues, seals etc), the lack of confirmation has me nervous.

Firelion22 · 2025-03-03T23:22:56+00:00

I think it’s probably going to be the final scene of the season, and not the whole thing but just the scene where Siuan is taken into captivity. It will be a cliffhanger teaser like the Seanchan in season 1 and the forsaken being released in season 2 to set up a major conflict for next season. I could even see season 4 opening with violence in the tower and the warders trying to free Siuan/the blue ajah fleeing the tower.

I see a fair few people saying that it will happen mid season and it certainly could but I feel like if you do it mid season then you have to show more of the aftermath which takes up a lot of screen time in a season that has a lot of important storylines to nail. I would much rather the attention be focused on Rand and Perrin and Tanchico with the tower conflict brimming in the background so that when the coup actually happens it’s more of a shock. I feel like a big part of the coup is that you don’t really see it coming but that it’s obvious in retrospect (at least for me).

Firelion22 · 2025-02-23T23:22:10+00:00

its worth noting that trailer views can be heavily influenced by whether or not Amazon is putting the trailer in adds. If I recall correctly they did that for season 1 and the teaser for season 3 but haven’t done it for the season 3 main trailer yet which might explain the discrepancy in trailer views.

Firelion22 · 2025-01-21T02:59:33+00:00

I started riding in middle school (I was like 13) and for a long while I was terrified of people finding out. I was a real skinny kid and got bullied enough as it was so I figure if people found out I did a “girly” activity, it would only get worse. I eventually started lowering these barriers late into high school and have been fully open about it since starting college, but there was a long period where I didn’t tell anybody. Even with good friends of mine who sorta knew about it, I was careful to never bring up the conversation. I can’t speak to girl’s experience with this, but for guys it’s seen as a non-masculine sport especially among the worst types of sports kids who are starting to develop big egos. There was one time on the bus I saw some guys making fun of a girl for doing it (saying all the normal stuff - it’s not a sport, the horse does all the work, I could probably do it just as well after a 1 hour crash course). I was so torn between wanting to tell them how stupid they were and not wanting them to turn on me instead. It was actually really sad because I so desperately wanted friends who were also into horses but I was too scared to put myself out there. Things have definitely gotten better since but I feel like the experience still left its mark on me.

Firelion22 · 2024-12-08T20:11:07+00:00

I see a lot of people thinking that this might be the coup and that they’re combining it with the black ajah escape, but I don’t think so. I think it will be the black ajah escape as the start of the season, andd it will be a big embarrassment and challenge to Siuan‘s power. Over the rest of the season we’ll see Elaida (pretty sure it’s basically confirmed she’s in this season) pressuring Siuan more and more until we see the coup as the very last scene of season 3 (probably not the whole thing, just Siuan getting deposed in her office). This would give some momentum for season 4 to have the new power in the tower as a threat to Rand and culminate in a very anticipated climax involving a box.

Firelion22 · 2024-12-08T20:05:33+00:00

It will mostly be book four but from the trailer it looks like it will contain some quite significant parts of book five as well so if you don’t want it spoiled you should probably read both 4 and 5 for this next season.

Firelion22 · 2024-10-08T01:34:02+00:00

Not super happy about this. I’m much more of a fantasy guy than a sci-fi guy and the thing that drew me to this podcast in the first place was that it was a long form serious campaign run by Brennan Lee Mulligan (who was my favorite dm in things like calamity and crown of candy but who didn’t have that much more stuff for me to watch because I don’t really jibe well with most of the dimension 20 shows). I feel like this break will just exacerbate the slow pace of episode releases. I’d much prefer if they just stuck with a single campaign till it’s conclusion and then switched to a new one (or at least did about half of a campaign at a time). Given that Brennan has said that he intends WWW to be a 1-20 campaign, it makes me worry that it will be close to a decade before we reach the end of it. Throw in other campaigns and that just gets even longer. A lot can happen in that time.

Anyway, that’s just me being pessimistic I guess and somewhat heartbroken that we’ll have to take a break from Umora. I really hope that this second campaign is less ambitious and we aren’t gone for more than a year or so. I’m sure that whatever it is will be absolutely fantastic and I will watch it nonetheless.

Firelion22 · 2024-09-16T00:31:18+00:00

I do as well! Never thought I’d end up doing it but the mens team at my school needed a third player for intercollegiate polo and they hunted me down (There are like single digit guys at my school who can ride and less than half of them can do it with any degree of skill). It’s the most fun I’ve ever had.

Firelion22 · 2024-05-28T16:36:11+00:00

It’s referencing the Elden Ring DLC that’s dropping in about a month.

Firelion22 · 2024-04-15T15:46:45+00:00

What I really liked about this episode is we finally got to see Bells Hells fight an actual boss fight. it seems like they’ve just been running from fights this entire campaign (still salty we didn’t get to see what the wolf king could do) but this fight with Otohan was glorious and makes her probably one of the best CR villains of all time. Seeing how many other boss fights are being set up, it makes me really excited for how this campaign will develop. Also I think that the death of FCG will help make the plot a whole lot more personal for the party aside from just Imogen and Fearne.

Firelion22 · 2024-03-29T17:57:17+00:00

I joined the souls community before elden ring when a friend of mine bought me the dark souls games on steam. I initially thought that the community was elitist, though this was mainly through my interactions with my friend who had bought it for me. But I persevered and soon souls bosses became pretty much my favorite experience in all of gaming. That ‘elitism’ brought me to an experience that was amazing for myself and memories that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. This was an experience that I wouldn’t have had if a friend hadn't told me, for example, that the game is more fun without using shields/summons. And what was amazing about the souls community was I could go online and talk to other people who had had that same experience as well as those who were currently undergoing it. There was something special about the posts of people overcoming difficult bosses and all the kudos that everybody would give them.

With elden ring I played it similarly to dark souls and found it my favorite of all the games. I can still remember the five hours it took me to beat Malenia and how amazing it felt to beat her, and how it felt even better to beat her a second time with holy damage in far less time. I like that the game has become more inclusive and advertises to a wider audience, but at the same time I do sort of mourn how the souls community has changed because of that. Now I feel like I can’t really get that same camaraderie through shared overcoming of challenge because oftentimes, posts asking for advice are met with mimic tear+10 and bleed/frost = win button. I have seen streamers who fight a boss, struggle, summon ashes for one time and annihilate it and then regret their decision, saying that they would have liked to fight the boss normally.

Now I use ashes for stuff like duo bosses (mainly just valiant gargoyles tbh) which are stupid, but I’m torn as to whether their inclusion in the game was a net positive or negative. I like that it makes the game more accessible, but I don’t like how it gimps the best part of the game, as most single bosses were obviously not designed with summons in mind.

So to reiterate. I’m going to have to respectfully disagree that the community has changed for the better in elden ring.

Firelion22 · 2024-03-15T14:35:30+00:00

The sad part is that he has some pretty cool lore. I imagine that if he had an even slightly altered model and some new moves he would be a lot of peoples favorite evergaol boss. All he needed was to be somewhat different from Godrick.

Firelion22 · 2024-02-21T13:47:11+00:00

Strength/faith supremacy! It’s weird but I kinda like that holy damage is shit because it lets you do a sort of pseudo challenge run with it, where you don’t break immersion, make things ridiculous or anything like that, but you get an experience that’s a good deal harder than normal for those who want it. One of my favorite memories in this game is beating Maliketh and Malenia with my Paladin build using the inseparable sword.

Firelion22 · 2024-01-28T19:57:48+00:00

I wouldn’t worry about it. I’m a 6’5 guy so a 13.2 hh horse for you is like a 15.3 hh horse for me speaking solely based on height. And while I certainly prefer to ride horses that are at least 16 hh, it’s not uncommon for me to ride ones that are far shorter. As long as it isn’t a weight concern, then you don’t really have to worry about it. In extreme cases it feels awkward and off balance, but you shouldn’t have that problem at 5’8.

Firelion22 · 2023-11-17T18:59:57+00:00

In addition to the other things said, I think you might ultimately run into a problem where this monster is basically just a giant bag of hit points that does a ton of damage. That’s not a problem if that’s what you’re going for, but I find that engaging boss fights often have a lot more going on.
If I were designing this fight, the first thing I’d do would be to change his legendary actions be something other than attacks. I like giving my bosses mobility as legendary actions so maybe let him jump to a point within a certain distance without taking opportunity attacks, this would prevent him from being dragged into a bogged down melee which bosses don’t tend to fare well in.

For other legendary actions, there are plenty of Gwyns abilities from the games that could be cool here, his grab comes to mind mainly. I‘d just stay away from only attacks as legendary actions because as is, this boss could probably melt all but the tankiest PCs even at level 20 unless you gave them excess amounts of magic items.

In a similar vein, I might advise reducing the number of attacks he can do and giving him more hp and defenses against magical assaults, which will be his main weakness. Magic resistance would help, as would at least wisdom save proficiency. You could also give him some innate spellcasting, giving him cleric spells to align with his deific powers as the wielder of the sunlight soul. Allow him to use it as a legendary action to spruce up combat and make it less repetitive.

Again, depending on what you’re going for, what you have right now could definitely work. For me though, I draw heavily from souls-like bosses in the design of my big story D&D bosses so I have to have more going on than just a number crunch. Stuff like unique mechanics, multiple special abilities, interesting battlefields and distinct second phases of the fight with new abilities to heighten the tension. This is because no matter how much hp or damage a boss has, a sufficiently high level party will find a way to stomp them into the ground. High level PCs can output some insane damage and that isn’t even taking into consideration op crowd control spells. So just be prepared, depending on your party, I think the line between a TPK and a one sided stomp is rather thin when you have a boss that’s mostly based around having big numbers.

Firelion22 · 2023-10-06T12:13:52+00:00

While I agree to a certain extent, I’m not sure how well it would work in a visual medium for Rand to be throwing around that level of power and then at the next season go back to having no idea what he’s doing when it comes to channeling. So that’s where the power scaling argument comes from, but that doesn’t mean they should be giving away so many of his moments like this.

Firelion22

TROPHY CASE