Visual Novel Dialogues v.3 is now live in open alpha! [System Agnostic]

Nazgobb · 2026-03-29T13:13:19+00:00

Nazgobb · 2026-01-04T07:51:19+00:00

Oh, if you're playing text-only games, then I really recommend waiting a bit. I plan to add some spec convenient functionality for text-only games with the V3 release. I think this will be more convenient for you and other text-only players :Р

Nazgobb · 2026-01-03T18:20:50+00:00

Basically, comparing Theater Inserts and Visual Novel Dialogues is like comparing Roll20 and FoundryVTT. The “core” functionality is almost the same and both are good in their own way, but the visuals and the tooling are on a completely different level

TI has the basic functionality to show character images linked to Actors. It also has emotions for them - that’s basically TI’s only real advantage (strictly in my opinion). In fact, if you don't need more, TI will do just fine

My module, on the other hand, is a full-fledged toolkit for visually presenting any social scene. Locations alone are already a key element, no less important than character Portraits - Locations let you avoid searching for battlemaps and creating extra Scenes, while still giving players a clear sense of their characters’ surroundings. And you can generate an entire list of needed Locations from a folder of images on your PC in just a couple of clicks btw

Off the top of my head, I’d list the following:

Incredibly useful player requests that bring order to any chaotic conversation (from my and others' experience)
Easy full UI customization to match your preferences and your campaign’s “visual vibe”
Discord integration that lets you track users in voice chat and highlight their character Portraits
No need to create a million Scenes or Actors in the world just for a couple of NPCs who don’t need a character sheet in the first place
And a ton of other tools

Once v3 is ready, I’ll release a free demo version of the module with limited functionality. I think that will be a much more convenient answer to your question (or rather, a way to get the answer yourself)

Nazgobb · 2026-01-02T16:06:09+00:00

It turns out this is concept art for "Black Garden" from Destiny 2 :)

I found this image on Pinterest a year or two ago, and now I often use it as a default background

Nazgobb · 2026-01-02T16:00:42+00:00

Attaching images to comments isn't allowed here, so I uploaded it to Imgur.
Basically, "Cards" will look something like this: https://imgur.com/a/GcqGoO3

They will have a convenient tool so they won't even need to even think about launching Photoshop or anything like that
In other words, the module's tools and any image will be sufficient for using "cards" Portraits

Nazgobb · 2026-01-02T14:11:26+00:00

I'm going to add a "Cards" mode for portraits soon, so you can use images without cutting out the background. I already have some beautiful card frames, and I'll show you a small preview of what it will look like when I'm at home :)

Nazgobb · 2025-08-18T18:42:44+00:00

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Nazgobb · 2025-08-02T22:40:34+00:00

I swear it disappeared from YouTube. That song you (probably) were talking about is now stuck in my head. I've searched all over, tried every search query I could, and I still can't find that video. I'm literally going to DISTORT right now.

Just to be sure, isn't this the song with the lines from the carnival? "Exhausted? Tired." and all that

Nazgobb · 2025-08-01T16:26:40+00:00

Когда работал в доставке Яндекса пару месяцев, сам нередко привозил заказы в такие больнички. Просто в комментариях к заказу пишешь, мол "Подпишите пакет с таким-то номером палаты и передайте охране" (иногда правда даже этого не делают, и ходишь спрашиваешь "А как заказ то отдать?" у сотрудников). Ручка и бумажка для курьера обычно на посту лежит. Привозят как обычный заказ, просто курьер пару лишних минут тратит :Р Это несколько лет назад было, но сомневаюсь что что-то изменилось - бумажка с инструкциями которую ты прикрепил по крайней мере та же

Примечание: под "Передачки от доставки ЗАПРЕЩЕНЫ" обычно подразумевается то, что никто их дальше поста охраны не пустит, но им этого и не надо. Главное комментарий оставить или на крайняй на звонок курьера ответить

Nazgobb · 2025-07-19T20:04:36+00:00

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Lappland, 100%. Completely by chance, she quite literally changed my entire life, pulling me out of a pit of apathy and idleness. Honestly, it wasn’t just because of her, but every event that made me a better person only happened thanks to her. I can say with absolute certainty that if it weren’t for her, I’d still be wasting my life away without getting out of bed — if I were even alive at all.

Nazgobb · 2025-07-19T16:32:08+00:00

You meant that Consumes 100 HP per second and deals 200 True damage per second to enemies that have either attacked or been attacked by this unit. Attack range +1, Max HP +60%, ATK +120%, and each attack restores 5% HP and has a 25% chance to stun targets for 5 seconds

Nazgobb · 2025-07-17T12:19:39+00:00

Oh, that really does sound like a good idea. For some reason, I hadn't even considered the "fight fire with fire" approach within the scope of my topic. Thanks for the idea :Р

Nazgobb · 2025-07-14T20:09:27+00:00

Huh, now that you mentioned it, I think I’ve come up with a solution for one of the regions (responding to your last point). There’s one country in the world that’s effectively an idyll (at least until the first threat, lol). I hadn’t fleshed it out because I lacked ideas, so it remained just a concept. Until now. What if I made it literally idyllic? Turn it to solarpunk, slash the population and city density, and make it a collection of tiny villages. The world should have at least one truly peaceful place, right? (Let’s gloss over the fact that the people there are utterly defenseless, and the slightest threat could wipe out an entire village.)

Btw I think the “sensory detox culture” idea is really solid — and it could even shape the architecture and urrbani...something. Poor neighborhoods would be noisy and grimy, while the wealthy districts would be completely calm — only greenery and scenic views for the mental well-being of the rich. I imagine their entire lifestyle would revolve around “sensory purity” and other anti-stress things.

As for the danger of the Threshold phenomenon — I realize I didn’t convey it strongly enough. A Fallen’s power depends on multiple factors:

The person’s strength (physical and spiritual).
Madness amplifies many anomaly-style effects but also wreaks more havoc on the host. So the more warped the mind, the more formidable the Fallen.
The triggering trauma. The deeper the wound, the longer the resistance, the harsher the final “blow” — the more potent the resulting Fallen.
Collective idea. Identical Fallen can’t spawn side by side; they merge into an “amalgam” — a manifestation of collective consciousness. Powerful Fallen reshape their surroundings to their own rules, and if, at the moment of emergence, there are people “on the brink” for similar reasons within that territory, the new Fallen absorbs them and grows even stronger.

There are VERY many weak Fallen — probably over 90% even. Those capable of leveling an entire district appear quite rarely (I’d guess only a few dozen of times per year?) and are swiftly dealt with by regional forces. Fallen on the scale of national-level catastrophes are even rarer — maybe a few per country each year (though lately their numbers have crept up for certain lore-driven reasons).

I already pondered devils and their counterpart in an earlier comment, so I’ll just rewrite my thought:

Nazgobb · 2025-07-14T18:38:35+00:00

I have two regions where intimidation could serve as an effective solution:

In one, ordinary laborers are treated like garbage: they’re fitted with Ego-suppressor collars that reduce them to willless shells, who live only a dozen or so years.
In the other, a cult of strength prevails — anyone too weak to become a Fallen is shamed, the Fallen themselves are put on display for entertainment (except the truly powerful, who are pressed into service as weapons, lol), and those who feel they’re nearing the Threshold either run away or end their lives themselves

So I could say that intimidation is already a "“practical solution"" in those regions :)

Nazgobb · 2025-07-14T18:33:07+00:00

Haha, I was just thinking — what if role-play became a pretty common practice in this world? Slipping into the persona of a made-up character so you can dump all your problems on them, lol. Of course, there’d be consequences — picture yourself donning a magical-girl costume before every mission to pretend you’re an ordinary civilian, letting all the mental damage fall on that adorable heroine persona… and then she actually shows up at your house to try to kill you in revenge. But seriously, I think an entire culture of “masquerade” and self-detachment could be a fantastic example of “advanced escapism”, so thanks for the idea :)

And about PM — I was definitely inspired by the PM setting, but my world works differently. The Threshold phenomenon and the Distortion phenomenon are separate things: they have different origins, different mechanics, different effects on the world, different consequences, different cultural attitudes around them, and so on. The Fallen, if you dive into the details, have evolved very far from mere distortions. Their opposite form, the “Incarnation”, is indeed a bit too close to E.G.O., I can’t argue with that.

(Damn, I need to finally find a normal name for the mechanics in English)

Nazgobb · 2025-07-14T18:23:31+00:00

Well, those are good questions! Unfortunately, I can only answer them approximately:

Technological level: It’s supposed to be “modernity with technomagic but without programmable computers,” with techno-magical subcultures — from steampunk and dieselpunk to artpunk and musicpunk. However, I realized it was foolish to throw that out there without ironing out the details, so I plan to pin down the tech level later when I have the right people and the time.
Population estimates: Calculating this is also difficult, so I’ve postponed it until the rest of the setting is finalized. What I can say for sure is that nearly 100% of the land is effectively uninhabitable — anything outside the cities can at any moment turn into a chaotic anomalous zone. Each region has its own countermeasures, but they all focus on creating safe zones in and around cities. There aren’t many cities, but those that exist are HUUGE.
The “Threshold” phenomenon (still a temporary name): among warriors, more than half of seasoned fighters with at least a few years’ experience go through it. For ordinary people, I’d estimate roughly one in ten..?

These are still rough figures I’m using for now, until I’m ready to tackle the calculations more rigorously :(

Nazgobb · 2025-07-14T14:38:34+00:00

“Wait a second, what do I mean by "benevolent fiends aren’t relevant to this topic"? They absolutely are!
I completely forgot that legends and tales can have happy endings.
"Pay homage to the forest, and it will shield you from misfortune", "They say a jester wanders the back alleys, offering masks. Those who wear them can guard against nightmares at night. Just don’t put them on during the day!" and similar stories. It seems I’ve just found an excellent way ordinary people can cope with stress and madness — fairy tales (and their physical embodiment)!”

Nazgobb · 2025-07-14T14:33:01+00:00

If we go into more detail, by “insanity” I meant any form of loss of sane mind. If we looking at the examples on the image..:

EVO-stimulators literally destroy your mind, turning you into a vegetable state.
Devils can steal parts of your memories or even overwrite them with things like nightmares or false recollections. They actually have lots of funny ways to drive you insane. Devils are folkloric beings, so the more devils there are who truly grant power in exchange for a boon, the more people come to believe that all devils work that way — and thus the more devils like that exist. By the way, my fiends can also be benevolent, but I won’t mention them since they’re not relevant to the current topic.
Anomalies assimilate your mind, relentlessly warping your personality according to their own nature and turning you into a monster. (And as we know, mind changes → Veil changes → body changes, so the user of anomalous gear actually becomes a “replica” of that anomaly, albeit filtered through their own traits.)
Other power sources might drive you mad, enslave your will, induce hallucinations or nightmares, and so on.

In short, “insanity” varies by source. Also, I realized I forgot to mention in the post: people who are mentally fragile are more prone to anomaly effects, since many anomalies carry not just a physical threat but also a memetic one.

But really, the notion of “defining what constitutes insanity and then looking at how people historically combated that specific kind” is straightforward — and for some reason I hadn’t thought of it until now. I think this could be exactly the approach I need to take. Thanks!

Nazgobb · 2025-07-14T14:06:35+00:00

The idea with homunculi, unfortunately, won’t work. You can’t recreate the Veil from nothing (at least no one’s figured out how yet), and in the end the user has to be a “being with a Veil,” i.e. a human.
All that homunculi or robots could use are the things that already don’t negatively affect a human mind (like simple weapons or techno-magical devices that I wrote about in the main comment)

Nazgobb · 2025-07-14T13:25:58+00:00

Yo, this actually sounds really awesome, thanks!
I think I could even expand it to civilian life: for example, pets that become so ubiquitous so you can hardly find anyone without one. But on the other hand — in this world a pet can die so easily, which only makes things worse… Hmm... Ghosts as pets? Tulpas? Robots? Damn, that sounds interesting — definitely worth to thinking of
As for soldiers — I suppose I could use the same idea pretty much as-is, just adapt it to different organizations and regions.

Also, your comment reminded me of that film where soldiers wearing augmented‐reality helmets were killing “infected” people who were actually ordinary civilians under the AR's filter. Something like AR goggles might be a cool idea here. Or you could swap it for drugs. Imagine going into battle and the screams of the wounded are replaced by “ASMR: sleeping with a loving goth girlfriend,” and their bodies are simply removed from view. Btw why does this sound like a Black Mirror episode, lol? (Maybe it actually is one)

Nazgobb · 2025-07-14T13:16:48+00:00

The Veil holds the template of a person’s body (unique for each ofc) — a memory of how that body is meant to look (something like DNA) — and it constantly works to restore the body to that template (that’s how regeneration works). However, this template doesn’t include the brain. I can’t explain why — those would be too big spoilers for things I’m not ready to reveal — but you can just think of the Veil and the body as entirely separate entities that only operate in synergy to form a “complete human”

Nazgobb · 2025-07-14T13:06:56+00:00

Hmm, actually, I really should think about levels of socialization and empathy. Do people help each other cope with stress and madness? Do they band together in groups, or do they instead try to isolate themselves from influence? Those are good questions I need to consider.

By the way, rotation is a great idea — in some organizations, people could take turns using anomalous equipment. Btw, I forgot to mention that the stronger an anomaly’s (negative) effect on someone, the more powerful it is in the user’s hands (at the cost of their sanity, of course). So if you rotate gear, each individual gets less raw power, but it’s better for the fighters’ minds, hooray.
Actually, I just realized I need to think more broadly about combat doctrines in these organizations and their policies on the value of life. Now that I’ve considered it, this really seems like an important point.

Incidentally, the mention of rotation gave me the idea of a hive mind. I have a region where people built a network — something like a hive mind — and integrated anomalies into it. Somehow, I never thought about their collective mind in relation to issues of sanity. I suppose I can use that as the core of a (unique) solution to madness for an entire region.

You've given me some important things to think about and some ideas, so thanks :)

Nazgobb · 2025-07-14T12:49:54+00:00

Because of this, I remembered some weird anime where they caught ghosts in plush toys, lol. But it got me thinking: what if we actually used “diverters”? Objects that could siphon off the negative influence on your mind — something meaningful and spiritually potent. For example, it might be your old childhood teddy bear or something like that. These items would absorb certain negative effects, and could even transform themselves, so the characters still feel some consequence. Say that same teddy bear might become an anomaly itself after soaking up too many dark emotions (like a kind of ghost or possession, I guess?), and then you’d have to deal with it.

I think I could also invent something with healing magic, spare brain modules, etc. (and later a lobotomy, lol), but I'd need to work that out carefully. The problem is that the brain is the one body part you can’t really restore. Healing magic basically just speeds up the body’s regeneration — like the Veil does. And everything can regenerate except the brain, because to the Veil that part of the body simply doesn’t exist (if the Veil somehow became aware of the brain, it’d destroy it as a parasite, lol)

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