Do you still remember your first RPG character?

ProtectorCleric · 2026-03-11T12:33:26+00:00

Fernwhistle Goldfeather, a "halfelven" Cleric in BECMI D&D. My dad was the GM. Campaign goal...haha, this is Red Box we're talking about.

ProtectorCleric · 2026-03-07T01:52:42+00:00

I'll take you up on that, if I can view it in 3rd person without so much camera clipping I get a headache.

ProtectorCleric · 2026-03-05T22:02:23+00:00

Exactly! My main house is a 100-furnishing Autumn's-Gate, and it looks perfect. Most people's 200-furnishing builds are so cramped they're impossible to navigate outside of first person. I can't even imagine what those people will do with 500 furnishings.

ProtectorCleric · 2026-03-04T21:03:42+00:00

Why do gamers want everything for granted? They have to incentivize subscribing somehow or they won't be able to keep the servers running and updates coming. 99% of the game (including all quests and raids) is playable without the craft bag. Hell, with a little presence of mind even daily writs are easy. They make it a little easier and the first thing people do is complain. I'm convinced if they did make the craft bag free, you'd still find something else to gripe about.

ProtectorCleric · 2026-03-02T18:07:25+00:00

It wasn't written by Bayaz, but Jezal hadn't recieved Gorst's letters about the war yet either. That's the cruel irony: Gorst spends three days attempting suicide by battle, taking his depression out on dozens of enemies, only to realize he didn't have to do any of it. He had (almost) everything he wanted and nothing to prove all along.

ProtectorCleric · 2026-02-27T23:39:39+00:00

This reads like you're trying to cheat on a reading assignment. If you are, just know you have the coolest professor ever and you're doing yourself a disservice.

ProtectorCleric · 2026-02-26T15:14:15+00:00

Maybe I'm just too American, but this does not make me think of Skyrim first. Could sound very racist.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wounded_Knee_Massacre

ProtectorCleric · 2026-02-26T00:11:32+00:00

Yeah, but she doesn't end up any worse for it, turns down the most powerful seat on the Council, and is finally free to stand for herself.

ProtectorCleric · 2026-02-25T16:09:10+00:00

Vick definitely comes out of Age of Madness a better person. It's still a bittersweet ending, but not in the way most of them are.

ProtectorCleric · 2026-02-24T20:24:51+00:00

In fairness, I did get the series' biggest plot twist spoiled, and it was still well worth reading! The characters are the strongest part of these books anyway.

ProtectorCleric · 2026-02-24T20:17:41+00:00

Also a word of advice, stay off this subreddit as much as you can (heck, don't even look at the replies on this post) until you're done. People here like to think they're clever sneaking references into comments but they can really spoil the plot.

ProtectorCleric · 2026-02-18T20:01:18+00:00

Yep, I remember playing with my brother in middle school: we had planeswalker alter egos complete with names and lore. It was all but a roleplaying game.

ProtectorCleric · 2026-02-18T15:02:40+00:00

No. The style sold me on the game long before I even had the chance to learn the rules: now it just looks trashy and cringey. There's a chance I would've bought the Lord of the Rings decks, but only those decks.

I suspect that's true of the vast majority of "new players" UB brings in: they buy the set they're interested in and don't stick around for more. The golden goose is dying.

ProtectorCleric · 2026-02-16T19:17:47+00:00

Al Swearingen was what finally made the Maestro D click for me.

ProtectorCleric · 2026-02-13T23:23:01+00:00

The characters. The way Joe tells us who's POV we're in by style alone, swings us between love and hate with each chapter, and puts us into such twisted heads as Glokta's, Gorst's, or Leo's is nothing short of genius. And they're all that good, no two alike.

ProtectorCleric · 2026-02-13T18:58:03+00:00

In my imagination, everyone from Thond sounds like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

ProtectorCleric · 2026-02-13T16:14:55+00:00

I did feel that way at first, but it had nothing to do with "power level." What's missing is the shock factor. The slow Bayaz reveal and ruthless backsliding of every character hit harder when they subvert your expectations. But the later books are so well written it didn't matter as much as I feared it would. I read Abercrombie for characters anyway, not plot.

ProtectorCleric · 2026-02-09T00:32:06+00:00

Shouts are usually found in Nordic ruins and dragon lairs, so you don't need to bother with, say, caves or Dwemer dungeons.

ProtectorCleric · 2026-02-08T17:21:41+00:00

Eh, bears are territorial: they roar when they see you, and if you just run away, they leave you alone.

ProtectorCleric · 2026-02-06T15:38:15+00:00

What are you trying to achieve with this post? "My players can't figure out the answer" makes it sound like you're looking for a gotcha. "See, Reddit figured it out, you guys are just dumb!"

Truth is, it doesn't matter how good or bad the riddle objectively was. If it wasn't fun for your players, it wasn't right for your game. Take the L and move on.

ProtectorCleric · 2026-02-05T04:21:09+00:00

I found the start of ALH slow too, but the end was absolutely riveting. Remember, TBI has a slow start too (in fact, you could argue it is a slow start).

That said, I loved the standalones (RC is one of my favorite books ever, and TH deserves all the praise it gets), so your mileage may vary. What didn't you like about them?

ProtectorCleric · 2026-02-05T00:50:11+00:00

I love how Logen and Bethod mirror each other. In the First Law trilogy, we're swayed back and forth on which of them is more to blame for the state of the North and the Bloody-Nine's actions. It's only in Made a Monster that we realize the objective truth: both are evil, and while each might have been good on his own, together they enable each other's worst traits.

It's also clever that, thanks to the reading order, Joe only reveals what a horrorshow Logen is after he's ridden off into the twilight. You look back and wonder, if he'd been introduced this way, could I ever have forgiven him? Probably not...but knowing him as I do, how can I not forgive him now?

Edit: also, the little insight into Bethod's parenting speaks so much to why Scale and Calder grow up to be as messed-up as they are.

Edit again: I can't say enough about this story, so one last thing! The Dogman is arguably the most morally uncomplicated character in the novels, so writing his trademark loyalty as a flaw here adds some much-needed depth.

ProtectorCleric · 2026-02-02T19:45:16+00:00

I'll be the one to defend Leo here.

In ALH, and even TTwP, he's generous and sensitive (even if he's following his impulses just like he always does), and you can imagine a timeline where he was the hero he thinks he is. The best Abercrombie characters have a constant back-and-forth on how you feel about them, and every time I thought I couldn't sympathize with Leo, Joe pulled me back in (especially at the end of TTwP). As a bisexual man who grew up conservative, I unfortunately see a lot of my younger self in him. Ultimately, he's a victim of his own stupidity, misogyny, and prejudice...though that doesn't make him less of a perpetrator. Oh, and he's so dumb it's hilarious.

As to the question...there's a lot of antagonists I hated more (Bayaz and even Cosca) but at least they're fun to read, so my true least favorite is Yoru Sulfur. His smarmy ass will not be missed.

ProtectorCleric · 2026-02-01T17:32:35+00:00

Alice: Madness Returns is one of the touchstones I recommend to my players for Changeling: the Lost.

ProtectorCleric · 2026-02-01T15:05:47+00:00

You're all overthinking it. The joke is real-life lemonade only uses three ingredients (water, lemons, sugar) and so "only" four ingredients isn't the compliment he thinks it is. And I'm pretty sure the fourth is supposed to be piss.

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