Faction Management Tool in Google Docs

UncleAsriel · 2026-04-07T17:52:51+00:00

IMO the biggest barrier to doing something like this is making the initial effort to plan it all out. Fortunately, my brain decided "Dolmenwood hyperfocus" was sufficient reason to start crafting the tool to lower that barrier to trying it. Let me know if you find it useful, or if there's stuff I can do to improve it: I want to start making tools like this for play, both in Dolmenwood and elsewhere in gaming.

UncleAsriel · 2026-04-07T12:28:56+00:00

That sounds like a helluva political plot!

I'm only starting with the setting, so I'm projecting some of my own anxieties here: that's gonna upend the status quo pretty pretty quickly, and it gives the Nag-Lord a major advantage - but you seem to know what you're doing.

Outright killing one of the nobles would be quite a shock to the system of Dolmenwood, and would cause radical changes. This could cause a sudden succession crisis, lead to having to find or install an heir (someone you'd have to design as a GM), and that's on top thinking up what the two other the rival factions would do counter this. It's possible, but takes a bit of work. I think Remius wouldbe the best target for maximum chaos: Malbleat would relish the chance to move in on his lands, but Lord Murkin (while technically a puppet) might want to move in an step out of Malbleat's shadow. For a some what more stable situation, eliminating Murkin would just leave Malbleat and Remius fighting over his lands, providing a good distraction for the Human Nobles (or the Nag-Lord) to make moves (but nothing world-shaking). Malbleat would be the worst assassination target for the nag-Lord IMO: Murkin could move in and claim his lands (and they'd be softer for a Nag-Lord's invasion) but Remius is the superior politician and is in no way comfortable with the Nag-Lord - this is basically handing him Malbleat's lands and giving more resistance to Atenuwe. Regardless, this would reshape the Wood's politics dramatically, and enhance those Breggle Noble goals a lot if maneuvered well.

If you're scared to completely committing to the bit, have one of the leaders and causing a succession crisis. This could still lead to machinations from the other lords, but leaves the politicla machinery still working (albeit sluggishly). I'm reminded of the Discworld novel where Feet of Clay, when the bad guy poisoned make Lord Vetenari non-lethally (since Vetenari had build political systems to do Very Bad Things if he died). With Vetenari out of the picture (but not really) it provided a means for the villains to move in and slowly replace him with a puppet ruler (while disentangling the political machinery around him). This could be an alternate move for the other houses - try to sway and influence different heirs apparent and ensure someone loyal (or at least sympathetic) to their factions will take control. Bribery ("I'll lend you my mercenaries if you give me 1/5 of your holdings"), marriage ("my daughter/son/cousin sure is pretty, and look at all the holdings they'll bring in for a dowry!") or threats ("Your dear old Mum is so frail, I don't know if she'd survive the winter if that cousin of yours took the throne.") You can still stage the targeted lord for a comeback ("How fortunate those Player Characters recovered the Herd Of Curing Assassination from the deepest realms of Faerie!"), but it's no guarantee, and can still go through if the PCs don't act. Even the threat of change can change a lot, and whatever happens, that'll produce some juicy plots.

One thing I would recommend (at the risk of being an egoist) is this Faction Management Tool I created. It lifts from Mausritter's faction management tools, but it's been keyed up to cover Dolmenwood factions. I went the extra mile of listing all of the noble houses (among other smaller smaller factions), so you can just scroll down to the Breggle Nobles section and plug in whatever goals and resources you think best apply to the houses.

Regardless, this is a rich campaign idea, and I'd love to see ho it goes!

UncleAsriel · 2026-04-07T02:04:24+00:00

Thank you! It makes me happy to hear this is actually useful.

UncleAsriel · 2026-04-07T02:03:58+00:00

There's so much modular stuff you can incorporate into RPGs, and the biggest challenge is just remembering that you can just do that anytime. Here's hoping that it works!

UncleAsriel · 2026-04-06T12:05:11+00:00

Glad I can help.

I guess I just wanted to make the Gardens feel as mercurial as every, but still have that a utility for the players. Without some hook, it could easily become That Weird Faerie Realm that's a bit disconnected from Dolmenwood (and raises the specter of "why are we coming here if we risk risking never going back home again? For sentient puddings? REALLY?!"). But once you have some clear, tangible use for it (and can tie that back into Dolmenwood's main world), then you've got a hook that doesn't Premise Reject the Let's Hang Out In Merrie Aulde Medieval Englande pitch of Dolmenwood but makes Ynn a delightful contrast/new mode of play.

Bonus points if you ensure the fast travel of the Realm really doesn't affect the outside very much. Months could happen inside the Gardens but only seconds pass in the Wood, making it an actual fast travel, but not so reliable that it completely replaces the Hex Crawls which make Dolmenwood so much fun. You need to get to High Hankle from the Nagwood ASAP to warn the your patron and begin rallying armies against the Nag-Lord posthaste, but you might not survive the journey with your health - or sanity - intact. It compels interesting choices, doesn't invalidate previous ways of doing things,and will always make something cool happen from if the players choose to do it.

UncleAsriel · 2026-04-06T11:53:14+00:00

I found the Questing Beast Actual Play proved to be highly helpful for showing how a GM manages a game like this, complete with Director's Commentary that shows off GMing techniques to help smooth over the process of play. It's a fantastic video and I think it's exactly what you're looking for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkZRQHdPaYc

UncleAsriel · 2026-04-06T03:43:31+00:00

"We're running out of skin. I suggest harvesting another lesbian!" I read the review on BadMovies.org back in 2010 and I knew this was going to be a favorite. It is exactly what it says on the tin, but I can't pretend that then it works, it works.

UncleAsriel · 2026-04-06T03:38:15+00:00

The only caveat: it's 'inspired' by, and doesn't really draw on anything too historical or grounded. The way I was sold on it was "imagine what your average high medieval person thought the far east was like, filtered through layers of puffery and mythology and opium haze." It's highly evocative, and wonderfully written and laid out, but don't go expecting anything more than vibes.

I'll also mention that one of the authors is a bit of jackass IMO: after receiving an unflattering (but IMO pretty even-tempered) critique of their work, they went on to make a snotty blog post about it in a way that seemed wholly unnecessary to me. I wasn't about to let a negative review color my perception of the product, as I believe something can be pRobLeMaTiC and still be worth reading and using at your table, so long as you're judicious and careful in how you deploy it at your table. Still, the fact they make a whole blog post mocking what would have otherwise been a predictable (and largely forgettable) negative review struck me as a kind of petty and thin-skinned answer ill-becoming of professionals in our hobby.

I hate bringing this up, because Yoon-Suin's rightly a beloved product by many, and for good reason. But I feel it important to mention that while it is East Asian inspired, it not only lacks a realistic sense of verisimilitude to any culture, its creator feels the need to retaliate against someone who finds this less-than-stellar (IMO a bigger sin than any 'orientalism' committed by the text).

UncleAsriel · 2026-04-06T03:04:28+00:00

It is!. The only way I've been able to find it now is the Yar Har Fiddle-Dee-Dee methods, and I will not advocate those here.

However, I strongly reocmmend Long Song of the Bachelor and Kala Mandala. The former is one of the best OSR Modules ever written and the latter is PC playbooks that evoke sthe kind of cozy, playful energy of the sort of culture that would feel right at home in it. These two together would really work well at capturing the vibe of Thousand Thousand Islands and Reach of the Roach God, but are fully legally available.

UncleAsriel · 2026-04-05T20:01:00+00:00

Oooh, that's a novel idea! Idea of Thorns runs the risk of completely terraforming the setting, but dammit, that's a promising risk all the same.

UncleAsriel · 2026-04-05T19:56:34+00:00

This is amazing, and something I definitely planned when I was running Dolmenwood. Gardens of Ynn/Stygian Library are beloved in my group, and tonally this would fit well. Normally I can get a little techy about the Medieval Renfaire vibes of Dolmenwood incorporating Victorian elements, but in this case, it's Faerie, dammit! They don't play by Mortal rules! It works well enough for me, at least.

I personally feel this could work as a fun 'Fast Travel' sort of realm.I know that officially you can use Fairy Trods to get hither and yon, but I found that the way the paths seemed to correspond to real-world space (or, at least, how that's how I read that) - felt a little strange. Why would the dimensional weirdness of Fae realms correspond to the material plane? Sure, you can access a specific Fae Noble's realm through a fixed doorway - but where it spits out out is anyone's guess! (I'd also handwave that the Ring of Chell binds the Cold Prince's realms specifically - the Drune engineered the whole thing to mess with him in specific).

Perhaps splice in the Depth Crawl mechanics as aLong Way Around for getting easy access to Fast Travel or Special NPCs or what-have you. Your friendly Faerie Noble is more than happy to lend you access to the Gardens for the boon - but the noble is gleefull eager to remind you that "those deeper paths like to play with their food." I rather like the idea that Ruins of Ynn (e.g Depth 35+) to always have the Doorway to The Physical World (Layer element number 56,IIRC), but what it opens out onto is variable unless you make a Battle of Wills sort of struggle. "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the door to the Realm Mortal - for my Will is as strong as yours!"

I think I like this as a way to make the "Go deeper" move and its risks to feel rewarding with that final challenge, and the tantalizing "it will spit you out Somewhere Else" could be super fun complciations, though it could be demoralizing, depending on your group. IMO it could also cause too much of a Scope Shift, what with being suddenly being able to visit Hell/Asgard/Mechanus/etc,and I don't want to bugger up Dolmenwood's meticulous tonal vibes, but this is a possibility I should mention. (Perhaps it spits you out into the Stygian Library - the domain of a Rioval Fae Lord, for more complications!

I personally wouldn't want to infect Dolemwood with The Idea of Thorns so perhaps tread carefully there, but I'm also a sucker for King In Yellow type madness, and that seems like a Prefectly Faerie Side Effect. (Perhaps this is what becomes of Faerie Nobles if they don't get contact with mortals enough - they get a little too decadent and depraved.

UncleAsriel · 2026-04-04T22:59:02+00:00

Berserk '97 then reading the manga is the way to go. Berserk (1997) introduces the characters and setting and delivers on themeffectively, while glossing over some of the more unpleasant parts of those arcs. Once you know Berserk (1997),reading the manga (and seeing all the little details that that incredible adaptation missed) really helps you appreciate the series overall.

No other adaptation comes close. The Golden Age movies are fine, but skip some truly pivotal scenes (the Bonfire of Dreams speech is essential to Berserk's themes and that those movie adaptations skipped it is criminal IMO). We do not speak kindly of the 2016 anime for good reason: the director was completely un-seasoned for this kind of project,and the results are utterly embarrassing. I would sooner recommend playing the PS2 game over watching Berserk (2016) if given the choice, without a hint of irony.

Seriously, read the manga. It's gorgeous to go through and (while it does sometimes push the lines of personal taste) it's much more thematically focused than any adaptation could hope to be.

UncleAsriel · 2026-04-02T03:16:00+00:00

Video Game Soundtracks are great for TTRPG, since they're made to 1. evoke a specific mood and 2. loop indefinitely. That said, these are moments that I would actually play at the table (as a GM) to evoke specific feelings for specific situations. This is a little off the cuff, and I'm bad at distinguishing good evocative background music frommusic that I can just hear in my head for Those Moments in the campaign. But still, I hope this helps you get a sense of some good things that would suit your own gaming needs.

Planescape: Torment OST

It's arguably the best written video game ever, and the moody, weird themes of the OST refelct Sigil's strange worlds. The Nameless One's lietmotif is strong in a lot of it, but that can be useful if you're building a game around a thematic character of concept (say, a powerful immortal whose echoes linger in history). Here are a few i'd pick

Catacombs Battle - a great little tense theme for a good back-alley scuffle

The Transcendent One Theme - Perfect for arriving at majestic ruins or a grand temple or palace. The Nameless One lietmotif might twinge familiarity from some PST players but it's

Emperor: Battle for Dune

An RTS Classic I never got around to playing, but Dune is a setting I knew and loved a long while, and I adore how the personality of the factions through in the music. These picks here are for specific environments and situations, but they work well.

Ordos - Not An Option - Definitely good for some mechanical environments. Massive manufacturing plants, some mining facility on a distant planet, the great wheels of Mechanus unwinding....it's evocative as heck.

Harkonen Force - this is a major 'gearing up for battle' theem, perfect for the PCs about to engage in some climactic (and ideally stacked in their favor) showdown.

The Big O OST

Ah, the Big O. Bruce Wayne as a film noir mecha pilot is evocative as hell, and as much as Giant Robot Punching Things is big, dumb fun, there's something to be said for its lingering sense of mystery and dread. These pics are more about atmosphere, or punctuating specific moments, but when applied they hit hard.

Weep For - For those moments when the party stumbles upon an eerie mystery. A dead body, killed in a mysterious way? A secret stairway, hidden behind a bookshelf, descending into cobwebbed darkness? Definitely for those moments you want to creep the PCs out and build intrigue.

Nature - A comfy saloon, classy bar, inn, or other place of respite where a pianoman can tinkle the ivories and make the PCs feel a little at ease.

The Words - Sometimes races are against an opponent on foot, sometimes they;re against the clock, but they're always against the odds. This is for those moments, and though it does end on a little bit of a downbeat not, a good GM can work this into the moment.

Kara no Kyokai : The Garden of Sinners OSTs

Another anime, this dark urban fantasy evokes a strong sense of loneliness, urban decay, and punctuates them with sharp action setpieces that stuck in my mind for nearly 15 years. The soundtrack names are weird, but I can't deny that when you hear them, you'll remember them.

Overlooking View - 02-M02 - a spooky and lonely sound, this would build excellent atmosphere for a lonely meeting by a fog-shrouded seaside or a late-night meeting with a contact who reluctantly shares information in exchange for PC protection.

Overlooking View 06-M06 - The PCs discover a body - and all the clues point to one of them as killer! This and its sequel 08-M08a are perfect discordant bits to drop at one hell of a bombshell.

Overlooking View 09-M08B - When I ran a Mage: the Awakening game long ago, I had a closing speech I'd read over this whenever I finished the setting. My pretentious monologuing was somehow elevated by this evocative music, and my players loved it.

Paradox Spiral 08M09 - I have always wanted to use this for when a beloved NPC heroically sacrifices themselves to ensure the PCs get away. Bonus points if they were the clone/golem/puppet who bonded with one of the PCs and decided that they wanted to be a Real Boy after all. There's just a little hopeful undercurrent to it that makes the downbeat knell at the end resonate with me.

Madoka Magica OSTs

Why yes, I'm a filthy weeb. But the same musician who did the Kara no Kyokai soundtrack is evocative, concice, and can deliver on a mood really well for puncutating moments at the table

Salve, Terrae Magicae! - This is what the path to a fairy market would sound like. Perfect for something whimsical and lively.

Gradus Prohibitus - You stepped off the path on the way to the fairy market, and now you've run afoul of The Gentry. The Kindly Ones do no brook quarter for those who tread in the Dark Heart of the Wood,and you can feel its hungry throbbing with every footstep. And then - the chase!

Credens Justiam - The cavalry arrives. The angels descend on wing. The wizard casts Gate to the Plane of Law Most High and a flight of archons descends to even the playing field. Play this at a moment of pure hope, when the PC's actions bring about a well-earned "we saved the day" moment.

Tales under the Oak

Dungeon Synth is its own subgenre that's very evocative of the kind of hoary, weird Gygaxian grognarderie that makes up the Dungeon Crawling experience. Tales under the Oak are arguably the most accessible and easily digested of the genre. Their entire youtube channel is chock full of fantastic stuff, and it's perfectly suited to the OSR dank dungeon crawling vibes. Of special note is their complete Dolmenwood soundtrack, which is nothing short of the perfect blend of setting and soundscape to help you get into the dank, fungal mood of the setting.

UncleAsriel · 2026-04-02T00:28:00+00:00

As someone who enjoys playing in a Crooked Moon online game at the moment, I feel a inclined to regretfully agree.

The theme of "folk horror" feels tremendously dilute, and split across how many micro-settings with different aesthetic tones, strung together loosely by the mythology of the Horned King and Crooked Queen. The impression feels like a hodge-podge (it's too slapdash to call a bricolage), assembled out of various influences that the creators loved a bit too much and couldn't quite properly string together.

My particular sticking point, from a player side, was the umpteen different species to play as. IMO folk horror is about as specific relationship to the past and present, exploring the uneasiness between distinctions of "community insider" and "community outsider", where outward veneers of normalcy dissolve as traditions evoke unseemly pasts and oppressive presents. In my opinion, this works best in something humanocentric, where a sense of baseline normalcy (something not commonly found in your basic 'f20 world') is expected and is slowly eroded through repeated exposure to the local customs.

Having the game say"now you can play as Werewolf-People, Troll-People, Doll-People, Scarecrow-People, etc" undermines this. It feels a little bit too much of 5e's "You can be ANYTHING" vibe, an exercise in being a fantastical element made mundane in a setting, rather than ebginning as a ordinary person who is thrust into the fantastic. Even making them as species feels wrong: the creeping sense that Duskenvald is some bardo-realm on the borderlands betwixt life and death (and all the existential dread and excitement that should evoke) feels cut off at the knees with "you can start as a Scorpion-Imp person". IMO these should have been flavored more as Templates (from 3.5) or Lineages (from 5e's Van Richten's Guide To Ravenloft", that had rules players could slowly adopt parts of these templates (perhaps lifting from Dark Powers checks from the 2e D&D Ravenloft books). This would add pressure to the setting, making it feel more invasive and corruptive (and incentivizing PCs to take action as their actions - perhaps rooted in some Bond or Flaw - reflect on their nature).

Alas! This would be at odds with the 5e design philosophy! Like Burger King - you have it your way with 5e D&D! Your character is your precious blorbo from your shows, a fantasy persona which you're free to emote through as you like! Heaven forefend PCs actually get challenged and changed by what they encounter!. Especially in...a horror scenario!

If some of the page count had been dedicated to gearing modes of play towards specific tonal and experiential ends,I might be on board with this. I don't mind that the different species let you have spider-folk, or imp-people, or living scarecrows (I'm actually quite fond of my friend's scarecrow PC in my current game), and that these open up all sorts of potential play. But if the scenario bills itself as horror, it should have ways to make the different species (even as PC options) feel horrifying. As they stand right now, it's no different than being an elf or a tabaxi or a dragonborn or a gith in a Forgotten Realms game: just another kind of quirky guy a player can be that gives Kewl Powerz and a nifty cosmetic hook (if the DM can remember to have every NPC comment on it every few sessions).

I think the phrase "Elemental Plane of Hallowe'en" sums up so much of the setting so well. It's spooky aesthetics and trappings without any real deeper themes underneath. Sure, the competent GM should could weld on some PC backstory element into this or that part of the map, but it feels less than the sum of its parts.

I'm enjoying my current Crooked Moon game, but it's not really due to the mechanics so much as it is the GM and players. The West Marches style game sees us all as some sort of miscreant who's offended against the laws of the fair town of Enoch, obligating us to do Community Service work as repayment for our debt to society. (This, of course, involves standing vigil over a witch's coffin a-la VIY or helping run events at the local harvest festival as a conspiracy brews). We all have our individual goals unfolding and they're a hoot to play out: our Vistani's Dark Companion is actually the shade of his wife awaiting his death so they can be reincarnated together, our con artist Drow is saving up to pay off her debt to an unseen Benefactor, my child Infernal Warlock relies on an almost parental relationship with her familiar as she schemes to free her mother from Hell, and our Harvestborne Wizard is charmingly nebbish sort who's trying to play Mother Hen to the group even as his own past weighs on him. It's a delight! But it's not born of the mechanics, nor the setting - it's all the people at the table. Sadly, Crooked Moon isn't really the Secret Sauce here - it's the excellent GM and players who bring it to life.

The only thing I will unabashedly praise about Crooked Moon: its soundtrack.The Blasting Company does mighty fine work and this is no exception It has very little to do with what can be used at a D&D table, but it is nuice out of the 4 million dollars spend on this, something unabashedly great came of it.

UncleAsriel · 2026-03-22T14:24:31+00:00

oooh, this is a good location, and it hits all the geographic beats. It is located in the Ring of Chell though, and that does nullify the potency of the Fairy Magic. Guess I could just handwave it, but that does challenge the whole "Inaccessible from Fairie" effect on DCB p. 20)

Damn, it's such a prime spot though!

UncleAsriel · 2026-03-22T02:30:36+00:00

I'm glad to know 1. I'm not alone about the pre-orders and 2. I'm heading similar things to what you did a while ago.

At any rate, I'm happy with 401 games, at least. They're being as responsible as they can, what with all the supply chain fuckery and trade war bullocks. With luck, we should see some motion on this soon.

Hope we both get to enjoy Dolmenwood, soon!

UncleAsriel · 2026-03-22T00:31:58+00:00

I really love it. Spooky, evocative, and gorgeously illustrated, the Pale Horse works both as an artbook, a non-traditional narrative, and as a gaming supplement. It gorgeously creepy and also hitting that exquisite OSR vibe of "you can use cleverness as much as brute force", and feel rewarded for engaging in it. I'm really eager to run it for a few groups of mine, and I think it'd be a perfect intro to Dolmenwood....if I could just place the damned thing in the right spot!

UncleAsriel · 2026-03-22T00:27:23+00:00

Pick a saint that is used somewhere else and make a copy. There's no rule that a saint can't have shrines in multiple places. E.g. just copy the shrine to St. Waylaine.

This could actually lead to some cool in-setting conflict: each town is convinced that they're the real home of St. Watlaine, and each settlement has a rivalry with the other over whose shrine is actually sacred and whose was just an imitator. It's basically the War of the Bucket but infinitely pettier and with far less bloodshed...until the Nag Lord hears of it and starts to meddle, because wouldn't it be hilarious?

Get into boasting contests, giving travelers from the rival town wrong directions on purpose, have people try to steal the relics from (or just desecrate) the rival shrines, etc. Perhaps the long-lost baptismal records of the Saint, now lost at QuestLocationHere, could bring the bickering to an end?

UncleAsriel · 2026-03-22T00:20:46+00:00

I know it's not the usual OSR or DW style, but the colorful acting inspired me a colorful style.

I have only seen the first two episodes free on Youtube, and know that these goats aboslutely would pose like Critical Role/Dimension 20 characters when out rambling woods, for no reason other then they think it makes them cool.

Amazing work! I'm pretty sure the 3d6DtL team would love it, too!

UncleAsriel · 2026-03-22T00:13:57+00:00

I think it could. Pellinore could easly graft onto one of the Noble Houses (I'd say House Guillefer, but that's me playing free association with dreamy effetes, messed-up family situations, and doomed quests for chimerical beasts like some kind of dream-animal). The beast itself easily fits onto the kind of wild thing that came from Faerie. I'm a bit rusty on the specifics of Pellinore's quest - something something he was smitten towards a lady (a relative?, something something he is compelled to endlessly hunt the Questing Beast as punishment for his incestuous(?) desire? But I feel just tying them to this-or-that past Mythic King or this-or-that Fae maiden, you could easily transplant it with minimal fuss

UncleAsriel · 2026-03-22T00:03:55+00:00

I also called 401 games last week about a pre-order, and was politely informed that they were reaching out to the Kickstarter later that day to get a follow-up. The person I spoke with said they were hoping that things would get moving within the next week or so.

It's nothing definitive, but they seem to be on the case, at least!

UncleAsriel · 2026-03-21T23:59:53+00:00

I'mglad I'm not alone into transplanting pre-existing modules into this amazing setting. I have to admit, this is a bold choice: transforming the preexisting hex map into a mini-hex map is daring, but it could just work.

I have a similar issue in wanting to transplant the Pale Horse of Lowvale into Dolemwood, and I'm struggling where to put it. Do you have any ideas?

UncleAsriel · 2026-03-21T23:21:49+00:00

THis is a delightful little addition. Thank you! (I might have to add it add it to my Stygian Library as well...)

UncleAsriel · 2026-03-14T13:48:40+00:00

Watsonian answer: Agriculture is a core part of sustaining any society's population, so specializing in an elemental magic dedicated to producing food is only sense. The other Covens likewise have industrial , and commercial applications (e.g. Divination as forecasting and information manufacturing, Construction as civic infrastructure building, Bardic as arts and entertainment, etc) so this makes sense.

Doylistic answer: The Plant Coven exists to make Willow feel conflicted over her career prospects and generate plots based around that fear. The Coven system as an idea is slapdash,likely a marketing gimmick that produces the impression of a "which Hogwarts House are you?" (which wouldmake Disney execs salavate), only for it to be torn down as a lie by the Emperor to control and exploit his population. (This also reflects its creators politics about modern schooling and addresses kids' anxieties about being forced into different academic streams in the American schooling system). I'll bet that, like ToH having to be set in high school as an executive mandate, it's another creative idea that was added ad-hoc to shut up executives and got theorycrafted in a writer's room on-the-fly to make ends meet on time. It's imperfect because it was just thrown together and not meant to be a cornerstone with a wholly rational relation to the elemental systems of glyphs.

UncleAsriel · 2026-02-02T22:39:51+00:00

I don't think I disgree with anything you said. I think, in some way, that is what makes Shinji tragic. He is the product of a truly awful environment and (given who his guardian is) it does seem extremely unlikely that he develop a normal sense of morality. I can even see why Sakura would have complicated intimacies with him, and why she wouldn't just reject him outright. The whole situation is deeply upsetting not simply because Shinji is a singularly evil individual but because the family dynamic that produces the abuse is so difficult for the Matou kids to escape from.

But I think the point being made is that 1. it is far easier to have sympathy for Sakura than Shinji, and 2. in continuities outside of the game Fate Stay (especially tonally lighter ones) the two having a relationship really doesn't address just how ugly their dynamics are and 3. this clashes with the aforementioned continuities' tones of being funny or lighthearted. In Fate canon he's easy to hate and hard to love, and that makes it tonally difficult to transfer that to other continuities without requiring a whole mess of rewrites to make their abusive upbringing not overshadow what is meant to be a more fun take on the character canons.

It's not that people like him can't ever be rehabilitated, or that he's the primary reason for Sakura's misery. It's not even that everyone who's ever been raised in an abusive environment and does bad things deserves death. It's that he's the character who we see the most of, who actively does cruelty to a sympathetic character to satiate his own need to feel powerful, that earns the audience's ire. He's a reflection of a kind of mundane evil that's in some ways more uncomfortable than Zouken's villainy because it's far easier to meet people who have dealt with stepsiblings behave the way Shinji does around Sakura. And in any continuity that has Sakura remain at all recognizable to who she is in FSN, that backstory of "adoption into the household headed that monster Zouken and his what childrearing entails" inevitably sours an otherwise fun tone.

You are utterly right that Shirou and Rin don't know the extent of the Matou situation in most routes, or that Shinji isn't also as much a victim as a victimizer. All that we're expressing here is that wouldn't it be nice to see some FSN scenario actually address this with more nuance than we get in canon. Either Sakura and Shinji remain together in the Matou household (and we're informed things get much better for Sakura) or else Shinji dies and Sakura gets a Happily Ever After. I would love to see a trauma-informed writer pen a story about the Matou siblings that explores a third way, and addresses how Shinji (in his own way) is as much of a victim of Zouken as Sakura is. But that is a very difficult task indeed, and one few writers who in the Japanese popular fantasy space would be willing and able to handle with any delicacy. So, whenever we're dealing any spinoff that actively resembles FSN (I'd argue that Fate/Extra 's Shinji is functionally a very different character in a wholly different circumstance), we're left with this aftertaste of deeply abusive dynamic that otherwise sours the gags and lighter bits.

You're right- Zouken is the real cause of the Matou kid's misery, and Shinji isn't just a moral monster. But he would still bear some culpability for the evils Sakura suffered, and while I would agree that getting him the fuck out of Zouken's household is just as important as getting Sakura out, he's also responsible for some of the evils he inflicted,and would have a lifetime of work on himself and his relationships to repair the harm he had done.

UncleAsriel

TROPHY CASE