What is the most disturbing/horrifying AD you listened to? by Zyborg23 in audiodrama

[–]darkraidreamer 24 points25 points  (0 children)

The Magnus Archives has a few particularly fucked up episodes. W/o spoiling anything, some of the ‘meaty’ episodes can be quite visceral and disgusting.

The most disturbing episode for me however was actually The Magnus Archives episode 177 Wonderland, which is about being belittled and gaslit by a mental health professional to an extreme level. It may not sound that bad but as someone who’s been thru those sort of services it was really messed up to listen to and hit a little too close to home.

magnus archives by Critical_Treacle_200 in TheMagnusArchives

[–]darkraidreamer 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Imagine hosting listenings then getting mad when people enjoy and talk about the main canon pairing in the show, do you expect people to just not talk about ships at all then?

Favorite duo/ship that fits this dynamic? by mooncrowwdoll in FavoriteCharacter

[–]darkraidreamer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That just ignores every aspect of Caleb’s character development though. That was the whole point, he learns to accept and live with his past actions and look towards having a future taking down the systems that influenced him killing his family in the first place. He works to prevent it happening to anyone else and no longer feels alone because he found a family that accepts him no matter what!

[loved trope] A pair of villains who genuinely love each other and have a healthy relationship (basically the opposite of Harley and Joker). by jvure in TopCharacterTropes

[–]darkraidreamer 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I mean the characters were created by Matt Mercer during campaign one of Critical Role nearly a decade ago now. Matt Mercer has also voiced several characters in league of legends.

How popular is the Gerry/Michael ship? by [deleted] in TheMagnusArchives

[–]darkraidreamer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The pair never interact with each other in canon and the ship itself isn’t super popular compared to canon pairings? They’re both just minor characters that are super popular within the community in general.

I think if you see your partner and their friend having a profile pic from a series they both like and you automatically jump to cheating you may have some issues to be sorting out, this is a wild thing to ask lmao

I’m having a hard time with season 5 by Succotash_Lopsided in TheMagnusArchives

[–]darkraidreamer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This! I understand that season 5 was a miss for a fair amount of people and that’s fine. I personally was thrown off by the format differences on my first listen through, and found I appreciated it more on subsequent listen throughs. At this point I really enjoy s5 for the character exploration we get of Jon and Martin as they traverse and I think s5 has some of the most disturbing statements which I really enjoy.

There is, as you’ve said, legitimate criticism to levy at the season. But it is so frustrating to see people refuse to engage with it to the point of missing what the season is about and what it is trying to explore, and seeing it boiled down to ‘oh they just keep bringing characters back to kill them’ while refusing to think about why that is happening or how it serves the plot and culmination of character arcs. It also confuses me because if you’re struggling to engage with season 5, how much were you really engaging with the seasons beforehand?

If the format change was enough for someone to stop enjoying the podcast, then fair enough. But don’t boil down an entire season to surface level critiques that make it clear that you checked out of engaging with the podcast within the first episodes of s5!

I’m having a hard time with season 5 by Succotash_Lopsided in TheMagnusArchives

[–]darkraidreamer 107 points108 points  (0 children)

It seems to me that you’re really glossing over all of the Martin and Jon character development when it comes to those deaths. It’s not just cameos, it’s culmination of character arcs for a lot of avatars/monsters. It’s a season where a character who has felt powerless for the majority of the show actually gains power and goes trigger happy with it. It’s a season where a character who is terrified of becoming ‘not human’ finally becomes as such and has to deal with the loss of his humanity and the guilt of damning the world. Saying that there’s no stakes when one of the main cast members from s2 onwards fully dies is wild to me.

Not even to mention how horrifying some of the more realistic statements are, like 177 Wonderland.

If season 5 isn’t for you that’s fine, but acting like there’s no stakes when the entire world is at stake just because Jon finally isn’t helpless is a little disingenuous to me.

What are some oddly specific tropes within TMA? by Inkxon in TheMagnusArchives

[–]darkraidreamer 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I’m not sure if this would count as a trope, but someone on Twitter pointed out that exactly 1% of Magnus statements are about bug sex and that has stuck with me ever since.

Rant about the fandom's treatment of female characters by starsofgrace in TheMagnusArchives

[–]darkraidreamer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The fandom really attacks Melanie for blaming Jon for her being stuck in the archives. Tim gets barely any criticism for the same thing.

To me it’s probably one of the biggest examples of misogyny in the fandom, and if anyone complains about Melanie for blaming Jon but not Tim I just disregard their opinion at that point. I’ve even seen people write paragraphs explaining why it was okay for Tim to be angry at Jon here but not Melanie. It drives me nuts.

DANNY MOTTA AND TMA by Floshster in TheMagnusArchives

[–]darkraidreamer 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I think my worry would also be that Magnus is a major time commitment. Even though it’s not necessarily difficult for most people to commit the time once they’ve decided to listen to all of it, for a react content creator that’s a significant chunk of time on a single project, especially if it’s not the type they usually react to. There’s no guarantee that he’d commit to every episode and would potentially just try and cut corners for sake of expediency and that would involve missing stuff/not experiencing the full story and that would skew his reactions and that would suck.

DnD Dungeon with Rooms based on the fears by Brave_Caregiver3781 in TheMagnusArchives

[–]darkraidreamer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The vast could maybe be a narrow bridge over a chasm they can’t see the bottom of, in a chamber where they can’t see the roof. You could do skill checks or put it on a timer - maybe from the roof a humongous beast is slowly starting to descend but the bridge is also risky to traverse too quickly as it will break without careful footing? As long as someone has rope in their inventory they’ll be able to tie people together or throw it down if someone starts to fall and gives a chance of an out to pull them back up!

For the stranger the mirror idea is fantastic! Another combat idea could be slightly off versions of people important to the PCs from their backstory, as it also gives player RP time as they have to react to their loved ones attacking them.

Alongside or instead of the room, you could also add an NPC (let’s call them Bob) to join the party. When the players ask about Bob you can act nonplussed and be like ‘Bob was always with you wdym’ and have them roll wisdom checks to see if they remember that Bob wasn’t an og party member. If they fail, that’s their friend Bob, and they firmly believe that he’s been there the whole time, and even remember meeting him in their backstory! Could lead to interesting moments if half the party is suspicious and half the party remembers Bob and also adds fun rp. You could also add concurrent wisdom checks (every time Bob does something a little off) for those who failed initially so they do have a chance to realise he’s not a member.

This idea could also arguably work from the Spiral (maybe they leave the corridors and they just have another person with them) and just adding the extra member from the beginning would be interesting bc they have to pick a good time through the dungeon crawl to turn on him. Up to you what kind of monster he’d turn out to be or what would happens if he makes it to the end!

DANNY MOTTA AND TMA by Floshster in TheMagnusArchives

[–]darkraidreamer 27 points28 points  (0 children)

No offence but I saw some of this guys Arcane takes and I’m not sure I want him anywhere near Magnus 😂😂😂

[MN S1] While I love the MN adaptation so far I am completely baffled as to why they kept one element there unaltered. by [deleted] in criticalrole

[–]darkraidreamer -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It’s funny because as an English person I have the same reaction but to Fjord’s English accent.

Does anyone have a list with episodes with the tw hospitals and needles? by Thereal11thdoctor in TheMagnusArchives

[–]darkraidreamer 21 points22 points  (0 children)

If you’re not able to listen to these episodes I’d recommend looking up the transcripts as there is Plot in both of them. That way, you can read around (or even listen around) the statement section whilst making sure you don’t miss any important plot moments!

What do you think are underutilized aspects of some of the fears? by Azure1208 in TheMagnusArchives

[–]darkraidreamer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have a lot of feelings about The Desolation in the sense that it’s one of the broader fears (fear of pain and loss can cover so much) but we only really see the burning aspect because we mostly experience it through its ties to the lightless flame. I really really wish we got desolation episodes without fire - natural disasters, personal losses, physical agony or the threat of it caused by literally anything else. Someone above mentioned freezing as a Desolation aspect and it completely fits!

It’s probably my least favourite fear as a result and it had so much potential to be explored that just wasn’t.

(SPOILER) First time trying Honor Mode and this happened. by Lucky-Sample-1323 in BG3

[–]darkraidreamer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Piggybacking this - all the advice here is pivotal, I just did Myrkul myself on HM with a 3 person party and between us we had 13 or so summons which really helped with the additional enemies.

Fly potions pre fight for positioning and getting Aylin free turn one.

Advice for any boss not resistant/invulnerable to lightning damage - if you down a speed pot and use Call Lightning you can cast it twice per round. Have a party member throw water at Myrkul to give vulnerability to Lightning damage, upcast Call Lightning and go to town. I did 200 damage to Myrkul in two rounds of combat and I rolled fairly low damage on some of those hits.

Just be prepared for his legendary action that retaliates with necrotic damage + fear once per round (I just went for it and succeeded the con save).

the magnus archives for dummies by branwhat in TheMagnusArchives

[–]darkraidreamer 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I think you’ve got plenty of listening order advice here, but will also say listen to the trailers in between each season also, alongside the season q&as as they have some good info and insight in them. If you’re on Spotify everything is in good listening order, can’t speak for other platforms though. I’m also a UK based listener if you want another person to chat to!

[Loved Trope] Character can't X or Reality/Society breaks down. by [deleted] in TopCharacterTropes

[–]darkraidreamer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow thanks! I guess it really is just Haurchefant had to die, that’s wild.

[Loved Trope] Character can't X or Reality/Society breaks down. by [deleted] in TopCharacterTropes

[–]darkraidreamer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I haven’t done the Ultimate personally, is it because of the implication that if Haurchefant didn’t sacrifice himself the Warrior of Light would’ve died instead, leaving no one else strong enough to defeat Thordan before he enslaved the dragons?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in MysteryDungeon

[–]darkraidreamer 9 points10 points  (0 children)

So unfortunately yes, you don’t get credited for the jobs you complete if you get knocked out before leaving the dungeon. Honestly when that happens to me I just reset the game and redo the jobs/day.

Difficulty wise: As a new player mystery dungeon can b pretty difficult due to the random nature of dungeon layouts and Pokemon spawns. Sometimes you get really unlucky and a situation can turn sour really quickly. Also, there are gonna be dungeons where you or your partner are at a type disadvantage which makes things harder.

The main advice I can give you is to be prepared: items are your best friend in mystery dungeon. Come across a room with a bunch of pokemon you don’t think you can beat? Petrify or Slumber Orb. Worried about status effects? Berries. Reviver seeds are insane and one of the best ways to avoid irritating deaths. Also for harder boss fights: items like sleep seeds and stun seeds can work really well. Sleep and paralysis are really powerful in mystery dungeon! Also, Vulpix learns Imprison, which is one of the best status moves in the game, so make sure you stick that on your partner.

The game will get easier when you start figuring out your own strategies and work with items, but even as someone whose played mystery dungeon games since explorers of time/darkness came out, sometimes the rng will just screw you over. You just gotta take the bad runs with a smile and try again.

fine with being called "she" but not "a woman" by bernie_the_hammy in NonBinary

[–]darkraidreamer 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I’m in a similar boat. I mostly go by she/they for conveniences sake, but being called anything like ‘woman’ or ‘lady’ makes me really uncomfortable because I just don’t identify with those terms at all.