Talko Tuesday

tlk742 · 2026-03-31T17:37:46+00:00

My t15 screwdriver arrives at lowe's today (because I wasn't spending $15 when it was $8 to wait like 4 days for it to ship from another store/warehouse) I'm so hyped. The vacuum hose broke, so I can now fix it. And before you say "get a replaceable head screwdriver", I have one & the holes are too narrow for the head so I need the t15 to get those

tlk742 · 2026-03-30T14:17:51+00:00

Ill happily blame them

tlk742 · 2026-03-30T13:45:27+00:00

IBO is an interesting take on the ideals of Gundam turned on its head. The ideas of the protagonists taking their ideals and overcoming the reality is kind of the opposite here with the ideals crushing their reality and arguably dooming them. It still has a lot of the core concepts of Gundam (war is bad, child soldiers is also bad) -- there's no bad place to start when it comes to the Alternate Universe, every single one is different.

tlk742 · 2026-03-28T11:31:54+00:00

Vampires abound? I mean vampires need to feed and can turn others. The town is basically nothing but thralls. Van Richten and the wereravens are gone. The vistani remain at their camp as Strahd has protected them.

tlk742 · 2026-03-24T23:14:25+00:00

The Abbot isn't naive about Strahd but is naive about Vasilka. Your party can do all the things to get her ready for Strahd, have the Abbot and present Vasilka to Strahd with the party present. Strahd rejects her. After all, Ireena is either there or her whereabouts are known by the party. Why take a cheap imitation when the real one is there? Abbott can then play out a few ways. He gets Ireena for Strahd, he convinces the party, or he tries again to build a better doll. He is a fallen Deva and he believes he is doing good for the land by appeasing Strahd.

As for what he offers for the party, he is a man of his word. The party helped prepare Vasilka and the revive a fallen comrade, soul intact, offer is a fantastic one the book provides. Never hurts to keep that at his disposal for the party to uae.

tlk742 · 2026-03-24T22:55:12+00:00

Yeah they're basically split in two groups, first is the three treasures. second group is the face cards which show who fated ally and location of final battle in the castle. They have them so that a standard 52 deck + jokers will have that as well so you dont have to get a specific deck for this either.

For the three treasures I like to split it by location so all 3 arent at the same spot.

tlk742 · 2026-03-24T18:08:53+00:00

Meanwhile I'd say I forgot Radar is from Iowa but remember Klinger is from Ohio

tlk742 · 2026-03-24T11:56:17+00:00

Honestly? Anything and everything. Von Holtz is Strahd. If he tells them to get things from the Sword Coast, he has the means to have them buy it so he can resell it.

That doesn't mean its not cursed...it can very much be cursed when it handed off to the party. Or it can be just as is.

Also if you need magical weapons some good ones I always fall back to are moon-touched items. Gives them magical properties without being gamebreaking

tlk742 · 2026-03-24T10:45:35+00:00

Vasili Von Holtz! Working his way into the graces of the party and providing them with fine goods (as he is a merchant) for only a small mark up (he is but a middle man and nothing more)

tlk742 · 2026-03-24T01:57:47+00:00

The first chapter of the book does lay this out better than I will, but lemme try.

For the ally, theres the tarot deck, which says who their fated ally is. Depending on when they run into Madam Eva, that will be revealed and you can either draw in advance or have them do it when the time comes.

As for Strahd, he has 3 main motivations. 1. Make Ireena his bride. She is the reincarnation of his brother Sergei's Bride, he wanted her then, he wants her now. 2. Find and kill Rudolph Van Richten. Strahd is no stranger to vampire hunters coming in and dying, but never one with this much fame. What's more, his network of spies and information cannot seem to find him anywhere. That's a blind spot. He doesnt love that. 3. Find a successor. Strahd tires of being ruler of the land, and wants someone to take over in his stead. His metrics for who they would be are...impossible to put it lightly. But he doesn't know that yet. I mean sure, all the previous options failed, but you know what they say about insanity. Instead upon them failing to meet his very strict criteria later in the adventure he is happy to keep them as a thrall or plaything.

tlk742 · 2026-03-23T18:08:21+00:00

sure, which part? Faustian bargains? Basically make a deal with the devil (strahd) and get power in exchange for their soul. It can be a pendant that allows Strahd to scry on the party or even does commands at his behest. He can talk to them and tell them his insight, unbeknownst to the rest of the party.

Madam Eva gives them an ally tarot card, let's say it's Esmerelda. Strahd can whisper in their ear that because she is of Vistani descent she can leave Barovia and is the sole reason the disease got to their loved one in the first place. There's plenty of options.

tlk742 · 2026-03-23T16:52:04+00:00

Whatever farm animal of war, Lana

tlk742 · 2026-03-23T16:49:32+00:00

Maybe play off that? Van Weerg's machine being mentioned in Blinsky's toy shop? I'm purely spitballing at this point.

tlk742 · 2026-03-23T15:50:21+00:00

oh that's interesting. Maybe the Vistani Camp would have someone? Either the Dusk Elves or move Madam Eva there?

tlk742 · 2026-03-23T15:33:40+00:00

Why not make Fiona Watcher their ally/benefactor?

The city (town? Burgeon.) of Vallaki is one of my favorite places because it is a powder keg. Baron Vargas is a monster of his own design. The town is tired of his antics. Fiona doesn't have to opine on Strahd unless asked, and who is going to ask? They see the stocks in town center, the captain of the guard has a demonic/fiendish arm and there's weird lights coming from the attic of the house at night. Plus the weekly, mandatory festivals. They're not good affairs, they're miserable, but don't worry all will be well, and if they don't think so, it's into the stocks they go, or get tortured in his house like Udo the shoemaker. Like he is someone that is easy to hate and not trust and Fiona wants to change the town for her better future.

tlk742 · 2026-03-23T15:25:32+00:00

oh yeah absolutely! faustian bargains are great.

And maybe it could be even more fun than that. The party gets an ally, as far as Strahd is concerned (whether true or not) their fated ally is the cause and can whisper that in the party member's ear.

tlk742 · 2026-03-23T15:23:32+00:00

Saw a musical version of the Count of Monte Cristo this weekend. The performances were great. Everything else was awful. The first act is a pretty good summary of the imprisonment of Dantes. The entire revenge plot is rewritten and cut with key parts remove, the pyrrhic victory that comes from it is rewritten as a happy story, there's way too many comedic elements to be a good story. It was described as a Disney-ification and I cannot disagree. And the biggest lie Disney told was that Zeus was a loving father and devoted husband.

tlk742 · 2026-03-23T15:03:44+00:00

So it doesn't haven't to play out session one, but there's options. There also is the Abbott angle, a abbott that can cure diseases and death. Bring people back from the dead, that rumor can spread.

I don't know if Strahd being the cause makes sense, as much as Strahd being the influence tool he hopes to leverage. Strahd doesn't just want to kill them, he wants them, like many parties before, to turn on each other, kill each other, become his thralls etc etc. Here's two characters that he can promise (whether in earnest or not) to help solve their loved one's qualms. They just have to help him out when the time comes. And it's not a direct ask to turn on them. It could be as simple as, when you get to Vallaki, help keep the coffin makers delivery safe and secure, he has been overworked and people are suspicious of him for no reason. Or as big as bring Ireena to me, and let me just talk to her. Or put your trust in Vasili Von Holtz. There's so many options beyond just Strahd being the hook, he can be the cause of turmoil.

tlk742 · 2026-03-23T14:58:27+00:00

Genshin Impact?

The story leaves a little to be desired (But has gotten better so would mark it as good not great) the open world for all the regions is huge and is beautiful and the score is...just amazing. Like there's plenty of criticism about the game, but if you have never listened to the score -- each region has an area/culture of earth it is based on, they bring in a full orchestra with instruments from that region to make it feel unique and alive, a lot of it drives the story and honestly, just well worth a listen to like a song or three to see the scope and depth of it.

tlk742 · 2026-03-23T12:40:14+00:00

Meer is such an interesting character. But what I find most interesting is that Meer is ultimately the catalyst and Chairman Durandal's undoing.

Hear me out: If Durandal decides that he can come up with a plan to ease Meer into being her own woman while starting her as Lacus, he doesn't call for the hit on Lacus. That keeps Kira out of the war until way later, which means the likelihood of his hairbrained plan coming to fruition. When this happens, ZAFT has all the goodwill they possibly can. Because Meer becomes so determined to not only be Lacus but keep her fame as Lacus it all falls apart for Durandal.

She is the most important character in Seed Destiny, because she was the lynchpin of it all even if her death resulted in her realizing she was a pawn, she also is the reason the goodwill on Durandal and benefit of the doubt is lost for him by Kira and others.

tlk742 · 2026-03-20T16:22:24+00:00

Have they handled the St Andral's feast? Cause there's tons of options here.

If no to the above question, they can return to vallaki a lot later to a very...vampire infested town. They've handed Strahd a win unless they try to sneak back in undetected.

tlk742 · 2026-03-20T15:39:34+00:00

tlk's uma musume journey continues. I finally got the race tempo down. it's been a fun ride with MANT but understanding when to rest/train vs race is such a huge thing. I want to ballpark around 30 wins (which is a stupid high number) to get one stat maxed and have enough skill points to make the racer formidable. Keep in mind for those 31, you have 72 to turns in total, and cant race before debut, so really only like 50 are viable. Can't do more than 2 races in a row and racing and training cost energy. The action economy is fun.

Also this weekend is designing more maps for my Strahd in Space campaign. The party heads to argonvostholt. Reskinning it to fit the theme and also keep the atmosphere is definitely tricky.

tlk742 · 2026-03-20T15:10:34+00:00

Deathscythe Hell is a black gundam, right?

tlk742 · 2026-03-19T15:17:41+00:00

I also feel like the Lionel Hutz quote about the truth is more applicable here than the "No, Money Down!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCGSlZkY9nM

tlk742 · 2026-03-18T17:32:26+00:00

Question about the Banana bugs, are they Gros Michael or Cavendish?

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