T w e n t y S i d e d

More Balders Gate 3.

Finally after a few weeks of trying to get past act two, we’ve finally made it to act three. I’ve been way to busy to get into act three, but there are some highlights from this current run so far. Right after the last post, we were going through the Crèche, and apparently neither of us knew that if you mock Vlaakith too much she will kill everyone on the spot. So, we technically lost our run, but due to the fact that neither of us wanted to restart again, we force closed the game. If you close it normally or through the task manager, the game will save first regardless of what you do. But if you turn the power off on your computer, the game can’t save. It’s not ideal, but it seemed fair enough due to the circumstances. 

We also had to restart the game another time, but not because of a party wipe out. Halsin died during the same big side quest as last week. Not that he got killed by any story choices or anything like that. We finished part of the quest where you fight off a bunch of enemies while protecting a portal, and to make it a bit easier on ourselves, we cast Spike Growth around the area. After the fight he apparently he decided the best path to leave the area was directly through the spikes, I don’t  know if we could’ve continued the quest without him, but it felt bad that he died like that. So we’ve loaded twice in honor mode, where you can’t load. I’m fine with it, but I’d like it if we don’t have to again.

How’s everyone else doing?

Somehow I didn’t notice when I created the splash image above I named it “toiletsplash,” which isn’t great. I guess it depends on where your brain is at the moment. Right now, “toiletsplash” is something I *really* don’t want to be thinking about. I have eaten two things in the last 24 hours: leftover Church’s Chicken strips with Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise in a tortilla, and the McDonald’s Hot Honey Sausage Egg & Cheese Biscuit. I’ve had the chicken strip wraps for a few meals because someone gave us the leftovers of a catered dinner. They were heated to piping hot every time. Sure that doesn’t fix *everything*, but as I said; they had not been a problem. So…I’m pretty sure the instigator is the Hot Honey Biscuit. I drove my Dad to church this morning and decided to try the new McDonald’s breakfast sandwich before I went back to take him home. (By the way, I’m writing a new intro and updating this post Sunday right before sending it in for upload, simply because I thought the toilet joke would be a bit humorous. That was before I continued to spend the next few hours running to the bathroom every 15-30 minutes and nearly screaming in pain.) Ate, dropped him off, said “have a nice day, love you” to my parents, and decided to change a setting in my car’s safety features when my stomach said “a race will be starting shortly. Better take your position.” That was a few hours ago. I write in between cramps.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Something’s Coming, Something’s Here”

Paige Francis He/him

We’ve all had ideas for D&D characters that sound really fun, but could kill the mood of a more immersive campaign or throw things too off the rails for even a goofy campaign. Well, I have some ideas for characters that I think are incredible. I like the people who DM for me so I won’t curse them with said characters. Some of these, I have ideas for potential modifiers that they might come bundled with, like backgrounds and the like.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “D&D Character Ideas I Won’t Burden a DM With Dealing With”

Ethan Rodgers

This week is more Balders Gate 3.

We started a new honor run because there was a bug with one of the big side quests in act two, where you’re supposed to help break the curse on the land. It’s completely optional, but it seems weird to not do it. Unfortunately one of the NPC’s that is needed was buggy, and in an attempt to fix him, he perished. He’s not supposed to be able to die. We also messed up a small interaction in act one, that apparently leads to less of the tieflings making it to act two. So we decided to restart again.

We have been playing with mods, mostly just cosmetics, but last run and this run we’ve had a mod to increase the party size, so we can have five people. The fifth person isn’t there to do anything, just to be there in case something unfair happens and wipes the party out. So far only one fight needed a res. One fight in the underdark, where you’re on a boat to get to the forge. One of the duergar apparently get’s a smoke powder bomb, which he proceeds to throw on our small raft leading to a (unfair, in my opinion) party wipe. We also got a mod to make oath braking not really annoying. For some reason it’s an oath breaking action to kill a Duergar that was has been actively abusing animals and whipping slaves, but it’s not an oath breaking action if you aggro them in dialog first(?). Anyway we’ve just finished the Underdark and are in the exact same place as last week. Onwards towards the Crèche, third times the charm. Sharee! That’s infernal for cheers, or possibly turnip 

What’s everyone else doing?

Issac Young Youngest child of Shamus Young. He/Him

So the latest Ice Storm hit my area last Friday. Well, Friday before last by the time you read this. I used quotes in the title not to diminish the effect of the storm, but only to point out that for *my* area anyway, this wasn’t as bad as the previous bad ice storm in 2021. There were two main differences, unfortunately neither of which was the preparedness of the state of Texas. In fact many areas *did* lose power for days as expected. Where I live it wasn’t overly severe. We have our own water well, and I placed three heat lamps in the well house pointing at the above-ground portion of the plumbing. This kept our water going even down to 30 degrees below freezing. But the important thing out of our hands was the power supply. We are in a rural area, so most power is carried above ground on power lines. In 2021 we had heavy precipitation before the freezing weather hit, *and* during the early hours of the freeze, so the lines were heavy with ice. THEN we also had heavy wind, which subsequently *broke* all those really heavy lines. This time the precipitation was light and we never had heavy wind during the storm. Here, anyway. So we never lost power. Unfortunately, we *did* still have many breakages that caused several days of problems. Which is why I didn’t publish anything last week. Massive stress levels, and all that.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “The Ice “Storm””

Paige Francis He/him

Around 6 years ago my wife and I were living in Baltimore. She was finishing up her college degree and I was excited to move back to my hometown. The plan was to move in with my parents for up to a year or so while we went house shopping. I went back about a week prior to her so she could wrap some things up in the area and I could get some things prepared for her back home. Our plans were far from perfect, but they were good enough and we were glad to close that chapter of our lives and move on. Then my parents’ house burnt down.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “PTSD and Triggers in Games”

Ethan Rodgers

More Balders Gate 3. So far things are going significantly better than last time, we managed to save the kid surrounded by Harpy’s. Unlike our last honor mode, where he died on the first turn, and everyone kept getting stunned by the singing, and for some reason someone from the grove, who is not supposed to be in that area, got into the fight, wild shaped into a badger, and got stuck on a tree.

We got some extra time to play this week, due to a snow storm, so yesterday we went through all of the underdark and even “fought” Grym by hanging out on the stairs above, and throwing random garbage at him, and since he’s weak to blunt damage, and physics is a little goofy, throwing a piece of rotting cheese did 32 damage, and a heavy crossbow does 2.

After I’m done writing this, we’ll be off to the Crèche, and hopefully not dying.

What is everyone doing this week?

Issac Young Youngest child of Shamus Young. He/Him