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The Essence and Death of Folk in Mangayaw

by goobernuts

This is an old blog from my Patreon. Support me there!

Last month, I released a very early version of a new edition of Mangayaw, dubbed Folk Hero Edition. Now the time has come for some designer commentary.

– – – – –

Mythic Bastionland made the change from the classic Into the Odd attribute spread of Strength, Dexterity, and Willpower, to Vigour, Clarity, and Spirit, now calling them Virtues. The brilliance of this change is in how well it meshes with the new game’s themes. Calling them Virtues reinforces the feel of being knights with high physical and moral standards to uphold. Putting all physical stuff into Vigour and adding Spirit instinctively tells players that the game cares about the internal turmoils of a character equally as their physical challenges.

From this I made a reframing of my own, inspired by Philippine folklore and beliefs. These attributes are what makes one a person, the Essence of Folk.

Essence represents different elements of Folkhood. Each is used for different circumstances. 

  • Body represents the physical form and ability of a Folk.
  • Spirit represents the intellectual and moral powers of a Folk.
  • Bond represents the social and environmental oneness of Folk.

– – – – –

In Hinilawod, a Sulod ethnoepic, the hero Humadapnon requested his sister to create a companion, a new brother, to accompany him in his travels. She made a body out of her, Humadapnon, and their mother’s blood, but a body does not make a person. 

“Bestow life on this man,

Grant him the breath of existence;

Bestow on him life,

Plant in him reason to think;

Give him the voice to express

His free will. And to check

His actions, give him a conscience.”

The body sprang to life. They named him Dumalapdap. He became Humadapnon’s most loyal companion.

– – – – –

In the previous edition of Mangayaw, losing LAKAS meant death, losing LIKSI meant paralysis, and losing LOOB meant delirium. Each of these outcomes fit the theme of dungeon crawlers, but do I want Mangayaw to be a dungeon crawler? I must take it further, I thought.

If the Essences make up a person, what does it mean to lose Essence? It means a kind of death, but maybe that is inaccurate. A transformation? A new way of being? 

– – – – –

The Philippines is filled with ghost stories. Stories of headless men roaming cemeteries. Stories of white (not pertaining to skin complexion) ladies hailing midnight taxis and scaring the drivers. Stories of spirits haunting buildings built on top of WW2 era hospitals where they met their demise, or worse, wartime atrocities. 

Ghost stories from centuries ago are less horrifying. People would call upon and pray to the spirits of their ancestors, like they would to gods. They believed their ancestors protected them from harm.

– – – – –

At 0 Body, the character becomes a spirit. Without a physical form, it must be tied to an object, another Folk, or Site to avoid wandering.

This will probably be the most common kind of death in Mangayaw. Makes sense for how many ghost stories we have. 

Spirits can possess objects or Folk. Spirits can haunt a particular spot. Spirits can stay in the underworld until their descendants call upon them in request. Not even death can prevent a grandparent from doting on their apos.

– – – – –

It is a common indigenous belief in the Philippines that a person has a spirit or multiple spirits that are considered separate from the body. The spirit is a person’s intellect and morality.

Dreams are the result of the spirit travelling while the body is asleep. Sickness or ill-health is the result of long or violent separation between the body and spirit. Traditional healing, then, involves the healer calling the spirit to inhabit the body once again. 

– – – – –

At 0 Spirit, the character’s Spirit flees its Body, leaving it ill and unresponsive. The Body cannot survive long in this state.

There are a number of ways to lose Spirit. Internal damage like poison or illness may be considered damage to the Spirit. Using sorcery or getting affected by witchcraft may prove too much for one’s spiritual fortitude. Intense fear may force a Folk’s Spirit to leave the Body, rendering it unconscious. 

So long as its Body is alive, the Spirit will return, in time. It risks becoming a wandering spirit, anyways. But to make it return faster, healers may have to make an enticing proposition. Free the Body from what it is afflicted by. Give the Spirit a deal they can’t refuse.

– – – – –

When the babaylan Malubay Hanginon enchanted Humadapnon to be lured into the cave of Tarangban, he started slowly changing. He could not think straight and forgot the purpose of his journey, captured by a lust for Hanginon. He ignored and dismissed Dumalapdap’s warnings and entered the cave. He was trapped inside for months. 

The hero Sunmasakay raided the cave to get him out, but he had transformed into something else.

“There he attacked

Buyong Sunmasakay

With savage fury.

The big, red, angry eyes

Of Buyong Humadapnon

Burned like embers

Sharp like razor edge.

Fierce and deadly to look at.

Oh, Sunmasakay! He spat on his face

‘Oh, what filth you are

A disgracing speck of dirt

You are no longer a lampung

No longer a man

You are now one of the witches

Roaming around as an ingkantadu’”

He had become something less like a person and more like a feral beast. He could not recognize Dumalapdap nor his parents. He had become a monster.

– – – – –

At 0 Bond, the character becomes a monster, its Body and Spirit becoming distorted. Monsters bring Ruin in their wake.

Ever since I read “D&D Doesn’t Understand What Monsters Are,” I’ve always wanted to contextualize my monsters. The existence of monsters in my game, in my fantasy world, has to be rooted in something. Injustice, atrocity, colonialism, among many many others.

For this new edition of Mangayaw, I thought it best to tie the existence of monsters to an Essence, particularly a social one.

I already made a post about how important Community is to the Folk and Heroes. Following this, it makes sense that monsters, something so hostile and opposed to the concept of Folk and Community, would come from the lack or loss of it. Folk must slay them to create settlements in the islands. They lurk in the shadows, away from the warm lights of a village. Monsters attack Communities and leave them in Ruin.

– – – – –

Death is not the end in Mangayaw, but it does mean you cease being Folk. It is hard to maintain webs of social relations when you are a spirit that is unable to maintain a form outside the underworld. It is contradictory to be a monster and be in a community.

Regain your Essence and you will be Folk again. But scars of your death remain. Maybe you are more in tune with your spirit, or maybe your spirit becomes more skittish. Maybe you retain your monstrous traits, but someone has accepted them, now.

Lose all of your Essence? You cease to exist, then.

Debt in Mangayaw

by goobernuts

This is an old blog from my Patreon. Support me there!

Back in 2022, I added the concept of debt to Mangayaw. You can see the latest iteration of this in the current version of Mangayaw in itch.io. Not much changed, but there is an infant idea there.

Debt in Mangayaw was inspired by Gubat Banwa’s Debt mechanics, which was connected to the player characters’ Honor and the economy. The PCs in Gubat Banwa are called Kadungganan, “honored ones”– Honor is how they move up in the world. Debt being tied to such a concept, both in the world and mechanics, makes it equally important.

I ran a Mangayaw campaign with my adaptation of Gubat Banwa’s Debt mechanics sometime in 2023. In play, I felt something was missing. I was not able to adapt the extra dimensions of debt, beyond the economic. It wasn’t a glaring issue, just a nagging feeling.

Why am I making such a big deal out of such a thing as debt? Is it not just something of monetary value that someone owes and pays another person? Well, no. I’m only using debt as a snappy, easily understandable game term, but when I say debt, I really mean to say the concept of utang na loob in Philippine cultures. 

Debt as utang na loob goes beyond the economic sense of the word. Gubat Banwa treats debt as a concept equal to honor. Mangayaw will treat debt as economy, relationships and community. 

But first, a disclaimer. Debt as a concept in Philippine culture and history also has the dimension of slavery attached to it. Entire societies were built on peasants and prisoners indebted to the elite and the powerful. Utang na loob still exists in our cultures. Though it is more disconnected from the concept of slavery (in most cases), it can still be a toxic concept that we live with. 

Adding debt to my game does not mean I romanticize the toxic dimensions of utang na loob. Debt as social connections might seem like an optimistic view of debt, but I mean to have both the good and bad of it. I want players to appreciate the closeness and reciprocity debt provides, struggle with the obligations debt entails, and revolt against the injustice debt can be used for. 

Besides, if D&D and other western fantasy games and worlds can depict monarch and feudalism as status quo, why can’t Filipinos use our own imperfect societal systems in our games?

Heroes and Community in Philippine Ethnoepics and Mangayaw

by goobernuts

This is an old blog from my Patreon. Support me there!

I have been reading and studying Philippine ethnoepics a lot recently. Just cultivating that brainrot of mine (or letting it fester?). I’ve found that these texts are a wealth of inspiration for Mangayaw. In vibes, in game loop, in identity. 

There is an interesting commonality in these ethnoepics in how heroes are tied to community. I began contemplating how the player characters’ relationship with the game, the world, and the narrative they will make would change if they were part of and responsible for a community of their own. This is not an original concept by any means– folklore and stories from other countries have community-focused heroes as well. But in the realm of fantasy TTRPGs, heroes are usually framed as outsiders and travellers. They enter a new town, solve their problems, and move on. 

Heroes from these islands’ ethnoepics can’t just move on. They are tied to their communities, for better or worse. 

This is an attempt to define heroes and their communities as seen in a few select Philippine ethnoepics, and how I’ll try to take that as inspiration for Mangayaw. My sisyphean task of revising Mangayaw’s character creation continues.

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The Bikolnon ethnoepic Ibalong follows three different heroes: Baltog, the hero who slayed a giant boar; Handiong, the hero who tamed the land by slaying monsters and creatures that threatened his community; and Bantong, the hero who outsmarted a giant with mystical powers.

In the Sulod ethnoepic Hinilawod, the hero that the narrative first introduced, Humadapnon, became trapped in an enchanted cave. From then until Humadapnon was freed from the cave, the narrative followed his brother, Dumalapdap, and the powerful binukot whom Humadapnon was searching for, Nagmalitong Yawa, who ultimately freed him from the cave. 

There is no one hero in a community. Multiple heroes may appear and grow from it. The focus of the narrative might even shift from one to the other.

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In the Ifugao ethnoepic Hudhud hi Aliguyon, the hero Aliguyon learned from his father of a rival community, whose champion he was at a stalemate with. Aliguyon ventured out to this rival community and faced the son of his father’s rival, Pumbakhayon. Both their skills were so great a winner couldn’t be decided. So after years of fighting, the two decided to become brothers, and their communities became allied with each other. 

The community is a character of its own. It has history and relations with other communities. And the hero further write its story. 

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In the Ilianon ethnoepic Agyu, the hero Kuyasu’s community could no longer pay tribute to a sultan, so he killed the sultan. As a result, the brothers Agyu, Banlak, and Kuyasu had to lead their people into the mountains and fend off the sultan’s men who gave chase. 

A hero does not leave the community even when they are venturing outside of it. The hero is always responsible and representative for their community. The community may even suffer from the hero’s rash actions. 

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I want players to create a community of their own during character creation. The community is:

  • Their home, a refuge after their journeys. Raiding is seasonal, and a hero has to rest eventually.
  • Their strength and power. So a hero must labor to build the community up. 
  • Their responsibility. A hero’s actions have consequences, especially to their community.

Where is the community situated? Who considers it home? What does it do for a living? What trial is it going through? These are questions I want the players to answer.

From this home they have made for themselves, wounded and fatigued heroes may rest, and other heroes may venture out in their stead. The character stable concept is already common in OSR games, so there are plenty of games to take inspiration from.

A hero representing a community in their journeys would act differently from a hero without a home to go back to, no people to be responsible for. Favors become alliances. Connections become trade. Conflict becomes war. 

They may (and will) still make bad decisions or perform less-than-spectacularly. That’s fine, that’s just what happens in TTRPGs. But they still hold responsibility for their community.

A hero is responsible for the community. They may venture out to solve the problems of the community, to build and maintain it. When there are holes in your ceiling and the storm is approaching, you will have to repair it.

But the relationship between the hero and community doesn’t have to be one-sided. They might bring back treasure, assets, or people, increasing the community’s capabilities. A war boat to travel with, a crew of warriors to lead into war, a mentor to train heroes. Building up the community is building up the heroes. 

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By next month, I’d like to have a draft of the Community mechanics for Mangayaw. I’m inspired by a lot of different games, not just from the OSR/NSR space. Whitehack, Mythic Bastionland, storygames, collaborative worldbuilding games. I have a bit of experimentation to do. 

I also want to read more on how other TTRPGs handle similar subjects. Some games I’m eyeing are Blades in the Dark and Beyond the Wall. Is there anything I should add to this list?

Boat Grunt and Brass Gunner (WIP Backgrounds for Mangayaw)

by goobernuts

​This blogpost was first released in my Patreon last week. Consider supporting!​

I wanted to make warrior backgrounds this month. Again, these are all subject to change for later on. But I have to start somewhere, right?

Enjoy!

BOAT GRUNT

You were a paddler upon bamboo outriggers–seawater up to your knees, pushing through the waves. You were in the frontlines of raids on port towns. You are a nobody until you gain a kill. And yet the boat cannot set sail without your labor. You take:

  • Rations (3 uses)
  • Torches (3 uses)
  • Hardwood paddle (d6/d10 one handed/two handed damage)
  • Weaved armor (1 Armor)
  • Rigging rope (50 ft)

WHAT FEAT EARNED YOU YOUR FREEDOM FROM SERVICE?

1. You saved your captain from certain death. You were given gratitude. Replace your weaved armor with a chain armor (2 Armor) and take a loyal lackey (3 GRIT, 10 LAKAS/LIKSI/LOOB, d6/d8 hardwood paddle).

2. A devastating storm struck the boat you served on while at sea. You were among the few that survived. You can always foretell the next day’s weather.

3. Your last kill ended the raid. You were given first pick over the spoils of war. Take a gilded naga kris (d6 damage).

4. You saved the boat from almost certain doom. You can always tell the safest route through waterways.

5. You led the charge against a port town and struck fear into the hearts of your enemies. You have the charisma to rally and lead an impassioned and impressionable crowd.

6. You had enough and deserted. The captain knows who you are. You have some bamboo javelins (3 uses), a pack of thorn caltrops (3 uses), and a small canoe.

WHAT TOOL ENSURED YOU WOULD LIVE TO SET SAIL ONCE AGAIN?

1. Water-walk clogs – Carved from wood that has been drifting on the sea for a decade. Allows you to travel on top of water for a handful of steps at a time.

2. Amihan’s breath (1 use) – A wind god’s gentle breath stored in pufferfish leather. Pressing hard on the pufferfish will unleash a gust of tradewinds from its mouth. To recharge, leave it tied to a tree on a mountain’s peak on a stormless night until sunrise.

3. Mermaid heartbreaker (3 uses) – A necklace of braided mermaid hair. Allows you to resist magically alluring calls. To recharge, braid in hair from a mermaid you deeply betrayed.

4. Storm watcher tattoo – Wave-like patterns etched on your ankles. You do not easily lose footing and you are not easily swayed by the motions of what you stand on.

5. Missile charm (3 uses) – An obsidian arrowhead amulet. The winds will assist you in catching projectiles flung at you. To recharge, use it as a wind chime to welcome in a storm.

6. Archerfish tattoo – Fish scale-like patterns etched on around your mouth. Allows you to shoot water from your mouth and out like a dart (d6 damage). But your mouth is not meant to withstand this much water pressure (1 LAKAS damage per use)

BRASS GUNNER

You are in possession of a most ancient weapon. It erupts like thunder and strikes like lightning. It is heavy for even the strongest arms, and unwieldy for even the steadiest shoulders. You decided to dedicate your life to taming it. You take:

  • Rations (3 uses)
  • Torches (3 uses)
  • Ancient firearm (see table)
  • Packet of gunpowder (1 use)
  • Iron monopod (d6 damage)

HOW DID YOU EARN YOUR FIREARM? 

1. This is a prized treasure, passed down from your father, his father’s father, and so on. Take a silver headdress with a magnifying lens over one eye.

2. You won it fair and square in a duel. The other duelist’s party might not agree with the results. Before a duel, intimidate your opponent to make their attack impaired.

3. You came back from war a veteran. Take a wide-brimmed hat (+1 Armor) and a nasty scar.

4. You went through a trial that almost killed you. But this very same trial has linked your soul with your gun. You can always tell the distance and general location of your firearm.

5. You received it in a wrecked state. You restored it to the best of your ability. Take a jar of polishing oil (3 uses) and a brush.

6. You’re a clay shooting champion. Even the swiftest of birds are outmatched by your reflexes. When stationary and holding your firearm, you can always attack before anyone else.

WHAT WAS YOUR FIREARM MADE FOR?

1. Hunting (d10 damage, ignores 2 Armor, bulky, 1 use in combat). Rusted rose gold.  Critical Damage: target bleeds out (d6 LAKAS damage every round).

2. Defense (d10 damage, ignores 2 Armor, bulky, 1 use in combat). Burn marks along the wood. When stationary, it can be reloaded as an action.

3. Naval combat (d10 damage, ignores 2 Armor, bulky, 1 use in combat). Bleached wood with sea rot setting in. Can fire even when wet. 

4. Close combat (d10 damage, ignores 2 Armor, bulky, 1 use in combat). Scratches and notches along its barrel. Has a bayonet fixed at the end (d10 damage).

5. Destruction (d6 damage, blast, near-ranged, bulky, 1 use in combat). Chipped, dragon scales etched along the barrel. Critical Damage: target is engulfed in fire (d6 damage every round).

6. Breaching (strong, d6 damage, ignores 2 Armor, blast, heavy, 1 use in combat). Bronze, large, and shoulder-mounted. User can’t move and fire in the same round.

Some Notes:

  • I think Boat Grunt might be my favorite background so far.
  • I love the concept but I’m still unsatisfied with the Brass Gunner, so I’ll have to revisit it sometime.
  • Fantasy settings should have more guns!

Mangayaw in 2025 (and Patreon announcement)!

by goobernuts

I made a public Patreon post about my plans to work on Mangayaw this 2025. Some important points:

  • Cairn 2e/Electric Bastionland-style character creation
  • Making community more important
  • Sorcery changes (again)
  • Finding its own identity

And yeah, that’s right. I made a Patreon. I’d like to be able to afford my own daily expenses as I go through college. I’m pledging an update on TTRPG work every month, though I might post more than once a month is work goes smoothly.

Don’t worry though, most of my posts will be public. You don’t have to pay for my jeepney fare and lunch to know what’s going on with Mangayaw. It will be highly appreciated if you do, though!

CLICK THE BIG IMAGE BELOW TO CHECK OUT MY PATREON

Play Report: Lorn Song of Bachelor x Mangayaw (Session 8)

by goobernuts

This is a retelling of a game session of Lorn Song of the Bachelor run with Mangayaw.

The Party Crashers

  • Malakas, a shamanistic healer
  • Bantok, a hunter without a bow
  • Eumining-gud, an aswang curse whisperer
  • Dumalapdap, a nimble ratfolk musketeer
  • Tusok, a witch’s apprentice and shapeshifter

Courtesy Calls and Treasure Trading

Having returned to the Gleaming Fins village, the party decided it would be best to visit Vartu Si Vartu before all else, as a courtesy.

The Warrior seemed to want Vartu Si Vartu. The party wants to take him to the old ruins with them, as an offering or an extra hand in a fight. They told him about the Warrior and how he could be connected to the Bachelor. They told him about their defeat at the hands of this Warrior.

Vartu Si Vartu is conflicted. He wanted proof that the Bachelor is a god, but the party now says he’s only a man. It is not the information he wanted, but this could also mean he could rebuild his pride by defeating the Warrior.

He decides he wanted to see this Warrior for himself. The party asks for a few days to rest and recover from their wounds.

The party brought up Re Wa Re’s plight with the The-Isles-Like-Precious-Ivory Trading Company. They offered the golden harp as partial payment, and asked if the chief could shoulder the rest of her Debt. Vartu Si Vartu accepts the harp, leaving them a precious golden chain as change, and agrees to take care of Re Wa Re as a new servant.

Searching for Answers and Treatment

The party visited Auntie Sati next. They had questions; about the Warrior, about the catfish.

Auntie Sati confirmed their assumptions that the Warrior was Vung Si Vung from her song. She gave them advice; if Vung Si Vung is too far gone to communicate with, maybe they could talk to his wife, Inna Wa Inna. If the Warrior persists in living, it would not be a stretch of the imagination that the wife he loved enough to die for would be there with him.

Auntie Sati showed the party the unconscious Hummu Si Hummu, with catfish detached from his crotch. Auntie Sati explained that the extraction mutilated both body and mind. She’s worried about the party’s report of a whole village of these catfish-controlled folk. The party assured her they didn’t plan on letting Grimkin control the Bachelor.

After reporting to Oppu Wa Oppu, the injured went back to Auntie Sati for treatment. They paid extra to speed up the process; only three days instead of a whole week, so Vartu Si Vartu would not have to wait for long.

Thinking about “Dungeons” and Crawls in a Classical Philippine setting

by goobernuts

Been thinking about this subject this week. I’m trying to prepare a short adventure to playtest my Cairn hack Mangayaw, and I ran into the problem of dungeon incompatibility. Lots of adventures and modules made for D&D are those of castles, temples, and man-made underground tunnels, which don’t readily fit in the world I’m trying to create.

From what I’ve read so far, the precolonial Philippines didn’t have much in the way of grand structures. Mansions of the nobility were made of hardwood, lumber, bamboo. Instead of man-made tunnels, there are a lot of naturally formed caves. The people were largely animist, and so temples were all around them, in nature.

I could take inspiration from other Southeast Asian countries that did have stone structures (like Angkor Wat in Cambodia), but I’m not that well-informed about the rest of SEA. Definitely a subject I’d have to read about in the near future.

If you want to go do a classic dungeon crawl in my setting, the closest to that are caves. For variety, there are volcanic caves and underground rivers, which have their own approaches and kinds of danger. I’m excited to see what ATTO can do to make cave crawling evocative, fun, and different with Reach of the Roach God.

I want to experiment on a forest crawl. It might be less of a dungeon and more of a point crawl in structure, but I wouldn’t actually know because I haven’t run a point crawl yet. 

Instead of tunnels, there are game trails. Instead of rooms and chambers, there are clearings and points-of-interest like huge trees, small lairs, etc. Instead of walls, there is dense vegetation. I don’t want there to be invisible walls, so you could probably pass through the trees, but at the cost of getting scratches, slipping down, getting lost, and other consequences. There is no roof, so with enough altitude, you could maybe scout what’s ahead. That also means danger can come from above.

I’m still thinking of how to design a crawl of the sea. It’s open, and the deeper you dive, the more dangerous it is.

I’ll be reading up on adventures, because I want to get better at making them. If you have a recommendation (hopefully an affordable one), tell me!

Rambling about my Setting: Races and Ancestry

by goobernuts

I want to make a Precolonnial Philippines-inspired setting for D&D. I ordered a bunch of books online for this project. Collections of Filipino folk literature, a book about the culture and society of 16th century Filipinos, all that good stuff. I probably need one about Philippine flora and fauna, but that can come later. If anyone has a book recommendation about that topic, I’ll look it up.

The books I ordered will arrive around a week from now, so for now I have to blog about what I have right now.

The Issue With “Race”

While they served their purpose in D&D rulesets, I wanna do away with the outdated term “race”. From what I read, ancient Filipinos did not have a problem with race like western nations did (and still do). We traded extensively with neighboring countries, for example. The Negritos, the first people to migrated to the Philippine islands, had good relations with the Austronesians who came to the islands later on. Some assimilated into barangays, some stayed in small, nomadic hunter-gatherer groups. But even those groups had trade relations with the settled barangays, exchanging goods from the hunt and the mountains for agricultural or fishing goods.

Different barangays and chiefdoms would go to war with one another, but not for reasons of race. Rather, datus and their warriors raid enemy barangays to expand their collection of gold and chinese porcelain. Oh, and also to capture slaves who will be forced work the fields. We may not have been terribly racist, but feudalism was (and still is) a pretty bad way to do things.

With these in mind, it feels right to me that the barangays in my setting would have a healthy amount of diversity in “races”. Maybe there would be one “race” that is more dominant in a region, but there would be little to no discrimination.

So rather than using the term “races”, I think it’s miles better to use the (less politically charged) term ancestry. Taking notes from the 5e alternative rules by Arcanist Press here. But what Filipino term should I use to refer to ancestry? Kanunu-nunuan? Doesn’t have the succinct ring to it. Lahi? Seems too close to race. Katauhan? Not entirely accurate in meaning, but it’s a humanizing term. If there are other terms that fit, please do let me know.

Ancestries

D&D struck gold with the classic 4 races. The Elf had an affinity for magic. The Halfling had an aptitude for slinking about in the darkness. The Dwarf was well adapted to where most adventures took place, the dungeon. The Human is the baseline, which is a bit boring but is an advantage in itself.

I want my setting’s ancestries to achieve something like that. Their abilities came from them adapting to their respective setting. There is little no redundancy and it makes sense. I don’t intend to copy the abilities of the classic 4. What my ancestries are capable of should come from adaptation to my setting.

Now that I put it that way, I should probably have a better idea of the geography of my setting before doing this, but I do already have a few that I’ve thought of.

Of course there is the human, the baseline. For now, it’s fine to keep them mechanically the same as the race in D&D, though I will have to think more about that.

I really want my setting to have an enchanted or cursed mangrove forest. It’s a massive forest where you can and will get lost in, either by magic or not paying close attention to your surroundings. From this forest came men with bark skin. Living mangroves walking alongside other men. Perhaps they have an affinity with magic of druidic nature, considering their place of origin. It’s also not impossible that they would be averse to the effects of fire.

In riverine or sea settlements, there might be those who developed crocodile-like features. Hard, scaly skin, jaws that no prey can escape from, and the ability to stay underwater for longer periods of time. They have an advantage in the water, which a lot of adventures would be set in. Perhaps they have a need for water and moisture more than the baseline human.

That’s what I have for now. I’ll be satisfied with having four core ancestries but my maximum is around 6. The last thing I wanna be is like D&D 5e that has waaay too many.

I wanna know what you think of my ideas for ancestries. Am I being too sensitive? Or not sensitive enough? I think having crocodile men would be pretty cool, but if there’s something problematic about the concept that I’m not seeing, I’d like to know. I’ll see you in the next issue of my ramblings!

Revue Starlight’s Multi-faceted Use of Song and Stage– An Analysis of “Pride and Arrogance”

by goobernuts

(This is the script for my video article of the same name. You can find the video here!)

Ever since Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight has aired on 2018, it has overtaken a part of my brain. I catch myself thinking about the story and characters when listening to its music, and I listen to the music a lot. The more I think of it, the more I pick at the meaning of the show. Or so I think, but this video might just be the ramblings of a crazed weeaboo. We shall see.

The Revues in Revue Starlight are duels between two of the nine theater students participating in the mysterious Audition. But more than that, they are a fantastic melding of animation and music. Not only do the girls fight with swords and polearms and bows in a backdrop of an uncanny stage, but they also fight in a duet. This element of the show is better explained through an example, for which I will use the revue from episode 3, Hokori to Ogori, or Pride and Arrogance. Anyone who doesn’t want to be spoiled should stop the video now, because I’ll be talking about plot elements up to episode 3. But do go watch the show, I am telling you, it is amazing.

Participating in this revue are the main character Aijou Karen, and the top of their class, Tendou Maya. Karen was not initially invited to the Audition, but after remembering her promise with childhood friend Hikari to stand on stage with together as leads, she literally jumped into the fray. She’s had two victories so far, but her opponent this time is the talented, matchless Maya who, even before the Revue starts, stole the spotlight from Karen. This… is not a good sign for her.

Karen eagerly starts the duel, but her sword is easily parried by Tendou Maya. For a few lines she sings of her promise with Hikari, the source of her determination. But just like the slashes of her sword, Maya rejects Karen’s words and questions her resolve. Karen, who until meeting Hikari again after several years, has had no real desire to take the position zero, the center of the stage. Why should her resolve have more weight compared to those who vied for the center of the stage alone? Compared to Maya who defeated them to take position zero?

The stage goes dim, and Maya appears atop a flight of stairs, with Karen looking up from below. It’s her turn now.

Maya goads Karen into climbing up if she has the resolve. Standing above her opponent, she completely blocks Karen’s futile advances and even pushes her back. And the gap between them grows wider as Karen realizes she is no match for Maya. But still she eagerly tries to catch up to Maya.

And Maya, with her powerful singing voice, boldly expresses her desire. Going higher, shining brighter. Towards unreachable heights. That is my pride. With these heavy words, sung at the highest pitch of the entire song, the clashing of their swords continue. Maya, with her skill of the sword, and the stage bending to her will, brings Karen back down below her.

If you look at the lyrics, you will notice that of the 22 lines in Hokori to Ogori, only 7 are sung by Karen. And her lines are only up to the 2 minute mark of a 5 minute, 46 second song. Karen has completely disappeared in the latter 2/3rds of the duet.

It’s an absolute defeat. Maya completely dominated her in every way. In the stage, in song, in resolve. And with that, Maya cuts off Karen’s pin, symbolizing the end of the revue, takes position zero, and triumphantly declares This is Tendou Maya.

And that was Hokori to Ogori. Karen’s Arrogance was cut down by Maya’s Pride. But this is hardly the end of Karen’s stage.

Just Cause 3 – First Impressions

by goobernuts

(This is the script for my video article of the same name. You can find the video here!)

Just Cause 3 is a game that just puts a big stupid smile on my face. The game itself is very stupid. It starts with Rico, the protagonist, climbing on top of a plane, ignoring the laws of physics, and shooting down anti-air batteries with an RPG. It’s stupidly unrealistic, stupidly badass, and just stupidly fun.

The story is a bit… eh. You play as Rico Rodriguez, high flying, guns blazing, eats-explosions-for-breakfast, freedom fighter extraordinaire, liberating his home country, Medici, from a power hungry dictator. Destabilization is the name of the game, and what better way to destabilize something than to blow up its foundations?

For the record, it’s not bad, but it feels like the game can’t decide whether it’s story should be cheesy or serious. The supporting characters are likeable, but the NPC rebels are disposable. There’s a bit of a disconnect between the gameplay and the story when you kneel down a rebel shrine, vowing to avenge them, but you know that you probably cause a lot of rebel deaths yourself with stray bullets and explosives. And I don’t think people will think of Rico as a hero once they start trying to rebuild everything he burned in this path of destruction.

On to the gameplay, you are given this gigantic map of a playground, with loads of things to traverse with, or take apart very violently, and tools with which you can do so.

Tools for movement are important for a game world this big. There’s the civilian and military vehicles of land, air, and sea, but my favorite ones are on your person. First, the parachute. Apart from the fact that you can reuse it, it pretty much just does what a parachute does. But then you also have the grappling hook, which is a simple concept, press a button and it drags you to where you’re pointing. Now, if you grapple over a distance, get your parachute out, and slingshot yourself along with the grapple, you can cover more distance a lot easier.

But it doesn’t stop there. You also have the wingsuit. Oh, the wingsuit. With it you can glide magnificently, cutting through the air like a hot knife through butter. And there is nuance to it. You also use the grapple to speed up, which means you have to be close to the ground or anything tangible, which gives flying a level of danger to it. Mastering the wingsuit is very satisfying, but crash landing never ceases to be funny.

With these, you have transportation, anywhere, anytime. In an instant, you can launch yourself 20 meters in the air and look down on the people in diesel powered automobiles below.

And now, the tools for destruction. You have your usual flavors of guns and armament, pistols, machine guns, shotguns, and then there’s your attachable bombs, grenade launchers, your multishot RPGs, and your airstrikes. You know, the usual! Your grappling hooks can also attach two things together and pull them close. With these babies, you can get really creative with how you want to ravage the country of Medici. Did I say ravage? I meant to say liberate!

Make a bunch of friends group hug, use a car as a wrecking ball, use your own face as a wrecking ball, call a supply drop over an unfortunate statue, turn a radar into waffle maker, help goats get off the road (oh, that didn’t work), hijack helicopters in mid-air, make a transformer do loop-the-loops, do some extreme wingsuiting (oof), solve the traffic problem by lessening cars, solve the pollution problem by abolishing gas stations, stunt off a ramp into a radio tower… I said, stunt off a ramp into a radio tower (there we go)

This, this is where Just Cause 3 shines. It gives you the toys, puts you in a playground, and tells you to go nuts, fulfill your power fantasy! The game mechanics, the visuals, the physics, the animation, the sound design, all of these work together to make you feel like you’re in a Michael Bay, popcorn action flick, with some slapstick comedy on the side.

The only downside apart from the story is that upgrades are locked behind skill-based challenges. It’s a downside for me, because I play the game to feel effortlessly badass. It doesn’t really taint the whole experience too much, but it’s game design that I don’t agree with.

And I haven’t even mentioned the expansion packs that let you ride a mech with force powers, give you a gun that summons lightning from above, and a jetpack with missile launchers. I’m Iron Man and Thor, I am the Avengers itself.

And so I conclude that Just Cause 3 is a superhero game disguised in a loose cannon spy skin. It is a physics based playground that makes you giggle when anything goes right, or wrong (gas tank+motorcycle). And if that appeals to you, go get this game. I cannot recommend it enough.