Friendship is Dragons
Updates Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays
Page 283 - Ever Circling
Author Notes:
(Pop-out)
66 Comments:
But who would be Ludo, the big trollish friend that summons rocks?
Anyone have any stories about working pop culture references in their games?
The only one I can think of is, in the Norse mythology-inspired D&D game I've been running, the player of the wizard is a big fan of Marvel's The Mighty Thor. The party was fighting svartalfs (drow) and the svartalf clerics were carrying holy symbols of a silver face half tarnished black. I put those in there knowing that the wizard would make the connection to the Mighty Thor villain Malakith (a dark elf whose face is half black, half pale grey). Thanks to the wizard, the revelation that the svartalfs were allied with the death-goddess Hela (whose face is half rotted away) ended up being a much more effective plot twist.
The only one I can think of is, in the Norse mythology-inspired D&D game I've been running, the player of the wizard is a big fan of Marvel's The Mighty Thor. The party was fighting svartalfs (drow) and the svartalf clerics were carrying holy symbols of a silver face half tarnished black. I put those in there knowing that the wizard would make the connection to the Mighty Thor villain Malakith (a dark elf whose face is half black, half pale grey). Thanks to the wizard, the revelation that the svartalfs were allied with the death-goddess Hela (whose face is half rotted away) ended up being a much more effective plot twist.
TONS of pop-culture gets worked into all our RPGs. D&D specifically? We had a warforged warlock we dubbed "Doctor Doom" (he even wore the green cloak), We had Paco the talking skull (he was an expy of Murry the skull from Curse of Monkey Island game), and there was once a parody dungeon set up by a wizard who did a "Survivor: Temple of Elemental Evil" reality show based on the Survivor TV series.
I hated that last one. Dang kobolds are way too flexible. XD
I hated that last one. Dang kobolds are way too flexible. XD
How can you give up an excuse to legitimately call something 'bob' and make everyone groan?
Most of the times, you have to settle for shoe-horning it in where it doesn't belong.
Well, this was before Dresden's time. :)
But a hispanic evil skull that tried to convince the party to do evil was funny.
But a hispanic evil skull that tried to convince the party to do evil was funny.
As that's my name, and need no further excuse to elicit groans from the general audience, I prefer skull's named Morte.
"Attention, Morte. I have a question. Do you have a destiny? A purpose?"
"Is Annah still wearing clothes?"
"Affirmatory."
"Then yes."
Possibly the best conversation ever between Dan Castelleneta and Rob Paulsen.
"Attention, Morte. I have a question. Do you have a destiny? A purpose?"
"Is Annah still wearing clothes?"
"Affirmatory."
"Then yes."
Possibly the best conversation ever between Dan Castelleneta and Rob Paulsen.
One campaign I'm in is nothing BUT pop culture references. In another, my Warforged Samurai is named Mr. Roboto.
The party hasn't met him yet, but my Pathfinder campaign has a wandering hobgoblin samurai named Stinkoman. His horse is named Pan-Pan.
It sounds much more menacing in the original Goblin.
It sounds much more menacing in the original Goblin.
One team we were covering an advance down a hallway, and she summoned 4 Maulers from GoW. Maulers have completely bulletproof tower shields and maces that explode when they hit you with them.
How did that work? If I was DMing that game, I would have some stipulation saying the created characters were 'weakened from being outside their natural plane' or some such thing.
Local players were annoyed that Lair Assault never went to paragon tier. Since the program ends this month, I agreed to build them something, in which the Good King Marty of Faire-Semblant has asked them to escort his betrothed to Port d'Aube. I figure they'll get the first two references easily, but might miss the clue the third provides to the identity of the Princess Hämärä Loisto.
They'll kill me when they figure that one out. I was going to go with Princess Harvinaista, but that was much too obscure.
They'll kill me when they figure that one out. I was going to go with Princess Harvinaista, but that was much too obscure.
I made a Village of Fowl Devotees once. My players never went there, though.
Sounds like how, if I ever have a Greek mythology game, I'll make note of how many players think Hades is evil, and subvert their expectations accordingly...
(that doesn't really have anything to do with pop culture, except it's because of pop culture that people think Hades is evil...)
(that doesn't really have anything to do with pop culture, except it's because of pop culture that people think Hades is evil...)
Of course people assume Hades is evil. He's the god of wealth (hence the work plutocracy) living in an underground vault! :p
The bard in my group's recent campaign has a mentor who I use as a quest-giver/super helpful NPC. She's a female lycanthrope who teaches both music and magic to the children of the hub city. In one session I introduced her ex-husband, a diplomat to a less civilized tribe in an savannah area. His excelllent dancing earned him the name "He Whose Hips Speak Truth."
I may have been listening to some old Shakira tracks.
I may have been listening to some old Shakira tracks.
My group has been running a game for the last few years based entirely on Legend of Zelda. In the latest game, we traveled through the last remaining shard of the Mirror of Twilight to the Shadow World, where alternate versions of us (at least, those who survived) are fighting the bad guy we already defeated. One of them, Sheik (who we're not sure who she/he is in our universe), sent us on a quest to have a god reforge the Master Sword before they'd give us what we came for, a non-shattered Ocarina of Time. (Ours got broken due to mind-controlled ally, and we need it to beat our BBEG)
She wears a black robe, and speaks a single keyword to activate it. Shikai!
What? It's Exalted? This is considered a low end weapon! Bankai would involve, and will involve, something along the lines of wielding a burning sword of pure, holy solar fire... That can cut the world in half.
Yes, these are reasonable weapons in a game where you can easily start with a chainsaw bullwhips made of evil, sapient black blood that cries with the suffering of damned kittens and burns with the hatred of a thousand lost car keys. AND THEN IT'S ON FIRE!
Raxon... I don't know what to say. That's equal parts corny and hilarious. Please tell me everyone groaned!
In retaliation, I have created an abyssal whose name takes twenty minutes to recite, and there are ellipses as part of the pronunciation. He dies ten minutes into the game. I don't even get to soliloquize on the nature of the inner torment within my soul. This is the most goth character I ever made. Long, depressing poetry of awkward and excessively verbose nature, spending half my money on stage makeup and razor blades, talking at length about the pain of existence, and explaining that death comes to all things and is the natural state of life, etc...
And I don't even get to finish introducing my character to everyone else. Rocks fall, everyone dies, because my name is too long.
I never said you couldn't have it. It's entirely appropriate considering the over the top nature of the Solar Exalted and their Glorious Golden weapons. Hell I'd say making it a Zanpakuto takes the cornball /down/ a notch! XD
Also I can see that character existing at some point... Abyssals, the Emo Kids of Exalted.
Also I can see that character existing at some point... Abyssals, the Emo Kids of Exalted.
These are determined to be a corruptive and offensive people, that put on base and poorly thought out entertainment for the masses. Funny, because my character really likes the one called Beast, of the Dis'nee clan.
Alright, I need to play this game sometime. It sounds like a friggin' blast.
Using the whole Zanpakutou thing would be an interesting element to include in a game for the players. Special enchanted weapons, that reveal their true powers when you know their original names... special abilities and skills granted when you have them.
Having the players help to design their forms too to help them come in on the designs. Unless you have players that would completely be stupid with that.
"MY RAT FLAIL."
Having the players help to design their forms too to help them come in on the designs. Unless you have players that would completely be stupid with that.
"MY RAT FLAIL."
I played a ninja-ish character. My shikai turned my sword into poisoned spiked knuckles, my bankai was either; boots granting hyper-speed, or explosive rocket-powered gloves(switchable at will). If that doesn't sound like very ninja-like weapons, it's mostly because the DM designed the weapons entirely by himself, reasoning that soul reapers don't necessarily get what they think they want as a weapon (citing that one guy who never used his sword's real power because he said it was "ugly").
I was the squad lieutenant to another player, whose zanpakuto went from sword to flying-fire-chainsaw-frisbee to whole-living-forest-with-razor-leaves-and-controlled-trees.
It was a bunch of fun.
Also, at one point, I got vizar'd by Aizen, when he was still captain.
Speaking of Thor...
One time our party fought and killed some kobolds who were wearing masks made of a metal mesh. I was playing the cleric, so I said I could immediately tell the masks were of religious significance. The kobolds were worshippers of Thor's wife. Everyone groaned when they realized the pun.
One time our party fought and killed some kobolds who were wearing masks made of a metal mesh. I was playing the cleric, so I said I could immediately tell the masks were of religious significance. The kobolds were worshippers of Thor's wife. Everyone groaned when they realized the pun.
I am currently setting up an entire campaign based on the Pirate101 game. Not sure if it still counts as a reference if the entire game is based on it though.
Actually, my RPG group just got done with a sidequest based on John Wayne's movie Big Jake...the setting was Star Wars Saga Edition.
I once made a DMNPC who was a priest of Ceiling Cat. The only spell his deity granted him was one to summon invisible objects so long as he could mime using it (With spell level determining volume). And yes, he loved cheeseburgers.
We did run into a group of enemies in a game I was in once whose methods I'm pretty sure were an homage to They Live! Telepathic radio arrays and subliminal messages on billboards. Only instead of looking like normal people they were just outright invisible.
Don't worry, Jareth, the rogue will have you feeling all better soon.
I feel that I trust [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exsT8qoBL_0"]Jim Sterling[/url] as my surgeon more.
What? Whaddaya mean I'm not allowed to quote The Avengers? Shut up, Emma! You can be replaced, you know. That nice Tara King is looking better and better. Keep this up, and it's back to janitorial duty at the UK Space Agency. You remember the horrible messes those scientists used to leave. You mark my words; If you don't stop trying to give me orders, you'll go back to cleaning non-Newtonian fluids off the ceiling again...
In a quite unstylish hazmat suit!
It's been done, Spud... not done well mind you, but it has been done.
Now you are imagineing who would have david bowies 'package'
.
.
.
.
.
You may continue your normal day to day.
.
.
.
.
.
You may continue your normal day to day.
You may enjoy the mental image of Bonie wearing sparkly pants now.
This is why you need a fighter around. Doesn't matter if it's a barbarian melee fighter in fantasy RPGs or a guy who can sling lead in sci-fi, you need someone who can rip the enemy a new one.
Diplomancers, despair!
Diplomancers, despair!
Yeah, but doesn't the episode basically prove just why an effective diplomancer doesn't need a fighter?
Well... yes and no. On the one hand we see that Rarity's whining is annoying enough to effectivly paralyze them. On the other hand Spike and the rest of the group had to go save her anyway. The aesop for the episode was that you shouldn't underestimate people.
But they didn't HAVE to save her at all. They just THOUGHT they had to save her. If they had elected to do nothing, Rarity would have been just fine, if unable to cart as many gems back.
Still, I don't really like that aesop applied to the episode. "You shouldn't underestimate someone, so if they get kidnapped, you shouldn't do something about it, you should trust in their ability to handle it themselves."
Still, I don't really like that aesop applied to the episode. "You shouldn't underestimate someone, so if they get kidnapped, you shouldn't do something about it, you should trust in their ability to handle it themselves."
It's expecialy bad when the aesops contradict each other. This one completely contradicts Applebuck Season, Canterlot Wedding contradicts Bridle Gossip, etc., etc.
Rarity isn't a diplomancer, though, she's a thief: entirely different. =P Oh, sure, she can sweet-talk a lot, but in the end her goal isn't to smooth things over but to virtually inhale as much wealth as she can get her hooves on. Or did her performance with the dragon not register? ;p
In any case, a good party relies both on brute force and diplomacy. I'm just saying that diplomancers who are a bit too into it (like the one in my gaming group, she makes it a point to have her character give us a death glare similar to Fluttershy's whenever our characters even talk about going to a bar) need to realize that you gotta be able to fight as well. Hell, even our own diplomancer has started to carry around a few offensive weapons simply because she's tired of relying on others to save her purple chipmunk butt. (Soft Sci-Fi setting, loosely based on Gamma World, so don't ask.)
In any case, a good party relies both on brute force and diplomacy. I'm just saying that diplomancers who are a bit too into it (like the one in my gaming group, she makes it a point to have her character give us a death glare similar to Fluttershy's whenever our characters even talk about going to a bar) need to realize that you gotta be able to fight as well. Hell, even our own diplomancer has started to carry around a few offensive weapons simply because she's tired of relying on others to save her purple chipmunk butt. (Soft Sci-Fi setting, loosely based on Gamma World, so don't ask.)
But how will I convince the DM to let me play a Xorn?
Stop right there Newbiespud. Go listen to David Bowie until you have a strange desire for garish costumes. Then you can continue this comic.
I love making these comments so mulch.
No one can blame you
For walking away
Too much rejection
No love injection
Life can be easy
It's not always swell
Don't tell me truth hurts, little girl
'Cause it hurts like hell (echo)
But down in the underground (oh oh oh oh oh)
You'll find someone true (down underground)
Down in the underground (oh oh oh oh oh)
A land serene (oh oh oh oh)
A crystal moon, ah, ah
It's only forever
Not long at all
Lost and lonely
That's underground
Underground
Daddy, daddy, get me out of here (heard about a place today)
I, I'm underground (nothing never hurts again)
Heard about a place today (daddy, get me out of here)
Where nothing never hurts again (wanna go underground)
Daddy, daddy, get me out of here (wanna go underground)
I, I'm underground (get me underground)
Sister, sister, please take me down (daddy, get me out of here)
I, I'm underground (wanna go underground)
Daddy, daddy, get me out of here
For walking away
Too much rejection
No love injection
Life can be easy
It's not always swell
Don't tell me truth hurts, little girl
'Cause it hurts like hell (echo)
But down in the underground (oh oh oh oh oh)
You'll find someone true (down underground)
Down in the underground (oh oh oh oh oh)
A land serene (oh oh oh oh)
A crystal moon, ah, ah
It's only forever
Not long at all
Lost and lonely
That's underground
Underground
Daddy, daddy, get me out of here (heard about a place today)
I, I'm underground (nothing never hurts again)
Heard about a place today (daddy, get me out of here)
Where nothing never hurts again (wanna go underground)
Daddy, daddy, get me out of here (wanna go underground)
I, I'm underground (get me underground)
Sister, sister, please take me down (daddy, get me out of here)
I, I'm underground (wanna go underground)
Daddy, daddy, get me out of here
There's another Rax here, too. And there's NotRax being a lazy arse somewhere nearby. We're one big Raxxy family!
Can't say I've done alot of popular culture in my DMing, but I have pulled a fun one with an annoying song. I called it the "Ring of Jah'n Jayk'b Jingull Hi'mrr Shmitt" THe players didn't catch it for five whole stanzas that every time someone say John, Jacob, Jingle Heimer or Schmitt in any way shape or form. four ghosts would be summoned saying "that's my name too' in harmony.
...Now that I'm thinking about it, Rarity would make a pretty good fit for the role of Sarah, and the Diamond Dogs could easily replace the goblins, and...
Uh-oh.