HaNaYaMaTa

HanaYaMaTa is one of the cutest Moe anime I have watched in ages. Set in modern Japan it is about a group of jr. high aged girls who all are awkward or lonely somehow finding one another and finding confidence and happiness through yosaki dancing. Throughout the story the young characters collect their confidence while facing various trials.

One of my favorite parts about this anime was that the art style was GORGEOUS. Vivid pastels and beautiful backgrounds made for a stunning mix.

The end of the anime actually brought me to tears. It had such a touching sentiment of the meaning of friendship... a sentiment I have never really fully gotten to enjoy the feeling of like people often express feeling. I am glad it was only 12 episodes, it went to all the basic young girl trope locations (hot springs, beach, bathtub, school roof, karaoke) and anything more might have been over doing it.

Finishing up discussing DMing for this week 3/3 for the week

Urg so the reason this is three seperate posts is because blogger does not like to let me write really long posts on my tablet... and I am too lazy to get out of bed and get on a PC to finish this...

Anyway a player told me tonight that they feel I am a really good DM. That I make the experiance immersive and fun and that they don't feel rail roaded. This is the ultimate compliment. I am running a game out of a book for heavens sake... and they don't feel railroaded. People are telling me they are having fun. I am doing something right!

The best part is...*I* am having fun. I am not stressed by the crazy, it is more just fun. I enjoy the feeling of being in charge of a world. Creating things, having people laugh and have fun because of something I have organized. It is the first time in a very long time that I have felt that I am doing the right thing, and people appreciate me for my efforts. 

I crave more of this feelings, I want to DM more, I want to think of ways to deal with antics more! Bring it on. I am a Dungeon Master now, I  won't let anxiety hold me back. Peace out and may my dice ever roll in your favor. ;)

Chapter 1: Or how my players messed things up and I didn't even care.

So this rant has spoilers for Hoard of the Dragon Queen Chapter 1. If you are playing D&D encounters and your character is level 1, or you are not yet playing this module but plan to. Please don't read this rant. I want you to enjoy the game without being spoiled to what happens. If you are a DM or otherwise not interested in playing HotDQ, read on.

So first adventure starts. I am nervous. What if I don't like DMing, what if my players think I suck? What if I fuck up and the entire party TPKs first adventure what if what if what if. But swallowing my fear I allow myself to 'jump in' and start dming.

Right off the bat with the first combat I know things are insane. The sorcerer is fucking things up. The group runs into cowering villagers and he decides a young girl is now his 'women' he drags her around like a rag doll with him.... then the Rogue makes rolls and suddenly he has a Kobald slave... OK then... great... the poor girl is still trying to escape from the Sorcerer and failing miserably. The plot starts in a Keep in the middle of the town, so I am trying to direct them to the plot... they seem more intersted in loots. Too much Skyrim...

So I bring the first key plot point in. A family running from Cultists and Kobalds. The Sorcerer is attracted to the Wife. He does not succeed at seducing her... but they are not helping the villagers either and are not heading for the keep. So to try and encourage them I decide to descend a small army of 30 kobalds on the city. I am hoping they will run for the Keep. Of COURSE they did not. They decide to bunk up in a two story house near by and fight off the Kobald army. So... what do we do? How do we get them out and running for the keep? Blue dragon... THAT will work... So I have the kobalds 'summon' the dragon (who is being controlled) and instead of running away they decide to face it. The summoner is on the roof with his village girl (who is engaged to a candle maker) and trying to negotiate with the dragon. The Druid and Rogue are shooting Kobalds from inside... the Barbarian is guarding the door... The dragon breath attacks the Sorcerer. This would kill him... so he 'sacrifices a virgin' aka the villager girl. Then decides to try and destroy the roof the dragon is on... And succeeds... now they are trying to bring the building down on the dragon... I NEED this dragon later... SHIT they have him trapped... FUCK FUCK FUCK. Oh look dragons have legendary save abilities... they can CHOOSE to make a save, fuck this guys. The dragons escapes... the barbarian is buried in rubble...

We all decide we need more kobald slaves. Rolls are made... they have three now... FUCK. Ok I have finally got them to the keep thank fucking god. Instead of offering to help the governer they are demanding tribute to help him. He offers them nobel titles after someone suggests it...  I am going to give them the shittiest titles ever... but hey they are going to give them.

Writing this I realize that it is 6.20am... I have to be on a bus to go to work in 2 hours and I am not a wink tired... oh well.

Anyway... the Governor gets them to go save a burning mill... on the way they decide to get horses. The rogue steals the nicest horse he can find, a black horse with two rotten teeth. The dwarf takes a normal horse... and the Sorcerer takes a Mule and ropes a pitchfork to it to make it a 'battle mule' and then names it Kelly. Yes... Kelly. If you get that reference fml yeah he went there.

They barge out the front gate mauling accultists left and right, another kobald joins them... as well as an ambush drake. When they get to the mill the ambush drake runs into his mate and leaves. I will bring them back later.  They are ambused at the mill... nothing phases them... heads are exploded off and caught in the air. Brains are rubbed on balls... spears are dodged... failure to knock hay off a loft happens... and that is where it stopped...

Oh and they have a guard on their side now. Yes. My PCs currently have 4 kobalds and a mercenary guard army.


So besides all that... I THINK they are ACTUALLY having fun. One of my players told me tonight that the

Becoming a Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Master: Also known as the final pit into being a nerd. No turning back now

So It has finally happened. My obsession/passion for D&D has led me down the darkest deepest path it could. I have sacrificed my sanity and security and taken up the cloak of the ages, I have accepted my role and position within nerds... wait this is making me sound far too formal.

A few months ago Wizards of the Coast finally published their newest format of D&D. D&D Next. I had been quite unpleased with D&D 4th edition. 4th felt too... simplified... while at the same time too complicated. It was swimming with rules for kiting and ways to torment players who were not min maxers with tactics that really should not matter. It dumbed down on the loved classes into pretty much the same thing. Ya had your dailys, your at wills and your ect ects. It was boring. It was terrible, and through many attempts only my fav DM ever made it even slightly good and that was only because he is a Master at his craft(even if he is incredibly anxious all the time and that anxiousness rubbed off a bit on me about D&D). I liked 3.5, but as a player alone it was daunting to play with its dozen of released books. I could not even BEGIN to imagine DMing such a lofty world. Pathfinder seems to be the worlds favorite alternative... but despite many attempts to get into Pathfinder, it too felt like lots of rules and little fun and too much for me to get involved in. (oh God, you are probably thinking this is a novel, and right now it is about to get there. Apparently I have lots to ramble on the subject and not enough venues to ramble it at). So 5th came out recently... and I picked up my PH1 and I liked it, I playtested the final Product with said favorite DM AND at Pax Prime 2014. My love did not decrease. I then attended a D&D encounters night at my local game store and I realized something while I attended. I could DO THIS. I could DM. I had all these ideas in my head that needed to escape.

So I asked my friend that I am in a pathfinder game with if they would attend my D&D game... I was suprised that they were super supportive. Even understanding that I was a new DM and there would be fuck ups. So it happened. I grabbed a copy of 'Hoard of the Dragon Queen' off of Amazon and started a weekly game.

Diving feet first into a world of madness. I did not pick tame players, I did the opposite. I picked the one player i have EVER seen make my fav DM stumble. I took him into my game cause he was a friend I considered close and a compatriot in the war of my workplace. I had a clue what I was into, and unlike the failed time i attempted to playtest Next... I was at sorta peace with the idea. I didn't invite the player I KNEW liked tactics, I did not invite my coworker who loves D&D but constantly belittles me. I invited the people cheering me on and took on them as my first real party. This was MY D&D group and I was going to make it work.

So my players ended up as the following.

A human sorcerer outlander who is the soul of a dragon but does not KNOW he is a dragon in a human body. This is my insane player, and he is playing an insane character. It is fitting. Apparently this character is a character he has been testing poor DMs with for years. Nikki J. The player is an ex coworker of mine and I feel we connect in some insane way. I am in his pathfinder game currently.

The next is a... I can't tell you his race Rouge Scholar (how do I not know his race... maybe because he does not mention it... wait... I think he is elf something or other... but seriously how do I not know it) played by the crazy players close friend whom I met at a gaming con the week before I joined my Pathfinder game, it was a magical coincidence... His character is sassy... just like him.

My life partner is playing a dwarf barbarian noble. Not much to say about him, my partners playstyle is to remain silent unless he feels there is a hole in the other players tactics, then he steps in. With the above two playing... there is not much of a hole for him to fill...so normally he just bounces around the house eating food or harassing cats or just watching the madness.

My final player is one of my coworkers who happens to be my boss. She is playing a wood elf Druid outlander. She is pretty much the soul of the group, letting the players know when their actions will hurt animals and healing the dumb ass Sorcerer when he gets himself knocked to zero hp... AGAIN.

I will add more details in my next post!

The World is Still Beautiful

 The World is still beautiful is a female character centric fantasy anime, with very serious tones covered up by comedic moments. It centers around a young girl being sent by her father to marry a King. A very powerful king. (OK stop reading here if you don't want spoilers)

The  anime does an incredibly good job at focusing on the struggles of a royal person's life. The main female heroine, Nike comes from a laid back secretive country where it is always raining. Her people have magical weather powers, and are some of the only people in the world with magic. She travels to the land of the Sun King, to be his wife(which it later turns out was not suppose to happen) and finds herself betrothed to a dark boy with the soul of a man, who has let hatred swell over his heart. She spends a good portion of the anime showing him the meaning of beauty in the world.

One thing I really like about this anime is that it shows the unromantic sides of being royalty. The stresses of being relied on, the people trying to prove you wrong constantly, even the sadness of two people in love when they don't get to see one another because of other responsibilities. 

The funniest characters are probably the circle of old delgate men, who are lechers and think that they should be involved in everything. They are the comic relief that brings a giggle to your mouth even in the most serious of episodes.

In the end I really enjoyed this anime, because it tells the tale of a light hearted loving girl being forced to face acting like a royal delegate, and a serious heavy hearted boy finding joy in life. Like any healthy relationship, they balance each other and become a wonderful unit that is to be admired.

Hatoful Boyfriend: Nageki Route aka I HAZ FEELS

So today the famous Hatoful boyfriend came out on steam. I begged my boyfriend to buy me a copy (I had burned all my cash at PAX/Kumoricon the last weekend). I was expecting humor. I was expecting pidgins. I was expecting to get bored. What was I NOT expecting? Tears. Yeah no, that was not on the menu, plan, whatever.

SPOILERS AHEAD.

So I started playing and automatically went for the book nerd in the library. Nageki. Who would NOT go for the library nerd? I guess non-book lovers... but anyhow... I found the bird puns... amusing... at best. Whatever though. A bird pun is a pun and will get my eye rolls but will be accepted. My boyfriend was such a loner, he never went anywhere with me, I never saw him outside of the library. A bit of a downer, but hey my grades were GREAT because I spent so much time studying in the library. What I did not expect? My boyfriend committed suicide and is a ghost and as he tells me he loves me, he disappears. NOOOOO I wanted to have your babies ;_;

So that was how the game ended. I actually cried.  God forbid the other routes bring such an emotion forth.

drift

On this isolated plain, abandoned I stare
Wording driftings towards me, lies a fake care
Conquest and Hormones, tides of titillation
Yet there they drift on the current

My pulse ever pumping, cursed liquid through
This life is a torment, dreamed or lived
I wander in circles without a reply
I anticipation freedoms, but they all die

As words sink in slowly, the sands intermix
I can't reply lowly, I can't find my lips
The curse is returing, ever again
Loyalties faulty, severed within

Into the waters of life and its sin
I sink far too heavy, can't even swim
Faulted for trying, ruined if not
I close off the walls, safe in my inn