Helloooooo! How are you guys doing? It's Travez, and I've got an update for all of you!
So First off, I haven't abandoned "Dragon of the North (Redux)" or "The Dragon and the Bear", or any of my other projects. Far from it! But three major things have happened that I need to inform you guys about, especially as to why I haven't updated them in a while. The First is this… While I did say I have thicker skin against insults to my writing style and to bad criticism overall, in the most recent chapters I got two bad Reviews that just caused me to blow my gasket. The First is the sheer ignorance and assumptions that a certain reviewer gave me, and I will post it right here:
Onasicorp: "Well, I gave it a shot but I cannot keep following this story. Here's why.
You get to be dragonborn, you get to be dragonborn, you all get to be dragonborn.
Singing in the battlefield, I'm siiingin in the battlefield.
Expositioning in the battlefield, I'm eeexpocitionin in the battlefield.
NOOOOOOO that's my uncle. Vengeeeeeeance. *anime crying montage*
Dany, just stay home and have babies.
I know you literally flew over to the capital on the back of a dragon as witnessed by my trusted informants as well as my family but somehow that slipped my mind when preparing for this battle.
Somebody call a chiropractor, I've snapped my own neck reading these back to back POV shifts"
As you can see, this guy really pushed my rage over the edge when he criticized not only my writing style, but also how I was planning things out in general. So First off, Onasi, KNOW YOUR F*CKIN LORE! The Thu'um in The Elder Scrolls Series is a skill that can be taught to anyone with the talent for it, not just the Dragonborn, you ignorant piece of- *Breathes*... Sorry, I nearly lost my head there. Regardless, for anyone in the know about the Thu'um, as I just said, is a skill that can only be taught by those with a talent for it, and the Dragonborn only learn far faster than others because the talent is inborn into them, while it takes anyone with the ability and talent to learn years to master, hence why, a few chapters back, I had Jon teach Samwell Tarly during the timeskip, so enough time would pass so that Sam could find other promising students.
Secondly, I use a writing style called "Drive-By Exposition" where, at a random moment, or a precisely timed one, I will go off on a tangent to explain some lore relevant to the current moment in the story. The Most Famous example I can give, and admittedly the only one I know of, is the famous story known as "Beowulf". Check out "Classics Summarized: Beowulf" by "Overly Sarcastic Productions" on Youtube, they do a better job at explaining what I'm trying to get across than I ever can. As for why that is, I'm autistic, I have a hard time explaining myself, it's how I'm hardwired.
Thirdly, I can't help it that I like having Jon sing, "The Only Thing I Know for Real" is a badass song that pretty much fits Ormr Blodskalm when he enters battle, but not only that, with Jon having the ability to sing, it's pretty much my tribute to Rhaegar Targaryen.
Fourthly, the part about Dany staying home and having kids, yeah, I admit that was kinda my fault as I didn't explain what I had planned to do for Dany very well, if at all, plus I give her so little screen time as it is, and I am to blame for that. But don't think of me as sexist, far from it! I actually have something planned for Dany in the long run, and for the sake of clarity, I'm going to spoil what my plans for Dany entail. First off, Daenerys is a much better politician than Jon, even when I played Ormr in my Skyrim Playthroughs, I'm too good and naive to even think about the worst in people, and I'm too proud and honorable for my own good, just like Ned. However, since I am autistic, I do learn over time, as does Jon, but he is going to become a Daedric Prince, so he won't be able to properly rule his kingdom and govern his new Realm of Oblivion at the same time. Not only that, he's got the Long Night, as well as Alduin, to prepare for. So I'm going to have it that Daenerys is the one who rules Westeros, with Jon actually abstaining from the throne so that she can set things right. Not only that, with Serana's experience, she knows what kind off assholes and asskissers are in the Westerosi Court. That is what I had planned for Daenerys in this story, and I'm sorry to all of you for not being more obvious with what I had planned for her.
Now for the Second Review, or rather second person and his two bad reviews, that really blew my gasket:
By E:
"Hahahah! The White Walkers taking over a Dragon? A Dovah! Hahahah! Don't make me laugh. An immortal, timeless being that has existed since before there was a "it" to exist in. A being which uses the literal strength of will, through their soul, to manifest it's thought into reality, to literally tell reality to be something different and make it so. Ah, yes, White Walkers *definitely* would be able to take command of a being with the literal strength of will to command time to stop and make it so.
What utter clownery.
All Dovah are ridiculously powerful beings in TES lore, you have no reason to fear for any of them being taken advantage of by anything other than magic on the scale and power of the Thu'um. Unless you decide to make the White Walkers first-born creations of a Daedric Prince, or Daedric Lords themselves, this would literally never even conceivably be an issue.
Alright, now I'm going to actually read this story and see if there's any truly abhorrent lore errors."
"Well, never mind. The lore usage wasn't bad, but..uh... how do I say this? The writing is the real issue. Characters have very little personality as far as I can tell. Everyone speaks plainly and extremely straightforward. They say exactly what they mean. It's not like grammar or anything is bad, it's just that there is zero tonal difference for different characters.
This wouldn't be much of a problem if the Exposition-born hadn't cometh, because goddamn 60% of dialog is pure exposition. There's a whole lot of "this is my power, here's where it comes from, how it works, what it does... etc, etc". That's not very fun to read, got to say. Again, I should emphasize that there's very little in the way of actual mistakes, it's just that this story is all tell and no show. Or, at least, there's enough tell to outshine the show.
So, for now, I'm not particularly interested in reading more.
Neat idea, I'm not a fan of the execution."
Okay so first… "E", at least you retracted your previous statement in the first review, so I am thankful you did that! But did you forget that the part where we are being centered in, at the moment, IS THE FRICKIN NORTH!? These guys are all about Honor and Honesty! Plus, I don't know if you know this, you jerk, I'm Autistic, I'm not good with those kind of mind games as I've never used them before! And My frickin style relies on "Drive-By Exposition" and Ormr is pretty much my insider guy on TES Lore for the Northmen who ask him questions!
*Breathes* as you guy can see, this guy really pissed me off by groaning and griping about how I do things, and while the rest of you have no problem with it, it's people like these who leave these reviews that really make me wish I didn't take the time to study my lore to make it match into my stories. It takes me days, possibly even weeks if I'm lucky, to get a new chapter out as I have to constantly reread my previous chapters so I'm not clashing information with the previous chapter, establishing new lore that fits just perfectly into the story, and having to write a bare-minimum of 7,000 words for a chapter, and that last part, so you can see how stressful it is for me to get a chapter out in a timely manner, especially if I'm not high on Bardic Inspiration. (That was a D&D reference and joke).
Now barring my raging and rants above, I genuinely love it when you guys leave reviews, good or bad. Good Reviews spur me on to keep going, while bad reviews, despite how they make me rage, cause me to back off from my projects for a while and focus on real life, as well as rest my brain. So despite how the bad reviews made me rage, I honestly needed the break, as I was burning out my inspiration around that time, and my writing was starting to suffer from Burn-Out. So, despite how angry I got, thank you Onasicorp and E, without you fueling my rage and my spite, I wouldn't have made the decision to take a break, focus on real life, and get my spark back!
So Secondly, the reason why I haven't posted a new chapter since December is because of two other things, the first is that Work is getting really crazy now that the number of Covid Cases are on the rise again in Kodiak, and my parents have caught it. As of writing this, my dad is on the mend and my mother is still fighting through it, but I worry for them. Also, the balance of power at work is starting to shift as one of my managers, Nate, is going to be moving off island soon, and I'm trying to keep up with everyone, add to this we're losing courtesy clerks like flies, and I'm getting more hours and less days off to write because of it, so I'm being burned out before I can even sit at my desk at home and write. So yeah, that is the second reason why I haven't posted in a while.
The Third and Final Reason is due to my recent purchase of a good number of books from D&D Beyond, and this is where the biggest reason why I haven't updated in a while has come from. I have been working on building a ton of different Dungeons and Dragons Parties for future projects, but I need your help in deciding which Parties I will be utilizing in the future. Though to be brief, as of now, the stories from my "Role the Dice" series, "Goblin Slayer" and "Dragonforce" are going to be put on Hiatus until Further Notice. "Heroes of the Realm" is still in the process of reconstruction, I haven't canceled it, but it will be temporarily put on Hiatus until further notice, as I'm currently redoing the backstories, subclasses, and the party composition for the story's future. "Justice" and "Sons of the Demon King" will also be put on hiatus as well.
So, to be short, I will be putting some of my stories on hiatus for the time being, and I will be working on a set of new projects that are currently interesting to me! Stories, 1, 3, and 4 are ones I'm going to be working on soon, whilst Story 2 will be on the backburner until I've completed the necessary preparations for them!
As for the Stories I have to propose to you, I will tell you the members that each of the parties consist of, as well as a Summary of the Story, and my reasons for each party.
Story 1: The King and I
Summary: After a ferocious battle at Castle Toonz, the King discovers a new guy wanting to try out his luck in the big leagues. Joined by H2ODelirious, Gorillaphent, OhmWrecker, and DeadSquirrel, things are about to get crazy really fast. Let's Role the Dice!
Cartoonz: Tiefling, Battlesmith (Artificer)
Delirious: Water Genasi, Arcane Trickster Guild (Rogue)
OhmWrecker: Harengon, Drakewarden Conclave (Ranger)
Gorillaphent: Loxodon, Twilight Domain (Cleric)
DeadSquirrel: Reborn, Path of the Zealot (Barbarian)
Travesty: Metallic (Silver) Dragonborn, Clockwork Soul (Sorcerer)
Explanation: Now this one is a bit of a fantasy on my part, me ending up in a game with Cartoonz and the crew, this is just a dream come true, but since I can't do that IRL, I'll settle for my fantasy being brought to you guys! As for the choices I made for their races and classes, I would like to refer to a certain picture i saw on #CastleToonzArt, which depicted all five members of the Cartoonz Crew, with Ohm and Rilla being King Toonz's guards, Delirious being an assassin-like character, whilst Squirrel is that of another tiny guard. However, the choices I made here are better suited for their character races and for them as a whole. Toonz is often depicted as being devilish in nature and having a lot of Red Stone contraptions in Minecraft, so definitely artificer, plus as a Battle Smith, he can have Xavier around, just not as big. Delirious was chosen to be a Water Genasi because a Water Genasi's abilities can come in handy, especially creating water in a lot of places where there is none, plus he likes to troll people, so this works.
The reason I chose Harengon for Ohm is simply because of a joke made during one of their Dead by Daylight games, where they named "the Huntress" as Ohm's Mother, and since Ohm has a bit of a bunny theme to him sometimes, it makes sense. Also, his house in Minecraft, before Delirious tricked him into blowing it up, was designed as a dragon, so this kind of fits. Gorillaphent was tricky, but the closest I could get was a Loxodon, and those guys are best suited as Clerics, and referring back to that original pic, Gorilla was standing as a guard, so a Twilight Domain Cleric works.
For DeadSquirrel, he likes to rage and take revenge against his friends, and even cause trouble for them for no apparent reason, at least most of the time, so while a rogue would have worked, since he is a Dead Squirrel, Reborn fits best, and Reborn are best designed to be Barbarians, since Barbarians are High Risk High Reward styles of play, which fits Squirrel to a T, and the Reborn's Deathless Nature gives him an extra safety net in case anyone is "down to shoot a squirrel". Then we come to Travesty who is, as you have probably guessed, an alternate version of me, a new player unintentionally blundering his way into the Toonz Crew's game and then learning from them to be a great Let's Player.
Now, for the setting of this Story, it's going to take place in a similar manner to my favorite videos I watched with each of the groups, mostly from Delirious and Cartoonz's videos. The Setting will have it that we will start off within Minecraft, and we will expand into other games I loved from their different LPs, but the rest I'll leave for you guys to guess.
I think I may just do this one for fun, but I want to see if you guys are wanting to see it! So please, if you want to see it, vote for it! I'M BEGGING YA!
Story 2: The Rising of the Four Heroes
Summary: In the Canonical Story, Naofumi's Fellow Heroes were a Gullible and Thickheaded Idiot, an Introverted Loner who couldn't care less about his allies, and an arrogant braggart who just thinks this is a game. What if the First Candidates, Naofumi's original allies, survived? Let's Role the Dice and Find out!
Party:
Kanora Uzumaki: Human (Variant), Oath of the Open Sea (Paladin), Spear Hero
Jigoku Nazoka: Human (Variant), Arcane Trickster Guild (Rogue), Sword Hero
Naofumi Iwatani: Human (Variant), Twilight Domain (Cleric), Shield Hero
Wataru Aozora: Human (Variant), Gloomstalker Conclave (Ranger), Bow Hero
Raphtalia: Shifter (Wild Hunt), Echo Knight (Fighter)
Filo: Aarakocra, Way of Mercy (Monk)
Explanation: Now for this one, I would like to draw special attention to a reviewer named "Drcaus", and to a specific Youtuber named "414Anime". First "Drcaus", he was the one who suggested this idea to me and I was honestly hesitant at first, but then, on a whim, I decided to do a bit of lore diving into the "Rising of the Shield Hero" before I even decide to read the manga and read it for myself. That is when, during my Youtube Search, I found a guy called 414Anime, and his video "WHO/WHAT ARE THEY? The Legendary Heroes and Their Weapons Power EXPLAINED! - Shield Hero" and it explained to me that Naofumi was the only "First Choice" for the Shield to actually survive his transfer into the world of Shield Hero, whilst, more often than not, the Sword, Spear, and Bow's First Choices die mid-transport. However, the word choice "more often than not" means that there are extremely rare instances where the Sword, Spear, and Bow gain their primary candidates, so I'm going to do a bit of a twist of fate here and have it that this story takes place in one of those rare instances the three other Cardinal Weapons actually manage to successfully summon their First Choices, an alternate universe where Naofumi actually gets allies that respect, trust, and even help him. We'll still get Raphtalia and Filo, don't worry about that, but I'm going to make it a bit different on how they meet!
As for their classes, I decided to use the Classic and First Edition Class registry for the Four Cardinal Heroes and use 5e Classes to pick and choose the best ones. This will make it easier for me to track everything, and I can really screw with the world a bit if I want to. But if you guys want this one, know that it will take me a couple months to read through all of the Manga up to it's current point (as of posting this), so be mindful of that. Again thanks Drcaus and 414Anime for inspiring me to take a leap of faith on this one!
Story 3: La Familia Medina
Summary: Reborn into a new World, Traves Medina, a total nerd and D&D Fan, is given a new chance at life… By Being Born as the Fourth of a set of Octuplets, ironically all named after all of his siblings in his previous life. The eight of them are all destined to save this world, but will Traves's memories of his past life influence his current one, or will he find a way to make this work? Let's Role the Dice and Find out!
Party:
Tristan Medina: Dhampir, Echo Knight (Fighter)
Sebastian Medina: Reborn, Soulknife Guild (Rogue)
Moses Medina: Hexblood (Sea Hag), College of Eloquence (Bard)
Traves Medina: Yuan-Ti Pureblood, Clockwork Soul (Sorcerer)
Nakita Medina: Centaur, Gloomstalker Conclave (Ranger)
Christopher Medina: Goliath, Twilight Domain (Cleric)
Marcos Medina: Aasimar (Scourge), Path of the Totem Warrior [Bear] (Barbarian)
Kevin Medina: Glasya Tiefling, Circle of the Moon (Druid)
Explanation: This one is kind of based on me having all of my siblings united as a family, something I personally want but can't have. Kevin and Marcos are my half-siblings in El Salvador, and thanks to several, let's say, shenanigans, my mother and sister are no longer on speaking terms with them. Tristan is a sibling who died before I, or even he, was born. Moise and Christopher are my step brothers who left Kodiak Island for their own reasons, and my sister moved down south with her daughter because she didn't feel safe, not because of us, but because of somebody else. However, though apart, I still feel a bond with these siblings and I want to express this the only way I know how, by playing D&D and creating a story based on the bonds I wish to have.
For each of the members of my family, I decided to base our classes off of Critical Role's first party, Vox Machina, including The Sorcerer Tiberius Stormwind before he was yeeted from the group of his player's own accord. As for the specific family members I chose for each class, Echo Knight fits Tristan due to how it manipulates alternate timelines, plus a few other things that I won't mention.
For Sebastian, and I don't mention this guy lightly due to some recent things I found out during a fight I had with my sister recently, he looks exactly like the monster who ruined my family's lives from when I was a boy to just a few years ago, a former stepfather, whom was this guy's father. I also recently found out this guy is currently in prison, as well as his son, so the Rogue Class fits him well. Still, the few memories I have of Sebastian are good, but I no longer hold him in the same positive light that I used to, so this version of him will be based on the memories I barely recall of him. To me, he is merely a ghost in the back of my mind, so a Soulknife fits.
For Moses, or rather Moise, he was the one who got me into D&D in the first place and thus had been a great guide and instructor for my first game. So a Bard of Eloquence fits due to the fact that he was patient and willing to help me out.
For me, I chose Clockwork Soul because it pretty much represents who I am as a person. As an Autistic individual, order is the order of the day, and I have zero tolerance for Chaotic events unless I know about them beforehand so I can mentally prepare for them. Clockwork Soul allows me to take command of some of the Chaos and pretty much get in the zone. There is also the fact that the Dungeon Dudes had made some suggesting that I flavor some of my spells as a form of time manipulation, and, personally, time magic is my thing! If I ever do a story where I am a Chronurgy Wizard, I will do it!
My sister, Nakita, being a Gloomstalker Ranger is a pretty apt choice as she is still in the middle of a dark time in her life and, unlike me, she simply can't go numb to the trauma we experienced as I have, and thus she has to fight through the darkness, though I am trying to help her. As such, the Gloomstalker best represents who she is now, and the badass I remember her as.
Christopher is a little twerp, not so little anymore, that always got me in trouble but he was my closest friend growing up. Not only that, he was there to help me when I needed it most, and I couldn't be more grateful when he was around. So making him a Cleric is a no-brainer. Especially a Twilight Domain Cleric, as Chris was the one who stared darkness and danger in the face and just said "BRING IT ON!"
Marcos is one of my Half-Brothers in El Salvador, and when I talked with him, he actually asked me to make him a Barbarian. I have no clue why but I can already hear him shouting "I WOULD LIKE TO RAGE!"
And finally, Kevin, he is the second half-brother, and when he told me he wants to be a Doctor in the future, I gave him the option of choosing either the Druid or the Cleric, and he chose the Druid. This left me but with one option, make him a Moon Druid to increase his versatility!
Anyway, this is one of my biggest projects! Even if it doesn't get picked, I hope to do it sometime in the future!
Story 4: Dragonheart
Summary: 3 Decades ago, a historical event known as the Great Revelation broke the bondage that all dragons had to their godly masters. Born of this new found freedom and a once forbidden romance between a Blue and a Bronze, a new Dragon seeks out his destiny. What could possibly go wrong? Let's Role the Dice and Find out! (Homebrew!World, Nerfed!Dragon) [Also: GODDAMMIT BUBSY!]
Party: (This will remain a surprise for now)
Explanation: Now this is a project that got stuck in my head recently as I had been reading through Fizban's Treasury of Dragons and looked carefully in how to create Dragon Characters and re-read some of the variant rules for dragons. This idea was inspired by a wonderful group of people by the names of Davvy Chappy, NooShoak, and MrRhexx, and they were the ones who inspired me to create my first ever pure Dungeons and Dragons Story with my main protagonist being a Dragon, and while I have yet to decide on my dragon's party, I am in love with the concept, plus I'm working on a unique system for my Dragon PC (which I nearly have down just right), and if you guys like it, I'll create a challenge for it where you guys create your own D&D Dragons using the rules in Fizban's where you create a dragon as the main character for your story!
Anyway, this is everything I have to explain for now. Both "The Dragon and the Bear" and "The Dragon of the North (Redux)" will be given their next proper chapters once I get my D&D fix, so please "bear" with me for a bit, and I promise I won't disappoint. Sorry for this long winded rant and update, but I need to explain to you all what is going on so that, if you're still interested later, I can at least post some proper stories for you guys in the meantime. Catch ya on the Flipside!