Right, I don't want to clog the feed so I think maybe I should keep my thoughts on RQG(Hamid) in the comments on this post unless/until I get my thoughts together enough to make a tumblr post.
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- shy_magpie - Cross posted from tumblr: I warned you this show was giving me feels
- shy_magpie - cross posted from tumblr: Concerning Mr. Ceiling:
- shy_magpie - Tumblr x post:Not done posting about episode 55 of Rusty Quill Gaming apparently:
- shy_magpie - RQG 56
- shy_magpie - RQG 57-more or less a live blog
- shy_magpie - RQG 58
- shy_magpie - RQG 59
- shy_magpie - RQG 60
- shy_magpie - (no subject)
- shy_magpie - RQG 61
- shy_magpie - RQG 62
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Date: 2019-07-04 01:15 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2019-07-10 01:54 pm (UTC)From:Which in turn points to why I fell for the show: so many would have gone for a cheap "prison subplot" where Zolf is abused physically or sexually by the guards, other prisoners, or both, to the point I was bracing for it. Instead Alex basicly said "nope I'm building this world and the worst he has to contend with is getting addicted to a series of romance novels the guard cheerfully shares with him."
no subject
Date: 2019-07-10 01:34 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2019-07-11 11:44 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2019-07-11 11:45 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2019-07-11 11:55 am (UTC)From:It would have been so easy for her character to go to far in the other direction and make a bunch of plans "for Hamid's own good". Instead she isn't asking why he is afraid, just taking it as read that if he is then he has his reasons and asking what he needs to feel safe.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-11 12:01 pm (UTC)From:Cross posted from tumblr: I warned you this show was giving me feels
Date: 2019-08-03 01:59 pm (UTC)From:Bryn and Ben working together to bring out the bitterness in the ashes was not expected but was masterfully done. Zolf was almost as broken by seeing they really “won” as Hamid was at the end of last season when he saw they could never know if they won. I am a sucker for a leader taking on the pain and guilt for what their team has done at the best of times and Ben played Zolf’s taking on all the guilt over everything that happened since the Ordinators went down with a deft hand. This was quite painful enough without twisting the knife by showing how it was also covering for the more personal pain of not being able to help directly like Sasha & Bertie. Bryn used Hamid’s dialogue well to draw out Zolf so that we can see the inner workings of a character who doesn’t like talking about his feelings, while keeping both of them in character.
Zolf wheeling himself to his room alone after declaring himself helpless was hard enough on my heart without Bryn gleefully leaving us with the image of Hamid ugly crying locked outside Zolf’s door. The argument over whether they did the right thing still echoing as I remember that Hamid almost unilaterally made the decision to start the attack on Mr. Ceiling, and how that might affect his need to believe that it was The Right Thing. Poor kid sees things as very black and white at the best of times, and even if Zolf legitimately sees it as something the team did, he did basically say Hamid killing Mr. Ceiling killed thousands of people.
PS. Screw Bertie for teasing Zolf for crying, especially with hindsight showing us that Zolf saw the kid as his victim. Bless Sasha for trying to make them understand that the poor were already suffering and the Ordinators kept it out of sight rather then the system going down caused all the pain.
PPS: Yes I know I hop scotch around the 4th wall, talking here about Bryn’s art and there about Hamid’s feelings but this isn’t Sherlock Holmes, we aren’t playing the Great Game, and this is already a very meta format. So while I debated editing this to pick a perspective; it is much more in keeping with how I heard it to be flitting between admiration at Ben’s performance and pain at seeing how hard Zolf was taking it.
cross posted from tumblr: Concerning Mr. Ceiling:
Date: 2019-08-03 02:00 pm (UTC)From:and the team really did take one look at it and go “what if GLaDOS but baby?”
then they named the idea he built the entire world around “Mr. Ceiling” and I think he might be holding grudge. Might not be healthy for player characters to have a GM with a grudge.
Tumblr x post:Not done posting about episode 55 of Rusty Quill Gaming apparently:
Date: 2019-08-03 02:02 pm (UTC)From:Can we talk about Zolf’s reaction to being given a vision of HIS GOD? He is a cleric, one of the biggest arguments he has had with the team was because he literally wanted to kill for his god. He is having an actual mental breakdown, is clearly longing for guidance or a sign he is doing the right thing. Perfect time for a vision, right?
His actual first reaction is “what do you want?”, then he demands his god communicate clearly because he is 100% Done with symbolism and mysterious ways. In his first vision he is drowning, his god offers a symbol of his religion to save him. So Zolf folds his arms and lets himself drown, making eye contact with his god the whole time. When he wakes up he throws a decanter of water(symbol of Poseidon) out the window.
Dear lord that is a mood! Be clear, be useful, or GTFO
Re: Tumblr x post:Not done posting about episode 55 of Rusty Quill Gaming apparently:
Date: 2019-08-03 02:49 pm (UTC)From:RQG 55
Date: 2019-08-04 10:19 am (UTC)From:2)Gotta love Ben’s take on being a cleric, most clerics are happy to get visions from their god and would be thrilled at a visible sign of favor.
Zolf isn’t just looking the gift horse in the mouth, he is asking for the receipt.
3)Bryn how are you making Hamid’s pep talks wring out all the man pain in Zolf? Also don’t think I missed that allusion to your back story young man.
4)Hamid’s pain (at Zolf’s pain and at not being able to do more for Paris) is so heart wrenching it gets its own line item. Also re framing the legs not as a sign from Poseidon that they did the right thing (which would be the most important thing to Hamid) but as giving Zolf back his choices (the most important thing to Zolf) was a beautiful show of sincere empathy. Is actual baby, 10/10 would ache to protect again
4A)Bryn you are playing a naive halfling that wants to do the Right Thing while slowly turning into a dragon, adding a redemption arc wasn’t necessary to make me love Hamid. Either I am an actual cliche, the fandom gods granted me a boon beyond my worth, or he got a list of what I checked out from the middle school library. Teen!Me hasn’t felt this catered to since Jupiter Ascending
5) Sasha is the competent one yet again! We believe in direct action! Love her and the gargoyles! Love her telling Zolf its not about deserving the legs, its only fair because none of the others had to earn their legs.
6) Always troubling when someone says “Bertie’s right”, and having him kick off them making a bid to take responsibility for their actions is just deeply unnatural.
7)Just before starting this season I was in the tags for the show, and I saw a reference to Hamid/Zolf. At the time I didn’t ship it, but I kinda see it now and am half way between wanting to know who to blame and wondering if its to early to shake down AO3 for fic.
RQG 56
Date: 2019-08-03 02:17 pm (UTC)From:Alex was awfully sarcastic about the “3 toddlers in a trench coat” joke when the bad guys were in fact 4 gnomes in 2 trench coats. On the other hand, he can rewrite the universe on whim, so that raises the almost scary question of whether they were always gnomes in trench coats.
Like yes, this medium draws attention to its own artificiality; but I keep picturing it as a couple of human fighters upgraded to the eyebrows by Mr. Ceiling. A pop as they feel a change rippling through the universe. Their eyes widening as they discover their bottom halves are now gnomes, widening further as they realize they themselves are gnomes.
Wow, I was expecting Zolf to appreciate a problem he could punch but Hamid seems to be, well let’s just say finding it cathartic. Don’t get me wrong he’s always going to be my baby dragon but is this how he processes after a difficult conversation like he had with Zolf? Like, I got that being told killing Mr. Ceiling was a mistake brought up some issues but he seriously going to cook a criminal whenever he has to deal with a nuanced moral outlook?
On a lighter note gotta love this team: butts kicked by an old man who was running away, winning with style against a circus of mafia gnome acrobats.
Lastly, I haven’t dealt much with gnomes before: is gnomes even the right plural? Does it need to be conjugated? Is there a preferred gnomenclature?
RQG 57-more or less a live blog
Date: 2019-08-03 02:22 pm (UTC)From:Seriously *@#% Bertie, I know he was designed to be a “love to hate” character, but I wasn’t really past eye-rolling into hate until this episode. On the other hand James sounds like he is having fun.
Bertie being Bertie did give the other characters a chance to shine as they tell him off.
I know Hamid wears his heart on his magical sleeves, but blood thirsty is a new look for him. Not sure how I feel about it. To be fair someone who hordes food in a situation like Paris as a cheap power play is really objectively kill worthy.
Do you accidentally worship a god? Poor Zolf is not prepared for this conversation.
Hamid “said ‘be quiet the way world leaders say the words ‘peace now’” “with an under current of threat and bombing?”
Bertie NO! Actually that line about running the world banks nearly crossed the line for me; It would have hurt more if the other characters hadn’t immediately told him to stop.
Ya know what I’m giving Zolf a pass on killing the gnomes. The one they interrogated said they were going to be killed by Le Gourmand, and the only point in killing your own for getting captured is to make an example of them. Death as object lesson sounds like an ugly way to go. If you gotta go, then a sudden, clean death by a professional beats is no where near as bad as it could be. Plus I missed it was Hamid proposing they go through with it, so Zolf waited until the team at least mostly agreed with him and had talked through the options.
RQG 58
Date: 2019-08-03 02:25 pm (UTC)From:Hamid, breathes fire, yet butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth
I mentioned Hamid’s black and white thinking before but I am getting a little concerned about how he just writes people off as fair game. Cross the line, get cooked.
Actually is Hamid blood thirsty or is it Bryn?
Hamid to Zolf: Hey remember how I had moral objections to killing someone out of combat? I found a great loophole! If you shoot them after they threaten us (and try to bribe the team into betraying each other), they are technically in combat!
Orc roars in Bertie’s face: ro-ar!
Bertie: breath mints!
I know it’s a cheap joke but it’s lines like that which keep Bertie amusing enough not to bring down the show
Breaking into a locksmith? Avoid dealing with the locks at all by going through the wall.
Of course Wilde is a bard
Bertie opens the door gets very shot. Next turn, Bertie closes the door.
Alex and the dice don’t seem to agree on how useful/powerful Wilde is. Reminds me of the spell caster (from the group who stole the plans in season 1) who they killed before he could show off all the cool abilities Alex had planned.
Sasha is not going to let it go that they forbade her from looting the place; I agree.
Hamid/Bryn’s priorities of sleep and food are so practical/relatable it’s funny. Gosh he resents having to fight without magic.
Bertie cheerfully offering to be human shield justifies his existence
Wow no kill like over kill, eh team?
Guys check for archers with a hat on a mop or something not your hand! or worse your head
Bertie’s reaction to the tank was funny enough I have to admit that I like him again.
RQG 59
Date: 2019-08-03 02:28 pm (UTC)From:Alex, re: a roll to look for an archer: I got good news and bad news: bad news you did get an arrow to the face; good news you know there is an archer and you know where they are.
Bertie, you can clear one roof of archers or stick with the team and get away from /all/ the archers
I thought Zolf had armor. How much of their stuff did they leave at the hotel? Or do they have their stuff with them but Zolf didn’t have time to put his armor on
I think the old woman was supposed to be a joke but frankly I’m impressed: first archers then Bertie invade and her response is “eat bat”
Huh, this is a good show: I think this is the first time Sasha got stuck in the classic “helpless damsel” position and Zolf notes his carrying her is just a call back to how she carried him in the past.
Zolf: I’m gonna spend an action dithering.
Nice highlight of player vs character knowledge: Bryn being frustrated that Hamid being careful as he drags him, means Bertie doesn’t get the “slap” to wake him.
RQG 60
Date: 2019-08-03 02:34 pm (UTC)From:Sasha is great, just because you are fleeing doesn’t mean you can’t do it with style
Holy exposition dump Batman! I thought Wilde was allergic to direct answers. Someone is taking over Prague by extortion/providing order in the post Mr. Ceiling world at a price?
That’s my Hamid! Use your leverage to get guarantees that Paris is being taken care of better than you could by staying!
Ever practical Zolf, ever self interested Bertie
Bertie getting anything called “the circlet of command” sounds like an incredibly bad idea
I appreciate Zolf having a complicated relationship with the new legs
Concerning the flying thing: That’s the Wilde that Alex has been promising us!
Zolf is almost too practical sometimes - breaking the window is technically more efficient than finding the door, I guess, but it’s not like you don’t know doors must exist
Really seeing the personalities on display as they deal with the gnomes:
Bertie: puts every bit of posh he has in addressing them just assuming they will be thrilled to serve as soon as they recognize him as old blood
Sasha: tackles 2 at once, then declares they mean no harm
Hamid: yells they can pay
Zolf: actually provides relevant information
Great bit with Hamid switching from sweet to “not born yesterday” when they try to take advantage; then paying even after they threatened the gnomes into helping, exasperated at the others.
I love how Sasha loves tech
I also love how Bryn is going to stick that “experience is what people call their mistakes” joke if he has to spoon feed them the reference. As Bryn: I’m being terribly witty and none of you are appreciating it!
no subject
Date: 2019-08-03 02:35 pm (UTC)From:I am listening to the episodes faster than I am posting my liveblogs because I have a thing about posting too much on any one subject, so I queue the posts and try to alternate my posts with some of the great fanworks out here. This is along way of saying that I just listened to episode 69 and I miss Zolf. Grizzop is fine, but he isn’t Zolf. Everyone else is celebrating Zolf coming back in the current episodes and I’m just starting to really feel it. The first couple eps it was mostly practical concerns, them tidying up the paperwork, dealing with the loot and being me being mad that I can’t actually find a flaw in his logic.(1)
Now they are getting back to normal play and I feel so weird about it; like I am half a step away from screaming “you’re not my real healer”, slamming the door, playing loud music. There is nothing wrong with Grizzop, we get to keep Ben as a player, and on one level I am finding both of them delightful. On the other every time we hit that “Grizzop hasn’t actually had anytime or reason to bond with them” note or a silence where I would expect Zolf to say something leader-y, it hurts. You’d think the meta nature of the format would keep even my melodramatic butt from getting this worked up, especially since they put him on a bus, not killed him off, but I think that duality between what I think I should be feeling and what I feel is dragging things out. Especially because I like this fandom and am like actually scared of falling out of love with this show.
I better post this before I chicken out. This was supposed to be a quick note explaining why I might come across as angry at Bertie and Zolf even though they don’t deserve it (well Zolf doesn’t) and turned into some kind of processing /thing/
1)Zolf was having a mental health crisis for a while now, and when you become a danger to your own people, you thank Poseidon you didn’t succeed then you remove yourself from the situation. Bertie can’t leave at the same time (even if I think Zolf fired him at one point) because without Hamid around to keep an eye on him gods know what he’d do, to the quest or to anyone who got in his way. That Zolf got to leave on good terms with Sasha and Hamid was an unexpected grace. That I found out he was coming back before I got the episode where he left is some comfort.
RQG 61
Date: 2019-08-03 02:38 pm (UTC)From:Sasha gets to pilot!
Finally someone who doesn’t show their belly as soon as they see someone with ties to the meritocracy
Zolf sounds so resigned to being the adult in the room when he says they won’t kill Wilde
Sky pirates!
Sincere Wilde is troubling
aw Sasha is worse than me about monologuing to show affection
That’s my Hamid. Everyone spends their limited time to say goodbye. He casts message to speak unobserved. Just because he is free with his emotions doesn’t mean he isn’t clever.
Correction, Sky Rebels!
I love this ship. “we respect his craft” is a joke about Alex but his worldbuilding is great and he doesn’t shy from giving the audience what they want.
Poor Zolf, he hates flying almost as much as he hates being vulnerable in front of everyone
World building logistics!
Hamid has priorities, Bryn just wants his blasted spells back
Sasha and I are falling for the captain
Zolf is so how I feel on boats. Most people play up the nausea when acting but in reality it’s mortifying so you pretend everything is fine even as you can’t do anything but cling to the ship.
Poor sweet Sasha, I get what the captain thought she was doing but that barrel roll was mean
Bertie is the opposite of “they grow on you”, terribly charming before you realize that he is horrible.
I thought the captain was a bit too willing to trust them once Wilde was off the ship. I can’t blame her for holding Sasha hostage for answers
Using Bertie’s history with Wilde was a good idea. A half truth usually more effective than a full lie. Plus no chance of the captain finding the picture and calling them out like could have happened if they stuck to “we met in Paris, we’re just retreating from the city together”
Zolf, bless him, going for intimidation: on her ship, while out numbered, out gunned, and air sick
All hands on deck we have Zolf backstory!
Tech Sasha!
I don’t care if the first thing they do is showing its flaws, I *want* that table/magnetic dinner kit
Oh wow, after getting hints and glimpses of backstory, getting this much on Zolf at once feels indulgent especially since he plays things close to his chest. Last time we learned about him, he only spoke up because he was under arrest. Now he is learning about this stuff in front of the whole team.
Nice tying in Sasha’s backstory.
Zolf’s voice gets so low when he feels vulnerable, great acting but hard to hear on my phone speaker.
Sasha is so sweet and awkward reassuring Zolf they all have family stuff.
Poor Sasha: so eager to impress the captain, then having to pass off her surprise at her old benefactor being mentioned as choking on water.
Thanks Zolf! Spelling out her connection to Fines is one way to repay Sasha for trying to comfort you!
Gnomish Amelia Earhart?
Bryn with the Wilde quote references again. Nickle says he and/or Hamid are youngest children. As a youngest child, trying to earn the spot light with humor is familiar.
RQG 62
Date: 2019-08-03 02:41 pm (UTC)From:They joke but the little character bits like picking up a ham hock is exactly the kinda thing that keeps me tuning in
Dragon? Dragon! Dragon! Dragon! Yes I know they are the dubiously moral self appointed rulers of the world, but dragons are always awesome
Poor Zolf! I think he would rather have fallen off the ship completely than have everyone see him go overboard is such an undignified manner.
Screw the table I need that book case
Zolf I know you have issues but when someone offers to outfit you at least consider it. If Sasha and Bertie find out, they will agree on something for the first time in their lives, and that is you should take the free stuff.