Stupid Idea: Gotrek And Felix RPG In The Style Of The Mario & Luigi Games.

Are the dwarves in Tolkien's works actually anti-Semitic or is that another thing that comes from Norse myths? I don’t know how much of The Hobbit was based on Norse stuff (the premise and size of Thorin’s company come from Beowulf), but two of the famous dwarves from Norse myth are famous for their greed, Andvari and Fafnir. Andvari had a lot of gold and a cursed ring, and then when Fafnir got the ring, his greed was so great that he became a dragon (probably where the concept of dragon sickness comes from), and his presence is sometimes said to have poisoned the land.

Either way, modern dwarves seem to have mostly grown past the anti-Semitic stuff.

thoughts on goblins in the DRG universe?

(I don't really like goblins as a concept bc of antisemitic story behind them)

But would be cool to see other sentient little creatures in DRG that are not dwarves

I really hope the MCU doesn't try to do Beta Ray Bill

Honestly, at this point, they can't do him justice. He story is entwined with Thor and Asgard's so much that if the MCU tried to adapt Beta Ray Bill, he'd end up a different character.

In the three origin stories for him I've seen (comic, Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and The Super Hero Squad Show) he enters the story by kicking Thor's ass, before doing the impossible and being the first person (other than Thor) to lift Mjolnir. He then goes on to earn himself a new hammer (given by Odin in both the comic and Earth's Mightiest Heroes versions, and by Mjolnir is Super Hero Squad) named Stormbreaker, and become Thor's sworn brother.

Bill is also thoroughly connected to Marvel's version of Ragnarök. Surtur destroyed Korbin, Bill's homeworld, (except in The Super Hero Squad Show continuity) and Thor meets Bill on a ship full of Korbinite refugees who are in stasis. Later on, Bill fights alongside the Asgardians during Ragnarök, before Thor teleports him away, as he doesn't wish to see Bill die and believes Bill should be with his people.

In the current comics, Stormbreaker has been destroyed and Bill wields Surtur's sword, Twilight. However even if the MCU gave Bill this weapon, I don't think it will work, as most of Bill's character development and story, happed with or alongside Thor's. I wish we could have gotten the "Ballad of Beta Ray Bill" storyline in Thor: Ragnarök instead of the "Planet Hulk" lite stuff we did get.

Watching all these social media platforms spiraling into disgust, I really think we need to consider alternatives. And I’m not really talking about finding different social media platforms, either, but rather changing the way we engage with and reach the content we want to see online.

As things stand now, we’re really just being corralled into ad-revenue pens at our own expense (i.e. being forced to see toxic content that’s terrible for our mental health but great for their engagement). It’s not for our benefit. It’s for theirs. In fact, we often get punished by their algorithms because we don’t post at their pace or share the kind of content they want.

But we’re stuck because we don’t feel like we have any other options, right? Because that’s the only way we can reach people and share our creations, right? To be honest, I’d rather subscribe to newsletters and visit personal blogs or websites. I’d rather pay modest, reasonable amounts to access a creator’s work than force them to rely on ad revenue from the more ravenous. But I don’t think we’re ready for that as a whole…

I feel like it should be noted that primary weapons are usually weapons that cannot be stores, like polearms.

How many weapons is it practical for a fantasy character to carry?

Assuming no magic is involved, the answer might be more than you’d expect!

Patreon - everything else

Finally making that post about Loki

I hate how many people look at Loki (especially with a post-Marvel lens) and act like the Christian writers turned him from a generally heroic gender-fluid god into a Satan-esque villain. It’s like these people only read the parts of the myths that support this claim and then ignore every other myth that Loki is in.

First off with the gender-fluid stuff, he only turns into a female three or four times (one of them is theorized to be Loki but never outright confirmed). All of these times are a different race (Horse, Aesir, Jotun), and all situational. The horse is to lure away Svadilfari and stop the builder from finishing Asgard’s wall , the Aesir (never stated what race his is here) is to accompany Thor as his bridesmaid to make sure the plan works (and probably watch Thor be embarrassed by the dress he’s wearing) (Þrymskviða), another as the Aesir to learn about Baldur’s weakness to mistletoe, and the final one is to stop Baldur from coming back to life after Loki got him killed. I’m pretty sure Loki turns into a bird more often. Finally in the Lokasenna, he and Odin insult each other for doing unwomanly things, Odin doing magic and Loki giving birth to children (yes plural), and then Frigg (or Freyja) pretty much tells them to leave their skeletons in the closets.

Secondly, there is a post I’ve seen a couple times (and it is what inspired me to make this post) by @incorrectnorse-quotes where they got a message saying Loki is a faithful husband. The problem with this is that it forgets that Angrboda exists. Loki has had sex with three people that with children coming from them, and he claims a fourth. The three he has children from are; Svadilfari (Sleipnir), Angrboda (Fenrir, Hel(a), and Jormungandr), and his wife Sigyn (Vali and Narfi). He (and Odin at one point) claims to have had sex with Thor’s wife Sif. That claim is said by Loki during the Lokasenna, after Sif says he can’t say anything bad about her.

Finally while I agree that he isn’t the devil figure some make him out to be, he definitely isn’t what I would consider a good person (some people seem to think he is the nicest person in Asgard). For example, he once completely plucked out a woman’s (Sif’s) hair, for no given reason (an event which led to the creation of Mjolnir). Another example is the murder of Baldur (which we are probably missing some context to, but I’m working off the context we have), where he gets Baldur killed for “complaining about nightmares of his death.” My final example comes from the Lokasenna again, where the entire story is “Loki crashes a party, uses an old oath to stop from getting kicked out, insults almost everyone at the party (except Thor), admits to killing Baldur, then leaves.”

Also I’m not sure what version of the builder myth OSP was using, but in the version I'm familiar with the Aesir only agree to a deal with the builder (after shorting his time from three seasons to one) because of Loki’s advice, which is why they have him fix the problem.

All things considered, Loki seems to be Asgard’s resident asshole and occasional problem solver.

For a more in depth look I’d recommend this essay by Reddit user u/rockstarpirate, where he talks also about Norse gender views. (Warning it’s 21 pages)

Whenever an artist who makes dark content gets outed as a sexual predator people will be like 'aha it was obvious something was up because their work was so dark and nasty' and whenever an artist who makes wholesome content gets outed as a sexual predator people will be like 'aha it was obvious something was up because their work was so aggressively wholesome' and it's like you know I think maybe you can't tell whether or not someone is a predator based on their artistic output.

I had a fantastic time working with Jack Stockdale-Haley of Jack of All Blades! It’s a huge testament to his skill and patience that we were able to get these clips despite my complete lack of stage combat experience!

For more clips from these sessions, art references, archery tutorials, and more, please consider supporting my Patreon

Matador and Minotaur... A very different kind of fight then your traditional bullfighting

As someone who's been a lover of traditional folk music from the British Isles for several decades, one thing I've learned is that "True Love" didn't always mean what you think it means. In the older songs, "true love" is not some mystical quality, some type of connection that is magically better than other Loves. No. A love that is "true" merely means that your Love is "true TO YOU." "True" as in faithful and loyal and trustworthy. A lover who will stand by you and with you no matter what comes. True the way a good sword is True. True the way a good knight is loyal. The contrast is "False Love," which is a lover who betrays you, who cannot be trusted.

"True Love" isn't something you find, it's a vow and a choice that you make, every day, to BE TRUE.