December 2023 – Ms. Bella's World

4–6 minutes

It’s New Year’s Eve and as I look back on the year, I find myself humbled and grateful for all of you who have visited my channel. You, who have taken the time out of your day to watch videos, and to like & dislike are rock stars. And, while it may take me a couple of days to get back to comments sometimes, know that I do read them, and I appreciate them all.

In the past 12 months, the channel has almost doubled in size, going from 270 subscribers at the end of 2022 to 487 today. When I started uploading videos in 2021, to share New World with a couple of friends, I didn’t imagine where it would lead. But here we are.

We’ll certainly make it past 500 subscribers this year, and march our way towards 1000 next!

2024 will bring a few changes to the channel as I work behind the scenes on new channel art, some with the help of my friend and fellow streamer, Fat Steven.

I’ll also be starting livestreaming soon, with all of the hiccups and technical bloopers entailed in learning that! I’ll be choosing from a few core games, such as LOTRO, Brotato, Oblivion, and The Planet Crafter. I’m also open to requests, depending on if I own the game and am interested in playing it.

The channel’s heart will remain consistent – me sharing different games I find interesting with everyone.

LOTRO, my favorite MMO, will remain. Medrielle will permanently be joined by Marcellene the Mariner, as I learn the ins and outs of the newest class created by Standing Stone Games.

Grim Dawn, which replaced Diablo IV, has rapidly become my favorite aRPG, overtaking even Diablo II for the throne. A hard feat, considering I absolutely loved Diablo II when it came out.

I’m still enjoying Guild Wars 2 and having a blast with my new Asura character. I will likely be alternating between her and my Sylvari in the future, as I rather miss playing the Sylvari.

Valheim is definitely not going away, especially not after I’ve finally managed to defeat Yagluth! I hope I’ll be able to find some mistlands soon.

I’ve also discovered a small team working on a whole Valheim world with quests and NPCs and cities. I’ll watch for its release so we can all look at it.

The Baldur’s Gate series is progressing slowly. I’ll be trying to move it along a bit faster next year, I also plan on revisiting the first Baldur’s Gate, as well as try out Baldur’s Gate 2. I’ve never even played that one at all. Shocker, I know!

Currently, the Let’s Play is focusing on The Elder Scrolls Online and I’ve been enjoying playing it with my friend, Chrys. When I move on to the next game in the second quarter of 2024, I’ll then decide whether to make the series permanent or not.

Of course, playing ESO got me interested in Oblivion again, and I’ve installed it on Steam, complete with some extensive modding thanks to a guide I found in the forums. I plan on working on that but it may take a while, if anyone is curious. Expect Oblivion to pop up from time to time.

And, of course, I’ll be featuring other games as they come up. Everything from little bullet hell/heaven games, to games that I’ve received via Keymailer and LurkIt to try out and review. I’ll always give my honest opinion of these games, even the ones I’m excited to try out.

Finally, some games I’m looking forward to in 2024 (hopefully)

Return to Moria (should it appear on Steam)
Return to Nangrim (another dwarven game, but no release date yet)
Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor (supposed to be coming out in Quarter 1)
Aloft (no release date yet, just 2024)
Smalland (the full release is set for Quarter 1 and I’ll start a fresh playthrough to experience any changes)
Subnautica (I may continue the playthrough I left off or start a new one, I haven’t decided which yet)
Enshrouded (if my poor little graphics card will be able to handle it!)
Nightingale (I hope … depends on the minimum specs)
No Man’s Sky (I really want to find time and space in the schedule to continue exploring this game)
The Planet Crafter (there have been several updates since I last did this series, so 2024 is a great time to jump back into it)
Dwarf Fortress (I’ve heard this one is a lot of fun to play and can be rather humorous)

These aren’t the only games but the ones memorable enough for me to remember their names. I’d add Light No Fire from Hello Games, the makers of No Man’s Sky, to the list. However, there is no release date set at all and, as it was recently announced, I don’t expect to see it show up for at least a full year, if longer.

Gus also gave me RPG Stories for Christmas. This isn’t a game, but a TTRPG creation tool that allows for the creation of scenes and campaigns for virtual tabletop gaming sessions. I’m having fun tinkering with it and learning the ins and outs. Once I’ve figured a few things out, I’ll likely do some videos on it as I believe it has the potential to be a very useful tool in a gamemaster’s arsenal. The team behind it are also pretty responsive to the community and working to add more content and squash any bugs that come up.

To close out the year, let me once again say thank you to everyone who’s helped make this channel what it is today. I wish everyone a Happy New Year and let’s make 2024 awesome!

Until next year, bye for now!

3–5 minutes

Last week we established the fact that for me, a cRPG player, the idea of TTRPGs is fascinating. But what are the core differences between the two game formats that makes the analog version so appealing? Let’s take a look at some key differences between the two formats.

In a cRPG, the games’ environments are crafted through coding and graphics. While many wonderful computer games can boast of stellar settings, your exploration is limited within the constructs of what was created by others. Once you’ve explored everything, there is no more unless the developers come up with new content in the form of expansions.

With a tabletop game the environment is controlled by the gamemaster, or dungeon master depending on what system you use. This flexibility in the world’s settings can be added to from modules or the GM’s imagination. With this type of flexibility, the game world becomes nearly infinite, provided the party stays alive to witness it all!

Another core difference between the two styles is how the players interact with the game and each other. In cRPGs, you interact via a keyboard and mouse, where the graphics dictate to you the story, how it looks, etc. The people you play with, should the game be multiplayer, are beyond a screen and often people you’ve just met and don’t know. Conversations tend to be more surface level and rarely do you develop deep, meaningful bonds with other players this way. That’s not to say that it’s impossible to do, but highly unlikely.

Just as often, however, a cRPG is a solo player experiences and your only interactions are those with the NPCs (or non-playable characters) that are coded with set lines and dialogues. While some NPCs can be very well thought out and verbose, such as in Baldur’s Gate 3, they’re extremely lacking in other games.

Compare this with the TTRPG style of gaming. Pen, paper, physical books (or ebooks on a tablet) provide a tactile feel and a sense of weight and ‘realness’. Frequently, the people you play with are people you know in real life. You meet at someone’s house, around the dining room table. Or you meet up at a diner somewhere and grab a table. Perhaps you all meet at the local library. Regardless of the setting, being among others creates a sense of a friend group as you get to know each other, talk about the game, life … whatever’s on your mind. Rarely do you ever play a TTRPG alone, though solo adventures exist too, and can be quite fun.

Then there’s the matter of the game itself and the rules. In a computer game, your actions, attacks, skills, armor and weapons are predetermined by the game. The rules are inflexible. You don’t get to step outside the bounds or decide that X rule doesn’t fit your playstyle and you prefer Y. You get what you get and you either like it, accept it, or don’t like it and stop playing.

A game run by a DM, on the other hand, has a lot of flexibility. The story, much like the environment is created from their imagination or by using one of a multitude of game modules available for use in various game systems. He can follow the rules as set forth, mix and match rules for different versions of a system, or create rules on the fly to suit the campaign and situation. This flexibility creates an ever changing gaming landscape that can be beneficial for everyone at the table.

And, as a final nod to story itself — While in a cRPG the story has been written out and rarely ever changes from playthrough to playthrough, it is far different for a tabletop setting. There, not only does the DM control the story, but so too do the players with their characters and the choices they make. The same campaign could be run multiple times, yet each have completely different outcome. Flexibility indeed!

While computer games will always be my go to for enjoying a great RPG story and world, I can see myself easily enjoying the perks of playing a tabletop game too. But what do you think? Do you have experience playing TTRPGs and what are some of the benefits you would point out to a new player?

Until next time, bye for now!