That was early, the calendar shows it for tomorrow. Not that I mind of course...

@libri-liberorum said in RPG anecdotes inspired by Minmaxing TRPG:

I've never actually tried this one, but D&D had/has (it is a long time since I've played D&D) a "phantasmal force" spell, which would create illusiary objects/forces which could affect people as if they were real, so long as the person being affected didn't realise it was an illusion. Imagine a party on a path along a steep and winding gorge, trying to find a way to the other side. The mage convinces people to let her scout around the next corner. Behold! She finds a bridge! Everyone else crosses safely. Then the mage demands they throw her a rope: she can't cross the bridge because she knows it is an illusion.

Similar to this - For one of the megadungeon biomes my sister came up with, she had a concept called a "Daylight Fungus." It's an underground fungus that can decompose dead plants, with the ability to cast a Shadow Evocation of the Daylight spell. Shadow Evocation, like Phantasmal Force, is mostly illusion but only slightly real - creatures who don't believe the illusion take only a small portion of the effect.

Most plants are mindless, and so are immune to the illusion (and unable to gain any sustenance from it), but the Daylight Fungus cohabitate with all sorts of intelligent plant monsters, who know better than to look this particular gift horse in the mouth.

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@shiny said in Businessman Isekai Vol. 1 Discussion!:

@sillymel said in Businessman Isekai Vol. 1 Discussion!:

Part 1:
What’s a “black” IT company?

It is a Japanese term which means it is run like a sweatshop (e.g. unpaid overtime, harassment from managers, and threats of reputational harm or other reprisals if you quit): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_company_(Japanese_term)

Yeah.
Umpteen bazillion Isekais start with the protagonist dying from overwork at a 'black' IT company.

That was fast...

Volume 7 (Premium Edition): A Bonus Short Story & Textless Cover Image Mutual Pining: Thus Spoke Rohtas

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Stumbled across two YouTubers exploring bad love hotels - and one very good one, Bali An (at 31m30s). Sadly the petals were absent and they skipped the honey toast.
https://youtu.be/MOuV-0f66Y4?t=31m30s

Volume 7(Premium Edition): 3 Bonus Short Stories Operation Make New Friends Arrivers' Guild Time, Now With Sofie The Princess's Legion Talks Love

Uh, is that third bonus short story really what it sounds like it is?

Oh my.
Some of those look to be the sort that you really shouldn't read if loud roars of laughter would disturb people...

Part 8:
I don’t see why they needed to hide that the ship was headed toward the royal palace. That doesn’t contradict the possibility of it being an accident.

Who was Ripple, again? Was she from when Inglis picked up Rin?

“‘I was just in the mood for someone to attack me. Thank you.’” Dang it, Inglis!

“‘I thought maybe he was being generous.’” LUL

“Inglis didn’t know how hieral menaces were created, but Ripple seemed to consider as the beast as one of her own.” That seems like evidence that hieral menaces are created from normal (counting demihumans as “normal” here) people.

I wonder what’s up with Ripple, and why she gets like that when a magicite beast suddenly appears. Some sort of past trauma, perhaps?

A vivid red dress? Guess that’s what Inglis is wearing on the cover.

That’s a nice illustration of Rani(?) and Inglis.

Part 9:
Seems like magicite beasts are just teleporting in. Hmmm…

“Fighting magicite beasts, gorgeous dresses, delicious food—everything Inglis Euclis liked was right here, but apparently mixing them wasn’t a good idea.” LUL

That’s a cool illustration of Inglis there.

Something’s wrong with Ripple? That doesn’t sound good.

“[Hieral menaces], too, once lived on the surface. To take on the duty of protecting this land, they sacrificed themselves to become hieral menaces,” huh? Sounds like more evidence that hieral menances might be people fused with artifacts.

“We became hieral menaces to protect to the surface from magicite beasts.” It can’t help but notice that they became hieral menaces, which implies that they weren’t originally hieral menaces. I’m almost certain that hieral menaces are people fused with artifacts at this point, but this slso implies that hieral menaces were given a choice in the matter, which is not what I expected.

Inglis, you need to stop being so overprotective of Rani.

That’s a nice illustration of Inglis, Rani, and Theodore.

Cyrene is Theodore’s sister, huh? Interesting…

Part 10:
Sorry, Inglis. Theodore and Rani are totally gonna fall in love in with each other, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

It’s really nice how much Liselotte and Lione’s relationship has improved.

Part 2:
Alright, Lavas seems to be a bit too well informed about Lina, and he’s doing the thing where he’s acting a lot nicer to Lina than would normally be warranted by the situation, so I bet he’s the bad guy this volume.

I wonder if Lina’s sister is at all like the protagonist of Neechuu’s big sister.

Does Zain have some sort of short-range teleport ability, or something?

What exactly am I looking at with this illustration after Lina casts Flare Arrow?

“Gourry, you rock! If only you weren’t as dumb as one!” LUL. I wonder what that line was originally, because I doubt that pun works in Japanese.

And Lavas’s brother, Veisam, is supposedly the one doing all the evil stuff? Yeah, Lavas is definitely the bad guy. Besides his name sounds close to “Lavos.” Coincidence? I think not! (Alright, that last bit is a joke.)

Hmmm… Everything seems does seem to be pointing to Lavas being the bad guy now. However, it seems a bit early in the volume for the bad guy to be revealed. Should I stick to my guns, or switch my prediction to Veisam being the bad guy? Hmmm… I think I’ll wait for more information for now. I’d say guessing that at this point, it’s early enough in the volume that guessing that whichever one Lina decides is the good guy is actually the bad guy is a pretty good bet.

Man, Lina and Gourry have pretty silly-looking outfits in that illustration of them at the door of the bedridden guy’s room.

Alright, yeah, I’m changing my prediction to Veisam being the bad guy.

Part 3:
I have to wonder who this “masked man” is.

I just had another idea: maybe Lavas and Veisam are actually working together.

Deformed children? Oh my.

Part 4:
Dang. It’s looking pretty unlikely that my guess that Veisam is the real bad guy is correct.

Zain is talking about his kingdom being destroyed? Is he from Sairaag, then?

Wonder how Lina’s gonna get out of this one.

I just had a thought that Wizer might be the real bad guy. I can’t exactly change my prediction to Lavas it this point, so let’s change it to Wizer.

Well, it seems like I wasn’t entirely wrong about Veisam being the bad guy, but being the main guy they have to actually fight wasn’t quite what I meant.

Nope. Apparent Lavas is the real boss they’re going to have to fight.

Well, that was an afterword.

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