VN Ren'Py Being a DIK [v0.10.1] [DrPinkCake]

[lemonfreak]

Bold Prediction Time

So, now we have 4 previews that seem to indicate the possibility of the MC playing a game of DnG with 4 of the 5 LIs and, as much as I don't want that to be the case, I think it might be, and now I'm starting to think that it may indeed be what takes up most of the episode, if not all of it. Here's why.

The episode is titled "Damage Control", and while this title certainly befits a few things like Quinn trying to deal with the fallout from her decision to have the HOTs go to the Prep party (Mona wanting "out", Tommy being pissed at her, her issues with her supplier, etc) and the DIKs having to fix up the mansion as well as deal with the "Cathy Cluck" situation, the title could also refer to the MC's various relationships.

Whether you're pursuing some, none, or all of them, the MC has had a fair bit of involvement with all the LIs up to this point, including the blowout from the M&J situation. So the MC could find himself in a position of "damage control" were he in a situation where all 5 LIs are in a room together, particularly if he's pursuing some or all of the LIs. At this point, the MC probably wouldn't want Sage, Bella, and Jill to know that he had/has a thing with Maya and Josy or let them know about M&J's relationship; or let M&J and Sage know he has a thing with Jill; or let M&J, Bella, and Jill know he has a thing with Sage, etc, etc. In this sense, the MC would have to control the damage that could be done if these LIs start to give the game away and make the others aware of his relationships with them.

We were also told in a previous episode (might have been 3 but can't be sure) that the weather is expected to take a turn for the worst in this upcoming week. So perhaps there is a storm or very heavy rain at a point where all 5 LIs and the Nerds are in the library at the same time but nobody is willing to venture out in the rain, so someone, possibly Jill, suggests they play a game of DnG to pass the time.

So, I think we could be looking at a very lengthy and possibly episode-long game of DnG involving 4 of the 5 LIs or maybe even all them in order to force some relationship drama and have the LIs start to get suspicious of each other and their relationships with the MC.

How do you manage to explain exactly why this D&G game should happen and still be opposed to it?

 

[Ennoch]

c) she's into cosplay and this is her workshop room.

Now i want this!! Soo badly!! Bella has to dress up some superheroine at some point!! "I'm the Law.. Bel-Law!"

 

[Holy Bacchus]

How do you manage to explain exactly why this D&G game should happen and still be opposed to it?

Because I don't think it should happen, but can still see how it could happen.

 

[ename144]

Well, that Maya pic is new. Haven't seen that here before.

I was going to say that. Nothing major, other than confirmation Maya will be in the library. But I'm still in favor of anything that lets the MC spend time with the LIs and get us back to establishing some sort of normal routine.

I wonder if this happens for everyone, or only those on the M/J path?

There's also this pic of Bella and Sage.
View attachment 773355

So, now we have both Maya and Sage in the library at some point in ep 6. Oh boy, looks like we are in for a game of DnG to force relationship drama. I just hope this isn't the reason why it wil be the "longest episode" so far and is what the "new feature" is going to be for.

Calm down, people playing a game doesn't mean the relationship drama has to flow from in-game actions. Or even that the game is primarily about drama rather than lighthearted character building.

Look on the bright side: the Maya pic proves there will be at least some interaction with her outside the game, right?

I don't think he is having a joke, I think he's written a character who is emotionally traumatised over something that happened in her past and seems to keep others at an arms length, probably as a result of this thing that happened, and people are interpreting her behaviour as though she's some kind of emotionless psychopath.

Whatever Bella's issue is, it's not going to be that she's some axe-wielding murderer who cut down her own husband, it's going to some manner of deeply tragic and potentially traumatic event that has made her close herself off from people because she just shut herself down rather than deal with the issue in a healthy way. This happens to people and it doesn't mean they become crazy psycho-killers, they just need to confront the problem and sort through it in order to move on and accept it, which is what the MC's function will be; to help Bella get over her past trauma and to be happy again.

This is why I think that, whilst there will be some manner of Bella-only ending, an ending where you don't end up with her but you did do everything with her will still be a happy ending because she'll be grateful for having had him be there for her and make her feel good about herself again. So when the MC goes off with Sage, or M&J, or Jill, we might see a happier, lighter Bella in the epilogue whose life is better for having known the MC, and even if we see her with someone else it wouldn't feel too bad because the MC did a good thing and she deserves to find happiness with someone.

I've got it! Bella and her husband were big DnG players. They broke up after their last campaign ended in a TPK when the party picked the wrong door and ran into a bunch of traps. Bella blamed James, he blamed her, it was ugly. No wonder she's so grumpy when the nerds play in the library! It all makes sense!

Alright, more seriously, I agree that the MC will have the chance to help put Bella back together, but I don't think he'll be able to do that and still end up with another girl. I think he'll end up in a nebulous relationship with Bella that will be implied (or outright stated, depending on how DPC handles the epilogues) to become official once he finally graduates.

 

[Miskatonic81]

After the free roam in chapter 5 I'm not sure he'd let one scene dominate an episode again, D&G included.

 

[lemonfreak]

Because DnG is boring ?

I really hope this is just a prediction because it would be a waste of time if that takes most of the update.

I'll take a D&G game over another fucking English test

 

[Wizard_Shiryuu]

We still have to contend with the mysterious boots that are seen in ep 5:

Spoiler

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Seems like an odd thing to keep in a room that would essentially be a shrine to a lost child.

Yeah, they doesn't fit much it's the only thing that makes me doubt about the baby room theory. When we see the room at the end of episode 3 those boots aren't there. It's all very strange.

The teenager room doesn't make much sense either. Why would her lock up her own room? It doesn't make any sense.

 

[Ennoch]

Yeah, they doesn't fit much it's the only thing that makes me doubt about the baby room theory. When we see the room at the end of episode 3 those boots aren't there. It's all very strange.

The teenager room doesn't make much sense either. Why would her lock up her own room? It doesn't make any sense.

You know whats funny? Its just a regular room. Nothing indicated otherwise. There is nothing that prevents us from coming over while she is still working and peep inside from the window. Except plot convenience

 

[ChipLecsap]

So, now we have both Maya and Sage in the library at some point in ep 6. Oh boy, looks like we are in for a game of DnG to force relationship drama. I just hope this isn't the reason why it wil be the "longest episode" so far and is what the "new feature" is going to be for.

Really? I mean all the speculation, and you act so surprised. Wall of text conversations, and yet somehow you were missing the obvious. I thought it was obvious, they will be all in the library and play the game, i missed a couple of days , but thought we are past this. and I do remember that i said, that may be just chill ,and let's see how it will play out, and let's not just get whining yet.

Just like the Joker did not risk losing the battle for Gotham's soul in a fist fight with Batman.
I doubt DPC will put the MC's love life to be permanent , in the hand of a board game.

 

[Phynix]

You know whats funny? Its just a regular room. Nothing indicated otherwise. There is nothing that prevents us from coming over while she is still working and peep inside from the window. Except plot convenience

That's for CHICK route, DIK MC could've simply kicked the door in and claim that he fell down the stairs.

 

[flippityflop]

I doubt DPC will put the MC's love life to be permanent , in the hand of a board game.

Not necessarily, no. But we're overdue for some "grabbed by the balls" scenarios. We've become complacent and we've been taking our uncanny luck for granted.
Time to reintroduce some suffering back into the equation!

I'll probably get some hate for this comment, but I just find this game a lot more fun when it's dealing with that kind of adversity.

 

[Wizard_Shiryuu]

You know whats funny? Its just a regular room. Nothing indicated otherwise. There is nothing that prevents us from coming over while she is still working and peep inside from the window. Except plot convenience

Curtains, dude. Curtains .

It could be the biggest red herring of history and be only in our (and the MC's) mind, but at this point it would be a big disappointment.

So, now we have both Maya and Sage in the library at some point in ep 6. Oh boy, looks like we are in for a game of DnG to force relationship drama. I just hope this isn't the reason why it wil be the "longest episode" so far and is what the "new feature" is going to be for.

Did you really consider your dream theory as the most likely explanation for a D&G game?

 

[xsssssssss]

After the free roam in chapter 5 I'm not sure he'd let one scene dominate an episode again, D&G included.

Yeah i’d Super annoyed if dng segment was long, let along dominates the episode.

 

[Holy Bacchus]

Did you really consider your dream theory as the most likely explanation for a D&G game?

Not "most likely", but a possible explanation for the DnG preview.

I personally prefer the idea of him having a revelatory dream at the start of the episode about his current situation with these LIs over having all of them in a single room in a contrived way just to start sowing seeds of relationship drama this early on. It would likely just be a few +/- RP points with the LIs and some renders showing them giving curious looks to him and other LIs, but after everything that's happened with him in the past couple of weeks, it would be nice to just get a little breather and not have to deal with the issues of juggling so many women. But this game, whether it's short or long, wouldn't give us that and it just feels a little forced.

It's like in those TV shows, mainly sci-fi ones, where the protagonist spends most of the episode in some parallel/fantasy world with alternate/caricaturish versions of their friends and enemies, but the episode serves almost no purpose in advancing the actual plot and is primarily just used to fill space in a 24 episode season.

 

[Wizard_Shiryuu]

Not "most likely", but a possible explanation for the DnG preview.

I personally prefer the idea of him having a revelatory dream at the start of the episode about his current situation with these LIs over having all of them in a single room in a contrived way just to start to sowing seeds of relationship drama this early on. It would likely just be a few +/- RP points with the LIs and some renders showing them giving curious looks to him and other LIs, but after everything that's happened with him in the past couple of weeks, it would be nice to just get a little breather and not have to deal with the issues of juggling so many women, but this game, whether it's short or long, wouldn't give us that and it just feels a little forced.

It's like in those TV shows, mainly sci-fi ones, where the protagonist spends most of the episode in some parallel/fantasy world with alternate/caricaturish versions of their friends and enemies, but the episode serves almost no purpose in advancing the actual plot and is primarily just used to fill space in a 24 episode season.

I don't disagree with you. I feared that D&G would dominate the whole episode and be manily offtopic, I don't like those kind of episodes in shows. A rest/less serious scenes is always good, but I also want the story to go forward and this has a high chance of taking A LOT of time, considering Sage and the MC get to be in bed together within the game and all of that. I don't see how a dream could be anything but offtopic, a real game has at least some chances of having some character development.

 

[Holy Bacchus]

I don't disagree with you. I feared that D&G would dominate the whole episode and be manily offtopic, I don't like those kind of episodes in shows. A rest/less serious scenes is always good, but I also want the story to go forward and this has a high chance of taking A LOT of time, considering Sage and the MC get to be in bed together within the game and all of that. I don't see how a dream could be anything but offtopic, a real game has at least some chances of having some character development.

That Sage preview is also what has me thinking this DnG game will take up a chunk of the episode, because unless the MC's character gets carried off by a troop of flying monkeys shortly after that preview image of him with Jill, Maya, Josy, and Sally, and he's taken to the highest room of the tallest tower where Sage is being held, then it's going to potentially take some time to get from that group scene to the Sage scene.

The thing about a dream sequence is that it depends how it's done. If a dream fills a whole episode of a TV show, then it's filler, but if it's like 5 minutes at the beginning of the show, or even in the middle, where it shows some of the protagonist's subconscious thoughts and feelings manifested in a troubling or slightly nightmarish vision, it gives us some insight into where their head is at at this particular moment. It doesn't necessarily advance the plot, but it can advance the character development of the protagonist if they let what they dreamt about affect their actions moving forward.

 

[Kuraii]

Such emotional moments.

Spoiler: Just Peachy

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[-VQueS-]

DPC: ep6 will be more varied than ep5 was.
Fanfic writer*after seeing one preview*:

I think it might be, and now I'm starting to think that it may indeed be what takes up most of the episode.

...

MC playing a game of DnG with 4 of the 5 LIs

Wow..I only saw Josy, Maya and Jill. Or Sally is also a love interest?

now we have 4 previews that seem to indicate the possibility of the MC playing a game of DnG

..I only saw one.
You say the weirdest things. Almost always

 

[ename144]

That Sage preview is also what has me thinking this DnG game will take up a chunk of the episode, because unless the MC's character gets carried off by a troop of flying monkeys shortly after that preview image of him with Jill, Maya, Josy, and Sally, and he's taken to the highest room of the tallest tower where Sage is being held, then it's going to potentially take some time to get from that group scene to the Sage scene.

The thing about a dream sequence is that it depends how it's done. If a dream fills a whole episode of a TV show, then it's filler, but if it's like 5 minutes at the beginning of the show, or even in the middle, where it shows some of the protagonist's subconscious thoughts and feelings manifested in a troubling or slightly nightmarish vision, it gives us some insight into where their head is at at this particular moment. It doesn't necessarily advance the plot, but it can advance the character development of the protagonist if they let what they dreamt about affect their actions moving forward.

I agree a long, involved game would be a mistake. For better or worse, Episode 5 already served as a break from the action to let the MC get his groove on with damn near everyone. We need to get back to advancing the actual story. A quick DnG game can help with that by giving us time to see characters playing off each other in ways they normally don't. A long DnG session that takes up most of the episode will have a very hard time doing that.

So how involved will the game be? Hard to say. If we assume Sage's preview is within the game (plausible given that bedspread), it definitely suggests the game will have multiple scenes.

Still, a DnG game could cover a lot of ground very quickly if DPC wants it to. We don't necessarily need a detailed story that shows all the steps. We could just establish a quest only to have the PCs completely botch it right off the bat. The MC's new character gets captured and the session ends with him being executed, establishing a running gag for future sessions.

That's certainly what I'd prefer (not the scenario specifically, just that the session is fast and goofy). It does seem in keeping with Magnar's DMing style, so I'm not going to panic yet.

 

[Wizard_Shiryuu]

DPC: ep6 will be more varied than ep5 was.
Fanfic writer*after seeing one preview*:

...

Wow..I only saw Josy, Maya and Jill. Or Sally is also a love interest?

..I only saw one.
You say the weirdest things. Almost always

The pic in bed with Sage is from a medieval resource pack. It could be that he bought it with other assets for D&G and used it for something real but the most likely explanation is that Sage is also playing the game. We saw her in a preview at the library too.