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Nearly 14,000 words later, and it's finally finished: My own take on a Dragon Age modification of DnD 5E! It is created with thought for those who are pre-existing fans of Dragon Age, but potentially new to Dungeons and Dragons.

In this handbook, you will find everything you need for a TTRPG in the Dragon Age setting:

4 lineages (human, dwarf, elf, qunari)

3 classes (warrior, rogue, mage)

5 specializations for each class

16 sample backgrounds

And more!

Art by @lkblackham 🥰🤩

Ever since Emmrich’s writer named Peter Cushing as his primary influence, I haven’t been able to get this image of them together with this quote out of my head.

The quote is from Hound of the Baskervilles ‘59, which starred Cushing in the role of Sherlock Holmes. But I chose to draw Cushing in his outfit from the Horror of Dracula where he played Van Helsing.

I absolutely adore Peter Cushing and I have so many thoughts on the implications of his influence on Emmrich.

Cushing was, himself, a gentle man and a gentleman of big emotions. His wife was the love of his life, and in his autobiography, he stated that his life as he loved it ended with her passing. He didn’t believe in ending one’s life intentionally, and lived out his remaining decades waiting to see her again in the afterlife.

He also had a deep-seated fear of death, instilled in him by his mother, who would feign her own death when he’d been naughty as a child.

His friendships were also deep and lasting, with Christopher Lee (Dracula in he Hammer films, Saruman) saying upon his passing “At some point of your lives, every one of you will notice that you have in your life one person, one friend whom you love and care for very much. That person is so close to you that you are able to share some things only with him. For example, you can call that friend, and from the very first maniacal laugh or some other joke you will know who is at the other end of that line. We used to do that with him so often. And then when that person is gone, there will be nothing like that in your life ever again”

I think of these things and how they influence the lens through which I see Emmrich. His desire for that “one true love,” as Cushing had with Helen. How deeply he cares for his friends. How kind and compassionate he is.

I have many more thoughts and could likely write essays on this. But I shall restrain myself.

It never fails to escape me how this fandom LOVED Trick before they transitioned, before one game made it crystal clear that the beloved character they wrote was actually a villain all along (Solas was always a villain), and before they wrote another character who transitions and displays autistic traits that aren't acceptably "quirky", and isn't the Karlach-clone "dommy mommy" everyone was howling for pre-release. (having a functioning memory in this fandom is a fucking curse)

I know. I get it.

Here's the thing though:

Dragon Age has always been a huge fucking mess.

This is not excusing any bad writing or poor development decisions, and ESPECIALLY not the terrible treatment of the dev team by EA, BioWare AND their supposed fans.

This is pointing out that the flaws of Dragon Age, game to game, are not the fault of one person. Dragon Age's legacy is that of stubbornly continuing on despite how ridiculous their development processes have always been.

All of the flaws I see in Veilguard really have little to do with the team themselves, and everything to do with how fucked up the AAA industry is. Yes, I know, stupid decisions outside of the executive office were made (writing Veilguard as a pulp novel??) and specific dev team members/writers have done and said stupid things (Anders' writer saying he wanted to see if he could get people to fall in love with a terrorist, holy shit, dude) but ultimately, those things were not the One Terrible Thing or the One Terrible Person who "ruined" Dragon Age. Most of the flaws have to do with a company trying - and failing - to turn Dragon Age into something it just isn't, and trying to make it more "palatable" to a general audience/stockholders.

When I read Taash as a character, in the game, I saw a much deeper story that was being crunched down and diluted to fit a release schedule. The same goes for my favorite character, Emmrich. All of the characters, to varying degrees, had their stories forcefully shortened. That isn't to say that everybody would have liked Taash better if they'd had more time to tell their story - given the comments I've heard about them, the people who hate Taash would have hated them regardless. But the point still stands: everyone, for one reason or another, had to tell a lot of story in a significantly shortened amount of time.

Personally: Taash is actually one of my favorite storylines. I see a lot of myself in them. Maybe not as confrontational, but I see why they are that way: they've lived their whole life being told who they were by a well-meaning but overbearing parent. They were told what they had to live up to, their responsibility to their heritage, and yet also how everything they did was just *wrong* in some way. And being neurodivergent with a very intense special interest... Yeah, I feel that. I feel that big time.

Is Taash kind of annoying and unpleasant at times? Yep. They sure are. But over time they learn. They are *allowed* to learn, while staying true to who they are. They become a better, stronger person who doesn't immediately get combative when someone asks about their arm ropes, and stops calling Emmrich a "skull(liker)", while also standing up for themself. That's important.

Because that's the other part of Dragon Age's legacy, in my definitely very personal opinion: still maintaining that core of Dragon Age-ness that you can't adequately describe, despite all the mess. I loved Veilguard, for all its flaws. The saddest part for me was learning just how much the team had intended to do, before development hell set in.

Everyone is definitely entitled to their opinion. If you hated Veilguard, that's your prerogative. I've had great conversations with people who didn't like Veilguard. I've learned a lot from them, actually. As an artist myself, it's important to see why people feel so strongly and differently than I do. We're not a monolith and that's definitely a very good thing.

But then, those conversations were conducted in good faith, with intention to understand rather than fight.

“Dear Atash, I have for you a bouquet of the finest roses from Gridania.”

STOP-

Ever since Emmrich’s writer named Peter Cushing as his primary influence, I haven’t been able to get this image of them together with this quote out of my head.

The quote is from Hound of the Baskervilles ‘59, which starred Cushing in the role of Sherlock Holmes. But I chose to draw Cushing in his outfit from the Horror of Dracula where he played Van Helsing.

I absolutely adore Peter Cushing and I have so many thoughts on the implications of his influence on Emmrich.

Cushing was, himself, a gentle man and a gentleman of big emotions. His wife was the love of his life, and in his autobiography, he stated that his life as he loved it ended with her passing. He didn’t believe in ending one’s life intentionally, and lived out his remaining decades waiting to see her again in the afterlife.

He also had a deep-seated fear of death, instilled in him by his mother, who would feign her own death when he’d been naughty as a child.

His friendships were also deep and lasting, with Christopher Lee (Dracula in he Hammer films, Saruman) saying upon his passing “At some point of your lives, every one of you will notice that you have in your life one person, one friend whom you love and care for very much. That person is so close to you that you are able to share some things only with him. For example, you can call that friend, and from the very first maniacal laugh or some other joke you will know who is at the other end of that line. We used to do that with him so often. And then when that person is gone, there will be nothing like that in your life ever again”

I think of these things and how they influence the lens through which I see Emmrich. His desire for that “one true love,” as Cushing had with Helen. How deeply he cares for his friends. How kind and compassionate he is.

I have many more thoughts and could likely write essays on this. But I shall restrain myself.

@lkblackham has done it again, everyone! Look at Agi and Emmrich on their wedding day. ;_;

Congrats you crazy kids <3

I cannot decide if this would be REALLY out of character or weirdly IN character for Emmrich. Either way, this immediately appeared in my head when I saw all the coffin sex talk.

My sister is an Egyptologist and I've been living with her for three years. The "coffin vs. sarcophagus" thing gets brought up weirdly often. This was the explanation I got:

Coffin - usually made of wood, goes into the ground, or *inside* a sarcophagus (which is what ancient Egyptians did with their high ranking mummies)

Sarcophagus - made of stone, stays above ground.

Of course, this now begs the question: coffin or sarcophagus, why the heck was there a plush lining inside that body box shown in the cutscene? The only logical answer: it is, in fact, the Sex Sarcophagus (the Sexcophagus, if you will) specifically made for really horny necromancers who just HAVE to do it right then and there in the Necropolis. I mean, it's in a place called The Vault of the BELOVED, for Maker's sake.

As much as the art here makes me cringe (I was slowly relearning how to draw after not drawing for like over a year due to OCD burnout) I'm gonna leave it as is. This post pretty much opened the Emmrich Volkarin fandom gateway that led me to one of the best communities I've ever met, and got me making art and writing and feeling creatively alive again. Or, well, alive just in general - when I played this game and drew this comic, I had just started treatment for OCD, which had completely taken over my life and destroyed my ability to enjoy pretty much anything. This comic was one of the first manifestations of joy I felt. I love it. I feel so much love now for the person who made it, who was so scared and struggling but still managed to make this really stupid joke about mortuary term semantics.

Tagged by @dragonracer!

Rules: Answer this quiz for your OC and select 3 characters that match your character the most!

Atash Laidir

Rachel Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) / Ted Lasso (Ted Lasso) / Kaylee Frye (Firefly, Serenity)

(I completely forgot to take note of the percentages before I quit the page, woops)

Yeah, I'll admit to picking the characters I actually know in this list. Which was surprisingly few. I am so out of the loop.

I picked Rachel Chu because Atash is very much the 'working class child of an immigrant mother who worked super super hard to escape terrible circumstances and is often looked down upon for that' kind of person. She's proud of her supposedly 'humble' origins. She does maybe try too hard to please people who will never be pleased purely for the sake of peace, willing to take all the mud slung at her, but come for her family and she's fully ready to throw down.

Ted Lasso is... well, Ted Lasso. I'd love to be more like Ted Lasso. Which is why I want Atash to be like Ted Lasso. It's very much a self-indulgent fantasy. Atash just tries her best to be that supportive, bright, sweet cheerleader and counsellor to her team and those closest to her, making sure no one is left out. Sometimes at the cost of her own health and happiness. But dammit she's going to get over your walls and love you if it's the last thing she does.

I am not embarrassed to say I'm a huge Firefly/Serenity fan, even more so than Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I know, Joss Whedon is a colossal asshole, I do not support him and I haven't streamed or purchased any of his series in years, but I still have a deep fondness in my heart for this series and Kaylee in particular. She's a bubbly sweetheart but not a pushover. She isn't naive or dumb. She is determinedly kind and sweet in an often dark, cynical, horrifyingly violent 'verse. She immediately embraces Simon and River as part of the crew, and even takes on a big sister role to River, despite how off-putting the rest of the crew and even Simon finds her at times. She may not fully understand what River's issues are, but she sees her as a scared teenage girl first and foremost who needs to be reminded she's human and not a failed test subject. And that is very very VERY much the core of how I see Atash as a character and what makes her effective as a leader: she looks below the surface and tries to see the core. She doesn't immediately get it at first, but she keeps trying and reaching out. And I really wish there were more characters like that, who aren't punished for trying to be kind and positive.