A Crown Of Candy - Blog Posts

who and how will they remember you?

d20exchange pinch hit for @apple-scrumper

“Why does hearing your name hurt me // When it hides right there in the vicinity? // What kind of emotion, is it hatred // Or pure sweetness when I hear your name?” - Ma Meilleure Ennemie by Stromae & Pomme

i’m very late with it, but happy @d20exchange!! to my lovely giftee @anonymouslylovesyou i hope you enjoy the calroy and amethar angst as much as i did

lapin & keradin for the "all gore goes" d20 zine!

poem excerpt: where it begins, erica jong 1971

“The chancellor bows, deeply-”

“I BOW DEEPER.“

cant stop thinking about 'i misjudged you, chancellor' not only bc of the theopin parasite in my head but bc he truly did not in any shape or form need to say that. like theo's character has always always been about honor and pride and loyalty and the ONLY thing he ever allowed himself to be blindsighted on has always been lapin. soo honorable sooo professional but when it came to lapin he allowed himself to be different. and i dont believe it ever came from a real place of dislike. no rather it came from a recognition that he COULD do this w lapin and not ever be actually slighted for it by lapin or anyone really (since no one liked my bbg lapin all that much lets admit). all those years of obedience and devotion and lapin was the only one he could be honest w by bitching at him. and then there comes the battle on the whatever road and he's suddenly really seeing lapin in action for the first time and he well knows what ppl do in a battle tells a lot about them and what lapin does is. basically the exact same thing theo's been doing for years. he protects. his only objective is to keep the royal family safe and suddenly theo just. respects him. fucking DEFENDS him to callroy who he has known for a long time and has decidedly been on better terms with. says with ABSOLUTE conviction that lapin didn't do this. doesn't engage in lapin riling him up simply laughs softly. asks for HELP and fucking agrees with lapin do you UNDERSTAND????? do you understand how much that one battle changed theo's demeanor and view of lapin and how significant it was for him ohhhbhhh ive gotten so off topic but my point is he has known since then that he misjudged lapin and the fact that he fucking SAID it admitting to making YEARS OF MISTAKES and damaging his pride in turn but not caring bc he NEEDED LAPIN TO KNOW THAT HE MISJUDGED HIM AND HAS ALWAYS BEEN WRONG ABOUT HIM !!!!! i need to lie down

Never have I mourned for a character then some hoity-toity old fake priest chocolate rabbit, and it's actually emotionally devastating to see any mention of him. I have blitzed through a crown of candy and half of that was propelled by my emotional attachment to lapin. A sneaky stuffy old rabbit man that practises secret magic, and comes off untrustworthy because of it. He asks the Sugar Plum Fairy if these people are worth it, and makes his own choice on that question by the end!!!!!! "I misjudged you chancellor" "oh shut up" ?!?!!?!!??! Just constantly going "were all going to die" and then does everything in his power to save everyone, and HE dies. AND THEN THE SNIPPETS OF HIS CHARACTER YOU NEVER GET TO SEE WHEN HE WAS ALIVE!!!!!!! HE WAS A LOW BORN STREET URCHIN!!!!!!! HES NOT EVEN HERE TO TELL YOU THAT STORY!!!!!! Not only did I burst into absolute tears when he died in the cathedral as everyone fled, but I burst into tears at every other mention of him. I thought he was gone from the rest of the story!!!! What do you mean he snatches Liam up to talk to him about the truth of the powers in the world?!?!? What do you mean that Preston is still hanging out with Lapin in their strange limbo of fake afterlife before they go?!?!?! What do you mean that Lapin fondly sees Liam eats that wish seed, one last time before they finish wrapping things up?!?!?!? I didn't expect to see him at all in the story after he died, and I have cried my fucking eyes out. Lapin you stupid self sacrificing badass rabbit. I wished he had survived so that I could've seen that dynamic play out more with Theo cause I loved their bickering. Lapin going "I wasn't mad at you" when he speaks to Liam again after he died. I am so emotionally distraught over this fucking chocolate rabbit. My favourite guy of all time and he was only there for six episodes. What a character.

A TREE OF CHOCOLATE AND FAMILIAR TINFOIL GROWING CHOCOLATE FRUITS THAT CINNAMON EATS, WISHES FOR A BETTER WORLD, THAT MAKES HIM GROW WONDER INSTEAD OF HUNGRY!?!?!?!??!?????!!??? ARE YOU TRYING TO FUCKING KILL ME???????????? Lapin..... Lapin.......!!!!!!

I'm gonna watch the adventuring party for acoc and it's gonna slaughter me on the spot

The thing about theopin is you fit so many dynamics in them and all of it will STILL end up tragic.

Rivals to lovers? They're slowly learning to respect one a other but they're relationship got cut short before it had the chance to bloom. Now Theo would find himself pausing in a conversation waiting for a quip for Lapin. Now all Theo would here is the silence where Lapin's voice used to be.

Passing ships in the night? Theo realizing that he and Lapin has so many similarities. Theo realizing he never gave Lapin a chance. Theo realizing that maybe, in a different world, in another life, maybe he could've loved Lapin. Theo mourning what never was and what could've been. Theo realizing he found the right person but at the wrong time.

Exes/Divored? Maybe they're falling in love again, maybe they're remembering why they fell in love in the first place, maybe they're still in love but are too stubborn to say it. Maybe it ended with a fight and neither of them could apologize. Maybe Theo would look at something Lapin gifted him a lifetime ago and think I loved you. I think I still do.

Secretly together? Oh BOY, where do I start? The pining but they're already married. The secrets. The longing. The hidden meaning between their banter. The "I love you but no one can know" to "I loved you and no one knew and now you're gone." The ring that Theo keeps tucked underneath his armor and it's twin laying bloodied on the floor of a church.

They are rivals. They are besties. They can't stand each other. They cannot bear to be apart. They are married. They WERE married. They fucking hate each other. They respect each other so so much. I am exceedingly normal about them I swear

I'm WEEPING OH MY FROG

I got really delusional over a crown of candy. Check it out… heh

Okay- we've had all these AU ideas, but hear this...

What if the characters from each campaign were swapped with characters from another?

Riz is suddenly a rat king while Cugrash is tossed into being a detective.

Fig suddenly has all the power of a candy princess while Jet is living the band life.

All I'm saying is that it could be interesting....

murph makes my fave characters PART 2 starring car wash, feat. 1990 corolla

I just finished binge watching A Crown of Candy and I'm excited to dissociate to the next season of Dimension 20..

hi i adore this format and am currently on ep 93 of cr c2 :-)

I Think If Steve Jobs Was In Calorum He Would Be An Apple

A Crown of Candy

I literally just finished ACOC just a moment ago and I couldn't wait to write about it. Holy shit, I fucking loved this season. There were a couple of times where I was nearly crying along with some of the PCs.

First of all, this has been the first time I have witnessed a full character death and no way of returning in DnD that didn't have a real-world explanation. (Hero Squad was the first one I witness but the PC wasn't able to continue playing with them due to family things) Not even in my own campaign that I've been playing have we come close to even losing anyone yet. So, those moments of Amethar dropping multiple times, Lapin's death, and especially Jet's death was so emotional and I felt like I was right there with them.

The lore and the world-building of this world was so insane. I watched the behind-the-scenes episode as well and finding out just how much Brennan and everyone put into this season makes my little writer's heart sing. I have done that, I do that, and being able to see how others do that in their mediums is so inspiring. Even when Brennan was not pulling any fucking punches, it felt right for the world that was surrounding the characters cause in those moments, punches wouldn't be pulled.

This season was so crazy and I hung on to every moment of it. It's not one of my favorites but it's one of the most inspirational campaigns I have ever watched.

Now, I do believe it is time for me to watch the second season of The Unsleeping City. Wish me luck.

No context Ravening war ep3 spoilers

The “Fellowship of Destiny’s Architects”(FDA) comes from a long pedigree of conceptual puns that D20 has been cultivating:

SW: spoilers for a LOT of Dimension 20

Sinatra’s Law (the Imperial Axiom) being “If I can make it there, I can make it anywhere.”

NY traffic flowing against the literal laylines of the city, and that’s why it’s so labyrinthine and bad

In the same setting, JJ’s analysis of the particle physics of the Unsleeping City (Nothing is faster than a New York minute)

The Pirates of Leviathan insurance scam being based on a literal “act of god”

The Ramsian Doctrine (Junk food)

The whole thing with Jacques Tomaté and whether a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable was actually introduced in the original Crown of Candy

Gnosis being Clippy

Feel free to name any I haven’t thought of.

All I’m saying is after years of Brennan stinkers, Matt wanted to get in one of his own.

The jank of mini-Belizabeth-Brassica’s upsettingly long neck is hilarious.

It’s funny cause it doesn’t show up in the character art.

edit.

Ah, yes, Veggie priest #2

Brennan’s villain backstory really was the Intrepid heroes calling his corn gremlins “cute”.

i hope that after all this, ruby will be able to join the circus like she’s always wanted to do.

in sweetness there is strength, there is sadness, there is sorrow. in sweetness there is humor, grief, there is wild anger and loud joy and a spectrum of feelings in between. in the raucous cheering shared while watching with friends, to the quiet moments in twilight hours wrapped in blankets and heavy feeling, through all struggle and triumph, i am left knowing in sweetness there is hope. 

changing my name to cumulous rocks because during this whole episode i was either stunned or dying 

there are a lot of things to talk about, but all i want to say is that even though i fucking knew brennan was gonna pull some dramatic of mice and men speech bullshit, he still absolutely sideswiped me in the last twenty minutes of the episode like he always manages to do

shoutout to zac oyama for choosing to play a way of the long death monk, aka one of the toughest fucking characters to kill in dnd history. death might have taken lapin cadbury, but to cumulous rocks it’s a joke

i’m filing an injury claim against dimension 20 because the whiplash in moods this episode is hurting me more than last episode hurt my feelings

everyone is talking about how amethar is probably going to die, but i feel in some instinctual, miserable part of my heart that this is where we say goodbye to lapin. i hope above all else that people will be clowning on me in two hours for thinking something so dumb

when belizabeth bastard pulled her move, i immediately started trying to think of an intricate legal defense to buy more time. my friend shot out of his seat and yelled “it’s time to deck that bitch” and honestly that’s the dichotomy of dnd, baby

lapin cadbury: boring old geezer in the streets, brilliant political revolutionary in the sheets

Amethar, a little prince of the House of Rocks, so far away from the throne. Lover and loved. He makes choices as a human, before his position as prince. He has never understood the necessity and restraints of royalty. He marries his lover, a commoner. He is young and innocent, and he does it unabashedly, without hesitation and fear.

Caramelinda, Duchess of Merenge falls in love with the blinding brilliance that is Lazuli Rocks, the powerful Archmage of Candia. She knows power, she knows politics, and she knows the importance of unity of Candia. She marries her lover. She cares and loves with more than her entire existence and she achieves peace for her home too.

The Ravening War. Caramelinda finds the lifeless body of her wife scattered amongst the heroes of the war. The sound of her heartbreak deafens amid the devastation of the field. She cradles the body of her lover close to her heart, thumping and thumping yet Lazuli’s eyes remain vacant. The tragedy of our heroes. Caramelinda watches the Rocks sisters fall at the hands of this hungry, bloody war. She watches the line of crowned dominoes crumble and fall at the feet of young Amethar, warrior and sole survivor of The Ravening War.

Orphaned Amethar, Heartbroken Caramelinda wed, both hearts aligned to another. They wed, hearts broken and lost to a war, torn apart and left to a quiet, empty castle.

“Lazuli I loved with all my heart. And this (pointing at Amethar) is just politics.”

Two children are gifted to this loveless couple and they find solace in it. Twins with the beauty and brilliance of their mother and the determination and bravery of their father. Ruby and Jet hear the quiet arguments between their parents, “Amethar, the delay of conversation has been perhaps your most cardinal sin.” They see that their parents do not share the love-filled eyes they shine onto the sisters.

Caramelinda lost her heart years ago on the battlefield and Amethar, his, even before it.

There are certain times of the day where the numbers align in perfect harmony and a familiar glow of magic illuminates the world for that singular minute.

It’s 7:21am and you’re running through the sweet spring fields, far away from home with the hand of your twin sister— your half soul held strong and confident in yours. Both of you dream of a life away from the responsibilities neither of you understand. You leave scarecrows in place of yourself in the classroom of your chocolate bunny teacher.

It’s 3:03pm and this is the first time you smell what you have only have heard stories of. The stink of bloodlust, of a tidal wave war, of screams and the clattering of iron, of a mother’s tears and the crackling fires of revenge. You and your people survive. An assassination attempt was made on your father. You feel rusted gears start cranking, slow and threatening, deep underneath the earth as the wails of the fallen fill your ears.

It’s 8:45am and forbidden confessions echo against the walls of the holy. Words you did not know were capable of escaping your father’s mouth, old and dusty secrets pouring out and you realise you do not know him. Your sister’s hand grip yours and your crowns spilt into two, simple metal clattering against god-forsaken grounds as everything you have known now lies at your feet. You narrowly escape the church. You witness the brutal murder of a friend. “The Bulb cares for no one.” You run.

It’s 10:05pm and you embrace your mother for the first time in weeks. You see the way she looks at your father. You see the way she scrambles to find some resemblance in him of an older lost one and fail to do so. Her soft and love swelled eyes that grace you and your sister does not land on your father and you wonder if she deserves the wordless losses she has dealt with. She demands that you and your friend go to rest but you, your father’s child, see too much, hear too much and you run away from the castle to explore as you did before all this.

It’s 12:01am and you draw your last breath. You feel yourself slip into the mist within the warm arms of your friend, your brother. “Tell Ruby that I love her, and tell her that she did the right thing.” You feel yourself loose the tight grip of your sister’s hand, your mother’s, your father’s.

Your dream of fighting for the world has been fulfilled. No longer princess, instead a warrior in war. And you remember the stories of the soldiers— you feel the warmth of your father’s arms around you, of your mother and sister’s tears soaking the earth above you and you sleep, knowing that you have protected what is most important to you and that they still have the breath to even mourn.

It’s 6:33am and you smile a little smile and sleep— a sister, a daughter, a princess and a warrior.

You bury your child. Distant land, unfamiliar territory within your own homeland, and yet so far from home. You stand at the crown of this insignificant hill, unfit for a princess, your heir, your twin, your friend, your child. And the last time you saw her war-stricken face, you didn't even know it would be your last, and the determination lining the ferocity of revenge and exhaustion in the creases of her eyes, her brilliant intelligence and curiosity lighting a torch down the broad and dark path called Death.

You lay her down in the sickeningly sweet earth, your dwindling people by your side, your queen by your side, your now singular daughter by your side.

“You continue to teach me“ —and the Bulb’s light casts dancing shadows through the trees on a gravestone upon a hill too humble for a King and his family.

And then they sail away from that nameless place, their dearly loved one now lying still, and cold, and so so quiet beneath this land of churning blood and gore and the stink of war in which no tears or love can save her anymore.