You guys remember back in “Heavy Lies the Crown” when I mentioned this storyline pretty much verbatim? Sure ya do. Wizard is indeed an elf princess now, and that means she’s got to make nice with her fellow elf princess Elf Princess. (You might recall this latter royal palling around with Horsepower in the past.) Anywho, I feel like the royal consul gig is a good use of Wizard’s skills. Being a beleaguered ambassador should suit her love of dramatic RP better than presiding over a stuffy throne room. Unfortunately, the other Heroes don’t suit dramatic RP at all.

I don’t know about you guys, but I empathize with Wizard on this one. Tonal whiplash has always been a struggle for me. Moving from serious-face quasi-Shakespearean language to fart jokes and sexual innuendo is a tough balancing act. We’ve actually talked about this before, and the in-game solution generally comes down to “read the room.” Weirdly though, I’ve found that watching anime also helps. That’s the only other genre I know of that manages to pivot consistently between high drama and goofy fun. (Trigun is my personal go-to for “appropriate RPG tone.”) In other words, I think it’s possible to have very special episodes and cheeky shenanigans in the same game. You just have to know how to pick your moments.

What do the rest of you guys think? Do you put much stock in “serious face” gaming? Or are you just here to kill orcs and take their stuff? Are the two modes mutually exclusive or, like Wizard and her keg-standing cohorts, can they come to some sort of uneasy equilibrium? Sound off with your thoughts down in the comments!

GET YOUR SCHWAG ON! Want a piece of Handbook-World to hang on you wall? Then you’ll want to check out the “Hero” reward tier on the The Handbook of Heroes Patreon. Each monthly treasure hall will bring you prints, decals, buttons, bookmarks and more! There’s even talk of a few Handbook-themed mini-dungeons on the horizon. So hit the link, open up that treasure chest, and see what loot awaits!