#+conspiracy Mark Dice

[godisbestfriend4evaeva]

Gary White dreamweaver Miss A Only you Twice I can’t stop me, cheer up, dance the night away, scientist, likey Mareux The Perfect Girl N-dubz wouldn’t you Tegan & Sara bodywork Justin Beiber peaches Sting englishman in new york, shape of my heart System of a down (old school hollywood, radio, lonely day, aerials)  Utada Hikaru (Tippy toes Apple & cinnamon Poppin) Wait and see First love About you Me muero Can you keep a secret Travelling Automatic I II Letters Be my last Animato On and on Sakura drops Deep river (Hotel lobby) One last kiss Simple and clean Workout Nichiyou no asa Hope Parlow Sick inside Inu yasha Shinjitsu no uta Crystal Kay Kirakuni Dumb ditty dumb Namie Amuro Crystal Castles Kept Grimes California Halifax Genesis Angel Haze Majid Jordan Something about you Shades of blue Her [place like this] Oritse Femi Omolope Styl-plus Olufunmi Dbanj Mr endowed

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Mo gbono feli feli Oliver twist Wizkid Holla at your boy Don’t dull Tease me Die Aantword [Banana brain] Rich bitch Enter the ninja Future baby Babaji? [Baby’s on fire Dis is why I’m hot Fok julle naaiers Alien Cookie thumper] In This Moment Adrenalize Oh Lord In the air tonight New Year’s Day Joker Angel eyes Gangsta Insane Clown Posse Chop chop slide Mr C the Slide Man Cha-cha slide Kali Uchis telepatia Tei Shi Bassically See me FKA Twigs Wet wipez Tw-ache Tw-ache (2 of 4) [X inc. Glass & patron Video girl Weak spot Water me Papi pacify Good to love Hours] Clean Bandit Mozart’s house [telephone banking] A + E Dust clears [Extraordinary Come over] Symphony Zara Larsson Lush life Aint my fault Wow Øfdream - Red Voids EMIKA Flashbacks (Gnothi Seauton remix) VSN7 x ∆XIUS LIИK Nimb, AoA good luck, like a cat; Girls' Generation=SNSD hoot, run devil run, genie, twinkle

Alan Walker Sing Me To Sleep (dǝǝls remix) SIDEWALKS AND SKELETONS ENTITY Kyddiekafka Obsessions Memoryrave WAVES Monomorte Erutufon Nine Inch Nails A Warm Place Professor Green Game over Remedy Jungle Good to me Maverick Sabre I need Tinie Tempah Pass out Written in the stars Labrinth Earthquake Beneath your beautiful Jessi J Do it like a dude Who’s laughing now Pricetag Birthday Massacre Looking glass Goodnight (blue) Happy birthday He says Red dress Beyond I think we’re alone now Precious hearts Video kid Stars and satellites Sleepwalking One promise RONE Bye bye McAdam Lemniscata Show me love Chivurn Faith Mysterial Going under Blackbriars Eternity Indila Danse derniere Elyose redemption Child of Aphrodite Aegean sea Lily Allen (It's not fair Smile The fear) Stromae cheese papoutai je cours bienvenue chez moi tous les memes carmen ave cesarea ta fete dodo rail de musique alors'un danse formidable Pixie Lott all about tonight Devlin+Professor Green+Example game over Eiselfunk pong Red Queen Insidious Dita V Redrum Lana Del Rey (Doin' time Venice bitch Chemtrails over the country club Kill kill Blue jeans Video game High by the beach Burning desire West coast Carmen National anthem Dark paradise I want you boy put me in a movie) Black beauty (perfect blue) Mr Hudson White lies Forever young Supernova Evanescence Lithium Bring me to life Do what you want Sweet sacrifice Everybody's fool P!NK God is a DJ Yoko kanno Rise origa Inner universe Santigold who be loving me Shiv-R Devil's night Alpha omega The third realm Kiss of the scorpion Forever Diabolic crush Behold the dreamers Grimes California Oblivion Genesis World princess Violence 4AEM We appreciate power Butterfly Kill vs maim Violence Scream Belly of the beat IDORU Delete forever Girls aloud Sound of the underground Love machine I think we’re alone now Hana So & so Creatura Chimera Men without hats safety dance Pussycat dolls Beep Buttons When I

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grow up Wait a minute Spice girls Viva forever Be my lover Sugababes Stronger Too lost in you Round round Tokio hotel Monsoon (2020 version) Hilary Duff With love Stranger Coming clean Exid DDD Elliphant Spoon me One more Only getting younger Iggy Azalea Black widow Work Team Bounce DVRST Close eyes Bring me the horizon Can you feel my heart Alexandra Stan Mr saxobeat Ecoute moi Dua lipa New rules We're good Levitating Janelle Monae Tightrope Q.U.E.E.N. Yoga Jidenna Little bit more Lenny Kravitz Fly away M-Flo Come again Toopoor Crazy girls Dorian Electra f the world Destiny's child lose my breath soldier survivor say my name nasty girl

Avril Lavigne Perfume Doja Cat Rico Nasty(Tia Tamera) Kerli Rosalia(Bizconchito) CL(lifted) Shania Twain Sza Lil Mix Lalisa Pixie Lott Paloma Faith Asa Kelly Rowland Rita Ora Massari(Real love Be easy) Ayumi Hamasaki {Musici, cii} Kelis(Acapella Bounce Trick me) BoA Bonnie Pink(a perfect sky) Azealia Banks [212; Anna Wintour; Atlantis; count contessa; no problems; heavy metal & reflective; running] Tokyo Cirls Style Kero Kero Bonito Diana Ross(I love to love you) SNSD(Bring the boys out Papparazzi Gee) Sade Jordan Sparks Sevyn streeter(it won’t stop) May7ven (Hands up Ten ten) loan Paul (She doesn’t mind Got 2 love ya) Tiwa Savage love me X3 kele kele love Airis without you Nicki Minaj Zendaya replay Alexis Jordan Paolo Nutini The Noisettes Ludovico Technique Beyonce Rihanna Prima J (rockstar corazon) A touch of class (around the world {la la la}) Bassnectar (the future) Skillet (comatose monster not gonna die tonight) 2NE1 3 days grace Skrillex Chaos Chaos (Do You Feel It?) Benny benassi (cinema), Kehlani (LMK, contact, a message, rewind), KAYTRANADA (10%) Crystal Waters (Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless)) FLO (Summertime), Florida Georgia Line (Cruise, meant to be) KILO KISH (AMERICAN GURL, ELEGANCE, NAVY, Locket, ) KAROL G (Provenza)

Nagada sang dhol, Ke$ha we R who we R, Britney Spears break the ice, Kate Nash foundations, Wretch 32 don’t go, Paolo Nutini last request, The Kooks (she moves in her own way, Naive), Chase & Status end credits, ± △Xi∪s ¬iИк - M.I.A. DBT (Remix) ±, ± Damn Whøre - Insomnia ±, ± SUICIDEWΛVЕ - IN Your ΣYΣS ±, PVTY KERRY Ohé, Mike Posner - Cooler Than Me, Shawn Desman (electric, night like this), alt-J (∆) Breezeblocks, ± BLVCK CEILING - Grins ±, Sohodolls Bang bang bang bang, 4MINUTE hot issue, TWICE (CHEER UP, likey, knock knock, signal, Dance The Night Away), Demi Lovato, Joe Jonas this is me, Troy - Bet On It (From "High School Musical 2"), Gwen Stefani rich girl, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbwdJl8TGeY&list=RDCC5ca6Hsb2Q&index=10, GIGI D'AGOSTINO - L'AMOUR TOUJOURS, Turtles - Happy Together, Bobby McFerrin - Don't Worry Be Happy, The Monkees - I'm a Believer (2006 Remaster), Icon For Hire - Make A Move,

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Kalafina (Magia, Lacrimosa, Sprinter), Stereopony - Hitohira No Hanabira, LiSA - Crossing Field, YOASOBI「アイドル」 Official Music Video, BABYMETAL - メギツネ - MEGITSUNE, Tove-lo (talking body {clean version}, stay high), Flume - Never Be Like You feat. Kai, Disclosure - Magnets ft. Lorde, Amaarae, Kali Uchis - SAD GIRLZ LUV MONEY (Remix) ft. Moliy, Icon For Hire - Get Well, Meg Myers - Desire {clean version}, Five Nights at Freddy's 2 Song - The Living Tombstone (FNAF2) , Coco Jones (Caliber, peppermint)

+kids DisneyXD Imbrandonfarris+comedy +gaming Caylus+c +beauty Azzyland+c Rclbeauty101 +Ethnic KieKie TV

Aloma TV

Mark Angel TV

SCENEONE TV

URBAN MOVIES

[dreamisols]

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ COFFEE TALK

INTRODUCTION FIC TO 'THE ART OF REMEMBRANCE'

—the rare moments of free time allow you and your boyfriend to talk about anything and everything that comes to mind... at this point, you two might as well be the third division's free podcast! —wc: 1050; fluff but mostly crack —original canon, x fem!reader, you and hoshina are just silly, hibino leno and kikoru mentions, one cuss, general pov more or less, i advocate for silly unhinged dynamics —rimi's ramble: told myself not to rush the series but i wrote this in one sitting... my summer's gonna be spent writing about this man, buckle up folks! >:]

The Third Division considers you and Hoshina as their power couple. 

Charming looks paired with commanding auras, levels of strength that no one would dare go against, all topped off with endearing one-of-a-kind personalities. Two puzzle pieces that fit as if they’re made for each other.

Everyone within the division quickly accepted and supported your relationship with the Vice Captain. And with that support comes your status as the “local love team"—an inside joke and a makeshift badge of honor (if one could even call it that).

In their defense, there isn't even any sort of competition to begin with. You two are the only couple within the division.

Every member, no matter how long they’ve been in the Defense Force, holds high respect towards both of you. They trust you with a lot of things—the wisdom you both give to your members is actually useful, and your attack combos on the field are nothing to scoff at. 

Yes, they would trust you two with their lives, and yes, the way they’d say it might blur the lines of comedy and seriousness. There’s simply one thing that’s holding everyone off…

No one trusts the both of you with coffee. 

Ironic, considering it’s one of Vice Captain Hoshina’s favorite things. 

Another inside joke is that whenever a member enters the lounge room and they’re greeted by the rich inviting scent of brewed coffee, they will be tuning in to some sort of a podcast episode hosted by their one and only dynamic duo. 

No one session is the same. Sometimes you two end up talking about some story you read or some personal experiences. Other days, it’s just opening as many controversial topics as you both can while expressing your opinions in a lighthearted debate. One time, to the division’s surprise, you two started doing a deep dive into a conspiracy theory, complete with a whole digital presentation and proven statistics. 

It’s even more surprising how convincingly well put the entire thing was to the point even Captain Ashiro listened in with interest. 

The members found it pleasant, enjoyable even. A chance to hold more conversations about different non-kaiju-related topics thanks to you and Hoshina’s exceptionally random conversation starters.

All they ask is that you guys don’t open up a topic that might get you random looks at best, or—hypothetically—get the both of you canceled on the internet at worst.   

Today was one of those days, the team figured, when you and your boyfriend step into the (initially busy) lounge with matching porcelain cups. Hibino, Leno, and Kikoru were the ones present in the room… this marks their first time listening in on the two of you rambling.

“I don’t know, Soshiro-san, don’t you think that may be a little too intense?” you made a beeline and assumed your spot on the couch right in front of Kikoru, drinking from your cup the moment you sat on the soft cushion.

Hoshina follows after you and settles right by your side, “No way!” If he weren’t holding anything, you can envision the way he’d cross his arms and huff. He mimics your movements from a while ago, taking a sip from his drink before placing the cup down with a small ‘clink!’. 

A childish pout graces his lips as he stares right at you. “If you think hard enough, I’m telling ya, dicing those kaiju is just like makin’ intricate fruit carvings!”

May the gods give the juniors strength because what the actual fuck were you two talking about?

The room is radio silent. You and Hoshina continue to glare at each other as if you’re both in a mental debate. Which seems likely enough.  

Kikoru nudges Leno’s arm to get him to break the ice and the poor guy sputters. Hibino breaks into a cold sweat when he catches the way you and Hoshina sharply look at the three of them. 

“V-Vice Captain..! (Name)-san… go–good afternoon!” Leno prays his salute doesn’t give away the fact he’s shaking.

By record, this may have to be the oddest conversation they’ve heard in passing.

You flash the three of them a small smile and Hoshina does a small wave of his hands. Not even a second later, the man beside you jumps at the opportunity to find allies for his claim.

“You guys think that slicin' kaiju is like slicing fruits, right?”

Bless your soul that you’re stubborn enough to match his energy. “If anything, it’s more like carving wood! You have to be intricate about it!” 

Hoshina looks back at you like you’ve transformed into the kaiju you were talking about, “Wood carving?! Darlin’ I love you more than the coffee I’m drinking right now, but you’ve reached a new level of insanity!”

“Comparing anything to kaiju neutralization is already some form of insanity…” Leno whispers under his breath. “Let alone wood carving and fruit dicing…” Kikoru murmurs back in agreement. 

“Aww, you love me more than coffee?”

The immediate shift from a lighthearted argument to some sappy lovey dovey confession while talking about carving patterns on kaiju may be just as impressive as your combat prowess, the trio decides. 

Hibino breathes a sigh of relief and mumbles, “Those two fit each other so well… wonder if it’s a match made in heaven or hell…”

“We’re soulmates!” Hoshina corrects him, instinctively reaching out to hold your hands as if it’ll prove his point further. He gently laces his fingers with yours before glowering at Hibino, “You also called us demons with the whole 'hell' comment. Thirty push-ups for the three of you, ya hear?”

Leno nudges his senior’s ribs like he wants to end him right then and there. Kikoru was probably devising ways to successfully kill him on the spot. Hibino’s fighting for his life, but he still manages to catch the way you and Hoshina look at each other with mirroring lovesick smiles. 

If he manages to scrape out alive, maybe this coffee talk wasn’t that bad.

likes and reblogs are appreciated, but please don’t copy or repost my work! [edited: 062424]

[alifeasvivid]

I think it's been explored before where Arthur becomes the queen of Spades even though he's from another kingdom, but what about if Alfred became the King from a different kingdom? I like the idea of Alfred being from Hearts actually. Him getting the mark of the King of Spades would be a huge scandal. It's divine ordinance so no one can change it, but there are plots to kill him, rumors of a false mark, conspiracies about Hearts trying to overtake Spades.

Arthur and Yao, already queen and jack, are furious and terrified.

Kiku saves Alfred, guards him until he can be taken to Spades.

Alfred is a happy, sweet, naive young man with an open heart who is fully unprepared to become king.

Yao is yet to be convinced that Alfred shouldn't just be assassinated, to essentially roll the dice on a new king, but Arthur won't hear of it because upon meeting Alfred, he became quite obsessed with the idea that this innocent, charming boy would be expected to sleep in his bed and all that that entails.

And, surprisingly enough, Alfred is so head over heels in love with Arthur that he is easily corrupted by the queen's influence and eventually is totally on board with the queen and jack's plans to gain more power... by overtaking the other kingdoms.

[ridenwithbiden]

Kamala Harris is going to be the next president of the United States.

On January 20, 2025, she will become America’s first woman president, America’s first woman of color to be commander-in-chief and America’s first person of Asian heritage to become the country’s chief executive.

Born in late 1964, she will bring the perspective of a new generation to the presidency. Whereas Joe Biden brought the experiences of growing up middle class in the industrial heartland of America, Harris will bring the views of someone who grew up, lived, and worked in the Bay Area of California as it was transformed by Silicon Valley and the onset of the digital era.

Her inauguration will signal a historic watershed in American history, and will also mark the end of nearly a decade during which Donald Trump was a central figure in American politics. He will become an ugly footnote in U.S. history, a name that students will find relegated to “worst presidents” lists and books and articles about corruption.

For students of politics, his rise will be linked to a backlash against irreversible trends in American demographics that will ensure that within just a few years, the majority in the country will look more like Harris than Trump.

She is the future. He is the past. And on Election Day, American voters will embrace that change.

This will all be made possible because, when the final votes are counted in next week’s election, Harris will have outperformed the vast majority of polls and won by a more substantial majority than most commentators expected. Trump will howl and contest the vote. But in the end his conspiracy theories and unfounded legal challenges and intrigues will again be unsuccessful as they were in 2020 and 2021.

The reasons that the pollsters and pundits—who have a pretty lousy record in recent years—will be proven to be wrong again are manifold.

First, Harris has run an exceptional campaign, which she and her team have executed flawlessly. She has not set a foot wrong since Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election on July 21, from her first efforts to reach out to party leaders in a wave of calls that Sunday afternoon through to her first statement as candidate appearing at the campaign office in Wilmington the next day.

Her first public speeches were suffused with a new energy and vision that was desperately needed in American politics, and her choice of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate was inspired. A flawless convention culminated in a superb speech by her, and she sliced, diced, and julienned Trump like a Veg-O-matic at their debate.

Her recent “closing argument” on the Ellipse in Washington, the site from which Trump launched his coup attempt on Jan. 6, 2021, was a perfectly orchestrated and executed finale of a whirlwind campaign in which she made it crystal clear that she was the president American needed now—that she and this moment were made for each other.

As a consequence of those efforts and of the energy she brought to the race, Harris has also produced concrete results that will soon be recognized to have had a direct and meaningful impact on her victory next week. She raised vastly more money than Trump.

Unlike Trump she did not divert any funds to legal defense funds nor did she distract from fundraising efforts with the sale of Home Fascism Network tchotchkes like golden sneakers, overpriced watches, electronic trading cards or souvenir books. Her money went to supporting a grassroots network many times the size of Trump’s, run by professionals—unlike Trump’s which is being farmed out to the likes of Elon Musk, who knows absolutely squat about politics.

Those funds have helped pay for a campaign that has been distinguished not just by massive rallies and big ad buys but one that has mastered digital media like no other campaign in history, recognizing its new preeminence in delivering news to Americans and in shaping their views. It has also paid for a vast, detailed, well-run campaign that has had the benefit of unprecedented numbers of volunteers from coast to coast. Trump’s corresponding efforts were a fraction of Harris’ everywhere that matters.

Harris has mobilized a new coalition that will be responsible for her victory, thanks to a massive GOTV (get out the vote) operation, and carefully targeted messages that have tapped into the gestalt of every crucial group of voters with concrete ideas. She has been aided by the support of the historically productive track record of the Biden-Harris administration, and persuasive, timely, often edgy messaging,

As in 2022 and in interim elections before and after, the modeling of pollsters will have been proven wrong because it underestimated the anger of women at the repeal of Roe v. Wade.

Trump’s pick of misogynist troll JD Vance as his running mate, his repeated chest-thumping on Roe and his promise to protect women “whether they like it or not” (a toxic male outlook that has seen him named in accusations of sexual abuse from dozens of women throughout his adult life) have also sent the message that Trump-Vance-MAGA is the most anti-woman ticket in history. Women have noticed and that is why the most striking data from the now over 30 million votes that have already been cast is that the gender gap among voters is approximately 10 percent.

That gender gap is bad news for Trump. Polls have revealed that Harris does much better than Trump with women. But polls may be missing some important women voting groups. These include so-called “ghost voters”—women who are not showing up in models, either because they are from groups that have historically performed differently, like young voters; or they are from traditionally Republican voter groups but will not state publicly who they are voting for due to family pressure but who, in the privacy of the voting booth, will vote for Harris.

Regarding those who have voted Republican in the past but who are crossing over to Harris, the vice president has wisely made reaching out to them a central goal of her campaign. She has won the backing of notable GOPers including both Liz Cheney and her father and hundreds of former Trump campaign officials or GOP officials nationwide.

Harris will win a previously unimaginable numbers of Republican voters, perhaps 15 to 20 percent of the GOP vote in some states, and that will also come as a shock to political modelers. So too will higher turnout among young voters more broadly and among voters of color.

Since she entered the race, Harris has closed the gap that had Joe Biden lagging Trump by some estimates, and has consistently been tied or ahead of Trump on both national polls and on polls in the seven battleground states.

Polling data that you may hear or see on television or the internet is, however, skewed by as many as 100 polls that have been bought and paid for by Trump supporting entities. According to Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg, who was one of the few to call the 2022 election right and dismiss the hype about a “Red Wave” that never materialized, independent polls have Harris up nationally by an average of 2.4 percent.

Further, in battleground states, among independent polls, there has been considerable movement toward Harris. In a YouGov poll, Harris is up by 7 in New Hampshire, by 4 in Michigan, by 1 in Pennsylvania and she is just 2 behind in North Carolina. A CNN poll shows Harris up by 5 in Michigan, up by 6 in Wisconsin, up by 1 in Arizona and it shows Pennsylvania a tie.

Rosenberg wrote on his Substack, “Where is the election today? I still think we are up by 2-4 points nationally and in a stronger position in the Electoral College—despite what the averages and forecasters say. The VP is far better liked, and likable, something that matters to late breaking voters. We’ve closed the gap on the economy with Trump—a huge campaign achievement—and the economy itself is doing incredibly well right now. We are closing strong. They are closing ugly, really, really ugly.”

The key point from all of this is that polls are showing Harris up, and the polls are likely undercounting the number of votes she is likely to get. Further, early voting and voter registration data supports this thesis. Consequently, take the past performance errors of pollsters, the likely skewing of their current models, the fact that most polling, donating, volunteering, registration and early voting trends are in her favor and there can be no other conclusion but that Harris is going to win on Nov. 5 and do so by healthy margins.

Further proof of this comes from the fact that Trump is already spinning up lies about “rigged elections’ as he has in the past, most recently, for example with a lament about Pennsylvania. In other words, addled as he is, Trump also knows he is going to lose on Tuesday.

There is one last factor that I believe Harris will win: the good sense of the American people.

The electorate has made mistakes. But it has never had a choice quite as clear-cut as this. This year’s election pits good against evil, the prosecutor against the felon, the career public servant vs. the most corrupt, self-serving official in history, a dedicated patriot against a proven traitor, a joyful warrior against a merchant of hate and division, and a leader of the most successful first term administration in modern U.S. history against a man historians have voted the worst president of all time. I don’t believe the American people will get this one wrong.

That said, I have not garnered the view that Harris will win by exploiting a glitch in the time-space continuum and glancing at the headlines from the day after. I could be wrong. But it will be less likely that I am if you and everyone who reads this and all the people you and they know, get out and make sure this prediction comes true.

Vote Harris.

If you have voted, helped ensure others vote. Help those who can’t get to a polling station get to the polling station. Volunteer. Donate. Help ensure the elections are fair. Do whatever you can to make sure that Kamala Harris not only wins but that she does so by a margin so large that it makes it harder for Donald Trump to challenge it. It probably won’t stop him. But it likely will make the period of wrangling and MAGA lies that will follow shorter and ensure that it be resolved in a way in which, in the final analysis, the will of the American people is realized and the historical turning point I described at the outset comes to pass.

[alumbianchronicler]

EctoberHaunt - Oct. 6 Tabletop

Wes Weston finds a peculiar 20-sided die at the local game store that seems to roll unnervingly accurately. Unfortunately, "be careful what you wish for" apparently applies to dice rolls, and even after he tries to get rid of it, he continues to see the ominous numbers at the edge of his vision.

Warnings: Shark bite?

Crossover: na

(I'm giving myself the full weekends to do the Friday single-prompts, so this one's a bit later than the 6th itself)

Most game stores have a bowl of mixed dice, priced to a certain amount each, allowing one to mix and match or supplement with a specific kind they need.

Usually, the mixed dice aren’t anything special, but Wes still enjoyed looking through them. Especially when his brother was taking way too long figuring out what miniatures he wanted to buy.

Most of the dice today weren't out of the usual. Solid, bright colors. Occasional swirled resin.  One or two with glitter.  And… one bright-green d20 that shimmered translucently as he shifted the others aside to look at it.

Picking it up, he held it to the light and realized that the inside of the die appeared to be liquid, swirling gently as he moved it around. This one… this was cool.

Glancing over at Kyle, who was still debating between two variants of miniature dragons, he decided to go ahead and make the purchase. A few minutes later, he was waiting outside the game store, paper bag in hand containing one very cool d20.

He pulled it out, looking it over more closely in the sunlight. The liquid inside was a nearly-uniform green, the movement as the die shifted marked only by slight changes in reflection and weight, and occasional changes in translucence. The outside of the die appeared to be a hard resin, or perhaps glass, though he wasn’t sure how someone would go about making a glass die like this one. Still, it was beautiful, and would be a good addition to his roster.

Wes seated himself on the sidewalk to wait. His brother was still inside, and he didn't have much to do in the meantime.  He could test out the new d20... Get a sense for how it rolled.

He spread the paper bag flat on the cement, then rolled the die onto it.  Let's suppose... it would correlate to how long he would have to wait out here. Higher, a better outcome and shorter time. Lower, a worse outcome, and longer time.

The die rolled an 18.

Well, that was pretty good.

Wes stood, looking into the game shop. Kyle was currently paying for whatever miniature he had decided on. Not bad, die.  He slipped the die into his pocket, joining Kyle as he finally came outside.

“Took you long enough,” Wes complained.

“I had to make sure I was getting the right one! It has to fit the vibe.”

Wes shook his head. “Yeah, whatever. Let’s get home; I’m cooked.”

“You’re the one who came outside to wait.”

“And you’re the one who couldn’t make a quick decision if a ghost was threatening your life.”

“Ghosts aren’t real, Wes.”

They bantered back and forth on the way home, walking the few blocks it took to get there. The afternoon was still, a time of day that rarely saw ghostly activity, and they got back without incident.

Once upstairs in his room, Wes pulled out the die and set it on his desk. The roll for Kyle’s timing at the game store had been an amusing coincidence, and it was nearly enough to attribute a superstitious personality to the liquid-filled object.

Because whether one was superstitious or not, dice had personalities. That was just how it was.

Of course, most people would say that Wes Weston is a superstitious person. His general bent toward “conspiracy theories” fueled the perception, but he knew that he was simply more aware of the truth than most.

It wasn’t his fault the city was too oblivious to both notice and believe the similarities between Danny Fenton and Phantom.

And it wasn’t a conspiracy theory if it was true.

Anyway, he had homework he had to finish before class tomorrow, and he could probably get most of it finished before dinner if he started working on it now.

He wondered how difficult it was going to be…

Maybe…

Sitting at his desk, he reached over and picked up the new die, rolling it across the page of math homework.

4

Ouch.

Well, no reason to believe the die was right, right?

Two hours and with only the math homework finished, he had to admit that the die had, indeed, been right again.

This worksheet sucked.

Leaning back, Wes groaned and stretched. At least it was done now, even if he still had the rest of his classwork to do after dinner. That’s what he got for procrastinating, he guessed.

~~~

Monday morning came far too early.

If anyone in this stupid town trusted wishes, he would have wished for another three hours of sleep, but as it was, he was just going to have to deal with dragging himself downstairs and off to school.

On a whim, he tucked the new d20 in his pocket. If nothing else, it would be something to fidget with in class. Something to focus on that wasn’t the ticking of the clock, or Dash’s too-loud breathing, or Danny’s pencil tapping on his desk, or… well, one of half a million other sounds it seemed he could never quite tune out.

And apparently he wasn’t the only one who had had trouble with the math homework, as when they were asked to bring forth any questions about it, half the class immediately raised their hands. That made him feel a little better about how long it had taken, and he was in decent spirits by the time he made it to his locker between classes.

Curious, he pulled out the die. How was the rest of the day going to go?

14.

Huh. Not bad. Not phenomenal, but it was technically above average, so he would take it.

The next class (gym) went smoothly, and the rest of the day after that. It was ok. Not phenomenal, but not bad, which once again matched the die’s roll.

Halfway through last period, he noticed Fenton stiffen. Damn. Here it comes…

“Mr. Lancer? Can I…”

“Yes, Mr. Fenton, you can go to the bathroom.” Mr. Lancer didn’t even look up from his book, though the rest of the class had paused in their own readings and were glancing at each other.

Because even if they didn’t consciously realize it, they all knew at some level that when Danny left the class, ghostly chaos wasn’t long behind.

And, as if on cue a minute later, through the wall came a pair of Ectopi (Ectopuses?), pursued by Phantom himself.

To the class’s credit (or perhaps not, depending on who you asked), no one panicked. Hardly anyone really reacted at all, as by the time they were able to assess the situation enough to gauge whether the Ectopuses were going to attack them, the creatures and Phantom had all barreled through the opposite wall to outside.

Wes frowned, watching the fight outside the window even as the rest of the class went back to reading.

What if…

He rolled the d20 around in his pocket. So far… it had been accurate. What if…

He set his book flat on his desk and, as quietly as he could, rolled the die across it. What if he brought the class’s attention to Phantom now? Would he succeed in getting them to believe he was really Fenton?

20.

Wes’ heart pounded. A 20. This was his chance.

Standing up, he went to the window, looking out.

The Ectopuses had been joined by what looked like a ghostly shark wreathed in electric energy. Sparks scattered from its jaws as it flew through the air, seeking an opening to grip onto the ghost-boy’s limbs.

“Mr. Weston. Please return to your seat,” came the tired voice of Mr. Lancer.

“Look.”

“For the last time, Mr. Weston. No matter how much we watch Phantom, he is not going to magically transform into…”

“No,” Wes said more firmly, scowling and gesturing for people to come see. “Look.”

Outside, the Ectopuses had managed to cling to Phantom’s arms, restraining him enough for the shark to get an opening to bite down on the ghost-boy’s leg.

Arcs of electricity flowed over Phantom’s leg and up his body.

Somewhere, the screeching of the Fenton’s Ghost Assault Vehicle could be heard approaching.

Phantom screamed.

Chairs and desks scraped as the class stormed to the window.

There was a bright flash of white, and then… Fenton, outside, unconscious with his leg still in the jaws of the ghost shark.

The Fenton’s GAV screeched to a halt, Mrs. Fenton jumping out with a shout, already shooting some sort of anti-ghost weapon.

She hit one of the Ectopuses, and it and the other fled. The ghost-shark released Danny and turned to her, only to be hit with another blast, then a Thermos beam.

Which left only Danny, motionless on the grass. Red blood with flecks of green was quickly soaking his otherwise-unmarred pants leg.

The class was silent.

The die had rolled true. The whole class knew who Phantom was, and Wes was finally vindicated.

Why did he feel so sick?

~~~

The Fentons were shouting. Something about their son being possessed. About Phantom having taken over his body and using it for whatever nefarious plan they thought Phantom was up to.

Wes’s throat felt tight, breath difficult. He did this.

No.

No, he did not do this. This was… it was the die’s fault. Not his.

He watched as Mr. Lancer left the classroom to go out and help the Fentons staunch their son’s bleeding.

That was good, right? That they were bandaging him. That they wanted to take him home and help him…

It was a good thing.

And he, Wes Weston, was right all along.

Still, something about the situation felt sour to Wes. He crossed back to his desk, picking up the die.

“How well are Danny’s parents going to take this?” he muttered, the realization of just what it meant for them to know Phantom’s identity finally dawning on him. He rolled the die.

12.

Ok. Not… horrific? Not passing for most checks, but… not a critical failure.

Danny would be ok, and none of this was Wes’s fault.

The die, though… Maybe it was all just superstition after all. Maybe it was just coincidence that it seemed to roll so perfectly. Still. This was Amity Park, and maybe it wasn’t coincidence, and this was actually some sort of cursed ghostly artifact.

Either way, he was getting rid of it.

Class was dismissed early, due to the severe ghost-caused injury delivered to Danny Fenton.  The students were already talking about the incident as Wes went to his locker, and he caught more than a few glances thrown toward him.

He didn’t engage.

Normally, he would be ecstatic by something like this. Finally vindicated, with the “I told you so” ready on his lips. But he couldn’t ignore the feeling of the die resting like a lead weight in his pocket, and the increasing sense of something is going to go wrong weighing on him.

He threw the die into a river on the way home.

Occupied by his own thoughts, he barely paid attention to the cluster of Ghost Investigation Ward agents at the park.  His only thought was a passing wonder of how they would react if (when) they found out about Danny.  He didn’t notice at all the small, shifting number in the corner of his vision, landing on a 2.

~~~

Danny wasn’t in class for the rest of the week. According to Mr. Lancer, who had spoken with the Fentons, the ecto-shark bite wasn’t life threatening, and they were doing everything they could to help Danny heal, as well as “purge the ghostly contamination left by Phantom after he fled their son’s body.”

That was… concerning.

Could they… get rid of the Phantom half of Danny? Were they separate beings, or two halves of the same? Would getting rid of the ectoplasm leave Danny something like a zombie? Or would it kill him outright.

Wes didn’t know the answers to any of these questions, and judging by the nervous looks and unwillingness to talk about Danny at all, his classmates didn’t either.

Sam and Tucker refused to talk about it to anyone else, even if they threw plenty of sour looks at Wes between muttered planning between them.

He wondered how well their rescue attempt was going to go...

17

Wes blinked. The small white number remained at the edge of his vision for several seconds before fading away.

No.

He got rid of that stupid thing!

He couldn’t still be…

No.

It was just… worry. Worry and a lack of sleep and… it was Friday. He could lurk around Fentonworks tonight and make sure everything was alright, and then sleep rest of the weekend away with no guilt on his conscience. It wasn’t his fault. Someone would have seen Phantom shift to Fenton even if he hadn’t called them to the window.

Right?

Turning his attention resolutely back to his worksheet, Wes ignored his classmates for the rest of the class period.

After school, Wes hurried back to his house. He had preparations to make, and he wanted to have everything ready before it fully got dark.

Camera, film not digital, since ghosts didn’t show up well on digital media. Dark track-suit, covering as much of his body as possible.

Miscellaneous possibly-useful objects ranging from a pocketknife to a flashlight to a small handful of marbles, packed into a small black backpack.

Not that it was his fault, but if Danny was being drained of ectoplasm or whatever the heck the Fentons thought they needed to do to “cure” him, then it was at least Wes’ obligation to make sure he didn’t die.

Or… something like that.

He and Danny had never been friends. Acquaintances, sure. Classmates. But never friends. And after Wes had seen him transform once and been unable to let go of the knowledge that sarcastic, quiet, clumsy Fenton was also sassy, confident, competent Phantom, Wes was pretty sure the other kid saw him as an annoyance at best, and at worst? An enemy.

Which, Wes considered as he slipped on his backpack as darkness fell, wasn’t terribly off the mark.

Really.

Even if it was definitely the die’s fault, and not Wes’, the truth was that Wes had been trying to expose Danny for the better part of two years.

And why?

Just because no one else believed him. It had become almost a compulsion. An obsession to get someone, anyone to admit that Wes was right.

And now… the whole class knew. Mr. Lancer knew. The Drs. Fenton knew.

And the GIW?

If they didn’t know, they would before too long.

The lead-weight feeling in his stomach increased.

If the Fentons in whatever misguided well-meaning actions they may be taking were a threat to Danny, then how much more would the GIW be?

4

Oh.

Right.

He was still seeing the stupid die rolls.

And that was… a bad one.

Making sure his camera was secure in its case, Wes slipped through Amity Park, climbing fences where he needed to and avoiding yards with dogs with the ease of long practice.

After all, he didn’t know as much as he did about everyone by sitting in his room all night.

He heard the trio before he reached Fentonworks.

“Here, Danny, just… sit down for a minute.” Tucker.

“We don’t have time to rest, Tucker. We need to get him somewhere safer.” Sam.

“I’m fine, guys. I’m just… tired.” And that was Danny. He certainly sounded tired, his voice hoarse and weak. Peaking out through some bushes, he spotted the two crossing the yard across the street from him.

Danny was walking under his own impetus, but barely, with Sam and Tucker on either side, supporting him.

The fact that they needed to get somewhere fast but Phantom wasn’t flying them didn’t bode well for Danny’s state.

“I can’t believe your own parents...” Sam started, vitriol in her tone.

“Don’t, Sam,” came Danny’s quiet reply. “They… thought they were helping me.  I’ll be ok.  I… think they understand it now.”

“They tried to separate your ectoplasm from your body,” Sam hissed. “They tried killing you, for real this time.”

“You’ve killed me, Sam, it’s not that special.”

Sam made a sound that may have been either guilt or anger. Wes really wished he could ask about that, but now was definitely not the time.

“Hey, guys.  Listen to this,” Tucker said. He had something held in his hand, likely a phone or PDA, the screen glowing in the darkness. He did something on it and what sounded like radio communication came through.

“Agent O to Agent K. The Fentons are proving troublesome. Requesting additional aid in subduing and questioning them concerning target PH-01.”

“Agent K to Agent O. Acknowledged.”

Wes frowned. That was… if he wasn’t mistaken, that sounded like the GIW. They had gone to Fentonworks, probably looking for Danny.  And the Fentons… did they give Danny and the others a chance to escape?

If they did… were they ok?

Danny wasn’t in any state to be fighting the GIW right now, and as much as Wes hated to admit to any responsibility by his hands, perhaps if he hadn’t been so vocal about Danny’s identity for so long, word of Phantom being Fenton wouldn’t have spread quite so quickly.

Dice roll involved or not, he was going to make sure the GIW didn’t find these three.

So.

First.

Get to Fentonworks and make sure the GIW couldn’t spread out across the entire city.

18.

Ok, no trouble getting there.

Wes peered across at Fentonworks, taking a few pictures clearly showing the half a dozen white vans parked outside the building.

He wondered if they bothered with a… ok, no, that was a stupid thing to wonder.  Of course they wouldn’t have bothered with a warrant.  He bet they didn't have parking permits, either.

Wes pulled out the pocketknife he had packed.

Tire slashing time.

His dad was going to kill him if he ever found out.

14.

It was a close one.

Wes got through five of the six vans before he had to duck back into the shadows of the neighboring shrubbery to avoid being seen as three more vans came around the corner, parking next to the others and effectively blocking any traffic from passing by on the street.

He held his breath as they got out, collecting bags of equipment from the back of the new vans and then heading inside.

Thankfully, they were unobservant as to the vandalism that had already occurred, and failed to notice the slashed tires.

Once they were inside, Wes slipped back out to finish the job on the now four remaining vans.

Ok.

What now?

Fentonworks was a veritable mad science lair, even from the outside, and Wes was sure the adults of the house had even more thoroughly fitted the inside with technology and questionable experiments.

He did not want to go inside.

But he was going to.

He turned to slip around toward the back of the house, eyeing the walls and windows for the best place to gain entry.

There.

Time to climb.

16.

He was halfway up to one of the second-story windows when the building shuddered. Clinging to the metal scaffolding (which he was not going to wonder about), he half expected an explosion, but the lack of sound to match the building’s shifting made him look up.

And up.

The Ops center. He forgot that the Fentons had turned the stupid eyesore on the top of their house into a blimp. (And people thought someone being able to turn into a ghost at will was too much to believe…)

It lifted gracefully into the sky, seemingly undeterred by the flashes of ecto-weaponry shot at it by the agents swarming the roof below it.

A few moments later, shouting broke out from the direction of the vans. Undoubtedly the GIW had realized the sabotage when they went to follow the Fentons' blimp.

Moving quickly, Wes climbed the last few meters and rolled into an open window.

The room he found himself in was trashed.

Judging by the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling, it was Danny’s bedroom.

The rest of the room looked like it had been quickly ransacked with no care for the objects within. A lego spaceship lay scattered in pieces on the floor, and the entire mattress had been tossed aside, the bedding bundled in a pile half under it.

But there wasn’t blood or ectoplasm splattered all over, so… that was good? Right?

Anyway, with the Ops center gone, presumably with the Fenton parents flying it, and the GIW vans sabotaged, he needed to get out of here.

2.

He went back to the window and peered out. A pair of white-suited agents stood outside.

Wes swore to himself. Of course they would be looking for the saboteur.

Alright. Guess he was staying in the house until the agents realized there wasn’t anyone out there and left.

6.

… well that wasn’t good.

Red lights descended from the ceiling and turned on, matched by a siren nearly drowning out Maddie Fenton’s voice speaking, “Ghost Alarm Activated.  The Fenton Security System is offline.  Please prepare for evacuation of the immediate area due to Ghost Attack.”

Great.

Outside, he heard the GIW agents yelling, then the shudder of the front door slamming open.

That’s fine. That’s… fine. He can use this distraction to escape through the window, and the GIW can deal with whatever ghost was in the house.

He looked outside again, relieved to see the agents gone from sight. Slipping out the window, he started climbing down.

18.

So far so good.

The alarms turned off. There was no more yelling. Not even the sound of the GIW agents storming around inside.

Wes jumped the last several feet to the ground and ran toward the edge of the yard. He had to get out of here before anyone noticed him.

1.

Shit.

His surroundings were suddenly blotted out by a dark mass of roiling shadows, a white, grinning mask filling his vision before he lost consciousness.

~~~

“Wes Weston.”

The voice was little more than a whispered hiss, like the ocean pulling away from a beach’s sand before another wave rolls in.

“I have been looking for you.”

There was nothing to see except inky darkness, swirling somehow even without light to distinguish it. “What? Why?” Wes asked.

“Well. Not for you, per se, but for an object of mine which you have found.”

Of course the die was a stupid cursed ghostly artifact. “I threw it in the river.”

The ghost laughed, and the darkness pulled together to form a roiling, shadowed body. The face of the being resolved into a white mask, horns curving back from their head. Within the depths of their body, Wes could see stars sparkling.

It bent down, lifting Wes’s chin with one finger as it brought its face closer.

“You know better than that, little Seer,” it spoke. “The object is still with you, is it not?  Surely you have noticed, as you do so many other things.”

The numbers. Wes blinked and swallowed, trying to look away. There wasn’t anything else around him except the void-bodied entity.

The ghost held out its other hand, palm up. “I would see my die returned.”

This wasn’t real. This wasn’t happening. This was… a dream. Wes was dreaming, and this ghost was in his dream, and if he was dreaming… then by dream logic, could he actually hand over the die’s influence?  Could he get rid of the stupid thing for good?

With the realization came a surge of relief, and he tried to focus on how the die had felt in his hand, the weight and edges of it.

And suddenly, it was there.

Wes placed the object in the ghost’s hand.

It smiled and released him, the mask shifting unnervingly. “I appreciate your cooperation.”

It straightened, peering down at Wes from easily twice his height. “There are few enough humans able to see truth so clearly as you, child.  I will return.”

That… was ominous. Way too ominous. Wes was about to ask what the hell the ghost meant by that, but he found himself unable to speak, and the ghost vanished.

Wes woke in his bed. He didn’t know how he got back there, but with the amount of weirdness that was present in Amity Park, that wasn’t the most worrisome part of this whole mess.

By the end of the day, he had developed the pictures he had taken the night before.

The ghosthunting trio. The white GIW vans.

So the night before hadn’t been erased at all, even if he didn’t have any numbers floating in his vision anymore.

Which meant… the dream had been real, too.

And he had no idea what that ghost was or what it wanted or if Danny had managed to deal with it.

Or if Danny and the Fentons were ok.

He went downstairs for dinner, and nearly cried in relief when the live news feed showed Phantom chasing down and containing the Box Ghost. The ghost boy looked exhausted, but he was alive, and he didn’t have any obvious injuries.

When asked about the previous week’s ghost-shark incident, Phantom gave a story about having been fighting the ghost-shark and accidentally colliding with high schooler Danny Fenton. Due to a combination of the shark’s electrical attack and Fenton’s high ecto-contamination, he had been briefly stuck within the kid’s body.

It was a blatant lie.

Wes found that he didn’t care.

He didn’t think he wanted people to believe him anymore; not if it meant that sinking, terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Wes didn’t dream that night, nor the next.

He wasn’t sure whether that was terrifying or relieving.

The next Monday at school, he locked eyes with Danny in the hallway. For several long moments, they stared at each other, as if each wondered if the other was going to say something.

Danny broke the tableau first, coming up to him and dropping a small, lumpy leather bag in his hand. “You’re an idiot, Weston, you know that?”

“What?”

Danny scoffed and didn’t bother replying, turning away and heading to class before Wes could reply.

That was… infuriating, but Wes honestly couldn’t argue.

He opened the leather bag and dumped its contents into his hand. It was dice. An entire set of bright green, glass dice with varying numbers of sides, each filled with a shimmering, shifting liquid.

A piece of off-white paper fell out next, with shimmering purple-inked script. “The next roll is yours, Seer ~Nocturn”

If he thought it would actually get rid of them, he would have flushed the dice right then.  Instead, he dumped them back in the bag and shoved them into his backpack, resolutely resolving not to think about them again. Ever. Again.

Yeah, he didn't believe that either.

[antonjesus]

Conspiracy Theorist Mark Dice PRIVATELY Attacks David

[casualsweetso]

Controversy/ Conspiracy 

Trailers 

Fun lifestyle 

Foodie 

[flameontheotherside]

Nope, I don't do conspiracy theories anymore because I'm not a fucking idiot.

Sorry, I long put down the kool-aid, Alex Jones and Mark Dice. All of them are fear mongering grifting garbage. I'm gonna be honest, I don't believe a lick of anything these assholes say. They are on some serious bonified bullshit.

I know I say a lot about remaining humble and questioning everything. But when it comes to conspiracy theories, there is a line I do not cross. Yes, I believe SOME have merit but it gets to the point I'm like

Thanks but no thanks.

I'm going to live on the rational side of the ROUND planet.

This is why I don't talk about politics with anyone. I find as long as you don't do it, you don't lose the interest of others on what's more important to you and it makes things less complicated between family and friends who don't know how to agree to disagree. My spiritual journey is more important and it's not laden with fear mongering idiocrisy (watch the movie its basically a documentary) bullshit.

I don't usually post politics and if I do, its to test the pulse of others. It tells me who to follow or block. I try not to make where I stand clear. None of yall know where I stand except for the fact I hate wild conspiracy nuts like Alex Jones and Mark Dice. All they do is fear monger and profit off it. No thank you.

Unfollowing any conspiracy blogs as I prune through these posts on my dash.

I cant stand being overloaded with so many conspiracy posts...If you happen to be one of those blogs, please unfollow. I don't need that mess in my life. Let's agree to disagree but blogs overly populated with this crap are too much for me mentally and spiritually. Nope. Nada, por favor, tengo un buen dia.

😘💕Kthxbai!

[theresattrpgforthat]

THEME: Paranormal Agents

This week's game recommendations are about professionals dealing with the weird and strange: think SCP, ghosts, and supernatural phenomena.

EXTRACAUSAL, by ostrichmonkey games.

Extracausal is emergent mystery and darkness. You will collaboratively create and discover strange mysteries in worlds, embody characters facing overwhelming darkness, and delve deep into stories. Extracausal is about large, overwhelming webs of secrets, dangers, mysteries, and darkness for all players to explore. 

This is Extracausal; a role-playing game about creating and uncovering a dense web of the paranatural, the occult, conspiracies, and of things far beyond it all. This is a game of encountering that which is extracausal. Imagine the Magnus Institute, the Federal Bureau of Control, Southern Reach. All groups that are involved with forces far greater than they could ever imagine, filled with individuals who piece together clues and secrets in the hopes of knowing the unknowable.

Extracausal provides guidelines to help you create a world and an unfolding conspiracy, without a static gm. It describes itself as "GM-full", in which the entire table shares the responsibility of determining where the story is going to go. Rules-wise, Extracausal uses Trophy, a system designed for rules-lite play and quick character creation. Your characters have two tracks: Tenebrose and Insight, which mark your characters' growing weirdness, as well as their familiarity with the paranormal. When it comes to tone, the game offers a sliding scale, allowing you to choose what kind of horror (and to what degree) you would like to include in your story. If you enjoy creating your own myth collaboratively at the table, Extracausal might be for you.

24XX Glossolalia, by Wadabadah

We are not alone in the hood and yet, the galaxy does not give a damm f*ck about us. Follow the First Contact Protocol and may you return in one piece. Screw up understanding a cryptic alien message and you've f*cked, with some luck, an entire extrasolar habitat, somewhere, at sometime… no pressure. 

Welcome to The Bureau, agent.

24XX GLOSSOLALIA puts you in the smart and yet elusive uniform of an agent who works for the Bureau, a non-symmetric, horizontal organization that operates in the shadows to secure human life in First Contact scenarios. Remember, aliens have their own agendas and motivations as we have our owns, they are uncanny to us, as we are to them. 

Like any 24XX game, this will get you up and rolling in just a few minutes, with quick character creation, a series of prompt tables to get a story in a few seconds, and simple rules that let you make use of a number of different polyhedral dice. Excellent for a game in which your characters are very likely to die, as rolling up a new character is incredibly easy. This game focuses on alien life and alien influence, rather than modern paranormal horror, but it'll deliver the strange happenings that occur whenever you meet something completely not-of-this-world.

Statements of Fear, by Rue (ilanight)

Everyone's afraid of something. But as a Researcher, it's your responsibility to look into these tales of fear, categorize them, and determine what's to be done. Can you still reach out and help the person in question? Or is it too late- have they already been consumed by the fears they brought with them. In that case- can you stop it from happening to somebody else?  Do you want to? 

Statements of Fear is an investigative-horror TTRPG based on The Magnus Archives, played using the Powered by the Apocalypse system.  Facilitated by a Narrator, Researchers are given a Statement and asked to follow up on the case by reaching out to the witness, investigating the scene of the incident, or consulting the Archive for similar occurrences. 

For the most part, if you're familiar with PbtA games, you should be able to pick up Statements of Fear and be able to run with it. Unique to this game is a hidden role, which each player can choose to hide or disclose throughout the game. This hidden role will provide each player with a reason to sabotage the case that the group has been given, and it's up to the players to determine whether or not the entity they have been marked by is something they want to please. This game is based on the Magnus Archives, but you don't have to be familiar with the world in order to play this game. Statements of Fear is free, and therefore fairly bare-bones, but if you like the Magnus Archives, it might be worth checking out.

Cthulhu Deep Green, by Moth Lands.

In Cthulhu Deep Green, players take on the role of shadowy agents of The Conspiracy as they fight to maintain the veil of secrecy standing between the public and the horrors that reside just beyond human comprehension.

Cthulhu Deep Green is designed following the structure of Cthulhu Dark, a game of cosmic horror. In this game, however, players are directly linked to a government agency, providing them an in-game reason to band together against the supernatural. This game doesn't waste much space on lore; it gets right to the point in teaching you how to play. Players will find themselves checking against their Stress and Insight as they come across dark horrors and shadowy conspiracies, and there are special rules for both cooperation and competition against your fellow PCs. There is also a special note about mental illness, including advice on how to approach some of the subject matter in Cthulhu Deep Green with caution and respect. This product also comes with its own scenario, titled Food of the Gods. If you want to get into a game of shadowy horror and paranormal mystery, without having to read a big chapter of lore, this might be the game for you.

Against the Dark Conspiracy, by Alun Rees (Gallus Games)

Against the Dark Conspiracy is a supernatural thriller tabletop roleplaying game for 4-6 players. One of them takes the role of Control while the others each play an Operator. Against the Dark Conspiracy is written to require zero preparation but includes advice to Control on how to prepare or adapt materials published for other games, if that’s an approach they prefer. All the players cooperate to outline the Operations they’ll be embarking on and collaborate to find out more about the threats and complications they’ll face while having the opportunity to describe an obstacle they'd look cool overcoming.

This game is also inspired by Cthulhu Dark, but the conspiracies you are working against are factions such as Vampires, Demons and Fae. It's less cosmic horror, and more occultic, urban-fantasy horror. (It also draws themes from Night's Black Agents, a game about operatives discovering they were working for Vampires all along.) Similar to Cthulhu Deep Green, it comes with advice on playing with sensitive subject matter. If you like the idea of playing agents who have only each-other to trust, this might be the game for you.

External Containment Bureau, by Mythic Gazetteer

Congratulations on your employment, and welcome to the External Containment Bureau. Yours is a special privilege: to study paranormal manifestations, contain them properly, and thereby ensure a harmonious accord both within our world, and in relationship to other worlds that with ours. Your relocation to Bureau headquarters in is scheduled upon your review of the attached brief of Bureau activities and procedures, as well as the attached intake materials.

External Containment Bureau is a game of paranormal investigation and bureaucracy using a lightweight, hackable version of the Forged in the Dark design framework. You play as trained agents of the External Containment Bureau, an organization tasked with the study, identification, and containment of paranormal phenomena. The Bureau authorizes agents to make use of these phenomena to give yourself incredible powers (so long as the proper forms are in order). But take care: using paranormal energies inches you ever closer to joining the ranks of the paranormal yourself. 

This is a game that facilitates incredibly easy prep, both for players and GMs. It helps players cobble together unique characters without overwhelming options, and allows the table to decide exactly what tone and genre they're looking for in the game. Each session will contain a briefing, investigation, mission and debriefing section, allowing for episodic play while also giving you the tools to piece together a larger conspiracy if you wish. On the GM side, the mission advice encourages GMs to only construct half of the story; the players have to determine the final scene on their own.

If you want to play this kind of game, but with less corporate jargon and more occult influence, I recommend checking out the hack Congregation by DM Rawlings.

[ragsy]

Please tell me who Puppykicker McGee is

The Tale of Puppykicker McGee is a saga involving bad choices, bad rolls, amputation(s), cannibalism, puppy kicking, and what happens when tabletop RPG players learn that their actions have consequences. Content warning for… all of the things I just listed.

THAT SAID. First, some context.

I run a Monster of the Week game for some friends of mine, set in modern day UP Michigan. For those unfamiliar with MOTW, players work together to hunt monsters, solve mysteries, and uncover conspiracies by means of roleplay and dice rolling. The main difference between MOTW (or other games on the Powered by the Apocalypse TTRPG engine) and D&D is that D&D operates on a binary success system. You roll the die and you either hit the monster or you don't. It's a yes or a no.

MOTW, however, has three possible outcomes for every dice roll: Success, mixed success, and failure. When a roll is successful, your action happens as intended. When you roll a failure, your action not only doesn't work out for you, but it more often than not completely backfires in your face. If you roll to wrestle the monster and you fail, it kicks YOUR ass instead.

But the mixed success…? OOoooohoHOHOhhohoh, the mixed success is what makes me rub my little gamer hands together like an excited raccoon!! The player's action still happens as intended, but there's always a tradeoff. They might have to make a hard choice, or the effect isn't as strong as they needed it to be, or maybe someone else gets caught in the crossfire. It turns a hard "no" into a "no, but" or a "yes, and" and it makes me SO excited.

So you can imagine my joy when player character Madame Irena, Local Psychic (from the Spooky playbook) got a mixed success on her magic roll to lift a 40ft wide concrete slab over her head. The spell didn't last as long as she needed it to, and she lost her grip on the slab. I had her roll to dodge out of the way as it fell. Mixed success again. She gets most of her body out of the way, but the slab lands on her foot and just COMPLETELY obliterates it.

One thing leads to another, she gets rushed to the hospital and has her foot amputated. She's incapacitated for days, but after a daring hospital breakout involving a wheelchair, a Siberian husky, and the world's most put-upon medical intern, she decides she wants to use magic to grow herself a new foot. But that kind of magic in MOTW always has a cost, and it always has risks. For this particular spell, she's gonna need to transmute herself a new foot out of something else's flesh. But let's put a pin in that for a second.

Let's go on a side tangent about the Dogman. This is not Puppykicker McGee, but we ARE getting there, I promise.

So anyway. Player character Tatara (from the Wronged playbook) has been on a revenge quest to kill the Dogman, who is a human vessel possessed by an evil spirit that turns the vessel into a murderous, rage-fueled, man-eating dogmonster whenever they get overwhelmed by strong negative emotions. The Dogman can only transform back into their human form after eating freshly killed human flesh. It also turns out that the current vessel was an NPC on her monster hunting team the whole time! His name is Mark. He did not know he was the Dogman until very recently.

So Tatara, Mark, and player character Pip (from the Crooked playbook) just got back from a harrowing trip through the Backrooms and are all extremely high strung. This is very shortly after Irena went to the hospital.

One thing leads to another, the group gets into an argument, and Mark begins to get angry. Tatara, being the Dogman expert, sees the potential danger and decides to take preventative matters into her own hands. By which I mean a baseball bat to the side of Mark's head.

Dice roll. Failure! Uh oh!!!

Mark catches the bat, turns into the Dogman, and the Dogman goes fucking berserk. Player character Art (from the Monstrous playbook) manages to restrain and contain the Dogman in somebody's basement, but now the party has a problem: they need to turn Dogman back into Mark, but that requires feeding somebody to the Dogman. It also happens that Irena wants to use part of that somebody's body to transmute their flesh into a new foot for herself. The party has ruled out stealing a corpse from the morgue, so in a unanimous decision that would make my freshman ethics professor shit himself, they decide to find the worst person in town and kill him.

Enter: Puppykicker McGee.

Now, anyone who's ever run a TTRPG game knows that sometimes players will get murder in their hearts and there's nothing you can do about it. You can play up the morality angle, you can dangle a treat over their head to guide them elsewhere, but it doesn't always work. Sometimes you just have to play along and invent a guy from scratch who nobody will feel bad about feeding to the Dogman.

Puppykicker McGee hangs outside the local dive bar, harassing customers and kicking puppies. His legal name is actually Puppykicker McGee, but he picked up the puppy kicking thing separately. This is where his character complexity ends. The monster hunting party (minus Irena and Mark) jumps him in an alleyway and knocks him out in the first fully successful rolls in AGES.

But here's the thing: They get cold feet. They decide they don't actually want to kill him, they just want his leg.

At this point, I am NOT prepared to have this guy be a part of the continuing canon of this game. Puppykicker McGee was built to be disposable and I WILL dispose of him. I say yes, that's fine, they can have his leg, but they have to leave the rest of him with the one person they know who will remove the leg for them, and that person is shady as fuck.

Somehow, they're suspicious of this. This group of people who were super duper chill with homicide a few minutes ago are now a little worried of leaving Puppykicker behind with a woman who has a collection of human souls. I tell them tough nuggets, you made your decision. They say "yeah sure that's probably fine actually" and leave with a plastic garbage bag full of Human Leg Meat.

They go back home, feed the thigh to Dogman, and use everything else below the knee to transmute Irena a new foot. Irena is still a little nervous about doing magic since the last time she did it was the whole reason she lost her foot. She's worried that if she fails, she's going to have to just graft the foot onto her own leg. This leads to the single greatest sentence I've ever heard out of context in my life:

"Hey, quick question, how big are Puppykicker McGee's feet?"

[paintedwarpony]

C2E122 HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NIGHT

Everybody caving to the NordVPN ads at last. They finally got Matt.

"Makin' my way" in less than 30 seconds passed beginning the game

The chat talking non-stop about Sam's beard for five minutes

Travis map time

CAD LORE

Matt lounging in his chair a-la Lucien style

"Angel-Blood"

Veth just putting everyone's secrets out of front street for Lucien to use

"Change a heart and a mind and save a soul"

Lucien talking to Caleb through Frumpkin

The mysterious cake with dice on it

"Do we know how old Lucien is?" "We do." "You don't."

Talkin' about unicorns 🦄

Veth's turn to make the conspiracy theories

More creepy Lucien watching

Caduceus' rabid squirrel story but it actually made sense: Nonagon is Lucien's rabies

Cad admitting to actually wanting to save Lucien

" 'Ey Yudala!"

"Its been a week since we played..."

Caleb turning into the Mighty Nein's therapy dog

Lucien's Book Lore Dump

More ice fog and getting lost again with multiple Nat 1s

Lucien refusing to make eye contact with Beau

Confirmation that the blank door room is meant to be Molly's room

Mollymauk's coat

Doors Four, Nine and One

Caleb's childhood room

Caduceus leaving the tea on the table

Tower Cats hating the Tomb Takers

Every second of the Caduceus and Lucien dynamic

Cranky cats and chocolate fondue

Mighty Nein: Cult Killers

Veth renaming cats

Cats the Musical

The mystery cake revealed to be a dice tray

MESSAGE TO ESSEK AND HEARING BACK

Coming so very close to making a run for it to the Vurmas outpost and Essek

Matt Mercer's opinion on Grandpa Joe

Sleepover in Yasha's room

Lucien creepily walking around the Tower in the dark

Jester Polymorphing herself and Lucien into cats to explore all over the Tower and the conversation with Frumpkin

The shared nightmare and Beau and Caleb both getting Eye markings

Beau's notes looking like the cursed book

Total number of Manifest List check offs: 4.5

Caduceus and Beau banter and dynamic with Lucien

Tower Cats hating the Tomb Takers

Caduceus' hot meal

Essek (voice only)

1/2 : Polymorph but not turtles cats instead

[supernatural-freek]

Park Avenue

Dean x Sister!Reader, Sam x Sister!Reader

Synopsis: It’s game night in the Bunker. Dean takes it a little too seriously. Sam and Cas are there to win. You’re honestly just there for the food.

REQUESTED

MASTERLIST

See, the thing is, Dean’s pretty fucking bad at Monopoly.

Consider also: he’s a sore loser and can spend hours bitching about the fact that he lost.

So, as per Sam’s brilliant suggestion, you play Monopoly. Because it’s always nice to fucking destroy Dean at something. Cas tags along for the ride, because he doesn’t quite understand Monopoly yet, but he can play better than Dean and he enjoys being the little thimble. He also enjoys the houses.

Dean lands in jail in the first round.

“motherfucker!” He seethes, slamming his piece (the little dog, of course, and he literally drew blood to obtain that piece, you have the marks to prove it) down on the board hard enough to rattle the others. “What kind of bullshit is this?” “Sucks to suck, Dean.”

“Just wait until we get to Scrabble. I’ll obliterate you.”

“You gotta get out of jail first, bro.”

Dean snuffs and curses and he doesn’t hit anything, but it’s a near thing. You have a bet running with Sam that tonight will be the night that Dean breaks a beer bottle against the wall. You’re gonna make sure you win that bet. If you win, Sam owes you soooooo many fucking milkshakes.

Anyway. 

Typically, by the time someone is clearly winning (Sam), the game is already falling apart. Cas is trying to build a city out of the houses, you and Dean are playing go fish with your property cards, and Dean is casually suggesting you use the Monopoly money for poker.

Sam claims the victory before the game is over. Nobody fights him. Cas doesn’t put this thimble away. “I identify with this object,” he says, but he won’t tell you why he identifies with a fucking thimble. Dean just gives you a long-suffering look and helps pack up.

.

There’s a common misconception that Sam is the book-smart sibling of the Winchester trio. It’s all a lie. A conspiracy fed to the world by God. Because you sit Dean down in front of a Scrabble board and he pulls out shit like quixotic and equalise and syzygy.

It’s pretty fucking awful if you’re honest. 

Dean wins by a landslide.

Nobody wants to play another round.

.

Of course, board games can only hold the appeal for so long. There’s only so many times you can fail at the English language, only so many times you can go bankrupt, only so many times you can pay trouble before the dice dome thing starts to get hit a little too hard. Cas doesn’t even want to play properly. He just marches his men along, humming a low tune to keep them in time. It’s adorable.

It defeats the point of the game.

So Dean busts out the Wii, puts in Mario Kart, and then all hell breaks loose.

“Fuck you!” You screech as you topple off the edge of Rainbow Road and plummet towards death in a ball of angry fire. “Dean, we are the same team!”

Dean cackles as he crosses the finish line in first place, seconds before the blue shell makes contact. “Sorry girlie, but I’m a one-man machine!”

Your character, Yoshi obviously, crosses in third, and you toss your remote down on the sofa only to launch yourself at your brother. Dean laughs as he lets out are him down, playfully wresting with you on the floor as Sam gently coaxes Cas along in 11th place and 12th place respectively. 

“This is a very visually appealing track,” Cas says pleasantly as Princess Peach meanders along the road. “I can see why this one was chosen first.”

Sam has restrained murder in his voice when he says, “Castiel, you’re my friend and I would hate to have to burn your body. Hurry up.”

Cas does not hurry up. 

Dean elbows you in the face. You bite at his wrist. He yanks your hair. You kick his thigh. It’s really rather aggressive but you’re both breathless from hysterical laughter, so it’s all okay. Because Dean’s grip isn’t restrictive, it’s grounding, more like a damn bear hug than any type of trapping hold he’s used on people before. He’s warm, and comfortable, and you settle your weight somewhat awkwardly on him as you both watch Cas cross the finish line.

Princess Peach wails with dismay. Cas turns to you and Dean with the brightest smile and says, “I like this game. Perhaps we can choose another track that had a strong aesthetic?”

Sam selects Maple Treeway. You and Dean scramble up from the ground, diving for the remotes as the timer counts down. 

“Sorry Deano,” you say meanly as you launch away from the starting line. “Maple Treeway is my shit.”

He knocks you with his foot and Yoshi skids off to the side. “Wait until we get to Koopa Kape,” he mutters, looking very angry at being in 4th. “I swear if you beat me at the end, I’m going to fill all of your shampoo bottles with permanent dye.”

“Jokes on you,” you shoot back, laying down a perfect trap with your three banana peels. “I change the colour of my hair weekly. I’ll be totally down for whatever colour you’re gonna try and get me with.”

Dean curses and chooses to ram you off the road. 

You take that motherfucker down with you.

.

Neither you nor Dean come first overall. King Boo, the dumbass ghost, cheers on the podium. Yoshi dances in second place. Waluigi (Dean), Peach (Cas) and Daisy (Sam) watch jealously from the sideline.

“Sucks to suck,” you sing-song, only for Dean’s socked foot to connect with your ribs. “Hey!”

Before the two of you can start grappling again, Sam clears his throat. “I think we’ve worn our resident angel out,” he says softly, gently taking Cas’s remote from his hand. 

The angel clearly isn’t fully asleep, but his eyes are closed and his breathing is steady and slow. He looks peaceful, dressed in some of Dean’s old slacks and one of Sam’s shirts instead of his suit.

You reach over and gently comb Cas’s hair away from his face. “He’s adorable,” you coo.

Dean rolls his eyes and tugs you back, taking your place and gently shaking Cas awake. “Come on,” he says, too gruffly to be anything but fond. “Let’s get you to bed.”

Cas grumbles a complaint, but easily follows Dean’s hands up off the couch, stumbling after the hunter as Dean guides him down the hallway. Sam shakes his head with a small huff, switching off the Wii and starting to clear the remotes and empty snack dishes.

“Here,” you say, joining him. You clean the rubbish up as Sam takes a stack of plates back to the kitchen. Someone will do the dishes tomorrow. You gather the empty beer bottles and sweep them into your arms, carrying them to the bin and dumping them with a loud crash.

Sam bids you a warm goodnight, pressing a swift kiss to your forehead before ambling away to his room. You blow out a breath before dragging yourself to Cas’s room. Dean’s still there, tucking the angel in.

You slap a hand over your mouth to muffle any sounds you might make, because it’s just so damn cute! You know that Dean’s a mother hen, despite his attempts to suppress that softness. He cares for his fucked up family, and if that isn’t the sweetest thing...

“Your turn for bed, missy,” he says once he’s made sure Case is comfortable. The angel is already dropping back off the sleep, head snuggling into the soft pillows. Dean snorts and eases the door closed behind him. “You reckon you can use those puppy dog eyes of yours tomorrow, get Sam to do the dishes?”

You pout. “But Dean, the kitchen is your area.” He gently taps the back of your head. “Ow! Alright, I’ll see what I can do.”

He slings an arm around your shoulder and draws you close as you walk. “Good. That’s what I thought.”

You remember getting back to your room, remember someone helping you taking your socks off before the simpleness of warmth. Hands easing the covers over you, a palm gently smoothing your hair back and knuckles soothing down the side of your face. 

A gentle press of lips to your forehead, just to the side of where Sam had planted his kiss, and then the light turns out and you sink into the soft darkness of sleep, content.

[katcadecascade]

ORV DND Episode 2

The GM tells us five PC that Main Scenario #2 has begun right as the bus we’re in breaks down in the middle of the road. 

It’s called The Guide where we have to meet some guide, meaning that now things are going to divert from canon Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint. My GM friend already warned me not to expect the scenarios to be the same but I’m still paranoid to what’s to come because then this sub scenario pops up.

Sub Scenario: Survive Mental Prison. 

A fog cloaks our surroundings and we must roll a constitution check. Two PC use their attribute skills to be immune to the fog, while the rest of us roll our dice. I succeed but the other two PC fail and thus describe their selves in a state of panic. 

It takes a while for us to drag those two out of the bus as we run to the safety of an abandoned convenient store. Along the way we had to discard half our of equipment to speed up our progress. It took a lot of our braincells to remember that our suitcases can weigh us down. 

Anyway we escape the fog and rest in the store. We eat some food, rest up, have our PCs interact and name a cat Sprinkles. 

Okay so I forgot to mention this in the last episode post, there was a cat that I thought about killing for the first scenario but in the end I choose to kill a person. As for the cat, well it killed a rat and survived. Does this cat have a constellation sponsor? I don’t know. 

We’re still deciding what to do at this point. Our only leads are from an email that brought us all to that bus that was supposed to take us to Disneyland. Our best guess is that Disneyland is where our guide for the second scenario is. 

And then busting out of the employee only door is a bunch of hooded people. These new NPCs are clearly in a well organized group, they have gas masks and bags full of food. The NPC with a sword interrogates us, asking how we survived the first scenario. The PCs who only killed insects or a plant are open about it but me and last PC reluctantly share that we killed people. 

From an insight roll, the NPCs were not expecting that. My guess was that they also killed people and to hear that there was another way pass that to survive was tough to realize. 

The sword NPC then tells us that there are people sheltered in a mall nearby. Their group has it barricaded and their leader sent them out to get more food supply. We get to talking a bit more and with some high charisma rolls we learn something important.

The NPCs shared that they were from different Scenario #1 groups and that their Scenario #2 are also different. 

As a reader of ORV, I did not see that coming. Lowkey, I did expect the GM to directly use canon scenarios but the idea of people getting different scenarios and advancing at different paces did not form in my brain. 

One PC raises the question of what if these NPCs has a scenario to kill us. 

Another PC suggests we have the cat do a vibe check. 

Sprinkles the cat looks at the NPCs and meows in approval. 

So we go with them. They give us their extra gas masks and we go through the fog and reach a mall. If you’ve ever seen Netflix’ Daybreak, the mall is like that, the shuttered pulled down and barricaded. Inside we meet the leader of all these hoods. 

I quickly realize this is like a thuggish version of Inho Cheon and Geumho Station. This leader NPC believes in survival of the fittest and gathers other strong people to follow his lead. The mall has the same division of power, people who have low stats and have to pay a coin fee to the leader’s group of high stat people. 

This leader NPC is also okay for any of us to leave the mall, he expects us to die but still, we have the option to leave. Problem is that the Mental Prison fog is still out there so we hatch a plan to steal some gas masks before we bail this place.

Meanwhile, we get a tour of the place. Again it’s kind of like Geumho Station where the scavenger group gets access to the food supply but also the mattresses store, and running water while the large group of low stats people gets none of that. Classic power imbalance, yah know.

But then my entire being stops when the NPC casually points at the movie theater and says, “That’s the theater dungeon.”

The other PCs get confused and poke fun at the dungeon part, thinking this NPC made a sex dungeon until they get the explanation that the theater itself really is a dungeon and people with low stats died in there while his strong group survived. 

As for me, out of character I tell my friends, “I’m going into the theater dungeon no matter what.”

“All we do is give our characters pain,” a PC comments.

Anyway, we wander off to talk about how to steal or buy off the gas masks because one, our Scenario #2 is probably not here and two, this place is sketchy as fuck. Sprinkles has been hissing at the leader and we all agree with this cat. 

This is where I turn to the GM and ask to roll for my personal skill to predict the future.

So this is how the GM and I hatched out this skill. My PC is not a true prophet like Anna Croft cause that’ll be too overpowered. We decided on using percentile dice and make my skill into an accuracy reading on what routes I pick. If you know about the fortune teller from the Danganronpa series, its like that. 

So I ask questions on what would happen if we stay here and if we can leave safely. I roll sort of high and the GM messages me this.

There will be a bloody fight in the future, innocents will die, you may not leave. 

Again, the GM reminds me that this is only like a seventy percent accurate. Nonetheless, me and my PC are shocked and scared. I retell my accursed knowledge to the other PCs and things are looking grim. 

That’s when a kid NPC approaches us, asking if we’re strong. This kid tells us his friend went into the theater dungeon and hasn’t came out yet. 

Before a PC could say ‘you’re friend is probably dead’ a sub scenario pops up.

It’s basically a rescue quest to save the kid’s friend. From the two hour time limit, the friend is still probably alive we guess. What really catches out attention is the reward of having this NPC use a skill to increase our bond or power with our constellation sponsors. We take up the the quest and head off to the theater.

There the sword NPC from earlier is guarding the entrance and warns us that we might die but the rewards are pretty good. Then she asks if we’re really taking our cat with us. 

Sprinkles has chosen only one PC to be his designated human so that PC tries to hand off Sprinkles to the care of the NPC. 

“Wait just a second,” our GM announces and we hear the roll of a dice. 

Sprinkles decides no, jumps out of the arms of the NPC and runs into the theater dungeon. 

Things are going great.

We head into the theater, its just the main lobby and two hallways. We see Sprinkles head to the left hallway but we try to investigate the lobby first. We get some clues about the NPC we’re supposed to rescue but not enough to know where he is. Eventually we decide to go left and trust the cat is leading us in the right direction.

The hallway has posters with slash marks, later explained to be done by the sword girl NPC accompanying us. She’s just here for the cat. Sword NPC explains how this dungeon works and like canon, we would get sucked into the movie according to its poster. We make jokes about avoiding Avengers: Infinity War. 

Anyway we spy Sprinkles at the end of the hallway in front of a movie poster that has not been slashed out. 

GM has us roll perception. Four of us roll low and only get a look at some woodland picture. We all make guesses like Pet Cemetery, Blair Witch, Cabin in the Woods. 

The PC who rolled high gets messaged the movie name. 

“Guys,” the PC is almost choked up in shock but exclaims, “It’s Bambi!”

We all go ‘oh no’ and think it can’t be that bad right? We go approach the poster and get sucked in.

We appear in cottage in winter, dressed in hunting gear and the GM tells us that we are freezing and starved. Oh and we all have shotguns. 

Outside we explore and see a bunch of animals, two of which are deers. 

Yeah, we’re in Bambi alright. 

Somewhere along the way, we think the way to get out of here is to shoot every other animal but the deers. It takes a while cause some of us rolled low, argued about the ethics of this, pull the trigger, and we make it out with the shotguns as our rewards. 

We head off to the other hallway, similarly enough there’s only one unslashed poster for us. 

Again we do a perception roll and again only one of us rolls high to be messaged by the GM.

“Wait, is this the reboot or original?”

“Original.”

“Guys, it’s Dumbo.”

At this point, we’re convinced all this Disney stuff really is a clue for us to go to Disneyland. Like, that’s why we were all on the bus right when the first scenario started. It’s all. an elaborate. conspiracy.

So we enter the movie and appear backstage of a circus tent. The ringmaster yells at us to prepare for our acts. We split up into pairs. The clowns are up first.

“Why did the chicken cross the road?” PC says rather dully, evident in their frowny face clown makeup. 

I honestly don’t remember the end of that joke because immediately it was a low performance roll and everyone, including us PCs, booed. 

Smiley face PC holds up a large peanut bag and asks, “Want some of deetz nutz?” 

That gets the crowd roaring with laughter except for the mysterious cloaked figure in the audience. 

The clown PCs notice this and tries to do a fire extinguisher prank to hose the NPC out. It doesn’t work that well as they got other audience members and the ringmaster kicks the clowns backstage. They warn the rest of us about the cloaked figure right as me and my PC partner are suddenly up high for our trapeze act. 

PC partner unfortunately rolls low for acrobatics and is falling. I roll high to swing on a rope and catch them and we basically recreate the Rewrite the Stars song. During that we notice the cloaked figure is leaving the audience. We both get the brilliant idea of me throwing my partner at the cloak figure.

Yeah, um, PC ends up pile diving on the audience. Nonetheless that PC chases after the cloaked figure as the third act begins. Basically its the fifth PC and the NPC riding horses through rings of fire. They do really well. 

Back with the mysterious cloaked figure, PC confronts them but the only response is this NPC throwing smoke bombs into the tent and running away. 

Pink smoke spreads out through the circus tent and the GM tells us to roll for a constitution saving throw. The entire audience and half of the party suddenly become drunk and a PC explains in horror that this is the pink elephant scene from Dumbo. 

I do not remember much from the movie so my friend explains that this infamous scene is about Dumbo getting drunk on champagne. Wow. 

Anyway me and another PC have to watch over our drunk party members. It does not help that they still have the shotguns and they want to shoot at the birds they see in their drunken state. 

Meanwhile, the last sober PC runs out to find the mysterious cloaked figure who caused this but no. Instead the GM gives that PC a bunch of angst and describes how this stressing situation is enough to give the PC a panic attack. It’s all about character development, gotta give them conflict in nature to their backstory. 

Backstage, I’m trying to pry away the shotguns from another PC. It does not go well and my PC gets fed up, decides fine, shoot the birds. 

Low and behold, shooting the birds that’s only seen in this state is what gets us out of the movie. As we’re all relieved that we made it out, the GM points out that the mysterious cloaked NPC has also made it out with us. 

We chase after him to the lobby and we manage to tackle him down. The hood is now off and we see that this NPC is the kid we’re supposed to rescue in the first place. But there’s obvious something off, his eyes are glowing. 

Classic signs of mind control. 

The NPC struggles out of hold and suddenly the lobby starts to slip apart before our very eyes. Our allied sword NPC tells us that this should not be happening, that this is not normal as the theater lobby shifts to become a battle ring. 

Next to the mind controlled NPC, two caricatured figures appear, also with glowing eyes. A PC manages to perceive the nametags they’re wearing, one is labeled ‘Dumb.’

We all immediately guess we’re somehow in Wonderland without a movie poster. Right as we’re doing that, the GM rolls a die and the mind controlled NPC shapeshifts to look like one of us PC.

We roll for initiate. 

Okay not really, that’s where we called it a night. You all have no idea how excited I was when I learned that the theater dungeon is here. Like I was grinning so much. So what I got so far is that GM is pulling plot devices from canon as resources but yah know, twisting it into their own direction. 

Thanks for reading!

[rpgsandbox]

The Gaia Complex is a cyberpunk RPG set on earth in 2119. Towards the end of the 21st century, the third world war, which became known as the Resource War, pushed mankind to the brink of destruction and brought ruin to the Earth’s atmosphere. Small pockets of humanity survived this horrific conflict, eventually forming the eleven metropolises. These incredible mega-cities have since grown and prospered, largely due to developments in atmospheric processing and significant technological advancements. Now cut off from each other, these heaving urban landscapes must each face their own difficulties and hardships. The Gaia Complex focuses on the largest of these metropolises; New Europe, a single sprawling city that covers much of what we currently know as mainland Europe. New Europe is a world of street violence, corporate espionage, vampiric uprisings and an overzealous A.I., known as Gaia, which functions as the city’s governor and the protector of its citizens.

The Gaia Complex is a dystopian world of urban violence, exploring the age of cybernetic enhancement through a vision of Earth that is somehow ‘changed’. This vision of the future injects both vampires and a strange species of people known as ferals, who are able to enter the minds of animals. This is a game of conspiracy and brutality, where players take on the roles of Mercs; former police officers, hackers and street-savvy dealers who are hired to fight back against the system and ultimately unravel the secrets of The Gaia Complex.

Of course we'd love you to back this campaign and be a part of making The Gaia Complex a reality, but before you do, maybe you want to give it a whirl for yourself? Good news - you can do this right now.

While this campaign and the updates throughout will talk about the game setting and rules, our free (well, 'pay what you want', but please, enter £0 and just grab a copy!) 48-page Quick Start for The Gaia Complex is out right now and will allow you to read and play for yourselves. This PDF contains a huge amount of lore surrounding the game, offering an in-depth insight to the world of The Gaia Complex and what it means to be a Merc in 2119. In addition, the booklet is jammed full of gorgeous artwork and gives you a good idea of what to expect from the full core book.

Go and grab your copy of the Quick Start by clicking this link

                   The cast of playable characters from the Quick Start

The Gaia Complex core book will be 'at least' 256 pages of full-colour hardback beauty - take a look at the Quick Start for a general idea about how it will look. We say 'at least' as we have a whole host of extra content that we might just squeeze in, either through stretch goals, or because we end up deciding certain things just need to be there.

At the time of launch, the core book writing is roughly 90% complete and layout for final proof-reading has already been completed for some chapters - this is a significant strength for this project, having completed so much of the writing ahead of launch. Artwork at this point is around 40% complete and new art is in the pipeline to be finished (and shown off) during the campaign. The art direction for this book is very important and great care is being taken to ensure the visuals support the writing as closely as possible.

The structure of the book is split over 12 chapters, plus an NPC (non-player character) library at the end. We'll go into more detail about the chapters over the coming weeks via the campaign updates, sharing some key information as we go. Alongside the rules, background and resources for playing the game, the book also includes multiple pieces of short fiction that slowly unfold the real story behind The Gaia Complex. These stories, and the characters they describe, lay the foundation for the world in which the game is set and allow us to explore New Europe in 2119 in much more cinematic detail.

The engine behind The Gaia Complex is called 12.3 and can be taken for a test drive in our Quick Start by clicking HERE.

The basis of the system uses 2d12 (that's two twelve sided dice - but you're all roleplayers, so I'm sure you knew that!) to make the majority of tests on a 'roll under' basis. Whenever a test is required, the GM determines a potential difficulty for the test, ranging from 1 (easy for a child to accomplish) to 11 (impossibly hard). A character will compare the difficulty to their relevant statistic and if the stat is equal to or greater than the difficulty, the test is a success - There is an emphasis in the game on keeping the action flowing and not making tests unless they are really needed.

If the character's stat is less than the difficulty, a test is required: the player rolls 2d12, requiring a result that is equal to or less than their relevant stat. An 11 fails (without cybernetic enhancement) and a 12 is a Critical Failure. To pass, a character requires one or both d12s to succeed depending on whether they are skilled or unskilled - The Gaia Complex does not consider 'ranks' in various skills like the majority of RPGs, instead a character either possesses a skill or does not (though becoming a specialist in certain skills is possible).

During combat, d3s are also used to determine damage - you can use funky d3s like the ones available on this campaign, or simply use common d6. The engine for the game uses d3s to enable a more consistant result when rolling multiple dice together and to remove the chance of whiffing a result of a 1 in situations that should always achieve a minium degree of success (thus 3d3+3 damage represents a weapon with more consistent output than one that does 1d12 damage) .

Of course, the game includes many other rules - some core, some optional - covering a huge array of options, but at its root, the game falls back on 12.3 to keep it rolling (pun intended).

During the course of the campaign we'll dedicate a couple of updates to specific areas of the rules and give you a deep dive into them beyond what you can get your hands on in the Quick Start.

Characters in The Gaia Complex are known as Mercs. At their core, Mercs are citizens of New Europe who have chosen to rebel against the system and take up arms by making themselves available on the freelance market. The seedy clubs and bars of NeoMunich are the most common place to find Mercs and while their work is entirely illegal, there is enough anonymity that it isn't worth the expenditure of resources for Gaia or its police force to worry about shutting down the network.

Most Mercs are hired to run jobs against one of the many corporations in the metropolis. From hacking R&D servers to kidnapping, assassinating or Bio Hacking company execs; there are few limits when it comes to taking a job. Ironically, the primary employers are the corporations themselves, all looking to get a leg up over their rivals, employing Mercs to do the dirty work in order to maintain complete deniability. Of course, it's not just the heaving corporations that are the enemy; outsider vampires that lurk in the subway tunnels and outer fringes of the metropolis, the cybernetic police force controlled by the LE1 A.I. subsystem, or even Gaia itself - the all seeing ruler of the metropolis - everyone is a potential mark if the score looks big enough!

The core rules contains a detailed character creation process, allowing players to play either human or feral (a mysterious group of people who can enter the minds of the metropolis' animals) characters from one of ten varied roles, each with their own unique rules, benefits and style. Characters can choose from:

Operator - Former law enforcement, corporate security and guns-for-hire that pack the hottest weapon tech that the black market has to offer.

Core Hacker - Hackers and coders who live their lives in the digital pathways of The Core.

Bio Hacker - A new wave of hacker, dedicated to hacking the cybernetic brains of their targets and inducing 'forced servitude'.

ParaMed - Former TactaMed paramedics who have realised they can earn more money patching up Mercs by being one of them!

CyberDoc - Back-alley hackjob specialists and cybernetic installers. An often riskier, but cheaper approach, to main stream cybernetics clinics.

MilTech - Weapons techs, tinkerers and specialist drone pilots. MilTechs keep the team's gear working and provide invaluable technical support.

Mech - Drivers, pilots and expert mechanics. Mechs keep the metropolis rolling and give Merc teams much needed access to reliable transportation.

Tech Trader - Black market dealers, handling everything from illegal weapons and stolen cybernetics, to narcotics and false credentials.

Data Dealer - Information traffickers and dealers of stolen secrets. If there is something worth knowing, you can probably buy it... for a price.

Handler - Exclusive to ferals. Handlers have dedicated themselves to honing the feral's ability to step into the mind of an animal. This is the feral in their purest form.

We'll be taking a more in-depth look into each of these roles as the campaign unfolds.

Kickstarter campaign ends: Wed, October 7 2020 6:59 PM BST

Website: [The Gaia Complex] [facebook] [twitter]

[snowbird-down]

Prompt 19: Where the Heart Is

~patria est, ubi cor est~

Nonna was forever cross-stitching things. But her oldest work -- needled when Laelia’s parents first got married -- still hung within the kitchen of the family restaurant, yellowed with equal parts age and, well, fumes most likely. That wasn’t to say they ran a dirty establishment, hells no. Belisario in Culina was highly respected and, if the usual traffic was anything to go by, quite popular besides. Laelia couldn’t remember a day that hadn’t been hectic growing up. She’d return home from school and immediately be put to work. That’s just how things were.

While her older siblings buzzed around the tables or handled the till, Laelia had preferred staying in the kitchen helping Nonna and Papa cook. There just was something quintessentially Garlean about preparing food and sharing meals. Everything about it was social. Everything about it was fun. Every recipe was steeped in tradition and love.

So she couldn’t really help begging leave to return there when she was recovered enough to walk again. The medicus assigned to her was skeptical -- that Adder’s poison had been something else -- but it was hard not to argue that some light physical activity would aid in the pilot’s recovery. Laelia was at last granted permission to stay with her family, on the condition she check in daily until she was fit for service again.

Her arrival marked the first time her parents and siblings seemed happy to see her. They were so damn proud. She was making something of herself, after all. She was serving and protecting the Empire! Laelia forced a smile and tried to wave them off, not having the heart to tell them they’d lost the Wall, or that Castrum Abania had fired on Specula Imperatoris. They all were so drunk on propaganda that she had no hope of sobering them to reality. What a world she’d returned to, where truth was conspiracy.

But Papa knew that look in her eyes from his sniper days. He silently handed her a crate of vegetables with a kind smile. Laelia set to dicing like it was the most important job in the world, because in all honesty there was nothing she wanted to do more right then. Cooking was an act of creation. She was feeding people. She was improving lives and days in some small manner.

It was strange, in a way, to see how little had changed at home -- other than the restaurant staff. Her parents had had to hire teenagers to wait tables now that her siblings were all grown up and moved out. They were about as reliable as one would expect and, when two called in sick one day, Laelia had been forced to cover for them. Naturally, that was the day when every asshole in Garlemald decided they wanted to go out for some cannoli. The lone solace she had all evening was a quiet woman sitting by herself at a corner table, reading while slowly working away at her noodles. It was only by chance, as Laelia moved in to refill her wine, that she caught the title of her book: philosophy from the old republic -- banned before either of them had even been born.

Their eyes met, and the woman gave an easy smile.

“Research for the Senate. Not to worry.”

“You’re a senator?”

“Goodness no.” She laughed. “I’m a staffer for a senator -- Faustina fae Ledicus of the Populares.”

“Yeah?” Laelia asked. “Why’s she so interested in that book?”

The woman waved to the adjacent seat invitingly, and Laelia found herself plopping down against her better judgement.

The conversation that followed would change her entire life.

[battlersexual]

Board Game Showcase #4: Root

Hey! It’s been a while since I did one of these: Six months, to be exact. In that time, I’ve been playing a lot of board games. The old college club moved online for the pandemic, so we’ve had plenty of opportunities. So, I have a new one for today. This is actually going to be a wargame, which means I have to talk a bit about wargame mechanics. I’ll do a more in-depth discussion of them at some point, but for now I’ll just leave space for a link here and mention the basics.

So, Root. This game came out of absolutely nowhere and won a bunch of awards back around 2017-18. It certainly flew under my radar at first - I was more interested in a different wargame, which I will be making a showcase of very soon - but the moment I started playing in earnest, I realized how brilliant it really was. So let me tell you why Root is so great.

Story:

Root’s story is typical of wargames - more about factions and empires than individuals. You and up to three other players - five in the expansion - play as different groups vying for control of a thriving forest. The forces of the Marquise de Cat, an imperialist hailing from tamer lands, have seized control of almost the entire forest and are gearing up to industrialize the place. The forest’s old masters, the proud Eyrie Dynasty and their squabbling bureaucracy, have united under a new leader and are gathering their forces for reconquista. The citizens of the forest, the mice, foxes, and rabbits of the underbrush, have decided to throw off the yoke of oppression and band together as the Woodland Alliance, engaging in sabotage and guerrilla warfare to take the forest for the people. And in the midst of it all is the Vagabond, a traveler seeking to find a place in this new status quo taking shape, with the potential to play kingmaker or even seize power for himself.

Also, they’re all cute animals.

Mechanics and more under the cut. 

Mechanics:

Oh boy, this is gonna be a big one. In fact, for the first time in Board Game Showcase history, I have to split up the mechanics section. See, Root is an asymmetrical game, much like Cosmic Encounter was, but unlike Cosmic, Root’s factions have differences that go far beyond a single ability. So instead, I’ll summarize the major mechanics here and go into detail on the factions in their own section.

Root is played on a board representing an autumn forest, with twelve “clearings” connected by paths and separated by thick forested areas.

Each clearing has a suit, represented by the color of the trees as well as a small symbol (you can see it on the prior image: this one is just the art) next to the clearing. The suits are Fox, Mouse, and Rabbit. Each clearing also has small white squares, which represent building slots: different clearings support different levels of infrastructure.

The denizens of the forest are represented by a 54-card deck with four suits: the aforementioned fox, mouse, and rabbit, as well as a bird suit that acts as a wild card for the board: any bird card can represent any clearing.

Cards are mainly used for their suit, but can also be crafted: if the cost on the bottom of the card is paid (using crafting pieces, which are different for each faction but all in some way represent infrastructure in clearings), you get the benefit. Sometimes this is an upgrade, sometimes it’s points and an item, but it;s usually worth considering, and some effects can make certain factions exceedingly powerful. There are also “ambush” cards, which are played from the hand directly in battle, and “dominance” cards, which unlock alternate victory conditions.

Most factions have three kinds of piece they can place on the board: Warriors, Buildings, and Tokens. Buildings are always square, and tokens are circular.

Moving warriors around is highly dependent on who rules each clearing, which is determined by how many pieces a faction has there. Ties default to nobody ruling the clearing.

Battle is simple: When a battle is initiated, the attacker rolls two dice numbered 0-3. Once rolled, the attacker takes the higher number and the defender takes the lower one. The number is dealt to the opposing side as hits, each of which removes a warrior. If there are no warriors left, buildings and tokens start being removed. You can only deal as many hits as you have warriors.

The goal of the game is to reach 30 victory points. You earn points by crafting item cards, destroying buildings and tokens, and completing your faction’s goals. Each turn consists of three phases: Birdsong, Daylight, and Evening.

And that’s the end of the basic rules. If it seems like there’s a lot missing, that’s because...

Factions:

Each of the four factions in Root has completely different rules for how they play. I’ll have to present each one individually. I’ll be leaving some things out: each faction has a LOT going on, and I’ll try to convey what they do at the core.

The Marquise de Cat starts out controlling almost the entire forest, and gets points from building sawmills, workshops, and recruiters. She plays the most like a traditional 4x game, taking territory, building, and using resources. Sawmills make wood, which make more buildings. Workshops are used as crafting pieces, and recruiters make more soldiers and let her draw more cards each turn. She takes three actions each daylight, plus more for each bird card she discards, and can both pump out troops quickly and move across the map at a good pace. She starts with a heavily defended keep, and can spend cards to either overwork her sawmills or save troops from death with field hospitals.

The Eyrie Dynasties start stuck in the opposite corner from the Marquise’s keep, but with a good army and a Roost, which acts as a combination crafting piece, recruitment area, and point generator. They have a choice of four different Leaders:

All of the leaders have different abilities and affect the Decree. The Decree is the Eyrie’s political system: It’s got four columns (Recruit, Move, Battle, and Build), and each turn, the Eyrie player adds a card to the decree, then resolves it from left to right. For each card, the player must perform the corresponding action in a clearing of the same suit. This means the number of actions the Eyrie can take ramps up each turn, but the catch is that if any action can’t be fulfilled, the government falls into turmoil, the leader is replaced with a new leader, the decree is reset, and the player loses points for every bird card in the decree.

The Woodland Alliance don’t start on the board at all, but rely on sympathy tokens and supporters. Supporters are cards in a special supporter zone that can be used to spread sympathy or revolt. Sympathy tokens represent popular support for the alliance: it’s used to craft, it scores them points, and if another faction takes aggressive actions in sympathetic clearings, they make even more supporters of the cause from the general outrage. With enough support, they can revolt, setting up a base on the map and gaining warriors and officers, which allow them to take military action at night. They have fewer troops, but are much stronger: their guerrilla warfare means they always take the higher number in all conflicts.

The Vagabond isn’t a faction, but an individual. While the rest of the players are busy warring, this guy is over here playing D&D, complete with character classes.

The Vagabond wanders around the map with his pawn (not a warrior), searching ruins for items, trading with the other factions, questing, and building up a relationship meter with the other players. He doesn’t take territory, and he can leave the clearings and hang out in the forests. His items determine his capabilities, and everything he does helps or hinders the other players, directly or indirectly. He can ally with a faction by giving them cards, which earns him points, or he can go hostile and earn a point for each warrior of another faction he kills.

The expansion introduces two more factions, but we’ll go over them in that section.

Flavor:

Amazing. The different playstyles really get to the heart of the political game here, where you often can’t easily predict what other players will do and how the forest will change in a single turn. The art on the cards and board is also gorgeous, and really brings this little forest to life.

Replayability:

It’s a wargame, there’s almost infinite replayability by definition, but Leder Games went above and beyond. On the back of the board is another board, this one depicting a winter forest.

The clearings on the winter board don’t have fixed suits: instead, you place suit markers in whatever configuration you like. This is admittedly more for advanced players, but it’s nice that it was included in the base game at all, and adds even more replayability out of the box.

Expansions:

There are several expansions coming out, but only two finalized for release: The Riverfolk expansion, and the Clockwork expansion.

Riverfolk adds several things, including a board and rules for a second Vagabond player, and two new factions: The Lizard Cult and the Riverfolk Company.

The Lizard Cult is a dragon-worshiping cult that cares about the outcasts of the forest, and by that I mean the discard pile. Each turn, the most common suit in the discards is marked as the “outcast”, and the lizards perform conspiracies in the clearings matching the outcast suit. They don’t discard cards themselves to use them, instead only revealing them from their hand each turn, but to compensate, they have to radicalize their followers into acolytes before actually performing their conspiracies.

The Riverfolk Company are riverfaring merchants and mercenaries. Their goal is to set up trading posts in the forest and make a tidy profit. They act as merchants in-game as well: everything is for sale. Their hand is always visible, and other players can buy cards from them. They can sell their warriors as mercenaries, and ferry other factions along the rivers connecting some clearings, and they set the prices of all their services turn-by-turn, so they can react to the market. In exchange, they get more things they can do on their turn the more people buy from them, and if the other players aren’t careful they can become a terrifying force.

The Clockwork Expansion is very different from Riverfolk. It doesn’t add any new factions: instead, it compensates for players not having a large enough gaming group by making automated versions of all the base game factions. I can’t give much more detail, as I don’t actually own this expansion at the moment, but I love the idea.

There are a lot more expansions in the works, including new boards, a new deck, new vagabonds, and a new riverfolk-style expansion featuring two new factions, the Corvid Conspiracy and the Underground Duchy, but those aren’t fully released yet.

Criticisms:

Root can be a difficult game to learn, since you have to keep track of everyone’s different playstyles and rules to really play well. It can also be a bit snowball-y, with the winner often being very obvious several turns in advance. In terms of actual defects, the Lizard Cult have a special rule that isn’t listed on their faction board and only exists in the rulebook, which is frustrating. It’s also not a great two-player game, only really shining with three or more players.

Availability: 

Root is pretty easily available, since it’s still in the process of release to this day. You shouldn’t have issues finding a copy. It’s also got some good mods on Tabletop Simulator.

Conclusion:

When I first played Root, it was two-player, and I got stomped. I thought that would be the end of it, and I decided I probably wouldn’t like the game. Then, a week passed, and I wasn’t able to stop thinking about it. I tried it again, and again. I played it against myself to refine my strategy. I bought my copy and taught it to people.

It’s been months since then, and Root has become one of my favorite games. So don’t be discouraged if it’s hard to get started with. Give it some time, and some thought, and you’ll see the appeal. There’s a lot of great design here, and I thoroughly recommend Root.