#( come join the rp group i help run! :D )

[thelocal-alien]

Gravity Falls would make a really fun D&D campaign.

Dipper is a wizard, Mabel is a bard, Stan is a rogue, Ford is a warlock, and Soos is a monk

The DM normally likes to run big, intricately planned storylines, but it gets draining. For this game, they decide to relax and just do a fun monster-of-the-week game without much overarching story.

Soos's player isn't much help because he's new to the game & has a busy schedule irl, but no one minds. He isn't as much into the game as he is into hanging out with his friends, so he's fine just being the party's moral support.

Dipper's player took character creation more seriously, while Stan and Mabel were silly joke characters. Their players are the only two brave enough to do character voices, though.

Ford's player was a member of the friend group that moved away. She texts the group chat to announce she's moving back; can she join the campaign when she gets the chance? The DM asks her to send Ford’s character sheet & backstory to them before she joins, “just in case”. She texts “I hope you don’t mind me having a homebrew patron 🫣” before sending the DM 5 pages of Ford backstory and a full stat block for a homebrew Great Old One named Bill Cipher. The DM’s urge to make huge intricate plots kicks in. “OMG I have so many ideas already. Can I use Bill as a character in the campaign?”

Stan has a long lost twin brother, but the DM hasn’t been able to work that into the campaign yet. Suddenly, Stan’s player gets an idea. He frantically texts the DM and Ford’s player. They come up with a scheme together. This is SO going to blow everyone’s minds.

For Ford’s player’s first session, she mostly sits on the sidelines. Everyone keeps asking the DM when her character gets introduced, but they never answer. Then Stan says “The author of the journals. My brother.” Enter Ford. The whole table goes ballistic.

The campaign is suddenly a lot more plot focused, and the players are hooked. The DM keeps trying to lean into cosmic horror, but the players are DETERMINED to goof off. DM is really good at building tension, though, so sometimes they get into the serious RP despite themselves.

The DM has A LOT of fun playing Bill. They pull out an actual voice changer for him during Weirdmageddon, and it gets almost as big of a reaction as the Ford reveal. During the final session, they literally scream themself hoarse acting out Bill’s death. It’s awesome. Long after this campaign ends, yelling “STANLEEEEEEYYYY” is an inside joke among the friend group.

[aroaceleovaldez]

Not ask-blog related, then, but how would you get into role-playing?

honestly, just find an RP space/community (that's accepting new members) and hop right in. If you're nervous about your writing not being up to snuff, RP spaces are in my opinion the way to build up your writing. We all start somewhere and RP spaces are a great place to start and often full of beginners. You will pick it up and improve very quickly, have no fear. The general rules to be aware of in any RP space is basically just be nice and don't powerplay (which means don't do stuff like start controlling other people's characters, or deciding things for other people's characters without their permission, don't make everything in the RP about only your character, etc etc. Generally just treat everybody else and their characters with general courtesy). Also if everybody else in a space is doing only script or only paragraph format rp, try to match that. And try to make sure your writing is legible as a general courtesy cause otherwise people will have a hard time joining you in RP even if they want to - so avoid letter replacement/typing quirks (unless it's specific to the RP - see: Homestuck, though even with HS rp there is sometimes a site toggle to turn typing quirks off or similar) and do a quick scan to make sure your posts aren't super full of typos or etc.

more advice below the cut cause whoops this got long:

The finding the space is really the hardest part - RP-designated spaces are becoming more difficult to find since forum boards have started disappearing (though they have also started making a resurgence!). My old forum stomping grounds have since become an adoptables pet game site - though I do know a lot of online pet game sites have very active forum communities that usually had plenty of rp. I know for a fact Flight Rising has an active RP community. Rarely you can also find some other forms of RP-designated sites, like MSPARP used to be the big one for Homestuck and had some pan-fandom offshoots, but I don't know exactly what the status is for that stuff over there. I believe MSPARP doesn't exist anymore and I don't know anything about the rest of all that.

I used to also play some RP-dedicated multiplayer games and those can be a great option, depending on the game and your personal tastes. The main one I used to play a.) i would not recommend to people lol and b.) i'm pretty sure is very dead anyways so I don't have any exact recommendations there. I hear Roblox is a good place to find RP servers in a similar vein to that type of stuff but I never got into Roblox so I cannot confirm/deny that. You can sometimes find public Minecraft servers that have rp spaces but those are harder to find nowadays. There's a ton of discord RP communities you can join though. It's a bit more difficult to search around and get a feel for them just with how discord is but there's definitely plenty of 'em.

And I am not very in the tumblr RP community spheres (or other social media rp spheres - though i have dabbled) but to my understanding with those you either find an active group and ask if they're open to new members/if you can join, or you just jump right in to making your own blog/account/etc for it. Make some prompts/rp starters for people to potentially hop in and join you with or otherwise just kind of find you and rope you into their rp group or whatever. And of course you can always start a group with your friends.

The major things with RP is just kind of figuring what type of RP you want to be doing cause that informs everything else. Do you want to do script rp (usually formatted along the lines of [CHARACTER]: *runs around*) or paragraph/prose rp (the "[Character] ran around in circles before coming to a halt before the door." type format)? Do you want to do more of a video-game type rp where you have an avatar? Do you want to do something more like a TTRPG/D&D? Do you wanna do just straight up LARP (i can't really help you with that one much that one. you'd just have to search for local LARP groups - sometimes you can find them at your local conventions)? All those things are going to point you in different directions for what you want to do. In general, if you can find RP forums you can usually find both script and paragraph rp though paragraph rp is more common. Chatrooms and video games are more likely to lean script rp format due to chat limitations though this is not always the case. Social media rp is kind of it's whole own beast and everybody does it differently or different groups do it differently but if you want to do RP stuff primarily on your own and maybe pick up a group as you go then in-character social media can be a fun route for that. Or if you're not particularly looking for collaborative RP but want to do some interactive story stuff in a similar vein, then making an askblog might be more your style.

In general right now though, looking for RP discords is a relatively easy one or you can start your own and advertise it. Tbh if you find Warrior Cat RPers they may very likely have a designated area for non-WC rp (in the past Warriors RP sites/groups/etc ive been a part of, this has been the case in all of them). Also Warriors RP is like, everywhere. You will find it. It's like a constant of the universe or something. Actually doing a quick search i found some newer WCRPG forums and they look beautiful and yes, they do have non-Warriors rp sections. Idk much about RP communities in other fandoms but you can always count on Warriors. And as mentioned before, social media RP is an easy one.

Hopefully something in all of that helps a lil bit.

[palidoozy-art]

EDIT: We've gotten a lot of requests, so I'll have to close this for now, just to make sure I don't overwhelm and hurt someone by inviting 34083048 people in when I can only effectively cycle between two groups of 5. But thank you everyone for your help!

Hey, this is kind of a weird ask, but I'd rather go to here than Reddit or another group finding website first (I like it here better, I like the people here more, and I know I have a cluster of people who like D&D here).

Me and two of my current players (Ellerian and Kelogul, if you were curious) are looking for more people to play with in some one-off sessions. We thought about this back when the whole OneD&D debacle was going on, but we wanted to try looking into some other games with different people.

Current games we're looking into trying just as various one-offs:

Pathfinder 2e

13th Age

Genesys

Shadow of the Demon Lord

Worlds without Number

I'd also like to try running an Out of the Abyss campaign again. I began running one with Kelogul and Ellerian where we went hardcore survival (everyone started naked and you had to find your materials/craft your own stuff/find your own material components) and it was a lot of fun, but we wound up dropping it because I got too busy. One day I'd also like to run Rime of the Frostmaiden as well, and I wouldn't mind running CoS again... but all of that is extremely long-term. There's also joining From the Mist/Into the Horizon as well, but again, I'd like to just try things out with one shots first.

General information about us and how we run things (below the cut, because this is already long enough):

We don't use voice. We could if it's a huge hurdle to get over, but we've been just text based for 3+ years at this point so we're used to it. If you want a kind of example of what that looks like, here's a screenshot of one of our sessions of From the Mists.

We use Foundry VTT. I've already paid for it and you connect to it similar to roll20, so it should involve no extra work on your part. I also already have all the books and a google drive to share them, so there should be no additional costs there. If you need help learning how to use Foundry, we are more than happy to teach.

We tend to be higher on the RP and story side than average, though I'm not sure how much of this would really come across in one-shots where characters are more throw away.

We're located in the CST time zone. The date would likely be on Sunday, as it's the only day other than Saturday we can all get together (and Saturday is when From the Mists/Into the Horizon happens). We're flexible to run anytime from 11 am CST to 11 pm CST.

We are in our late 20s/mid 30s.

We are LGBT+ friendly (I'd hope so, I'm a dude married to a dude)

We've been playing for 3+ years (almost) every week at the same time on Saturday. The only time we've missed sessions have been family tragedies, medical issues, and planned vacations, so between the three of us we're pretty stable and consistent.

In general we're looking for 2-3 additional people (4 players total would be perfect, 5 would be stretching it but I could manage). If there's a lot of interest somehow, I'd also be more than happy to cycle people around so people get a chance to play. I would likely be DMing, but I'm also not hardcore bent on it so if someone else wants to dip their toes in it I'm more than happy to step aside.

If you're interested, message me or send me an ask and I'll give you my discord so we can talk about it. Into the Horizon (legacy campaign of From the Mists/CoS) happens at 5:30 CST, so I'll be busy around then but I'll try to get a response as soon as I can.

Thanks for reading.

[ruhrohrps]

what’s your opinion on aurorabayrpg?

oh boyyyyyyy

please be advised this is my OPINION

so let me start off by saying i forgot if i joined in the past, so i was waiting to have time to attempt to join. i want to show a screenshot of this ask that perfectly displays the date i received this so the muns cannot act as though i set up the group or were targeting them by sending myself this ask, or whatever else they may say cause idk them, they seem catty asf when called out (you'll see in the screenshots) and wanna cover my bum because i know one of their muns will probably see this - show it to them, and then it'll be a thing~ so...

i started to look around the rp. around the time i got this anon, it seems they were struggling with diversity... and weren't nice with their responses, nor did they make any sense?

^i mean.... *slow clap* way to respond to an anon trying to voice a problem with GLOATING about your initial app count (almost all white).

^fun, it gets better. so.... like.... what? no one is forcing anyone? if someone doesn't want to be a diverse fc, they just wouldn't apply for a second character rather than a third, if they were to tweak it to the second chara rather than the third? it's almost like they're coming up with an excuse for having their rp being white-focused. As it is, the admins brought in mostly white fcs; admin bex having brought in two white fcs (maya hawke & elizabeth gillies) before finally bringing in an aisha dee character (2/3 of their charas WHITE), admin dani has natasha liu bordizzo, daisy edgar jones, florence pugh, chase sui wonders, olivia cooke (3/5 of her characters WHITE), admin kell has zendaya, samantha logan, madelyn cline, axel auriant, tom holland, timothee chalamet (4/6 of their characters are WHITE). altogether, 9/14 admin characters are WHITE - only 5/14 are PoC... way to set the tone for your own group, and then having the AUDACITY to tell an anon you're looking forward to seeing who THEY'D add to YOUR diversity? uhhhhh maybe you should do that yourself and show people you're for diversity? lmfaoooooo diversity isn't solely on your players... but, then again - they obviously don't care judging by their response. "invisible quota" damnnnn the privilege is strrrooonngggg. i didn't even check all the players' characters cause i feel as though i'd only be more angry/upset; but just by judging off of the admin stats - the players are probably at the same rate... i did only get 3/4 of the way down the females list and it's mostly white fcs... so.....

^ like.... YIKES. shoulda just let the top admin talk, cause the second addition is just.... distasteful? uncalled for? hm.

so, if you search their blog they get asks about the group being cliquey or not kinda frequently. i think more than they post tbh cause they're a bigger group. uh, i attempted to join today to see if that were true (even was gonna take up a wc to see if it would help me), and they're really strict on occupations, alone? like... kinda bizarre but they have a set occupations list, you can only apply as one of those or you have to run the occupation by the admin staff if it's not 'vague' enough? weird. controlling, even.

^i, in fact, did NOT understand. there's more to an aquarium than keepers..... idk, the admin team just screamed snarky and controlling at this point, so i didn't join and just decided to put this out there as an honest opinion on my part. ALSO - controlling that you need to change your name/alias to join the group if someone else shares a name with you :) LOVE being told I have to CHANGE MY NAME. LMFAOOOO TF?

also, just as a note: they spam the rp tags. their 2 months of running as a group was back in MARCH and they're still using 'new rp' as a tag... lmfao - y'all have 40 muns, open for over 3 months now, and STILL calling yourselves NEW? you're established at this point. also, their promos clog up the tags - i just had to block their promo blog cause it was all i could see.

BOTTOM LINE:

no care for diversity

rude/catty admins

lack of creative freedom for writers

basically a spam blog

*please note that this is all my opinion based on interactions i've had and from what i've seen. this opinion does not give anyone the right/nor does it ask of anyone to send hate

[kingdicemrwheezyflowertor]

Hello fellow Flowers! So I got something to show ya!

As you may have seen from my last post; I was in an SMG4 mood and I ended up making 3 drawing. The last one you saw was this:

Well I am here to tell you that I just finished the Outlining; Coloring; Lighting and Shadowing for this drawing! Here is the Finished result:

I literally worked on it yesterday and finished today! It wasn’t easy nor hard but it was exhausting and Hand cramping. But I managed to finish it. I explained the Story behind this drawing but I think it’s best to put it in RP standards and change it up just a bit below so you know what’s going on.

LETS BEGIN!!

*The enemy ended up retreating from the now destroyed town; Chris and Swag ran towards Sergeant Mark who was now on the pavement and was bleeding*

Chris: Sergeant Mark!! Sergeant Mark!! Wake up please wake up!

Swag: Holy mother of Tits Chris what are we gonna do!?

Chris: We gotta help him Shithead! We gotta stop the bleeding somehow!

*But then they both hear Sergeant Mark cough and when they look down at him; They see his eyes struggle to stay open*

Mark: G-Gentlemen….

Chris: Hand on Sergeant; We’re gonna get you help! Just don’t move!

Mark: No… Don’t bother getting help….

Swag: What the Fuck are you talking about!? You’re bleeding you idiot; You need first aid!!

Mark: There’s n-nothing the doctors can d-do to save me now. *Coughs* I’m not gonna last long s-So I’m just g-gonna say this to you b-both….

Chris: Sir please; Please don’t do this to us!

Swag: We need you Sir!

Mark: *Smiles shakily* I’m honored to have gotten the chance to be your boss… You two may be the biggest dumbasses I could have ever known but… you two are…. My best… friends……. *Then his hand drops beside him and his head lopes to the side*

Chris: No! Sir, Sir please Wake up!

Swag: Sergeant Mark; Please don’t die on us! Wake up!!

*the two start to preform CPR but after 3 minutes they didn’t get any response, As soon as they realize this; rain started to come down and then the two started to scream and cry*

*In the Distance; SMG4 and his friends were trying to look for Chris n Swag and they managed to find them thanks to the screaming*

SMG4: Guys their over here! Looks like they’re-! *SMG4 stops in his tracks and saw the two crying and Sergeant Mark on the ground*

Luigi: *Runs over with Mario; Boopkins; Tari and Bob* Guys; What happened!?

*The boys couldn’t respond but they looked down and saw Sergeant Mark with a stab wound, Lifeless*

Boopkins: I-Is he?…

Chris: *Nods and cries*

*Everyone is shocked but then started to feel bad for Chris and Swag. Boopkins gently hugs Chris while Bob tried to comfort Swag. Saiko, SMG4 and Mario looked down towards the ground, Tari helped Bob with Swag while Luigi helped Boopkins with Chris*

SMG4: We need to think of a plan on how to defeat this bastard. He will pay for what he had done.

Chris and Swag: We’re joining you.

All: !? *Looks at them*

Chris: Sergeant Mark’s death will not be in Vain. He had sacrificed his own life for Swag’s and My own. *slowly gets up*

Swag: *Slowly gets up as well* We are gonna let some asshole get away with killing our Boss just because they want our heads. So whatever you come up with.

Chris and Swag: *They look at the group with determination and Rage in their eyes* WE ARE JOINING YOU!!

[thistleandthorn-rpg]

Hello, one and all!

Those currently in the RP are aware of this already, but our wonderful founders, Mack and J, have decided to take a step back from running this group. I know I can speak for all of us when I say how grateful we all are to them for the past nearly five years of D/s adventures.

My name is Jessa, and I'm your new admin, but I'm definitely not new to the group! In fact, I'm one of the original members from when Mack and J founded this group way back in 2017. I've been here since the start, and I look forward to more excitement for all of our characters in the months to come.

That being said, I appreciate your patience as I gather my bearings. Please don't hesitate to reach out to me with any questions, either through messages or asks on the main, or directly to me on Discord. Hearing from you, whether you're a current member of the group or someone considering joining, will actually help me find my footing and give me direction as your new admin.

[elitefourkylewantstobattle]

Do you have any tips on finding a group to play D&D with? I play with a group of friends but they're all so busy we only have a session maybe once a year.

So I only play online, and if that's an option for you reaching out to online friends who are interested and could possibly commit to a schedule is a good shout! I made my first group through tumblr and then my second group through irl friends + tumblr.

If you don't have many friends that are into d&d then there are plenty of folks online that are looking to make a group or join one. I'd recommend trying to start off on the same session 0 as everyone else but if that's not possible then look for places you can slot in.

Reddit also has an entire subreddit based on creating groups for both dms and players to find each other. Just know the role you're looking for, or if you're flexible (usually preferable) use that up front, and anything that is important to share. "I'm flexible but prefer tank and I'm new to rp", "I'm a confident face and dps character main but I'm not comfortable with webcam" etc.

Another option is any gaming cafes and comic book stores that might have ttrpg nights near you? I haven't been to any but i know that Glasgow have a tonne of places that do them on the regular. So maybe look somewhere near you?

And if you're a DM looking for players then yoi can make a post and tag it #dmlookingforplayers, #d&d etc and get some folks to circulate it! I'd be happy to help ❤ I do recommend having a trial run with people you're meeting for the first time though. Taster one shot before you get into the real one just to make sure you know who you're playing with.

Don't let the pain of the search have you get yourself trapped in a group you hate. Know your limits and ALWAYS talk to your dm / players when something is amiss. Every game is different, every group dynamic is different, people have different chemistries. Find players that respect you, your character and the game. You'll eventually find the perfect one for you!

And just don't get bogged down with feeling like you need d&d weekly because that's how you get burnt out real quick. Also people have lives and if you're not earning money from it then other things will take precedent over d&d. Just take it as it comes and there are plenty of actual play podcasts and shows out there to tide you over until your next session!

Shadowfax, show us the meaning of haste! Haste to your search, fellow d&dork 🐉

[elsinore-rose]

Hello! My name is Christine, and I am looking for a campaign to join! I have been playing TTRPGs on and off for almost seven years now and started DMing my own homebrew campaign two years ago. Today I DM two campaigns, but I’ve been itching to play in one as a PC again for a long time. So I am putting myself out here to find a group! Could YOU be my future DM? Here is some more info about me to help see if we’d be a good fit:

I’m disabled and have chronic pain issues, which means that, unfortunately, I sometimes have to cancel last-minute before a game. Because of this, I’ve been experimenting with creating character concepts that would provide in-game explanations for why I’m sometimes absent, as opposed to the DM just having to say “and Christine’s character is just going to be silent and do nothing for this session.” This means that I’m looking for a DM who is flexible and willing to work with me to make sure I’m included in the story, without having to sacrifice/compromise their plans for running sessions.

Because I use a ventilator and have frequent coughing fits, I need a text-based campaign as opposed to one that uses video/audio. Both of my campaigns that I run are text-based and use Discord for just about everything (aside from Roll20 for battle maps, of course). I’ve helped other friends figure out how best to organize a Discord server for text-based campaigns and would be happy to provide similar advice if that’s something you’d be interested in but haven’t tried out before.

I have played both Pathfinder and D&D 5e, but I prefer Pathfinder, especially since I’ve played a lot more of it and am more familiar with the mechanics. However, I’d be down to join a 5e group, if it was the right fit!

I’m looking for a group that focuses a little more on roleplay/writing than mechanics/combat. That’s not to say I don’t love a good fight or the chance to use abilities and skills — I just also love exploring character arcs, relationships, and story beats. My ideal campaign would be RP- and story-heavy, and not afraid to explore serious or complex themes. (I would also love to have fellow players who are comfortable rp’ing romance!)

I’m located in Michigan, so that puts me in the Eastern time zone, but because of my various health issues my sleep schedule varies pretty wildly. This means that I’m super flexible when it comes to scheduling!

EDIT: Probably worth saying when I'm NOT available -- I have a Monday game from 7-11pm and a Saturday game from noon to 4pm, and I am usually not free Thursday afternoons from 2-4. Other than that I'm free literally all the time.

I’m respectful, a team player, and a big fan of making sure everyone gets their moment to shine. I’m not into rules-lawyering, cheating on rolls, metagaming, or arguing with the DM. I think natural 1s are amazing opportunities for drama or comedy, and my number one goal is for everyone at the table (or virtual “table”) to have fun.

If you’ve read all of that and think you’d like to have me as part of your group—or if you know someone else who’s running a campaign that sounds like a good fit—please let me know! You can DM me here or hit me up on Twitter @elsinorerose. Thanks for reading, and happy playing!

[pasttorn]

      -- SHORP. mega quick update on what’s up with me & a mini announcement that i’d LOVE if y’all could spare a couple minutes to look through ( & maybe consider joining or sharing with a friend y’all feel would be interested ! ). 

        -- EVEN if y’all don’t care about me as a mun / blog, at least skim the announcement section bc it’s important to me & where i am rn ! 

     UPDATE ! !

       -- SINCE december, i’ve started college ! ! the saving up year of college at least, bc the college i’m in has this thing where if we don’t have enough money to pay for the tuition fee ( which rly is just, money for us to spend throughout our first year & our trips & other expenses like food or gasoline ) we can join the saving up year & they’ll give us a job to earn the money. & while i was a bit more free before, they finally found a job for me at the canteen, which means i’m off cooking with the head chef for literally the entire day for the whole campus-- which is largely the reason i haven’t written much or said anything here ! !

      -- I’M trying as hard as i can to manage my time better in order to not be so tired / drained at the end of the day, in order to try to write something here or spend time with closer rp friends, but between moving to a new place ( since i’m living in the campus now, which is in a whole different country to where i was ! ) & getting used to the job & getting to know my teammates / classmates that i’m gonna be working with the next four+ years, it’ll take me a lil’ bit longer to try to get this blog up & running again. 

       -- FOR those wondering, i’m NOT dropping this blog & i’m not dropping any of the threads / asks i have saved up unless my rp partners don’t wanna keep writing them anymore, because this blog is too important for me to just give it up, but i am gonna be quiet / on a mini hiatus a lil’ bit longer. if any ship partners ( be it platonic or romantic ) that have a close relation w/ my muse want to break things up & move on, then even though it’d sadden me to see it end, i’d understand, because i cannot guarantee i’ll be the most active in plotting or thinking about our muses relationships & it might take some more time before i can go back to ‘ normal ‘ here-- but if y’all are willing to wait a bit longer, then i’d love it if we could continue it. if you don’t, then please tell me so we can make changes at some point because the last thing i want is for y’all to feel i’m neglecting you or your muse, which is not my intention & i apologise if i ever made y’all feel that way.

     ANNOUNCEMENT ! !

       -- TIME to promote the college i’m currently studying at ! ! or am gonna be studying at in september, at least ishuegrdfmkcvx. the college is DNS Necessary Teacher’s Training Programme, & it’s a college dedicated to training teachers ! ! honestly i’ve only been in the campus for a month now, & from the chats i’ve had with people from other years & from graduates & from my teammates in general, i can already tell it’s gonna be a worth it sort of experience. in their own words, we’re all not looking to be the ‘ traditional ‘ type of teachers, & are learning by experiencing & travelling-- the first year we travel to africa, & in the second year we ( your school year team ) picks a country in europe to live in & work in ! ! 

       -- IF you don’t have enough money, that’s alright ! you can join the saving up year, & earn the money here yourself ( & in the chance you don’t make enough, the team is here to pay the difference if we can ). if you’re worried you’re too young or too old for the programme, let me just tell you that in the 2021 school team ( the year i’m in ) the ages range from 18 to 27. if you’re worried about previous experiences, just know that this my first time in a college or even getting a job, & we’re all ! ! willing to help with anything as a team. all you really need is the drive to be committed to the programme & to the team-- because you are going to be busy almost all day, & it might get tough to deal with sometimes, & you need to know what you’re comfortable with or are not comfortable with doing.

       -- I was very nervous before coming bc rly, i’m an introverted fool that still doesn’t know what i want out of life even though i’m 21 & should know at this point, & even had a breakdown the first night i got here bc i was in a new place on my own & didn’t know what the fuck i was getting into & was so afraid of disappointing everyone, but god everyone here is super welcoming & understanding about everything. since the month i’ve been here, i’ve made friends that also very much love anime, have found out that sexuality ( or the lack thereof ) is openly discussed & accepted, there’s a D&D group & there’s just, a bunch of creativity everywhere. & yeah, it can be overwhelming sometimes, but there’s always someone in the team who would be willing to spend time with you & to help you out with whatever you may need, because in the end we’re all dealing with the same things. i’ve even gotten along with people from other school years ( that started their studies in 2020 or 2018 ), & honestly you can’t even tell they’re in a different year at times bc everyone is always so kind & open about everything.

     -- I’M not gonna lie, i’ve only been here a month for the saving up, & so far all of this feels like a real life acnh adventure, where everyone in the team is the mayor. wild comparison but everyone is so welcoming & we all live in the campus & see each other every day, that it really feels like interacting with other villagers & the money we make goes to maintaining the college / the community / our team, so it very much feels like i’m the mayor / mc in anch trying to decorate the island / make it better idK

          LINKS to check out ! ! 

Quick 3 min video ! ! ! pls watch ! ! !

WEBSITE

FACEBOOK PAGE

INSTAGRAM

NEWSLETTER

       -- IF you have any questions about the programme or what it’s like to study here, pls don’t be afraid to hit me up in DM’s either on here or on disc//ord ( SHORP#8549 ) ! ! i’d be more than happy to answer any questions or share images / videos bc god, it’d be so cool if one of y’all or someone y’all know would be interested in the programme ! 

[xellandria]

Zmija Yilan was a temporary character I played towards the end of our Tomb of Annihilation campaign after my boy Alexus got petrified by a beholder somewhere deep in the bowels of the tomb itself.  We were able to “salvage” both him and Amara (who had also gotten petrified in the same fight) by shoving them into the Bag of Holding, but short of having the two of us sit on the bench while the remaining two party members waddled back to town, we had to roll some new characters.

I spent most of the week between the petrification and the new characters appearing being mad at myself for not remembering I had Inspiration I could have used to reroll either of my failed dex saves and not being able to do much beyond that, but with less than 72 hours left until she had to debut, I finally pulled an idea out of my butt, ran it by the DM because it involved Shenanigans™, got the OK and started designing her. Thus was born Zmija Yilan, whose appearance was based partly on an old photo that was semi-viral on Tumblr several years prior and partly on Xelloss from Slayers because when I’m in a pinch, that’s always who I fall back on, and have been doing so for like, 20+ years at this point lmao.  Personality-wise, there was a post floating around Tumblr that week about proverbs in various languages that, when translated literally or without context, made very little sense so she got a lot of that (and associated misunderstandings based on language mix-ups) mixed in with—again—Xelloss from Slayers, because I am a hack.  I would probably never play her again because she was so firmly entrenched in that campaign and also there’s some parts of how I designed/played her that I look back on and am like “ehhh I’m not sure I’m comfortable with the optics of this,” but I enjoyed playing her a lot more than I expected, and I look back on the end of our Tomb campaign very fondly because of it.

I haven’t been able to talk about her in public both for a lack of reason to do so and because I didn’t want to “spoil” my group in case they found my various social media posts, but as it’s nearly a year since she was introduced and nine months since the campaign ended, I’m gonna absolutely wall of text the shit outta this bitch, rofl (that said there’s baby’s first nekkid pin-up under here so assuming Tumblr lets me actually post it, fair warning for that under the cut)

Zmija Yilan - level 8-10 Human* Warlock (Great Old Ones/Pact of the Tome) (usually this is where my D&D character posts put stats but I don’t actually have access to her character sheet anymore, so let’s just pretend she had something ridiculous like maxed Charisma because I remember my spell DC being ridiculously high)

Zmija Yilan is a traveler from the far-off land of Zemlya, and a disciple of Matrymriy, one of the "family" of five gods in the pantheon of that region.  Matrymriy came to Zmija in a dream one night and told her to travel across the seas because She had a task for her, and that she would learn more once she reached her destination.  She's been traveling around Faerun for seven or so years—reaching one place, being given hints to go to a specific location, and upon reaching it, being told to travel on without seeming to do much more than just Be There.  Upon reaching Chult sometime within the last few months, her patron's hints indicated that she should travel to a place called Shilku Bay; she hired a guide (named Salida) and a bodyguard (a Fort Belurian mook) with what little locally-acceptable currency she had; they got separated after being attacked by a band of undead, and after failing to reunite with them, she was wandering around lost, trusting that Matrymriy will guide her where She desires her to go.

Part of her wandering had her end up in the Tomb of the Nine Gods itself, where she encountered our adventuring party (down two player characters) desperately trying to find their way out of the tomb in the hopes of returning to Port Nyanzaru to depetrify their friends.  Our barbarian’s player immediately distrusted her because I’d drawn her tabletop token with her back to the camera, which was an awkward feeling almost immediately returned in-game because both the barbarian and paladin aren’t hardcore RPers but they had to carry all the RP weight as they were introduced to this new character and explain that they were there to destroy a lich (both because it was the source of all the bad undead in the area, and because they’d been promised a reward—a motivation Zmija understood, as “a hungry bear will not dance.”)  Beyond the usual RP awkwardness there was an additional layer of awkwardness between the characters IC as at the time, Thokk was barely wearing more than a breastplate and loincloth, while Zmija was covered neck-to-ankle despite the heat and humidity of the region.  She claimed that in the culture of Zemlya, having strangers see your skin was a mark of great shame and that modesty was of paramount importance, so seeing so much of him was very off-putting and threw her off-balance for much of their initial interactions. 

Getting off on the “wrong” foot with the party and pushing as hard as I could into Zmija’s quirks (the weird proverbs, sprinkling in her Zemlyan vocabulary and making a point of her being from Very Far Away with Very Different Customs) meant I went a little too hard on them at the beginning, which is partly what I’d do differently and partly why the whole thing ended up working, so it’s a weird retrospective balance.  If my partymates had ever shoved (almost) any of the names or places Zmija mentioned into google, they probably would have twigged to the scheme pretty dang fast.

In reality, Zmija is not a human traveler from Zemlya, because surprise! she's actually Zsaksatyi, a Chultian Yuan-Ti Pureblood under the command of Fenthaza.  She worked as a bit of a double agent/interrogator within the Fane prior to her current assignment (hence her spell list's focus on information gathering, silent communication, and manipulation); she's been fleshing out her alternate persona for years and would occasionally pretend to be a captive and be thrown in one of those cells the party was in to get relevant information from the other prisoners, or assist others that were interrogating prisoners by more direct means (via Detect Thoughts).  In-universe, the language she pretends to speak is mostly made up, and something she's been working on for years at this point—it's not a fully-fleshed conlang and she only has a couple hundred words and phrases but it's enough to be consistent and believable when she sprinkles it into regular speech.  Since there's no real risk of running into anyone else from Zemlya (because it doesn't actually exist), it mostly didn't matter, and since there's actual meaning behind the words she does have, in theory it would have held up to a spell like Comprehend Languages as well. Out of universe, the language she speaks is an amalgamation of my own conlang stuff (which, like the in-universe version, is very limited and not complete) and various words and phrases pulled mostly from real-world Slavic languages (russian, croatian, hungarian, etc) with a little bit of Turkish thrown in when my English-only ear felt that it fit or when I had already used a word and needed another word for the same thing.  Zsaksatyi (pronounced dzahk sot-YEE) is the only name/word in the whole mess that doesn’t actually mean something somewhere, and was a combination of syllables from an online Yuan-Ti name generator that I kinda liked together. If she had ever been outed, I would probably have come up with something a little less cumbersome for me and my (almost certainly wholly monolingual) D&D group to say... but she didn’t, so Zsaksatyi it stays!

She very much looks up to Fenthaza and almost idolizes and worships her—if she ever had to choose between Fenthaza or Dendar, things might have gotten a little bit rough for her (possibly no matter which way she ultimately jumped, though I imagine Dendar's vengeance would be more immediate, if Dendar's a hands-on sort of patron).  Thankfully (for her), there was very little risk of that given that the party had left Fenthaza on reasonably neutral terms (having already helped her oust Ras Nsi from his position of power in the Fane and the party having essentially marked that dungeon as “cleared”). Fenthaza had sent her to scout the Tomb of the Nine Gods and locate (or steal) an artifact known as the Black Opal Crown, which will allow the Night Mother to emerge into the world.  The group actually came across the crown pretty soon after Zmija (and our other new character, a firbolg druid named Mei Ren who replaced our cleric, Amara) joined them, but the party couldn’t figure out how to get it out of the room it was in and Zsaksatyi was content that it would be safe from both our group and other adventurers there while she found her way back to the Fane (though she Sent the location to Fenthaza in case she wasn’t able to make it back).  That was actually like, halfway through the session right after she’d been introduced so having her sneak off that fast would have been absolutely wild, so I kept playing her as Zmija and while there were myriad opportunities for her to be discovered—including a hallway where any non-magical non-living thing got evaporated, up to and including clothing—she never was.  The fact that the only spells she ever used spell slots on were Hex, Counterspell, and Identify never really got commented upon, because prior to her joining the party we didn’t have a source for any sort of utility magic and we’d been feeling the lack for a while.  She was a lot of fun to play just as Zmija once I got the hang of her, but the hidden agenda that only our DM & I knew about was an extra layer of fun, too. It would have been neat to see how the party reacted to a reveal, but unless Jim wants to take us back to Chult to actually deal with the Night Mother’s return (because without having to keep up appearances and alignments, I’m pretty sure I could have gotten that crown out of there even before the weird teleport-defying magic of the Tomb got turned off), her story is over for us—taking her outside of the setting she was designed for would be weird... plus we already have two warlocks (well, one and a half) in a party of four PCs; adding a third would be a little bit bizarre, I think.

Her more Yuan-ti features include scales down her spine and across her shoulderblades, on the backs of her hands, and on her hips and thighs—mostly in reds, oranges, and browns, but as she increases in power and connection with the Night Mother, more of them are darkening to Her blue-black; it started right at that spot between the shoulderblades where you always picture being stabbed in the back, and has expanded from there; I imagine by level 20 all of her scales would be that blue-black and may have encroached further on the more human-y leather bits, probably encroaching on her face at the last, which would make being a spy a lot more difficult (even moreso than wearing as much clothing as she already does) but I guess at level 20, do you really need to be sneaking around pretending to be human?

In direct sunlight or other very bright light, her pupils constrict to slits, which is the real reason for her heavy eye makeup—between the distraction of it and the (somewhat exaggerated) squinting that such light induces, it often goes unnoticed, as it did with her character portrait (although to be fair to my party, Alexus also has slit eyes because that’s one of the traits of elves and half elves in D&D, and also I’m not sure if they ever saw her portrait any larger than 150x150 or whatever Roll20 shows them at). Both her top and bottom canine teeth are sharper, longer, and narrower than is typical for humans, and she is careful not to grin too widely and will cover her mouth when she laughs or yawns, whether she is in disguise or not.  That part I’ve never drawn though, so I can’t really point to that as something the party overlooked, heh.  In hindsight, I wish I'd given her more/heavier snake features but even the official art for Yuan-Ti player characters are very light on them and getting around the differences between human and yuan-ti racials without tipping off the party was hard enough as it was—I took the 120 feet of magic-ignoring darkvision invocation to disguise the fact that she innately had darkvision, I never used my racial spells and abilities unless I was willing to “use” a spell slot on them and had another plausible way to have obtained them, the one time I got hit with a poison ability (which she was immune to) I spent a lot of time “figuring out the math” on how much HP I had to drop, etc.  I also wish I’d given her darker skin, as she is supposed to be Chultian but she is significantly lighter than all the NPCs we came across.  Then again, I’m as white as a sheet soaked in bleach so there’s something weird about me RPing folks of colour regardless (especially given her fake backstory, agh agh agh) so yeah.  Really enjoyed her, don’t regret her, will not ever play her again rofl

In our very last session of Tomb of Annhiliation, the party—fresh off the victory over the big bad lich whose name I can never spell and his weird world-eating fetus—headed back to Port Nyanzaru via the Aarakocra village of Kir Sabal, which the previous variant of the party (of whom only Thokk remained alive and mobile enough to talk to them) had helped out significantly earlier in the campaign, unlocking a flying ritual that we were like “man we’re not coming back here if we’re gonna use it we gotta do it now” to get us the rest of the way to the port.  En route, Zmija tried to leave the group and rolled a secret 15 Stealth roll... contested by 17 and 18 perception rolls from Mei Ren and Thokk, but as she wasn’t carrying much of the party’s stuff and it was the end of the campaign, they kinda just let her give some line about seeing them again in the future maybe, the Mother’s will is unknowable, etc etc.  I think if Duf and Kattii didn’t know that I wanted Alexus back as badly as I did and that we were like twenty minutes (real time) away from actually getting him back, they might have considered that more suspicious than they did.

Pronunciations (and translations): (mostly C&Ped from her bio, which is the only part of her character sheet I can still access on Roll20)

Zmija Yilan: zMEE-ah yee-LAHN.  Because I'm subtle as hell, that's Croatian/Russian/Ukranian (first name) and Turkish (last name) for "snake/serpent," according to the internet.  What do you mean Remus Lupin is a werewolf?!

Matrymriy: mah-tRRuh mRREE (Rs are rolled).  Matrymriy is Zmija's claimed patron—one of five major Zemlyashan dieties—but she'll state that she doesn't know the name that she goes by in the local dialect.  That's only partly true, of course—мати мрій is Ukranian for "Mother of Dreams" (at least according to google translate), which is close enough to her patron's actual names and titles (Dendar, the Night Mother) that she can get away with it without actually raising suspicions about the true source of her powers.  She'll also do that thing where if someone tries to say the name back to her she'll "correct" them by saying it exactly the same four or five times and then "give up" and accept whatever "butchered" version the speaker comes up with, except she'll do it even if they're actually saying it perfectly correctly.  She may do this with her own name as well (sorry, Jim. And Duf. And Dustin. And Kattii. And Kattii's coworker, if he ever joins us and I'm still playing this character by then, lmao.) (2021 addition: and literally everyone who has a name that isn’t typically pronounced by us English-only plebians, I am so sorry I’m not better at your language)

Zsaksatyi: dzahk sot-YEE.  Zmija's real name, when she isn't pretending to be a human.  That doesn't mean anything as far as I know, it was just a combination of some of the syllables the random Yuan-Ti name generator was coming up with that I liked (which is also where "Itszella" was from), lol.  I may end up changing it to be less cumbersome at some point, unless it comes up before then and ends up written in stone, but I'm on a bit of a time crunch for the moment.

Zemlya: zem-lyah.  If pressed for more detail on where in Zemlya she's from (e.g. by someone pretending to know details about her country), her home town is Fal'shyva (fall-sheh-VAH), southeast of the capital of Hayali (HI-yah-LEE) and just north of the port city of Farazi (fah-ra-DZI), which is where she originally sailed from seven years ago. фальшива земля is Ukranian for "fake land," Hayali is Turkish for "imaginary," and Farazi is Turkish for "hypothetical," lol.

Proverbs & (approximate) Pronounciations: (if I recall correctly, asterisks indicate ones I had used, so I didn’t repeat myself too frequently)

Wziąć się w garść (zvun shih garsch): lit. take the self into the fist (polish), pull yourself together Галопом по Zemlya (gal-OH-pohm poe zem-lyah): lit. galloping across Zemlya (russian), to be hasty/haphazard. * У кого немає собаки, полює з котом (Ooh koe-hoe meh-MIGH-eh soe-BAH-kay, poe-LOO-yay koh-tome): lit. who does not have dog, hunts with cat (ukranian, original proverb is portugese), make do with what you have. Z choinki się urwałaś? (dzi hoink-E she urr-vahl-wash): lit. did you fall from a Candlenights(aka Christmas) tree? (polish), you are obviously not well-informed; are you dumb? * Mi o vuku (MEE oh voo-koo): lit. to talk of the wolf (croatian), speak of the devil. * Thalai muzhuguthal (tha-LIE MOOz-GOO-thal): lit. pour water over someone's head (tamil), cut off a relationship. * Хоть кол на голове теши (coat-coal nah gohl-ehvee teh-SHEE): lit. you can sharpen an axe on this head (russian), a very stubborn person.

Other Languages Are Hard Today, Let’s Just Proverb It In English:

Cat's Forehead (japanese): a tiny space, usually used humbly to refer to owned land. It fell between chairs (swedish): group work that everyone assumed someone else would do, and didn't get done as a result * It gives me a beautiful leg (french): fat lot of good that'll do me Drown the fish (french): avoid a subject by talking about anything and everything else, confuse the issue In a river with piranhas, the alligator swims backstroke (brazil): protect your weaknesses * Accusation always follows the cat (iraqi): it's easy to blame someone who can't defend themselves The honey only sticks to the mustache of he who licked it (arabic): he who smelt it, dealt it * A hungry bear does not dance (greek): the reward must be worth the cost (or at least exist) * The crayfish sides with the crab (korean): people who have a lot in common stay friends * If you can't live longer, live deeper (italian): get the most of your time * A spoon does not know the taste of soup (welsh): intelligence is not wisdom Examine what is said, not who speaks (arab): don't take things at face value * Turn your face to the sun and the shadows will fall behind you (new zealand): have a positive outlook He who does not travel, does not know the value of men (moorish): wide experience is gr8 Do good and throw it in the sea (arab): don't expect anything back from kindness * Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is halved (swedish): friends make things better If you want to go fast, go alone.  If you want to go far, go together (african): strength in numbers, speed on your own.

[internetremix]

Question for the crew that plays DnD: How did you start playing DnD and do you have any advice how to start getting into DnD

Uprising: Started playing DND with my good friend IRL and my brother with my DM being my friends brother and my first battle had a calculated 33.3% win rate lol, Don't Do That. DND is supposed to be fun so find someone who wants to tell a story/be a DM and that's a huge first step done lol. Honestly try your first campaign with a premade one if you don't feel ready to DM q full imagined campaign since those usually die pretty quickly since it takes a lot more work than you think it does. Also a huge piece of advice is don't be scared of RP. EMBRACE IT!!! Then others will too. Queen: When I had my first table at Comic Con, the people who were next to me (check them out @ Final Boss Fight) were promoting their own D&D shows and they asked me if I wanted to be a part of their campaign. I'd seen a bit of D&D through Underdark at the time so I agreed, and never looked back :D One of the things that really got me hooked on the storytelling side of D&D was Critical Role. It's a big series to follow, but there's a load of clips online that were really inspiring (especially the ending of Vox Machina, that's a rollercoaster of emotions). So I suggest watching that for inspiration. As for playing the game, find some friends who are interested as well. The more you have, the more opportunity for games you're open to. And yeah what Uprising said, the whole point of the game is to tell a story, so don't be afraid to act your heart out. Uprising: Another series to listen to for inspiration is The Adventure Zone: Balance (or any of the other adventure zones but balance was the og and I was a listener since the second arc so its that nostalgic shit) for storytelling and foreshadowing and stuff. Alex: I started with 4th edition because I saw ads in the back of Gamepro saying stuff like "WE INVENTED BOSS MONSTERS" and by the time I was interested enough to check it out 4e had come out and it was A Thing that people are still rustled about. Besides Uprising's solid advice about YOU'RE THERE TO HAVE FUN AND TELL A STORY NOT KILL EVERY CHARACTER RIGHT OFF THE BAT - not every group is created equal. There are some that just won't click for you. I've been in my share of bad groups before but no D&D is better than bad D&D. The entire purpose of getting together is to have fun. The beauty of it being a group of people is that you can talk to the DM or other players and try to work out stuff that isn't working, but at the end of the day, if nothing works, no D&D is better than bad D&D - there's no shortage of other groups that will click better with you! Ann: I got pulled in by a friend who was running Curse of Strahd before I started college, which had a D&D club that I was a part of the entire time I was there. To anyone who wants to start, I say go for it. Find some friends who would want to play and get a campaign started. Don't worry about having the best character. The best part about D&D (and really any TTRPG) is the versatility of what your character is like. Embrace the crazy ideas you may have and have fun. Think outside the box at times. Roleplaying and improv will become a lot more fun and you'll have a lot of memories of the crazy moments that happen. Also DON'T BE AFRAID TO COMMUNICATE TO YOUR DM IF YOU HAVE AN IDEA FOR YOUR CHARACTER. The DM may be the one in charge of running the campaign but everyone involved is important and should be heard to have their moments to shine. Adric: I started by just going to a local game shop and asking to join a game. For how to start, right at this exact moment my advice isn't as useful, but my normal advice is just, see if you have a local comic/game shop, find out when they play D&D, and see if they have open spots/when they will. Most groups are super chill about it and like helping new people join.

[akunin-no-tani]

Remus belonged to the circus owner like the rest of the freaks. And he was just as mistreated... it just wasn't as obvious since he was forced to the man's side like some sort of twisted pet. But he could take no more. he'd run, through a deep forest. he was on his last leg, very near literally and was searching for shelter or a road or both (rp. @skeletons-all-year-round)

@skeletons-all-year-round

Patton had been in the forest at the time- He has been following this circus from a distance for a while, actually.

You see, Patton is part of a special group that run a sanctuary for the unjustly labeled ‘freaks’ rescued from these circuses. This group is the Anomaly Resuce and Circus Halting organization, or A.R.C.H for short. ARCH has worked hard over the years to try and end traveling circuses that poorly mistreat anomalies, which is the correct term for the ‘freaks’ found there, though they have found some circuses, albeit rare, that treat the anomalies in a humane way, and the anomalies willingly choose to stay, these circuses usually join in partnership with ARCH to help spread the message.

He looked up when he heard the rush of footsteps, watching the anomaly come running out of the bush, quickly kneeling down and opening his arms to catch him, rubbing his back.

“D-Don’t worry! You’re safe with me, I promise. I won’t let them hurt you.” He reassured the anomaly.

[coldestthief]

A little D/scord RP interaction between the ever wonderful @hautecoldture and me that was too good not to share.

Len

Leonard is quiet until they are out of the room and away from the rest of the group until he turns his attention to Barry, watching him for a second.

The expectant energy is all but rolling off of him and it draws a small smile to Len's mouth before he looks away without actually taking his focus away from the young man nearly bouncing along beside him.

"It's something, isn't it? Time travel?", Leonard hums, one arm crossed over his chest, the other braced against it to gesture vaguely around the corridor. "How are you?", he adds then, because he can't quite help himself.

Barry

He wasn’t sure exactly what he was expecting, but a pleasant ‘how are you’ has him looking wide-eyed at the other man. As if the instant he was free of the pressure of the larger group, Snart had retracted his claws.

“I’m about to go walk around in the actual wild west,” Barry slants a look of earnest glee toward the thief. “I’m feeling like my quick impulse to join this mission was the best choice.”

His eyes wander to keep taking in more of the ship, but they return to Snart after a few steps. “It’s really different to do time travel this way, it feels.. Uh, not bad exactly, but clunky. Which, I guess I should probably be used to it by now but I still geek out about time travel even though I’ve done it. A lot.” Barry shrugs, “What a problem to have, that I’m comparing the way it feels when it’s from me running versus flying on a space ship,” he has to shake his head at how ridiculous it is.

It’s been years of this, and while it’s gotten more normal, it also hasn’t. Maybe it’s because his normal is the stuff he relegated to daydreams and fictional adventures when he was a kid, but there’s an honest joy that bubbles up at just considering the circumstances he’s in. He wants to dwell on being grateful for that instead of the rest, and glancing back toward Snart, he can’t help but feel it twist in his chest. The fact that the thief is alive and there is still occupying a place of guarded hope that Barry can’t quite get past.

He also realizes he’d started rambling again without asking the polite follow-up, which he finds he’s even more interested in. “How are you doing?” He eases the question toward Snart the same way he might ask any of his friends, because it feels natural to. That guarded part of him repeats that this really should be more weird, but Barry keeps finding that it just.. isn’t. And he’s okay with that.

Len

"Ah! I forgot.", Leonard says, flicking his wrist. "Siberia. Our little... Adventure to save pretty little Iris."

No, he hasn't actually forgotten and he doesn't really try to make Barry believe he does. The slow, theatrical turn of his head towards the speedster, the way his hand curls against his chin, the mock-thoughtful frown on his face is all a little too much for him to actually have forgotten and just remembered it.

"You brought me back to twenty seventeen.", he draws out the numbers and there is an accusation there.

Because he's remembered this the night before. In the two hours he's walked the streets of Central City before returning to the Waverider, stealing a bottle of Sara's booze and proceeding to drink himself into a pleasant enough haze to fall asleep.

He remembered the fact that when Barry had come to find him in Siberia, Leonard had already been a dead man.

Barry

The corridor around Barry dims as his focus hones in on the other man who may as well have just used his gun to freeze him in place.

Even if he wanted to, Barry couldn’t hide the visible crash of his emotions at what Snart says— more, by what he doesn’t have to say.

It’s haunted him since the day Ray and the other Legends told him what had happened. That Snart had sacrificed himself, died a hero, and Barry was horrified to wonder how much longer it would have been before he found out if they hadn’t told him then.

He’d kept track of every one of his rogues after that, checking in on their whereabouts if it had been longer than a month; it was easy enough to justify keeping tabs on them because just in case, what if they got up to something again? Cisco had rolled with it. But for Barry, it was a constant reminder.

Every nominal check-in always traced back to the one that haunted him because he should have known, should have been able to do something. But couldn’t.

The way Snart looks at him now, he feels pinned and so, so wretchedly small.

Of course Snart would choose the perfect moment to strike at where Barry had shown himself to be vulnerable; Barry cursed himself for foolishly thinking he’d do any different.

“I’m sorry,” he starts feebly, a crack in the syllable that catches in the back of his throat. He tries to find the words to follow it, even though he knows none of them will be the right ones.

“I couldn’t— You couldn’t stay then, I couldn’t take you where you weren’t supposed to be again. I shouldn’t have even done what I did, I messed up. And I’m sorry,” he tries to keep himself composed, though the whiplash has left him laid raw and unprepared for anything close to heroic composure.

Len

It's exactly the reaction he's expected and there's cruel smugness on his face as he swings around to face Barry. One arm still across his chest, the other still resting casually against his jaw as he watches The Flash fall apart in front of his eyes.

Something hot and ugly pops in his chest and spreads as comfortable cold through him, loosening the tension he's carried all through the little meeting.

It's the same feeling he gets when he can bring a plan back on track after hitting a snag.

"Oh, no, I get it.", he drawls with a bob of his brows. "Saving the timestream and all that. Been there, done that, was ready to die for it.", the words his face into a snarl. The expression settles into a mean smirk.

"Proud of you, Barry."

He unfolds his arms in a quick, precise little movement and takes a step closer. He brings one hand up between them and curls it with an elegant little flourish to point a finger at the speedster's stricken face.

"Always knew there was a bastard deep down under that shiny scarlet hero veneer. Pluck a dead man from the past to save your girlfriend, save him from being shark bait, only to put him back on the path to his own destruction with nothing more than an atta boy. That's cold.", he smiles.

[the-soiled-dove]

LF RP Guild (WRA-H) - Aeriandria

Hello, hi! I’m reaching out to tumblr in hopes of finding a new home for Aeri for Shadowlands. 

About Aeriandria:

A 115 year old skilled holy priest who has led a mostly remote life until the past decade, where she finally ventured out of Eversong Woods and into the world. Raised with a strong affinity for healing magic from pretty much the time she could walk, her skill as a medic was and is well-praised by her peers and her reputation is fairly known throughout Azeroth for both her front line and backline assistance in the recent wars and skirmishes. After the tragic deaths of her parents, she decided to strike out into the world to help wherever and whoever she could; an insatiable curiosity to see the world non-withstanding. Aside from being kind to a fault, Aeri is shy, selfless, and still a little naïve in the ways of the world and how they work outside of her small scope of experience. However, that won't stop her from pursuing her modest goals and ambitions, or assisting the right company in theirs. Currently, she volunteers at the Dalaran clinic, but is looking for more challenging work to expand her horizons and real world knowledge. Various rp profiles can be found here.

What I am looking for:

A medium to heavy RP guild that does at least 1-2 combat events per week, or at least one combat/social respectively.

A guild that is active any time between 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. PST (that's when I'm active).

I would prefer her to have a morally ambiguous/neutral guild to work for, even teetering towards darker aspects of RP are a-okay! (Just nothing outright evil, because she would probably decline ICly unless there was some compelling reason for her to say yes. She can also be easily lied to, this is negotiable under the right circumstances.)

I am not incredibly particular about DM styles, though I am most comfortable with a D&D type style of DMing personally.

Potentially interested in helping create/run DM events for the guild I join as well, as I do have experience and enjoy in writing one-shots/miniseries arcs.

I am okay with lore-bendy guilds (and characters), but like to keep it as lore friendly as possible. A guild that is blatantly lore-breaking would probably not be a good fit for me, but I support you. ♥

What I am NOT looking for:

Lawful Good guilds of any kind. As I want a challenge for Aeri not just for her skills, but her morals, I find these kinds of FCs tend to lend little development for her and leaves me with a stagnant feeling after a while.

This also goes for any performance type guilds, Aeri has no skills like that to speak of, so she'd be a terrible fit for them.

Social/Most House RP guilds. While I like to be social within my guild both oocly and ICly, I want her to have combat and to see some of the more nitty gritty side of things. I enjoy structured story arcs that help further her (and others) development. I play her more as a supporting character. 

Huge member counts. I find that I tend to get overwhelmed and have a bit of social anxiety in big groups. I find a smaller, more tight knit groups to be better for in-depth character development all around.

About the Mun: 

25+ year old human house cat that is mostly active in the afternoons and evenings. I enjoy books, music, aesthetics, writing, and making bad jokes that only I tend to laugh at. I have roleplayed for way too many years, and I have previous officer/DM experience. I'm super laid-back and tend to go with the flow of things as they come at me, life and RP included. I occasionally turn into a small ball of anxiety, and sometimes take depression naps. I may or may not be a Kael’thas stan.

Contact Info:

IG: Aeriandria Discord: Toxic Creampuff#8101 ...Or you can DM me right here on tumblr. ♥

Pls adopt me and my innocent bean.

[nilim]

How would someone start to get into LARPing? I've always thought it sounded interesting but I have no idea where to start.

Oh boy, both a very easy and a very complicated question, because it depends on where you live and what you want. Also I haven’t been to that many different LARPs, so I will keep this mostly general…. This got long, so tips under the cut:

I’m very much a ‘jumped in the deep end without any preparation and see where I end up’ kinda person. I first started LARPing when I was 18. It was a ‘smaller’ LARP and it was at a place where my brother also LARPed at, although I didn’t see him for the entire weekend so I was pretty much alone. It was also an ‘adult’ LARP, so 16+ only. It was also the most I laughed in a 3-day stretch of time and absolutely delightful.

Basically, anyone can get into LARPing, you just have to keep an open mind when going into these things. Here’s a disclaimer though: I’m an easy person, I don’t have any disabilities, was in a mentally healthy state and I’m very used to camping outdoors, so I could put up with a lot - there was nothing that really ‘scared’ me about going except the whole ‘oh no strangers’ and mild social anxiety thing. Therefore, I didn’t do a lot of research beforehand about which LARP I wanted to attend - I attended my first LARP because it was relatively close to where my parents lived and I knew my brother LARPed there. That’s it.

However, that was more than 10 years ago and I’ve since grown a little more socially anxious and also a little more socially aware, so I would advise you to scout out different LARPs in your area. Almost all LARP events I know of have an online presence, through twitter or facebook groups, websites, etc. Just have a look what players are saying on those pages - you can usually judge the general feel of a LARP by the type of discussions players are having. 

Also, ask questions if you’re unsure about something. In general I’ve found that LARPers are very eager to bring people into their hobby, and are very helpful and honest when answering questions. Check whether there is a code of conduct. Check whether there are confidential counselors present if anything were to happen. Check whether there are rules about harassment etc. If you’re unsure about something, ask the players on those social media pages what their experiences have been. Usually they will be honest, because they are ‘customers’ of the LARP much like you will be. Treat it like you’re shopping around for a hotel or holiday! Weigh the pros and cons.

As for the LARPs themselves, there are many different kinds of LARPs. I’ve only done high fantasy LARPs so far, and pretty large ones as well. Conquest of Mythodea is the largest LARP in the world, and it can be overwhelming for some people. But I also find them very calming in a way? When there’s so many people around there is almost no direct pressure on me to do anything. The story will continue regardless of what I do. With small LARPS or ‘parlor’ LARPs, which usually consist of a very limited group in a much smaller area, there can be more pressure on you to ‘perform’ your role. However, the upside of these LARPs is that you get some very deep RP and your character is important to the story. The game leaders will make sure to focus on you, and that can be very exciting! 

I’ve also only attended LARPs where I would stay overnight. My first LARP lasted 3 days (Friday-Sunday), and Conquest of Mythodea lasts 5 (Wednesday -Sunday night). If you’re unsure about immediately going for such a commitment, maybe try out shorter or smaller LARPs first to see if you like it? Also, almost all LARPs have out-of-character areas, so if things get too overwhelming you can retreat from the game and just chill. Usually there are dedicated areas in the game, as well as your personal areas (e.g. people’s personal tents are completely off limits in Conquest, and nobody may enter them except for you. They may also not demand that you come out, etc). 

Once you’ve settled on a LARP you want to attend, but don’t want to do it alone, you can ask around to see if there are any groups that might interest you in joining. Most LARPs have many different factions that you could join, and a lot of larger LARPs also have newbie groups that are specifically designed to teach you the ropes of the game. We joined the banner of explorers in Conquest of Mythodea and people were very friendly with explaining rules and such to us. However, they also usually let you go off and do your own thing if you’re not interested in participating or being forced into performing faction-related things. It was real nice. Again, ask around, see which groups of people can take you under their wing - usually there’s a lot of people willing to help you! A lot of this asking around you can do online before you even attend the LARP.

Once you’ve chosen a LARP and/or even a faction, make sure to read up on the rules of the LARP. Sometimes there’s a lot. Nobody is expecting you to know everything by heart, but it’s appreciated to take a little bit of effort so you know the general rules, especially around OOC vs IC gameplay, and the concept to roleplay with other people. LARPing is very much a “Yes and…” kind of experience, much like D&D. Prevent shutting down other people’s RP moments just because you want to do something cooler. (Note: Absolutely shut down somebody’s RP moment if it is making you uncomfortable. You are more important than RP!). Read up on combat rules, if you’re planning on taking part in combat. Make sure never to just hit people on the head, never carry sharp objects on you, make sure to know the rules about touching and grabbing other people, some LARPs don’t allow it.

Now you just need a character. Many LARPs have you build a character much in the same way like you would build a D&D character; you have a number of skill points that you can assign to different skills, such as thievery, magic or hitpoints. Read up on the rules and do whatever you think would be fun. In my general experience, these skill points are way less important than you think. 99% of LARP is just hanging around and talking to people, and you don’t need skill points for that. Additionally, realize that nobody actually knows your character (unless you’re playing a small parlor LARP), so you can usually tweak your character while you’re playing. So far I’ve always tried to play shady thief characters or dumb fighter characters, but I always instantly get sucked in when there’s puzzles and mysteries to solve, so I often let the ‘stoic person who doesn’t care about books’ thing go as soon as the game presents me with secret puzzles and coded texts. And that’s fine. Just make sure that once you’ve settled as a character after some time IC, and people know you as that character, you roleplay somewhat consistently or otherwise it gets confusing.

As for preparation for going to an actual LARP: There’s a lot of good resources out there on the internet! Just google things like ‘essential items for a LARP’ or ‘packing list LARP’, especially if you’re planning on camping. There’s also a huge amount of online stores that cater to LARP outfits, LARP weapons, and adjacent fantasy setting camping items. If you’re on a budget, don’t worry about it - nobody is going to be snobby about your outfit if you don’t look as cool as the next guy. However, please do try to keep it setting-compliant. Don’t show up in jeans and a t-shirt to a fantasy LARP. Even on a budget, it’s relatively easy to find some second-hand clothes at a thrift store or flea market (that’s where I get half my LARP clothes). Much like many hobbies, this one too requires a little bit of investment on your part before you go. Please don’t splurge on equipment before you’ve even attended a LARP though – maybe you won’t like it, and then you’ve invested all that effort already. Just take it easy and test out the waters a little bit.

And in-game? What if you’re unsure about how to get into the game? First you have to realize that everything is game. Even just sitting around the campfire enjoying some bard songs is game. There’s no right or wrong way to play in a LARP. But if you want to get into more plot-related stuff: Talk to others. Ask questions, about everything. During our 5 days at Mythodea this summer we did literally nothing but walk up to random places or events, tapping random people on the shoulder and going ‘what’s happening here?’. And people will do it a lot with you too, we’ve had so many people asking us who someone was, or what was going on, even though we didn’t know. Be not afraid to ask questions. It’s the quickest way to make new connections and get new friends and to get involved in the plot. Usually there’s NPCs around that you can ask for quests. Try to find out where stuff is happening. Or make your own quests, if you enjoy making that kind of character. It can be a lot of fun to send out other players to do things for you. Player characters come in all kinds of flavours. Maybe you just want a character that hangs out in the camp and cooks for people. That’s fine too! Like I said before, there’s no right or wrong to play. 

If you want to fight undead and smash people with a foam sword, there’s LARPs for that. If you want to solve a murder mystery in a haunted mansion, there’s LARPs for that. If you want to be a wizard and attend magic school, there’s LARPs for that. If you want to sneak around and steal people’s valuables, there’s LARPs for that. It’s great! Just look around and see what kind of LARP and what kind of character suits your style. And it’s also fine to have your first LARP be a run-of-the-mill fantasy setting where you just walk around and observe other people and don’t get involved in the plot at all, which is mostly what I did during my first LARP. 

Anyway, this got very long, sorry. But I hope these tips help you out!

[seblaine-rph]

Speaking as someone who has autism and has been in DK for a while.. I've got some tea. And the tea is that the admins have been nothing but kind and welcoming, even more so than other rps I have been in throughout the years of roleplaying. You will most likely not post this, but hey, it needs to be said.

That’s the thing here, you’re all so ready to invalidate the experiences of multiple other people, simply because you had a better experience? I think in the political climate we’re in, we should all know better than to assume that just because you have been somewhere and felt safe, that doesn’t mean that everyone that has been there has been safe. And it’s this very reaction that is why people wouldn’t feel safe talking about why they don’t feel safe in that group. Why would anyone want to speak up about their struggles if all they’re going to be met with is:

Well I’m having a great time so clearly you can’t be having a bad one.

Here are all the ways that you having a problem has ruined everything and should make you feel guilty.

Here are all the ways that you are wrong in your feelings, and in the wrong for stating that there is a problem.

In fact I’m going to kick out the people that stood up for you and list it as “complaining and making an outburst” as the reason for being kicked out.

And because they dared to take one for the team and speak to me about the triggers other people brought to their attention, I’m going to suddenly decide that everything they do in the whole grpc is just to attack me. Now they’re a bad person, because someone asked for help and you’re a bad person for asking for help.

I’m going to kick them out and make sure everyone in the group knows they’re a piece of shit and also shit talk everything else that they do in the grpc-- because despite having my own glee rp, it’s decided that any glee rp they make is obviously an attack against me. 

Clearly, nobody has a problem because I said so and amidst all this, nobody else has complained so.... 

The clear truth is, these two weren’t vilified and kicked out of DK until they started to get an influx of apps on their own roleplay group and the admins made it very clear that they were unhappy that there was another D/s group in the tags. 

I read things myself that were very obvious examples of bullying autistic people for showing autistic traits. I ran these screencaps by people in the community that are also autistic or have learning disabilities and what I was told hurts me to my core. The same things I saw happening in DK happen to them all of the time in roleplays. Maybe people don’t realize it, but it has happened in that group. Maybe you’ll get a better understanding of it all after @disabilityrph comes out with her guide, explaining all of the ways (subtle too) that she and other people with learning disabilities have been bullied in the community. I think you’re forgetting that bulling isn’t just pushing people down physically or being obvious with insults, it’s microaggressions too. It’s having an attitude with autistic players that you don’t have with other people. Bullying can be subtle. You may have been bullied and you didn’t even realize it.

The fact of the matter is, what happened in DevilsKey was M/s activity. It was non con. What would you do if someone raped you and then was like, “Well it only happened once, so why are you calling me a rapist?” The fact of the matter is, it happened, and that makes it an M/s rp. If that is allowed to continue to be part of the plots that people are playing with in their server (aka they are playing out the trauma caused by it), if they are going to allow non con punishments of that nature to happen in the future, then they are an M/s rp and need to be labeled appropriate so that nobody is triggered. If you can’t figure out how to dole out punishments in a way that does not break the rules of D/s by forcing kink and traumatizing people in and out of character, then you don’t belong running a D/s rp. 

Because another fact of the matter is that D/s is used by survivors of trauma as a means to overcome their past. There is no reason at all that anyone should expect non con in a D/s setting. To find it would be triggering to a lot of people. Maybe not you, but that just makes you privileged. We’re not in an era where flaunting your privilege (like you did with this anon) is cute anymore. It’s ugly. 

Another fact of the matter is that people were made to feel upset by one of the admins, and both admins allowed the roleplayers as a group to talk shit about the people who were triggered in the ooc chat. The immediate response should have been to step in and tell them that they needed to stop. There is no reason for someone to point out that people are hurt and then allow a mass attack on those people in the ooc. You were already told that the people that were triggered were feeling too anxious to come forward, so you allowed them to be attacked and proved to all of them why they should never speak to you about anything. Who would want to speak up about being triggered in a group where doing so will only end in them feeling like the whole roleplay is going to hate them by the time they wake up? Look at what you guys did to the two people that did take credit for wanting to make things right. And now me.

All of the stuff that I have seen has happened through my research indicates that there are a lot of things that need to be exposed. There needs to be accountability taken instead of trying to launch a smear campaign against people that did the right thing and stood up to bullies. 

I’m still laughing at that GLEE IS OVER, WHY ARE YOU HERE bullshit. Are you kidding me? Why are you here? It still baffles me that you guys are so privileged and so entitled that you think that you’re the only people that can be honestly and genuinely interested in the glee rp community. Which is why, after seeing your group try to shift the blame on these two people over and over and over again in different ways every time they’re proven to be baseless, I’ve just come to the conclusion that there never was an issue on your side and everything that is being done just proves the absolute lack of maturity that’s going on from your side of things. 

What do I mean by that? Well here’s the timeline of excuses, so far:

They stole DK when they made TDS.

Oh wait, TDS was made in 2017 so they’re just stealing ideas.

Oh wait, TDS has a completely different plot and CAN’T use ideas... they stole our NPCs.

Oh wait, they don’t have NPCs? They stole our OC.

Oh wait, the player created her own OC and you can’t be mad at people for writing their own muses? They made up drama in the ooc then.

That one player that wrote a Dom character was “too much like a Dom ooc” (which proves you know nothing about D/s if you think that’s an scary offense?)

You mean you have screenshots of people saying they were triggered so we can’t say that didn’t happen? Well they said this was an M/s rp and we’re upset about it.

You mean this is an M/s rp because we have M/s content so it can’t be called D/s without being triggering? Then they made people uncomfortable, we won’t explain how or why because there is none. I’ve read the entire three server’s worth of information through screenshots, I’ve seen these two interacting with people IC and I’ve seen them plotting and joking OOC right up until the point they were kicked out though.

Why would they open a Glee rp anyway? What even is Glee? Who has a Glee rp? Clearly, we’re the only ones that made our own groups innocently. These people purposefully joined our group so that they could make theirs and ruin us! (Nevermind that they have other Glee rps, and those were started months and years ago)

This is what the timeline should have looked like:

Oh, you’re telling me that I have triggered people by not labeling my roleplay group properly? People didn’t feel like they were warned about the content that was going to be in place and taking over all three servers? 

Please, explain that to me because I don’t know if I understand it correctly because I disagree with you-- but you just said people are upset and triggered, so I would like to fully understand with no malice intended, in order to better take care of my roleplay group and the people in it. 

Oh, maybe I don’t want to label it an M/s rp and maybe I personally think you can traumatize people with D/s and have it still be real D/s, but I’m going to stop the plot, take some time to research, and better understand this situation. 

Maybe I still don’t want to label it an M/s rp after doing research on D/s and trauma, because I don’t like the stigma in the glee rp community about it, but what I will do is I will put a more clear label on the main and in the server channels somewhere. That way nobody is surprised by this again, and everyone joining knows what they are getting into. None of the admins wants anyone to be triggered because they don’t expect non con. 

Then a simple addressing the issue post in the announcements channel where they explain that new information has come to your attention that has made you reconsider a few things; that things will be a little different moving forward (either you will do zero non con and never use D/s to traumatize characters or you will put a label that says that excessive force and non con can be used in this group, so it’s not traditional safe, sane, and consensual D/s) but that you know everyone will help you keep things going.

Never out that someone was upset. Never out that you don’t personally agree in the ooc chat, because you don’t want them to feel alienated or as if you didn’t listen to their concern. Don’t allow players to argue the new way of things in the ooc, let players know if they do say anything negative about it that they need to be mindful of other players in the group as well, because everyone has thoughts and feelings. With your secret knowledge that people were triggered, you should have known better than to let people shit talk like that. Your first concern should not have been your plot or your pride, it should have been to focus on the fact that someone was upset and you should have wanted to clearly understand why so that you could fix it. And you definitely shouldn’t have guilted and attacked your players for not being comfortable coming to you ooc. Yeah, that would be the goal and hope, but it’s not their fault that you make them uncomfortable. Trying to make it out to be their fault and attacking them for it is only going to make people even more uncomfortable with you. 

And the “outbursts” from those two players? I read it. They screencapped it when it happened, because they had been warned that they might be removed for speaking up about their friends being triggered. They said nothing wrong. Everything they said was right. One of them very politely said what I just said the admin should have, which was that nobody should be trying to make anyone else feel invalidated by hopping into the group chat to talk about how they didn’t feel uncomfortable so it was preposterous that anyone else might be. She asked people to use more inclusive language, to remember that whatever they feel... it was obvious that other people felt differently. It was obvious that people were hurting. And the other player explained how it was traumatic to people to mislabel something as D/s and when your main says “safe, sane, and consensual” but you allow NON CONSENSUAL, that it’s triggering because that makes non con unexpected. Which it is. Very much so. I think the reaction from everyone outside of Devils Key should prove that. Non con should not have to be on the banned kink list in a D/s rp because non con is already banned by the basic rules of RACK and the very phrase they put on their main. 

You can’t say a person will have a “safe, sane, and consensual” experience and then attach electrical currents to their genitals while you rape them anally for hours and damage their physical health by pouring something that’s very nearly poisonous down their throat for hours while they’re naked in the middle of town square, with a bunch of other people who are also getting non consensually abused for a full week. 

I don’t know how much clearer I can be on that. I don’t know why it wasn’t clear in the first place. The fact that bringing this up to the admins is what started this all is mind blowing. How are you going to kick people out of your roleplay for letting you know that people were triggered? How are you going to kick people out of your roleplay because they have their own group that was made in 2017? Admins are allowed to remove people at their own discretion, but this isn’t just kicking people out. This is purposefully slandering and bullying people because they dared to tell you that you had hurt people and because they dared to love the same glee rp community that we are all still trying to thrive in and THAT is DISGUSTING. 

The fact that YOU have a good time there, does not negate all of the negative experiences of other people.