#-glut

[apocalymons]

Our DCG Divination Deck

Okay, I'm finally gonna stop putting it off and actually talk a bit about our Digimon card game (DCG) divination deck.

Under a read more, because it's gonna be long.

So, the theory behind our DCG div deck is based loosely on these two posts by @miracleeye and @mahouowo respectively. The former is specifically about Pokemon TCG divination, while the latter is a bit more broad.

This is gonna focus on the process we went through to build our DCG div deck. It's technically a WIP, but that's because we have to order a few specific singles that we don't have yet, and are liable to switch cards as new sets come in. I've split this into a few headings, but a full list might be a later project if folks are interested, even though we have a spreadsheet to keep track of things.

Card Selection

Selecting cards is really the most personal part for us. We're Digimonkin, and have a lot of members in our system which adds to the flexibility and personal aspect of card choice. On the most basic level, what we were looking for were cards to represent different members and their different stages, because they have close associations with specific experiences/journeys/emotions.

This creates an "arc" in a similar way to certain groups of cards in Tarot. The Major Arcana tells a story; Digimon lines do the same, because Digimon evolution is often closely tied with spiritual and emotional growth.

It's also worth noting that the way Digimon work on a fundamental level means that growth, despite this chart, is largely nonlinear. Some Digimon revert back to previous levels. Others don't always evolve the same way as they did before. Reincarnation is also involved in certain cases (anime, v-pets, and Digimon World style games included).

All that is to say that, while we included specific "lines" in our DCG div deck, some of those lines have multiple stage representatives in order to highlight the plasticity of growth. This deck also has duplicates of the same stage/Digimon in order to represent different aspects of life, even when on the surface that form is the same or similar (3 Beelzemon cards, 3 Apocalymon cards, 3 Impmon cards, for example).

Beyond that, other card selections also focus on elements related to our experiences. For example, we have a grouping for Jeri, which includes her tamer card, ADR Searcher, Blue Card, Leomon, and Calumon. This same grouping also bleeds into Tamers Impmon's grouping, of which we consider Blue Card and Calumon included, but also has Ai and Mako.

Selection in our case is also most down to what artwork resonates with us most in a symbolically relevant way. We recently switched out BT15 DemiDevimon with EX 8 DemiDevimon, for example. Parallel art is common in the card game as well, to the point we technically have two arts of one card in the same deck.

Part of this change is also down to what the cards do. The former focuses on supporting Myotismon (a Digimon unrelated to our system). The latter focuses on supporting Nightmare Soldiers, which is more in line with the way that stage feels to our headmate who identifies with it: a resignation to the lot others see in you as a servant of evil.

[ID: two Digimon Card Game cards, both depicting DemiDevimon, an orb-shaped demon with bird-like talons and bat-like wings coming out of a leather hat. The first artwork, by Yamuretsu, shows DemiDevimon flying away from a group of agitated Digimon with a mischievous tongue peeking out of its smile. The second artwork, by Minato Sashima, shows DemiDevimon hanging from a tree branch, backlit by unnaturally purple-red moonlight.]

Also, we've included a few cards that aren't DCG cards. Specifically, we have an Apocalymon card from the old Digital Monster Card Game (we usually just refer to it as "Hyper Colo" tbh), and a Satellamon card from the Data Cardass Appli Monsters game.

The former is to represent an "archaic" feeling; something outdated, that has been processed but can ultimately not be purged from one's life. The latter is more down to the fact Satellamon is an Appmon, and we're only just now seeing those in the current DCG. (There's actually two Satellamon cards, and the one we don't have is the one we would prefer, but in a pinch, you take what you get.)

Information to Pay Attention To

In the Digimon Card Game, there are a few different card types as well, with information that puts them into groupings. The most basic card types are Digi-Eggs, Digimon, Tamers, and Option cards.

These may also be further grouped by card colors, which include red, blue, yellow, green, black, purple, and white (in the order of how they're sequenced in sets). Cards may have up to 3 colors.

These don't necessarily correspond to elemental divisions, but do often include them. I think this video does a better job explaining it than I could; divisions are much more about archetype than element, not just mechanically but also within the story structure of Digimon as a franchise.

If you're unfamiliar with Digimon, this also includes Digimon traits, such as Virus, Vaccine, Data, Free, and Unknown. Vi/Va/Da have a rock/paper/scissors relationship in other media, but very rarely interact with each other in the card game.

All Digimon also have stages, which represent levels of growth from In-Training (lv 2) to Mega (lv 6-7). In order, these are Rookie, Champion, Ultimate, and Mega. The terminology differs in Japanese, and elucidates the way you can also read these levels: Baby II, Child, Adult, Perfect, and Ultimate.

There are also other traits such as Field Types (Deep Savers, Nightmare Soldiers, Nature Spirits, etc.), protagonist groupings (Hero, Adventure, Liberators), type (Puppet, Dinosaur, Avian), and lore groupings (Seven Great Demon Lords, Three Angels, Four Great Dragons, Three Musketeers).

Appmon, which are only just getting introduced into the DCG, have similar stages (called "grades"), but 8 attributes. Appmon grades are Standard, Super, Ultimate, and God. Their attributes are in a larger circle than Vi/Va/Da, and are, in order of effectiveness on one another: Social, Navi, Tool, System, Game, Entertainment, and Life. Outside of this relationship is God attribute.

For people interested in using numbers for their readings, Digimon cards also have a lot of information in that regard. Digimon alone have play cost, evolution cost, Digimon level, DP, set/card number, and block number. More or less information is present on some cards.

The DCG also has all artists credited on the cards themselves, which has led us to notice some other groupings in our own readings.

Deck Size

In our case, we made our deck 50 cards large. This is the size that DCG decks are--- there is no variance, outside of egg decks, which are 0-5 eggs large.

Originally, the deck was 35 cards large, but we found this too small after experimentation, leading to unclear readings and ultimately encouraging us to tweak the count to its current number of 50.

Spreads

We've drafted up a few spreads inspired by the various Digimon card games. We've really only tested one of these spreads, as it functions well enough for our purposes without too much complication.

After a bit of messing around, we've found that our DCG div deck plays nice with a spread resembling the current card game. In order, we lay one card in the Raising Area, one card in the Battle Area, and one in Security. An additional clarifying card in each area sometimes helps.

The easiest way to explain it is that this spread represents Potential, State, and Protection:

Potential: something that can be nurtured, or is growing already.

State: elements regarding the current situation, physical or psychological.

Protection: elements that can be utilized to beneficial effect; what is keeping you safe.

We do our readings also on playmats with our own art.

Concluding Thoughts

So, I've told y'all about how our DCG div deck was constructed, but I haven't actually talked at all about the readings and how it treats us.

Generally, we try to do our readings at Digimon Locals, after we've done our matches for the tournament. The vibes are just there. Our cards are double sleeved in the official Bandai Beelzemon sleeves and some Dragon Shield outer sleeves. Anything more and we would literally be unable to hold it in our hands, let alone put it in a deck box.

Any time we do a reading, we also shuffle the same way we'd shuffle our for-play DCG decks--- a mix of pile shuffling and gingerly interlocking the cards in equal piles.

Here's a reading it gave us that's pretty straightforward, so it makes for a good example.

I've described this deck to friends as having the temperament of a high school gossip, but I also think one of our friend's descriptor of it as "roommate that steals your Dr. Pepper" is pretty accurate too. It doesn't really cut corners.

This reading in particular was so straightforward you could mistake it for a ruler, because it's a snapshot of a literal moment in Satty's and my exomemories--- these three cards are associated.

Specifically, Potential is in Satty, state is in Gallantmon, and Protection is in Blue Card. The exomemory this quite literally evokes is when Satty was killed by Gallantmon and death evolved (Blue Card represents evolution, "growth to overcome adversity" and wishes).

Satty evolved into me (Glut), which compounds just how funny this reading was to look at because of our interpretation of Gluttony (the sin) as being about dissatisfaction (ie: wanting; wishing without ever getting what you want).

The deck itself kind of just looked at who was holding it and said "ah, okay, so this is you?" 9 days before I properly split into the system.

It also likes giving us some cards repeated in certain positions, which are specifically cards representing to us confidence in the self (in creative endeavors) which. Really funny considering we're nervous about applying to grad school for creative writing.

Anyways, all this is to say, testing is always required with this shit, but also, if you make your deck personal, it will go for the jugular without hesitation.

-Gluttony

[dndsmthx]

Striking Mohawk among other things...

[drownedrow]

Clarifiers:

*They will be loyal to you, the PC. Their interactions with anyone else at camp…well….So picking someone who is say, difficult to get along with…may cause complications.

*You can romance them.

*You can try to redeem them, or make them worse, whatever you like. Some may be less inclined to redemption than others though.

*If you take someone who is owned, or employed, and bring them around their owner- it may upset the person and lock you out of quests/dialogues: ie, bringing Haarlep around Raphael.

*Yes yes villain with some of these is debatable. Let’s just have fun hm?

[kwillow]

Why is ambroys so promiscuos, like psychologicaly. Is he just a Bimbo? Does he have a hipersexual disorder, is he just an asshole like that?

What drives this manwhore to this levels of slutness, UNPRECEDENTED HARLOTNESS i have to bear witness to

TL;DR: Sex is the lowest common denominator way to make people care about something and Ambroys wants people to care about Him.

Longer psychoanalysis under the cut, if you want a peek into the puddle-like depths of the world's shallowest man.

Surface-level, he’s just a hedonistic guy. He likes his base pleasures and indulgences.

Still, Ambroys is really more of an attention whore than an actual whore. He wants to be the main event everywhere he goes, and as most advertisers have noticed, sex appeal is a cheap and easy way to get noticed. Even if someone’s not attracted to you, they’ll probably at least look at you. And every pair of eyeballs is a win.

Additionally, seducing someone is a conquest. It makes him feel powerful. When people start seeming too messy and complicated it's a script to reset them to a dynamic that's within his control and understanding. Getting someone to fall for him reassures him of the "fact" that it’s his divine right to have what he wants, make others do what he wants, and make people want him. (Or as he would put it: he just wants to be loved — is that so wrong??)

This is why he sleeps with his friend nigh-immediately after breaking his once-paramour’s heart. His use of seduction as a comfort tool also creates the somewhat hilarious situation where he tries to fuck more often when he’s feeling bad, like women are his tub of Ben and Jerry’s and it’s binging time.

His other coping mechanism for feelings of inadequacy is sport hunting, by the by.

All that said, I don’t think Ambroys is much more promiscuous than your average frat guy. He is a young man brimming with energy and bereft of rationality, so a bit of skirt-chasing is to be expected. He just plays up the provocative libertine angle sometimes, because it’s easier than developing a likable personality.

[rosesrotofficial]

lowkey kind of crazy how ronin is lana del rey boy coded... it's making me think of too many au's that i am holding myself back from writing

[snapdragoned]

i personally think it would be very cool if ts2 players as a community took a hard stance against AI.

[nicopossum]

April Stickers! ✨

[holymarymotherofsmut]

Me: Anyway, it’s been really refreshing to have adults on the crew now. Like, Brook had a whole life before he died, Robin and Franky had their own lives before joining. As new people join who have actual skin in the game, the stakes naturally raise. The crew takes on the additional risks and responsibilities together.

Husband: It’s really funny you should say they all have skin in the game, especially Brook.

Me: …please, no

Husband: Y’know, because he doesn’t have any skin. On account of him being a skeleton and all.

[sabrerine911]

"Unstoppable Mushroom-Hungry Berserker Lady!" WIP(BG3) Featuring Astarion, Karlach, Beth(my non-Tav), Wyll and soon to be eaten Glut.

Still very sick, but Im trying to slowly get back into drawing, commission work has been painfully slow since my sickness Artblock so Im hoping to actually get back into the swing of things before things get bad

ANYWAY, felt like sketching something with the Beth Ravencoft Squad from BG3. been wanting to make more jokes regarding her berserker-ness(more lore than ingame since she fits Wildheart a bit better based on her animal/wolf nature). Felt like making a more comedic scene. Astarion out here being the only one making sense since Wyll and him on that 8 STR by default XD Also, figured Id give rope some use, since BG3 doesnt care about it's existence XD

I do wonder if you would get high if you bite at Glut, being poisoned makes more sense, but its by far the most boring answer XD

[no-where-new-hero]

omg I need your thoughts on the terminally o line author culture bc ngl it makes my eye TWITCH, there are authors I deliberately avoid even tho I've heard their stuff is good bc they're like that 🙈

HHHHH oh good lord, okay, from how I see it, there are two angles on this, both aggravating and sad: the official decree one and the spontaneous ecosystem one.

The officious one is that the nature of publishing nowadays demands an author have an online presence. You need Twitter/X. You need to let every potential reader know your book is coming out. You need engagement through reviews and pre-orders incentives (if you buy now you’ll get a special keychain!!) and word of mouth assurances from your peers that yes your book is as cool as you say it is. You need a newsletter with links (more buying! more voting on lists that are simply popularity contests!) and promises you’re still working on the next thing, don’t forget about me in the morass of everyone else doing the same thing. You need an Instagram and TikTok now to post pretty pictures and videos because one or two authors made it big off this kind of promotion and now everyone thinks it’s the ticket to the bestseller list (sadly, it seems to be working). You need an OnlyFans (a joke but I do recall a twt spat that was a joke/not joke about how rupi kaur will always be more beautiful than her critics and people who took issue with the conflation of beauty with talent). At the end of all this, you’re basically an influencer, a content creator creating content for the content you should be focusing on creating, the finished novel. And the novel itself seems to be disappearing behind the masks used to promote it (fanfic-style tropes, moodboards, playlists, memes) until I now no longer trust the book that I’ll pick up to have any resemblance to the enticements that brought me here. I’ve seen an author or two complain about the stress all this self-promotion generates, but it’s become such an entrenched part of the industry, I think people just accept it. And thus spend too much time online hoping that if they tweet just a little more, produce just one more reel, maybe that’ll be the difference between a sale and no sale.

The other side of this, distinct but obviously connected, is the ecosystem created by this panic of being perpetually visible coupled with the fact that so many of the new authors came of age during the rise of internet fandom culture. That opinionated community mindset that blurs the line between anonymity and friendship is the lens they bring to their own work. I mean, it makes sense I suppose—if you love yelling about characters and words, why wouldn’t you do that once you start to produce your own? This really came home to me hearing about that reviewbombgate “scandal” and how people involved were in reylo circles and that was used to provide receipts. You’re interacting with your readers and peers about your intimate work but they are also all strangers. They will not always give you the benefit of the doubt, and now—as opposed to the past when maybe the worst that could happen was a handful of bad reviews in newspapers—you will either be tagged in hate reviews, sub-tweeted, explicitly called out, demanded to atone for your sins. It’s no longer the morality of consumption but the morality of production. Of course, the easy answer is just log-off, touch some grass. But that can work only when you and everyone else are separated by anonymous accounts or when you have no platform to maintain. As an author trying to make your livelihood from this, suddenly it’s do or die. We’re in a strange moment of authorship bringing the Internet’s echo-chamber and claustrophobic into the real world (this is a lie: publishing now is no longer the real world. But it looks like it) and thus you can kind of no longer escape things.

Will the average reader who isn’t aware of all these machinations care about reviewbombgate? Would a reader browsing at Target think about the controversies around Lightlark? Very likely not. But the impression I’m getting more and more is that the average reader isn’t the one buying all the books. Or shall we say—a bestseller’s status relies on bookstore stock. Bookstore stock is only huge when they know a book will be a good investment. They’ll only know a book is a good investment if it and its author has street cred based on booktokkers, bookstagram, bloggers and reviewers (have you noticed how many books out these last maybe 1-3 years have these kinds of accounts thanked in the acknowledgments? Yeah), and THESE are also chronically online people who will Know. And decide the cast of fate.

Honestly, @batrachised, I see why you avoid these kinds of writers, though I wonder how long it’ll be before the disease becomes epidemic.

[brevoorthistoryofcomics]

BHOC: INVADERS #40

I was saddened to discover upon purchasing this latest issue of INVADERS that it was the final issue of the series. Which is a bit of a strange reaction given that my interest in the title had been waning for some months, pretty much coinciding with when artist Frank Robbins stepped down in favor of lesser artists, and writer/editor Roy Thomas soon thereafter did the same. But either way, I was…

[sigyn-foxyposts]

What your myth! Loki ship says about you:

⚠ Just a heads up! I am doing this for fun and to see if I understand our community right! I'm by no means trying to hate on anyone who actually ship these things! Ships have just..always been so interesting to me, and I thought it would be fun. Did I forget someone? Please let me know! ^^

Loki + Sigyn = You can't get over how tragic yet passionate their love is. After all it's the only thing we have of them together and somehow it makes the message of loyalty and compassion between lovers even stronger.

Loki + Angrboda = Either you're here for the tragedy that was their love, what could've been if only Odin didn't take away their children.. or you love the tall witch wife and small gremlin husband dynamic (me too :3)

Angrboda + Loki + Sigyn = You're tired of seeing the wives being pinned up against each other, heck it isn't even cannon to the mythology. You just want to see them all happy together while kissing. They deserve their polycule!

Loki + Gullveig = You don't actually ship them but if they had a relationship, it would be something along the lines of: one night stand parents trying to do what's best for their baby. Or you think Gullveig is actually Angrboda! 👍✨

Loki + Glut = You thought Loki and Logi were the same person. Now you either regret it and feel bad for believing in it or stick by it wholeheartedly. 🔥

Loki + Hoenir = Want to kiss your homies good night? Friends to lovers is your thing or you're there for the possible angst of letting a young lover go because it was never meant to be. 😔

Loki + Odin = You thought they could go deeper than being just blood brothers, didn't you? Ohh..the angst and pain you put yourself through for them.

Loki + Heimdall = You're torn between the fact they don't actually have to hate each other vs the way they clearly have a love/hate relationship + obvious tension. If they ever fought in front of you, you'd probably shout inappropriate things at them. 🤨

Loki + Svadilfari = You try everything In your power to forget what really happened between these two and tried to fix the story for the better..💀

Loki + Thor = Let me guess, the reason you like this is because of Marvel? If not you have a thing for the bratty twinks and their giant straight boyfriends that haven't realized he is bisexual yet.

Loki + Baldr = You either stand by the headcannona that Loki killed Baldr because he loves him (one-sided or not) and tried to protect him from Ragnarok. Or you have the "I hate straight people so I'll force these two to date even though they don't go well together." mentality. No, there isn't anything in between for you. 😭

Loki + Hodr = For some reason you just had to see the potential angst between these two! You love the dramatic storytelling of being betrayed by your lover, making you do their dirty work! You poor being, what happened? 💔

Loki + Sif = Possible exses? Secret affair? You live for the drama and desperately want to know what happened between these two.

Loki + (potential) farmer man = You wish we had more good representation of Loki being with a another man. (I agree!) So when Odin accused Loki of being a milkmaid and having children, it opend a whole new world to inspire you!

Loki + Skadi = The lokasenna was enough for you to decide they totally dated in the past. Also you love spiteful exses that will threaten to kill your children if they don't shut up…😨(spoiler: Loki didn't shut up)

Loki + Zisa = I don't know why you'd ship them If their "affair child" was supposed to be a secret but I guess you're into the drama. Anyways Zisa isn't real..she can't hurt me. 😌

[dirtybg3confessions]

Confession:

I’ll be perfectly honest, i killed Glutt during the myconid circle quests because I had The Most Raging GirlBoner for Sovereign Spaw. I wanna suck seven whole generations out of Spaw’s nuts in one go. To say I want him biblically is an understatement, I want him more than the waves want the shore.

[kaurwreck]

it's so frustrating that criticism of the bsd anime overwhelmingly amounts to incessant derogatory and reductive remarks that, if articulated at all, are substanceless complaints (1) that a scene isn't in the anime (even when it absolutely is in the anime); (2) about exclusions or changes in the anime made because of animation production constraints; (3) about changes made in the anime to maintain consistency, make use of the medium's unique features, and to refine the previous iterations (which began serializing years prior, so of course the creators may want to revisit prior choices); and (4) about differences made because of the artistic choices contributed by the additional creative collaborators that work on the anime but not the manga.

if you have something to say, then say it. but repeating the same, often exaggerated or hollow takes that have already been run into the ground isn't media analysis or informed storytelling or good taste or even interesting.

if you don't like a story enough to enjoy a different version of it, then defer to the version you do enjoy, or at least process why those changes were made and form your own opinion before regurgitating the same tired vitriol.

[transmechanicus]

Trans person concerningly obsessed with the Sword Logic and the Hive conception of the Final Shape last spotted descending into the Hellmouth muttering about kittens or something

[softness-and-shattering]

Im not the first person to complain about fatphobia in baldurs gate 3. Its just a lot worse than not being able to make fat player characters, tav or durge. Its that there are almost no fat people at all in this whole world.

Ive played close to 300 hours, and I havent fully explored act 3. There's some characters who are quite large. Halsin is tall and broad but he has a trim six pack. So does Karlach, despite being buff she has quite a narrow waist. Weird to be a barbarian without serious core strength. Korilla and Hope are very curvy, but no belly.

I can only think of two actually fat characters are neither are great. One is Glut, the myconid sovereign who asks you to betray Spaw, when you have no other reason to dislike Spaw. Firstly, the name. Glut - Glutton - he's fat. You dont have to also name him fatso. He feel entitled to a colony of myconids and is happy to kill Spaw about it, its just an ownership rulership ambition there's no justice to it. And if you refuse you have to kill him. So firstly he's non-human, non-humanoid, the hobgoblin specifically states than myconids have way less going on mentally than the player character and its kind of unclear to me if they're a hivemind or not. In that fantasy grey area of if they're properly people rather than unusually conscious vegetables. And he's also basically an asshole.

The other fat character is Thisobald Thorm. To begin with he's undead, and the son of a major undead villain. Not a great start. Second, he has four legs. Yes there are lots of unusual human variations and I suppose a person could have four legs and that would be fine. But why make that Thisobalds 'quirk'. Its clearly that he's soooo fat that he cant possibly move around on two legs so lets give him another set and make him monstrous. He needs to move around because he can be a mini-boss battle and it would be soooo hard to animate two big legs, or even two comically small legs. Nah we gotta give him four, evoke monstrosity. And then, the ways that encounter can go, is you either totally ignore him, or you interact. If you interact, you have to kill him, and if you talk your way through it he literally explodes from being too fat. Theres lines about his stomach seems like its going to burst open from all its holding and then it does. And then theres no body left behind, just the pile of gore thats also left behind when you raise zombies. He cant even be a humanoid corpse, he explodes so violently from sheer fatness that nothing recognisable is left behind.

And yes I know the excuse is that hes drinking this super intense poison alcohol brew and thats what gets him. That doesnt make it better. I dont know of any toxic substance that makes a person explode. Its not otherwise explosive. That isnt a thing that happens. There's no point someone gets so fat and so full that they explode. Its a gross outcome for a character you're intended to be entirely disgusted by. (its also not any kind of representation for people who consume various uh tabboo substances but I cant really speak to that aspect).

Two fat people, neither entirely human or allowed to be a person, one an asshole and one with no good ending. Like. cmon. You figured out how to animate dragonborn faces, and tails, you can have people be fat. It isnt actually a monstrous trait its actually super normal, its weird and urealistic that everyone in all of Faerun is slim. That doesnt happen in real life. The gender/sex options, and the vitiligo, thats fantastic. Yes keep representing and letting us play as all kinds of different people. Add some body types that arent just tall short/slim muscular too! For the player and the NPC's.