#At this point if I look up a product that requires a working brain to use I automatically deduce like -.1~-.3 from the five star rating

[kjzx]

Me reading reviews of people rating whetstones 1★ because they bought a high grit whetstone to sharpen a completely dull knife and it didn't work

[thecreaturecodex]

Slugspawn

Image © Paizo Publishing

[Sponsored by @coldbloodassassin, who asked for the slugspawn from Carrion Crown: Wake of the Watcher to be converted from a hazard to a full monster. It is a little weird in the adventure as published, and this art, which is from WotW, makes it look as if it was intended to be an independent creature originally. WotW has a very large Bestiary section (this is the PF1e module that introduced a ton of Cthulhu Mythos monsters), so it's entirely possible that this was its own stat block at one point in development before being changed for the finished product to save word count. Lucky for me, I don't have a word count.]

Slugspawn CR 5 CE Aberration This creature appears to be a greenish-black slug the size of a human arm. On its underside, it has a lamprey-like maw with layers of rasping teeth

Slugspawn are the juvenile stage of the moits of Shub-Nugganoth, grotesque creatures that use humanoids are hosts to create eruptions of parasitic plague. A slugspawn is barely sapient, existing only to lurk in a dark corner somewhere and wait for a passerby to infest. Slugspawn are slow but patient, and can eat insects, mold and other detritus if these are available, and survive for up to a year on reserves of fat if they are not. They require the thoughts of a host, preferably a humanoid, in order to molt and reach maturity and intelligence.

Slugspawn attack from hiding, attempting to ambush a victim and burrow inside of it without the victim noticing more than a faint twinge of pain. Although cold damage or surgical intervention can pull a slugspawn from its host, this must be done quickly before the aberration wraps around the host’s brain stem. There, it feeds on the thought energy of its host, but also provides blanket protection from mind-influencing effects. The infestation initially seems relatively benign, and the infested may go about their lives as normal until the moit suddenly and violently transforms into a spawning canker. This is universally fatal to the host, and the host’s corpse becomes little more than a puppet and layer of protection for a tentacled horror.

Slugspawn CR 5 XP 1,600 CN Tiny aberration Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsens 30 ft., Perception +5

Defense AC 20, touch 20, flat-footed 12 (+2 size, +7 Dex, +1 dodge) hp 51 (6d8+24) Fort +6, Ref +10, Will +4 Immune mind-influencing effects; Vulnerable cold, remove disease

Offense Speed 10 ft., climb 10 ft. Melee bite +13 (1d2+2 plus infestation) Space 2 ½ ft.; Reach 0 ft.

Statistics Str 14, Dex 25, Con 16, Int 3, Wis 8, Cha 9 Base Atk +4; CMB +9; CMD 21 (cannot be tripped) Feats Dodge, Mobility, Weapon Finesse Skills Climb +10, Perception +5, Stealth +21 Languages Aklo (cannot speak) SQ camouflage

Ecology Environment any land Organization solitary, clot (2-6) or infestation (7-12) Treasure none

Special Abilities Camouflage (Su) If a slugspawn is seen, a DC 20 Knowledge (dungeoneering) or DC 25 Knowledge (nature) check is required to tell that it is not a harmless, albeit oversized, slug. Infestation (Ex) A creature bitten by a slugspawn must succeed a DC 16 Reflex save, or the slugspawn burrows through the skin and begins to infest the creature. Any amount of damage reduction is enough to resist the initial infestation. The save DC is Constitution based. On the first round of infestation, dealing cold damage to the victim can eject the slugspawn and save the host—but only if the victim takes 10 or more points within 1 round of being infested. Cutting the slugspawn out also works, but the longer it remains in a host, the more damage this method does. Cutting it out requires a slashing weapon and a DC 25 Heal check, and deals 1d6 points of damage per round that the host has been infested. If the Heal check is successful, the slugspawn is removed. After 3 rounds, though, the slugspawn has reached the host’s brain and cannot be surgically removed without killing the host. Remove disease kills any slugspawn in a host. A slugspawn ejected through cold damage or a Heal check is stunned for 1 round after being ejected. A creature host to a slugspawn is immune to mind-influencing effects. 2d6 days after the initial infestation, a humanoid or native outsider host metamorphoses into a spawning canker, and cannot be returned to life with any means other than a true resurrection, miracle or wish spell. Hosts of other creature types have variable gestation periods, and may never metamorphose at all, subject to GM discretion. Vulnerable to Remove Disease (Su) If a slugspawn is targeted with a remove disease spell or similar effect, it must succeed a Fortitude save against the save DC of the spell or die instantly. If they succeed, the slugspawn still takes 1d4 points of damage per caster level.

[leathfaic]

Ghost and Soap tattoo headcanons because the brain worms demand it right now!

In my mind at least Ghost has a lot more tattoos than just his sleeve, it's just not common knowledge because until he gets together with Soap no one ever really sees him undressed except maybe for medical staff.

The sleeve was the beginning but he's adding to them whenever leave allows, on his chest and back, on his legs and his other arms and even his hands. Ghost is also the kind of guy that is very stoic while getting tattoos, the pain doesn't really bother him, he's been through so much worse, but he's not the guy who's chatting with the artist either. He just sits through it. Similarly afterwards he's pretty disciplined about the aftercare required. Sun rarely is an issue with the way he dresses and he plans his leave times around the appointments so he can take it easy for a while.

When the inevitable itching starts he just glares at the spot, never actually touching it, but he gets fucking irritated for a few days.

And while he's not the best at taking care of himself in many aspects of his life I can actually see him take good care of his tattoos in the long run, because I imagine him getting them to cover up scars, especially those left by Roba and his men. It's his way of reclaiming his body. The motive itself often isn't as important as the fact that he chose to have it put at that spot. The meaning isn't in the design either it's in the fact that it was his decision to wear it, unlike the scars that were forced upon him.

And then there's Soap, he's only got the one tattoo that we know, at least when he meets Ghost.

Its faded from sunlight exposure and because he never took proper care of it while it healed, even caught himself scratching it once or twice when the itching started. Its always exposed and he rarely thinks of putting sunscreen on, so naturally the tattoo has a hard time and the colour fades quick.

So at some point Ghost asks him if he wants it touched up. He's making an appointment with the artist he trusts anyways and he'd be happy to bring him along. Ghost knows that for Soap his tattoo does have meaning, that he's fucking proud to have made it into the SAS and that he got kinda sad comparing the crisp lines of Ghost's tattoos to his own.

Soap ends up agreeing although he's wary since he can't see it go better than it did last time. But if anything the fact that Ghost is allowing him to come along for this is such a huge sign of trust that he just can't refuse it.

And Ghost's tattoo artist is going to have to recover for a moment because Soap is so fucking chatty compared to Ghost, the pain is kinda exciting to him so he talks more and more and the artist hears more words out of Ghost in response to Johnny than he ever did before. Would wonder if it was the same man if they weren't literally continuing work on a tattoo they had started.

Once they are both done Ghost makes sure Soap takes proper care of the new ink. Threatens to tie him to the bed if he starts scratching at night (something Soap finds entirely too exciting). Shares his care products with him and makes him wrap it up for the first weeks and months. Is always at hand with some sun screen, at least for the arm, even when they are in the middle of nowhere. It's worth the trouble to squeeze some sun screen in his pack when he gets to see Johnny so happy about how good his tattoo looks again.

And once he sees how a properly taken care of piece will look Soap wants more. Ends up accompanying Ghost to the studio whenever he goes.

He's creative, most of what ends up on him is based on his own sketches, always with meaning behind it for him. The next thing he gets is a certain skull based on a specific mask that he wears close to his heart (making Ghost go through emotions he wasn't aware he was capable of having). He also helps Ghost with giving some of his ideas form often redrawing endless variations to make sure Simon doesn't just pick one that seems okay and fitting for its purpose but one he really likes to look at too. Poor man almost loses it when he sees one of his sketches inked on Ghost for the first time and its a good thing they are on leave because he's not gonna let him out of their bed any time soon. Purely to protect the new ink from the sun of course.

[writingquestionsanswered]

Writing with Chronic Illness

strigiformthunderstorm asked: Could you advise on forming a writing routine with a chronic illness? I have several conditions that cause a lot of pain and fatigue, and working part-time takes up nearly all of my energy. I used to write daily but stopped while I was in "survival mode", and now getting in my head about the quality prevents me from writing. I've had success with creating multiple routines to accommodate my fluctuating symptoms, so instead of writing out a schedule, I'm kind of choreographing a dance. For example, right now I'm coming out of a flare up so I'm trying to think of adaptations like writing in bed, taking naps between writing sessions, and being less hard on myself about smoking for my pain while writing + just doing brain dumps if that's what I need to get into the flow of things. I'm also neurodivergent. I'm trying to get to the point I'm actually writing the book (instead of world building/planning) and am making consistent progress.

[Ask edited for length]

A few things that might help:

1 - Don't worry about writing daily or hitting specific word counts. Doing things to "move the needle" are just as important, even if that is doing brain dumps, researching, or looking for inspiration photos.

2 - Try to avoid making writing feel like a stressful activity that your brain will automatically want to avoid. The things you're doing are already on the right track, so continue to give yourself grace, give yourself positive reinforcement for anything that moves the needle, and doing what you can to make writing relaxing and rewarding.

3 - Many writers find that writing sprints are a productive way for them to get words on the page. So, for example, try setting a timer for 10 or 20 minutes (or whatever increment works for you) and write as much as you can during that time. Don't worry about quality (we'll get to that in a minute), just get the words down. Do this a few times a day, and it starts to add up quickly. You may also find that you gather momentum and are able to write more per sprint, sprint for longer periods, and/or include more sprints into your day.

4 - Focusing overly much on quality is probably a bigger obstacle for you right now than anything else. This is by far and away the biggest pitfall writers fall into. Remember: writing is a process that requires editing and revision. No one writes a perfect first draft. There's a reason we call them "rough drafts" and "zero drafts." There's a reason we self-edit and revise. There's a reason we use beta readers, critique partners, and editors. It isn't supposed to be perfect at the beginning. Imagine being a sculptor, taking out a lump of clay, squeezing it to shape it a few times, and then being livid because it isn't a beautiful sculpture. That's what you're doing when you allow your brain to be frustrated about the quality of your writing when you're writing a first draft. You're getting mad because your lump of clay didn't instantly become a beautiful sculpture. If you never let your lump of clay be a lump of clay, and something that looks more like a misshapen whatever rather than the thing you're trying to make, then you'll never get it to the point of actually becoming the beautiful sculpture. You have to let the words on the page be ugly before you can shape them into something beautiful when it's time to edit and revise. Have a look at the following posts for more:

Concentrate on Quantity at First, Not Quality Overcoming Embarrassment Over Own Writing Delaying Writing Out of Fear Worried About Writing Style

5 - As far as routine goes, you're actually already doing what I would have suggested, which is to utilize a variety of different routines that are catered to meet your needs in the moment. Doing the things you're already doing, plus what is mentioned above, will hopefully be enough to get you over this hurdle.

Sending you lots of happy thoughts and hope for progress! ���

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[serpensortiamaxima]

What a delightful drama I've woken up to this morning, eh? I still have thoughts I've not seen being brought up so buckle up.

People aren't upset about the summer update. That whole thing is a symptom, not the cause. What people are upset about is the state of the game itself and how much it is lacking and has been lacking since the beginning.

In the past decade or so, we have gotten more and more accustomed to being sold unfinished games, but with the promise that "don't worry we'll patch it in later updates", and then this never happened. In fact, if Hogwarts Legacy had been an excellent game with its holes patched up and they decided to grant us this free update? The reception would have been, much, much better.

And, excuse the harshness but I do wonder how capitalism-rotten your brain has to be to miss that it's about the principle rather than the update itself. We should not allow corporations to get away with always giving less and less to their clients. Ever. And I can already hear the counter argument of "you can't always get what you want!" and again, that's not my point.

The point is that corporations aim for cost effectiveness. Especially for a free update, they're not going to look at what the community wants really, they will pick the one thing that requires the least time and the least resources because they will have to pay for the time and production cost of a new feature. They know that free updates don't bring in new players. A free update is a way to do community management and get some hype, it might bring in some sales, but never enough to make profit.

Customers aren't upset about the update itself, they're experiencing now the frustration about the game they've always put on the side so far, due to this habit I've mentioned above, of expecting fixes and patches and regular updates from a game, especially one so recently released.

It only takes a quick glance at what's happening with EA in general to see a similar pattern of new content being botched or overpriced, only to receive intense backlash. And that backlash is necessary. Staying complacent and simply accepting your fate as a gamer customer is exactly what corporations are hoping for, because then they don't have to do more. They receive this feedback that it's fine, that they can just do the bare minimum and expect their customer base to eat up the new content in gratefulness. Really? Do we really want to trigger this loop of always getting less and less for something that not only has been bought but that the customers don't even own?

This isn't a Hogwarts Legacy issue, it's an industry wide trend, and we should recognize it as such.

Now, to my last point: mods. I got into modding Skyrim in 2013. Both as an avid user of mods and sometimes to make my own light tweaks for storytelling. For the most part, I'm mostly a mod user and every single time a game I played could be modded, I did so. My current Skyrim save is running on over 200 of them. I only ever play vanilla when I have no other choice. I've quickly touched on the topic yesterday by pointing out how modding requires a healthy and thriving community to work.

There are two main factors to achieve those requirements:

The company behind the game needs to support making mods for their games.

A big and interested customer base

And I guess the hidden third requirement is the coding language and how accessible it is. But I digress. My understanding of the modding community for HL is that it is very small, and therefore limited and that Portkey/Avalanche hasn't provided any resources for modders.

And so, I don't think we'll see a thriving community for HL any time soon, at least not of the comparable kind. And for me, personally, it means that the kind of gamechanging mods I would want to see simply aren't going to happen.

The kind of mods I tend to use are very immersion-focused to allow for a real roleplaying experience, that would include the ability to create new animations, to assign additional dialogues to NPCs, additional routing for NPCs within the map, to allow the player to completely ignore the main quest if they wanted to etc. And I'm afraid that HL is built in such a way that it doesn't have this flexibility even for an experienced mod creator but especially not if the modding community for the game is too small. A lot of these things would require a lot of time, a lot of code, and ton of testing and beta play.

And that doesn't mean that there can't be good mods made, but if the player base wanted to have more mods of a very high quality, we would still need to put pressure on Avalanche to tell them that if they're not ready to provide us with new content, the least they could do is make modding more accessible on their game.

[chaifootsteps]

Hi, hi! I've been a longtime follower of your blog, but this is my first time sending in an ask because of anxiety. You're the most consistent blog that keeps up to date with Viv and her work. As someone who first saw Viv through the Die Young animation, and watched the HH pilot when it was first released, I grew disillusioned as s1 of Helluva Boss slowly aired. It was mostly because I didn't really enjoy the Stolitz ship and I believe the Erin Frost drama had come out (god bless Erin - she, Ken and everyone else deserved so much better). Plus the world-building and character development was just so off.

I know people have said this before: the concept Viv has is good, but the execution sucks. There's a vision but the product is so damn juvenile. I'm ace, and I became attached to Alastor due to him being ace as well, but we all know how Viv responded when the ship wars were happening. I couldn't stand the constant sex jokes or swearing in HB since when was it required for an "adult" show to have that?

Thank you for the episode leaks. Only got to see ep 1 before they were removed. The only thing that made me laugh out loud was the Niffty gag where she stared dead into the camera. I also liked Adam a bit? Sure the "original dick" thing went on way too long, but he was funny too. I surprising enjoyed his song - the lil fist bump he did with Lute was cute, and I like Lute but knowing Viv's record... eh. There was this cool shot where Adam flew up and Lute and those golden angels go behind him and spread their wings making Adam look like the biblically accurate angel. Except Adam himself ruins the effect because what the ever-loving heck is he wearing? I hate it.

In terms of shipping, I wasn't into the Huskerdust interactions. Angel wasn't flirting, that was sexual harassment. In the pilot it was okay because their interaction was brief and Husk pushed Angel off. Chaggie was... something. I genuinely feel that Chaggie could've worked had they not been established as a couple in the first place. The reason why Charlastor (and I guess Charlentious?) happened is because they had chemistry and their interactions could be read as a romantic interest. Since Chaggie was already established, there was an expectation for them to have those, but they weren't delivered and we know well that they weren't supposed to be a thing in the first place. Have Vaggie still be her bff and bodyguard, but show those moments where she genuinely cares for Charlie's well-being that indicates she's in love with her, yet Charlie is completely oblivious to everything. Actually, reverse harem Charlie sounds pretty funny to me.

Btw, armchair psychology anon, as a person studying psychology in my final year of college, dw about people taking issues with your speculations. NPD and other personality disorders are ego-syntonic, which means that the individual's behaviours line up with their beliefs, hence why PDs are only diagnosed during adulthood once brain maturation and personality development is reached. The only exception to this is ASPD (which NPD shares a category with called Cluster B along with histrionic and BPD) as you can diagnose a child with conduct disorder that can become ASPD when they're adults. Cluster B PDs are terribly demonised by media and the public despite the volume of research (I blame misunderstanding and ignorance). Viv could have it or could not; it's just that she shows signs of having it, and that's it. Even if she doesn't, she's still an awful person. Idk what happened in her childhood or some point in her life for her to become like this, but it doesn't excuse treating people like crap - oh wait, ain't this her characters in a nutshell?

That's all I gotta say for now. I hope it's okay to send more like this in the future; I'd love to be a specific anon but idk what's already taken lol. Take care, Chai, and I hope you have a good day/evening.

By all means, send as many as you've got! Because this was a delight to read.

Let me know when you come up with a name. I'll give you a placeholder one for now.

[willows-unnamed-rpg]

Post 1) Overall idea - turn based pirate rpg/ttrpg system

TLDR: I am working on a ttrpg system as a basis for a turn based rpg that is magic, piracy, and exploration. A focus on wealth and growth plus a vast world (hopefully). I am inspired by alot of things, mainly horror and pirate media, so the intent is a more darker setting

Ok onto the post :)

I figured if I actually want to get this bloody game in production I might as well start with a long post detailing some initial thoughts with some hope of any amount of actual engagement (doubtful that is). This thing has lived in my brain for weeks now and it has officially kept me up at night now. Figured I should post something out into the world. Now I guess I should have some form of organizing

Why a turn based rpg

Honestly, it's what I love. I grew up playing RPGs and I love table top RPGs. I figured it was this or action rpg and I don't want an action rpg. Granted it might fit the genre more but also I'm the one making it the thing so I get to call the shots (until someone else hops in if I ever get someone else)

I also Game Master several table top games currently so I have an understanding of combat flow and narrative, I am just used to others adding to the story rather than it being all me (since ttrpgs are inherently collaborative works)

I have some ideas for the system, something I want to go into detail when I am less sleep deprived, but in short I want it to be classless but still guiding the player to general play styles, like mage or tank. I know pirates and magic, but the whole magical dungeon diving fits exploring ancient ruins for money (plus casting a big old fireball at a ship sounds cool as hell).

So a custom rpg system?

Yes. Like I want it to work on its own as a standalone ttrpg system. Since I should be able to make it translate well into a video game. I mean that's the hope. I won't be the first person to do this (look at all the d&d games from the 1980s on dos to BG3, it works)

The idea as said above is classless with point buying perks (kinda like fallout). Unsure if I want it to be a d20 system but I am absolutely going for high roll is better since low roll systems hurt my head (looking at 2e dnd, had to learn it for some dos d&d games and it took a bit of getting used to). But it's all subjected to change since it's literally this post and my brain

Pirates?

You bet. Look, the only good pirate games are Assassin Creed: Black Flag and Sea of Thieves and both are subjective. Of course the big problem here comes from the question of how much time do we put into ship combat to make it fluid. Especially with turn based rpg combat. And I know that will be the challenge. I will not back down from this point. I want ship combat. Even if it's just boarding other vessels. I want fireballs to light gunpowder holds and deal massive damage. I want artificers repairing the ship and manning guns. I want the player to feel at full control and be able to react while making choices that fit into the system. Without it being full on simulation.

As for the player exploration off the boat, that should be easy, like any other RPGs. Of course I have done ttrpg games not video games so I know it will be a pain nonetheless but that's learning and art.

So about that world for exploring

I want that to be it's own post once I nail down the system's mechanics but in short, kinda an Isekai (well not literally, the player isn't from another world, not yet anyway) but all the "Species" (no idea what I want to use for the word) are not native to the world, and so they have been invited over time to explore a long dead universe that they brought in their own beliefs. Does that mean human Christianity mixing with let's say elven nature faith? It's been in my mind as a neat idea but also *yikes* as well. I want to be sure that I consider everything, including cultures who were exploited during the age of sail so I don't propagate more harm. So that will require a lot of research and help from those communities. I also don't want to plop in fantasy races "just because" since they probably won't belong. We tend to see them because Western fantasy is typically "eurocentric", and this game will not be. Pirates were European sure but that ignores so many other groups (Barbary Pirate, Malagasy, South East Asian. Again I need to do more research)

I have tied in my own Mexican culture into my ttrpg games before but that's my own culture and in a small group. This is far larger and I need to give the world the respect it deserves.

What kind of art style?

I am not a very good artist so this one will be in the air until I settle, but I need to grow or get help. I would like something near realism (Honestly like how the Paradox Strategy games tend to do art, EU4 especially since it's the right period of time but again that's eurocentric so who knows)

I can't settle on a style when I haven't even made custom stat blocks for creatures or even know what creatures will be in the game yet. I will say, I love pixel art but I'm aware of exactly how much work it takes to make it wonderful. I have exactly zero skill in most art/drawing and what I do have need work, so best get to doodling to get better

The story?

On my main blog I usually write (though I am bad at posting, let's not make that a habit shall we?) but that doesn't mean I'm good at writing. Writing like drawing is an art, so I need to work on this and get help from others as it warms up. I don't want to disregard writing, it's an rpg, it lives by the narrative.

Other than exploring the world for money, I like the idea of it being focused on either one country or one city. A pirate republic. You could leave on expeditions and come back and those would be arcs. Do everything around town, hang out with companions, romance, and then to move the narrative along we build up to an expedition that changes the republic. Kinda like Dragon Age 2 and Kirkwall (not going into it here since spoilers for the game) but I really like this idea. You can see growth and change and get an impact on the narrative. Obviously this isn't anything new. But it's always a good time

My Inspirations?

That is a hell of a question. I have alot, ranging from Dark Fantasy/Gothic Horror with Ravenloft, Dragon Age, From Software's Library, Lovecraft's work (he isn't gothic horror I know, Eldritch is different but also water monsters in a ocean setting hits good) to pirate media with One Piece, the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies and the actual historical pirates I know.

And Obviously with any game, Lord of the Rings and System Shock 2 despite how far apart both are and possibly irrelevant they are.

I don't have any current "required reading" minus The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings (and maybe The Dunwitch Horror?)

I guess my inspirations lead me to a darker world, which fits real pirates well

[new-berry]

Are Kinks Hereditary? What Science Says About the Genetics of Desire

Glamour September 2022

In short, maybe! Your genetic makeup is one of several factors that could influence your sexual interests.

Are kinks hereditary or learned? The short answer is both.

The genetics of sexual attraction and desire is a deeply underfunded field of research. Still, there’s growing evidence to suggest our genes might play a much larger role in the development of our erotic selves than previously thought.

What is a kink? Kink vs. fetish?

A kink is any type of nonmainstream sexual interest, according to Justin Lehmiller, PhD, research fellow at the Kinsey Institute and scientific advisor to sex-toy retailer Lovehoney. A fetish is a specific subtype of kink defined by a heightened fascination with a certain object, body part, or bodily fluid. In other words, fetishes tend to have a sensory component wherein people are drawn to the feel, taste, smell, or look of a particular thing. “All fetishes are kinks, but not all kinks are fetishes,” Dr. Lehmiller explains.

Author and “gonzo anthropologist” Katherine Gates has devoted her career to the study of sexual subcultures. Speaking from a nonacademic point of view, Gates offers up another way of understanding the distinction between kink and fetish: Kink describes the use of props and role play in erotic interaction, but those elements aren’t required in order to get off. Moreover, kinky encounters don’t necessarily involve sex—the experience can be gratifying with or without it. Fetish, on other hand, connotes a sexual interest that is “extremely narrow and fixed.” And this fetish has to be incorporated in order for the person to get off and feel sexually fulfilled by an encounter.

Gloria Brame, PhD, is a sexologist, sex therapist, and self-described fetishist best known for her work in the area of BDSM. “For me, the fetish is about feeling really comforted,” Dr. Brame says. “That’s how I feel when a fetish manifests.”

Okay, but are kinks hereditary?

We don’t have concrete proof that our genetic makeup is directly tied to our sexual interests. At least, not yet. But it’s not outlandish to suggest that some people may be genetically predisposed to developing kinks and fetishes. It’s relatively well-documented that personality is to some degree heritable. Certain traits tend to run in families. And as Dr. Lehmiller can attest, from having surveyed thousands of people on the subject, our sexual fantasies can be read, at least in part, as a reflection of our personalities. Extraverts, for instance, were especially drawn to group sex and nonmonogamy fantasies. The fantasies of highly conscientious individuals tended to be more detailed, with a particular emphasis on sex in unique settings like the beach. Dr. Lehmiller also found a pattern of interest in kink and BDSM among those with a penchant for sensation seeking, another personality trait shown to have some genetic basis. Often, high sensation seekers require a more potent stimulus in order to experience arousal or to reach orgasm.

“With people who are high sensation seekers, in some of the research that’s been connected, we see that their dopamine receptors aren’t quite as sensitive as other people,” Dr. Lehmiller explains. “So they just sort of require this higher level or higher threshold of excitement to get the same sexual thrills that other people do.”

That said, it’s important to remember that our erotic interests are the product of many factors. On the biological side, those factors can include our genetic predispositions, unique brain chemistry, and the way our bodies are laid out.

“For some people, nipples are extraordinarily sensitive,” Dr. Lehmiller says. “For other people, there’s just no sensation whatsoever. And if your body just happens to have that heightened level of sensitivity, you might be very drawn to various forms of nipple play including more intense BDSM versions of it with nipple clamps and so forth. So I think part of it is that general sensitivity in different parts of our body. That could also have a genetic component to it.”

Psychological factors such as our personalities, previous experiences, and general attitudes toward sex represent another piece of the puzzle. And there are environmental factors to consider—the cultural context that, in part, determines the partners we choose and the opportunities available to us.

Whenever we’re talking about sexual interests, we need to talk about it from a biopsychosocial perspective,” Dr. Lehmiller says. “Two people can develop the same sexual interest for very different reasons, depending on the confluence of all of these factors.”

How are kinks and fetishes created?

Many people can pinpoint a specific childhood experience as the source of their kink or fetish. For some, it feels like a fact of life from birth. Others find their kinks later in life through solo or partnered exploration. In Dr. Brame’s experience, younger generations are becoming aware of their kinks earlier in life thanks to the internet. But in some cases, the culture of silence and shame around sexual kinks can delay the discovery process by decades.

“You don’t necessarily realize who you are until you’re in your teens or maybe even your 20s,” Dr. Brame says. “Or maybe even your 50s, not because it’s totally out of the blue. But you don’t realize what kink is or what it is to be kinky. Or that some of your private sexual fantasies actually align with kink.”

Often the kink’s emotional and sexual resonance is reinforced through masturbation.

“We know that the connection between the smell centers of the brain and the memory centers of the brain and the emotional centers of the brain are very close,” Gates says. “And so things that we would consider to be classic kinks, like a foot fetish—or rubber or leather or things that are sensorially evocative, especially through smell—can become connected with emotional content and memories to form a kind of cycle where you smell it and you have this stimulus in this memory that’s very emotional. You might reinforce that through, say, masturbation to the point where it becomes a very firm pathway in your brain.”

But Gates believes some people are primed to develop a kink or fetish under the right conditions.

“I interviewed this wonderful guy who considered himself a macrophile,” Gates says. “He liked to fantasize about giant women. And he said, ‘Nature loads the gun and nurture pulls the trigger.’ I like that metaphor because it sort of explains how that works—that you can be primed biologically and neurologically to be ready for it to happen.”

Is kink a sexual orientation?

Dr. Brame feels strongly that kink isn’t a hobby—it’s a legitimate sexual identity. Throughout her life, relationships that didn’t align with her kinks would inevitably fail. The kink was never explicitly discussed or cited as the reason for the breakup—that discovery would come later. But in retrospect, it makes sense that certain power dynamics weren’t tenable for her.

“I was actually leading a really mainstream kind of life. But I couldn't make vanilla relationships work,” Dr. Brame recalls. “They came and they went and they came and they went…. When I found out I was into BDSM, I was really thrilled. I never looked back. I only had kinky partners, and that led to a marriage of 32 years.”

Dr. Lehmiller says the data supports both possibilities. For some, it is a leisure activity. For others, an interest in kink can have “very deep roots.”

“It’s very persistent, it’s enduring, it has some of the other features that a sexual orientation does,” Dr. Lehmiller says. “It’s not malleable. I think for some people, there does seem to be the sense that kink is more of a sexual orientation for them. But again, I don’t know that we fully understand exactly why that is.”

[silkling]

Not to be that person, but you've been quiet and haven't posted anything here or ao3 for some time now, is everything alright?

Hi! Don't worry, you're not being "that person"! I'm sorry to have worried you! I've just been really busy with university! This semester has been especially busy for me! But the good news is that I am working on some updates! "Of Finding Family" is my current project, and I'm struggling with how to make the thing I want to happen actually happen. But! I have the outline of the rest of the story mapped out, it's just figuring out the fiddly bits of how to get from point A to point B, so to speak. After "Of Finding Family", I'm hoping that the inspiration from that will carry me to "Watermarked by Your Ancestry"! I hit a major roadblock with that project just after I last updated and have been struggling since, but my hope is that the success of finishing "Of Finding Family" will give me the boost I need to get over that particular hurdle.

As for Tumblr....yeah. I stopped posting my fics here because they never get much engagement. Now don't get me wrong, I don't write just for the engagement of the audience, but that interaction with readers is what motivates me to actually post, y'know? Sure, I daydream the ideas and write them for fun mostly for myself, but when I post them it's a lot of work to take it from messy daydream brain-vomited onto a page, to the actual finished product. And the interaction and feedback from my audience is what makes me want to put in that extra effort. I get a lot more of that on Ao3 (And I promise, even if I don't respond to most comments out of me just straight up overthinking myself into stress, every single one makes me super happy)

To that effect, I've honestly been considering just. Shifting the focus of my Tumblr. Maybe using it to post general TF thoughts, headcanons, blot bunnies, theories, fic updates....that sort of thing. But idk. Just a thing for me to consider.

Also, more good news I've joined this year's Reverse Mini Bang, and if this year is anything like last year's Big Bang, I'll probably overshoot the minimun word requirement again. So, that's one more big(ish) project you can look forward to! (Even if the posting period is a bit of a ways off)

All in all, I have a handful of projects planned! I will do my best to update "Of Finding Family" soon, but I can't promise anything. At the very least, I'll have a lot more free time as summer hits, so at least there's that.

And finally...I want to say thank you. Real life's been keeping me busy, but I felt like I had to respond to your message. It's honestly super touching to know that people like me and what I do enough to notice that I disappeared for a little. So...thank you. :D

[elenajohansenreads]

i had new thoughts about the validity of DNF book reviews and i want to share them

Something a friend said reminded me of A Book Review Incident I was involved in a while back, wherein a DNF review I wrote made some people angry both for a) not finishing the work, and b) what I had to say about the part I did read.

I'm not going to dredge up the review itself or name the book, that's not important. But thinking about it again while doing dishes (dish-thoughts is the new shower-thoughts) made me realize there's distinction between types of review and the expectations people have for them, and thus why some people absolutely cannot stand DNF reviews.

How I see it now, the problem is the gap between two styles of book review:

An analysis and examination of the work itself on its own merits;

A review of the experience the reader had reading the book.

For the sake of brevity, let's call these the "scholarly" and "product" reviews.

Back when I was a college student, even when I was not formally tasked with a book "review," I was expected to read the assigned material fully and engage with all of its content, in order to discuss it in class, or use it as a basis for a paper, or whatever else the class required. I could not not finish the reading and present my frustration with it as a valid form of participation for grading purposes. (I tried that once with a particularly difficult book in a particularly annoying class, and to no one's surprise, it did not go well.) This is what I mean by the scholarly review type: DNF reviews are unacceptable.

Product book reviews, on the other hand, are functionally like the review of any other product. I recently bought a handheld vacuum, and I read the reviews of several models before I chose one. I looked to see how many one-star reviews there were, and judged the reasonableness of the complaints. If Vacuum A was prone to weak suction or didn't charge quickly, while Vacuum B had attachments that were hard to fit to the nozzle, I wanted to know these things in order to make my decision. Likewise, if many readers of a certain book I might be interested in didn't like it, I want to know why, and DNF reviews are perfectly valid in this case, because not wanting to finish the book is a true experience the reviewer had, that gives me information about my possible enjoyment of that book.

To be honest, many reviews are some of both. I know I write both kinds, either on their own or combined, depending on the book. Most reviews I read are both types combined as well, generally weighted more towards product than scholarly, but still with aspects of each.

My galaxy-brain moment came when I realized that DNF-review haters want scholarly reviews when they're actually getting product reviews.

No, if I didn't finish the book, I can't credibly talk with someone about the full plot, its themes, the deeper meanings. I don't possess that information. But yes, my experience of not finishing the book is still potentially valuable to someone else who might be saved the trouble of reading it themselves because my review pointed out some poor qualities of the work, or potential unmarked triggers about sensitive subject matter, etc etc.

I don't expect to change anyone's mind with this or significantly alter the state of book review discourse--for the most part, people don't even interact with book reviews much, it's rare for me to get more than a few likes, barely ever a single comment or reply, and The DNF Review Incident only happened that once, quite memorably.

Also, I'd have to be posting reviews, which I'm not, again. I am still reading. I may start writing reviews at some point.

But I had these thoughts, and the way my brain works, they required expressing, and I decided to do it here in case my realization helped someone else understand (possibly) why the haters gonna hate.

[tryslora]

On Being a Neurodiverse Creative: Introduction

Welcome to a series of posts (randomly posted—don’t expect a schedule out of me) on the subject of being a Neurodiverse Creative. About how being ND and creative at the same time affects my life and how I do things. How being ND can be both a superpower and a curse all at once.

To that end, let’s start this series with a proper introduction.

Hi there. I’m Tris, and I have ADHD. 

I just received my formal diagnosis this year. I’m 55 years old, and I’ve spent my entire life relying on coping mechanisms and workarounds, but it was only after my son started dealing with his own ADHD that I started to recognize that maybe, just maybe, I had developed those workarounds because of ADHD.

But I couldn’t be ADHD, could I? I tested well (so did my son…). I mean. I struggled with reading comprehension, and memorizing history dates felt impossible, but I got great grades as long as I cared about the subject. I was good at making lists, and I could get things done. Although I am a pack rat, and a mess, and if it wasn’t interesting, it just kept slipping to the bottom of the list, and oh… Ohh.

When I got my official diagnosis, my evaluator and I talked for a while. We had two sessions. One was the informal questions, one was the formal questionnaire required for diagnosis. Afterward she said that she was surprised I had never been diagnosed before. I blame it on my age, and on the fact that I was raised as a girl in the 80s. I was well-spoken, and quiet. My inability to sit still only translated into sitting on my feet and changing position, not running around the room. I talked a lot (too much, and was punished at one point by being separated from every other student so I couldn’t possibly chat wth anyone), right up until I learned I could read in class instead. 

I flew under the radar, and I developed those aforementioned coping mechanisms, and everything was great, until suddenly… it wasn’t.

So here I am at the age of 55 and I’m really looking hard at all my past habits. My past productivity. Things that worked then and don’t now, and vice versa. Places where my brain just STOPS and nopes out of a task. I am analyzing everything I do, and how I do it, and trying to understand myself better.

And I thought, as one does, that maybe I should do some of this analysis in public. Where other people can see it, and possibly benefit from it. Or at least, perhaps, feel like they are not so alone.

Because that last is a big deal. There have been so many times along my creative journey where I felt like I was one person feeling a certain way, and meeting one other person who also had the same problem/thought/etc. allowed me to break past whatever block it had caused.

So that’s who I am. I’m Tris. I have ADHD. I am still trying to figure out how to make it work as I try meds, as I get older, as day job and life stress get to me. And as things change, y’all are welcome to come along for the ride.

[beeatrixi-study]

Week 2 of university done!! It’s been a pretty successful week, with 100% attendance and all caught up with work :)

Things I did this week:

Got my engagement up from partial to good! My lecturer keeps pushing the importance of engagement, and he is pushing it hard. He pretty much says that ‘if your engagement is below good, don’t bother coming to class or trying. You are likely to fail’. I understand that this is true, but the engagement algorithm that the university uses does not consider things like: students living off campus, being ill, downloading material beforehand and not accessing the learning environment, students taking the weekend off, etc. It is very demoralising to see your engagement only being marked as partial, just because its the weekend, and you have the textbook downloaded...

I don’t live on campus, so I don’t get the free points from just being connected to the university WiFi, but when I am on campus, my engagement hits the high level. I am, however, still consistently above average!

My daily planning is very useful! I plan out pretty much every moment of my day, and this week, as a part of my academic skills module, we had to hand in a time log, so I essentially got a free 10% on the module, because I do that anyway. I showed the lecturer to ask if it was acceptable to hand in, and he took a look at my work, safe to say, he was a little shocked. My planning comes across as a little insane, which, I guess, it is! I need a fairly rigid plan, otherwise my brain does not think of tasks as urgent, and will put them off till the last minute. For me, this includes things like: eating, showering, going to the toilet, taking medication, brushing teeth. I require a visual reminder of things (hence the reason I carry my water bottle everywhere, I am very prone to dehydration).

This weeks coding work was pretty easy. We use a language called processing (which is pretty much just Java). All we had to do was copy an image of a house using primitive shapes in the language. Took me about 40 minutes because I literally colour selected the proper colours from the image, and even found the exact co-ordinates. I’ve always found co-ordinates hard, something about them just doesn’t work in my brain, but processing works weirdly; it reverses the Y coordinate. Imagine a four quadrant graph. When faced with a co-ordinate with two positive numbers, you would assume the top right quadrant is where the co-ordinate would fall. But no, in processing it falls in the bottom right. As the Y co-ordinate gets larger, you move downwards...

The computing theory this week was difficult, simply due to the fact of how long the binary numbers were! We had to convert a string of binary sent in hamming code, find the error, and then convert the hamming code to regular UTF-8 binary code, then to UTF-8 hexadecimal code, and then find the character it referred to (which was an obscure Ethiopic symbol, might I add). This left lots of room in copying errors, which happened to me… twice… I got the methods correct, just issues copying down the initial number… My assessed theory problems were much easier, as the numbers ASCII and not Unicode! We have been assured that the binary numbers in the final exam will NOT be Unicode!

In my numerical methods module, we have been working on a quiz for the past 2 weeks, and mine finally got marked! 100% in every problem!! Woo hoo! I’m not so good at maths, but I’m working hard to get the top mark!

Finally, I bought myself some makeup as a congratulations for this week! People who know me from elsewhere will know that I ADORE a clear gloss, so I brought a new tube of my favourite Rimmel Oh My Gloss, and I am trying out some new products: The Revolution Pro Hydra gloss (Shade Mode; clear of course) which, I’m not sure I like, as it is a plumping lip gloss, never really been my thing. The applicator feels strange, and the texture is… unusual. And my new favourite Revolution lip oil (Shade Bitten Kiss; once again, clear)! I adore this oil so much. It’s from their Halloween range, so it looks like a vial of centrifuged blood! I migh have a look if they have other shades next week, and I’ll keep and eye out for the lip tint! I also bought a new Nyx Epic Ink eyeliner, in black of course. I adore the brush applicator, and I think this is my new preferred eyeliner. :)

Go check out my instagram for frequent updates through the week!

[kelseytheballerina]

Based on your blog I'm sure you've been asked this a million times, but do you have any practical advice for bettering yourself when you're starting at a really low point?

I've always WANTED to be better but I never follow through. I don't do anything impressive (I get up, go to work for 8 hours, come home, rest and try to recover from the day, sleep, repeat) but I'm so exhausted all the time anyway that adding extra effort to my routine feels impossible. In my free time I do basically nothing, I don't really enjoy anything except sleeping and I usually feel brain-dead tbh. I hate myself but even when I try to use that as motivation I flop every time.

I see all these people who do so much all the time and I want to be like you, but I can't imagine being able to do it. Where does your discipline come from and how do you maintain it when it's so difficult?

Keep in mind that the more you do, the more time it requires of you. Definitely don’t compare yourself to unemployed people like me or those who make a living being productive for social media. You work 8 hours, not to mention the commute, not to mention getting dressed and undressed, not to mention feeding yourself and taking care of all the things required to keep the house running and lights on. Add in dating, family, friends, grief, hard times, yeah it’s understandable why you are exhausted. You may see others in the same boat as you who also manage to muster up the energy to work on a degree and take care of their kids but not everyone can do the same things. We all have our limits. Our limits may change over time, but as of now your limit isn’t theirs and that’s okay.

What I think would be best is to not attempt to overload yourself if you don’t have to. Pick literally just one thing to put your remaining energy into for the time being. Let’s say that’s hitting the gym. Make that your thing for a while and ignore other stuff. Who knows, 6 months from now you may find that you can also squeeze in a cooking class once a week.

Obviously I’m someone who loves productivity and trying to maximize the days with all things learning and skill building. But I don’t think that everyone needs to live like that. Take care of your responsibilities first and have even just one thing on the side. You’ll feel better about yourself and you won’t be forcing yourself to be the biggest productivity slave. Bc if you aren’t even enjoying it, then what’s the point?

As for where my discipline comes from, I’d say that my mom instilled good habits in me when I was young (no tv until xyz is done, if you do it wrong I’ll wake you up and make you redo it so you might as well do it properly the first time, do these things bc you deserve to look good/live in a nice environment/reach your potential instead of just bc you “have to”) but also bc I went though a phase of uncertainty and unstructured living that made my life very difficult and I felt no pride in the way I was conducting myself, so I made changes to never feel that way again. I’ve seen what life is like when I don’t ‘parent’ myself and instead just run amuck and it’s not fulfilling, it’s not high quality, it’s not a life I am in love with. So in order to avoid that, I do the work and I absolutely positively love the results. That’s a priceless feeling.

[stevensaus]

In a discussion about consciousness on Mastodon, I noted that consciousness is a state, not a quality. That's important, when we talk about whether or not entities (whether they be human-shaped or AI-shaped) as having "consciousness" and "self-awareness". Mikeydangerous asked a really important question that's been bothering me for a while when looking at myself: ... how would you define the difference between understanding and pattern prediction in relation to consciousness? That's how AI generates the intelligent-sounding platitudes it does. It sees the context of those sentiments in enormous sets of data and builds it from there with no real understanding or creativity. At best, it's scaled-beyond-human capability pattern matching. At worst, it's scaled-beyond-human capability plagiarism. Because that's where Descartes falls down, isn't it? Right, quick recap. Descartes, while writing to convince the Roman Catholic Church that science isn't inherently heresy, tries to find some kind of rock-solid truth, some certainty that he can build from. It's from this that we get "I think, therefore I am;" Descartes states that since there is a point of view, that point of view must exist. He then immediately jumps straight to "my senses must be accurate, because God wouldn't be mean like that," which we now know is absolutely not the case at all. Our senses are fickle, easily fooled, and prone to error. That's important because while there are visual tests (Necker Cube, the mirror test, the one I suggested) that may correlate with being conscious, they could also simply be artifacts due to the makeup of our sensory "hardware" and the ways our brains process visual information rather than being a sign of consciousness in ourselves and others. So let's ignore that, and go back to Descarte's central thesis: I think, therefore I know that I am. Given what we know about consciousness, as MD points out, how do you tell the difference between being conscious and being a sophisticated pattern-matching machine? How do you know that any entity -- including yourself -- is not a philosophical zombie? Before someone says it, no, art is not some safe haven of consciousness. We are only able to "tell" the difference between AI generated "art" and the work of inspired humans only by the errors it makes or its repetitive nature. Once again, it's a processing and fidelity issue, not some special quality only possessed by consciousness. (Wait with your objections, folks.) That idea becomes a lot more immediate and real when you've had the fact that there are non-conscious (semi?) autonomous routines that are capable of moving your body around and interacting with the environment without bothering to inform your consciousness. 1 And unlike Descartes, we know that our senses are inaccurate and betray us -- not only in terms of effects too small for us to typically notice (such as the relativistic effects of when you tap your toes to a catchy song), but because even if we accept that emotions are something more than just biochemical reactions, those biochemical reactions do occur. But that's where our philosophical zombies come to the rescue, in a way. Or rather, testing for them. Remember, all of the ways -- fictional or real -- that we've tried to come up with for testing for consciousness are really tests of processing speed and fidelity. Even the visual tests could be artifacts of our biology. Except the ability to incorporate a new paradigm -- not just regurgitate it, but comprehend it -- is beyond the ability of a pattern-recognition system. Therefore, it is not "I think, therefore I am." It is, instead, "I comprehend, therefore I am." So back to art. The process of art seems to fulfill this test perfectly; it is synthesis and transformation, which require exactly the kind of comprehension that I'm talking about here. However, the production of art is not sufficient. In an situation reminiscent of Mead's philosophy about consciousness

and mind, the interaction between art and viewer is separate from the process of its creation. (This definitely applies to written works; I know from personal experience talking to people who have read mine.) In some ways, the artistic process is a perfect example of both the utility and philosophical frivolity of this whole thought experiment. You can demonstrate that you exist and are conscious through the creation (or transformative appreciation) of art, but you cannot extend that to any other entity. And as a practical matter, testing for the kind of synthesis and comprehension I'm talking about would be difficult (except when large groups of people self-own themselves). And we haven't even touched on some of the implications about humans; I'll just point out that when it comes to children, babies fail the mirror test until about age two, and in some ways they're operating on the level of rats until five or six years of age. 2 As a practical matter? I don't know that it's going to ever be easily determinable whether or not an entity is conscious -- or rather, that they are capable of a self-aware consciousness, let alone if that is their default state. But, having extended Descartes' argument sufficiently to handle my own existential question about whether or not I exist, I'm no longer entirely sure it's the right question to ask. PS: Yes, the title is a programming/philosophy joke. It made me laugh. 1 This becomes an even more fraught question when you start talking about multiples and systems, as some people with DID experience it. 2 From this Radiolab episode, relevant portion of the transcript clipped here. Featured Image by bess.hamiti@gmail.com from Pixabay https://ideatrash.net/2024/11/meditations-on-zeroth-philosophy.html?feed_id=487&_unique_id=6738e27b46199

[oswaldthatendswald]

for the writing ask game:

besides writing, what are your other hobbies?

do you ever worry about public reaction to what you’re writing? how do you get past that?

how do you recharge when you’re not feeling creative?

how you feel about your current WIP

Oh actually these go really well together. I'm going to shuffle them into groups for the flow.

do you ever worry about public reaction to what you’re writing? how do you get past that?

All the time. Perpetually. It's all well and good to say "write for yourself" (and in truth I do plenty of writing that is genuinely for myself, that I don't intend to share) but I am not posting for only myself. More precisely, when I write something with the intention to post it, I am very aware of that larger audience. It's really easy for me to get caught up in the weight of perceived expectations. I'm afraid I don't have any perfect solutions either. Sometimes talking about it with my partner helps, as she can often point out that the things I'm worried about are entirely the products of my own overthinking. Other times I just have to sit myself down and go "look, bud, you're not making any money off of this. The stakes are very low. Chill Out."

how you feel about your current WIP

Cry Havoc, my beloved. I love it so much, but I'm also very intimidated by it. It's a much bigger project than my previous fics, and (speaking of public reaction) it's also gotten a lot larger response. I'm quite nervous too, because at times it feels almost gratuitously self-indulgent-- and it definitely is. I feel at times like someone should jump out and go "hey wait a minute! You're just writing whatever the hell you want! Guards! Seize them!" But, as my partner pointed out, if other people weren't interested, they wouldn't be reading it.

Going to put the rest under the cut because this got long.

how do you recharge when you’re not feeling creative?

Stepping away from the writing is always a good start. Working on something else-- a different story, sometimes, or a sewing project, or even just a small craft-- can be a decent reset if I still want to be creative but have run out of steam for one story. Getting out of the house and walking to the secondhand bookstore or taking a bus to the mall can help too. Other times I just need to put on a movie and turn my brain off for a while.

Bigger picture creative block, when nothing is working and I just can't put words together anymore, usually requires a more significant solution. For me, it can be really hard to tell the difference between writer's block and creative burnout, because they both manifest in not wanting/being able to write but have different causes. Writer's block, for me, usually indicates a structural problem with the story that I need to identify and work around. Creative burnout is an problem on my end, either because I've been putting too much pressure on myself or the circumstances in my life have gotten tangled up with my current writing project and made it not fun anymore. This means I need to step back and either play with stories that don't have as high stakes for me or just take a break from writing for a short period of time.

besides writing, what are your other hobbies?

I'm an upper-year undergrad in university which means that, during the semester, I'm in a frantic scramble to outrun deadlines. What free time I do have goes to writing, but when I have a spare evening, I also like watching horror movies (other genres too, I'm just on a horror kick. I like trawling through the horror category on Tubi and seeing what I can find) and sewing. I've been hand-sewing patches onto a vest and making a pouch for my planner lately, but I've gotten very little done on either project this past month.

Thank you very much for the questions! I had to think about my answers for a while and went a little bit overboard!

[jones-friend]

I FINALLY PLAYED TWO NEW GAMES TONIGHT

Zoo Vadis & Cryptid Cafe

I recommend them both but with an asterisk*. They have some wonderful strengths but also have some specifics I’ll get into that may or may not make them suitable for your friends.

Zoo Vadis was a game I found off kickstarter that is actually a remake of the game Quo Vadis?: where players in a roman senate advance their senator tokens and make deals along the way. From the changes I’ve seen Zoo Vadis makes some good tweaks!

In Zoo Vadis each player picks an animal in the zoo. You have 6 tokens of that animal. The board has four starting enclosures at the bottom and through branching paths and enclosures of varying sizes ends with the star enclosure at the top. On your turn you place one of your animal tokens on the bottom, advance one to the next enclosure, advance a peacock, or move the zookeeper.

The trick of the game is you need to accrue more laurels, victory points, than the other players AND you need to get one token in the star exhibit. If you aren’t in the star exhibit you get 0 points.

To advance your animal token you need the majority vote of the enclosure you’re in. An enclosure with 3 spaces needs 2 votes, 5 spaces needs 3 votes, and so forth. You require minimum those votes, so if you’re the only animal in a 5 space enclosure you aren’t going anywhere. You can use your victory point laurels to bribe the neutral peacock faction OR make deals with other players.

And thats the heart of Zoo Vadis. This is a highly social negotiation game. If you play solitaire and secure your own path to zip to the end you will end the game with barely any points. Voting for another animal awards you a 1pt Laurel as the winning player claims a laurel token between 2-5pts. You need to spend time advancing your tokens and helping others advance, aka extorting your friends. All deals made within the turn must be abided by but not if the deal extends beyond that turn. “If you pay me 2 laurels I’ll vote for you this turn” must be abided by. “You vote for me this turn I’ll vote for you next turn” can be broken as a deal. But if you aren’t trustworthy, who will make deals with you?

And thats what I love about Zoo Vadis. There’s a balance here: shoot right to the end and you barely score any points. Spend too much time racking up laurels the other players can and will block you from the star exhibit.

The zookeeper token allows you to advance without a vote, but you don’t acquire the normal laurel token for advancing. The peacocks also add a lot of strategic depth, using them to block paths or gum up enclosures for rough votes. Our 4 player game had 5 spaces in the star enclosure and 2 spaces were taken up by peacocks so one player ended with 0 points since we all couldn’t make it.

The production design is also stellar. I love the art direction, each faction is a different kind of fancy. The art looks great, the pieces are high quality, its amazing.

There are optional powers but every review I’ve seen says the powers cause unnecessary clutter so we opted not to use them.

This is where I bring in the asterisk*. If your friends enjoy more solitaire style games like Earth where we largely work on our own engines then compare scores at the end you won’t have a good time. Everyone needs to be social and be aggressive, you get the most points if you make the most deals. If your friends enjoy lots of gotcha! mechanics or interaction heavy games this is a top tier one for the group. Just light enough on mechanics to keep the game from bogging down with 3-7 people making it a great game for large groups.

Cryptid Cafe! I bought this game just bc of the flavoring and art and I don’t regret it! In Cryptid Cafe you have cryptids coming to your cafe! They have an order at the top you’re looking to fulfill! Send your three server tokens to the chef up top to get ingredients like Brain-Lettuce-Tomato sandwiches or Hot Apple Spider, Cinnemonster Rolls. Serve them before your cryptid guests get mad and walk out on you. Play 8 rounds and the highest score wins!

This is a game I bought bc it looked cute and I’m glad its mechanics had some meat on them bones. You have 3 worker tokens (your servers). The kraken chef’s board has all 3 ingredients with 3, 2, 1, 1 spaces beneath each. Place your worker on a chosen spot to gain that many of that food. At the end of worker placement players can tip the chef. If you’re last in line you can pay one money (victory point) per space to go higher, get more ingredients while bumping everyone down. Its a fairly cutthroat mechanic, one tip from my roommate at the last round stopped her brother from being able to fulfill his last order. Its also a great worker placement mechanic, since you can place anywhere 3-1, you can intentionally place last to tip, and just bc you snagged the first spot doesn’t mean you’re safe.

At its heart its an efficiency game. Guests request 2-4 foods and you can only gather with three workers per turn. Figure out how to use your gathers efficiently and serve your guests. Its theming is an absolute delight and its puzzle of getting the right food was just meaty enough for us to enjoy. Its not the deepest game but for what its doing its good.

I will mention, if this is a dealbreaker for you, that the developers aren’t aware of the taboo nature of the wendigo and that is included here.

The rulebook also lists out origins of each cryptid in the game with brief descriptions. We had a lovely time with Cryptid Cafe if you don’t mind a simpler worker placement with a twist. My asterisk comes in with the wendigo part as well as this is a thematic game, if you’re charmed by the theme you’ll have fun. If you aren’t you might not have the same experience I did.