#I'm probably gonna use more bases to test my characters

[flaredonut]

Base by Krapette on deviantart

I'm usually not the type of person to use bases to do my characters, but this time i just decided to see how an oc of mine that is a regular fluffy dragon as a DAD

I know there was/is some controversy involving the dutchies species recently (2018), but bro, telling people to straight up STOP liking the species as a whole just because there's 6 or 7 rotten apples in the pack is arguably WORSE than everything nimbus, voodoo and other members did. Not to mention that the creator of the species (ino or telephone) is NOT problematic itself, and she's probably not comfortable with everyone idolizing her as "mamaphone" too

[stop-talking]

How do you think jhutch characters would handle a baby?

I'm not quite sure if you're asking "what would they do if you handed them a baby" or "what would they do if you told them you're pregnant" but I'm gonna assume you meant the latter. (feel free to send another request if I got it wrong)

Ranking Jhutch characters from worst to best fathers:

Billy

☆ Would play dumb when you hand him the pregnancy test.

☆ "What's this? Oh, you're pregnant? Can't be mine. My pull-out game is too strong." (literally has NO pull-out game, refuses to use condoms because he "can't feel" with them on)

☆ Basically ghosts you until the paternity test proves it's his. Then he actually ghosts you.

☆ Drops off the face of the fucking Earth for years. Doesn't pay a dime in child support.

☆ Maybe he comes back like 3 years later drunk and demanding to see "his" kid idk. Literally the worst.

Derek

☆ Honestly I headcannon he had a vasectomy at like 24-25.

☆ His mom hit him up once she heard about his prostitute scandals and chewed him out. Gave him "the talk" even though he's a grown ass man... finally got him to get snipped when she brought up the possibility of paying income-based child support for 18 years.

☆ Assuming he doesn't have one, though...

☆ He'd initially be mad and blame you. "I thought you were on the pill!!"

☆ Then he'd be like "Is it too late to... you know... get rid of it?" (and kind of dance around the subject because he's too much of a wimp to just say the word abortion)

☆ Wallace and his mom would both force him to get his shit together and apologize. Eventually he'd come to terms with the fact he's gonna be a dad.

☆ He'd be the kind of bastard to throw an over-the-top gender reveal party. The kind that burns down half of California or pollutes a major water channel.

☆ I think he'd be a really good girl dad. He'd let her paint his nails and stuff. Spoil her. <3

☆ He would treat a son completely differently. Teach him to "be a man" or whatever when he's still learning to walk. Force him into random ass sports.

☆ He'd have them mostly taken care of by a nanny. That's probably how he was raised, anyways. Derek Danforth is NOT changing a diaper.

Futturman

☆ Whether we're talking pre-show or post-show, he'd freak the fuck out if you handed him a positive pregnancy test. I'm talking full-on pass out.

☆ Pre-show Josh would be like "Babe we can NOT afford a baby I literally live at home with my parents and work as a janitor."

☆ His parents would be so crazy supportive though. They've been hinting that they want grandkids for YEARS.

☆ They literally clear out a room IMMIDEATELY after hearing the news and offer it to you to use as a nursery.

☆ His mom buys you more baby clothes than you could possibly need. His dad builds a crib from scratch.

☆ Overall Josh is stressed asf but he does his best to be there for you, and his parents are OVERWHELMIGLY supportive.

☆ Post-show Josh, on the other hand, doesn't have that support. But he's survived unspeakable horrors across multiple dimensions, how hard could a baby be?

☆ Extremely hard, apparently. One day he just loses it and makes a huge decision without asking you.

☆ "Josh WTF happened to our savings??"

☆ "TRUST ME BABE we need to invest in Apple!!"

☆ You're pissed but it pays off in a few years and you're both able to live comfortably.

☆ Then in 2015-ish he did the same thing again, pouring all your savings into bitcoin. This time you SWEAR you're going to leave him, but it all pays out in the end. He gets your kid through college with that money.

☆ Overall he's a really good father, too. He had great parents, and even if he's not experienced with kids, he's naturally a very caring and attentive person.

Mike

☆ Cries when he sees the pregnancy test. He's not even sure if it's happy or sad tears.

☆ Gets sick to his stomach overthinking about how he's going to be a terrible father. His dad walked out on him, so he has literally no idea how to act.

☆ Abby, on the other hand, is absolutely delighted. She's always wanted a "little sister". Mike has to remind her that technically it's her niece. Or nephew. There's no guarantee on the gender yet.

☆ Eventually he comes to terms with it all. He's taken care of Abby for ten years, he isn't completely clueless.

☆ Takes you to all of your Dr.'s appointments, checkups, etc. Holds your hand. Makes all of your weird pregnancy cravings and doesn't judge.

☆ After the birth, he lets you rest. Nearly works himself to death trying to take care of the baby all on his own because he wants you to recover.

☆ I'm talking getting up bleary-eyed at 2am every night to microwave some formula and feed the baby. After working a 10 hour shift.

☆ Pulls the "I have a baby on the way" card at work in an attempt to get a raise. It works, thankfully. (In the novel version of the movie; it says he gets a job as a contractor at the end. So hopefully he can afford a kid...)

----------♡----------

[Remember: these are just MY headcannons. If you think differently that's fine. I didn't include Clapton because he's literally in highschool... and we all know Peeta is an amazing father.]

[theresattrpgforthat]

Almighty TATTRPGFT, I ask you what is a good fantasy ttrpg thats like a smidgen simpler than/tighter than dnd thats flexible and has individual character progression thats cool? (I am so damn tired of dnd and after I finish my lancer campaign I'm gonna try to run a fantasy thing thats about world hopping since my brain cant stick with just one world... I wanted to run OSR stuff but most of my players want to keep their characters longer than a couple sessions)

THEME: World-hopping Fantasy Games

Hello there, so I’ve got some world-hopping games for you that I consider all much simpler than D&D, although the way they cater to your players’ wants may vary. Now I’m personally biased towards Forged-in-the-Dark games if your characters want to hold onto their characters and explore all of their mechanical and narrative details, but I’m also hoping that folks will see this ask and suggest more fantasy games that give you cool character abilities - maybe you can even mesh some regular fantasy games with something else on this list!

Portal Rats, by Tore Nielsen.

Portal Rats is a stand-alone fantasy tabletop rpg, based on the Black Hack rules. 

There is an unlimited wealth of worlds out there. Some are embodiments of ideals, some the product of a god's fevered will, and some who seem to have congealed from pure potential. In Portal Rats you can visit all of them. 

The core mechanic of Portal Rats is a roll-below test, using a d20 against an attribute on your character sheet. You have six attributes that should remind your players of D&D, although the backgrounds of your characters are less about your race and more about what you did in the past. The rules of the game look to be pretty concise, with much of the 58-page book being different character options and character classes. You level up when you finish a mission or quest, which results in more hit points, and higher attributes.

This game is probably close to what you as a GM are looking for: it��s an OSR mindset, with very little that allows the players to hold onto their characters if a roll goes badly. That being said, if your players are attached to their characters, they might be able to bring out emotional and narrative elements regardless of the system. Therefore, even if you pick up something that is more similar to OSR, they’ll find ways to role-play.

Vergence, by Small Cool Games.

Within the multiverse are a few places of great power called Vergences. They are ruled by families bred for the ability to open portals between worlds.

You play a member of one of these empowered bloodlines. Your birthright gives you the capacity to travel across infinite dimensions and manipulate reality.

But you’ll need to deal with conflicts involving your own powerful and manipulative family, secret conspiracies, mystical enemies, moldering gods, terrifying monsters, ancient artifacts, and existential threats with the potential to affect all the worlds of the Umbra. And possibly your annoying little sister…

Vergence is a Forged-in-the-Dark game that really amps up your character’s powers and broadens the stakes to a cosmic scale. Vergence is a much looser interpretation of Blades, taking away much of the bookkeeping found in the vice and heat mechanics that punish typical Blades’ characters. You also level up as a group, rather than individually, which I understand might not be what your playgroup is looking for, but your characters are still uniquely powered individuals with special abilities.

1400 Planes, by Unknown Dungeon.

1400 Planes is lo-fi hi-fantasy. 

The multiverse roils with boundless existence. For many, the infinite planes of creation drift past at an immeasurable distance, their alien secrets perpetually out of reach. However those who break their mortal shackles and cross that liminal space, wander such exotic spheres on an eternal pilgrimage.

1400 Planes is a stand-alone table-top RPG. The rules are short and easy to learn and the whole game can fit on a single sheet of paper.  It can be played using just the rules provided, or combined with other entries in the 1400 series to expand the world and provide more character and game options.

24XX games feel very slim and small, but I think they can provide the base for something bigger that caters to your group. They can also be combined with other games that use the same rule-set very easily, which you could use to provide interesting level-ups for characters. 24XX games are also usually pretty cheap, so you’re not going to break the bank picking up a few to play around with.

Planedawn Orphans, by Sharkbomb Studios.

Set in the Planar City, a strange melting pot that connects the vast diversity of the multiverse. You all play Planar Orphans stranded in this city, your original home worlds destroyed, corrupted or lost. 

A mysterious Patron has brought you together, provided you with a base of operations and tasked you to complete a Planar Key. This key will let you create a new plane for you and your fellow refugees. Your quest will bring you to exotic places filled with strange creatures and bizarre phenomena.

This isn’t a game in itself - it’s a campaign framework - but it gives you the opportunity to cobble together a bunch of different games while still giving your players a structure upon which they can scaffold their character’s growth and personalities. I’m currently running this across a huge number of different games with a co-GM and my home group: so far we’ve played Household, The Wildsea, Sundered Isles, and The Great Soul Train Robbery!

Sig, City of Blades, by Genesis of Legend Publishing.

Sig is the nexus of the multiverse, where eternal planes and infinite primes meet. It’s a rough home for cutters and bashers, hungry for coin and glory. It’s a city of gods, demons, and stranger things which lurk. It’s a place where opposites meet, trading knives and kisses in equal measure.

The Silent Regent once ruled over the city with a bladed fist. Now her throne sits empty and the criminal factions battle for control. They dispatch crews of Freebooters, clever and bold, to further their schemes. This is where you come in.

In Sig: City of Blades, you will play the Freebooters in service to once of the mighty city factions. Your faction depends on you to perform vital missions to seize territory and coin from their rivals. This is a game about clever spies, renegade sorcerers and reckless smugglers. You are the best of the best and the worst of the worst.

If you are familiar with Planescape, I’ve heard that Sig: City of Blades gives off the same vibes, at least when it comes to setting. Rules-wise, it’s Forged in the Dark. It looks like in this game, the multiverse comes to you; as scoundrels in a city at the centre of these dimensions, there are plenty of ways for you to get rich in some kind of way that counts. If your group is up to play scoundrels and thieves, you might be interested in Sig: City of Blades.

Tiny Dungeon: Second Edition, by Gallant Knight Games.

Tiny Dungeon: Second Edition is powered by the TinyD6 engine, with streamlined mechanics that utilize only one to three single six-sided dice on every action, characters that can be written on a 3x5 notecard, and easy to understand and teach rules, Tiny Dungeon 2e is great for all groups, ages, and experience levels!

Tiny Dungeon feels like a very boiled-down version of a classic fantasy game; heritages that give you starting abilities, traits that are reminiscent of character classes, and a turn economy that structures combat to make sure everyone gets the same amount of time to do things. You use d6’s to roll, with 1d6 being the worst pool (rolling with a disadvantage) and 3d6 being the best (rolling with an ability or advantage). The game is meant to be mod-able, with optional rules and various micro-settings meant to get your inspiration flowing. The best part about so many different micro-settings that all use the same rules is that you can absolutely jump from one setting to another!

Fantasy Recommendations from The Past

Fantasy, With Tools

Echoes of D&D

Non-Western Fantasy

Non-Gritty Low Fantasy

Fuck Wizards of the Coast

I’d also ask myself if Slugblaster could be hacked to be about fantasy adventurers jumping into various dimensions, rather than teenagers hoverboarding across space and time. It certainly has plenty of pieces that allow your characters to dig into personal issues - the Trouble mechanic really lets you digest the kinds of things your character might have to neglect in order to go adventuring! You can read more about it in my Dimensional Travel recommendation post.

[hollow-lime-green]

Can you tell us a little about your D&D stuff? -sincerely an avid dnd player who loves hearing about other people’s characters

aaaa sure!

briefly - when I do actually get to be a player, I fucking love playing rogues. god i am so basic and easy, catch me playing a tiefling/changeling rogue 100% of the time. i am a power gamer though, and i'll take a lot of feats to do all sorts of weird bullshit (and the 2024 thief buffs are going to make me insufferable. fast hands has always been my favorite ability in the game, and now thief is finally good for real and not just by dm fiat).

i like every class except artificer and monk (fine just not for me), but rogues have my heart. in every game, skyrim to borderlands to d&d, I like being a pain in the ass from a long distance away. i don't get to play a lot, so i don't have a lot of characters that i'm super tied to, but right now, i'm essentially playing a cabal of tiefling/changeling rogues (one for every subclass) that are running the underground of my friend's city in a westmarch style progressive series of oneshots he hosts at our local game store.

mainly, though, i have always been a perma-dm of my groups, although I am trying to find a group that rotates better because as it turns out, being a perma-dm can absolutely fuck with your interpersonal relationships. i had a really awesome d&d group in undergrad that I DM'd for, and I have a lot of great memories from that. we played on campus for the first two years, then on roll20 for a few more years after that. unfortunately, as most d&d groups do, we died to the BBEG known as Adult Life Schedules.

since then, I've been DMing semi-regularly at a local game shop, sometimes playing, and I've made a lot of in-person friends. we play both at and outside of the shop, but almost all one-shots, although when I eventually move away from this current location, I will probably try to drag them into an online campaign. lots of dm talk and pictures under the cut, since this will be kind of long. :)

Props!

as a dm, i am very prop focused, i love a good prop. it's the engineer girlie in me. sat night I ran a 12th level one shot for my friends to test out some of the new 2024 rules at high level, and what I'm most proud of was my hidden magnet bridge (see below) - this is a progress pic but I do generally keep my sets pretty minimal aesthetically. anyway this was super fun because i set it up as this precarious bridge that they needed to get across and do some puzzles (hence the set), and then i ambushed them with the hidden magnets (actual reason for the set).

this is one of my faves from maaaaany years ago. i could do it better if I tried it again, but it's tough. this was for an encounter where an enemy was locally changing the direction of gravity, so the set rotated. it was surprisingly stable but difficult to play on due to the fact that you have like 270 degrees of the table that can see and then whoever is behind the wall (the dm) can't see shit. this was during my in-person UG years, so baby engineer but still making it work.

this is something I've done more recently that is more minimalist but insanely effective as a minigame. i had some players navigating through a space field, so they had to plot a course through this minefield and peel off the tape stickers one by one to see if they hit a danger. again, left is a progress pic. they all got blacked out. the right one was actually my dm key during the session lol, so I knew what they were gonna hit before they hit it.

I do a lot of mini prop pieces to go on top of my battle map as terrain, mostly cardboard just to give height and make things a bit more dynamic. and i'll usually have some lair action that rotates or takes away some of that terrain. one other thing I'm playing around with is this plexiglass transparent overlay designed for water combat, so I can put biiiiiig bad guys underneath the party. that one is for a oneshot based on the game DREDGE (which I highly recommend by the way - fishing survival cozygame with an eldritch monstrous flair). this lighthouse works as a sanity indicator, so as the party loses sanity (due to the eldritch fish), I can change its color.

i have no idea how i've run this game like 7 times and yet I can't find any pictures of it, but I have a one-shot that is based on Potion Permit (another farming sim cozygame) where the players collect these tiny cardboard tetris pieces and have to use them to complete tetris piece recipes to make potion and Save The Town From Illness! players love a prop, players love a minigame, and i love running those things as well.

Characters!

I have a lot of DMPCs that I love from my long campaigns, but DMPCs can be irritating, so i have shifted away from character-driven things for my oneshots. when I go back to doing campaigns, I'm going to try to do them better? I don't know, getting people invested in OCs whether it's writing or ttrpg is always sort of a challenge. players get invested in the bonds between the party but not often in their actual NPCs. So I'm not going to yap about them too much, but I'll list the concepts of my fave DMPCs:

blind bard who sees through a force field cantrip like cat whiskers - later becomes a seer (like divination) at the cost of losing his blindsight due to Player-Caused Apocalypse. becomes an unwilling consort to an archdevil who rules the wastelands after Player-Caused Apocalypse.

red hag who used a wish spell to free herself of pacts of loyalty but as a consequence cannot form lasting relationships with any creature, and cannot wish again. trying to make a Deck of Many Things to get more wishes and fix this (doomed)

half-fey archer with the mantle of the summer court trying to avenge her parents killed by the winter court, warrior softened by the touch of a woman (autumn fey cottagecore mom friend with an aussie accent). they were fun because the party actually got really invested in them and they got to complete their love story :)

spellthief rogue champion of the gods caught in a messy 'the parents are fighting' situation where the aspects of law and chaos fight. she is going to make a return when i start my next campaign because it's going to be a time loop situation, and she'll be the one resetting the timeline and trying to make off-screen changes (killing monarchs, planting magic items) to affect the future.

[666writingcafe]

An Interview With Levi

Part Two of a New Series

Question One: What turns you on?

Oh, we're starting here. Okay...um...info dumping? Like, I enjoy listening to someone talk about something they're passionate about, especially if it's something that requires a lot of skill and/or knowledge.

Question Two: What kind of kiss appeals to you?

I'm a sucker for a kiss on the cheek. There's something so sweet about it that makes my heart race.

Question Three: What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?

Even though this is ongoing, I'm proud of the fact that I've been able to overcome some of my social anxiety.

Question Four: What is a positive childhood lesson that helps you even today?

This is gonna sound stupid, but "sharing is caring". I've found that the more I trust someone, the easier it is for me to share. It's a sort of litmus test that I use to determine someone's character.

Question Five: What advice would you give your younger self if you ever met?

People care about you more than you think. Don't allow your insecurities to push them away.

Question Six: What is your greatest fear?

It used to be rejection, but now it's waking up one day and finding out that Mammon sold all my stuff.

Question Seven: If you could fix one of the biggest problems in the world, what would that problem be?

Racism. It seems to be a huge problem across the three realms, and I don't think that's right. You can't judge someone solely based on the color of their skin or the type of being they are.

Question Eight: What’s the best surprise you’ve ever received?

Okay, so there was this limited edition Ruri-chan figurine that I really wanted, and the website said there was one left, but when I went to buy it, it had been sold. I was really bummed about it for a while, but then one day MC comes in my room and gives me a wrapped box with a bow on top. Turns out, they bought the last figurine specifically so that they could give it to me as a gift. I nearly dropped the box the figurine was in out of shock.

Question Nine: If you could be invisible for a day, what would you do?

Scare Mammon. He has a fear of ghosts.

Question Ten: If you were stranded on an island, which three items would you be unable to live without?

Other than food and water? (Yes.) Okay, um...my phone, its charger, and my goldfish.

Question Eleven: If you had the chance to ask your future self one question, what would it be?

There are so many questions that I'd want to ask that I'd probably end up overwhelmed by having to choose just one.

Question Twelve: What is the weirdest food you love to eat for breakfast?

Waffles drizzled with ketchup.

Question Thirteen: What is the most embarrassing autocorrect fail you have ever had?

One time, when I was texting Mammon to pay back the money he owed me, the word "money" autocorrected to "mommy". He teased me about it for days. It was awful.

Question Fourteen: What is the most bizarre thing you have seen someone do in public?

Solomon. Just...he's a really strange guy, and anything he does in public is bizarre to me.

Question Fifteen: What is the craziest dream you have ever had?

Intentional or unintentional? (What do you mean?) There are times where I ask Belphie to create a specific dream for me, mainly whenever I've been up for days and need to go asleep and stay that way for a while. (Would you mind sharing one?) The one that comes to mind and that fits the question is one that required coordination on everyone's part to make possible. To disclose more than that would be breaching their privacy, and I don't feel comfortable doing that. (I see. Well, how about an unintentional dream?) I once fought dinosaurs with Ruri-chan, but the dinosaurs were my brothers, and I didn't want to hurt them, but they were attacking Ruri-chan's village. It was a really strange dream.

Question Sixteen: Who do you think is more romantic, men or women?

I think they're equally romantic. I feel like women tend to go for the grand gestures, while men focus more on the small things, but that's hardly universal.

Question Seventeen: What do you think makes a person attractive?

Confidence.

Question Eighteen: What do you think is the difference between romance and love?

One's a blazing inferno of emotions, and the other is a single candle lighting up a room.

Question Nineteen: What would be the name of the book written on your life?

Probably "The Insecure Otaku", although I'm sure that answer will change as I get older.

Question Twenty: What is a quirk of yours you feel comfortable sharing?

I can sing a bunch of anime theme songs backwards.

Question Twenty-One: What is the dumbest question you were asked?

Every other question asked by Mammon. It's not that he's stupid; he just doesn't think things all the way through before he opens his mouth.

Question Twenty-Two: Have you ever been kicked out of any place?

A human world aquarium.

Question Twenty-Three: Would you rather fight a hundred ant-sized horses or a single horse-sized ant?

What kind of horses are they? (Wild stallions.) And the ant? (A fire ant.) Fuck that; I'll take the horses any day. I'm not messing with a fire ant.

Question Twenty-Four: Where would you take aliens first if they ever approached you?

It honestly depends. If they asked me to take them to a specific place, then I'd probably oblige, but if they pull the whole "take me to your leader", then I'm taking them to Lord Diavolo and making him deal with it. He'd probably get a kick out of it, if I'm totally honest.

Question Twenty-Five: What song would be the theme of your life?

You know those songs that are insanely loud and the singer is screaming and you can't understand a word they're saying and you're overwhelmed by the sheer amount of noise? That's basically the story of my life.

Question Twenty-Six: Would you prefer a pause button for the globe or a rewind button for your life?

Honestly, I don't know. There are too many variables. Is there a force field that's created by the pause button that makes it possible for you to still move? If there is, can you put anyone else in that force field? And then there's the rewind button. How far back can you go? How do you return to the present? Are you even able to, or are you forced to relive that portion of your life all over again? Do you retain the knowledge of your present self, or do you revert back to the person you were at that point in your life?

Question Twenty-Seven: Which dad joke is your favorite?

I like the punny ones. They make me snort in amusement.

Question Twenty-Eight: What is the most inventive way you can think of to use duct tape?

Ask Lucifer. He can turn the most ordinary objects into torture devices. He's like a spy in that regard. Or maybe a ninja.

Question Twenty-Nine: What rule, if any, would you add to the game of hide and seek?

Being able to come up with punishments for the people that you find.

Taglist: @lost-in-time-wanderer, @fuzztacular, @dianedancer18, @sweetbrier2908, @flare-love, @completelyshatteredbrokenmschf, @thunderlightning351, @l3v1chan

[maagicmushies]

I think I'm just gonna post my thoughts on every hxh's character's nen and how they aid their individual stories because it's really fun to talk about and these thoughts are constantly bouncing around my head.

killua's is probably the best execution and cleanest cut case of this. Nearly every character who sees Killua use his electricity based abilities instantly become heartbroken realizing what this means. This little boy is familiar enough with the sensation of electricity that he can just replicate it. It's an extension of his training as a Zoldyck assassin, but it's very possible that he was put through worse tests than anyone else in his family due to his incredible potential and right to the family name. Killua's story is about unlearning the toxic behaviors so deeply ingrained into the Zoldycks as a whole and while it is sad, this ability to control electricity is his first step onto that path. It takes something that was constantly used to hurt him and transforms it into something that serves him.

In my opinion, that alone would be good enough writing to justify the ability, but through Greed Island and the Chimera Ant arc it just gets more interesting. Killua gets to refine this electricity control into two more specific techniques, Shock Palm and Thunderbolt. You'd think "Oh, he's an assassin, so these are flashy kill moves like the Chidori from Naruto", but both have consistently shown to do nothing besides stun. Killua can't kill people with these, either because of low power output or because of a subconscious limiter born out of his desire to escape his family. Provided, Killua does still kill people in the Chimera Arc, but to do so he has to always rely on Zoldyck abilities. It's always his claws, the Yo-yo or any of his assassination techniques. To kill is to constantly go back to being a Zoldyck while using his electricity is outright defying their programming. The non-lethal aspect of these abilities also show how much Killua begins attaching his worth to Gon at this point in the story. In contrast to all the utility that a quick stun provides, Gon for most of the story can't do anything besides land killing blows. Killua has just as much potential as Gon, if not even more, he could have come up with something just as destructive, but chooses not to because both in HxH and in Killua's eyes, Gon is the main character and Killua is just happy to be a piece of Gon's story.

This move from being an obedient facet to the Zoldycks to an obedient facet of Gon's life isn't as healthy as it initially seems. Gon treats him much nicer (for now), but it doesn't solve the core issue that Killua doesn't any sense of self worth, he doesn't think he deserves to live for himself. As sad as it is, he can't overcome the trauma of his family without also overcoming this dependence on Gon and removing Illumi's needle is a necessary step in this. This is why I love Hunter x Hunter. Illumi's needle is magic. I mean it's nen, but nen is magic by another name. However, instead of just being a cool setpiece that facilitates well choreographed action, HxH's use of supernatural powers is so intertwined with the characters, often being blatantly metaphorical. When Killua removes Illumi's needle, he is literally forcing his brother's influence out of his brain and able to think for the first time without his family's judgement clouding any of his thoughts. You could have a scene like this in a show without any supernatural elements, but there's just something about the sudden tangibility of these mostly emotional moments that feels right.

The removal of Illumi's needle sets the stage for Killua's ultimate technique - Godspeed. Godspeed: Whirlwind is a big "fuck you" to Illumi's needle. Killua, who once ran away from Pitou, uses it to fearless stare down Youpi. Whereas Illumi's needle suppresses all of Killua's fighting spirit in the face of a stronger opponent, Whirlwind suppresses his inhibitions, allowing his body to move without the limits of the brain. It would be a perfect capstone to his story but we aren't done just yet. Godspeed: Speed of Lightning lets Killua take control of this newfound power of Godspeed and use it for... Whatever he wants to. We see it briefly at the end of the Chimera Ant arc, but it gets a ton of focus during the next arc where it is crucial to Killua escaping with his sister Alluka. It's only because of this journey he got to go on that he does something he should have done for a very long time, it lets him be to Alluka what Illumi should have been to him. At this point, Killua is self actualized, he know what he wants to do with his life. He doesn't want to just mindlessly drift along to Gon's whim, he wants to see the world and let his sister see it with him. That self actualization is Speed of Lightning, all of his power wielded selfishly for the first time in his life. He deserves it.

[fictionalsownme]

EMERGENCY COMMISSIONS 💞

SKETCH $10 - COLORED $20 - RENDERED $30

Hi everyone! Unfortunately times have gotten very tough the last few weeks, I'm in the process of moving right now and things will be better once that's done but resources are running very thin until we can get there ;v; I'll explain in more detail under the cut for anyone who wants to know or is curious, but I'm not here to trauma dump or guilt trip or anything 💞 I also want to say that I know times are incredibly tough on everyone right now, so if you can't support, please don't feel bad! 💞

I'm gonna keep it super cut and dry so no matter what you want, if it's a sketch it's $10 total, if you'd like it colored it's $20 total, and if you'd like it rendered it's $30 total. Can be fanart, OC, self insert, anything you want! If you want an extra character we'll just take the base price and multiply it by the number of characters :) prices are negotiable, especially if doing multiple characters!! And if you want to support but can't afford $10, just let me know! Any little bit helps, I'd love to do a little doodle for you or something like that :)

Payment is through venmo, kofi, or paypal! Please DM if you're interested, thanks for reading :)

----

So yeah to kind of explain what's going on, I moved out of my parents place two years ago, and recently we realized that we just can't afford it anymore, so we're moving back in :) we're actually very excited about it, I have a wonderful relationship with my family and it'll be a great opportunity to save money and set up our futures a little bit!

The problem came up when my dog got sick. She's a nine year old pitbull mix, we've had her for five years now. She is the absolute sweetest girl in the whole world, and we found out this last month that she has heart failure. I won't keep you on the edge of your seat, she is doing much much better now. But it took lots of expensive tests, medications, and even an emergency vet visit at 2am to get her back to this point. You can probably imagine that considering we were already running out of money to the point that we have to move back home, these unexpected expenses have completely crippled us financially. We're very lucky that she's doing better, since there were a lot of treatments she would've benefited from that we just couldn't afford.

Now, all we need to do it make it through the next five weeks paying rent and utilities and groceries and stuff-- and we'll be pretty much home free, including being able to afford more treatments for her. So yeah! Commissions will hopefully help us across that finish line. Thanks again for reading :)

ps, this is my dog. her name is Asia :)))

[nerdgirlriot]

back in the early days of my anime weebdom i, of course, spent a lot of that time obsessed with Fullmetal Alchemist. I stumbled upon an Edward cosplayer, but the person was wearing a facemask that covered their entire head, like mascots or Disney meet n' greet characters. And they looked so convincing, as if Edward Elric was inhabiting a 3D space for the first time. I was kind of enamored with how this was done. I did research on what sort of cosplay this was, how the masks were made, etc.

I will ramble a lot here, and also include a lot of pics of my own kigurumi cosplay. Because enamored.

Note: This got REALLY long, really quickly. Sorry! Be warned!

I found out that this was called kigurumi, and the style of costuming was actually pretty common in Japan, where anime meet n' greet characters often had this style of mask.

And yes, I figured out that it was a kink pretty quick.

I'm gonna ignore that for the most part but I'm certain that 99% of all kigurumi cosplayers are male enthusiasts as female characters. I even think that most female kigurumi cosplayers have female characters. Because female characters are ADORABLE and I agree! I would love to do a female kig cosplay eventually.

But first, a part of my weeb brain was transfixed by that Edward kig cosplay.

My research back then led me to believe that a kigurumi mask would be too cost-prohibitive. All masks had to be custom-made from resin and hand-painted. The work would probably cost close to $1000 and I gave up on my dream cosplay quest pretty fast.

Fast forward to this year, and during the time I was looking at Etsy for my Spider-Gwen cosplay, I got recommended a store that had kigurumi masks. In the ensuing years since my initial research, kigurumi masks have gotten less cost prohibitive. 3D printing means that the masks don't have to be hand-made. There are even small companies which mass-produce base masks ready to be customized, and this is what the Etsy seller uses to make their masks.

I was still enamored, and eventually, thanks to a sale (and thanks to also THE NEWS HAPPENING EVERYWHERE) I decided to just take the plunge and purchase a mask. I wish to be happy in the face of possible apocalypse. Instead of going for a custom for my first mask, i got one of the seller's pre-made, more generic designs. But after wearing this first mask, I might be hooked.

It might be a problem.

Initially I based my kig's look on Billie Joe Armstrong during Green Day’s American Idiot era. Short sleeve black shirt, red necktie, wristbands. The mask had black hair and red/pinkish eyes which I thought would go well with the clothes.

More research. I got a bodysuit because with short-sleeves, my skin would be exposed, and the illusion would be ruined. The suit is just a top. Head and arms are completely covered. I got a men's shirt which fits my smaller frame. A short necktie.

Oh yeah, and then there's the boobs.

But I've always been small in the chest, so a sports bra was enough. I've heard that many female cosplayers use chest binders when they crossplay but I guess I should be happy for my less than ample bosom, at least in terms of crossplaying.

What would be difficult for me is hiding my hips. I have very curvy hips and I know if I ever decide to take this guy out in public i will have to conceal them somehow. Probably padding around the stomach to de-emphasize them but that's not a now issue.

The mask itself actually has decent visibility, which I was surprised with. You look through the character's eyes. They're basically sunglass lenses with the pupils printed on them, so no one can see in but you can see out. No peripheral vision to speak of, but that's true of all full face masks.

And here's the initial cosplay test, sans the wristbands because i was so excited to do this I forgot to wear them. He needs a name, though. I'm leaning towards Billie-kun to name him after one of his main inspirations.

It's thrilling to wear a cosplay that you've taken time to put together. I've done multiple femme!Doctors, but this is the first time I've really crossplayed and it feels FUN in ways that the other cosplays didn't. Truly hiding one's identity behind a mask, truly embodying this character.

Edward Elric in 3D vibes. I found it again. 15+ years after my initial encounter with kigurumi.

EDIT: OMG I FOUND THE EDWARD ELRIC KIG COSPLAY PAGE

Gonna indulge in some more photos.

This was the first photo taken. You can't tell how much I was vibrating with excitement:

I have precious few things of clothing that would be appropriate for a male character, but this coat seemed fine:

Me realizing that I could see out of the character's eyes for real:

Pondering whether I should just be a bishie forever to mentally prepare myself for the horrors:

With the wristbands finally. I like how much more the red pops against the black:

No tie because SOMEONE had to go and break the adjustable bit in their excitement to put things on:

Found a hoodie that matched well:

With t-shirt of our lord and savior Hitori Gotoh from Bocchi the Rock:

If you've read through this entire damn thing, thank you very much for sharing my journey into kigurumi cosplay. I still would like to someday do that Edward cosplay but there's so many other possibilities, male and female, that I'd love to try.

Orrrrr Billie-kun could just be a one-off, unicorn of a bishie who is too perfect and can never be duplicated or replaced

GIFs because reasons

[magicratfingers]

Progress report ! ૮ ºﻌºა ✨ kind of a work-in-progress diary for myself. v indulgent.

intense world of dick terrifying - goin good! got a main character, some supporting characters, figuring out the big rivalry today. Gotta figure out a format. I was thinking of basing it off of the Day at the Airport book bc it's only about 11 spreads but there's a lot going on on each one. Could leave it a comic but I also want it to be printable hmm catnips cantrips chooseyer-by-mail test - learning a lot! the world-building has been reallllllly fun - like the kind of fun where you want to go a little deeper bc you like it not bc you have to. perfect situation. Gotta resolve the mix between the DM roleplay and the actual postcards. Made and branded a whole gmail account and character to handle lost postcards - Pizza Kentucky III of the Isekai Post Office. Haven't been keeping up with the blog. But the blog is supposed to be more of a holding container than a 'thing'. One thing I did not expect to be learning was spreadsheets. Keeping track of names and addresses and choices and paths has given me a new perspective on pacing and structure. Also? Been a great excuse to finally play with UV epoxy and it's so straightforward that I'm mad it took me so long. media thats not just webcomics - dunmeshi is out!!! Laios my beloved. Still afraid to find and read Kotteri's Veil bc it will make me too feelings. Started reading books I loved as a kid (Redwall!!!) and some story craft books (found an NPR list somewhere) WRHP s2 - started to feel like work but changing up the backgrounds freed me up, feels fun again Sorcerer comic - paused while I wait for fashion inspiration to pull the ending together Emotional support paladin - paused till I feel like it. It's got such a specific delivery style that I don't wanna force to get the story out, so i gotta wait for some story aspects to firm up Bonnie & Clawd - more of a character study than a comic - fun to practice cutie pies cuddling. But... how DO birds and wolves smooch. Saw a youtube video about how ravens and wolves are friends and work together. So perfect. Valentines day thing - got some supplies coming tomorrow, gonna try out my idea. If it works maybe sell it? If it doesn't work, oh well, probably will learn something. Wanted to make perforated cards and stickers but got a little overwhelmed thinking about printing. Might just do a digital thing if an idea comes to me. Been wanting to make holographic stickers but when I sit down to think of a motif it feels stressful. Maybe I just test the Poodle Broadcasting System logo? I've always loved the aesthetic of valentines day but never felt like it's been delivered right. I certainly never felt indulged - something is always a little not-cute or too-cutesy. Think it could be really fun to have it be an annual 'surprise box'. I lost my halloween fam in the schmivorce so I could use a holiday to go crazy on. (For years I would drive out and help build a whole haunted house in a garage and it was like a week-long party with great food and movies and laughs. Sad to lose it, sadder still to know it was so easy for them to lose me. ) Dishupon - ok not as many players and responses as I'd hoped. But that wasn't really the point. Point was to invent some sanrio-y characters for fun - which i did. And I will also say that the exercise of coming up with a variety of cozy, fun, silly, spicy ways to think about dishes has made MY dishes mostly effortless. Even made a little foam clay Tiger coach and he's sitting on the window above the sink. Perhaps I will think of a game to get my car inspection done.

Overall January is great. Granted, it's the 4th. Had my ten year work anniversary (idk how old everyone thinks I am but it's Not 20) and got to 1010 followers on twitter on the same day. And the new d20 is out on the 10th so that felt real nice and square. Bit worried that all the good vibes I built up over holiday vacay will get smashed when I'm put on a new work project. But i feel like I'm about to level up a little bit art-style wise. Feelin grateful, feelin warm & cozy

[casketjones]

I'm not sure how to info dump for a bunch of character concepts in a way that's digestible but eh whatever

Concept work for a group of mafia hitwomen and their long suffering handler. They're likely going to be used in a underground illegal wrestling ring arc because that's all I really want in my media.

This post plus additional sketches and more background info will be going up on my patreon and kofi tomorrow.

more under the cut,

They're all vampires that I really cooked up to test a concept for vamps for my comic project. Based on a blood sucking animal and a historical anti-vampire burial method, some of the burial methods are gonna be pushed and fibbed because there's not that many of them. so yeah incidental vampires will have a cage motif even tho I know good and well that cages were to prevent resurrection men getting in not vampires getting out. I feel that's thematically close enough. There's so many really good sanguivore animals out there these are maybe too safe even.

The other thing I really wanted to accomplish with these designs is targeting lesbians, hey ladies these are for you. How am I doing?

going left to right here we got

Flea- She's a Flea I tried taking a lot from Blake's Ghost of a Flea but I don't think it comes through. Her grave-shackle is that scythe coming out her shoulder, it's maybe a bit of a stretch, the real thing was buried in the ground next to the corpse so if it rose it would decapitate itself but I didn't really want to complicate the design with a bunch of dirt or something. Regardless I like her design a lot. Short hairy goblin of a woman, someone stop me from naming her Puce.

Mosquito- Her hair took a little bit to sort out, it used to be real bad but this mess is perfect. Horrible 90's stylized part call back, reminiscent of boxer braids while being ostentatious enough to work in any setting. That cool bangle is her grave-shackle, an actual shackle this time. Her build was immediate, huge arms, weird long butt, perfection. She's the easiest to dress which isn't that surprising considering shes thinner but usually big arms are really difficult in women's wear. Flea is actually the second easiest to dress. There's gotta be a better name than Malaria, but i could call her Mal.

Geo(?)- small mafia man, constantly put upon, constantly behind the 8-ball with upper management; you know the type. The other guys definitely tell him he's lucky all the time but they'd never switch assignments with him. Why is he so small? because I can do whatever i want. His name might be Geoffrey.

Lamprey- Went through the most iterations, was very hard to piece together a woman this disaster lesbian. The spike through the heart, traditionally meant to keep the alleged vampire pinned to the ground was always part of the design, so was the long neck and heart lipstick, the hook earring came and went. Everything else was difficult; general build was pretty similar but i didn't actually work until I gave her a gut and dropped her waist. I used to have gill markings on her neck that looked like vampire bite marks and that took a while to give up but that hair is too good. She probably will end up being named Nakkila, it's a Finnish town with lamprey on their crest.

Leech- Took just two stabs to get her hair, body and face where I wanted it. Those bright red eyebrows work so well to subtly mimic leech markings, her hair shapes are perfect and I love drawing them. It's hard to tell at this size but her lips are sewn together which works almost too well for the theming, the cartoon jack'o lantern shape just sits right on a leech. Being built like a brick shithouse with fantastic fat rolls really gives the body diversity in the group the punch it needs. But dear god in heaven she is so hard to dress! I'm liking this dress a moderate amount right now and I really love the shoes but it's not perfect. I've tried suits instead, I've down active wear, all crazy difficult. It's like fashion doesn't want to accentuate horizontal stripes on large bodies or something? I gotta keep trying on it. I've almost convinced myself to name her Annelid.

[howdy-folks-its-showtime]

It's Showtime! - June 2024 Devlog

Howdy! Cobalt here, for another devlog over It's Showtime. This month was actually really swell, especially since I got more of my adhd meds recently. So I should be getting way more done in the coming months, yippee!

Programming wise, not a lot was done this month I've mostly spent it changing a few things about the way the map is built. Particularly I'm gonna need to rebuild most of the first floor. However in the long run it should be for the better, for stuff like performance and making it easier to add more to it. I also just needed a break after all I did last month. I have created things like the base for the main menu, a proper testing room and a lot of coding for the cut scene system though!

Writing wise, a ton of progress was made. Most of the major writing for Chapter 1 is done! Or at least on a great first draft. So very soon Chapter 1 will be done writing wise. [For the record currently the in depth writing for Chapter 1 is 7,122 words long] Chapter 2 also had a significant amount of its in depth writing done, almost all of the 'intro' is written out but obviously I'm trying to focus more on Chapter 1 right now. Speaking of the other chapters and such. Chapter 2's summary is almost done, with some things just needing some elaborating or bridging with other parts of it. Chapter 3 has 3 thousand words written in its summary currently, so a lot of what goes on in that chapter has been written out. I recently had a ton of revelations about what is going to happen in Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 has also had a lot added to its summary. Sadly, writing wise, I simply cannot reveal much more without getting into spoilers.

I've also been learning Blender a lot lately. I'm working on a few models, none of them for It's Showtime quite yet. [well besides the walls and floors for the first floor] However soon I'm gonna be trying to make Henry's first model and animations for the game. Probably won't be the final one used for the project, or even the one you'll see upon chapter 1's release, but we'll see. Sadly, a lot of this process is simply tutorials and looking things up, then double checking those things to make sure they can be used in Unity, aren't performance heavy and will work with the systems I've already got in place. Art wise, me and my partner have gotten a lot of fun concept art done.

We've also started a sketchbook purely for Encore! related drawings. We've got so much fun stuff to show you guys when more is done, but for now, I'd love to show off a proper look at Henry's design.

Here we have Henry's reference, specifically for his in-game appearance.

The sketchy reference made for modeling him out. Yes, he is tastefully nude in this appearance. That's just the way it has to be.

Then finally a rough run cycle I animated to show off his character and as practice for when the proper 3D gets made. I'm really proud of how this came out and I hope it gives you guys a good idea for what to expect from him character-wise. As always, feel free to ask any questions about this project and its story if you'd like. I'll do my best to answer them without giving too much away! See you next month!

[scoonsalicious]

Mother Pookie has fed her kitties well🩷🩷. There’s so many emotions idk which one i should talk about first?😭😂

BUT DANG chap 2.2 is just HOT

I am actually speechless😂 I have nothing to say except I am satisfied.

ITS SO GOOD OMG POOKIE? WHAT R U DOING TO ME? WHATT?!!😫😫

Lemme say, It didn’t take me long to hate Lilian. Like I swear, the moment she fucking said that Major looks like a SKANK gurl, fuck u.

My first impression on Major was like how Bucky saw her, a hot pretty dame that made me giggle like a teenager, making heart eyes and singing the whole world to my dick (if i have a dick)

And then throughout the chp, oh my goodness, I would’ve slap Leah the moment she starts bitching up. Major has a dang ass patience. I couldn’t.

THE THINGS I WOULD DO TO VOTE FOR BUCKYBABY TO BREAK HER HEART IN THE WORST WAY POSSIBLE (so far she’s 35% in my ‘dead’ list, better fix ur attitude if u don wanna end up like cunthage — ITS JUST BEEN 2 CHP?!)

Lindsay rubs the ick on me more than Jade (ofc Jade is worse but she dead now) but cuntly is so so so so so so so so so irritating. The absolute pick me, so called ‘one of the guys’. Ew. Even half of the team is irked by her attitude. That just says a lot.

Glad that our queen Major put her in her place. She needs more. Like, absolute humiliation (disclaimer: i dont support bullying but LILIAN FUCKING NEEDS IT)

And can we appreciate Wanda simping over Thor?😂 (you are not alone, i also dream of licking his abs — mhmmm)

Bucky and Major are purrrfect for each other. Its giving love at first sight 👀. Bucky simps hard. Like so hard. I can wait for more Bucky X Major scene (fluff,sexay — mayyybeeeee angst? i just love hurt myself)

Also, iMajor and Tony r absolutely gonna be ‘rich business badass besties’ and then them + Sam (Wanda and Nat at the back) roasting Leah. Oh what a beautiful dream~

Anyways, beautiful beautiful writing indeed. Waiting to see Bucky sexay POV next😂 Unleash the power of your blue balls. Also I can’t wait to read what your master brain had planned🌚. Love you Pookie🩷🩷🩷

PS// these past few days I was scrolling tumblr, searching for new Bucky fics/updates and honestly… I MISSED YOUU!!! I CANNOT STRESSED THAT ENOUGH!!! 😭 seeing your username the first thing when i opened tumblr made my night! i was planning on listening to songs, dwelling on my loneliness and delulu but LOOK AT ME NOW, ITS 4AM GOSH. THANK U POOKIE LOVE U HAVE A GREAT DAY

POOKIE! <3

Actual footage of me coming up to love on your comments:

I'm so glad people are enjoying 2.2! I gotta be real, I usually don't get hot and bothered when it comes time write smut, but that section? Whoa, boy... that section had me like:

(Yes, this is my second favorite gif of all time, and I will use Blanche to express my hot and bothered-ness whenever I can, lol)

I gotta tell you right now, the phrase "making heart eyes and singing the whole world to my dick (if i have a dick)" is now the highlight of my week, so I thank you for this. It's pure literary magic <3

Major is used to taking shit from peons; she was a woman in the military, after all, lol, which is why she's able to not let Lily phase her too much. Her patience will be tested, though. Where Cunthrage was just flat out unhinged, Lizard is more... selfishly insidious? Just, you know, she's not going to be kidnapping people and snapping their arms or murderously rampaging through Hydra bases or anything. (The stakes here are much, much lower, lol. Which, I guess, is going to prep us for Unbroken, where the stakes will be... Thanos-sized, lol.) I think what makes Lily feel worse, to me, is that she's far more realistic than Jade was. Like, I know girls like Lily irl; thankfully, never met a Jade (phew!). Much like Killgrave, to me, is the scariest Marvel villain, because I've encountered so many men like him in the real world.

The things I dream of doing to Thor would probably get me put on a list if he was a real person and not a fictional character, lol. Unless I'm doing AUs, I tend to stick with canon-pairings, but there is something about the idea of Wanda/Thor that I currently find very appealing, so hopefully, we will see something happen between the two of them. I think they would be adorable. And for some reason known only to my maker, I love making Wanda a little bit horny, lol. In fact, an earlier draft of Unwanted had Pocket referring to her as the Sokovian Horndog after she made some comments about Bucky's body, lol.

Is it weird that I don't plan on having Tony be too involved in this fic, because I feel like giving him a friendship with Major is like him cheating on his friendship with Pocket? That makes no sense whatsoever, lol, but I'm so protective of my girl. I'm like "Yeah, Major, I'll let you fuck Pocket's boyfriend, Bucky, but YOU CANNOT BE FRIENDS WITH HER PSUEDO-BROTHER TONY BECAUSE HE IS HERS!"

Bucky's got some sexy POV in the next sextion (see what I did there? lol) but there's going to be so much more smut in this one than Unwanted. It just feels right, lol.

[eccentric-nucleus]

i'm gonna be talking about the weird porn game stuff i'm working on now, so you know, watch out

so as you may have gathered from my various posts, i've been working on the hell game 2 engine. currently i have events running mostly-correctly from data files, but i don't currently have state & pc data hooked up correctly so i can't actually e.g., test out various different sex scene variations based on the pc's bodytype. given one of the big failures of hell game (the first) was that i never really got complex event interactions working, i should probably think up some multi-stage demo events and get them working early on, so i don't end up repeating the same mistake

anyway as i have been putting this together i've been reflecting on the stuff i was dissatisfied with with hell game. unfortunately for me one of those things was "the sex scenes weren't as parametric as i wanted". hell game tended to break sex scenes down based on fundamental body plan (what i usually call 'bodytype' b/c that's the variable name for it in the code). that was stuff like: biped, centaur, quadruped, naga, snake, and 'other'. that's already a lot of totally-different variations but given i also let people change size there did kind of also need to be at least some size-based changes. but that's even more stuff to write for a single sex scene to have full coverage.

(this kinda thing is why i love to bring up the whole thing about nagas having a thigh gap in TiTS. they didn't want to change the scene blocking for all the doggystyle sex scenes! you can just say "between your thighs" either way!! i mean i get it, just, lol.)

but the other thing with hell game is that it was always uhhh a very early demo. it was basically a collection of contextless sex scenes with demons, and while there are worse things for a game to be, i did kinda have aspirations of, you know, plot, story, named characters that weren't just procgen demons, etc. so one of the things i've been working on currently is a ~design doc~ that covers setting & story details in a concrete enough way that i can reference off it and not end up writing myself into a corner.

and that gets us to the weird porn part of the post. i haven't fully committed to the current setting concept (scifi space station sucked through an interdimensional portal so it's now orbiting around hell, a la your dooms and hellpoints and the like; i feel like i'm maybe being a little too derivative here) so i won't go into too much detail but on the whole there is probably gonna be a more pronounced, you know, horror/grotesque influence. we'll... see how that works given that it is also a porn game

like yeah yeah plenty of porn games are kind of libidinal nightmare realms. coc had the parasitic dick worms. people love gross sex stuff. i feel like i kinda lost touch with a lot of my audience and now i spend more time around, uh, normal people who don't have deeply-rooted fixations. currently the first encounter i have outlined for this is uhhh a reanimated zombie who... lemme just paste the description in

A thing that was once a dead body, overtaken by something new. Its skin is a faded grey and its muscles are overgrown, proportions inhuman: shoulders impossibly wide, arms and legs slabs of striated muscle. It moves with an inhuman gait, as if the thing inhabiting it is still getting adjusted to human articulation.

There's a squirming thing wrapped around its head, all leathery purple-black flesh. A central mass covers the corpse's head: face smooth, back of the head a mess of overlapping tentacles. It has many long octopus-like tentacles that fan out across its shoulders and back. The tentacles trail down its body, clamped tight to the skin, before they sink into its body across its shoulders, chest, and back, squirming under the skin like gigantic veins. The skin around the punctures is painted with purple-black bruises. Glowing green ichor pulses through its body, pumped into it from its penetrating tentacles, feeding its muscles with unnatural energy. Its skin is a faded grey, streaked with ash, save for where its glowing-green blood flows, forming branching lines of bulging veins that cover its shoulders and chest.

A single loose tentacle extends from its face like an enormous proboscis, tapering in wormlike rings to a squirming tip, slavering shed ichor in gummy lines down its bare chest.

Its cock hangs heavily between its thighs, perpetually bloated and half-hard, with its glowing green ichor visibly pumping through its altered flesh. Its massive, oversized balls churn and lurch behind the fat stalk of its dick, pulsing with burgeoning larvae. Thick, translucent grey pre perpetually spills from its bloated glowing-green cocktip, painting wet smears of fluid down its monstrously-muscular legs.

it talks to you and asks if you wanna get pumped full of squirming zombie larvae so it can reproduce and reanimate more corpses. a lot of the encounter design is very much "what if you could fuck this DOOM monster"

anyway, that's like, normal. that's completely usual actually. having a cop fetish is what's weird and disturbing. okay okay that's just dumb glib moralizing i don't actually think that. but i mean, it is super weird to write stuff like that and then go back into the normal realm where people keep talking about college jocks or w/e.

but before i do much more writing i gotta hammer out the rest of the engine. next up: a lot of variable storage & thinking about how to separate npc data from the events they take part in. that's all stuff that needs to get coded regardless of which setting i go with

[aresmarked]

Some General Gridbuilding Notes

so since i've seen a number of folk be like 'how do' about putting a grid together, and now that we know the next guild war's element, i figure it'd be a good time to kinda broadly go over how you can use what the game easily provides, as well as general public resources/references to help you figure out what you should be aiming for to help you bolster your gridpower. Within the context of wind grids to help people see.

If people want I can also talk about broader pieces that sort of fall out of pure 'grid build' talk but are important to know about (e.g. Huanglong for OTK)? But I'm going to try to keep this focused, and expand out if people feel ask.

So! We're gonna focus primarilyon a very helpful feature that was added. So helpful most of my crew was like, wow, they're practically throwing these at new players: Sierokarte's Knickknack Academy. Generally speaking, obtaining the equipment they recommend will set you up very solidly across all elements. I, for one, would have killed to have had two 4* Grimnir spoons (Coruscant Croziers) tossed in my lap for beating Ygg Omega and uncapping Temperance and Judgement when I was farming to finish my M2 grid.

But if you're like me you want to know more about why they recommend the grid/summons they do, as the final goal in the academy. Further elaboration beneath the cut.

Here we see a Tiamat M1 gun, two m2 Grimnir harps, two m2.5 Grim spoons, the Exo spear and fist, a bahamut weapon, the wind Dark Opus (opus henceforth) and seraphic weapon.

If you want to see more math about the damage calculation formula, I encourage you to check out this guide that explains it in a fairly accessible manner. The long and short of it though, is that with this grid, Tiamat 5* as main summon, and Tiamat as friend summon (AKA double magna/Tia x Tia), you get guaranteed crit, and a good spread of normal, magna, and EX skill boosts to avoid diminishing returns too.

I equipped the grid to a random party to show some numbers. The calculator may look a bit different depending on your characters as well, but you can see some of the different mods that the weapons provide.

Specifically of note in this grid, the two Grim harps and two spoons are what give me the guaranteed crit. Their crit related modifiers combine, and are boosted by the fact I'm using Tiamat summon as my main and friend summon. If I change my friend summon to say, Grimnir instead of Tiamat...

You can see that the magna/omega mods and crit are quite a bit less. 89% crit chance is, not bad, per se, but 1) if you're not looking to guarantee crit you might throw in some different weapons instead, and 2) the in-game calculator can't 'tell' you what mostly critting will look like, it'll show you autos that aren't critting. Which is why 95+% crit is pretty much guaranteed crit but may look off.

(Another thing to note is that the in-game calculator only really looks at auto damage. Which is why if your team is say, skill or ougi focused the calculator again may not represent the damage you will do. Test things out!)

So this grid is predominantly magna modifiers. The weapons that aren't: the Exo weapons, the Bahamut weapon, and seraphic. Let's look closer at each:

The Exo weapons provide Ex modifiers (and my fist has some bonus from AX skills, but we aren't worrying about those rn), the bahamut weapon has normal boost tied to types of characters in the team, and the seraphic has amplify (and some normal as well). Their boosts are multiplied onto the magna boosts (which add to each other), dramatically improving the damage you can get.

In summary: when you're not sure about the specific needs for a raid, starting with a magna base and then adding a weapon that offers each other type of boost is a solid start.

Seraphic is especially important because it's probably the most straightforward way to break through damage cap, because of how it's applied to damage dealt. It basically will not leave your grid regardless of raid (until seraphic key on ultima. but if you have seraphic key on ultima you probably know what you're doing by now).

Opus. Saved for last because it'll probably have the most rambling. They are huge, the two different ones are core to both magna and primal players respectively, if you don't have it in you're losing a huge amount of power and flexibility. Once you have it you'd pretty much only take it out to put in draconic for survivability purposes.... and with draconic upgrades, perhaps eventually put both. Gasp!

Uncapping your opus to 4*, not too hard with the Academy grids. It'll just ask you to hit some raids that by and large you can just farm publically. It's the 5* uncap that is a bigger ask, and is meant to be your intro to high-level raids in Granblue. I would rec checking Diamonit's FaaHL guide if you are considering getting your opus 5* uncapped. It's old, but true, and doing FaaHL 'properly' will teach you a lot about endgame and building for specific raids.

Obligatory Bolded Note: yes the game has progressed to the point where probably, you can make a team to solo FA it down now, or join someone else who can. I do it myself! But I've also done the raid myself, 'properly'. At this point you must understand that you are getting closer to the current level of raids where leeching is frowned upon, and prioritising say, mashing through a raid and f'ing up someone else because they didn't have the time to setup properly will mean the whole raid is fucked, or that you've denied them rewards. Please, just be aware of what a raid is asking, and prepare yourself to contribute that helps everyone involved. If you're not learning it now, be prepared to learn later, for a much harder raid.

Going to pause here cause I'm moving past 'basics', but yea. I hope this was of some use to someone. If you've questions about this, or perhaps other aspects (e.g. arcarum summons, eternals/evokers, OTKs for Ex/Ex+) feel free to ask! I or someone else can definitely explain. Granblue is a dense game, deeply crunchy, but very rewarding IMO, and i hope this has helped untangle a bit of it! o/

[perfectlovevn]

(i'm so sorry, i'm not sure if you accept reviews or not so feel free to ignore this)

Helloo!! I'm brazilian and i'm still learning english so forgive me for any grammar mistakes. I've gotten all endings (i guess- please let me know if i missed anything!) so here's my review of Perfect Love! ♥

I loved this game sooo much! I never played an visual novel with a mean main character and it was just amazing. The trope of ''us'' being the actual villains is very interesting and it made the game super unique! It's also pretty obvious the amount of effort and hard work that's in the game, I was impressed by the quality of it all.

The music and sound effects are pretty good, I loved it all! The artstyle is very pleasing to look at and the black/white/grey contrast with Milo's blue/red eyes are such a nice touch too. I also loved the amount of easter eggs (you couldn't imagine the face I made when I named myself 'Ren') and secret endings/scenes.

Fortunately, when I first played, I knew nothing about the game nor about Milo (which I believe made the experience better since everything turned out to be surprising) and the endings were really good. Through the gameplay, I've encontered one grammar mistake (which I forgot to screenshot it, sorry) and one sprite glitch but nothing that made me annoyed.

After finishing the 8 main endings, I decided it was time to look a little bit on the official Tumblr's page of the VN and that's when I decided to test out all of the easter eggs and that's when I discovered the secret scenes.

So, to summary it all: absolutely 10/10! I can't remember the last time I had so much fun playing a game and being so invested in unlocking all of it's content! I was flabbergasted when I lost all of my endings heh

Please let me know if I missed anything- I'd be more than happy to clear the game entirely.

Hello there! I love reviews. On my other blog I always write recommendations/reviews for other vns, so I'm always open to seeing what people like and dislike about the game. I hope you don't mind that I'm just gonna mash these two asks into one ask.

Thank you! I also think that a lot of vns don't always focus on being the bad guy in the story and those that do I usually enjoy quite a lot! I'm glad you like the quality of it, it was a lot of fighting renpy and it's UI because I have a one sided rivalry with the base renpy UI. I tried to make it look good though I think I maybe should have attempted to redraw some of the sprites for Milo (for like the third time).

For the art style itself, I actually did it in black and white because it was originally for the 2023 yanjam and I wanted to make a style that wouldn't be extremely tiring for me, and I really like lineart so I made everything in black and white (and also because I'm lazy, I say as I animate half of my assets). The red and blue really make it pop at the end since it's one of the few time color is used in the game. I love when people put easter eggs in their game and I know of a lot of yandere vns so I wanted to put in a ton! I'll probably put in even more in the update when I get all of the extra stories done because putting easter eggs like that is very fun.

Having no knowledge of a game is always a good way to be surprised about the premise and I think it definitely was something good in your case too! For the grammer/ sprite errors if you do ever play or remember what they were, please let me know. I'll try to fix it in the next update if possible.

It's always so nice seeing that people like my game though! I tried my hardest to make it a worthwhile experience and considering it's (technically) my first game, it really makes me happy to see that people really like it! Hopefully it doesn't have too much of the first game amatureness that tends to come (nothing wrong with it, but I hopefully have showcased I kind of know what I'm doing, I say, sweating profusely) .

Yup! That is all of the scenes in the game so far. At least that you can access. If you look inside of the code, I actually have two scenes that I put in there. One of them is pretty much a test scene featuring the character from the next game I'm making, and the other is a special scene where you go to Milo's apartment. You can't access those in the main game, but you can play them if you edit the code a bit.

Basically (for those who don't know), all you have to do is put "jump" and then the name of the label afterwards (so for instance if the label is "rabbit" you would put "jump rabbit") after label start in the code. The two scenes that are not accessable in the game are the last two scenes in the script.rpy file just to make it easier for you. (I put a note that says like "#I'm very dedicated to my craft I say as I disect Milo and then beat him with a stick" because I'm sorry Milo, you deserve better)

But yes, thank you for taking your time and writing your long review! I love it so much.

[monsterblogging]

Decided to design a character based around the question, "what if Sephiroth was a guy in my Pacific Rim with magic dragon hybrids AU?"

So first of all (and please bear with me here), his first name wouldn't be Sephiroth; it would be Michael.

In human form, he'd look mostly like Squeenix Sephiroth, but he'd have round pupils and his hair would be a lot shorter, maybe down to his neck at most. (I know, I also love the xianxia hair, but it won't work out here - you'll see why soon!) His wardrobe includes a lot of black, though with quite a bit less leather and a lot more denim and canvas. He'll wear a pair of black leather boots in human form, and he probably owns a black biker jacket, but we won't see either of those in actual draconic form.

When he's in draconic form, he's covered in very pale scales; at their darkest, they're a light gray. His eyes glow bluish green, and he has bluish green bioluminescent markings on his body that take the form of long, curving lines. He has a very long, whiplike tail. Small plates protrude from the top of his tail; they aren't sharp enough that you can get cut from just touching them, but you definitely wouldn't want to get smacked with them. He's also got some sexy little claws and fangs, because that's always fun. And just to be clear, we're not really looking at a long snout on this guy; in terms of facial proportions, think maybe a little more Shape of Water or Luca.

He also has wings - indeed, two of them. I know the whole one winged angel thing is a big deal in FF7, but I want this guy to fly and magic levitation isn't really a thing here. It took me awhile to settle on what kind of wings he should have, but in the end I decided to go with white wings that fade into bluish green at the ends, a bit evocative of the original character's final boss form. His feet resemble a theropod's.

The really cool long coat he owns is made of waxed black denim, and it's tailored so that his wings can comfortably push out the back when he shifts to draconic form. (Also, his pants are tailored in the back for his tail.)

Now, Michael here isn't the product of evil genetic experimentation; he's like this because at some point, somebody in his family line (or maybe multiple somebodies) canoodled with somebody who was secretly a dragon and made a baby. (This happens surprisingly often in folklore and fairy tales.) He can shift to draconic form because at some point, he underwent a magical ritual to unlock this ability. (I personally like it when the ritual involves getting dunked in water, but for Michael it might have been different.)

However, it is entirely possible that Michael grew up in family that still saw him as a means to some kind of end. So, I'm going to say that he didn't grow up with his biological parents; his father was unknown, and something happened to his biological mother that cut her out of the picture. (I'd like to think that she's not dead, and one day he'll actually meet her.)

He was raised by his uncle, an absolute fuckhead of a biologist who somehow realized what the kid was, and figured out how to unlock his draconic essence. His uncle hoped that Michael held the key to humanity's next step in evolution, that would keep us all alive through the coming climate crisis. His uncle had his DNA tested and everything (but didn't really find anything usable; draconity isn't something that boils down to one key gene or something), and had him trained in combat, because his uncle's the kind of guy who believes that society's going to collapse, and when it does, they're gonna have to exercise their dominion before anyone else does.

If we take Sephiroth's seemingly autistic characteristics at face value and just say, "yeah, Michael was definitely autistic," then it's possible that he was tacitly dehumanized as a child. This happens to many autistic people to some degree, but in Michael's case it was a little more overt, with his autistic traits being treated as inherently draconic traits, and both his genuinely draconic and autistic traits being treated as either subhuman or superhuman depending on whatever was most convenient to others.

(Also, does Michael own a long sword? Probably. In fact, he probably owns several, plus a number of exquisite little knives, because this is a Pacific Rim setting and characters in Pacific Rim tend to be a little extravagant about their interests.)

The end result was that Michael had a very toxic perception of his place in the world. One the one hand, he's supposed to be this superhuman savior, but on the other, he's never really allowed to exercise his own judgment. The very real skill he develops in combat supposedly demonstrates his inherent superiority, but the neverending disapproval of his "inhuman" behaviors make it clear that he is actually a lesser being to these people. He does not understand why he is denied basic respect despite the elevated status he is assured he has.

When the kaiju begin emerging from the Breach, it doesn't take Michael long to notice that they have some things in common. (They're both scaly, and they both have glowing eyes!) And he finds himself feeling a strange catharsis when he sees the kaiju destroying everything; it's as if all of these contrary demands and expectations are somehow being lifted from his shoulders. It's also something of a pleasure to see his family's predictions of gloom and doom coming true, but not in the way they wanted.

Of course this is a short-lived thrill, and Michael wants answers. So, he starts going to the kaiju cults that seemingly popped up over night. They don't have kaiju brains to drift with, but they claim they have a connection with the kaiju - and their masters. So he goes to them, and eventually one of them gives him a formula that's supposed to expand his consciously, and what do ya know - the young man's seeing visions of the Precursors.

Now, a little-known fact about Pacific Rim's Precursors is that they were Catholic-coded. Their designs were modeled after Catholic clergy, and the designers outright gave them clerical ranks like "cardinal" and "bishop." (Pacific Rim: Man, Machines, & Monsters, page 151.) So, I don't really depict them as forcefully taking over people's minds, but rather preying on lost and vulnerable people by seemingly offering them assurance in a chaotic world. The Precursors assure Michael that he is their son, and he has a crucial role to play in purging the world of its evils so it can be made anew. This is an incredibly powerful emotional experience for him; like when you dream you've met the love of your life and it's so intense that when you wake up, you experience actual grief because they're gone. Like a new religious convert, Michael feels like he's got it all figured out. He can't even conceive that he might be wrong.

At this point, Michael probably cuts ties with his family and joins a kaiju cult, and maybe even effectively takes over because he's done letting other people tell him what to do. If he's a big deal, he should be treated like it, right?

What happens next? I don't really know. I'd like to think that he pulls out of it at some point, though I also know that once someone gets this deep into something that actually offers them power and validation, it's not really easy to get them out. But of course, this is also a fictional character, and anything can happen. Maybe he's got friends somewhere who can help him see that this isn't really what he wants, but a perversion of what he wants, I dunno.