#also I’ll take bits from other servers to create my own backstory for the character lol

[the-somwthing]

I’ve been talking a lot about why I’m not a fan of the idea that all the servers are connected (tbh I don’t want to talk about it THAT much because then ppl will bring up how I’m wrong or something) but I wanna tell a reason I didn’t get to that is actually pretty much the MAIN reason:

I feel like it breaks the immersion. I’m going to be using the life series as my main example because it’s the only mcyt series I am currently FULLY invested in. All the others I like I struggle to keep up with unfortunately.

But like, in 3rd Life. Grian has a whole epic story of being in debt to a red name, going through a war, and winning in the end. It’s a really powerful story, and I feel like applying every other server Grian’s ever been in sort of… takes away from it?

Especially the idea that he just goes back to hermitcraft like normal. That’s often what ruins fics for me personally, when a character talks about how stressful it is or whatever and another character says “don’t worry we’ll be back in (“home” server) after this” I’m like man WHAT. Where’s the stakes NOW?? I will say that sometimes it feels necessary to give them a place to go afterwards, so it’s not ALWAYS bad and even with my own fic ideas I often think “damn maybe I need to do that even tho I don’t like it”

Even aside from stakes, because I can get wanting to give these guys a proper break from the death games, I feel like it changes their characters too much. Like, I want to focus on how exactly they played their characters in 3L, LL, DL, etc. But now you’re telling me I have to focus on their relationships in OTHER servers I don’t even WATCH? It makes everything they do feel more like an act, like they’re just pretending to have beef in whichever server they’re against each other. Which is closer to real life. Which makes me bored cuz I’m trying to get into the roleplay aspect. They’re pretending to have beef because THEIR CHARACTERS have beef. And the fandom is focused on their characters right? So it makes me so sad that we’ve turned even the CHARACTERS into actors.

To be clear I’m not saying you suck if you like making all the servers connected or whatever. We all enjoy what we enjoy! I do see the value in connecting the servers, it seems like it could be fun, but for some reason it’s the majority in fanon and I’m so confused about that cuz it feels more like an au. I just wish there were people I could talk to who don’t connect the servers like that haha. Don’t stop what ur doing tho

[enigmaticvariation]

C!Phil is a cool character, y’all are just mean

I feel like a lot of you don’t understand c!Phil and his motivations very well, so as a c!Phil enjoyer I’ll give you my thoughts.

A lot of you aren’t thinking about what this must be like from c!Phil’s perspective. He had absolutely know idea what was happening when he first joined the server, (hell, he didn’t even know who Schlatt was.) He didn’t know what L’manberg stood for, what people sacrificed for it, what it meant to them. Just that his son needed help and he was the only person who could provide that help. 

He came to L'manberg to save his son, realized his son had been severely traumatized and mentally broken without him being able to do anything, was forced to kill his son which was deeply traumatizing, and then his son came back as a living reminder of what he did so he could never escape the pain he felt. He didn't understand the political ramifications of what Techno did, just that people were being awful to him and so he went to go support him because Techno was the person he knew the best out of everyone and he wanted to hang out with him and help him heal. I don’t think cc!Phil was aware if Tommy was his son or not in canon, so he had no reason to check up on him within the lore. Techno was his best friend and he wanted to make sure he was ok. He stated from the beginning that he wanted to be a neutral party and that he didn’t want to be in L’manberg, but no one listened to him.

 Then, people wanted to hurt Techno and instead of selling out the closest person to him he had his house ransacked and his things stolen and was put under house arrest. Then he saw they kidnapped Techno and was forced to watch him get publicly executed right in front of him with no trial. He only saw injustice and hurt come from L'manberg from day one, so naturally he agreed with Techno and wanted to help out his friend (plus he wanted to blow stuff up because he's Phil.) He had no idea about the abuse Tommy suffered at the hands of Dream so he had no qualms helping him. He just knew that L'manberg was an unjust society that in his eyes only caused harm and that it should be gone. The bit with Ghostbur was a bit fucked, I’m not trying to say he’s perfect but I think that he has his reasoning. He just wanted to show everyone how fucked the society they created was because all he knew about it was that it was what killed his son and ruined his best friends life.

Another thing I feel like mentioning, I feel like a lot of people’s judgement of c!Phil has been completely clouded by fanon. The Fanon Phil we built up in our heads before November 16th was a very kind and loving father who’s completely family oriented and came to the smp to be everyone’s therapist and help them heal from their trauma. That’s not what happened, nor would it have ever happened. Cc!Phil isn’t really a roleplayer or an actor, he likes writing backstory and lore for his projects using environmental storytelling, (go watch his hardcore series please I’m begging you go do it.) Thus, while he likes being a part of the lore and has thought out character motivations, he primarily just wants to hang out with Techno and blow things up because that’s what’s fun for him and comes the most natural. Phil in all iterations is a man of chaos. Need I remind you that he completely annihilates and then rebuilds biomes for fun IN HARDCORE MODE. Plus, you’d know this if you watched smp earth, (smp earth gives a lot of insight into c!Phil because he was playing a more subtle version of the same character in that,) his chaos is heightened around Techno. In his words “being around Techno makes him see blood in the water.” They were called the Blood God and the Angel of Death for christ sake. We should have known from the start he would take any opportunity available to him to fuck shit up with Techno. From the beginning I was advocating for this because it’s fun to watch and it’s what Techno and Phil have fun doing together. He was never going to be what everyone wanted him to be, and by inadvertently  pushing him into that box people seemed to forget that he was a complex character who had motivations in his own right, not just in relation to others. People do this a lot in general, both cc!Phil and c!Phil are often only recognized by their roles in a group setting and not what they do on their own. 

TL;DR: C!Phil is a very interesting and well thought out character and I think that he had reason to do what he did. Like all characters on the smp however, he is morally grey. Also, in general we should think of Phil as his own person and not primarily define him by his relationships

Also, please watch Phil’s hardcore series, it’s so fucking good. There’s cool lore, and it deserves more love from the fandom as it is its own cool thing, he puts so much love and care into it!

[autumnslance]

how do you get into roleplaying on a ff server? like how do you do it and how do you know if your character is lore compliant? ;A; pls youre a big inspo to me

*Hugs Nonny* Getting into RP on a FF server can vary; I don’t actually RP much these days, outside of some friends I already have connections to--and that in itself can be difficult just due to Life! It can take time, and patience, and some fits and starts.

And this gets...really really long, so buckle up and go below the cut, please. :)

The cut got broken by an edit. Sigh.

In game there’s always the RP status tag, and just doing RP with folks in public spaces. There may be trolls now and then, but they can be ignored. I personally find Balmung’s Quicksand area too busy and anxiety inducing and not actually all that conducive to actual RP, even “meet at a tavern” walk-up type. But unless you already have a ready-made group of friends/FCmates willing to RP more than some random walk-ups with you, it may take some legwork to find folks you can and want to write with.

Social Media There are a couple of RP community blogs, like @mooglemeet​ and @ffxiv-crystal-rp​  and plenty of server-specific ones. There’s also some Discords for these communities. They host and advertise events and reblog people who are looking for RP contacts. Some of them have running gdoc calendars and in game linkshells and fellowships as well.

Shofie has a good post about Tumblr/social media RP blogging.

@shofie-ffxiv

It’s a fact now that social media outside game is a way to make contacts, or even a medium for RP itself. There are few centralized websites/forums for server RP communities anymore. Making connections over your social media, like Tumblr and Twitter, can help find RP. You can’t just throw your own character info out there or reblog prompts hoping others bite, though; you have to put in some work and show interest in others, too. This can be difficult and even scary. That’s OK.

RP is about collaboration and creating with other people, which means finding folks you can write with, and who see you as someone interesting but also interested in them and their OCs. If you want to keep it a solo endeavor focused on your own OCs, write fanfic (which I’ve actually made friends and gotten RP interests that way too through comment interactions, so hey).

If you reblog a prompt from someone, see others on your dash reblogging prompts, if people reblog that prompt post from you? Send them asks! Alternatively, don’t wait for prompts, just send asks, comments, or chats saying hello and things you notice or like about their blog/character/posts they make. Try to form connections with people you think are genuinely interesting and might be fun to talk with. Social media should be, well, social.

BUT respect boundaries, too. Don’t try sarcasm or jokes with people you don’t actually know, it tends to go over poorly. Unless someone’s specifically posting a naughty meme/prompt, keep stuff you others send clean and polite, especially if it’s unsolicited and you’re not already friends (doubly so if you don’t know how old they are IRL, there are laws you do not want to break). Respect if people aren’t open to random asks or chatting with new followers, or say “no” to RP, and know it’s not personal--it’s just what they have time, energy, and emotional/mental capacity for. Don’t give up on other people, though. This stuff can take time and effort to find those you click with.

Respect and communication with RP partners is pretty key.

Do curate your feeds and don’t be afraid to unfollow/mute/block folks, either. I’m selective in who I follow and remove as needed, too, for my own mental health. I miss so much of the discourse and drama and that’s fine by me. Also it costs nothing to not step in on a lot of the drama when it does pass in sight.

Profiles I have static RP profile pages for my girls here on Tumblr (and a lot of other static links and pages, but I’m weird about organizing like that). This way, if people want to write with me, send me prompts, if I sent them prompts, or they want to otherwise interact with my characters, the information is handily available. For some folks, this makes all the difference in who they choose to interact with: how easily can they find even basic info about your OC?

Some people make Carrds. Some folks have gdoc links, or use Dreamwidth, etc. Just keep the links in the blog’s sidebar menu, and/or in the blog desc so people can see ‘em on mobile. There are templates out there, or you can make your own. Feel free to snag mine if you’d like. A lot of times people also copy their profiles to rebloggable posts when looking for RP contacts. Profiles are a good way to let folks know just the at-a-glance basics about your character(s).

I picked a simple theme with a simple layout that makes it easy to add and show off links. I put them in the blog desc to make them easy to find on mobile, too.

[Images: links from my blog sidebar menu showing how over organized I am]

RP, Stories, Lore Post some stories or RP logs (with permission of others involved) or even just random little blurbs and headcanons, as well as any screenshots, art, aesthetic posts for your OCs. Have something of interest to show for your character, too, so some of those folks your interacting with have something of their own to see and ask about!

If possible, try some light RP with friends and FC Mates who are amenable. Go to events, even if just to lurk at first. When you do get up the nerve to talk to people, don’t try to throw a character’s entire backstory at them, or try to steal the limelight--RP is collaboration, back and forth, and a lot like real conversation. Maybe come up with little light things to talk about if asked; a recent adventuring job, a silly shopping incident, etc. They can break the ice or just give you something to reply with for a few minutes.

Lore Compliance is Variable. Some people really want lore compliance, others are OK bending it here and there, while still others throw it out the window entirely. If you want to be super lore compliant...read. There’s a LOT of information, in game and out, for finding lore; from official publications and website material, to tools like Garland Tools site, to compilation blogs like @mirkemenagerie.

Note what’s important for your concept. Narrow it down. Characters aren’t going to know or be or do everything, so only worry about what’s necessary for the base idea. And be flexible; it’s SE’s sandbox, we just play in it, and they can change things any time. They usually do it in the guise of characters not knowing/having all the correct information, at least, but also some places just don’t exist in game yet so we don’t have info.

I’m unspecific about a lot of elements of Aeryn’s childhood, for instance, other than “traveling merchants near Thavnair.” I don’t have to be super specific. I can keep most details vague, and focus on her family and those relationships.

Dark, as my first character, has a fairly simple backstory that I’ve expanded on and adjusted over time as I learned and came up with new info. I also bet no one remembers I originally said Dark was from the North Shroud. I’ve changed things (now from East Shroud, due to the proximity to Gyr Abania and its Hellsguards) as I learned more about the world and my character. You don’t want to change things willy-nilly, but sometimes being flexible and smoothing down some rough edges and making small changes can be fine, especially as one gets more lore over time.

Iyna has a pretty detailed backstory, that came from a basic idea, and checking dates in the pre-Calamity timeline. I based her being taken and trained the way she was not only on what info we have about Garlemald’s imperial practices with conquered provinces, but borrowed a bit from real life and the re-education schools many Native Americans were forced into (though I haven’t gone into detail on that yet, either). I tied the turning point in Iyna’s life to a major event that wasn’t the Calamity, and have left plenty of space in between for me to fill in as time goes on and I learn more about her and the world.

The world isn’t static, and is bigger and more diverse than what can be shown in the game. There’s space in the margins for plenty of weird stuff and contradictions or unusual cases. So read up on what you can, ask questions, and then find where in those spaces your OC fits. Then, find people who enjoy similar tastes in lore compliance (or non-compliance), and who enjoy playing with you and your OCs, and not worrying about the rest. Can’t please everyone, nor get along with everyone, so don’t try; just find what works for you, and who works with you, and don’t police anyone else’s pretendy fun times, either.

There’s no magic answer on the “right” amount of lore compliance, or how to quickly and easily find RP partners or break into the broader RP community.

I hope this helps at least a little bit! Good luck in finding your niche for RP, and maybe I’ll see you sometime at an event :)

[parugi]

My time in the Jedi Academy RPG community

Alternative title: How I helped destabilize four forums worth of RPG players!

So I recently started posting my first let’s play, and the game I decided to play first is Jedi Academy. My reason for going with this game was not random by any means. In some ways, I attribute many of my current set of interests and skills to it--and not for particularly great reasons. Still, I can’t deny the impact it has had on me, and I feel like it’s worth it to share the absolutely insane experience that I had in the Jedi Academy RPG community back in like, 2003 to 2005ish.

I’ll be the first to admit that some of this is going to sound... very outlandish, but I guarantee that it is all 100% true as far as I can remember it. Unfortunately, for the most part, I only have my word to share, because the forums that hosted all of the evidence for this have been either shut down or archived when InvisionFree/ZetaBoards shifted over to “Tapatalk.”

Anyway, bear with me. This is me performing a sort of self-therapy after 16 years of half-repressing the memories. I’m also not sure quite where to begin, so this might jump around a bit. Again, please bear with me.

For a bit of backstory--Jedi Academy is a Star Wars game. It’s built on a system that is very mod-friendly and possessed a rather large multiplayer community back when it first released--dozens and dozens of servers with up to something like 36 players each, many of which were always full and impossible to get into. And the mod community thrived, too--there were hundreds of downloadable maps, vehicles, character skins, even mods that changed battle stances and mechanics. It was neat.

One mod in particular was called ForceMod 3, which completely revamped the multplayer so that you could select between different classes to play instead of having just a bucket of things to choose without any nuance--from Jedi Apprentices, to Jedi Masters, to smugglers, to Imperial officers followed by Stormtrooper NPCs, even a custom Yuuzong Vong class with its own adjusted mechanics. Each came with its own number of Force points, its own designated weapons, even differences in health/shield distribution. Obviously, this made it perfect for role-playing, and more than one set of users recognized this.

I don’t know exactly when or how my brother and I discovered FM3, but at some point I logged on and noticed something different about the servers being run on it. For one, there were not as many; the most I ever saw was 8 at a time, quite different from the standard 30+ on vanilla multiplayer. More than that, there were servers designated as “RPG” servers, a term I, at the time, had never encountered before. When I first discovered this, there were only three big RPG servers:

ForceMod 3 RPG Server

((RPG_Server))

and one whose name I do not remember; it was something like Jedi Enclave

The third does not matter as much, because it only suffered from the following series of events as a side-effect of the other two causing them. But we’ll get to that.

Also of note, this list would later include [[RPG_Network]]--my server.

Keep that in mind. Its resemblance to ((RPG_Server)) is not an accident.

Also keep in mind that I was 9/10ish at the time.

So, back to the list. I saw these “RPG servers” and joined one--((RPG_Server)). It didn’t click to me that it wasn’t the same as a free-for-all server at first, but I soon realized the difference when I noticed that people weren’t just randomly going around and killing each other. They were interacting as if they were characters.

That was interesting.

Interesting, and yet I thought nothing of it.

A couple of days later, though, I decided to give it a try. And it was fun! And interesting! I got to pretend to be a Jedi instead of just playing as a Jedi! Nice! That was in ((RPG_Server)). And it was super relaxed! Basically we got to do whatever, as long as we were playing characters. It was a nice community, and it got me hooked to RPGs, which I continue to play to this day.

They also had a forum. I would later join it.

But first, I had something to learn about RPG communities: They are not all fun and games.

((RPG_Server)) was not always up; sometimes it would not appear on the list. Usually, but not always. One day it wasn’t there--but FM3RPG was. That was fine; these RPG servers were all pretty lax, right? I’d just join it and do as I do, right?

Wrong.

I joined it, I did my thing--and got pretty immediately kicked.

FM3RPG was more of an “elitist” server--they took their RPG very seriously. That meant that you couldn’t play as certain classes without approval. In fact, unless I’m remembering incorrectly, you could not join the server at all without first getting a character approved on the forum. This was not a simple process, particularly for a 9 year old. They expected an elaborate character sheet to be submitted, with a full history and details down to the character’s height and weight.

I joined the forum. I submitted a character. I didn’t get approved.

That’s fine. ((Server)) was back up, so I went there and joined the forum, and that was dandy. But that also made me not like FM3RPG, so I didn’t go back there. I did ghost their forum, though, and it became clear that they held a low opinion of ((Server)) because ((Server)) wasn’t as stringent as FM3RPG.

IMO, that was a blessing. But not everyone thought that way.

Quick side-note--FM3RPG had a specific moderator who became infamous within the community for many, many reasons. This person went by Naru. Naru was petty to the point of banning players for expressing political views that they did not agree with.

Keep Naru in mind.

I don’t have a great recollection of what all occurred in ((RPG_Server)) before everything went to shit, but I think it was mostly fine. There were a set of three mods who had created the place, and these were the only mods/admins when I joined. They were Subrerec, Mose, and I think Maverick was the third one? They would later be joined by Marrin (replacing Tarrin, who supposedly died in a car accident about a month in (and I only say supposedly because Marrin and Tarrin were... suspiciously similar people in hindsight) and Aitrus, my friend who actually was very helpful in showing me the ropes.

Later-later, they would be joined by Docco.

Oh, Docco.

Docco was actually my friend for a while. Pretty much everyone was, actually. It was a good community when I first joined. But I was not good at accepting changing times, so that didn’t last--and here’s why.

The first crack in the structure, so to speak, came from a really petty conflict. There were these official profile avatars available on the Jedi Academy website. Subrerec, Mose, and Mav all had one, as did Marrin. I liked them, so I used one. It got reverted. I thought that was weird so used it again. Mose reverted it again and gave me a warning because “Only the mods got to use those.”

Twas a very petty thing to get someone in trouble over, and it made me dislike Mose. But whatever, find a different avatar and move on.

The second crack was a certain player named Dorian Remedy. Dorian was an... immigrant of sort from FM3RPG. He had played there and then joined ((Server)). Note, however, that he didn’t leave FM3RPG, he merely also joined ((Server)).

He was also the biggest fucking prick that I have ever had the displeasure to encounter to this day.

His modus operanti was to criticize. Not in a constructive way, either, but in the rudest way possible. And I say that even with hindsight. Dorian made no effort whatsoever to come off with any sort of empathy or tact, because he didn’t care--he was the embodiment of the elitism that pervaded FM3RPG. Anyone who wasn’t interested in a more structured RPG system, he couldn’t be bothered to give the time of day to, because they were too incompetent to understand why FM3RPG’s system was superior.

I was one of those people. Because I was 9. Do I think differently now? Certainly. At the time? No. And would I act anything like he did if I were in that boat? Hell no.

The problem with Dorian was that it didn’t matter how rude he was, because the mods, particularly Mose, agreed with him and wanted to revamp ((Server)) into a lighter version of FM3RPG. That itself was not a problem, but because of it, they would not take any sort of action against Dorian regardless of how he talked to anyone. Maybe I’m exaggerating, but I feel as though that would drive anyone insane.

Dorian would cause many, many problems for me, personally, but he did not cause this particular incident that really broke the camel’s back.

At some point, I had suggested to Subrerec and Mose the introduction of the Sith into the plot. It was a surprisingly good idea for a kid, imo, and I was allowed to do it. So I created a Sith Lord and chose an apprentice. That was my friend Docco.

And that was cool. I had fun. Until I didn’t.

One night I logged on and had this really brief message from Docco and someone else whose name I don’t even remember. It basically just said, “We need you to log on ASAP.”

So I did, because I was 9 and didn’t think to ask questions.

Turns out, they were performing a Sith coup.

They killed my Sith and overthrew me and I wasn’t allowed to do anything about it. I felt hurt and angry and betrayed because they hadn’t given me any indication of what they were planning. I like to think that if they had, I would have been fine with it, but who knows? I was 9, so maybe, or maybe not. Hard to tell.

The short of it is, Dorian made fun of me, Mose didn’t care, Docco didn’t apologize, and I was pissed off. There were some players on my side and some who weren’t. What erupted after that was basically an all-out war of constant fighting and name calling and getting suspended and everything. In a matter of weeks--or maybe days? Months? Time is an abyss--the forum had gone from something great to just this cesspool of people constantly at each others’ throats.

I was mad and decided to split off and make my own forum with my brother (also involved in all of this, unfortunately) and a friend who went by Mara Jade. We made a forum called RPG: Palace of RPers (a very not-redundant name) and it lasted about a week before Mara Jade gave admin rights to Dorian, who proceeded to change everything and locked the three of us out.

So that was the second betrayal by a friend in less than two weeks. I did not talk to Mara Jade after that. And I was stuck in ((Server)) because I am not a quitter--even at 9.

Around this same time, someone else joined the forum, and this is where things went from just a singular forum issue and cross-contaminated the entire community.

FM3RPG ousted Naru. Naru’s already tenuous popularity had tanked. And why? For a couple of reasons. One, Naru was not a teen girl, as she had claimed, but a 30-something year old man. On top of that revelation, it came out that Naru had engaged in cybersex with several underage children.

So Naru was banned from FM3RPG.

Someone named Cassandra joined ((Server)).

Immediate. Chaos.

Some people figured out pretty quickly that they were the same person. Some were doubtful but said they should get a chance even if it was true. Some just did not believe it.

I was 9 and did not believe it.

I did not believe it because Cassandra was on my side in the Sith debacle and was nice to me and Dorian, Docco, and Mose did not like her so therefore I should like her.

Docco and Mose tried to convince me otherwise and I ignored them because I was mad at them about my Sith. Dorian continued to make fun of me.

More and more people were starting to catch on, though, and at some point it was just me left defending Cassandra. Around that time, my brother and I made another forum, with help from some different friends (Reverser, Bane, Heero, Inuyasha, Duo, and Cyran Ciin--remember that last one). This was [[RPG_Network]]. We set it up and actually were able to host a server on occasion because of Reverser. So that was cool--we were sort of official.

But there was still the Cassandra issue.

I can only guess that Docco and Mose and others were just frustrated with trying to--what I realize in hindsight--protect us from an actual, straight-up child predator. I say this because they joined the [[Network]] forum and just started causing chaos, spamming and using what I consider highly disgusting images for their avatars and signatures.

They made it pretty clear what would make them stop, and that was banning Cassandra.

Which I did, but not because of their stipulation.

Around the time we got our server running, ForceMod 3 updated and did something... interesting. Whenever someone joined a server, it would show that they were joining, and it would show their IP address. At some point, Naru joined a server--don’t remember which one--and we got a picture of “her” IP.

IPs were also visible to admins of InvisionFree forums.

Naru and Cassandra had the same IP.

She tried to tell me that it was done via proxy, but even a 9 year old can experience clarity.

So I banned Cassandra from [[Network]].

I’m lucky to say that I had this revelation before anything bad happened. So I have that to be thankful for.

Anyway.

((Server)) shifted officially to a strict system like FM3RPG. It still bore the ire of FM3RPG because FM3RPG was the only “real” RPG server. Dorian got what he wanted and made sure to lord that over everyone. I didn’t want to stay, so I left and went to [[Network]].

And you know? That could have been the end of it. It really could have. But people like Dorian can’t just let kids be. So instead of letting the servers coexist--maybe not peacefully, but certainly coexist--he instead made a point of popping onto [[Network]] not infrequently to throw his weight and insults around.

I wanted to ban him, others wanted to give him his chances.

That splintered the [[Network]] admins.

Some other things also splintered the [[Network]] admins, including these key points:

Revenge of the Sith had come out pretty recently and some of us, myself included, thought a Jedi Purge copycat would be cool. Others did not. None of us agreed on what to do.

Inuyasha did this plot in [[Network]] where a 17ish year old Jedi apprentice got captured by a Hutt and violated by said Hutt’s Twi’lek slave. It was not vague what happened. I was not a fan.

Myself and Bane concocted a plot to kill multiple characters. This included multiple of Inuyasha’s characters. Bane later went public with this. This was very hypocritical of me and I am now ashamed of my involvement. It stemmed entirely from the previous point.

Everything after this is kind of a blur. The [[Network]] stuff was going on in 2005 just before my family moved to Oregon, and after we moved I kind of just dropped out--mainly because all of this drama had spread so far and wide that a large chunk of the entire RPG playerbase had up and quit. That and I’m pretty sure my account was banned from ((Server)) at some point. I do know that during that time, my remaining Jedi character was killed in their Jedi Purge. I do have to give Dorian some credit for giving Master Kyle South a cool death scene, if nothing else.

Anyway, [[Network]] was basically dead by the time we moved, ((Server)) was barely on its last leg, and FM3RPG was ruined because of Dorian’s attitude across Network, Server, and Enclave (which also just died without much fanfare). At some point my brother attempted a revival of [[Network]], but that did not really take off and the entire thing just became a board full of spam.

Buuut that revival was after a certain event that served, I think, as just the final nail in the coffin.

And that was caused by one Cyran Ciin.

I was not around to witness this, but here is what I understand occurred:

Cyran Ciin did something to [[Network]]. This basically killed it. I don’t know what he did exactly, just that there was something done.

This got him in the good graces of Mose, and he became an admin on ((Server))’s forum.

However, Cyran Ciin was actually also from FM3RPG originally, and had a thing against ((Server)) and the other RPG servers. So, now an admin, he was free to just completely demolish ((Server))’s forum.

Just, everything moved into a trash bin, the forums rearranged, the background changed to a spam image, and all of the other mods and admins revoked of their privileges.

Karma? Maybe. 

Additional karma? Those actions getting Cyran Ciin banned from FM3RPG.

He didn’t care, though. He thought it was hilarious. I think he was an actual sociopath.

Anyway, FM3RPG was done. Their players had a reputation now and no one wanted to be associated with them. That’s my assumption, anyway. They might’ve just died to time like everyone else.

It doesn’t matter, though. The FM3 RPG community was dead--r.i.p 2003-2006ish.

There is an epilogue of a sort.

((Server))’s forums and [[Network]]’s forums were dead, but not gone--for a while. I found I was able to get back to both by correctly recalling their addresses--s6_invisionfree.com/rpg_server and I believe it was z11_invisionfree.com/rpg_network. Neither works now, of course, but they did for a time.

My brother gave me his login information for Network, so I was able to look around and see all the great things I had missed after the reboot. Luckily everything else was gone--during the reboot they had completely wiped the forums of everything from the first run, including the evidence of what I had done as a bad admin. That was nice. But I didn’t like what I saw, so I locked the forum, forgot the login information, and only occasionally looked at it via a throwaway account that I had made under the name of boxabox (password: boxabox).

The forum is gone with the change to Tapatalk, so that information is all useless now.

The real “heartwarming” epilogue comes from ((Server)). For a while, again, the forums remained accessible, and so I logged on back in like, 2013 or 2014. Surprisingly there was a thread that ran for a few days where someone was basically like “yo anyone still around?” A few people responded, including Docco, which was astounding. No Dorian, which was great.

Somehow I still remembered my login and password (although I don’t now) and decided to post on there.

The initial response was, unsurprisingly, not friendly, but long story short, Docco and I made amends and never spoke again after that.

By what I am sure is sheer coincidence, the forum got locked only a couple of weeks later, with only admin access enabled. So everything from there was already gone, and is now double-gone with the switch to Tapatalk.

I did discover that FM3RPG’s forum remains open, though. I won’t link to it because I don’t want to, but if you really want to, you can certainly find it--no login required.

Aaand that’s that. That’s my sordid history with the Jedi Academy RPG community. I won’t say I killed it, because that would be taking way too much burden of the responsibility, but... Well, let’s just say that I found a wikipedia-esque article about this same community several years back and I was mentioned as an important figure in everything that transpired. I have no idea where that page is now, but hey, it existed at some point, so I gotta own it.

Peace.

[neothebard]

My time here is done.

Most anyone reading this that just stumbled upon it don’t know who I am, but those that do know me that got this link know me very well.

Hi, I’m known on Moon Guard as Neo Starstrider, Void Elf Hunter (High Elf Paladin in a previous life) though in the past I have gone by ‘The Doctor’ Andalian Morrison, Human Chronomancer and Illusionist best known for his time in Pyrebird Sodality. As well as Cillvia ‘The Fox’ Morrison, Human Rogue who climbed the ranks of the Melrony Crime Family to become its Underboss before stabbing Selvetore Melrony in the back (both IC and OOC, get to that in a bit.) and leaving to form her own company, Morrison Shipping and Trade, aka The Morrisons. But before that, I was simply Neo, a Human Paladin from Sargeras that raided and posted penis macros in trade chat.

Why am I writing all of this? Well, I’ve come to a turning point in my life where I have to start doing things a bit differently. And the thing I need to do different is cancel my WoW Subscription.

This is going to be a long story. So if you wish to keep reading, go ahead. If you wanna skip it and go straight to my reasoning for leaving, just go until you get to the break.

I was first introduced to WoW when I was in High School. I was having a get together at my house with some friends when one of them found my computer and began to download the game onto it. I asked him what that was and he said “This is World of Warcraft.” He let me create an Undead Warrior to play with for a bit. I enjoyed it quite a bit. But it wasn’t until that summer that I really got hooked onto that game.

Another friend of mine got me to play with him. This time I played a Night Elf Druid and boy oh boy was that a fun experience leveling. I only got him to level 12 before I stopped for a few months but it was still tons of fun! After a short break, I came back and made a Human Paladin on Sargeras known as Neotar. That same friend that was playing with me before made a Night Elf Hunter named Adremmalech and we both decided that we were going to get to max level with these characters no matter what.

We leveled and leveled and we both hit level 40 the day Burning Crusade was released. To celebrate our accomplishment, we ran our level 40 mounts all the way to the Exodar from Stormwind to check out the new Alliance city. Needless to say, it was super dope! But we weren’t done. We continued the Vanilla grind to level 60, stepped through the Dark Portal for the first time and were in absolute awe. What an experience it was to see that giant pit lord standing at the bottom of the stairs. The musical score blasting in our headphones. So much fun and great memories.

We blasted up to level 70 and soon got our first taste of gearing up to raid. I had some shortcomings being a Paladin as I didn’t want to only be a healer. Luckily, Prot was developing into something fun and challenging so I took it! Our entire time in BC was spent mostly in Karazahn, Gruul’s Lair, Mag’s Lair, and Zul’Aman. He went on to raid with a group that got into Hyjal and Black Temple on a regular basis while I stayed behind (mostly due to time restraints due to school.) But it was one of the most fun times I had playing this game.

When Wrath came out, we transferred servers to Drak’theron and met a guy that to this day is one of the nicest and kindest person I’ve ever met and am proud to call my friend (he also DM’s my weekly D&D games). We became members of his guild and went all the way to ICC 11/12 Heroic with him. A lot of accomplishments made with that guy and it was a lot of fun.

But that was the peak of my raiding experience as I stopped raiding when Cataclysm came out. I still wanted to play the game but didn’t know what else to do. So I gave RP a shot. I looked up an excellent guide on wowpedia, made a mage on Moon Guard, and went to town! I walked into the Cathedral district for the first time and was genuinely amazed by all the people there, acting out their characters.

I was hooked instantly.

I quickly leveled up this mage, known as Andalian Morrison, and joined a guild that I believe was called Kingdom of Arathor. I learned so much about Arathi Highland lore being in that guild (mostly research I had done) and decided to make my mage be from Arathi. Eventually I made him an entire family: 3 older brothers and 1 older sister. Cerious, Nethran, Cillvia, and Edrayne. I eventually made Cillvia into a rogue I had and transferred her to the server where I then was approached by Selvetore Melrony to join the Melrony Crime Family.

Crime RP was a new experience for me (much like all RP was) and I learned quick that RP Fighting was full of a lot of drama if you didn’t communicate effectively. But the stories told were fun and I had fun. Though like a lot of things, this RP came with a lot of OOC drama and for better or for worse, I let it get to me and run how my RP was. Rather than talk things out with Selvetore, I plotted with his other officers and we all left and made our own guild, The Morrisons.

I can’t say if I had just left on my own if things would be different but the whole experience taught me that talking things out with your guild mates might end in someone leaving but it’s better than essentially ruining someones day through shady means.

Running the Morrisons was challenging. We didn’t know exactly what we wanted to be. Half of us wanted to be crime RPers, the other half just wanted to be entertainers. Either way, we did our best. I ended up disbanding due to time restraints IRL but eventually I came back around on Andalian and joined up with the Pyrebird Sodality, the GM being Kenny.

Kenny was a lot of fun to be around and still is a very creative person. I learned a lot about RP from her as well (even though I had well over a couple years of experience at that point). She taught me a lot about running a guild as well. I stuck by that guild until time ran out for it and switched then to my paladin, Neo Starstrider, freshly transferred from Sargeras.

I used my raiding experience as his backstory and eventually landed on him being a devout Champion of the Argent Crusade, joining up with House Ravenshield in the process. I never let OOC dictate my actions with this character as IC was my only driving force.

Eventually Neo cut ties with the Crusade due to their inability to do anything about Sylvanas and her plague. He joined up with Elizabeth Embershield and the Embershield Protectorate and that’s pretty much where his story is concluding. He will be retiring from active service to take care of himself and his kids (if Telriah so wishes it.)

I will say this about Embershield: It is the best guild I have ever had the pleasure of being a part of. 

Telriah is an amazing world builder and a great friend. I love him to death and I hope he continues to run this guild well after I leave. It’s been a pleasure to work with him in building the guild up and I loved every minute of it.

Linaly, Teanuu, Ainsling, Talen, Dubz, Keak, Garion, Nesara, Elbert, Kamarill, Trisana, Walorian and even you Moonsworn, I love you all so very much and I hope you continue to be the amazing people you are.

So if you read all of that, I congratulate you on getting this far. If you skipped to this part that’s cool too. But as I said before, my time in wow has come to an end.

My reasons for quitting are as follows:

1: WoW is just not fun for me anymore. Not even RP can keep me playing this game, sadly enough. I’ve played this game for over 13 years. I had so much fun raiding and jumping into RP. But the current iteration of this game is just not appealing to me anymore. I don’t like world quests, I don’t like the rep grinds, I don’t like the raiding or the PVP. I could go on and on with a lot of the things I don’t like (and to be honest they’re probably things you read or hear about on a daily basis) but it’s just plain and simple: Wow isn’t fun for me anymore.

2: I’m studying to become an Computer Tech and all of the things that follow that path. I am also wanting to start up my YouTube/Twitch project once more and don’t want WoW to be pulling me down.

3: In July 2017, I met the woman that I want to marry. At the time that I write this, we’ve been together for 15 months. She’s moved in with me, she’s decorated the apartment, we put up a Christmas Tree (the first one I’ve ever put up since living on my own). We have a cat, I buy her roses every chance I get, I love her family and she loves mine. It’s as simple as this: Every time I’ve had a choice between wow and spending time with her, I chose her.

Well, there’s that. I hope everyone reading this enjoyed my story and enjoyed the things I had to say. If you want to keep tabs on me, I’ll still be on Discord. My Twitter, Twitch, and YouTube Handles are SgtMajorCool. I believe they’re in my profile as well if you take a gander. But that’s that.

[fulcrum-agent]

Shipping Meme

Answer the following for your muse so people know how shipping works on your blog.

WHAT IS YOUR OTP FOR YOUR CHARACTER?:

Ashla is currently in a formal courtship, though it's a bit tricky because the person plays a character using the same name and concept on both Balmung and Mateus, but they're not the same timeline - the one on Mateus was a sort of reboot, so to speak, while the one on Balmung has history dating back to the start of the game. We're still trying to figure out how to handle the new server visiting thing, since the Ashe on Balmung and the Ashe on Mateus are the same person, from an RP standpoint.

WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO WRITE WHEN IT COMES TO SHIPPING?

I prefer longer term build-ups than a lot of people do, and they have to be organic. I'm willing to pre-plan some things for shipping RP, but most of it still has to stem naturally from the RPs.

As far as sensual/sexual RP goes, that really varies from partner to partner, and usually takes a long while to happen, as I have to really know the person OOC before I'd be comfortable with it. Till then, if such is supposed to occur from RP, it's fade-to-black and handwave discussions.

I'm also favourable to non-romantic ships. Not everything has to be a romantic paring to be fun.

HOW LARGE DOES THE AGE GAP HAVE TO BE TO MAKE IT UNCOMFORTABLE?

Given that Ashla is an adult, ten or eleven years is about the upper limit, though something close to that could be negotiable for a romantic ship. My own parents in real life were midway between that distance in years (10.5-ish), so it's not a wholly foreign idea to me. A lot of people on my dad's side of the family had similar age gaps.

Non-romantic ships are way more negotiable, especially if there’s a hardset “it’s not going to become romantic ever” involved.

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WHEN SHIPPING?

Hellaciously.

Primarily, my concern lies in communication between partners, as all too often, there's not enough communication, and someone gets burned. Often, both parties end up feeling burned, because the lack of communication inevitably leads to some sort of argument. This, of course, makes it harder and harder for a person to be willing to do any kind of ship, with romantic ships becoming too dangerous of ground to walk on.

This post here that I reblogged covers a lot of how I feel about shipping/having an RP partner. If you can't live up to this, then it just won't work.

HOW FAR DO STEAMY MOMENTS HAVE TO GO BEFORE THEY ARE CONSIDERED NSFW?

Near the point where clothes start coming off. There're times when even some sensual RP where the clothing hasn't come off will cross into NSFW territory, depending upon the actions being done.

WHO ARE OTHER THE CHARACTERS YOU SHIP YOUR CHARACTER WITH?

A courtship between Ashe and my RL boyfriend's character on Mateus was started, but it's sort of in a stalled state right now. He's long been on Balmung with a character of the same name, and their stories are completely separate. The one on Balmung is even married, with a kid or two, and his mind has been shattered a bit.

Given that I was playing the Ashla on both servers as the same character, that's become rather complicated rather fast. With the upcoming server visits, it'll become significantly more complicated and weird. He's talking about changing the character's name, so once that's done, this may work out better.

There's some sort of ship going on with Ashe and Jurien Ashur. They're becoming good friends. But interesting overtones are happening there. It sort of oscillates and melds between Estelle and Yuri from Tales of Vesperia, Kōsei and Kaori from Your Lie in April, and Rapunzel and Flynn from Tangled.

DOES ONE HAVE TO ASK TO SHIP WITH YOU?:

There's this thing about consent and role-play, and this'd fall underneath that. While shipping can occur during RP, if you turn up and have that intention from the beginning, for the love of all that his holy, you better tell me about it. I don't mind if it's something that develops organically from two characters who we don't intend for that to happen to. But if that's the premise from the start, please own up to it.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU LIKE TO SHIP?

I'm not entirely sure how to quantify that question, because the first near five years I was around in XIV, I had a steady RP partner who had three of four characters shipped with two or three of mine.  I've had one actually played, predominantly platonic, ship since then (prior to sort of starting something with the boyfriend's character, and the new thing with Jurien).

Prior to that, in GW2, I didn't really have much of a ship going on; my Sylvari chilled out with this other Sylvari, but we never had it go anywhere - it was mostly to keep people from hounding us for relationship RP. In SW: TOR, my main character (I didn't really play any other much) was with the same person for my time in the game, and the two and a half years leading up to that, when we were creating backstory and our guild there (the character was played by my ex-fiancee). Aion I started something with someone I knew from EQ2, but they got immensely weird OOC, and that ended by the time we were working on TOR stuff. Prior to that, I had a like two ships with the same player on different characters, and then I had a two ships over the entire first three expansions of Star Wars Galaxies. I didn't really have much of one in EQ1, because I was kinda often too busy for it.

It either could be considered "not often", or more like frequent "steady, long-term" ships?

ARE YOU SHIP OBSESSED OR SHIP MORE-OR-LESS?:

I'm not to preoccupied with getting characters into a ship - the fact Ashe keeps falling into them is super weird to me. I can get a little hyper focused on a ship (platonic or romantic) due to weaving into my storytelling, but it's not some sort of goal I have. I've kept most of my characters out of them, especially since the abusive ex was tossed out.

ARE YOU MULTISHIP?

I'm going to assume this question is about romantic shipping.

I've done it before. My original main was in a relationship with two of the abusive ex's characters (one male and one female character). She later had a relationship that was heading towards a Buffy and Spike dynamic, that started before the ex was kicked out, but didn't go far due to not playing much after the breakup.

Generally, it'd depend on the character, and the people involved. If things pan out with the guy courting Ashe, and ICly he doesn't want her to see other people, then that's how it'll work. If not, then it'll be more open-ended.

Now, if we're talking more than romantic ships, I'm chill with multiple platonic ships, so long as the communication is good, and they don't conflict unless it's something hat makes sense and is fun for everyone. Should anyone not be having fun, then things get changed so everyone can still have fun. That kinda goes for either type of ship.

WHAT IS/ARE YOUR FAVOURITE SHIP(S) IN YOUR CURRENT FANDOM?:

I always loved the "Haurchefaunt is adventurer sexual" thing. Where basically, Haurchefaunt has a thing for adventurers in general, and since the WoL is the consummate adventurer, he falls hard for the WoL.

I also really liked Ysayle and Estinien, and I will never forgive SQEX for that kick to the feels.

FINALLY, HOW DOES ONE SHIP WITH YOU?:

As mentioned above, if you're interested in that from the beginning, please just be up front about it. If the interest develops after RP, but the RP itself hasn't gotten that far or given much signs of it, talk to me about it. If it starts looking like it's heading that way, I'll talk to you about it - possibly even mid-RP, if the RP suddenly takes that turn.

Tagged by Stolen From: @alisaie-leveilleur

Tagging: Anyone that hasn’t done it and wishes to.

[lizabethstucker]

Ex Libris: Stories of Librarians, Libraries & Lore

Edited by Paula Guran

Twenty-three tales of fantasy and science fiction that contain libraries and librarians as well as the magic of books.  An absolutely wonderful collection, only one disappointment.  And that was more about style of writing than the premise of the story itself.  4 out of 5.

 “In the House of the Seven Librarians” by Ellen Klages  

When the old Carnegie library was closed and much of its newer content moved to a brand-new library across town, seven librarians remained behind, moving into the library to stay.  Their lives are changed when a baby is left as payment for an overdue book. A suspension of disbelief leads to a strange yet satisfying read.  4.5 out of 5.

 “The Books” by Kage Baker

The Show traveled around the badly decimated U.S., providing entertainment and trade.  In one larger city, three kids explore, stumbling on a library.  All of them are determined to take books back with them, but it might not be that easy.  This was almost like a section of a longer story, one that I'd love to read. Very intense.  Baker does a marvelous job with atmosphere.  3.5 out of 5.

 “Death and the Librarian” by Esther M. Friesner

Death has come at last for Miss Louisa Foster.  Yet even Death can be surprised.  This one came close to tearing my heart out, slamming it on the floor, and stomping on it repeatedly.  5 out of 5.

 “In Libres” by Elizabeth Bear

Despite her thesis being complete, Euclavia is directed to the Library Special Collections to read another source.  Accompanied reluctantly by her centaur friend Bucephalus, they dare to visit the dangerous place.  Definitely dangerous!  There’s a chill tap-dancing along your spine, especially for those readers who have been deep in the bowels of huge, older libraries.  4 out of 5.

 “The King of the Big Night Hours” by Richard Bowes

Memories and suicides in the library.  I’m not certain how I feel about this one.  The writing is exquisite, the plot is intriguing, but the emotions invoked are not comfortable.  If that was the author’s intent, mission accomplished.  3.5 out of 5.

 “Those Who Watch” by Ruthanna Emrys

The library marks Elaine on her third day of work. Already dealing with various health and emotional issues, she must find a way to adapt or leave.  Unusual and intriguing.  Definitely deserves further exploration.  3.5 out of 5.

 “Special Collections” by Norman Partridge

He went to work at the library as suggested by his court-appointed therapist.  He started taking Library Science classes as suggested by the college archivist where he met Daphne.  But there are secrets, deadly secrets swirling around the library and the narrator. More horror than fantasy, not one of my favorites.  Despite ticking off some loved trope boxes, I struggled to finish.  3 out of 5.

 “Exchange” by Ray Bradbury

Working in the library for forty some years is getting to Miss Adams.  Too many children, too many books, too much noise.  Then a former patron arrives after hours looking for a final goodbye before shipping out.  There is no finer writer of fantasy on this planet.  Or maybe it is more accurate to call him a weaver of magic.  5 out of 5.

 “Paper Cuts Scissors” by Holly Black

Justin struggles to find a way to rescue his girlfriend Linda from the book she put herself into after they had a fight.  His best hope is Mr. Sandlin, a man who can bring characters out of books.  Thanks to another, as well as Sandlin, Justin finds answers and a possible solution.  An intriguing premise handled with a delicate touch.  Lovely.  4 out of 5.

 “Summer Reading” by Ken Liu

When mankind left Earth for the stars, the planet was turned into a museum overseen by robots.  CN-344315 was the robot docent of the library.  It had been five thousand years since he last had human visitors.  The servers are gone, but CN-344315 had a tiny room filled with his favorite treasures: a selection of books protected behind an airtight glass.  A visitor reminds CN-344315 of why books are important.  Wow!  I’ve come across Liu’s work in my SF magazines over the years and have always enjoyed his stories.  I do believe this might be one of my favorites.  Short, sweet, and wonderful.  5 out of 5.

 “Magic for Beginners” by Kelly Link

I’m not certain how to explain what this story is about.  There’s a TV series and the characters in this story watch the series yet are also an episode of the same series.  Gave me a bloody headache.  There was so much potential, but it twists around itself until I finally gave up trying to understand it as a bad deal and just slogged through.  Weird beginning, no real ending.  Just a mess.  2.8 out of 5.

 ��The Inheritance of Barnabas Wilcox” by Sarah Monette

Booth is surprised to hear from Barnabas Wilcox, a former classmate and bully.  Wilcox needs someone to catalog his late uncle’s library.  Booth senses something twisted at Hollyhill, the uncle’s estate. Creepy, horror of the emotions rather than blood and guts.  In other words, my kind of horror tale.  4 out of 5.

 “The Midbury Lake Incident” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

When the Midbury Lake Public Library burned to the ground, librarian Mary Beth Wilkins was upset, not only because of the fire, but that she wasn’t notified.  Grief would come later, once Mary Beth has left for a new life.  Very nice, just enough backstory to intrigue the reader. I do wish there had been more. 3.5 out of 5.

 “With Tales in Their Teeth, from the Mountain They Came” by A. C. Wise

After she loses her lover in the War, she goes to the Library on the Mountain, becoming an acolyte now named Alba.  She stries to find solace in the quiet, but mostly struggles. Then she meets a novice named Eleuthere who hides secrets beneath his robes.  Very magical, almost dreamlike.  4 out of 5.

 “What Books Survive” by Tansy Rayner Roberts

When the Invaders came, every electronic device died immediately, even battery-run ones.  Katie Scarlett Marsden was almost halfway through Wuthering Heights when her Kindle died.  Once the town built a barricade, she was separated from the school library.  Wanting more to read, Katie slips past the barricade one night, finding more than she expected.  A very weird dystopian story, enthralling and filled with twists.  4.5 out of 5.

 “The Librarian’s Dilemma” by E. Saxey

Jas was hired to bring libraries into the 21st Century.  Saint Simon’s librarian Moira doesn’t mind the security measures he can provide, but she isn’t interested in sharing the contents of their Special Collection outside the library’s walls.  I understand the dilemma in this story and, frankly, I’m not certain which side I would support in regards to the sharing of dangerous material.  4 out of 5.

 “The Green Book” by Amal El-Mohtar

There is little that I can tell you about the story without spoiling it, so I’ll live it with that it is a story about a mysterious green book and its contents.  I mostly liked it.  I think. Yet it felt like it was more a rough sketch than a complete story.  3 out of 5.

 “In the Stacks” by Scott Lynch

Magical student Laszlo Jazera discovers the dangers of the final assignment for Fifth Year, one he must pass to make it to Sixth Year.  It seemed simple enough, return a book to the Living Library.  The task will be more frightening and intense than he could ever have expected.  There is a tragic sadness throughout this story, but the universe created is horrifyingly compelling.  4.5 out of 5.

 “A Woman’s Best Friend” by Robert Reed

On Christmas Eve, Mary sees a stranger stumbling through the snowy streets of her town. George is confused and frightened, soaked from head to toe. Mary impulsively takes him back to her home in the library. A strange retelling of a classic Christmas film, a mixture of fantasy and science fiction. Interesting, a bit strange at the end. 3.5 out of 5.

 “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler” by Xia Jia

A lonely librarian discovers a book of poetry that might expand his world.  There is magic about this tale that touches the reader’s soul.  I loved how the people who wanted the poetry read and appreciated on its own merits, not for the possible backstory of the author.  4 out of 5.

 “The Sigma Structure Symphony” by Gregory Benford

Ruth is one of many librarians mining for useful information in recordings from the SETI project.  After the death of a fellow librarian, Ruth is asked to take over his task, mining the Sigma Structures.  Math and music, language and love.  Are they simply human-based?  Weird. Confusing.  Engrossing at the time yet left a sour aftertaste.  3 out of 5.

 “The Fort Moxie Branch” by Jack McDevitt

Mr. Wickham, in the process of disposing of his privately published novel, is caught in a blackout. During that darkness, he sees a strange glow in a long empty house.  I love the idea of this story.  A fascinating premise from start to finish.  4 out of 5.

 “The Last Librarian” by Edoardo Albert

Books, actual physical books, have been ignored in favor of uploaded versions or neural inputs.  The librarian at the British Library finagles a way to direct traffic physically into the building.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t go well.  In today’s world, I fear this could happen.  Maybe not now, but very soon.  I was surprised that the narrator remained at the end.  4 out of 5.

[jupitercentre]

answer all the dnd asks, troglodyte! *walks at you like spy tf2*

50 d&d questions

1. What do you think your d&d race would be?

I would say I’d just be a human honestly.

2. What class?

Ok so it would be the homebrew class you made called Gunslinger. Essentially it’s a class that uses guns exclusively and, in certain subclasses, some spells.

3. What two feats would you have?

Alert and Duel wielding 

4. What has been your favorite d&d character you've played? (NPCs count for DMs)

I’m still pretty new to d&d. Only been playing for a bit over a year actually. And I’ve only ever made one character. His name is Flynn and i’m not gonna lie. At first he was just the Doom Slayer but a little bit to the left. But then I actually wrote a backstory and made it my own character. I’m proud of what he’s become :3

5. Which of your d&d characters has been the most like you?

Well going off the fact that I’ve only ever made one character. Flynn has reflected my quite a but. In a lot of situations I actually see myself and not my character.

6. Which of your d&d characters has been the least like you?

I can’t really answer this honestly. 

7. How do you go about making a character or NPC?

I start with a fundamental idea. And just for example purposes. Flynn’s idea was literally just The Doom Slayer. And my reason for picking him is because he’s my favorite character of all time. And then I just keep developing on that until I have a character!

8. What is the most memorable natural 20 you've ever experienced?

At one point in a oneshot our group played we were at the final boss and I was about to do the finishing hit. I got a 20+2 and it was so satisfying to completely destroy it in one hit.

9. Has one of your d&d characters ever died? How?

Flynn has never died. Yet

10. What is your favorite class to play?

The only one I’ve played. Gunslinger!

11. Have you ever fought a dragon?

We haven’t fought an actual dragon but If you want to count a dragonborn then yes. Yes we have

12. Have you ever fought a beholder?

I personally haven’t. But my group has while I was away.

13. Have you ever fought a mind flayer?

We have never touched a mind flayer. As both players and DM’s

14. Have you ever had a romance with an NPC or another PC?

Funny story actually. In Flynn’s backstory his dimension was overrun by demons and they killed everyone he knew and loved. So when he got to the current dimension were playing in. He had ptsd to say the least. (ok maybe not so funny but whatever) So ironically enough after a while I got the ingenious idea to romance a demon that we helped near the beginning of the campaign. And so far it’s been fun to say the least. They go together well :3

15. Do you prefer to DM or play?

Well considering I have little to no DMing skills. I’m required by law to say playing heheh.

16. What is your favorite D&D pod/vodcast?

I haven’t listened to any. I want to listen to the adventure zone but you won’t let me because you want to watch the show with me.

17. Who is your favorite "celebrity dm?"

Matt Mercer. 

18. Do you use props/minis/terrain in your game?

I don’t dm yet. But I have plans too.

19. How did you discover D&D?

My friend @violettherainwing told me about it because you mentioned doing it. So now were here 

20. If you run a homebrew game, give an out of context spoiler.

Initiate Sector Sweep

21. Drop a picture of a mini you painted (if applicable)

I don’t have one

22. Write a brief scene centered around one of your characters!

Ok i’m breaking the rules a little bit I’m gonna describe the interaction between Flynn and Binary.Flynn went up to the roof to just hang out and think but then Binary came up and they started talking about where they both came from and where they think they’ll end up. It’s my favorite interaction between the two and I hope we do it again sometime. 

23. Do you have any art of your characters?

I don’t. Because i’m awful at drawing. And I just haven’t tried to.

24. Have you ever played any TTRPGs other than D&D?

I’ve played 7 seas with my girlfriends mom dming it. It was. And interesting experience to say the lease.

25. What is your favorite snack for d&d?

Toast honestly.

26. If you could have one potion from d&d, which one would you choose?

I don’t really want any of the potions honestly. So instead i’ll take an item. And that would be the ring of gender swapping. Reasons for that are, it’s a one time use thing, and also. I wanna change heheh.

27. If you could cast one spell from d&d, which would you cast?

Fabricate

28. What is the most memorable natural 1 you've experienced?

I got a natural 1 when I got in a drinking contest with Binary.  Flynn got hammered so goddamn fast.

29. Have you ever been drunk playing d&d?

No but I have been high before.

30. Homebrew or prewritten?

Homebrew all the way.

31. Tell me about your current party!

Our party is the embodiment of chaos. We are all stupid. But that’s what makes it good.

32. Most memorable NPC you've encountered in a game you played in.

Karkat Vantis in our d&d campaign Dungeon More Like Fungeon

33. Do you listen to music while playing? What kinds?

I have. Usually it’s what the dm plays. But I occasionally vibe to Camellia, Monstercat or Half alive If i’m not up to what’s playing.

34. Favorite accent to do for characters?

I don’t really do accents because we play on a discord server.

35. Favorite classic d&d trope

Gay bard

36. What was your first d&d character you made?

Flynn was. And he will forever stay my favorite.

37. What is the most recent PC or NPC you've created?

I did have an idea for an npc for my campaign but I can’t say what it is because of spoilers

38. Goblins or Kobolds?

Kobalds. You don’t see them nearly as often.

39. Favorite villain you've defeated?

Flynn’s ptsd lmao

40. What d&d deity would you be a cleric of?

Apollo

41. Give an out of context quote from one of your games!

“I can die for a few hours”

42. Have you ever rolled turn into a potted plant on the wild magic table?

I haven’t done this no

43. Minis and terrain or theater of the mind?

A mixture of both actually. I like a general layout of the area and then the fine details I like making up in my mind

44. Mulligan, Mercer, Murphy, or McElroy?

Matt Mercer.

45. What is the longest session you've ever had?

We played for like 7-8 hours. Maybe even longer. It was fun though :D

46. What is the longest battle you've fought or run?

I don’t remember what it was but it lasted a few hours.

47. Have you ever played at level 20?

Yes I have. It was chaotic! 

48. Does your DM say "How do you want to do this?"

All the time

49. Have you ever played an edition other than 5th?

I haven’t. I don’t think I will to be completely honest.

50. Who is your favorite member of your party aside from your own. God this is difficult. We have so many divers PC’s and NPC’s it’s really hard to come up with a favorite. But after thinking about it for a while. I’m gonna have to say Binary. His design and backstory is extremely unique and he reflects your creativity so well. I’m proud of you!