#also tried making a pirate hunter design

[melonpaya]

I am back with more sketchbook doodles of @lollytea 's neverland au 🫡

[toffiendfee]

Inital D x Solatorobo Crossover AU

...because I warned you this was going to happen.

First of all, if you don't know what I'm talking about: Play Solatorobo. If for some reason you don't want to play this amazing 14 years old DS game, you can go watch this video about it. Please. Do it for me 👀

Additional thoughts (and robots) under the cut:

In this AU, the RedSuns are a hunter guild. They've specialised on escorting airships and fighting off sky pirates. The Takahashis are from a wealthy mostly merchant family based in Spinon, and their parents are not entirely thrilled about their occupation... but not un-thrilled enough to not fund the RedSuns, because they're at least quite useful in keeping their cargo ships safe.

Takumi is either from Spinon as well, or from Airedale. The tofu shop remains unchanged, and also the fact that Takumi is constantly being sent on deliveries with his dad's junker of a robot.

I have two different scenarios as to how he meets the brothers. Firstly, the one where he overtakes Keisuke, a lot like in the original. I mean, Solatorobo has a racing minigame, so I had to. It makes perfect sense that Ryousuke has his hunters partake in the Air Robo GP to refine their aerial maneouvering skills for sky pirate combat, so it could happen that Takumi on a delivery out-maneouvers Keisuke, who reacts just as well as he does in the show. Made even better by the fact that there is a cake delivery quest in the actual game using the racing minigame mechanics... but I digress

The second option is that the RedSuns get called to a passenger ferry that's currently under attack... but when they arrive, Takumi, who happened to be a passenger, already took care of the pirates. Ryousuke tries to recruit him on the spot, lol

I started making some robot designs for the brothers as well, but I abandoned that idea after Takumi's Hachiroku-mini-mech already took everything that I had:

At least for Takumi's robot, I tried to include some design elements from his car. I'm not very good at drawing mechs, let alone designing them... so if you want to see some proper car mechs, I redirect you towards Twi's IniD mech AU!

Anyway, Takumi is a caninu and the brothers are felineko, obviously. It's probably also obvious what cat species Ryousuke and Keisuke are (snow leopard and leopard are just too appropriate for them, lol). Takumi... well, I procrastinated on this for so long (because of the robots) that I forgot what dog breeds I looked at for reference, but I do remember one of them were St. Bernards. Floppy ears and a chill disposition.

This crossover has a grip on me.

Please play Solatorobo 🥺

Thank you.

[marvelstars]

Anakin & Ahsoka and Rule breaking

There´s been talk about how Anakin teached Ahsoka ho to break rules inside the Jedi Order and while he certainly teached her in a way that she didn´t obey to the letter what the Council asked, to be fair he teached her how to "follow their orders" with some "creativity of her own" not exactly disobey orders per se. This is Anakin´s MO and I am sure he learned it as a slave, obey the rules but apply your own initiative each time you can.

This is why he wanted to learn who was trying to kill Padmé, not just be her bodyguard, something that the Council decided to do either way and it´s also why he decided to help teach Republic citizens how to protect themselves, not just protect them from separatists, pirates and bounty hunters because he knew that would not be enough once republic forces left their planet.

My guess is that this MO is precisely the things that made Anakin famous in the sense that he started going a little bit beyond what was being asked of him and this earned him the title "Hero without Fear" and "Shield of the Republic"

This of course came back to bit Anakin back to the amusement of master Obi-Wan, when he told her to stay at the temple while they were going to go to the citadel to rescue a Jedi Master, Anakin wanted to protect her so he told her to stay put, he had valid fears for this given the citadel was designed to be a jail to keep Jedi contained and no one had been able to survive getting away from it, he wasn´t sure he was going to come back from that mission, Ahsoka knew this and was mad at Anakin for leaving her behind, so Ahsoka asked master Plo to help her go either way and while Anakin was mad at her at the beggining, for putting herself in danger, he understood her point and master Plo´s point that him protecting her from certain situations while fighting a war was not goign to be something good for Ahsoka,Anakin understood he was trying to hold her back because he was afraid for her safety and understood their point, he just keep an eye on her and supported her during that mission.

Both were able to survive the mission and work as master and padawan, I believe Anakin was amused if a little frustrated his padawan also learned that particular personality quirk from him but he also liked she was growing up and learning to make her own decisions which is something he always tried to instill in Ahsoka as her master.

[dyrewrites]

Things learned about my vampires and their sword-knowledge on the fun research hole I fell into because of pretty sword;

Ludovico trained in Italian swordsmanship(fencing/martial arts/there's a lot to it actually)--his mother thought this would get him out more and make him more appealing to women(we will forgive her well-meaning heart). He performed shows for socialites, often using a light, strictly for show Italian rapier. --thin blade that one. But he never needed to actually use what he learned, so it was more exercise and performance than genuine combat skills...

Lucient was taught swordsmanship by his Mistress, who was older than dirt, had fought in too many wars for her to remember and spent the better part her substantial undead life--before making him--with pirates (as her Master was one -- it is unknown where he is at this time, probably buried in a silver box somewhere). Lucient is very good with a sword. Any sword. He is also very fast and has the reflexes of someone constantly terrified for their life--because his Mistress made certain he was never relaxed.

The swords they have on board are backswords in design, but heavier than anything Ludovico's used--they're silver-plated, but made of iron (monsters no likey silver, magic no likey iron--the Lune Royale was beset by Hunters often).

Ludovico is going to need some proper combat experience with a sword because so far he's fumbled and gotten knocked overboard when he tried to help.

This means that, at some point, I get to write a scene where Lucient teaches him to actually sword fight.

When I tell you I am giddy.

[operationtimeguard]

decided to draw out an au of coa v and dbd because i love mashing my intrests together at mach speed

more rambles/explanation under the cut!

this au came to mind because trickster from coa 3 shares a name w trickster, ji-woon hak and then i started thinking about who would fit everyone else. the basis of coa/call of the abyss is a server wide tournament taking place around december revolving around the abyss and a different theme each time - mostly incolving lovecraftian elements. they’re all connected to one another through being novels written in universe! theres more information on the id5 wiki if you’re intrested ^^

since coa v’s my favourite of them all, i decided to draw out this one first! coa v’s premise is based on the 1927 film ‘metropolis’ as well as the lovecraft novel colour out of space. from what i understand, metropolis is a city of eternal night on an isolated island: within the lights of the city lurks the ‘colour out of space’ which merges the people of metropolis with machinery and itself. the rebels (survivors) stage a media war against it (& eternal aurora) to reveal the secrets behind metropolis and warn the civilians.

the concept for this is basically the same: replacing the general concept of the abyss with the entity and placing the coa’s within the realm as a whole. im also not going to stick to the strict formula of 5 survivors and 1 hunter to have more fun with the idea.

anyway! onto the fun part: the whole who’s who. so far everyones got a basic sketch down/basic premise but these two are the only ones i’ve managed to colour/polish.

not pictured are paper boy/mail carrier in this au as charlotte & victor deshayes, tabloid as zarina kassir and neon vanguard as david king. will do my best to follow up with their designs as soon as i can! also sorry if my handwritings messy

pirate radio/adam francis:

initially felix was my choice for pirate radio: he’s got the blonde hair & beard combo after all, but i realised that auditorium fit felix way better, so i went back to the drawing board and settled on adam - i remember seeing theories about if there were to be a protagonist for dbd he’d be it and thus the role settled with him. plus his coat ended up reminding me of pirate radio so! happy accidents

his stuck with the original the most minus a lot of the body horror being adapted: such as the headphones and the arm. half of it is because i didn’t initially want it to be to body horrory like the original, but also because i am very biased towards pirate radios default. he’s handsome and gold and purple is my favourite colour combo. plus the concept art was very... lacking aside from elements that wouldn’t belong on adam (such as jose’s prosthetic). that ended up being adapted to be more of a control panel that can be removed.

decided not to go fully blond and for more of a gradient, because i thought it’d suit him better.

anyway he’s the least affected by the effects of colour out of space of their group: mainly has the cd in his chest as his main drawback. everything else is easily removable. tries to spread the rebels goals through teaching via the radio if that makes sense.

the coat tassels were inspired by dazai bsd to try and make him stand out a little more from the original.

auditorium/felix richter

as mentioned above, felix was basically my first choice for auditorium and that hasn’t changed - him and luca have a lot of similarities as an architect and an inventor respectively plus the whole blue suit and blonde combo made me go “yea thats felix”

his was also where i started to majorly deviate from what was canon and go with my own thing: mostly because of the concept art making me go “oh wait i like this more this would be fun” resulting in this. granted looking back he still looks fairly similar, but it was the first push to have some more fun with this project

the mask came from my love for visitor from the future!

in contrast to adam: he and charlotte are the most affected by colour out of space: mainly being his nonremovable projector and eye plate. the projector spins and can broadcast movies if he closes his eye. david likes spinning the projector

does all the tech work for the rebels: does more so architecturally things than canon auditorium, but he keeps them safe and alive. doesn’t like to be publically involved with most things, but they’re like a family in a sense.

[sophisticatedidiocy]

asks about your genasi and tieflings like the bisexual i am

you have no idea what you've unleashed. (positive)

my current rogue!! cosima, a pink circus-trained loser who has somehow become one of her group's big siblings, despite it all. (affectionate) she literally has the color palette of strawberry ice cream, is 5'1, and is a former acrobat - she has so many issues buried underneath a weirdly calm exterior, and is unusually tense around influential rich people and mages... for Reasons.

currently being redesigned is my tiefling cleric, leza! she is a Cursed [redacted] (I get to have Some Secrets...), but she's literally a high priestess-hopeful/high priestess-in-training who literally makes up prophecies and visions on the fly that Somehow keep her in her guardian's high favors. she's very blue and pink and colorful with fancy clothes but also loves jumping in mud puddles and doesn't know how to swim. She's honestly looking forward to just getting out of her home, but she needs a good enough reason to escape... maybe a good group of weirdos could help :/

latest genasi who literally came to me right before I fell asleep! pyrrha!! a deep violet fire genasi who somehow despite having a tiefling mother (yes, I know the rules about tiefling lineage however I like to have fun) is a burning fire genasi. of the three listed above, she is the Messiest. she has burnt valuable spellbooks, cursed out everyone from her mother to a group of asshole pirates, all while brandishing gorgeous flintlock pistols. they are the cleanest things she owns. she walks around in a beaten, now-gray long dramatic coat, slightly tattered pinstripe pants with a matching vest and black boots with arcane rules carved into the soles for luck (she doesn't really think they work, but she does it for her sister) also middle child!! she has a geeky older brother and an adorable younger sister, but she hasn't seen him since she skipped town... also she's like probably a bounty hunter :)

and last but certainly not least is my earth genasi cleric, ariadna!! she has probably my favorite design I've ever had (marble with kintsugi running through her face and siamese cat-like black arms from fingertips to upper arms... yes, I am a lil dramatic, what of it) she was born to some sort of extraplanar being (or someone weird and cursed) and is definitely the "oh she's a little fucked up actually" one compared to her fairly normal twin brother, aurelius. she is a light cleric (hoping to flavor as sun cleric, but it doesn't really matter) with a horrible relationship to everyone she's ever known. she's been haunted by semi-visions for most of her life that have always come out wrong and the most recent (and most important thing) she's fucked up recently was her relationship with her ex(?)boyfriend, orpheus (hahaha.... symbolism) I think she's adventuring to find a way to correct herself, but she hasn't learned to separate herself from her abilities

yeah. that was a lot, but um. i hope it was fun to read!! i haven't been asked about my dnd characters in a while so I tried to limit the nerdiness i've exploded onto you. (no middle names, no costume designs, etc. but I do have pinterest boards...)

thanks again!! - sam

[linuxgamenews]

Escape Simulator gets a new map on a Treasure Island

Escape Simulator brings a Treasure Island update to the game on Linux, Mac, and Windows PC. The vibrant and deep world is the outcome of the tireless effort and dedication of the talented team at Pine Studio. Available on both Steam and Humble Store. Escape Simulator has some exciting news. Pine Studio just launched a free new adventure called the Treasure Island update. It's all about pirates and finding hidden treasures. Escape Simulator now has a new room. This isn't just any room, though. It's a pirate-themed island full of mysteries waiting to be solved. The dev team already has this as a part of their plans that they shared few weeks ago. They also outline that we'll soon be able to play the game in VR too. Although I'm curious how the game will run on Linux. Since this will allow players to feel as though they're actually standing on a beach, trying to escape from a tropical island. Along with the new Escape Simulator room, you get a new pirate wardrobe as well. There's an eye patch, a fancy pirate hat, and a unique outfit. Everything you need to look like a true treasure hunter as you find your way out from the island’s hidden mysteries. This new wardrobe will also be coming soon to the Room Editor. So you can add them to your own designs and make your own sandy island adventure. Now, if you've never tried Escape Simulator, there's more good news. You can get the main version of the experience for 25% less on Steam. The special Collector’s Edition, and the Wild West and Steampunk extra content, plus the soundtrack are all discounted by 10% until June 29th. Even more good things are coming up in the Steam Summer Sale.

Escape Simulator: Treasure Island update

Pine Studio's Treasure Island update is one of two new rooms they are planning to release this summer. So, there's even more to look forward to. In Escape Simulator, you'll be solving mind-bending puzzles. Each puzzle is in a unique room at a different location. Such as the ancient Labyrinth of Egypt, lost in space, the grand Edgewood Mansion, the future tech Omega Corporation, the magical Steampunk Airship, the wild Wild West, and the genius Leonardo’s Workshop. Here's the best part - you can join friends on Linux and work together to solve these puzzles. Each Escape Simulator puzzle is made to let you play with your friends. Teamwork is key to escape from these exciting places. You also have the chance to make your own dream escape room using the Room Editor. Other players have already created over 3,000 custom rooms. Maybe you could create the next top-rated one? Escape Simulator lets you wear silly hats, and customize your character with themed outfits fitting each puzzle's setting. You can really get into character with your friends. And remember, in Escape Simulator, everything that isn't stuck to the floor can be picked up. So, you can toss vases, rearrange furniture, and just let loose. And, always aim at your friends if you want to add some chaos to your escape mission. The new Treasure Island update is available free to players via both Steam and Humble Store. Along with support for Linux, Mac, and Windows PC. Plus the game is already Steam Deck Verified.

[terricomedy]

Shantae sprites ds

#Shantae sprites ds how to#

#Shantae sprites ds code#

The item system has also taken a turn for the best, items can now be bought and used indefinitely, as long as you have Magic in your Meter.

#Shantae sprites ds code#

Dancing has been simplified this time around: instead of using an OoT-esque code system, you just hold the button til the right formation, and then release. Shantae: RR's controls are as simple as it's predecessor's: you can jump (B), Whip (Y), Dance (X), Use Items (R), and do a backwards dash (L). Shantae heads out of town and seraches for the said artifacts.

#Shantae sprites ds how to#

Mimic refuses to talk about it, but instead tells her how to stop Risky: by locating the 3 Magic Seals. Shantae refuses, and asks what the possible danger is. Mimic wakes her up, and tries to keep her at her lighthouse, away from possible danger. Shantae chases her down to the bay, and is knocked unconscious by a unfair blow. Just then, Risky drops from the ceiling and swipes it. It turns out that the Mystery Item is an Old Oil Lamp, which Mimic tries to hide and ignore. At the speech, Mimic is given the honor of presenting the Mystery Auction Item, which is encased in hollow rock. Shantae heads to her Uncle Mimic's presentation at the Relic Hunter's Expo after being told by her friend Bolo that she's late. Shantae: Risky's Revenge takes place presumably a couple months after the orginal. GBA, Wii, DS, PSP, all didn't make it of the design floor, until last year that is, where Risky's Revenge was announced, and many rejoiced. Matt Bozon, Creative Lead at WF, spent years trying to revive the series. It became a smash hit.however, hardly anyone bought it. Shantae went over well with many review sites, getting 9's and 10's left and right. It was very akin to how the Ocarina was used in the 3D Zeldas, but, instead of pressing the buttons at any rate, you had to wait for the beat to press the correct button. What made Shantae unique, however, was the Dance gimmick. Controls were simple: You could jump, whip, run, and use items bought from the shop. Shantae, a Half-Genie, vows to to recover her Uncle's discovery and bring peace back to Sequin Land. The plot was simple: Risky Boots the Lady Pirate/Leader of the Tinkerbat Army has stolen an ancient Steam Engine to use for a Doomsday device. The plot was simple: Risky Boots If you haven't played the original, Shantae was a Metroidvania released in 2002 by Wayforward Technologies. If you haven't played the original, Shantae was a Metroidvania released in 2002 by Wayforward Technologies.

[the-final-sif]

Manhunt AU dream notes since it's in my brain now.

The hunters believe Dream doesn't know about the trackers, and that's why he hasn't broken their compasses. Dream is fully aware of the compasses, let them get a tracking spell on him, and actually goes out of his way to not break the compasses. Otherwise, how would his hunters find him again.

Dream belongs to a group of runners who generally have very little respect for the law, but aren't in any active rebellion. There's a mix of merc and assassins, and then people like Dream who just don't give a fuck. Surprisingly, Dream has broken very few laws in his life, but it's due to spending most of his days out in the wilderness.

Dream has quite a few friends in the runners, including Punz (merc, has worked together several times), Illumina who also enjoys causing problems, Foolish whose retired but who Dream still sees on his visits to the coast, and Technoblade who isn't a runner but is welcomed and respected by them. Puffy is also a friend of his, but she's a full on pirate.

Usually he tries to avoid his friends while the hunters are after him, but sometimes they have a run in.

Punz stumbles upon them mid-hunt and helps Dream out, something that gets him scolded by Dream once they're out of sight. Dream has to explain this is on purpose and he's having fun.

Illumina catches on to the game when he finds Dream tucked up in a really high and dangerous spot and makes his way up to join him. The two of them sit up there and chat for awhile while the hunters struggle to find their way up. Dream (out of earshot) gleefully introduces Illumina to his hunters, and Illumina's happy for him. Good to see Dream finally making more friends!

Foolish and Puffy only come up once each. Dream swings by a port to see Puffy before needing to run off before he's caught, and she casually throws the hunters off his trail before making her own escape. Dream meets up with Foolish accidentally when the other is out harvesting building materials, and the two of them chat for awhile before the hunters show up. Foolish refuses to let them fight Dream, forcing them to put down their weapons around him using the fact he's 23 ft tall to his advantage.

Technoblade is the uh, well he's the Problem. See, he's been friends with Dream for awhile, and he sees Sapnap getting Dream in a pin, and while he doesn't often get involved in things that aren't his business, he's not too fond of seeing a friend of his in danger. So if he takes out his crossbow and takes a shot, that's his choice. If it was aimed for Sapnap's neck, well, Sapnap shouldn't have been on his rival.

Dream barely manages to move Sapnap in time to save his life, he has to quickly wave Techno off before Techno just kills his hunters. He then has to ditch the hunters to met Techno and explain he's totally safe, and this is an Intentional Design Feature.

Techno's once again fucking baffled by Dream, but eventually decides if the green man wants to be a weirdo, then that's all on him. Clearly, Techno was shooting at Dream anyways. He wasn't worried for the man's safety at all!

Dream appreciates him anyways, and promises to introduce him to his hunters when they get the chance.

[hootcifer]

talking about toh | season two, episode eight: "knock knock knockin' on hooty's door"

holy shit

sorry this was a few days late, i was equal parts busy and lazy.

previous | first | next spoilers under the cut, as always

the beginning

awww hooty’s writing to lilith! like he promised!

btw, just so you guys know, i’ll be referring to hooty with he/they pronouns, because it makes sense to me. also i use he/they and i’m a hooty stan so it works.

I realize now that i spelled “hootsifer” wrong in my url. oh well, i like “hootcifer” better anyway. (also the url “hootsifer” is taken anyway)

oh no, hooty feels unimportant! i’m sure the large majority of the fandom is okay with this, but i’m not! poor thing.

i found it adorable that luz wants to find a way into amity's heart (even though she's had a place there since grom). how she would use the echo mouse for that, i don't know.

luz saying "we have to go" was almost a direct parallel to amity saying "I GOTTA GO" in "wing it like witches".

king's plot

i love how king is going through his angsty teen phase. that's hilarious.

why the fuck does hooty just eat people?! and then just act like that's an okay thing to do?!

i think it's a fun detail that hooty is wearing king's teacher hat from "the intruder". i love little things like that.

i like how this episode gave us some lore as to how demons on the isles work. they emerged from the muck of a decomposing titan? that's dope! it's also cool how there's three main types of demons.

hooty is a worm?!

on the board with all the bug demons, i recognized the butterfly alador kept chasing in "escaping expulsion", as well as adagast from "witches before wizards", the bear trap demon from "the intruder", and the kindergarten teacher from "i was a teenage abomination".

it was neat to see the fairy from "a lying witch and a warden" and the butterfly... thing from "witches before wizards". more neat continuity stuff!

what did king say with his dance? i'm very curious.

maybe king didn't want to talk about the cocoon, but i certainly do! what the hell happened?!

because of some of the images in the background when hooty was talking about demons, we can infer that some students of hexside are demons and not witches. i wonder if witches are more powerful than demons, or if they're on the same level.

other biped demons i recognize are the bounty hunter, tibbles, one of the pirates, warden wrath, and braxus.

i also saw a cat-person. are catgirls and catboys a thing on the isles?

i like how tiny nose and hooty are friends. somehow, it makes sense.

was tiny nose playing on a nintendo switch? that's cool.

we got to see even more past demons from the section about beasts, such as the ratworms, the echo mouse, the trash slug, the selikdomus, the slitherbeast, and the snaggleback.

has tiny nose's voice changed, or is that just me?

i'm really curious as to what the heck king is. is he a unique kind of demon? a hybrid, maybe?

i thought it was sweet that hooty and tiny nose tried to celebrate king for who he is, even though it just made him sad. they're trying.

eda's plot

hooty had a good point in wanting eda to sleep. sleep is important! says the guy who regularly stays up until at least midnight.

i completely understand hooty's fear of the owl beast. remember what happened last time?

the cookies hooty made were very cute. i loved that.

hey, the sleeping nettles are back! the same thing luz and hunter used a few episodes back to put kikimora's steed to sleep.

we got to see eda's dad! we know very little about him, but we did see him. also, did he look like nigel thornberry to anyone else? no? just me? okay then.

it broke my heart seeing raine and eda breaking up. it was neat that we got confirmation that they were together!

eda clearly regrets pushing raine away. poor thing.

who is the cloaked figure? i've seen a lot of theories that it's amity, but that makes no sense. i don't think she was even alive at this point. it could be odalia, though. that would be a cool twist.

the little owl beast was so cute. i want a plush of that.

HARPY EDA! holy shit, she's so cool. top tier character design.

luz (and amity)'s plot

you better bet your ass i have a lot to say about this! plot! okay, let's start from the beginning.

i was really hoping we would get some mutual pining lumity this season, and by god did it deliver! luz referring to her as a "cotton-candy-haired goddess" was too cute.

from what she said, it sounds like this isn't the first time luz has tried to ask someone out. she's so afraid of getting rejected. wait a minute, amity was afraid of getting rejected too! that's a parallel i didn't even realize!

i wasn't expecting to see amity this episode! it looks like her parents let her keep her purple hair. that, or the twins are using illusions to hide her hair from their parents.

i love how hooty's solution to getting amity to the owl house is to straight-up eat her. that's one way to do things.

i really want to know more about house demons. are there more than one? are they all bird-like? are they born as houses or do they just inhabit houses? so many questions and not enough lore!

the way luz interrupted amity when she suggested "forgetting" about what happened in front of blight manor reminded me of how eda kept interrupting king last episode when she thought he was going to tell her he was planning on leaving.

i'm not gonna lie, i skipped through the majority of the tunnel of love scene. that kind of thing gives me second-hand embarrassment like you wouldn't believe.

my heart shattered into pieces when amity said that the idea of her adting luz was stupid. she obviously doesn't believe it, but she's probably been trying to convince herself of it.

this part had me terrified that the lumity plot for the episode would end there. thank goodness it didn't, eh?

the ending

AAAAAAAAAAAA

okay, okay, let's start from when hooty freaks out for a third time, after the tunnel of love.

i thought it was funny how hooty ripped himself out of the door in order to run (?) away. at least we didn't have to hear all the sounds this time.

wait, "things always get weird when hooty's upset"? has this kind of thing happened before?

gosh, the part where king's voice powers saved luz and amity was so cool. i saw somewhere that the animator wanted to reflect the lesbian and bi flags and they did a great job.

eda encouraging luz to ask amity out was so cute. we stan a supportive mom, always.

and then comes the scene everyone's been talking about. oh my gosh, this was done so beautifully! it was equally awkward and cute, the way it should have been, and the fact that they both asked each other was perfect!

LOOK AT HOW HAPPY AMITY IS WHEN SHE SAYS YES!!! this is the happiest we have ever seen her, and it's adorable.

something i really love about this scene is the fact that they didn't say "i love you" or even kiss, like what seems to happen in a lot of confession scenes. they just held hands. it was probably one of the most realistic confession scenes i've ever seen. it kind of reminded me of when my gf and i got together.

oh yeah, that's right! they're officially together!!!!!!! FINALLY!!! i was not expecting anything that happened in this episode, but out of everything this one was the most surprising. holy SHIT! we have a canonically sapphic couple! in a disney cartoon! a disney cartoon!

honestly, i hope everyone has gained more respect for hooty after this. they've helped further the plot more in one episode than anyone else has done throughout the rest of the show.

we got to see king's dad properly for the first time! i don't think we'll see him in "eclipse lake", but maybe we will in the episode after that? i hope so.

everyone's freaking out about hooty eating the letter but... can't they just... throw it back up? like they did at the beginning of "really small problems"?

predictions

to my knowledge, the next episode is going to be about amity looking for an ingredient for the new portal. i also know that eda, king, and hunter will be there too. i don't know what to expect, but i am very excited. until next time!

[ikkaku-of-heart]

@abyssusinvo​ asked: (Smoker) "Will you shut the fuck up for one second?" A certain prisoner is being noisy after getting captured and G5 can't sleep. Smoker of course, must handle this problem.

Unprompted

Damn right Ikkaku was being noisy. She was no stranger to being in a Marine jail cell; after all, she’d been captured by Drake a few times back in the North Blue days, and a couple times more on the Grand Line. Most of the time it was by design, being a decoy for one of Law’s plans, but there had been a few occasions where she’d gotten careless. Alas, this had been one of the latter.

However, that experience had taught Ikkaku there were two ways to survive in those cells. One was to keep her head down and stay quiet until Law showed up to rescue her. The other was to be an utter nuisance and raise hell in her cell until Law showed up to rescue her.

This time, she had opted for the latter.

Her attention snapped to the gruff Marine who’d managed to detain her back on the island, the scent of cigar smoke announcing his presence even before his voice had. A dark eyebrow raised in amusement as she took in his appearance; a tank top and long pajama pants, two lit cigars dangling from his mouth, and Jitte in hand. Seemed she’d managed to cause such a ruckus that the commodore had been awoken from his sleep.

Good. Exactly what Ikkaku had been aiming for.

Leaning against the bars of her holding cell, the pirate shot him a glare, knowing it wouldn’t affect him but also aware that if she showed her relief at his presence, her plan could be jeopardized. “Yeah, I tried that,” she scoffed, tapping her fingers against the shackles around her wrists, the chain that dangled to her waist swaying slightly. The sound of it rattling against the bars, along with her deliberately off-key singing of one of Joras’ old folk songs had been only her latest attempt at pissing off her captors enough that Smoker would be forced to see to her himself. “But anytime I was, I had to listen to my guard dog panting. He been checked for rabies? I swear, he was literally foaming at the mouth earlier,” she added, jerking her thumb at the scowling Marine that had been assigned to watch her.

She was taking a gamble, getting Smoker’s undivided attention. After all, Law would probably pop in to save her before dawn, but the White Hunter was one of the few Marines on the ship that could possibly cause him trouble, especially with that seastone-tipped weapon. One could easily argue that she was making her captain’s job harder by poking this smoky bear.

On the other hand, Ikkaku had been captured by G5. A squadron of Marines rumored to feed pirates to sharks, burn them alive, and torture them just for the hell of it, and from what she’d seen of some of the other prisoners that she’d glimpsed on the way to her private cell, there was at least a little bit of truth in those gruesome tales.

Smoker could turn out to be a complication, but at the same time, she knew he wasn’t a sadist. He’d called off a few of his men who had been gleefully brainstorming ways to make her suffer when she’d first been brought aboard. For the most part they’d seemed to listen to him when he’d told them to cut that shit out, but the way her current guard had been leering at her since she’d been dumped in the cell, making off-handed comments about how he couldn’t wait for her to fall asleep...

Yeah, she’d take her chances with Smoker. At least she knew he wouldn’t rape or torture her for shits and giggles. She couldn’t guarantee that with her current watchdog, and since she’d rather be in one piece when Law came for her, this was the best option.

Repressing a shudder at the thought, Ikkaku pressed on, aiming to mimic her captain’s chill smugness to hide her fear. “So, got any song requests? I figure I can keep up my one-woman concert ‘til sunrise at least. Gal’s gotta keep herself occupied somehow.”

[messedupessy]

KAW KAW CROW IS FINALLY HERE (͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ❤

Gods this has taken such a long flipping time to finish, I don’t even remember when I started on this but it’s prolly been like  year or something, give or take fifty feet, as he won like a poll I made over on twitter on whose ref I would draw like ages ago, but he is finally done and I am very happy with how he turned out! While the like basic appearance have stayed pretty much the same as it was from the start, so did I have to remake how he looked awhile back because it was just such a mess and he looks so flipping better now!

Anyway so this is Crow, my Seafell Papyrus, who I am going to give some personality info about real soon, I just want to gush a bit more about his design as I am very happy with it xD because before he had like the red scarf thing and a belt on the outside of the jacket, and just so many other things that just didn’t make sense or look good and I am all what were I thinking back then, but that’s like the fun thing to like sit down and redo it, to update it and see how much better I gotten at designing these characters, and just fuck I am so stupidly happy with how he looks, as he is just so stupidly handsome haha! xD

Also the no bullet hole i the skull comment on the ref, it’s because all of my other pirate boys got holes in their skulls, but Crow does not as he died before any so called bullets was needed, so his skull is whole. 

But, time for some proper info and personality thingies down below, also some suggestive things just so ya know but nothing overly detailed, and as a bonus furthest down I put the old design of his outfit for ya all to see, so enjoy!

Crow is only 23, making him the second youngest out of all my skeleton boys.

He is also the second skeleton who is completely gay, who is only interested in one gender, as usually I make them skeletons bi/pan, but with Crow here it just felt right to make him homosexual only, and also gay pirates was very much a very big thing so pfft. So alas you simping peeps out there who aien’t male, he a man only guy.

He is a former pirate, after dying to only then wake up as a cursed skeleton, he finally had the chance to start anew and live his life how he always have wanted away from piracy, although he is a pirate hunter, bit of a vigilante, now instead so still is doing things related to piracy. But he never wanted to be a pirate, but thanks to been the literal son of a very powerful and feared pirate captain, he didn’t have much choice, as there was no way a proper navy or any other law following group would want to take him in.

His crew is a mix of human and monsters, most which are former pirates which he has taken under his wing. One of them are Seafell Undyne aka Fin, who gave him that lovely scar over his face before he succeeded in besting her and get her to join his crew, she is now his right hand woman and second in command.

He is extremely hard working, a bit of a workaholic like all my UF papyruses is, one way or the other, he works hard to keep his crew safe, to hunt down pirates who truly deserves to be hunted down, but he is way better at not working himself to the bone like Edge do, but there are times when he ends up working himself way too hard and into exhaustion. 

His goal is to find his father who is the reason to him and his brother dying and getting cursed, to destroy the artifact that is the cause and probably end killing his father as well. He is a bit revenge seeking when it comes to his father but not so much that he would put his crew in unnecessary risk, the safety of his crew is very important to him.

Very calm and collected, in control, great tactician, shit at naming things, loves to read and to play chess. Greatly cares about the people who works for him and have their safety and well being as the most important thing, a very just man who even though he had a pirate upbringing and been living as such for most of his life, so will he always go out of his way to make sure no innocent people ends up hurt and so on.

But he will break laws time to time if it is needed, not something he likes but sometimes some laws and rules needs to be broken so to do the right thing.

A very busy and driven man, but who will still always make sure that his crew is well taken care of and got all that they need, who often puts others before himself but not so much that he ends up suffering.  

He is polite, a gentleman, he will always give people a second chance because everyone can change if they are given the chance and got the will to do so.  

A bit of a accidental flirt at times, he is a bit dense when it comes to romance and to his own feelings towards someone he is actually crushing on. Mistake what he feels as friendship for awhile before he is able to figure it out, and if he ends up crushing on someone in his crew he will do his best to keep these feelings for himself, as he will fear that since he is the captain that would put the person in a very awkward position since he is their superior, and he just do not want to pressure someone to accept his feelings just because he is their boss. 

He later loses his leg as he saves one of his crew members, from getting crushes by a heavy object falling down, which would had killed his crewmate but which only cost him his leg. As Crow is willing to get hurt, to disregard his own health, to save one of his crew members, since a leg is less important than a life.

He’s a romantic, he loves been taken care of, to have his control taken away and get ordered around by the man he loves. He is a total sub at heart, something he tries to keep hidden as he worries he will lose the respect of his crew if it comes out that their captain likes to be ordered around and not in charge in the bedroom/in a relationship, in truth his crew already know but it’s not their business and they still respect him so much, but he don’t know that they do. 

He have had partners in the past before dying and becoming a skeleton, so he aien’t no virgin. 

And that’s all I’mma share about him for now, need to write info and so on down a bit better so some of the things above might end up changing a bit, might end up editing the text above, but for now it will do yes.

And as a bonus here have the old design of his outfit since there is such a difference to his new one but yet still allot of it is the same haha

[rpgsandbox]

Part homage, all farce, the AWFULLY CHEERFUL ENGINE! is an irreverent, affectionate parody of pop-culture tropes and a love-letter to 80s roleplaying games in a new, modern comic-book sized format! It’s a wacky roleplaying game of action comedy!

       Hardcover collector's omnibus, softcover rules and adventures, blank ID cards, monster cards, hero role cards, VTT tokens

Are you a fan of the Ghostbusters RPG from the 1980s? Danger Mouse or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Bill & Ted or Rick & Morty? Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, Dracula, or sci-fi adventures on the final frontier? Do you enjoy chortling at TV tropes or chuckling at pop-culture parodies? Then the Awfully Cheerful Engine! is here for you!

ACE! is brought to you by Russ 'Morrus' Morrissey (EN World, WOIN, Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD), Dave Chapman (Doctor Who, Star Trek Adventures), and Marc Langworthy (Hellboy, Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD). With a foreword by Sandy Petersen, co-author of the Ghostbusters RPG!

ACE! is designed for everybody! From talking animals to pulp heroes to eldritch horrors, kids and adults alike will find adventures to love with the Awfully Cheerful Engine!

This tabletop roleplaying game, which we’re calling ACE! with an exclamation point, is one of fast, cinematic, action comedy. To play you need a handful of six-sided dice, a pen, and some paper. Each player plays one Hero, except for one player who takes the role of the Director.

Think of ACE! as an irreverent, fun-packed movie. You might play as ghost hunters in New York City, a band of plucky galactic guardians, vampire slayers, or soldiers of fortune in the Los Angeles underground. Heck, you might even be cartoon animals. Good grief!

This is a multi-dimensional, time-hopping, genre-mashing, pan-galactic portal into any type of adventure you can imagine! Want to play in a fantasy world full of elves and orcs? Crew a starship as it explores the galaxy? Hunt vampires in Victorian London? Play as animal detectives, robot cowboys, wizards, ninjas, or time traveling bounty hunters?

The only limit is your imagination, and the requirement that you have fun.

This Kickstarter is for the full five-book set.

What? Five books, you say? Fear not -- they're pretty small books! They include the core rules, and four hilarious genre-hopping adventures. Each book is about 30 pages long. Except for one which is longer, but we wrote 'BUMPER SIZE ISSUE' on the front of that, so it's OK. If you’ve ever held a comic-book in your hand, the Awfully Cheerful Engine! will feel very familiar!

The core rulebook is just 30 pages in a bright, colorful comic-book sized format. We even gave it an issue number, like a comic-book! After that, each 'issue' is a standalone adventure, designed for one-shots or short campaigns with new characters each time. One week you might be fighting ghosts on the streets of Manhattan, and the next you might be exploring the frontiers of space in your trusty starship!

You don't have to play them all, or in order. The standalone format means you can fit them in whenever and however you feel like it. GM can't make your regular game? Go bust some ghosts instead! Pickup game at a convention? Investigate the strange goings-on in a small American town in the 1980s. Running a livestream? Board a starship and fight the Kulkan Empire! Play one of them, some of them, or all of them! It's up to you!

                Are they comics? Or are they RPGs? (They're RPGs)

ACE #1: Introducing the Awfully Cheerful Engine! With a foreword by Ghostbusters RPG author Sandy Petersen, this book tells you the rules, how to create your Heroes, and gives you a bunch of Extras (NPCs & monsters) to use. By Russ Morrissey.

ACE #2: Spirits of Manhattan. Strap on your Anti-Plasm Particle Thrower, grab your Electromagnetic Field Detector, and jump into your Ghostmobile. New York City needs your help! By Dave Chapman and Russ Morrissey.

ACE #3: Montana Drones & The Raiders of the Cutty Sark. At the request of Army Intelligence, Montana Drones and her team travel the globe in search of lost or hidden artefacts, often exploring dangerous sites and racing against hostile enemy agents to keep the objects of their quests from falling into the wrong hands. Striking locations, exciting chases, dangerous enemies and monotonous classroom lectures await! By Marc Langworthy.

ACE #4: Strange Science. Welcome to Wilden Falls, your average American town in the heart of the country. Surrounded by trees, nature, and there’s a wonderful waterfall that brings the tourists. It’s a quaint little town. Until weird things start happening at the local research facility, people go missing, and there’s a sudden influx of fitness nuts in the town. That’s before we get to the time travel, bodysnatching, and portals to other dimensions. Maybe ‘strange’ isn’t strong enough a word for it! By Dave Chapman.

ACE #5: Beam Me Up! These are the voyages of the starship FSS Brazen. Its continuing mission: to recklessly go where plenty of people have probably been before… and hope a major interstellar incident isn’t sparked in the process. In this highly illogical adventure for the ACE! roleplaying game, you’ll explore frontiers you never thought you had. By Marc Langworthy.

We give you four adventures to start with, and we have plans for more, but there's also a free compatibility license so anybody can write and publish material powered by the Awfully Cheerful Engine!

Hardy Hobbit. Teenage Samurai. Cheerful Stuntman. Clumsy Vampire. Squeamish Ghost. Who knew you could say so much in just two words? The possibilities are endless.

It’s not just Awfully Cheerful! It’s fast and fun, too!

You won’t get bogged down in endless rules and character sheets that look like tax forms. Your ACE! ID Card contains everything you need to know, and it’s only about the size of a credit card! But don’t try to spend it. It’s not a real credit card. Honestly, we tried, and it didn't end well.

You can download blank ID cards from our website. Don’t worry, there’s a printer-friendly black-and-white version too!

Making your Hero takes about five minutes. And that includes a coffee break.

You can choose from an array of talking animals, alien and fantasy species, and occupations from a bunch of genres. Play a cat, a crow, or a turtle. An alien, an elf, a robot, or a vampire. A knight, a pirate, or a wizard. An astronaut, a burglar, a reporter, or a spy. The core book has dozens of Roles to get you started with, and each adventure book introduces more!

Even better, you can already use our online character builder and make a character in about 30 seconds! It's so quick! Give it a try! And if you felt like sharing your Hero on Twitter with the hashtag #awfullycheerful and a link to this page, well, we'd be most awfully grateful!

                                       Build your Hero online!

Alternatively, each adventure comes with its own selection of pre-generated characters. If you don't want to make your own characters, you can simply use those - perfect for one-shots or new players!

Download the pre-gens for all four adventures from the official website!

In A.C.E! each Hero (that's you!) has a Role. Your Role gives you a special ability only you can use. Here's a quick look at some of the Roles you can play!

Talking animals like Ape, Cat, Crow, Dog, Kangaroo, and Turtle.

Species like Alien, Dwarf, Elf, Ghost, Goblin, Golem, Hobbit, Monster, Ogre, Robot, Vampire, and Werewolf.

Fantasy roles like Alchemist, Assassin, Barbarian, Cleric, Druid, Knight, Ninja, Outlaw, Pirate, Ranger, Samurai, Slayer, and Wizard.

Occupations like Actor, Archeologist, Astronaut, Athlete, Bounty Hunter, Boxer, Burglar, Chef, Con Artist, Cowboy, Detective, Doctor, Engineer, Gambler, Gangster, Hacker, Hermit, Inventor, Musician, Pilot, Priest, Professor, Reporter, Scientist, Smuggler, Soldier, Spy, Student, and Stuntman.

Even a couple of superheroes like Speedster and Vigilante!

Yep, you can play a Ghost. You don’t take damage unless its from a holy source or some special sci-fi ecto-gadget. But you also can’t pick things up. So there’s that.

Each of the adventures adds some more Roles (or recommends some old ones)!

Spirits of Manhattan adds Ghost, Demonologist, Doctor, Engineer, Exorcist, Inventor, Priest, Professor, Scientist, and Student.

Raiders of the Cutty Sark adds Botanist, Double-Agent, Socialite, and Witch.

Strange Science adds Brain, Cheerleader, Outsider, Protector, Radio Presenter, and Tycoon.

Beam Me Up adds Captain, Chief Engineer, Comms, Hologram, Gunner, Counsellor, and Pilot.

ACE! is a pretty fast, light game. If you played 1986's Ghostbusters RPG, you'll see the influence immediately.

Stats! The AWFULLY CHEERFUL ENGINE! is a d6 dice pool system*. You have four Stats -- Smarts, Moves, Style, and Brawn. If you have a Moves score of 3, you roll three six-sided dice when you try to jump a motorcycle over a ravine. If you roll high enough, you succeed. It's pretty simple!

Focuses! For each Stat you also have a Focus. For Smarts it might be a science, or chess, or history. For Style it might be bluffing, singing, or fashion, and for Brawn it might be brawling or swimming. You can choose from plenty of focuses. Foci. Focuses. Whatever.  Anyway, if the thing you're trying to do relates to a Focus, you get to roll an extra two dice.

Trait! You choose a trait, like Angry or Cheerful or Rebellious or Despondent. This, combined with your Role, makes you a Gullible Vampire, a Brave Turtle, or a Squeamish Scientist.

Karma! Finally, you have a bunch of Karma points. These can be spent for extra dice or to absorb damage from attacks, and they're recovered by using your trait.

*Fun fact -- did you know that 1986's Ghostbusters RPG, by Sandy Petersen, Lynn Willis and Greg Stafford, was the first ever dice pool RPG? Also Sandy Petersen has written an awesome foreword for the AWFULLY CHEERFUL ENGINE!

What, I hear you ask, is a CALAMITY DIE?

The Calamity Die is how you find out that your friends really aren't your friends. You see, when you make a roll, one of those dice is a different color, and is called the Calamity Die. And if your roll fails, and also the Calamity Die rolls a 1, your so-called 'friends' decide what happens to you. It won't kill you or anything, but...

Well, we'll leave that thought with you.

                             Nooooo! And it was all going so well!

Kickstarter campaign ends: Fri, June 18 2021 10:00 PM BST

Website: [Awfully Cheerful Engine] [EN Publishing] [facebook] [twitter]

[depizan]

I was thinking about the post I reblogged about the loss of the Alliance in SWTOR, and some of my other disappointments with how faction is handled in the game, and how faction based MMOs in general tend to get stuck in this kind of "eternal conflict" mode. (Not that factionless MMOs don't get stuck in their own kind of weird "eternal conflict" mode, too. Look at Guild Wars 2 and the growing list of things that have tried to destroy Tyria.)

But there are stories that lend themselves to a faction model, and SWTOR does have - or does begin with - one of those. It's just that with no prospect of whatever conflict divides the factions ever being resolved, you have a weird permanent stalemate situation, kind of. The Sith Empire will never win, because that would make Republic players unhappy. The Galactic Republic will never win, because that would make Empire players unhappy. No actual solution to the conflict can ever be found because then it would be game over. (Also, no real faction shifting because how would you code that?)

Except... maybe none of that is true. There are games that have faction shifting of a kind coded in. Think of all the minor factions in World of Warcraft, some opposed to one another, some just independent. Sure, those faction shifts are mostly achieved with some kind of grind, but it does prove that mutable factions are codeable.

This might even solve the problem of the Smuggler and the Bounty Hunter being tied to specific factions when that leads to some very odd story stuff, particularly outside of each class story. It suggests a way to handle factional grouping and third faction classes without making those factions "better" because all flashpoints are available to them.

Here is Mac's theoretical redesign of SWTOR with a different handling of factions and playing into the story focus that is the game's best quality.

Republic and Empire each get three classes, Smuggler and Bounty Hunter are Underworld (a third, neutral to the others faction). Since the galaxy is supposed to be under a peace treaty - the Treaty of Coruscant - you design the game with flexible faction tagging and lean in hard to the Cold War set up.

You have degrees of faction, just like those minor factions in WoW. I'm going to borrow the middle part of WoW's faction set up for this. Theirs runs Hated - Hostile - Unfriendly - Neutral - Friendly - Honored - Revered - Exalted. We just need the middle chunk, from Hostile to Friendly. Hostile is typical enemy mob: bar is red, it will attack you on sight. Unfriendly is an orange bar, but will not fight you unless you attack. Neutral is a yellow bar, again, will not fight you unless you attack. Friendly is typical allied mob: bar is green, etc.

Imperial players can go to Coruscant, and Republic players to Dromund Kaas, but everything is Unfriendly to them, they can't buy anything (except maybe at the spaceport?), and there are no quests available to them. Underworld players start out one tick up at Neutral and have a few merchants and quests available. Ones that it makes sense would be available to random people. (This is to balance out Underworld space starting at Neutral to Pubs and Imps.) And, obviously, Pub space starts out Friendly to Pubs and Imps space Friendly to Imps. (Though I would be slightly tempted to have Korriban be neutral to the Agent class because, as a non-Force-Sensitive you don't really belong there.)

(As you can see, we're basically using a game mechanic to underline the state of galaxy. We can also set things so that people can't go fuck things up for their fellow players by coding it so that if you just go attack people on the opposite faction capitol, you get blipped to hostile and squashed like a bug.)

Now, we write the game like there is actually a Cold War happening. This means missions for Imps and Pubs that send people into "enemy" space (not, to start with the capital or Force User planets, though) where they have to accomplish their missions without attracting the attention of the other faction. We can take advantage of instancing to allow for diplomatic incidents, like thinking "well, they can't report I'm here if they're dead," without triggering the anti-trolling splat mobs. This is also where we introduce some side quests that give people the opportunity to work on becoming to Neutral with the opposite faction.

Smugglers and Bounty Hunters are off doing Underworld stuff, with some options to take quests that benefit the Republic or the Empire. (Giving them the chance to work on becoming Friendly with one or both factions.)

All class stories get written so that there are several potential outcomes. We're going to use the Agent story as a model here, and basically set it up so that everyone has a story line that ends with them still loyal to the faction they began with, now Underworld/Unallied, or loyal to the opposite faction. This gets paired with the ability for characters to keep doing things to make the other faction like them better and you're setting up defections or the decision to go neutral with mechanics and story.

You use the Cold War setting to ramp up general tension. Have more missions like that one on Republic Hoth where you can work with some Imperials. Or the times where a Sith Warrior can use Republic soldiers to their advantage. So the whole base game has this good overlay of people wanting peace and people wanting to go back to war (on all sides!). This lets you really flesh out the factions, and the good and bad people in them. Have a more positive sort of Gray Morality going on.

As far as Flashpoints go, you re-write The Black Talon/Esseles for proper Cold War subtlety. I think we want to use the intro flashpoints to give people a better idea of the kind of proxy conflict stuff, where you might be fighting what appear to be a third party (like pirates), but you get info (of the non provable kind) that they're working for the Empire/Republic. And maybe come up with some kind of mechanic where party members can get special communications based on faction. Like, the main (everybody) cut scenes for the Esseles talk about it being pirates that are attacking them, but the Jedi/Trooper characters get a quick comm call that the pirates are probably working for the Empire and after a particular person.

For all the shared flashpoints, you tweak them so they are truly shared. One queue for everyone, we still need to work out exactly how we're getting the different factions their special flavor bits, but there's more of that here. And maybe a kind of saboteur mechanic for things like what to do with the missiles on Cademimu, so that they can still be launched at a fleet for a DS option, but it's not in-character obvious that someone did it.

We can still have some Empire and Republic specific flashpoints, which we might allow Underworld characters who are Friendly with the right faction to do. (Or maybe not if we're keeping the ones we have. They've got a bit of a secret mission vibe. Maybe we add a fun treasure hunt flashpoint for the Underworld folks.)

The end of the base game becomes the Cold War going hot because of Revan (and let's say it's not the Republic at large backing him, but a smaller group within the Republic that's okay with his plan). Now we get proper fall out from someone wanting to commit mass murder, we get a good climax, and we can shift from writing eight class stories to three-ish main stories with class and faction related flavor bits. You'd have those fighting for the Republic (ex-Empire characters could get good flavor bits about fighting their old allies and some suspicion from their new ones - a suspicion ex-Underworld characters would also get), for the Empire (again, joined members get some good flavor bits), or who are with the Underworld now.

First expansion is the war, maybe with some of what we used to have in Chapter Three going on. I'm also kind of tempted to weave in some actual foreshadowing for Zakuul here. I'm not keen on Space Voldemort or the time skip, but other parts of those expansions seem worth trying to save. But maybe we have the player characters working with Lana and Theron like in the Revan expansion, but it's about hints that there's something bad coming instead.

Next expansion, Zakuul attacks, things go super to shit, Lana, Theron, some people from Zakuul and the player character(s) form the Alliance. Oooh, wait, lets go ahead and keep the Vitiate/Valkorian thing, and have killing the Emperor be the end of the first expansion (because he wants to eat the galaxy - he's gone mad, but the Empire as a whole won't acknowlege it and are following him off a cliff, the Republic isn't seeing him and the Empire as separate, even evil characters live in the galaxy, etc). Now, Zakuul invades because when you kill Vitiate, Valkorian keels over. Whoops.

(Zakuul is the backup plan. If he can't destroy the galaxy as Vitiate, here comes the uber-Empire! You just managed to off him, but the uber-Empire gets fired at the known galaxy anyway.)

Now we have one story going, with different flavors depending on the characters relation to the three old factions. Kind of like we do in the existing game. And we avoid bumping the player character up to a ridiculous level of authority by making them part of the leadership of the Alliance instead of the leader. Keep them more in line with the base game power level.

Not quite sure where we go from here, but basically you have this kind of flowing faction thing going through the game that meshes well with the story.

I don't know. Mostly I wanted to work out how you could do something more interesting with faction.

[peace-coast-island]

Diary of a Junebug

The snowy mountains of Dragonpierce

Crystal icicles can be nice to look at, but they are a pain to deal with. The mountains would be a good place to explore some more if it wasn't for the sheer cold. I applaud Connie and their friends for braving the cold and spending a good part of their vacation time here for team building activities.

Dragonpierce is one of those places where looks can be deceiving. Appearance wise it looks like any other snowy place. But when you step inside it's brutal, to say the least. Amber, Bennett, and Xiang are the real MVPs for keeping us from freezing to death with their pyro powers.

It's a shame, really. I want to explore more of the mountains - it really is a fascinating place that's full of resources we can use at the camp. The glacial gyroids were a nice find along with various plants and berries I've never seen before. But the risk is too much, especially for non-seasoned outdoors people like us. I doubt even an experienced adventurer would want to set foot in the mountains without at least three backup plans or something.

Connie and Pai are back again with their team for another retreat. Things have been going a lot better for them, especially now that they have more allies as well as no immediate threats looming ahead. In fact, it's been a little slow as things outside their control has forced them to put their main mission on hold for a bit. Though that doesn't make Connie any less busy, especially now that they're moving up ranks with the Adventurer's Guild so they're up for a promotion soon.

Turns out it's a good thing we planned this adventure because it's been a while since the original team last hung out all together. Luci and Amber have stepped back a bit to focus on the Knights so they've been eager to meet up with Connie again. Noelle, Seraphina, and Xiang have been stepping up the ranks as well, becoming part of Connie's main team for missions. Xingqiu and Bennett have been helping with the new recruits as well as building up their skills.

In terms of combat, Pai says they've improved by a lot. It also helps that they have more members as well as the fact that Noelle and Seraphina are powerful healers. They still have a long way to go in terms of being in the same league as other seasoned adventurers so that's something for them to keep working towards.

Not too long after Connie and the gang first visited the camp, Xingqiu's best friend Chongyun offered his assistance. He's a psychic exorcist with telekinesis and cryo powers. Connie had ran into him a couple times before, tagging along with him on investigations regarding reported sightings of evil spirits.

The next teammates to join were Meggie and Di, both who work at a bar/cafe. Meggie's a friend of Amber's from Stone Bridge, a neighboring town of Bonsai. Meggie is a bartender/astrologer who just moved to the city in hopes of a new start. She says she's not too keen about being a bartender but she has to pay rent somehow - she refuses to monetize astrology, something she takes seriously. Connie says whether you believe her or not, she does possess strong intuition when it comes to reading people.

I have to say, some of her observations about me were spot on. I barely know her and she managed to get a glimpse of me just by reading the stars. I don't know too much about astrology - and it's not something I want to overly look into - but I like to have an open mind. Even if astrology isn't real, I believe some people are highly intuitive - it's a trait that you can't hone in on, you either have it or don't.

Di is a waitress who's from Spring Valley, not too far from the city. She comes from a family of hunters and is a master archer with the power of stealth on her side. She's quite young so Connie has kinda unoffically adopted her. Apparently she's been going through some stuff at home, so that's why she started working at the bar despite being underage. It's not an ideal situation, particularly due to the fact that alcoholism is a thing in her family so obviously she tries to avoid falling into the same path. No wonder Connie wanted to take Di under their wing.

Then along comes Lan, a renowned captain/pirate who's traveled around the continent at least three times so far. She came to the rescue after a mishap with explosives temporarily put Connie out of commission. Apparently someone at the Adventurer's Guild thought it was a good idea to set off explosive barrels at a high cliff to extract some ores. Lan happened to be around the area when Connie literally landed in her arms.

Lan hardly spends time on land as she's always out on the open seas, so she's kinda a legend around these parts. She said she heard about Connie from Xiang as they often write letters to each other, so she was hoping to meet the honorary hero one day. And so fate decided to literally hand Connie to her, which is quite funny.

I mean, imagine falling off a high cliff and landing right in the arms of this badass pirate captain? If that happened to me, I wouldn't know what to say or do.

And finally, there's the newest team member, a conqueror of demons named Xiao. He's basically an immortal being who has been protecting the land for thousands of years, often lurking in the background. Pai never expected him to offer his assistance considering that he usually avoids interactions with others. Connie was surprised too, though they had been working together a lot since having to defend the city so that's probably why he decided to stick around.

Considering how he keeps his distance from mortals, it's also a surprise that he came along for this trip. He does admit that the only reason he reluctantly joined in was to take the opportunity to observe the team, which makes sense. Pai says he's been helping out a lot in terms of improving team combat skills so that's why he needs to know how well everyone fights and what needs to be worked on.

While the others are off doing various activities, Xiao stands in the sidelines, watching over everything. He seems like the type who takes their responsibilities seriously, the kind you shouldn't mess with at all unless you have a death wish or something.

As for this gyroid event, we're gonna use the gyroids to forge weapons designed by Luci, Xingqiu, and Connie. With the team growing and moving up in the ranks, they're in need of more advanced weapons. Noelle's claymore is pretty worn out while Di's bow isn't exactly meant for combat. Connie still has their trusty sword, but it'll be in need of upgrades later on while Xiang's looking forward to switching out her old polearm for something more sturdier. According to Connie and Luci's research, glacial gyroids can produce a range of high quality weapons. In short, it's something to take advantage of as forging weapons is expensive and hard to come by.

While the mountains of Dragonpierce are hard to navigate, Connie says it's nothing compared to the snowy mountains on the outskirts of Starcatcher and Bonsai Harbor. Over there, you can freeze to death if you're poorly prepared, so most adventurers avoid it like the plague. The sheer cold is strong enough to knock you out if you don't have adequate warmth, not to mention the fierce monsters that roam about. As a result, Connie rarely takes commissions to go there, but it's not something they can avoid entirely, not with their standing as of now.

I don't think I'd survive the mountains over there - Dragonpierce is already pushing my limits. I get that Connie and the others want to collect gyroids, but using the mountains for combat training seems a bit risky. Though it's kinda in the middle of nowhere so I guess it makes for a good training ground. Something about the extreme cold helps to put them in the right mindset? I mean, there's other places where they can train that doesn't involve them risk freezing to death but then again I know nothing about fighting and stuff.

I have to say, it's cool to watch them show off their combat skills and powers. Connie's come a long way as a leader - that's what I call growth! Pai continues to cheer on from the sidelines while offering commentary once in a while. I wonder if one day she'll join in on the field too but I feel like that's asking too much of her.

As much as Connie and Pai are thick as thieves, Pai can be a bit exasperating. Maybe that's why she gets along well with people like Connie and Jamie as they both are kinda jaded and have a low tolerance for bullshit, therefore they can keep her in rein. Also, it's funny whenever Connie roasts Pai because let's face it, she had it coming. Like Pai, we love you, but sometimes you need to step back and be quiet.

It's fun seeing them train and figure out their team dynamics. Like how Xingqiu and Chongyun work well together by coordinating their powers to freeze enemies. So naturally, Connie and Xiao want to utilize that. Xiang, Connie, and Lan also make a deadly combo with Xiang's pyro combined with Lan's electro causes an explosion. Throw in Connie's wind storm and you've got your enemies cornered in a pyro and electro tornado.

At the campsite, everyone's got their own thing going on. Amber's gliding around as usual, practicing her archery as well and bringing fruit for us in the process. Lan, Seraphina, and Xiang have been cooking up a storm in the kitchen and they really like spicy food. I mean, they literally eat hot chilis like it's nothing - it's kinda scary. I though Rika was crazy when it came to spice but I think these three are in another league.

It's a shame. really. Because if it weren't for the intense heat, I would be able to enjoy these dishes more. They taste good but the spice...why must I be weak?

Di and Noelle have taken an interest in finding materials like plants and rocks. They're really good at discovering new stuff like unusual seashells that contain iron that can be extracted or poisonous weeds that can be used to make potions. Di has her methods of handling dangerous plants safely by infusing her arrows with cryo and shooting at them to temporarily make them safe to handle by putting them into a bubble until they can be stored away.

Bennett and Xingqiu have been showing Chongyun around the camp, teaching him a bunch of stuff in the process. Apparently he doesn't go out much so things like camping is completely new to him, so he needed some time to get comfortable. He comes across as a serious person, kinda innocent and naive though, but dedicated nonetheless. I think with Xingqiu around and Connie keeping everyone in rein, he's been able to loosen up a bit.

Pai's been having fun - she's either off doing her own thing and getting into some sort of trouble or bothering someone. It seems like the others have joined in on roasting Pai when she finds herself in a mess that she caused. It's also nice seeing Connie loosen up too, probably since they've gotten comfortable in this unfamiliar world. Pai says they've been making friends and allies left and right - from ordinary citizens to people among high rankings, even some gods as well - it's pretty wild actually.

Of course, Connie remains humble and shrugs it off as it's nothing. They say the high ranking people are just like everyone else, but as for the gods, it's best to exercise caution and expect the unexpected. Also, Connie's at the point where if they hang around certain places for too long, then one of their new friends will whisk them away on some adventure or job. It's only happened a couple times so far but Connie has a feeling that as time goes on, it's gonna become a regular thing, much to Pai's frustration. Connie says they don't mind too much - at least for now.

Since the gang will be coming back in the future for another camp event, I wonder how much things will change by then. I'm looking forward to seeing more of Connie's friends as well as hear more stories about their adventures. I just hope no one insists on doing combat training in Dragonpierce again - unless they're gonna collect gyroids too.

Either way, I think I'll pass on the freezing mountains - I think that's one area I don't mind putting off exploring for a long while.

[velmashaircut]

Sims 4 Big Brother Challenge

(Under the cut because this is long)

I’ve never done a challenge on the Sims before so when my brother introduced me to the Big Brother Challenge, I was quite intrigued. I’ve decided to give it a go because it looks fun and I have nothing else to do.

My brother sent me this format to use which is great because I have no idea what I’m doing and this page basically explained everything I need to know. I don’t have any mods or cc so I’m just going to stick with eight sims and I’m going to be doing all the challenges suggested in following order. So the line up will be: painting, chess, social, athletic, music, outdoors and then the grand finale. And the winner of the grand finale will be rewarded with 500,000 simoleons!

Anyway, here are the contestants! I gave them all a backstory to add some flavour to them. I also tried to make some of them as eccentric as possible just for the fun of it. I play on Xbox so I can’t take screenshots of the sims and put them into this post so please excuse the low quality of pictures I’m taking on my phone.

Contestant One: Fall the Designer

Fall entered Big Brother because her fashion company was going off the rails after a few bad investments and being recorded falling off the runway during her own fashion show. After being mocked by half the internet through memes, many of her models and designers left Fall’s company Falltastic. Big Brothers prize money will be just enough to salvage Fall’s career, PR manager!

Contestant Two: Levi the Yodeller

Walmart Yodelling Kid all grown up. Levi is a professional yodeller and every Friday at 5:23 you’ll see him on a small hill in a nearby park yodelayheehoo-ing to his hearts content all whilst disturbing all morning joggers in the vicinity. Levi joined the show so he can use the prize money to move to Scandinavia where he can live in the woods with all the reindeers he desires.

Contestant Three: Nathita the ‘Vampire’

Nathita has convinced herself she is a vampire after deciding Edward from Twilight is her comfort character at the ripe age of 15. She drinks tomato juice and pretends it’s blood of her annoying neighbours. She went on the show as a final, desperate plea to convince Stephenie Meyer to write a Twilight spin-off in Edward’s perspective. If Nathita wins, she’ll use the prize money to hire her favourite fanfiction author to write a 100,000+ paged twilight fanfiction starring Edward and herself. And yes, it’s oc x canon.

Contestant Four: Aden the Privateer

He was originally a full blown pirate guilty of multiple smugglings and pillages against small Caribbean countries. However, the producers of Big Brother told Aden he had to stop committing these heinous crimes if he wanted to be on the show. Therefore Aden became a privateer so he could do the previously mentioned legally. Why Aden audition for Big Brother? So he could hide from a pesky pirate hunter who’s been chasing after him for the past four years. And money. Don’t forget the 500,000 simoleon prize money too.

Contestant Five: Taz the Performer

If you’ve been to any bratty nine year olds birthday party in the past three years, there’s a good chance you saw Taz there, as she is, undoubtably, the best kids magician money has to offer! Both kids and parents love Taz and her magic tricks. However, instead of spending every Friday performing for spoilt kids in some public park, Taz has bigger dreams, like becoming the next Houdini! The prize money from Big Brother will be enough to show the world Taz’s true potential - pulling the coin behind the ear trick!

Contestant Six: Canto the Sound Cloud Rapper

Canto was a kid every teacher would have dreamed of teaching. Smart, kind, creative and well-behaved. However, after he discovered SoundCloud, those attributes were thrown out the window when Canto dropped out of high school to pursue a music career. If Post Malone can get famous off of SoundCloud, why can’t he? His SoundCloud name is: Can To a.k.a. Notorious Top. He changes it every week to stay ‘fresh’. He entered Big Brother to launch his career and finally be able to collab with Lil Pump, his dream.

Contestant Seven: Vikky the Cowgirl

Don’t let her title fool you, Vikky hates everything about the ranch life. Its so stressful and tiring, she feels like she’s about to have a ranch-induced heart attack. Every since she was a girl, her parents dreamed that Vikky would take over the ranch when she was older and pay their debts, which contrasted with Vikky’s dreams of travelling the world. As much as this sounds like a stereotypical horse girl film, Vikky’s struggle is real. So much so, she has to win Big Brother so she can use the 500,000 simoleon prize money to not fund her dreams; but instead save her families farm so she can be free. Hopefully this story ends the same way as those horse films do…

Contestant Eight: Kenji the Time Travelling Butler

1873, England. Kenji was a humble butler to the affluent Lord Black who resided in Liverpool. One morning, Kenji discovered a mysterious package on the front doorstep of his masters home. The package was made out of a material Kenji could not identify, and the label was even more difficult to comprehend ‘For the Lord of time and space’ Kenji pursed his lip, whatever could that mean? Curiosity got the best of the butler; he opened the package to see a small, jewellery-like box. Kenji’s curiosity only grew as he removed the boxes lid to see only an expensive looking pocket watch inside. He picked up the pocket watch and as soon as he did, there was a blinding light and - “Where am I? Is this Lord Blacks mansion? It looks a bit more rustic than usual…I’ll have to notify the builder about that…Who is that strange man, and what is he wearing? Am I contestant for Big Brother..I...what does that even mean…? Where is Lord Black, this is his property! Get your hands off of me - why are you taking me inside the mansion? Is Lord Black in his study? I demand to know what is going on this instant!” Somehow, Kenji has been sent to the 21st century and forced to participate in Big Brother! How and why he got put into this hell hole is beyond him, all he knows is that he has to win the prize money so he can get this now broken pocket watch repaired so he can go back to his time, and find out what Lord Black has been up to…

The first competition to be held in the Big Brother mansion is the painting competition! Which of the eight contestants will win? And which will lose? I’ll post an update soon.