#and i told you its a new gen new start so ill list the goals
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Bryce met his classmate Aminah who was part of the Brainiacs. He wanted to join so he could manage studying time and meet with other like-minded people. Half way into their studying, Bryce got a text from Billy telling him about a house party and to invite anyone he knew....and so he invited Aminah and Freddy!!
Join the Brainiacs Group while at Uni â
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#ts4#sims 4#ts4 gameplay#ts4 legacy#postcard legacy#this guy being a bad influence already he wants to socialise haha#they were like hell yeah screw this term paper!!#postcard gen 2#bryce reichmann#aminah hussain#freddy daley#also its a change from being not all square#sometimes it looks better not to squeeze everything into squares#and i told you its a new gen new start so ill list the goals#i wish i did this for freegan but i hate eco lifestyle so its ok#see how it looks for a few posts consistency am i right lmao#but im so indecisive might switch back uhhh ill stop rambling
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I wanna do something a little fun and just share some of the KH fanfic ideas Iâve had for a while, which are mostly about Vanitas because of course they are. XD But yeah, here are my ideas:
1. A Shadow of Two - a sequel to A Heart and a Half, kinda a fix-it for KH3 but not really since itâs an AU to begin with. Vanitas Aqua and Ventus would be the main trio, but Sora Riku and Kairi are also POV characters, with each of them having their own trio and goals: Sora (with Donald and Goofy) looking for a way to revive Roxas while struggling with his own inner darkness, Kairi training with Axel and getting help from Ienzo in discovering her past, Riku Mickey and an unrevealed character on a secret Realm of Darkness mission and also finding a way to revive NaminĂŠ, and Vanitas Aqua and Ventus searching for the new Princesses of Heart while dealing with their own problems: Vanitas still dealing with his trauma while adjusting to normal society, Aqua dealing with something I canât reveal yet, and Ventus... honestly I donât know what to do with Ventus. The most obvious answer would be recovering his lost memories, but... well, introducing an egregiously convoluted backstory wherein Ventus and/or Vanitas might be a murderer isnât exactly appealing to me, to say the least. I really wish Venâs backstory couldâve been something I was allowed to make up myself. Other than that, the story would generally follow KH3 but with way more Disney worlds and hopefully fewer plot holes. ;P
2. Broken Hearts (Take Time to Mend) - a post-KH3 fic that ignores Re:Mind and the time-traveling Vanitas retcon. This fic is about the REAL Vanitas who was in KH3 and resurrected via scream energy who has returned once again, this time in the Land of Departure but is too weak to leave and is quickly discovered by the Wayfinder Trio. Tensions are high but heâs ultimately allowed to stay, with the focus of the story being on the four of them helping each other recover from their respective traumas: Vanitasâs years of abuse by Xehanort, Terraâs decade of possession by Xehanort (which according to the post-Re:Mind character files was a lot more traumatic than Iâd realized), Aquaâs decade spent in the Realm of Darkness and subsequent corruption by darkness, and Venâs... almost being killed by Eraqus, I guess. While pretty bad, thatâs probably not as traumatizing as years of torture and torment, and the more obvious trauma to use would be Ventus committing/witnessing Strelitziaâs murder, but as Iâve established I just really donât want to deal with KHUX at all. Anyway, this could work as a gen fic but since I love Vanqua so much I might as well make it one, maybe throw a little Terrella in there too 'cause why not.
3. This fic idea focuses on the aftermath of KH3, NOT Re:Mind, where Riku Kairi and NaminĂŠ are trying to adjust back to a normal life at Destiny Islands while also dealing with their grief over Soraâs disappearance. Kairi deals with blaming herself for Soraâs âdeathâ, NaminĂŠ deals with being adopted as Kairiâs sister and learning how to be a normal person, and Riku deals with his growing feelings for NaminĂŠ, but the real star of the show is... Soraâs mom! Oh and Vanitas too, of course. Soraâs mom (who really needs a name) has finally been told about everything thatâs happened these past two-ish years, and a month after Soraâs disappearance she finds a comatose Vanitas washed up on the beach. She assumes itâs Sora, although Riku and Kairi are quick to correct her. Despite their warnings, Soraâs mom nurses Vanitas back to health and basically adopts him, although he isnât exactly happy with the situation. Still weak and recovering, Vanitas is unable to leave, and Soraâs mom wonât stop in her efforts to help him adjust to a normal life. This one could be merged into Broken Hearts, since I could imagine Riku informing the Wayfinder Trio about Vanitasâs return and an angry and distrustful post-KH3 Aqua wouldnât want to let him out of her sight, but it might be better to keep them as separate fics seeing as theyâre set in two different locations.
4. My next idea hinges on my theory of what the next KH game couldâve been like... or at least before Re:Mind pretty much shot it down. My theory was that Vanitas, the real Vanitas not the time-traveler, was still inside Soraâs heart and therefore went along with him to TWEWY. I havenât played TWEWY but I know that Sora would need a partner to defeat the Noise, and what better partner than a former enemy? This would be similar to A Heart and a Half but instead of romance itâs a sibling team-up with them trying to escape Shibuya. This fic could also be combined with the previous idea as well... Maybe Sora allows Vanitas to win the Reaperâs Game and he ends up on Destiny Islands unable to remember what happened in TWEWY. Vanitas would be the key to getting Sora back but only if NaminĂŠ can unlock his lost memories. My only problem is that I would have to erase all that character development Vanitas gained with Sora to reset him back to have character development with the Destiny Islands characters instead, at least until he regains all his memories.
5. A different Vanitas and Sora team-up fic. Once again this is the real Vanitas who used scream energy to revive himself, but that made his heart rather unstable. He tries to fight Sora Donald and Goofy in Monstropolis but is too weak and sick and loses. Upon discovering that Vanitas looks just like him, Sora decides to take him back to Yen Sid for healing and answers. But Vanitasâs negativity is too much for the Gummiship to handle and it ends up stalling. Sora Donald and Goofy slowly nurse a very reluctant Vanitas back to health with the power of friendship, which would reduce the amount of negativity so the Gummiship can fly again. Vanitas and the trio travel to a few different Disney worlds and eventually rescue Aqua and Ven. I donât know what would happen after that though, since I donât want to just rehash exactly what happened in the Keyblade Graveyard.
6. A pre-BBS Vanqua AU. Only a few months after being created, Vanitas runs away from Xehanort to the Land of Departure, hoping to merge with Ven early. Unfortunately for him Ven is still in a coma, so Vanitas tries to merge with Aqua instead. This doesnât quite work, but does end up linking their hearts in such a way that neither can go too far away from each other without feeling sick or even dying. Now stuck at the Land of departure, Vanitas is found by Xehanort who is enraged that Vanitas has basically ruined all his plans. Fearing for his life, Vanitas convinces Xehanort that the plan can still be salvaged: Vanitas will become Eraqusâs apprentice under the guise of Venâs âbrotherâ and is tasked with encouraging Terraâs darkness while making sure Ventus and/or Aqua are trained to their fullest, depending on which one would be better to merge with. Xehanort, not wanting to start this entire endeavor over, agrees to the plan and introduces Vanitas to Eraqus and the others. Since Vanitas is now wearing normal clothing, Aqua has no idea that he is the masked boy who attacked her earlier, but feels strangely drawn to him due to their connected hearts. The rest of the fic would basically be about the four apprenticesâ life at the Land of Departure, with Vanitas struggling with his loyalty to Xehanort vs his slowly burgeoning friendship with Terra Ven and Aqua, all while trying not to blow his cover with the Unversed.
I also have a few smaller ideas that I havenât really thought through yet or might work better as oneshots or fanart: 1. A Lion King Vanqua AU with lion Aqua and black leopard Vanitas, Terra Eraqus and Xehanort also as lions, Ven as a regular leopard, and Braig as a hyena. 2. A KH1 retelling/reimagining with Vanitas reincarnated as Soraâs younger brother. 3. A Nier Automata AU with resistance android Terra, scanner Ventus, attacker Aqua, and Vanitas as a scanner with executioner chips installed by Xehanort sent to infiltrate Yorha. 4. A post-KH3 fic dealing with Soraâs restlessness after attempting to return to a normal life on Destiny Islands, feeling like he doesnât belong after everything heâs been through. 5. Something about Aqua taking care of Ven when he first arrives at the Land of Departure, possibly Venqua. 6. A Vanqua-ish KH3 fic with Vanitas kidnapping Aqua to be used as a Guardian or Seeker back-up for Org13, but he eventually befriends her and lets her go. 7. And finally, a Namiku fic set between CoM and KH2. I kinda feel like this should be part of the A Heart and a Half âcanonâ, but Iâm not actually sure whether it should be its own fic or just flashback scenes in A Shadow of Two.
Youâll notice that I really love stories about villain redemption, abuse/mental illness recovery, and former enemies becoming friends/lovers, which is why Iâve grown so disappointed with mainstream works nowadays rarely exploring those topics (at least not that Iâve seen). I guess thatâs where that old saying comes in, âif you want something done right, you have to do it yourselfâ. But yeah, thatâs just a quick list of my KH fic ideas so far!
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We have sailed the Acid Sea and now know land is near â and with it all the fun a pirate could desire at Waterdog Port! Yarrrrr!
In other words, Pirate of Pugmireâs Kickstarter has passed its funding goal, and now weâre headed towards some sweet Stretch Goals. Thanks to everyone who pledged so that we can get this companion volume to Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau printed and out into stores!
And if you havenât yet had a chance to pledge, there are still a few awesome reward tiers left â some of which include having your pet illustrated as a pirate! â and the KS runs until Thursday. Thereâs a link below in the Blurbs! section for your convenience!
V5 Chicago By Night art by Michael Gaydos
Leading in to our next Kickstarter campaign, today we were thrilled to reveal that we will be posting a Trinity Continuum: Aberrant webcomic starting tomorrow, Tuesday the 18th, here on the Onyx Path website!
The webcomic will run every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday for about six weeks, coinciding with the TC: Aberrant Kickstarter starting the first week in July.
We had the extreme pleasure of working with comic book writer extraordinaire Paul Jenkins, who has written so many amazing works for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, including winning an Eisner award for writing the Inhumans for Marvel Knights, that weâll let you all Google him rather than trying to list them all.
Weâll have more info on Paul, as well as awesome artist Doug Stambaugh, in the weeks to come as âYou Are Not Alone.â rolls out. This is our very first webcomic, we are incredibly excited about it, and we hope it wonât be our last, and is designed to give a taste to new and long-time Aberrant fans of just what the world of Trinity Continuum: Aberrant is like.
Shunned By the Moon art by Leonardo Albiero
Another announcement for today is that weâre incredibly happy to be working with the multi-talented Travis Legge as he leads the development of our upcoming Scarred Lands projects. Travis has already sat in with Eddy, Matt, and myself, as we whipped project ideas into a schedule, and now heâll be pulling those ideas into actual books.
This doesnât change how weâre handling the new Scarred Lands Creature Collection with our friend Jon Hodgsonâs new company, Handiwork Games, and I actually was able to talk with Jon at UK Games Expo and we firmed up plans for the upcoming Kickstarter Jon will be running for the book. Expect amazing art, fantastic layout and usability, and the chance to pick Reward Tiers that allow backers to determine additional monsters to include in the book beyond those already planned.
We also talked with Chris and Matt from Modiphius while at UKGE about our ongoing Vampire 5th Edition projects. Everyone was excited at being able to work closely together on new V5 books â and that was before the recent Origins Award for Best RPG of the Year! Congrats to all involved!
V5 Chicago By Night art by Ken Meyer, Jr
Finally, for anyone who is thinking that every third word I write is Kickstarter, look below at what we have going on sale this week: the Advance PDFs of both the Blood Sea: Crimson Abyss for Scarred Lands, and the long, long, long-awaited Signs of Sorcery for Mage: The Awakening 2e! Neither of which had a KS, so there!
Regardless of how we get there, weâre:
Many Worlds, One Path!
BLURBS!
Kickstarter!
Our Pirates of Pugmire Kickstarter has funded! Now weâre going for some cool Stretch Goals in these, the final fantastic days! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/pirates-of-pugmire-a-realms-of-pugmire-tabletop-rpg
Pirates of Pugmire is a chronicle sourcebook for both Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau. Itâs usable in either game, or as part of a joint experience. Some highlights include: * Two new species for players to enjoy: lizards and birds * Six new callings, including two for dogs and two for cats * Rules for building, sailing, and sinking ships * A trove of new allies, enemies, and treasures * Information on Waterdog Port and Port Matthew * âGoing on the Account,â a chronicle of three new adventures, taking characters from 1st through 6th level
You can also hear Eddy discuss the writing and design of Pirates of Pugmire on the Onyx Pathcast on your favorite podcatcher, or here on : https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/)
ONYX PATH MEDIA
Onyx Pathcast art by Michael Gaydos
This Fridayâs Onyx Pathcast features an interview with fantastic writer Klara Herbol!: https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/
And Hereâs More Media About Our Worlds:
Due to ill health, Matthew has had to postpone the Onyx Path News! Itâll be back later this week
He has however uploaded another episode of the Scarred Lands actual play he ran for Red Moon Roleplaying, so do check that out on the Onyx Path YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/xnEc5Qznsw4
We have two further episodes of Occultists Anonymous, the Mage: The Awakening actual play as follows: Episode 21: The Quest Begins Songbird is charged with making himself useful to the Adamantine Arrow, and with so many ânerdsâ at close hand, maybe he can make use of that connection to the MysteriumâŚhttps://youtu.be/wyE_fVd9KYo
Episode 22: Prime Time A letter is investigated, a message sent, and a being from beyond this world is summoned⌠Just a normal Tuesday. https://youtu.be/il9VOFSh_gU
The Story Told Podcast have uploaded their excellent interview with Meghan Fitzgerald regarding Changeling: The Lost:Â http://thestorytold.libsyn.com/episode-29-meghan-fitzgerald-interview
For the love of Chardun, check out the Devilâs Luck Gaming Twitch stream if you havenât already done so:Â https://www.twitch.tv/DEVILSLUCKGAMING
And thatâs it for media this week! We need more actual plays, reviews, and video breakdowns of our games, so please get in touch with the Gentleman Gamer on the Onyx Path Forum is you would like to create content that we can in turn promote!
Please check any of these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games!
ELECTRONIC GAMING
As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is now live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)
ON AMAZON AND BARNES & NOBLE:
You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).
If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!
Our selection includes these fiction books:
OUR SALES PARTNERS:
Weâre working with Studio2 to get Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire
Weâve added Princeâs Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game
Now, weâve added Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition products to Studio2âs store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost
Scarred Lands (Pathfinder) books are also on sale at Studio2, and they have the 5e version, supplements, and dice as well!: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/scarred-lands
Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online
Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/
And you can now order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link!
On Sale This Week!
This Wednesday, weâre releasing an Advance PDF DOUBLE FEATURE with Signs of Sorcery for Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition, and Blood Sea: The Crimson Abyss for Scarred Lands 5e both coming to DriveThruRPG!
CONVENTIONS!
Gen Con: August 1st â 4th Save Against Fear: October 12th â 14th GameHoleCon: October 31st â November 3rd Weâll also be back at PAX Unplugged later this year!
And now, the new project status updates!
DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):
First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)
M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
Geist 2e Fiction Anthology (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)
Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)
Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)
Wraith20 Fiction Anthology (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)
One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)
Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)
Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)
Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon) Titanomachy (Scion 2nd Edition)
Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)
Many-Faced Strangers â Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)
Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)
Redlines
Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)
Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)
Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)
Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)
Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)
Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)
Second Draft
Tales of Good Dogs â Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)
Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)
Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)
Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)
City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)
TC: Aeon Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)
Development
WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)
Oak, Ash, and Thorn: Changeling: The Lost 2nd Companion (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)
M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
Creatures of the World Bestiary (Scion 2nd Edition)
Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)
Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)
Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)
Chicago Folio/Dossier (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)
Let the Streets Run Red (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)
Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)
TC: Aeon Ready-Made Characters (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)
Legendlore core book (Legendlore)
Manuscript Approval
Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)
Pirates of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)
Hunter: The Vigil 2e core (Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition)
DR:E Threat Guide (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)
DR:E Jumpstart (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)
Editing
Memento Mori: the GtSE 2e Companion (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)
Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)
Spilled Blood (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)
Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)
Heroic Land Dwellers (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)
Post-Editing Development
M20 Book of the Fallen (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
V5 Chicago By Night (Vampire: The Masquerade)V5 Chicago By Night Screen (Vampire: The Masquerade)
CofD Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)
Witch-Queen of the Shadowed Citadel (Cavaliers of Mars)
Distant Worlds (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)
Scion Ready-Made Characters (Scion 2nd Edition)
Dark Eras 2 (Chronicles of Darkness)
Indexing
ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE!
In Art Direction
Contagion Chronicle
Dark Eras 2 â Got all the art in from Sheikman and everyone else is working.
M20 Book of the Fallen â Getting art over to WW for approval.
VtR Spilled Blood â in the worx.
Trinity Continuum Aeon: Distant Worlds
Trinity Continuum Aberrant â KS Sketches and finals coming in.
Hunter: The Vigil 2e
Ex3 Lunars
They Came From Beneath the Sea â Getting it going.
Ex3 Monthly Stuff
In Layout
V5: Chicago
Trinity Core
Trinity Aeon
CoM â Witch Queen of the Shadowed CitadelÂ
Proofing
WtF Shunned by the Moon
DR: E â proofing with Eddy
Aeon Aexpansion
C20 Cup of Dreams â This week.
Ex 3 Monthlies â At WW for approval
At Press
Dragon Blooded â Deluxe shipping to Studio2.
Dragon-Blooded Cloth Map â Shipped to Studio2.
Dragon-Blooded Screen â Printing.
The Realm â Reviewing errata.
Trinity Core Screen â Printing.
TC Aeon Screen â Printing.
C20 Playerâs Guide â PoD files uploaded.
Geist 2e â Gathering Errata.
Book of Oblivion â Putting in errata.
Trinity: In Media Res â PoD proofs ordered.
Scion Jumpstart â Backer PDFs going out this week.
Scion Ready-Made Characters â Backer PDFs going out this week.
Blood Sea: The Crimson Abyss (Scarred Lands) â Advance PDF on sale this Weds!
Signs of Sorcery â Advance PDF on sale this Weds!
Todayâs Reason to Celebrate!
Today must be the calm before the storm, because tomorrow issues a double helping of birthday fun for both Neall Raemonn Price and The Gentleman Gamer himself, Matthew Dawkins! Many happy returns to you both!
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As Covid Vaccinations Slow, Parts of the US Remain Far Behind 70% Goal
July Fourth was not the celebration President Joe Biden had hoped for, as far as protecting more Americans with a coronavirus vaccine. The nation fell just short of the White Houseâs goal to give at least a first dose to 70% of adults by Independence Day. By that day, 67% of adult Americans had gotten either the first shot of the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, or the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. If children ages 12-17, who are now eligible for the Pfizer product, are included, the national percentage of those who have gotten at least one shot is 64%.
Drilling down from national rates, the picture varies widely at the regional level, and from state to state. For example, Massachusetts and most states in the Northeast reached or exceeded 70% (for adults, age 18 and older) in June. Tennessee and most Southern states have vaccination rates between 50% and 60%, and administration rates are slowing down.
Local variations in demand for the vaccines and in-state strategies for marketing and distributing the shots help explain the range.
In Massachusetts, for example, residents overwhelmed phone lines and appointment websites as soon as vaccines became available. The state began opening mass vaccination sites in January to meet demand. At Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, the home field of the New England Patriots, Jumbotron screens flashed updates and speakers blasted instructions to people arriving for a shot. When demand peaked in March, as many as 8,000 residents a day snaked through lines to a waiting syringe. Registered nurse Francesca Trombino delivered jab after jab at Fenway Park and then at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston for five months.
âI still hold a lot of interactions very dear to my heart,â she said, reflecting on those months in late June. âI had so many people cry, just out of pure shock, just being able to feel free.â
Heading into the long Fourth of July weekend, more than 82% of Massachusetts adults had received at least one shot. That number doesnât surprise many public health experts because residents generally have embraced vaccination recommendations in the past, and Massachusetts regularly registers some of the highest rates for pediatric and influenza inoculations in the country. In Tennessee, where only 52% of adults are at least partially vaccinated against covid, nurses sit waiting. In some of the stateâs rural counties, only 30% of residents have been vaccinated.
âOur first couple weeks we had people booked, then after that we had people start no-showing,â said Kirstie Allen, who coordinates covid vaccinations at the federally subsidized clinic in Linden, Tennessee. âWe had a waiting list, the people on the waiting list didnât want to come. Itâs gradually just gotten worse.â
Allen is down to offering the vaccine just one day a week, and she aims to sign up at least 10 patients to avoid wasting doses in the multi-use Moderna vial.
Allen has witnessed plenty of vague skepticism in her town of 1,200 people. And she can sympathize. Despite administering the shots, the mother and licensed practical nurse has not yet been vaccinated and said sheâs waiting for more research results to be released, and to see how everyone does over time.
âIâm one of those people who are unsure at the moment about getting it,â she said, adding she wouldnât get her kids vaccinated yet either.
This wait-and-see attitude is especially common among white, rural conservatives in the South, according to many surveys in recent months. After an initial surge of interest, demand for vaccinations waned, and states like Tennessee held mass vaccination events only in the most densely populated cities.
Having Reached the 70% Goal, Massachusetts Adopts Targeted Strategy
In Massachusetts, with fewer than 20% of adults still unvaccinated, the state is closing its high-volume vaccine clinics and focusing on specific demographic groups and communities with low vaccination rates.
âAs these [big] sites come to their mission complete, we need to keep pushing harder into the neighborhoods,â said Rodrigo Martinez, âinto those locations that really need it.â
Martinez is with CIC Health, a company that moved from managing mass vaccination sites to running small outdoor clinics at supermarkets where shoppers who got a shot received a $25 gift card. That hyperlocal approach is part of a growing effort in Massachusetts to bring vaccines to residents, especially those in low-income and minority communities where the virus spread quickly and vaccination rates remain low.
Massachusetts has targeted 20 such cities including Brockton, south of Boston. Itâs a diverse city of essential workers, a group that has been hit hard during the pandemic. First-dose vaccination rates are especially low for Latinos, at 39%, and Blacks, 41% (for all ages, not just adults).
The hyperlocal approach was on display in Brockton on a Sunday in late June, when the city, with assistance from the state, hosted a mobile vaccine clinic at a popular park. A big, yellow touring bus, retrofitted to hold vaccination stations, idled near tents offering free food, music, legal advice for immigrants and health insurance enrollment assistance.
This particular neighborhood in Brockton features residents who speak Portuguese, Spanish, English and Haitian Creole.
âBienvenue! Welcome!â shouted Isabel Lopez, a state-funded vaccine ambassador, as she moved from one cluster of families to another, urging them to go grab a free hamburger, hot dog â and a vaccine.
âWe are here, bringing the communities together, to make this a fun day and also a creative way to get people vaccinated,â Lopez said.
Near the soccer field, Lopez scored a big win. She persuaded five hesitant members of one household to go to the bus and at least talk with a nurse there. A half-hour later, all five had received their first shots. Lenin Gomez said afterward that he had had doubts about the vaccine but was persuaded when the nurse stressed the need to protect the children living in Gomezâs home.
âIf Iâm not fully protected, who will take care of the little ones?â Gomez said. âThatâs what opened my mind to getting vaccinated.â
When Gomez gets his second dose in a few weeks, he can enter himself in a statewide lottery that will give away five $1 million prizes for anyone whoâs vaccinated. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said he hopes these jackpots will entice hesitant residents to roll up their sleeves.
Hefty Financial Incentives Are Less Common in the South
In the states that need most to boost vaccination rates, thereâs little interest in creative financial incentives. Tennessee has no plans. In Alabama, the NAACP funded a recent drawing for $1,000 prizes aimed at millennials and Gen Zers.
Overall, the daily vaccination rate across the South has slowed, worrying health officials who are watching the explosive growth and spread of the delta variant in several parts of the U.S. But some Southern residents continue to come around to the idea. In Lobelville, Tennessee, 57-year-old Laurel Grant was initially hesitant to get the shot because of possible side effects.
âBut everybody I know has done real good, just maybe a little fever or a little tiredness,â she said.
So Grant got her own shot in June, at a local pharmacy. It helped that the Pilot Flying J truck stop where she works offered a $75 bonus to employees who got fully vaccinated.
âThereâs a few down there at work who are like, âIâm not going to get it,'â Grant said, âIâm like, âYes, you are. You gotta go, like it or not.'â
Converts like Grant are being seen as the best kind of evangelist for this next phase of vaccinating latecomers. Tennesseeâs health department has started taping video testimonials to release online. But the marketing efforts are beginning to annoy some Republican state lawmakers convinced the state is trying too hard. Theyâre especially concerned about kids.
A recent hearing in the Tennessee state legislature included threats of disbanding Tennesseeâs health department. State Rep. Iris Rudder, along with other GOP lawmakers, brandished printouts of social media ads produced by state health officials. They featured smiling kids with adhesive bandages on their shoulders.
âItâs not your business to target children. Itâs your business to inform the parent that their child is eligible for the vaccination,â she told health department officials at the hearing in June. âSo I would encourage you, before our next meeting, to get things like this off your website.â
This criticism was mostly directed at the stateâs health commissioner, Dr. Lisa Piercey, who responded at the hearing by saying the state is not âwhispering to kidsâ or trying to get them vaccinated behind the backs of their parents. She said sheâs not going to back off when it comes to vaccination outreach.
Piercey also said she doesnât think the risk level in Tennessee is as dire as the low vaccination rates suggest. Tennessee had a huge surge of covid cases during the winter. That means at least 850,000 people â based on positive test results â are walking around with some level of natural immunity. Piercey said those residents are partially compensating for low vaccination rates.
âYes, I want everybody who wants a vaccine to get it,â she said. âBut what I really want at the end of the day is for this pandemic to go away. I want to minimize cases and eliminate hospitalizations and deaths, and weâre pretty close to getting there.â
The outlook is less rosy in neighboring Arkansas. The state escaped the worst of the winter outbreaks. Now it is trying to stop flare-ups of illness caused by the more contagious delta variant. Gov. Asa Hutchinson told CBSâs âFace the Nationâ that if nothing else will inspire Southerners to get vaccinated, âreality will.â
This story is part of a partnership that includes WBUR, Nashville Public Radio, NPR and KHN.
KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.
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Harmonixâs Fuser bets on user creativity as the future of music gaming ⢠Eurogamer.net
Where do you go after Guitar Hero and Rock Band? Thatâs a question the music genre has been trying to answer for about 10 years, with varying degrees of success. Some games have looked to VR to replace the physicality of performing on peripherals, yet the platform still remains out of reach for many thanks to cost and space requirements. Others have taken risks with unique spins on rhythm-action â often brilliant in their own right, but none have captured the mass market like the guitar games of the 2000s.
Does the answer lie in user-created content? Thatâs what Harmonix is betting on with its latest title, Fuser, a music-mixing game officially unveiled today. Part performance game, part creative tool, itâs a far cry from the days of rocking out with a peripheral in your living room â instead favouring a Coachella-influencer vibe as players mix current tracks together to satisfy crowd demands.
âA lot of our traditional games â whether itâs Rock Band or Dance Central, even some of the stuff weâve done in VR like Audica â are very different in that those games are either a recreation of, or performance to, an existing song,â Harmonix exec Dan Walsh told me during a preview session. âFuser is a music-mixing game where you are creating things as opposed to recreating things.â
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Launching with over 100 tracks, players will be able to pick and choose from set song lists to develop a mix. The gameplay centres around a deck where you can play four different discs at once, with each song broken down into four components: drums, bass, lead instruments (such as guitar, synths and horns) and vocals. Players can mix these into any combination they want â even four voice parts at the same time, although this doesnât sound the best.
Oh, and thereâs no peripherals: just a regular release on PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch sometime this autumn. Thatâs pretty close to when next-gen consoles launch, but Fuser will also be playable on PS5 and Xbox Series X thanks to their backwards compatibility support, âso you wonât be shut out or have to waitâ, Walsh confirmed.
All it takes is a tap or drag-and-drop to add music tracks from the cards above to the deck below.
Itâs an impressive bit of tech, with tracks automatically adapting to the key and tempo as theyâre introduced. Both can also be adjusted by the player as part of the overall mix, such as switching between major and minor. Harmonix used a similar system for its 2017 card game DropMix, in which songs were divided into parts and then mixed together on a peripheral. Fuser expands on this by giving players more creative control, allowing them to change the texture by muting tracks, or adding in custom sounds via what looked like an in-game MIDI pad with six instrument options (something Harmonix plans on detailing at a later point).
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So, thatâs the mixing interface: how does this work as a game? Fuser is divided into three core gameplay modes: campaign, freestyle, and multiplayer. The latter is listed as two to four players in the press release, with the opportunity to âcollaborate or compete with players from around the worldâ â but Harmonix is waiting until later on to reveal more details of how this works, too.
Freestyle gives players the opportunity to mess around, save mixes and upload them directly onto social channels. The campaign, meanwhile, is about 10-15 hours long, and follows the career of a DJ from âsome level of successâ to headline act.
Points are scored by fulfilling crowd requests, keeping the mix moving, and hitting mission goals such as keeping the track within set bpm parameters. You can get combos on crowd requests by dropping a track that satisfies two at once: for instance, Billie Eilishâs bad guy would fulfill a request for pop, and a request for 2010s music. If you introduce new tracks on a downbeat you get bonus points, while yellow lines on the time bar indicate âmusically interestingâ parts of loops which are particularly suitable for changes.
Players are able to fully customise the character, and perform in six different venues. To keep things varied, the campaign gives different narrative reasons for each mission: such as playing the second day of a festival when everyone isâŚ. fragile, and wants something calm.
In the context of the release of Media Moleculeâs Dreams this month, itâs interesting timing for Harmonix to announce Fuser â and it feels like part of a larger trend giving players the tools to create content within a game. I asked if Harmonix felt this was the future for the music genre, too.
Pushed to the periphery
Almost inevitably, the topic of peripherals came up when discussing music gaming â and itâs unsurprising why the industry has moved away from them.
âI will never speak ill of the Rock Band instruments â [they] really sell that full experience,â Walsh said. âBut itâs also a lot of complication⌠youâve got to figure out manufacturing, shipping timelines and inventory logistics, and selling people on them. Also getting retail to dedicate the space, and asking people upfront to make a much larger investment than a traditional game because they have to buy all the extra stuff.
âItâs nice to be able to have people either purchase it physically or digitally. You donât have to worry about whether or not you have something thatâs compatible with the last generation, and itâs going to work with your current generation. [Itâs] much more straightforward.â
Not to mention all that plastic probably isnât great for the environment.
âAt the moment, yes, just because if you look back at when rock band and Guitar Hero came out, rock star culture and the rock star fantasy were very much of that time,â Walsh explained. âLate 90s, early 2000s, mid 2000s. People wanted to be on stage at Lollapalooza, they wanted to be shredding on the lead guitar out in front of thousands of people.
âMusic culture has sort of shifted over the last 10-15 years to where DJ culture is influential, mashup culture is really influential. Festival culture is bigger than itâs ever been right now. So this game is sort of our attempt to reflect modern music culture in a way thatâs still a game, but itâs also creatively fulfilling in a different way than Rock Bands or Dance Central or Guitar Hero.
âFrom a creative standpoint, you look at influencer culture as well where people just want to create and share things all the time. And this is sort of a reflection of that, Dreams is a good reflection of that. Mario Maker is another example, Minecraft of course â itâs like turning people loose into a sort of gamified playground with a lot of access to a lot of like tools and interesting and interesting things.â
The music-mixing aspect of Fuser is something Harmonix has been thinking about for a while: Walsh told me the studio âstarted experimentingâ with games Fantasia and DropMix. â[With Fuser], it feels like we figured out the rest of it, the game wrapper around it that makes it still accessible,â Walsh said. Getting the balance between creative freedom and game rules was a challenge, so Harmonix tried to focus on âpurposeful decisions that are also musical in a way you [can] score them.
âFiguring out that balance took a little while and some of our other experiments⌠I donât think quite found the way to make your creative decisions âgaming'â, Walsh added.
Fuser is already launching with a significant number of tracks, but Harmonix hasnât ruled out adding more post-launch. âHarmonix has a long tradition of supporting its titles with ongoing content and features,â project director Daniel Sussman told me over email. âYou can expect Fuser to be similar.â
Given Fuserâs focus on influencer-style sharing, I started to wonder how the music worldâs strict licensing rules would work with publishing mixes to social media. How do the music rights work with that? Well, Harmonix doesnât quite have the answer yet.
âItâs definitely complicated. For normal people, youâll be able to share to your personal timeline,â Walsh explained. âWhen it comes to like influencers or YouTubers, things of that nature⌠thatâs something that weâre still working through, both with licence holders as well as platforms. We know them both very well over the years. Obviously, when the game comes out it will include guidelines on how to do it.â
Is it more of a problem when people are monetising on top of the mixes theyâve produced?
âMonetisation does add a layer of complication⌠yeah, that is harder to navigate,â Walsh added. âNot necessarily impossible, but still something that weâre working through.â
Much to sphinx about.
I did manage to get a little hands-on time with Fuser for 10 minutes (and watched some gameplay expertly demoed by community manager Zoe Schneider) â and I was pretty bowled over by the mixing technology on display. Itâs easy to use, packed with a good assortment of current hits and classics, and complex enough that players will be able to produce some unexpected mixes. Dropping new tracks on-beat was surprisingly satisfying in a different way to timing a Rock Band note, as hearing a great transition is rewarding to the ears. And thereâs a certain novelty to hearing Smash Mouth and Migos inexplicably work together.
That said, Iâm not yet entirely convinced by the core gameplay shown in the campaign, particularly the request system. In later levels these requests come in âpretty frequentlyâ, Schneider told me â and while you can ignore them, the game encourages you to hit as many as possible to get a high score. This means the track is constantly shifting, and it often felt a little frantic and unnatural to my ear, as the music wasnât given time to settle. The alternative, I suppose, is to dial back the amount of crowd requests: but then this risks making the gameplay slow.
The idea of responding to crowd requests also seems a little weird to me, as it suggests successful music artists only follow the demands of fans â and Iâm not sure how many people actually want to live out a wedding DJ fantasy. And, unfortunately, the gameplay often looks quite static. It doesnât have the drama of Rock Band â either on-screen, where rows of glowing blobs would hurtle towards you, or in the entertainment value of watching a friend perform on a peripheral in your living room. I wonder if this will impact the gameâs ability to spread on social media platforms, as Harmonix would clearly like.
There are still so many unknowns surrounding Fuser itâs impossible to know how itâs going to pan out: we still know very little about multiplayer, precisely how the custom instrument tracks work, or what players will eventually make in freestyle mode. I really admire the focus on creative elements, along with the strength of the mixing system which makes the process accessible. Personally, I can see myself spending quite a few hours in freestyle mode tinkering with tracks. But is there enough of a game amongst the mixing tools to keep me hooked? Weâll see.
from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/02/harmonixs-fuser-bets-on-user-creativity-as-the-future-of-music-gaming-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=harmonixs-fuser-bets-on-user-creativity-as-the-future-of-music-gaming-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net
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As Covid Vaccinations Slow, Parts of the US Remain Far Behind 70% Goal
July Fourth was not the celebration President Joe Biden had hoped for, as far as protecting more Americans with a coronavirus vaccine. The nation fell just short of the White Houseâs goal to give at least a first dose to 70% of adults by Independence Day. By that day, 67% of adult Americans had gotten either the first shot of the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, or the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. If children ages 12-17, who are now eligible for the Pfizer product, are included, the national percentage of those who have gotten at least one shot is 64%.
Drilling down from national rates, the picture varies widely at the regional level, and from state to state. For example, Massachusetts and most states in the Northeast reached or exceeded 70% (for adults, age 18 and older) in June. Tennessee and most Southern states have vaccination rates between 50% and 60%, and administration rates are slowing down.
Local variations in demand for the vaccines and in-state strategies for marketing and distributing the shots help explain the range.
In Massachusetts, for example, residents overwhelmed phone lines and appointment websites as soon as vaccines became available. The state began opening mass vaccination sites in January to meet demand. At Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, the home field of the New England Patriots, Jumbotron screens flashed updates and speakers blasted instructions to people arriving for a shot. When demand peaked in March, as many as 8,000 residents a day snaked through lines to a waiting syringe. Registered nurse Francesca Trombino delivered jab after jab at Fenway Park and then at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston for five months.
âI still hold a lot of interactions very dear to my heart,â she said, reflecting on those months in late June. âI had so many people cry, just out of pure shock, just being able to feel free.â
Heading into the long Fourth of July weekend, more than 82% of Massachusetts adults had received at least one shot. That number doesnât surprise many public health experts because residents generally have embraced vaccination recommendations in the past, and Massachusetts regularly registers some of the highest rates for pediatric and influenza inoculations in the country. In Tennessee, where only 52% of adults are at least partially vaccinated against covid, nurses sit waiting. In some of the stateâs rural counties, only 30% of residents have been vaccinated.
âOur first couple weeks we had people booked, then after that we had people start no-showing,â said Kirstie Allen, who coordinates covid vaccinations at the federally subsidized clinic in Linden, Tennessee. âWe had a waiting list, the people on the waiting list didnât want to come. Itâs gradually just gotten worse.â
Allen is down to offering the vaccine just one day a week, and she aims to sign up at least 10 patients to avoid wasting doses in the multi-use Moderna vial.
Allen has witnessed plenty of vague skepticism in her town of 1,200 people. And she can sympathize. Despite administering the shots, the mother and licensed practical nurse has not yet been vaccinated and said sheâs waiting for more research results to be released, and to see how everyone does over time.
âIâm one of those people who are unsure at the moment about getting it,â she said, adding she wouldnât get her kids vaccinated yet either.
This wait-and-see attitude is especially common among white, rural conservatives in the South, according to many surveys in recent months. After an initial surge of interest, demand for vaccinations waned, and states like Tennessee held mass vaccination events only in the most densely populated cities.
Having Reached the 70% Goal, Massachusetts Adopts Targeted Strategy
In Massachusetts, with fewer than 20% of adults still unvaccinated, the state is closing its high-volume vaccine clinics and focusing on specific demographic groups and communities with low vaccination rates.
âAs these [big] sites come to their mission complete, we need to keep pushing harder into the neighborhoods,â said Rodrigo Martinez, âinto those locations that really need it.â
Martinez is with CIC Health, a company that moved from managing mass vaccination sites to running small outdoor clinics at supermarkets where shoppers who got a shot received a $25 gift card. That hyperlocal approach is part of a growing effort in Massachusetts to bring vaccines to residents, especially those in low-income and minority communities where the virus spread quickly and vaccination rates remain low.
Massachusetts has targeted 20 such cities including Brockton, south of Boston. Itâs a diverse city of essential workers, a group that has been hit hard during the pandemic. First-dose vaccination rates are especially low for Latinos, at 39%, and Blacks, 41% (for all ages, not just adults).
The hyperlocal approach was on display in Brockton on a Sunday in late June, when the city, with assistance from the state, hosted a mobile vaccine clinic at a popular park. A big, yellow touring bus, retrofitted to hold vaccination stations, idled near tents offering free food, music, legal advice for immigrants and health insurance enrollment assistance.
This particular neighborhood in Brockton features residents who speak Portuguese, Spanish, English and Haitian Creole.
âBienvenue! Welcome!â shouted Isabel Lopez, a state-funded vaccine ambassador, as she moved from one cluster of families to another, urging them to go grab a free hamburger, hot dog â and a vaccine.
âWe are here, bringing the communities together, to make this a fun day and also a creative way to get people vaccinated,â Lopez said.
Near the soccer field, Lopez scored a big win. She persuaded five hesitant members of one household to go to the bus and at least talk with a nurse there. A half-hour later, all five had received their first shots. Lenin Gomez said afterward that he had had doubts about the vaccine but was persuaded when the nurse stressed the need to protect the children living in Gomezâs home.
âIf Iâm not fully protected, who will take care of the little ones?â Gomez said. âThatâs what opened my mind to getting vaccinated.â
When Gomez gets his second dose in a few weeks, he can enter himself in a statewide lottery that will give away five $1 million prizes for anyone whoâs vaccinated. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said he hopes these jackpots will entice hesitant residents to roll up their sleeves.
Hefty Financial Incentives Are Less Common in the South
In the states that need most to boost vaccination rates, thereâs little interest in creative financial incentives. Tennessee has no plans. In Alabama, the NAACP funded a recent drawing for $1,000 prizes aimed at millennials and Gen Zers.
Overall, the daily vaccination rate across the South has slowed, worrying health officials who are watching the explosive growth and spread of the delta variant in several parts of the U.S. But some Southern residents continue to come around to the idea. In Lobelville, Tennessee, 57-year-old Laurel Grant was initially hesitant to get the shot because of possible side effects.
âBut everybody I know has done real good, just maybe a little fever or a little tiredness,â she said.
So Grant got her own shot in June, at a local pharmacy. It helped that the Pilot Flying J truck stop where she works offered a $75 bonus to employees who got fully vaccinated.
âThereâs a few down there at work who are like, âIâm not going to get it,'â Grant said, âIâm like, âYes, you are. You gotta go, like it or not.'â
Converts like Grant are being seen as the best kind of evangelist for this next phase of vaccinating latecomers. Tennesseeâs health department has started taping video testimonials to release online. But the marketing efforts are beginning to annoy some Republican state lawmakers convinced the state is trying too hard. Theyâre especially concerned about kids.
A recent hearing in the Tennessee state legislature included threats of disbanding Tennesseeâs health department. State Rep. Iris Rudder, along with other GOP lawmakers, brandished printouts of social media ads produced by state health officials. They featured smiling kids with adhesive bandages on their shoulders.
âItâs not your business to target children. Itâs your business to inform the parent that their child is eligible for the vaccination,â she told health department officials at the hearing in June. âSo I would encourage you, before our next meeting, to get things like this off your website.â
This criticism was mostly directed at the stateâs health commissioner, Dr. Lisa Piercey, who responded at the hearing by saying the state is not âwhispering to kidsâ or trying to get them vaccinated behind the backs of their parents. She said sheâs not going to back off when it comes to vaccination outreach.
Piercey also said she doesnât think the risk level in Tennessee is as dire as the low vaccination rates suggest. Tennessee had a huge surge of covid cases during the winter. That means at least 850,000 people â based on positive test results â are walking around with some level of natural immunity. Piercey said those residents are partially compensating for low vaccination rates.
âYes, I want everybody who wants a vaccine to get it,â she said. âBut what I really want at the end of the day is for this pandemic to go away. I want to minimize cases and eliminate hospitalizations and deaths, and weâre pretty close to getting there.â
The outlook is less rosy in neighboring Arkansas. The state escaped the worst of the winter outbreaks. Now it is trying to stop flare-ups of illness caused by the more contagious delta variant. Gov. Asa Hutchinson told CBSâs âFace the Nationâ that if nothing else will inspire Southerners to get vaccinated, âreality will.â
This story is part of a partnership that includes WBUR, Nashville Public Radio, NPR and KHN.
KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.
USE OUR CONTENT
This story can be republished for free (details).
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