#and there's the mechanics of the situation

[warping-realities]

Online Scam - An OnlyFags Story

Inspired by the concept created by @johnbrand and @boysmentfs

Henry wasn’t having a good day; hell, it wasn’t even a good week or month. He had been stoked for college, ready to hit up new places and live it up, but the truth was that everything was turning into a total shitshow. His roommate was barely tolerable and he hadn’t made a single friend yet. All of this was messing with his head. But what really got to him was being totally broke, not having a dime to his name. His dad sent him a bit of cash, still stuck between being proud of having a son in college and feeling ashamed that son was openly gay. Henry, a name picked by his late mother, who passed down her delicate traits both physically and mentally, knew his dad earned that money busting his ass as a mechanic at a big car shop, and it didn’t come in large amounts, but surely he could send more than the pathetic little sum he was sending. The young man wondered if he’d get more cash if he had a sports scholarship instead of one for his grades.

While hunting for a side gig that could hook him up with some cash, Henry got blindsided by a new message alert on his computer screen. It wasn’t just the message itself; it was who it was from. Larry Thomas was in charge of the more complex systems at the car company where Henry’s dad worked. He was a relatively new hire, and Henry’s dad didn’t get along with the guy at all, with Henry only knowing him from the last company holiday party, since Henry’s dad didn’t want a “degenerate faggot” near his son. The irony of the situation was lost on the old man.

“Hey, kid, I heard your dad telling the guys he cut your funds to force you to man up or whatever. Maybe this will help you scrape together some cash!” the message from the man said, along with a link. Feeling like he had nothing to lose and pissed off at his dad, who he was now sure was punishing him for being gay, Henry clicked the link, which immediately started downloading some kind of app.

“Shit, I hope this ain’t a virus,” he muttered in front of the computer screen.

After loading, a logo popped up at the top: OnlyFags. What the hell was that? Some kind of joke from Larry? Did he team up with Henry’s dad just to humiliate him? Nah, that didn’t make sense; they hated each other. Still, Henry had caught a few looks from Larry directed at his dad that made him think there was some kinda unrequited attraction there… Before he could do anything, a text box popped up asking “Are you a creator or a user?” followed by two more boxes for a username and password. Henry’s computer acted on its own, typing in a sequence so fast he couldn’t read anything that was written or checked. The screen froze for a moment, a spinning circle indicating something was loading, and soon a bunch of boxes appeared on the screen with various profiles.

A massive shock hit Henry with what those profiles showed. He stared in horror and disgust at what they displayed. Mostly dudes between twenty and forty years old with their bodies on full display, playing with pierced nipples, licking feet, or even getting off in plain sight! He moved the mouse, intending to close that crap and delete that app from his computer ASAP.

But fear took over as, instead of shutting down that damn app, the mouse pointer moved on its own to click the profile button in the opposite corner of the screen. The screen loaded again, and there was a profile filled out for him— name, age, height, weight, shoe size, and even dick size. All of it wildly different from reality. A warning popped up quickly: “Your profile picture is outdated! Would you like to take a new one?”

A sudden wave of even greater horror washed over Henry as his hand clicked “yes.” The front camera opened, and his hand set the timer for twenty seconds before propping it against the headboard of the bed, moving to the other side. Almost robotically, he took off his shirt and tossed it on the floor before adjusting his pose for the camera. He moved, trying to get his foot in the shot while flexing one arm, not realizing he’d gained a bunch of pounds of pure muscle and that his delicate size 7 feet had ballooned to a more robust size 10.

Paralyzed and unable to move, he saw a message pop up on the computer screen. “New photo uploaded! Error!!! Photo does not match profile. Correcting parameters!” Scared, he quickly summoned the last bit of willpower he had and tried to get up and shut that app down once and for all, only to be shoved back by an invisible wall, with all the impact you’d expect from a high-speed crash. Dizzy and confused, he felt his face and body go through a sensation of distortion, and suddenly… nothing! The most complete emptiness reigned in his mind. He didn’t know who he was or even his own name. And he stayed like that for several seconds, staring into the inner void.

Until a new notification appeared on the screen, grabbing his attention. “Success! Parameters corrected; new profile picture published!” Immediately, likes started flooding in on his photo and profile, making him focus on the computer screen just as the computer camera turned on again and a live stream began.

He quickly, almost automatically, repositioned himself, flexing one of the powerful arms he’d just acquired. A notification on the app pinged: “New donation from DirtyFaggotMike.”

The app, once again on its own, opened a list of donations from various users with similar and usernames, ranging from small amounts to hundreds of dollars. Henry felt a rush of pride inside him as memories of all the degrading content about that kind of people and the outrageous amounts of cash received for it flooded his mind!

A new comment appeared in at the top of the page with a $100 donation. “Master, your giant hands turn me on; I’d love to be smothered by them.” Henry found himself talking automatically to the screen: “Keep dreaming, faggot. You’re lucky enough to be able to worship them from a distance!” he replied, grinning arrogantly as he admired his own flexed arm.

A part of Henry still intact, lost in the gigantic void that his memories had become, managed to feel mortified; he didn’t want any of those horrible messages to be received by him, let alone responded to that way. That little remaining fraction tried again to regain control, only to be shoved back as the being occupying his body massaged his powerful pecs and spoke laughing arrogantly while getting up: “Where’s my money, you fags? You won’t get shit from me if this account doesn’t start filling up!”

The next message he received was the reply he’d been waiting for—a private message from LickLuckyLarry. “Master Hunter, I’ve been one of your loyal followers for months and I want to pay a good amount to see you jerk off if it’s not too much audacity on my part.”

Henry… Hunter smiled at that message. With a smirk on his face, he replied, “Disgusting faggot. Of course, it’s a hell of a lot of audacity for a worm like you to ask me that! But it’s you pathetic beings that keep my wallet full. I’m willing to accept, but it’ll depend on how much you’re willing to pay for all this!” he replied, grinning wickedly as his hands roamed over his abs and thighs, tentatively close to his cock.

“Master, please,” the guy replied, “I’d do anything to see you work that giant cock until it explodes with your alpha jizz.”

“Great, let’s talk privately; don’t turn on the camera! I don’t wanna see that faggot face of yours, it’ll be hard enough to jerk off knowing a worm like you is watching! And as for the rest of you, take note, faggots, you should all aspire to be like him.”

He leaned forward and closed the live window, before before lying down in his bed and focusing on talking privately in his smartphone with the guy willing to pay to see him play with his own cock. “I said I didn’t wanna see that pathetic face of yours, faggot,” he said upon seeing the man’s face appear on the app chat screen.

“Sorry, Master Hunter, I couldn’t help it; I promise to pay you a much bigger sum, but I wanted to know if you remember me?”

“And why the hell would I remember a pathetic faggot like you?” Hunter asked with a wicked grin.

“Because I work with your dad and… you… you let me suck your cock at the last company holiday party!”

“And? You’re not the first little bitch I’ve let do that! There’s no shame in showing off a bit or even letting one of you kind pay for a blowjob in the absence of something better. And that whore secretary didn’t want to give me any… Anyway, don’t think you’ll get a discount just because you know my old man, and if you try to blackmail me, I’ll use these weapons to smother you in a way way different from what that other faggot wanted!”

“No, Master Hunter… it’s not that… it’s just that you look so much like your dad! You’re a twenty-years-younger copy of him… I… I’ll pay you a bigger sum… but can you refer to yourself as Master Rusty while you jerk off?”

“So you have a fetish for my old man, huh? You sick fuck! But I’m cool with that! Just keep that ugly mug off the screen and don’t you dare talk to me while I do what needs to be done!”

“Thanks, Master Rusty… just one more thing, that mustache you’re growing makes you look even more like your dad… if I may be so bold, I’d say you should keep it.”

“I’ve allowed too much boldness, you worm. Now let’s wrap this up. Camera off,” Hunter said as he laid back on the bed, the camera aimed at him.

“So you want a piece of old Rusty, huh? You little shit?” Hunter teased, while Henry’s little voice tried to fight against the wave of mockery and arrogance filling his mind.

“A new chance to suck that cock? Only in your dreams.” He continued, with vivid memories of orgies with various women and dozens of live streams and videos for desperate gay guys into humiliation flooding his mind.

“You can look and admire, you can worship me from a distance, but this here, this here you’ll never have again pathetic faggot,” he concluded before exploding with a huge load that covered his entire abdomen.

“Thanks for the grand, loser.”

He ended the call and saved a copy of the video showing only the upper part of his body, teasing the release the full presentation for his fans after they donated a good chunk of cash.

As he lay back down, distracted, thinking about the bizarre situation with a coworker of his dad’s and what Old Rusty would think if he found out where the money supporting his son extravagant lifestyle and his monthly allowances was coming from. In that moment of distraction what remained of Henry inside him made one last attempt to surface, somehow managing to miraculously regain a bit of control. Thinking about how to fix this, Henry looked at his body; however, he seemed… normal. His enormous size 15 feet were giving off a potent funk as always. His well-developed calves giving way to tree trunk thighs, while hanging between them was his pride, his massive 10-inch cock, with which he toyed a bit before continuing his investigation. His abs were chiseled like an 8-brick wall, and just above them were the two slabs of flesh that were his pecs. He grabbed his phone and opened the camera, seeing his face; indeed, a near-exact copy of his dad’s face, square and masculine. The overall impression was one of arrogance and disdain, which precisely defined his personality.

He dropped the phone and smiled, satisfied, as he rested his head on his powerful arms. “Damn, Hunter, you’re one hot piece of ass,” he said to himself. “These faggots will never get tired of you,” he concluded, knowing that with a body and a cock like his, money would never be a problem.

Hundreds of miles away from Hunter’s dorm, Larry was finishing up his third or fourth jerk-off session, this time looking at the gif that served as Hunter’s profile picture on the app. That, he thought, was the best decision he’d ever made, seeing the perfect copy of Rusty that Hunter had become, a copy willing to treat him in the degrading way he’d dreamed for months that his dad would do. As he reached orgasm, remembering all the insults and humiliations, he wondered to himself if there was a chance that the son of one of the other coworkers would fall into the same trap; well, it wouldn’t hurt to try, especially if the reward was as delicious as Hunter.

[stxrslut]

what I think the boys and their respective readers families would look like down the line ⋆.𐙚˚

sweetie n rafe have two kids. first is a girl and second is a boy with a six year difference. they’re both spoiled and loved very well.

little girl has a bunny as a pet. they have a family cat too, she’s a siamese.

rafe continues to work all of his business and sweetie stays at home with the kids, but she does things like volunteer work in her free time.

they live in a big house by the beach on figure eight and also have a house on the mainland, and have access to the cameron’s bahamas house.

precious n pope have one child. they put all their focus into her and raise her well. she’s not lonely either, she’s ever so introverted and probably wouldn’t enjoy having siblings.

they don’t have one pet but they often foster animals from the shelter, so it varies who they might be taking care of at any one time.

pope gets his education and becomes a professor in an esteemed college. precious becomes a vet and works at the local clinic.

they live in a cozy house in a little village near to where both pope and precious work. there’s a school there and a park where their little girl makes all her friends.

cupcake n jj have three kids, all girls, all nightmares in their own way. roughly a two year difference between each of them. oldest is the coolest and becomes cupcakes doppelgänger. middle is the one who misbehaves, always getting in situations. youngest is the brat, never happy when she doesn’t get her way.

they have pets. a golden retriever was jj’s addition. eldest daughter has a snake and a sphinx cat. youngest has a goldfish.

jj works as a mechanic and runs a local garage. cupcake studies physiology and is aiming to get a phd. she runs a small clothing business on the side.

they live on the cut, house planted on the same land as jj’s garage.

angel n john b have five kids, and are they ever really done? two boys and three girls, in that order. the boys are born a year apart. then another year the first girl, two years and then the second, one year and the third.

they have six dogs, all from the shelter, and they feed all of the local animals that stop by. like foxes and squirrels and birds.

john b runs the surf shop, him and cleo being the only ones who remained there from when it was founded. angel works as a doula.

they live in the house near the surf shop, john b has done it up though, adding extensions and making it bigger to fit their ever growing family.

[for-those-who-wait]

Hey I think I asked you about your Detroit become human au before a bit ago but I love the idea so much! I know you’re super busy but if you can I would love to see more about it!

Sorry for asking about it again I’m just really interested in it. 😭🙏

No please don't be sorry I love to talk about it whenever I'm not creatively bankrupt!! I'm just sorry it took so long for me to actually think of new stuff to add

I had some of these doodles already prepared but never really finished them up until I came up with a cute little idea

I didn't think of where to put in Flapjack until I remembered that android animals existed, and then I had a brain blast moment where I realized that Hunter can still talk to Flapjack! They are little android buddies, they can interface and talk and be friends!! I think it would also help to make him feel a bit more comfortable with his identity as an android to be able to have his little buddy to have fun private conversations with. Camila introduces them (maybe he had gotten hurt by a previous owner and she found him and let Gus fix him up) and Hunter is a bit tentative about it at first, but Flapjack is adorable and sweet and quickly wins him over

I just now had the idea that Gus, since he's super into android stuff, would probably be a big resource for software and hardware difficulties. Oh, you fell and your arm is working kinda wonky? Call up Gus, he'll crack you open and take a look. The dude doesn't mind in the least, he freaking LOVES going down mechanical and coding rabbit holes to better understand how androids work. I like to think that if Hunter ever got hurt and chose not to accept help because of body/species dysphoria, Gus would be a really good resource for him to try and feel as normal as possible while he's getting fixed. Gus is his brother and he loves him and they're just good to each other okay? Gus would probably crack some jokes or something to get Hunter's mind off it, or infodump about android organs or something (and Hunter would be begrudgingly interested because they are nerds, and Hunter is interested in androids too underneath all the problems he has with deviancy. Like dude they're robots, what's not to love?)

Also some Gus being so over Hunter's "androids can't feel love" phase featuring Vee and Masha being very adorable and very obviously in love :) Hunter is a very silly stupid man. He will find any way to make literally everyone exempt from the terrible rules Philip fed him, except for himself

I'm trying to think of a potential situation that would parallel Hunter's possession, and I think it would probably be basically the same thing that happens in Connor's deviant path (when he deviates and joins the revolution as an ally) where Amanda (a separate AI in his programming that's basically how CyberLife keeps him in check) takes over Connor's programming last minute to try and put a stop to the revolution.

So my current thought is that Philip is basically using Hunter as a trojan horse. His main programming is to act and believe like he's a normal human but similar to Connor, he's basically a sleeper agent without knowing. I imagine that once Hunter gains access to his software (thanks to Vee and Gus), he starts finding programs and files that are labeled as pretty scary things. He shouldn't have to know the most efficient way to shut an android down or incapacitate a human.

If and when Philip finally goes looking for Hunter and sees the first android he's seen in Gravesfield besides Hunter (aka Vee), he's not going to take that well.

I haven't drawn anything for it but so far I'm thinking that he takes control of Hunter's programming, maybe through some taking advantage of his interfacing system, and locks him in his own head a la Connor and Amanda to sic him after Vee and Flapjack (assuming that Philip's main goal, similar to both canons, is to eradicate deviants). It's likely that his friends will try to apprehend him, Vee or Gus will try (and maybe fail a couple times) to delete the programming while Camila deals with Philip. The guy is old and decrepit and Camila would absolutely whoop his ass with the ease of swatting a fly.

Things will be fine; Vee is all good and they manage to delete whatever programming screwed with Hunter's control, but that kid is going to be HELLA anxious about interfacing again from then on since he's afraid of 1) losing his own control and 2) potentially passing the virus onto someone else. It could go two ways at that point: Hunter could either kill Flapjack since Flapjack is technically a deviant android and therefore a target, or we can be nice and let Flapjack live to help him heal from this brand-new trauma.

So yeah hopefully that sates some curiosity! I'm glad you're interested in it because I honestly really love to think of new stuff whenever my brain decides to work hahaha

[fishntea]

omg i love listening to the mechanisms on shuffle so so much this is my favourite past time.

i love when they're clearly leading into the next song and announcing a specific character or situation and then the COMPLETE OPPOSITE character or situation's song starts playing.

it is so fun playing mechanisms roulette. album mixing is great like yes of course the unofficial anthem of the resistance is sirens like i too would believe in a resistance who's anthem was that breathtaking.

Listening to the Mechanisms on shuffle for the first time and lemme tell you, it’s such a trippy adventure.

One second I’m listening to the Ignominious Demise of Dr. Pilchard. (One of my favs ngl) and the next second, Jonny’s going “that. That was Thor.”

And Im like no? I don’t think that was actually.

[tragically-jane-doe]

Friendly reminder babes you have to outlive the annoying orange guy otherwise he wins and lives longer (he made a deal with a demon)

You need to be petty and stay around okay? cause thats what trump prob wants and do you really want to give him what he wants?

Crisis hotlines exist for a reason if your thinking of harming yourself please reach out to one of them

Crisis hotlines

[mindblowingscience]

When light conditions rapidly change, our eyes have to respond to this change in fractions of a second to maintain stable visual processing. This is necessary when, for example, we drive through a forest and move through alternating stretches of shadows and clear sunlight. "In situations like these, it is not enough for the photoreceptors to adapt, but an additional corrective mechanism is required," said Professor Marion Silies of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU). Earlier work undertaken by her research group had already demonstrated that such a corrective "gain control" mechanism exists in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, where it acts directly downstream of the photoreceptors. Silies's team has now managed to identify the algorithms, mechanisms, and neuronal networks that enable the fly to sustain stable visual processing when light levels change rapidly. The corresponding article appears in Nature Communications.

Continue Reading.

[oscconfessions]

hello I have a dissasociative disorder and have been in a dissasociative state for 4? ish years at this point so here are my headcannons enjoy

mephone ii: it's a subconscious coping mechanism. especially when around or thinking of cobs. when that guy is mentioned it feels like he's being punched out of his body. in the final shot of ii 17 he just mentally clocked out when taking cobs hand. the whole thing with him literally removing his memories is actually so real and it mirrors a lot of actual experiences with disassociation and suppressing memory

Liam hfjone: this man can fit so much disassociation In him. especially after the ending. nothing feels real to him anymore. he is so incredibly out of it 24/7. it's the only way he can really keep himself from having a panic attack about his situation every few minutes.

airy hfjone: this man has not felt like a living being in decades this isn't even a question I am saying this is Canon I'm literally cheesyhfj

bryce hfjone: he's dealt with derealization for a while. it's not constant, but it happens when his mood is notably low.

tophat tnm: only actually began experiencing it after GPS died. After episode 4 he begins healing and it slowly leaves with time

suitcase ii: NUMBER ONE DEPERSONALIZATION ICON I am her she is me. her questioning reality can be feulled by the disassociation and it ends up in one big feedback loop god I love her she's actually me

also I can't forget our questionable rep DID warriors yinyang and paper. I do feel it's kind of stupid to treat paper's writing as if it was ever supposed to be rep in the first place, as evil paper was quite literally written by a child (most likely Adam had seen horror movies where a character has an evil jekyll-and-hyde type persona and tried to replicate that with paper) yinyang is one I don't have many opinions on personally. I don't think I have too much area to speak on this honestly since I don't have straight up DID, but I think it's awesome how paper has been reclaimed by those who do have DID

anyways that's my ramble over goodnight chat

-⚫️🖋

.

[depressed-cryptid]

*writes down in therapist clipboard* And what healthy coping mechanisms out of the many you've been taught have you used to improve this situation?

i'm stressed i'm stressed i'm stressed i'm stressed i'm stressed i'm stressed I'm Stressed I'm Stressed I'm Stressed I'm Stressed I'm Stressed I'm Stressed I'm Stressed I'm Stressed I'M STRESSED I'M STRESSED I'M STRESSED I'M STRESSED I'M STRESSED I'M STRESSED I'M STRESSED I'M STRESSED I'M STRESSED I'M STRESSED

[aoneko-lee]

I love the confusion and different dynamics of each episode of SL and WL created. Funny scenes and ridiculous situations like Pearl eating her own sword as she dies, Gem starting a zombie apocalypse, Etho and Grian bringing a Wither and a Warden to fight in the overworld...

But deep down I miss the first games, when players had more freedom to create (or not) strategies to win without the interference of tasks or wild cards that will force them to act strangely to survive another episode

I wish we could have separate games, one with these mechanics that force players to do things or deal with unexpected situations, and another where they just have to survive the others, forming alliances, fighting, betraying and doing whatever they want

[theepitomeofamess]

ok ok it's theory time bc i'm rewatching mismag 1 as a coping mechanism so potential spoilers ahoy & forgive me if it's rambly i've also had a sedative

the serpent in the storm. the one without a name and only shown as an illumination in the Tome of Nimble Working. is that what was possessing evan? like is it the amalgamation of the "demons" that were haunting him, or even just The Main Guy? i'm not sure if this creature has anything to do with the breaking of magic, I just started thinking about this today at work, but hear me out.

in Class Conflict, the manifestation of the thing haunting Evan when it emerged to protect him was the blood cobra, and the barb that Tallulah hit Evan with after potions class was that all she heard was "hissing noises." so we know that snakes are something evil & monstrous in wizard culture (as much as they were in HP) but not because they're the mascot of the "evil house" Aqarbus. so where did the serpent symbolism come from?

later, in Family on Six when Evan makes the agreement to lean on the demons to save K, the "permanent change" that Brennan describes is that out of the shadow across evan's face "just goes black and is leaking black oil and water." aabira's description of the illumination of this creature was "a mix between a snake and an oil-soaked bird of prey." oil-soaked.

this is kinda what got me thinking in the first place, because what are the things you think of when you think of Evan Kelmp? Bird Facts and Gas Station Parking Lots. this absolutely feels like something Aabria would pull to make Brennan eat the lore he created.

it's also the type of shit she would do because of K's attempts to find any sort of books about what these "demons" might be during the exorcism, only to be met with "you think you're going to find me in a book?" maybe not named. not studied. no anatomical drawings or any sort of understanding as to what it is. but yeah. they'll find it in a book.

i do think that maybe this bird snake entity has been tied to Evan since before his birth---aabria's description in the latest S2 ep: "you feel yourself and the inside of you is empty, and something that was always meant to be poured in is beginning to pour itself back in" tells me that Evan was born to be a vessel for something. now, the demons at the exorcism said that Evan was promised to them. promised by whom? promised by what? maybe by the thing that knew it was going to be held within Evan, and knew that if he were to grow up with a dark enough childhood, if he were to be haunted enough, he might become the Dark One.

now, we don't really know the mythology of the Dark One. we don't know what sort of prophecy was told about it. going off of the general trope of the thing, we've gotta assume that it's something along the lines of "this person will unleash a great terror/darkness/evil upon the world." this likely was supposed to happen as a result of evan's torment like a psychotic break, or maybe as a defense mechanism in a life-or-death situation. either way, this creature and the magic that it represents would have wanted to be released, maybe still using Evan as a vessel and working through him to maintain its unknown, mythological status. this thing isn't Tad, it can't and won't be lulled to sleep.

could this creature have been accidentally released as a result of sam's exorcism? probably, it had to have been a thing or else it wouldn't be on the orery.(besides, this ancient monstrosity would never have anticipated Sam Black). could it be that it was released after K killed Evan? possibly, idk how often gm's rearrange lore behind the scenes to better fit what's happened in the story they're playing through.

whatever the case, I do think that it's not insignificant that Evan only started getting inklings of this sort of repossession leaking in after the events on Seeganpelater. the place where he saw the creature through the serpent's watch (a scene that in illustration implies that, maybe, the serpent could see them, too). the place where he snapped his wand. the place where he killed Boudicca. where we saw him be a magic murderer, where we saw him truly tap into the darkness he's been assigned his whole life. somewhere on cannibal Island, there was a moment of reconnection, and it helps that the very next places they went to were the islands that 1) stressed Evan out beyond belief, and 2) worked with amplification. it was able to strengthen its bond either the minute they landed, or as soon as Evan leaned into his strengths to scratch the tree with his shadow.

maybe this creature is what broke the well of magic. maybe it created the storm and destroyed Gowpenny. maybe this is a version of the Dark One prophecy coming true, breaking the rules of magic to the point that the entire system is broken and the world can never be what it used to. maybe it's not involved in anything and is just reveling in the chaos. I don't know. maybe all of these are coincidences between seasons. fun to think about, though!

[cerosin-bis]

I just NEED more about pre-nikto nikto, the thought of a big shot outgoing nikto makes my brain explode (in a good way!)

He was really just an overly confident guy who had all rights to be one because he had to toughen up a LOT growing up. like, that was his personality to begin with (he's always been a big shot) but his upbringing and situation at home were difficult to say the least, this and his personal struggles/contradictions (with his mum and his brother, with religion) cemented it. This, plus his brewing personality issues/disorders.

(cw underage drinking/alcoholism) Also when I say I headcanon him (from @shadowscommand's hcs as well) to have been an alcoholic I really mean it seriously like. drinking himself sick, blackout drunk one day out of two on good weeks and every day on bad ones, and this starting from a very young age. not just as a coping mechanism, just because it worked out for him in his social life as soon as he was a teenager, and that it reached the addiction point. The way he sobered up once he joined the army (pre-capture and pre-nikto still obvi) was pretty much cold turkey and was probably what he THOUGHT was going the hardest experience of his life. well.

[asharaks]

minrathous-treviso choice: part one

The choice to save either Minrathous or Treviso, knowing that the other will suffer without your intervention, is actually Great; it’s a strong, bold move that establishes a sense of urgency and the scale of the threat you’re facing, with lasting consequences both for the settings and the companions tied to them. That said. The vision for Minrathous vs Treviso is this: 

First of all there’s a warning before you take the quest that will trigger this plot on completion, telling you to go back and finish everything you want to before taking it because some quests and progression may be unavailable afterwards. Also, tying Davrin’s recruitment to this choice is a mistake — he’s the only Black companion in a game with a pretty racist player base, and a situation in which you Can’t recruit him until you’ve advanced significantly with three other companions disadvantages him further as a companion. Also, he’s a warrior, and the early game doesn’t have any warriors. So instead, Davrin is recruited early (you seek out a Warden as soon as you realise you’re dealing with Blight!), and given a few quests to clear up in the Wetlands, and Harding’s (re-)recruitment is moved back to trigger this scene — she’s an associate of yours who was out gathering information during the early portion of the game, and she’s run into trouble. As a fan favourite returning character, she comes into the game with goodwill that levels the playing field between her and the early game companions, and as a rogue she isn’t mechanically indispensable until her recruitment on higher difficulties since Lucanis is also recruited early. 

When you return with Harding, Lucanis’s and Neve’s calls for help in their hometowns play out as normal, but in deciding where you go, two things are emphasised: 1) you’re splitting up your team of six into equal teams. The choice is not to Only Save One, but to decide who goes where, and which team you place yourself on; and 2) you bear the responsibility for this choice and how it shakes out, moreso than Lucanis and Neve who each insist on protecting their homes, because in Varric’s absence (more on this later) you are the leader, and your team does what You say. The overwhelming nature of the choice is emphasised; there is no way to distribute resources such that everyone is perfectly covered. There’s just too much. 

The key to the choice is that both cities are complicated, often brutally hostile places marked deeply by inequality and oppressive rule, and both cities are the homes of millions of people. As a shadow dragon or a crow, do you have a responsibility to your home town; as the leader of the veilguard, is it fair to place that responsibility over your responsibility to protect All of Thedas against the blighted gods? Is it fair, as someone unattached to either place, to decide on the toss of a coin which millions will suffer and die? At this point, you’ve taken quests in both places, fighting slavers, cultists and magisters in Minrathous and navigating fractured crow rulership, unrest among fledgelings, and the encroachment of the Chantry in Treviso. The cities parallel each other and the problems facing other locations; complicated homes, where people lead complicated lives, towards which any rook can have complicated feelings. 

The quests themselves still each have their blighted dragon, which is still unbeatable here as it flies away at half damage, but they aren’t commanded by their gods — the gods are almost trailing in their wake, Elgar’nan in Minrathous and Ghilain’nan in Treviso. They can be seen here for the first time, enormous, awe-inspiring, and undeniably in blinding agony, infected all the way through with blight. you can’t interact with the gods at all, they don’t even register your presence. But once the dragon fight is over, your work isn’t done — there are longer, more involved quests to finish. In Minrathous the Venatori have staged a coup and the templars have been mobilised en masse to take them; if you don’t intervene, then the city will either fall to the venatori or to the draconian measures they give the magisterium plausible justification to enforce. You have to help Neve and the Dragons shepherd panicking civilians to safety within the Shadow Dragon sanctum (or make it a choice: do you send them to a less secure location and keep the Shadow Dragons secret? or do you guarantee their protection but make the Dragons vulnerable?), destroy Venatori, provide aid for Dorian and Mae in the inner city. In Treviso, the mass outbreak of Blight has pushed the Chantry and the Crows into open conflict, and the city is threatened by Blight and by violence if you don’t get it under control. You have to close locks in the drowned district to contain the Blight in the canals, while fighting back darkspawn and ghouls; help civilians to safety either in ambassadorial buildings, turning to the Qunari presence for help, or in the chantry, which is markedly easier but results in turmoil and distrust in Qunari presence down the line. You find the dagger obtained at the ritual site instrumental in warding off the Blighted dragons and their gods; this is why Rook’s presence is the deciding factor in the outcome for each city.

(part two coming soon!)

(previous - minrathous)

[anamelessfool]

Papa's Metamorphosis

An interactive Adventure (hashtag #papas metamorphosis)

Dedicated to @cowbell-ghuleh and @ryuzatodraws-archive for their bold contributions to Ghost Plush Lore

One morning, as Papa Emeritus IV wakes from anxious dreams, he discovers that in bed he had been changed into a tiny, evil little doll.

It takes him a few moments of bleariness before the full realization; at first his assessment of the ceiling’s height hinted at the possibility that he had fallen to the floor in the night. He is a rough and restless sleeper, even before all the wine last night. He had been celebrating his recent elevation to Frater Imperator with his ghouls and several eager and very flexible Siblings of Sin, and at the time he admitted he is no spring chicken. Right now he feels stiff, out of place. There’s a certain numbness in his limbs that would normally launch him into a panicked web search of symptoms. The blankets have an odd heaviness to them that he struggles with as he attempts to reach for his phone. As he frees himself from the prison of blankets, his hand passes across his face and a cold feeling of terror darts across his body.

He doesn’t have a hand. Well, whatever hand he has now is a stubby stick arm of felt devoid of any grasping mechanism. He swears out loud but his voice doesn’t fill the room the way it used to. It’s small, far away, emitted by minuscule lungs. He tests out the arm again— yes, it is his, and he can flex the end like a mitten. He had never considered mittens to be terrifying before. But there’s a first time for everything.

He sits up and realizes the giant, soft wall behind him is actually his pillow. Somehow he has shrunk down in the night and at once he starts to sweat. Through past 3 AM anxiety web searching he learned that aging came with a small amount of height loss, but not like this. Overnight he’s become smaller than a ghoul chew toy.

He sits up, patting himself. What he’s experiencing has transcended any sort of logic and so he can’t even form a proper string of panicked thoughts. His whole body is soft, ominously squishy and apparently made of cheap black and orange felt. He reaches up to touch the top of his head and someone has left a tiny Santa-like felt hat on his head, as if to mock his predicament. Elf on a shelf? More like dead on this fucking bed. “Porca troia!” Papa swears and flails his stick arms. “What a fiasco!”

He drags himself from his bed and reveals equally stubby felt legs. Papa slept mostly in the nude, but now his delightfully furry body is transmuted into itchy felt and stuffing. His socks must have come off in the night, left under the covers as this curse took its toll on him as he slept. He pats himself again as if this time he would feel actual human flesh but no. His skin is now some sort of polyester suit that suggests clothing but raises a lot of existential questions he didn’t have yesterday.

He’s going to carry on. Maybe right here, right now he’s fucked but hey— he is an optimist when push comes to shove. He runs a magical Satanic Church. Sometimes one has to take the bad with the good. The random evil curses alongside the debauchery. Papa has a lot of friends…but he can’t forget his enemies.

He starts to pace, unnerved by how his new stick legs swing out and land on the mattress. His bed is now a vast mesa of red silk that needs to be crossed. What was he doing last night? There was the party, and the Siblings, and the Ghouls…Sister’s ghost looking annoyed while Papa Nihil snored way too loudly for an incorporeal entity. There was food, lots of juice and wine and juice and wine… but what else? In the back of his mind he has a memory of this rattling, this pounding sound…from where? From who?

Papa reaches the ledge of his bed and looks down at the floor below, shaking his head. He’s looking down into a canyon floor of marble and Oriental rugs. If anyone was going to figure this out, it had to be him. This entire situation is a nightmare at worst, an embarrassment at best. He squishes his body again, and it springs back in a way that bones and muscle don’t. He jumps off the side of the bed, hedging his bets on his entire body being made of stuffing and felt. Maybe it will work. Or maybe he’ll break every bone in his body and shuffle off this mortal coil. He hopes at the very least if this is how he goes, his ghost form won’t be a cursed little doll.

Papa bounces off the floor, gasping in wild panic but unharmed. He rights himself, replacing the stupid hat on his head for some unconscious reason. Maybe to remind himself of how much of a fucking fool he feels like right now. By the door to his bedroom (which is thankfully half open due to his fear of the dark) his rats shuffle and squeak in their cage, hungry for their breakfast. But he can’t reach much, being what he is now. They’ll have to wait while he figures this out.

He needs help, and thankfully there’s a few options.

Your vote contributes to how this story goes. As for the "Other" option I have a right to pick and chose what works for me personally. This story is PG-13.

The polls are 24 hours but I may not post every day.

Please reblog for maximum impact! Let's have fun here.

[austinramsaygames]

Put an opera in your campaign!

Put an opera in your TTRPG and make a reason why the player characters MUST attend. There are many reasons to do this!

It's fancy so the PCs have to come up with formal wear that their characters would bring to the opera (this is one reason it should be an opera). Let them wear whatever weird shit they want so long as their character LEGITIMATELY believes the outfit is appropriate. Let them get Met Gala with it. Other guests may stare and make snide remarks, but the staff should only offer token resistance if the outfit interferes with the performance or audience, or is dangerous to the people around them.

It forces the PCs into a social situation they may not have the mechanical skills for. Fish out of water stories are lots of fun, especially during the intermission when they have a chance to mingle with the NPCs. Make part of their task at the opera to get to know the wealthy folks in the audience, either generally or specific ones. Even better if they have to get *something* from them (political support, a specific item, information, etc). If things seem to be stalling, here are two tricks to help keep things flowing: a) have someone powerful pointedly insult the most hot headed PC in a very upper class manner. Comments about their outfit and upbringing are classics. This heats things back up as the hot head tries to get violent while the other PCs try to keep the peace, and can lead to a duel the next morning when the dilettante turns out to be a renowned duelist. b) once things have completely stalled or if you need to cut things short (in or out of character), have the intermission end and the audience called back into the auditorium. This can be used as a cliffhanger for whatever was about to happen!

The opera house can be a very interesting location! There's the lobby, auditorium, and possibly concessions, but if the PCs start going where they shouldn't, there's a lot of behind (and under) the scenes spaces for them to explore. Do they go to the changing room and harass (or even replace!) the actors? Maybe they go to the props department and replace a stage knife with a real one! There could be a weirdo living in the basement who is obsessed with the lead actress and plans to kidnap (or rescue?) her. There are all kinds of interesting spaces for plots to happen!

The opera itself is an opportunity to tell the players about the past, present, or even future! What is the plot of the opera? This is key information! The opera will be telling a story that is important to the majority of the audience. It could be about the past of the nation (mythical or historical). Maybe it's about events the PCs witnessed themselves but told from a different point of view than theirs and this might be unflattering towards them or those they care about. You can even foreshadow future plot points by having the play be a fiction that thematically or narratively parallels later parts (or even the next) of the story arc. If there's a great evil that's going to return, you can combine the past AND the future by describing the terrors of the "defeated" evil, then later show those signs happening as hints that the evil returns!

There are some great examples of how an opera (or play if you must) can be inserted into a story to great effect. The Ember Island Players episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender recaps the entire show from the perspective of the antagonist Fire Nation.

Final Fantasy 6 has a famous opera scene where one of the heroes has to replace an actress who has been threatened with being kidnapped by the mysterious man whose help they need! The hero must then remember her lines while the rest of the party protects the show from getting derailed by monsters.

These are just a few ways that you can use an opera in your TTRPG campaign and I highly recommend giving it a whirl!

[zenithofstories]

i didn't do a post last week cause i didn't have many thoughts; it was a pretty chill session. people got frustrated about the food situation and they set up bases *shrugs*

But this week...

snail week was fucking crazy

-first of all; Etho and Tango's predictions that the session would have seven deaths and end with three people on yellow—lolololoollolololol. three people on red and who knows how many deaths total. Jimmy died four times in the first like ten minutes 😭😭😅 also, how many individual times did Skizz turn red? three? in one session? hilarious

-the snails put them all in such peril that for the most part, they forgot who their allies and enemies were and just talked to everyone and anyone, sharing info. Tango and Joel, Tango and Skizz (admittedly after Skizz killed Tango), Skizz and Scar, Grian and Jimmy (Jimmy just straight up warned Grian that his snail was coming mid argument), Tango and Joel and Gem, Bdubs complimenting Skizz for his kill on Tango. And everyone just mourning everyone who died, even if they should have been rejoicing. They all just forgot they were playing a death game

-Martyn, Mumbo, Jimmy and Scott recognised the 'theory' or 'thought experiment' (meme lol). (i'm pretty sure Lizzie recognised it too, she just didn't want to say it so explicitly) Now we know who our meme lords are 🤣 (plus Grian chose the wildcard 😂) (the complete contrast to Etho who just let it walk right up to him lol) (and Jimmy who let it walk right up to him and then recognised it 😭😅)

-Pearl has an interesting habit of dying early each session and discovering wildcard mechanics in the process, helping her team to survive. I firmly believe that Jimmy still has the canary curse, but Pearl appears to be the wildcard canary

-we got this season's (first??) Tango Rage™ and it was because Scar burnt down his base lol. fork found in kitchen

-a whole lotta shitty assassination attempts lolololol. Skizz vs Impulse and Big B with the cobwebs without any snails close by, Jimmy trying to blow up a light green (illegal) and putting Skizz on red (very illegal), Ren vs Impulse (which was admittedly successful but only just, and didn't follow the plan), Skizz chasing Lizzie down, Bdubs trying desperately to convince Gem and Joel to sacrifice themselves to their snails so they would know their names, Jimmy trying to set Scott's snail on fire, Jimmy with all his tnt minecarts, probably more i've forgotten

-also a few pretty good ones, to be fair. Impulse distracting Etho from the creeper, Skizz vs Tango, Skizz chasing Scar into an underwater ravine, Scar and Jimmy drowning Bdubs' snail in a hole so he had to get close to free it,

-everyone just loved their snails lol. a bunch of people said they would miss their snails, and called them cute. Tango was overjoyed that his said 'yahoo' and stated it could kill him any time lol. (admittedly a few {Ren, Bdubs} called theirs freaks)

-i really love this series. i love when people are obviously having fun, and I love the sound of laughter. This series is honestly one of the most fun things on the internet. Joel's giggle especially is fantastic

-Lizzie: "i better not walk off a cliff in f5 mode. rookie mistake" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 I can't tell if that was shade for Scar's first death or just a coincidence 🤣🤣

-so many snail cams 😂

-Skizz had better get credited for Scar drowning; it didn't register automatically and i desperately hope that they don't forget to give him a life for that. he totally killed Scar

-Grian, Mumbo and Lizze with absolute mega amounts of courage (or stupidity) and going underground. like just incredibly dangerous adventures to go where they have so little options for escape. massive respect for all three of them. also Martyn and Etho going to the nether to be fair

-the plot to turn snails invisible was so devious, and i'm so glad it worked, but pretty sad it happened to be Scar's. Ren should still get the credit for it though

-we ended the session with three people on red: Skizz, Scar and Tango, and four people on yellow: Ren, Jimmy, Pearl and Mumbo. i desperately desperately hope that no one gets eliminated next week. four episodes would be a devastatingly short season.

-Joel's shock at all the deaths was pretty funny lol

-Joel and Lizzie organised a meet-cute for their snails?? omfg!

-the snails are voiced by Oli (theOrionSound)? 😂 lololololololoolol

-i hope y'all have seen @rusty-courage's in a Nutshell this week; it's the cutest thing i have ever seen and perfectly encapsulates the vibes of the session

-hilarious how much Bdubs regrets the 'tuff guys' bit

-Martyn referring to Joel's 'forty-second obsidian' 🤣🤣🤣

-the family-friendly insults are great 😂 'jerk' is always fun, and Pearl's 'stinky butt' is hilarious

-the G's racing their snails up bam mountain was pretty funny

-Pearl saying 'i can see your sparkles, sir' and Ren not being able to help laughing. my beloveds

-Poor Jimmy is so determined to win, or at least break the canary curse, and he was so disappointed when he died so many times. he almost rage quit when the second creeper blew him up 😭

so i've just finished watching all the first episodes, so i wanted to give my thoughts on the first Wild Life session:

-so much fun i love it so much. i'm so glad they're all still having fun and continuing the series, and that Mumbo and Lizzie came back, despite dying early in Secret Life (i was a tiny bit worried they might get a bit dejected and pass on this one). also thrilled Ren is able to play this time; he's a blast

-there is a lot of mistrust going around which is very curious to me. most of it stems from previous seasons and has no bearing on what was happening at the time. Pearl straight up telling Cleo she expected her to betray her; Mumbo and Skizz not trusting Martyn, and then Grian; and then not trusting that Martyn just wanted to use their enchanter; the huge immediate aggression towards Scar when he came out of the mountain into Grian, Skizz and Mumbo's base; Mumbo not trusting Skizz (his teammate!) when he asked for someone to pass him a diamond; Scott, Cleo, Pearl and Impulse assuming Joel stole their cows, probably more i'm forgetting. it's definitely obvious to me that these people have learnt how the games work and learnt from the pain (as we do). i'm very curious to see if the general server mistrust grows, and the impact it has on everyone and the people

-i love JImmy, Big B, Lizzie and Ren forming a dnd party and Ren (in true bardic fashion) has a guitar within reach and is willing to break into song at the first campsite (this honestly might be my favourite moment from all the life series at the moment. the guitar within reach, Ren's beautiful voice, how much the others thought it was great. fantastic vibes all around)

-i really want Scar and Martyn to team up. they are both instantly mistrusted, to the point that both of them (in their first episodes, no less) expressed that if people are going to treat them like a villain, then they may as well act like it. if the two of them team up to take revenge on everyone being mean to them in a new series i think they would be a force to be reckoned with

-Skizz and Mumbo is a fantastic team-up. both very genuine people who are so funny together

-i hope they get the lag fixed, or that it was just from the size-changing mod and they don't have to deal with it for the rest of the series

-Gem and Joel's partnership - in the early days Gem is going to be a fantastic counterbalance for Joel; help keep him calmer and curb his wild ideas. But once Gem gives in to her own urges... oh boy

-does Big B know that he can go caving with people? cause he seemed to be under the impression that he had to get geared out before he could make friends and it would suck if he ended up alone all the time because it hasn't occurred to him that he can go caving with people right at the start

-double life thought: i know most people count Pearl as the winner, but did Scott technically win as well? cause they were the last pair alive, and died in the same tick. it probably doesn't matter at all, but i wonder about it sometimes (especially in how it would affect Martyn's lore but that's not canon)

-i don't think Jimmy has broken the canary curse. i subscribe to the theory that cause Lizzie died in the End, the Watchers weren't able to perceive it and then he was the first to die in the Overworld (i'm not counting Real Life as canon; it happened and i enjoyed it but it wasn't a full series and they were deliberately playing it silly as an april fool's joke. very glad that Cleo won though. hope they get a full series win as well)

-i'm glad that Tango and Skizz (deliberately) didn't team together, but i kinda wish Tango had ended up in a different group. him, Etho and Bdubs are fun, don't get me wrong, but a whole lot of the fun of the series is seeing people interact and work with people they don't usually. Tango and Jimmy was a top tier pairing in Double Life, and Tango is hilarious. i would love to see him branch out more and work with some more people

-there is more than just the wild card. Grian said he wasn't going to explain it, and i didn't notice anything else happening (but i'm also not expecting it to be much until they get to the late game). i think that there will be a wild card that affects the players, and then also something that affects the world? we'll see, i guess

-now that everyone who has played is playing (i'm pretty sure? if i've forgotten someone i'm gonna be sad) who is gonna sub in if needed?

-i love Mumbo's "that was sub-one intelligence mate" when they all fell 🤣

-i'm not sure what the purpose of including the creakings or whatever they're called? nevermind i just looked it up and they're going to be in the game at some point. weird. i'm not sure how i feel about creakings coming to minecraft though

-very glad they've got six lives this time. it will both allow them to not worry so much about mistakes and accidents (as evidenced by Pearl) and encourage them to take risks, which will be fantastic

[n0rtist]

 I rewatched your entire Stema video playlist and noted all my suggestions here. I hope this will be helpful.

The mechanics of Geo types only being immune to Electro if they are grounded. You said you thought it might be too complicated. It would be best if you put it differently. Instead of saying, "Geo types are only immune to Electro if they are grounded," you could say, "Geo types are immune to Electro types, but there are some moves and items that can remove this immunity."

Nautigrade's Cryosleep Attribute: what if they are immune to most damage, except for supereffective damage, like Shedinja's Wonder Guard, except it only works when asleep?

The moves are Sublimation and Deposition. Having them only affect Cryo and Aero types would make them too situational to be useful. I would have both affect all types except Hydro, Pyro, Geo, and Electro. Why these specifically? Well, you probably guessed that Hydro and Electro are because of Liquid From Phazorm and Plazorm; as for Pyro and Geo, they would represent the factors of heat and pressure on the phase change diagram.

The weather mechanic. Since the weather affects the Hydro type's Speed and Cryo type's Physical Defense, to keep the symmetry, it would affect the Pyro type's Chemical Attack, leaving moves to be affected by terrain if you decide to implement it.

The possible field mechanic. To maintain symmetry and contrast with the weather, I suggest separating the electromagnetic field into an electric and magnetic field so there would be three with a gravitational field. They would buff and debuff Electro, metalla, and geo moves; the electric field buffs electro moves and debuff geo moves, the magnetic field buffs metalla moves and debuffs electro moves, and the gravitational field buffs geo moves and debuffs metalla moves; I not sure if the science tracks but that's my idea.

Evolution methods. I noticed that the evolution methods on your roster are a little... too varied. The first gen of Pokemon only had three ways to evolve a Pokemon: level up, elemental stone, and trading. I would suggest you narrow down the possible ways your stemas can evolve. If I were you, I would keep the level-up evolutions and create a base evolution (like have your version of Firestone to evolve Malloaf and Gelero) and one more original evolution method, maybe the move type-based one that Stemolt has and expand it to other type changing branch evolutions like Levestress and Tunirad.

First, thank you for taking the time to watch and care for my works! It means a lot to hear so much about my project. As I have been developing my game whilst making these videos, I can confirm/talk about the points you made.

Despite the YouTube Community poll, so far Geo is coded to be immune to Electro. I can definitely see some Electro attacks piercing this immunity, but yeah I think it's easier to remember if they are normally immune. Also as an aside, I do not plan to have held items in this game.

Referencing Wonder Guard would be neat. I hope it doesn't make people think they are too similar. Still, it's something I would heavily consider when I get to coding Nautigrade's Signature Attribute.

Sublimation and Deposition were ways to make Phazorm immediately change between Gas and Solid forms. While it may be situational to apply on other Stemas, the concept was that it was to change the user's type right before attacking as every turn has 2 actions for each Stema.

Having Sunny weather specifically affect Pyro's Ch Atk is a fun way to balance the weathers which I also agree with. A part of me is thinking about possibly removing the Sunny weather and just make Liquid Precipitation and Solid Precipitation be the only weather setting skills... Though thematically Sunny fits really well so there's more of a chance that I keep it.

I actually have specific designs to wield Electromagnetic and Gravitational fields, but they are much later in the game. I'll come to think about the field effects eventually. For now, idk, I guess one would let Electro pierce the Geo immunity while the other makes grounds airborne Stema? I can consider having Electro and Geo damage boosts but it might be too much. We'll see there's a lto on my plater before those skills.

A lot of my advancement requirements have changed while I have been making videos. Some of the specific ones like Tunirad and Jelter were supposed to have some NPCs that can help tell you how to advance them. However, I can see Malloaf and Levestress being Skill-type requirements like Stemotl.

Again, thank you for being invested in my project! It's going to take a long while, but I really hope that I can deliver!