purplesecretz

[cat0901h3]

Cabin Tales BE.2

The Night We Met

We had a burning passion for each other ❤️‍🔥

[missr3n3]

i started these cabin tales survivor portraits before 2.4 dropped, but ended up delaying finishing them just in case any of the fried four survived and i had to make more... better luck to the next cabin protag i guess!

[toyastales]

Up, up, and away from the broken souls that inhabit the earth 🌎.

An elevated tiny home.

[philipkindreddickhead]

100 Fiction Books to Read Before You Die

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Book of Margery Kempe by Margery Kempe

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Sparks

The Girl by Meridel Le Sueur

The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Veronica by Mary Gaitskill

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Kindred by Octavia Butler

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Passing by Nella Larson

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

Play it as it Lays by Joan Didion

The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende

Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

White Teeth by Zadie Smith

The Power by Naomi Alderman

The Street by Ann Petry

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskill

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

Small Island by Andrea Levy

The Idiot by Elif Batuman

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

The Price of Salt/Carol by Patricia Highsmith

Room by Emma Donoghue

The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch

Garden of Earthly Delights by Joyce Carol Oates

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Wise Blood by Flannery O Conner

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsey

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall

House of Incest by Anaïs Nin

The Mandarins by Simone de Beauvoir

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

Corregidora by Gayl Jones

Whose Names are Unknown by Sanora Babb

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

See Now Then by Jamaica Kincaid

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

Beloved by Toni Morrison

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

My Antonia by Willa Cather

Democracy by Joan Didion

Black Water by Joyce Carol Oates

The Violent Bear it Away by Flannery O Connor

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

I Must Betray You be Ruta Sepetys

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

The Mare by Mary Gaitskill

City of Beasts by Isabel Allende

Fledgling by Octavia Butler

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin

The First Bad Man by Miranda July

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Moses, Man of the Mountain by Zora Neale Hurston

Disobedience by Naomi Alderman

Quicksand by Nella Larsen

The Narrows by Ann Petry

The Blood of Others by Simone de Beauvoir

Under the Sea by Rachel Carson

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

Under the Net by Iris Murdoch

The Birdcatcher by Gayl Jones

Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez

The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa

@gaydalf @kishipurrun @unsentimentaltranslator @algolagniaa @stariduks @hippodamoi

[goryhorroor]

do you have the full list for horror movies condemned by the church? Thank you

so there's kinda seperate lists for it, ones condemned by the Legion of Decency, during the years of

Legion of Decency (before it was stopped in 1978):

Rosemary's Baby (because it depicts satanism)

The Devils

The Wicker Man (promotion of sexuality & violence)

Lemora, A Child's Tale of Supernatural

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (promotion of sexuality)

Carrie

The Omen (because it depicts that idea that there is an antichrist in the book of revelations)

J.D.'s Revenge

Dawn of the Dead

The Exorcist (this one is so-so because it was still banned for its profanity & sexual situation, but it's not like they hated the idea that it promoted the catholic church; no the church did not help the exorcist production)

These modern ones morally offended the Catholic Church (this list is offically complete from starting in 2003-July 2022, since OSC News took them over to do movies reviews)

28 Weeks Later

30 Days Later

The Belko Experiment

Black Swan

Brightburn

The Cabin in the Woods

Candyman (newer one)

Child's Play (remake)

The Collection & The Collector

The Crazies (remake)

Crimson Peak

The Descent

The Devil's Rejects

The Devil Inside

The Evil Dead (remake)

Final Destination 3 & 5

The entire of the Purge movies

Freaky

Friday the 13th (remake)

Friend Request

Fright Night (remake)

The Green Inferno

The Grudge (remake: 2019)

Halloween (remake: 2007) & Halloween II

Halloween (2018) & Halloween Kills

Hell Fest

High Tension

The Hills Have Eyes (remake)

Hostel & Part 2

The Hunt

It Follows

It Chapter 2

Jennifer's Body

Jigsaw (2017)

The Last House on the Left (remake)

Let me In

Ma

Malignant

Midsommar

Mother!

My Bloody Valentine (remake)

My Soul to Take

A Nightmare on Elm Street (remake)

One Missed Call (remake)

Pet Sematary (remake)

Piranha 3d

Prometheus

Ready or Not

The Ruins

All Saw movies

Scream (2022) & Scream 4

Shark Night 3D

Silent Hill

Slither

Sorority Row

Spiral

Splice

The Stepfather (remake)

The Strangers: Prey at Night

Studio 666

The Texas Chainsaw 3D

Tusk

Underworld series

Unfriended

We Summon the Darkness

Wolf Creek

X

You're Next

Zombieland 2

[fandomtrumpshate]

Unlisted Fandom Challenge

Two days ago, at our last Unlisted Fandom Challenge update, we had a 3-way tie for first. Today? One of those fandoms has taken the lead AND a new fandom that hadn't had even a single signup before has jumped all the way into a 4-way tie for second. Your fandom could do the same, in the hours still left before signups close!

At present, our leaderboard looks like this:

7 Danny Phantom

5 Carmen Sandiego (2019) 5 For All Mankind 5 Tortall 5 Yu Yu Hakusho

4 Ace Attorney 4 Alan Wake/Remedyverse 4 Formula 1 RPF 4 Ted Lasso 4 The Goblin Emperor Series - Katherine Addison 4 The Stanley Parable

3 Greek Mythology/Religion 3 Buffyverse 3 Bungo Stray Dogs 3 Call of Duty 3 Detective Conan 3 Dragon Ball 3 HBO War 3 Kingdom Hearts 3 Persona Series: 3-5 3 Professional Wrestling 3 Realm of the Elderlings - Robin Hobb 3 Shades of Magic - V. E. Schwab 3 The Mummy films 1999-2008 3 Undertale

Given the way Carmen Sandiego came from *nowhere* to tie for 2nd place, a single signup really can shake things up! And for the next few hours, signups are STILL OPEN! Do the thing!

The rest of our unlisted write-in fandoms under the cut for length -

2 Ghosts (TV) 2 Black Sails 2 Cosmere 2 CSI 2 Cyberpunk 2077 2 Dead Friend Forever 2 Death Stranding 2 Dice Punks (podcast) 2 Dimension 20 2 Donten ni Warau / Laughing Under the Clouds 2 Dracula 2 Dune 2 Firefly 2 Glee 2 Guardian/Zhen Hun 2 Hermitcraft/The Life Series SMP 2 Imperial Radch Series 2 Inception 2 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure 2 Mob Psycho 100 2 Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury 2 Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint 2 Ordem Paranormal Quarentena 2 QSMP / Quackity SMP 2 Riverdale 2 Saw 2 Slow Horses (TV Show) 2 South Park 2 Stormlight Archive 2 The Bear (TV) 2 The Empyrean - Rebecca Yarros 2 The Folk of the Air (Holly Black) 2 The Radiant Emperor Series 2 Venture Bros 2 Voltron 2 Wolf Pack 1 1670 1 A Court of Fey & Flowers 1 a league of their own (TV series) 1 A Plague Tale (Videogame Series) 1 American Gods 1 Among Us 1 Bandom RPF (Bad Omens) 1 Bandom RPF (Lorna Shore) 1 Bandom RPF (Motionless In White) 1 Beastars 1 Bendy (and The Ink Machine/Dark Revival) 1 Horror 1 Bioshock 1&2 1 Blue Beetle 1 Blue Eye Samurai 1 Books of the Raksura 1 Boondock Saints 1 Breakfast With Scot 1 Bunny - Mona Awad 1 Buzzfeed Unsolved/Watcher Entertainment RPF 1 Cabin Pressure 1 Cats the musical 1 Charlie's Angels (2019) 1 Cherry Magic 1 Chronicles of Narnia 1 Cobra Kai 1 Coffee Talk (Video Game) 1 Criminal Minds 1 Death Note 1 Devil May Cry 1 Dexter 1 Digimon 1 Discworld - Terry Pratchett 1 Disney Theatrical Animated Universe 1 Divergent 1 DMBJ (Grave Robber's Chronicles) - Xu Lei 1 Dream SMP 1 Dungeons and Daddies (podcast) 1 Endeavour/Morseverse/Inspector Morse (ITV/Dexter) 1 Ensemble Stars!! 1 Fallout Video Game (Bethesda) 1 Falsettos 1 Fargo FX 1 Farscape 1 Fire Emblem (4-10, 13, 14, 16) 1 Five Nights at Freddy's 1 Friends at the Table 1 Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid 1 Grantchester 1 Green Creek 1 Grey's Anatomy 1 Grimm 1 Gundam (see below for details) 1 Hatchetfield 1 Hawaii 5.0 1 Hello From The Hallowoods 1 High School Musical 1 Higurashi no Naku Koro ni 1 Hollow Knight 1 Honkai Star Rail 1 Horizon Zero Dawn 1 Infinity Train 1 IT (Movies - Muschietti) 1 Jeff Satur - music videos 1 Julie and the Phantoms 1 Kushiel's Legacy 1 Law and Order 1 Legend of the Galactic Heroes 1 Live Free or Die Hard (Die Hard 4) 1 London Spy 1 Lovecraft Mythos 1 Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic 1 Magnificent Seven 1 Mary Grant Bruce's Billabong series 1 Mrs. Davis 1 My Little Pony 1 Nancy Drew (CW Series) 1 Narcos (TV) 1 Nine Worlds Series - Victoria Goddard 1 NU: Carnival 1 Omori 1 One Direction 1 Orphan Black 1 Outlast 1 Paranatural 1 Phantomarine 1 Re-Animator 1 Resident Evil/Biohazard 1 Sex Education (TV) 1 She-Ra and the Princesses of Power 1 Simon Snow Series 1 Skins (UK) 1 Slam Dunk 1 Starry Musical 1 Succession 1 Sunless Sea 1 Super Sentai 1 Sweeney Todd 1 Team Starkid 1 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1 The Adventure Zone: Balance 1 The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension 1 The Adventures of Tintin 1 The Artful Dodger 1 The Good Place 1 The Greenhollow Series - Emily Tesh 1 The Hollows - Kim Harrison 1 The Last Kingdom 1 The Left-Handed Booksellers of London - Garth Nix 1 The Lunar Chronicles 1 The Mechanisms 1 The Pairing (Casey McQuiston) 1 The Saint of Steel 1 The Shadow Campaigns - Django Wexler 1 The Terror (TV 2018) 1 Three of Hearts 1 Tin Can Bros 1 Tower of God 1 True Detective 1 Twilight 1 Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold 1 Wayfarers (Becky Chambers) 1 Weak Hero Class 1 1 Westworld (TV) 1 Yellowjackets 1 Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters

[doctorbrown]

MCFLY JULY ‘24 ⸺ 「 9 / 31 * A NEW ‘PUPPY’ 」

August 7, 1895

“Are you sure about this, dear?” The sun streaks across the Train’s sleek lines and Clara marvels at the massive steel beast, powerful and elegant, carving its presence out of the otherwise dreary California landscape. Much like her husband, it is a fusion of the times, the present—by her account—and the future, blended seamlessly to create something larger-than-life that would put even Captain Nemo’s prized Nautilus to shame.

“I’m positive it’ll work. Besides, somebody has to test it to make sure everything is properly calibrated and I’d rather not put you or the kids at risk.”

It isn’t that she doubts her husband on this—he’d already invented a Time Machine once—that fancy metal behemoth propped up in the Delgado Silver Mine where it would wait for another sixty years until Mr. East—Marty came to retrieve it, facilitating the events that, to them, have already occurred.

He had been working diligently on this ever since they’d agreed that they couldn’t remain in this time, lest they threaten the space-time continuum and potentially jeopardise Emmett’s own existence. Even when she could no longer keep up with his future knowledge of science that still bordered the realm of science-fiction by this time’s standards, she had nothing but confidence in his ability.

No, it is the inherent risk that any scientific experiment entails that has her worried for Emmett’s safety, for time is the one barrier she has no hope to breach should something go terribly wrong.

But she can’t allow herself to think like that.

“I’ll be back in about ten minutes’ time from your perspective.” Emmett wraps his arms around her waist, radiating such confidence and conviction that Clara almost feels foolish for worrying so much.

“And not a minute longer,” Clara teases, leaning in to send her husband off with a fond kiss.

The train whistle blares, slicing through the tender parting and causing both Doc and Clara to leap a foot in the air. Laughter, muffled, yet still filtering out from the open cab, takes the place of the silence and if Clara strains her ears, now ringing from the sudden unexpected noise, she can hear Jules and Verne shouting at each other from inside the Train, the latter complaining how he wants a turn.

“I’d better go before the boys decide that I have to wait for them to be finished before I’m allowed to interrupt.”

“Boys, come out of there,” Clara calls, projecting her stern teacher voice that leaves no room for discussion or debate. “You know the Time Machine isn’t a toy and your father has very important work to be doing.”

Jules and Verne both groan, but in mere moments, they trudge their way out of the Train, carefully descending the steps.

“Can we come too, Dad?” Jules asks, throwing that wide-eyed, pleading look at his father that usually has him folding.

“Yeah! Us too!”

“I’m sorry boys,” Emmett says earnestly, “not this time. But I promise that the next time we use the Train, it’ll be as a family.”

“He’ll only be gone for a few minutes,” Clara adds, to which both of the boys’ faces immediately fall, their expectations of some grand adventure dashed.

Emmett climbs into the cabin and retracts the steps and Clara ushers the boys back several feet, mindful of Emmett’s tales of the first Time Machine and its aggressive displacement method. The boys wave as the Train picks up speed and Clara finds herself holding her breath, her chest tightening with each crack of thunder resounding through the air in spite of the idyllic blue California afternoon. The shockwave rattles her bones and when the flash of light subsides, leaving nothing but a trail of fire and smoke where the Train was only a moment ago, Clara finally lets out the breath she was holding.

“Whoa!! Did you see that, Mom? Dad’s gone!”

Verne runs along the side of the tracks, chasing the ghost of the train with Jules in tow, and Clara stays rooted where she is, overcome with a number of complex thoughts and emotions. The reality of it thrills and excites—time-travel would open doors and wonders that she only ever dreamed about, only ever found through the escape of fantastic books—while paradoxically releasing hordes of butterflies in her stomach, each flutter of its wings an uncertainty, a yet unforeseen trouble, an obstacle to overcome.

The Twentieth Century awaits—she could practically grasp it in her hands now, alive with possibility and promise and peril—and they were going to greet it together, as a family.

Clara doesn’t know how long she stands there until she comes back to herself, pulling out her pocket watch to check the time. Two minutes until Emmett should be getting back. Jules and Verne have moved well enough away from the tracks now, likely chasing one of the small critters if their fixation with the ground is any indication.  

When the storm rolls in despite the conspicuous lack of overcast, Clara’s attention snaps back to the tracks at the same time the boys whip around, eagerly awaiting their father’s return. The Train returns with all the pomp and circumstance it deserves, steam rising from its engine, and once Clara confirms that it’s safe to approach, the boys take off, meeting Emmett at the cab.

“It worked, Dad, it worked—but it’s so loud!”

Emmett peeks his head out of the window, grinning triumphantly down at his family. “Right on time. The temporal displacement worked perfectly—in reality, I was gone for almost three hours.” Both Jules’ and Verne’s eyes go wide. “But according to my watch”—he digs around in his pocket, fishing out the watch—“it has only been ten minutes exactly. I thought I might have to recalibrate the Time Circuits, but it looks like—”

Something barks from inside the cabin and Clara and her husband exchange a look.

“What was that, Dad?”

“It barked! Did you get a dog?” Verne gasps. “Did you bring a dog from the future?”

“You remember me telling you stories of my faithful companion Einstein, don’t you?”

“Named after one of your heroes of the Twentieth Century,” Clara says, recalling the countless tales in which Einstein the dog made an appearance. She had known she would come face-to-face with her husband’s best friend—before Marty, that is—at some point, but she had hardly expected the large, shaggy creature sitting comfortably in the train as if this is old news, his tongue lolling out of his mouth.

Einstein looks around at the unfamiliar surroundings, then appraises each new unfamiliar face in turn.

“And the world’s first time-traveller,” he says proudly, reaching down to scratch Einstein behind the ears. “I grabbed him from the lab when I could be certain Marty wouldn’t show up unexpectedly.”

“Does he bite?” Jules asks, his voice trembling slightly.

“Only if he doesn’t like somebody. But Einstein is an exceptional judge of character—he’s more likely to lick the skin off your face if you don’t push him away than he is to bite you.” Emmett ushers Einstein out of the Train and gestures to each member of his family, introducing them as if Einstein was possessed of human intelligence.

“I know this is all confusing right now, Einie, since I’ve only been gone a couple hours as far as you’re concerned, but I’d like you to meet my family.”

[chronotsr]

No. 1 - G1, The Steading of the Hill Giant Chief (July 1978)

Author(s): Gary Gygax Artist(s): Erol Otus, Dave C. Sutherland III (cover), David A. Trampier Level range: Average of 9, preferably 5+ players Theme: Standard Swords and Sorcery Major re-releases: G1-3 Against the Giants, GDQ1-7 Queen of the Spiders, Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff, Dungeon #197, Tales from the Yawning Portal

I'm not sure if G1-G3 are the most remastered adventures of all time, but it's gotta be competitive. I think Tomb of Horrors might have it beat, but I haven't counted. The 4e conversion [the Dungeon #197 one] is really weird in particular because…4e feels like the edition least interested in the legacy of DND? It was boldly doing its own thing. A good quality, actually.

Anyway, it's time to slag off* on a beloved adventure. Note, I am using the earliest copy of G1 I can find, which is from waaaay later when D3 was complete. I apologize.

*And by slag off, I mean "be critical of at all". In practice, this module is actually showing some unusual acumen compared to its contemporaries.

EDIT: I forgot to mention a rather important thing when this was made live -- note the title there! We are officially in ADND land now, so put away your little brown booklets and switch over to the fuck-off awesome player's handbook with the iconic Moloch statue!

Somehow I had gotten my whole life at this point never really…understanding what this structure was supposed to look like? It looks like this.

I honestly think exterior shots of dungeons are critically underrated. Handouts are amazing and being able to flash the back cover art to safely show the party "like this" is actually great, I deeply wish that….any? of the previous modules had done that? I think the only one that did was Tsojconth. Weirdly, the interior drawing is very subtly different. Look at how the logs face:

Not a huge deal but, a kind of weird inconsistency that top one looks like a stockade and the bottom one looks like a log cabin. Side note, we know that the long dimension of this is using 210 feet tall logs, which is to say, the size of an average redwood. These are some big fuck-off trees -- which could be a very interesting detail about the local area.

Now the setup is pretty simple. You were hired to go beat up the giants because they've been raiding the local humans, figure out why they're raiding, and comeback posthaste. The locals have kitted you out with horses, guides, maps, et c -- but no compensation, they have simply omitted a finder's fee (cheap bastards). Also, if you fail, they'll execute you. With friends like these, who needs Giants?

Gary starts with some mild railroading (you accepted the job already, you are already kitted out, you already walked to a nearby cave, you waited til dusk to approach, you notice two guards are missing, and the cave is guaranteed to be moderately hidden. Sure, whatever, I'm going to ignore that if I run this tho. Gary notifies us of a few critical details:

Don't run this stock, that's immoral

Any surviving giants will flee to G2 if they have the opportunity (which, kind of inherently punishes clever play that avoids combat?)

There is a 2% chance per round that the wooden structure will be lit on fire due to chronic rain (why is this a dice roll??)

If you will permit me a tangent, player arson is truly the bane of interesting scenarios everywhere. Whenever a player wonders, "why are all the GM's dungeons underground or in stonework buildings?", it's because doing anything else invites arson as the default and best answer to all problems. Magic items are fireproof and most metal items will not get hot enough to be destroyed, so very often the best solution is to burn the place to the ground and loot it the next day. So, yeah. No wood buildings. Gary's fix is to have all the giants flee into the basement, then waste a week of the PC's time for daring to use arson. Kind of sucks!

Tangent complete.

Here's some random interesting bits:

Gary explicitly states that you can pass yourself off as hill giant kids, which is extremely funny. Minus the implicit child murder.

Naturally there are giant moms doing giant housemaid shit in several rooms. Presumably they have giant curlers too.

The secret door is, literally just a doorway covered by a pelt. I have to hand it to them, that'd trip up most players in 2024 AND make them feel stupid for not figuring it out!

The big reveal that Eclavdra the Drow is secretly behind it all is so lightly teased that it feels downright tasteful.

A giant that uses a ballista as a crossbow (based) and spears for arrows (also based) -- between the prevalence of lightning spears and greatarrows, one starts to think of a certain famous video game. Genuinely I think it'd be a fun exercise one day, for someone who is more knowledgeable than me about Japanese fantasy roleplaying culture, to talk about how anglophone fantasy works made their way into Japan and were interpreted.

One of the cloud giants has hidden a sentient giant slaying sword that speaks all the giant languages, it feels like there's a hell of a story going on there that is only alluded to!

To my knowledge, this is the first official depiction of an orc in DND? Which implies that Gary is team pig-orcs, which is cool. Frankly, I love porcine orcs, or even better just pigfolk in general, they're great.

I think it is actually a rather bold early stance for Gary to hold that, even here in 1978, Chaotic aligned creatures are not automatically friends. Granted, that's how it is in Elric, so it's not THAT bold, but clearly everyone else missed the memo. The orcs are willing to side with you at least in the short-run, and in our previous modules it was very rare to have groups of chaotic-aligned creatures fighting one another. It was always just personal beefs. In fact, the overall theme of G1 so far is that despite the boxy-ass dungeon design, there's already a command of naturalism that even modern dungeons really struggle with. Factionalism truly is the gift that keeps on giving for the GM!

So the big reveal internally to G1 (just think of that -- a reveal internally to G1, and externally to the GDQ supermodule -- we're already getting pacing!) is that the orc slaves have rebelled. And -- hey -- good for them. There's also a kind of…built-in companion refill system going on here? So in oldish DND the way it works is, the expectation is the party is not just 5 guys with swords. You've got companions to help fight, and you've got hirelings to do other stuff (test suspected traps, if you're evil). And you can only hire so many of these guys from town, but attrition is going to happen. So the modules simply provides, automatic replacements should you negotiate worth a quarter of a shit. A dwarf slave here, an orc slave there. Maybe a giant dissenter if you're really clever. One of the potential "rewards" you can get is more dudes to throw at problems.

More interesting bits

There is, what I can only really call an abortive idea going on here where there's a scary temple in the basement? But no one worships there and no information is provided. It is merely a fucked up altar. I think I vaguely recall that it's retconned Tharizdun in one of the remakes? They always retcon things to be Tharizdun. Busy man, Tharzy.

Gary, Gary no. Stop it. Stop this 78 guys bullshit. I thought we had established that giant rooms of giant clumps of guys was bad. I know you have terminal Napoleonics brain but stop.

Wait, Steading is a noun? I always thought it was a verb. Yknow, like "Steading those hill giants", taking 'em down a notch. Apparently, a Steading is a small farm -- same etymology as Homestead. I guess mark that as our first Gygaxism?

Our second Gygaxism is gill, which is "a quarter pint of an alcoholic drink", which is to say a few mouthfuls

Always end your adventures with weird, ominous non-diegetic text. On the flip-side, absolutely do not do what the adventure does, and end on a teleporter that takes you to the next dungeon. That is the worst option.

Anyway, that's the whole Hill Giant situation. Honestly, it's better than I remembered, but in proud module tradition up to this point it gets weirdly filler-y in the basement. There's just something about basements that makes dungeon designers stop giving a shit, I swear. I do need to give the man his due, even though he was a shitass person: Gygax wrote an 11 page module that is of noticeably higher killer-to-filler ratio than any of his contemporaries. G1 is better than any of its predecessors, pound for pound. It is way, way shorter which is I suppose a plus to me and a minus to others, but -- there is a clear internal logic to this place that is tragically missing from (say) The Dwarven Glory. And that internal logic is the beginning of good adventure design. Anyway, we have two fun tidbits to discuss before we end for the day.

First up, we have an of-the-time account of events in Dragon #19! It turns out that in Origins '78 they played G1-G3's prototype. The account is of the winners (mostly West Virginians, a few Michiganders), who used their magic extremely liberally to hide what they were doing as well as to scout. They did opt to light the place on fire, good for them! If you want to check this out, it's on page 3. I will mention G2 and G3 here as relevant later.

Second up, there's a weird interquel hiding in Dungeon #198! Hanging out as an informal G1.5 is "The Warrens of the Stone Giant Thane!" I will not review it in full because my understanding of 4e is, basically just skimming the PHB and reading the DMG, but essentially the Stone Giants are hypothetically aloof and not particularly loyal to their Fire Giant superiors, but someone gave them The Rock That Makes You Crazy and so now they are. Smash the rock!

Man, map design in the 4e era was so fucking bad. It looks fine, but like, this is four circles. And downstairs is, of course, cave as far as the eye can see. Aren't stone giants supposed to be skilled carvers? Anyway, If you feel like G2 would be too big of a jump mechanically compared to G1, this exists. I'm sure you could use it if you liked, and certainly there is a Genre of Grognard who would be kinda tickled at the thought of finding "lost content" for el classico GDQ.

Next week, we cover G2, which was also in July. So was G3! They're triplets!

[transparentgames]

Hi! August hasn't ended yet, but we've got another exciting announcement to share!

Thank you for 500+ downloads on itch!

This time we're here to thank you for 500+ downloads on itch.io. We also have 29 ratings and a 4.8 rating on itch. Additionally, the game has been added 400 times to collections. 

We couldn't be more grateful for the support we've received ever since publishing the short demo.

To celebrate this milestone, here's guest artwork of Elijah from Altila:

As a thank you, we'd also like to show you the current progress on the George CG01 which will be added into the September Polished Demo update:

Currently, as you can see the sketch, lineart and flat color stages are done. Vita will next add the shading and atmospheric effects.

Transparent Games August Free Game Release: Frozen Hearts

If you follow Transparent Games on X, you might have noticed that we’ve been promoting the game Frozen Hearts ever since July/early August. This is a game that Anna started developing with her friends a while ago, and it was finally ready to be published for the recent sunofes jam. It's fully voiced, custom-illustrated and completely free. You can check it out here:

Here's the story of Frozen Hearts:

Sophie has been frozen inside a crystal for two centuries. When the ice thaws, she wakes up in an unfamiliar world. Everything is frozen, including the inhabitants of the palace where she finds herself. When she makes her way to a nearby village, people’s shocked reactions surprise her - they call her a Hero. Legend says she sacrificed herself two centuries ago to end a terrible war, freezing the leaders of both factions along with the rest of the world. 

Yet, is that tale all there is to the story?

What roles did Richard the Ice King and Ivon the Rebel Leader really play in Sophie’s life?

What will they do now that they have escaped their icy prison too?

Can Sophie reverse the permanent winter, or will the world be thrown into a final, destructive conflict that freezes the future forever?

Frozen Hearts is an otome isekai game with two love interests and around 3 hours of gameplay.

Download here for free.

Transparent Games July Free Game: Stormbound Secrets

In July, Yui (the Saintess BG Artist), Jenna Rose (the Saintess Script Editor), Anna (the studio lead) and several other amazing teammates participated together in the o2a2 jam, which resulted in completing and releasing a 10-minute visual novel titled Stormbound Secrets. You can check it out here:

Here's the story of the game:

A magical storm rages through the woods. The Great Dryad must be angry, but at whom? Desperate, you seek shelter in a secluded cabin. There you run into a handsome stranger. Who is he and what is he hiding? And are you actually the person you claim to be?

Who has the biggest secret: him or you?

The game is light on romance. It's better classified as josei rather than otome, but feel free to give it a shot anyway. There's a hot guy in it, after all 😀

Download here for free.

Saintess of the Golden Bow on Youtube

If you're still on the fence about playing the Saintess demo, you can check out ReaperBabe playing it on stream - the first part of the stream is now available on youtube:

Anna was present for the stream and answered some of Reaper's questions in the chat. It was a fun experience. We're looking forward to more streamer coverage of the game.

Development Updates

The team has completed two new sprites, two new outfits and one new background since our last update - here are some sneak previews!

Going forward, the team will focus on Kickstarter graphics and rewards as well as putting together the Extended Demo from the assets we have produced.

Thank you for tuning in for this update.

Be sure to check out the next month's development update and the Polished Short Demo as well.

Best,

Transparent Games Team

[populationthree]

THE DREAMCATCHER

July 2014. Approximately one thousand eight hundred forty days before the start. My gaze fixed to the symbol etched upon my bunk mate's wall. The symbol placed me within a curious trance which slipped away the misery of sleeping in the wilderness, nearly five hundred miles away from my own house.

My bunk mate had a pair of striped pajamas covering his being. Ragged blonde hair stretches down and past his shoulders. With my outstretched hand, I point to the symbol and loudly exclaim for the rest of the cabin to hear, "What's that?"

His attention shifts from the rapid conversation towards the etched symbol. A backwards N slants within the wooden frame as two dots cap the top and bottom of the diagonal slash. For a moment, he looks on to the symbol to prolong the time before he speaks.

"It's the Dreamcatcher," he spoke with a lisp, "It filters the nightmares when you fall asleep. A one way ticket granting you smooth sailing across the sea of dreams."

I was perplexed. His words—at the time—slipped away as his intelligent dialect precedes his age. Of course, I knew nothing of it then. As the years continued by, meshing together in fragmentations of both memory and fantasy, I found myself staring face to face with the symbol again. And again.

And again.

April 13th, 2024. One thousand seven hundred fifteen days after the start. A patchwork of symbolism weaves within my mind as my slumbering body plays within its tales. Stories of bygone characters dance around the vignette-tinted playground. My senses fall flat as I fail to recall the very faces staring me down. On their faceless heads is a detail which clings upon my senseless sight.

Two men stand out among the sea of visitors. Both identities bore scraggly hair which puffed itself into a sphere. The man on the left stood with dark-brown hair, while the other bore a lighter, yet dirtier blond-haired person. It wasn't them, I've never found myself dreaming of their exact features. Yet, it was. A simulacrum of my fears amalgamated in my distant peers.

The dream swiftly plucked itself away from my vision as a searing pain overtook my stomach. Every minute felt like misery—all I wished for was my water to quench my shriveled throat. My light-blue bottle sat farther away than I can reach. I freely kicked my legs at the edge of my bed as my body laid wide awake. Each moment strung on for hours—please, let me move.

My constant pleas pushed against my desires as I silently begged for freedom. Slowly, I disturbed my keeling pose and gripped against my bottle. Intuition informed me of how I yearned for water, but only for its feeling. As the small dribble sat within my mouth, I could feel my aching stomach return back to nothing.

4:50 AM. I sat at the foot of my bed with my eyes fixed on the light illuminated from my window. Dawn barely cracked upon my room as only a glimmer of blue sat above the horizon. The driveway remained black—empty of any unusual cars. Above all, I was expecting the same black truck to present an awaited visitor. Nothing, of course. The days are blurring together.

Before I returned to the senseless sea, I found a familiar symbol dimmed upon my blackened wall. The Dreamcatcher. The same reverse N with its unusual tittles. Nearly ten long years, and I found myself face to face with the unknown. Even as I returned to select a video to sleep to, I saw him at the top of my feed. Same man, same festival, same guitar, same channel. Wretched beast. Horrid switch.

"It's a redo," I muttered to myself. 8:20 AM. "Today is a better day because I allow it to be."

I didn't sleep in this time. Yet, my mind was racing. Amidst my morning routine, I pondered on the meaning of the Dreamcatcher. Was it there to taunt me? Remind me? It appears in fantastical coincidence; what dream does it catch? Fate? Love? War? Was the kid wearing a sleeping cap or a Phrygian cap?

10:30 AM. A wave of noise washed within the walls of the garage as I fixated on the same symbol hung on the load-bearing beam. Maybe there was nothing to it. A litany of artifacts and plaques lined the walls of the garage, displaying the very childhood of a life I've never lived. The Dreamcatcher was part of a collective in which I held no intention of deciphering. "The Snicker Award", "The Rattlesnake Award". These weren't mine, so why should it matter?

My mind focused on the important issues ahead. My hands swung in front of me to hit the bars of an instrument too small for me. I was having fun. The drummer gave us orders while his hand snaked around the shoulders of his lover—a visitor. The both of them sat on top the chair as I've seen before. Oh, the observer. To think, I may be the man in the midnight campground.

My friend—visiting from towns away—talked to us of his busy life. As we drove through Main Street, he told us of his usual day. His early mornings, arduous afternoons, and meaningless evenings. In his sixteen-hour days, he found no time to socialize or hang out. Loneliness was what he ran from. Every hour of his life was occupied to better his life, to escape the realization of where he sat in life.

Another friend—who I confide with my deepest secrets—listens with curiosity as he prods the visitor's life with questions that push the conversation along. Past the theater and approaching the drive-thru, he silences the air with a single inquiry, "Will your life change if you find a lover?"

"If," the visitor emphasizes, "I have no time or need for one."

There it is, graffitied on the road sign ahead. The Dreamcatcher. Sprayed in pure white is the work of a symbol which strikes meaning upon my soul. I can imagine the summer heat outside the car, where I stood amazed instead of aiding my bandmates. That was a distant time, of course. Ten minutes out there was a tenth of a second in the visitor's truck.

3:05 PM. One song in our set and I was already lost in the structure. The intricacies of the form and the style of the solos. Soon, my eyes glazed upon the digital eyes circling the gazebo like vultures. It struck me well my own likeness would appear outside where I could fathom its existence. The feeling was alien. Before, only one set of eyes focused on my being. And even then, their eyes hid underneath a bandmate's phone.

A familiar woman bestowed upon our band a coupon and a singular $100 bill each. As I looked down at her aged face, her complexities could only spark so much. It was a long shot, however, I could only identify the woman as the same observer who handed me a rainbow-themed pin with the words "MOM HUG" in bubbled letters.

Now, it was different. Handed to me was a slip of paper—a coupon—for a local restaurant. Inscribed in ink, beneath the printed words, was the same Dreamcatcher symbol etched on the slip. Of course, I left to claim the coupon whenever possible. The reappearance of this symbol continued to surprise me, it almost appeared at random.

4:50 PM. Our performance has long ended. Recent memories of familiar bonding danced in my mind as I sat in the sanctuary of the restaurant. The recurrence of the Dreamcatcher enamored me, its occupancy in my mind taunted me like a distant memory. My words quickly join the dancing thoughts, "It's a redo."

The answer overwhelms my expressions in a state of pure realization. My friends slightly eye me before I return to my neutral expression. I couldn't tell if they knew what I was thinking, but their conversation continued on to prove my hypothesis correct.

"It's best to let the reader figure out the meaning." The words of my English teacher push through my conspiring thoughts. Oh, Orphanmaker. "Let them find your meaning or let them find their own."

6:30 PM. My friends and I met at a granite table with a checkered pattern inscribed in the stone. As their conversation continued on about the future of the band, my eyes idled around the surrounding area as I scanned the crowd. In comparison to the earlier three hours, the park found itself crowded in people from end to end. They were here for the main course of the festival, of course. Their set list remained identical, but their members had changed.

Soon, my focus sat on the edge of the park. A wall of graffiti—more eloquently a mural—stretched from edge to edge as it covered the barren wall of a tan building in a colorful display. Most jarring of all was the Dreamcatcher, which blended in well to the mural. Why now?

"Who would win a game of chess?" The words of the pianist recall from my parallel memory. "Someone who can see the future or a mind reader?"

I fell asleep for that conversation. I heard it come on amidst a sea of one-sided discussion. Already, exhaustion had taken hold of my body that day as I fell asleep on the floor with nothing but my clothes. Oh, how the world rhymes.

Two kids—adorned with orange tails and animal ears—danced around the dormant fountain's design as they chased each other. I couldn't help myself but to watch the two run along the open space. This place was packed, I thought, how could they find the time? The Dreamcatcher—formed in the cracks and holes of the fountain—allowed such ritual.

9:20 PM. Anger overwhelmed my senses as I placed myself in an unwilling location. Never until now have I walked within the interior of a pub, and never have I performed among the same men which paved the path I walked. My rage flung itself from fear; control. Everything I yearned for needed to be right. Why wasn't it? My friends only added fuel to the fire. They spoke with confidence on an instrument they seldom knew, "It's right because I said it's right."

After I had situated my vibraphone atop the stage, all I could feel was regret. My rage-induced high mellowed out to the pits of regret as I recalled the words I used against them. I apologized—profusely. As I idly drank my cup of water, I recognized the song performed was off the album Headhunters; Watermelon Man. As soon as their performance concluded, our band picked up with another song off the same album; Chameleon.

Even as I played, I could feel the presence of the Dreamcatcher. The warmth of the melodies. The embrace of the solos. My mallets sailed and struck against the vibraphone with precision and delicacy. Despite the ferocity and the passion, it felt calm. In the eye of the arpeggiated storm was a hug of passion.

"I worked for this," I assured myself across festivals, "I earned it."

The songs blurred by, as if I was asleep for it all. Stress eluded me as my mistakes sifted away through the crucible of passion. All good things must come to an end. Of course, I knew this adage well. 11 PM flashed by and signaled an end to it all.

Where was the Dreamcatcher? Two hours came and went as the paralleled rest. While I deconstructed my vibraphone to its transportable pieces, I tuned in to the overlapping wisdom bestowed upon our band by two varied sources. I took in what I could as I packed my mallets back into the crowded bag where it belonged.

Only as I slipped the two sticks inside did the Dreamcatcher reveal itself. Claimed in marker, the wooden handles held the very symbol I searched for. I've owned these mallets for so long—I thought—why did I only notice now? It slipped by my senses for an unknown amount of time.

How long have I carried the Dreamcatcher under my unknowing hands?

"Do you still love someone after the relationship's over?" My friend questioned. He focused on the midnight road ahead as the conversation pivoted to his question. "Even if it's not the same, is the love still there?"

April 12th, 2024. One thousand seven hundred fourteen days after the start. The question wedged itself within my thoughts as I listened on to the conversation. We were only a few minutes away from the gas station, after I've caught up in explaining my worst affairs with my greatest friend—the pianist. It felt wrong, worded fluffing padded my mouth as each word felt meaningless yet hurtful at the same time.

Regardless, the driver continued in a seamless thought, "I mean, I still love my girlfriend. There's nothing that can replace how I feel for her. But, out in the distance, I still feel something towards everyone else I dated before me—my exes."

"Well, yeah." The pianist placed his foot in the door of conversation, "But what about familial love? Platonic? Do you still love your mother while she's alive? Do you suddenly hate her when she's dead?"

Of course, you do. What good is it when you break the bonds you crafted with others?

"I can't speak on behalf of what romantic love feels like," he continues, "But it's weird when you no longer love someone after you stop talking to them. What about the memories? The time you spent together?"

Yes, but granted, something terrible must happen in order for that event to even occur.

Out of the blue—by a leap in conversation or time—the driver continues with a new question, "When was the last time you said I love you?"

Not since July.

In reaction, I spoke my thoughts out loud. I could see the pianist look towards me with a knowing expression. Similar to the revelation at the restaurant, all he could do is acknowledge my reaction and continue on.

The two's words blur together as I contemplated my own response. The phrase was sacred to me, it feels like I've reserved it for people who I can no longer say it to. It's a privilege to receive my love. No, it's a privilege to receive their love. How do you read the Dreamcatcher, if at all?

How many Leyes can you tell yourself before it all catches up to you?

[gattinidiguerra]

If you ever wanted a list of all the Cyberpunk 20XX TTRPG books, as of 2002, here's a list.

CYBERPUNK 2013&2020 BOOKS Code №

Cyberpunk 2013 CP3001

Cyberpunk 2020 CP3002

Blackhand's Street Weapons CP3461

Chromebook 1 CP3701

Chromebook 2 CP3181

Chromebook 3 CP3331

Chromebook 4 CP3471

Corpbook 1 CP3111

Corpbook 2 CP3151

Corpbook 3 CP3161

Deep Space CP3211

Near Orbit CP3301

Edgerunners Inc. CP3391

Eurosource CP3901

Eurosource Plus CP3421

Firestorm: Stormfront CP3481

Firestorm: Shockwave RT03491

Home of the Brave CP3221

Listen Up Primitive Screwheads CP3291

Live & Direct CP3431

Maximum Metal CP3191

Neo Tribes CP3371

Night City CP3501

Pacific Rim CP3311

Protect and Serve CP3171

Rache Bartmoss' Brainware Blowout CP3521

Rache Bartmoss' Guide To The Net CP3241

Rockerboy CP3401

Rough Guide to the U.K. CP3281

Solo of Fortune CP 3101

Solo of Fortune 2 CP3361

Wildside CP3271

Euro Tour (c) CP3131

Land of the Free (c) CP 3231

Tales from the Forlorn Hope (c) CP3121

When the Chips are Down (a) CP3801

Hard Wired (w) CP3201

When Gravity Fails (w) CP3601

ATLAS GAMES SUPPLEMENTS Code №

The Arasaka Brainworm (a) AG5000

All Fall Down (a) AG5040

The Bonin Horse (a) AG5050

The Chrome Berets (c) AG5025

Cabin Fever (a) AG5065

Chasing The Dragon (a) AG5035

Greenwar (a) AG5055

Night City Stories (c) AG5005

Northwest Passage (a) AG5070

The Osiris Chip (a) AG5010

Street Fighting (a) AG5020

Thicker than Blood (a) AG5045

WEST END GAMES SUPPLEMENTS Code №

Alice Through The Mirrorshades (a) 12017

IANUS SUPPLEMENTS Code №

Dark Metropolis (w) ICP116

Grimm's Cybertales (w) ICP110

Night's Edge (w) ICP101

Crash Point (a) ICP112

Home Front (a) ICP119

King Of The Concrete Jungle (a) ICP106

Media Junkie 1-2 (a, c) ICP107,14

Necrology 1-3 (a, c) ICP102,4,5

Playground (a) ICP115

Premature Burial (a) ICP117

Remember Me (a) ICP118

Sub Attica (c) ICP120

Survival Of The Fittest (a) ICP103

CYBERGENERATION Code №

Cybergeneration 1st Ed. CP3251

EcoFront CP3341

MediaFront CP3351

VirtualFront CP3441

Bastille Day (a) CP3261

MAGAZINES, NETBOOKS, ETC.

Interface. Vol 1 # 1-4, Vol 2 # 1-2

Punk '21. # 1, 2, and 3 (UK)

Role Player Independent, July (UK)

KEY

(a) Adventure

(c) Campaign

(w) Alternate World Book

Shit. Do I need a CP sideblog?

[michelangelinden]

Can I interest you in some soft Them in these trying times?

Hello hello! I wrote this for @legolasghosty's birthday (ilyyyy) and thought I'd share it here too hehe.

Willex. Rated G. 1123 words. No warnings, just fluff.

Alex woke because his head slipped from where it was resting against the wall and his torso fell to the side. When he was upright again, disoriented and a little dizzy, he noticed that he was the only one left outside on the porch. He hadn’t even realized he’d fallen asleep. He’d been sitting next to Willie on the bench, leaned his head back against the cabin’s wall and womp, he’d fallen asleep, apparently.

Turning his head to look around, he registered faint laughter from inside the cabin. But it sounded less like it was coming from his friends and more like from the TV.

What time was it? Couldn’t be too late if people were still awake. And they also wouldn’t have left him sleeping outside, someone would’ve come get him when they were all going to bed.

A yawn pushed its way out of his throat and he let it escape. Only when he smacked his lips and moved a hand to scratch his chin, did he notice that his upper body was covered. He’d left his hoodie inside, it had still been pretty warm when they had all sat down outside on the porch after coming back from the restaurant, but he must’ve looked like he was cold when he was sleeping. Willie’s sweater was draped over his chest, the sleeves laid over his shoulders so that it wouldn’t slip right off. The fabric felt almost delicate when Alex shifted underneath it, despite being thick cotton, but maybe that was just because it was Willie’s.

He smiled to himself. He could imagine that small internal struggle Willie must’ve felt upon seeing his boyfriend asleep next to him. Should he wake Alex? He looks cold. Would he want to come inside with us? But he’s sleeping. Alex allowed himself to press his nose into the fabric and take a breath. The scent was a strange mixture of campfire and pine and coconut shampoo that shouldn’t work but just did, because it was Willie’s. Alex loved this smell.

A gust of wind flew over the porch and blew his hair into his eyes. It was fresher than the standing air, predicting the temperatures to drop in the next few days, and told Alex that he should probably go inside. The pressure behind his eyes, his tell-tale sign that he was really tired, increased at the brush of cold, and he shivered.

With a groan, he got up from the bench and walked around the porch table. The trees of the forest swayed in the wind, the moon painted glowing white circles in the soft waves of the lake, and he heard the call of an owl somewhere far away. They’d really picked a great spot for their post-tour vacation. He couldn’t remember ever being somewhere this peaceful, apart from maybe his own home, or back at his grandparents place in Germany. It was a shame, they only had a few days left.

Yawning again, he slipped the sweater over his head. It warmed him immediately and he felt yet another wave of sleepiness wash over him.

Stepping inside the cabin, his suspicions about the TV were confirmed, when he saw the flickering lights around the corner and heard muted, dramatic music. He spotted Luke asleep with his head in Julie’s lap on one of the couches, Reggie leaning against her on her other side, eyes on the TV screen. Bobby was sitting in the armchair, arms crossed in front of his chest, head tilted back, dead-asleep like a dad on a Saturday night. Flynn must be in bed already, because Willie was sitting alone on the other couch, cross-legged, comfortable. But their eyes caught sight of Alex as soon as he stepped into the room.

“Hey, you’re awake,” he called quietly when Alex moved into his direction. His legs unfolded and he lifted an arm so Alex could sit down next to him.

Alex took the hand offered to him as soon as he reached it, then sat on the couch and smoothly slipped into Willie’s side. They let out a surprised laugh when Alex draped an arm across their waist and pushed his face into Willie’s shoulder.

“Hi,” he whispered back.

“We wanted to watch a movie, but I didn’t wanna wake you. You looked so cute, when you were asleep,” Willie explained what Alex had been thinking.

“Thank you,” Alex responded. He lifted his head and nudged his chin forward, glancing at Willie’s lips. Willie got the message and smiled before leaning down and giving Alex a gentle kiss. Alex hummed comfortably, then placed his head back on Willie’s shoulder, closing his eyes.

“Tired?” Willie asked.

Alex nodded.

“You wanna go to bed?”

He shook his head. “Wanna be with you.”

He felt Willie’s breath hitch a little, like it always did when Alex randomly said cute things like that. They brushed their hand over Alex’s arm across their body.

“I wanna stay here a bit longer, is that alright?”

Alex nodded again. “This is perfect.”

He turned his head and pressed a kiss to Willie’s collarbone through the fabric of their shirt. Willie’s hand not on Alex’s arm brushed over the back of his head, lightly scratching his scalp. Alex felt himself melt into Willie at the sensation, slowly breathing out. Now being warm and fully enveloped by Willie, he started feeling drowsy with tiredness.

Willie halted momentarily. “Is everything alright? What’s going on?”

Alex didn’t lift his head, just turned it a little so they’d be better able to hear him. “I’m baby,” he said simply.

Willie breathed out with a laugh that sounded almost delighted. They shifted so they were able to press a lingering kiss to Alex’s forehead. Alex relished it with a smile.

“So baby,” Willie responded. Another kiss, even longer now. “And I love you so much.”

Alex felt soft and warm and glowy all over. He was on vacation, wearing his lover’s sweater, while they held him comfortably and kissed his forehead so gently. He couldn’t imagine anything better than this.

He finally lifted his head again so he was on eye level with Willie. “I love you too.”

Willie lifted the hand off Alex’s arm and curled it around his jaw. He kissed Alex again, so sweetly it made Alex’s head spin in the best way.

“I was hoping you’d put on the sweater,” he whispered against Alex’s lips and it made them both chuckle. “You look amazing in it.”

“It’s very comfortable.”

“I know.” Willie kissed his cheek. “Go to sleep.”

And almost as soon as Alex had placed his head on Willie’s shoulder again, he did.

[missr3n3]

congratulations to arthur for making it into the illustrious and exclusive cabin tale survivor club!

[angelchanisaweeb]

Introduction

Hello!

Salutations, friends, travelers, and all those present.

I'd like to welcome you. My name is Angel. She/He, please.

I'm sure we'll find something here that interests you here.

I'll have a bit about me, (most of) my fandoms, and my personas/self inserts and my fandom and non-fandom ocs.

I do roleplay sometimes. Usually only with friends, but if you're fine with doing short and simple stuff I'm sure we can give it a shot! Please keep in mind that I have a life, and a busy one at that. So, I may not have the most time in the world. And if I don't like roleplaying with you and I don't find it fun I will tell you so (politely) and stop replying. Here are my rules. Also, I don't usually censor and am generally okay with darker topics, but please let me know what you have in mind before we start.

I'm just a silly little fae that loves stories and bats. Hope you have fun! Don't be scared so ask me something or start up a conversation!

Here's my Carrd

There's lots (and I mean lots lol) of info after the cut if you're interested^^

A BIT ABOUT ME

Name: Angel Lovelace (online persona, what I've gone by for years)

Gender and Pronouns: Gender fluid [Formerly Girlflux] (Spefically Mutogender) | He/She

Sexuality: Omnisexual (or maybe omni-sapphic)

Triggers: None really. Except for people being creepy toward me

Squicks: A specific type of body horror: where you like- get blown up from the inside like a balloon. Idk, I just don't like it.

Favorite animal(s): Cat, bat, snake, fox

Favorite color(s): Purple (2nd is blue, 3rd is black)

Favorite song: (currently) Catch a Falling Star or Cult of Dionysus

I listen to all kinds of stuff, so anything I vibe to. Pop music (from all over the world), classic rock, metal music, folk music (from all different places, not just American country music), opera, jazz, electronic, a little rap, you name it.

Fact: I know a little ASL and a little French

Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw | [Harry Potter]

Camp Halfblood Cabin: 20 - Hecate | Percy Jackson

Panem District: District 8 | [Hunger Games]

Divergent Faction: Eurdite | [Divergent]

Genshin Element: Anemo | [Genshin Impact]

Nen Type: Manipulation | [Hunter x Hunter]

Bending Element: Air | [ATLA]

Ability: ??? {TBA} | [BSD]

Breathing Form: ??? {TBA} | [KNY]

Blood Demon Art: Illusions | [KNY]

Quirk/Meta Ability: Sensory Override: User can manipulate senses, and sometimes memories | [MHA/BNHA]

Night Raven College Dorm: Ignihyde (or possibly Pomefiore) | [Twisted Wonderland/TWST]

Unique Magic: ??? | [TWST]

Feel free to ask questions!

--------

FANDOMS

Aaron's Absurd Armada

Alice in Wonderland

Alice in the County of Hearts

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Babblebrook

Black Bulter

Bungou Stray Dogs (not far far in lol)

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

Descendants

Diabolik Lovers

Divergent

Ever After High

Five Night at Freddy's

Genshin Impact

Harry Potter

Hazbin Hotel

Helluva Boss

Hunter x Hunter

Julie and the Phantoms

Link Click

Lost

Marvel

Maze Runner

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir

Monster High

My Hero Academia

Obey Me!: One Master to Rule Them All

Once Upon a Time

Percy Jackson

Pirates of the Caribbean

Seven Wonders

Sk8 the Infinity

Spy Family

Star Wars

Stranger Things

The Coffin of Andy and Leyley

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.

The New Legend of the Monkey King

The Vampire Diaries

Twilight

Twisted Wonderland

(I'm sure I forgot a lot of them and a lot of fandoms I'm not that far into, so I didn't list them. Stuff like Attack on Titan and Haikyuu!!!. But you ask me if I'm in any of your fandoms! And if I remember anymore, I'll update my list.)

--------

PERSONAS & SELF INSERTS

HARRY POTTER

Name: Angel Lovelace

Blood status: Pureblood

House: Ravenclaw

Birthday: January 10th, 1979

Is American. Transferred from Ilvermorny to Hogwarts in her second year (the Golden Trio's first year)

PERCY JACKSON

Name: Angel Lovelace

Godly parent: Hecate

Fatal flaw: Cowardice

HUNGER GAMES

Name's the same unless said otherwise, k?

District: 8

Usually not a tribute. Usually the niece (or sister or smth) of a victor.

BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES

Capitol citizen. A first year at the University and one of Dr. Gall's assistants. Friends with Tigress and Hilarius Heavensbee.

DEMON SLAYER

Species: Demon

Age: 128 (chronologically), 14 (biologically)

Blood Demon Art: Smth to do with illusions

Was training to be a demon slayer in life, but a demon got her best friend and she kinda lost her faith in them. Never took the test.

DESCENDANTS

AK or VK: VK

Parent: Red Queen (or Queen of Hearts if we're only doing og animated ones)

HAZBIN HOTEL

Sinner or Hellborn: Sinner

Death date: It changes from time to time, but it's either 1888, 1924, or 1986

How they dies: Was suffocated in sleep

HELLUVA BOSS

Species: Imp

Job: Informant and hitman

Affiliation: IMP

BABBLEBROOK

Location: Harrington (I think... the town near the inn)

Job: Librarian

Very good friends with Maybell. Also friends with Mrs. Pippetwhistle, the haberdasher, and Bridgette. Has bats and cats around the library.

MY HERO ACEDEMIA

First - Hero

Age: 15

Class: 1-A or 1-B

Quirk: Sensory Override - Can manipulate senses and sometimes memories

Second - Villain

Age: 19-24

Affiliation: League of Villains, Shie Hassaikai, Paranormal Liberation Front, Poppyseed Circus, among others

Quirk: Sensory Override

Doesn't really commit to anyone one thing or ideology. Just drifts from place to place selling information for entertainment. (Not that kind of entertainment, chill. Think Undertaker from Black Butler, wants jokes and stories. Also likes to play pranks and stuff yk)

TWISTED WONDERLAND

Year: Second year

Dorm: Ignihyde (sometimes a Pomefiore transfer)

Class: 2-E | Seat 18

Unique Magic: "Make a Wish" Basically shows the target illusions. Sometimes puts them to sleep.

Club: Film Studies

DIABOLIK LOVERS

(I've only played the first game and the beginning of the second, so sorry if these are bad. That being said my personas for this are works in progress)

First-

Age: ???

Species: Vampire (possible has demon connections)

Worked in the manor for years as a dresser (made everyone's clothes) and sometimes an advisor of sorts. Admired Cordelia for her beauty. Knew/knows lots of secrets and very fond on manipulation.

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FANDOM & NON-FANDOM OCS

Work in progress, but I kinda have them scattered all around lol

Looking back, they're all so cringy 😭 I d e s p e r a t e l y need to update all of them lol and the stories too because like- ugH

I also have a Toyhouse account that I never use, but I should get around to. Anyways, here's the link.

ANywAys-

I'm crying looking back on my old stuff. Tempted to just delete lol. And I still need to find all my roleplay ocs, the ones I made spefically to rp with. And I still need to do my Twelve Cities stuff. The Twelve Cities is a story I'm working on, if you care.

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WOW! That's a lot of my stuff lol. Anyways, if you made it this far, congrats! Have a cookie 🍪

Well, I hope you have a good time. Come visit me whenever!^^

[lola-babylon]

If Ryan had loved Led Zep and not The Beatles, maybe we'd have the Cabin Album

Two years after the release of AFYCSO, PATD fans were crying out for new music from the boys, and curious as to what they'd been working on during their stay in a cabin in the mountains of Nevada (which actually wasn't that isolated ... Mount Charleston is less than an hour's drive from Summerlin; Brendon would pop home to have dinner with his family during this time).

The band debuted material they'd been working on at Summerfest in Milwaukee on July 7 2007, playing a then untitled song later dubbed "True Love" amongst the bandom.

And the reception was not enthusiastic. To quote Pretty Odd Fever:

"I genuinely loved the song, so its reception still makes me a little sad. It felt like the majority of fans completely hated it and were absolutely brutal. There were seriously thousands of comments online tearing the band apart. Even fans who were at Summerfest said the crowd didn’t seem too impressed with the new song.

Yes, the song was a repetitive fairy tale cliche… but who knows where it fit into the album’s storyline or what the tone actually was! Brendon said that a lot of the cabin album was satirical.

[...]

Basically, a huge amount of people were hating on the lyrics (but some people still seemed to love the melody, Brendon’s vocals, or other small parts). The band absolutely saw what so many people were saying online. There’s no way they could’ve missed that even if they didn’t lurk (which Jon did). Right after Summerfest they decided to scrap the cabin album and completely start over. The album’s release date had been pushed back before Summerfest, though, so it sounded like the band was maybe already uncertain about their new material before the overly negative response."

Had PATD already decided to scrap the songs they'd been working on at the cabin before Summerfest? Or was it the audience reaction to the debut of "True Love" that caused them to rethink their musical direction and start over? Some fans still want to know what happened in Seattle (nothing) or what happened in Cape Town (nothing to do with any relationship between Brendon and Ryan) but goddamn it, I want to know what happened in the cabin.

We do know, though, that Ryan was getting massively into the Beatles about this time. Which is fine, but the course of PATD history might have been different if he'd had a Led Zeppelin phase instead. Because Led Zeppelin know something about a band's art being disdained on first hearing, and if Ryan had known his Zep history he'd have known that Stairway to Heaven was also hated by the fans on first performance.

Stairway to Heaven starts with the sounds of recorders - recorders! - before taking the listener on an almost 8 minute long aural journey across mythology, folk rock, hard rock, and a lengthy Jimmy Page guitar solo. And for all that it was hailed as a masterpiece in subsequent years, early audiences hated it. Unsure of what exactly they were hearing, they'd whistle and boo with derision, stamping their feet until the song was done and they could get back to rocking out to Whole Lotta Love. As Led Zep bass player John Paul Jones said of the the audience response to Stairway's live debut in March 1971, "They were all bored to tears waiting to hear something they knew." It wasn't until Stairway to Heaven began to receive radio play later in 1971 that the appreciation, which would later grow into adoration and obsession over the song, began.

So maybe if Ryan had been into Led Zeppelin in 2007, he'd have noted the audience reaction to True Love and said "who cares if they don't like it now? People didn't like Stairway to Heaven when they first heard it, and look at how that went." Of course for Led Zep, audience reaction was limited to what the audience saw on the night and fan chatter after shows; there were no forums or Live Journal or YouTube videos allowing fans to be on the lnternet within minutes registering their disgust throughout the world.

Maybe PATD had already decided to scrap the cabin album anyway, and just decided to give a small slice of it a public airing when they had the chance. But it's fun to imagine the alternative timeline where Panic got into Led Zeppelin instead of the Beatles; Brendon being the one with the tambourine, shirt unbuttoned to his navel, dancing around as Ryan cranked out excruciatingly lengthy solos on a double necked Gibson, having decided to hell with what the audience thought. And John's symbol for their album cover would be a cat.

[fandomtrumpshate]

Unlisted fandom challenge!

Since our numbers post earlier today, we've had more than 30 signups, including write-ins for 2 more fandoms, bringing the total of unlisted fandoms to 155 ... for now ...

At the top of the list we have a 3-way tie for 1st, a 5-way tie for 2nd, and a 6-way tie for third ...

5 Danny Phantom

5 For All Mankind

5 Yu Yu Hakusho

4 Ace Attorney

4 Ted Lasso

4 Goblin Emperor Series - Katherine Addison

4 Stanley Parable

4 Tortall

3 Greek Mythology/Religion

3 Bungo Stray Dogs

3 Call of Duty

3 Dragon Ball

3 Realm of the Elderlings - Robin Hobb

3 Mummy (1999 franchise)

A single sign up could change all that ...

The rest below a cut for length -

2 Alan Wake/Remedyverse

2 Ghosts (TV)

2 Buffyverse

2 Cosmere

2 CSI

2 Detective Conan

2 Dracula

2 Dune

2 Firefly

2 Formula 1 RPF

2 Glee

2 Guardian (2018)

2 HBO War

2 Hermitcraft/The Life Series SMP

2 Imperial Radch Series

2 Mob Psycho 100

2 Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury

2 Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint

2 Persona Series: 3-5

2 Professional Wrestling

2 Riverdale

2 Saw

2 Shades of Magic - V. E. Schwab

2 Slow Horses

2 Stormlight Archive

2 Bear (TV)

2 Empyrean - Rebecca Yarros

2 Folk of the Air (Holly Black)

2 Radiant Emperor Series

2 Undertale

2 Venture Bros

2 Voltron

2 Wolf Pack

1 1670

1 a league of their own (TV series)

1 A Plague Tale (Videogame Series)

1 Adventure Zone: Balance

1 Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across 8th Dimension

1 Adventures of Tintin

1 American Gods

1 Among Us

1 Artful Dodger

1 Bendy (and The Ink Machine/Dark Revival)

1 Billabong - Mary Grant Bruce

1 Bioshock 1&2

1 Blue Beetle

1 Breakfast With Scot

1 Bunny - Mona Awad

1 Buzzfeed Unsolved/Watcher Entertainment RPF

1 Cabin Pressure

1 Cats the musical

1 Charlie's Angels (2019)

1 Cherry Magic

1 Chronicles of Narnia

1 Cobra Kai

1 Coffee Talk (Video Game)

1 Criminal Minds

1 Death Note

1 Dexter

1 Dice Punks (podcast)

1 Digimon

1 Dimension 20

1 Discworld - Terry Pratchett

1 Divergent

1 Donten ni Warau / Laughing Under the Clouds

1 Dungeons and Daddies (podcast)

1 Fallout Video Game (Bethesda)

1 Falsettos

1 Fargo FX

1 Farscape

1 Fire Emblem (4-10, 13, 14, 16)

1 Five Nights at Freddy's

1 Friends at the Table

1 Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid

1 Good Place

1 Grantchester

1 Green Creek

1 Greenhollow Series - Emily Tesh

1 Grey's Anatomy

1 Grimm

1 Gundam (see below for details)

1 Hatchetfield

1 Hawaii 5.0

1 Hello From The Hallowoods

1 Higurashi no Naku Koro ni

1 Hollows - Kim Harrison

1 Honkai Star Rail

1 Horizon Zero Dawn

1 Horror

1 Inception

1 Inspector Morse

1 IT (Movies - Muschietti)

1 Jeff Satur - music videos

1 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

1 Julie and the Phantoms

1 Last Kingdom

1 Law and Order

1 Left-Handed Booksellers of London - Garth Nix

1 Legend of the Galactic Heroes

1 Live Free or Die Hard (Die Hard 4)

1 London Spy

1 Lunar Chronicles

1 Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic

1 Magnificent Seven

1 Mechanisms

1 Mrs. Davis

1 My Little Pony

1 Nancy Drew (CW Series)

1 Narcos (TV)

1 Nine Worlds Series - Victoria Goddard

1 NU: Carnival

1 Omori

1 One Direction

1 Orphan Black

1 Outlast

1 Pacific Rim

1 Pairing (Casey McQuiston)

1 Re-Animator

1 Saint of Steel

1 Sex Education (TV)

1 Shadow Campaigns - Django Wexler

1 Simon Snow Series

1 Skins (UK)

1 Slam Dunk

1 South Park

1 Starry Musical

1 Succession

1 Super Sentai

1 Sweeney Todd

1 Team Starkid

1 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

1 Terror (TV 2018)

1 Three of Hearts

1 Tin Can Bros

1 Tower of God

1 True Detective

1 Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold

1 Wayfarers (Becky Chambers)

1 Westworld (TV)

1 Yellowjackets

1 Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters