#campaign au

[rosyjuly]

for the first line game: "Alex puts his hand on George's nape, feeling the short hairs at the edge of his hairline between his fingers."

The first time he squeezes the junction where George's shoulder and neck meets, gentle and slow, George only sniffles into the crook of his elbow. The screensaver on his laptop changes; the warm light accentuating the ridiculous length of his eyelashes.

It's one of the Monet paintings they saw a few years ago at the National Gallery, a rare occasion when it was Alex who made the trip down to London, when George just moved into a studio after a well-deserved promotion, and it was the first time they could screw around without the fear of being walked in on by a flatmate or a family member. If George had to pull all-nighters for the firm, at least they paid his due, unlike Alex is doing right now; George was working on the concession speech tonight, has probably nodded off because it's the second consecutive week he's been in the office past midnight now.

In another life, Alex could wake him with a kiss on his forehead, could take him home with a cab and bully him gently into brushing his teeth before collapsing into bed; but that's not his life – he swallows his feelings and gently shakes George awake, ignores how his heart stutters when George's eyes flutter open and a smile lights up his sleep-soft face.

[the-night-writer1]

A sneak peek at a funny thing involving a dnd character of @zarinosa 's

No thought only potato

[wtfforged]

my campaign hiatus has gone on for too long so to cope ive combined my interests at their maximum potency and had some dnd-strawhats thoughts

thoughts in depth under read more... :)!

this is SO self indulgent. their designs literally did not change. but i am a firm believer that dnd doesnt have to be european high fantasy. and also one piece literally IS fantasy. no changes are necessary to fit into dnd. ive already imagined plenty of campaign/oneshot ideas inspired by one piece. so this was basically just an exercise of trying to replicate their canon abilities in dnd 5e as much as possible without totally homebrewing everything. well. aside from luffy. you just cant take away or change his stretching.

LUFFY: (human monk. drunken master subclass. outlander)

the only plain human of the crew to balance out with the fact that he still has rubber powers. obviously a monk. but drunken master subclass specifically because i think the flavor(not the fact that its about being a drunkard) and abilities both fit him really well. this line in the subclass' flavortext especially fits him: "A drunken master often enjoys playing the fool to bring gladness to the despondent or to demonstrate humility to the arrogant, but when battle is joined, the drunken master can be a maddening, masterful foe."

ZORO: (tiefling fighter. samurai subclass. bounty hunter)

a fighter with the samurai subclass is so very incredibly obvious... but i actually had a lot of fun geeking out while comparing the abilities to what he can do in canon; Fighting Spirit, Rapid Strike, and Strength Before Death especially! tiefling is also pretty on the nose for his demon pirate hunter shtick and asura form, but i thought he'd be really human-passing for a tiefling and theorized about his tail getting cut off at some point or another before joining the strawhats. initially wasnt gonna give him a feat, but i gave sanji a feat so i thought itd be unfair to not give him one as well, so sentinel fits the bill pretty well i think!

NAMI: (tabaxi rogue. arcane trickster subclass. criminal)

cat burglar -> full grown literal humanoid cat. this one is INCREDIBLY self indulgent... i love... cats... theres nothing deeper to this and no other reasoning. i took cat burglar and ran with it. can you tell that i love izutsumi dungeon meshi? rogue for the aforementioned burglar-ing as well, and the arcane trickster subclass for when she picks up climatact! the mage hand will be very useful for her pickpocketing. in the future as she levels up with timeskip, i can totally see her multiclassing into wizard as well! weather wizard!

USOPP: (lightfoot halfling artificer. artillerist subclass. urchin)

I HAD SO MUCH FUN THINKING ABOUT HIS CHARACTER SHEET. halfling's Naturally Stealthy ability lets him hide behind his crewmates since theyre (almost) all bigger than him, so its perfect for hiding behind zoro or sanji all the time. Lucky is also perfect for him, and I think Brave fits pretty well too when he puts on the sogeking mask. artillerist artificer is also very fun! tinkering and making magic items for his crew, and i think Eldritch Canon or Arcane Firearm could both be easily reflavored as kabuto or any of his inventions. for emphasizing his sniper-ness, the spell sniper feat was also necessary. i think hes my favorite of all the concepts. big ears and long nose combo is so cute to me.

SANJI: (half-elf monk. drunken master subclass. guild artisan (cook!))

race was mostly based on vibes i wont lie. squints. and that vinsmoke balogna or whatever too ig. but mostly vibes. along with the idea that i think a dwarf zeff raising him would be really funny and cute. monk is also obvious, and same subclass as luffy for mostly the same reasons. though the flavor fits him much less, i think the abilities still fit him perfectly, and this blurb specifically; "Your martial arts technique mixes combat training with the precision of a dancer." i really wanted to give him a different subclass from luffy, but i dislike all the other monk subclasses a lot and i found none of them fit him as well anyways, so to try and give them SOME differences, i gave him the crusher feat.

CHOPPER: (awakened deer(shifter statblock) cleric. life subclass. hermit)

this ones definitely a mouthful im sorry. awakened deer for obvious reasons, but due to magic instead of devil fruit stuff. when i was struggling with his race, i looked a lot at shifter because of his forms, but it occurred to me that itd be super cool if he could shift between all of the different shifter options instead of being stuck with just one to replicate his rumble balls. something like heavy point/guard point=beasthide, horn point/arm point(?maybe?)=longtooth, walk point/jumping point=swiftstride, and brain point=wildhunt. hed definitely need some kind of nerf though to balance out that homebrew... and cleric for class. duh.

ROBIN: (high elf wizard. order of scribes subclass. criminal)

robin is definitely the one i struggled the most with just because of her class. elf came pretty easily- shes very elegant and i think shed look cute with super long ears- and i landed on high elf instead of wood elf for the int-based abilities. i was really on the fence between sorcerer and wizard for her because i knew shed be a full spellcaster, but i didnt feel that any of the subclasses really fit her. i ended up going with wizard for order of the scribes since it focuses on texts and knowing everything. but also because robin with a flying talking sentient book would be crazy cool. it could also be similar to how she spawns mouths and eyes places to talk to or watch people. my "fuck it, why not. this would be rad. its my house" mindset kicked in with her i will admit. also the One with the Word ability made me cackle out loud when i read it. thats the funniest ability ever. anyways, i cant really think of a way to replicate her powers, but maybe we could just reflavor a bunch of spells to be her limbs or clutch; hold person, maximillian's earthen grasp, or evard's black tentacles. thatd probably work okay, and theres a handful of spells to replicate her ability to spawn eyes or mouths. unrelated, but i imagine nico olvia to be a drow. why? her hair is white. i am a simple man!

[thewhalelord]

Vampire Laudna as a treat!

And the aftermath

[bacchuschucklefuck]

while teen while goblin while aroace while injured while doing your best

[yuwuta]

olympics coming up…… athlete aus on the mind….. satoru as a swimmer….. unreasonably large wingspan…. huge hands..... thinks “official” competitions and tournaments are boring because he can’t use the goofy purple googly eyes goggles he likes to practice in…… practices at ungodly hours solely because he likes when the pool is empty because that means you’ll dip your feet in at the edge and be there to greet him with a kiss when he’s finished his laps….. they bring up the stats board and it’s just his name ten times before the next fastest person and he could still lap them, and even tho he’ll always put so much pressure on himself to be the best, it’s worth it to have you hold his face and tell him you’re proud of him... he’s gotten so much merch from events and sponsorships and he used to think they just created clutter but that all changes when you start to wear his clothes (esp the ones with his name on it… he’s not proud to admit that does Something to him)…. always looks up to the stands when he finishes a race and if he knows you’re not there, he looks right at the camera, draws an infinity sign with his fingers, and blows a kiss (which, some commentators routinely call “unsportsmanlike conduct” but he doesn’t care, and always, publicly says he’ll pay the fees if it means blowing a kiss to his girl at home)

[evilminji]

Okay... we KNOW that Justice League Dark is actually Competent at their Jobs.

Can banish most Spooks back home with out pausing to look up from their sandwich.

But you know what they HAVEN'T done? Dealt with the fuckin American Government. And all the complexe back-stabbery and "not my depart"ing that entails. The covering of asses and silencing of whistle blowers. Smearing of character. Just... the general BULLSHIT, legal and political, necessary to get those Ecto Acts consigned to the Depths of Hell where they belong.

Amity? Is fine.

Big ol Lair. Nothing nefarious getting in, few people ever bothering to go out. But like... they'd kind like THE OPTION, you know? Kids going to elite colleges. Jobs in other cities. That sorta thing! Maybe even new blood!

Stagnation feels too... Zone.

But they can't exactly FORCE the guys to focus on this one thing. And? They don't exactly... trust? Them? It's not personal. They're just not ghosts. Well, one is. But you can't ask ONE hero to handle all of that by himself! That's just unreasonable! Mr. Brand, while dashing and accomplished, has only so many hours in the day!

But what do DO???

...........well.......... Youngblood has an idea?

What if we annoyed them?

(How bout now? How bout now? How bout now? How bout now? How bout no-?)

Ooooooh~? Says the collectively gathered Ghost Regulars of Amity. Yes, that INCLUDES DANNY. They are INTRIGUED! Ghosts DO enjoy a good haunting. A light bit of Mischief, now and then. Some troublemaking! If you will~

I mean... Muses the resident Stick in the Mud, Phantom. As long as we all agree to some Ground Rules first...

Just until the finally Do Their JOBS, of course.....

The giggling is both bone chilling and filled with plotting. And so! The campaign of ghostly Minor To Moderate Inconveniences, begins! THINK FAST! *appears before Constantine, drops a LITERAL kid in his lap (as in a baby goat), in a "careful, I'm anxious!" Vest, then disappears.* The goat? Starts trying to eat his shirt. And is non magical.

It's the fifth random but slightly difficult to get rid off object or animal, dumped on him in the last two weeks. All juuuuust barely past that threshold where they're precious enough, he wouldn't feel comfortable handing um to some rando and walking away. GDI.

@the-witchhunter @hypewinter @hdgnj @spidori @babbling-babull @lolottes @mutable-manifestation @nerdpoe

[soaring-trash]

someone please send me the red dead redemption au, i lost it and i’ve been looking for an age

[rose-petal123]

Designs I made for @dekupalace 's steampunk au fic!! You should read it, it's awesome!

[joydoesathing]

"Yes, Your Majesty. I cut out my heart for you."

So, yeah, the conspiracy theorist ending of campaign mode 😀

(inspo for the screen cap)

[honeysweethol]

modern au keyleth dresses exactly like marisha, i know this in my heart 🍃

[rosyjuly]

if you read @prettydangrotten 's political campaigning ficlet and @janinaduszejko 's continuation, get ready for another round of alex raising the issue of henry-the-intern to head of HR! mick.

Mick’s office is not big to begin with: it barely fits his work station and two chairs in case someone comes in with an actively ongoing conflict, expecting Mick to mediate on the spot, and a cabinet that stores most of the paperwork. Now, with Alex walking up and down like a man possessed, it feels even more cramped.

He tried sitting down, earlier, drummed on the floor with his feet cradled in a pair of pristine loafers, and then leaped up again. Mick sighs and shuts his laptop carefully. The Excel sheets can wait five minutes. His friend apparently can’t. 

“So,” Mick starts, trying to aim for a tone between cheery and careful that won’t make Alex’s restlessness worse, “what’s up?” 

Alex stops in his tracks. He lifts his hands, his fingers long and tense, makes an aborted gesture and then lets them fall back down. Mick has rarely seen him like this. The last time Alex came to him so worked up was over a year ago when Alex decided that he’d run for the seat and George in turn decided that they were over. 

Or that was about as much as Mick could get out of him after they’ve gotten drunk on too-good wine, and whiskey, and then Jägermeister, even though Alex claims to hate the stuff. Some football game was on in the background, even though Alex doesn’t care for it, the green of the pitch drawing Alex in eerie cold light, his eyes dark and wet. Mick didn’t mention that he was crying – trying to offer a small mercy when Alex already looked stripped raw from his dignity. Alex didn’t say that he’d change his mind, of course – not running wasn’t an option, not after he’d set his mind to it, and really, he already must’ve known that he was the best man for the job. 

But he did ask Mick, real quiet when the game was already over and they were staring at the players hug it out for nothing better to do, “Do you think if I didn’t – he would have?” 

“He would have what, Alex?” Mick asked, cringing at himself, because the room was spinning when he closed his eyes, and solidarity-drunkenness wasn’t merciful on his brain. 

“Wanted it,” Alex whispered and Mick really didn’t know what else to do but pull him close. Alex buried his face in his neck, his tears slowly dampening Mick’s shirt, and Mick stared at the ceiling while he stroked his hair and wished, childishly, that their relationships still ended over stupid fights and not over the prospect of a successful political career. That night, Alex didn’t stay in the guestroom he always teased Mick for but in Mick’s bed, curled away and into himself. Every tense line of his body betrayed that he was hurting all over and there was little Mick could do apart from curling an arm around him, offering his presence. 

Of course, Alex isn’t crying now. 

He whips around and stares at Mick, his mouth pressed into a pale line. 

“Remind me,” he says, as if it’s a request, “what’s our policy on workplace fraternization?” 

“You mean dating?” Mick asks, raising his eyebrows. Alex scoffs. 

“Call it what you want, but you know what I mean.” He shoos the interruption away with an elegant hand. 

“Let’s see.” Mick leans back in his chair and stretches his legs. “Are the employees in question in a direct or indirect reporting relationship?” 

Looking away, Alex touches his chin: an old tell of his. He lets out a long sigh and says, “No – but is that relevant?” 

“Yeah, it’s the only thing that’s relevant, actually,” Mick says. It’s so apparent that it’s not what Alex wanted to hear that he almost apologizes for delivering the news.  

“Are you sure?” Alex asks. When Mick nods, he rolls his eyes. “Well, can you check?” 

“Believe me, I know,” Mick says, as casually as he can. Alex would probably pick up on the faux nonchalance any other day, were he not outraged over poor Henry. The guy isn’t subtle, that’s for sure, but Mick’s been keeping an eye on him and he hasn’t done anything out of line. Yet. 

Alex takes a deep breath and looks at him again: his dark eyes burn with such emotion that Mick has to stop himself from squirming in his chair. 

“Look, Alex,” he hates to ask, but he needs Alex to put his anger into perspective. “Is this about George?” 

Alex’s eyes flicker to the door, even though he closed it himself after he marched in with his shoulders set in a determined line. 

“Maybe,” he says, sullen enough to mean yes. He sighs again, his abdomen sagging with it. “Look, there’s this intern and he keeps– he keeps making these eyes at George and sitting on his desk during working hours and the other day when I went to get a cup of coffee, he was fucking lounging on the kitchen counter while talking to George–” he cuts himself off, his chest heaving, and takes another deep breath, slowly exhaling as if to calm himself down. 

“Alex, this must be very difficult,” Mick starts gently, but Alex is already getting up from the chair. He shakes his head and crosses the room with three big steps, his hand already on the doorknob. Still thinks that anyone offering him empathy is pitying him, then. 

“Just include the interns in that workplace behavior seminar from now on, okay?” He waits long enough for Mick to nod and then disappears with a quiet thanks. 

Mick drags a hand down his face – he should’ve handled this better, but it’s hard to be stuck between the roles of a friend and of the head of HR. Flicking his journal open, he makes a note of Alex’s request and returns to the much behated Excel he’s been staring at for the past two hours. 

“You made the boss angry?” comes the cheerful question from the door. Mick whips his head up and indeed, there’s Seb, grinning, an elbow hitched high against the frame, a sliver of his tanned stomach peeking out where his shirt has ridden up.  

“What can I say,” Mick sighs, beckoning him in. Seb closes the door with a quiet thud and leans against it, watching Mick from under half hooded eyes. “Nobody likes HR, do they?” 

“I like HR just fine.” Seb’s grin turns wolfish. Mick chuckles – he has to avert his eyes and hope that the rush of hotness to his cheeks isn’t that apparent. 

“Well, you’ll like HR less when we finish the overtime calculations and you’ll see how much we owe the staffers.”

Seb hums. He pushes himself off the door, the muscles in his arms shifting minutely. 

“You’re right, Mick,” he says, circling the desk and leaning against the edge of it until his ankle can press against Mick’s. “Truly, what do I hate more than paying people what they’re morally and legally entitled to?” 

“Oh, shut up,” Mick mumbles but he can’t help a smile. “I’m starting to understand why the opposition groans so loudly when they find out you’re our campaign director.” 

Seb laughs and reaches out to squeeze Mick’s shoulder, his hand warm and distracting. 

“No, but what did Alex want?”

“Apparently he’s seen someone hit on another employee, so he asked about policies on workplace relationships,” Mick explains, trying to keep it vague enough to not be a shit friend or a rubbish head of HR. 

“Oh?” Seb makes an inquiring sound. “And you just happened to know that on the spot?” 

The flush must be creeping up Mick’s neck now. 

“Why? You want to quiz me, Vettel?” he asks, keeping his tone friendly enough to maintain this game of plausible deniability they’re playing. 

“Do go on, I’m curious now,” Seb grins, easy as anything. “What’s the book say on those relationships?” 

“Employees who have a direct or indirect reporting relationship to each other are prohibited from dating or having a sexual relationship,” Mick rattles off. Maybe he should be ashamed that he refreshed his memory on his second day in this office, when he arrived early and Seb was assembling desks for the staff in a dangerously thin white shirt. “Most people know that, I guess. What they don’t know is the exception, which is that it’s fine as long as it’s clear that the relationship poses no conflict and has been disclosed to and approved by senior management and HR.”

“Senior management and HR, huh,” Seb repeats, the laughter apparent in his voice. He snakes his hand to the nape of Mick’s neck. “What a happy coincidence.” 

“The happiest,” Mick agrees, trying to convince himself to finally look away from Seb’s sparkling blue eyes and the laugh lines around them. “All right, let me work – it’s almost two and I need to approve this by the end of the day if we don’t want the salaries to be late.” 

“Oh no, we wouldn’t want that,” Seb clicks his tongue, his thumb slowly rubbing at Mick’s hairline. “You shouldn’t be late either. You have plans, right?” 

“Nothing I couldn’t reschedule,” Mick shrugs, but his cheeks are just starting to hurt from smiling. Seb laughs and his hand squeezes down once, twice – it’s ridiculous that Mick already wants to bury his face in his stupid plain shirt over his soft stomach.

[honeyglas]

This house is empty. All its inhabitants are buried.

Silly strahd dnd au where you find out that a previous reincarnation of you is buried in this massive manor and also your previous lovers are stalking you slowly through the dark hallways. Be careful

[maluspumilaa]

ooooo you want to talk to me about the southerngothic farcille au ooooo you want to talk to me about it so bad

heres the first sketch page for this au in case you want to see more + the au tag

[pink-onyx-au]

The people have spoken!

Quite literally! I’m pleased to announce that my musing of getting this comic translated into other languages and to update each page with some alt text has begun. We currently have highly generous people working to bring this comic to new eyes. I am also working on a Spanish translation at this time, and Thai and Chinese are also in-progress. Thank you to my friends and wonderfully intelligent strangers on the internet who would be so kind as to offer me the ability to translate this story into a new tongue.

This is obviously a long-term thing and not all pages may be translated based on the availability of people to help me. You may see some posts where we can all work on it together! Some examples will be of the English script, and a proposed translation script. If it looks good and there is no translation miscommunication, then I’ll be made live for Tapas!

Episode 1 is in the works. What languages would you like to see? If you’re bilingual or a polyglot, I would love your input. I am but a humble American English speaker with limited, functional Spanish. The fluent-isms will make this much more organic.

Work on Season 1 will still continue as my primary thing to do, but in my downtime, I’ll be editing the old pages and getting them polished or working with others to do the same. When a Tapas episode becomes live, I’ll announce it here!

Thank you everyone for your interest and your efforts. I am so happy to be part of a community with such talent willing to help our story out.

[fragolinaa]

Back on my Twinkling Lights AU Bullshit. This one is Vaxleth from my half of the AU called "Like Real People Do."

I called this one "Apple Pie" in my notes so definitely listen to Apple Pie by Lizzy McAlpine for the Vibes