#either the game or the characters are incorporated into at least one dream I have

[skiitter]

Everytime I sit down to work on my silly little Solavellan fic, I inevitably must visit the dragon age wiki and then I inevitably fall down a lore rabbit hole that leaves me even more feral for Veilguard.

[lunareel]

A Heads Up

Hello everyone, I hope you all are having a great day or night, whatever time it is for y'all.

Making this post to explain and elaborate on some parts of the recent AU (Bowser's Bodyguard AU, which I'm thinking of renaming) I've been working on. This is going to cover the general story idea, overall vibe, and the games I'm covering with this along with questions I think people may have about the general au.

Don't worry I'll always have this AU tagged, so if you don't like it you can block it easily.

So as stated above this is more of a clarification post and just generally covering my plans for this AU just so people know what to expect.

So I want this AU to be around 6 to 8 main chapters, where I will see if I can combine the Paper and Mario & Luigi universes into one. The first chapter will be on the Mario Movie.

What games will you be covering?

So below are games I definitely want to cover, please note the games are listed in no particular order at the moment.

Super Paper Mario

Paper Mario Thousand Year

Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga

Bowser's Inside Story

Dream Team

All games are going to be rewritten within mind of the character/setup changes. I'm not a huge fan of just writing something that is a paint-by-numbers retelling of the original story; if that's your cup of tea more power too you this is not to throw any shade on that!

For both Superstar Sage and Inside Story I do want to include the side stories the remakes added.

I will say Bowser's Inside Story will be heavily rewritten and I plan on calling it "Fawful's Revenge." The two main reasons are that I'm having Luigi prevent Bowser from eating the vacuum shroom which prevents a lot of the original plot, and I just don't want to draw the inside of Bowser. I don't know what else to say here.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Games that will either be short stories or I'm torn on covering:

Super Mario 2

Mario Galaxy (combining 1 and 2)

Mario RPG

Mario Odyssey

Origami King

Mario Sunshine

Luigi's Mansion 1 & 2

Rabbids Spark of Hope

Paper Mario 64

Super Mario 2 is going to cover Luigi's history with the Shy Guys, particularly with him usurping King Wart. This one might become a full/long chapter.

Mario Galaxy is one that might become a full chapter. It depends on what I end up covering. For instance, at the moment I'm debating on whether to have a semi-character death in it. It's weird because on one hand I don't fully consider this a character death, but it also kind of is because they leave the comic at this point and this does heavily impact the cast. So I'm unsure how to fully label this yet.

Mario RPG is a game I am very intrigued by and I would like to incorporate it into the story, but I do not know the plot of the story so it is on the fence right now. I do have at least a few short comics planned for it.

Mario Odyssey is just going to be a few short comics.

Origami King is where I don't know the full plot, but I'd like to do a comic about Shroom City just for some fun world building.

Mario Sunshine I am so torn on whether it would be a full chapter or just a short. I'm going to have to see where I go with it. Whatever it becomes I do plan on calling the chapter/comic "Obligatory Beach Episode."

Luigi's Mansion I'm going to be combining the first two games. I really want this to be a full chapter, I have just been struggling to plan out a full story for it along with fitting it into the rest of the games. I do want to try, but just in case I can't I'm slapping it into this category.

I need to give Rabbids a Spark of Hope a comic or two as Luigi and Bowser have a mission in there that is solely tied to their characters called "The Brains and the Brawn" which helped me think of their setup in this.

Paper Mario 64 will be another backstory one where Luigi attempts to use the Star Rod to send him home, to mixed results.

Games I am not covering:

Please note the games listed below are NOT because I think they are bad games, it's more because I haven't played them and/or I just don't have good ideas for how to fit them into the story.

Color Splash

Sticker Star

Paper Jam

Partners in Time

For Color Splash and Sticker Star, I just don't know the full plots of these games. Though I might do the train scene that occurs in Color Splash when Mario talks to that one Shy Guy.

Paper Jam is similar to the two listed above where I just don't know the plot and I don't want to deal with the multiverse. As in this I'm trying to combine the Paper universe with the Mario and Luigi universe into one.

Partners in Time could change, but at the moment I'm counting it as not covering as I'm just using the concept and the machine E Gadd builds. It won't deal with time travel, but instead the concept of looking into someone's memories. I don't like covering time travel so I'm just skipping it. Like I said I might cover the Cobalt Star and Princess Shroob, but I don't have a lot of ideas going for this so it might just be skipped entirely with her and her sister as villains.

Will there be shipping?

No, I'm sorry if you were hoping for anything. The most there will be is probably implied Peach x Mario, but that's it for the moment. If any of this changes I'll give a heads up just so no one is caught off guard. But romance isn't really the focus of this comic nor do I want to write romance. Listen just trust me on this you don't want me writing romance, I'm not good at it, this is for the best.

Just in case I am also just going to flat out say this so no one gets mad or feels misled when reading these comics. There will be no Bowser x Luigi in this story. Listen it's a funny and shockingly mostly wholesome ship, but it's not happening here. So I'm sorry if you were hoping for it, but I'm not doing it.

There might be some one-sided Luigi x Daisy (honestly thinking about doing Daisy x Waluigi because their Mario Party team name is Awkward Date and that is hilarious), and/or one-sided Luigi x Peasley, but in this Bowser will be majorly crushing on Peach. Bowser and Luigi are just platonic co-parenting the koopalings (think the Dungeons and Dragon movie with Sofina and Edgin). I just wanted to state this here so everyone is on the same page.

Quick side note: This isn't about shipping, but character-wise Donkey Kong and anything related to his games will only be in the first chapter. I struggle to write him and I don't know how to involve him in the other storylines so I'm just gonna have him chill in his kingdom. He will probably be making a reappearance in Dream Team as that is where I plan to end the comic.

What is the overall story/vibe of the comic?

The main story is going to focus on adventure and learning to love yourself. That's really the main premise. The story itself is going to focus on Luigi learning how to like himself for who he is and reconnecting with Mario and others while going on adventures. The big overall conflict will be the Chaos Heart itself. In this I really want to play around with the concept of the Chaos Heart and what if it didn't just go away after Super Paper Mario. I don't want to say too much about it at the moment as I don't want to spoil that part of the plot.

I feel bad because with the initial comic/sketches of this au, I made it seem a lot more dramatic/angsty than it will be. Sure there's going to be some drama but it really is more focused on the fun of the world, the adventures the characters go on, and the friendships that form out of them. I swear it's not as angsty (or I guess edgy, not sure if it was or not??) as the original comic made it seem so I apologize if that is what you were looking for.

Why I am calling Luigi Mr. L in this?

So in this, I am having Mr. L be more of his 'work mode.' It is designed to be more of a persona he puts on so he can do his job more effectively, but it is also still a part of his personality. I want to include more of his temper which is often portrayed through animations in Mario & Luigi (you know his stomping tantrum animations). Along with a few other notes, like how in the first Luigi's Mansion you kind of find some pretty sassy/sarcastic remarks through the pictures he takes with the Game Boy Horror, along with some of his dialogue in the Paper Mario games. I also want to play into him having a bit of an ego as well (playing more into the Mr. L in Super Paper Mario).

However, at the core, I do want to keep him a more socially awkward, easily frightened, and a very kind person outside of the mask/persona. At the end of the day he really just wants what is best for his friends and family. And that he is always ready to help someone even if he is scared out of his mind (though he might complain about not getting paid, or take a bit of convincing when it comes to dealing with ghosts.) I am also keeping the self-esteem issues, more so dealing with the fact he feels like all he has done is stumble through life making one mistake after another, and never being enough for the people he cares about in his life.

What are the inspirations for this?

Ghibli movies, particularly Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away. I love their world building and how they handle character stories.

Magical Girl animes, I cannot stress enough how much the masks and his powers/setup are based on the magical girl shows I grew up on.

Majora's Mask, I want to do quite a bit with the masks themselves in this setup. I'm not going to elaborate much on them yet, because I prefer to reveal how they function in the comics than through this ramble.

Funnily enough, the character design that kicked off this au, or at least Mr. L's design was Death from Puss in Boots the Last Wish. I can explain, it was his cloak and his whistle. I've been playing through Super Paper Mario and I kept wondering what if they incorporated references to Luigi's Mansion more like maybe putting in his whistling, or going with a more horror aesthetic for him. Or even goes more into the concept of shadows as well, playing not only his ties with ghosts but also how Luigi feels like he is constantly in Mario's shadow. And when I saw the Mario Movie and that he was captured by the Shy Guys I was like hey wait a minute, I can do something with that.

So this story is just me playing around with those thoughts. Don't get me wrong though, him building robots to fight you along with the absolute banger of a jazz theme, and his cocky/petty attitude I have no notes and I like how he is done in the game.

So yeah this pretty much covers everything, if you read all of this kudos, I know this was long, but I hope I clarified what this comic is going to be like. Though please note that I have a job and I'm going through school, so this is going to take a bit to get going. I'm still writing out the base story, and I like to have one or two chapters fully drawn before I start posting it. I do plan on posting some of the short comics and doodles while working on the main writing.

Thank you for reading my rambles. I hope you all have a good one! : D

[13leaguestories]

This came randomly to me after I understood all the characters and their personalities and stuff, buuutttt, how would they react if they went through the dream Roe had at the beginning of S1? The one they told the therapist? And how would they look or respond to Roe after being told that’s what happened to them?

I’m mostly curious about the main crew like Chris, Sydero, Bradley, Rahim etc.

(Absolutely loving superstition and your writing and I’m sitting here waiting for the rewrite like a child waiting to play games with their parent)

It's chugging along, Anon. Hopefully I can share more soon.

So, Chris actually knows about the dream. As he obviously knows why Roe is going to therapy. So canon is Chris does just think it's a dream and agrees with the therapist where they always say it was just a way to explain the trauma in a more child-like manner.

Going through it, Chris wouldn't have told anybody. He'd be traumatized to hell and back but he would have kept it all to himself and tried to rationalize it away.

I'm trying to remember if Sydero knows but I think she knows the gist but not all of it. Either way, she'd probably be able to understand Roe the best since going through her own childhood trauma in Hell with "The Box." Going through it I think she'd come out like how she came out of her own ordeal, traumatized and that trauma is absorbed into her personality.

Not doing Zillah cos he knows what happened and it's kind of hard to transfer someone who knows what happened to a T into something.

Interesting enough, Rahim didn't go through childhood trauma, not in the same way as Syd and Roe so I do think if he did go through Roe's dream then he'd be different but my gosh I can't even imagine how. As he is very much a momma's boy so what would her death + the horror of it do to him. Like, would he be more Sydero coded??

If Roe told him I think he'd try and give them some bullshit excuse or some sentiment that means nothing, mostly because of the angel's hand in everything. He's not good when it hits too close too home.

Amari is a good one because she would 100% be horrified if Roe told her and she would just be speechless. I think she would be horrified of shades after that and she would definitely start asking the important questions like "do all the reaper hybrid kids go through that" and "what would have happened if it worked out like it was supposed too."

She wouldn't survive it I think. I think if Amari lost her mother the same way as Roe, she would not be anything like she is now. She would be so much more of a shell, no bubbly personality or positive outlook.

Chanara doesn't know, doesn't even have an idea of what happens for the reaper hybrids. She knows they exist and Death needs them but that's about it. So, I do think if Chanara knew she would start questioning leadership. She's a good soldier but she's not great at hiding her thoughts when she doesn't agree with something, which is why she mostly tries to mind her own business.

If she went through it I think it would be similar to Roe but mix a bit of Winchester spirit in there. Chanara wouldn't have just chalked it up to a dream and would have doubted the "true story" until she learned of the supernatural and went on a revenge journey.

And lastly, Bradley would probably be like "damn, you too." I might even try to incorporate Roe telling him because I think that at the very least the OG crew (Syd, Chris, and Bradley) should know about it. If Bradley went through it then just add shades too the list of the beings he detests. If Bradley was Roe, Zillah wouldn't have made it because Bradley would have done everything he could too flip the tables and make Zillah pay and wipe him off the face of the planet.

[theresattrpgforthat]

Is there a tabletop for those who like the Monster Hunter Stories series? Like befriending and riding various monsters to fight alongside them?

THEME: Monster Hunter Stories

Hello there, so I found a few games that feel like they incorporate some of the same themes as Monster Hunter Stories, although nothing hits what you’re looking for exactly. I tried to look for games that were either inspired by the Monster Hunter franchise, or emphasized positive, co-operative relationships with monsters for this recommendation.

Animon Story, by Zak Barouh.

Jump into the world of Animon with this original tabletop roleplaying game inspired by beloved anime and video games. You'll take on the role of Kids who team up with their very own monster buddies called Animon. Together you'll go on adventures, grow as friends, and maybe even save the world!

This book contains everything you need to create unique characters and tell your own stories, with rules designed to encourage and support your creativity.

If you’re looking for monster companions in a cute animation style, Animon Story is right for you. It’s more inspired by Digimon and Pokemon, but one thing that looks similar to Monster Hunter Stories is the importance of a relationship with you and your monster friend. Animon Story calls this the Bond of Friendship, and it is intrinsically tied to your monster friend’s evolution and abilities. Animon Story is also full of adorable art, with a strong anime-like aesthetic, and the creator has released a number of supplements for the game, including an additional character option and an anthology of adventures to play through with your friends.

If you want to try before you buy, you can also take look at the Intro Playkit on Itch.io.

Fatal Familiar, by MC Griffin.

Befriend or tame deadly powerful living thought forms called figments in an apocalyptic dream world. Stories of a human world blighted by a dream. Living thought forms called figments roam the world- some humans yearn to coexist and break down the divisions between themselves and the figments, others labor to control them, and the rest just try to get by without shit getting too weird.

Play in any setting or genre you'd like, or in the official Elseware setting! If your story involves befriending supernatural beings and gettin' in fights, it can work for this setting.

Fatal Familiar is decidedly separate in tone and genre from Monster Hunter Stories, with trainable companions that are creatures of the mind in a dream world, rather than physical creatures of many monster-collecting games. The story is also less kid-friendly, with the apocalypse much more present (or at least, that’s what I get from both the art and the game page). However, there’s still some pieces that seem to resonate - particularly the theme of some kind of blight spreading that needs to be stopped, and conflicting viewpoints about the nature of figments and whether people can life alongside them.

Because this game advertises itself as something that can be hacked, I’m curious about if you could re-write the setting to more accurately represent the world of Monster Hunter Stories instead.

Monster Care Squad, by Sandy Pug Games.

Long after the crowns have fallen, long after greed has had it's day, long after war, poverty, hunger, and tyranny passed into memory, Ald-Amura's peace is broken by The False Gold, a terrible sickness spreading through its greatest guardians and most beautiful Monsters. Unified by community and driven by a love for the planet and each other, The Monster Care Squad rises. Do you heed their call?

Monster Care Squad is a tabletop roleplaying game set in the tranquil world of Ald-Amura. The peaceful state of the world is threatened when a mysterious poison known as The False Gold finds its way into the veins of the world's Monsters, causing terrible, maddening Wounds, which drive these incredible beings into uncontrollable rages. The once unbreakable bond of harmony and respect between Humans and Monsters is on the brink of collapse, and it's up to you and your allies to set things right.

Similar to the blight harming the monsters of Monster Hunter Stories, The False Gold of Monster Care Squad is turning many monsters hostile, as well as causing them to fall sick. Your job is to find a way to subdue the monsters long enough to administer care, but not to kill them - monsters are highly respected, sentient creatures that can grant magical gifts to those they love. Monster Care Squad gives you a concrete goal to work towards, although it doesn’t allow creatures to fight alongside you, as far as I can tell. However, the gifts from monsters that allow you to level up, making you more powerful while also changing something about you to indicate that you’ve been blessed by a monster.

Monster Guts, by Wheels Within Wheels Publishing.

Welcome to MONSTER GUTS, a tabletop roleplaying game, Illuminated by LUMEN, that draws from your favorite monster-hunting video games.

This book has rules to build your scavenger, pick a starting weapon and friendly companion critter, and then go out hunting giant monsters! Each hunt takes approximately 90 minutes.

Set in a post-capitalism world where monsters bio-engineered to extract resources have destroyed much of the world, you must hunt these creatures to sustain your village, one of the few settlements in the Pacific Northwest to have survived. You'll also harvest tags that you can slot into your weapons and garb to power up your scavenger.

One thing that sets the Monster Hunter series apart from games like Pokemon and Digimon is the inventory system, and the way the game uses the pieces of monsters you defeat to upgrade your personal gear. Monster Guts is directly inspired by the Monster Hunter franchise, and is incredibly focused on using the spoils of combat to upgrade your personal gear. The game also has a section called Companion, which I am assuming is a creature companion of some sort who can aide you as you hunt.

You might also be interested in…

Monster Adoption Centre, by TavernStories.

A Monsters Tail, by Five Points Games.

[hopeymchope]

Ash for Smash!

My #1 most wanted character for Smash Bros. has shifted a lot over the years, but I've always thought that Ashley Mizuki Robins of the "Another Code"/"Trace Memory" series had a lot of potential.

Of course I realize that (A) we currently have zero reason to expect more characters to be added to Smash Ultimate, and (B) we also have no idea when another Smash game will come along OR what form it will take. But I DON'T CARE. This is my dream, and I'm running with it regardless. :P

So let me break down her moveset, because I've thought a lot about this over the years. Ashley is gonna head out into battle with her backpack on, ready to pull out various items to take on her enemies... or possibly use them to solve the puzzles blocking her path on her journey to uncover the truth about her mother's death. Either way is good.

There are four alternate costumes built right into the games: The original Another Code for DS (also unlockable in Recollection), the original Another Code R Wii outfit (which also shows up in Recollection's end credits), and the two new outfits for both stories in Recollection. That's a great start.

Neutral + A attack: Ashley quickly swipes out in front of her with either a metal brush or a hammer – item used is random (references to rusted mine sign puzzle in Two Memories DS AND stair repair puzzle in Journey Into Lost Memories Wii)

Side + A attack: Ashley kicks forward, launching a rock at her enemy (reference to Ashley kicking the ground/rock in an early cut scene of Journey Into Lost Memories – Recollection version)

Front kick!

Down + A attack: Ashley jabs downwards with a long window wiper; this can reach through platforms to strike enemies below unless they are ducking. (reference to retrieving the puzzle box from the clock tower in Journey Into Lost Memories Wii)

Up + A attack: Ashley sprays a can of foaming cleaner upwards (reference to lipstick keypad puzzle from Journey Into Lost Memories Wii)

Neutral B attack: Ashley pulls out her guitar and strums once, creating reverb waves that echo out from her (reference to the end-credits scene in Journey Into Lost Memories, both versions)

Side + B attack: Ashley sidearm-throws a life preserver tied onto a rope forwards like a discus, then quickly yanks it back to herself. (reference to floating briefcase puzzle in Journey Into Lost Memories Wii)

Up + B attack: Ashley tosses a rope with a loop on the end upwards. This can strike enemies or serve as a way to grab a ledge for a recovery move. (Reference to well puzzle from Recollection)

Down + B: Ashley pulls the DAS from her back pocket and holds it in front of her facing outward, reflecting incoming attacks (reference to the infamous reflection puzzle in Two Memories DS)

Up Smash: Ashley does an underhand lob that throws a heavy iron sphere upward. (Reference to the mansion door puzzle in Two Memories DS)

Down Smash: Ashley pulls out one of three wooden dolls (the one chosen is random) and slams it down hard on the ground in front of her. (reference wooden doll/box puzzle in Recollection)

Side Smash: Ashley pulls off her backpack and swings it hard in front of her while holding one of the shoulder straps.

FINAL SMASH: I'm a little torn on this one. My first instinct was always that "D" would appear, stunning the surrounding competitors into a dazed state (just like the one Peach's final smash causes for her opponents). However, I'm wondering if we should instead incorporate the "Another" device somehow... maybe Ashley locks someone in front of her into the device and erases their memories, causing them to be destroyed? What do y'all think?

Ashley has at least appeared in Smash as a trophy (in Brawl) and as a spirit (in Ultimate), the latter referring to her by her North American name-spelling AND her North American DS game title... which is now outdated since we've all embraced "Another Code" and the single-B "Robins," but whatever.

[rustyvanburace]

nanananan nanashi 4 ask game🥹

favorite thing about them: NANASHI HAS STYLE, and I will die on that hill. People bitch and moan about Nanashi's "ugly" design, but he is PUNK and that fits really well with IVA's themes. I'd rather have a protagonist with a totally unique appearance than yet another bland kid. Maybe that is antithesis to the roots of SMT (they've always favored bland "nobody" characters), but I am nonetheless sticking to my stance. I love that he is dressed for the part as a Hunter, but still embraces his own sense of identity and style -- which frankly is important and natural for teens. I feel the same way about Asahi's own style. I love that Nanashi's design incorporates aspects of the two Akiras from IV. HE. HAS. GOOD. DESIGN.

least favorite thing about them: Once again this is more of an issue I have with IVA's writing and it is not solely about Nanashi, but I do wish that IVA did explore Akira's motivations more (especially with rescuing his sister, which is just absent in IVA) and how his actions and choices would've later impacted his later reincarnated self. There's a lot of stuff that Akira did in the background of IV that only barely gets examined IVA. Akira's "betrayal" toward the Hunters and Nanashi falling into that same fate makes for an interesting foil, but is just another foil that gets resolved way too quickly for my liking. Nanashi saves the day by repelling the Tokugawa Mandela and is immediately forgiven and praised by all with almost hardly any skepticism. Again it's an issue I have with IVA at large, but it still leaves me wanting more out of the characters and their development.

favorite line: Can I even say I have a favorite line from a silent protagonist, lol? I can say that I do like how "extreme" Nanashi is with his answers, either being very openly kind to downright crass and cold. It's much more extreme than some of Flynn's answers in IV. Arguably it makes IVA's alignment choices too obvious, but I like that it gives Nanashi a polarizing personality and it fits with his design too. Plus some of his anarchy answers are downright hilarious.

Additionally, I'm also amazed at Nanashi's "Dagda!" voice clip in the massacre route. For most of the game, he calls for Dagda in such a high-pitched voice. But as soon as you're locked in massacre, his voice suddenly turns really gruff and deep. Lmao??

brOTP: HE IS BROS WITH EVERYONE. But especially with Asahi, Hallelujah, and Navarre! I love his caring sibling relationship with Asahi, I love him being best of buds with Hallelujah, and I love that Navarre is basically like the cool fun uncle to him.

I posted that stupid edit of Morcedai and Rigby earlier, but actually Nanashi and Hallelujah are WAY more like Morcedai and Rigby. That's them for realll.

OTP: Nanashi x Hallelujah NATION LET'S GO. I will absolutely ship them both as bros and as a pair! They have the best ever chemistry.

nOTP: Yeah so, I really do not like Asahi x Nanashi and I hate seeing Nanashi get shipped with adults. Stop it. Enough said.

random headcanon: I like to imagine that, even before the events of IVA, Nanashi has always had dreams of his past life -- just not as frequently or as "unusual" as they later would be, stuff that he'd just brush off and keep to himself. I also like to think that, partly cause of that, he feels a closeness or yearning towards the Sky Tower and Firmanent but cannot put into words as to why.

unpopular opinion: Nanashi's concept design (the one where he's older, has glasses, and the giant robot arm) sucks and I'm tired of people saying it is "superior" than Nanashi's final design. Maybe the older design would have worked better for an earlier story concept, but for the way IVA is now, it fucking sucks. You can't just switch Nanashi's design with that and expect it to seamlessly work with the game's narrative. People complain about Nanashi being a "discount Demi-fiend", but actually Nanashi's design is much more subtle and it HAS to be in order to work with the narrative. A giant robot arm is the very opposite of subtle.

God I'm just, so pissed at people saying Nanashi's design is "bad". I'm pissed I'm pissed!!

song I associate with them: I'm just gonna cross these out with all asks going forward, I am not good at picking songs lmao.

favorite picture of them: Once again, it's Nanashi's precious smile~!

Thank you for the ask!!

[dailycharacteroption]

Races Among the Stars 9: Samsaran

We’ve covered samsarans before on the blog in their First Edition Pathfinder form, but much like the perpetually reincarnating people, things have come full-circle with us covering their Starfinder version (at least until we start doing 2nd Edition ancestries and the upcoming Starfinder 2E’s take on them, again, paralleling the endless loop of reincarnation)

But this also closes the loop in a different way as well, as this is the last of the Pathfinder throwbacks that were introduced to the game in Starfinder Alien Character Deck, which was little more than useful flash cards for remembering the traits of various species, either for forgetful players or perhaps more usefully as a way to help a GM quickly switch out the species of pre-generated statblocks on the fly.

Either way, all of those aforementioned species also got reprinted in both Interstellar Species and in Starfinder Enhanced, adding some actual lore to how those species actually fit into the galaxy of the far future, which is nice. (Does anyone remember when the general consensus for where kobolds were was “They all vanished/died with Golarion”? Easily the most boring possible answer and I’m glad they quashed that with some interesting if borderline retcon meta-joke new lore.

Buuuut we’re getting of topic, let’s talk about samsarans!

True to their name, which is based on the concept of the endless cycle of life, death, and rebirth in Hindu and Buddhist traditions, samsarans were a clade of humans born into a cycle of constant reincarnation, often starting out born as ordinary humans to samsaran parents that give them up to normal human adoptive parents, only for them to reincarnate as samsarans the first time they die, and so on and so forth.

Unlike other species and souls that choose reincarnation in the afterlife, samsarans retain a lof of memories from their past lives, though they are often hazy and incomplete, like vivid dreams to their new incarnation. Even with such gaps, however, that knowledge gives them access to information and skills they wouldn’t normally possess, and helps them infer who they used to be, and how to incorporate the wisdom gleaned from those memories into their daily lives and towards a greater state of enlightenment in preparation for the next life. (Which, ironically, is kinda the opposite of what one normally WANTS to do when one subscribes to the idea of the real-life idea of samsara, but that’s neither here nor there).

Now, you may have noticed that earlier I described that samsarans “were” a clade of humans. That wasn’t a slip of the keyboard on my part, because now that samsarans are no longer bound necessarily to one specific world, their pact with Pharasma has changed slightly. Now, samsarans can be born on any world… and to any sapient species, though without homebrewing, these rare non-human samsarans have the same statistics as others of their kind, though with homebrew, well, that just opens up all sorts of new doors, doesn’t it?

Samsarans, unsurprisingly, appear to be humans (or members of their parent species) with pale skin and hair in shades of white, blue, or purple, as well as clear blood and seemingly pupilless eyes.

While there were once enclaves of samsarans that used divination to locate newly-reborn samsarans and bring them into the fold, such things are much more rare now in a far future where one’s already-rare species is spread out across the galaxy. As such, modern samsarans are more likely to simply adopt their parent culture, though samsaran culture still exists in the form of writings and recordings, both publicly available and hidden away that the young can seek out for guidance and a sense of cultural identity with the rest of their kind.

Of course, the advent of multimedia and VI means that this can also be rather disconcerting. Imagine if your past self created a VI or even AI simulacrum of themselves and hid it away for a future reincarnation. Imagine meeting someone that is both you and also not you and the same time. Probably would take a bit to get used to, though on the other hand, Vlogs and extensive digital memoirs from a past can help a young samsaran better connect with those memories, and possibly go about continuing the goals of their past self, which some samsarans do.

Samsarans bear the wisdom and cunning of multiple past lives, but their bodies are somewhat frail (probably all that lack of hemoglobin).

However, they are especially resilient to magical and supernatural effects that target their lifeforce directly, and they’re surprisingly good at bouncing back from injury and disease even if the initial infection tends to knock them on rears.

Their curious eyes also also surprisingly good at absorbing light in dark conditions, letting them see better in limited light.

Samsarans also have a bit of inherent magic, able to breach language barrier one-way, stabilize the dying, and share their memories with others.

Additionally, their memories from past lives include some practical skills as well, though the exact specifics vary between individuals, as their old souls latch onto different things from their past lives.

Much like the thyrs of yesterday’s entry, samsarans are well-equipped for a myriad of smart-guy classes and builds, with mystics being a natural fit due to their half-divine, half-occult schtick meshing well with samsarans theme-wise. However, technomancers, mechanics, biohackers, skill-based envoyed and operatives are also good picks. Precog and witchwarper also share some lovely themes with samsarans with their focus on possible paths in life and such. Meanwhile, like thyrs, they also struggle a bit with melee combat, though for different reasons, since it’s constitution they lack instead of strength. As such, combat-oriented samsarans prefer ranged soldiers, solarians, and evolutionists, while nanocytes and vanguards are a bit of a harder sell, albeit not impossible. Despite their frailty, samsarans can do a lot to overcome that weakness and be very effective no matter what class they choose to take.

And that does it for this week! Tune in Monday for another week of archetypes and character options!

[hopalongfairywren]

For the ask game, 🥚, 🔪, and 🏳️‍🌈?

🥚 - To what extent should the Eggpire's former members be held responsible for their actions under the Egg's influence? Oooh special interest, be prepared for a long-ass answer. Also, since this is gonna be so long, I'll just reblog my answer to the other two questions. TLDR for those not interested in individual explanations: It varies character to character but for the sake of angst, drama, personal enjoyment, and enjoyment of seeing my favorite characters going through it, I love incorporating this very question into my own stories as a very real side-plot and moral question between revenge and rehabilitation, which would tie in well with the other concurring arcs' themes of retribution, what the line between justice and revenge is, redemption, loss of trust... Ugh talk about waste of potential in canon.... (God forbid the dsmp ever let multiple plotlines intersect in a way that is cool and ties the whole story together) Anyways, I answered this a long time ago, and since then the egg finale happened, so I have a new opinion. c!Hannah, Ponk, even Ant (although he was a blood thirsty little murder kitty) stay the same in that, they were all desperate people taken advantage of (and sometimes even abducted) into being egg-controlled, much like a real cult. Unlike a real cult though, where no matter how brainwashed someone might be we generally treat them as responsible for the crimes they committed, the egg has mind control at it's disposal.

I still don't know how the egg is supposed to actually work in canon lore, like as an ancient parasite, as a fungus, as a supernatural curse...? And at this point we'll never find out, but the point is these people- all of them but especially those three, were under the egg's complete control of their minds, and if not that then at least their was some version of TLOU cordyceps-esq type scenario, but where even if the egg's influence on their minds could at least wane somewhat, (I'll get back to that with the other three offical eggpire members) It still controlled their bodies via muscles. (This probably isn't intended at all, and if the egg solely controlled their muscles, the infected would probably be less able to do things such as plan banquets... but it's a fun concept to explore) Now for the other three, c!Bad, c!Punz, and c!Skeppy (I know he doesn't technically count but I'm ignoring that.) c!Punz is a special case because I feel like they either forgot or didn't care that they were at one point a part of the early eggpire. They weren't at the red banquet. And even though I thought they'd be a Chekhov's gun type situation where he'd come to play in the revival book lore, where it could have been revealed c!stagedduo were working to strengthen the egg as equal-partnership (at least in their minds) allies, in order to distract the SMP by using the killing of c!Vikk and Lazar as a means to feed the egg. Or maybe the Sam Bucket finale stream, or the c!Sam's multiple bodies finale, or the egg finale, or even maybe the finale finale Tommy finale. Which could have with Punz unleashing the egg on c!Clingyduo, betraying c!Dream for it, or idk, something. But nope he was to busy being a walking revival book and god forbid the loose plot threads of the dsmp ever get tied together in a reasonable manor. Also their was that time he was kinda sad c!Tommy died and showed signs of resisting the egg but that just. Doesn't line up with any further characterization we get of him, especially that finale. But even though c!Punz wasn't there at the most memorable egg atrocity, if we're talking about holding dsmp characters accountable for their atrocities, there's a whole other laundry list of crimes c!Punz committed while fully in control of his body. c!Bad is also interesting, because does seem to be able to break out of egg control for a moment so he can yell at c!Skeppy. But that obviously didn't last long enough for him to not go ahead with the red banquet... But it's worth remembering he like the first three was desperate for Skeppy to come back, although that isn't an excuse for any of his actions. But if anyone besides c!Ant was gonna be punished for the red banquet, or c!Sam being trapped, or the multiple Puffy assassination attempts, It would be c!Bad who organized, lead and founded the eggpire in the first place. (Hey c!Sam why'd you demote c!Hannah and treat her like shit for betraying your trust when c!Bad and c!Ant, the men you had carry out one of the jobs you consider most important, keeping c!dream in the prison betrayed you not once but fucking twice, and three times if you count c!Bad giving enderwalk c!ranboo the prison blue prints? And lastly, c!Skeppy, who wasn't a part of the official eggpire but may as well be the reason it formed considering c!Bad's motivation. But i'm not focusing on that, i'm focusing on the last egg lore stream, where it's revealed c!Skeppy made a deal after waking up from his death unegged and killing c!Bad to uninfect him, and then presumably coordinate everything from the red herring evidence being planted to pushing c!Puffy down the hole. And I think he was reinfected somewhere along the way? Anyways by that point I don't really think anyone cares about how in control you were of yourself or why you listened to the giant murder egg, you done fucked up and started the apocalypse.

[enjoltairegames]

Enjoltaire Games 2023 Info

THEME:

This year the theme for the Enjoltaire Games will be DREAMS AND WISHES. Please remember that you can interpret this theme in any way that suits you. Dreams can be hopes and wishes, or literal sleep dreams, or fantasies, or anything you want to interpret that theme to mean. For that matter, wishes can be simple hopes or something as magical as literal wishes. Have fun with it!

TEAMS:

This year the teams will be PAST and FUTURE. This just means that your work will need to focus on either the past or the future. Pretty simple. It can be something as simple as dreams that a character used to have that influenced where they are now, or hopes for the future, or any other way you want to squeeze these ideas in. That, much like the overall theme, can be taken however you’d like. We try not to stifle anyone’s muse around here.

When you sign up for the fest you will be allowed to request which team you would prefer, but please keep in mind that the teams will need to be at least mostly even for voting purposes, so you may or may not be able to get your first choice of team. Your mod will do their best to be as accommodating as possible, though.

PROMPTS:

The prompts will be available once you have signed up for the fest. There will be a total of fifteen (15) each of text based, image based, and audio based prompts. Each prompt will be available to be claimed once by each team. For example, if team PAST claims prompt Image 3, then one person from team FUTURE may still claim prompt Image 3, but no one else from team PAST may have it.

These prompts are not meant to dictate your work, but simply be used as inspiration. A song could have the lyrics translate to plot, or simply have the tone color a work of art, or a scene in your story. An image could be a direct setting, or simply a painting on someone’s wall. As long as they actively inspire your work and are not an afterthought to your work.

VOTING:

Voting will be based on three criteria: How well the work fits the theme of the fest, how well the work fits the team, and how well the work incorporates the prompt. There will be no voting on talent, or how “good” a work is. That is not what this fest is about and is simply too subjective an idea anyway.

And please remember that these works are not in competition with each other. They are simply being judged for their own existence.

More details on voting will be available when we get close to posting time.

And as always, if you have any questions please feel free to check out the FAQ page, or poke your mod on tumblr or email at ergamesmod@gmail.com

Your mod recommends email first as tumblr is not the most reliable system of communication and often things disappear. I wouldn’t want to miss anything.

[m1ckeyb3rry]

LMFAO THE “what a weird ass dream” start has me REELING like oh honey you’re in for a rude awakening (literally)

Ok I paused to type that ^ and was gonna keep commenting in my notes as I went as if I were annotating but then I got too engrossed and forgot LMAOAO but anyways

STOPPPP KARASU??? SHDKSHSJS I will not swerve iwillnotswerve….but gardener Karasu AHHHDGHS it’s just giving more sweetheart humble Karasu I can’t

Ok pause SHSH the way you write Otoya is so?? >>>>>>> like ok I’m back on track now I want this Otoya LMAOAOA he’s like the perfect balance between go with the flow do what I want chill Otoya and deadly assassin ninja Otoya also that deal they made>>>>>> I’m seriously waiting for Y/n to succeed

Hiiragis also such an ass I love it because it also kinda reminds me of him in canon?? But I also never was really partial to him in the manga either so I love seeing him full villain here, also the constant distinction between Y/N being like her own (?) vs associated as. Hiiragi is something I really enjoy!! Idk I just kinda love the set up like we KNOW this mc is gonna be different and a lot more selfish and independent?? Like the constant distinction in identity is so satisfying to read for some reason like it’s refreshing to see y/n not try to reclaim the name

But yeah omg otoya <333 I mean I was already an otoya fan before hollyhock but this just opened my eyes to another Otoya Avenue and I LOVE IT can’t wait for the next installment…(also just out of curiosity how many installments do you think this’ll end up being? Very excited hehe)

Eita nation has been fed thank you for the feast

-Karasu anon

LMAOO i felt like it made sense that she wouldn’t believe what had happened considering she’s prone to nightmares and the entire situation is kinda crazy 😭 like yukimiya secretly betraying her family and otoya almost killing her…i wouldn’t want to believe it either 😔💔

HAHAHA omg well i’m glad you were engrossed in it at least 🤩🙏🏻

DO YOU SEE WHAT I’M SAYING ABT THEM LOWKEY HAVING A MEETCUTE like him waking her up while she’s sleeping on the bench swing in the garden surrounded by trees and flowers is so romance novel shoujo anime coded to me 😩 unfortunately y/n ruins it by being all “i can’t trust you 😐” and “you have a stupid name 😨” and “my half brother and father would kill you if they saw what you’re up to 🫣” LMAOOO poor karasu 😓 i’m excited to write more of their interactions though!!

AHHH YESSS i’ve been doing my best to incorporate his more chill go w the flow canon personality into his role as a ninja who kills whoever he’s told to!! it’s def a balance because if he’s too unserious then it’s almost disingenuous to the story itself but if he’s too proper and grave abt things he doesn’t feel like himself anymore?? idk but omg the deal…i’m so excited to write how it all plays out HAHAHA it’s going to be super fun i think!!

hiiragi is so horrible in this story but considering he was already kind of a douche in canon i don’t think it’s too terrible that i’m writing him like this!! i agree that he’s not one i cared much for in the manga either (he only even appears in epinagi for the most part and he’s antagonizing my man the whole time so we’re automatically enemies for that) so i don’t mind writing him in full villain mode here!! and yeah for y/n the name hiiragi has only ever been used to hurt her so even though she acknowledges that they’re her family and she’ll do her best to look out for them she’s also hyper aware that she’s different and her own person. her relationship to the hiiragi clan will evolve as the story goes on and her character develops and i think it’ll be interesting to watch how much things change from the beginning of the story to the end

HOLLYHOCK OTOYA MY BELOVED 💖💖💖 he and y/n are truly meant for each other…mr “your life is a game to me” and miss “i want you to belong to me” UM?? i almost considered going back and adding the toxic relationships tag but honestly the relationship itself isn’t even that toxic (if you can set aside all the murdering and death threats) it’s just between two very questionable individuals 😭 somehow it makes it much more fun to write than if they were perfect and normal though?? and honestly makes otoya more appealing to me LMAOAOA

hmm i’m not quite sure how many chapters it’s going to be but definitely a lot!! i’d be surprised if it was less than ten although ig it just depends on how long certain things take me to write 🤔 but i def anticipate it being on the longer side HAHA idk if it’ll quite get the opportunity to join the 100k+ club as many of my other fics have but for sure it’s going to be quite a lot…we’re still in the setup phase/prologue arc almost atm?? like these are relatively small-scale conflicts compared to what goes on later in the story so i don’t see it being less than 30-40k words (although again yk how accurate my predictions usually end up being — aka not very 😟)

[goodbyeapathy8]

11,18,25 weird writer asks

Weird Writer Asks (Ask Me Game) 11. Do you believe in the old advice to “kill your darlings?” Are you a ruthless darling assassin? What happens to the darlings you murder? Do you have a darling graveyard? Do you grieve? - I have a huuuuge graveyard. It didn't use to be the case but oddly, I've been killing a lot of stories lately because I'm not happy with the direction they're going and also, AuDHD brain has been stressed and therefore having extra difficulty these days. They live in my computer as I just download them offline (vs cloud storage) and then they guilt me, like the rest of my WIPs lol 18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. Spicy addition: Questioner provides the passage. - “I feel the same way, Big,” Chan said, amusement dancing in his eyes and a smile on his face. “I’m glad it was you that Porsche chose for the ghost marriage. Also, who says you have to say goodbye to anyone? It seems like we’re stuck like this, forever, and you also seem rather fond of Porsche now… you don’t have to spend all your time with me, you know. I’m a big boy. I can go visit people, too, when you’re gone.” - After Death My spiritual beliefs kinda spurred this whole story but this moment is particularly indicative of my beliefs. Death, to me, isn't the end of someone. Even if you don't look at it from a spiritual perspective, I believe a person lives on in our memories instead of death being so final. So, with Chan reminding Big that he doesn't need to leave behind his ability to "visit" Porsche in his dreams, was a way of writing that in. I knew I wanted to incorporate that idea into that story, that those who have left us don't really leave us and sometimes come back to provide comfort. It's one of my biggest pet peeves about Western (white) culture and I think a large reason why so many people struggle with the idea of death, because it's so finalized (thanks to Christianity, I feel). Once people are gone, they're gone - either in heaven, hell, purgatory, etc. At least in Korean shamanism, we don't believe that to be the case and I find it comforting that you don't have to say goodbye. 25. What is a weird, hyper-specific detail you know about one of your characters that is completely irrelevant to the story?

Ooooh there are so many that are actually relevant to my stories so... hard to choose lol I try to make hyper-specific details be relevant (because it's one of my Autism things). For the most part, I model Kinn's character over a typical corporate employee. It never really comes up (unless it's my Locked In fic, which is specifically set in a corporate background). I think of his character as very set and strict and very much always "for the good of the corporation" which honestly... mafia... corporations... can't tell the difference these days LOL Thanks for these thought-provoking asks!!

[dojae-huh]

Deities of Seoul

I feel like the pace of pre-comeback promotion is rather slow. Maybe SM stuff doesn't realise that photobook pictures is just advertisement for the hard albums, that they don't help to keep the exitement and the buzz in the fandom. Something concept or lore related should be dropped every two days at least to keep the momentum going. It should be a continous ride with the whole fandom uniting over theories, guessing roles, meanings, how everything is connected. The fandom needs something fun to do, something to play with.

Hopefully, it's another time management problem, and in the future it will be corrected.

Now. I LOVE THE CONCEPT VIDEO! I'm so happy. Really. It's what I stan NCT for.

Lores are popular nowadays, every other group has them and films promo videos/movies. What makes NCT stand out to me is the fact that the group is connected with the fandom through the lore. It's not a story about some boys doing something, neos are here to unite everyone with music and wake up from sleep, inspire to pursue one's own dreams. I like this message. It's positive and giving. It lets to really share the journey with the group. They follow their dream of being musicians/performers, their fans also grow and follow their own paths, connected. Not to mention, I love sci-fi and multiple realities, imagination, fantasy, worlds - it's adventure and the feeling of freedom.

I expect from NCT "culture" and class. The content inbetween comebacks can be however silly or cheaply made, but the main body of the lore (the comeback related promos) should be like chapters in a book, a story to stay as legacy. That's why I'm satisfied SM delivered quality. SM is supposed to be the one to innovate and lead the way, afterall.

Jaehyun's voiceover is really good. He slurs words a bit, but overall he read well, like a professional.

The background music switching to classical music during Doyoung's part is highly appreciated. I like this new detail to his character (I think we can count it starting from Golden Age). It was Do who went into Seoul, dressed in a hoodie, taking on his imugi role.

Jungwoo switching realities/places, Yuta levitating things, Doyoung seeing through things was repeated again. Johnny's power is confusing, haha. It certainly not being a giant. Maybe it was about overseeing things, looking after a city (in Superhuman he was somehow tied to a city of skyscrapers as well).

I need a chess player to decifer what's happening with Jaehyun's part. He doesn't play for a player, he is on the side of the board, he intervenes in a game. Does he move a Queen? Is it a CheckMate?

Neos' world doesn't have "Seoul", and it shouldn't be another Dreamscape (like Neocity) either. Yet Taeyong "hacks into" the city. So perhaps it's a virtual Seoul, like aespa's world has.

All neos have gauntlets. Which, probably, hints at them staying fighters/fighting someone.

The only thing I didn't like was the animated Jaehyun. It wasn't difficult to film him on the stairs, so, hopefully, it should have some meaning to warrant the ugliness, aespa uses animation a lot, NCT haven't yet incorporated it fully except for the NCT2022 promos with neos running in cartoon rooms and on streets. I think Ten was animated. If it is so, then it was about crossing dream dimension with other rules/physics.

This promo video also fully introduces a new component - the golden light. Whatever it means.

NCTLab is represented with the yellow colour. The Lab was established to study dreams and learn how to change the reality. So mayhaps the golden light represent changes? Jaehyun materialised a whole building in Seoul.

[abybweisse]

I haven’t paid that much attention to the Mother3 theory because I’m simply not familiar with that game, but I was wondering, if Kuro is heavily based off of Mother3, how much of the story is even original? One thing that confuses me is why Toboso would want to base her story so heavily off of another, especially since that would spoil many plot twists.

The value of using a framework

She's able to add originality everywhere in how she tells the story, actually.

She switches up the parallels and splits them between different characters. For example: she has Baldo in a wheat field, trying to reach his wife and son, and Sebastian just pops up... instead of having our earl and Sebastian literally wandering through a field of sunflowers and following Rachel's ghost. However, this is a trope, by now, so most readers wouldn't even think it's odd, if our earl and Sebastian did that in... say... a dream sequence, either in the main story or a side chapter. She's got Undertaker paralleling a few characters, and one of them, Dr. Andonuts, is partly paralleled by Sieglinde.

There's something else she has done to make her story more layered and complex: Though most of it parallels Mother3, several characters and plot elements parallel previous games in the series. And, of course, there are characters and plot points I haven't (yet) found parallels for! Oh, and let's not forget ideas borrowed from the folklores of various cultures, classic literature, flower language, historical people and events, historical places, anachronistic elements, and pop culture. Combine it all, and it makes for a very interesting story.

This reply was going to be much longer, but Tumblr lost the large chunks of text I'd just tried to save, so I'm gonna try to make this quick. Mother3 (and the whole series) isn't even all that original, as it shares a ton of parallels with Harry Potter (which is older) and tales of King Arthur. The main reason I say it's more directly based on Mother3 is because she openly parodies the game in the first four chapters of Kuroshitsuji, and most of the game parallels I've found come from that third installment.

I can think of three big reasons why she might base Black Butler so heavily on a game like Mother3 (and the game series, in general):

When Mother3 came out, seriously delayed, on April 20, 2006, she probably bought a copy and played it. Enough for it to really appeal to her. There was a ton of hype leading up to its release. And I wouldn't be surprised if it had enough of an effect on her that she'd want to incorporate elements of it into the concept she'd come up with for a story about a demon butler.

She made illustrations for Sebastian, etc. by 6/6/06, right? Not even two months after the game's release. And ch1 was published in September 2006. That's not a lot of time to formulate a story that you hope gets picked up for serialization. The first five chapters, or at least the first four, were written before the series got the full green light. So, part of the decision could be a matter of convenience. Not laziness, but it's definitely easier and faster to start with a pre-existing framework.

The first two games in the series have localizations, but Mother3 does not. She even jokes about that in ch1, when Chlaus tells the earl how hard it was to find this "game" (the drug evidence that's inside the game packaging). Despite begging from international EarthBound fans (because that's the localized name for the series), Mother3 has yet to have an official international release, and it likely never will. If you are going to use a game as a framework, it might help to focus on one that you know very well... and it'll be appreciated by local fans... but the world at large isn't as likely to notice the connections. There is a patched translation by Tomato, but it's not too easy to come by these days.

I guess you could say it "spoiled" the twin plot twist, for me, since I realized as early as December 2015 that:

There have to be twins

They are mirror twins

The older twin dies

The older twin gets reanimated

The older twin is working with or for an adversary

The twins become adversaries

The twins must confront each other

The younger twin should prevail

The younger twin must give its soul to the demon

If the older twin gets control of the demon, it could spell doom for the world

But, I don't feel "spoiled" by it, since I see it (and other potential spoilers) as jumping-off points, where she can make changes to it all... and for me, that's where the real plot twists come in. How does she deviate from Mother3 (and its predecessors) in ways that still parallel but make her story unique?

And that keeps me really intrigued... not my reading experience spoiled. It's been reinterpreted, not copied. The differences are just as interesting as the similarities.

[theresattrpgforthat]

Okay! So, is there an RPG that's more rural, like farms and fields, windmills and carts, swamps and forests, but also still like big monsters and magic? Vibes wise, something akin to Amphibia the show, or Atomicrops the game. I'm sure one could just repurpose any regular RPG to make a world like that, but I'm curious :3c

THEME: Farming Plus

Hello friend, so I have a few games here that feel at least slightly fantastical, as well as a game that definitely works as a post-apocalyptic kind of game, although I don’t think any of the games listed here have the cartoonish-ness of either Apmhibia or Atomicrops. My main goal was to find games that felt like they communicated a slice-of-life style of game, while making room for a setting that feels outside of our normal experience. I hope you still find something that works for you!

Take Root, by katykoop.

You've achieved the dream! You have a farm, in a cool place full of forests and the mysterious dungeon keep, and there is the promise of glory-- with a festival at the very end of the year. Play against several farmers, with a world master controlling it all, to win by having the most points in your farm display. 

Each season is condensed into 9 days,  with harvest on the 4th and the 8th. Unlock cool items through random events with NPC's, buy livestock, and traverse the dungeons of Dungeon Keep. 

This is take root. 

Take Root is a very procedural game, with each player responsible for their own farm, which they are tasked with caring for until harvest and the bringing of your fruits to market. The phases of the game are (predictably) sorted into 4 seasons with 9 days in each season, with two market days per quarter of the year. Different seasons have different basic crops, and certain items are more valuable than others.

However, you’re not just farming in Take Root - you’re also venturing into dungeons, and trying to romance select NPC’s. Diving into the Dungeon Keep is dangerous, but could have you coming away with rare items that give you money for seeds or items that allow you to fulfill mini quests - such as wooing the love of your choice, for example. The end of the game results in a winner - the player with the highest accumulated points, acquired through selling items, adventuring, and romancing NPCs.

All in all, Take Root is streamlined and simple, and yet manages to combine both dungeon delving and farming into one neat little brochure.

Farmtasy Simulator, by Guanaco Games.

The goal of this game is to build up your farm by managing resources, while dealing with threats both mundane and fantastic. Using cards for the encounters and dice to determine the outcome of actions taken, the player will gain resources and try to figure out how best to use them to continue building their farm. This game is meant to be played with one player and a GM. Farmtasy Simulator can be used as a supplemental mini-game for an on-going fantasy campaign, or as a standalone to enjoy some agricultural fantasy hijinks.

This is meant to be a two-player game, with one player and one GM. The character has dice and five stats with varying modifiers, while the GM has a deck of cards that they will pull from over the course of each year, used to generate encounters that will make the farming difficult. Farmtasy Simulator appears to be primarily designed as an add-on to another game, incorporating farming mechanics into a larger story. I think it might be a neat way to watch time pass for one character who’s trying to settle down and start a farm - perhaps each player takes their turn running through the simulator with the GM, or the GM use this as a mini-session with the only other player available to build their backstory before they went adventuring.

What’s So Hard About Farming?, by K.Petker.

This is a game about working on a farm and dealing with the triumphs and hardships of such a life.  It might not be any kind of farm or farmers you’re familiar with, but the connection to the growing green and the earth is still there.  Regardless of the season, there’s work to be done.  And things might get a little weird.

I don’t own this game, but my experience with What’s So Cool About…..? games is one of light rules and plenty of freedom to let you take those rules where you like. What I expect from this game is just enough rules to give you a reason to roll dice, and the rest of the world is up to you.

On the plus side, this means that if you want to farm in a swamp, or in a post-apocalypse… well, you can do that! On the downside, the experience won’t fundamentally change according to to the setting unless you decide to do a bit of game design yourself, which is a delightful challenge for some, and an unnecessary amount of labour for others, so take from that what you will!

Mectors, by Harper Jay.

After the war, thousands upon thousands of bipedal mechanized fighting vehicles (or “Bimechs”) were left scattered across the land. Many were brought back to the capital cities to be repaired or scrapped, but the majority of them were too damaged to be easily transported. With the war won, the victors simply left their mechanical refuse in the battlefields to rust and wither. 

In Mectors, players take on the role of a farmer, miner, fisher, carpenter, or some other worker in a labor intensive field. Mector Owners come from all kinds of backgrounds. Some own a Mector that’s been in their family for generations. Others came across theirs recently, through purchase or luck. And a rare few have managed to piece their own together using scraps from decommissioned Mectors, but this is even harder than it sounds. No matter how they got it, they now have a powerful tool with a long history.

I’ve recommended Mectors before for a similar request, and I think it definitely holds up as a great option for a fresh take on the slice-of-life farming sim - because it involves mechs! The setting is post-war, in a country that has learned to beat their technological swords into highly efficient plowshares - and the troubles that plague your settlements are less sinister and just the problems of a small community, such as the mushroom fungus spirit who is willing to guide lost travellers out of the cave, but also can’t seem to stop herself from feeding them mushrooms that also leech away their memories. If you want to tell stories about people solving everyday problems, set in an agricultural setting that’s wholly divorced from our own, I recommend Mectors.

Weeds in the Waste, by Megan Cross.

Weeds in the Waste is a solo storytelling game about tending a garden in a post apocalyptic wasteland.

Determine the state of your wasteland, create your gardener, plant your seeds, and tend your garden as you play through the seasons in the wastes. It is a narrative, storytelling game played using 2d6s and a 6x6 grid, as well as a series of prompts. 

As primarily a solo game, much of the tone and pace of Weeds in the Waste is set by you, the singular player. This includes describing how the world ended, and how your garden started, as well as what kind of gardener you are. The game moves through different phases for every season, indicating what parts of your hard work pay off, and what parts are unfruitful.

The end game (and reflection phases) revolve around what withers, and where - which I think is truly reflective of the post-apocalyptic themes in this game. Try as you might, the current conditions of the wasteland can only be so fruitful, and you will have to learn how to live with a drastically reduced yield in comparison to the work that you’ve put in.

There are also rules for multiple players of Weeds in the Waste, so you can also make this a collaborative effort, answering the questions together, and strategically planting your crops as best as you can.

I’d Also Recommend….

My Small Town Farming Recommendation Post (some overlap with this one)

Grandpa’s Farm, by Tyler Crumrine.

Iron Valley, by M.Kirin.

[haunted-hijinxer]

how hard/easy is it to translate the original call of chutulu campaigns into batim? what made you realize they were compatible?

Oh boy, thank you anon for this excuse to talk about the CoC game!

Hmm! Translating the scenarios wasn’t too bad compared to other stuff I’ve run, I’d say? Having the base scenarios as a starting point helps as much as it limits, for me at least! I like having a starting point to work from. BatIM is so ambiguous there was a lot of freedom in how to make things fit while still feeling thematic, and being excited and immersed in the material certainly helped.

Some of it has still been pretty challenging to work out… I have somehow managed to add an entire extra section to the end of all four of the scenarios I’ve worked on for this for example, lol. The later ones have definitely been harder, though I think that’s true for any long running campaign, whether it’s based on something else or not? Either way the more you go, the more carry-over from the previous scenarios you have to account for. Like Prophet Sammy existing, or the Lurker being in play, or pre-established mechanics of how the ink works, or the various spells and enemies and allies the party has picked up.

As to how it started, our first scenario just sort of crystallized with ideas snapping into place like some kind of unexpected and unstoppable chemical reaction... I’m so glad everyone was up for playing it, because by the time I actually asked I was going to be planning it out whether I had a party or not XD

I’m pretty sure the first thing that put the thought in my head was wondering about the golden text in the mirror in BatIM, the one that reads, “Who am I now?” Some part of me that has been a big fan of the Burning Stars scenario since I first came across it went “lol, that’d be a pretty relevant question in a game where the ‘protagonist’ was actually possessed by the ghosts of their fellow investigators!”

That’s the short answer, tho having got on the topic I ended up typing a bunch more rambling about adapting the Burning Stars because talking about scenario backends is something I enjoy way too much! Soooo if you have any other questions on specific elements my box is open, and a longer answer for this one is under the cut!

The “Who am I now?” got me amusing myself thinking of where other similar messages might pop up, and how much sense they might make coming from the subconscious of a person who made themselves forget their first catastrophic encounter with the occult, and that their apparent companions were all just ghosts.

“You Bring Death” for the living player character, who many NPCs react to with shock and fear, sensing the ghosts that are his companions.

“Dreams Come To Life” for the bargains made with the Masked Messenger in a dreamscape.

And then I thought how funny a title “The Illusion of Living” was in the context of the Burning Stars, where most of the investigators are currently in a very literal illusion of living!

I’d also previously run a variant of the Burning Stars involving time travel, which just made BatIM fit even better, (“It doesn’t end here!”) And I think at that point I was in for the long haul.

A random list of other things that felt too fun to not incorporate:

The scenario’s party has amnesia and is trying to piece together the actions of their past selves along with everything else...what a neat device the audio logs from the game could be in that situation???

It deals with Nyarlathotep, the elder god known for devil’s bargains and basically giving people enough rope to hang themselves with...this feels very BatIM in general.

The Lurker of the Star Pools in the scenario is already is linked to the host. What if he also resembled some twisted form of their wish? Ink Demon! (More Dreams Come To Life!)

There’s already magical pools that are central to the game...what if they were the origin of the magical ink?

There’s a lot of scare-hallucinations that can happen when the party splits up, foreshadowing the horrible truth...what if the ghosts had visions of their ink-monster selves?

What if the corrupted versions of the tarot cards that feature in the scenario likewise showed scenes from ink-hell in the game?

They’re supposed to find evidence of the ghost party members’ true fates on the way to the pools...what if they actually encounter an inky Prophet version of Sammy and he gets to do that classic ‘can I get an amen’ scare in game to reveal Sammy’s fate??

‘Dreams Come To Life’ is ALSO really good in the context of the party having confusing nightmares about their ‘deaths’, and then at one point going back in time to just before it happened, hints from their dreams literally coming to life! That ended up being one of my very favorite scenes in the scenario.

Another bonus, as much as I like suspenseful mysteries involving the supernatural I have a low tolerance for gore, so having an excuse to turn all scenario gore into ink was also a perk!

Really, the biggest challenge adapting the Burning Stars was Boo wanting to play Joey. (Though I am SO GLAD he did, Boo’s Joey is a delightful and audacious force of nature, GOSH.)

But I’d figured early on that to make things like the Ink Demon and the backstory of how they ended up in this situation work, Joey should be the one who - prior to the scenario start - was messing with magic artifacts and ended up as “the Host”; the missing NPC in the scenario that drives most of the action. (All of this supernatural nonsense being basically Joey’s fault also just felt very correct!)

The thing is, having Joey’s body be alive and becoming the host while his spirit was possessing Henry seemed workable. Everyone starts with amnesia, so him causing all of this while also investigating it also worked. His body could even reasonably be with the cult, transforming into a vessel to free Nyarlathotep while his spirit followed Henry to investigate. (He will set us free!) The real problem was, how could the party possibly be trying to find a missing Joey if they all thought Joey was with them due to his ghost haunting Henry?

In the end, I added Tom to be an additional kidnapping victim so they could be looking for him, and only find out later that Joey’s body was also being held by the scenario antagonists. It also let me involve Gent in the gun-running sub-plot the scenario has going, which seemed slightly less weird for Gent than JDS.

I did have to chat with Boo a bit before the game to make sure he was okay with Joey having done some sketchy things before the start of the scenario, but luckily Boo fully embraces disaster Joey, and it all worked out!

Anyhow, as a closing thought, imagine my glee when, in the early sessions the party got a little handheld mirror that showed them strange golden messages when you looked at things and Maf pointed it at Henry himself only for Shazz to joke, “Who am I now?”

And then it turned out that was exactly what they saw.

Genesis of the whole game right there!

[lazyliars]

/rp

DreamXD actually slots very nicely into a working theory I've had for about two or so months now, mainly centering around one question:

What happened to Dream?

Namely, why did Dream change, when exactly did it happen, and was it solely an internal change, or was there an external force at play, specifically a preternatural one?

I think with DreamXD, we might finally have an answer.

Or at least some clues to follow. DreamXD presents a shift in every single paradigm the Dream SMP has had. Like, I think most of it is just being so utterly blind-sided by George Lore Real, but part of it is the massive ramifications of an Actual God* being present in the storyline.

((*On the other resident god of the server, Foolish:

DreamXD is different than Foolish, in that his characterization is so dramatically inhuman - Foolish talks and acts like a (somewhat eccentric) person, and his powers are, as far as we know, limited in comparison to the creative-mode godhood that DreamXD occupies. And whether that is because Foolish is not a "full" god (having been referred to as a demigod) or simply because he's spent so much time around humans, we don't know, but we do know that either way, DreamXD is NOT that.

DreamXD's voice is marked by glitches and dramatic shifts in tone, he seems to lack control over the different aspects of his personality, like the more "Dream" part vs. the darker one that threatens to eat peoples souls. The "normal" part even displays confusion when George references things that the "darker" part said, implying that it may not be fully aware of itself.

TLDR: Foolish acts more human than DreamXD, who has a very eldritch personality.))

To get right to the point:

The Dream we knew before November 16th, and the Dream we know now are not the same. Something changed, and it changed for the worse.

Consider: Dream was always antagonistic to the L'manbergians - he was always imperious to them, and he was responsible for starting a number of fights between his faction and theirs, just as many if not more than they were.

But, he was also not... evil. He'd pick fights with Tommy, the disc wars were still a thing, but the gravity of the spats they had weren't dire. They were fun. They were... actually a game. He wasn't like the way he is now. While in hindsight we can look at these events and detect a serious undertone knowing what's to come, at the time they were far from it.

There is an argument to be made that he had the same tendencies as now, just not expressed as loudly, and while I believe it's a valid argument, I disagree that it's proof of Dream always being the way he is now.

Sapnap, Badboyhalo, Sam. They all remember Dream as their friend - they remember someone who was, maybe a little aggressive and a lot competitive, but not cruel. Not needlessly murderous. Not someone who steals sentimental items and lines the walls of a disgusting museum to use against them.

Dream cut them out. Sapnap was totally blindsided. Bad doesn't seem to fully believe it. Sam blamed himself for not realizing and tried to take the weight of that crime on his own shoulders by becoming the Warden.

There's also the competing theory that what happened to Dream was purely psychological - either the circumstances slowly isolating him from his friends driving him to the do things he's done, or a desire for control that started early and continued to fester until it overshadowed everything else, or any combination of both.

And those theories are still valid, they could still be the case, but I haven't been able to shake the idea that there is something deeper at play. I can't overstate how the exile arc and everything after it have been so inhumane, so cruel, and... not exactly out of character in the sense that I could never see Dream doing them, but in the sense that I could never see him doing them for no reason.

And there really doesn't seem to be one. Dream says himself, it's like a game. He sees people as toys, puppets. And there just doesn't seem to be an inciting incident that could explain how he made the leap from semi-authoritarian leader who, despite being a warmonger, does love his friends, to heartless murderer who wants to reduce everyone he knows to dolls.

There's... ways, he could get there, but nothing that we've seen makes sense. There is a missing piece, something that must have happened from his POV that we didn't get to see because he doesn't stream.

And DreamXD could be it. This godly entity that claims that it is "a part of [Dream]" but that it isn't him entirely. That seems to share the lack of understanding of humanity that Dream has been displaying like when he asks if resurrecting Tommy was “cool.” But that still loves George. He still, despite apparently not having the same history as Dream, desperately wants to be George's friend.

If I had to pinpoint the moment Dream changed, it would be the day that he revealed that he switched sides, and was going to be fighting against Pogtopia. He was paid for this betrayal in the Revive Book.

I mark this as the turning point in my theory because it is the first time Dream mentions his affinity for chaos in the context of hurting others. However, we also know that this likely wasn't the day he actually made the decision to betray - as he revealed that there was a traitor among the Pogtopians, a fact that he likely would have learned before this.

Now, I mark George's lore stream as the introduction of DreamXD proper, and I want that on the record because it isn't technically his first appearance on the server.

Most people will remember him from Techno's stream, where he logged on to break the End Portal in a panic. I doubt the character was properly written into the lore at that time, but it fits neatly with the rest of what we know about him - a guardian of the server, and the keeper of it's rules. No contradictions.

What less people might know, is that DreamXD has made an even earlier appearance, and it's this one where things begin to get... interesting.

Around roughly October of 2020, Tubbo and Fundy did some improv'd streams centering around Demon Hunting, or rather, "Dreamon" Hunting, and it's during the first of these two streams that DreamXD makes an appearance.

The bare bones of it was - Tubbo is an experienced "Dreamon Hunter" and teaches Fundy his ways. They find Dream, and realize that he has a Dreamon inside of him, which is basically an evil version of him. They attempt to exorcise the Dreamon from Dream via various shenanigans, and eventually, they do a ceremony to free Dream. However, they apparently botch it, and unleash the Dreamon within. After more shenanigans, one attempt to fix it utilizing Fundy and Dream's wedding appears to work, but then DreamXD logs on, flys around at Tubbo and Fundy threateningly, and they end stream on the idea that there are probably more Dreamons to hunt.

Now. There's a lot to unpack here. I'm not gonna go into the nitty gritty details in this post, but I do recommend watching the Dreamon streams, as they have A LOT of details that, if this is getting incorporated into the main story line, could be important - especially the focus on duality, having TWO versions of Dream, which end up being potentially separated from each other.

(Also, they're just really funny streams. Tubbo and Fundy are at PEAK chaos and Dream plays along with their inane bit perfectly, it's just good content.)

At the time of the Dreamon streams airing, they were explicitly non-canon. IIRC Tubbo and Fundy referred to them as taking place In an “alternate universe,” which makes sense considering they would have been on opposite sides at the time (Manburg and Pogtopia.)

However.

And this is where I show you my wall of red string and newspaper clippings.

My singular piece of evidence for this comes from one line DreamXD drops. He simply says: “At least you're not hunting me.”

The Dreamon streams take place around early October. Dream reveals his betrayal of Pogtopia around November 6th-7th. The timeline of the Dreamon streams would line up perfectly with the idea that there was a catalyzing event that put Dream on the proverbial path to hell.

I do not believe that they intended the Dreamon arc to be anything other than a side story at the time, but considering that DreamXD himself was barely canon until now, I don't think it's out of the question that they took a look back at a fan-favorite minor arc, saw an opportunity to co-opt it into the current story line, and potentially fill in some holes regarding Dream's characterization all in one move.

On the question of whether this would be a GOOD storytelling move?

The Dreamon theories were prevalent during the exile arc, and I've got to say, I was never a huge fan. The detachment of Dream's actions from his intentions, and by extension his morality, never sat right with me. It feels cheap to make him a victim and say “a Dreamon did it!” in regards to all of the horrible things that he's done. It strips his agency and makes everything that happened less impactful in my opinion, and I stand by that reading.

BUT. With DreamXD introduced, I feel like it's necessary to look at this from all angles. And with the way DreamXD was characterized in George's stream, I don't think it necessarily ruins Dream's character to say that an external force was involved with his descent into evil.

Namely, the idea that whatever happened to Dream was not really a “possession” so much as a gradual loss of humanity, could be an interesting way to look at this. It implies that Dream was always capable of his actions, but grants us understanding as to why he would actually perform them, and why he might have become isolated enough from his friends that they would let this happen.

The Dream we know now could be an expression of his “worst self” brought to the surface by a Dreamon/DreamXD/other. It also begs the question of what would happen if that force were to leave him, and how it might cause yet another shift in character, especially if it were to be portrayed as less of a switch being flipped, and more of a withdrawal, with a gradual process of realizing how far gone he was.

To close this out, I've been stewing on the idea that Dream hasn't entirely been himself since the climax of the Exile Arc.

I think this theory holds water, but it's also not waterproof... there are plenty of holes, and a lot of that comes from the fact that Dream doesn't stream. We're left in the dark when deciphering his character, and what might appear to be the key, could just as easily be revealed as a red herring, or even nothing at all.

Regardless of the validity of the Dreamon theory, I think that DreamXD is one of the most interesting developments we've had on the SMP in a long time, if simply because his arrival coincides with fucking George Lore Real. God. I still don't know how to deal with that.

I always appreciate people adding to the discussion by the way! Feel free to reblog with additions if you like or leave them in the replies.

And if a single one of you comes to my blog on THIS. THE DAY OF MY DAUGHTER'S WEDDING. And calls ME a c!Dream Apologist to MY FACE..... I will be v sad.