#i enjoy when a piece of fiction or character gets me interested in a specific species and gives me an excuse to do research and learn

[pnfc]

Did u get into pnf for the plats or did you get into pnf and then get into plats bc of Perry. This is the burning question we all have

i think ur joking but i was in fact asked this before and no i wasn't already an expert on platypuses before i got into pnf. i just really like perry so i started researching them. and they're cool! would love to see one someday, even though it's unlikely.

[theresattrpgforthat]

TTRPGs that are played specifically through the framework of the Discord app? I'm reviewing a work in progress game that's being set up to work like that and I wanted to know if there are others!

THEME: Discord RPGS

Hello there friend, I know you mentioned This Discord Has Ghosts In It in another ask, but I’m going to mention it anyways - along with some other awesome options that exist out there!

This Discord Has Ghosts In It, by Will Jobst.

You’ve been invited to a haunted house. That haunted house is a Discord server.

Find your greatest fear, spill your worst secrets, and get to the thrilling seance in This Discord Has Ghosts in It.

I played this game for Halloween one year and it was great! In this game there are two roles: investigators and ghosts. All of the players will hang out in a voice chat, but only investigators can speak. Meanwhile, ghosts are the only ones who can type inside the game channels - and they are allowed to add new rooms to the house, upload pictures, and alter the text.

I definitely encourage players to use Lines, Veils, and the X card for this game, as it’s a horror game and you’re often met with images, not just descriptions.

MUDSLURP, by Will Uhl.

MUDSLURP (Multi-User Discord Server Lore-Universe Role Play) is a roleplaying game about asynchronous communication, intersecting storylines, and carrying a piece of your characters with you in everyday life. Everyone involved controls at least one character and participates in a shared text chatroom integrated into a fictional setting.

MUDSLURP is also compatible with other tabletop RPGs - bring a new dimension to your story with a chatroom for all your characters! Host server events, build out the world, and learn more about each other. MUDSLURP even supports multiple tabletop campaigns sharing the same chatroom, including guidelines for avoiding & resolving canon disputes.

This is something that really intrigues me, as I run a Discord server myself and I’m always looking for options that incorporate more people and give people multiple ways to interact. Since this is compatible with other tabletop games, I’m assuming you can have real-time sessions alongside something more like a play-by-post format - although I haven’t bought the game yet so I can’t say for sure.

Tournament Arc, by SystemxEmotion.

Tournament Arc is a text-based, real-time, head-to-head, fighting roleplaying game. Most importantly, Tournament Arc is a game where you create any character you can think of (or steal from your favourite media), and fight your friends.

When you play Tournament Arc, you will create a powerful fighter and you’ll try and beat other fighters in arena combat. Fighters can be anything you can fathom, from talented martial artists to alien creatures from other dimensions, and from off-duty superheroes to ordinary people granted arcane powers by elder beings. The one thing that they all have in common is that their powers come from spirits. Spirits are strange entities that recently appeared in the world, and are as diverse as the fighters themselves. 

As a text-based game, Tournament Arc depends on a third, neutral party for each battle. This third player is called the Conduit, who will judge both attacks and determine an outcome. I can see this being a great game for large groups, especially because each person gets to pick up the GM role at some point. You create move sets using different abilities that might be active or passive, and the book comes with advice on how to make the combat dynamic and interesting. If you are playing with a group that likes feeling powerful and enjoys big action scenes, this might be the game for you!

Eccentric Millionaire, by nickwedig.

Somewhere in the wilderness, an eccentric millionaire has buried $50 million worth of bearer bonds, gold, historic artifacts and art treasures. 

You’re going to hunt for it, from the comfort of your own homes. 

There are a lot of other people also searching for the treasure, too. Work with them for more clues, but don’t trust them. If they get the treasure first, they get millions of dollars. Second place gets nothing.

Eccentric Millionaire is an online game of logical deduction and social deception. One player acts as the host and organizer of the game. They will also play the role of the Eccentric Millionaire. The other players take on the role of treasure hunters. The game is played online, through chat systems like Discord or Slack, and via online map tools like Google Maps. Gameplay takes place over days or weeks, as the treasure hunters uncover more clues and zero in on the location of the treasure. Eventually, one player will find the treasure and win the game.

I love games that use innovative online tools, and this game's use of Google Maps is a great example. This is also great for large groups, of up to 25 people! I caution you though, the organization for a game like this definitely requires a lot of set up - you might have to customize a Discord Server before you are ready to play.

Games I've Recommended in the Past

Subway Runners, by Gem Room Games

[ilovetheriddler]

I’d really like to see you write something for an Origins Riddler being obsessed for the reader (love his design in that game) could be hcs or a short fic, whatever you prefer

I love his design in Origins so much! This was actually really interesting to think about since this is technically the youngest we see Eddie in the Arkhamverse, so it's interesting to think about how much would change over time in between origins to Arkham Knight in terms of how he would act in this regard. I hope that you enjoy it!

A puzzle that you can't solve.

(Arkham Games) Edward Nigma x F!Reader.

(Declaimer: I don't condone or approve of the actions taken in this story. It is purely a work of fiction.)

Word Count: 684.

Contents: Extremely obsessive behavior, stalking, character death, but it's not you or him.

How peculiar.... Eddie wasn't sure why he felt so strange whenever he saw you, but he was determined to figure it out. It was like a puzzle, an unfinished riddle! Left for him to solve. From the moment he first noticed you in passing, he knew that you were someone who could possibly entertain him, maybe not as his full equal, after all he was unrivaled in his brilliance, but maybe as a close second perhaps? That would be ideal.

He was quite surprised when he found out that your father was one of the older detectives who worked at the GCPD. How interesting, indeed... more specifically, an officer that frequently aired his grievances with Edward's "attitude," whatever that meant. Maybe that was one of the things that helped feed into his growing obsession with you? Knowing that your father greatly despised him.

It started off small, with him hacking into your university's computer to obtain your class schedules so that he'd know where you were and when. All so he could watch you with baited breath over the college security cameras, which he also gained access to fairly easily. You were in your last year of college, and overall, based on what you what studying, he could tell that you'd be extremely interesting to keep around by his side.

It soon escalated, though, to him finding your apartment and leaving small little notes and trinkets on your doorstep. You always looked intrigued by them yet also somewhat concerned. It made him question whether you had put the pieces together yet and realized that someone was watching you... or perhaps it would just be a puzzle that you couldn't solve until he gave you the answer, so to speak.

After several weeks of this, he started to grow irritated and bored. Things weren't moving fast enough for him, and the moment he noticed some other person asking you out and you telling them that you'd think about it, he knew that he had to act fast. He had to properly introduce himself soon and sweep you off your feet before some imbecile beat him to it!

Now.... When he decided to kill two birds with one stone, he knew that he could never let you truly find out. No, you'd be horrified to learn that the man that caused your father's death had been him. It was perfect. He got to test out his new puzzle trap that he had been trying to perfect, and your father got to be the unwilling tester. It was perfect! He was rid of some fool who slighted him a few times before and he would be able to show up at his funeral and approach you, playing the part of the sympathetic coworker trying to comfort you in such a devastating moment.

"Good afternoon, my dear... you have my deepest condolences for your loss. It was... truly tragic and unimaginable that someone would target a great detective like him...."

"Oh, um... thank you, do I know you? Did you work with my father?"

He throws one of his arms around your shoulder, pulling you closer, attempting to frame it as an act of comfort instead of just a selfish attempt to get you closer to him.

"Technically, I did. We didn't work closely together. He also wasn't too fond of me either... however, despite our differences, it's such a.... tragedy that he was taken so soon...."

"Well... i um.... I'm sure he'd appreciate you showing up to his funeral, even if he didn't really like you much...."

He slowly moves his hand down, rubbing your back softly. He was overjoyed by the fact that he finally had his chance to be close to you and actually hold you, but he had to keep up the act. He had to act somewhat distraught.

"Of course, and.... if you ever need anything, then simply get in touch with me, my dear...."

He quickly jolted down his number on a piece of paper and slipped it into your hand. Unbeknownst to you, sealing your fate as the object of his obsession.

[kuiperblog]

Book Review: I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom

I have finished reading I'm Starting to Worry About this Black Box of Doom by Jason Pargin.

The premise of this book is simple, and rather than trying to summarize it myself, I will give you the author's blurb:

One day, a woman you've never met before offers you $100,000 in cash to drive her across the country—half now, half when you arrive. It’s a 2,600-mile trip, but there's a catch. She has a large, locked black box, big enough for someone to crawl inside. You're not allowed to look inside the box or even ask questions about it. She insists you leave behind all devices that can be tracked—no phone, no laptop, no credit cards, no GPS. You'll be paying with cash and navigating with a paper map the entire way. And finally, you can't tell anyone where you're going. There's no time to think; she says you must leave now. You hesitate, and she doubles the offer. Would you do it? Maybe, if you're brave or desperate enough. And besides, you think, what’s the worst that could happen?

I read it. I enjoyed it! I think it's my favorite Jason Pargin novel. One of the things that I have always liked about his novels are the fun action set pieces, and the way he builds tension throughout a scene, and across an entire book. He delivers on that here, and I am incredibly impressed with how he managed to stick the landing on this one: near the end of the book, I found myself thinking, "there's no way that this could have a climax that manages to surprise me without being a total letdown," but he proved me wrong: the big climax was completely unexpected, yet expertly "earned" by all the little bits that built up to it. It really all came together in the end in a way that far exceeded my expectations.

Jason writes humorous books, or so I've been told. I enjoy his Zoey Ashe books, and they are fun, but I've never found them to be particularly "funny." The Zoey Ashe series presents lots of absurd situations that entertained me, but none that really tickled my funny bone. However, Black Box of Doom made me laugh out loud multiple times. Maybe it's the fact that, unlike Zoey Ashe (which is science fiction), Black Box of Doom is set in "our world" in a way that feels incredibly true to life. And it feels like "our world" in a way that a lot of "real world" stories don't, largely thanks to the specificity.

Rendering the world we live in with high specificity is risky, because it's the sort of thing that is prone to "age rapidly," but I think that in 10 years, people will look back on this as an interesting period piece about 2020's culture. When Jason Pargin writes about TikTok, and Reddit, and Twitch, and the way the characters in his book engage with these platforms, you get a sense that he understands them deeply, and he is more interested in rendering them in high fidelity than he is in making a value judgment about them, or trying to poke fun at them. And yet, because he understands them so deeply, he also understands all of the things about them that are deeply funny and absurd, and so he can render those parts to great humorous effect without ever having to exaggerate. The moments of absurdity that manage to be pointed without feeling artificially "heightened" are some of the funniest, and give the book a very Dave Barry-esque quality.

Pargin ends the book with an afterward about karma how does not exist in this universe: this is a book where bad things can happen to people who behave well, and good things can happen to people who behave poorly. That much seems obvious enough that it seems unnecessary to explain it in a disclaimer, but Pargin wishes to disclaim something more specific: he wants us to know that if good things happen to a character, that is not a case of the author "rewarding" the character for being "right," nor are the bad things that happen to other characters in a case of Pargin "punishing" them for being "wrong."

Before editing this post, I wrote the previous paragraph about how "sometimes good things happen to bad people, and sometimes bad things happen to good people." But I rewrote those sentences, because I think that Pargin would reject the essentialist framing of "good person" vs "bad person." Everyone you know has done bad things at some point in their lives, and everyone you know has good qualities that might cause you to like them in certain contexts. Can anyone really make a judgment about whether that makes them a "good person" or "bad person?" If you go through someone's life looking for the one piece of evidence that will allow you to render a "good person or bad person" view of them, you will end up with a pretty low-fidelity picture of who they are, and a pretty low-fidelity picture of how the world works. All of the characters in this book do things that you probably don't approve of. Some of those things might even make you dislike them. But all of the characters in this book are fun to spend time with.

There are two interesting tricks that Jason Pargin pulls in Black Box of Doom that played with my expectations. One of which comes near the beginning, and one of which comes near the middle. Anyway, this is the part of the review where I get into descriptions that are specific enough to feel like spoilers.

First, the part that you learn as you read the first chapter:

Part of what Pargin does with his blurb is invite you to consider: what kind of man would be brave or desperate enough to accept someone offering $100,000 in cash to transport a mysterious black box across the country with no phone or GPS? What kind of hardened badass would accept a deal that is obviously pulling him into a world full of legally-questionable shenanigans and people who are obviously up to no good, with the confidence that he'd be able to handle himself in that hardscrabble world and come out alive?

And the answer is that the main character is none of those things. He's not brave; he's cowardly. He's not strong; he's weak. In fact, that's how he gets roped into this situation: he's anxiety-ridden. He's really bad with confrontation; he doesn't know how to handle conflict. And that is why he essentially allows himself to get bullied into participating in this insane errand: he doesn't know how to put his foot down and say "no." He tries to take the path of least resistance, basically procrastinating on the task of saying "I'm sorry, I can't help you," thinking "maybe if I go along with this, there will be a better opportunity for me to say no later," and of course once the ball gets rolling he can't stop it.

So, in a sense, the main character is kind of the opposite of who you think he would be based on the elevator pitch, and it's funny, and yet true-to-life, and makes for a story full of ways to put that socially-anxious guy into all sorts of crazy situations that he things are way beyond his capacity. And yet, of course, he deals with all of them, as best he can, because he must, and that's what most of life is.

Then there's something we find out partway through the story, closer to around the middle of the book.

You see, Jason Pargin has done yet another head fake with the main character, leading us to think one way before revealing something that feels almost the opposite. There is a real sense in which this story starts off with a poor put-upon guy who is roped into traveling across the country with a mysterious woman. You spend a good portion of the early part of the book fearing for his safety. He's here, but he doesn't particularly want to be here, and it's deeply unfortunate that he's stuck with the woman who roped him into this tense and chaotic mess.

But this is a road trip novel, and as the story goes on, you get a better sense of who these characters are, the cowardly driver, and the woman who hired him. You see more and more glimpses of the sort of people they are as they confront various situations. And, over time, you shift from feeling like he's deeply unfortunate to be stuck here with her (and gosh I'm terrified of what might happen to him if things go wrong), to starting to think about how deeply unfortunate she is to be stuck with him (and gosh I'm terrified of what might happen to her if things go wrong).

Just in the same way the blurb book invites us to think, "what kind of brave or desperate person would accept this insane business proposition," we're also left to contemplate, "what kind of brave, desperate person would offer this kind of insane business proposition?" What kind of woman would find herself in a situation where she was hailing a Lyft, and then ambushing the driver to tell him that she was ready to pay him six figures, in cash, to drive her and a box to the other end of the country?

That is one of many questions that is answered by the text of the book. I enjoyed discovering the answer, and many of the other answers we encounter along the way.

[veliseraptor]

June Reading Recap

Slower reading month on account of I got distracted by cdramas.

King Hereafter by Dorothy Dunnett. I don't know what to do with this book!!! It was by turns magnificent and difficult to get through. It definitely didn't hit me the way the Lymond Chronicles did/does, but even when I wasn't personally feeling it I can recognize a magisterial piece of work when I read one. The Thorfinn/Rognvald dynamic was probably one of the highlights for me, while it lasted. The premise of this one combines the life of the historical King Macbeth and that of Thorfinn Sigurdsson, positing that they were the same person. I did a lot of Wikipedia diving while reading, unsurprisingly. I recommend it for Dunnett readers, I think is what I'd ultimately say, or for historical fiction aficionados, but perhaps not more generally than that.

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler. I keep reading Django Wexler because I enjoy his work, and keep finding that while I enjoy it and find it fun there's not a lot of real substance. But this book's gimmick (combining "time loop" and "villain protagonist") was too pointed directly at me for me to not give it a try. And I'm glad I did! It was very fun, and yet again it felt like the real substance was not quite there. However, I probably still will be reading the sequel when it comes out. So you know, I can't be too hard on it.

Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood. I feel like I did not exactly "enjoy" the experience of reading this set of interconnected short stories but I still want to recommend it to others, if that makes sense as a perspective. It also really made me want to read more generally about this period of time, both in fiction and nonfiction.

Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer. This was totally a "let's just try something new for the heck of it" choice - fantasy romances are everywhere right now, this one was floating around in them and sounded potentially like fun in terms of concept, it was an impulse. I can't say it paid off. It wasn't an awful experience but I did find myself repeatedly going "why isn't this fluffy romance not digging more into its characters or implications" and the answer there is "that's not the point, Lise", I guess, and yeah, I think (English language) romance novels are probably just not for me.

The Law of Blood: Thinking and Acting as a Nazi by Johann Chapoutot. This was a really interesting book. It very much takes its point as "what if we take Nazi philosophy seriously as philosophy." I really haven't read anything quite like it before and it was definitely disturbing to read in terms of really...getting into the heads of How Nazis Thought They Were Supposed to Live, but fascinating for those reasons too, and the reasons of exploring how implications of ideology leads to specific real-world policy-making.

Translation State by Ann Leckie. Still haven't read anything else by Ann Leckie that gets close to the high of the original trilogy but I did really enjoy this one. It did make me feel like I need to reread the original trilogy because I've definitely forgotten a lot, and usually when reading something makes me go "I should reread this other work by the same author" it speaks at least somewhat well of it.

Qi Ye by Priest. Hard not to compare this one to TYK since, you know, same author and same universe, and ultimately this one I didn't like quite as much. I think I...wanted the whole "trauma from living multiple lives" to come up more and more often than I felt like it really did here, and the relationship between Wu Xi and Jing Beiyuan was fine but didn't have what I needed to particularly compel me.

Extinction: How Life on Earth Nearly Ended 250 Million Years Ago by Douglas H. Erwin. As something of a mass extinction afficionado (as it were), for the most part there was nothing in this book that was really new to me except for one little brief glancing note at the end of the book about the possibility that we are not yet into the throes of a true mass extinction event and that's good, because if we were it would probably be too late to really do anything about it. Overall, though, it feels like this book falls somewhere in a confusing gap between "true academia" and "slightly too academic for general audiences" in terms of the specific analytical techniques it analyzes when assessing different arguments for extinction causes." Interesting, but not one I'd make a casual recommendation.

Sha Po Lang by Priest. I was feeling sort of middling on this one while I was reading it in official translation release time so I decided to just read the whole thing to see if I wanted to keep buying it, and I think after doing so I've come down on the side of "probably not." It was good, but, to be blunt, not quite good enough to grab me in the way I needed it to for the financial outlay. I still feel like I'm chasing the magic I got out of Faraway Wanderers and (what I've read of) LHJC from Priest and haven't found it again yet. I think part of the gap here was that I really liked Gu Yun but struggled to care very much about Chang Geng. I did kind of love the Pope being a major antagonist, though.

So probably the other reason I didn't read much last month is because I'm having a hard time finding something to read to really get into.

I'm currently reading too many books at the same time due to a confluence of factors including "travel" and "difficulty getting into one of them." The list is: The Grass Crown by Colleen McCullough, A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge, Silent Reading by Priest, and (on the side) Black Midnight Holds the BE Script by Teng Luo Wei Zhi. so hopefully I'll finish at least one of those this July.

[melodich4n]

When It comes to me as a human I really am a weird case. My humor or my personality overall is as literal as you see here online for my everyday life. There's nothing for me to hide about who or how I express myself but when it comes to interests. By that means.

I'm on the spectrum. I have ADHD and ODD too.

I don't often click with characters. For those I do, I LOVE them. Be it I haven't posted them here out of preference I just really like to stick with One Piece for content making or original characters (can change). Yet when it comes to me being obsessed or clicking with a series. Especially with a character that becomes either a comfort or a special interest of mine. It happened to be Caesar Clown.

In my entire life from all things possible for me to enjoy. Caesar makes me most interested. Be it, I find myself already into topics such as science or medical care that cause me to naturally enjoy a character like Caesar for his role he has as a scientist. Being I can remember the time as young as 8 I wanted to be a virologist and help work in a lab on viruses. I even tried considering to research a cure for cancer. Be it since then the career changed on wanting to be in something art related as I ALWAYS loved art too. My second option and third was to take the job as a therapist or surgeon. Even a mortician as an option as death or the human body is something I've come to find fascinating and I'm not saying this to be a shock content person. I just really am intrigued by concepts like mortality/birth/death. Anything within those segments I'm a huge fan of. Remember being fascinated and still am a fan of COD zombies. The only thing that stopped me considering the medical field in any way was because I didn't want to spend that much money and time to get a job I might end up realizing I just enjoyed it as a hobby to research instead.

Yet the topic of anything relating to science and medical stuff makes me adore characters like Caesar anytime. Yet what specifically lured me more for him than other doctor or scientist characters was his sadistic nature and his *personality* in extension within Punk Hazard and even in WCI. I'm a fan of the topic of sadism, I'm not sadistic myself. I enjoy the fictitious aspect of how far you can push violence though. In themes or just because. As I was for some reason the kind of kid who watched 5+ hours of Happy tree friends and Fluffy pony content or make my 1037727 read of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac after I got home from a math test that pissed me off half crying still and then laughing about it because fictional violence is and will always still be funny to me.

I see fiction as fiction and a way to study things from a view of my own as someone with autism to pick apart on. I don't know why but the fact I just enjoy picking apart characters and themes, stories. Even music. I found myself adore him.

Caesar Clown though, I can see why others don't like him as much. There are many reasons why I can understand. Though for those that dislike him and choose to dislike me also from that, I don't care about those people.

Caesar's genuine intelligence is also something I enjoy looking at. Vegapunk is of course gonna always be smarter and more successful but Caesar has genuine feats of his own. He just goes into a clear route of selfishness that involves a lot of violence and he's not normal in the head. Far from it. Either because he grew into it or was born like it.

Which I enjoy the fan ideas people bring for him. I like people's own ways to take his character for their enjoyment.

I like taking him and either putting him into work that lets me express my mind and ideas for him. Or to put him through pain or anguish that always intrigued me again in the fictional lens.

My love for him likely comes from a sense of self relatability in his vindictiveness and behavior I used to have when younger myself (be it I'm far from it now and did not kill people just can grasp that sense of anger he has) that I also have respect also for his work. I want to see him do his experiments and partaken as a viewer of his work.

Also his own song, his theme? It makes me think of Earthbound and Earthbound is a massive comfort game for me. Specifically the Belch Factory for Caesar with the Belch's theme to his in the 2nd to 3rd stage of his theme. So that's just another random thing to throw. It's out of Character from the music of OP.

His design also feels like something I'd have made when I was younger, and when I feel or connect with a design I will cling and draw them pretty much anytime I think of them.

I think there are so many opportunities with a character like Caesar .

He has also broken Devil Fruit Abilities. I tried genuinely hard to see what his Gas Gas fruit was in terms of Elements on the periodic table. There was no direct one I could match with. I tried. Genuinely. I'm no chemistry nerd but my understanding of how certain elements have ways they react to exposed climates and other elements is what I researched into.

Also the fact he used himself to make experiments. It's fucking metal. Sick shit. I've written that into my own works myself before I got into One Piece as someone who wrote religious sci-fi horror. Where you use your flesh, or your body... Imagine being a part of your stuff? For your gain. To hurt others like some bad guy would do like Caesar.

To contort yourself easily...

It's very cool.

I think that's what I have my thoughts on so far I got for the man. I don't know what else to do or say. I'd love to converse with others here as long as it's civil and respectful about my thoughts or questions, and any form of discussion we can have. Though I do not support those who pick on others just because they "understand or don't understand" Caesar as well as others can or don't. He's fictional. Let's not be crazy.

That is all for me.

- Sally/Melodi

[utilitycaster]

Would LOVE that essay on combat in dnd because full agree. But not even just for people watching live play, like, combat is an essential feature of dnd as a game system and it endlessly frustrates me when i see dms be like “yeah combat is just too complicated and no fun so i dont do it in my game :)!” Like i guess thats your right, but any non-caster class is gonna be miserable in your game. I saw a video recently talking about how dnd has kind of become the default ttrpg and is marketed as the perfect system for everyone and any style of play which is just. So not true. Combat in dnd is equally as integral as roleplay is and theres really no argument otherwise. Very valid if you hate dnd combat, it sure isnt for everyone, but in that case maybe play a different ttrpg where the characters arent constructed around combat abilities, i promise you’ll have more fun.

So this is one of those things that touches on maybe 99% of my feelings on Experiencing Fiction in general and actual play in particular; I apologize in advance for the length and digressions within this response.

Here are the reasons I have seen or I surmise why people don’t like D&D combat, either in actual play or in home games:

It can get crunchy and involves a lot of rules

There are long stretches in which individuals do not necessarily act (not exclusive to combat but I think this is a factor)

It contains violence

There is a potential for character death

Now, it’s fine if you aren’t interested in D&D-style combat, for whatever reason, when you play ttrpgs. It’s just that this is a core feature of D&D. As you say, this is what the martial classes are structured around - and, frankly, no small number of casting classes/subclasses as well. By avoiding it when you play D&D, you’re avoiding the bulk of the game, and there are plenty of ttrpgs that permit open RP that aren’t combat focused that would probably fit your needs better (eg: PbtA and Savage Worlds are both generic systems that can support a heroic fantasy like D&D without the emphasis on combat skills). I happen to love and prefer D&D, but that is specifically because I love combat, and yeah, there are other games and people should seek out those games if they don’t like combat.

When it comes to D&D actual play though…skipping combat is just straight-up stupid. And to be clear I mean fully skipping it and not watching it at all; while this is piggybacking off my post about spoilers, it’s fine if you are the sort of person who needs to know how combat ends in order to enjoy it! That’s just a personal preference that I respect even if I don’t share it.

D&D combat isn’t just an inherent part of the game; it’s an inherent part of the story. The idea of D&D being split into combat and RP is a false dichotomy. There is RP and crucial story within combat scenes, and you simply do not achieve the same effects by reading an after-the-fact summary. To use examples from Critical Role, consider one of the most famous RP moments from Campaign 1, when Scanlan uses his 9th level counterspell in the Vecna fight. The weight of that moment derives from mechanics and from the fact that it is in the midst of combat and well into a climatic final battle. Or for lighter examples, there’s a ton of Beau/Yasha and Fjord/Jester mid-combat flirting running through much of Campaign 2 that informs those relationships. Molly’s death? Caleb going into a fugue state when he kills humanoids with fire? Yasha destroying Obann? Fjord dying mid-deep scion fight? Those are all moments that have deep character weight and meaning that are within the context of combat, and you cannot divorce them from that context and hope to retain the same effect.

This is what dovetails into a larger discussion of Experiencing Fiction which is a (in my opinion) worrying tendency among some people to truly believe that you can cut up media into the palatable bits and pieces and push all of what you see as icky vegetables to the side of your plate. I fucking hate this. I think it’s what drives a lot of things including a distaste for combat. This is how you get, for example, people who dislike combat because Violence And Death Bad, which, do I think that in the real world violence is most often a thing to be avoided? Do I think that in the real world death is heartbreaking? Yes, but this is fiction. There’s that great Brennan Lee Mulligan quote about how TTRPGs like D&D allow people who usually must be conflict-avoidant in real life to let out their anger and frustration in a place where it is safe and harmless, and I believe that whole-heartedly. I want stories about death because I want to know I'm not alone in how I feel about death. I want stories in which people can express their rage in ways both healthy and unhealthy, because big same. (I also think it’s absolutely not coincidental that people who believe they are ‘protecting’ people by circumscribing what is acceptable in fiction tend to be strongly associated with either bigoted, violent policies in real life, or harassment and doxxing online; maybe enjoy a fucked up movie, as John Waters once said, and you'll calm down.)

This idea that you can cut up media and only consume what you like is also what I think is behind some of the really ill-considered and overly granular timestamped content warnings I’ve mentioned previously. It is fine if there are things you don’t want to watch or which will be upsetting or even triggering to watch! It’s fine if you as an individual don’t like violence! But I think there’s a problem when people believe they are entitled to be able to watch whatever they want and have it mold to their exact wants and needs (and that it’s a failing if it doesn’t), rather than taking on the responsibility of seeking out media that already fits the bill. Actual Play D&D will nearly always have violent encounters. If this will be an issue this is not for you. It is not gatekeeping to say “you can come through this gate, but the gate is in fact here for your specifically requested protection"; and yet people think that instead, gates should be placed around everything else. So (to give an example) this is why the warnings for D20’s Neverafter strike me as a symptom of this larger problem - if you have discomfort with violence towards animals and children, that’s fine, but you are watching a D&D horror series in which over half the player characters are either animals or children. This is not something where you can skip a few seconds of a flashing gif that might be a migraine or seizure trigger, or a case where an exceptionally rough scene of gaslighting can be read instead of watched; this is inherent to the show, and if this is not for you, you need to go elsewhere.

To give one last example, I was looking for fanart for Worlds Beyond Number, and came across a picture of Suvi with a caption of “Suvi but without the imperialism” and like…Aabria has said in interviews that this engagement with the empire is extremely deliberate; that Suvi is intended to be tied into the political structures of this world as an intentional contrast with Eursulon’s status as an outsider and Ame’s role at the smaller, community level. Suvi without imperialism is not identifiable as the same character and it throws the entire story off-kilter; she is of this empire and that is the fucking point. Any story worth telling is not just items thrown haphazardly into a bowl; they are combined and mixed. Someone is giving you a plate of brownies and you are acting like it’s physically possible to take out the cocoa powder without fucking the end result, and buddy, it’s not.

(Truly, I was not joking when I said this is like, the load-bearing pillar of most of my complaints about fiction consumption patterns in general. This is about how people will deny the flaws in characters even though any reasonably intelligent ten-year-old, and I know because I fucking was one once, understands that person vs. themself is one of the core conflicts and overcoming one’s flaws is in many cases the entire story and if you start out perfect there is nothing to be said. Like…I think a lot of people genuinely just want to watch a nonstop Monterey Bay Otter Cam of their sufficiently sanitized, focus-group-tested blorbos baking cookies together, and are affronted when people with the tiniest sliver of empathy and/or curiosity want a story with plot and character growth, which in turn require conflict.)

Anyway. I think the takeaways here are that there’s this awful entitlement people have in which they think that they can simply consume anything and it is the failure of that media if it doesn’t cater specifically to them, rather than a failure of them to seek out that which they would enjoy (and I could go on this rant indefinitely; it is truly the most constant theme among Takes I Think Are Dumb); and also I really want to bake something right now, given my choices of metaphor. Combat is part of D&D as a game and as a storytelling medium, and it is incumbent upon people who do not like combat to find something that doesn’t have D&D combat, rather than try to pull out the vital organs of the story.

[choicesficwriterscreations]

December Creator of the Month: Oh-So-Youre-a-Nerd

Each month, CFWC highlights one of our talented fanfic writers or artists, and this month’s creator of the month is @oh-so-youre-a-nerd . We're very excited because Ascindio is our very first artist to be highlighted! We hope you will enjoy learning more about them and their work below! The writer is selected at random. More info can be found on the navigation page.

Quick Links:

Tumblr Blog Instagram

How do you want to be known on Tumblr? 

Ascindio 

More below...

1- When did you start playing Choices? What was the first book you played? 

I started playing in 2016, I can't remember if I read Endless Summer or Rules of Engagement first, but I ended up deleting the app after like 2 weeks cause I couldn't stop buying diamonds 😅🤦

I re-downloaded it about, ohh idk 2 years ago?

2- When and why did you join Choices fandom?

I joined the Fandom specifically on Tumblr and specifically for It Lives Within, which happened to come out right after I read the first two books 

3- How did you pick your blog name? 

I always try to seem cool and mysterious when I meet people irl, and then as soon as I open my mouth, I ruin it with some niche trivia or something, and they say,  “Oh, so you're a nerd.” 😂 Can't tell you how many times this exact phrase has been uttered to me. 

4- Pull up the first post in your archive, and tell us about it!  

This is the first Choices related post I made 😂 I was just thinking about the concept of what if characters make terrible decisions cause they're controlled by a player who is out of diamonds lol I was going to do a whole series of them (next was going to be lotr “fly on eagles to mordor?” *30 diamonds* or “simply walk”) but got lazy lol

5- Do you write fanfiction, create fan art, or are you one of those really gifted people who do both? 

Only art. God, I  WISH  I wrote too. I've thought about trying cause I have so many ideas floating around in my head, but at the end of the day, I'd rather spend my free time drawing. 

6- How long have you been creating for Choices and for any other fandoms?

For Choices, since early 2022

For other fandoms, since well, forever, but I only started posting around 2017/18

7- What is your favorite Choices book, and what is your favorite Choices book to create for?

Favorite Choices book is probably It Lives in the Woods. All of the characters were so interesting, I never got bored reading it, and it had an incredible twist that made sense but I still didn't see coming. 

Favorite to create for is probably Blades of Light and Shadow though because I am such a sucker for the fantasy aesthetic.

8- Share your first Choices fanfic or fan art that you posted with us. Do you still like it, or would you change it if you were creating it today?.

This isn't the first Choices art I made, but it IS the first I actually shared

And honestly, I DO still like it because I still remember the way I felt absolutely POSSESSED while drawing it (I hadn't drawn anything for *months*). I would definitely change the background, though. Those trees look like shit, and they're not even the correct type for the kind of forest they're in. 

9- What is your favorite piece of fiction or art that you created? 

My favorite Choices art I've done is probably this piece. 

10- Do you have a fic/art that you didn’t expect to be well received, but it was? What about one you expected to do well but found it could use a little more love?

I definitely didn't expect this one to do well at all as it was so hastily drawn

And I was sad this piece didn't get more love, it was such a dope scene and I was so excited about how the sword turned out

11- If you could only draw one style or type of art for the rest of your life, what would it be and why? 

I'm not sure if I'm interpreting the question right, but if I had to pick like a specific type of art, it would be digital, and I would want to do fan art. I have a hard time painting anything that I don't already have a deep connection with (so original art with no story behind it is usually a chore for me), and digital art is just so incredibly convenient and not messy and so so versatile. 

12 - Do you ever recognize yourself in any of your MCs or in your writing?

Because I use fiction as a way to safely process trauma/ grief/ other big emotions, each MC I make has a small part of me, whichever part I feel the need to explore at the time.

There's an amazing quote by Patrick Rothfuss that I feel explains it perfectly. 

It's from Wise Man's Fear

“These folk knew all about death. They killed their own livestock. They died from fevers, falls, or broken bones gone sour. Death was like an unpleasant neighbor. You didn’t talk about him for fear he might hear you and decide to pay a visit.

Except for stories, of course. Tales of poisoned kings and duels and old wars were fine. They dressed death in foreign clothes and sent him far from your door. A chimney fire or the croup cough were terrifying. But Gibea’s trial or the siege of Enfast, those were different. They were like prayers, like charms muttered late at night when you were walking alone in the dark. Stories were like ha’penny amulets you bought from a peddler, just in case.”

13 - What element of writing/art do you struggle with most?

I have a very difficult time making the poses seem natural and flowing. My all time favorite art is Baroque/Renaissance style and how fluid the poses are, how soft the skin looks, how delicately it's all done. Obviously, I will always have my own style, but those are things that I so want to incorporate but never seem to get quite right, and it drives me crazy 😂

14 - Do you have any neglected work you really want to finish?

Not really. I mean, I have a ton of unfinished work, but as soon as the window of inspiration passes, I just can't get myself to care enough about it to finish it (insert Jake the Dog, “now it's gone, and I don't care about it anymore!” )

15 - If someone you know in real life (who isn’t involved in fandoms) asked to see your work, would you let them? If yes, what would you show them first? 

I would, and have.  I typically show them whatever most rendered recent picture from my Instagram because I don't post any nsfw there and usually try to post only my prettier work for this specific reason haha. (As opposed to here, I post everything here, ain't NO ONE from real life invited to see my tumblr 😂)

16 - Are there any writers (published authors and/or fanfic writers) who influenced your writing or art? Are there any artists that influence you?

Writers: Brandon Sanderson, for sure. He's the reason I got back into art back in 2017 ish. His stories are just so emotional they push me to create. Same with @saibug1022, there is always at least one scene from every story he shares that I desperately want to draw to try to capture the emotions. 

Artists: God, sooo many, here are just like my top 3 favorites and their instagrams.

Audra Auclair

Obsessed with her unique style, and specifically the way she draws eyelids and noses

f3lc4t

The way they draw those dripping, glowing wisps. I stare at their pieces for hours (no lie) trying to dissect them stroke by stroke to figure out how they do it.

Miho Hirano

Their art has a delicate whimsy-ness I would SELL MY SOUL to achieve 

17- Which one of your creations would you like to see a fiction written about? 

JC, this is the shit I DREAM of.

Definitely this one. 

So this is love.

This little comic means a lot to me. 

18- Do you write original fiction or create non-fandom art? 

Very rarely, but I do, every so often. This is my favorite original piece.

20-  What other hobbies do you have?

Gaming, singing, walking through the Cemetary with my wee daughter, reading, that's about it 🤷

21 - What’s your favorite emoji? 

🙇

22: BONUS - tell us anything you’d like (if you want to).

I really wanted to say that I don't believe in “good” art and “bad” art (just ethical vs non-ethical). That being said, I know what it's like to hate your art, like soooo intimately. If you ever are feeling shit about your art, you can ABSOLUTELY message me (I don't care if we're mutuals or not, I don't care if we've never interacted before) and just say, “I am feeling shit about my art” and I will go through your art and tell you every specific thing I love about it and why it's wonderful. I am not joking; I am so so serious rn. 💗💗💗💗 

[anneapocalypse]

I have really complex feelings about the idea (often implied or tacitly agreed to be true even when it's not stated outright) that realism in sex scenes (and specifically sex scenes in fanfiction because that's what I'm thinking about) is always preferable and desirable. That it's always better to be more realistic, and any kind of unrealistic or fictionalized portrayals of sex are inferior--or in some cases, worthy of contempt and an indication of the inexperience/immaturity/poor writing skills of the author.

I have mixed feelings about it because I do think there's a place for realism. There are things that add realism to sex scenes that I really enjoy. I enjoy watching certain characters communicate their desires and negotiate activities. In some scenarios I like seeing characters employ safer sex practices like barriers. I will always enjoy when an author takes the time to figure out a form of lubrication that's appropriate and believable in the setting! I can even enjoy when a character gets up to pee after sex before returning to bed to cuddle; it's a very human touch to the scene that can itself be comforting and enjoyable to read. I like it when people who have experience with certain types of sex create helpful guides to writing those things, offering details you might not think of or know about if you haven't had that type of sex. It gives authors more to work with! It's a tool. Realism is a tool, and one that can absolutely enrich scenes and make them more interesting and fun to read.

And at the same time, something really does rub me the wrong way when I see posts that express contempt for a realism gap in fanfiction and imply that anyone writing it that way must be a) stupid, b) inexperienced (while kind of implying that writing about sex when you haven't had sex is inherently a problem, which I object to fundamentally), and c) completely unaware that what they're writing isn't realistic, which kind of points back to A. It's less on the nose than it would have been like ten years ago, when a lot more people were willing to just come right out and mock "stupid girls writing stupid fanfic" (and all the assumptions that go along with that) but still... that tone lingers. I won't even get into some of the smug posts that used to circulate about anal sex that ended up coming across as "don't you know anal sex is GROSS" in a way that was kind of lowkey homophobic, intentionally or not. Nor am I going to get into the prevalence of queer people telling other queer people they're doing queerness Wrong (in fanfiction, in original writing, in life in general).

To bring a personal angle to this, I'm a nearly-40-year-old bisexual cis woman, married and monogamous, chronically ill, and with some lifelong undefined sensory issues that I don't have any kind of diagnosis for so I'll just call them that. For me personally, due mostly to sensory issues and some physiological quirks, sex can take a lot of energy. Sometimes it's just a lot of work! That doesn't mean I don't want it or enjoy it, or that my partner is failing in some way; I have an active and fun sex life with a very thoughtful and caring partner (and I am not looking for advice on this post, so let's not get sidetracked). There's just challenges! And sometimes I wish my own body made it easier!

So sometimes, when I'm writing smut which is definitionally for fun and primarily for me and my own enjoyment, I find myself caught between: do I want to make this character's experience of sex very realistic in a way that's relatable to me? or do I just want to indulge in the fantasy of sex being easy and low-effort?

At this very moment I'm having difficulty answering that question about some things! There's pros and cons to both, and I don't think either one is wrong. Because at the end of the day, my own enjoyment is the goal of this piece of fiction. It's self-indulgence either way. No matter what I write, these pixel people I'm writing about are not real and their sex scenes are still a fantasy. It's just a question of what kind of fantasy I want to indulge in.

There was a good post I saw recently about the fact that a lot of problematic tropes are problematic not inherently but by scale--in other words, because their prevalence reinforces ideas and narratives harmful to specific groups. And I will be the first to acknowledge that even in the realm of fanfiction--a sphere with relatively low impact on the culture at large--it can be frustrating to constantly run into the same tropes that we find unrelatable or just plain unenjoyable, whether it's rigid top/bottom roles or easy vaginal orgasms. I don't want to come across as like, scolding anyone for just being annoyed, or venting about that sort of thing. It's fine. Some people's forms of self-indulgence are irritating to me, and my self-indulgence is undoubtedly annoying to someone else. I also want to reiterate that talking about what is and isn't realistic in the context of fiction is fine and good and there's absolutely a place for it, and that I enjoy a lot of elements of realism in fiction. I just also want to leave room for fiction to be fantasy. I think that's okay. And everyone's gauge for just how much realism is enjoyable is going to be different. I think that's fine too.

[yourlocaldisneyvillain]

i would like to be in and foster an online environment in which discussions abt controversial topics can be handled civilly without ppl ganging up and sending an influx of anon hate. i think internet in general is a space where ppl love to be outraged and i want to challenge that. that's partially why i wrote this fic. i am tired of purity culture and of fandom/online hivemind. in a fandom where a lot of ppl clearly enjoy age gap ships, i say, what makes one better and more "morally correct" than another? what makes a sugar mommy au better than a college student x teacher fic? so many fics featuring dark themes are popular in this fandom (don't wanna name any names bc i don't wanna get anyone involved), but THIS is the one ppl are upset about?

i wanna ask a question -- is it possible to write a fic where ppl are NOT morally pure but still somehow manage to live and find happiness? why is it forbidden to explore those themes in fiction? when you look at ppl in real life and how weirdly their lives shape up, and how ppl are flawed and make mistakes and live unconventionally or sometimes immorally or unhealthily, doesn't that interest you? in a sense that you would like to read about it? explore what goes on in the minds of these ppl/characters?

ppl forget exploring a theme in fiction doesn't equate to condoning it in real life. each individual has to use their own best judgement when consuming a piece of fiction. i assume everyone reading my fic is an adult (as i write fics intended for adult audiences) and can form their own opinion.

i would like it if people could use their reading comprehension and critical thinking skills when reading my fiction, without me having to put up exact and specific 1826372929392 word disclaimers, so ppl's fragile feelings wouldn't get hurt. would it really be okay if i wrote in all caps before the story WEDNESDAY IS 22? you could have read the first paragraph and figured that out. i tagged it as teacher-student bc it's playing with the concept, even if they are not a student/teacher in the timeline of the story. i use implied underage sex as a tag bc in the 2nd chapter, and repeatedly throughout the story i reference larissa and morticia's relationship, that has occurred when they were underage. i mention that they engaged in sex. it is only mentioned, and not explicitly described. do you need me to write all of that out under the title in order not to send anon hate and clutch your pearls in disgust? or can you just read the story and decide if it's for you or not?

i implore you to read all of my works as a story, without attaching a moral judgement to characters' actions. if and when you do attach a moral judgement and form an opinion, pls remember those are fictional characters, and i am an author exploring certain themes bc i can and it interests me to do so. i want to write unconventional stories, controversial stories, romantic stories, funny stories, horror stories, i want to explore everything. everybody who reads is invited to look at them as a piece of fiction they can enjoy or not enjoy, and nothing more. i hope to take you on a journey that leaves you with something to remember, good or bad, but impactful.

from now on, i will probably write longer works and venture into darker themes (next thing i'm planning is murder mystery/thriller). there will still be fluffy pieces, but i just want to push myself out of my comfort zone. i would like to associate with fandom ppl who are open-minded and can read a piece of fiction without going ballistic. if you look at things black and white, you likely won't like my fiction -- and that's okay.

however, if for any reason you want to send me hate, you will absolutely be blocked. i am a person, and i do not deserve insults and rudeness in my inbox. it's easy to feel empowered and feel like you're fighting for A Cause (TM) and attach the Bad Guy etiquette to a single person. that can feel like you're solving something. esp when ppl accuse me of promoting actual p3dophilia -- that's a cause everyone can get behind. banish the evil p3do apologist!

i am a victim of child sexual abuse, that went on all throughout my formative years, and into my adult age, simply because i thought that's how it must be. that experience has scarred me beyond belief. i don't want to share the details. it's not smth i'm sharing for pity points, nor do i need anyone's sympathy. however, it is an experience that has shaped who i am, and perhaps for that reason, combined with other things, is why i'm drawn to certain themes in fiction. i don't owe anybody an explanation as to why i choose certain topics, but since there have been idiots in my inbox who have accused me of harming victims of minor sexual abuse, i feel compelled to say something. fuck you for using a group of suffering ppl to support your own flimsy arguments born out of puritanism and inability to cope with heavy themes in fiction.

you are absolutely welcome to CIVILLY discuss your opinions about the fic with me -- off anon, exclusively. but i know nobody will, bc this isn't about the actual contents of my fic, this is about the delicious morally righteous thrill of a witch hunt.

enjoy the fic. i will post next wednesday.

[theresattrpgforthat]

Hello! I’ve been following you for a bit now, and all of your recommendations have been super cool and interesting! If you don’t mind me asking, do you have any recommendations for really long indie ttrpgs? One that could match the length of dnd or CoD books, I mean. The specifics don’t matter as much, I just really like sinking my teeth into long game books like that.

THEME: Long Indie Games

Hello friend! Fear not, I have a multitude of long indie games to recommend for you!

Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine, by Jenna Moran.

Length: 578 pages.

The Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine RPG is the diceless RPG from Jenna Katerin Moran, author of the well-regarded Nobilis and an important contributor to Eos’ Weapons of the Gods and White Wolf’s Exalted RPG.

Chuubo’s is a special beast. I personally don’t know how one actually plays this game, but the book itself is fascinating to read. It has recognizable parts such as character skills, Health Levels, and XP, but I think I’d want to sit down with a physical copy to be able to properly read it and get a handle on how you play through a story. If you enjoy a challenge, or even just something enchanting and evocative, I’d recommend Chuubo’s.

Part-Time Gods, by Third Eye Games.

Length: 318 pages.

The gods of today are shadows of what the old gods possessed. Their power has been heavily diminished, and many choose to live a regular, mortal life, revealing themselves as gods only when absolutely necessary. The reason for this is twofold. First, fate doesn’t like it when the gods share their secrets with a mortal. Unless they are the god’s worshipper, terrible events and horrific accidents have a way of happening to the people closest to the god. Secondly, divine works attract creatures and monsters called Outsiders, created by the Source (after its capture) to destroy any god they encounter.

This is a game that’s on my TBR shelf - and it might stay there for a while, because this is another pretty lengthy book. I am very grateful for the index at the back of this book, because I think this would be pretty difficult to navigate. Part-Time Gods is set in the modern-day, but the premise behind your god-hood is very unique, so one of the first chapters is dedicated to telling you what exactly it means to be a part-time god, part-time taxpayer. The book also contains small pieces of prose set in the world, meant to give you a flavour of the genre and tone intended by the designer. I’m really interested in the concepts expressed in this game, and I hope I have enough brain space to read it in the future!

We Are All Mad Here, by Shanna Germain.

Length: 226 pages.

Jack climbing the beanstalk. The little mermaid finding her voice. Alice struggling with the madness of a place unruled by the laws of reality. The queen. The child. The woodsman. The knight. When you think about fairy tales, who do you become? Where does your imagination take you?

We Are All Mad Here is a tabletop game about fairytales and mental health, providing you with new options for the Cypher System while also creating a setting about visitors to a magical land called the Heartwood. In the fiction, only those who have had some kind of struggle that affects their mental health are able to travel to this magical land. Germain intends this to be a way to tell a narrative about mental health using allegory and metaphor. The Cypher system itself is pretty complex, and you probably won’t be able to play a game of We Are All Mad Here without the core rulebook, so it might be worth it to take a gander at the Cypher System Rulebook while you’re at it.

Coyote & Crow, by Connor Alexander.

Length: 484 pages.

More than 700 years ago, a massive disaster changed the course of history. The world was plunged into centuries of darkness, but the event also introduced the Adanadi — the Gift — a strange mark that appeared on all life. This mark would have an enduring impact on humanity. Centuries later, the Earth is healing. New, advanced nations have risen. Ancient legends stir.

Coyote & Crow is a pretty extensive and unique game, using pools of d12s pulled from your stats, as well as narrative beats such as character motivation, Gifts and Burdens to help give your character a personality. Because it introduces an alternate history and a drastically different future, the core book as a decent amount of lore to acquaint you with the city of Cahokia and the world that surrounds it.

This game has quite a bit of support out there, with adventures such as Stolen Heart, Laughter Lost & Found, and The Case of the Great Underwater Panther.

Impulse Drive, by Adrian Thoen.

Length: 242 pages.

Play a crew of misfits and scoundrels living a life of danger and adventure as they explore space and try to make their ship a home in a technicolor sea of stars. Fight dangerous organizations, investigate unnerving mysteries, and find trouble in a game that rewards you when your characters face their shortcomings. Grow your characters and ship with new gear and abilities as you discover and create the universe together, as a group.

For a PbtA game, Impulse Drive feels pretty substantial. It provides a quick primer on Powered by the Apocalypse games, and includes advice for the players as well as the GM. This might be because the game includes a lot of details about gear and vehicles, as this is a space game that cares what your party has on hand and what their ship can do. There’s also advice on changing the game, extra moves, and a roll table for mutations! If you’re looking to see how to play out a space adventure in a more narrative-focused system, you might want to check out this game!

The Shrike, by Alice the Candle.

Length: 162 pages.

The Shrike is a game about fantastical voyages aboard a skyship. It's inspired by Avery Alder's The Quiet Year, John Harper's Lady Blackbird, Italo Calvino, Ursula K. Le Guin, and utopian and dystopian fiction. It features four complete adventures (two multiplayer, two for solo play). 

This indie game is on the short side of this list, but it’s definitely long by indie standards. The author has provided 4 different adventures that you can read through, which will likely spark your imagination along the way. Interestingly, the voyages are placed in the first half of the book, while the information about Solo, Co-operative. and Guided Play embody the second half of the book. I’m not sure how I feel about this layout choice, but if you’re mostly looking for a book that you can read, flipping through the voyages might be more interesting to you than the rules of play.

Games I’ve Recommended in the Past

Lancer, by Massif Press. 431 pages.

The Wildsea, by Felix Isaacs. 364 pages.

Exceptionals, by Sahoni. 253 pages.

Gubat Banwa, by makpatatag. 399 pages.

Monster Care Squad, by Sandy Pug Games. 176 pages.

[separatist-apologist]

Your response to my message about WNGOOS was so interesting, and I hope my excitement didn’t come across as pressure, above everything I support authors writing whatever and whenever they feel like!

But it’s enlightening to hear you talk about how gwynriel fans can get pigeon-holed, and it’s strange to think that elucien doesn’t have the same fanaticism attached when we arguably have more canon characterization for both Elian and Lucien than we do for gwyn and az. And maybe that’s why? They’re easier to project upon because they’re more malleable? But at the end of the day, they’re still fictional and I can guarantee that the same folks who disagree with your interpretation of them will likely be disappointed with SJM’s actual canon characterization of them when the time comes too. It’s a good reminder to take all of this less seriously and enjoy the fandom and the fiction and the plotless smut and the smutless plot! And thank you for writing both so prolifically!! I know for one I read every word you write 😂 and will support you whatever you choose to do!

I think this happens in most fandoms, to be fair. A couple VERY well written fanfictions get dropped that are wildly popular, coupled with just the way people view characters and it shapes the interpretation of a character.

I don't think there is anything wrong with this, just for the record. I come from Star Wars and this runs RAMPANT over there. I think even for well established characters (please no one bully me but like, Dramione comes to mind), people create new thoughts and storylines and attempt to stitch motivations together in a way that makes sense. Other people enjoy them, they build upon them, and it becomes very popular (for a reason!), and a lot of people enjoy it.

Again, I don't want to speak negatively about gwynriels because I like both the ship and the people who ship it- and even within ACOTAR I see this. I see interpretations of Elain ALL THE TIME I'm like, cite your SOURCES, but its popular because people like this interpretation of her motivations, her potential, etc etc.

I also want to say that I think gwynriel as a ship feels difficult to write when you consider all the pieces you need to stitch together. They have a LOT of combined trauma that, when I was working on LIBTM, I found really hard to like...give a voice to? I think there are tons of very talented authors who have done a beautiful job with their characters- far better than I ever managed to- and deserve every inch of attention they've gotten.

And with all that out of the way, I do think if you really love a specific vision of a ship, and a person you like who writes a different ship steps in, you might be hoping to see that vision of it, too. I think for gwynriel especially, there is a lot of pressure to make it loving that also once existed in the elucien ship because of the outside criticisms. So we can't make it vaguely toxic, or enemies to lovers, or even tense because folks come in and are like "SEE EVEN THEIR OWN SHIPPERS THINK-" and I want to say that because I think it adds nuance and layers to how some of this happens.

I have done the same thing. Remember Exile? I wasn't afraid of other eluciens coming in mad at me hahaha. I was afraid of the people who stalk this blog 24/7 so they can write another vague I don't care about (but two years ago I cared SO much) (time doesnt it give some perspective) in which they paint with EXTREMELY broad strokes, as if a fanfiction I wrote is somehow speaking on behalf of every single person in the ship. Sometimes you just want to explore a dynamic, you know?

Anyway- all of this to say that I don't blame the people who felt like that, nor am I trying to victimize myself. A lot of my problems exist inside my own head. It would be a lie to pretend I don't want people to like the things I read, but I also get SO nervous when things get popular in a large way because I feel like I can't deliver the things people want and I'm going to let everyone down.

[the-fucking-cannibal]

Why do you make porn of child characters?

As Homelander once said:

Just kidding! 😆💕 But jokes aside dear anon, assuming you're referring to my Kaeloo content I'd like to take this wonderful opportunity to give you a little bit of context about this show (and it's characters) and why it's ok for fans who consume this type of media to interpret it however they want!

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The show "Kaeloo" is a category of media most commonly known as "meta cartoon" or "self-aware cartoon."

These cartoons are characterized by their tendency to acknowledge their own fictional nature, often addressing the audience directly and making references to the fact that they are part of a show, therefore breaking the fourth wall by talking to us!

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This means that the characters in the show are aware that they are fictional, therefore they understand that they exist within a TV show and that their actions are being watched by an audience.

Within the show, the characters often organize games, challenges, or events specifically to entertain the younger viewers.These activities are part of the show's format and are designed specifically with the child audience's enjoyment in mind. (Not because they're actual kids who only play games just to kill time, but because playing games is LITERALLY their job (as Kaeloo mentioned too), in order to entertain US, the audience watching).

Most of the things the characters do within the show are a form of acting. They are playing parts or roles within the games and performances. This adds another layer of fiction, as the characters are acting within the context of the show itself. The primary goal of the characters' actions and the show's structure is to engage and entertain the viewers and this allows the show to be highly interactive and dynamic! Plus the characters' awareness makes for humorous and comedic situations (like Season 3 ep. 17 or Season 5 ep. 24)

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The show also emphasizes the fact that the main four are often portrayed as older actors outside of the cartoon when they're not playing games or organizing entertainment for the kids during Meta Episodes. They also explain on behalf of the writers how it's hard for adults to be able to express themselves with darker topics while also managing to pass for a kids show to air on television, and that includes the stigma of animation still always being associated with children and not adults, and I believe Rémi himself wanted to express that struggle of expression through this cartoon.

However this topic really gives us a much more complex and interesting view on the characters' struggle too! We get to see Kaeloo and her friends trying to express their natural mature (and often explicit) selves while also struggling to keep their actions "kid friendly" in order to not traumatize or offend the children with their explicit undertones and mature language.

I see Kaeloo as an adult with a very responsible and mature approach with her awareness that kids might be watching them, and she often struggles with her fear that the adult topics they face and their actions may not be suitable for them, trying to ensure their safety all the time just like any other responsibile adult would!

But of course, if that isn't enough proof we also have a canon portrayal of what children REALLY look like in the show!

So long story short: No, I don't personally believe the main four are kids. Or at the very least, Kaeloo, Pretty, Mr.Chat, Olaf and Eugly definitely aren't.

But please anon, also keep in mind that this is just MY personal view and interpretation of the characters! Every fan is allowed to interpret them however they like most and there is NO right or wrong way to enjoy a piece of media or fiction! It's yours to enjoy! 🩷

Some fans are ok with picturing them as children that smoke, drink, make sexual innuendos and drive; but to me personally it feels more comfortable and logical to see them as adults!

(And on a side note, i truly appreciate the creativity and artistic talent that Rémi puts behind his work and the portrayal of each character. Being a nsfw artist himself, I really don't think he would mind knowing that every fan has a different and personal interpretation of his creations. He's a chill guy and hey, he has no problem drawing his characters in explicit/adult contexts, so why would it be wrong for some fans to agree with him? Adults are allowed to project too ahahah 🩷).

[your-lovely-rose]

Commission rules:

The rules are very similar to the regular blog rules, except that:

I am writing to only one character in commission - If you wanted to get the same thing/theme with the other character, you would have to make a second commission;

Prompts can be general or specific, but if you want to enjoy the work you get, please give me as much detail as possible. I want you to come out enjoying the piece that you are spending money on;

To write the original characters, I need a full description, that is: appearance, personality and backstory (if they have);

I only write a short* story - It will be a one shot, but if the story interests you, I can write another part (second, third chapter etc).

*I have no idea how many words a story could have and I have no upper limit in writing, so I'll just describe it as short.

⚠ I won’t do:

Nonfiction (I will not ghost write)

Scat

Phedophilia/Grooming/Child pornography

Real person/people fiction (RPF)

Poetry (not because I have anything against it - I just can't do it, I am deaf when it comes to rhymes)

• Pricing & Length

– Normal Commissions:

Up to 500 words commission costs $5 and this is the minimum. After that I count $0.01 (one cent) per word.

For example:

A 400-word commission will cost $5 as will a 500-word commission.

1k words = $10

2k words = $20

5k words = $50

10k words = $100

15k words = $150

If you give me a free hand to write I will be more than happy, but I have no upper limit where I finish writing, so it would be best to tell me at the beginning how many words to write. I'll try to adjust.

- NSFW Commissions (must be 18+):

Up to 500 words commission costs $10 and this is the minimum. After that I count $0.02 (two cent) per word.

1k words = $20

2k words = $40

5k words = $100

10k words = $200

15k words = $300

• Additional info/Extra Info:

Final payment upon completion of work.

I can use any work from any commission completed or canceled as I see fit.

I have the right to refuse a story if I am not comfortable writining it.

• Payment type:

I would prefer to supply payments on Ko-fi, however, it can also done through PayPal.

https://ko-fi.com/yourrose

https://ko-fi.com/yourrose/commissions

If you are interested, or would like to know more info, please send me an ask or DM. Thank you very much! I hope you have a nice rest of your day!

[franollie]

ok so back in december i posted some old marauders art i found in my digital sketchbook, and i said something along the lines of i want to make a post on the marauders fandom and how it’s changing fandom as a whole. and then i forgot about it. BUT BEHOLD! Fran’s study on transformative fandom through the marauders fandom! strap in because this is gonna be a long one:

I want to preface this by saying i have a lot of nostalgia for harry potter—more specifically the marauders—but i obviously do not support jkr and her transphobia.

reminder that I am critiquing the marauders fandom as a whole. as a w h o l e as in the collective fandom. not you specifically. okay?

now, if i remember correctly, the marauders fandom started because people shipped wolfstar and wanted to explore their dynamic in hogwarts. simple as that.

then, it came out that jkr was making blatantly transphobic comments. at this point in time, i had moved away from the harry potter fandom as a whole because i saw something shinier to hyperfixate on (hello sailor moon), so i’m foggy on the details in terms of the marauders fanbase at the time. but from what i understand people started pointing out the racism in the series as well.

flash forward to 2020–the marauders renaissance on tiktok. suddenly the marauders fandom was no longer just wondering what the 4 marauders + lily would have been doing in school. it had expanded to involve a diverse array of characters with agreed upon backstories. And it was really fun to dive back into the fandom. for many, it was reclaiming a series that held a lot of nostalgia to a lot of people from a bigoted woman.

however, i think with the rise in popularity of the marauders fandom—an entirely transformative fandom—fandom as a whole made a switch from creating fanworks out of love and respect for a piece of media to caring about the fan content first and foremost over the media itself. that’s not me saying that the marauders fandom is to blame for everything wrong with modern fandom—the lack of community, the complete disregard of canon characterization, lack of media literacy, etc.—but i do think the marauders fandom gave all these issues the little nudge they needed to take a deep rooted place in how fandom works.

when fandom becomes canon, it’s easy to ignore genuine problems within the fandom as “oh well its not really canon”. But thats really only true to a certain extent. Most people within the marauders fandom consider ATYD as the canon they follow when ATYD is in fact fan fiction. additionally, i’ve met people in the marauders fandom who haven’t read ATYD.

the marauders fandom is quite literally whatever you want it to be, and that’s fun but it’s not fandom in the traditional sense.

remember those new characters i mentioned earlier? well a large majority of them are women including many women of color. however, these women are almost entirely used as props for the boys’ stories and are entirely one dimensional. (lily is snarky and smart, mary is fun loving, marlene is a party animal, dorcas is cold-hearted softie, pandora is ditzy, but most importantly they’re all ✨girl bosses✨). that’s not to say these girls dont have potential for interesting stories or that no one writes them as three dimensional characters. but the fandom at large uses them as props for their favorite mlm ship. jegulus having more fics than jily (the only canon ship in this fandom) alone proves this point.

“but what about marylily/pandalily?” also great ships that i love, but they only really exist to get lily out of the way for james to be with regulus. thus, they are inherently supporting the internalized misogyny of the marauders fandom. i’m not disregarding people who do genuinely ship marylily and pandalily, but that is where the ships stemmed from.

first and foremost fandom is about loving the source material so much you’re inspired to engage with others who enjoy the source material. you can’t really enjoy fandom if you don’t know the characters or world you’re working with; kind of a “you have to know the rules before you break them” type of situation.

i could talk more on the internalized misogyny within the marauders fandom or how we can use the marauders fandom as a study on fandom in the modern age. instead, i’ll leave on this note: as i said before, fandom is about loving the source material so much you want to engage with others who enjoy the source material, and at the end of the day the source material for the marauders fandom is harry potter. and i don’t have much love left for a series that is transphobic or a fandom that doesn’t treat its women with the same care as it’s men.

to reiterate: i not implying that everyone who enjoys marauders materials supports jkr, in fact i’d go as far to say most marauders fans are actively against jkr. however, i feel uncomfortable in a space that fundamentally cannot exist without harry potter.

i have a lot of ideas for marauders stuff and i still enjoy these characters (namely dorlene and jily) but me including my versions of these characters doesn’t really solve the problem. atp can the problems even be solved? idk this got away from me, and i still have more thoughts.

so yeah! peace love and trans rights 🫶 probs won’t post much marauders stuff—not that i really did before but some of you follow me for marauders content for some reason???

[skuntank]

I like the idea of Diantha branching out into more villainous roles to take a break from her usual Pure Angelic Knight typecast. Especially makes sense considering the other two canon actors in Pokémon are best known for their villain roles, and could potentially play heroic roles alongside her. I’m curious, though, what sort of film villain do you see her being cast as? Noir, science fiction, fantasy, etc, there a lot of compelling options.

Oohh my god id love to see a role reversal sort of situation with Diantha being the villain and Brycen and Sabrina playing the heros ..... That's absolutely something I'm gonna chew on ....

Tbh I see her having an interest in all sorts of genres but she most often finds herself in dramas and romcoms, most often as the protagonist. I feel like those are the roles she's most expected to play, and like. I'm sure she loves dramas, and romcoms are like. Ok. In the junk food kind of way. But I think if she were to stick with one or two genres a lot she'd find herself itching to do something different.

I'd love to see her in a scifi flick. I think her audience would be very divided on her performance, some adoring it and loving her going so far outside of what she's usually in, and some thinking it's one of her worst roles ever (mostly just bc it's so different for her). Regardless of reception, I think she would have a blast with it or anything else entirely different from what she normally does.

This isnt really answering the villain part lmao sorry dbdjdb

The type of villain I see her really getting into in my head is like ..... The kind where their unhinged energy is just bubbling under the surface. I know I said it before but I really wanna see her go absolutely apeshit. I wanna see her lose her mind and like tear a scene apart and throw chairs and claw at her costar's character's face. I think it would be maybe a little startling when working with her to see her embrace such energy so easily and passionately and those who have worked with her on stuff where she's done stuff like that for a role come away from it with a bit of fear of her I think lmao

I think genres that might suit this best would be horror/thriller/suspence, tragedy, again drama, black comedies, and whatever a more introspective study on a specific character/person might be considered. Noir would be interesting for sure. Also just historical pieces, especially those focusing on the Victorian and Edwardian eras, the 20's, and probably the 50's? Idk btw I'm not a movie buff by any means lmao

I think these sorts of roles could probably be like your typical "woman scorned" archetype, I have a harder time seeing her in roles where the antagonist is evil just for the sake of being evil, unless it's like a children's movie or something. Tbh I think she would REALLY enjoy the roles where she can argue and debate that the character she plays isn't a villain at all despite them being listed as such. Or at the very least, even if they are outright a villain, they are either still an empathetic character to some degree, OR swing wildly into extremely over the top unhinged territory. I also see roles like fucked up matriarchs that are far too set in their ways and are an unfortunate part of the cycle in passing on trauma, black widow-types, vengeful spirits of those trapped in tragedy, ruthless criminals with a deceptively pretty face, characters driven by desperation, and the like being things she'd be stellar with....

The movie that keeps coming to mind for me is Pearl. Maybe not so much in terms of straightforward plot/character comparison, but absolutely in terms of raw energy. Or maybe you could make a one-to-one comparison and say "yeah I'd love to see Diantha in that specific role." She'd fucking kill it I think. Also fucking cast her in a movie about Lizzie Borden. God what a dream that would be. Also SUNSET BOULEVARD WITH HER AS NORMA DESMOND .... SIGN ME THE FUCK UPPP