#i have more rules for an rpg than for my religious practice

[townofcrosshollow]

Setting up my first solo RPG campaign!

I figure I might as well blog about my first real experimentation with solo RPGs, since I think some of y'all might be interested in it and it'll help me organize my thoughts. I'm just going to talk about my basic setup first, and I'll make some separate posts a little later down the line about the setting and the characters.

The tools I'll be using are the second edition of the Mythic GM Emulator and a cyberpunk adventure generator you can get on DriveThruRPG. I've printed out all of the relevant pages for reference, so I don't have to stick to my computer when I play!

For this little campaign, I'll be playing a custom PBTA hack I created about a year back. It does not actually have a name, but I'll be calling it Cybergnostics. It's a blend of cyberpunk and religious horror inspired by gnostic theology. The characters are downtrodden Heretics living in the slums of Arcadia beneath the watchful eye of the Church. It's got many of the typical trademarks of cyberpunk- cybernetics, gangs, heists, all that shit. Plus a religious twist. Keep your head down to avoid catching the ire of the militant Inquisitor force. Use mysterious cybernetic implants to open your brain to the truth beyond. Find gigs on the Aethernet through the mysterious Oracle. Tons of fun shit.

Rather than actually using all of the rules I created then, which are mostly just lightly edited versions of Apocalypse World, I'll stick pretty closely to the AW moves and simply mod them with some of the rules I created. Here are the big changes, under the cut...

Cyberpunk obviously requires some kind of mechanical skill, so I've decided that Sharp will encompass anything analytical and practical, while Weird will be replaced with Savvy to represent all things mechanical and cybernetic.

There's a new tracker alongside XP, and it's called Gnosis. It represents your metaphysical journey, and unlike XP, it can be increased or decreased in play through different moves. When the Gnosis gauge is full, it resets to 0 and you take a Revelation.

A Revelation is some dark truth about the world and the character's place in it that they've stumbled upon. Certain moves will allow them to walk these back and unlearn them. In addition, if the character's health gauge is empty, rather than dying they can choose to gain an Apocalypse- a dire, hopeless statement about reality which can not be removed once it's added. If you've got 5 Revelations (including Apocalypses) and would gain another, the character is done for.

Three new basic moves. Hack Into Something, which is pretty self-explanatory. Indoctrination, where the character can attempt to unlearn horrible truths about the world to reduce their Gnosis. And Appeal to a Power, where the character can request assistance from a higher being. I may also write a move for making a pact with a demon and for fixing shit, but I'm not sure yet!

Body mods. They're categorized as Aesthetic, Functional, and Psyche. Aesthetic mods are basically just for flavour. Functional mods have specific physical benefits. Psyche mods have more metaphysical benefits. You can only take as many mods as your mod capacity, which starts at 2 and can be increased with advancements.

My plan is to play several characters at once, as I don't think this will be particularly difficult for me and I would prefer to have several stable main characters rather than one and a bunch of NPCs.

The playbook concepts I'm thinking of going with for my characters are the Inquisitor (a holy lawkeeper inexplicably drawn to heresy), the Fake (a person with an addiction to cybernetics), and the Glitchmancer (one who wields their knowledge of reality to bend it to their will). I'm going to be fleshing out who they are and the world they live in tomorrow!

[asklepiean]

I’m tempted to start a new game in Skyrim or Oblivion.

Xbox 360 vanilla version - so no cool mods and no Inigo -, no main quest.

I’m going to roleplay my D&D halforc death paladin/grave cleric of Pelor and Wee Jas, so the run will be a pilgrimage (especially if I’m going to play the Knight of the Nine DLC), either expiatory or to become a paladin/cleric.

I’ll probably set some restrictions (I always end up with the archer thief if I don’t), so these are the options: 

TO DO

warrior build, sword+shield/two-hand weapons and heavy armor

using restoration/mysticism/alteration spells

level up at 25 at least

join the Imperials in Skyrim

eat and drink

keep few items in the inventory (most of the carried weight will be the equipped items and healing potions)

destroy the Dark Brotherhood in Skyrim

visit all the temples and altars dedicated to the Nine Divines

walk or travel on a wagon

help all the NPCs in need

if there’s a city or a village nearby, always sleep inside an inn, temple or guild; if there’s only an inn and the paladin doesn’t have enough money to sleep there, she won’t sleep at all (it builds discipline I guess lol)

NOT OK

fast travels or waiting

stealing and robberies

unecessary killings

pacts with daedric princes (exception made for Sheogorath in the Shivering Isles)

thieves’ guild and Sithis things

lycanthropy (cured as soon as the Companions’ questline is completed)

using black soul gems and doing necromancy

MAYBE-OK-MAYBE-NOT THINGS

punching annoying people

becoming a gladiator (it counts as training, right? right?) in Oblivion

obtaining the Umbra sword and not using it, unless necessary

making a pact with Malacath is possible, but only under specific circumstances (aka after seeing signs that I’ll decide before starting the game); starting Clavicus Vile’s quest is ok (obtain Umbra and run)

There’s probably more, but this is just a guideline.

If I’m going to do this I also want to make a sideblog - my paladin’s travel diary, with stories (maybe drawings? I can’t draw and they will be very bad) and everything she may find interesting during her pilgrimage. I wanted to do this years ago for my khajiit dragonborn, maybe I can start this project now.

[vintagerpg]

Chivalry & Sorcery (1977) is one of the early D&D-like games that sought to “fix” D&D. For Edward Simbalist and Wilf Backhaus, fixing it meant leaning into simulating a realistic world. That meant more to them than assigning numerical values to the heft of a sword and other combat oriented nuances. They applied it to the game world, making it one of the first RPGs to pull play out of the dungeon.

It has a heavy set of rules (making it not really for me, so keep that in mind when I talk about it) both for combat and everything else. “Everything else” in this case is broad, encompassing a simulation of medieval life, its customs, its religious practice, its social responsibilities and so on. Having rules for all this stuff is a burden that gets in my way, but for other folks, particularly in the early days, it was a much-needed framework that helped bring the world to life. Instead of existing underground, killing monsters and finding loot, C&S gave players more to do, more things to own and gave the risks of adventure more weight and consequence. NPCs back home depend on you! You’re building a life! Is it worth it to fight that dragon? Life outside of adventure is  important in C&S. Probably more so. And because so much of the world is expressed mechanically, it becomes one of the first RPGs where system and world feel inextricably linked (though it might be hard to recognize this in retrospect, considering how sophisticated those links become in the ensuing decades). Games like Bushido and Pendragon spring from and refine this idea, though Harn is the apotheosis of C&S’s brand of medieval realism.

The biggest problem for C&S was the fact that it was put out by Fantasy Games Unlimited, a company notorious for skimping on printing (each page of this rulebook has four manuscript pages on it, reduced to 25%, to shrink the page count,  saving money but making the game extremely uncomfortable to read) and shirking support. Most FGU games vanished soon after publishing. C&S struggled, but carried on — the latest edition emerged in 2020!

[stirpicus]

I don’t know if this is a stupid question or not, but did you grow up playing games or did you play any games when you were a kid? If so, and if you remember what did you own, and what was the first game you played? My first game was Mario Bros on the Wii. I asked because you said you wanted to be a “writer,” and that can mean anything, it doesn’t just mean video games. Did video games have anything to do with it? Did they inspire you to be a game writer?

Oh this is a fun one!

I was born in 1988 so I was still a pretty little kid during the heyday of the Sega vs. NES/SNES war. By the time I was old enough to start wanting a video game console in the mid-90s, my mom had witnessed her older sister’s kids go through 5+ harrowing (and expensive) years trying to keep up. From my mom’s perspective, it looked like a new console came out every year (at like $500 a pop no less!) and every time you needed to buy whole new games for it (which were also $60-100 apiece!). We didn’t have a ton of money, so she decreed that we would not be a video game console family at all and banned any talk of getting a Genesis, NES, SNES, whatever.

The one exception was my beloved grey brick of a Gameboy. See, that was only $100 and my mom was able to set the rule “It only gets played in the car.” I received that as a present in ‘92 or ‘93 and every dang road trip it was my everything. My games of choice were Kirby’s Dreamland 1 + 2, whatever lame movie tie-in games were out (I remember burning a lot of time on the tie-in Pagemaster and We’re Back! games), and Pokemon red when that eventually made it to North America towards the end of the 90s.

Now PC games, on the other hand... That was a whole other story.

My dad was an engineer at IBM so we had computers in the house before I was born. Some of my earliest memories are of punching in DOS command lines at our family’s computer to play Mickey’s Alphabet Adventure or Goofy’s Number Party. I had to copy the commands from index cards my dad left next to the keyboard for me because I couldn’t read yet. Consoles may have been banned in my house through the 90s but there was a whole world of PC games waiting for me to explore.

The single most formative game that I played on my family’s computer was The Secret of Monkey Island. No joke, that right there is the reason that I decided I wanted to be a writer. It was funny, it was exciting, all without any spoken dialogue - just words written on screen. (Ironically, I wouldn’t realize that “video game writer” was a job you could have until much, much later) That game led me to all the other LucasArts/Lucasfilm Games adventure games of the 90s which I played religiously. To this day, I still have practically every puzzle, every story beat of those games memorized. Last time I tried it a few years ago, I was still capable of running Secret of Monkey Island in less than 30 minutes.

But it wasn’t just adventure games that captivated me. I devoured games of every kind on my beloved computer and, when we got internet access in 1995, I became a connoisseur of shareware demos. For a kid without a ton of money to throw around it felt like I was let loose on an all-you-can-eat buffet... and eat I did. I probably played thousands of hours-worth of the opening levels of puzzle games, platformers, bizarre RPGs... Game developers in the early days of the internet seemingly threw anything and everything at the wall, hoping something would stick and become the new hit title. Particularly beloved memories from that time include Gubble and Rayman, beginning my love of games starring goofy-looking protagonists.

Around the end of the millennium we got our first computer with a 3D graphics card and, ooh baby, that was a whole new world of possibilities to get lost in. I had loved Rayman and now suddenly there was Rayman 2, which brought Rayman and his strange, wonderful world into 3D and I was entranced. There were even ports of the games my friends were playing on console! For the first time I could talk the latest games with my friends and I was in heaven. I think I spent more time playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 in 6th grade than I did sleeping, learning the perfect combos and technique to send my scores into the stratosphere on the wings of my manuals and bowl-grinds.

So all of this is a long-winded way of saying that, even though I didn’t have any video game consoles as a kid, video games have been a pretty deep part of my DNA for a long time now. I might not have figured out that “video game writer” was a job you could have until I was in college, but my deep love of the medium means I clicked in pretty easily.

This one was fun - Sorry if I wrote too much, ha!

[tanadrin]

untitled ck2-like rpg for a large number of players

This is roughly what my notes for this look like:

PLAYER CHARACTER

Character creation is a point-buy system like GURPS. Characters have four major stats--military leadership, administrative leadership, religious reputation, and secular reputation. The latter two are like piety and prestige in CK2, but mostly function as a kind of currency you can use to buy certain actions or traits--your actual reputation among other important PCs will be determined by what the other PCs actually think of you, so if you want to be considered trustworthy you’ll have to act in a trustworthy way. You also have traits, a rank, holdings, and a family.

Traits give you particular bonuses in leadership or combat situations, which might let you use special abilities or take special actions, but which also serve as a focus for roleplaying your character. These are traits like being a drunk, being a particularly skilled swordfighter, having one leg, swearing unusual oaths, etc. In general, they are fixed at character creation.

Rank, which goes from 1-7 (non-noble courtier to king, roughly), is roughly your degree of temporal power, and more directly your order of precedence and your privileges. Higher rank confers greater freedom of action, greater flexibility in organizing your realm, and makes it easier to change laws.

Family and holdings are inevitably more complicated. Family would probably be represented as an in potentia list of characters with only the points available for actual creation (if that character inherits your position) listed; you could also marry off family members, which would transfer them from your character sheet to someone else’s. Holdings represent tracts of land you control directly, and you derive annual income from them via rents, and can raise armies from them. Holdings track their level of development (”size”), and their productive population (”population”), both of which you can spend money to invest in, and population grows (slowly!) over time. Raising armies outside of the campaign season will seriously hobble your tax base come harvest. (This is the part whose complexity I worry most about, because it basically requires every player to have a public ledger of their holdings and changes to their population/income, and innocent math errors could really fuck things up.)

An important component of developing holdings is building defensive works; these are very expensive in terms of money and labor.

Monetary values are based on the Carolingian coinage (sous, denier, livres aka pence, shillings, pounds), because these were nominal units of account in much of Europe in the Middle Ages even when hard currency wasn’t available (and most rents were paid in kind).

MAP

The game has to have a map of some sort, either a uniform hex grid or some kind of Paradox-style province map, with each cell representing a specific holding. Holdings can be grouped into counties, duchies, kingdoms, etc, but this would be a mostly cosmetic thing. Characters all have a specific location on the map; you can only move a fixed amount per turn. This map could either be drawn by whoever’s running the game, or by players in collaboration. Once the map is drawn, you select your holdings based on your point buys. Then you have a setup round where players can band together into realms, choose a ruler, and set the initial laws of the realm (how succession works, whether vassals can fight wars with each other, that sort of thing).

RELIGION

Religion works a little differently. While any player can profess a religion, being a member of a religious hierarchy is a unique kind of role with unique political restrictions and freedoms. The head of the religion can set doctrinal requirements at the start of the game (though I envision mostly bland pseudo-Christianity and pseudo-Islam ripoffs, in keeping with the theme), and under certain conditions (if the religion permits) later make minor amendments to those, akin to ecumenical councils.

POLITICS AND LAW

Essentially a nomic within the game: governs how things like succession, distribution of land, taxation and the levying of one-off taxes, etc. work, with players within a realm setting their laws at the beginning of the game, and independent rulers with no vassals having sort of a default ruleset. If you want to create a parliament over which the king only has loose control, that’s fine; if you want to make your sovereign an absolute monarch, that’s fine too. Importantly, though, as in real life the law is not a magic spell that binds everybody: if the king wants to levy a tax, his vassals can refuse. They can even revolt. The important thing here is that power has to be a social game, and a key component even in a nominally absolutist realm is going to be making sure you don’t piss off your vassals (who are actual people with their own actual in-game goals!).

So the rules here should be very flexible, and mostly suggestive rather than prescriptive. There are no win conditions; you set your own goals.

OUTSIDE EVENTS

The GMs may want on occasion to spice things up by simulating things like invasions, barbarian raiders, plagues, natural disasters, or peasant revolts. These things in general should add opportunity and excitement, not arbitrarily punish players.

WARFARE

Armies are raised from holdings; whether your vassals join your wars will be determined by the local laws (and, probably, whether they like you or not and think they can get away with not joining). Armies have fixed move speeds. In general, two armies in the same map cell will fight, unless both commanders choose to avoid battle.

My temptation here is to say that battles and sieges are resolved via a Warhammer-like system of tokens and dice rolls, but that would be hilariously overly complicated--however, I want a system with some room for tactics and player leadership.

This is the least developed part of the concept.

Casualties in raised armies will be reflected in the reduction of the population of your holdings. Suffering numerous defeats in wars will greatly reduce the productivity of your land.

TECHNOLOGY

Don’t know whether to include this specifically. This will depend on the span of time a game would actually cover, which depends on both the nominal length of turns (month? season? year?) and on the practical length.

TRADE

Is something I want to include, but I have no idea how to do it sanely. Probably something very simple--represented as money flowing in from trade routes off-map, with specific holding improvements entitling you to a cut of that money, and the ability to redirect how it moves within your own territory.

ISSUES WITH ACTUAL PLAY

Organization of actual play is a big question. If it was all done online, via a forum or a subreddit, you could give everyone a couple of days to decide on the actions to take in their turn, submit those actions to the GMs (where necessary), and announce the results. In person, things would be a little more complicated. Obviously, decisions and actions concerning only one small group of players or one realm only really need to be decided within that group. Warfare and player locations probably needs to be tracked on some kind of central map, to avoid errors in recordkeeping and disputes about the actual situation.

GMing would be a job for multiple people, who would either take no or a small role as PCs in the game itself. Whatever the final ruleset, tweaks to the rules or the setting as agreed upon by the GMs or the PCs would be strongly encouraged, either to streamline aspects of play people didn’t want to futz with, or to transpose things to a sci fi/fantasy/axial age setting as desired.

[janspar]

The Sacred Sands of Naabeth

Extract from Fertas's Travels on the Narcine Sea

Lying in a sheltered harbour on the southern shores of the Narcinia, is Naabeth, a city of some two hundred thousand souls. This city is a major centre of trade and travel, but it is known primarily not for its produce, nor its piety, nor its palaces, but for yet another reason. Naabeth has elevated the art of combat to its highest form.

Where other cities have fighting-pits, theatres dedicated to mutilation and bloodletting, Naabeth's Sacred Sands ensure death is rare for gladiators, and allow fighters to accumulate wisdom and experience over many years in the arena. Unlike most other lands, the gladiators of Naabeth are not enslaved. It is legally required that any who fight in Naabeth's arenas must be free, and graduation from one of the city’s gladiatorial academies grants citizenship of the city to the student. It is not uncommon for enslaved fighters, victorious in other cities, to escape to Naabeth, seek a sponsor for their manumission, and fight to a life as a free citizen.

Naabeth is ruled by an Assembly of diverse voices – holders of traditional offices both ceremonial and practical, the heads of aristocratic families, and elected representatives of the free people of the various districts of the city. The city holds dominion over a large area of lesser cities, villages, and several nomadic bands, none of whom have direct voices on the Assembly, but are nonetheless considered to have some influence through those of their kin resident in the city's districts.

Unique to Naabethi gladiatorial culture are the Sacred Sands – blessed earth scattered upon the field of combat and imbued with life-preserving magic. Only the most grievous of blows will truly fell a combatant in a Naabethi bout, though particularly bitter opponents may agree to fight without this facility and chance the death of their rival – or themselves. The most famed gladiators fight in great arenas, of which there are three in Naabeth. The premier of these is on the grounds of an ancient temple, the cult of which is long forgotten, but it is here that the earth for the Sacred Sands must be gathered, and from here that they draw their power. This arena, known to Naabethi as the Temple of the Sands, is where the final combat in the annual Games takes place. While in other cities, a single style of combat may be favoured – wrestling, or spear fighting, or duelling with daggers and whips – in Naabeth, combatants of all disciplines can be found in the ring.

The gladiators are figures of public fame and renown among the Naabethi, often far more than their own politicians and elders. Indeed, the politicians and the gladiators may often form alliances – political factions seek the support of popular athletes and stables of successful gladiators in exchange for sponsorship. The current Grand Champion however, Gsuta, is known for her relative indifference to politics.

Visitors to Naabeth are advised to attend a gladiatorial bout, if not at the Temple of the Sands or the other two great theatres, then the lesser combats that may take place in marketplaces, temple yards, or other diverse locations. Some fans of blood sports in other cities are known to express that the reduced chance of death in Naabeth's arenas makes for a less skillful bout or less exciting spectacle. It is wise to keep such opinions unexpressed among the Naabethi.

Behind the Scenes

Naabeth is a city I created for an idea I had for an RPG campaign. It's currently setting-neutral, and could be adapted for any world or used in any game system.

My idea was to run a campaign where the players play as gladiators – but rather than slaves, as is typical in most such stories, the PCs would be professional athletes. As well as fighting in the arena, they would have to seek sponsorship, manage their careers, and probably get involved in intrigue. I was taking inspiration from the history of gladiators in the Roman world, from real-life combat sports and, more importantly, films and stories based on boxing, wrestling, or MMA.

I've outlined some details and facts about Naabeth below.

Naabeth

Population: ~200,000 people (primarily human, small numbers of other races)

Government: Assembly, led by Cyl Tsem.

The Assembly is made up of sixteen Speakers (publicly elected from each of the city's districts, representing the common people), twelve Houses (appointed representatives of the city's noble families, usually the head of the house or the heir), and twenty Officers (holders of titles and offices, including the High Priest of the Sun Temple, the commander of the Army, and the heads of trade groups).

There are three main political factions in the city.

The Wheel Party are seen to represent the common people, particularly the merchant classes and tradesmen. Their most radical members want to grant positions in the Assembly to the other towns and bands under Naabethi dominion.

The Tower Party are the party of aristocratic power and tradition. They finance large works to improve the lives of citizens, sponsor many of the largest games, and encourage naval trade.

The Cup party are the faction of labourers, and are supported by many of the ethnic factions in Naabeth. They seek to ensure work for the people of Naabeth and are opposed to punitive taxes.

The city government is not limited to these forty-eight people. The individual districts may have their own small councils, Assembly members have their staff, and there is a large bureaucracy within the Assembly Halls that carries out the day-to-day running of the city.

There is no official religion in Naabeth. Though most citizens nominally venerate the Sun, many religious enthusiasms as well as periods of relative apathy have overtaken the city. Most regional religions have a presence here.

Characters

The current Leader of the Assembly, Cyl Tsem, was a successful general in Naabeth's army before being elected as Speaker for the East Gate district. He represents the Tower Party.

Gsuta came to Naabeth at a young age to become a gladiator. She has reigned as the Grand Champion for several years now, and though she no longer competes regularly she has yet to be defeated in the annual Games.

Albec is the Speaker of the East Market district, allied to the Wheel party. He was narrowly elected after the death of the previous speaker, a staunch Tower man. His next election is coming in the next year and he is not certain to win.

Baniar represents House Temon in the Assembly. She took over from her uncle as he grew old and focused more on his own affairs of House and business, and Baniar is expected to assume these responsibilities to on his death. She's a member of the Tower faction but allied closely with many members of the Cups.

Tred Lam runs the most famous gladiatorial school in Naabeth. Near the city's docks and its western gate, it's often the first school newcomers to the city encounter. Lam charges a high price for enrollment, but is known to sponsor promising prospects if they impress him.

Locations

The Temple of the Sands is an ancient temple, dating to before the city of Naabeth was founded, and outside the original limits of the city. The blessed energies here are what give the Sacred Sands their life-preserving power. It's located in the north east of the city.

The High Field is located in the north of the city, overlooking much of Naabeth. It alone of all the Great Arenas stages fights between gladiators and wild beasts, and the owners are always on the lookout for new exotic creatures to use.

The Speaker' Arena is located in the south west of the city, It was built a century ago, after a campaign of public finance led by Speakers who would go on to be the basis of the modern Tower faction.

The East Market holds regular combats, some of the most popular lesser bouts in the city.

The Assembly Hall is on a square in the south of the city, not far from the docks. Several temples and aristocratic villas can be found in the neighbourhood.

Rumours and Hooks

Gossip in the west end of the city is saying that a great fighter, a champion among the nomads and the outlying forts, is preparing to make a move to the city and start a career in earnest.

A noble family is holding a feast tomorrow night, and their scheduled entertainment got badly injured.

A new cult recently arrived in the city is opposed to blood sports and is forbidding its members to attend the fights.

A Speaker and an army officer somewhere in the Old districts got in a brawl over the outcome of a fight. Some are saying the Speaker had gambling debts, some are saying the match was fixed.

Strong Turu offered Dergan a fight on favourable terms, but Dergan's stable wouldn't accept it. No one knows why, but Dergan hasn't fought in months now.

[impracticaldemon]

Tagged ~ Twenty Questions

I’m briefly resurfacing from a combination of writing and gaming.

Thank you to @kawaii-ash for tagging me, and apologies to @kurokiorya who tagged me in something similar ages ago that I don’t think I ever fully answered.

Rules: Answer the twenty questions and tag some people.  Alrighty then!

Name: Lost to the depths of time.  Apparently “The Doctor” is already taken, so I’l go with “Imp”.  My two online names of any note are Impracticaldemon (ImpracticalOni) and Impracticalmagic.  Which is odd, because (other than with plushies) I’m really quite practical.

Nickname: Little Demon, Chibi Oni, Oni-Author-sama

Birthday: November 15 (the “Ides of November”)

Zodiac Sign: Scorpio

Height: 5′2" (”Shorty” is not a nickname I endorse, but it has been used.)

Orientation:  To the best of my knowledge, straight/hetero-sexual/romantic 

Nationality: Canadian 

Favorite Fruit: Wild blueberries

Season: Autumn/Fall (the later part, after it stops being randomly hot)

Favorite Flower: I have a soft spot for Forget-me-nots, even though they’re “just” a wildflower.  The fragrance of honeysuckle and lilac.  The elegance of irises. Giant white chrysanthemums because they remind me of my mum.  Truthfully, I’m a sucker for nice flowers, although it’s taken a long time to realize it.  Roses are wonderful too.  Oh, and blue hydrangeas - they’re just cool.

Favorite Book: I have read and cherished many books, but I must admit that I’ve re-read the second book in Anne McCaffery’s Harper Hall trilogy more times than I can count. The early Anne of Green Gables books (the first two especially), will always be close friends.  Pride and Prejudice.  The very first Harry Potter (there’s nothing quite like the first book of a really good “magical world” series). Good Omens (Neil Diamond/Terry Practchett) is wild but amazing (highly recommended if you enjoy imaginative, intelligent religious satire and a really good story).  Georgette Heyer’s Frederica (regency romance with some of the best humour I’ve ever read).

Coffee/Tea/Hot Cocoa: Green tea (with lemon), English Breakfast tea, chamonile/peppermint tea, and hot chocolate.  Not coffee.

Average sleep hours: It varies from 0 to about 6-7, with very occasional days where I’m unconscious for 10 hours trying to catch up.

Cat or Dog: I prefer plushies.  I realize that makes me evil (the good guys always love cats and/or dogs), but somehow I’m not wired to love pets the way everybody else does.  This is one of my guiltiest secrets, and now you all know. 

Favorite fictional character:  At the moment, probably Saitou Hajime (Haku).  I’ve read an awful lot of books, though (not to mention all the PC and video games with wonderful characters), so I have a lot of "favourites”.  The person I wanted to be growing up was Anne from Anne of Green Gables - but I’m not.  I’m just not a “free spirit” like she is.  My absolute favourite character in the Marvel/DC universes was J’onn J’onnz (Martian Manhunter).  Talk about picking the most obscure of the original Justice League!  I’m a fan of Hermione Granger - oh, and Minerva McGonnagall.  ...and on and on...

Blog created: August 2016.

Hobbies: Playing otome games, playing various PC games (4X and RPGs, but also some puzzle and time-management games), writing, reading, tumblr.  These days mostly writing.

Top 3 Favorite Otome Games: That’s a surprisingly specific question.  Haku.ouki.  Probably Amnesia, despite it’s flaws--it’s the game that got me hooked in the first place.  After that I’d have to review the list of games I’ve played to make a decent choice.  I haven’t played any of the Voltage games or MysMe.  Honestly, Code Realize is probably #3 right now, but there are some very good independent otome games out there at the moment.

Fictional place you want to visit: Probably lots of places, but  right now I’m drawing a blank.  Something like Diagon Alley would be neat, but honestly, going to a Star Trek Next Generation type of future also  appeals.  So many of the places I want to visit would be dangerous or compel me to wear uncomfortable clothes.

Top 3 countries you want to visit: 1. I want to go back to the UK (I loved England, Scotland and Wales when I was there). 2. Ireland (I never got to see it).  3. I’d love to see northern Europe.

NOTE:  I’d like to go to Japan and Egypt and China and many other places with incredible historical potential.  However, I’m allergic to sun and heat.  So I’d have to find a way to go when it’s cold (more feasible for Japan and China, probably).

Top 3 favorite songs:  Sorry, I’m just kind of burned out and I love music but I’m horrible with song and artist names.  At any given time it could be some 80s stuff, or something new I happened to like from an AMV, or a song from a musical (Disney or Gilbert & Sullivan, who knows?!).  My musical taste is eclectic, to put it mildly.

I usually tag people, but today I’m feeling rebellious, so no tags!

[randomsplashesofink]

Character Bio #2

I recently got a chance to play in a one-shot of the Final Fantasy table-top RPG, but with a twist: the GM had an idea for Final Fantasy in space, so the setting was little more like your typical planet-hopping sci-fi than it was Final Fantasy.

For this game, I had to develop a character (always one of my favorite parts of table-top roleplaying) and I decided on a Mithra Chemist/Dancer (the GM had a house-rule where he let you pick two jobs instead of the usual one). I’ve decided to post what I wrote up about her backstory.

One problem I do notice, however, that I would definitely need to resolve if I ever actually played her in a full campaign, or used her in a fiction story/novel, is that she really has no goal. She has a motivation, to explore new worlds and seek adventure, but she doesn’t have a clearly-defined goal. I’ve seen some people get the two mixed up, or think that the terms are interchangeable, but they’re not, and having a clearly-defined goal for your character is super important.

If anyone actually reads this and cares, I can expound on that in another post, but for now, I’ll just leave that little mini-tip and go straight to the Bio.

And just a little aside, if you’re unfamiliar with Mithra, or the Chemist and Dancer jobs in Final Fantasy, it’s not really important, most of the stuff (like names, planet, and all that) I just made up anyway. I really like this character, and I may end up using her in some piece of fiction soon, I can just easily take out the Final Fantasy-specific stuff and it could easily just be fantasy/low sci-fi.

Name: Devi Iskandar

Race: Mithra (Female)

Age: 21

Appearance:

She is 5’6” tall, very thin and lithe. She has tan skin and light brown hair that she usually keeps tied in a single braid, that when brought over her shoulder reaches down to her mid-chest. She wears dark blue, soft leather overalls that end in shorts about mid-thigh. She also wears a pair of tough leather boots and dark leather forearm/wrist protectors. A long rifle is slung on her back, and a large canvas bag rests against her hip, slung over the opposite shoulder.

Background:

She comes from the modest coastal village of Revana, on the small world of Daevos. Her mother, Iliana, is a respected Vishana. A quasi-religious appointment, the Vishana in ancient times were responsible for performing sacred dances and songs designed to curry favor with the gods, bringing good weather, bountiful harvests, and good fortune. With the exception of the old-timers, who swear to its efficacy, most Mithra now view the performances as little more than a culturally significant art form.

When Devi was young, her mother made it clear that she wanted --and expected-- her only daughter to follow in her footsteps. To this end, she taught her several dances and insisted that she practice frequently.

Devi had little to no interest in being a Vishana. She was enraptured by the stars and longed to travel amongst them someday, seeing beautiful worlds and getting into exciting adventures.

Her chance finally came a few years ago when a handsome Human trader, who went by the name Tovin, arrived on her world and swept her off her feet, telling her tales of adventure.

Her mother didn’t approve, either of her leaving their homeworld or of her getting involved with a Human, and demanded that she forget such foolishness. So Devi elected not to tell her when she ran off with Tovin in search of another life.

    As it turned out, Tovin was really more smuggler than trader, though life aboard his ship was definitely exciting. It could be downright nerve-wracking, in fact. But it did teach Devi two important things: she was a decent shot with a rifle, and a little of her mother’s teaching must have stuck because Devi had a knack for performance. Performances that could distract and disable the unwary, more often than not; a skill that Tovin was more than happy to put to good use.

    Things continued this way for some time until one day a deal went bad, a former customer came looking for a debt to be repaid, Tovin got gone while the getting was good, and Devi was left indebted to the rival smuggler.

    Rynag, a Galka, was actually an ok boss, for a smuggler. He expected her to work for him until the debt was repaid, but he was kind enough, and even taught her a few things about repairing tech, ship-board operations, and her favorite, Alchemy. Rynag quickly saw that she had a knack for Alchemy and Pharmacology, and encouraged her experimentation.

    The attack on Rynag’s ship and crew came swiftly and unexpectedly. One minute they were docked at the refueling station, the next a hole the size of a Tankarian shuttle was blasted through the ship’s starboard side. Devi only survived because she was late returning to the ship as they were getting ready to set out. With little more than the clothes on her back, her trusty rifle, and a few items in her bag, she managed to stow away on another ship for a bit, until she was found out, and put off the ship at the next space station they stopped at.

    Since then, she’s managed to eke out an existence doing different odd jobs on the station, most recently in the employ of a casino. Her job is to use her performance talents to keep the patrons talking, keep them drinking, and most importantly, keep them playing.

    So far it’s enough to keep her fed and keep her in reasonably comfortable quarters (ok, it’s got four walls and a bed, but really, what more does she need?), but at times when she’s idly day-dreaming, she looks out at the stars, and still dreams of adventure.

[zee-cupcakes-personal-blog]

The thing(s) about modern vampires...

There are some reoccurring things that just... Bother me with modern vampires. Not that “Modern” vampire is a really good description, as vampire used to be a general term for the undead back in the day... But still, there are some trends that I see happening way more than I can ignore.

Be forewarned; this is my opinion and  I’m not ragging on every time these tropes are used. In fact, I can think of a good few instances when I like these tropes.

1. The Vampire society- My first exposure to this was World Of Darkness’ Camarilla in Vampire: The Masquerade. This society was divided into clans which basically was a substitute for the Race/Class system in other table-top rpgs. It made sense- it streamlined things. It gave people rules from the get-go and the people in charge of the Camarilla more often than not had a good human alibi to work on when they weren’t being vampires. Vampires still had to pay rent... Or taxes. Whatever- it humanized them.

But then we have things like the Volturi where... They simply seem to be there to establish rules? They also don’t seem to have a life outside from the Volturi being the Volturi? Who put these people in charge? Why are they still in charge? Just.... ??????

2. All vampires are gorgeous- Or more accurately; all vampires are young men with chiseled jaws, rippling abs and puffy brooding lips- and the women are always powerful vixens with an appetite for lust or emotional instability. Fiiiiffty-fifty bet it’s both of those.... WHY THOUGH?

The thing about this is it wouldn’t bother me as much if we had some more variety. I want a middle-aged mom vampire, or a skinny dork vampire. Especially if Vampirism effectively keeps someone the same age/physique for the rest of their days. It’d be one thing if a vampires appearance could change after they’re turned but... That’s not normally how it goes.

3. Hundreds of years old; acts like a twenty-something- Ohoooo this one bothers me so bad. It ranks right up there with the young character actually being centuries old-and still acting like a child... It’s one thing if they’re, say, stuck in the body of a child and have to act a certain way to not raise suspicion when talking to unsuspecting humans, but most of the time this happens to be their base personality and they act that way even in front of vampiric piers. 

Somehow this gets even more cringey when the vampires look as though they’re in their teens. ‘Cause nothing says “mature-hundred-something”, like hunting down the man who rejected your feelings for him a few decades ago because he got a new girlfriend. It’s dumb and shallow-- which brings me to...

4. Dumb and shallow reasoning- Everyone has lapses in judgement, I’ll admit that. We all make pretty dumb choices. The issue I have is where it’s treated like a serious manner? Okay, so you have a human girlfriend who knows your a vampire but you don’t want to turn her. If your reasoning behind this is “because I don’t want you to live like I do”, and you live in an above-average income house-hold. Maybe... Don’t do that? At least don’t use that reason and then go: “we’re fated to be apart because you will die”. Well of course they’re going to die. They’re human. You’ll probably die too, at some point. Either turn them and get over yourself, or be with them despite the fact they’re a weak and squishy human and you love them anyway.

And if there is a literal super-natural rival out there- what the heck are you doing? You have so much time to get over them and have a better life? Why are you hunting down random human chicks? OR STARTING CLAN WARS? Priorities, people.

5. Vampires not being monstrous- This is more of an umbrella sort of observation that’s taken many forms, but most of them start with the vampire insisting they’re a monster for one reason or another. Of course- we’re never really going to get any depiction of them- THAT CHARACTER- as a monster. At best we’ll get a vampire vs. (other supernatural being) fight to determine that they stand at about equal monsterousness- but we won’t ever see them compared to humans... And meta be damned if the humans actually have advantages against vampires.

6. Vampires have no disadvantages- Everyone wants to be a vampire. Why? They have practically no disadvantages... I mean, sure the person you like may not survive as long as you do, but only if they’re not a vampire as well. Even if they don’t- you’ll have centuries to get over them and find someone like them who may WANT to be a vampire.

Aside from that they don’t cower in the face of strong faith, holy water doesn’t burn the ever-living snot out of them, they can eat real food, drink the blood of animals instead of humans, the sun may-or-may-not affect them, but if it does it likely won’t end in simultaneous combustion... And then of course they don’t have to be invited into a home in order to enter, and they can probably traverse over water without their coffin, and certainly won’t be stopped or impaired by common house-hold items and religious symbols.

And there are no dead give-aways that you are a vampire, such as the stench of rotting corpses, hoof or bird-feet, glowing red eyes, physical impairments, long teeth (aside from the sexy kind), animals not liking you, and a general sense of unease you leave as you go to-and-fro living your undead lifestyle.