#indie 5-0

[independentartistbuzz]

Indie 5-0: 5 Questions with Amanda Daviner

Welcome to another edition of Indie 5-0, where we throw five burning questions at artists you absolutely need to know about. Today, we're shining the spotlight on Amanda Daviner, a Brooklyn-based dynamo. With a voice that could make angels weep and lyrics that dig deep into the soul, Amanda is the real deal. Her debut EP, "Catharsis," just landed and it’s a sonic journey produced by Oisin O’Malley and mixed by the industry legend Steve Lyon (Depeche Mode, Paul McCartney). Larry Flick of SiriusXM called her "a future megastar" when she appeared on his show. We agree! Drawing inspiration from icons like Bowie, Prince, and Fiona Apple, Amanda is a genre-defying artist who's stitching together the musical tapestry. Here’s what she shared with us:

Your music is described as a testament to the power of interpretive imagery. Could you share how you use this imagery in your music, and what kind of emotions or stories you aim to convey through your songs?

When I write music it is very much influenced by all the senses. I use the description of my surroundings to emulate my emotions. Many of the songs I write will reference nature and color to reflect my mood or state of mind. I also use metaphors to convey many ideas. Even the style is influenced by my emotions. I find that when I am feeling angry or frustrated, the songs tend to be more rock-influenced. When I am sad or vulnerable, I lean more toward Americana and Blues. I really just let those feelings come through the writing as a form of Catharsis, which is where the name for the EP comes into play. I’m involved in the production of both the music and the visual aspects when making video content as well so it allows me to really tap into all the senses. My goal is to share my experiences using all these avenues of expression so that the listener can feel like they are a part of my journey and they can reflect on and explore their own as well. You draw inspiration from a diverse range of influences, including legendary artists like Bowie, Prince, and Fiona Apple. How do these influences manifest in your music, and how do they contribute to your unique style as an artist?

Growing up I had influences from my family members from a young age. I listened to New Wave and 80’s Rock with my mom's side of the family and then I learned about Classic Country music and folk from my Dad. As I became a little older I started branching out, discovering things I had not been exposed to. I discovered artists such as Fiona Apple, Prince, Bowie, and Harry Nilsson and admired how they could seamlessly blend so many different sounds and textures into something new. I never liked the idea of sticking to one specific genre or being labeled because, as an artist, I didn’t want to be stuck in a box that limited my creativity. My favorite artists are those who march to the beat of their own drum.

You've had some notable performances and appearances in the Brooklyn music scene, such as co-headlining the Brooklyn Music Festival and performing at Vimeo's corporate offices. Can you tell us about your experiences in these events and how they've influenced your career?

These experiences were so exciting! At the time, I had never really been exposed to playing these larger events before and it enabled me to meet so many interesting people and musicians. The Vimeo performance was especially fun and the people there were great. I hope to explore even more avenues in the future. Getting out and playing for people brings this kind of energy you can only experience in front of an audience. It allows you to feel vulnerable and strong all in one shot. The best feeling is getting approached after playing for strangers and being told that something I sang really resonated with them and awakened an emotion in them. It is an energy exchange and you truly get back what you give. Your latest single "Fight the Fray," is out now. What was the inspiration behind this song?

Fight the Fray is a juxtaposition of the feelings of self-doubt

that you have when pursuing your dream compared to the natural high you attain from living it out. The song is a reflection on the determination it takes to believe in yourself and follow through with your dreams, no matter how hard or unattainable they may seem. Fight the Fray is about pushing past the din or the naysayers and focusing on the one voice that matters: your own. With great risk comes great reward but if those risks are never taken, how will we know that we did ourselves justice? No one is going to pull you through the hard times or hold your hand, you simply have to start believing that you are worth the outcome. Sometimes cynicism, pessimism, and complacency drive us to be stagnant but we can’t let the dark swallow the light.  Do you stand by as the story unfolds or do you grab hold of the tools and write the narrative? If you have what it takes to Fight the Fray, then find a way.

Your new EP, "Catharsis," is highly anticipated and mixed by renowned producer Steve Lyon. What can fans expect from this release, and how has working with a producer of Steve Lyon's caliber shaped the sound of the EP?

Catharsis is a cleansing of the soul, both metaphorically and physically. Part of the album was written during a time of my life when I was on a path of self-discovery and growth. A couple of the songs (Doll and Good Girl) were co-written with my previous writing partner, Adam Bishop, which brought a musicality reminiscent of some tracks that we wrote together in our band Dreams of June. You will hear that there are many deep and dark textures in the music. There are also orchestral aspects that I think really tap into that emotion. I recorded with a good friend and producer here in the States, Oisín O Malley. Oisín has tremendous attention to detail and helped write and shape many of those orchestral ideas and layers. He introduced me to Steve who completed these mixes in London. Steve is amazing! He really knows how to capture the rich sound and textures of my voice, and his mixes are incomparable. I am so thankful to know and be working with such talents!

Head over to her socials, give her a follow, and keep an eye out for her upcoming projects and if you live in NYC catch her live if you can.

Follow Amanda Online:

https://amandadaviner.com/

https://www.instagram.com/amandadaviner/

https://www.youtube.com/@amandadaviner6455/channels

https://www.facebook.com/AmandaDaviner

[detectivexsergeantxwilliams]

"I get Grace for Christmas this year, but that means she's with her mom on Thanksgiving. So now I have to decide what's less of a headache. Not going home to Jersey to see my folks and sisters and spend a whole three day weekend getting cursed out through the phone by angry Italian- New Jersian women or deal with Steve checking up on me every thirty minutes telling me information I about neighbors I forgot about that he's stalked because he likes to control far too much of my life like that."

[irl]

man

[justanimalsofficial]

Just Animals Issue 0, Page 5

My beta reader suggested I do this page without any exposition ^^ *** Head over to my Patreon where you can read the latest pages of Issue 0 three months ahead of the public starting at just $2 a month: patreon.com/JustAnimalsWebcomic *** Art by Ghost-Troupe

Posted using PostyBirb

[iamthedukeofurl]

Scott Pilgrim is, I think, the best example I can think of for establishing a setting's Nonsense Limit. The setting's Nonsense Limit isn't quite "How high-fantasy is this". It's mostly a question of presentation, to what degree does the audience feel that they know the rules the world operates by, such that they are primed to accept a random new element being introduced. A setting with a Nonsense Limit of 0 is, like, an everyday story. Something larger than life, but theoretically taking place in our world, like your standard spy thriller action movie has a limit of 1. Some sort of hidden world urban fantasy with wizards and stuff operating in secret has a nonsense limit around 3 or 4. A Superhero setting, presenting an alternate version of our world, is a 5 or 6. High fantasy comes in around a 7 or so, "Oh yeah, Wizards exist and they can do crazy stuff" is pretty commonly accepted. Scott Pilgrim comes in at a 10. If you read the Scott Pilgrim book, it starts off looking like a purely mundane slice of life. The first hint at the fantastical is Ramona appearing repeatedly in Scott's Dreams, and then later showing up in real life. When we finally get an explanation, it's this:

Apparently Subspace Highways are a thing? And they go through people's heads? And Ramona treats this like it's obscure, but not secret knowledge. Ramona doesn't think she's doing anything weird here. At this point, it's not clear if Scott is accepting Ramona's explanation or not, things kind of move on as mundane as ever until their Date, when Ramona takes Scott through subspace, and he doesn't act like his world was just blown open or anything, although I guess that could have been a metaphor. there's a couple other moments, but everything with Ramona could be a metaphor, or Scott not recognizing what's going on. Maybe Ramona is uniquely fantastical in this otherwise normal world. And then, this happens

Suddenly, a fantastical element (A shitty local indie band finishing their set with a song that knocks out most of the audience) is introduced unrelated to Ramona, and undeniably literal. We see the crowd knocked out by Crash and The Boys. but the story doesn't linger on the implications of that, the whole point of that sequence is to raise the Nonsense Level, such that you accept it when This happens

Matthew Patel comes flying down onto the stage, Scott, who until this point is presented as a terrible person and a loser, but otherwise is extremely ordinary, proceeds to flawlessly block and counter him before doing a 64-hit air juggle combo. Scott's friends treat this like Scott is showing off a mildly interesting party trick, like being really good at darts. The establish that Scott is the "Best Fighter in the Province", not only are street-fighter battles a thing, Scott is Very Good at it, but they're so unimportant that being the best fighter in the province doesn't make Scott NOT a loser. So when Matthew Patel shows off his magic powers and then explodes into a pile of coins, we've established "Oh, this is how silly the setting gets". It's not about establishing the RULES of the setting so much as it is about establishing a lack of rules. Scott's skill at street-fighter battles doesn't translate to any sort of social prestige. Ramona can access Subspace Highways and she uses it to do a basic delivery job. It doesn't make sense and it's clear that it's not supposed to. So later on, when Todd Ingram starts throwing around telekinesis, and the explanation we're given is "He's a Vegan" , you're already so primed by the mixture of weirdness and mundanity that rather than trying to incorporate this new knowledge into any sort of coherent setting ruleset, you just go "Ah, yeah, Vegans".

[malachitezmeyka]

Sometimes I wish I wasn’t 12 when I came up with Suiren and Midori cause why the fuck do both of them have Japanese names

[allpromarlo]

RAVENS 7-2 LIFE IS GOOOOOOOOD

[r0semultiverse]

Small indie artists in need of support for moving out by September!

💜 These lovely folks [@QuinsCurse (they/them) & @sswitchblade03 (xe/xem and he/him)] are part of a small queer-owned Youtube community I'm in. 💖

💖 If you could lend a helping hand by reblogging & queueing this post up until the start of September, I'd greatly appreciate it & I'm sure these fine folks would too! 💜

⚠️ Do not tag as d*nations or anything like that! ⚠️

"Hi everyone! Requests are officially closed as I am opening emergency commissions! Please consider supporting me as we are getting kicked out and have managed to find a place that’s affordable but need to save up 5k by the end of the month! Anything helps! I also have a dontations page if you are willing to help do that! All the money received from commissions will be going to the deposit! https://ko-fi.com/quinscurse/commissions https://ko-fi.com/quinscurse/goal?g=32"

⚠️ Do not tag as d*nations or anything like that! ⚠️

"https://ko-fi.com/sswitchblade03/commissions https://ko-fi.com/sswitchblade03/goal?g=0 EMERGENCY COMMISSIONS!! My roommate ‪@QuinsCurse‬and I are needing about $5000CAD for a down payment on a new place as we need to be out of our current place by September! Every bit counts! My goal is to be set to $3000CAD. I will draw anything (coloured and rendered) for $5 CAD each! If you are willing to give more it will be appreciated. Examples of my work below!"

⚠️ Do not tag as d*nations or anything like that! ⚠️

[wub-fur-radio]

Psychedelic Psounds of Pseptember 2024

Blowing in to town like a desert wind in a late summer California heat wave, Wub-Fur presents another rocking and eclectic streaming mix of new psychedelic indie rock music for your listening pleasure. Featuring hot hits and cool tracks by Ty Segall, the Shivas, Oh Sees, King Gizzard, Mountain Movers, Black Market Karma, Causa Sui, Meatbodies, and a half dozen more bands who know why the P’s are silent.

▶︎🎶 Listen on Mixcloud –or– Apple Music

Running Time: 1 hour, 4 seconds

Tracklist

Intro: Intro by Connections (0:13)

Can't Do That (5:21) — ORB | Geelong, Australia

Nightmare Song (3:09) — The Shivas | Portland, OR

Drug City (2:52) — Oh Sees | Los Angeles, CA

Field of Vision (3:33) — King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard | Melbourne, Australia

I Hear (4:29) — Ty Segall | Los Angeles, CA

Oozer (3:33) — Black Market Karma | Dover, UK

Dusk Dwellers (5:14) — Causa Sui | Denmark

My Holy Shrine (4:06) — Mountain Movers | New Haven, CT

Daisy (3:38) — The Silk RailRoad | Portland, OR

Noche Luna (5:05) — Pez Globo | Argentina

Anthropia (6:59) — Karkara | Toulouse, France

Rescue (5:41) — The Asteroid No.4 | San Francisco, CA

Psychic Garden (4:45) — Meatbodies | Los Angeles, CA

Aurora (1:26) — Valley of the Sun | Cincinnati, OH

All tracks released in 2024 (except, if you want to get technical about it, the 13-second intro, which is from 2018).

[paulic]

Ok this is what I think the biopics will be like for each Beatle:

John will be so troubled but in a really charming way and Julian will be mentioned but briefly and they’ll make it seem like John was just too busy to be a present father (Paul will make up for it in a vomit inducingly cheesy way). His eating disorder, heroin addiction and other internal struggles (self-esteem, sexuality, maybe even gender,…) will go unmentioned or brushed over jokingly like haha he tossed Brian off, don’t we all at that age. He’ll be the cool and funny older brother & later genius who just couldn’t be confined within a band. They won’t have the guts to call his bullshit and therefore will automatically brush over his kinder and vulnerable sides. He’ll be reduced to a knock off version of the tortured artist blueprint. They’ll never pick up on his pathetic wet dog vibe

Paul will be the charming good guy who’s all in with the band. No mention of how he fucked over Jane and every other girl until Linda; he’ll be a musical genius, too, but in a prince of the people sort of way. They’ll loooove that he stopped eating meat, woke king!!!! Linda will be brushed over by making her into his soulmate wifey who finally helps the charming playboy with a heart of gold settle down. His depression and alcohol problem won’t be mentioned/reduced to feeling a little sad. He’ll be a little bossy sometimes but they won’t ever get it right how fucking annoying he could be. Straighter than a ruler. John’s brother, almost biologically. No homo. They’ll find a way to make the twink who fucked the entire population and had an ego bigger than Neptune into a straight feminist

George will be the indie underground smart Beatle and people on tik tok will start posting thirst traps of the actor with the caption “they don’t make em like this anymore” and then complain about real-George’s teeth. He’ll be so spiritual and smart and he won’t have an affair with his best friend’s wife at all and if he does it’ll be because of some spiritual insight, not because that man couldn’t keep it in his pants for 5 seconds. I’m deadly afraid of the colourful drug scenes where he’ll hallucinate god. He’ll be the perfect boyfriend and Pattie will be played by Sidney sweeney or something. They won’t take a side with the whole George Or Paul debate during the breakup, but George will be too focused on other things to want to stay in the Beatles. They won’t mention the three billion songs John&Paul deemed unworthy. They’ll never do the grudges my man held justice. No one could

Ringo will be the funny guy who luckily survived his childhood and found his passion through a kind nurse giving him his drumsticks. He’ll play an incredible drum solo at 8 years old on his hospital bed frame the first time he ever holds those sticks. He won’t be in gangs, he won’t beat his wife half to death, he won’t have drugs and alcohol problems. He’ll be peace and love from age 0. He’ll be slightly stupid and he’ll mention octopuses too much. They’ll never get it right how he was truly the eldest and how much his vote and opinion actually counted within the band and how much the boys wanted him in the band and admired him. He won’t be a sort of glue to the band. He won’t marry a teenager he met when she was 16 and he 22. He’ll be a weird version of Ken from the Barbie movie, his job will be Drum. They’ll flatten a severely nuanced and layered man to a sheet of paper with the word ‘beat’ on it

I am too afraid to even think about what they will do to Eppy

Oh and each and every one of them will have way too pretty teeth and I am already furious. I want them to have British men in the 1960s teeth. Give me British teeth and jerking off together

[hollow-keys]

Comic book fans help me out I wanna see something

[pollackpatrol]

Question for nerds

Do NOT vote if you are not a comic nerd.

What counts as "indie" vs "big 2" (as waters can be muddied with Vertigo, WildStorm, etc) is up to personal tastes

[aannonn]

⭑.ᐟ˚⭐彡 // bold text , strong colors , spoilers

A TLDR about the podcast for those who don't really want to watch the whole 1 hour and a half video !! :> ( I had posted it here before but I deleted it cause I wanted to wait a bit until I finally 'completed' it (technically speaking 'cause I'm only really making a TLDR at what my brain stuck onto or else I may get burnout. (っ °Д °;)っ) so I wouldn't have to edit this post every time . . lol ... feel free to add anything else in the reblogs/notes though !! ^ _ ^ )

The Most Successful Stick Animator in the WORLD Ft. Alan Becker - Dojocast Ep.6

。─ ⭐ Animation vs. Animator/Minecraft Stuff !!

° . They have been working on AvA 11 for over a year ;; 20 minutes long ;; Probably the biggest one they have ever worked on ;; They are doing their best to push it as early as they can , possibly around early december or even late november // { 54:07 }

° . They have a Minecraft Short being worked on about BedWars ;; This one's been really complicated since they are using real Minecraft acting with stickfigures // { 54:56 }

° . Next thing coming up is a Three-Part series about Green ;; It's a surprise. lol // { 55:40 }

° . AvA is going to be atleast Three seasons ;; As long as AvA and Minecraft are popular they are gonna keep going // { 57:08 }

° . King Orange used to be King Gray for a long time ;; Alan was considering to make him a light purple for a while // { 58:10 }

° . Alan's favorite is The Second Coming // { 1:06:36 }

° . Alan had different ideas for the 'fight scene in the box // { 1:19:29 }

° . Animator vs. Animation was originally supposed to be a trilogy ;; At the end of AvA3, everyone was supposed to die ;; His senior year college Teacher, who knew about his animations, gave him the idea to continue the series // { 16:45 }

。─ ⭐ Alan Becker's Production Team & Other Stuff !!

° . Alan's biggest inspiration was his lead animator; Terkoiz = The same one who worked on AvPhysics // { 1:00:07 }

° . Alan is the lead creative ; Hatena is the line producer ; There are three project leads = One takes care of AvA , One takes care of AvM , One takes care of Everything Else ; The animators are not segmented into only a certain series , they work on everything based on their skill set ; Also a Production Assistant that helps Hatena takes notes // { 1:02:34 }

° . An advice for any animators struggling to break into the industry/studios be it Indie or major ones : TLDR: The best thing you can do as an Independent artist is post your work as much as you can, and eventually opportunities will land and you have to take them as they come. You have to put yourself out there; Get yourself into as many doors as possible, and just get to know everyone. // { 1:07:29 }

° . They got inspiration from BoxOfCrayons' Voices Plus Faces !! // { 1:15:27 }

° . Alan made Animation vs. Animator 1-4 completely on his own. ;; Animation vs. Minecraft was when he decided to experiment in having a team of animators, and he did it with the diamond armour as it was an extremely tedious process (he taught 5 animators to do that). ;; in Animation vs. Youtube, Stone and Oxob were the first two animators he trusted to animate stickfigures. // { 27:45 }

° . ABTV is basically a loop compilation of all the AvA/M videos they ever made ;; They are trying to make it fun by adding little transitions between the episodes like "you're watching ABTV !! ^0^" ;; Eventually it'll get to every single transition between episodes; Is unique // { 48:44 }

[justanimalsofficial]

Just Animals Issue 0, Page 5 Patreon teaser

https://www.patreon.com/posts/just-animals-0-5-105299190?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link Art by Ghost-Troupe

Posted using PostyBirb

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

what are your thoughts on the ministrife situation? imo literally the worst fate for eridan to be damned to tbh

i think he will eventually (after <5 minutes) just shoot cronus and leave. (CW for mentions of abuse and cronus's romantic grossness and stuff under the cut).

Ignoring the extremely creepy and gross fact that Hussie doesn't seem to have a problem with the age gap (it's There, we've acknowledged that it's creepy and weird, i personally think it highlights how immature the dancestors are despite their physical age, and it actually serves to hint at how trash they are, but it's still really uncomfortable in the moment and never gets properly called out. In any case we've talked about it critically, we can move on and talk about characterization now), he and cronus are actually kind of polar opposites. Given that Cronus, along with many of the dancestors, are riffing on what the fandom interpretation of their Alternian counterparts are, it's kind of a fascinating look at all the things Eridan ISN'T.

The fandom (especially at the time) had flattened Eridan down to "overdramatic Nice Guy hipster who won't stop hitting on people," with varying degrees of sympathy. In other words, they took all of Eridan's outward presentation - the narration calling his genuine anxiety and distress "overblown emotional theatrics," the fact that his being rejected was a running gag - entirely at face value, while also missing what sort of archetype he was actually supposed to represent.

At no point does Eridan ever actually mention a hipster interest, like vintage clothes or indie media. It's all entirely in his design and Karkat calling him a hipster (it's not even in his character introduction), so presumably, it IS a part of his character (Karkat knows him really well), but it's probably a part he keeps to himself, like his love of wizards.

Moreover, he isn't really a Nice Guy. The closest he gets is thinking Nepeta owes him a chance for saving her life, but as far as we can tell, he only ever asked her once, got rejected, accepted that rejection, and has never taken out that rejection on her. When he complains about it, he frames it as a bitter "I guess what I did wasn't enough," not "she's an unreasonable witch withholding romance from me even though I'm so nice to her." All other romance attempts are crimes of... just being way too forward.

He bursts into Kanaya's DMs demanding she auspicetisize with Vriska because... that's what she likes to do, right? The same happens to Terezi in [S] Karkat: Wake Up. He comes on strong in Rose's DMs and after getting a little annoyance back, goes "wow, we kinda have something," and does not realize her blowing up his computer is a rejection because she didn't explicitly tell him no and he's a dumbass. And even though he's nasty at Sollux because emotionally, he's still bitter about Sollux "stealing" Feferi from him, at least CONSCIOUSLY he's recognized the rejection on both fronts and has repeatedly told Feferi that he has no more interest in getting back together with her, in spite of her recognizing that he's emotionally not over her. And speaking of Feferi, his confession to her is entirely genuine and respectful toward her feelings. At no point does he indicate that he feels like she owes him a date.

These aren't Nice Guy actions, they're "I have 0 social skills or self-awareness" actions. And also a little bit "due to my trauma and anxiety and desensitization to murder, I struggle to care about other people" actions. He's not even actually casteist or genocidal - I spent an entire essay arguing that.

But regardless, that's what the fandom ran with, in large part because they didn't bother reading between the lines. Ironically, like Eridan, they just believed what he told them. I don't even necessarily blame the fandom - at least part of this obfuscation was intentional, and a clever trick on the part of the writing. By highlighting Eridan at his worst, and having the narration be complicit in his self-delusion and mockery, the story is able to put the audience in the same mindset as his in-universe bullies - Eridan is dumb weirdo whose emotional problems are worthy of ridicule, not sympathy. Let's all point and laugh!

This sets up his meltdown to be more of a twist - even though his literal introduction is him killing something and talking about genocide, the very real danger he poses is forgotten both by the audience and the other characters because they've gotten so used to dismissing his feelings that they ignore his cries for help and the warning signals he gives off. And it makes his character more relevant and meaningful, because this happens in real life all the time - I'm sure we either all either knew, or were, the friendless weirdo at school who, upon reflection, definitely had either some bad shit going on at home or severe and untreated mental illness (or both).

The reason I'm bringing up this fandom misinterpretation is because, like a couple other dancestors, Cronus is very much a riff on the fanon version of his Alternian counterpart. Unlike Eridan, who's not actually casteist, but desperately trying to act the part, Cronus IS a casteist sea dweller who thinks he's better than lowbloods and land dwellers. Unlike Eridan, who seeks emotional connections with others, and accepts rejections, Cronus is only looking for some action, and keeps trying even well after he knows he's been rejected. Unlike Eridan, who's so consumed by anxiety and trauma that he's pretty much unable to function properly, Cronus DOES exaggerate his problems and explicitly leverage them for attention and sympathy. And unlike Eridan, who feels crushed under the weight of duty and responsibility, and tends to blame himself when things go wrong, Cronus refuses to take responsibility for anything, immediately blaming anybody BUT himself.

They're practically exact opposites, and this is, again, a clever trick on the part of the writing. It's an excellent usage of a foil: though superficially similar, the differences between these two really serves to highlight just how much Eridan is NOT the things that Cronus IS.

And it's especially interesting given that Eridan spent his entire life trying to emulate Dualscar, to the point of modeling his outfit after the guy. To him, it was not only his duty, but his inevitable fate, to wind up as Dualscar's successor. And when he finally meets the guy in person, his opinion is "even I think you're trash."

If that isn't a form of rejecting the values his society has told him repeatedly that he has to uphold, maybe in the service of perhaps setting up some sort of redemption arc or something, I don't know what is.

I've seen people point to this moment as kind of a hee haw funny one-off joke, look at how little Hussie cares about Eridan, but that's not what it is to me. You don't really need to say anything more about their relationship to each other. Eridan thinks Cronus (and by extension, everything Cronus stands for - and everything Eridan has tried to be) is garbage, but is lonely and friendless and desperate enough that he feels pushed into accepting it anyway. It's extremely consistent with his characterization and character arc.

So uh, yeah. Join me next time for more deep dives on how this funny innocuous thing in Homestuck actually Means Something.

[theresattrpgforthat]

SYSTEM OVERVIEW: Forged in the Dark (FitD).

I’m taking a break from my regular recommendation posts this week to talk about a few different indie ttrpg systems that have gained a lot of traction over the past few years - how they work, why I like them, and what kinds of games there are out there that use them!

I don’t think it’s a secret that I’m a big fan of Forged in the Dark games. I’ve sung the praises of games like Brinkwood, Slugblaster and The Wildsea time and time again, and I’m even designing my own FitD hack! So let’s talk about what makes this system tick.

The Action Roll

The core mechanic of Forged in the Dark games is the Action Roll. To do most things in these games, the player will have to assemble a small pool of d6s. These dice may come from skills, special abilities, inventory - it depends on the game, but you’ll usually have somewhere between 0 and 4d6 to roll.

When you roll, you look for the single highest dice (or multiple highest, if you manage to get two 6s). If your best result is a 1-3, you’re not going to get what you want. If your best result is a 4/5, you’ll probably get a success with a cost - whether that be harm, only part of what you want, or more trouble down the road. If you get a single 6, you do it - and if you get multiple 6s, you do it well!

What I like about this is that it’s easy to tell at a glance how well you do, and that the dice used for this system are the most accessible dice on the market. Not only that, the possibilities of a 4/5 are quite broad - you could have a consequence that is physical harm to the character, but you could also embarrass them, break their stuff, or just hint at bad things to come!

But Mint, how do you roll 0d6? Well, in particularly difficult scenarios, the player will roll 2d6 and take the lowest number instead. This originates from the progenitor of Forged in the Dark games, Blades in the Dark, which is meant to be particularly difficult and punishing.

Position & Effect

Another core mechanic of FitD games is Position & Effect. These are narrative tools that help the GM communicate to the players how dangerous the proposed plan of action is, as well as how likely the characters are to succeed.

Position is going to be Controlled, Risky or Desperate, indicating how much danger the characters are in, but also the stakes of failure. Failing a Controlled roll means you’re probably going to get out of there with minimal harm, or possibly a chance to try again. Failing a Desperate roll means that shit is going to hit the fan, and you’re going to be caught up in all of it. Risky rolls are somewhere in the middle, and considered the "standard" difficulty.

Effect is a metric for how successful your character is going to be. Picking a lock might not be dangerous, but if your character isn’t a thief and doesn’t have any lock-picks, they might not be very effective! Players can alter the effectiveness of their actions by changing how they go about solving a problem, using the gear they have on hand, or agreeing to approach the problem from a more desperate Position.

What I like about this is that Position & Effect encourage conversation and agency between the GM and the players. The players have final say over what they do, but the GM is able to communicate why they feel certain approaches may be more or less effective. The story is generative, and the way the rolls are adjudicated allow all of the parties to contribute to what happens next.

The Resistance Roll

Related to this conversation about agency is the Resistance Roll. If a player doesn’t like the consequence that the GM hands out, they can choose to Resist the consequences. They usually do this by rolling a certain number of resistance dice, and spending a player resource called Stress. (Other games use other names.) Depending on the consequence, the player might resist it outright or reduce the severity, but spend too much stress and you run into different kinds of consequences - whether that be Trauma (Blades), Trouble at Home (Slugblaster) or something unlucky (Antiquarian Adventures). Stress can be managed during a phase typically called Downtime, through various activities dependant on the setting.

I like this mechanic not just because it gives players agency, but also because of the Stress track tied to it. This is a player resource but it can also be a track pointing a change in the character, a chance to build in narrative themes, or a reason to role-play certain narrative effects. Many different FitD games use Stress in a number of unique ways, and I think tweaking this element can do a lot to determine the tone of the game.

Crew Sheets

This leads to the next bit of Forged in the Dark games that I really like - Crew Sheets. Similar to a number of other narrative games, FitD has character playbooks (which are kind of like character classes in D&D, but also are a carryover from PbtA games - I’ll talk about them more in the PbtA post), but Forged in the Dark games also have a uniting theme that gives your players a reason to work together.

In Neon Black, this is your local community, which both takes care of you and asks you for favours. In Moth-Light, this is your Pact, which determines not just your group’s goal, but also the tone and themes of your story. In Brinkwood, this is your Rebellion and the Faerie patron who is taking care of you - but it’s also the Mask playbooks that all of the players share, with special magical powers that help you fight Vampires.

Modular Systems

There are bits and pieces that also exist in FitD games that help define the experience. Clocks, for example, are abstract representations of looming consequences or player goals, and allow you to work towards a big pay-off over time. Factions can represent a changing social landscape, with friends and foes that you can turn to for help or strike out against in order to gain ground. Harm can alter how many dice you roll, or how effective you are when acting. These are interlocking pieces, but they’re not necessarily required.

Most of what I’ve covered in this post is not strictly necessary for a Forged in the Dark game. The Wildsea doesn’t use Stress or pre-set playbooks. Protect the Child doesn’t use Trauma. Scum & Villainy adds a Gambit mechanic that gives you extra ways to earn dice. Slugblaster changes how you Resist consequences, and External Containment Bureau moves the Clock mechanic to the front and centre, while doing away with Factions pretty much altogether. All of these games have enough pieces to be considered Forged in the Dark, but the play experience is very different, and each mod included, altered or dropped are usually choices that support the genre or tone of the game.

I’ve talked about a number of Forged in the Dark games in the past, but here’s a few more that I’ve got my eyes on.

Dusk Academy, by Skullery Maids, is a game about a private school for teaching magic to girls.

CRASH/CART, by Galen Pejeau, is a game about paramedics in a near-future California.

a|state, by Handiwork Games, is a game set in a strange and Dickensian city.

Girl By Moonlight, by Evil Hat, is a game about magical girls, mech pilots, and other larger-than-life characters.

There is a good list of Forged in the Dark games on the Blades website, and I've also got a Forged in the Dark collection on Itch.io!

If you are looking to make your own game, John Harper has released the Game SRD on the BitD website. These rules are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license, which means that you can create your own games using this system as long as you give appropriate credit to Harper.

What Forged in the Dark game has caught your eye? Let me know in the tags / comments!