#invisible sun

[madcat-world]

Solar FiArrow: Invisible Sun - Kez Laczin

[ttrpgcafe]

HOLY SHIT INVISIBLE SUN IS COMING BACK AND IT'S MY FAVORITE RPG OF ALL TIME PLEASE BACK IT SO I (or we, I guess) CAN GET THE WELLSPRING:

https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/monte-cook-games/invisible-sun-return-of-the-black-cube#top

For those of you unfamiliar with Invisible Sun, it's an rpg where every single player is a spell caster of some variety, each with their own unique way of interacting with magic.

The Vances are the most traditional spellcasters, but they eschew spell lists in favor of literally filling a grid with spell cards, representing their limited cognitive space being taken up by spells. They get more space, and literally bigger spells as you progress.

Weavers take two concepts and combine them to produce an effect, very much like Ars Magica or Mage: The Ascension, if you're familiar with those. They get the ability to combine more concepts together, and to have mastery over more concepts as they progress.

Makers are this game's artificer, and they have a robust system for making quirky magic items that have fun, interesting, unique side effects or downsides every time you use them. Their progression is the most straight forward by the numbers "the things you make are more powerful and you're better at making them" of the bunch, but the system lets you, for instance, make a gun out of the body of a dead(?) god, so I'll give this a pass.

Lastly, there are the Goetics, who summon and bind otherworldly creatures to their wills. This takes the form of a conversation and negotiation with your GM over what you have to do for your bound creature, and what exactly they do for you in exchange. If you've ever played a warlock and felt like patrons weren't a big enough deal, this is an entire "class" that lets those relationships (yes, plural) take center stage.

The entire system feels very much like Cypher system 2.0, with a d10 dice pool system with a straight forward level of difficulty to hit, very much like the levels of difficulty in base cypher system, just made easier to manage. It even uses the "I'm an Adjective Noun who Verbs" character structure from Cypher system, here made much more interesting by the addition of a funky little xp system.

Invisible Sun has one of the most interesting advancement systems I've ever seen: aside from normal, average, "you do a thing, you get xp" system, here called "Acumen" (used to increase your stats and skills) there is a separate xp system related to good and bad things happening to your character, called "Joy" and "Despair" respectively. You combine one Joy with one Despair to get a "Crux" which is the xp currency you need to advance your class and focus abilities. This incentivizes players to not only let bad things happen to them, but to SEEK THEM OUT, which is huge! Players often think they want to win all the time, but they don't actually want that, it makes for a boring narrative. This is one of the very few systems I've seen incentivize this story structure, and I'm absolutely in love with it.

Lastly, because the game focuses so heavily on Magic, it has the only system for simulating the ebbs and flows of magic I've seen done well! This involves "The Path of Suns" and the "Sooth deck" which is the in game name for a specific pattern of laying out what amounts to tarot cards that make magic dynamic, interesting, and unpredictable in a way I've never seen before, and rarely since. (Pathfinder's Secrets of Magic is the only other supplement I can think of, and that was almost 5 years after this game came out)

Anyway, I can't recommend this game enough, the systems are unique, the vibes are immaculate, and it's so fuckin WEIRD in the best way.

[dms-a-jem]

The Police - Music Videos/Promos

Part 2: 1981-1986

[ganurath]

I believe I should send an ask to you sooo can you tell me about any of your interests? Anything about them, I’d love to know!

The various web serials of Wildbow, particularly Pale, are what got me on Tumblr. Pale is an urban fantasy story that started out as a murder mystery before spiraling roughly 3.7 million words out of the author's control. It has... a lot. There's a lot.

Wildbow's current web serial is a alternate timeline modern crime drama called Claw. Unlike Pale, this one looks like it may be as short as intended.

I'm also active in three TTRPG campaigns. My IRL group is running Tomb of Annihilation, where I'm playing a Reborn (intelligent zombie) Barbarian trying to figure out the circumstances of his death... And how not to be killed by The Campaign's Plot. The online games where I'm a player are a Changeling game set in New Orleans where my character basically is The Big Bad Wolf... and rooming with a senile reality warper and a mute banshee. Oh, and the other game is Invisible Sun, which is like my webcomic and/or fanfic reading list in that it's impossible to summarize.

I try to get at least some Warframe time in on the daily, as it fulfills my "numbers go up" cravings with less effort and more consistency than writing fanfic ever did. Recently finished building Protea Prime! I group up with my IRL D&D group on Tuesdays for it until recently, as we've switched to Deep Rock Galactic.

Recently got gifted a Magic the Gathering collection by my DM, who wanted to be rid of the cards, but didn't have the heart to sell them. He knew that I'd either do so or play with them, so I've been resorting my multiple collections (mine, his, and that of my older brother who thought selling wasn't worth the effort) to see what was playable/sellable. Found a fuckton of both.

My interest in xianxia is limited to the Beware of Chicken series, which is much better than the name makes it sound.

...Tagging this post is going to be a bitch.

[allthedesiredusernamesaretaken]

... morning music ...

[brokenhandsmedia]

A good review not only tells you whether or not you might like something but gives an opportunity for an experience in and of itself. Edgar -- one of our two writers -- thinks back on some reviews that were, themselves, fascinating experiences, and discusses what makes a review worthwhile.

[poprocklyrics]

There has to be an invisible sun That gives us hope when the whole day's done

Invisible Sun, The Police

[rastronomicals]

5:21 PM EDT March 20, 2024:

Police - "Invisible Sun" From the album Ghost In The Machine (October 2, 1981)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

★★★★★

File under: Space Rock about The Troubles

--

[nat1volition]

there has to be an invisible sun - The Police, Invisible Sun

hey, red meridian sun / hanging over the edge of the great big one - Ry Ecko, Thunder Mountain

Some Klaasje bc I go crazy for her… oh she’s so complicated and the coolest mf around… my babygirl fr

plus another variant

[critlore]

Trying out a new colouring style with my Invisible Sun character, Aeryl. Shockingly, this is only half as creepy as they usually are.

[ttrpgcafe]

The last in my series of Moonbeam Posts (I swear I'll stop flooding your dash now, sorry!) I wanna talk about The Anywhere Door! I have a particular soft spot for Monte Cook Games, because almost no one else is making shit as Weird as they do on a regular basis in the ttrpg space. Not all of it is gonna see my table, but all of it made me go "god that's sick!" at least once. That's (one of the reasons) why I'm so excited about Monte Cook Game's new campaign! MCG stuff could really use a better spot light, and I can't wait to see what they do on moonbeam!

[the-flying-tora]

Watch "The Police - Invisible Sun - Lyrics" on YouTube

[poprocklyrics]

There has to be an invisible sun that gives us hope when the whole day's done

Invisible Sun, The Police

[thepathofsuns]