#is by getting rid of a genre's basic rules

[mermaidsirennikita]

I think what's often missed in the "why can't we play with genre and not write romance with an HEA?" conversation is that a lot of people defending the HEA are heavy romance readers who are very aware of the amount of money involved, and how the authors who pop off about wanting to be able to label their non-romance books romance are in fact... thinking of money.

Not solely money, of course. And that's not meant to be a critique--I'm a writer, I'd love to write books for a living someday. Money is important. I'm all about getting money for your work, and I've never begrudged anyone for writing to market, writing to catch a trend, whatever. Sometimes it can turn out badly, but if you want to make money it does have to happen (and often writers write to market, get big, and then write what they want... see Ali Hazelwood's Bride) and as long as you are writing a good product and enjoying yourself... I don't see the issue.

BUT. Romance is extremely commercially viable, and it has been especially for the last few years (though that hype has to die down at some point, dude--and I think the shift to romantasy is probably like, the last breath of the current boom, and romance will go back to its normal levels of popularity, which are still more commercially viable than many other genres). So when people (like me) see writers going "but why CAN'T I label my love story that doesn't have an HEA 'romance?"...

I mean. We know why lol. We aren't idiots. Why is it so important that your fantasy novel is placed on the romance shelves, in the romance categories on Amazon? Is it because these authors have a deep and abiding love of romance and just want to sit with the cool kids? Is it because their hearts beat for romance, and even though they wrote something that is not a romance (the thing their hearts beat for) they just are desperate for it to be there? Is it because they are SO DEDICATED TO THE CRAFT OF WRITING and SO EDGY that they MUST change genres, they MUST break CHAINS!!!!

No lol. It's because when you write a romance, you are much more likely to be recommended by the BookTok girlies reading ACOTAR (and say what you will.... those books do by and large, I believe, have HEAs for pretty much all of the core couples). You want that Fourth Wing bread. You are more likely to have access to an audience that spends more than other audiences do. You want access to an audience that also is, let us be real, less likely to be real misogynistic about your book than certain subsets of the fantasy readership.

And the thing is--sure. A lot of readers sincerely don't care. And good for you, why did your book need to be labeled a romance the--oh, wait. I see!

But the readers who do care and spend like, anywhere from $1.99-$35.00 on your book (look dude, I'm thinking about preordering a pretty copy of the next Kerri Mansicalco, and I feel a LOT BETTER about spending that money because she specifically referencing HEA's when announcing her adult titles, and I APPRECIATE THAT A LOT ACTUALLY) only to find out that it's not the thing they expected... It doesn't follow the ONE RULE you expected it to follow because of how it was marketed...

The only time I've kinda come close to having that happen is actually when I read that book the new Anne Hathaway Harry Styles fanfic movie is based on. I was verrrry new to going back into the romance genre, and I read it expecting, based off the premise, that this was a fun, maybe a little silly, sexy book about a woman falling in love with fake Harry Styles. And she does. And guess what? At the end they rather randomly and suddenly break up.

And it kinda sucked.

It's also going to suck to see that book marketed as a romance as the movie comes out, but there you go, I've spoiled you, HORROR OF HORRORS I let you know that the thing you think is gonna be a fun little romance with a happy ending.... is not.

But yeah dude, imagine if I'd spent ACOTAR or Fourth Wing or Princes of Envy money on that book. I already felt kinda dumb for spending what was probably $8ish? It was a kindle copy. I could've gotten a fry-less sandwich with that money, back then!

So yeah. I just think that a lot of people want to be very condescendingly high-minded about PUSHING GENRE BOUNDARIES. And it's like... dude. Do you not think I would get my head bitten off if I went "well, I want to write a fantasy novel, but I don't want there to be magic... I actually want it to be revealed that everything is just run by computers the whole time, and the magical spell was actually a hologram, and I want that to be shelved and sold as fantasy"?

Yeah. Because I'm basically tricking people out of their money, lmao.

[thydungeongal]

My experience with playing ttrpgs is that the role of the "game master" in modern ttrpg culture often has the expectation of being something like a blackjack dealer or a parent hiding the eggs for the easter egg hunt. Playing strictly non-hierarchical skirmish combat games really opened my eyes to how much more fun it is when everyone at the table is just *a player* and nobody has a disproportionate responsibility to craft a satisfying play experience for everyone else. I haven't read much of the AD&D rules but I get the impression that at the genre's roots this wasn't always as significant an issue. Do you think rulebooks in the future can do more to roll back this assumption??

So, to my understanding older editions of D&D specifically inherited the idea of the referee as an impartial arbiter of the rules from wargames, so while in many ways the early days of the hobby were all about putting a huge party of disposable freaks up against a gauntlet of challenges, the DM's purpose wasn't to leer at you from behind the screen and go hoo hoo hee hee at each PC that died.

Now, these toxic memes about GMs and players basically being in a constant competition of one-upmanship have been around for a long time and I don't think we'll ever be completely rid of them, but they tend to come in waves. And there are people trying to actively improve upon the culture: my personal contributions mostly amount to reminding people that, hey, the GM isn't a special guy you can just saddle with all the work of learning a game, the other players at the table should also make an effort; the people at @anim-ttrpgs just made a post about what the role of the Narrator is in their game, Eureka (and why they picked the specific term Narrator); and at least on the indie side of things there is generally a better culture of treating the facilitator/referee/MC as another player who is there to bring the game and work together with the others to make a cool story happen.

This also means that it is our moral imperative to go "That doesn't sound fun at all, why would you do that?" whenever people tell us their stories of just shitting all over their GM's prep or punishing their fellow players for perceived infractions.

[enden-k]

I hope I'm not too late for this! (The wolf man and braid gay questions)

1. Their names

2. How do they play a role in your world

3. Who's their favorite person among your ocs

4. What genre of media would they enjoy (horror, romance, ect.)

ITS OK AHHAH

wolf guys name is iza (izayah) and braid guy is tay!!

iza is one of the minor characters but still appears often for comedic relief if u wanna call it that. he and his partner (mephisto) are part of the suits who organize/run the game (therefore theyre on no good or evil side but neutral ground) and theyre dubbed "cleaners" - their task is basically "getting rid" of rulebreakers (iza doesnt like his job). tay is part of the main trio and a participant of the game, on abels (pink glasses guy) side. hes taking care of the van, bike, anything other breakable (hes skilled w his hands when it comes to engines and all that stuff)

since theyre part of the suits, iza and mephi should be impartial and not help either side to victory.......they dont so they wont break any rules but considering iza is abels biggest fan its kinda clear who theyre secretly rooting for. tays favorite person are both his besties (abel and mars, the blue haired girl)

funnily enough, considering his role, iza is terribly scared of horror etc and a big enjoyer of romance (he cries a lot) and musicals (hes not very talented but a passionate singer nonetheless) or anything action (its just so cool) - on the contrary, tay enjoys splatter and creepy horror and abel and mars dont rlly know whats scarier, the kinda stuff he can watch unfazed or his cute friendly smile he keeps on wearing while watching (its always the seemingly pure, innocent ones huh.../j)

thank u for asking abt them!!!!!!! 🫶

[let-us-cultivate-our-garden]

Someone DM me insisting that Belos is a Hate Sink unlike Lord Voldemort because "their fantasy crimes are too unrealistic to be hated" unlike Belos who "is a human planning to murder all the witches, who are highly similar to humans." And I'm like, did you even read Harry Potter (I mean, there are legit reasons not to)?

"This fantasy wizard who is planning witch genocide is too unrealistic unlike that other fantasy wizard who is also planning witch genocide!!"

No seriously, it's funny because Belos and Voldemort have a lot of similarities and to say that one is more realistic than the other is absurd: Both are former humans who perverted and destroyed their bodies through the misuse of magic, both see their group as superior to another group that is just minding its own business, both seek to destroy said group because of that preconceived sense of superiority. Both even brand their followers with magical tattoos to signify that difference! The causes of their motivation are different but they are functionally the same.

Back when Harry Potter was the biggest fandom in the world, a lot of people made comparisons to Voldemort's Death Eaters to the Nazis; both are obsessed with blood purity and seek to rid the world of those they consider impure and to have their supreme leader rule everyone.

Like, it's really obvious.

The fantasy genre as a whole has an escapist element and a common plot that pops up a lot is the "diverse group of heroes set out to destroy the Big Evil trying to take over the world as Supreme Dictator For Life." It's an easy Good vs. Bad plot and if you add in how the Big Bad oppresses people based on physical traits, beliefs, etc. then you can easily read a political angle as well.

And honestly, really good and memorable villains will have that real world element to make the threat more believable and engaging for the audience: Voldemort is basically Wizard Hitler, Darth Vader is an authoritarian, etc. So the idea that a villain is so hated because their "fantasy crimes are too realistic" is laughable.

(Also, as a side note, it's really funny that that person said that TOH witches are really similar to humans while HP witches and wizards are literally just humans without any pointy ears to physically distinguish them from Muggles.)

I honestly think the reason why Belos is so hated is because of Hunter--full stop. If he wasn't abusive toward Hunter and people didn't project their own feelings onto Hunter and see how relatable his situation is, then I doubt Belos would get this much vitriolic hate. (We're also in this very strange time where some younger fans seem to think that liking a villain means you support their actions.)

I think that's the element of realism that triggers people the most; compare Voldemort to Umbridge, people can like Voldemort and not get flamed for it but EVERYONE in the HP fandom hates Dolores Umbridge. While Voldemort is more of a typically fantasy villain, Umbridge feels like a person you could meet in real life. She's a bureaucrat who takes over the school and enforces her oppressive and nonsensical laws with an iron fist. Power wise, she doesn't stand out from the other wizards but she has institutional power, which makes her terrifying as a villain. It's easier to defeat the one Big Bad and save the day but it's damn near impossible to destroy the System that makes little Umbridges every day.

Again, I think that what triggers people about Belos is how he treats Hunter not the whole witch genocide thing or "colonization" because the show spends more time showing us how much Hunter suffers than the whole Boiling Isles.

[mdhwrites]

You said before that Boiling Isles is basically our world but with more teeth, it's flat and flawed, also because there's tech in there despite already having magic that could do the same job. So I was wondering.

What would've made the world building more interesting? Or what Bl should've got rid of to not make it a copy pasted version of our world?

The short answer to this is that I don't really know. I will talk a LOT about why TOH feels like such a bare bones fantasy world but the issue is also part of its identity. There's a reason why I've also said that the writers feel like people who don't like fantasy who were forced to write a fantasy show. There's just no respect for the fantasy. And if that's where you're STARTING from for your fantasy world, there's already something wrong unless you're writing a full blown parody. And TOH is all too happy to borrow the easy outs that fantasy can give, especially to spectacle, to make that claim. It's just that if you don't have one side of the coin, your spectacle is going to struggle to feel meaningful. But let's first talk about the complaint. "Our world but with teeth." This is the fantasy equivalent to the horror genre complaint of "This is an action X but with zombies." Both effectively mean the same thing: It is wearing the skin of the genre but not understanding the draw of the genre. The core feelings and emotions and the like of the genre. After all, a scary design does not make horror. Dread, suspense, scarcity, disempowerment, etc. like that make horror. So that begs the question of what makes fantasy fantasy? Well... That's really hard because fantasy is INCREDIBLY complex. Yes, there's the version of wizards and goblins and orcs and elves and etc. but that isn't by any means the only version of a fantasy world. Magic can be limited to very few characters and it can still feel fantastical. You could in fact have ZERO fantasy elements and still evoke the fantastical and the other worldly through your story. That this is a new place with new rules. As an example, my favorite book series, Ranger's Apprentice, has very sparse actual fantasy elements outside of the first two books. And yet, I don't think it loses the fantasy title because of the titular rangers. How people react to them. Their reputation. Their limits and strengths that make them have the reputation of "One Ranger, One Problem." They're that effective at solving things and the joy in finding ways for Rangers to solve new problems is WONDERFUL. And a large component of that is that the myth of the Ranger, how the world sees the Rangers, is taken very seriously. Compare this to The Owl House. Outside of Belos, literally zero threat, if much of anything, is taken wholly seriously. Most of them, frankly, aren't magical. They may have a magical gimmick but they're a story that doesn't require magic. As an example, Tibbles' first appearance. Just swap it to the medication for Eda's disability isn't widely available right now, she has to go to the night market for it, she gets card sharked to give up King and then gets a gun put in her face. The only thing the fantasy elements adds is that you believe no one will object to Tibbles now owning a person.

And that's where the more teeth part comes into play. People are so much like our real world counterparts that it doesn't feel like a reasonably different culture. Just think about how Willow is introduced. Her strength in plant magic isn't what decided her path. Her path was decided because 'abominations have more career options'. It's a cute joke but like... Plant magic is TERRIFYING in most settings. TOH effectively boils it down to vines outside of one memory poison but think about all that plant magic can encompass. The sudden growth of potion materials. Pheromones and pollens by plants you make suddenly spring up. The hundreds of different poisons you can craft out of plants, OR THE ONES THEY MAKE THEMSELVES. But just from that one line, we're told that magic is incredibly de-emphasized in this setting. That it's so mundane that you learn what will get you a job instead of what you are capable of doing. Does the show do anything with that though? No. A LOT of S1 Boiling Isles actually has this feeling. This feeling of people being very mercenary and out for gain more than they are the wonder of their own world. It's shockingly similar to ours honestly and at first explains why instead of exploring the world, 90% of what Luz faces is some form of huckster or scam artist who's magic doesn't matter. I mean, just look at the twins. They have illusion magic which should allow them such a wide variety of options to mess with people and their grand plan for their sister? Steal her diary and share it with people. Yeah, that's... That's totally not something that could have just happened in a normal, school setting. Molly Mcgee has more fun with what you can do in those sorts of ways than TOH and its one fantasy hook is ghosts. Molly Mcgee is REALLY good though. I highly recommend it and I personally need to watch more. But let's back up to something you might criticize me on. While in Hooty's Moving Hassle, Eda's plot can easily be converted away from a magical setting, what about Luz's plot? Moving house, monster hunters, etc. like that?

Well, that's when we get into the other side of it: It's very functional. The Resident Evil games as they become more action oriented changed their zombies into versions that were much cooler to kill and fit into action rhythms. The horror elements no longer were something to care about but now bent to the will of the action verbs.

TOH does this with fantasy. The majority of Luz and co's plot line in Hooty's Moving Hassle isn't interested in the monster hunters or Hooty himself, enchanted by the magic. Those are to give action to Willow's anger towards Amity and to give Willow something to show how powerful she is against. None of this will be remembered. None of this will be called back to. None of this even portrayed in very interesting ways as the fight is effectively skipped at the end and yeah, they move Hooty but it's just for teenage hi-jinks. It's not bad but it's not special.

This extends to much more important episodes though. Teenage Abomination features Principle Bump putting the school into lock down with intricate runes and a complex system of magic. We never see anything like that again. The Power Glyph in Covention spits directly in the face of Luz's magic being special but it allows Amity to have a fighting chance against magic traps (another concept never brought back) that Eda places and for the emotional moment of her having been tricked into cheating.

Now this isn't to say that your fantasy/magic shouldn't bend to your narrative. There's a breaking point though. If the magic ONLY bends, instead of standing tall, it feels like a tool. It's actually part of what's important about early Hogwarts stuff in Harry Potter. Do the portraits need to be alive all the time? No. Do the staircases constantly have to be moving, especially when they aren't actually saving physical space? No.

But do you know what those things do add? They add the feeling that when a secret passage is shown to exist, you immediately believe it. This place is DRENCHED in unnecessary magic. So much of it defies logic because why the fuck not? This is magic. Let's have fun! So when you're told there's fifteen evil basements and roughly 27 BILLION secret passages, you just… agree. That is the world they've set up.

And I do want to mention that this isn't just in flowery ways. Dark Fantasy effectively asks the question of "How fucked up can we make magic?" What can you do with bones and blood that will just make a person's skin crawl? How much pain can we inflict on the mind because of pressure that couldn't be possible in any other way? What price is paid for magic?

TOH cares so little about its magic thought that it can't even keep something as basic as the spell circle consistent. Darius' abomination form has NO SPELL CIRCLE. Not even an attempt despite how strong that spell feels. He just focuses and casts. Why? I don't know. Probably because it's cool and it's less of a Danny Phantom ripoff than what you'd get with a transformation done with a circle. Most bard magic doesn't have spell circles for OBVIOUS REASONS.

And this doesn't need to be hard coded into its magic. Little Miss Rich Witch, my own series, is very loose with its magic. Instead it's through the society that I create the feeling of something different. The main characters are nobles, something we don't have as much of, and that fact permeates through their social interactions and the feeling of them not being just people from our world in costumes.

But with TOH... how many care about Luz being human? That she doesn't have magic or that the glyphs are special? She is a complete anomaly to this world and NO ONE CARES. It gets a little lip service by Amity and Eda but Boscha just calls it weird that a human is going to her school. She cares more about Luz being friends with Willow than anything to do with her being human or magicless. The glyphs themselves are purely mechanical even with little weight to most of them and little impact for those that do have weight behind their discoveries.

Or hell, how about the demons of the DEMON REALM? They act like anyone else and their biggest distinction is that if you're a demon, you're a villain or a background character. You're not pretty enough to be a part of the actual cast (despite Boscha being a bombshell but I mean... All she has is a third eye). The majority of character just look like elves but with only their magic instead of any sort of culture, ideals, etc. like that. When even your only two races in your fantasy realm are that basic... What's the point? Why not just them all humans with magic if that's effectively what they are? If they have no personality beyond that? And I know that's hypocritical of me since I wrote a 300k word behemoth that was exploring Luz, Amity and Boscha, two main characters and someone I elevated into have very real depth, inbetween S1 and 2 but that's also the thing: On accident, S1 appears to have a personality. Lots of questions about its magic that you may want answers to. Oddities to its world like teachers getting excited about kids fighting that stick out in the brain a little. And the setting is also just malleable enough that I could headcanon a LOT of different elements, like glyphs being linked to emotions and that causing problems with a witch's bile sacs so as to make them dangerous to witches but that's also why Luz is so powerful with them. S2 takes away SO MUCH OF THIS. The increased attention but also death of taking the EC seriously is a large part of this. Suddenly, we're being told that things like Child Endangerment laws have been in place since Eda was a child. Why is it like this now? The Savage Times were actually a utopia so now any negative element of the BI feels forced and incongruent for the simple message of "Belos bad" even while Gus doubles down on "ONLY ILLUSIONS FOR LIFE MOTHERFUCKERS!" So what could have been done? Caring. At all. But the writers hardly care about their characters and treat many of them like plot devices. Why in the world should we expect them to treat the setting with more care than that? Especially when King, arguably the most important character in the series, spends half of it as comic relief? And all of this doesn't even get into the subversive elements. I barely touched on how none of the threats arrayed against people are taken seriously for more than a minute besides Belos. But those elements themselves really push the idea that all is ephemeral. That you shouldn't care about any of it. That the moment you look away, it all vanishes. And one of Fantasy's greatest strengths, or the strength of any story, is to teleport you to new worlds that you can believe in. That feel real, despite the fact that you know they're not. And eventually, I found everything to be made of nothing more sturdy than cardboard with some glitter on it. ========

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[urfavtimetravelgirlie]

Time Travel Rating: Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure

Synopsis: A hilarious classic from 1989 (I tragically will not be talking about bogus journey due to it being less about time travel) where two boyfriends best friends from San Dimas California have to go back in time to kidnap historical figures to pass their history project. Basically, in the future, Bill and Ted are supposed to make a song so good it ends all global conflict, cures world hunger, and waters my crops. But this history project could result in them being separated, which would stop that from happening. So the future people send a man named Rufus to give them a Time Machine.

Type of Time Travel: largely Type 2 based on a scene where they plan to go back and steal Ted’s dad’s keys and they show up where they plan to have put them. This shows the time travel was always “meant” to happen.

Technicality- do they explain how the time travel works?

5/10. Bill and Ted’s avoids explaining the mechanics behind the time travel itself by putting time travel mechanics squarely 600+ years in the future, Rufus literally just saying it’s “modern technology”. That being said, we know that there’s a certain number to dial for each time zone. We know in order to go one day forward you dial one number higher. We know the antenna is needed for it to work. So we can follow the story well.

Purpose- why did the media put in Time Travel, and is it just a narrative cop out?

10/10. the movie revolves around time travel. It is a fix to the overall narrative problem but if anything the problem is an excuse (narratively) for the time travel.

Consistency- does it stick with one type of time travel, and are the pre established rules followed?

10/10. Good for a comedy as camp as Bill and Ted’s, the movie uses type 2 time travel*. This gets rid of any potential consequences to their actions. They are entirely consistent with this as evidenced from that incredible scene in the police station.

Genre- does it work with a larger message, and/or does it reflect the genre/themes of the narrative?

10/10. the genre is very camp and the time travel reflects that. There isn’t much of a larger message and there doesn’t need to be. What would Genghis Khan think of a baseball bat?

Fun- do they have fun with it?

10/10. this movie is so fun if you have not watched it you should. It is incredible.

overall time travel rating: 8/10 it’s so fun guys

*the time travel was always meant to happen

[archcambion]

Cambions have a weird history in DnD.

In 1e and 2e, cambions were the names of offspring between demons and mortal women. This lead to unfortunate implications... Or intended complications. Regardless, this didn't mean there weren't half devils, or that female demons couldn't have held mortal kids, half devils were just rare compared to half demons and the setting didn't bother to name them.

This was likely due to demons being impulsive with both binary genres being fertile. Demons may not plan on having offspring and descents but would jump at the opportunity to use them for their whims.

In contrast in 1e and 2e lore, only male devils were fertile and devils were meticulous planners and had full intention of using their children.

Of course the term for cambion is a umbrella term in in 1e and 2e.

We have baron cambions, who were offspring of demon lords and mortals. There were also true cambions, and those were offspring of a tiefling woman and a demon. Cambions, apparently, killed their mother at birth. Unless if you were a female offspring of a succubus. Then you were an Alu-Fiend and a woman.

This was the explanation why cambions were often evil, humans rejected them and demons thought they were losers. However, the lore never explains if the cambion child is dependent of a caregiver or more like demons in being born independent. I'm not a fan of any species killing their mother at birth due to the fact that this is usually written by people who don't realize unless the baby has a wet nurse before formula, the baby dies within days.

But for all my complaining, 2e cambions were not always evil. There was a 10% chance they'd be not-evil. I liked that.

In 3e, the writers decided was too damn confusing and everyone with a fiend father and mortal mother were half-fiends and generally regarded as cambions... unless if you were an alu-fiend. The only mention of demonic cambions was in an adventure module towards the end of 3e that was all about Grazzt being annoyed Lloth wouldn't be a booty call.

4e said fuck that, cambions were only offspring of devils as apart of Hasbro's idea to get rid of all the previous lore outside of the Forgotten Realms. Unlike demon based cambions, devil based cambions were adored and spoiled by their infernal parents. 4e was so hated that Hasbro moved onto 5e when there wasn't a lot of sufficient lore on why devils pampered their children beyond having more worshipers for Asmodeus... or anything else besides the bare bones, really.

In 5e Hasbro retconned the old lore back, though they did change the cambions to fit the 'let's make lore more simple'. As of this edition, any offspring between a fiend and a mortal was a cambion. Didn't matter. All were cambions. It didn't matter how much the mortal parent (male or female) attempted to help their fiendish child, that child was evil. So, the good news was that cambions no longer killed their mothers at birth. The bad news is that cambions according to RAW can no longer be not-evil.

Of course, this is all based on RAW sources and very brief and glib. Homebrew and headcanon is basically the true rule of DnD, but it's fun to know how things have developed since Gary Ggynax got super bored with his friends one day.

[blueprint-bunny32]

"I, too, have a destiny! This death will be ART!!"

✨ Introduction Post!! 🖌️✨

{Welcome to my account, my little bunnies! You can me Angel or Avery. I'm the owner of this beautiful acc. This post is my introduction and starter for my main muse and rules. When i am OOC - i use {} brackets, and prefer to use quotation marks and small paragraphs when IN character.}

{ OOC - I use They/He/It pronouns, while my muse uses She/Her pronouns. To make it simple; I am okay with basically any topic/genre of RP, as long as it isn't problematic and toxic. || i usually go for OC x canon stories or angst to add some spice to it, tho. || PEDOS/ZOOPHILES/PROSHIPPERS/TOXIC MF-ERS DNI!! || 16+ ONLY!! || }

Now. Onto my main muse!! Angel!

{Note: 2 of the images were screenshot redraws of Chicha. Angel has a similar facial shape but the same eyes as her.}

Name: Angel

Movie/Series: Emperor's New Groove Age: 18 years Gender: female Sexuality: Bisexual Pronouns: She/Her Height: 5"4' Body type: Curvy and chubby Personality: Hot-headed, sensitive, obsessive, clingy, artistic, (literally a mixture of her mother and she copies the emperor sometimes) Nationality: unknown Languages: English, practicing Spanish and Japanese

Voice claim; Brutus - The buttress

Mother: Yzma Crushes: Kuzco and Deo

Being born as the daughter of the Emperor's advisor (Yzma), Angel was kept a secret for nearly 5 years, but still treated like a daughter with love and affection, but also heartbreak and shouts of negativity. Angel was soon introduced to Kuzco to be his royal painter and 'best friend' when they were both around 6 years old. Kuzco didn't have much interest in her only because she was a servant and he was a literal child at the time. Yzma would discuss plans with Angel and try to force her to help out, but some failures happened. Angel has been verbally and emotionally abused by her mother but she still loved her with all her heart.

The older she got, Angel started catching on the manipulation, feeling like a tool. Confronting her mother at age 10, Yzma became more distant with Angel, but started to feel bad the more she was away from her. Trying to make up for her negative actions, Angel was already about 12-13 years old, and could see how similar Angel has become to her; hot-headed, loud, but holds a sense of fashion, and so forth, making this more difficult than it should be. At age 14, the two had made up a bit, tried to think of plans of actual mother and daughter hangouts and future plans…. But it became worse once again.

Yzma had paid more attention to Kuzco and tried to think what would be the best to get rid of him and make herself the Empress, Angel calling her out in a fit of rage and was… Kicked out.

Angel had to move away, and become a villager, restart her life, etc. She felt miserable, wishing her and her mother had a better relationship. Angel had started drinking shortly after moving into a village. She had been through a deep depression and caused harmed upon herself, physically and mentally. Her life (after the age of 15) slowly got better, but she still had a bad drinking habit. She met the village 'crazy boy', Deo, and the two clinged on to each other and connected right away, as if they were destined to meet.

The two would chat about anything, from Family, to weird thoughts, to even their crush on the emperor.

By the time they were both 18, Angel had gotten the summons… She was asked to be Kuzco's royal painter once more after he found out the truth about her. She agreed, but only if Deo was allowed to tag along. He was skeptical at first, but since Kuzco was a better person, he gave in and allowed it. Deo and Angel were going back and forth from the villages to the palace, living the dream.

{All information was copy and pasted from my notes - Hopefully it all makes some form of sense. I hope y'all like this and anyone who wishes to rp, feel free to comment or DM me.}

{Bye, my lil' bunnies!!}

[an-aussie-button-masher]

True Trailblazers - Five Classic Games that Defined Their Genre

   Everything follows a blueprint of some kind, right? Pretty much any modern game you play is part of an existing genre - they might introduce some new unique elements or mechanics, but it’s always on top of a standard style that’s usually been around for a long time…but something must have been the first. Where did these blueprints come from? Which games really set the standard for their genre? They might not necessarily have been the very first of their kind, but some games get the rules so right that everything that comes out afterwards follows their lead in some fashion. I’ve taken a look at some of the most popular and unique gaming genres of today and dug back into their past (some much further than others) to find out just which games truly stand out as the definitive trend-setters of video game history. Enjoy!

The Legend of Zelda    It’s dangerous to go alone on adventures, but fortunately Nintendo showed us how it’s done back in 1986 with The Legend of Zelda, one of the earliest action-adventure RPGs. It wasn’t technically the very first - that was Adventure (1979) - but Zelda streamlined the idea into what would become the modern RPG. It introduced staple mechanics like more open-ended non-linear gameplay, while getting rid of less relevant features like scoring points. Zelda gave us the genre’s major features by combining the item and upgrade collection and puzzle solving of adventure games with the reflex-based combat of action games - thus, the action-adventure genre. The original game may be simple and archaic by today’s standards, but the mechanics and ideas it introduced have become a mainstay of the entire genre, especially in future Zelda games.

DOOM    Modern first-person-shooters like Halo or Call of Duty have come a long way as they’ve become the genre’s current leaders, but no matter how far they go, it’s all thanks to good ol’ Doomguy. Back in 1993, id Software took the basic mechanics of their Wolfenstein series (e.g. the “camera” being the POV of the player character with just a gun barrel poking out in front) and added more varied environments, complex weapons, and brought us gaming’s most unstoppable demon-killing machine in DOOM. The game was such a genre-defining hit that for most of the 90’s, until the term “first-person shooter” was invented, similar games were simply called “DOOM Clones!” Even in modern shooters, you’ll find that the usual selection of guns are based on the arsenal used in DOOM - the basic pistol, the close-range shotgun, the bullet-spewing chaingun, the devastating rocket launcher, and so on.

The Binding of Isaac    Even random generation follows some rules, and a lot of these rules came from one sad little child in a basement. The Binding of Isaac was far from the first roguelite (a modern subgenre of roguelike games, which feature random procedural generation of runs with permadeath mechanics), but in 2011, the developers Edmund McMillen & Florian Himsl brought new twists to the roguelite formula that has stuck around ever since, on top of streamlining the usual mechanics to be more in line with modern RPGs. Isaac introduced a heavier emphasis on “macrogame” progression - certain aspects of a run, such as special currency or newly-unlocked upgrades, will carry over into future runs even if the player lost the initial run. Additionally, the massive collection of varied items and upgrades found in Isaac is now a staple feature of all roguelites. New roguelites like Risk of Rain or Cult of the Lamb may have introduced their own gimmicks, but they were added on top of the overall style of roguelite that Isaac set in stone.

Grand Theft Auto 3    What happens when you build a huge, open city, and put a hundred different things to steal and shoot at in it? You get Grand Theft Auto 3, the first true open-world sandbox. In 2011, DMA and Rockstar Studios took their old-school top-down GTA games and restructured them with the power of the state-of-the-art hardware of their time, creating the first fully 3-D GTA game and setting it within a huge, densely-packed world the player could explore at their leisure. They massively increased the scale and depth of the series, moving away from the mission-by-mission level selection in favour of the free-roaming map GTA is known for today. With greater player freedom and less restricted gameplay, players were free to go wherever and do whatever in whichever order they felt with no time limit; the plot was there to progress if desired, but there was also plenty of random other activities and collectables to gather in and out of your way if you chose to.

Resident Evil    You’re hiding from a monster with only one bullet left in your gun. The monster’s getting closer. How will you survive this horror? Look no further than Capcom’s 1996 Resident Evil, the best and original guide to the survival horror genre - it even came up with the genre’s name! You’re welcome to try and fight whatever monster or zombie horde is lurking around, but with the harshly limited resources at your disposal, it’s generally wiser to run and/or hide. Later RE entries introduced more action elements to the series, but the first game is the true survival horror experience with the bleak, oppressive atmosphere and the protagonists being easily overwhelmed instead of just being able to blast their way through anything. For an even spookier vibe, Silent Hill is one of the other best early examples of survival horror, adding elements of psychological horror to RE’s style.

   I hope you enjoyed this look at where a few favourite gaming genres all came from! Of course, there are dozens of other genres with their own classic roots - if you know of any other genre-setting games, let me know!   Reblogs and likes are much appreciated, and thank you for reading!

[sxnshxnxxnddxxsxxs-fics]

And your heart, love // has such darkness

desert island discs: point and kill

here’s the playlist

i don’t even know how much analysis i can do for this one.

this song is sipho black.

like it’s not even subtext the literal lyrics are just this girl.

“I do as I want, I do as I like

I no watch face, I no fear nobody”

literally the opening lines of the song, there are no rules for sipho black to obey, the standards for man are not the standards for her. she doesn’t get told no. now i am not nigerian so any nigerians feel free to come correct me but “i no watch face” basically means i’m not afraid of anyone, i don’t care about who’s looking at me or what they see, let them chat because that’s got nothing to do with me.

“Point and kill

If I want it, it's mine

You can't stop me”

in its most literal meaning sipho and the house of black are literally just so powerful and important that they literally just have to point at something and the rest of society are falling over themselves to accommodate them.

and these two motifs being the core of the chorus of this song i think really reinforces the way that the world revolves around sipho both in her mind and in actuality because people act as if the world does revolve around her. also the fact that she is very aware of it, there’s no bashfulness in sipho black she knows she’s the star of the show, she acts like it and she lives it.

“Family no go suffer, oh, inna my lifetime

Dey be fine, do am proper, no lie, lie”

one thing that sipho cares about is family. she’s been raised in a way that she is fully aware that she is the future of her house. she very much intends to live up to the expectations put on her.

“Snakes in the grass, no trust am

Point and kill any impostor”

this speaks to sipho’s bigger plans for the future (re chapters 9 and 10). now whether or not she’s right she is trying to get rid of what she perceives as a genuine danger to her community because she does truly care about her community and its future.

“Can't stop greatness, what's the point in tryin'?”

this type of endless self confidence is something that that i really wanted to imbue sipho with on a more meta level because it is the direct opposite of what society wants for black women especially darkskin black women. so she is self confident to the point of arrogant and quite a bit passed it. and what?

“It's the fact that everything I want is in front of my eyes”

there’s something to be said for the fact that sipho really does consider all her goals to be achievable because the girl dreams big. she’s aware that she will have to work hard and put in effort for the things she wants but never once does she consider that she might not get there.

there are actually more lines i can break down but i’ll leave it there for now because i want to talk about the song beyond just lyrical interpretations. sometimes i might be introvert is a phenomenal album and it’s one that plays with genre a lot to its absolute benefit. and the way point and kill balances rap with afrobeats it’s the sharing and merging of two cultures in a way that i think speaks to characters like sipho tracey and dean in a very important way. the instrumental of this song is so west african with this drum part underpinning the entire thing. the song is made for dancing for celebrating the instrumental says come and join us in celebration and the lyrics say we’re celebrating that i’m the best. then you add the trumpet melody that comes in at the end and trumpets in music generally represent triumph and victory and jubilation. this is a song that just says i am amazing and everyone loves me for it.

[demcnsinmymind]

full name: unknown/unspeakable, but 'Aza/thoth' comes closest to it in any human language

gender & sexuality: none, wtfsexual leaning asexual

ethnicity & species: primordial demonic outergod

birthplace & birthdate: outer space and beyond space and time, older than the universe itself

hometown & current residence: Lance's body / earth

guilty pleasures: reality tv, letting the occasional victim go

phobias/fears/weaknesses: no phobias or fears, though the body it possesses is a major weakness - that one can die of natural causes, illness, old age if it doesn't counteract that by any means

what they would be infamous for: insanity and overall chaotic energy, obsessiveness, excessive hunger, just being entirely creepy

what have they / would they have gotten arrested for: ending all of existence due to unchecked and excessive consumption of everything in its wake if/when not attached to human consciousness

character most likely to murder them: no one. It is primordial and exists beyond time and space everywhere all at once. Death has no meaning to it

favorite book genre: encyclopedias

least favorite book cliche: religious virtue saves all, booooooring

talents & / or powers: when unbound: omnipotence, omni-manifestation, telekinesis, chronokinesis, spatiokinesis, pyrokinesis, biokinesis, hydrokinesis, possession, absolute immortality, total destruction, reality warping, general manipulation

why someone might love them: Azzy is fun to be around. Apart from the demonic fuckery, gaslighting and manipulation, it's fairly easygoing and charismatic, and fun to talk to and go crazy with. Also if someone's looking to win battles and get rid of enemies - thing has power for a trillion lifetimes and will eat anything you throw at it. Enemy. Friend, you name it. Straight up eaten. Utterly and violently defensive if it cares about you, so can make you feel very safe and invincible

why someone might hate them: it has a huge killcount, is severely manipulative, and feeds off of mental anguish and power. It's basically a parasite/leech that will suck you dry. Also impossible to get rid of and beat, you can just weaken it/put it to sleep/piss it off, and that's not very satisfactory if you want it truly punished and gone. It does not differentiate. It doesn't care for friend, foe or enemy. It does not care. Period. Sooner or later, it is going to turn on you.

why you love them: it is just so much fun to write a chaotic jokester and jack of all trades. In a way, Az is a gray character, exceptionally chaotic and wtf, but it is not your typical evil. It's a force of extraterrestrial nature. Beyond the rules of physics. A black hole shreds and pulls indiscriminately. Does that make it evil? It's generally so very fun to write a thing so powerful and unhinged that for a very large portion, will be almost childish in a way. Asking questions, delighting easily. Toying with ants until setting them ablaze with a magnifying glass or in some horrid water/poison contraption. While also getting to write utterly unhinged, destructive and outright nuclear outbursts as well. The unpredictability and strangeness is just such a joy.

[nerdwhoauthorinserts]

AU idea 6/?

Title/Name: Lindworm!AU Genre: Romance, Drama

Selfship(s):  -Bloki (Romantic)

Trigger warnings?: -Forced marriage? -Brief mention of alcohol/familial abuse -Murder

Tropes?: -Forced marriage -Monster x Prince -Redemption through the power of love (With a side of cheese) -Enemies to lovers

Changes: -Timeline change. (Blake meets Loki after Thor is banished, but before Thor returns, during the time Loki is ruling Asgard. Blake gains the soul stone and his powers much earlier.) -The soul stone issue is way more prominent off the bat.

Basic plot:

The moment Blake was born, the soul stone called to him. It was constant, a droning thunder always present in the back of his mind, calling him to rule the universe. As he grew, many doctors would have their own silly theories about what was wrong with him; schizophrenia, dissociative identity disorder, etc. But from the very beginning of Blake's life, the soul stone spoke, and it wouldn't shut up.

For the most part, things were relatively normal beyond that, but it wouldn't stay that way. Blake died in a car collision, resulting in him meeting his true mother, Death, earlier than expected. Death sent him back, resurrecting him with his abilities, and the soul stone's voice only grew louder in his mind. The mixture of the soul stone's constant babbling and his family's ill treatment resulted in a night that passed in a blur. Being forced to drink alcohol by his father again, then getting into a fight with him that resulted in Blake changing into his true form; the Deathcat. By the time Blake woke up, he was wanted for murder and sitting in an alleyway.

Blake used what he had at his disposal, stealing a SHIELD issue rocket with his shapeshifting, and leaving Earth. Though not before taking a group of corpses with him, using his abilities to make them into obedient puppets. The soul stone egged Blake on to do more, until eventually, he landed on an alien planet, which he conquered through use of an almost zombie apocalypse-like strategy, adding to his numbers by taking out every being he came across, until they overwhelmed the living. The soul stone was sated for a time, but continued to push him toward doing so. It wanted more souls within it, more lives to add to its paradise.

Blake hopped from world to world, conquering, until he met Thanos. The purple titan noticed his soul stone right away, but Blake barely managed to escape using his army of corpses. It was here Blake realized the soul stone was embedded in his chest by Death, embedded so deeply, that removing it would kill him.

Blake eventually set his sights on a certain world, Asgard. An idyllic place where he could stay, in an easily protected pocket dimension. He snuck in using his shapeshifting, then set to work. By the time he was on Asgard's throne, most of the population was hiding out, while Blake reveled in his luck at catching Asgard right when Odin was in his Odinsleep and Thor was banished to Earth. Loki and Frigga were all that was left, and though they put up a very strong fight, almost beating Blake a few times, Blake's undead army and the soul stone got him the victory.

All might've been lost had Loki not offered a boon. Loki offering Blake anything he wanted in exchange for the safety of Asgard, Thor, and their parents. The offer intrigued Blake, and after some thought, he replied that he'd release his hold on Asgard in exchange for three things: 'I want a place to live in Asgard, I want safety from Odin and any others who may try to kick me out, and I want to marry Loki with no take-backs.' That last one was shocking to be sure, but after giving it some thought, Loki decided to play along.

Loki is trying to figure out how to get rid of Blake without bringing Thor back; knowing that if they let Thor handle this 'situation' it would only further prove to Odin that Thor was the 'better son', while also attempting to push back the marriage date as much as possible until they can think of a plan to fix this.

Blake, meanwhile, is content with this arrangement. The soul stone of course has something to say about it, and Blake expresses while they're alone that this 'arrangement' means nothing to them emotion-wise. It's simply a way to take root in Asgard so they can't touch him, and it will eventually be what brings the other stones to him, as well. It's a means to an end, entirely political and plan-based.

...However, there is an unspoken loneliness to it as well.

Extra info:

This AU is based on 'Prince Lindworm' and Beauty and the beast. Thus, the AU's title.

He ends up living in Asgard's wilderness.

[klikkat]

I like this analysis and it's very clever, but I think there might be some way in which it's incomplete - and it clicked when I thought about some of the other influences that characterized D&D's nascence. Namely, Robert E. Howard, author of Conan the Barbarian and Solomon Kane.

I think the problem with D&D orcs isn't that they're a poorly done take of LotR's Orcs, but rather that they're an uncritically straight translation of the barbaric savage from Conan, painted over with an orc-colored brush. And likewise, a lot of the seemingly-odd D&D choices, which don't emulate LOTR very well, can lead to a Conan, or Zothique, or Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, or Elric story practically by accident.

The OD&D progression from "wandering ne'er-do-well" to "leader of men" to "local lord" is exactly what Conan does - from a thief in Zamora exploring the spider-haunted Tower of the Elephant to a leader of a tribe of Afghuli bandits in People of the Black Circle all the way to king of Aquilonia in The Phoenix on the Sword.

The random wandering monster reaction chart can lead to incidents like The Scarlet Citadel, where Conan unexpectedly stumbles on an evil wizard trapped in the same dungeon that he is, and who helps him escape (a "12 - helpful" reaction) because the evil wizard hates the same guy who trapped Conan down there.

Red Nails is basically Conan and Valeria teaming up with one faction in a dungeon to help wipe out another faction basically because they ran into the first faction first, and because trying to eliminate either faction by themselves would be suicide.

His adventure to Darfar in Jewels of Gwahlur has no greater motivation than "I hear there's treasure in that dungeon and I want it," a purpose to which a great many D&D parties can relate.

And of course Conan isn't a man to shy away from a good scrap. In Pool of the Black Ones he starts by murdering a pirate to earn a place on their crew (and showcase how effortlessly badass he is), while Black Colossus' third act is clearly where the GM breaks out the mass combat rules to fight the assembled forces of the sorcerer Thugra Khotan.

So like, I think seeing D&D as an LOTR emulator is getting it a little off-target: D&D is a Sword & Sorcery emulator with elves tacked on and the savage cannibals replaced with orcs, and the disjoint this caused has haunted the series ever since. It's not that Gygax was aiming at High Fantasy and missed, it's that he hit Sword & Sorcery right on the mark - and kept all the unpleasant baggage of the genre at the same time.

(Solomon Kane, being set in a more modern world, is a lot less subtle during Kane's wanderings through Africa; The Moon of Skulls has a particularly solid demonstration of the "fast-breeding savage race overthrowing the superior dynastic ruling race and crudely aping their religion while descending into vicious barbarism and cruel parodies of civilization" in the descendants of the Atlantean colony of Negari. The presumption that some peoples are just generally evil and hostile and can be gotten rid of without guilt is dyed deep into the source material.)

I've talked a lot about the specific types expectations that post-TSR D&D encodes in its players and I do think it's funny how some of the stuff I talk about sometimes seems to feel, like, huge and revelatory to people.

"What do you mean not all RPGs assume the player characters to be an adventuring party that goes on adventures together? What are they even supposed to do if there's no adventure?" Assume that D&D is like an Avengers film, about a group of heroes assembling and going up against adversity to save the day. A lot of games are soap operas, where the players create the central characters, pro and ant agonist alike, and then they're thrown into a powderkeg together.

"If there is no challenge rating or similar mechanic, how is the GM supposed to know if a given combat encounter is something the player characters can overcome?" A lot of games don't have combat encoded into the game as an activity that characters are expected to partake in just to demonstrate their strength. In fact, if combat does happen in lots of games it's usually as a last resort and something that requires an active player choice for it to happen. You won't get ambushed by bandits who are willing to fight to the death for no discernible reason just so your characters can demonstrate their strength and get one of their daily intake of five combat encounters a day (or whatever number games assume these days idk).

"Wait, there are modes of play besides combat that can have deep and granular rules? How can such a thing even work?" It can and it rules.

[the-daiz]

Hellooo I was wondering if I could request a killua x reader where the reader is just like armin from attack on Titan? I’m not sure if you watch it(highly recommend if you don’t) but he’s basically a very intelligent person who’s kind of nervous all the time but is extremely nice and caring. But on the downside he isn’t physically strong so he can’t help much in battle. If you could can you do female reader? If not then gn is fine 😊 sorry if it’s confusing

Killua being friends with a reader who's like Armin (from AOT)

Genre: fluff

Paring: platonic! Killua x reader

Warning(s): -

Side note: helloooo! What a lovely idea, thank you for the request! I apologize, but like stated in my rules I only write gender neutral readers. Hope this is what you wanted, if not, you can send in another request with more detail!

Not proof read

You two complete eachother.

The missing half of the other!

You make up for his lack of intelligence while he makes up for your lacking physical abilities

It's quite refreshing!

Due to your anxious demeanor, killua tends to order your food for you at a fast food restaurant. It's not like you can't order it yourself, but you'd rather not.

He often acts annoyed whenever you ask him to order for you, but frankly enough he doesn't mind at all, in fact, he's happy to do it!

He doesn't like showing love through words, but rather through actions

If he's getting a choco bot, he'll get you one too

If someone is chasing you two, the first thing he'll do is throw you over his shoulder and bolt away (like physical abilities, you lack speed).

Does not tolerate people talking shit about you. He will threaten to take their life, but won't actually do it because he knows you won't like it if he did so.

After the first few times of seeing you read, he decided he'll try it out himself. He stole one of your books one day and attempted to read through it, but got bored (not half a page through) and decided reading was only a "nerdy people thing".

Killua gets awkward when it comes to showing any sort of affection, he isn't any good either with recieving it. He gets flustered whenever you complement him. Or even thank him for something. He isn't used to it and it doesn't take you long to figure it out.

Killua tries his best to hide you from Illumi; He's sure that if Illumi found out about you he'll try to get rid of you. Actually, he does his best to hide you from all his family.

Alluka is an exception of course.

He trusts you enough to leave you alone with Alluka and nanika.

Surprisingly, nothing bad happened when Alluka was left alone with you. Nanika never asked you any gruesome requests, thankfully.

Anyway

Even though killua would never say it out loud, he cares deeply about you and loves every aspect of you.

He would die before he loses you, and might consider sacrificing himslef in order to protect you.

[teethmafia]

This lack of escapism is why I think I have so much difficulty GMing in the cyberpunk genre. Its world ending problems are so much larger than a small group of individuals can address and are intended to just be unsolvable set dressing. The actual horrors of the apocalypse are systems that can’t be eliminated through violence against individuals by individuals.

(Spoilers for wolfenstein the new order/colossus)

This makes me consider some of the endings in the machine games Wolfenstein quadrillogy, which seeks to accomplish the saving the world narrative in a white supremacist global dictatorship that has armed drones, giant robots nazi dogs and roided out mutant nazi dieselborgs. the most realistic solution the resistance accomplishes is hiding and surviving in a stolen nuclear military submarine.

The first game (the new order) appeals to the reality of what a one man revolution might actually look like from superhuman BlowJob Blaskowitz’s perspective. At the end of the game, after Death’shead is thwarted he is mortally wounded and nukes himself to complete the mission. His death doesn’t rid the world of the Nazi occupation. It basically just gets rid of one giant building and all the fucked up evil experiments inside of it.

(Now I fully understand that this game series also has Jewish magitech and other science-fantasy rule of cool stuff in it.) But it’s events pertaining to human loss and this ending for our protagonist makes sense for the grim darkness of the premise. BJ is not a character above the struggle like the Doom Slayer, he is a character consumed by the struggle.

The second game (the new colossus) undoes all of that nuance to get BJ back in the Nazi killing saddle (wheelchair.) and this is where the series falls into fantasy problem solving logic for the sake of a neat and tidy player catharsis.

This game ends with the televised assassination of Obergruppenführer Frau Engel and a speech to an occupied nazi America. This sloppy and violent display of what would be considered terrorism magically results in a second successful organized American revolution against the Nazi world government. (It’s giving big banishing Elon Musk with magic to solve capitalism vibes.)

Even in the game following it (Youngblood), the post nazi American state just seems like a standard domestic Americana with a slightly more rustic vibe. If we assume this scenario was realistically possible at all, that version of America would be getting glassed by the rest of the global nazi controlled nations all the time. It would be a wasteland.

I bring all this up to say that It is really exhausting feat to run campaign settings where cathartic solutions to big problems actually create different more complicated problems that can’t be banished without becoming a hydra of complication.

I think this is why cyberpunk 2020/red/2077 describes itself as a game where you can’t save the world but maybe you can save yourself. (which isn’t very punk if you ask me.)

I think there is an untapped opportunity for TTRPGS to allow us to practice, simulate and inform radical ideas and praxis that can help us better our own real world. One day I’d like to develop such a game.

The World-Ending Threats Are Easier in Fantasy

I talked with a friend about this last night and I thought I could share this with you. We talked about Baldur's Gate and DnD campaigns, as well as fantasy in general and the tendency of a lot of fantasy to deal with world ending threats. And I thought I would share, because it is an interesting topic.

Spoilers for Baldur's Gate 3

In a lot of fantasy stories there are potential world ending threats. Sure, often enough the world is not literally gonna end, but it would cease to be the same world we know it to be. In Baldur's Gate 3 the villains basically plan for world domination. Or at least Sword Coast domination. But it is bad enough I would argue. Which is why in a good playthrough you got to stop them at all costs. So, in the end you defeat them, one by one. And then you go up to the big evil netherbrain and you kill that thing, too, after which the world is gonna be saved once more.

And themes like this are fairly common in fantasy. How many fantasy stories do you know in which the bad guy wants to rule over the world or reshape it entirely. Sure, it is fairly rare that the villain outright wants to destroy it - that is usually only something that "force of nature" villains want to do - but the fate of the world is kinda always on the line and of course the world tends to be saved by our fearless heroes.

For the longest time this went so far into that power fantasy aspect of it, that we never actually did consider how it would feal for those fearless heroes to have the fate of the world on their shoulders. Only fairly recently fantasy has turned more to dealing with the trauma our heroes would face during their quest to save the world, while having to kill and seeing their friends killed. In fact we are so used to heroes being impervious to trauma, that there are still a lot of people who will get very cranky when presented with a fantasy world where trauma does actually affect the heroes. (I just will remind you of how angry the nerds became to see traumatized Luke in The Last Jedi.)

But even so... the fantasy apocalypse is a lot nicer than the real world apocalypse, isn't it?

I mean that seriously. Because especially our younger generations do not know a world before the apocalypse. I am a millenial and I fairly well remember that moment when I was just 16 and realized how fucked the world was. Like, literally, I remember the exact day and time at which I realized that climate change was real and was going to fuck us all over. But at least I do remember a time before that. I do remember having normal winters and mild summers. Gen Z often doesn't.

And here is the thing: The real world apocalypse is not as easy to stop as the fantasy apocalypse. In the fantasy apocalypse it is fairly easy to stop it. Sure, the questline might be convoluted, but in the end it is "destroy magical item in vulcano" or "blow this one bad guy up". Once the main baddy has been defeated usually their troops will just give up - or remember they had better things to do.

But this doesn't really work in the real world. I cannot just go, assassinate Netanjahu and stop the genocide of Palestinians. And I cannot just take some magical item, throw it into mount Etna and stop climate change. And I also cannot throw Elon Musk into a portal and stop capitalism like that.

And sure, I do not have to deal with goblins, dragons, orks at the same time. Great. But... Like... We are all still getting traumatized, right? Like, we all get traumatized and especially between marginalized left-wing folks I do not know a lot of people who did not witness at least one violent encounter with evil goons (police).

And we are all traumatized. Losing a house in a wildfire is traumatizing. Seeing loved ones die of a pandemic the politicians are not taking seriously is traumatizing. Being in constant survival mode because you are too poor for anything else, is traumatizing as well. Most current workplaces are also traumatizing in their own little ways. School is traumatizing for so many of us. We are all getting traumatized by the world being fucked up.

To be perfectly honest with you: I would rather pick up a fight with a dragon, a netherbrain or whatever. Because a dragon or a netherbrain at least gives me something concrete to do. Because a dragon I can slay. Capitalism I can't. No matter how much I protest, I cannot kill capitalism - and I cannot stop climate change. And even if we did a revolution... It might work, yes, but really... slaying a dragon would be so much easier.

This is of course the entire function of fantasy as escapism. Because fantasy allows us a world where the end might be stopped fairly easy. When I DM a DnD campaign and let my players stop the end of the world, it is so we all can have the catharthis of this ending.

I just... wished that the real world would make it a bit easier.

Sorry for rambling. But yeah, it was something we talked about yesterday and I thought I might share.

[wordsnstuff]

Guide to Drafting

Patreon || Ko-Fi || Masterlist || Work In Progress

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Planning v. Discovery

The first thing you must decide when you embark on the journey of drafting a story is how you’re going to get it done. Typically, there are two groups you can fit into, though most writers are somewhere in between. There are writers who plan meticulously before they begin writing to create a very clean first draft, or there are discovery writers (otherwise known as “pantsers”) who find more success in choosing a premise and then using a zero draft to explore the idea before gluing down any details. You are most likely someone who falls between those two methods. Some initial planning to feel familiar with your idea before you do some of the planning through the writing itself. Having some semblance of a method will help you narrow down your own process, which is immensely important if you want to get any substantial project near completion.

Consistency

Drafting is a difficult process because it’s either the revisitation of ideas you’ve already had, or the generations of ideas in quick succession. If you want to have a draft in a reasonable amount of time, you must develop a consistency in your writing. I won’t say that it must be a strict routine because time management can be a luxury, but you must make the consistent effort to write, and keep it in the forefront of your mind. Even if you don’t write every day, it should be something you try to make time for every day.

Know What You’re Trying to Accomplish

To get a draft done, you need to set expectations for yourself and they must be realistic. That doesn’t mean they have to be easy, or an amount of work you’ve been able to accomplish in the past. Considering how much time you dedicate to writing and your skillset, it should be a goal within reality. In addition, you must accept that you cannot create a masterpiece in one draft. For each version of your story that you write, you must have a focused goal, such as maintaining consistent characterization, making the plot concise and engaging, or making the prose more fluid and efficient. If you have a specific and attainable goal that you can accomplish in a reasonable amount of time with a fair amount of precision, each draft will be better than the last.  

Designate Work to Phases

As mentioned in the last section, it maximizes your time and effort to have specific and attainable goals for each draft. This doesn’t mean that you rewrite the draft each time (though that is very common amongst writers), but that you designate tasks to draft versions. I find it very helpful in clearing my mind and soothing my perfectionist anxiety to make a “schedule”, outlining what I’ll accomplish in each version following the zero draft. For example, my draft schedules usually end up something like this:

Zero Draft: Main plot line, basic characterization, key world building

First Draft: Finalize Timeline, research for world building, structure

Second Draft: (Rewrite) Plot Development Fine Tuning

Subplot development

Foreshadowing

Build up to climaxes

Tone & Pace

Third Draft: (Intermittent Rewrites) Character Development Fine Tuning

Backstory

Subtextual Development

Making sure motivations are clear

Relationships between characters

Reinforcing character arcs

Checking dialogue

Fourth Draft: (Give to Beta Readers) World Building & Prose

Descriptions & Flow

Finalize settings

Checking grammar & punctuation

Reader Immersion

Fifth Draft: Incorporate Beta Reader Feedback

Write for Yourself First

In what some call the “zero-draft”, there are no rules. This draft is purely for your eyes. It’s you telling yourself the story for the first time. So, you don’t have to write in chronological order, or know the right word you’re looking for, or take a break every time you run into a problem. The purpose of the zero draft is to get a rough idea of as much of the story as you can and avoid getting snagged on minor details. This part is important. A lot of writers like to outline meticulously before they begin drafting and if that works for you, that’s great, but the majority of writers who attempt that get stuck in the planning phase, or burnt out on their story before a word of it exists. The easiest way to avoid those two situations is to do a zero draft, which can be as long or short as you want if it provides a skeleton for you to add meat to later.

Common Struggles

~ How do you estimate the number of words/chapters?... That depends on the genre, mostly. However, that’s usually something you decide in the second draft and beyond, and it can vary because of factors you haven’t got locked down until the plot and character arcs are firm or final. This is also something you’ll probably do a lot of tinkering with, and receive feedback on, especially from beta-readers, who can advise you on where natural breaks could occur from their perspective.

~ Why, after planning everything out, do I always struggle to write the draft?... 99% of the time, it’s because you’ve either burned yourself out, or accumulated too much pressure. When you put that much effort and time into a story, you can either slip into a headspace where you feel little excitement about it because you’ve already done all of the problem solving and had all of the revelations. It’s usually beneficial at this stage to take a step back (even if you’re not burnt out) and give your story some space, so that once you come back to it, you’re enthusiastic enough to fully realize your vision. If instead you’re struggling to write because you feel a lot of pressure to do justice for a story you’ve put so much love into already, take a step back, remember that the first draft is just for you, and work on letting go of the idea that the zero draft is meant to serve any purpose beside simply existing. 

~ How do I come up with the necessary scenes to move the story forward between major plot points?... Most writing problems can be solved by asking yourself the right questions. When you’re trying to figure out what your reader needs to see next in order to effectively set up the next major event, ask yourself “What would happen between event A and event B that would add context or make event B more impactful?”. Treat it like a real situation and try to map out all of the tiny, notable moments that would take place between the major plot points, and then assess those moments on the basis of how impactful they would be to the coming scenes, and whether they can add context, set the tone, or aide in the rising action.

~ How do I balance sticking to the draft and following my own creative instinct in the moment?... This is a judgement call. Sometimes you’ll realize that maybe you should have just stuck to the outline, but remember that you can always go back, rewrite, test things out, etc. Always save every version of every scene, just in case, and go wild. Don’t be afraid to take detours just to explore. The writing process is anything but linear. 

~ How do I maintain momentum in my writing progress when I constantly have distractions or other responsibilities that take priority?... Work at it. There’s no magic trick or piece of advice I could say that gets rid of your personal responsibilities. Write when you can, don’t make excuses on top of the reasons you have no control over, and remember that you create your own deadlines and expectations. Be kind to yourself, do what you can, and don’t spend potential writing time punishing yourself because there isn’t as much as you’d like. 

~ How should I designate space (words/pages) to specific scenes/description/conversations, etc?... Trust your instinct and remember you can always cut/add later. In the earlier drafts, I’d advise you try to create as much material as possible to work with, and in the later drafts, be ruthless when determining what is necessary and adds value, and what doesn’t.

~ How do I finish a draft if I regularly lose motivation or interest in my projects?... Accept the fact that motivation is fickle, and that no writer in history has ever maintained “inspiration” for any project from the beginning to the end. There are going to be days where you’re like “ugh this is not what I want to do right now”, probably more than there are days where you’re stoked to work on your project, but that’s reality. If your goal is to finish a draft, you must recognize that writing is work, and nobody wants to work all the time. Try to supplement the lack of motivation by setting a positive and enjoyable routine so that, even when you’re not particularly motivated, you still know that your writing time will be peaceful and comfortable. 

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