#it's like. you write a really fun and interesting conflict into your fantasy conflict game and then get scared

[kirkwallguy]

when you side against the templars you're up against samson, the guy from da2 who introduced the reality of templars being controlled by their lyrium addiction. you know. the reason we're supposed to feel bad for the ex-templar advisor. you fight red templars who are an extension of the lyrium addiction thing as well. when you side against the MAGES you're against the venatori and calpernia, a completely new faction who have nothing to do with the mage-templar conflict. fiona is a miniboss that you might not even recognise if you're not using the tactics cam and the rebellion just kind of dies out because the venatori killed all the rebels offscreen or something idk

[eff-plays]

I got a party banter between Bellara and Taash about how the Lords of Fortune steal elven artifacts. And then Taash clarifies later that they have a Dalish expert on the team so they can check to make sure the Lords don't sell something culturally important and instead return it to the elves.

Like. I get it. You want the Lords to be fun swashbuckler Disney pirates and Robin Hoods instead of actual pirates who steal and plunder. Because we're only now in Western society realizing that stealing from indigenous groups is, uh, bad. But like. Writing really uninteresting factions for your "dark" fantasy (tho lbr Dragon Age hasn't been dark fantasy since DA2) isn't gonna solve real-world neo-colonialism, ya know? The Lords not stealing priceless elven artifacts and returning them to the elves doesn't signal to me that the Lords are total rascally good guys, it signals to me that BioWare itself is trying really hard to seem morally conscious. "See? We know stealing from other cultures is bad!!!"

And man. Not to be a "political correctness has poisoned media" grifter on main (tbh it's less political correctness itself and more the commodification of real-world activism) but I couldn't help but imagine how this convo would've played out in earlier games, potentially even Inquisition.

You could've so EASILY made this interesting while giving the Lords and Taash and Bellara a lot more depth, while also making it clear that stealing from indigenous groups is wrong.

Just have the Lords, yeah, actually sell those artifacts. But also establish that the Lords take in and help elves from all walks of life. That they free slaves, or collaborate with alienages. Then you could have Taash defend the practice by saying to Bellara that little orphaned elf kids being sold as slaves probably don't give a flying fuck about some artifacts they're never gonna see, but the money from selling those artifacts goes to buying them food. And have Bellara fire back that preserving elven culture is also part of its survival, and that there are Dalish clans that would be willing to pay for them or offer something in return. Or have her say that the Lords are doing charity for the sake of recruitment rather than actual altruism. And then Taash responds that those high and mighty Dalish elves don't do shit to help abandoned city elves, just because those aren't part of their correct elven subculture, and they care more about reclaiming old glory than helping the people that exist here and now.

Then you could have side missions or at least codex entries that describe maybe some Lord recruit being conflicted about what they're doing. Maybe a few of them are collaborating to hijack a deal or steal back an artifact. Have implications that some high-ranking Lords are, in fact, using those artifacts for their own gain, despite claiming otherwise. Have some Lords genuinely trying to help, and believing that gold and trinkets don't matter as much as people's lives, so they sell them in exchange for safety for refugees or slaves or some other helpless group.

But no. Instead it's "hey do you steal from my people?" "nah lmao we have a cultural advisor don't even worry about it" "oh wow so cool and woke of you!" And then that's it. No need for any further discussion. No conflict and no complexity. No bad actors and moral quandaries.

Weh.

[vigilskeep]

now that you finished inquisition, what did you think of it? like favorite things, least favorite, etc?

oh man okay

things i love about dragon age inquisition:

capturing the specific feeling of bonding with a group of people you have absolutely nothing in common with because u all had to go through something long and specific together

the maps can be so pretty and in places really calming and lovely to spend time in. it does make me want to explore and i have no explorer’s instinct

i love the war table and judgements i think those are really fun features

i like that approval for many major decisions applies to everyone regardless of who you bring to specific events/quests. it feels a lot less like you have to manage that really hard, as you sometimes do in the other games and also really noticeably to me in something like baldur’s gate 3. it’s irritating when i have to plan ahead and can’t take who i want to hear from

i like how attached you can get to little npcs who wander around

i loveeeee fighting dragons and how beautiful they all are

little puzzles <3

the collectibles are also mostly fine by me i am a magpie by nature. as long as i can find them, obviously, bc if i can’t they suck and this whole game sucks

the templar specialisation is fun and i enjoyed that part of combat a lot. wrath of heaven/spell purge combo is a power trip

i thought my character was pretty :) i defeated u in the end dai character creator. may you be as merciful when we meet in battle once more

i’m not a huge crafter but being able to tint things is rlly nice

blackwall’s romance is good

vivienne is there

they let me briefly tame a dragon at the end there

things i don’t love about dragon age inquisition:

some genuine cruelty in writing the dalish in a way that feels shockingly callous to the real world cultures the writers took inspiration from

never giving the dalish or the rebel mages any kind of voice of their own and making the player do all that work if they care, which i also feel limits my roleplaying creativity

refusing to let you challenge any of the often overwhelmingly conservative views expressed by other characters without receiving only derision and disapproval. inquisition is a game that punishes you at every turn for having your own opinions, in a way that could be interesting if it was willing to truly let you develop complex or antagonistic relationships with those characters, but ends up mostly just feeling mocking when nobody ever even tries to see your side, while simply agreeing with these people always rewards you with content. origins was capable of letting you engage in discussion, and da2 let you form rivalries that mattered; inquisition, despite starring some of the most intentionally controversial characters, does neither

the game engineering conflicts against groups like the freemen of the dales or the avvar that mean nothing to the player and range from vaguely to seriously upsetting in their assumptions about who it’s normal to just start killing en masse. it’s both boring and distressing

odd, for lack of a better word “casting choices”, like having the fantasy impoverished racial minority all be white within the party while the wealthiest and most privileged are characters of colour, or for a more in-world example having the elves express the most distaste towards elves and the mages express the most caution about mages. i don’t know that i quite have the vocabulary to fully discuss why these weird me out, but it all feels... disingenuous? and chosen to forestall criticism based on real world comparisons in a game series that i wish had the nerve to openly confront what it’s talking about if it’s going to try to make any of its conflicts feel relevant

most of the companions, and indeed most of the quests and time spent playing the game, feel disconnected from the main plot. it’s hard to feel any pressure when the game tells you we need to deal with the main plot “right now!” and “get there before corypheus!” when the bulk of the game is doing other things while you’re supposed to be doing that. the majority of companions could be cut without changing anything. and when you finally want to deal with the main plot you just click to start it. it’s not engaging

the game fails to fully expand dialogue for the player character options it provided, particularly notable with its confusing chantry focus when you’ve said for the dozenth time you’re not andrastian

the 2-handed weapon whirlwind ability sound effect is an exercise in creating the worst and most grating sound effect for someone to constantly hear

they didn’t let me romance vivienne

they killed my dragon :(

[joydemorra]

Do you ever start something as a joke and lose complete control over your life?

In a world of dwindling hope, love has never mattered more... [read the full blurb here]

What is Hunger Pangs?

Hunger Pangs, often shortened to “Phangs” by the self-proclaimed phangdom, is my debut romance novel, published in Nov 2020, featuring a deaf, disabled werewolf, a neurodivergent, mad scientist vampire, and an all-powerful enchantress who is the last of her kind.

It is the first book in a slow-burn, polyamorous gaslamp fantasy romance series focusing on the relationship(s) and antics of the three main characters, Nathan Northland, Vlad Blutstein, and Lady Ursula, as they work to save the world they love from imminent magical and ecological disaster.

The first book primarily focuses on the relationship between Nathan and Vlad, with Ursula heavily alluded to in the next book (Pride and Folly) via some shameless flirting and stolen, impulsive kisses.

No love triangles here. Just three highly competent, world-saving bisexuals sharing the same brain cell the closer they get to each other.

There are two editions of the novel. The Flirting with Fangs edition depicts on-page sexual acts, and the Fluff and Fangs edition which uses alternative scenes/fade-to-black scenes for those who prefer not to read depictions of sex. You can read more about why I decided to do this here.

How Did Phangs come to be?

Like most things on my blog, the original concept began as a joke. My friend and enabler, @jeneelestrange, and I were talking about our least favorite tropes in romance/erotica, including but not limited to toxic “alpha” werewolves, brooding stalker vampire boyfriends, and the absolute profound bullshit that is the Conflicted Love Triangle and Bury Your Gays.

Eventually, it culminated in this post:

(source)

It was meant to be a joke. I really cannot emphasize this enough. It was meant to be a shitpost between friends.

A throwaway ADHD impulse.

Tumblr, however, wanted more of these posts, and like a swarming mass of drift-compatible rats in a trench coat, grabbed hold of my lack of impulse control and Ratatouille'd me into becoming an international bestselling author, and, well, here we are.

I also started writing the series while dying, which I highly do not recommend as a functional creative process.

Absolutely do not start a 500k five-part novel series about love and hope while dying from an undiagnosed genetic disorder. Or if you do, make sure you actually die so you don't have to edit the damn thing. (I am mostly kidding.)

What are the themes/tropes/character dynamics of the book?

In the simplest of terms, Phangs is a queer-polyamorous-paranormal-satirical-romance series featuring vampires, werewolves, and all other manner of creatures that go bump in the night.

It is set in a pseudo-regency meets fake-Victorian Gaslamp Fantasy world, complete with gothic castles, enchanted forests, and just a smidge of industrial coal dust.

Style-wise, Phangs has been described by readers as "like reading the queer, goth love child of Terry Pratchett meets Jane Austen," and I've never been more proud of anything in my life.

If Game of Thrones ascribes to the idea that the night is dark and full of terrors, Phangs is the monster-fucker politely sidling up to them at the bar and asking if they can buy them a drink.

It is also primarily a love letter to fandom, which has led some people to believe it’s fanfiction with the serial labels filed off. But as the person who spent five years agonizing over the world-building, I can assure you this is all very much the product of my weird little ADHD brain picking up tropes, shaking them upside down, and running off with whatever fun and interesting things shake loose.

As already stated, the first book, True Love Bites, focuses primarily on the relationship between Captain Nathaniel J. Northland and Viscount Vlad Blutstein.

The first part of the book primarily focuses on Nathan coming home injured from war and trying to find his place in the world as newly deaf and disabled -- something which alienates him from his werewolf family, who don't know what to do with an injury that can't be mended by a full moon.

While working on the island of Eyrie, he encounters Viscount Blutstein -- Vlad-- a neurodivergent, mad scientist dandy vampire with an enthusiasm for demonic botany and a streak of unfailing kindness as broad and expansive as the sky.

It's not so much love at first sight for the pair as instantaneous lust hampered by the restrictions of polite 1880 society and old ingrained prejudices that make them think the other couldn't possibly be interested in them that way. They're just misreading all those heartfelt stares and sexually charged chess games.

(The love is requited, your honor, they're just idiots.)

Both characters are explicitly queer/mspec, as is Ursula, who drops into their world like a magical atom bomb going off, but not before she spends her own parts of the book desperately trying to figure out what manner of dark entity is killing the magical shrines around the world that keep the world alive.

Thematically, the series touches on many things, but the book’s overriding theme is love. Romantically, of course, and love between families, both found or otherwise. But also love as an act of courage. As a choice. An act of defiance in dark and troubling times, and what it means to be loved and belong even though you’re different.

Especially when you’re different.

And I really fucking hope you enjoy it.

To read the full synopsis and check out the heat ratings, buy links and content tags, go to www.joydemorra.com

[canmom]

Comics mini-Comints: Dungeon Meshi

reread dungeon meshi through to the end. still such a great manga. here are immediate thoughts - if I end up having time and energy I hope I can write something that goes deeper!

ironically i was only a few chapters from the end when I stopped keeping up, but I was struggling to remember all the characters and context, so reading it through in one go was definitely an ideal way to achieve maximum impact there.

ryoko kui does a very elegant job of handling a transition from 'silly antics' to 'big dramatic fantasy' while still keeping the central thematic throughline - eating and being eaten, belonging to an ecosystem, the significance of sacrificing others to achieve your own desires. a lot of setups pay off in a way that feels meticulously planned - and of course the crux of the final showdown revolves around characters attempting to eat each other, of course the big payoff is a huge feast that symbolically unites all the conflicting factions. it is maybe a bit too neat and happy for my taste, but it's undeniably tightly executed - it never loses sight of what it's about. especially compared to something like Frieren, it's an incredibly coherent serialisation, up there with e.g. Fullmetal Alchemist.

kui's art style deserves all kinds of praise - it feels effortlessly simple, but it clearly communicates all sorts of different shapes and body types and it's really fun to see her play around with remixing the different visual elements when she switches the races around. in general Laius's autistic monster loving ways clearly reflect kui's own deeply felt appreciation for all the ways people and animals live (accentuated further by all the extra sketches the scanlators tuck in). in a way you could kinda call it like Parts Unknown the fantasy manga.

the stakes of the final conflict are interesting - there is much to be said about the framing of 'desire' and its fulfilment, of this occult idea of 'the infinite'. lots you could put in relation to other manga, and also buddhism. (in particular I really want to develop a comparison to Made In Abyss, there are so many parallels, it just might be too spicy for tumblr lmao).

one thing I really like about it is how much its fantasy dungeon-exploring setting owes to D&D and other TTRPGs, rather than videogames. monster ecology has been a fascination of that game since the early days of Dragon magazine, and Kui sharply zeroes in on some of the intrinsic conflicts baked in to that fantasy milieu, notably the lifespan thing, while smartly avoiding the traps of 'evil races'. there's some really fun nods to the weirder monster manual entries. and in a story with so many characters and factions, it does a genuinely incredible job of furnishing everyone with understandable, reasonable motivations, conflicts drawn from their context just like the monsters are explained by their ecology.

and one thing that I particularly appreciate is like... how much it is able to simultaneously understand and sympathise with a character and also show us how and why they'd rub others the wrong way. it's impossible not to like our main group, they're all such charming dorks and the manga leads you along with all the crazy rpg party shit they do, but at the same time you definitely find yourself thinking 'guy's got a point' in the kabru chapters lmao. I'm projecting hard bc i don't really know a thing about ryōko kui but laius def feels like the sort of depiction of having an autism that you can only do if you've lived it.

but yeah, it's a fuzzy ending where it all turns out well. but what's the deeper thrust of it all? there's a funny moment where marcille is like 'maybe in the end our journey is about learning to accept death' and the grouchy old gnome guy completely laughs this off as naive, because death doesn't mean anything. and indeed their big plan pays off, and falin does indeed come back just fine. but still, through all of this it asks you to bite the bullet that being a living creature means eating to survive, at the cost of other creatures, with the other side being that one day you too will be eaten. in contrast to this honest way of being is the beguiling fantasy of infinity, where all your desires are immediately fulfilled - this is shown as a dangerous path of corruption that produces madness and manipulability. having limits and rubbing up against the wishes of others, or 'doing things you don't want to do' as izutsumi's arc puts it, becomes necessary for having some kind of definition as a subject. the thing that makes the demon concrete as an entity is a desire, or appetite, that can't immediately be fulfilled.

of course we can connect this to the idea of narrative conflict. a standard advice for putting together a plot is to ask what each character wants and why they can't get it. wanting something implies movement. and indeed over the course of this story, we see that while having too many desires fulfilled too readily leads to incoherence and callousness, equally a character who is left catatonic as their desires have been eaten by the demon must be reawakened to activity by finding a new desire.

it's kinda Buddhist innit. neither the opulence of the palace nor asceticism. desires are what tie you to the world. but mixed with ecology: what a creature does to find the energy to live is what defines its lifestyle, its form.

this is probably where I'd start talking about entropy gradients and shit if i wasn't typing this on a phone at 1:30am lmao.

but yeah - it's a powerful move to go from 'D&D monster recipe show sendup' to 'living with the inherently violent nature of being an organism fated to live in a finite sum game' and yet Dungeon Meshi makes it feel natural and convincing, while remaining tremendously charming and funny throughout. ryōko kui is definitely some kind of genius, and I can't wait to see what her next act is gonna be. it's all definitely making me appreciate the act of eating a lot more.

next story on my plate is probably The Flower That Bloomed Nowhere, which sounds like it will present a very gnarly thematic contrast.

[lalalian]

helloooo

i’m making my own script (omg power and respect to you this shit is hard) about ruling over a fantasy kingdom, sorta like game of thrones inspired

my kingdom is VERY loosely based off of like… lyanna mormont’s house mormont in bear island (please look her up she’s kinda badass imo) and like….. do you have any tips on how to script your own kingdom? and all the neighbouring kingdoms and building world lore and all that stuff

any tips at all would help me immensely i’m struggling over here (literally how do you do it you’ve got the alruna dr AND the aethergarde dr with shit tons of lore my god that’s a feat to come up with, props to you)

thank very much, a struggling scripter

hihi!

First thing you should consider is your starting point. Your starting point can be something you're most interested (this is what I did with Aethergarde) or you can start with the general idea of your kingdom/world.

I know that most people recommend writers to start from the outside in, like the world itself-- or the inside in, which would be building the main cast first.

But if you start from the technical stuff first, it’s really easy to lose motivation! Scripts and books are different; essentially, writing tips shouldn’t be completely synonymous with script writing tips!

the problem with using general writing tips for scripts

Okay so there isn't actually a problem with it, per se, but you will get stuck for a long time on things that don't matter; you'll never end up scripting stuff that do matter.

What doesn't matter?

I know that i scripted some of these in my aethergarde academy DR, but exports and imports, extreme detail with the languages in your DR, and extremely minor conflicts that wouldn't really affect your experience in your DR.

(In my defense, I have the main stuff already written down 😒😒)

This doesn't mean that you shouldn't script these things at all, but just know that it's more optional than other things.

Script the less important stuff once you got the important stuff done!

Think about your experience first, then script the things that matter less if you'd like to.

Does knowing what kinds of plants grow in the southern part of your kingdom matter as much as your friends, your DRself, and the DR time line (plot)? Most shifters are less inclined to shift with an incomplete script, especially if the script doesn't even have anything about you or your experience in it. But if the vast majority of what you want to experience is down already, you'd be more motivated to shift there instead of still painstakingly working on that script.

When you settle down to shift there, you're less likely to wrangle with thoughts like "Oh but I haven't scripted this or that..." if the main shit is done.

How much time is in-between events?

Novels typically don't focus on how often an event happens, but with shifting, please for the love of god give yourself some time between particularly stressful events.

Trust me, your life will still feel as action-packed as it does here.

You don't have to script "2 weeks after X, this happens, and then 5 weeks after XX..." especially if you plan to remember the plot. If you happen to recall how long your breaks are, it'll make you unnecessarily antsy on the day it happens.

YOU WILL BURN OUT before EVER getting to the things that matter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Your DR isn't a book; you don't need to convey a fully fleshed out world to your 'readers'-- the only reader of your novel is you.

Subconsciously, you know what you want the world to be like, you just haven't put it into words.

Again, it would be disappointing to burn out and discard a script before you even get to your DRself.

Always remember that the end goal is to shift there.

Never forget that this is a DR-- A place you can go to. Stop scripting somewhere. You have the knowledge of shifting, so use it! Sure, writing what you want is fun, but isn't doing what you want even more fun?

Find a stopping point or else you'll be working on that script forever, and you'll never shift.

SCRIPT THAT YOUR WORLD HAS PLUMBING SYSTEMS/SOME TYPE OF SYSTEM THAT ALLOWS ITS PEOPLE TO KEEP THEMSELVES CLEAN

Never ever EVER forget this. I nearly did with Aethergarde-- I added this affirmation last month to my script. I know that your subconscious knows what you want, but I think I'd cry if I was prompted to shit in a hole without toilet paper. No. Absolutely not. Even if there’s a slim chance of shifting to a world like that… I would rather not want to worry about that stuff 😭😭😭😭

Oh and if you plan to have kids, I recommend adding this affirmation to your script (this is directly copy and pasted from my aethergarde script)

There is significant studies in childbirth, at least as much as my OR, because of this, mothers typically do not die from childbirth and childbirth isn’t painful because of a similar medicine to an epidural… and of course, proper birthing practices

So... why not using writing tips?

We aren't full on authors, not all of us have the grit to write a full on book, and you won't know that until you do. Again, you're going to burn out sooner than you think.

Writing takes time, a LOT of time, but luckily for you, there's so much stuff you can skip. Don't make things so hard on yourself!!

Script you don't remember the plot

It'd be a lot more fun if you didn't remember everything; you'd get to experience everything authentically like everyone else in your DR will!

Ok now onto the actual world building tips….

I’m assuming you’re starting off your script with your kingdom; so I’ll start here for this post!

What kind of fantasy is your world?

Is it high fantasy, low fantasy, or historical fantasy? (I made that last one up, but like I’ll get to it soon, ok?)

High fantasy is set in a world totally different than ours. Some examples would be Avatar (the blue ppl one, not the anime) and Aethergarde Academy.

Low fantasy is set in a world much like our modern world, but there are some fantastical elements in it. A very famous example of this is Harry Potter.

I would define historical fantasy to be a world that is set sometime in the past (usually the Victorian era or medieval era), but it has fantastical elements (any Isekai otome manhwa with magic in it would fall in this category). I think house of dragons fall here too, though I’ve only watched like 4 episodes so far.

If you’re looking into making a futuristic DR, genres like steampunk, solarpunk, sci-fi, cyberpunk, cyberprep would prob suit your vibes more, but I won’t get into those today.

That narrows your DR down to historical fantasy!

Names

This is the worst part of scripting (actually this is the second worst part, government is the ABSOLUTE WORST).

Idk abt you or anyone else reading this, but I’m extremely picky with names. A name has to fit, yk, so don’t fret if you take a long time to find names.

First, start off with name generators.

This generator is PEAK, it has name generators for literally everything. But, personally, the kingdom names never really resonate with me. I typically use Pinterest or look at the names based on ethnicities to come up with names for my kingdoms & empires.

If you’re as picky as me, I wouldn’t recommend using ChatGPT to get names. The free version I use has such cheesy names, I’ll ask it for mysterious and dark guy names for books, and it’ll give me shit like ‘Lucifer Blackthorn’… like really… really…

Sometimes it has given me good names tho, I’d say the academia based names are pretty okay (Straus’ last name was from ChatGPT).

Another thing you could do is find a modern name you like and mix up the spelling a bit; I do this really often with character names.

Ex:

Lily > Liliya

Alexander > Alec, Xander, Xavie, or Xavier

Alfred > Alund

Callie > Caelye

Final resort for me is Google translate. I suggest translating random words that pertain to your kingdom into Greek or Latin (especially Latin), then taking pieces of those words and smushing them together.

Government

If you’re going to use ChatGPT for anything, I’d use it to make the government for your DR.

If you don’t want to use AI, I’d start researching government stuff, or go with the standard nobility/monarch format.

Languages

Remember, it’s best to script language stuff after everything major is done.

When you get to language stuff, I honestly just recommend describing it + making up some words in that language rather than going into extreme detail.

ChatGPT is a good option for this too; when I asked abt language, reya’s response had stuff like: Alphabet, Phonology, Script Design, Word Order, Morphology, Vocabulary, Tones and Aesthetics (sound + visual), & Cultural Context. Personally, I just say shit like ‘[insert language] has a [characteristic] and [characteristic] tone like [insert language here]’ or I say it’s a mix between a few languages. I really like Welsh for some reason, so noble language in my Aethergarde DR has the same kind of sound welsh does.

Here are some characteristics I’d give some languages, you can base your characteristics for your languages from this if you’d like:

The channel Wikitongues has a lot of ppl just speaking their language!

Smooth: Korean, Welsh, German

Regal: Welsh, Tibetan, Hindi, Hmong, Yoruba

Nasally: Japanese, Thai

Harsh: Russian, French, Cantonese

Round: (American) English

Sing song-y: Valspeak/ Valley girl accent (English), Hmong, Kazakh, Italian

Sharp: Russian

Throaty: Swedish,

Assertive/Strong: Spanish (Spaniard) (DON'T KILL ME, MY DAD IS FROM BOTH SPAIN AND MEXICO), Okinawan (Japanese, but it’s so distinct from other Japanese dialects)

Breathy: Navajo

Quick: Khmer

Social Hierarchy

(this is a good website that explains the power each title has, but the actual product is like... kinda a scam, don't buy from them)

Personally, I'd just go with the whole baron to emperor thing, though you can also just switch up the names of the titles and have the same kind of idea.

For reference, this is (to my knowledge) the aristocrat social status hierarchy (using all male terms):

MOST POWER

Emperor (leader of the empire)

King (leader of a kingdom)

Archduke

Duke

Marquess

Count/Earl

Viscount

Baron

Commoner (not a noble)

LEAST POWER

Map

If you really want to start with the world itself, I highly suggest making a map. I made mine on inkarnate!

You don't have pay to make a good map, just use canva or some sort of drawing app to make labels and border lines.

General Ideas

Do you like to read? If not, find photos that would reflect the architecture or scenarios that you'd see in your DR.

Reading can help you get some sort of idea on what you want from this DR!

conclusion?

Was this helpful? I'm not sure 😭😭 I'm super tired rn, so if there's any typos, I'm sorry.. try to ignore them; feel free to ask for clarification!

[whiskersz]

HELLOO you Definitely don't know me ;) ...but I'll still wish you luck for all the matchups <3

My name's Alexander, I go by they/them and at times he/him, I'm gay and on the ace spectrum!

I'm a pretty chill person that oscillates between too much energy and too little. I rely heavily on humor in most circumstances and I've been told I'm great at it (loads of dirty jokes, puns and absurd humor). I'm also good at improvising things as a theater and musical enjoyer. I'm a blend of emo, goth and punk, and enjoy the culture greatly. I'm very passionate about my interests, though not much confident in sharing them. I struggle with emotions a shit ton but I'm working on it!

A little (orange) birdie told me I could have both matchups, soooo. ;) I'd obviously prefer a male romantic matchup but I'm most open to either for platonic!

I love creating, mostly drawing and writing but it includes animating or sculpting and even playing piano/elec. guitar. I love chess and logic games/puzzles, as well as video games of all kinds (fantasy usually!). I also enjoy darker topics, since I'm quite fascinated by the human nature.

I love to hang out with friends, bake, watch shows, talk, etc, quality time is a big love language to me. I also like physical contact, as long as we're close!

I dislike physical activity, conflict of any kind, and loud noises/bright lights for too long. Another no are outright gore or some kind of horror (I have paranoia which can lead to a lot of anxiety.)

I don't exactly have an ideal type but they must be open-minded, ideally make me feel like they're interested in whatever I have to say, be willing to hang out and be honest!

Thank you for doing this, sending lots of love from the coolest bat in your area ;)

Hmm I wonder who this could be... ;3 As I was reading this I kept nodding to myself...like yes, very true, definitely! And it also reminded me of how intriguing of a person you are – not that I don’t think that all the time, of course.

Anyhow, enough of my silliness! Let’s move our focus on somebody else’s silliness, as I romantically match you with...

Lucifer!

Right off the bat I should mention that you and Lucifer share an interest which is creating; both of you spend the majority of your days bringing life to your little creations, so imagine how fun it would be to work together and show each other the fruits of your work at the end of each day! He is definitely enchanted by how many skills you possess, but his favorite thing is when you finish writing a story and you ask him to read it. He does so out loud, imitating the voices of each character and making you laugh by doing so. As he continues reading though, his tone shifts into a more serious one, a sincere smile remaining on his face. He doesn’t want you to think that he doesn’t take your work seriously, plus he’s genuinely fascinated by how easily you can bring to life the characters in your stories.

You love baking and he loves sweets, I couldn’t think of a better combo! Many a times you drag him into the kitchen and he follows diligently, ready to help and possibly make a bit of a mess as he’s not the most well versed in these kinds of activities. But! He definitely tries for you, passing you the ingredients as you carefully try to follow every step of the recipe correctly. He’s also a bit of a chatter box himself, so rest assured you will have a lot to talk about as you break eggs and mix the ingredients! He sometimes brings up how he misses doing these things with Charlie as well, and you kindly remind him that he’s free to invite her over to do this any time as you’ve grown quite fond of her as a friend.

Returning on the topic of Lucifer being quite talkative, he really appreciates how much your interests vary as this allows you two to have conversations about anything and everything. While I feel like some things he wouldn’t be into himself, such as video games, there’s nothing that he loves more than to listen to you excitedly talk about an interest that he’s not really familiar with, because this just means that there’s more things to learn directly from you. You of course have to do your part in listening to him talk about whatever he might be into but you’re not, though!

Lucifer adores the fact that you can play the piano and electric guitar, as he’s able to play some instruments himself! It’s not rare for you two to play together, making up songs between piano keys being pressed and bows being drawn across the strings of his fiddle. The little concerts last for hours, and they always end with you sharing a tired but satisfied kiss with each other.

If there’s something that Lucifer understands about you it’s your struggle with emotions; his own are a mess, especially seeing that he struggled with isolation and depression after he and Lilith separated, but also because his humour is generally a little unpredictable. After meeting you though he’s able to pace himself slightly as you inevitably bring joy into his life, and so he manages to be helpful in your times of need. At first he might push you a little to still spend time together even though you’re claiming you need space, but once he’s got you figured out he’s going to give you all the space that you need and let you come back to him at the end of the day, offering you a warm embrace by wrapping you up protectively with his wings. And then, with a little pun here and a light joke there, he’s going to get a smile out of you again.

Speaking of hugs, he absolutely adores them. Getting to be lazy with you and cuddling is one of his favorite activities,  as it also means not having to look after the obnoxious residents of Hell for a while. Rest assured he’s going to ask for five more minutes of cuddling with you every single morning, and if you don’t give them to him he’s definitely going to get pouty.

All things considered, Lucifer is glad he’s not alone anymore, instead he found great company in you and he appreciates all the love that you decide to show him in your unique ways. He’s of course more than willing to shower you in affection, and though he might go a little overboard sometimes, being a bit dramatic and all, you know he means well and you don’t get actually mad at him.

Platonic matchup

Now that you’ve gotten your lover, let’s move on to your platonic matchup!

Alastor!

First of all this came as a surprise to me as well, as Lucifer and Alastor don’t seem to get along very well, but allow me to demonstrate why you would get along with both!

Alastor values good manners, cordiality and intelligence a lot in others, which you all possess, in my opinion. He’s fascinated by your mannerisms just as much as you are by his, and admires the fact that you seem to have many skills. Some of them he might even take part in himself, such as playing chess and delving into darker topics. This would lead you to spending quite some time together, discussing such topics over a chess board.

The friendship between you and Alastor could be seen as unusual by most other people, but in reality it’s based on a very deep trust. You both trust each other to not cross boundaries; you don’t like physical touch from somebody who isn’t close? He’s going to respect that, he’s actually just the same. He’s not the biggest fan of sexual remarks? Sure, you’re going to be relying on other jokes, primarily puns as he seems to be a big enjoyer of those.

You and Alastor enjoy the occasional planned hang out with each other, usually opting for recitals and musicals as you both enjoy those a lot. You respect each other’s wish to quietly follow the play but at the end of it you’re very eager to have an open discussion about it.

Alastor, as the good friend that he is, also tries his best to take care of any kind of conflict that may arise while you’re together for you. Will you have to hold him back from doing anything too crazy? Sure, most of the time a little scare is enough...

He’s also pretty closed off with his own emotions, so a positive thing is that he’s never going to push you to talk about things, even in general. He does worry though, you’re his dear friend, and his way of showing it is by tolerating more than he would usually. May that be a short hug or whatever you might need from him to feel better, he’s willing to make an effort to provide it to you.

Hi! I hope you enjoyed; I made the platonic matchup a little bit shorter, I hope that’s alright, if not I can give you some more headcanons...I don’t mind at all! Tell me what you think, love you <3

[grifff17]

Audiodrama Sunday 09/01/2024

Happy Audiodrama Sunday! Right now there are so many shows I follow that are releasing an episode every other week. It’s great! But it does mean I have a lot to write about. This week - Electromancy relisten, lots of werewolves, the arc finale of WBN, and more!

NEW SHOW ALERT Spout Lore’s spinoff Mall Brats is no longer Patreon exclusive! Mall Brats is a Blades in the Dark actual play about 3 kids who live in a giant shopping mall in a fantasy world and do crimes. This is a relisten for me, a year or so ago I subscribed to their patreon for a month and binged the whole thing. My only criticism is that the new version of the theme song isn’t as good as the old one.

I relistened to @electromancypodcast this week. I love this show, it feels so thorough in it’s approach to the setting and core conflict. Electromancy would adapt so well to a tv show, I can see so many of the scenes in my head. I don’t know how else to say it, the show feels like it was written like a tv show. Don’t get me wrong it’s great in an audio medium, but it would also be great as a tv show.

In @storiesfromylelmore this week poor Rion! He’s like Molly from Epithet Erased except he’s overworked by choice, and he also has to deal with werewolf racism. He didn’t even get a hug! The luck charm was really cool worldbuilding but also such an incredibly meaningful gesture from Keryth. Literally giving someone your luck because you care about them is so powerful.

@worldgonewrongpod also had an episode focused on werewolves this week. It has a very different interpretation of werewolves to Ylelmore, but both used them as an allegory for actual marginalized groups. Werewolves are so versatile.

Starwhal Odyssey released it’s second episode this week. It’s officially moved away from 5e, the new system seems cool. I loved the audio design for gamer space, and the gaming chair spelljammer helm is such an inspired choice.

I have a lot of distinct thoughts about the arc finale of @worldsbeyondpod. First off is that they have trains? That’s not something I expected from this setting. Immediately following that revelation was another party split, the rest of the party really is so irresponsible without Suvi. Stealing anything other than the coven wand was so dumb, Indri can curse the shit out of them for that. There was a complete tone shift in the last half hour of this season, at least Suvi isn’t going to be as upset this time.

We had part 5 of @midnightburgr’s Welcome to the Horizon. Everyone is high! I’m glad Verge is enjoying themselves, Verge and Deidre is fun. I guess Verge has a thing for humans, first Leif and now Deidre.

Case study: IREC-A59 released its third episode this week. It’s really good so far, it’s making me want to reread Project Hail Mary. I love that no one knows the captains name, that’s a great detail.

I listened to part 3 of Moonward, the @midstpodcast AP miniseries. For some reason I didn’t expect it to lean into horror, but given the setting, I shouldn't be surprised that it did.

We went to the Paris Olympics this week in Mission Rejected. That was a fun episode, I loved the image of two random Olympic athletes taking on a bunch of kidnappers and destroying them. Interesting to see the nation of Val Verde again. Mcgrath hitting up Athena for a gadget was great.

I didn't get through all the new shows that came out this week, there's still some more for next week. I also want to try to catch up on The Once and Future Nerd, I think I need to start from the beginning of book 2.

[ponett]

while you're rpg-posting, can I get a rundown on what you didn't like about octopath?

so i played about ten hours of octopath - everyone's first chapters and one character's second chapter - and it drives me crazy because it felt like a no brainer for them to work on the obvious flaws and make a great sequel. and then they apparently went and made almost the exact same game a second time

first and foremost was the writing, which is maybe the most boring writing i've ever experienced in a jrpg. there are other, older games with dry writing, sure, but octopath just has so much of it. despite all those words the characters have no soul, the world has no intrigue, and the conflicts feel stock. it's completely paint by numbers. it's almost impressive how completely and utterly dry and charmless it is. i'd say it feels like the contents of a stock tabletop game adventure book but that would be doing those a disservice

the thing that could have potentially helped, which EVERYONE (even the game's fans) pointed out as its main flaw, would have been to let the characters interact with each other outside of the rare and easily missable skits. characters in a game like dragon quest xi are mostly building off of familiar fantasy archetypes too, but the fun comes in how those archetypes play off of each other. how does the gruff knight get along with the dashing rogue? instead there's zero interplay between the stories, because the structure of the game means that they can't assume you have any party members other than the one whose story you're currently doing... even though, like, the level requirements for the second chapters implicitly force the average player to either do all eight chapter 1's first, or grind a ton? it's baffling

the stories not intersecting is just one aspect of the larger structural problems, though. live a live (which i need to play soon) embraces the variety its separate stories enable - not just aesthetically, but structurally as well. it'll throw in a stealth chapter, or a chapter with minimal combat. octopath, on the other hand, makes every chapter feel like every other chapter with a different coat of paint. reach a new town, get some cutscenes for a party member's story, get sent off to another area to fight a boss, rinse and repeat. at the time i even made a diagram to complain about how every single area i encountered in octopath was designed the same

RPGs NEED variety in their pacing and structure! it can't just be the same thing at the same rate over and over for 40-60 hours. i got through the mindnumbingly boring eight opening chapters hoping that it would improve after that - and no, it can't be understated how stupid it is that this is a game where you're basically forced to play through eight slow and boring JRPG opening towns in a row for the first ten hours - and when i finally got to the second chapters my heart sank upon realizing that no, this really is the whole game

even the combat, which i found really fresh and interesting at first, got stale and repetitive to me. at first the break system was really cool. wow, there's a reason for my healers to attack even though they do low damage! how smart! but in what i played it just kind of made every boss feel the same. figure out their weakness, hit them with that until their defenses break, and then spam your strongest attacks

but, again, like with bravely default, its soundtrack is its main saving grace. i adore the octopath OST. i have it my itunes library and everything. yasunori nishiki is one to keep an eye on at square, and i'm glad he's a part of the ff7 remake team. that, and the ensuing "HD-2D" remakes of better games like live a live and dragon quest iii, are the silver lining with octopath

[blissfullyapillow]

Hi there!! Sometime last year I requested a matchup from you and loved it <3 IF you're still doing matchups, I'm wondering if you'd be interested in doing a matchup exchange for HSR? I'd be doing it through my sideblog if you wanted to send your match info in -> @frostfall-matches. BUT if you're no longer doing matchups or aren't interested, please disregard! :3

[ raven | afab, any pronouns | romantic match | preference for a male character ]

- personality: distant, introverted but not shy (disinterested), generally respectful of others but not necessarily kind/sweet, somewhat apathetic (flat affect, rarely has strong emotional reactions, but a majority of the time mood baseline is content/relaxed), calm under pressure, extremely independent, confident and self-secure (sometimes prideful to the point of arrogance), can take criticism well, straightforward (blunt, sometimes tactless/insensitive), tends to laugh off the severity of a situation, not very ambitious, mildly competitive, a moderate risk-taker (often gets a thrill from risky decisions, but tries to avoid lethal situations).

good/broad sense of humor (often more on the playful/absurd side, less so on the sarcasm), calm but playful around friends, very teasing, mischievous, realist that leans optimistic, curious, nosy and loves gossip/drama, a natural troublemaker/rulebreaker but also often unintentionally gets into trouble, comfortable with confrontation (often meets heated conflict with a snarky/condescending smile, a bit combative with authority and those who irritate me) but is generally easygoing, even-tempered, logical, does not hold onto regrets, generally does things out of self-interest but willingly helps others out occasionally.

- personality/alignment types: INTJ-A ; 7w8 ; chaotic neutral.

- love languages: physical touch and gifts. physical touch reserved only for close friends/partners.

- hobbies: video games (tactics, RPGs, visual novels), anime, drawing (digital), painting, baking, cosplay, writing, reading (fantasy, suspense/thriller, psychological, abstract), taking care of houseplants, home/decor DIY projects, hiking, thrill-seeking activities (an adrenaline junkie).

- likes: cats, frogs, sweets, most fruits, good food, lattes (a favorite of mine is chai), aromatic candles, piercings, tattoos, puns and lame dad jokes, cool weather, forests, mountains, traveling, new experiences, learning languages (currently knows/studied: english, french, korean, latin), medieval history, having ample amount of alone time/space, the occasional lazy day, the occasional philosophical discussion, a balance between structure and spontaneity, bantering with others.

- dislikes: dogs, horses, bitter foods, strong scents, hot weather, spiders (other bugs are ok), long car rides, feeling restricted, conformity and blind obedience, having to be responsible for others or lead them, being vulnerable, when others are condescending towards me (makes my pride flare up), when others step in to help without me asking, heavy use of sarcasm.

- qualities i value in a partner: independence, confidence, self-sufficiency, sense of humor, willingness to banter, openness to being teased, self-awareness.

- fun facts: quite clumsy, accident prone ; terrible sense of direction ; used to do gymnastics ; a weird mix between a night owl and a morning person (but afternoons are rough) ; majored in international studies and french in uni w/ minors in psychology and medieval history ; currently working as a medical scribe ; studied abroad and loved it, definitely took really well to long-term traveling and never really got homesick ; prone to bad luck but tries to find the humor in most situations.

- hsr-specific: REALLY fond of aha/elation as an aeon/path lmao, but if i had to pick an in-game path and type i'd probably be imaginary erudition.

Notes: @frostfall-matches. Hello again Raven! I remember you! I'd love to do a HSR matchup exchange with you, I'll send my info to you shortly after I upload this haha. Thank you so much for sending this ask in, as it motivated me to empty my inbox (which I'm slowly accomplishing). I really hope you enjoy this matchup I have for you!! Have a lovely rest of your day <3

What I think your relationship would sound like: Dan Heng

Masterlist

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I match you with: Dan Heng

Credits: @/sillyakito on pinterest

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Your relationship with Dan Heng is an interesting mix of you two being fairly similar, yet very different at the same time. Even so, you two just blend well together, and it’s one of those really beautiful and unique relationships!    

Dan Heng loves that you’re someone who is calm under pressure, as other members of the express may need some coddling in times of crisis (there’s nothing wrong about that, but he just really admires this trait you have). Furthermore, he appreciates your bluntness. He can be a bit blunt at times, so he’s glad you’re the same way and that you can take criticism. 

At the same time, he values your ability to laugh off serious situations. It eases the intense burst of adrenaline he gets in critical situations, and it helps him think. 

You guys may occasionally bump heads since you can get a bit prideful at times, but it’s never anything serious. Usually he’ll just playfully roll his eyes and brush it off. Your ability to get into trouble reminds him of the trailblazer, and he damns it at times since he knows he’ll have to be the one to come to your rescue. 

Speaking of, he really won’t help you unless you ask since he knows that can be a sore spot for you. He’s someone who deeply values independence so he’ll respect your wishes. The only time he may step in is if your life is in mortal danger. He can deal with whatever you have to say or do to him afterwards, since he cares too much about you.

Your tendencies to be a bit combative with authority causes him no end of headaches, but he weirdly enjoys it. Just a little. It adds a spark into his life that otherwise wouldn’t be there. 

In the beginning of your relationship you were a bit apprehensive of Dan Heng’s ability to joke around. Thankfully, he pleasantly surprised you. Dan Heng can easily keep up with your humor, and he’ll even crack a few jokes of his own that he knows you’d find funny. His humor can be a bit on the dry side at times, but he’ll occasionally spice it up just because he knows you like it.

Dan Heng has no problem letting you have ample amounts of time alone, and vice versa. If anything, it makes the two of you happier to be around each other; it makes the time you spend together all the more special. 

During one of your shared travels, Dan Heng made the mistake of letting you lead the way. He quickly learned from his error, and will find ways to subtly guide the both of you or keep track of where you are so as to not get lost again. The time you both got lost was so memorable, the Astral Express Crew will mention it to newcomers as one of the crew’s ‘Legendary Express Stories.’ Dan Heng would prefer it if they didn’t, but he enjoys the expression on your face when they do; so he remains silent. 

You and Dan Heng are the most likely to be up at the oddest hours of the day, both engaged in your separate activities. Sometimes, you two can be found sharing tender moments together during these times. 

Dan Heng harbors an intense interest for your hobbies and likes. He’ll often ask you to recite some of your travel stories, or to tell him more about topics such as medical history.

He finds the differences you two share to be really cute! He won’t ever say that of course, but you can tell. The both of you are a sight to see together, and the entire Crew considers the both of you to be an utterly charming couple.

⊱  ۫ ׅ �� ୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ ⌇

“You’re positive this is the way to go?” Dan Heng’s skepticism leaves you nonplussed, but you remain wrongfully optimistic. “I’m sure! The scenery doesn’t look the same this time, and- look! That must be the way out!” Your excited explanation draws Dan Heng’s attention to your outstretched finger, pointing in the direction of what you believe to be the exit.

He scrutinizes the area for a moment as you dash ahead, before his eyes widen in surprise. “Raven, wait!” His warning comes all too late, as you find yourself in quite the predicament. 

Dan Heng almost wants to laugh, really, but he won’t. Not with that scary warning written all over your face. You insist you can find yourself out of the tangle of webs you’re now entrapped in, and he lets you.

It takes a fairly long time, but Dan Heng doesn’t mind. Once you’re out, the both of you continue on your way, finding yourselves in many more traps, dead ends, and familiar scenery. 

Until finally, finally, the both of you escape the elaborate labyrinth you were previously trapped in. As you release a boisterous shout of joy, Dan Heng releases the breath he didn’t know he was holding. 

You turn around to offer Dan Heng a high five, only to be met with a pair of lips pressing a swift, sweet kiss to your lips.

When he pulls away, you share nearly identical flushed expressions. 

It was such an adorable sight, it's been memorialized by March 7th’s camera.

Dedicated to,

⌞rav--en ⌝

[ac-liveblogs]

Hello! Just wanna say thank you to you & kyogre-blue (and the anons) for being like the only people I can find that agree that Genshin's storytelling is wack lol I'm surprised how many people praise the writing when it's so confusingly paced and conflicts they bring up don't really go anywhere or the payoff is lackluster. There so much unnecessary dialogue & the last acts of the main story are always such a big rushed mess!

That being said, I wanted to ask if there's any series(game, anime, manga, etc) you'd recommend that does the things genshin wants to do but better, or even just series you'd recommend in general or wish more people knew about!

Hi anon! Sorry for the late response, I have been adding and removing stuff from this list for a few days. I genuinely don't know why people think Genshin is well written - I can understand people thinking it's good in concept and that some of its high concept ideas are interesting, but the actual story itself? Beyond me.

Thank you in return for the validation - the more I see people go on about how great it is the crazier I feel...

As for recs...

The real issue is that Genshin tries to do a LOT of different things, but there aren't a lot of games that do ALL the things Genshin tried to do. That's what makes Genshin stand out, though obviously a lot of what it does do leaves a lot to be desired... I am mostly going to stick to anime/manga/games per your request, but if you like fantasy worlds with lots of lore there's a lot of western high fantasy that might also be your thing.

And you know, these are gonna be subjective recs.

In general, if you're looking for more JRPG fantasy games - Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and Tales of Franchise are good places to start. They're all self-contained stories and you can easily jump from one entry to another. My experience with anything except Final Fantasy is really spotty, but narrowing it down a bit;

Tales of Vesperia and Tales of Symphonia are generally the most well-regarded Tales of games; they're on my 'to-play' list so I can't rec them personally. I am playing Tales of Berseria (very slowly) and quite enjoying myself, but it's supposed to be pretty different to the rest of the series.

Dragon Quest XI is a very well-regarded entry into the series, and the most recent. It's a fun game with a cute cast; it doesn't do anything particularly exciting and is a very standard 'save the world from the forces of darkness!' plot, but it's very cute and I had a good time.

As an generally well-regarded MMO Final Fantasy 14 probably comes the closest to encapsulating what Genshin offers, though I never got far (no shade to 14; I just don't like MMOs). Apparently the guy that wrote FF16 is also a 14 writer, but I thought FF16's writing sucked so take that with a grain of salt. Actually, FF16's combat reminded me a lot of Genshin too lmao. Lots of waiting for skills to cool down.

Final Fantasies 6, 7 and 9 are generally pretty safe jumping-on points - 7 being the most well-regarded for a reason, though arguments on the 'best Final Fantasy' can get vicious. 15 is also open-world but, uh, I got bored and couldn't finish it.

Final Fantasy Remake, Intergrade and presumably the upcoming Rebirth are very good, I just disagree with some choices made (and every they're not ALL bad choices.) Rebirth will apparently be open-world, but it's not a cheap investment to get them all.

Games that have elements similar to Genshin's;

Legend of Zelda; Breath of the Wild inspired Genshin's open-world and though it's not as pretty, it's certainly more engaging. It's not as story-heavy as Genshin. It handles exploration a lot better in almost all regards, imo.

Bravely Default and/or Octopath Traveller (party-based RPGs with HEAVY party customisation options - if you wish Genshin allowed for more variety/options there. Very different experience, BD is a 'complete party' and OT is '8 separate storylines')

Similarly, if you like character/party building and strategy games in general, while I didn't love the story Fire Emblem Engage was really fun to play. If you want a cute party and story, Fire Emblem Awakening is a pretty solid entry too.

Ace Attorney, if you need to detox after Fontaine's attempts at writing trials. Ace Attorney vs Professor Layton has a batshit ending, but its about witch trials, which is cool.

I'd also tentatively recommend Kingdom Hearts. A game about traveling to different worlds, meeting new people, searching for people that you've lost but still care about despite everything. Very fun hack and slash gameplay from KH2 onwards; iconic villain squad and some of the best (bonus) boss fights in the business, incredible soundtrack and plays around with identity and personhood as concepts in more interesting ways than Genshin does. Clunky and cheesy, but still close to my heart. But yes the worlds are mostly Disney.

Fate/Samurai Remnant is both probably currently the best introduction* to the Fate universe and a good game in it's own right. And if you like series with a fucktonne of lore and world-building that take their own spin on history and mythology, you'll probably like the Nasuverse. The original Fate/Stay Night will be getting an official english release later this year, along with Tsukihime. Witch of the Holy Night is also already out - they're meaty visual novels. FGO walked so that Star Rail could faceplant into the ground, etc etc.

Some general adventure anime/manga;

One Piece Live Action: Surprisingly, I really enjoyed this. You might also enjoy actual One Piece, on the off-chance you haven't already seen it. (maybe that's the more sensible recommendation? I really wish I liked One Piece more than I do) After all this time, Romance Dawn is still my favourite One Piece saga.

Hunter x Hunter is generally just good and fun, though its a bit of a slow start. Finally finished 2011's anime adaptation. It made me cry. Also, the Phantom Troupe are just. So fun. Chrollo my beloved scumbag

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End and Delicious in Dungeon are two adventure anime with extremely different vibes. Though you might already be watching those. Frieren has themes of living longer than your friends and companions, and watching people you care about vanish while you stay young - what it's like to experience that, and how to move on. Delicious in Dungeon is a comedy in a well thought out fantasy world.

Trigun's anime, Trigun's manga and Trigun: Stampede are all very different but similar narratives about a semi-immortal inhuman character traveling across an apocalyptic planet humanity failed to properly settle. I haven't watched the original anime, but the manga and Stampede were both fun.

If you haven't seen Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood yet, rocket that to the top of the list.

I'm currently watching a mid-2000s shonen isekai - Marchen Awakens Romance - with a friend. We're enjoying ourselves so far... at ep 40/ out of 100ish. If it gets bad it's not my fault.

Classic old-school isekai I haven't seen in ages are Inuyasha and Magic Knights Rayearth. Didn't finish InuYasha, actually. Fushigi Yugi is on my to-watch list.

Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicles is a mid 2000s adventure manga that involves a LOT of dimensional travel and found family feels. It gets very mind-screwy by the end and has a sister series partially needed to understand what's going on - xxxHolic, which I also remember liking though it has been a hot minute (over a decade) for both of them. Go manga, not anime. More of a 'alternative to Star Rail' rec, tbh.

I think if you mentioned some specific characters or potential plotlines in Genshin I might be able to offer alternatives? Like, if you liked the House of Hearth as morally grey found family trying to protect Fontaine, I could say you might like Moriarty the Patriot or Bungou Stray Dogs, but a lot of that's gonna be way more subjective than broader fantasy/adventure story recs...

(If you wish Scaramouche had ever been able to confront his creator and his vague allusions to 'having a heart' and personhood/identity were more of a thing - Lies of P! If you liked Diluc but wish he still did anything vigilante-like, you'll probably like... some... Batman media! Depends why you like Diluc! Stuff like that.)

The thing I've watched most recently that I really, really liked was Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. I read the books in high school and revisiting it (and it revisiting itself) was really interesting. The show has some extremely interesting animation choices and generally looks incredible - it's also pretty funny, so there's that. I'd recommend either reading the books or watching the movie first (the entire movie cast returned to voice act Takes Off, actually - and do an incredible job).

I've also been playing a shitton of Castlevania lately. I didn't like the shows very much, but I found myself enjoying the games I got on the Switch store.

[fair-fae]

LFRP - Faye Covington - Crystal DC

Hello! I am a long time FFXIV RPer looking for more RP for my main, Faye Covington (though I have a slew of alts we can have some fun with, as well), a noblewoman and mage hailing from the Twelveswood where she runs a teahouse which doubles as a front for an information brokering business. Feel free to check out her carrd above for full details! Ideally, I’d like to delve into the more exciting things–drama, mystery, intrigue, tension, conflict, combat, adventure, horror, DMed events, dark and mature stuff, storydriven RP and the like! Maybe even some romance later down the line if things click that way. I definitely also enjoy casual, social, slice-of-life, and tavern RP, but I expect that will fall into place along the way!

I am looking for…

In Game RP - I enjoy Discord RP sometimes, but I’d like to do some RP in game and establish a rapport for our characters there first! Long Term RP - I would like to RP with people who actively play the game and can create an ongoing story where we RP together every so often rather than one-and-done scenes. Para RP - My post length ranges from semi-para to multi-para usually. I would love to RP with folks who enjoy writing so I can flex my muscles a little! Lore Friendliness - I do enjoy FFXIV’s setting and how respecting it makes for a more cohesive story. So I don’t like breaking or disregarding the lore! But I do like to suspend disbelief a little and explore the bounds of what’s possible in this fantasy setting and have fun with things. If some lore bending or “unusual” characters aren’t your thing, please know all my characters have their oddities.

Hooks NEW! Bodyguard Wanted - With her previous one out of the job, Faye is looking for a new bodyguard(s). Playing a tough type who wouldn't mind some gil for putting up with a sassy noblewoman? Here's your opportunity for some RP fun, including getting dragged along for various RP events and storylines, if you're interested. Information Broker - Does your character have any reason to hire an information broker or private detective? Need to move your storyline along? Want to form a business partnership… or rivalry? Did someone hire Faye to investigate your character? Or perhaps it was your character who was already sold out to an enemy and they want their revenge? Kindred Spirits - Is your character a fellow from the upper crust? Gridanian? Businessperson? Tea aficionado? Mage? Ties to the Garlean Empire? Or the Void? Will it lead to a friendship or partnership? Or frenemies, rivals, or enemies? Socialite - Faye likes to make her existence known and go out and about. Need someone to attend (non ERP/night club) RP events with you? I am glad to! Anything Else - I am down for any suggestions. If there is a role in your story that needs filled, let me know. If anything in Faye’s carrd piques your interest, including for a pre-established connection, run it by me! If you’re writing a personal storyline for your character and they need some friends, I’m along for the ride. If there’s a reason you think Faye might hire your character for something in their expertise, just let me know! Faye can interact with pretty much any character, and depending on circumstances can play the hero or the villain, or anywhere between, so please toss your ideas at me! ??? - Do you like vampires? What? Why do I ask? No reason, really…

Please message me if you’re interested! Discord: Destiny (Faye)#8463

[gaast]

Sorry you're sick! Maybe an ask will make you feel better?

I know you have an English degree, do you have a favorite author and/or work and why?

That's an interesting question. I'm gonna talk a little bit about the question before I try to answer it.

I ended up getting two English degrees, which I'm kind of proud of. My Master's was very fun to obtain. But once you get to the graduate courses, you are absolutely forced to recognize what your undergrad professors were implying very, very hard: Everything you read is a tool. Everything you see is a tool. Everything is a message that you can--and perhaps MUST--identify. Read enough books this way and they stop being entertainment. It l's not that the fun is gone--I still love reading--but you just engage with it so differently. It makes sense to ask a Lit major for its favorite author or book but it also feels reductive, in a way? And to be clear, I am NOT criticizing you or your question. I just feel like What It Means To Be A Lit Major is different from the outsider's perspective on it. Because, it's like, we're not just reading books well. We're formulating arguments based on what we read and apply it to the world as it exists. And we don't just read fiction.

For example, there's a classic essay that makes the compelling argument that the Watergate scandal was analogous to Disney World. I read an article that did a close reading of Starbucks decor. Freud was a jackass but his essay on the uncanny remains almost preternaturally compelling--and that essay? Required a close reading of literature.

I say all of this only to say that the question, "Who's your favorite author?" tends to elicit answers that don't open up a conversation. Which is a damn shame, because my business is conversations.

So I'm gonna try to answer as well as I can to avoid that pitfall.

For fiction, I really adore Jesse Ball. His words have a kind of fairytale-like quality to them that casts the world in the kind of mist you'd find deep in the woods somewhere, where everything in the margins comes out to play. Only those marginal beings can hurt you if you aren't careful. His recent memoir, Autoportrait, is fascinating, because it's very much a portrait of a man who feels quite strongly about his ideals and who believes, perhaps rightly, that his success is a fluke and will end one day. His writing really reflects his anarchism--it crafts harsh worlds, but worlds that invite unity, togetherness, and wonder.

I also really like Mark Z Danielewski's fiction. It honestly feels very worthwhile to put his work in conversation with Ball's, but I haven't done that yet! Anyway, MZD is masterful at making sense, just sense that you don't get. He operates on a level where his fiction is focused almost entirely on emotions, so he writes as logically and drily as possible. He creates conflicts out of normalcy. His work is best described as paradoxes with no origins.

I also have to mention some specific works, especially Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Phantom Brave, and Cultist Simulator. These are games, and they all create very evocative worlds that, while brutal, ultimately find distinct (if sometimes terrible) worth and value and light in the world.

As for nonfiction... Jack Halberstam's body of work is some of the most important you can read. I also adore The Body in Pain by Elaine Scarry, I believe? And Understanding Media by Marshal McLuhan is so fucking incredible. Yeah yeah his points have all essentially been moved beyond but come on.

As for philosophical work: read Tim Morton. I cannot stress enough how formative Realist Magic has been for me.

[lacependragon]

So I'm a hundred pages into Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros at this point and... I'm impressed?

I have listened to people rant about this book, and the one person who gave it five stars I read agreed it had a lot of flaws. So I went into this book prepared to wince but wanting to check it out.

You know what I found?

A physically disabled main character whose disability shapes her actions, the plot, and how people view her, who is still allowed to be sexually attractive and horny - and I will defend this horny character because how often do disabled characters get this?

A background family drama that entwines the various members of Violet's (MC) family to her, all in ways that aide the story overall, whether with conflict or solutions.

A smart and compassionate character who thinks things through and while she sometimes makes bad calls, you understand her thinking and why she did it.

Thematically appropriate world-building that, while not logical in our world, follows the cultural background and central focus (vicious dragons) of this world really well. The world-building aides the story in a really nice way.

Internal consistency. Lots and lots of internal consistency. Lots of small gestures and moments adding up so you realize how things are happening even if Violet doesn't. And Violet is smart. She picks up a lot of things on her own and makes great solutions for her problems and while she wants solutions and assistance, she knows what her options are and she will fight back against ableism.

Casually queer characters???? Casual characters of colour??? Not reduced to stereotypes??? Violet makes friends. Genuine friends, and they're fairly diverse. Her best friend, Rhiannon, is queer, in a really casual and normative way.

And yeah, the dialogue is a little clunky, the quirk of exposition as a de-stressing tool is silly, and spelling Scale as Sgaeyl to make it an "edgy" dragon name is just ridiculous. But those are my only complaints so far.

Also I unironically love the edgelord that isn't an edgelord love interest, Xaden. I've already figured out his game, and why he's pulling what he's doing, and it's brilliant. It's so simple but so cool and I love that once you realize it, all of his actions become perfectly consistent (so far).

I dunno man, this book reads like fanfiction, in the sense that it's extremely character focused, very light-hearted at times when it probably shouldn't be, and gets very horny when you least expect it. But it's also fun. And it's not a "turn your brain off" book, it's a "think like a romance author writing a fantasy romance for the first time" book.

[spamton-addison]

okay all the questions I can think of before I have to leave

1 general backstory overview?

2 pronouns?

3 favorite food, movie, snack, book, and person?

4 an object they really like

5 sexual/romantic orientation(s)?

6 how many friends do they have?

7 cursed by the visions or doomed by the narrative

8 are you interested in maybe them hanging out with my characters sometime maybe…….

9 does their name have a meaning?

10 are they yours or did you revamp them? (Or are they just a blorbo?)

11 do they like rain?

12 favorite tv show

13 old television colorbars? Yes or no?

14 touch tone telephone or rotary dial phone?

15 why do they stand out to you so much?

16 I am out of ideas. I will send more if I think of them and pls keep writing if you’d like/can

OKAY RAPIDFIRE LETS GO

1. sale is the oldest sibling of the addison family (hes 28 usually, but around 24 in some aus . hes always the oldest sibling though) he was happy once and then his best friend got cucked by a capitalist bastard which caused him to completely shut down emotionally in some fucked up misguided attempt to protect himself and his siblings from further harm its a whole thing . he is constantly overworking himself in order to avoid thinking about what happens and refuses to let himself cry ever

2. pronouns are he/him this man is CIS

3. favourite food: nothing i can think of specifically but he used to really like sour things and meat . he hates beef specifically though

favourite movie: he doesnt give himself time to watch anything recreationally. he probably wouldve liked deadpool/deadpool 2 if hed ever watched them though (sorry. my movie knowledge is limited and im projecting)

favourite snack: coffee is not a snack but it is to him . he probably ate coffee beans before the horrors as a joke

favourite book: he doesnt give himself time to read but he probably would like fantasy books . think like the dragon stones trilogy or eragon . also maybe the hunger games

favourite person: thatd either be his (missing) best friend Loveluck, his sibling Reverb (in aus where reverb exists) or his sibling Radio (in aus where radio exists)

4. he has this one specific pen that hes used for years and never throws away . he would rather spend a fuck ton of money getting ink specifically for this one pen than just buy a ton of new ones cheap . it is his favourite pen . otherwise he has a photo of him and his siblings he keeps in his room, but hes kept it facedown since the horrors (it hurts to look at)

5. hes aroace :D

6. anywhere between zero and maybe three . depends on the au

7. doomed by the narrative but also the narrative wants to save him . he is dead set on dooming himself . but also he suffers in nearly every au so i think that counts as doomed by the narrative

8. he doesnt get out much anymore and is kind of mean to most people but ABSOLUTELY . young sale (pre shutdown) is tolerable and a fun guy to be around probably

9. take a wild guess what the name Sale could possibly mean/silly

10. sale is my oc but he was Supposed to just be a generic yellow addison to act as the scapegoat . it got a little out of hand and now hes my everything

11. ya he likes the rain its grounding . when it rains is like the only time he lets himself take a break from work because he can just focus on the white noise of the rain . its nice to him . rain is actually one of the few things he likes now that he Didnt like before

12. he hates like everything to do with tv shows . probably the pokemon anime

13. possibly

14. touch tone . he has a personal vendetta against rotary dial phones

15. CLAPS HANDS TOGETHER. HE IS MY FAVOURITE COLOUR, HE HAS SPIKY TEETH, I PROJECT ONTO HIM AN ALARMING AMOUNT, IVE HAD HIM AROUND A YEAR AND A HALF AT LEAST BY NOW I THINK? HE STANDS OUT BECAUSE HES JUST SO FUNDAMENTALLY BROKEN IN A WAY UNIQUE TO HIM (and trust me there are a Lot of characters that are so fucked up around him) HE IS SO FULL OF CONFLICT AND FEAR AND HES PATHETIC AND ID LET HIM BE MY DAD BUT ALSO IM A LITTLE GAY FORHIM .

16. sale has like. two main character arcs to me, regardless of au . notably being his first arc, in which he digs himself into a terribly awfully deep hole, and his second arc being then realising he wants to get Out of it again . although in the aus where he Does get to heal he is never the same as he was before it all, he still heals and gets to move on with his life . even if it takes him literal years to get to a point where he can even start .

despite how poor his circumstances are (largely by his own fault but caused by the disappearance of loveluck) and despite how hard it is for him to keep going every day he never wants to die . he wants this hell to end but he doesnt want that end to be by dying . he wants to live . he wishes he still could . but he is so scared and he lets that fear control him and that is why he so routinely makes the shittiest decisions . he is trying his best but his best right now is terrible because of how centred he is on avoiding the past .

he means so much to me

[mdhwrites]

I know you've been asked this before, but still, now since toh has ended would you consider giving Arcane a chance? Not right away but maybe when feel like it. 👀

I promise it's not a bad show, I watched it after starting toh to pass the time. It's only 1 season for now and it has just 9 episodes, but these episodes are so packed! The world building is easy to grasp, the characters do interact, there's development, it has a diverse female cast and fighting scenes. There's at least 3 conflicts that interconnect at the end.

The thing about it that amazes me is that it does so much in such a little short time, 9 episodes only. I often compare it toh and wonder about how much toh could've done if they knew how to plan beforehand, because toh had all the time in the world in comparison. (I'm mentioning this because I'm also bitter about the shortening thing being thrown around to excuse the bad writing).

So I will 100% admit that Arcane sounds entirely up my alley. It's in a universe that has had literally over a decade to flesh out its lore and ideas, characters they've been working with for at least half the games life cycle, it has rave reviews, lesbians, the animation is GORGEOUS, I've actually heard surprisingly little analyzing the plot and that could be fun for me. I... just don't know why I haven't watched it. And it's not like I'm so busy as to not watch shows. I watch WAY too much Youtube and streams. That stuff is mostly mindless and pure entertainment and I can't make blogs or stories about it. But that might also be exactly why I don't watch much scripted content. See, I watch a lot of stuff while I'm on walks to have some noise going, or music while I think about writing ideas, or while I'm playing a game or the like. It's distraction. It's to turn off the part of my brain that's too wound up and emotional and analytical. Also a lot of media has the unfortunate problem of me going "What can I be inspired by this for?" Which if I was going full blast would be great! At 8k words a day, having things to distract me or keep my motor running would be almost necessary. And that's technically a conservative statement as when I first joined TOH, I did 200k words in 2 weeks. That's 15k a day. The fact that it took me months to burn out during that time period is a miracle. But when I'm depressed? Those ideas honestly hurt more than anything else. I still haven't done Amphibia blogs because I just can't get myself to bring my thoughts together independently on the subject for some reason despite the fact that I DO have things to talk about, whether that be talking about what sells the characters as family to me, what makes Sasha's introduction one of the best charismatic villains I've ever seen, how Hop Pop is showcase of fantasy trauma done right, why people CAN skip the first season and how insane that is and even for a more negative one: Why Marcy is so far easily the most awkward element of the show so far that I've seen. Not even bad but just not nearly as natural as the rest. And yes, while I'm still only at the First Temple, you can still send me Amphibia asks. It honestly helps my literal personality disorder to be responding to asks instead of making them myself.

I don't know. I wish I did. My head is a chaotic mess and I honestly just need to learn to calm down a lot more but my literal two main disciplines as a creator require my brain to be on. at maximum volume all the time. And it only gets worse when I go "Well what about Amphibia, or that TMNT series, or Molly Mcgee- Oh but you really ought to be looking for something new. Preferably something you can write for within its first week of airing. Even better if before then. Got to get that ENGAGEMENT after all! GROW YOUR COMMUNITY!" *sigh* And I don't want this to make you all feel bad. PLEASE let me know what you're interested in seeing me maybe talk about. I commonly forget about Arcane because it just flies under my radar for the most part for some reason. Just understand I'm slow to move. I'm trying to get better but I don't know when or if I'll ever be good at it. Edit: Because I feel like it, I do want to shout out a few channels I like to watch. Youtube: Noah Caldwell Gervais is one of the best video game essayists out there. When I talk about just putting on something to zen out to for a few hours... Well, I've watched his 8 hour Resident Evil Retrospective twice. He also has a great, dry sense of humor and great analytical skills. Todd in the Shadows is where I go for pop song reviews. Honestly, I'm pulled in more by his One Hit Wonderland Series and his Trainwreckords but it's also nice getting incite on modern pop music. If you're into animation, you NEED New Frame Plus in your life. Daniel Floyd is absolutely amazing at his job, he's ex-Pixar so that's not surprising, and pretty much all I know about animation comes from that channel. Absolutely phenomenal work. Twitch: CauseImDanJones is my favorite streamer period. Not only is his chill vibes immaculate, he has this insane talent to say the most bat shit crazy things and act like they're entirely normal. He never is an over the top streamer but he still manages some of that "WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?" energy those people have. JHobz296 is someone you likely know if you watch GDQ. For those who don't know him though: He's my go to for speedrun content. He does a lot of Kingdom Hearts speedruns, does a lot of Kingdom Hearts 2 Rando WAY better than I do and when he does variety, he keeps it laid back and casual. (I like chill streamers). Gilbot9000 is my last callout. He does a lot of fighting game streams and likes to throw it back old school, or play games with an old school vibe to them. He's a nice dude and a good friend of mine so I'd be remiss to not mention him.