#its a player driven narrative

[w1tchybusiness]

i could write a 100 page essay about what a fucking masterpiece warframe is. i will write many words in the tags. please readem if you want my 'tism.

[burst-of-iridescent]

kat.aang fails as a friends to lovers dynamic for multiple reasons, but one of the most egregious is that katara’s friendship alone is never once valued by either the narrative or aang.

a good friends to lovers romance bases the will-they-won’t-they on the potential consequences of rejection. what if confessing ruins your friendship? what if by trying to be something different you lose what you already have? not only is this a relatable and interesting conflict that maintains romantic tension without making it seem contrived, it also does something more important: it denotes the importance and meaning of the characters’ existing bond, thus making it a worthwhile, believable framework upon which to build a romance.

but this is never the case in kat.aang. not once does aang worry about what confessing his feelings might do to his friendship with katara, or even entertain the possibility that their relationship could be strained or ruined as a result. rather, the romantic tension in kat.aang is driven by the fear of rejection itself: the worst outcome of this situation is not the loss of aang’s supposedly close friendship with katara, but the dreaded confirmation that friendship is all that will ever exist between them.

katara and aang don’t work as a friends to lovers ship because their platonic/familial relationship is framed as an obstacle to their romance, not a stepping stone. this is made most evident in the ember island players, when actress katara’s re-affirmation of her sisterly feelings for aang (coupled with her interest in zuko) is the catalyst for aang’s confrontation and subsequent violation of katara. katara’s platonic love here is a source of frustration to aang, not comfort; a reminder of what he does not yet have instead of what he stands to lose.

aang wanting “more” than friendship is not inherently bad, and his desire for a romance with katara does not, on its own, invalidate their relationship. but you cannot predicate a romance on friendship all while disparaging the continuation of said friendship in its current state as the worst thing that could happen to the dynamic of these two characters! doing so not only cheapens kat.aang’s platonic bond, it also reinforces the idea that the only type of relationship worth having with women is a romantic one; that friendship is nothing more than a poor consolation prize for the romance women rightfully owe their male friends. it’s a leaf taken right out of the good old Nice Guy misogyny and amatonormativity playbook.

and if even the narrative can’t be bothered to respect or buy into kat.aang’s friendship as the foundation of their romance, why exactly should i or anyone else be expected to do so?

[felassan]

From Owlcat Games - The Expanse: Osiris Reborn Announcement Trailer

"The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is a story-driven sci-fi Action RPG. You play as a Pinkwater Security mercenary whose brief shore leave on the asteroid Eros spirals out of control. Trapped in a deadly lockdown and drawn into a solar system-wide conspiracy far beyond your control, you’ll have to adapt, survive, taking command of the most advanced ship in the whole of the solar system. Gather a crew and find your own path through the web of lies to leave your mark on the solar system. Become a Founder to support the development and get exclusive rewards: https://osirisreborn.owlcat.games/ [source]"

✨ A new upcoming science-fiction action RPG set in the The Expanse universe! ✨

singleplayer | third-person | story-driven | Mass Effect-inspired

Customizable PC, ‘the captain’ (who can be a woman or a man)

Play them as an Earther, Martian, or Belter

On CC: “robust and expansive character creation with a lot of options to choose from. Nice hairstyles, nice features, everything you would expect from modern character creation”

Make choices with consequences that shape the story and which influence your relationships with the companions

The captain has an identical twin sibling of the same gender who is “your first companion and most loyal companion from the start”

The captain commands the advanced starship frigate Gemini

They lead a crew of companions

There are romances

Game is fully voiced

The Story takes place “between Season 1 and Season 3 of the Expanse show” / “set during the first two-and-a-half seasons of the show, or the first two books. The events of the game occur alongside the major events that transpire across the universe in The Expanse TV show / books during that time”

Some familiar faces/voices from The Expanse will show up, “with some of the [show] actors reprising their roles”

Two companions will join you in the field during gameplay

Cover-focused, over-the-shoulder perspective real-time gameplay with guns, classes, squad coordination, and abilities

Pre-production began in 2022

will be on PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S

Release date: “Coming Soon”

"Game Design Producer Yuliya Chernenko admitted the original Mass Effect trilogy “was absolutely an inspiration to the team.” “It was iconic for the Xbox 360 generation of gamers,” Chernenko continued. “Many of us first played it in our teenage years, and it left a lasting impression. We are building on that legacy and expanding what players anticipate from this experience. Our story is deeply rooted in hard science fiction, one of the core reasons The Expanse universe resonates so well with its fans. The combat reflects the standards of modern action gameplay. The narrative emphasizes political tension and moral complexity. And yes — there’s romance too.”"

[source, two, official website]

More info from the game's Steam page and website under the cut due to length:

“You’re no hero — just a merc caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, trying to hold your crew together and keep the ship up and running. Your choices will shape your story.”

"The universe never tells us if we did right or wrong. By the 24th century, humanity has conquered the cosmos. However, life has remained anything but easy. In The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, a story-driven sci-fi Action RPG, you play as a Pinkwater Security mercenary whose brief shore leave on the asteroid Eros spirals out of control. Trapped in a deadly lockdown and drawn into a solar system-wide conspiracy far beyond your control, you’ll have to adapt, survive, taking command of the most advanced ship in the whole of the solar system. Create and customize your own captain — Earther, Martian, or Belter — and lead a crew of highly-skilled specialists as you face off against escalating threats, political pressure, and a relentless enemy that will stop at nothing to see you dead. In a solar system held together by fragile alliances, every decision leaves its mark. Trust isn’t given – it’s earned. Your companions are more than just mission assets — they are people with their own scars and loyalties. Some chase redemption. Others hide their truths. Over time, your relationships will flourish or deteriorate depending on the choices you make and how you choose to lead. The ship becomes your home — a place where trust is earned, not given. Dynamic third-person combat. Fight in third-person utilizing cover-focused gunplay and abilities. Two companions will accompany you into the field while others will support from a distance: disabling systems or drawing the enemies’ attention. You will issue real-time commands and have to adapt quickly to survive the manifold threats the system will throw at you. The fractured world of The Expanse. Visit iconic locations like Ganymede, Ceres, Mars, and Luna. Walk through ruined habitats and political strongholds mired in unease and tension. Talk to the locals. Uncover secrets. Use your skills to influence what happens next. The system looks different from every planet and from every asteroid. Some are falling apart. Others just hide it better. You may even come across a familiar face or voice that reminds you of just how small the system really is."

[source: Steam]

"INTRODUCTION The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is a third-person sci-fi action RPG set in the universe of The Expanse, where the tenuous balance of power between Earth, Mars, and the Belt is on the brink of collapse, and trust is a scarce commodity. Now it is time to gather a crew and find your own path through the web of lies to leave your mark on the solar system. By the 24th century, humanity has conquered the cosmos, but that hasn't made life any easier. What begins as a brief sojourn on the asteroid Eros reluctantly entangles you in a solar system-wide conspiracy. You will need to adapt to survive and keep your motley crew united in their mission as everything around you begins to fall apart. This is your story. The Expanse: Osiris Reborn offers a truly personal journey that evolves based on the choices you make and the pressures they place on everything you stand for. CHARACTERS Your crew is more than just backup — they’re the heart of your story. Each companion brings with them their own personal history and motives for joining the mission, though not all are easy to uncover. They’re more than just specialists. Some are haunted by past mistakes. Others hold on dearly to loyalty, survival, or even something they’ve never been capable of fully putting into words. The ship becomes your shared home — it’s not just a command center but a place where the crew can bond and where trust is earned. A single shared silence might become the foundation for a much deeper connection. A single decision could overturn it all. The way you lead your crew and the choices you make under pressure will shape every relationship in ways you don’t always see coming. COMBAT Combat in The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is tactical and built around smart decision-making under pressure, where every move has the potential to shift the balance of a fight. Control your captain in third-person, and gain the upper hand by making use of a variety of weapons, tactics (cover, command, etc.), and specialized abilities. The game features multiple roles, each offering a distinct approach that reflects your personal playstyle. Two companions will fight alongside you, supporting whatever strategy you choose with complementary skills. Others will assist from a distance, hacking into systems or drawing enemies’ attention right when you need it most. You will issue commands in real time and coordinate with your squad to stay one step ahead as the battlefield evolves. Survival depends on how quickly you can adapt and who you trust to stand with you when your back is to the wall. EXPLORATION The Expanse: Osiris Reborn opens into a narrative-driven world where shifting power dynamics and personal choices will define your experience. You’ll visit the marvel that is the gardens of Ganymede, the teeming slums of Ceres, whole bunker complexes veiled in vastness of the Asteroid Belt, and the imperious political bastions of Mars and Luna. As you travel throughout the solar system, you will be ensnared in a cyclone of power struggles and unresolved conflict. The system looks different from every planet and from every asteroid. Some are falling apart. Others just hide it better. Talk to the locals and use your skills to influence the outcomes, sometimes by digging into secrets some may wish remained buried. You may even cross paths with those who have already made their indelible mark on this universe. What you learn and how you act upon it can open new paths and slowly and subtly change your place in the world around you."

[source]

[luckthebard]

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about storytelling vs. gameplay in Actual Play and finally had some solid thoughts coalesce around it when looking at Worlds Beyond Number and Thresher.

Thoughts after the cut:

This is going to be a hot take but I think, increasingly, Worlds Beyond Number is not an Actual Play but a collaborative audio novel/drama. While the margins between those things might seem on some level semantic, I think they’re really key for thinking about how Actual Play is different from other kinds of storytelling media. WBN was originally conceived of and advertised as “like the games you run in your living room” but as it has gone on the podcast has moved so far away from that that it is no longer delivering on that original conceit. This does not mean it is bad! I think WBN is actually succeeding more on a storytelling level as it sheds more of its obvious gameplay. But it’s gotten to a point where the game mechanics are either edited out and therefore not central to what is heard by the audience, or incidental to the story being told, which is driven far more by Brennan as the main worldbuilding storyteller than by game mechanics or player action. When a supposed Actual Play has a key narrative episode that finishes with almost 10 minutes of story narrated solely by the GM with no gameplay rolls or mechanics mentioned, of an epic, hugely narratively important combat, in my mind gameplay has taken enough of a backseat to the storytelling process that the podcast is no longer an Actual Play.

And I think we’ve seen an evolution over time of a lot of Actual Plays de-centering game mechanics or the conceit of gameplay in favor of more crafted narrative beats, to both the benefit and detriment of the stories themselves. In Critical Role for example, C1 and C2 in many ways felt more like a D&D game than C3, if only because of the presence of incidental, seemingly narratively insignificant combat moments. As late as late C2 with the Mighty Nein in Aeor, the players were rolling random encounters that had no relation to the larger endgame plot. This led some viewers to complain about pacing, but made other Actual Play enjoyers happy to the extent it showcased game mechanics and allowed character moments to emerge from the combat mechanics themselves, the core gameplay element of D&D. Contrast that to C3, which very early in the episode count did away with “meaningless” incidental combat and pushed forward with a very clear endgame narrative. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that fan engagement with mechanics really fell off in C3, with less meta about what spell or feat choices meant for character development. Similarly, the sunsetting of the CritRoleStats project, while certainly because founders were just busy and had put years into it already and were ready to move on, also was at least somewhat influenced by having less to work with as gameplay mechanics were emphasized less and less at the table in C3.

If you were to look at a lot of the more professional and academic study and critique of Actual Play, you might be convinced that a move away from centering gameplay and above table mechanics discussions was universally good for the medium, as an emphasis on storytelling over gaming would make it more universally accessible. I would posit though that at least some of this comes from the loudest, most professionally credentialed commentators on Actual Play coming from literature backgrounds, and therefore valuing storytelling and narrative over gaming for audience appeal. But I think that misses the gaming audience of Actual Play, who are less and less catered to as the medium becomes more mainstream.

There’s often not a lot of understanding of the appeal of gaming itself as an object of, especially curative, fan obsession, even as sports fandom exists as a huge example of the wide appeal. I am, pretty loudly, a baseball fan as well as a ttrpg and Actual Play fan. In many ways, these things hold similar appeal to me. I am interested in thinking about the game mechanics and action economy of certain character builds and how they fit into party composition in the same way I might obsess over a pitcher’s ERA and arsenal, as well as what his role is in the starting pitcher rotation or the bullpen. I find the prospect of a matchup between, say, Shohei Ohtani and Zack Wheeler appealing in the same way I’m excited about a mechanically strong D&D party fighting a Beholder. Gaming has long been interesting to people not only as something to participate in, but something to study and analyze. Win scenarios, optimal builds, and gameplay tactics are engaging to viewers as well as players. And I think, increasingly, Actual Play productions either forget this or, if the prevalence of editing gameplay out of edited AP is any indication, do not think the gameplay itself is of value or interest to the audience. Published Actual Play scholarship, in my opinion, continues to make this mistake as well. This has led to an increase of productions which are labeled as Actual Play and ostensibly have a gameplay component but are so far removed from watching/listening to people play a game that it is hard to argue that they are still Actual Play.

Which brings me to Thresher. Thresher was brilliant at threading that needle between production, radio drama vibes, and centered and narratively driving gameplay. I am someone who often complains about Actual Play production and editing doing Too Much but I actually loved the costumes and some of the editing gimmicks on Thresher because all of the storytelling and narrative was still so clearly grounded in the gameplay mechanics. Uses of drive mechanics and character abilities were clearly defined even as the audience could hold their breath in a tense horror atmosphere. Mechanics like Turn the Tide and Jasper’s move as the GM to allow the players to pass him secret notes were fantastic ideas to center player choice in crafting the narrative, and let the players surprise each other, leading to big and exciting moments a the table. The storytelling was enhanced by Abubakar’s above table exclamation of “what the fuck is this??” at the end, because it wasn’t just about the story that had unfolded but that his fellow players had surprised both him and the GM by using their game mechanic options to change the direction of the narrative and the condition of the story. I would love for more Actual Play to remember the value of the audience seeing that or being in on the extra-narrative elements of gameplay that shape story. Not all Actual Play needs to be the same, but I think we’ve lost something in the medium as a whole recently with a shift away from visible mechanics and toward streamlined, almost audio drama style story that just happens to have scaffolding from a tabletop roleplaying game.

[velvetalliances-if]

🕊️ VELVET ALLIANCES

A high medieval interactive fiction story of legacy, betrayal, power.

“If you wish to survive in court, speak softly, marry smartly, and never show them where it hurts. I’ve buried more men than you’ve shaken hands with, I know what ends a legacy and I won’t see ours crumble for sentiment.”

- Lady Virelda Rovathar, your Grandmother

🏰 The Story

Set in the shadowed grandeur of the Valderith Empire, Velvet Alliances tells the story of House Rovathar, a once proud noble house nestled in the mountainous heart of the empire. Known for its mines and smiths, the house has endured, but never recovered, from a scandal that shattered its foundation twelve years ago.

A beloved wife lost.

A bastard child revealed.

A father turned cold.

Now, Lord Malrik Rovathar, rigid and embittered, seeks to change the ancient laws of succession, risking family stability, loyalty, and the delicate order of the court. His children, each scarred in their own way by grief and impossible expectations, begin to turn on one another, pulled by love, ambition, and old wounds.

And soon, they will have no choice but to play their roles before the entire empire.

For a grand festival within the imperial capital of Viremont draws near, held in celebration of the crown prince’s 20th birthday. Every noble house is expected to attend. What was once a quiet family struggle will now unfold beneath the gaze of the emperor, as well as your fellow noble families.

In the flickering light of courtly celebration, alliances will be forged, secrets uncovered, and legacies tested.

🎭 Your Role

You are the third-born child of House Rovathar, caught at the heart of the family’s unraveling. You’ve been overlooked, underestimated, and quietly shaped by the chaos around you.

 It’s a story of velvet words and iron consequences.

Will you try to save your family's legacy or tarnish it further?

Will you bind the family together, or let it tear itself apart?

🔹 Features

Deeply branching character-driven narrative

Complex family relationships & moral dilemmas

Court intrigue, noble alliances, and personal betrayal

Optional romance, friendship and rivalry arcs

Customizable MC

💪 Stats

Here is a link that discusses how your MC's stats are going to work.

♥️ MC’s Romance

You’ll have the opportunity to pursue one of four (planned) romances options.

Séraphan Viremont, 20 M

Eveline Lysvenna, 23 F

Kaelen Branthorne, 24 M

Céline Marleaux, 21 F

There may also be the opportunity for some flings with some other characters as well.

💒 Side Romance

Your young half sister has a heart of her own, and her eye has fallen on someone close to the court. Will you encourage her budding feelings, try to dissuade her, or try to pursue the object of her affection for yourself?

If you do not want to see spoilers on who her romance is with please block the tag Lirael<3.

Character Introductions

World Map - In development

Map of Valderith

Demo - TBD

💬 Dev Note:

Velvet Alliances is currently in early development. This blog will serve as a place for updates, worldbuilding posts, character reveals, and story previews. Asks are open, and feedback is more than welcome.

⚠️ Content Warnings for Velvet Alliances

Velvet Alliances is a character-driven, narrative-focused story that includes mature themes. Players should be advised of the following subject matter, which may appear in the game:

Velvet Alliances will be 18 plus for optional nsfw content.

Sexism and gender-based succession issues (this will be in no way glorified)

Parental neglect and emotionally distant parenting

Psychological manipulation and coercion

Violence and mentions of death

Emotional abuse and toxic family dynamics

Some mention of infidelity

If there is any warning I may have missed please do not hesitate to let me know and I will add it to the content warnings list. I aim to create a positive and safe space for readers to navigate the complex world I have created, and I will not tolerate bullying of any kind in any space I moderate. My inbox will always remain open for anyone who has questions or concerns.

[calder]

Themes of Gay Identity and Homophobia in Fallout: New Vegas

Revised and extended 4-30-25. Much of this essay is no longer available on the wiki. Please read attached PSA at conclusion.

Released in 2010, Obsidian Entertainment's Fallout: New Vegas actively concerns itself with the realities of gay existence, and is widely recognized as a noteworthy work of queer science fiction. New Vegas extensively examines social attitudes towards homosexuality among the game's major factions, and primarily conveys this lore through gay and bisexual characters describing their own experiences. It also allowed the player to mechanically set the Courier's sexual orientation. By taking both available perks, the player character can be bisexual. By choosing neither, the player can opt out of seeing flirtatious dialogue options.

Uniquely, Fallout: New Vegas explores homosexuality in the context of wasteland societies, and touches upon related issues. The core theme of New Vegas is that the desire to recreate the past is driven by irrational nostalgia, and any endeavor to manifest past glory is dangerous and doomed. The social issue of homophobia is used as a demonstrative example. The resurrection of corporate and military power structures presents new avenues for Old World problems such as institutional homophobia to reemerge. One of the many issues that divide the New California Republic and Caesar's Legion is the latter's open persecution of gay people. The NCR is described as tolerant and even accepting of same-sex relationships, though acceptance tends to fall off the further one moves away from the developed, urbanized core of New California.

In recent years, the Republic's rapid economic transformation has led to an unforeseen erosion of the humanitarian ideals which it was founded to serve. In practice, to recreate America was to take on its shortcomings and its sins. As subsistence scavenging has dried up, the people of the NCR increasingly turn to wage labor, entrepreneurial venture, or military enlistment to keep their families fed. Meanwhile, their government enacts morally corrosive imperialism (narrative verbiage from the PRIMA guide), their dominion expanding indefinitely as their infrastructure crumbles from within. This has led to a profit-based imperial monoculture which must conquer, consume, and coerce to perpetuate. As personal politics and service labor grow in importance, people find themselves more inclined to present as "normal" in the interest of financial stability and political expedience. A loading screen visualizes this culture of artificial social normalcy: the portrait of President Aradesh on the NCR 5$ bill neglects to depict his unibrow, earring, and facial scarification, overall portraying the once-chieftain so cleanly-cut as to be unrecognizable at first glance. He also appears to be wearing a collared shirt or suit as opposed to the robe he wore in Fallout.

In the Legion, Caesar has mandated that every legionnaire take a wife and produce children, citing high infant mortality rates and the constant need for soldiers, and going as far as instituting child quotas. He treats human beings as a resource to be exploited for war. Ostensibly in this aim homosexuality has been declared a capital offense punishable by death. Historically, routine demonstrations of violence towards women and gay people are a deliberate feature of fascist societies, the only logical cultural conclusion of a government devoted entirely to war and control.

In Forlorn Hope letter 9, an NCR soldier wrote wrote the following to his boyfriend:

Dearest Andrew, Writing this seems pretty morbid, but tomorrow we march into the no man's land between our camp and Nelson, which is crawling with Legion. The Major insisted I write this damn "if you get this, I'm dead" letter so here it is. What a crock. I have the luck of the devil and your love on my side, so I'll be home soon. Keep the porch light on for me. We'll party in New Vegas when I get back. I love you. —Devin

Devin believed he would prevail over the Legion because his love would keep him safe. He was found dying or dead on the battlefield, the letter was found on his body. In a post-release patch, the injured soldiers were removed from the battlefield for performance reasons, and never re-implemented.

Driven largely in reaction to the Legion's hyper-masculine posturing and misogyny, rumors persist across the Mojave that gay male relationships are not only common within the Legion, but condoned. These rumors are repeated commonly in NCR society. A closeted NCR Major mentions that the Legion is "a little more... forgiving" about close male "friendships," speaking in a hushed tone to avoid suspicion. At the same outpost, the player can encounter Cass, a bisexual civilian woman. She may flirt with a male Courier, who may imply they are gay, prompting her to imply gay men are more common in the Legion. Even as gay men fight and die in the name of love under his command, NCR General Oliver may remark to Courier Six at the Second Battle of Hoover Dam: "If you think after all that's happened, I'm going to grab my ankles and take it like the Legion..."

This writing pertains to institutionalized homophobia which manifests in practice though power structures and social interactions without being written into law. Simply put, in his derogatory remark, the general expresses to his army that military surrender is gay, much like their gay enemy. From the brevity and bluntness of this remark, it's clear that this sentiment is already well understood among his ranks. Logically, to project strength in the eyes of such a leader, one might also project homophobia by scrutinizing and harassing one's peers and subordinates. In this atmosphere, the expression of homophobia is not only normalized, but materially incentivized. For the ambitious, it becomes a tool, and a way of casting shame upon rivals. For the closeted, homophobia becomes a survival tactic, hoping to throw scrutiny off oneself. This is why Major Knight is immediately frightened when a male Courier flirts with him. He is so profoundly alienated that he romanticizes life as a gay man under the Legion. The Legion punish homosexuality with death, and yet Knight characterizes them as more "forgiving" than the NCR. Through these apparently disparate events, the audience can trace how a distorted perception of gay people emerges among insecure men in a military environment, and subsequently becomes ingrained in the corresponding civilian culture.

At the 188 Trading Post, a lesbian from the Brotherhood of Steel named Veronica also wryly remarks that she believes legionaries have gay sex about as often as straight sex. She also notes that this only applies to men, as women have no rights whatsoever in Legion society. In this aside, she conveys a pre-existing frustration with lesbophobic social norms. Veronica also mentions that the people of her bunker would rather she remain on the surface.

The Mojave Brotherhood of Steel has no official policy prohibiting homosexuality, but an implicit attitude among its dominant members that their limited numbers require everyone to have children to avoid extinction. Numerically, this may seem logical on the surface, given their reluctance to recruit outsiders. However, given their tiny population, this is an ineffective countermeasure, as they do not have nearly enough members to maintain genetic diversity for more than a few generations. 

This approach is not universally supported by all family units within the Brotherhood, but every individual is ultimately at the mercy of the elder. Veronica was in a lesbian relationship, but they were quietly separated by Elder Elijah, due to the dominant culture of enforcing heterosexual pairing among their population. No Brotherhood character makes any remark conveying hatred or disgust towards homosexuality; malice is not a necessary ingredient of homophobia. Fear, ignorance, tradition, and control are forces that shape their society, resulting in the needless oppression of gay people. The subject remains subtextual, apparently taboo, which may reflect their culture's origins in the U.S. Army. Additionally, the Brotherhood's medieval theming dovetails intuitively with these themes of traditional propriety, regressive superstition, and closed-minded stagnation.

Caesar's law has not ended homosexuality within his domain. Despite the obvious risks, some legionaries have continued to pursue relationships behind closed doors, especially given their access to slaves. So long as members complete their societal obligations and fulfill the child quotas, they are able to pursue romance with other men in secret. One line suggests homosexual relationships in the faction are relatively equal to the average Legion husband and wife in some ways, apparently a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" sort of open secret policy. Despite this, gay legionaries must always make sure to keep their activities hidden.

A centurion was once almost caught fraternizing with the teenage boy he had chosen to tend his tent. Despite previous "romantic" intentions, he quickly resolved to dispose of the slave to dispel suspicion. Had they been caught together, the centurion would have been charged with homosexuality and sentenced to death. This story is only known because the enslaved young man, Jimmy, managed to escape execution. Further illustrating the cruelty intrinsic to Legion governance, it's stated that homosexuality was the crime, and not the rape of a young slave; in fact, it seems Jimmy was forced to contribute to the child quota despite being a gay teenager, and the experience left him traumatized. He has resolved to never have sex with another woman, as the very notion triggers memories which fill him with disgust, and (in his own words) makes him feel like a slave all over again.

The Strip is indifferent to gay people, viewing them as another opportunity to make caps. Both the Gomorrah and the Atomic Wrangler are interested in maximizing profits, and their prostitution services cater to clients regardless of their orientation. The openly gay Jimmy works at nearby Casa Madrid, but there is some tension among his peers due to his co-worker Maude's blatant homophobia. She supposes he's "okay, for one of those," and if propositioned by a female Courier, Maude will direct them to Sweetie for such "perverted" services. Pretty Sarah must regularly intervene to keep the peace among her staff.

New Vegas ventures further into themes of healing from the trauma of sexual violence, from the perspective of a lesbian character. NCR sharpshooter Corporal Betsy is a survivor of rape, and suffers with PTSD from the incident. Her unprocessed trauma has manifested as a maladaptive tendency to aggressively and explicitly proposition the women she encounters, in an effort to reassert a sense of control. This defensive hypersexual impulse has negatively impacted her ability to connect with other women. A male superior officer notes that her behavior is inappropriate for anyone of her stature, but abstains from disciplining her out of sincere concern for her mental health. The Courier can help her begin to recognize these problems, and convince her to seek treatment from Doctor Usanagi at the New Vegas medical clinic, which proves helpful to her as she processes and heals from her trauma. An NCR side-quest involves finding and killing her rapist.

A more significant movement out west, the Followers of the Apocalypse only control one major outpost in the Mojave, the Old Mormon Fort, somewhat ironic given the social and historical connotations of Mormonism. They allow outcasts and downtrodden to take shelter among their tents here, and do not stigmatize sex workers or addicts. A bisexual ghoul sex worker named Beatrix Russel can be encountered here, and the Courier may do business with her.

The Followers tend not to form hierarchies, and insist that the Courier choose non-violent approaches while carrying out their quests, which involve directly bettering the surrounding community of Freeside. Among other tasks, the player may be tasked to distribute Fixer (a medicine comparable to methadone) to homeless people experiencing withdrawal, or aid those abused by chem dealers. The main quest giver for the faction is community coordinator Julie Farkas, a doctor with a bold and unusual mohawk.

At Red Rock Canyon, the Courier can help a young man find purpose and kinship by convincing him to leave home and join the Followers. Jerry the Punk is a Great Khan who has been ostracized for writing poetry, and the upcoming masculinity rites expected of him by his small, tense village give him reason to actively fear for his life. Jerry has positive memories of the Followers from his childhood, because there was a time when they would bring books to share with the Great Khans tribe. The Punk finds a sense of purpose and connection when he leaves his isolated home settlement of harsh, angry men to live among the Followers, who see value in his gentle, creative nature as opposed to belittling him.

At the time of the events of Fallout, the Followers of the Apocalypse presented as benevolent secular monks who opposed the Children of the Cathedral cult. In the wake of the Unity Crisis, the city of Boneyard peacefully joined the NCR. The fiction of New Vegas establishes that, in pursuit of their founding principles, the Followers developed into a transgressive force for leftist values, openly critical of the NCR's capitalistic profit-based society. Director J.E. Sawyer freely acknowledges that the values of the Followers of the Apocalypse were informed by leftist philosophy:

"The Followers of the Apocalypse: Libertarians, socialists, communists, or greens?" Sawyer: "They vary significantly, but range from anarcho-syndicatists to socialists to communists. Their general tendency to be inclusive and non-hierarchical means they don't have a single outlook or 'platform.'"

The distinctive character design of faction representative Julie Farkas resembles an archetypical punk woman. Being a far-left counterculture of a capitalistic empire, the Followers of the Apocalypse generally evoke and directly mirror the goals and organizational methods of the modern punk movement--more acutely, they embody the sensibilities of America's rail punks, a highly transient subculture who overwhelmingly emphasize volunteerism and anti-imperial philosophy, as opposed to the sensationalism of the reactionary punk rocker scene, which is defined by the moving target of aesthetic/social transgression. This read is further informed by the Followers' inclusiveness, abundantly evidenced in their care for people marginalized by other wasteland societies, including unhoused people, addicts, sex workers, gay people, tribal people, political dissidents, criminalized people, and mutated people.

The most prominent member of the faction is Arcade Gannon, a player companion and openly gay man, who was born an illegal person under NCR law. Upon meeting Courier Six, Arcade offhandedly makes his gayness known, unprompted. The audience must face the fact that Arcade's apprehension of the Legion is far from abstract; under Legion law, he would be put to death.

Arcade will not hesitate to abandon the player if he disapproves of their actions, but if his trust is carefully earned, he will reveal his origins. Arcade was born into the Enclave just before it collapsed. He hides this because his existence is a crime under New California Republic law. He abandoned his fascist background to serve the Followers' ideology of learning, harm reduction, and antifascism.

Additionally, Arcade is critical of the NCR, and encourages the player to re-route the power of HELIOS One to Freeside rather than the NCR power grid. Should the Courier sell Arcade to the Legion and subsequently lead the NCR to victory at the Dam, Arcade will ultimately be identified as Enclave-born and arrested from his position of slavery to spend the rest of his life in an NCR prison. As a gay man originally born to the Enclave, his very existence is criminalized under the law of both the NCR and the Legion.

Another possible ending provides further insight into Caesar's hypocrisy: should the player sell Arcade into slavery and leave Caesar alive, he will keep Arcade as a personal physician and philosophical advisor. They intellectually spar at length, and Caesar grows singularly fond of him. Accordingly, Arcade imitates the historic suicide of Cato the Younger by disemboweling himself, rather than suffer the favor of the mad Caesar. The Legion's remaining medics attempted to save his life, but none were Arcade's equal. Caesar understood his doctor's final gesture of contempt, and mourned him for months.

In Old World Blues, the Think Tank are five floating brains in jars who express themselves by waving robotic arms bearing screens depicting facial features. Before the War, they were federal scientists who committed crimes against humanity in the name of weapons development. Each is stuck in some sort of neuro-bionic feedback loop which prevents them from moving forward with their projects, mentally binding them to their central laboratory. Walking through their homes at Higgs Village, it's clear each was deeply neurotic before they were transformed into floating brains.

Now without bodies, they attempt to maintain the illusion that they are exempt from sexuality as purely mental beings, but each displays obvious interest in the human form. They have codified this shaming with the term "formography." Most of the men are obsessively defensive over their complete disinterest in penises, which they talk about constantly. However, the shameless Dr. Dala shows overwhelming interest in observing and recording any and all human functions. Already androgynous in her pre-War life, Dala has taken to self-identifying as a "gender neutral entity" (though she is not known to use they/them pronouns). Regardless of the Courier's gender, they may coquettishly scratch themselves, clear their throat, and stretch in front of Dala until her biomed gel decoagulates. Dr. 8 also responds positively to graphic masturbation advice from Couriers of either gender.

The X-8 research facility is ostensibly a massive immersive shrine to Doctor Borous's hatred of Richie "Ball-Lover" Marcus, a long-dead child who bullied Borous centuries ago. He also clings to his resentment of one Betsy Bright, who refused to attend a dance with him, supposedly so she could "go smoke with RICHIE MARCUS." Clearly arrested in development, Borous has literally built a temple to the fantasy of torturing his adolescent romantic rival and feeding him to dogs. His frozen, static characterization of the jock Richie Marcus as a "pinko-commie" who "likes balls" reflects the shallowness, pettiness, and overall misanthropy underlying his patriotic identity.

It remains apparent throughout Old World Blues that the Think Tank are all chronically sexually repressed, which is inseparable from the values of the violent and judgmental pre-War culture which created them. With time and isolation, this ingrained repression has manifested as various intense and deranged psychosexual behaviors, including rage-fueled homophobia, voyeurism, and the obsessive performance of puritanical pretense.

____

“Although I’ve been out for a very long time, I made a conscious effort to be out with relation to this project, as I wanted to be visible as a lesbian in the game industry. New Vegas itself is, I think, one of (if not the) best games out there in how we treat homosexuality – and all of that is very intentional.”

“If my work on FNV, if my being out has helped even one gay person, then I have succeeded.”

— Tess “Obsidian’s Gay Cowgirl” Treadwell

____

written (with help from other editors) for Nukapedia.

Nukapedia has been seized by an alt-right high-control group.

Please see this post for more information.

[unifybullseye]

Shuake & Komahina and their similar important dynamics

Someone on strawpage on twitter asked "I saw a hot take on my TL that AkeShu fans make-up their dynamic and has little actual canon basis and I need to know your thoughts" and I thought the best way to say that I disagree with that wholeheartedly was compare shuake to kmhn LOL so here that is. I wanted to post it here too cause it's more easily consumable.

Shuake and komahina plays out is in very similar story beats. they both follow the same baseline which is the matter of understanding each other. while of course different, it follows -> nice charming guy front -> something happens to reveal the facade and the way they interact with the protagonist changes -> the big ending to it all.

The thing that stays consistent no matter what goro/nagito does is that the protagonist wants to understand them and cares about them as a person despite everything they know. Both protagonists experience betrayal with the other.

These characters are character foils to the protag, which pretty much automatically puts their story and motivations relying on the protagonist to progress their story. their stories are built off of one another and are a fundamental importance to both characters and the plot. From this, their dynamic is easily obtained through the player, and their relationship becomes a major part of the story and the protagonist's motivations.

I mean, the whole first plot twist in persona 5 wouldn't be possible without knowing what we did about Akechi's and Ren's relationship. A lot of plot is driven off of Akechi's viewing of Ren and how their justice collides. The player also retains the information on both of these ships in similar ways. That being, optional justice confidant and optional free time in DR. Confidant rank ups + Free time is like the #1 way to get to know the character better but it's up for the player to decide. getting a "canon basis" for them both can change based on the experience you have in the game.

But there is a fundamental layer of what they are despite doing them or not because once again, the story would not progress without their relationship.

I also want to say that "filling in the blanks" is a literary device and not a failure of writing. Whether it is a book or a show or what have it, good things will make the audience fill in the blanks, aka, infer what's happening or what the story is telling you not directly. Like we can infer that Ren thinks about Akechi in the time between 11/20 and third sem more than we are shown, due to his actions in third sem and his thoughts after the engine room. we can infer that Hajime thought about Nagito more than shown due to how he acts in the last trial.

so it is less "making up" their dynamic and more so just thinking about them in a way the story actually is giving us in a "show don't tell" way.

another similarity is that both of the pairs interactions are just a smaller part of the 100 hour games (despite them overlooming the narrative entirely) due to the fact it's a video game, fandoms of both have their "top tier" quotes, sort of say, lol. Quotes that are a few dialogues here and there but reveal a lot. It's simply just a different media consumption and how shipping works.

TLDR no I don't think its fair to say they have little canon basis/everything is made up when the protag/antag role of the ships is a huge part of the narrative/their interactions reveal a lot in general/we can infer things from the story based on the way the characters act. they are IMPORTANT!

[legendaryvermin]

So my home ttrpg group is between longform games right now, and I have been planning to bring a bunch of games to them this weekend as options for what we might play next. However, I have been trying to figure out how to talk about the games in a way that doesn't rely as much on me explaining the vibes to them.

I know that people have a bunch of qualitative categories for how they explain games, but I find the idea of saying things like Dark Fantasy OSR, or Lesbian Goofball PBTA less helpful when talking about how games actually play, especially when two games in the same category are like, wildly different in the way they use their frameworks.

So I invented a 6 axis, 1 to 5 star rating scale for TTRPGs that you are free to borrow when talking to groups, or whatever.

TTRPG 5 Star Rating Matrix

Width

What is the scope of this game? Is it narrowly about one thing or does it encompass many types of play? (Credit to friend of the blog @ostermad-blog for this one, they came up with it from my draft)

Weight

How much cognitive load does the player need to bear? Do rules often need to be referenced verbatim? Can those rules fit on a handout?

Wargame

Is the player expected to apply tactical acumen? Is movement tracked tightly or loosely? Does a bad build punish a player?

Writers Room

How much are players expected to make narrative choices and drive the story without the rules scaffolding them? Does this game fall apart without excellent improvisational storytellers?

(Prep)Work

Does this game require a lot of pre-planning by the facilitator? Are there intricate systems to attend to outside of table play? Can I put in the same amount of time as other players and still have everyone leave happy? 

Whimsy

Expected tone of the game. Does this game have difficult thematic elements baked in? Is the core subject or role in the game high or low risk?

Here are some games I know well and how I calibrated them:

I have breakdowns of what each star rating means below the cut if you're curious. Happy Gaming!

Width

⭐ - As written, the game has basically one mode of play, or one thematic core that it meditates on. May have phases, but textural difference is minimal.

⭐⭐ - As written, there are at least two modes of play, but the scope of that play is highly thematically focused or highly dependent on using the game’s own lore. Might have only one kind of character (e.g. Mech Pilot) that it supports. Has limited tools outside of the primary mode of play.

⭐⭐⭐ - Has a variety of modes of play, but may be rigid in their execution. Might encompass multiple kinds of characters (e.g. Doctor, Lawyer, fighter) or character options. The narratives that this game tells within its setting are narrowed, a three word description tells you what kind of stories it can tell with consistency.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Loose framework, but with some kind of thematic grounding. Describing the framework in 3 words doesn’t tell you the kind of stories that the game tells (e.g. Dark Fantasy, Star Wars Romp). 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐- As written, this game is designed in such a way that it doesn’t put specific limits on what sorts of stories that it is meant to tell. It might ask players to define abilities or stats for themselves. The Facilitator is going to pitch a thematic grounding on top of the rules set.

One Star Examples: For the Queen, Dialect, Honey Heist Five Star Examples: Fate Core, Savage Worlds, GURPS

Weight

⭐ - It is reasonable for a player to be able to recite the rules from memory. The game may be prompt based, or driven by a flow of rules that are read aloud as played.

⭐⭐ - Players can hold most of the most important information about the game in their heads, with a page or less of rules reference needed to play smoothly. This reference could all fit neatly on the character sheet if one is present.

⭐⭐⭐ - Everything a player needs to know about the game is visible on less than 3 sheets of reference. Players are more or less expected to know exactly how their own abilities work in precise detail, and are unlikely to make a mistake in executing them.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Players make extensive use of multiple reference sheets to keep rules moving smoothly. No external tools are needed, but players memorizing the details of all of their abilities is taxing. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐- Players and facilitators will prefer to make extensive use of external tools or reference to keep play moving smoothly. Expecting a player to have the exact details of their abilities memorized is not reasonable.

One Star Examples: For the Queen, Stewpot, Mobile Frame Zero: Firebrands Five Star Examples: Dungeons and Dragons 3-5e, Lancer, Edge of the Empire

Wargame

⭐ - As written, this game does not treat combat as mechanically different from any other aspect of play, or does not include narrative violence at all.

⭐⭐ - While players may engage in combat, it is minimally different from regular play. There may be tools or abilities for players to use to conduct a fight, but the texture of those fights is thematic, not mechanical. Narrative and consequence drive the action, not hit points.

⭐⭐⭐ - As written, combat has its own set of rules. This game may have some elements of buildcrafting, but either it is difficult to build something that doesn’t work, or the player may meaningfully invest in other modes of play and still find a commensurate level of satisfaction. If combat occurs, spacing is kept in mind, but is tracked in relative terms (range bands) or highly simplified (zone based combat).

⭐⭐⭐⭐ - This game has buildcrafting that is somewhat mandatory if players wish to survive a fight, but there is still a meaningful choice in choosing a non-combat role. It may use a grid or a spacing system to help players visualize the combat. Fights are driven by mechanics, not by narrative.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐- To enjoy this game, players must spend time buildcrafting. If a player’s build is suboptimal, there may be significant parts of the intended experience that will either feel tedious, or that the player will not have meaningful access to. This game is played on a grid.

One Star Examples: Wanderhome, Dialect, Belonging Outside Belonging Five Star Examples: Lancer, Dungeons and Dragons 3-5e, Valor

Writers Room

⭐ - Players in this game are not expected to provide much in the way of narrative substance. Story is something that is driven by external input or tools, and players are there to imagine and react. The player need not separate the self from the character they play in any meaningful way.

⭐⭐ - The mechanics of this game drive most of the narrative, or else the narrative is set for the players by an external source or player. Players are encouraged to play optimally rather than dramatically, but do have room for expressing the identity of their character within the game’s mechanical frameworks.

⭐⭐⭐ - While the game does provide strong scaffolding to tell a story, the players present are expected to drive the story within those frameworks. The game’s systems create and resolve conflict on their own, but works best when the players are willing to choose the dramatically interesting option even if it mechanically non-optimal.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ - The game provides some mechanical tools that create and resolve drama, but there is a significant expectation that the players are buying into and driving the game’s thematic concepts. Players are the ones deciding what the scenes should be and when to end them, but mechanics still help determine outcomes.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐- The players are expected to drive the narrative at all times. Tools for deciding what scenes to do and when to end them are limited, optional, or vague. There is no meaningful scaffolding that creates conflict or resolution, it is incumbent on those present to manifest those things.

One Star Examples: Alice is Missing, Ribbon Drive, For the Queen Five Star Examples: Wanderhome, Systemless RP

(Prep)Work

⭐ - Facilitators are not expected to do work outside the time at the table. All rules can be read while the game is played. No memorization is needed.

⭐⭐ - This game expects the facilitator to have read the rules in advance, but the rules are so few that they can be run from a single reference sheet. At times, the facilitator must think about and potentially advance and adjust the narrative of the game behind the scenes. Prep is qualitative; answering questions about where the narrative is going to go, who will be there etc. The game can be run smoothly predominantly as improv.

⭐⭐⭐ - This game expects the facilitator to not only know the rules, but to imagine scenarios where the group must play. However, the scope of the scenario design is limited and qualitative. It takes a bit of pondering and perhaps a sketch and a few words of notes. Alternatively, the facilitator must design simple foes or track a simple background system. The work is trivial, and can be done with a bit of time before session.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ - The facilitator of this game is expected to have run systems between games, or created usable maps or scenarios. Generally, games at this level have some reduced wargaming component. The facilitator might need to engage in enemy design, but the work is limited or imminently reusable. The work is non-trivial, and failing to do it will somewhat impact the quality of play.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐- The facilitator of this game puts in significant time between sessions engaging in game design activities. They are expected to plan narratives, write NPCs, draw maps, run significant background systems, and design enemies and combat encounters. The work is significant outside of play, and failing to do it beforehand will result in a worse table experience.

One Star Examples: For the Queen, Alley-Oop, Lasers and Feelings Five Star Examples: Lancer, D&D 3-5e, Stars Without Number, Edge of the Empire

Whimsy

⭐ - This game’s thematic core is considered dark, taboo, or difficult, and separating the game’s mechanical features from this subject matter is next to impossible. Games with horror elements almost certainly fit within this category. These games encourage extensive pre-play safety talks.

⭐⭐ - This game is designed to look at dark subject matter, but doesn’t expect the player to spend all of their time there. Players explore difficult topics, but may get to choose what topics to explore, or when to explore them. Games with political messaging/commentary tend to fit this category. These games encourage pre-play safety talks.

⭐⭐⭐ - This game may have dark aesthetics, but doesn’t enforce them mechanically. Alternatively, there are mechanics that address difficult topics in broad strokes, but players are given leeway in the rules with how any difficult topics are approached. These games may encourage safety talks. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐ - This game may have the option to explore dark topics, but none of the mechanics are tied to such topics. This game may have violence in its aesthetics, but players may choose to adjust the aesthetics at the table to suit their comfort. These games tend not to talk about safety in their text.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐- This game is designed to focus on thematic material that is considered to be relatively safe. The game is unlikely to tread into violence or trauma without effort.

One Star Examples: Trophy Dark, Dungeon Bitches, Vampire the Masquerade Five Star Examples: Honey Heist, Princess World, Beach Episode

The system here isn't about what's good or bad, to be clear. I think there are good and bad games at every level of these categories, but when I think about what my game group is good at and comfy with, I don't think we go in for things at like the 5 end of the Writers Room scale. It's too much work, and most of them aren't pro improvisers.

Similarly, if we play another game that is a 4 or 5 on the PrepWork category, I don't have time to run it these days. So this helps me make practical choices about our next game.

[cavegirlpoems]

I see we're talking about XP!

@thydungeongal and @imsobadatnicknames2 have interesting posts up, and now it's my turn to throw my thoughts out there. SO. I think of XP as the game itself offering you a little bribe. Do the things the game wantss you to be doing, and the game gives you an XP to say thank you. Get enough XP, and you're reward is greater a permanent bump in power, meaning greater ability to exert your will over the world and therefore greater agency. (Systems like Fate Points, Willpower, Inspiration etc work the same, except the increased agency is a temporary one-time thing, not permanent, so at times I'll lump them in).

So. Let's talk about a few different systems and how they handle this.

Let's start at the very begining (a very good place to begin). In the very early editions of D&D - back when Elf was a class - you got XP for treasure. Every gold coin you got out of a dungeon (or equivallent value of other treasure) was 1 XP. This worked well; the game wanted you to go into a dungeon and explore it for treasure, while trying not to die. If you succeeded, you got XP, which made you better at doing that so you could do it again in a more dangerous dungeon. And because treasure is XP, and treasure weighs you down, getting it out is a meaningful activity. Hell, many of these games measure weight and encumbrance on a scale of 'how many coins' to drive this home. It was a good loop. Early D&D has many faults (like the weird racism in the MM) but the xp system is something it absolutely nailed.

Next up, let's look at classic vampire the masquerade. At the end of each session, you get 1 xp just for being there, and then another if your character learned something, if you portrayed your character well, and if your character was 'heroic'. So, what's classic VtM rewarding? Ultimately, it rewards the player for being the kind of player the game wants. If you get into character, engage with the game world, and act like an interesting protagonist, you get rewarded for it. It's a bit fuzzy, and at the GM's discretion, but its very up-front with what it wants to incentivise. It was the 90s, they were still working out how to be a narrative-driven game, but you can see where they were going with it.

OK, now lets look at something a bit weirder; monsterhearts. The main source of XP here will be Moves. Rather than a bolted-on rewards mechanic, each game mechanic you engage with might grant you xp. You can use your strings on another PC to bribe them with XP when you want them to do something. Lots of abilities just give you an XP for doing a thing, such as a Ghost ability that gives you XP for spying on somebody, or aa Fae ability that gives other players XP when they promise you things. Here, XP is baked into the game, but its very up front about being a bribe. Act the way the game wants, or go along with other players' machinations, and you get rewarded for it. And, critically, XP is just one part of a wider game-economy of incentives and metacurrencies; it links in with strings and harm and +1forward in interesting and intricate ways that push the game forward. Monsterhearts is a well designed game, and you should study it.

Finally, let's look at how D&D 5e does it, as a What Not To Do! We have two different options. The first is XP for combat. When you use violence to defeat something, you get XP for it. Under this option, the only way to mechanically improve your character is by killing things. So, we can conclude that D&D is a game that wants you to engage in constant violence. The other option is 'milestone XP'. IE: you level up at the GM's whim, when they feel like it. What does this reward? Fucking nothing. Or, at best, you're rewarded for following the railroad and reaching pre-planned plot moments in a pre-scripted story. You either have no agency in the matter, or are rewarded for subsuming your agency to the will of the GM. (This pattern continues with inspiration rewards, which are given 'when the GM is entertained by you'. Fucking dire.) "Oh!" the 5e fandom says "But a good GM can write a list of achievements that will trigger milestone XP". And yes, they can, but that's not how the text of the game presents it. That's a house rule. That's the GM doing game design to add a new, better, mechanic to the game to fix its failings. Is it any wonder, then, that the 5e fandom puts so mucn weight on the GM's shoulders, and has such a weird semi-antagonistic relationship between GM and player? Is it any wonder that absolutely brutal railroading (and the resulting backlash of disruptive play) is so rife over there? Look at how the incentive structures are built? It's either killing forever or GM-as-god-king! Anyway, yeah. Consider what you reward with XP, because that will become what your game wants. And if you're hacking a game, one of the most efficient hacks is to change what you get XP for and suddenly the game will pivot to something very different.

[anim-ttrpgs]

Welcome to tumblr page of The Agency of Narrative Intrigue and Mystery (A.N.I.M.)!

We are a small independent team of LGBT and disabled individuals who make innovative and well-polished tabletop roleplaying games that have a lot to say, best known for Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy.

Combined, our team has over 20 years of experience.

Continue reading for more information about us, our games, and more!

Our Games

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is a groundbreaking TTRPG that revolutionizes mystery investigation of all kinds!

Leave behind the days of "We walk into the room and roll Investigate." Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is a TTRPG all about investigation, and its purpose-driven mechanics let players take initiative, use their characters' unique strengths to find clues, and deduce conclusions themselves. We post about it in-depth a lot, so check out our blog for more info, or just read it yourself! Payment is optional!

We plan to support Eureka for many years to come through supplements and adventure modules. It comes with a short adventure module made specifically for teaching you, your players, and their characters the ropes, but you can also find the first set of higher-stakes adventures right here!

The Eye of Neptune and FORIVA: The Angel Game

Two adventure modules for use with Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy!

Eureka: The Fanservice Files

A mini-expansion originally intended to just be an April Fools thing, but then turned into a real expansion! This features several new character Traits and powers!

Eureka: The XXX-Files

Another mini-expansion, featuring several new character Traits and optional rules!

"Eureka: Cold Open"

Not actually a game, rather a short-story set in the world of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy.

Silk & Dagger: A Sensible Drow RPG

An asymmetric comedy game of drama and drow. Players either take the role of a brutal mistress whom everything she says goes, whether she understands what she’s talking about or not, and whose position of dominance is maintained by the respect of her peers, respect that hinges on how brutal and controlling she is to her subordinates; or an array of pathetic servants who are helpless without their mistress’s “leadership,” (and maybe even be more so with it).

Edge Hedge Arena

This goofy omage to the Sonic the Hedgehog fanbase of the 2000s and 2010s is more of a party game than a conventional TTRPG, but that’s just means it’s fast to play and play again. The game will pair you with a real Sonic OC, so you can stat them out and battle them against others in the ultimate blood sport.

Our Mission Statements

1. To provide a source of income for those of our team who cannot support themselves by any regular means through disability.

To this end, we ask for your support as fans, if you want us to be able to continue to create more of the work you love. We put our games up in beta for feedback and extra publicity/support while we work diligently on finishing them, and as a completely independent and unsponsored studio, we are entirely dependent on word-of-mouth from fans like you to bring our projects in front of new eyes and keep us afloat through sales and patreon subscriptions.

What you can do to ensure that we can support ourselves and continue operations:

Follow us on tumblr and bluesky

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Play our games, tell your friends about them, make posts about your adventures or characters from our games, make homebrew stuff, etc. Like with the social media posts, this is the only way the word gets out about who we are and what we do! Without word-of-mouth, we're dead in the water.

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You get monthly rewards such as Eureka updates, adventure modules, short stories, previews of new games, etc. It also gets you into our patron-exclusive discord server!

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Money helps a lot, but even just downloading them for free gives us a boost in the algorithm and gets more eyes on us!

Donate on Ko-fi How this helps is pretty obvious.

Buy our snoop merchandise

We only get a small cut of this, but the stuff is pretty cool, and they're good conversation starters!

2. To fight back against the overwhelming hegemonic monopoly held over the TTRPG artform by Wizards of the Coast. This goes deeper than you think.

We don’t just promote our own games, we promote the games of others, and healthy play habits as well through the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club!

This is a welcoming and diverse space for fans of TTRPGs to discuss and play them. Plenty of different games will be running at any given time, but the main “book club” aspect of it is that people nominate RPGs they’d like to play, then the nominations are voted on regularly. Whatever wins, we all read and play. People are sorted into play groups based on schedule compatibility, so it’s very flexible.

Players are strongly encouraged to buy the RPG themselves to support the authors, but if you cannot for any reason, a PDF will always be provided for you. We have raised hundreds of dollars for indie and small press RPGs this way, and the community just keeps growing! If you’re a TTRPG designer, feel free to come in and nominate your own game!

Contact Us

Come talk to us in the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club or our patreon-exclusive discord server, or send us an email at anim.contactus@gmail.com!

You can also message us on tumblr and bluesky!

[littlestpersimmon]

"le plaisir délicieux... d'une occupation inutile"

is the opening quote of dragons dogma II, and its greatest theme is the question of what you will do to a role thrust upon you.. In a sense; if you can even walk away from Dharma, what are the lengths you would go to?

Basically, the dragon represents = struggle, and the arisen is it's chosen hero to wrestle with. The dragon steals the arisen's heart but the arisen doesn't die. Instead it makes them immortal, with the sole mission of standing up to the dragon to restore their heart. This struggle is sort of like the engine that keeps their world going, yin and yang in the most philosophical way. If there is evil, good will rise to stand against it. Pawns are your eternal servants, they're beings pulled from a metaphysical realm, and they only answer to the arisen. But they are basically beings who do not have their own sense of self, no will, no anything. But as the game continues, and they travel with you, they gain a soul through your actions, and they tell the arisen: you do not stand alone. I had my friend's pawn travelling with me when we killed the dragon together. You can have a number of endings in dragons dogma I.

1. You can walk away from the dragon. He kills your beloved for your cowardice, and you are driven insane despite being granted immeasurable power. That the responsibility you walked away from, will still come for you, it will still reckon with you.

2. You can slay the dragon, save the princess, and be unsatisfied in your complacency, in only doing what you're told without doing anything more.

3. it is canon that when you do not have the strength to defeat the true final boss, you become the dragon to look for your own replacement. And

4. You defeat the dragon, and you continue to seek the deeper meaning of the world, and confront the root of everything, who the hell sent the dragon? You find out its this being called the Seneschal, the steward of the world, who has grown weary, and wanted someone to herald the world in their place, someone worthy, brave, principled. In game, the seneschal has no official design. They were a previous arisen who defeated their own dragon, and then face who sent the dragon; The Seneschal- Who manifests in dragons dogma as other, previous players who have already beaten the game: You fight the spirit of another, real player who has already overcome the game. In the game, when you defeat the seneschal and take their place. You get to become a small spirit, and wander around the world, looking at all the friends you made, your beloved, and you can't say goodbye to them, they can't see you, they're just wondering where you are before you take your place as the new steward of the world- or you can literally end your life with a magic sword called the "godsbane" before you can ever become the seneschal, in complete defiance of what the game was building up to, the "dragon's dogma", in a sense.

Cycles are something inherently neutral, a law of the universe where it does not seek a final ending, no rapture. Dragons Dogma 2 is built on the same narrative. But when you open the game.. it just says "dragons dogma." And people were wondering, huh. Where's the "2"?

Dragons Dogma 1, has this, totally overwhelming sense of grief. but it also has this, very deep attention to detail. For example, when you fall into the water, your lantern dies. a character with shorter legs; walk slower, can't climb monsters fast, can't run fast. A fat character can carry lots of stuff, and can't be knocked down easily. A skinny character can squeeze in small spaces, can get stunned easily. You can throw oil bottles at something, and then throw a ball of fire at it and it will explode. The thing is, despite being so detail oriented, all the freedom to go and do wherever you go, wherever you please, you are still followed, still restrained by the shadow of a dragon. Every kingdom you go to is bruised by the dragon, evil things crawl out of the depths of the world as a symptom,the coming of a dragon essentially means the end of the world, Unless the arisen comes to stop it. So every character you talk to, every problem you come to solve, from a squabble to a skirmish tells you, please, kill the dragon.

Dragons Dogma 2's secret and "true" ending, is that you have to kill yourself while climbing into a hollow in the dragon's chest, literally climbing into the heart of the struggle.

The. Amount of pain, and loss it took to even just get to the dragon is, overwhelming. When I stabbed the dragon, a ghost from earlier, one who haunted your every step as arisen, the one who sees all,..not a god, more like an enforcer of the laws of the world will appear- they come to you, angry. They thrust you into the sea, trying to bury you. What are you doing?? Because, you strayed from the written rules.. you strayed from the "dragon's dogma".

Illusions of your old friends will appear, and they ask you to come back, finish the story, be the arisen, the dragonslayer. And you refuse. And you are thrust into this, viscera, this world of utter ruin, absolute decay, a merciless world that is completely furious at you for abandoning it. And then. The title drops. Dragon's Dogma 2. Dragons. fucking. Dogma.2. 150 hours in. There's so many aspects and philosophies of the game that become so inherent when you enter this last phase, but.. the title drops there, because you essentially forced the story to tell you another one, carve out a new ending for you and your pawn in the wood of its old foundation.

the game is angry at you, it consumes itself in front of you; you can even sense it gnawing at itself. The more you sleep in the game to heal, the more the map shrinks. But you and your pawn face the heart of the game, one more time, fight the dragon at its core.. and die with your companion fighting. That's how the game truly ends, the world fading into something unknown, something else, different,.. new

[felassan]

All companions are pansexual!!!

Game is rated M, will contain nudity. [source]

Full article:

"In a new interview with The Veilguard game director Corinne Busche, we've confirmed that yes, you will be able to romance any companion you want, regardless of your character's gender or race. It's a bit of a surprise for fans, considering that in previous Dragon Age games, the romanceable characters had different sexual orientations. Some were pansexual, sure, but others were heterosexual, others were only attracted to the same sex, and some could only be romanced if you were a certain race (Dragon Age: Inquisition's Solas, for example, could only be romanced by female elves). But Busche pushes back on the idea that The Veilguard's companions are "playersexual," a term used to describe games where NPCs are specifically only attracted to the player character. She says she's seen playersexual "done in a number of games," and "it can be really off-putting where these characters are adapting to who you, the player, are." Rather, Busche insists that they're all specifically pansexual, and that might come through in what you learn about their backstories. "Their past experiences or partners, they'll reference them and indeed who they'll become romantic with," Busche tells IGN. "For instance, we saw Harding. I might be playing a straight male character flirting with her, but I choose not to pursue a romance. She might get together with Taash. So my perception, my identity has no bearing on their identities and that comes through really strongly." When asked if that means it won't take long for romance to become an option in The Veilguard, Busche confirms that you'll be able to start flirting with everyone pretty early, as you recruit all seven companions throughout the first act. But, she clarifies, "it's not until the later parts of the game where you really commit to romance and it gets pretty spicy.""

---

"Speaking of spicy... Of course, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a BioWare game, and games from the studio — specifically those in the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series — are known to have some fairly explicit sex scenes. Busche confirms that The Veilguard will be no different, particularly towards the end of the game: "Of course, we are an M-rated game," she says. "We do have nudity." There's also some obvious parallels to be made between The Veilguard and last year's critical darling Baldur's Gate 3. The latter became known not only for its deep romances (like The Veilguard, Baldur's Gate 3 player characters can romance any companion regardless of gender or race), but also for its sex scenes, including one involving a Wild-Shaping Druid that went pretty viral. Busche isn't afraid to admit that she has played Baldur's Gate 3, and loved it, as she's an "an RPG fan through and through": "The more character-driven party-based RPGs with deep emotional connection, the better." "What I love about the two games is I think they live side by side in a really interesting way," she continues. "They're very different games, but those emotional connections and how the narratives hook you, I think there's space for both." Specifically in regards to the sex scenes and how The Veilguard will handle theirs differently, Busche says some of Baldur's Gate 3's scenes were "shocking and comical in some ways, and I would say I loved that." "Our companions, we want them to be relatable and fully realized. So they can get spicy, but in a way that I think people will actually relate to," she says. Basically: no bear sex. Busche goes on to say that how sexually explicit the scenes are, too, will vary between characters. "Some of them are more spicy than others," she reveals. "Just like real life, our companions have such diverse personalities. Some of them are more physical, more aggressive, and some of them are more... we have a gentleman necromancer, for instance, that is more intimate and sensual." Our interview with Busche comes as BioWare continues to roll out information about the highly anticipated Dragon Age sequel, with a cinematic trailer having dropped at the Xbox Showcase over the weekend. Dragon Age: The Veilguard will debut sometime this fall."

[source]

[hustlerose]

as i slowly exit my "bethesda's writing and design are literally satan" era, i find myself less angry about their many missteps, and more melancholy about what might have been. fallout 3's pre-broken-steel ending, for example

everyone makes fun of that one moment. your super mutant buddy you just met tells you "we all have our own destinies, and yours culminates here. i would not rob you of that." like sorry player 1, you have to die here for no good reason because it's dramatically satisfying

i submit this ending pissed people off not because it's bad, but because it's the wrong ending for fallout 3. fallout 1 and 2 had endings and they felt just fine, but fallout 3 is not a narrative-driven game like those ones. it's a big fun sandbox that you play in to your heart's content. a bittersweet ending with hints of destiny is unwelcome here. even ending the game at the climax is a mistake. the only sensible ending to a bethesda game is "play til you stop having fun." so they did that ending instead, as dlc

what pisses ME off about the ending is that it's so inspiring. i can't help but wish i'd played the game that matched that ending. imagine a version of fallout 3 where all the characters talked like that. imagine the chosen one narrative was dialed up to 11, where every moment of narrative was suffused with tragedy and inevitability. imagine if more characters talked metatextually, musing on your role as player and protagonist. think about all the cool foreshadowing that could have been done to set up a tragic ending where you make the ultimate sacrifice for the greater good. you could wring so much moral complexity out of this moment, as it could force you to reflect on your charcter's choices. you are the most important character in this world. fate bends around your story. what if the other characters could tell, and had opinions on that fact?

i want to read that story god dammit! sometimes i think it's up to me. maybe i have to rip that great ending right out of fallout 3 and stitch up a whole new story around it. one that actually supports fawkes' dialog as its central theme

[acethedria]

Here’s a rant: Drawtectives is a weird but interesting format for a series. It’s very on rails but is still entirely improvized. It’s honestly barely a TTRPG or actual play series, I always describe it as a “pre-planned mystery gone about via improvized comedy”

There’s honestly verrry verrry little player choice for the most part. If the players don’t notice something, Julia brings it up or walks them through it before its too late. All NPCs and clues are planned in advance, and its not like the players can just rummage around and go anywhere they want like a typical TTRPG. They go into rooms in order, speak to the 1 or 2 people there, and can sometimes interact with background elements.

But it weirdly feels entirely player driven. What evidence is found when, what about the world is established, and the characters’ stories during the series are entirely decided improvizationally by the players along with Julia.

For example: The Drawtectives were always going to receive each piece of the Justice family knife, but they didn’t consciously pick up on enough clues, so Julia had to make Fontaine an exposition-dump character. But the players are the ones who established the Northern Tribes, Jacob saying York pissed outside led to Julia saying Harper got peed on leading to immediate antagonism and eventually Piss Boy, they created a bond with each other as friends, made Jancy into a motherly character, etc.

Its simultaneously restrictive like a video game and full of freedom and creativity.

Its kind of like a series of improv shows with a unifying narrative.

It reminds me of those mystery board games, where it provides the thought and background of a mystery narrative but allows the player(s) to do whatever they want to do in order to solve it. Its exactly what mystery video games fail to capture.

[amaregames]

Amare Genre Tag Faqs

While Amare games share a distinct "vibe," they place no restrictions on the gender of the Main Character or Love Interests, embracing diverse romantic narratives. This includes requiring a gender variable MC. This is not a requirement for Amare and Amare games may have gender-locked MCs.

What makes an Amare game?

What Amare games tend to have in common is that they focus on relationships and romance, with an emphasis on diversity and authentic storytelling.

Key characteristics include:

Varied Gaze - Games that use this tag are often told with a feminine or neutral gaze, but that isn't a requirement. No specific "gaze" is given pre-eminence over others across the tag but individual games may lean in a single direction.

Flexible Roles - There are no restrictions on the gender and sexuality of the MC or the love interests. Games display a wide range of relationships from from BL, Otome, WLW, and a blend of these genres. Some games may be limited to one experience (such as being purely BL) while others may explore a range of experiences.

Expansive Relationships - Relationships in Amare games range from romantic, sweet, spicy to purely platonic.

Diversity in Cast and Creators - Amare games often feature a diverse array of characters and creators, promoting representation across different experiences and identities.

Who is the target audience for Amare games?

Amare games are targeted to a wide demographic comprised of adults and young adults who want to read narrative stories exploring relationships and romance as told from a wide range of cultures, conventions and experiences.

What makes Amare different from other relationship genres?

The Amare tag was created to supplement existing tags like BL, Otome, and WLW, that sometimes have stricter labelling requirements. It hopes to expand beyond the conventional boundaries that define games purely based on the gender and sexuality of the MC or a narrow target audience. Amare is meant to help bridge gaps left by other genre definitions, as well as create a home for games whose creators don't want to categorise them purely in that way, offering one more avenue for labelling and advertising games.

What is the "vibe" Amare games have?

The vibe of Amare games is heartfelt and immersive, focusing on deep emotional connections and character-driven narratives. They often blend romance, personal growth, and engaging storylines, allowing players to explore meaningful relationships in a variety of settings. Amare games cultivate a vibe of genuine and inclusive stories that celebrate love in its many forms, emphasizing choice and individuality, and celebrating variety in all its forms, making each experience unique.

How do I know if my game is Amare?

Does it have a focus on romance or exploration of relationships? Do you feel comfortable in this space and want to label your game as Amare? People use the Amare tag for a lot of different reasons - because they feel slightly out of sync with other genres that have narrower definitions, or emphasis on specific art styles or story conventions, because they don't want to be limited to a more narrow target audience, because they don't feel they quite fit another genre, because their game spans multiple genres or for a host of other reasons. This genre is focused on offering space to people who feel they fit here.

Links

Amare Genre Tag on Itch.io Over 470+ Games and counting AmareGames.com Amare Games Bulletin Amare Games Festival 2025

[loredrinker]

Why Inquisition Remains My Favorite Dragon Age Game

Having spent countless hours shaping my Inquisitor in Inquisition, I know why this game stands out as my favorite in the series. Its gameplay and dialogue systems weren’t universally beloved, but for me, they created a unique experience that offered freedom in shaping my protagonist. 

Inquisition moved away from tone and personality-based responses. The Inquisitor’s personality is player-driven, shaped by the choices you make rather than predefined personality traits. This flexibility allowed me to project certain ideas, motivations, and values onto my Inquisitor - a Lavellan. For me, this system fostered organic responses to the unfolding narrative without the rigidity of a fixed character personality type. 

I enjoy my imagination and don't have a strong stance one way or another on tone and personality indicators. Because I also enjoy analyzing dialogue and subtext, the Inquisitor’s blank-slate nature complemented my playstyle perfectly.

The lack of predefined tones also fit perfectly with the nature of the Inquisitor’s story. They aren’t just making personal choices - they’re leading a massive military and political organization. This leadership role challenged me to prioritize what was best for Southern Thedas, even when it clashed with my personal preferences.  Almost like a game within the game.

I found that Inquisition captured the tension between leadership and personal desires quite well. For example, I chose to banish the Wardens despite my deep love for Alistair. His gracious acceptance made me cry, but Lavellan, as I had shaped her, understood the risks of keeping the Wardens involved. Similarly, when faced with the Well of Sorrows, Cole’s warning about the voices being ever-present sealed my decision. My Lavellan couldn’t risk compromising her faculties while leading the Inquisition. These moments forced me to make tough, thoughtful decisions, balancing personal attachments with the weight of leadership. I found this dynamic to be one of the game’s most compelling elements. 

The approval system further enhanced my experience with Inquisition. Approval was earned through decisions and how you interacted with the world and your companions. I loved how this approach made relationships feel more natural, reflecting the complexities of real-world interactions.

In real life, decisions are judged differently by the people around you, and Inquisition mirrored that quite well. For instance, when Blackwall disapproved of Lavellan's decision to banish the Wardens, it felt like a gut punch. I imagined the argument they would have afterward, the tension it would cause within the group. Moments like that made it feel as though these companions were alive, with their own values and perspectives. It wasn’t just a team - it was a group of friends judging actions from diverse viewpoints, and it deepened my engagement with the story.

While I’ve played other Inquisitors and romanced Dorian and Blackwall (both satisfying in their own ways), my elven female Lavellan who romanced Solas remains my true Inquisitor. I’ve revisited her story many times, and her journey as an elf navigating the racism and political intricacies of Thedas added depth and complexity to her character. Leading the Inquisition as an elf felt layered and challenging, enriching my overall experience. 

As an elven woman among toxic male figures like Gaspard - whose arrogance and attitude stood out to me - Lavellan’s resilience as a leader felt particularly meaningful. Regarding Solas, I found this romance very intellectually seductive and sensual and it is my world state. This choice added an emotional weight to the game, as Lavellan grappled with heartbreak, betrayal, and the complicated dynamic between her values and Solas’s mission. Every decision, every conversation carries significance, which is why Inquisition remains such an emotional and memorable experience for me. 

Another thing that sets Inquisition apart is the scale of its decisions. I understand why many players were frustrated that these choices didn’t fully carry over into the Keep - there were simply too many variables to account for. 

At its core, Inquisition gave me the freedom to craft a character who felt personal, layered, and connected to the world of Thedas. It’s a game that resonates with me to this day, and while I recognize it’s not for everyone, it will always hold a special place in my heart.