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djmunden · 4 years ago

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Thousand Scars Author Interview

Hey guys, back with a new isolation interview! I’ll have an SPFBO author interview ready for the weekend, but I’d like to bring back an old survivor of the Scar den in Deston Munden. Hope you guys enjoy!

First of all, tell me about yourself! What do you write?

Hello again! I’m Deston J. Munden, former SPFBO writer and now resident stuck in the house author. I’m a science fiction and fantasy author who is surviving all this craziness by stuffing his head full on Dungeons and Dragons characters and learning how to cook neat food. I’m the author of two series, Dargath Chronicles and Dusk Orbit Blues, both which are getting an audiobook real soon. It’s a pleasure to be back.

How do you develop your plots and characters?

I’ve been asked this quite a few times and I never feel like my answers are satisfactory, but nevertheless true. They just kinda come to me. There are small inciting events that makes me want to develop a character or a plot. It could just be me sitting and reading. It could just me be playing a game or roleplaying a completely unrelated character. From there, I put them on what I called the simmer mode. I slowly develop them in my head until they are ready for the drafting phase.

Tell the world about your current project!

Dargath is a fun, high fantasy world that I created a while back. It’s a world where everyone has magic and no one is truly human. I wanted to create a world where magic was a common stance and everyone has a degree of it that is unique to them. Also, I wanted a world where the reader doesn’t go in with the natural biasness of starting with a human. Yes, there are human-like races, but I wanted to have this mystical feeling to everything. The world is split into two continents, eight races, and plenty of subraces. It’s rich in history, politics, and turmoil while also having that classic dungeons and dragons type of feeling to the world. If that seems like your type of thing, try me out!

Who would you say is the main character of your latest novel? And tell me a little bit about them!

Ser Torlyek is the main character of the novel that is coming out later this year. I’ve been marketing him as Neville Longbottom meets Thor from the MCU and Steven Universe. He’s my first autistic main character who adores knights and honor beyond anything else. He’s also a complex character who has a deep backstory with his family. Duke’s Brand follows him as he comes to terms with who he is now as well as him making friends along the way. I hope that you guys enjoy him as much as I enjoyed writing him.

Have you been to any conventions? If so, tell me a little about them!

I’ve been to so many conventions! They are some of my favorite places to go for vacations. They are so lively and powerful, and you get to meet so many fellow nerds. My goal this year was to finally sell my books at a convention. Sadly, that didn’t happen. Now, I’m going through convention withdrawal. If you never gone to a convention before, I’ll honestly suggest that you try it out. There are so many cool things that you can find and you’ll meet so many cool people.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

I realized that I wanted to be a writer when I was young. Luckily, none of my teachers tried to squash that love. Instead, they tried their hardest to cultivate the talent that they saw. I always wrote fan fictions and loved the creative writing assignments given to me. But, it wasn’t until after college where I realized this was a career I could do. Self-publishing opened an entirely new opportunity for me and ever since I’ve been pushing myself more and more to expand my dream into a reality.

If you had the opportunity to live anywhere in the world for a year while writing a book that took place in that same setting, where would you choose?

Rome, hands down. There’s so much history there that I would love to explore and set a story within. I think it would be fun to explore the mythology and the people of rome and wrapping that up in a story that I would write.

What advice would you give new writers?

Finish. That. First. Draft. I’ve seen so many new writers get into what I call the world building loop or worse the first chapter loop. Its when a new writer keeps world building or writing the first chapter endlessly until the end of time. That is not how you’re going to improve. You’re going to have to finish that first draft at one point or another. Not to say pre-writing is not important, however, if you’re stuck on it you need to start on the first draft. As a new writer, learning how to finish a project is key.

What real-life inspirations did you draw from for the worldbuilding?

Too many. I usually get inspiration from history, cultures, food, architecture, generally whatever that I think would make my world feel richer and livelier. Each of the races are inspired somewhat after certain regions of our world albeit blended in such a way to better fit the region I’m going for. I’ve used things from Africa, the Middle East, Medieval Europe, Egypt, etc to make my world feel stronger and cohesive. It’s a fun experience as a history and culture nerd.

What inspires you to write?

I enjoy it. That’s the long and short of it all. Writing is a passion of mine. I love sitting down at the computer and letting my imagination go wild. There’s a magic to it all. I used to write after I finished my schoolwork in class just for fun. I didn’t realize that was weird until my teacher saw me doing it while everyone else was playing games on the computer. Writing is my creative outlet and without it I might burst.

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

The hardest part for me is keeping the pace with everything. There’s a lot that goes into be an author. Some days I just want to sit down and write, but I know I can’t do that all the time. There are days where I’m going to have to research, do my social media, and market the books I already have released. Managing my time has become quite difficult.

What is your routine when writing, if any? If you don’t follow a routine, why not?

My routine is usually 8-4 every weekday. If I don’t follow this schedule, I will and can work myself to death.

What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write in any of your books, and why?

This is spoiler territory. There’s a certain scene in Tavern that I really enjoy that has made people lose their marbles and I always laugh manically about when I get a message about it. Recently though, I’ve been getting a lot of “OMG” about a certain scene in the middle of Dusk Mountain Blues. It makes me giggle. I might be evil.

What these two scenes have in common is that I throw the reader for a loop. I love doing that.

Did you learn anything from writing your latest book? If so, what was it?

Writing Duke’s Brand and Dusk Ocean Blues taught me a lot how to condense my writing style a bit. Lately, I’ve been trying to hone my writing style a bit. I feel like writing these two books has helped that a lot going forward.

Are you a plotter or a pantser? A gardener or an architect?

I am definitely a pantser. I’m all about writing it and winging it until I get to the second draft.

If you had to give up either snacks and drinks during writing sessions, or music, which would you find more difficult to say goodbye to?

Definitely snacks. I can give up music if I had to, but snacks I need to survive. I can’t imagine how I’ll get through certain parts of my novel without snacking on some chips or some other ungodly unhealthy food or beverage.

Which is your favorite season to write in, and why?

Spring. There is something about the temperature and the outside environment that brings out the power in me.

It’s sometimes difficult to get into understanding the characters we write. How do you go about it?

It’s all about learning how that character ticks. The big thing I’ve realized about getting in the mindset of a character is knowing their motivation. A person drive and ambition tell a lot about the character as a whole and getting into the mindset of them. You gotta realize what they want to realize who they are. From there, I think, their personalities, dreams, relationships, etc becomes more apparent the more you write it.

What are your future project(s)?

Dusk Ocean Blues (Book 2 of Dusk Orbit Blues)

Undergrove (Book 3 of Dargath Chronicles)

Dusk Country Blues (Book 3 of Dusk Orbit Blues)

What is your favorite book ever written?

I’m pleading the fifth here. I enjoy all the books that I’ve written so far. There are parts where I feel like I’ve done better in this book while others in that one. So at the end the day, I can’t choose.

Who are your favorite authors?

Traditionally Published: Brandon Sanderson, Patrick Rothfuss, Michael J. Sullivan, Robert Jordan, Scott Lynch, Jonathan French, Brent Weeks, Sean Grisby, and Gareth L. Powell, Renee April.

Self Published: James Jakins, Emmet Moss, Deck Matthews, Andy Peloquin, Bernard Bertram, Garrett B. Robinson.

There’s probably a million more.

What makes a good villain?

A good motivation and a strong personality. I’m the type of person that enjoys a big personality in my villain over sheer fear and power they may possess. The villains that have a good time while also having depth speak out to me. Yes, I do enjoy the looming dark lord type villain as well, but if I can somehow get both I’m a happy camper.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Cooking! It’s my favorite past time other than video games and tabletop RPGs. I’m not as good as it as other people, but I’m trying my best and I’m learning every day!

If you couldn’t be an author, what ideal job would you like to do?

A chef! Like I said before, cooking is a fun hobby and being a chef/cook would be a fun job for me. I also like to bake, so a baker would be not too far behind. I just like working with food.

Coffee or Tea? Or (exult deep breath) what other drink do you prefer, if you like neither?

Tea! There are so many different types of teas and most which I can drink (because I can’t have a lot of caffeinated beverages). I prefer fruity teas, but I’m willing to try any of it.

You can travel to anywhere in the universe. Where would you go, and why?

Whew. I don’t know. I’ll probably want to try to find new planets to explore, specifically with new life.

Do you have any writing blogs you recommend?

No. I don’t have any writer blogs that I’ll recommend but check out the #writerblr tag on tumblr if you need any inspiration!

Do you have any writer friends you’d like to give a shoutout to?

Nicky Ball, Kathryn York, Hallie Fleischmann, Chris Barber, Dave Deickman, Emmet Moss, Bernard Bertram, and Deck Matthews to name a few!

Pick any three fiction characters. These are now your roadtrip crew. Where do you go and what do you do?

Clay Cooper from Kings of the Wyld, Matrim Couthon from Wheel of Time, and Wayne from The Alloy of Law.

We’re gonna go on a rock-star tour and we’re gonna cause some trouble.

What superpower would you most like?

Super Strength. I know that’s a simple power to want to have but it would just make my life a whole lot easier. Being able to pick up a lot of things would be amazing.

What are two of your favorite covers of all time? (Not your own.)

Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames

Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

It’s a very difficult time right now for the world. When quarantine and pandemic comes to an end, what is the first thing you would like to do?

Travel more and meet some of my online friends. My goal this year was to travel more, get out there, and meet some of the people that I’ve been talking to for ages. The quarantine and pandemic put that to a screeching halt. I want to go to more conventions, I want to see more places, and I want just enjoy life more. This whole situation made me realize that I haven’t been out nearly as much as I want to be.

Finally, what is your preferred method to have readers get in touch with or follow you (i.e., website, personal blog, Facebook page, here on Goodreads, etc.) and link(s)?

Remember to follow me everywhere below and it was great coming back!

Website: www.djmunden.com

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Deston-J-Munden/e/B07Q2D6948/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SrBuffaloKnight

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authordjmunden/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/D.J.Munden/

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18874896.Deston_J_Munden If you have Kindle Unlimited, both of my books are available there too!

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the-transfox · 5 years ago

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A “Quick” History

I’m gonna put a “keep reading” thing so I don’t clog anyone’s dash or anything, depending on how long this gets. This is basically just a quick background info on my history regarding my gender and related topics.

I’ve never really liked being feminine. Hated dresses, hated makeup, hated showing any amount of my skin, overall just... the entire idea was not my thing. The most feminine thing about me for a long time was my long hair - before I cut it, it had grown down to being an inch or two past my hips. I felt kind of... pressured, to be more feminine at times. I can only recall 2 times I wore a dress - and both times were for other people, and not me, and both times I was intensely uncomfortable and wanted to get out of it immediately. Not that everything about me is intensely anti-feminine - more recently, sometime during the time I was genderfluid (I’ll get to that in a bit), I got black lipstick. I wanted it for the aesthetic - and I only wore it once, and, again, for another person. It’s just sitting around my desk area now, waiting to be used, but never will again as far as I’m concerned. I’ve always been more of a tomboy.

When I was younger, I used to do these kind of IRL roleplay things with one of my best friends at the time. It was edgy shit, where we’d both pretend to be creepy pasta characters and the like and had this whole storyline going on and all sorts of made up drama with the characters. An... overwhelming majority of the characters I chose to act out and represent at the time were all males. I’ve always loved writing males and acting like a male - females were just... hard, for some reason. Always have been, really, even though I am biologically female. One of my favorites to do was the Jeff the Killer, obviously. He was my default, and it just felt natural, almost. It was more fun to do male characters. Hell, my first OC I ever made was a male. It makes a lot more sense now to me, looking back on it. In some cases, in more recent years, I’ve felt like I needed to go with making the character female. And I do have a lot of female OCs, don’t get me wrong. Anyway, with characters such as Coral (one of my sonas; used her often in an IRL roleplay after the former friend moved away and I moved on with another best friend) I felt like I needed to make her female, to... match my friend’s sona, Frost. I wish I hadn’t, now, but whatever. The past is in the past.

Speaking of the past, I’m a believer of past lives. And 99.9% of them are all male. Out of all of my past lives, I can only recall 2 humanoid (saying this because one was an anthro rat) lives that had female genders, and one more that was female though I don’t count because it was the life of a bengal tiger and bengal tigers don’t exactly go by pronouns so there wasn’t a whole lot of gender identity going on there in the first place. It feels natural to have male past lives, and a little... off, to have female ones. Every time I trigger a memory of a male past life, think about it, or talk about it, I used to only subconsciously refer to myself as male - though it felt great. It felt normal. My dumb fucking ass didn’t get a clue that this meant anything about my current gender identity until recently.

Sometime during my phase where I played Transformice more often, I made a separate account where I listed my gender as “male”, as an... experiment, of sorts. Wanted to see what it was like when other people thought I was a guy. I only really used the account for a single day, the day I made it, though that was enough time for me to meet people and interact. I absolutely loved it, though it didn’t occur to me afterwards for a long, long time to even think about what that meant. An embarrassing amount of time, honestly. I found my gender identity and it smacked me in the face and my response had been just “Cool, I’mma go back to being called she/her now”. Big dumbass energy, right here

Sometime in the summer/no later than early autumn of 2019 (my sense of time is... not the best, honestly) I considered becoming genderfluid. After all, I’d started to realize maybe it wasn’t so bad to go by male pronouns. Considered it a test run, of sorts. It was still primarily she/her, but online I gave people the option to call me he/him. Not many people did, but I liked the idea. It made the whole ‘internal male pronouns and identity during past lives shit’ make more sense to me at the time. In early December of 2019, I had the realization. The realization that I actually preferred male pronouns, and the idea of being male was... a lot better, than being female, or even a mix of both. It felt like me. Like it fit. My dumb ass finally figured it out, and luckily the genderfluid thing didn’t drag on for years. Since the switch to male pronouns its still a rare occurrence anybody’s actually used my new pronouns and I’ve heard it (I’ve come out to everyone I know online, though only friends in real life), though one time I was called ‘he’ irl in front of me and it made me feel great. Like a small “yeah... yeah, that’s me.” Not everyone has been completely accepting (like the person I consider my best friend - she’d responded kind of... oddly, when I came out, and said she’d been confused, and openly said that biological sex and gender are the same thing today) but I don’t really care all that much. They’ll learn to accept it if they want to keep me as a friend - or at least tolerate it. If they can’t, then I can’t go through the trouble of keeping them as a friend. One of my friends has been so supportive and it’s been delightful.

Backtracking a little, I realize I forgot to mention the fact that I hate my body. It’s not mine - or at least, it’s not one I want. Every time I think about my past lives I want to go back and have that body again. I want to be a skeleton monster again. I want to be a dragon again. I don’t want to be a weak, pathetic, human female who’s body won’t even gain weight no matter how much I eat or try, and whose throat is actively trying to tear holes in itself. And I’ve never been satisfied with the fact that its female. On a related note, I have the fear of penetration - it’s just... wrong, for anything to go inside of me down there. It should be the opposite. I miss having a cock - I wouldn’t have to worry about this anymore. Wouldn’t have to worry about something going inside of me, or having to be expected to push a fucking disgusting baby out of me. It’s frustrating.

I also feel like I realized I was transgender too late to be valid. I’ve seen so many stories (like Sam Collins) where they realized when they were tiny kids, and... what if that’s what it should be like? What if I’m wrong? What if you’re supposed to know before you’re even a teenager? So many people have realized before then, though some have realized later, and some say you can realize at any age. I just... don’t know. Anyway, that’s about it, I think - if I forgot anything, I’ll make another thing to tack onto this. Feel free to ask me questions.

#transgender #trans #transman #trans man #ftm

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fyrapartnersearch · 5 years ago

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The Red Thread of Immortal Fate

Long before men roamed the Earth and created the idea of time, us immortals were constructed. We were designed perfectly. Our bodies were made to withstand extreme heat and colds, to protect us from harm by allowing our skin to remain impenetrable to any and everything, and to remain forever young. We were given gifts of extreme strength, the ability to fly, to create storms, and much more. We were the definition of exquisite and unique, that was until we found out what took all of that away.

You see, every creation has to have something that balances them out and for us that was love. Us immortals, we were created in pairs, someone that we shared our very essence with. We were created to find each other, become mortal, and to die. Pairs are fated to find each other, no matter how long it takes. When a pair comes together, they begin to lose their powers and become, what we call nowadays, human. The problem is we didn’t.

8700 BCE

We were together, alone. You went out hunting for us and when you didn’t come back, I followed. They managed to get you and I luckily managed to fight them off. We separated for a bit so you could heal, get stronger.

5th Century BC

We were in Greece and were worshipped as gods. There were still many pairs back then, which is how Greek mythology came about. It wasn’t until an accident happened, leaving me nearly dead. Once again, we were separated.

The 1300s

We were in Europe during this time. The views on us began to change, we were no longer seen as Gods but devils. We had what no other humans did not have and that was enough to be considered the devil’s puppet. I was nearly burned at the stake if you did not stop it. You left so I could be safe. By this time, we were the only pair left.

The 1800s

One night we were walking home together, and we were mugged. You almost died but I managed to fight them off. I had to leave this time to ensure you were safe, so you could live.

The 1970s

Our home was raided, and I was hurt. You did what was best to save me and that was to leave.

Current Day

The thing about us immortals is that we are fated to be together, but is that really true?

*******

I would like to plan how we would like to start this roleplay out. Have our characters purposely stayed away from each other? Did the last problem cause one of our characters to have amnesia and they cannot remember? Is one of our characters dealing with it badly? Will they stay together this time? Is one of our characters with someone else? There are so many possibilities. I do not mind adding any ideas you have to the background story or anything. My idea stemmed from the movie Hancock, with Will Smith. I recommend you watch it if you haven't, I love it!

Hello guys, my name is Vanesha and I am a 21-year-old female. I have been roleplaying for seven years now and I am looking for a detailed partner that would love to roleplay this story with me. A little background information about myself, I am a college student but I will be graduating in December and I work part-time but I always have my phone on me so responses should not be a problem. If it is, I will let you know.

As for my writing, I can play both genders, male or female, and I can also play multiple characters at a time. I love to plan out a story and to come up with ideas for my stories as well. I write in third person past-tense as it is easier for me to manage my character(s). I do not mind adult themes such as cursing or angsty scenes. I will only do MxF. I WILL ONLY SMUT WITH WOMEN. I am in a relationship and I do not feel comfortable writing smut with men. If I roleplay with a male, there will be fade to black scenes.

I am looking for a partner who is detailed and literate. I do not need a novel for every post as I know some posts will be shorter than others but I prefer a partner that can be detailed. I would also prefer if you can write in the third person as well and be able to handle multiple characters if needed. I would appreciate it if you were decently active and able to reply multiple times a day. I understand if you cannot though because that's just life sometimes.

I roleplay on KIK, Discord, or email. Kik or discord is more preferred. I will give my Discord out once you have messaged me on either kik or my email. I hope to see you soon!

Kik: lovenesha16

Email: [email protected]

#oc rp #para #semipara #long term #email #submission

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miguel-manbemel · 6 years ago

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Aspects & Fanfics Ep. 7: The Dungeon and the Dragon Witch: The Sides' Team Adventure

Seventh entry of the “Aspects & Fanfics” fanfic blog inspired on “Sanders Sides” by Thomas Sanders and Joan. And it’s the first one since the magnificent “Selfishness v. Selflessness”. I had it almost finished yesterday, but I prefered to wait some time to publish it in order not to be bothersome to those commenting the new episode. Fun fact, I was writing one of the last paragraphs when the YouTube notification kicked in. I had my headphones a little loud, I was so concentrated in the writing... I got the scare of my lifetime and I jumped on my chair like if it had been an air horn... xD.

Luckily enough, for the time being there’s nothing in the new episode that contradicts badly what I had written in previous entries, the new episode could perfectly have happened between “Embarrasing Phases” and my first entry, but anyway, remember that this fanfic has its own alternate continuity after “Embarrasing Phases”, even though I was pleasantly surprised to see that I coincidentally guessed some minor details from the real episode that I had mentioned in previous installments of mine, like my episode where Logan wanted Thomas not to have a candy party and eat healthy instead, and then in the end card of the real episode Logan remarked that Thomas needed the nutrients from the salsa verde enchiladas and shouldn’t eat the butterfinger. The coincidence made me chuckle. Should any major changes come to the canon series (and they will certainly come sooner or later, it’s only a matter of time and the Team Foster Dawg’s expertise), I would try to add them into the fanfic respecting my continuity if I can. The alternative would be starting from scratch after each real episode is released, but that would be impractical if I want to tell a coherent story, wouldn’t it?

For this entry, that took me longer than I expected, again because of a couple of blockings during the process, I had the idea of incorporating tabletop roleplaying into the story. I used to play it for a little amounts of time years ago. I’ve forgotten almost everything but the basics, and I never played “Dungeons & Dragons” or similar games (I think I played the “Lord of the Rings” role playing game, and also briefly “Vampire the Masquerade”), so I decided not to stick to any particular gaming rules and make up my own rules to make them fit into the story. Also, I didn’t want to put too many gaming details, as the story is already long enough as it is. As usual, references will be made to previous entries, so if you want to read them beforehand, you can find them right here. And thank you so much to each and everyone who has liked any of the entries, reblogged or written comments. I really appreciate them and feel honored for your words. I already said in the first entry that nothing I could write could get even closer to the original, and that’s not my intention, but I hope I can do justice to your praises. And now after this too long introduction, let’s get cracking with the fic already.

SYNOPSIS: Thomas has been invited to participate in a stage show where he’ll be role-playing in front of an audience. As it’s been ages since the last time he role played, he doesn’t remember how to play anymore and feels insecure, thinking he’s gonna mess up in front of hundreds of people. The Sides appear and suggest to have a session of role-playing all together, so that they can help Thomas freshen up his game.

WARNINGS: Inside the game, there will be encounters with monsters, fighting and everything that comes with it, including the death of one of the main Sides’ characters. But it is made clear all the time that nothing’s real and it’s just a game, so it shouldn’t be a bad trigger to anyone. But it’s better too much warning than not enough, so there it is. In general, apart of these in-game moments, there’s not much more I can think of, except in the ending segment, where some mild angst will make an appearance.

EPISODE INDEX

THOMAS: Good evening, everyone! My name is Thomas Sanders and… I have no clue of how to get out of this situation! That’s a constant in my life, though.

[intro sequence]

THOMAS: What is up, everybody? You guys, I’m really excited for this weekend. One of my friends has invited me to a convention about tabletop Role Playing. I really liked Role Playing long ago when I was younger, and I still like it. I mean, it was true acting at home with friends, all mixed up with a really fun game. Who wouldn’t love it? In the con, we’re gonna play a game of RPG with other people to see who’s the best, all on-stage in front of hundreds of people who are gonna watch the show. I mean, I haven’t played RPG in ages, but… [suddenly shows a serious slightly terrified face of realization] Wait a minute… I haven’t played in ages. I don’t remember how to play anymore! [terrified squealing] Oh, my gosh, I’m gonna make a fool of myself in front of hundreds of people!

VIRGIL: [appearing] Seriously? You have to get me to work at full cap even for a game? Isn’t a game supposed to be done for fun?

THOMAS: Yes, Virgil, it is, but this game is going to be seen live by so many people… and I don’t remember how to play! It will be like going on-stage without rehearsing! Nothing would make me more anxious than that!

HONESTY: [rising up] But Thomas, you said it was on the weekend. You still have plenty of time to rehearse your game, don’t you?

THOMAS: I wouldn’t even know where to start, Honesty. I don’t even have the materials, like papers, dices, books…

LOGAN: [rising up, over-excited yelling] Did someone say BOOKS?

VIRGIL: [startled] What the f…! Not again, Logan!

LOGAN: Apologies. Thomas, what books are you talking about?

THOMAS: I mean, the basics for a good game of role-playing are contained in books, where there are the rules, the mechanics, examples of characters and basic adventures…

ROMAN: [rising up] But Thomas, to play a game of these there’s one thing among others that you already have. Me! Your creativity is the most important part of the game and you already have it with you. Cheer up!

THOMAS: Yes, but this is not like writing something for myself and then acting it. If it was that easy, I’d have full creative freedom and that would be my home ground. But when you have to subject your creativity to the constraints of some rules… that’s a tall order, especially if you don’t remember those rules.

PATTON: [rising up] Then why don’t we play ourselves?

LOGAN: What?

PATTON: Think about it. If we have a game of role-playing all of us together with Thomas, it would work like a rehearsal for him, and it would help him remember the rules. Besides, I would love to play with all of you, guys! I’m tired of playing solitaire in my room…

ROMAN: Well, at least it would be safer than Patton-cake… I had stiffness in my arms for a week after so much swimming running away from the piranhas, and I still haven’t recovered full sensitivity in my fingers after the hot candle wax…

THOMAS: I love that idea, Patton!

HONESTY: Mmm… that’s not my cup of tea, however. I’m not much into something where everything is out of reality. I find it… [yawns] ...boring. Excuse me.

LOGAN: I would agree, but if it works to help Thomas, I will sacrifice myself. Wouldn’t you, Hon?

HONESTY: [reluctantly] I…

DECEIT: [through Honesty’s body] Well, I love this kind of game, where everybody pretends to be someone they’re not. If Honesty doesn’t want to participate, may I in his place?

THOMAS: Of course, Deceit, join us.

[Honesty transforms into Deceit]

DECEIT: [grinning] Cool.

HONESTY: [through Deceit’s body] Well, that settles it then. If you don’t mind, I’m a little tired, so I’m gonna use your game time to take a nap, okay? [yawns] Have fun, Deceit.

DECEIT: Bye, Honesty, but don’t start snoring in the middle of the game, okay?

HONESTY: Hey, I don’t snore! It’s just strong breathing!

DECEIT: Of course it is… And then I’m the deceitful one of the fam…

PATTON: You two are such good friends now, Deceit.

DECEIT: Nah, we’re just roommates, only that we’re sharing a body instead of a house.

THOMAS: Okay, so, if we’re gonna role-play today, we’re gonna need a table and materials… I think I’m gonna need your help, Roman, are you following me?

ROMAN: Sure, Thomas. I’m following you… [confused] Where do you want me to follow you?

LOGAN: [facepalms while mumbling] Oh, my goodness, el príncipe es mucho estúpido…

ROMAN: [offended] Logan, that’s not right! [beat] It is “muy estúpido”, not “mucho estúpido”.

LOGAN: Whatever, it’s true…

THOMAS: Roman, I meant that I need a room in the Mind Palace for role-playing, with a table and all the materials we need.

ROMAN: Oh, you could have said it earlier, Thomas! All right, let’s get playing now!

[Roman snaps his finger and Thomas and the Sides appear in a room with a large round table. Thomas is sitting down in the middle and the Sides are sitting around the table, in the order they usually stand in the living-room.]

THOMAS: This is so cool. Look, here are the tools for doing an adventure. I’ll be the Dungeon Master.

VIRGIL: Wait a minute, if there’s a dungeon, I should be its master! It suits me more than you!

THOMAS: You guys are saying all the time that I am the boss of this, or the master or that… I’d say I’m fitting for the role, am I not?

VIRGIL: Touche, Thomas… Okay, but I hope to get a good dark character at least…

THOMAS: You will all play the characters you want in the end. But, I thought it would be more fun if we played characters that are the complete opposite of us. It would make it more challenging. What do you think?

PATTON: Yayyy!

ROMAN: Why not? I love challenges…

LOGAN: It really doesn’t matter what we choose because nothing is real anyway, so count me in.

DECEIT: [low fake voice] I’m feeling quite confident, but let’s try it anyway.

VIRGIL: Ummm…

PATTON: Come on, Virgil, this is just for fun! Don’t hesitate!

VIRGIL: Okay, okay. I hope this doesn’t turn into a mess.

THOMAS: That’s the spirit, you won’t regret it! Okay, I have the character sheets ready, then. Virgil, you’re gonna be the bard. Specialized in singing and dancing that can buff the rest of the team’s power in their attacks…

VIRGIL: [picking up the sheet Thomas is giving him] I’m already regretting it…

THOMAS: Roman, you’re gonna be… the wizard.

ROMAN: Oh…

THOMAS: Specialized in the studying of spells and the casting of magic attacks.

ROMAN: Okay… [to himself, trying to cheer himself up] Challenge, challenge, challenge…

THOMAS: Logan, you’re gonna be… the knight. Master of sword, armor and melee combat.

ROMAN: What? He is gonna be the knight? [starts laughing]

LOGAN: And why couldn’t I be the knight?

ROMAN: May I bring up a list of reasons or are we short on time?

LOGAN: Well, at least I’d be a more competent knight with better strategy ideas. You, on the contrary, are always more preoccupied of having your sword clean to delight in your own face reflected on it, rather than learning how to wield it!

ROMAN: Well, at least I wield a sword for real! If you had to grab my sword I’m sure you’d cut yourself even without taking it out of the sheath!

LOGAN: And I wonder if you’ll be able to learn any kind of spell with your wizard! You weren’t able even to memorize your washing machine manual!

ROMAN: I’m a prince, I’ve got servants for that! I memorize only the things that are useful for me! You instead have memorized lots of things that are worth for nothing and utterly stupid, you Fact Hoarder!

LOGAN: FALSEHOOD!

[Roman and Logan start arguing]

VIRGIL: [covering his ear with a little dash of pain] Why do I always have to be next to Logan when he screeches like that?

DECEIT: You’re always next to Logan, Virgil.

VIRGIL: True… May we switch places?

DECEIT: I’d be delighted… No.

THOMAS: [to Logan and Roman] Guys, guys! Relax! This is a game of teamwork, you’re not supposed to fight against each other!

[Roman and Logan stop arguing and give a dirty look to each other]

DECEIT: Okay, what will be my part, then?

THOMAS: Yes, Deceit… [searching between the sheets] You’re gonna be… [finding the sheet and giving it to Deceit] … the priest!

DECEIT: [grabbing the sheet, with a sarcastic fake low voice and a face of disgust] Wee… My heart is filled with joy…

THOMAS: You’ll have the power of truth and faith in your hands so you can heal your allies’ wounds and repel the darkest creatures.

PATTON: [excited] And now it’s my turn!

THOMAS: Yes, Patton, and you’re gonna be… the Dark Warlock! You get your powers from evil and use them for your own benefit. You are helping your team, but only for as long as they’re useful to you.

PATTON: [happy] Yaayyyy!

THOMAS: See? Learn from Patton, you guys! He has taken it much better than all of you!

PATTON: [threatening low evil voice] Call me Supreme Lord of Evil Patton, you slaves! I’m ready to win this adventure and I won’t tolerate any failures! It is either victory or death for you!

ROMAN: [in shock] Wow… He’s got into character really fast… Okay, guys, let’s dress into character to make the adventure more realistic.

[They all suddenly change their outfits. Roman is wearing a white and red robe with a red wizard hat. Patton is wearing a black robe with a blood red hood and a light blue medal over his chest with a gargoyle carved on it. He’s still wearing his glasses. Logan is wearing a medieval armor with an indigo sash on the chest and an open helmet exposes his face, which shows he’s also still wearing his glasses. Virgil is wearing purple peasant garments, including tights and a hood. He still has his usual eyeshadow and he’s holding Thomas’ ukulele. And Deceit is wearing a yellow priest’s tunic, wearing on the head what resembles a miter, those tall hats that Catholic bishops wear, only a little smaller and also in yellow.]

THOMAS: Wow, nice cosplay, you guys, this will really help getting into action! Okay, it’s time to let the adventure begin… And I’ll read the beginning. [with his trademark narrator voice] Story time! You are in front of the door of a huge dungeon. A king has hired you to retrieve a talisman that can save his kingdom. To do so, you must take it off the cold hands of the evil ruler of the dungeon. It won’t be an easy task, as lots of enemies, traps and other dangers are blocking your way, but nothing worse than all the perils you’ve already gone through in the past. The first obstacle is the door that lies in front of you, which of course is locked. What will you do?

LOGAN: Easy… [with robotic voice doing a gesture of typing text with his hands, sound of typing is heard and a little beep when he enters] “Unlock door with picklock. Enter”.

THOMAS: [confused] … what…? [realizing] Oh! Logan, this is not one of those old school text adventure games from the ancient computers of the eighties… You have to act your actions convincingly… and besides you’re not carrying any picklock with you.

LOGAN: Okay, I’ll try… I’ll hit the lock with my sword to break it.

THOMAS: Okay… throw a 20 sided dice for aim.

[Logan throws a dice]

LOGAN: 1!? 20 sides and I get only a 1!? What are the odds!?

THOMAS: Fumble. You miss the lock and you hit your own foot. You can be lucky that your armor absorbs the damage to your body. Not so much to your ego, though, and the armor loses one point of durability.

[Roman chuckles]

LOGAN: [angry] Shut up!

ROMAN: [confident] Make way, I’ll do it. I’ll throw a spell to swiftly unlock the door.

THOMAS: Throw a dice for magic expertise.

[Roman throws the dice, he gets another 1]

LOGAN: [laughs lively, then ironic] Make way for the prince of experts!

THOMAS: Fumble. The spell not only does not unlock the door. It makes the lock even stronger and more difficult to break than it was before. Further tries will need three more points than normal to be successful.

ROMAN: [angry] These dices are loaded!

THOMAS: Hey, don’t blame me. You created this room and all its materials, including these dices.

[Roman shows a sudden mischievous smile]

THOMAS: [firm voice] Don’t you dare! Don’t manipulate the dices! The game must be fair!

ROMAN: [sighs] Fine…

PATTON: [evil voice] Step aside, you amateur fools! This will be no problem for my magic! I’ll throw a curse to destroy the door altogether!

THOMAS: Okay, throw a dice for evil strength.

PATTON: [after throwing the dice] Eleven!

THOMAS: Your curse is partially successful. The door isn’t completely destroyed, but the lock itself is, leaving a hole. Now you can open it and enter the dungeon. Behind the door there’s a long dark corridor.

VIRGIL: Shouldn’t we have some torches? Because the corridor is dark and full of terrors…

DECEIT: As a matter of fact, apparently I carry a bag of torches with me.

THOMAS: Yes, you have torches… but no means to light them.

ROMAN: I’ll make some magic fire to light the torches.

THOMAS: Okay, throw a dice for magic expertise.

LOGAN: Don’t screw it up.

[Logan throws the dice, he gets a 20]

ROMAN: [happy] Yes, baby! [to Logan, sarcastic] What were you saying about screwing up…?

LOGAN: Let me see that dice…

THOMAS: Critical hit! The torches don’t light up, but all the existing sources of light in the corridor and in all the dungeon do light up. You’re no longer in need of light for the rest of your adventure.

ROMAN: That’s more like it.

VIRGIL: [groans] He’s gonna be boasting about it all week long, I can see it…

ROMAN: Did you doubt it…? You better write a good song about my talents, bard.

VIRGIL: At least it’s gonna be a short song then.

ROMAN: [offended noises] Ugh!?

DECEIT: Shouldn’t we get cracking? We’ve taken two centuries to get the front door open. Let’s come in already.

LOGAN: Yeah, let’s go.

THOMAS: All right, you enter into the corridor. You advance a few steps until you reach some stairs that go down. There’s also a door next to the stairs.

VIRGIL: I’ll examine the door.

THOMAS: Throw a dice for perception.

[Virgil throws a dice and he gets an 8]

THOMAS: You see there’s some bright oily substance on the latch, but you can’t quite identify what it is.

VIRGIL: That looks suspicious. I’m not gonna touch it. Let’s examine the stairs instead.

THOMAS: Okay, throw another dice.

[Virgil throws a dice and he gets a 14]

THOMAS: You see a secret mechanism on the edge of the stairs. It looks like a trap, and you find no way of disabling it.

LOGAN: Fine, so now we’re stuck between a weird oily substance and a most than probable trap. Fantastic. Although… I’m wearing an armor, with gauntlets and all. I don’t have to touch that substance to open the door, do I? It makes all the sense that I open it. I’ll do it.

THOMAS: You open the door. The oily substance happens to be a powerful acid that corrodes your gauntlet. You have to quickly take the gauntlet off so it doesn’t reach your skin. In a matter of a couple of minutes, only a viscous smoky slime remains of your gauntlet.

LOGAN: Not fair!

THOMAS: Give thanks that it’s not your hand what has suffered that destiny.

LOGAN: Lucky me that I’m carrying a spare gauntlet in my bag.

THOMAS: Yes, but the spare gauntlet is less durable than the original. So now you have two points less of durability, and that makes three points less.

LOGAN: Well, at least the door is open.

THOMAS: And you won’t like it, cause behind the door there’s a monster. A vicious indescribable entity that attacks your team.

PATTON: [cold voice] I’ll throw a curse on it. It’ll regret messing up with me!

THOMAS: Throw a dice for magic strength.

[Patton gets a 20]

THOMAS: Wow! It’s a critical hit! The creature bursts into flames!

PATTON: [evil sadistic laughter and yelling] Yes… muahahaha! Burn! BURN! B-U-U-U-U-R-N!

ROMAN: Did I already say that I’m a little scared of how much Patton has got into character?

THOMAS: In a matter of seconds, only a pile of ashes remains of the monster.

PATTON: I’ll grab the ashes. They may come in useful for my spells.

THOMAS: I presume you want to enter the next room, right?

LOGAN: Allons-y!

THOMAS: Where did I hear that before…? Okay. The next room has a spiral staircase in the center. There is also a little chest in a corner.

VIRGIL: I’ll examine the coffin, it could be another trap.

THOMAS: Throw for perception.

[Virgil throws and he gets a 16]

THOMAS: You find no kind of traps in the chest. It is safe to open, and it’s full of gold coins.

VIRGIL: Cool, at last, something good.

DECEIT: Now, let’s go downstairs.

THOMAS: All right, you go down the stairs. The stairs are long… really long… It looks as if you were descending to the depths of the earth, or even as if you were right on your way to the underworld. When you’ve lost notion of time and it seems like you’ve been going on for forever this way, you finally reach the bottom. There’s a corridor right in front of the stairs.

VIRGIL: I search for traps in the corridor.

THOMAS: Throw for perception then.

[Virgil throws and he gets a 9]

THOMAS: You discover that there’s a trap in the middle of the corridor, but can’t find the way to disable it.

LOGAN: Oh, great, now we know there’s a trap and we can’t disable it. We’re trapped between going up those stairs again or falling to our doom.

ROMAN: Well, perhaps I could throw a spell of divination to search how to unlock the trap.

THOMAS: Okay, throw for magic expertise.

[Roman throws and he gets a 19]

ROMAN: Good one!

THOMAS: Almost a critical, but not quite yet. However, your spell is entirely successful and you see an almost hidden lever right at the entrance of the corridor. If you push that lever, the trap will be disabled.

ROMAN: Of course, I’ll push it.

THOMAS: Uh-oh. It is too hard. You’re gonna need to throw a dice for physical strength.

[Roman throws and he gets a 3]

ROMAN: Cursed dragon witches!

THOMAS: You can’t move the lever, not even an inch.

LOGAN: I guess I’ll have to try again. My character is specialized in physical strength after all. Give me that dice.

[Logan throws the dice and he gets a 14]

THOMAS: Well done. You manage to push the lever. You hear muffled cracking sounds behind the walls and feel a smooth shaking on the floor. The trap is disabled and you can keep going.

DECEIT: Well, let’s go, then.

THOMAS: You advance through the corridor, until you cross a door to a huge room. There is a crystal ball on the top of a cane that is fixed on the floor.

VIRGIL: I don’t like the look of this…

THOMAS: And you’re right, Virgil, because as you all come into the room, the door slams behind you and an evil laugh is heard. “This will be your tomb, adventurers!” you can hear.

PATTON: [confident evil voice] Wanna bet?

THOMAS: From the crystal ball a lightning surges and three ominous hooded creatures are created from the crystal. They start attacking you. The first creature aims at Logan. She throws a ray at you. I throw for aim…

[Thomas throws and he gets a 13]

THOMAS: I hit you. Now you must throw for defense.

[Logan throws and he gets a 9]

THOMAS: The armor absorbs part of the damage but it’s not enough to avoid it making you a wound in your hand, your less protected part. You lose 2 points of health, and have 16 left.

PATTON: [suddenly breaking out of character, squealing angry] Don’t touch my Teach Boy, you monster! I throw a curse to the creature!

THOMAS: The curse has no effect.

PATTON: Don’t I get to throw a dice?

THOMAS: Nope. No matter what you try, you can’t do any damage to them.

PATTON: [squealing angry] Not fair!

VIRGIL: [thinking] Hmm…

DECEIT: I had the power to repel dark creatures, right? I’m gonna use it.

THOMAS: Very well, throw for faith.

[Virgil throws and he gets a 16]

THOMAS: You create a force field around the three creatures. They can’t get out of it, and that gives you three turns to think and apply your strategy, even though Deceit cannot throw any other spells while he’s holding the force field. You better hurry.

ROMAN: Virgil, you said a significant “Hmm” earlier. Have you got any ideas?

VIRGIL: I was thinking about how Thomas didn’t let us throw any dices. That means these creatures are invincible. However each creature in a role-playing game should have a weak point or else there would be no chance to beat the game, and I doubt that such an impossible game would appear as a basic adventure in a book of the game.

THOMAS: Guys… I would have preferred if you’d reached that conclusion without having to get so meta, that breaks the mood of the story.

VIRGIL: Our aim should not be the creatures. These creatures appeared from a ray that came from that crystal ball. I suggest that we destroy the crystal ball and see what happens next.

LOGAN: Good idea. It’s payment time! I’ll hit the ball with my sword!

THOMAS: Throw for aim.

ROMAN: And don’t stab your foot this time!

[Logan throws and he gets an 11]

THOMAS: You hit the ball, but not hard enough to destroy it. However, you crack it, which makes the creatures flicker back and forth.

ROMAN: [singing to the tune of “It’s My Time” by Jade Ewen] It’s my time, it’s my time, my moment! [stops singing] I throw a spell to pulverize the ball!

THOMAS: Throw for magic expertise.

LOGAN: And try not to fix the crack, please.

[Logan throws and he gets a 16]

THOMAS: The ball gets broken to pieces. The creatures disappear and so does Deceit’s force field, just in time.

ROMAN: Yes, I did it!

VIRGIL: We did it, Roman. This was done with the effort of all of us.

ROMAN: Oh, yeah, yeah, of course.

THOMAS: He’s right. Nice teamwork, guys.

DECEIT: Now I’ll heal Logan’s wounds, he needs it.

LOGAN: Thanks, Deceit.

THOMAS: Throw for faith.

[Deceit throws and he gets a 20]

THOMAS: Critical hit! Not only all his wounds are healed, and with that all his points of health are restored. You also fix all of his armor, and he recovers all the lost points of durability.

DECEIT: Nice!

LOGAN: Good job!

THOMAS: You started with awful luck with the dices, but now it’s a chain of criticals from all of you. Roman, are you sure you didn’t bribe the dices?

ROMAN: I give my royal word that I didn’t manipulate the dices, Thomas!

[Deceit gives a mischievous smile to Virgil, and he silently chuckles without Thomas noticing]

THOMAS: Okay… Now that the room is empty, you notice a huge chest next to a door in the background.

VIRGIL: Let’s examine it.

THOMAS: Throw for perception.

[Virgil throws and he gets a 16]

THOMAS: There are no traps in the chest. Inside it, you find it’s full of diamonds.

VIRGIL: Let’s share it all, we’ve all earned it in equal parts.

PATTON: [normal Patton voice] Agreed… [clears throat, then with low evil voice] Agreed for the time being…

ROMAN: The fact that you broke out of character earlier and now has calmed me down, Patton. For a moment I thought you were Wrath in disguise…

DECEIT: Please, Roman. There’s only one master of disguise in this Mind Palace, and he’s in front of you. I have never seen a worse shape-shifter than Wrath, you should see him…

VIRGIL: Yeah, he’s right. Remember when he tried to impersonate me and he put the eyeshadow over the eyebrows? He looked like an emo version of Groucho Marx.

[Deceit laughs]

THOMAS: Okay, back to the game, guys… The door opens and you enter in what looks like a throne room.

DECEIT: Ooh… There’s a smell of final battle in the atmosphere…

THOMAS: The dungeon ruler is in front of you. They’re wearing a golden armor that covers their face, but that doesn’t diminish their threatening aura. They don’t say a word. They just stand up from their throne and shows the talisman. It is a golden necklace with strange symbols carved on the brightest ruby. A magic glows from it. Then, they throw it to a chest that closes itself and is then protected with a bright force field. You know what you have to do. Only by defeating them the force field will be gone and the talisman will be yours.

VIRGIL: Okay, it’s time to start singing to boost your abilities, I guess… [clears throat, then singing] “Woords fail… woords fail… there’s nothing I can say...”

ROMAN: Um… Virgil, your supposed to lift our spirits, not to send us into deep sadness. Sing a happy cheery song!

VIRGIL: Nobody appreciates real art… Okay, how about this…?

[Virgil starts singing “Friday I’m in Love” by The Cure while playing the ukulele]

ROMAN: It’s not “Whistle while you work”, but it’s not bad either.

THOMAS: Okay, thanks to Virgil’s singing, you get a bonus boost of all of your abilities of +5.

LOGAN: Good, keep singing, Virgil. I’ll go attack them on melee mode. You, Deceit, heal me, and anyone who needs healing too. You, Patton, attack them with curses. You, Roman, throw all the offensive spells on them and defensive spells on us, but try not to get the aggro on you…

THOMAS: Logan… Logan, stop. This is tabletop role playing, not “World of Warcraft”. There’s no aggro in here.

LOGAN: Apologies. Forget about the aggro. All the rest still applies. You guys ready?

DECEIT: Ready.

ROMAN: Let’s go get them!

PATTON: He’s gonna feel our rage!

VIRGIL: [still singing] “…it’s Friday, I’m in love”… [threatening voice] If you ever tell that I’ve been singing solo for so long I’m gonna kill you… [resumes singing] “Monday, you can fall apart...”

LOGAN: Okay, team Sanders Sides, let’s go! Geronimoooo!

[The battle begins. As we see shots of the Sides and Thomas throwing dices and silently acting, that is combined with background images of the battle that we see behind them, with the characters actually fighting the creature, while epic music sounds. We see the battle advance, with Logan attacking with his sword, Roman and Patton casting spells, Deceit magically healing everyone and Virgil still singing and playing the ukulele. That until Logan throws a gash onto the armored enemy and knocks him down. At that moment, the armor shakes and a black smoke emerges from it. The smoke turns into a dragon-witch. The battle then resumes, but the dragon-witch’s first attack against Logan knocks him down. Upon seeing this, Patton enters berserk mode and throws a huge stream of fire against the dragon. She responds throwing fire from her mouth and the two streams of fire collide. Virgil plays his song more intensely and Roman supports Patton’s spell with his magic, until the combined forces finally overcome the Dragon’s Witch power and she explodes in a fireball. The scene fades out and we return to the Sides on the table]

PATTON: [dramatic] Logan, are you all right? Talk to me! Deceit, do something!

DECEIT: [dramatic] I’m sorry, guys, his wounds have been too much. He’s gone.

PATTON: [over the top crying] Logan, oh, Logan, why did it have to be you!?

LOGAN: Dag nabbit. We were about to win, and I lost on the finish line.

ROMAN: [angry low voice] Shut up, you’re dead, don’t ruin the mood of the ending!

THOMAS: [epic narrator voice] But his sacrifice wasn’t in vain. The force field in the chest is gone and the talisman is yours. You can be proud of your teamwork guys, you’ve saved the kingdom and you will always be remembered as heroes of legend. Congratulations!

PATTON: [over dramatic] We will never forget you, Logan! Poems will be written honoring your name, the gods will rearrange the stars to forge a constellation with your shape and everyone will get emotional upon seeing it in the sky up until the end of time!

LOGAN: Umm… Patton, that’s not how constellations work…

ROMAN: [waving his hands quickly] Sssshhhhhh! I’m enjoying this…!

[Logan silently sighs and rolls his eyes]

THOMAS: ...aaaand… The End. Well done, guys!

LOGAN: Can I speak now?

ROMAN: Yes.

PATTON: [over the top emotional happiness] Logan! You’re alive, thank God, I thought we had lost you!

LOGAN: Um… Patton, you knew this was all a game of pretend, didn’t you?

PATTON: [surprised] Oh… Was it?

ROMAN: [sighs] No wonder why he got into character so much, he thought everything was real…

THOMAS: Okay, guys, let’s go back.

ROMAN: Agreed.

[Roman snaps his finger and they all get back to the apartment with their habitual outfits]

PATTON: This was really fun, kiddos!

THOMAS: Yeah, it really was. But you almost got a syncope, Patton. Listen, role-playing is good, but don’t get so much into character that you cease to distinguish between fiction and reality. This is just a game and you got too much into it.

PATTON: I’m sorry… But it was fun. And the end was happy for everyone…

LOGAN: ...well, almost for everyone.

THOMAS: It’s okay, Logan. We can repeat this some other day and maybe next time you’ll win too.

LOGAN: The most important thing is… did all this gaming help you for your con?

THOMAS: I think it did. Now I remember all of the rules as if my last game had been yesterday. Thank you so much. And apart of that I also remembered a really important lesson.

LOGAN: Oh, really? What is it?

THOMAS: You reminded me the important value of teamwork. At first when each of you was on your own it looked as if you wouldn’t pass even from the front door, and then you started working as a team and defeating dangers all together as if you were one person.

DECEIT: Well, technically we’re all one person...

THOMAS: I’m proud of all of you, guys.

LOGAN: Thank you. At least my sacrifice has worked for something. [sinking down] Next time, give me an alchemist or something more of my style.

THOMAS: All right, Logan.

PATTON: [sinking down] I’m gonna go get a nice cup of calming tea. I need it after the scary ending we’ve gone through.

THOMAS: Okay, Patton, and sorry.

DECEIT: [sinking down] Well, I’m gonna go wake up Honesty. It is my turn to take a nap, I’m exhausted. See ya.

THOMAS: Bye, Deceit!

VIRGIL: I’ll remind you, just in case, if you ever tell that I was singing solo all of the time, you’re not gonna sleep in a couple of weeks, and it will not be because of your usual habit of not sleeping when editing a video. [sinking down] Be warned.

THOMAS: Okay, Virgil, relax…

ROMAN: Ah… A good old battle. And I’ve had the chance to fight it with all of my friends. Victory tastes sweet, but it tastes to glory when you share it with the people you love. [sinking down] I’m gonna spend my part of the treasure on Fairy Godmother’s, I desperately need a beauty treatment. Bye, Thomas.

THOMAS: Bye, Roman… Well… Life can put lots of challenges of many kinds in front of us. Some of them, we’ll have to face them on our own and in those cases we must be brave, trust ourselves, and give our best. But other times we’ll have the chance to face them in company. In those cases, remember that the value of teamwork will multiply the possibilities of success. Learn about your project partners. Take the time to know your own pros and cons and investigate your pals’. If you work to support each other in your cons and to boost each other in your pros, no one will be able to stop your team. You will be the best of the best and I’ll be even more proud of you than I already am. Until next time, take it easy, guys, gals and non binary pals. Peace out!

[end card]

[Deceit is in the Light Realm, talking to Honesty inside his body]

DECEIT: ...and then Patton threw a ray of fire that destroyed that dragon witch! You should have seen it!

HONESTY: I’m glad that you had fun, Deceit. You really deserved some spare time for a change.

DECEIT: You should have seen it. You should have stayed awaken over there. I was playing a priest of truth, I could have used some help from you.

HONESTY: I’m sorry… But lately, I’ve been feeling… I don’t know how to explain it, like wearing a little thin.

DECEIT: [alarmed] Are you okay? Do you feel sick or something?

HONESTY: No, it’s not that… It’s just that I feel tired, more than tired, exhausted… Don’t worry, Decey. It will pass if I rest.

DECEIT: Oh, I’m not worrying at all…

HONESTY: You’re lying, Deceit, I can see in your mind. I appreciate your concern over me, but I…

[Honesty suddenly stops talking through Deceit’s body. Deceit stays silent for a few seconds. He shows a face of fear]

DECEIT: Honesty? Honesty!? Can you hear me? I’m not feeling you anymore! Honesty!

HONESTY: Oh… Sorry… for a moment I felt like… out of it.

DECEIT: This isn’t normal, Honesty. For a moment I lost all contact with you, as if you had been gone completely.

HONESTY: It just felt as if I’d fallen asleep. Don’t know how to describe it.

DECEIT: Maybe we should talk to Logan, he’s Thomas’ knowledge. He might know what’s going on.

HONESTY: Only if we have no choice. I don’t want Thomas or the Sides to worry unnecessarily.

DECEIT: Let me try something, okay?

HONESTY: What?

DECEIT: Try to get out.

HONESTY: If you insist…

[Deceit is covered by the yellow cloud. It flickers between yellow and orange for a couple of second, then goes back to yellow, dissolves, and Deceit is still there]

HONESTY: I can’t get out…

DECEIT: [scared] Don’t tell me this is normal, Honesty!

HONESTY: I know it isn’t, but let’s wait, all right?

DECEIT: But…

HONESTY: [firm voice] I said let’s wait.

DECEIT: Okay, I hope you know what you’re doing…

HONESTY: Me too, Deceit, me too…

#sanders sides #fanfic #thomas sanders #ts fanfic #sanders sides fic #thomas sanders fanfic #sanders sides fanfic #roman sanders #logan sanders #patton sanders #virgil sanders #deceit sanders #aspects and fanfics

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vesperione · 6 years ago

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Please Read This Before Commenting

So, as you can tell, already, this post will not mention TGWDLM until the very end. If some of you are unaware, I headcanon Paul as having Autism. Yes, autism, a very “scary illness caused by vaccinations.” Well, a couple of days ago I got someone commenting “HOW CAN YOU ROLEPLAY SOMEONE NOT ORIGINALLY AUTISTIC, LIKE HOW?” And it really hurt me! So I posted it on my instagram story (y’all on tumblr its @robertstanion) and I got an overwhelming amount of support. Except one person, who claimed the question was valid. So I told this person that the title of the post clearly includes the word HEADCANON in it, needless to say they are both blocked (to see this post, it’s TGWDLM Headcanons Part 2 and it’s the very first headcanon mentioned that has driven me to write this post) Now. As I’ve already mentioned autism is “a scary illness that is caused by vaccinations.” Well here’s something for you. I’m happily vaccinated and autistic. That’s fucking right, I’m autistic! More specifically, I have Aspergers/Asperger Syndrome. Now here’s the reason I’ve written this post. I would like my currently 351 fans on insta and my 21 fans on tumblr to see how I truly feel. So welcome, here’s an insight of my life. Also, if you want to take this to my dms, feel free, I’ve got over 300 fans I won’t mind losing a few. I’m also writing from experience.

Aspergers! What the fuck is that? Well, it’s one of the most common types of autism. Essentially, autism is a disability and a collective term. My type of autism falls underneath that umbrella term. So, Aspergers. What is that? yes I’ve repeated myself, and that is something common with me. I repeat myself and I stutter, I stumble and I slur. I am one of the gobbiest people you will ever meet with a high profanity and if you couldn’t tell, pretty much every single one of these posts on here and insta have a curse/swear word in it. INCLUDING THIS ONE! Common symptoms are that we have trouble filtering jokes from insults, filtering sarcasm and we take it the wrong way a hella lot. Um, we’re also sensitive to loud sounds and bright lights. And the big one, CHANGE IN ROUTINE! This was when I had to move to high school I was so scared because I am now the only person from that asshole school at my current high school which is brilliant by the way. So yeah, back to primary, this isn’t an exaggeration, I was bullied and I had no friends. Not even joking. Also year 1 (age 5-6) y’all are talking to the lass who threw not 1, not 2 but SEVERAL chairs at the head of the school when I W A S 5. that was also when my mom worked at the school. So anyways, this event occurred a few months after I was diagnosed with Aspergers. I was 4 and like 3/4 when I was diagnosed, And I’ve had this condition for 9 years so I’m pretty experienced. I’ve had it all my life. Wanna know where the signs started? When I was a baby. Common forms of autism also include late development and toilet training. My first word was triangle (i’m a part of the illuminati shhhh) or dad, but I have an ok relationship with my dad, but I prefer to have it known as triangle. Throughout first school I struggled, every day I would have a meltdown. I flat out refused to do the work! These meltdowns consisted of my folding my arms, putting my head down on the table and I just cried. Can’t remember why but I did. And when it was the end of the lesson, I would get up and go to break. I wasn’t punished! Year 7, I refused to do something in drama (I was very self conscious and still am and hate performing in front of groups of people) and I just froze on the spot. Wouldn’t move. So my then-drama teacher took me out and I wouldn’t talk to her. And then we went to student services and they sat me down in Miss Q.s office (Miss Q is such a lad, her and miss BE have been with me since day 1.) Luckily, the only TA i could talk to at my previous school moved up with me and I told her everything. Year 8 I only had 1 meltdown. Year 9, I’VE HAD NONE MOTHERFUCKERS! Well I kind of did in Maths a week ago becauseIstillfeellikeeveryonehatesme- BUT ANYWAYS i’m ok now. So, me, what comes with Aspergers, here’s what!

It is extremely common for people with autism to have depression and anxiety. In fact aspergers is actually an anxiety disorder. This prevents me from being in large crowds for large periods of time because of the noISE and I’m claustraphobic. So, anxiety. It’s common. Now imagine having a panic attack before you go to sleep. Literally as you shut your eyes. If you can’t here’s what it feels like. The room is dark, the only light is usually from the streetlights and occasionally car headlights, but it’s just gone midnight and the streetlights have turned off. The only light now is from your phone. Your eyelids are about to shut so you put your meditation music on to sleep with. You put your phone behind your third pillow exactly and shut your eyes. Suddenly, your breathe gets shallow and your heartrate goes up. A familiar feeling of nausea creeps around the corner immediately making you reach for your water bottle. That’s how it is for me, every night. Now, nausea. I’m emetephobic. Having emetephobia ruins my life. Emetephobia is the phobia for vomit. I can barely even say it out loud so me typing that certain “v” word is huge. This prevents me from watching TV shows and films, even certain music videos, because in case somebody just happens to throw up. Now the last time I threw up was my 8th birthday and I live in fear every day. Just a few weeks ago, this bug had spread to my school and someone legit ONLY HAD TO WALK 4 MORE STEPS TO THE BATHROOM but threw up OUTSIDE THE BATHROOM i mean dude. logic. and as soon as we were told, I was not the same for the last half hour of last period. I probably ingested more perfume that week than I ever have. So. On the topic of phobias, here are some I have:

Emetephobia: vomit Lepidopterophobia: Butterflies & moths (as long as I’m at a distance I’m fine) Arachnophobia: spiders excluding tarantulas they’re cool.

They’re the main ones.

Now, this part is digusting, feel free to skip. This is something that I’ve only told 6 people. I have a condition called Paralysed Bowel Syndrome. I’ve only met 2 other people with it. PBS legit makes this person SHIT THEMSELF. I was really ill before Christmas and early Jan. Christmas, I couldn’t move I was in agony (i almost threw up thrice that week I was so scared) and in Jan my body just kept trying to make me shit but my brain didn’t want me to. I have these things called ‘Moments’ where my brain literally stops me from shitting and this usually results in me wearing pads I didn’t have a period in February because my stomach’s so messed up. What happens in the end is I legit shit out this massive lump of...welll....shit. And my mum weighs it evERY FUCKING TIME! The day I got better this year was 07.02, my sister’s birthday. To put in comparison what happened, I got half a bag of sugar lighter that day. But no, this condition sounds stupid but it makes me really ill and I have to take this disgusting medicine when I get bad. There is no cure.

So, that’s me and why those two people really hurt me. But did you know these people also had aspergers?: Obama has a very mild case Albert Einstein Anne Hegerty (was on 2018 I’m A Celeb, British, google her) Chris Packham (ONE OF MY IDOLS-) Susan Boyle Tim Burton (who is born 6 days after me-) -

But also, people with Aspergers need something to live for. In my case, there are several things including Brooklyn Nine Nine, Musicals (specifically TGWDLM) Panic! At The Disco, Starkid, The Vamps, Backstreet Boys, Stephanie Beatriz, Fanfiction, Instagram and memes. This is why people with autism, when they love something, NEVER SHUT UP ABOUT IT (lowkey one of my best friends and exs is obsessed with sonic the hedgehog and he’s on the spectrum. May or may not have succeeded in getting said friend into Hamilton-) SO yeah! This is why you shouldn’t come to my page and start spreading your shit about this condition I’ve grown to love, hate and understand. Any negative comment makes me feel even worse about myself than I already do, that’s why I took a 3 month break from ao3 because one of my books got so much criticism that I had to take it down and it really upset me. So I beg you, give me advice, tell me if there are certain mistakes but do NOT insult me or aspergers syndrome. Thankyou, J

#consjderthecoconut #Aspergers syndrome #asperger syndrome #autism #rant

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thistleandthorn-rpg · 2 years ago

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Congrats, Jessa, on your app for Chandler Berry! Please check out this page for what to do next, and send us her blog within 48 hours.

OOC INFORMATION:

Name/Alias: Jessa

Preferred pronoun: she/hers

Age (Must be 20+): 30+

Timezone/Country: ET/US

RP Experience: years

Activity Level: 6-7, most active on evenings and weekends

IC INFORMATION:

Name: Matthew Percival Fabray

Designation: Switch

Age: 27

Birthday: November 11th, 1994

Faceclaim: Toby Regbo

Orientation: demisexual

Kinks: power differential, bondage, sensory play, roleplay [still exploring]

Anti-Kinks: age play, scat

Key Points:

Career-focused

Up-and-coming author

Introverted; takes a while to open up

Appears strong, poised, and stuck-up to others

Loyal to a fault once someone is considered one of his people

BIO

As the oldest son of Russell Fabray, Matthew was groomed to follow in his father’s footsteps and take over the tobacco company once his father eventually retired. He had a lot of pressure on him from a young age, and he quickly grew to hate the thought of the legacy his father was leaving for him. He was an obedient son, though, and when he graduated from high school, he went directly to college to study management and accounting. As a junior, he took advantage of the opportunity to study abroad in Scotland for an entire year. While he was there, he took electives in literature and creative writing, and upon returning to the US, he found he’d actually earned enough credits for a minor in English–though he didn’t dare let his family know. Instead, he worked his regular summer internship in the tobacco company, graduated with honors, took the CPA exam, and started an MBA program.

The older he got, though, the more Matt thought back to his time in Scotland. He missed his creative writing class, and he began to spend much of his free time writing. Romance had never seemed that important to him, so while he had some friends he hung out with at times, it wasn’t that hard for him to make time for his novel. His grades took a dip, though luckily for him, his father had long ago stopped checking in on them regularly, and he still managed to graduate.

Nothing was harder for Matt than starting his new position in his father’s company once he had his MBA. Working 8-5 day in and day out was stifling, not to mention the overtime he was expected to pull on a nearly daily basis, simply because he was the boss’s son and needed to learn everything he could about the business. Still, he spent his free time writing, and shortly before his 26th birthday, he received news from a literary agent: his first novel was going to be published.

Matt had no idea how it happened, but his novel took off. It was a young adult, dystopian, vampire and werewolf story that focused on action and friendships rather than a romantic relationship or claim, and people loved it. He actually took some time off work to do a book signing tour. When he got back from the tour, his father was furious with him for having done something so ‘frivolous’ when he could have taken advantage of his time off to enroll at an institute. Matt’s younger half-brothers were both already there, and Russell insisted that it was time for Matthew to find his submissive to complement him the way that Judy and Camille did for him.

The only problem? Matthew wasn’t sure he was meant to be a Dominant, not if it meant having the same sort of stressful life he’d been preparing for since he was a child. He also couldn’t see himself as a submissive. He was thrilled to get to spend time with his brothers, but he’d have been just as content with a cup of tea and the half-finished draft of his second novel open on his laptop. He’d never found someone he wanted to have sex with before, and he wasn’t sure how an institute would change that.

BIO QUESTIONS:

What are your feelings about the mark you have received?

This is probably the best mark for me. I don’t particularly want to participate in this whole claim thing, but I suppose that since I have to, I’m grateful for the ability to figure out for myself whether I lean more Dom or sub.

How do your feelings on the system compare to your parents’ feelings on it?

My parents are very strongly in favor of the system, and they tried to instill that belief in me. I understand the importance of the system, but I’d personally rather just exist on its periphery if I could. I don’t need a claim to be happy, despite what my family believes.

Where do you see yourself after you graduate?

My claim and I will be moving back to Mobile so that I can return to my job in the tobacco company. That’s non-negotiable.

How do you feel about authority?

Authority has its place. It works best when the person in power has earned that position, but that’s not always the case. I’m comfortable following people in authority regardless of whether I respect their power. I don’t particularly enjoy rocking the boat. However, I do enjoy getting to lead others when I’m given the opportunity.

#accepted #jessa

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savior-negan · 3 years ago

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1-5 for mun questions 😘

Random questions for the mun {accepting} @manhattanopus

1. What made you want to roleplay?

Back then I wanted to increase my English skills. I always was a writer and my biggest dream always was to release a book one day but I wanted to publish it in English so more people can read it but in school I never really learnt to write what I need for a novel. In English class you learn basic conversation, grammar and analysis of texts but never really writing fictional stuff. I knew that no matter if in German or English I never learnt to describe movements of characters or emotions with words properly and that’s what rp gave me.

2. If you're a multi-muse blog, which of your muses is your favorite to roleplay?

Rick is my favorite, just because he’s closest to my own character and he changed so much in my life. Also I think he’s the nicest man, greatest father and most incredible leading person that I just love to watch others giving him the love he deserves and which he can’t give himself. Alex and Negan are super fun to write, but they are very different from me and I don’t always have the mood to write their humor and extroverted and flirty behavior. Also we all know Negan can be an asshole and I struggle to write assholes cause my inner rick and me always judge them 🤣

3. If you're single muse, have you thought about going multi-muse?

I thought about that, yes but I know that I for myself love it even more to have a single muse as a partner cause their whole profile is full of their pictures, their musings and stories so it’s much easier to get to know them more. I would never reject multi muses cause of that of course, but I think it’s just easier to keep track of a muse or especially OCs where you don’t know anything about them compared to canon characters where you probably already know enough and don’t need a complex profile. For myself it’s also easier to follow my different threads cause I easily get confused (that’s why I mostly never write with more than one faceclaim with one of my characters as well cause my brain is a mess and gets confused or mixes up stories). Since I only have three muses and at the beginning just Alex and Rick anyways, the different log ins were no problem as well. If I would play more than 5 muses or take requests for muses I would make a multi account just because it’s easier. But until now I prefer it this way, cause I just log in where I have the muse for and can ignore the rest easier.

4. If you're single muse, what other characters would like to do in addition to the muse you have now?

Hm honestly I love Magna from twd but luckily I finally found someone playing her so I don’t wanna play her myself. Magna for me is a nice mix of Rick (the leader capabilities) and Negan (the style, tattoos, badass-ness) and as I created Alex Magna was a big inspiration for that so I guess Magna would fit to me. Outside of the twd fandom I could imagine Lightning from FFXIII but I don’t play animated characters 🤣 someone also told me that Dr Bedelia Du Maurier from Hannibal would fit to me and I absolutely agree cause she also inspired my Alex in her psychiatry verse. Since I studied psychology myself, roles like that are amazing for me ❤️ but maybe I would rather make another OC I don’t know 🤔 oh and maybe the Darkling or Alina from Shadow and Bones but I just watched the series and don’t have a good idea about the whole lore since I didn’t read the books and think I wouldn’t play it good enough (especially cause I’m bad in writing fantasy stuff).

5. Do you make it up as you go along, or do you plot and strictly stick to the plot?

It depends. I gotta admit I’m super bad with structures. In rl and in anything creative. I can’t force my muse, can’t force myself to write or be creative. It comes when it comes and then I go with the flow. That’s why often things happen that I never planned or imagined before no matter how hard I wanted to stick to a plot. I LOVE plotting and I definitely need it to write a good story, but tbh I have like 10 unfinished self written books on my laptop that consist of just scenes and a very basic plot I had in mind cause I just can’t bring myself to write a book with a proper beginning and chapters that happen in a strict timeline. That’s why I doubt I will ever finish a book 🤣 I am good in short stories, good in poems, good in memes… but I’m not good in structure. I hate it. But I’m also a perfectionist who needs the timeline of stories to fit or I would blame myself for making stupid plot holes hahaha (like when do they get children? How many? How old are they when this or that happens?). But I guess that’s why I love memes so much cause in the past I only roleplayed in one continuing story with a proper beginning and end and it often destroyed my mood to write cause I wanted to jump so much further and had to continue with a scene where I didn’t have the mood for but now I just love so much to jump from scene to scene and time to time cause it’s exactly how my writing style usually functions, so thank u tumblr rp 😁

#mun answered #manhattanopus

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star--stones · 7 years ago

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tagged by @wetwasteofagirl YAY thank you friend that was the exact distraction I needed! :)

1. How many works in progress do you have?

there are tons from my youth I abandoned but I have no intention of going back to those, so right now it’s just the two main long-ass stories: #1 that’s written but I’m in the process of heavily editing, and #2 that I’m over 150k words into and not done. I hate myself. editing that once it’s done may never be completed because I’ll probably die of old age first lmao

2. Do you/would you write fan fiction?

I used to!! Though I quickly began to prefer creating original characters to put into those worlds (mainly x-men, but some harry potter too) which then evolved into simply creating original stories. I also once wrote a Beauty and the Beast prequel-type thing based on a prompt.

3. Do you prefer paper books or ebooks?

I’m more likely to start and finish paper books, but I do really like the ease of ebooks and find I get through them faster once one hooks me.

4. When did you start writing?

I remember really enjoying creative writing throughout school, starting pretty young. Outside of school, I started reading fanfic when I was maybe 10-12, might’ve tried my hand at one or two but I don’t really remember, then at 14 discovered an online x-men roleplay board and that’s when I really started writing my own, I think.

5. Do you have someone you trust that you share your work with?

I have just a couple IRL friends who I would, once I’m happy with where my story’s at. Other than that I have no real fear of posting stuff on the internet lol

6. Where is your favourite place to write?

IF I can get myself to focus, it’s at home. Because then I can make all the weird faces or hand gestures I need to and listen to my music loudly and pace around without being worried about judgement. Also no one talking to me. However, it usually takes me like 4 hours to actually start being productive at home.

So, my other fave places include outside in the park in the summer, or one of my two fave coffee shops. The first of which is the coziest place in the world with fireplaces and window nooks and fantastic drinks/food/desserts. downside: it’s always busy. The second is about a half-hour walk away (luckily a walk along the river) and has unreal coffee, though less exciting desserts. Here though, there’s an upstairs area I sit in that is almost always completely empty and smells of amazing fuckin’ firewood. downside: no wifi here.

7. Favourite book as a child?

The Secret of NIMH, Holes, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

8. Writing for fun or publication?

Fun at this point (well, I’d almost call it a need but that’s being dramatic), though I’d never rule out publication

9. Have you taken any writing classes?

no, and really I think that’s a damn shame

10. What inspired you to write?

mother fuckin’ ESCAPISM. and really fanfiction, because that was such a great example of seeing that anybody could do it

tagging: @seanmonaham and @thatgirlwiththeredcamera though I’m not sure if you’re still writing these days. also anyone else!!

#tagged #writing

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thehallofgame · 7 years ago

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Review: Dragon Age Origins

Sorry for the delay! For some reason I found this one challenging to write and it took a few extra days to get out. Sorry about that.

Dragon Age Origins

Release: 2009

My Rating: 8.5/10

I’ve taken to saying that if you get four dragon age fans together none will agree on which of the three Dragon Age games is the best. Where Bioware’s Mass Effect series nailed its tone and gameplay the first time out and continued to refine it over the next couple of games (Andromeda excluded) the studio’s Dragon Age series reinvented itself with each core entry to considerable uproar every time. Yet, somehow, the series retained a core fanbase and a through line based more on their engrossing world than any continuous story.

The original version of this game launched in 2009 on PC and was later ported to consoles following the game’s success. Unfortunately, the game’s mechanics just weren’t built with controllers in mind and though playable when ported, were awfully clunky. Thus the PC version remains the ideal way to play this game. This is especially true now that the Ultimate Edition, which comes with all of the DLC alongside the base game, can be regularly purchased for under ten dollars on sale.

Bioware’s roots as a Dungeons and Dragons RPG maker are on proud display in Dragon Age Origins, which feels and plays a lot like a tabletop RPG campaign. The player takes the role of the Grey Warden, a protagonist whose gender, face, race (as in human, dwarf or elf) and starting class (warrior, rogue or mage) they can mix and match to their hearts content. These choices will land the character in one of six backstories that are all gristly, tragic and end with them fleeing for their lives. They are then rescued by Duncan, a knight of the Grey Warden Order, who shelters them on the condition they join the order and travel with him to fight the ‘Blight’ brewing in the distant south of the land. The Warden agrees and off they go, collecting party members along the way.

Unfortunately, disaster strikes and what was to be a glorious victory against the Blight, an army of totally-not-orcs called Darkspawn and the undead dragon leading them, instead turns into a massacre. The newly recruited Warden and a few allies are all that survive of the order. With the blight still threatening to burn and pillage through the defenseless kingdom of Ferelden the Warden decides to raise their own army to counter the threat and do their duty. Meanwhile, the order has been framed for the murder of the king, loss of the army and the political strife tearing the country apart.

With that, the player is sent off on their journey with a checklist of potential supporters to visit and request aid of. This amounts to four initial core quests to complete as well as a bevy of side-quests to be discovered via becoming close to party members, speaking to NPC’s and several organizations the Warden can choose to help. While most of the side quests amount to fetch or hunting quests they’re all dressed up nicely with supporting story, unique and challenging enemies (including all the hardest encounters of the game) as well as ample reward that makes them feel like a natural part of the game rather than padding. Meanwhile, the story quests have entire regions with multiple levels tied to them and their quest chains. Each story feels unique, engaging and encapsulated. Choice is a major aspect of any Bioware game and Dragon Age does an excellent job of making those choices feel like they matter and impact the end of the game (even if the ending is mostly decided in the final hours). However, the choices the Warden makes in the story quest will effect who comes into power during the civil war, which people will or won’t join the Warden’s party and what kind of hero the Warden is perceived as.

Unlike in Mass Effect Dragon age doesn’t have a black and white morality system, but rather reflects moral and political allegiances that other characters will react to. While it’s possible to recruit every single character no matter what choices the player makes they may not like the Warden’s choices, which makes befriending them harder. Likewise the player’s choices will inevitably cause them to gain one advantage at the cost of another, especially during the pivotal moments of the game. Unfortunately most of the choices do have an answer that’s more objectively ‘right’ than another, though most could be interpreted with equal weight in the culture of the game world. For example, the player isn’t going to have a cultural stigma against elves, magic or anything else that doesn’t exist in our world but conflicts will be presented on the assumption the character that they’re playing does. Incidentally, the Warden’s race and class also make a massive difference in how they’re treated, and the options for responses they have in certain situations. This makes roleplaying a character very immersive and engrossing, but can be a bit of a let down for those who don’t get as deeply invested in their characters and the world of the game.

The Warden will come across and have the option to recruit up to eight party members in the base game (the Stone Prisoner DLC adds a ninth). Some join the party of their own volition, but others have short quests or pivotal decisions that influence their willingness to come along. These followers each fall into the three base classes of mage, warrior or rogue but have their own unique specializations and abilities that give them each a unique combat style that can be tweaked to the player’s liking. Of these characters three will be willing to develop a romantic relationship with the Warden, though the options of who will vary with which gender of Warden is being played. Luckily, there are two bisexual characters so if the player wishes to pursue a same-sex relationship they can.

Each companion has an approval rating that represents how friendly they feel toward the Warden. Higher ratings will impart increasing stat bonuses to the companion in combat. This rating goes up and down in response to the Warden’s actions, conversations had with the Warden in the party’s camp and via gifts that are found in the world and matched to the correct recipient. If the player reaches about 50% approval, or fulfills certain conditions, the party member will approach the Warden with a special quest. Completing that quest will impart a massive approval bonus and cement that character’s loyalty. On the flipside low approval could result in party members choosing to abandon the party or even turn on the Warden at pivotal moments.

The gameplay is built around the hub of the party camp, which can be accessed from the world map. Here the warden can talk to the companions, use runes they find to enchant their weaponry and visit the merchant that follows the party around (which they’ll need to do often as the small inventory is prone to filling up). Upon leaving the player will head a party of themself and three additional party members. They will then select a destination on the world map and travel there. Almost always this is associated with a random encounter or a cutscene detailing events going on elsewhere in the world. If it wasn’t so consistent this feature would be annoying. However, as it can be anticipated, and there is a good mix of combat and story-encounters the random encounters aren’t particularly awful… though some are cripplingly hard. Some quest threads can’t even be encountered without traveling with specific party members, which again sounds worse than it is, because gameplay encourages swapping party around, the player will be returning to the world map and traveling on it often and because the story encounters almost always appear once the correct conditions for them have been met.

Combat, however, can be a bit of a grind in and of itself. Each character can be equipped with four pieces of armor, four accessories and two sets of weapons. Matching pieces of armor confers a stat bonus, accessories can provide noticeable resistances to certain kinds of damage or confer stat bonuses and there’s an abundance of ranged and melee weapons to choose from. Add to that a system of specialization and ability chains that add a plethora of options, increase party members skill with certain weapons and the fact that the mage’s talents are designed to be stacked and used in clever ways to exploit bonuses as well as keep the party… and thing get very micromanagement heavy very fast.

Dragon Age includes a system by which the player can go in and customize multiple sets of preferred behaviors for each character so that they don’t have to pause and switch characters as much on the fly. However, these behaviors basically amount to tiered if-then instructions that don’t always have the desired finesse, often activate in undesirable ways and without careful management might end up making things worse. Additionally, while the player can tailor different sets of behaviors for long battles, bosses or swarms of enemies they still have to go into a sub menu to switch these out, which defeats the purpose somewhat. For most players what ends up happening is that they find out who they can tailor to be self-sufficient, and whose abilities they need to micromanage (usually the party’s mages). Using a special ability depletes stamina and also has a short cooldown time. While stamina and health regenerate over time, it isn’t fast enough to keep up with the pace of comba so extended battles easily turn into white-knuckled slug fests. The player can craft or purchase health potions and potions to restore magical stamina, but rogues and warriors who run out of stamina are simply out. Meanwhile, if an ally runs out of HP and is KO’d they are out for the duration of the battle (with the exception of a high level healing spell with a very long cooldown). They’ll wake after the battle with an ‘injury’ that will impart a stat penalty until the player uses an injury kit to cure it or returns to the party camp. These injuries will stack, which can make party members all but useless in a long dungeon crawl without significant backtracking or resource management.

The game encourages using a range of close and ranged combat, however, bows can’t be enchanted and often miss without the character being specialized in them specifically, so that quickly falls by the way-side. Likewise, for melee warriors weapons exist on a scale of sharp and accurate swords down to unwieldy hammers that are ideal for smashing armored enemies. This is good in theory but in practice is impractical. Switching like this necessities micromanagement again, and giving over precious inventory space to additional weapons when it’s already being choked with crafting items and good equipment the characters aren’t strong enough to equip yet. And all this is with the ability to map character abilities to keyboard buttons and use the mouse to accurately zoom out and survey the battlefield from certain angles (oh, and also hold down the tab key to identify hard to see items like loot or readable books). Doing this on a console is even more eye-twitch inducing.

That all said, there’s something about Dragon Age’s combat that’s endearing. There’s something so satisfying about finally leveling up enough to equip the Legendary Sword of Legend or trying some hair-brained combination of obscure abilities and have them produce dramatic results. In the end, the system wears the minutia focused style of old Dungeons and Dragons like a badge of honor and did its best to recreate that in a game. This comes with a steep learning curve, but it eventually levels off and the player falls into a rhythm that will carry them through all but the hardest encounters.

There’s so much more to be said about this game. It packs so much content into a game that’s ultimately not technically that long that it’s a little mind boggling. What Dragon Age lacks in gameplay and interesting visual design it makes up with in world building, compelling stories, interesting and beloved characters and climatic scenes with emotional payoffs that feel powerful and meaningful. Ultimately, Dragon Age is a great game that is only just beginning to really show the wear of its age. It also set an incredibly solid and tantalizing foundation for the future of its world and thus the Dragon Age franchise.

#video game review #dragon age origins review #thehallofgame review #long post #text post

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desperatelyseekingroleplay · 5 years ago

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The Red Thread of Immortal Fate

8700 BCE

5th Century BC

The 1300s

The 1800s

One night we were walking home together, and we were mugged. You almost died but I managed to fight them off. I had to leave this time to ensure you were safe, so you could live.

The 1970s

Our home was raided, and I was hurt. You did what was best to save me and that was to leave.

Current Day

The thing about us immortals is that we are fated to be together, but is that really true?

*******

I roleplay on KIK or on Discord. I prefer these two but I also can use email.

KIK: lovenesha16

Discord: NeshaxD#1023

Email: [email protected]

#Desperately Seeking Roleplay #Writing Partner Wanted #Roleplay Partner Wanted #Roleplay Partner Ad #Roleplay Partner Search #Roleplay Partner Needed #Rp Buddy Search #Rp Partner Needed #Rp Partner Wanted #Original Roleplay Wanted #Long Term Roleplay Wanted #21+ Roleplay Wanted #Seeking Roleplay Partner #submission

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cosmosogler · 7 years ago

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hi. today i slept in for an hour because that’s how i roll. or, i guess, don’t roll, because i was laying in one spot and not rolling.

snoopy peed on the couch this time. that’s the first time she’s done that. luckily i still had the trash bags so even though there was a lot of it, i could clean it up without too much trouble.

i considered all the biking i had to do today and decided to not work out. i took a super long shower. it was mostly super long because i was completely lost in thought! i came up with a story idea. i spent like three hours doing a little research and writing an outline. it was a mistake to spend all that time on “not homework” but i dunno. it’s been over a year since i wrote anything. i wanted to write. i have some stuff on my mind that i worked in a little bit.

it’s a follow up to that goof story i wrote about a friend’s characters meeting mine a few years ago.

i feel weird. a lot of my friends (and me, admittedly) have a favorite “go-to” character we revisit over and over again. asher’s got kai, for one. asher’s friends seemed like they had favorites too. i try to pay lots of attention to all my characters- and i do- but i dunno, kyral’s just the one i’ve spent the most time on. he’s really the only “protagonist team” character i’ve made that, i guess, succumbs to his flaws. everyone else overcomes them, or at least finds something they like to do. i guess making a character and projecting all my insecurity and anger onto him and watching him fail over and over is fascinating to me.

and i can’t feel too bad about ruining this imaginary character’s life because his life is mine.

maybe it feels like... i am giving myself permission to fail? by writing about this guy who can just never catch a break. he feels powerless, but it’s pretty justified- people make decisions for him constantly and he doesn’t always have the ability to object because his illness keeps him from following the conversation. he doesn’t even get to kill himself. he dies pointlessly when a villain wants to intimidate his friends during a diplomatic meeting. he gets tricked because the villain knows what his worst fear is and exploits it because they want the powerhouse of the group out of the picture.

i dunno. i watch my creation get kicked over and over and never get a chance to stand up and walk before he dies and i think to myself, “yeah, that’s about right.” i’m not sure what that says about me. it’s probably obvious to people i roleplay with but i put a lot of my focus on kyral and i don’t like to talk about my preference specifically.

i guess i worry what people will think if they know for sure that the person i relate to most out of all my characters is a personified natural disaster.

so anyway i was occupied with that for a long time. i had a very late lunch and went out to the grocery store. i had a great time actually- it took less than 10 minutes to get over there and i found most of the stuff i needed pretty quick. coming home was a little tougher because of everything i had packed onto the bike and myself but it went fine. i actually really like getting up to speed on the bike. i feel like i could go anywhere in town that i want!!

i came home and rested a while. i set up snoopy’s second litter box. the vet told me yesterday to just put a second one right next to her main one. so they are both under the sink and i had to find a different place to put the litter and the disposal container.

i also did my dishes and bummed around and played some pokemon. the competition is pretty alright. i like how short the battles are because i am less likely to lose my connection during any one of them. i got through 7 or 8 of them in, i don’t know, 30-ish minutes. i made myself dinner, burned it because i forgot i’d left it on the stove (i didn’t have enough water in the pot when i put in the pasta because i’d left it boiling for too long beforehand), and then i gathered my classical mechanics materials and biked out to campus. it takes 25 minutes to get to the physics building, which is actually the average amount of time it takes to get there on the bus in the mornings. and the time it takes to get home... i spend a lot of time waiting at the bus stop.

i stayed there for a little over 2 hours and didn’t even finish one problem even though i worked on it the whole time and didn’t even get distracted with tumblr or anything. so now i have 10 problems to finish tomorrow... but i told suzanne i was proud of myself because this is the first problem i’ve made all of my own headway on. like, i haven’t had to directly reference anyone else’s homework to make progress. suzanne asked what i did for the quantum assignment i’d just turned in and i said “oh, i forgot about that.”

i joked that i am really getting moving now, and i am able to learn this stuff, but i just can’t do it as fast as the professors want. suzanne laughed and said she never understands the course until a few weeks after the semester ends. everyone in the office agreed with that.

i don’t consider looking up the concepts on the internet to be directly referencing my classmates’ homework because looking stuff up on the internet is really hard. i have to figure out what key words to use in order to get the concept i’m looking for, and then i have to figure out what kind of notation they’re using, and then i have to follow the math and reason through it and try to figure out if it’s correct or not, or look up other stuff that gets used in the proof. i feel like that’s more under the umbrella of “research” than “asking classmate how they got the answer.”

i really don’t have time to do that tomorrow though, i might have to attach myself to suzanne like some kind of horrible leech until both assignments get done. i also gotta upload all the grades from last week and do the grading for this week... and the next quantum is due on wednesday, and i need to do some e&m homework before monday. so, also tomorrow.

and i didn’t clean the apartment today because i was in The Writing Bubble. well, i did the dishes... i hope mopping won’t take too long. the floor really needs it. it’s still got little marks from when i came home after walking through a storm and dripped dirty water all over the place.

ok, anyway, i wanted to go to bed at 10:30 to try and get up early tomorrow but now it is 10:50 because i was rambling about how i do homework and why it’s ok to do that. i haven’t written much here in a while it feels like.

i am... feeling a little better today health wise. i was still sniffly but when i woke up my nose was at least dry. and getting winded while out on the bike helped clear everything up a lot too. nothin like jumping off your bike and right into a nice coughing fit!

oh i bought saturnz barz finally because i’d forgotten about it for a while. that song is great. i love 2d’s voice. i wish i could sound that tired of life when i sing.

#tw suicide #it just gets mentioned

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lunaciies-archived · 7 years ago

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1 / 2 / 7

mun Confessions - multimuse style.

1. Which muse(s) would you to like to have more attention?

Personally, I would love for people to show more interest in Anton as a muse, though I realize that I only recently brought him back as viable muse after putting him on the back burner for almost two years. It just was in the last few months that I finally made the decision once I was confident enough in this blog and its established through-line to have him make an official comeback, and I for one am happy in myself for at last caving in and letting my boy shine. He was always an important contextual character in part to Luna’s story and characterization, and I would like to explore that further perhaps through muses Luna already has established connections with, just for him to pop in and make it obvious that he knows he has a demon for a guardian, and that’s okay! He’s actually pretty chill with the supernatural world in general, considering who essentially raised him, so he’s more knowledgeable in that area than say the average dumbstruck human would be.

2. Which muse(s) do you find yourself using a lot? Is there a reason why?

Lucca has typically been my most popular/requested muse to write with. And don’t get me wrong, I love writing Lucca as a muse and oftentimes I will find that I identify myself with his anger/emotions/social mannerisms/etc… but I also have the lingering feeling that most new people gravitate towards him at first glance because he’s a tall, attractive male muse, or even more so for whom I use as his FC, Alucard from Hellsing Ultimate. Luckily, I haven’t had this blog mistaken as strictly a Hellsing blog for quite some time, but that misdirection was partly due to his FC and how often I wrote with Lucca during my first year roleplaying on this site. And of course I appreciate Alucard in his own right as his own character - but also I wouldn’t wanna be in a room alone with the guy. I have too much of a sense of self-preservation to even be remotely comfortable in that hypothetical scenario. He’s not the kind of guy I could just chill, kick back and have a drink with, ya feel?? He’s got enough of his own shit to deal with, and I would politely respect that from a safe distance.

7. Do you prefer your muses being connected together or not? Is there any that are connected?

I like having my muses/ocs connected somehow within the boundaries of their world, seeing as I’ve pretty much always subconsciously written out my characters that way. As is the case the with the ocs on this blog! I really like building off of those connections to make them feel more three-dimensional as individuals in my writing.

#hhemeraa #‘ out of character.

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seven-oomen · 4 years ago

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I’m sorry you were feeling so shitty today, but I’m glad it eventually started to get better, and happy for you that you managed to surpass your writing goal for the day.

Omg, Chris as a cheerleader. He would be so awkward, yet so determined. Luckily for him I don’t remember the guys doing quite as much “dance-like” moves, at least at my school, they were more back-up and support. We usually only had a couple of guys on the team, though. Did Melissa ever do it, or consider it? She likely had a similar gymnastics background. (Did she ever lend Chris her uniform if she did? Or if not did Peter or Noah just “borrow” an extra one? Because I could equally believe it of either. Do they ever gift him with one post-OUAT, just for the *cough*nostalgia*cough*?) Did BH have a person in a mascot outfit? Because if they did/do, I totally nominate Finstock to be the one running around like a maniac dressed as a cyclone. And Jesus, they’d be bad enough with Chris as a cheerleader, but on the swim team? Good grief. How did none of them end up kicked out for inappropriate behavior?

I can totally see Peter on Student Council, too. And I think Secretary (did someone mention roleplay again?) or Treasurer would be an excellent fit. I can see him considering President, but deciding that it would take up too much time he could be spending with his mates, and working a power behind the throne angle instead. Also, I think Student Council and/or cheerleading would offer an excellent lead-in for Natalie if you decide to add her, because I can easily see her participating in either or both.

I am never not here for more subtle MK nods, just saying. And I love the idea of ROTC, especially because I’m pretty sure Boyd might have been in the ROTC, as well, and I’m always here for bonding potential between the parentals and teens. (Also, I want to hug you just for remembering that he was in the military, because I swear 90% of fic authors seem to forget [even though it’s mentioned more than once]. It drove me nuts even years ago when I was just around for the Sterek, and only got worse when I came back and my preferences expanded.) I also kinda like the idea of him doing track as a nod to Stiles doing that in the show (at least I’m pretty sure Finstock had them doing that in lacrosse’s off-season to stay in shape). Poor Peter. Between dealing with Chris mostly naked and soaking wet, and watching Noah in little shorts (it was the 90s after all) perpetually running away from him (and probably smirking at him every time he passed, lbr), he probably had to constantly carry a notebook or messenger bag to be sure he could cover up any “situations” that might “arise”.

I’m cool with whatever number you pick, if it even gets referenced. I was mostly curious if I was just forgetting. With the letterman jackets, I like to think that Malia has totally stolen Noah’s and wears it in the winter, because it’s warm and comfortable, and smells like him (later on, she also enjoys wrapping Kira up in it if they’re out somewhere and it’s chilly). If Peter’s has survived anywhere (the vault, perhaps?) I could see it going to either Jackson (as his mini me), or Allison (so she and her sister can match.)

Yeah, the yearbook thing happened because I was thinking about how some of my friends didn’t have a picture in the class listings, but did turn up in some of the filler pics. I can see Chris skipping a regular photo (instinct to not be tracked), but ending up in team shots, etc. And further bonus thought to that image - what if one of them knows someone on the yearbook committee (Lydia or Danny maybe?), and the kids all decide to do a similar pose to sneak into their own yearbook? And surprise their parents when they’re going through the book with them later? They could do Allison, Jackson, Malia, Stiles, Scott instead of Chris, Peter, Noah, Claudia, Melissa.

Looking forward to dance shenanigans for both generations. And more fashion guru Peter. I can see it now, Peter being like “I didn’t let your dads make these kinds of terrible choices for our dances, I’ll be damned if I let my kids do it" "Scott if you even attempt to step out of your house looking like that I will show up as a chaperone and spend the entire night getting all up into not only your business, but that of all of my offspring, do not test me." Him and Jackson basically acting out that "I have done nothing wrong ever.” “I know this and I love you.” meme.

And yeah, I mean, like most popular 80s teen flicks, Breakfast Club does have some great moments (there’s a reason it’s a classic), but it also DEFINITELY has some parts that have NOT AGED WELL. I didn’t see it until probably at least late high school, and I don’t think I noticed as much then, but then saw it a few years later and was like “ooh, yeah, that’s super problematic in places." For some visual assistance, here are a couple of group shots. The line-up in the first one goes Bender (Noah [ironically the character’s first name is actually John, but I don’t remember if anyone calls him that, it’s been too long since I watched]), Andrew (Chris), Allison (Claudia, or Mel), Claire (Peter [I forgot how dark her skirt was. Also putting him in pants would help with one of the more problematic parts of the movie]), Brian (Finstock). Also, I’m including this image because I’ve seen it a few times, and it is both hilarious and startlingly accurate.

One thing I keep forgetting to ask about is a rough timeline. If I remember correctly (I’ve also been re-reading some, and have realized some of my questions were answered, just several chapters previously), Chris moved to BH in 1992? At the beginning of the actual year, or the school year (which would be August-ish)? The kids were all born in early 1994, so they would have graduated in 1993? Am I mathing right? (If so that makes me sad because they would have been a little too early for "All For Love” from the 90s Disney Three Muskateers movie to have come out. Such a great song for them, such a fun but inaccurate film. [God, I loved it so much as a pre-teen. Chris O'Donnell, Kiefer Sutherland, pre-crazy Charlie Sheen, Tim Curry, just so many things to enjoy.]) This is mostly just me trying to keep it straight in my head.

Also, unconnected to TW, but that post of Avengers memes that was 90% Carol and Bucky shenanigans gave me life.

As always, loving the preview, and the fact that I think any conversation between any two or more of the group could start out “Listen here you little shit” and still be completely accurate and in character. I love how she apparently just shoves Noah down next to him (I’m surprised she didn’t just shove him in his lap.) Speaking of, to flashback to the Christmas rant I’m pretty sure I went on at some point, may I also suggest inappropriate (would it really be, tho?) usage of the song “Santa Baby”, and perhaps a slight switch up to “I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus”? Because why not?

And, uh, thanks *blushes in social awkwardness*. You are also awesome for coming up with all this in the first place, and being brave/generous enough to write it down and share it. I’m pretty much always happy to talk fandom stuff and love finding other people as into my fandoms as I am, and this story is just so much fun and I love hearing all your expansions of my wild ideas and conversational segues. I’m not really used to my weird interests being helpful, so I’m really glad to know this time they are.

I hope that you’re feeling better today (mentally and physically), and that work is overall easy (it’s almost the weekend, right? as a retail worker that doesn’t mean much to me, but seems to cheer others?) and allows you to make your writing goal. Hugs and positive vibes!

I think I’ve been smiling at this for the better part of several days <3

And yeah honestly, I never really understood either how no one seems to mention Noah’s military background. Like the dude canonically served on the force before becoming a deputy. But you don’t really see it in the fics.

I for one would think Peter and Chris would absolutely try and find Noah’s military uniform (even just the ROTC one) and try and get him to wear it again.

Peter is def the secretary, I think Natalie (who’s one year ahead of them) would make a good Student body president though.

I think I answered the timeline one somewhere? Don’t have the energy to find it right now, but I know I probably tagged it with the usual.

#ben says stuff #once upon a time comments #my convos with anon #submission

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foundcarcosa · 8 years ago

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cxc.

1. Your first OC ever? >> Technically, my first ever OC was probably a teenage girl named Clarissa, or an Earth-loving (in the time of moon habitats) young man named Eden, or a moon-dwelling girl named Deirdre Halloran, or Aidan Quinn or any of the other characters from my Beauty and the Beast rewrite... because I made up all these guys when I was still in single-digit age and continued to develop them throughout middle school. Although that development didn’t get very far, because back then I knew way less about how to write humans than I do now.

2. Do you have a personal favourite among your OCs? >> I have too many OCs to have an actual favourite.

3. Have you ever adopted a character or gotten a character from someone else? >> Darya, a friend from my early RPing days, let me ‘adopt’ one of the lesser-known (amongst our circle) members of her Katin clan -- Mikhail -- once. I don’t think I got to play him much at all, but it was still flattering enough to be entrusted with one of them in the first place.

4. A character you rarely talk about? >> All of them????? Except the fandom ones.

5. If you could make only one of your OCs popular/known, who would it be? >> Eh, that’s quite all right.

6. Two OCs of yours that look alike despite not being related? >> A lot of my characters probably look alike because I gravitate towards certain physical traits. I can’t think of two particularly stellar examples off the top of my head, though.

7. Are your OCs part of any story or stories? >> Some of them are. The Bayou Devils crew is part of a kinda urban fantasy-ish nWOD-based thing I was going to write. The Anathema was part of a very formulaic urban fantasy story I’d written last decade that I sometimes fantasise about overhauling and rewriting... except I’m not sure I can take the Anathema out of that particular formulaic urban fantasy mold without having to do away with everything about them.

8. Do you RP as any of your OCs? If you do, introduce one of your RP OCs here! >> I roleplay a fandom OC, Anand, who’s based in the Dragon Age fandom but is meant to be compatible with a wide array of fandoms. He’s not really fully formed. I’d planned on fleshing him out during the act of RP.

9. Would you ever be willing to give any of your OCs to someone else? >> Sure. I’m a storyteller, not a hoarder.

10. Introduce an OC with a complicated design? >> Er... I’m not sure how to answer this.

11. Is there any OC of yours you could describe as a “sunshine”? >> Like, someone with a really sunny disposition? Dax Kessler is a bit like that. But he’s a mutant, so there’s also the fact that if he’s attached to you, he will literally hulk out and destroy anything that even looks like it’s trying to hurt you. ...That’s ideal, right? An attentive, good-humoured six-foot-seven genetically-modified mutant? Hell, I’d take it.

12. Name an OC that isn’t yours but who you like a lot >> Dmitri Katin. He’s Darya’s and I love him to death. I love him like I love my own self. I would kill for Dima.

13. Do you have any troublemaker OCs? >> Do I have any OCs that aren’t troublemakers...? They pretty much all are, in some way or another. I’ll pick one, though... Severin Sane. He runs a bar called the Church of Ill Repute, where everyone calls him ‘Reverend’, and he’s a vampire. That all just sounds like trouble, doesn’t it. Well, it totally is.

14. Introduce an OC with a tragic backstory >> Siobhan Caine was born of an archangel and an archdemon, making her a very potentially-powerful nephil but also making her incredibly cursed by both factions. She was under a spell of forced celibacy for a good few centuries. It sucked. At some point she became the Mistress of a faction of darkling creatures in a particular region, House Umbra, and after some time she met this one particularly powerful and particularly determined darkling who was determined to break her curse. He did, long story short, and the Seraph who’d cursed her punished them both, but it was a short-lived punishment, and so they got complacent. Until the Seraph came back and took her away from House Umbra, and the region it was a part of was destroyed... presumably by archdemons.

Like, her story was so fucked that it’s mostly the reason I don’t use her anymore. Where do you even go from there...?

15. Do you like to talk about your OCs with other people? >> Of course. Let’s share.

16. Which one of your OCs would be the best at biology (school subject)? >> Oh, I don’t know.

17. Any OC OTPs? >> Logan Iritian’s first and strongest love is always gonna be Siran Kezerian, who’s another one of Darya’s. We had a lot of OTPs amongst our children.

18. Any OC crackships? >> I don’t know.

19. Introduce an OC that means a lot to you (and explain why) >> Man. I don’t know. They all mean a lot to me. I guess I’ll go with Doyle... well, he’s not Doyle anymore, he’s Rhys mac Keltar, because he got all his memories back and he doesn’t have to live by a borrowed name anymore. He was the first character I played in Legion of Darkness, the RP group that I met Darya in way back in 2009, and he’s gone through so much in that group. He was very loved, though, by everyone. I remember I killed him off because I needed to free up a character slot for a Faction Leader I wanted to introduce... and I immediately realised what a mistake I made because I was so distraught afterward. So the staff all made an executive decision to increase the number of character slots for staff, and thereby enable me to get Doyle back. <3 Good times. Real good times.

20. Do any of your OCs sing? If they sing, care to share more details (headcanon voice, what kind of songs they like etc)? >> A lot of them do, yeah. For example, Danny Aubrey, whose musical style (and personal aesthetic, honestly) is based on Volbeat. He’s also part divine, so his voice can project to an astounding degree. That’s very helpful.

21. Your most artistic OC >> Just gonna do what I’ve been doing and name an OC at random (I have so many that inevitably there are multiple that fit a question, ok, and I’m not even using fandom OCs for this!).

22. Is there any OC of yours people tend to mischaracterize? If yes, how? >> No? I don’t know how they would get an opportunity to do that.

23. Introduce OC that has changed from your first idea concerning what the character would be like? >> Mistral Vane was originally a formidable giant of a demigod, a physical representation of the eternal storm... but I had him sacrifice a piece of his divinity to become human-passing, so I could use him in more RP groups. There just wasn’t a lot of playing room for a freakishly huge avatar of electricity, you know?

24. If you could meet one OC of yours, who would it be and why? >> Any of them. All of them.

25. The OC that resembles you the most (same hobby, height, shared like/dislike for something etc?) >> I really don’t think I have any blatantly obvious self-inserts.

26. Have you ever had to change your OC’s design or something else about them against your will? >> Why on earth would I have to do that?

27. Any OCs that were inspired by a certain song? >> Danny Aubrey, whom I mentioned earlier, was inspired by Danny & Lucy (11PM) by Volbeat. Part of his backstory reflects it, as does the fact that his musical style is based off the same band.

28. Your most dangerous OC? >> Logan Iritian is pretty dangerous, considering he’s the avatar to the pure undistilled entity Ira, or Wrath (hence his name). The thing is, he hates being the Iritian. He was the Avaritian (when he hosted Avarice) once, and that was only marginally better. I think if I write him again, he’ll probably be the Luxurian (give you a hint what sin-entity that’d make him the host of), which was kind of fun to write him as for the brief time that I did.

29. Which one of your OCs would go investigate an abandoned house at night without telling anyone they’re going? >> Dane Skjöld. He’s always been a shade too curious. That’s how he got trapped in a house ‘haunted’ by one of my more frightening OCs, VII, who almost eviscerated him. Luckily, Dane’s twin, Thorin, came through and saved his bacon. He got away with just a brand (the numeral “VII”, of course).

30. Which one of your OCs would most likely have a secret stuffed animal collection? >> Seth. Ramesses Set Khaldun is very sensual, as in they love being touched and touching nice things. He’d love being surrounded by stuffed animals. Just one nude blissed-out incubus buried in a mountain of enormous plushies from F.A.O. Schwartz. <3

31. Pick one OC of yours and explain what their tumblr blog would be like (what they reblog, layout, anything really) >> Domenico Sauvageon would have one of those dolce-vita-lifestyle type blogs, with the fancy foods and luxury items and headless men in suits. He’d have a three-column layout with a Louis Vuitton-inspired background and his own face as his icon. But he’d also sometimes make really useful and informative posts about fashion and makeup and how to pair your wines and shit, and he’s only a snob in that he prefers the finest things -- he doesn’t snub people who can’t access those things. In fact, he loves to share. He’ll spoil you until you end up a snob just like him.

32. Which one of your OCs would be the most suitable horror game protagonist and why? >> I don’t know enough about horror games to answer this. VII would make a great horror game antagonist, though, I’m sure. It’s got a bit of a Silent Hill vibe about it.

33. Your shyest OC? >> Rhys mac Keltar. Or Silas Carmichael, who can’t speak and who is very self-conscious about it.

34. Do you have any twin characters? >> Thorin and Dane, mentioned earlier. They’re... uh, also quite Lannister about it. But I’ll just leave it at that...

35. Any sibling characters? >> Danny Aubrey has a sister, Lydia. Acheron Cruor Dane has a sister, Isolde -- but I don’t use Isolde much as an OC in her own right.

36. Do you have OC pairs where the other part belongs to someone else (siblings, lovers, friends etc)? >> I can’t remember any that were made specifically for that, but I have plenty that turned out that way after the fact.

37. Introduce an OC who is not quite human >> Oh my god, almost every character I’ve discussed in this survey has been nonhuman, or at least augmented-human.

38. Which one of your OCs would be the best dancer? >> Seth. He’s a very good and very hypnotising belly dancer.

39. Introduce any character you want >> I’ll introduce one if someone sends me an ask with a letter in it. I’ll pick a character whose name begins with that letter or the closest letter.

40. Any fond memories linked to your characters? Feel free to share! >> This whole survey is fond memories, lol.

41. Has anyone drawn fanart of your OCs? If yes, maybe show a picture or two here (remember sources & permissions!) >> People have drawn fandom OCs of mine, but none of these guys.

42. Which one of your OCs would be the most interested in Greek gods? >> Well, Danny -- Daniel Apollonius Aubrey, whose lineage includes a Greek god. Also, Zion. He’s fascinated by mythology, despite the fact that he’s a Judaic angel.

43. Do you have any certain type when you create your OCs? Do you tend to favour some certain traits or looks? It’s time to confess >> Sure. I like ‘em tall, dark-skinned, long-haired, and nonhuman/superhuman.

44. Something you like about your OCs in general >> I don’t know. I’m very attached to them all. They were so much fun to conjure, and they hold so many possible stories in their existence.

45. A character you no longer use? >> There are a lot of those-- OCs I created specifically for a certain RP group that have no real use elsewhere, OCs that never got developed enough for me to care about keeping them, OCs that were just too tropey for me to even bother with. There’s a veritable OC graveyard in the back of my mind.

46. Has anyone ever told you that you treat your OCs badly? >> I don’t think so, no. Sometimes I did, though. I try to be fairer to them these days.

47. Has anyone ever (friendly) claimed any of your OCs as their child? >> Probably.

48. OC who is a perfect cinnamon roll, too good for this world, too pure >> No such thing. I make monsters. Gods and monsters, one and all. Even my nice guys are monsters (Logan, for example, who’s the most affable and loyal guy imaginable, is a high-ranking demon).

49. Which one of your OCs would most likely enjoy memes >> Logan would fucking love them. Except he’d be the obnoxious guy to send you memes you’ve already seen a thousand times, but he just saw for the first time. Because he’s slow on the uptake.

#surveysofsamedi #too many ocs on the dance floor

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