#monster characters in eureka

[anim-ttrpgs]

Would y'all pay Kickstarter money for the opportunity to be listed on a D66 table as potential victims to get devoured by monster PCs in Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy..? Like, if we made it a backer tier where you get to write yourself (description, name, where you are, what you're doing, NPC stats, etc.) onto a table that is rolled on to see what feeding opportunities monster PCs find when hunting?

This tier would also include as a reward the full rulebook and several adventure modules.

(Was going to add a "No" option, but that would just make it harder to count how many people actually like the idea. If your answer is No, just reblog the post without voting.)

[octobelus]

hey if you want to solve mysteries as a genius detective, bumbling idiot, super powerful predator, deeply traumatized weirdo, Normal Guy, or some combination of the above, check out the ttrpg Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy

development is ongoing, but in its current state my character got to trigger a cascade of dramatic reveals and worsening mental health among the party where it turned out 3/5 of them were living dolls while a dead body lay at their feet and the only human was covered in its brains. I haven't played ttrpgs in yearsss and this was a hilarious way to come back to it!

[jamie101]

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy portrays vampires really well for several reasons, but one of my favourites is that being an immortal creature of the night doesn't actually help with most day to day problems (and probably adds several more). Yeah, turn into a truck-sized bat monster all you like; rent is still due first of each month.

[umbraldame]

My favorite 800 year old streamer

[legov7]

Inspired by @anim-ttrpgs's mystery ttrpg Eureka.

One of these creatures is a monster known to kill humans without remorse. You can't play as one, since that would interfere with the intended gameplay.

The second one on the other hand, the man eating shapeshifting sheet of flesh called the Thing from Beyond is totally fair game for a player character.

[thydungeongal]

Now you've got me thinking which TTRPGs out there explicitly support "just some guy" characters. And also, what would qualify a "just some guy" character. Would your typical Call/Trail of Cthulhu character be classified as "just some guy"?

Anyway, Monster of the Week has a playbook called The Mundane, and @prokopetz 's game Gone to Hell has the Fool and Survivor archetypes, and all three of those are pretty much explicitly "Just Some Guy" as a character class.

I think Call of Cthulhu investigators are very close to Just Some Guys, only put in extraordinary circumstances.

Ultimately I don't have a working definition of what makes an RPG character "Just Some Guy," but I think the important things are that they are not above regular folk by narrative or mechanical contrivance (this disqualifies D&D characters, because having levels in a character class puts D&D characters in a different league than normal people in pretty much all editions of the game), they are vulnerable and not uniquely protected from consequences through player character status, and that the fiction of the game does not place them in a unique role. But as I said, I don't have a working definition.

Anyway funnily enough the way Eureka models monster characters you could argue that the supernatural women from @jessica-problems's posts are just regular women. Who just also happen to be monsters. The couple of supernatural investigators I've seen in practice in Eureka have been just as likely to fuck up as any regular person, which is also beautifully in tune with the game's expectations.

(also I really need to check out Gone to Hell, it's come up in two different contexts now)

[corviacore]

Some sketches of my Eureka character Elia, she's a homebrew monster I got to play on the ANIM RPG book club discord server by @anim-ttrpgs , these are scenes of her encounter with a much less amicable monster during the last session of our latest module, where she was forced to reveal herself as a fallen angel for the first time!

It was a lot of fun and while Eureka very much isn't *focused* on combat, more on the investigation aspect of the experience, the way the system handles it was still a LOT of fun and lead to a fun situation where her burning sword was simply put out and she fell back to her firearm, making her a proper Angel with a Shotgun!

[hannie-dul-set]

six quick and easy hacks to 🆙 the quality of your fanfiction!

as promised, here it is! i’m not here to tell you how to plot out your story, or how to write your characters’ personalities. the tips i’m sharing are more on formatting and structure, secret (not really) cheat codes to instantaneously make your already written work even better! 

my qualifications? being a tumblr hag for over five years (my even more embarrassing pre k-pop writeblr included!) so i’ve unlocked quite a bit of secrets and discovered some eurekas throughout my time here HAHAHAH. anyway, let’s start!

#1 VARIETY IN PARAGRAPH LENGTHS, SENTENCE LENGTHS, AND SENTENCE STARTERS.

nothing turns me off more than seeing paragraph blocks after paragraph blocks when looking for some new fics to read, especially when you’re reading from a cramped up device such as your phone.

when i write a lengthy paragraph, i try to follow it up with a one-liner, or a mid-sized one. but it’s something i consciously keep track of— when i noticed that, “oh, this gdoc is getting a little too wordy, a little too chunky,” i make sure that my next paragraph is significantly shorter than the current one because it keeps the entire page interesting. one to two sentences of lines of paragraphs after another and another doesn’t look pretty. chunks of paragraphs after paragraphs is boring.

make your pages visually dynamic by ensuring variety.

like this, for example.

→ fic: home for the bitchless.

seeing a large chunk of text and a singular line immediately after also sort of forces your reader to stick around and read an otherwise intimidating lengthy paragraph because— oh! what could have possibly led to that singular like of dialogue or thought! #subtlemanipulation you get me? 😔🤙

this rule of mine applies to sentences and phrases within the paragraph as well!

→ fic: love vomit.

and as a bonus, you can use paragraph breaks and cuts to your advantage! manipulating the way a sentence or paragraph ends in a certain way makes your works more rhythmic! and, when you play it around the right way, abrupt cuts and breaks also add the right mood and drama to your work!

→ drabble: the boy who cried wolf.

part three of tip number one (one…we’re still at number one…) is on sentence and paragraph starters. i keep it as a rule of thumb that if i start a paragraph with “you,” or with someones name, i don’t use it again in the next one to avoid monotony. it’s a very miniscule thing really, and i doubt that people notice this HAHAHA but this is something i religiously swear by because repetitions like this are visually boring.

→ wip: sunwater.

of course, this can’t be avoided all the time, and repeating the sentence starter “You” or any other pronoun, word, or phrase can be intentionally utilized to strongly drive a point. just don’t overdo it!

→ drabble: patience, patience.

→ blurb: monsters don’t hide under the bed.

→ fic: the psychology of strawberries.

there are other good and strategic uses for repetitions as well! we’ll get to that later.

lastly, variety in sentence and paragraph starters doesn’t simply mean changing up the first word. things can still get really boring even if you use “you” or a character’s name interchangeably if your sentence structure remains the same.

this, for example, is monotonous.

the structure (and length) of all three sentences are the same. A does this. B does this. A does this. and even if you switch things up but still use the same sentence structure, it still falls flat. case in point, below, a structure i often see in a lot of fics i stumble across.

those are flat. those are boring. they don’t…you know…make you feel something, even when you follow the rule of not using the same starter twice. let me try improving it by adding more variety in the sentences (+ adding a tip that i’ll be discussing right after!)

the word “He” here is used twice to create a rhythm and draw emphasis, but the rest of the excerpt maintains a sense of variety to make the narrative more interesting and compelling to read.

*

#2 PICK A POV AND STICK WITH IT.

before i start a scene, a drabble, or blurb, the first question i ask myself is, “whose point of view do i want it to be in?”

one, it’s a lot neater, more organized, than omniscient point of views in my opinion (unless you’re like a super fucking skilled writer of course HAHAHHA). two, it allows for a bit of mystery, suspense, and engagement because you don’t have access to what other people are thinking about, and three— in line with the first tip— when you know whose brain you’re in when writing, it allows for more dynamic narrations, gives you an excuse to be messy because our internal thoughts are messy as well, and makes the writing a hell of a lot easier when you’re focused on monologuing one person alone!

when writing shorter fics, drabbles, or blurbs, i swear by this rule, no excuses HAHAHAH but when writing longer fics, sometimes i switch around the point of views per scene, just to make a more well rounded story.

sometimes, the point of view doesn’t even have to be any of the main character’s! writing from an external POV is also really fun and adds another layer of interest. see example below, a Jeonghan breakup fic written exclusively from the perspective of the outsiders. very fun idea! 

breakup scene written in Seungcheol’s POV.

another squabble written in Seungkwan’s POV.

→ wip: the breakup soup.

*

#3 REPETITIONS AND THEMES = COHESIVENESS.

this section contains tricks on how to wrap up your fics into one cohesive little present with a pretty ribbon on top! 

first is the use of repetition. use a cool funky line at the beginning of your story, and reuse/rehash/revise it at the end for a neat finish, especially when you have trouble figuring out a way to end your story (lifesaving hack! trust me!) 

i use this mostly in my shorter works—

→ drabble: you’re my bucket list.

→ blurb: louder.

—but it works just as well with longer fics, especially when the repetition is all throughout, and not just at the start and finish.

→ fic: mogi.

sometimes, it doesn’t even have to be a repeated phrase or line! it can be a little gimmick and it’d still work to make your fic cohesive! for example, in the fic below, i use the giving of strawberry candy/strawberry kisses to tie all the different scenes together because this was initially a set of separate drabble ideas wrapped into one long fic.

→ fic: the psychology of strawberries.

and for this one (another ricky fic….yes…..) i use the whole cat metaphor to do the same. 

→ drabble: yours to keep.

the next tip to make your work cohesive is to grab a singular theme, object, whatever, and take advantage of it for your narration HAHAHAHHA this can be better explained by looking at the examples below.

theme: citrus.

→ drabble: citrus in the morning.

theme: storm.

→ blurb: blizzard.

the above examples are my shorter works, but it can work for longer fics as well! just check out this 36k word monster HAHAHAHHA.

theme: seasons.

→ fic: love vomit.

these are very simple ways to make your fic more put together! even if it’s just a simply blurb about a confession, adding a theme to aid the imagery bumps your fic quality to a +++++

*

#4 THROW AWAY THE Y/N’S!

now this one is quite honestly just a personal nitpick HAHAHHAHA but seeing the word Y/N when i’m reading something really pulls me out of my immersion. (and i only stopped using Y/N’s in my fics at the start of my 2023 comeback….so if you see my older works still using it…hahahha please don’t prosecute me).

anyway, you can do this either by embedding it in the narration—

→ fic: star studded baggage.

—or by using nicknames and titles instead!

→ wip: the breakup soup.

→ fic: can’t handle this.

*

#5 GET INTO THE (UN)NECESSARY SPECIFICS.

instead of just saying “Your professor called you,” grab a random last name and say “Prof Yoon asked to see you in his office.” instead of saying you went to the cafe, the mall, the store, grab an actual place or make one up because no one in the world says “they’re going to the cafe to grab a frappe,” (unless the store’s name is actually The Cafe). people say they’re going to Dunkin Donuts or Coffeebreak or wherever.

sure it’s not plot relevant, sure it’s not integral, but little things like this make your narrative and dialogue a lot more realistic and less awkward. it makes it seem like your characters are actually living inside a world of their own.

*

#6 GRAMMAR AND FORMATTING.

these are given HAHA but when i talk about grammar, i mean making sure that the commas and periods are consistently inside the quotation marks when writing dialogue. i mean minimizing the use of italics because overusing it can ruin the reading experience of a good piece (i was guilty of this too!) and i mean making sure that the use of tenses are consistent all throughout (unless if it’s a creative and plot choice), because all these things really matter if you want your fic, drabble, or blurb to be of overall high quality.

and that’s basically it! hope these tips help somehow...hope i’m not revealing my secrets for naught and someone can actually put them to good use HHAHAHHA what’s most important obviously is that you’re having fun with what you’re writing…etc. etc. insert inspirational you can do it speech here.

anyway, happy new year! and happy reading and writing<33

[shi-ni-shi-ni-koroshi]

Atsushi Ohkubo Special Collab Art

I gathered all Collab/character design art by Atsushi Ohkubo into 1 post. There's likely a few more out there. (I don't count his fanart)

Ouran High School Host Club

bakemonotagari

monster strike

orient

blood lad

no more heroes (censored, it's just a pan*y shot)

hinoki midsummer

The Heroic Legend of Arslan

Sangokushi Taisen

gachiakuta

fullmetal alchemist

Blast of Tempest

eureka seven

fire force game

Lord of vermillion

bravely default and bravely second designs

kamierabi character designs

_________________________

For the uncensored image of No More Heroes send a dm

[cptapathy]

hey! what are you favorite ttrpgs?

Dice tumble

Pen scratch

A held breath

A promised climax

We sit around our table/

At our desk/in a circle on the floor

And together we laugh

And smile and more

We love these creations in our heads

As they dance and fight and flee

And as the night draws close to us

We hold them warm and tightly

These people we conjure are dear to me

For they are the crystal through which I look

To see the life I share with you

And the love we have for each other

Okay so my favourite ttrpg changes as I play them but right now it's A.N.I.M's EURKEA!

I have always been a fan of murder mysteries from Agatha Christie, to pie in the sky, Midsomer Murders, Rosemary and Thyme and everything in between.

I had run several murder mysteries in different ttrpgs and even a couple of murder mystery larps (including a spectacular zombie one) but I'd never found a system that truely captured what murder mysteries feel like.

Then I discovered Eureka and the Eureka mechanic and it all clicked. You could say it was a eureka moment.

I'm going to discuss in some detail the mechanic and give an example but before that everyone should go and

a. Follow A.N.I.M. on tumblr

@anim-ttrpgs

b. Join their patreon so we can get the gorgan playable investigator. Go look at all the cool stuff!

https://www.patreon.com/TheAgencyofNarrativeIntrigueandMysteryPatreon/posts

Essentially A.N.I.M have separated dice rolls into two categories

1. Investigation rolls

2. Non-investigation rolls

Investigation rolls are when an investigator is trying to uncover information or clues to progress the investigation. (Pretty clear definition) non-investigation rolls are all other rolls (combat, hiding secrets, getting out of dodge etc.)

Whenever an investigator makes an investigation roll there are 3 possible outcomes

1 Failure - they do not success and/or complications arise - they gain 3 Eureka points

2 partial success/mixed success - they get part of a clue or a clue and a complication - they gain 2 Eureka points

3 full success - they gain the clue without issue - they gain one Eureka point

When the investigators have a full eureka bar they can use a EUREKA!

This allows them to roll a check with 3d6 and take the highest instead of 2d6 or (my favourite option) gain clues from previous failed rolls.

So to take the most iconic episode of Midsomer Murders as an example - "The Killings At Badgers Drift"

Spoilers and CW for references to incest.

DCI Barnerby arrests the foppish artist on suspicion of murder, during the arrest the artist's sister arrives and the artist crys out "I've been framed" and makes a sign of a square with his fingers.

The DCI Makes an investigation roll but biffs it, snake eyes, complete failure, no hope of discovering that clue.

Later on The DCI is talking to a woman at a call centre who was the last known person to speak to the victim. Apparently the victim said "just like poor annabella" before hanging up. Again the DCI makes an investigation roll this time getting a partial success, there is someone related who has a name similar to annabella who died from an "accident" and the DCI decides to investigate this accident as well now, thinking (correctly) that it might not be so accidental.

But now the DCI has a full eureka bar and so the player shouts out eureka to gain the clue from the failed check earlier. And so, that night, the DCI has a dream of all the relevant clues and realises the clue missed when the artist made the symbol and said "I've been framed" it was a code, to tell his sister that the evidence of their affair (the nude painting he did of her) was in the attic and could prove that they were working together to keep their affair secret. This new vital clue allows the DCI to search for, and find, the painting helping to solve the mystery.

And so that is one reason I love eureka, along with the approach to disability and monster characters. It's currently got a free demo and stuff, go support them they're great.

[anim-ttrpgs]

Exerpt from the Patreon-only September 5th Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy rulebook version! Art by team artist @chaospyromancy! If you want to get a less updated version of the rulebook for free right now, the August 1st version is on itch.io!

[ceph-the-ghost-writer]

OC Height Tag

Tagged to play by @wintherlywords in this post!

How-to: Describe or show your characters' heights.

Most people are smart and used Hikaku to do this the easy way. I, a fool, took a screenshot of the empty height chart and spent hours scouring Canva for the right silhouettes to add.

Top left: Our put-upon protagonist from Apophenia, Isaac (5'5"), the dashing deuteragonist, Renato (5'5" too!), and everyone's fav frenemy, Oleander (5'10").

Top right: Arguably the deadliest monsters in town, Motley (5'10") and Kinslayer (5'9"). And, just for fun, what will fit of Kinslayer's terrifying shadow (over 12', but can vary).

Bottom left: A trio of Eureka, NV's womenfolk. Wereshark/mechanic Tecla (5'2"), local bar and hotel owning witch Breezy (5'8"), and anthropologist/Tecla's wife Gilda (5'9").

Bottom right: I couldn't leave out Elfy (5'3"), Isaac's best friend and beloved bad influence, of course.

Dysthanasia Taglist: @thecyrulik @thatndginger @space-writes @sunset-a-story @scoundrelwithboba

I've seen this game everywhere lately, so my apologies if you've already done this and I forgot. @k--havok @autumnalwalker @authoralexharvey @theskeletonprior @writernopal @drawnecromancy @angsty-prompt-hole + anyone else looking upon this

[minas-linkverse]

Ngl I was going to ask about Breath of the Wild but I’d thought you’d get a million of those asks lol. I was also torn between asking about Wind Waker, so whichever one you want to answer more is chill!!

haha yea I thought I'd get a million asks too! Somehow even now this remains the only botw ask, I guess people just figured it must've been sent already 😅

Now to actually share my thoughts on botw... Man I hope people don't get mad at me.

I did not like it!. The first play through I had was mildly exciting simply due to there being a whole unknown world to see, but after a while that gimmick wore off. I knew that if I made my way to the cool looking mountain or interesting abandoned building I'd just find a bokoblin and/or a chest with a gem. Whats the point of a gorgeous expansive world when all I find is the same...! 😫

Oh wow! A town with a whole new atmosphere and culture I sure wonder what I'll get up to h- Ok they have the same shops with slightly different items. Ok cool. There's like a few small quests for more inventory filler I don't really need. Cool cool.

I understand that the game is really fun for some people, they'll do quests just to get to play more of the game. They want all that extra stuff to upgrade armour and really get into the nitty gritty mechanics of the game... But I did not. It was not for me.

Also ouugh the puzzles...! My favourite part of Zelda games is the puzzle solving, but these were in no way satisfying and often more fun to just break. Why would I bother even trying to get into the devs heads when A) I could just break it and B) I have too many options to consider! I can't possibly get a clean eureka moment when everything from monster guts to just climbing could be the solution...! Where's the engaging simplicity of knowing exactly what you have and following the devs' clues to reach the solution!! Waaaaaaaaaaaaa--

I also disliked the story, all the interesting bits in it happened a 100 years ago and I feel like I arrived late with a starbucks. I also will not get over the weird ending cutscene!! After countless fascinating memories of Zelda having very complex emotions at Link... What do you mean you're just going to have a vaguely romantic "Do you still remember me?" YEAH I DO, I thought u disliked me! Which is a fascinating story direction I would've loved continued but OK! I guess we're ignoring that! Women cant be angry that makes them less cute and marketable, I guess!!!!

I... Sorry this is so ranty, I've been holding it in a long time. I think there's a lot to love in botw and I wish I wasn't so sour about it. Other people's love and excitement for it is wonderful and I hope they keep making the art they love. If its your first game in the series and got you into it, that's nothing to be ashamed about. I'm just a grumpy old man waving at cloud /ref.

Honestly I think botw could've been wonderful if it was a new IP. It feels all the Zelda stuff was sort of glued onto a concept that wasn't prepared to carry that mantle. It would've been better off with a new exciting world and cast of characters. It still wouldn't be a game I much care for, but the freedom that could've granted the developers would've been a treat to see.

It's worth adding that even though I dislike botw, I want to treat the characters of that game with respect and care in my comic. I may not love them in game but I can see the passion others have and I am committed to make something worth their time. Your special guys are safe with me. I have 0 desire to dunk on them, and instead wish to honour the love you all have. In a way I'm learning to love them myself through that.

[umbraldame]

Cute man eating alien girl 👽

[legov7]

Splitting

Another thing about Eureka -

I was very sceptical on the insistens of splitting the party. Obviously not out of "balancing" concerns, that is not applicable.

But I was really reluctant to force some players to wait while they aren't in a scene.

The reasoning behind splitting is clear. It makes playing a monster at all possible, helps with suspense and the payoff of relaying gained information in character is really nice.

Still, I didn't think it worth it.

but

Its good. For sure when played over discord.

I dmed the same oneshot thrice. Two times in person, once online.

The first time, I applied the recommendation of splitting the worst. When the party split, I handled the scenes seperately, while the ones not in it had to wait, but I did not banish non involved people from the room.

Would feel bad in a social setting after all.

This was shit, since it had the downsides of splitting, without the payoff.

The second time, I did not read the "Split the Party" chapter to the players, they stayed mostly together, no problem, no payoff.

The third time, I played with a larger group and over discord. Each time, the group split, I sequestert them away into different channels, did their scenes one after another and only let them join up again when doing so ingame.

There was a lot of waiting on the players part, but also a huge payoff of fun. The session was fairly long (6h) and very cool.

And to my utter surprise the players did not only praise the fun of relaying information, but rather attributed their ability to keep concentrated for the long session, with having those little pauses to themselves, to gather their thoughts. What the fuck??

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

Happy Science Fiction Day: Black Women in Sci Fi

January 2 is Science Fiction Day... Here is the blackfemmecharacterdependency masterlist for the sci fi content that can be found featured on this blog

Starting with the Basics:

Afrofuturism | Black Women in Sci Fi | Black Women in Star Trek | Black Women in Star Wars (Shows & Movies Masterlist) | Black Women in Doctor Who | Black Women in Sci Fi | Sci Fi | Science Fiction Day (Many of these might just be the same stuff. Idk right now.) Black Women in Sci Fi Playing Women I will be expanding on this person's work someday. Black Women in Sci Fi Playing an Alien (Alien Characters Masterlist)

Franchises

The Alien Series | Doctor Who | Star Trek: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Discovery, Lower Decks, Picard, Strange New Worlds, | Star Wars |

Shows I've Reblogged

3% | 4400 | The 4400 | Altered Carbon | Battlestar Galactica | Black Mirror | Blake's 7 | Brave New World | Dark Angel | Dark Matter | Dark/Web | Defiance | Electric Dreams | Eureka | The Expanse | The Fantastic Journey | Final Space | Firefly | For All Mankind | Foundation | Fringe | Gen V | The Gifted | Heroes | Humans | Intergalactic | Invincible | Jason of Star Command | Jupiter's Legacy | Killjoys | Kissing Game | Krypton | Lost in Space | Lovecraft Country | Minority Report | Misfits | Quantum Leap | Raised by Wolves | Sliders | Space: Above and Beyond | Stargate SG 1 | Supernatural | The Tomorrow People | Torchwood | The Twilight Zone | The Umbrella Academy | Utopia | Vagrant Queen | Warehouse 13 | Westworld | Y: The Last Man

Movies I've Reblogged

Alien VS Predator | Alita Battle Angel | Avatar | Children of Men | The Chronicles of Riddick | Class of 1999 | Cloverfield | Dune | Fast Color | Ghosts of Mars | Guns Akimbo | Jupiter Ascending | Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome | Men in Black International | The Old Guard | Repo Man | Robot Jox | Strange Days | Supernova | Valerian and The City of a Thousand Planets

Short Film

I Am

Definitely likely changing the way that this is set to have it be a character list like the other BFCD Masterlists, but for today, this all I got for the girlies. To be fair, it might need to be like the Monsters ones. Or, I might do a separate one that's characters later. Idk.