#not that i do any of this for the stats of the thing ots just a trend i noticed

[bluestjayy]

I just had a fic cross 1k Kudos for the first time in my entire fic writing career and besties I may have shed a tear about that ✌️

[mecachrome]

landoscar ao3 stats — 2023 overview

notes

retrieved ~sometime in march 2024

methodology: scraped metadata for every fic in the landoscar tag and...... that's it. however one important constraint is that all temporal data is date updated (not posted), so the above timeline isn't exactly a true representation of fic growth but rather how many fics were last-updated at that time. of course this is still its own reflection of fandom health in a way since dead fandoms don't update old fic but well... it's just not quite the same!

this is just info about general trends, fic content, tags etc... so nothing about kudos/comments or any authors specifically

i decided to focus solely on fics last-updated in 2023 (unless otherwise mentioned) because i wanted a tidy set that i can maybe compare & contrast in a year's time, because i expect a lot of details to look different then (tho as stated above this set isn't exactly static... 🤷‍♀️)

ngl i had to re-scrape a bunch of times because i forgot about it for like 3 weeks and then there were 100 new fics 😭 so if there are some minor discrepancies across the post it's because of that halfskh.

also i wanted to include more global comparisons (aka how 814 stack up against the f1 rpf tag in general), but this is also considerably difficult in some contexts since i can't exactly scrape 31,000+ fics can i... or i didn't even want to entertain the thought of trying to do so!!!

why did i do this? who knows.

anyway here's some viz T__T

ship growth

as evidenced in the opening graph, landoscar have been a very fast-growing ship over the past year — although interestingly enough they didn't really start growing substantially until july / the ~better half~ of the 2023 season. here are two views showing their "growth" (by date updated) alongside two other ships on the fringes of the f1 rpf top 10 (sebchal & galex):

landoscar are very much on-track to surpass them and officially enter the top 10 soon, likely before mid-april ❗️ :o

ship characteristics

onto the ship content — another thing i was mildly curious about was how landoscar differs in certain areas from other f1 ships, or the f1 rpf "global" average you could say. for example, here's a breakdown of rating popularity in their ao3 tag:

seeing as explicit is their most common rating, and that i don't necessarily expect this to be true for all ships/fandoms, i compared these percentages with the general f1 rpf tag to see whether some ratings are more commonly represented in 814 fic than average, which produced interesting results:

do lando ships simply skew more HornyTM in general? is it oscar? a secret third thing??? who knows... actually i think it would be fun to do more analysis in this direction but that can wait for another time!!!

similarly i also wanted to see which ships are the most "public" on ao3, as in have the highest share of fic that isn't user-locked... i will refrain from peppering in my feelings about the 4th wall too heavy-handedly but i was curious to see whether some sort of perhaps... er, generational gap (?) of sorts between ships that are more public vs. not could be identified. however i don't pretend to have any takeaways from this LOL i conclude absolutely nothing. (for ref landoscar is currently 72% public, vs. a global avg of 63%)

note that this graph is current stats, not filtered for 2023

looking at relationship tags, i also wanted to know whether landoscar suffer noticeably from Second-Ship Syndrome, so i tallied the first-tagged ship of every fic to find out. i know this doesn't necessarily mean that it's always the "main" ship but it's a good enough approximation. the results were quite positive!

filtered to top ships with count of >1 only

i then also calculated the number of ships tagged for each fic to discern the profile of multi-shipping in 814 ficdom; i did have to do a little bit of string standardization (all instances of implied / background / hinted collapsed to hinted for simplicity's sake + removal of other redundancies), but otherwise i left everything mostly untouched.

as you can see, landoscar also have a fairly promising amount of OTP: TRUE fic:

by the time you get to the fics with 10+ ships tagged, landoscar are less likely to be the primary ship, which makes sense just on a basic statistical level... this is also a very small sample size though

i also lazily tallied the 10 most common ships that weren't NOR/PIA or NOR & PIA to diff their shares of the 814 tag vs. of the general f1 rpf tag, to see which other pairings are more represented in the 814 tag than on average (because lestappen are the most popular by pure count but this is also true of fandom in general, so it would be a misrepresentation to say that their popularity is out of the ordinary):

maxiel's gap isn't really that surprising since i think that, generationally, in terms of when both pairings were teammates there is quite a gap; with carlando—actually let me tally this again but including all instances of "implied" and "past" as being part of the same ship, since that's how ao3 tag-wrangles as well:

Aha ! obviously as a direct ship there is competition between 814 and other lando or oscar ships, but this difference is somewhat less pronounced once we include all formats. tbh none of this really means anything but i thought i'd add it anyway... (it's also very possible that there are several errors in this, in which case my b 😔)

before we move on to additional tags, there are a few more basic characteristics of 814 fic we can calculate. i realize i never offered an overview of Super Basic Stats, so here are a few:

plus, looking at word counts, here is a distribution of those in 2023-updated fic, which shows that a majority of 814 fics were under the 5k mark:

85% of landoscar fics were under 10k & nearly 97% under 25k

i don't really have any reason to believe that landoscar's wc stats differ significantly from average ? so this is kind of just Data To Have Data, and it most likely reflects normal ao3 trends in general... but i thought i'd include it anyway because i already made it lol. similarly, here are word count distributions but stratified by rating:

& same info but heat map view:

i feel like this is also probably something you'd find across fandom in general — that gen fic is likely to have a higher share of under 1k works, since Building Up to sexual content often takes... Literal & Metaphorical Foreplay ! and the longer a fic is the more opportunities an author has to include a sex scene or other explicit content (ofc, not necessarily just porn but also graphic violence & so on). but i thought this was fun to visualize haha

additional tags & aus?

back in my old f1 rpf stats post, i made a table comparing fluff/angst "ratios" (not exactly a direct ratio because of how tag wrangling works, but an approximation) of the most popular f1 ships, and now that landoscar are somewhat popular i thought i'd first do an update:

also current data, not 2023 to make things easier

just like before, simi are one of the most fluffy ships and brocedes are by far the most angsty, but it's interesting to see 814 also extremely high up on the charts, with far and away the lowest % of angst. will be exciting 2 see how that holds or changes as the seasons progress !

finally, i also wanted to do a bit of au/additional tag analysis because you can kind of see this when you use additional filters on ao3 but the previews are limited and get bogged down by the prevalence of *checks notes* Fluff, Angst, PWP, Anal Sex and what have you. which are nice stats to have and all but what of the rest !

disclaimer that the set for these tables is a biiiit outdated because by the time i'd wrangled everything i was like I Am Not Changing It Again. unfortunately i clean my data with shoddy queries and regex functions in googsheetz...

there were 48 tags with at least 10 instances from 2023 fics, shown below, with ones that are (some ~vaguely) nsfw in red just to kind of get a rough sense of which tags get commonly used in M/E fic:

getting a bit too much into small sample size / specific fic territory so if you're an author i sincerely apologize for that... do not mean 2 put u on blast... TT__TT but i also tried to tally the most popular aus people write for 814, which is a bit dubious because people tag in really different ways and i had to accommodate for a lot of string formats but ... it's close enough ! (?)

i feel like this is very little interesting info but idk what else to add so i will stop here for now... well!!! if you made it to the end i hope u learned something or even vaguely enjoyed reading T__T and most of all thank you :')

[cupidbedsy]

welcome to emma's spreadsheets part 2 ; a guide !

navigation ; same as last time! this page is mostly for aesthetics so it looks more cohesive in my google drive but it is still functional. every box links to the spreadsheeet it's titled

draft ; this sheet has probably changed the most! so i've added the country they're from and their team for each player, and each round is color cordinated (in rainbow order. 7 rounds = 7 colors). and then everything else is the same, the round, the pick in the round, and then their overall pick. plus the team and the player ofc. the notes is simply to indicate if the pick was traded.

division standings ; so these are the more indepth standings. it's hard to read but this is why i have explanations. so obviously each division has it's own section. from left to right, the data is: team, games played, wins, losses, overtime losses, points, point percentage, goals for, goals against, goal differential, home record, and away record. for the cells that have 0 or the error one... those are the cells that have an equation so games played, points, point percentage, and differential. it just calculates that for me so i don't have to put every single thing in!

conference standings ; these are the exact same as the division ones except it's compared to their whole conference

wild card standings ; so i've changed this one since last time so it looks like how the standings are in nhl. it's a more simplified then the division and conference ones so it's just games played, wins, losses, overtime losses, and points. this is merely just to show who is in the playoffs and stuff. (also yes, i'm aware the title isn't centered, it won't be)

playoff game logs ; new sheet! so i have each round of the playoffs and each matchup has their own set of game logs (what game number it is 1-7, final score, who won, and the current record). um the reason why round one, round two, and the stanley cup finals do not have game logs is because i grouped the rows and collapsed them so that way people can just look at the playoff round they want and not all of it, makes it less overwhelming

playoff bracket ; okay so i did my best to line these up but i gave up bc i got frustrated but anyway. it's just the same bracket you would see nhl post, left side is western conference with central on top and pacfic on bottom, right side is eastern with atlantic on top and metro on bottom. i also have the amount of games they won next to the team

transaction log ; this got a huge update. so i condensed the two different sections into one. then i'll just write the date, type of transaction (free agency, waiver claims, signing, contract extension, trade, injured reserve, recall/demotion, or contract termination, and then any notes (who it's for, money and such, yeah)

preseason ; so this is where it gets tedious in my opinion. on the left side is each game individually; the game date, who they played, if it was home or away, final score, if they won, lost, or lost in overtime, and then if the game went to overtime, what kind (ot, shootout - rounds 1-3, or shootout rounds 4+). then on the right is their final record for preseason and then the same stats that i have for the division/conference standings. (same thing where all the ones that have info in it already are just the cells that have equations). going back to the games, they are colorcoded by the outcome; blue for wins, purple for losses, and green for overtime losses.

regular season games ; everything is the same regrading the games and their colors and stats. the only thing different is the right side. the purple box at the top i'll put their overall record and their monthly record. and then the red boxes are for the stats, the top one will have their monthly stats and the bottom one will be the overall stats through whatever month ofc.

other notes ; i'm still deciding if i want to make a roster page but if i do i'll probably do it has the final roster/playoff roster and not the beginning of the year one. the only reason i don't have an option for overtime win is because they get the same amount of points if they win in overtime comapred to if they won in regular. plus, i always mark if it had an overtime or not so yeah!

if you have any more questions feel free to pop into my inbox or message me! when the time comes and i finish my new f1 and mlb templates, i can post those ones too!

[gascon-en-exil]

I'm pretty sure they said they wouldn't sos it's just w wondering but, if they released an updated OT1 with crossed paths like on 2, how would you like them to pair up the travelers?

OT2 already sort of answers this with its extra battles, by pairing up the OT travelers for dual attacks like so: Ophilia/Alfyn, Cyrus/H'aanit, Tressa/Olberic, and Primrose/Therion. The problem with those aside from them all being M/F is that they're constrained by how those battles handle the noble vs. rogue character divide, breaking up the travelers into two groups along those lines and so preventing any pairings that combine travelers from each group. All of the OT2 pairs by contrast would be noble + rogue duos going by the first game's logic...but then it very much doesn't, anyway. Agnea would be a rogue character on that basis!

So instead, I'd break them up with the same gender arrangement as OT2's pairs as well as still do all noble + rogue pairs since that distinction actually matters somewhat in OT. I'd also avoid pairing travelers who have the same path action type (ex. no Ophilia/Primrose or Cyrus/Alfyn) as well as those whose base jobs are too similar (no Ophilia with Cyrus - squishy mages - or Alfyn - healers - for example). With all that in mind:

Cleric and Hunter - Ophilia/H'aanit: If I recall I believe these two have some of the stronger bits of sapphic subtext among the OT travelers, which would make this a nicely complementary contrast to Castti/Ochette going hard for the found family angle. (I assume that lesbian mommy kink is a thing that exists...but I don't think I've ever seen anyone do it with those two. Ochette's writing is just so weird.)

Scholar and Merchant - Cyrus/Tressa: Reuses a job pairing from OT2, but what a contrast! Osvald/Partitio simmers with half a dozen kinds of mildly kinky homoeroticism, while between Tressa's wide-eyed antics and Cyrus being comically clueless these two are absolute duds. Unfortunately whoever gets saddled with the designated little kid character would get stuck in such a role regardless.

Warrior and Dancer - Olberic/Primrose: Another reused job pairing, but where Hikari/Agnea has some pretty standard ship tease these two would be notable for not going there because Olberic is gay. That would give Primrose more room to explore her character beyond the flirty exotic dancer angle, and they could have lengthy conversations about the nature of justice and revenge and such. Also, these two have been sort of paired up from the very beginning, since they were the ones chosen to show off the series concept in OT's demo.

Apothecary and Thief - Alfyn/Therion: The most popular pairing in OT going by AO3 stats, and while it's not a dynamic I particularly enjoy I get the whole bantering opposites thing. If there's any M/M traveler pair that can pull something out of the mostly-dry well that is OT's homoerotic potential, it's probably these two.

The nice thing too about these four is that they're paired geographically as well, with each one coming from two adjacent regions respectively making up the four corners of Orsterra. OT's world design is something that could only exist as a video game map...but at least thing way there's a little extra stylistic elegance to the obviously artificial wheel-and-spoke layout.

[itsjustbasketball]

The Times They Are A- Changin'

Any basketball fan in the Uber Arena last night, without any allegiance to Real Madrid or unbridled by any previous animosity toward a team or a coach, would have cheered for Panathinaikos. Such was the power of collective joy... It was a beautiful celebration of the game.

Real Madrid showed flashes of its brilliance early on. But Panathinaikos was able to ride the Real Madrid wave, and surfed up to the shore in the second half gloriously. When Real Madrid started missing the shots they were supposed to make, the feel of the game changed, and the light at the end of the tunnel was apparent for all to see. PAO did not take their eyes off it even for a second... The Nunn dunk at the end of the game was a brilliant piece of improv, channeling all the energy and feeling in the arena in a genius stroke....

Watching PAO dismantle a completely different team in a surprisingly similar manner helps with perspective. And inevitably gets one thinking about coaching. Sometimes it is difficult to assess causality on the court, and dismantle what your team didn't do from what the opposition did. And in the heat of the game, like searching for your keys under a street light, one tries to make sense of the game just by looking at the players. And PAO players were brilliant. Lessort was a joy to watch, and I still cannot get over the possession where Grant denied Tavares the ball out of sheer will power under the paint. Sloukas had a game worthy of his name. But these kind of games are for a coach to win or lose. And Ergin Ataman won both games convincingly. Although some FB fans will need some time to process it, this is a big moment for Turkish basketball. And we were happy to be there to witness it.

They have to scratch the third place game. It is a most futile, meaningless endeavor that seems to serve no particular purpose. Players don't want to play it, fans don't want to watch it. What it was good for was some photo ops with couple of Euroleague greats from back when, that the brother was delighted with (İbrahim Kutluay has such an uncanny ability to fake a happy smile, it is scary). Watched the game, we did. It was such a painful experience overall though we were somewhat relieved when it did not go to OT, go figure.

Happy to see Scottie bounce back. We love Scottie, his heart is always in it -9 or 24. And Nick was joyful to watch. Was it his last game in a FB jersey? Looks like it, that will be a big hole to fill, and I am not talking about the stats, things started to fall into place this season as he grew into the leadership role the team desperately needed. He delivered whatever was asked of him, and what he saw to be lacking... Hope he stays, and don't get me started on the salaries, just don't. But hey, how far can you go with Calathes as your tough guy. There is a reason I have been having Charles Oakley flashbacks the last couple of days.

It looks like Poirier is coming to town, I am pretty happy about it, he felt out of place in that playful Madrid roster. Hope he brings some of that angst he was feeling in the final with him. We all desperately need it.

[awellboiledicicle]

the more i think about an au where the arceus protag is just a pmd protag that died in poke-verse, the more i realize how delightful an idea it is.

Because im assuming Arceus took one look at their Heart and was like... “oh i have to bubble wrap this” and just transferred over the stats they had as a pokemon. You know, because it’s hilarious to imagine their response to things being “i will use Tackle”

But also just. Please imagine poor Rei trying to impress upon you how dangerous it is and you just. Yeet yourself physically at a bidoof alongside your starter because you’re so used to it. Or tanking a flamethrower if they used ot be a fire type and just going “my shirt :c”

I just want this unnervingly resilient person who makes cryptic complaints about having to use the arc phone to teleport when they USED to be able to use the team badge but they SUPPOSE they’ll do it. No one has ever seen them teleport, just wander out from behind a rock.  They have very long, in-depth conversations with the ride pokemon and have to very seriously tell Iscan to give Basculegion belly rubs because it’s worried he’s afraid of it for being a ghost type. Has vaguely had convos with noble pokemon before getting the plates, which mostly consist of the noble looking at them going “oh shit did i do that-- sorry, thanks for helping” and giving them a plate because damn. Spend about twenty mins talking Laventon down from freaking out about Porygon and its evos being fucking weird. Most of that is pointing out that the pory’s are fucking with him because he doesn’t know what they are. And no, professor, they don’t bleed because they’re not alive. That’s not how they work. And he asks them to explain and its just. “Listen, i was a pokemon without fingers for like three years ok. Thumbs and the weird shit humanity made with them is outside my wheelhouse. Just assume the discs are records and go with it.”

Just flat out commenting on having been a pokemon/complaining that they can’t do things they used to or being pleased they don’t technically have type weaknesses that are a surprise. A former cyndaquil just being jazzed it can take baths without worrying about drying out its back, so on. 

Spends a good month and a half of knowing Ingo trying to help him remember things and quizzing him on his dreams.  “Any strange voices coming out of balls of light?” “I.. not that i recall?” “Hm. No weird dreams? Anything mildly to extremely prophetic?” “No.” “Any recollections brought on by eating berries with the first pokemon/person to meet you after you showed up here?” “Only that i like oran berry, but unless those seem on track to going extinct, no.” “Hm. Weird.” Followed by them staring down the lake trio to make him remember things because it BOTHERS them. Last time they tried to ignore something like someone hopping dimensions it was them and it ended with a dramatic chase across the continent.

I’m just. deeply loving the mental image of a pmd team leader just being isekai’d yet again because Arceus figured you’d done it once why not.

[s4rainbows]

Back at it again with this whole challenge stuff.

This Challenge is half “Survive this”, half Legacy, and based around the various stages the main group in the TV Show “The Walking Dead” went through. You don’t need to have watched it to play this challenge, but many requirements will feel arbitrary if you haven’t. Since these aren’t really, uh, generations, I will refer to the individual parts of this challenge as “Stages” Packs required: Outdoor Retreat, Seasons, Eco Lifestyle, Get Together, City Living, Discover University, Get to Work

The Setup:

- You will need either Triplis’ “Kids Quit School” mod ot MCCC to make quitting school possible. - Create your founder and any number of other survivors in CAS, Two of these additional survivors need to be children. - Use your own physical dice or find an online dice roller, you will need that!

General Rules:

- It’s the Apocalypse, so buy mode is heavily restricted. You can’t just go to Ikea and buy  new couch! You will need to use the fabrication and handiness skills to make furniture! Some Random Events and generational rules may allow you to get stuff otherwise

- You may only cook with ingredients you have! If you play this after the release of Cottage Living, use the Lot Challenge!

- You will always play off the grid!

- The monetary cost of crafting is considered “materials”. You can "barter” for materials by using the selling table from City Living, or sell furniture and stuff you scavenged, thus “dismantling” it and salvaging it.

- Any children you have aside from the two you create in CAS automatically suffer a -2 penalty to all rolls they perform, on account of being children. 

- Randomized townies you encounter are generally considered zombies. (or WaLkErS of you don’t wanna use the evil Z word). If they engage you in conversation, consider it an attack and roll a d20, adding 1 for every two levels of fitness the Sim in question has. Below a 15, they get injured in the scuffle and are out of comission for the rest of the day. Below a 10, they get infected and die

- Pregnant and elderly Sims cannot perform any chores or other survival tasks and suffer the same -2 penalty as children!

- Every ingame week, roll on the random events table!

- Play with normal lifespan!

Stage 1: The Atlanta Survivors Camp You just survived the Apocalypse’s initial outbreak and you are settling with a small group outside a large city. However, calamity soon threatens your little sanctuary.

- Move your household anywhere with freerealestate, then take a vacation on the campground lot in Granite Falls.  - Set your money to 5k and start your grind. When you can no longer extend your vacation, your camp gets overrun and you are forced to flee. Roll Fitness checks for each member of your group and disable/kill accordingly. - If your founder dies in this, appoint a new one from the surviving sims

Stage 2: Hershel’s Farm After getting out of the overrun camp and having a little happening at the CDC, you are back on the road and lose one of your two kids in a run-in with a horde. Worse, even, your other kid gets shot and is badly injured! Thankfully, you are offered help by a small family on a nearby farm.

- Kill of one of your two CAS-created kids. Sorry, Sophia! - The other CAS-created kid is now injured for the rest of thi stage and can’t help you out or build skills. - Move your sims to one of the lots south of the Chalet in Windernburg (Or Henford on Bagley if Cottage Living is out!)  and build a little farmhouse big enough to accommodate four sims, with a small vegetable garden and 2 power generating and 3 water generating items. -Create four Sims that “own” the farm and help you out. One of them has to be an elder! - Two weeks into this stage, the farm will, unfortunately, get overrun and also set on fire. Do your fitness rolls for everyone and run for your life.

Stage 3: The Prison Again, you are on the run, but there’s a little shimmer of light at the end of the tunnel - an abandoned prison! Now, you just need to like... reclaim it.

- Build a Prison, or download one from the gallery! - Cheat one of your sim pregnant, if you don’t have a pregnancy yet. - Reclaim the prison! Make Fitness rolls for each level + the outside. - After your pregnant Sim gives birth, kill her. Sorry, Lori! - Create a rival 8-sim household and put your sims in a club, and their rivals in one too. Have  “fight (other club)” as one of the activities, then have them visit you and... start... a gathering... ;)

Stage 4 The Prison 2, Electric Boogaloo You defeated Woodbury! ... or did you? Well, you don’t really have time to deal with it right now, because there is a deadly strain of influenza wrecking your community. 

- Start placing ads for roommates. Those are the former Woodbury people you took in! - Every Time someone gets one of the GTW illnesses, roll your d20. Below a 10, they die to the sickness. Kill them, and roll fitness for one of your household sims, since the dead turn into walkers! - Three weeks into this stage, your friend, the Governor of Woodbury, comes back with a fresh new group he roped into his nonsense. Roll Fitness checks and book it. (also kill the Governor. RIP in pieces)

Stage 5: Terminus From bad to worse, you’re on the run again, and split up this time. Divided we fall, huh? Good thing there’s this totally not ominous set of markers leading you to a place called Terminus. I’m sure nothing bad will happen there.

- Split your Household and surviving roommates and pop them all into different empty lots. Play a week with each of them (aging off here, this is meant to happen simultaneously!) and roll on the random events table until you have eight sims left in total. Hope you weren’t attached to any of them. - Put them back into the same household again, and create yet another rival club to beat up. That rival club is Terminus. Surprise, the group with the name meaning “Death” was bad! - Switch to your Terminus household and “invite” your sims over, then lock them in the basement, true sims style. Go downstairs and start a club gathering. Keep an eye on them, every time someone loses a fight, kill them. Do this until you have either 5 good guys left or all of Terminus is dead.

Stage 6: Alexandria and The other blokes You got away from the humanitarians and were invited into the community of Alexandria. Thing are finally looking up again!

- Move to a 50x50 lot and build a little “village” with gardens, energy production and everything you might need. - Create two more 8-sim-households on similar situations and create clubs for them, with the activity to be friendly with yours! These two households will be Hilltop and The Kingdom. - Make one of the Evergreen Harbor Community Spaces a marketplace and frequent it! - Stay in this stage for four weeks!

Stage 7: The Saviour War Things just couldn’t stay okay, could they? You ticked off a horrible cult-of-personality-type organization called the Saviours, who now start their reign of terror against you.

- Create another household and club meant to be mean to you, Hilltop and the kingdom. Make their Leader a magnificent bastard and give that one plot armor. Narrative Immunity! - Host a little multi-club gathering and roll a d8 twice. Look at your own household portrait lineup and kill two of your sims whose portrait position corresponds to your rolls. - Take your strongest fighter, aka the highst fitness stat, aka Daryl Dixon and put them into their own household, to take them out of the equation for a while. They’re the Saviours’ prisoner now! - Congrats, you have been promoted to vassal state. The Saviours demand five of every crop you produce. Don’t hav enough to feed your people? Sucks to be you! - Stay in this stage for 4 weeks, then bring back your poor fighter, and kill off half of the Saviours, add the rest to your household and Kingdom & Hilltop. Their Leader must survive! Keep them in your basement from now on and visit them regularly to gloat.

Stage 8: The Whisperer War Finally, some stability. Oh, whats that? New enemy faction, and this one of even worse? Fantastic.

- Cease communication and trade with Hilltop & Kingdom for two weeks, Then hold a big party! - ...during said party,  kill 12 total sims from each faction. - Create a new rival faction called the Whisperers. Make their two leaders, Alpha & Beta, level 10 in fitness. - Hold weekly brawls with the whisperers. Kill every fight loser, but replenish the Whisperers losses. There’s no end to their forces! - Give Alpha a daughter and take her in after your first clash with them. - When you resume trade, roll a D20 every time you travel away from your lot. Below a 10, your travel party gets attacked by the Whisperers! Roll Fitness checks for every Siim traveling. - Remember the Saviour leader? Yeah, they’re doing better. Have them befried one of your household’s children, and gradually integrate them into your community. - After an additional 4 weeks of this, send your redeemed Saviour leader over to the Whisperers and befriend them. They’re a spy now! - Survive another week, then ply s the Whisperers and attack Hilltop! Move the survivors into your main household. - After this attack, your spy strikes and kills Alpha. Put them back into your household, then gear up for a big fight! - Cheat “Roughhousing ecouraged” in your NAPs, then gather all surviving characters along with the Whisperers and fight!

Did you survive this? Well, until season 11 comes out, that’s as far as we go. You can continue playing with the Random Events and general ruleset!

RANDOM EVENTS:

D20: 1.  There’s a drought. Sell all your stored water and reset your money back down 2. Zombie Attack! Roll Fitness and kill accoridngly! 3. Electric whoopsie-doopsie. Sell your stored electricty and set your money bck down 4. Roving bandits! The next time travel, all your traveling sims lose their inventory contents! If they had none, kill one of them! 5. Baby Boom! Get one fo your Sims pregnant 6. Other Survivors! Roll a d4 and add the resulting nuber of sims to your household! 7. Tragic accident! Kill a random sim 8. Extra Ammo! Every Sim gets a +1 to their next fitness roll! 9. Thunderstorm! Your Sims may not leave their lot for this week! 10: Supply thief! select a random sim and hoard food for this week. At the end of the week they get found out nd either killed or exiled! 11. Breach! Your wall has a breach! Reduce your funds by 150 to fix it. If you don’t have that much, kill a random sim in the resulting zombie incusrsion! 12. Illness! There’s a flareup of the deadly flu from the prison! Play with this Stage’s rules (regarding the illness) for this week! 13: Re-roll! 14. Sabotage! Your fabricator and woodworking table cannot be used this week! 15. Zombie Attack! Roll Fitness and kill accordingly! 16. Lost Child! You find a random child, adopt one! (cheat the money for the adoption) 17: Feast! Your Sims make the poorly informed decision to par-tay! Delete all the stored crops you have. 18. Horde! It’s too dangerous to leave the fortifications right now! Suspend all travel this week. 19. Foraging! Cheat yourself enough money and buy a seasonal seed packet that corresponds to this season! 20. Re-Roll!

[juiceboxman]

Advice for New DMs

I’ve been lucky enough to have DM’d a weekly game for over a year now and I’ve had conversation with people irl and online about how they think about DMing but aren’t necessarily too confident in their own ability or don’t even know where to start. So here’s some things I would suggest to get started, things to keep in mind and advice about general stuff. Here we go;

1) Familiarise Yourself with the Rules. You can read the DMs Manual or the Player’s Manual for rules. You can find rules explained everywhere online from Roll 20 to DND Beyond. But if you don’t like reading, and I get that cause the thought of reading a 200+ page instruction manual on how to play a game does sound daunting, I would suggest watching or listening to Actual Play Shows. If you watch like a few episodes of Critical Role or Dimension 20, you kind of get the basics of DnD. That’s really all you need to start DMing, just the basics like “what which Dice do”.

2) Know your Players. DnD is a collaborative game and all good collaboration necessitates some base understanding of who you’re collaborating with. You don’t necessarily need to know the people you’re playing with very well, but just enough to get where you can decide whether these people are chill to play with. So say if you’re gonna be playing a horror/scary campaign and you know one of the people in mind for playing isn’t too into horror- maybe don’t have them play cause it will make them uncomfortable. That example is perfectly fine but it delves into extremes when you’re dealing with people who are just difficult. You can look up online and find tons of stories relating to bad dnd experiences with just rude, shitty people. I would like to clarify that by saying that these experiences aren’t a DnD problem- it’s a social group problem. If you hang out wih a shitty person they will inevitably do shitty things, and honestly its better that a shitty outburst occurs at a controlled environment such as a DnD Game than say a house party where all sorts of shit could happen. So know your players. If they’re cool people, they’ll make cool players. If they’re kind of shit heads, they’re going to cause a lot of issues and not the fun kind. Know the difference between “shenanigans” and “open disrespect” because you as the DM put a lot of work into the game, if the players don’t respect that- maybe don’t play with them. No dnd is better than bad dnd 

3) Know Your Game. This rule helps a lot if you are familiar with lots of DnD shows, which gives you a frame of reference for the type of campaign you wanna run. If you wanna go big dramatic epics with a lot of strict survivalist rules, Critical Role is a good place to reference. If you wanna go for balls to the wall humour with a lot of heart and emotional moments, NADDPOD is a good place to reference. You want a proper scary campaign, watch Sophomore Year from Dimension 20- it is primarily a comedy show but when they do drama they do DRAMA. Knowing your players allows you to know the game better. It took me quite a while in my own campaign t realise “Oh I’m not running a CR game, I’m running a NADDPOD game” and ater I realised that I was able to play it better. Know the game, know the genre, know what you and your players like and enjoy and try to maximise that fun.

4) Preparation. DMs do a lot of preparation whenever they intend to run a game. I would argue that the amount of preparation you want to do should be equal to the amount of time you’re willing to spend. Sad fact of life is that DnD, and other activities with friends, are all dependant on IRL scheduling. A campaign can fizzle and die out at a moments notice, not all stories get finished and if you wanna start any creative process that’s a reality you have to accept. I’m a creative person, I do quite a lot of writing and stuff on the side so when I do prep for DnD I don’t want to spend too much of my creative juice on a project that only six people at a table will know about compared to one that would feature a larger audience. Also if you have a busy schedule you might not have time to worldbuild, so short cuts help. So in those respects I don’t see anything wrong with being lazy. There are plenty of websites online where you can randomly generate maps, towns, characters- you name it. You don’t need to spend hours on end developing streets of a city that no one will walk down or lore behind businesses no one will ask about. You just need to be familiar enough with the history or your world, its vibe and tone in which you can effectively improv the rest. I’ve been DMing a game now for well over a year, I spend less than an hour a week doing prep. I write a few bullet points for stuff to bring up in the session, I make a brief map for encounters, I’ll look up monster stats, maybe draw up some homebrew and heroforge pictures of the NPCs- that’s it

5) Improv. I think 90% of DMing is pure improv. Depending how well you know your players and their characters, you can predict certain behaviours. So if you have an NPC say or do something that you know will gaina certain reaction from a player, that’s something you are certain about. Everything else however can be improv based. Players will surprise you. They’ll do weird dumb shit and they will do really cool game breaking shit. You have an NPC who was supposed to be a big villain? Well the PCs all teamed up and with an effective strategy, that NPC is now dead. It’s the lay of the land. The goal with prep is to have enough prepared that you can effectively pull stuff out of your ass with no issue. Improv isn’t necessarly difficult, all you really need is to listen. When a player responds to something and you feel its worth rolling for, have them roll for it. If tey roll well, tell them they did the thing. If not, tell them they didn’t. If the thing they asked for is impossible, tell them it’s impossible. You can come up with all sorts on the fly

6) DND isn’t like TV/BOOKS/MOVIES. DND is a weird medium of entertainment. Its a collaberative game where you all make a narrative, but a lot of strange stuff happens in between. Like if youre watching a movie or a show or reading a book you might think to yourself “why is this character spending twenty minutes talking to this waiter that genuinely isn’t that interesting?” or something like “why did the main villain die five pages in?” DND doesn’t follow a beat structure or format. Plot armor doesn’t fit here, it’s all decisions and luck- that’s it. Don’t be dissapointed in your work in regards to storytelling. Don’t worry about plot holes or inconsistencies, just focus on player engagement. If the players are having fun, then you’re playing the game right. You as the DM have to make sure that everyone is playing fairly and having fun. Treat your players equally, don’t be a dick, don’t be a pushover. You have to know what your players want, but also know what they don’t want. If your players like a weird NPC, have that NPC show up more cause they enjoy it. If your players discover an ability ot a magic object that left untouched will alter game play (e.g. one of my PCs recently gained an ability in which they gained the breath weapon of an ancient red dragon) that if used effectively could elminate all threat from any boss fight ever- don’t be afraid to NERF that. You need to be considerate about your enjoyment and the players enjoyment, its all in the balance.

That’s the main six points I have so far. If I have anymre I’ll be sure to add them. If anyone has any advice, feel free to add below. Hope this helps! Also; Brennan Lee Mulligan has a good podcast giving DM advice called Adverturing Academy. Has a lot of cool guests. The episode featuring Carlos Luna from Roll 20 is actually good career advice and gets me motivated just thinking about it. Definitely worth checking out!

[dm-clockwork-dragon]

What do you think about idea of Necroficer's Horrors having Construct type (instead Undead), and having a restriction that forbids them to be based on incorporeal undead?

I've played with it before sortof. I've had the idea of playing a variant necroficer that specifically makes automatons and metal constructs, and balance wise, it should work out fine to just swap the creature type from undead to construct, and maybe change out some of the resistances at later levels to be more relevant to constructs. As for doing this as a universal change to the necroficer, I don't think I would remove the undead creature type from the horrors, even if I chose to add the construct creature type (creatures can have more than one type, after all). I know that "no incorporeal undead) is a common stipulation that some DMs like to put in place to help simplify things, or resolve the question of "how do you assemble corpses into a ghost". But I'm on the fence as far as making it an inbuilt restriction instead of a table rule.

I definately vet the monsters my players want to use in advance of a session, since not all CR 1's are created equal, but I don't personally have any explicit issue with my players creating incorporeal undead as a necroficer. Thematically, I think of it like using the bones of a creature/creatures as the focus/material anchor when assembling soul embers into a "frankenstein's ghost". I dont find Incorporeal undead inherently more powerful than corporeal undead, although there are certainly a few cases like the shadow which fit that bill. It all depends on how you use them, and on how well the DM reads the stat-block. for example, a lot of undead don't actually know a language or are unable ot speak it, so they are not going to be much use as forward scouts who need to communicate complex information back to the party. Especially with their low int. Similarly, a player who posts a half dozen skeletons guards around the camp may be upset in the morning when they realize that skeletons happen to have shit for perception, and a band of clever little kobolds had no issue sneaking around them to steal the party's equipment in the night. Unless attacked or given explicit orders, most undead aren't exactly intelligent enough to take action or make decisions on their own. as a side note, I actually tend to play a lot of necroficer horrors like comedy skeletons from Army of Darkness. If they aren't watched over and given instructions, they will bump into each other, get in fights among themselves, fall in holes, and set off traps that any living creature would avoid without even registering as a threat. Sometimes I make them bitter about being brought back, and even have them try to sabotoge their master if he/she/they aren't paying close enough attention. They are the necroficer's creations, but if they aren't going to give them personality, I definitely will. Besides, it's way more entertaining when the zombies you stitched together wind up being a three-stooges act that needs constant supervision, or that 5 ft litch hound is convinced it's still the size of the corgi who's skull you happened to have on hand when bringing it to life.

[kurutabaa]

Mistletoe Headcanons!

Including Akira/Ren, Ryuji, Ann, Haru, and Futaba!

MERRRY CHRISTMASSS~!

Or Hanukkah~!!!

I hope all of you had a good year and celebrate Christmas/Hanukkah this year. As a toast, I’ll happily write Mistletoe Headcanons for (Majority) of the Phantom Thieves! I really hope you can see the extra effort I tried to put into this, I hope you enjoy🎄🌸🌸

(This may have turned into kissing headcanons while writing, but it’s a win-win either way.)

Akira Kurusu

He is incredibly suave when it comes to kisses, so be prepared for your heart to absolutely melt because of him.

He normally wouldn’t care much about mistletoes, but with you? It’s a whole different story.

It doesn’t really matter wether or not you’re in public, he doesn’t care what other people think (To some extent) and will show his love for you anywhere you feel comfortable.

If his stats are maxed out, he will ABSOLUTELY ask you to dance.

“Would you like to dance, Treasure?”

As he interwines his hand with yours, he’ll gently spin you around and perfectly land you both under the mistletoe without missing a beat.

“Ah, it seems like we’re both under the mistletoe. Would you like to share a kiss~?”

He cups your face and presses a firm yet heartwarming kiss against your lips.

This was all in front of the Phantom Thieves, if you were wondering.

Buuuuuut never mind that! It depends if he’s feeling snarky or greedy that day, because he’ll either continue to pepper you with kisses as your face is beet red or just... Walks away, and the bastard absolutely knows you’ll come up to him wanting more.

“You’re being quite greedy, Treasure. Do you want me to shower you with some affection?”

If you’re both in his room relaxing, he’ll lean in reaaaaally close into your face and hang a mistletoe above the two of you. He likes to wait a few seconds before kissing you to see your reaction.

Making him flustered with a mistletoe usually depends on his mood! If you want to make him go weak in his knees, the best time to do it is when your initiating cuddling with him or whispering reassurance into his ear.

He’ll pull you back into the kiss, muttering sweet words as he pulls back for air.

“I love you, Treasure... I love you so much...”

“You’re the only thing I want this year...”

If you sneakily walk up to him and hang a mistletoe between you two, he’ll smirk and give you a teasing remark before giving you your well deserved kiss.

“You’re so cute, Y/N.”

The two of you can be caught off guard if Futaba randomly hangs a mistletoe above you two while chatting.

“Heeey, what are you two waiting for? Kiss, kiss!”

Akira silently cups your face with his hands and kisses you. Ah, what a charming young man~

Ryuji Sakamoto

He gets flustered just at the mention of a mistletoe. He also thinks the general idea is stupid.

“What’s the point of a mistletoe? Isn’t it just some weird thing to get people to kiss?”

But when it comes to you he reaaallly wants to score a kiss from you under the mistletoe.

Of course he wants to kiss you! But with everyone watching you two like that? Too embarrassing.

Which means you or one of the Phantom Thieves have to initiate it. Oh boy.

If you silently hold up a mistletoe above you two, he’ll stare at you confused until he looks up.

“W-What the heck are you doing with that thing?”

“I wanna kiss you, bonehead.”

“Jeez! If you wanna kiss me, you don’t have to use a stupid mistletoe.”

You found it adorable that he was so shy about kissing you, either because it was in public or that he was caught off guard. Either way, you enjoyed it~

He’s also very oblivious, you two can be standing under a mistletoe and he’ll just continue talking. In situations like that, you just have to kiss him without warning. It gives a cuter reaction, so it’s a win win!

If you keep nagging him with a mistletoe, he’ll slowly get used to it and take advantage of the fact he’ll get kisses~

“..Are you really not gonna stop bothering me with that thing?”

“Nope! Not until Christmas is over.”

“Alright, alright. Come here.”

His kisses are very cute but short! You gotta pull him back in for a longer kiss.

“Are you happy n- MMPH?!”

“Now I’m happy~”

He’s really cute when he gets upset if someone hangs a mistletoe above you two. He has a noticeable blush on his cheeks and he’ll try to avoid eye contact with you.

Who was the culprit? Futaba, of course. It’s always Futaba, heheh~

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about, Ryuji—“

“S-Shut up!”

After the holidays are over, he’s glad he won’t have to be pestered with a mistletoe. But he will miss the copious amounts of kisses he got from you.

Ann Takamaki

She’s confused about the concept of a mistletoe, but being a fan of romance, is totally down for it.

She’ll usually initiate to get you two under the mistletoe! Either by dragging you under one or casually lifting it up above your heads.

Since she doesn’t care wether or not people see you two being intimate, she’ll do it whenever the time calls.

You find it amusing at how smug and eager she acts whenever you’re under a mistletoe because of her.

“Oh wow, what a surprise! Looks like we’re under the mistletoe.”

“You did this on purpose, didn’t you?”

On the other hand, she gets rather flustered if you initiate it. She’ll struggle a bit to look at you in the eye but will gladly kiss you back.

“A mistletoe..?”

“Come here, you dork.”

“Hey, can we do that one more time?”

She loves kissing you, so be prepared to be regulary swept under the mistletoe. The absolute joy on her face is so precious, please cherish her and she’ll do the same back!

If you’re both in private, she’ll be more intimate with you physically and verbally. Lingering kisses that last a few seconds longer, caressing eachothers cheeks, somber words in eachothers ears, she’s so cute~

“Mm, I love you, Y/N.”

“I love you, too.”

“I’m so lucky, you know that? If you weren’t mine, I’d want you for Christmas! Hehe!”

You can tell how much she adores you just from her kisses. Take good care of her!

She has a big smile on her face and giggles whenever you pull her back in for another kiss.

Ann enjoys to pepper you with kisses afterwards! She loves giving you affection and won’t be afraid to do so.

If you two are both surprised by a mistletoe, wether it be Akira or Futaba, she won’t have any shame and kiss you like usual.

“Ah?! You scared me! What are you doing with that?”

“What do you think I’m doing?”

Out of all of the Phantom Thieves, Akira and Ann have the best kisses.

Haru Okumura

Besides Futaba, she gets easily flustered by the thought of kissing you. But further into the relationship, she became more intimate and initiated kisses with you. Although she does still get a bit shy!

She’s such a hopeless romantic, so she would absolutely melt at the thought of you two kissing under a mistletoe!

She never knew how to bring it up to you, so she, shyly, hung a mistletoe between you two. Sometimes she’ll ask someone else to do it for her, but it’s rare.

“Oh, my. Would you look at that. I guess that means we should kiss, right?”

The shy smile she had on her face made your heart melt, to be honest.

And the way she leans in to kiss you?? It’s so adorable oh my god. Her face is so cute when she puckers her lips and closes her eyes!!

She’s a bit caught off guard when you do kiss her, even if she was expecting it. The quiet yelp makes you smile a bit.

If you two are in public, she’ll pull away after a few seconds and glance around shyly to see if anyone saw that. It’s not like she cares about her image, but someone seeing you two kiss makes her flustered.

But! In private she’s going to be a lot for intimate! She almost seems desperate at times. If you let go, she’ll immediately hug you and kiss you deeply again.

She likes feeling your body, so she’ll run her hands in your hair or caress your cheeks.

Her face is flushed when she pulls back, but she smiles at you and mutters a small “I love you.”

“You’re something money never could buy, dear.”

Being surprised with a mistletoe makes her weak in the knees. The lovesick look on her face can make any man or woman’s heart to ache.

“A mistletoe? Ah, that means..”

Haru always feels energized after you kiss her, so hearing her angelic laugh is usual.

“Hehehe! Thank you for the kiss, Y/N.”

Although she’s happy, she can’t stop feeling so flustered and embarrassed!! Haru usually has a big smile on her face while she embarrasingly covers her face with her hands.

Your heart is absolutely melted at this point, who wouldn’t want to pepper her with kisses and cuddle her afterwards??

Futaba Sakura

Although she enjoys pestering on other peoples love lifes, she has no idea what to do in her own. Heck, she’d never even knew she’d be dating someone as amazing as you. (She loves you a lot by the way, she’s just too shy to say it..)

She totally loves the idea of kissing under a mistletoe, shes seen it in anime all the time. It wouldn’t be too hard, right? Thanks to her being easily embarrassed, she’d be weong.

No way is she going to initiate it, so she’s counting on you to do it for her!

Fourtunatley, she’s easy to read. You can see her staring at the mistletoe nearby or her face flushing whenever she spots a couple kiss under it.

“Eh? What are you doing?”

“You’ll see~”

She immediately notices your dragging her ot the mistletoe and she becomes a stuttering, blushy mess.

“W-W-Wait!! Hold on! I’m not ready! W-What if I mess up and—“

“Shhhh, It’s just a kiss, dork.”

She’ll calm down if you hold her close and caress her cheeks. She always feels so calm when you give her affection.

Futaba still feels extremely embarrassed, but leans in and expects you to close the gap. It’s your choice wether you want to kiss her hard to surprise her or give her a gentle kiss.

You can almost feel her body trembling when your lips both touch. Not that she’s anxious, but oh my goodness she loves you so much that she doesn’t know how to deal with it. Anything you do to her that can be taken romantically makes her knees wobble and her cheeks flush red.

If you’re a bit taller than Futaba, you find it adorable when she leans up on her tippy toes to kiss you.

Futaba still feels embarrassed when you pull back, but loosens up immediately. Returning back to her childish attitude.

“W-Wow! That felt amazing, I-It was like I was the protagonist of a romance anime..”

“Hey, c-can we maybe do that one more time..?”

She had the dumbest smile on her face, totally lovestruck. If Akira saw her like this, she’d know she would be in for a lot of teasing. Touche.

Although she’s still flustered, she regains her fun personality and sometimes hangs up a mistletoe between you two in a teasing manner.

She expects that this time you’ll be embarrassed and she can get some sort of payback for making her so embarrassed, but it’s up to you on how you’ll react.

Futaba is still flustered even in private, but the intimacy in the kiss is very noticeable.

Dear god, start french kissing her and she’ll probably pass out. If you want to be a big tease to her, suddenly deepen the kiss and french kiss her.

She wakes up from her shock pretty fast, and begins punching you in the chest while scolding you.

“W-W-What was that for?! D-Did you really have to do that?!”

She’d rather be dead then admit this, but she liked it a lot when you did that~

Dies from embarrassment if Akira hangs a mistletoe above the both of you. She loathes that shit eating grin he has on his face, must’ve been payback for all the times shes teased him about his flowy pants.

“A-A m-mistletoe?!”

“What a coincidence, you and Y/N are both underneath it.”

“Don’t act so innocent, Akira!”

You had to chuckle at that, who wouldn’t? Besides, getting to see an upset Futaba was adorable.

As she argues with Akira, this is the perfect chance to catch her off guard and kiss her. You’ll have to thank Akira for this later.

“A-Ah.. Wait, I shouldn’t be grateful! Don’t do that again, Akira!”

As flustered she can get, she adores your kisses and would suffer through anything to get them~

Dec 25 - Happy Holidays from Susumu 🌸

[emilyelizabethfowl]

Fic Writer Interview

I have been tagged by @jajalala (...a loooong time ago. like july kind of long time ago. but i'm finally getting around to it!) Thank you for the tag! <3

Name(s): I'm fairly consistent, using Emily (Elizabeth) Fowl or variations for pretty much every account ever

Fandom(s): Boku No Hero Academia, Avatar the Last Airbender, Harry Potter (i know. but there is a few fanfics i love too much to give up)

Where you post: Strictly AO3. I have an old fanfiction.net account, but I don't have any works posted there.

Most popular one-shot (by kudoes): [my secret agenda for the delay: waiting until I posted this one xD] "The Right Thing to Do" - this is, technically, the second BNHA fanfiction I have started this year, iirc. I had it finished even before the Fic Fight ever happened, but I wanted to wait until July to post it, to have it be closer to Izuku's birthday.

Most popular multi-chap (also by kudoes): sighs to my eternal consternation, "Sorry Aunt Petunia". Hopefully one of the BNHA longfics I have planned will overtake it. I do not enjoy having it dominate my stats page

Favourite story you've written so far: Without a doubt, "the Right Thing to Do". Though, "Dozen Ways of Parenting Midoriya Izuku" and my Purge: the Stain Zine piece (free zine being released on halloween!) certainly come close. (Honorary mention for "Vaulting the Vaulter", which is a series I love in its entirety)

Fic you were nervous to post: I... Don't recall one. I'm sure there had to be one- OH I remember! "Hear the Bells Ring"! I was a little nervous about this one, because it's a "Shirakumo Oboro did not die but transition, becoming Fukukado Emi" fic. But the reception had been pretty positive, so.

How do you chose your titles? More often than not, it's just the first thing that pops into my head. With the volume of fics produced for the Fic Fight and Writer's Month, I did not have the luxury to sit around and ruminate on titles.

Do you outline? Depends on what fic I am writing! If it's a short one (like most of the challenge ones), I don't outline. If I start outlining, it's not gonna stay within 10k, lemme tell you that much.

Complete: Technically, all of my fics are currently complete. The thing is, with the format of Fic Fight, I have quite a number of open series. Most notably, "Overhauling the System" (14 works) and "Quirkless Hero? Hop to it!" (4 works). [OtS has a long fic in the planning stages 👀]

In progress: cries in WIP ,,, comes back the next day I have kind of went to take a look at what WIPs I had going before the Fics War and Writer's Month absolutely wrecked my g.docs landing page, and then I got distracted making a spreadsheet of them.... Let me just say: A LOT

Coming soon: There is that one work (Shimura Tenko-centric) which I have been writing for a long time now... And by that I mean April this year. BUT the thing is: the last BNHA work I have written before it were the Uravity Bang entries in 2018... It wasn't even meant to be BNHA at first, just a random Original Fiction to get my writing juices flowing, and then- not only did Tenko insert himself in place of the nameless protagonist, he also stretched the fic out to 27-bleeding-k.

Recently, I have finally managed to finish it, so now I'm just letting it marinate before throwing it at beta edit and unleashing it upon the world soonish. Or i'll wait until his birthday (4th April). I hadn't decided yet :3

Not started: so, so many. I'm very enthusiastically planning three longfics, however: "Prince of Aldera", as a follow-up of Overhauling the System series, the sequel to "Of Dragons and Quirks" (which I'm almost regretting dropping for the ficfight, considering it got immediately drowned out) and a "Hero Class Civil War"-style (linked to the RogueDruid's classic) fic with an unhealthy amount of hand-related puns.

Prompts?: Do I do prompts xD Approximately 80% of my current works count (i do not have the energy to do a proper math) (actually-) (it's 77%) is based on prompts. I'm usually using the NWA prompts, when it's not related to an event (reverse bang or a week etc) but my ask box is always open for prompts! I'm just reserving the right not to write it if it doesn't spark joy, but I doubt that would happen often.

Upcoming work you're most excited about: Well, definitely my Stain Zine piece (31st October), but do keep an eye out for the Hawks Big Bang!

No pressure tags: I had to rummage around my notes and following count for those xD @dreamofmysteries @aphrodaisyacs @gentrychild @a-witch-in-endor @pocketramblr @cyber-phobia @ombreoscura @pikachuketchup1207 @hami-is-chill @orkestrations @draphrawrites @blackholeca (yes i did go through the list naming every single tumblr i could remember belonging to a writer, why do you ask)

Feel free to ignore this ping at your leisure! <3

[cupidbedsy]

welcome to emma’s spreadsheets ; a guide!

each spreadsheet is exactly the same so i’ll just show one !

navigation ; so the navigation tab is mostly for aesthetics bc i got tired of looking at my draft sheet 8 times in my drive so i made this. but it does still function! each box you can click on and it has a link to that sheet. it's color coordinated (ofc) so purple is for standings and the draft, blue is for the transaction log, and then the pink ones are for monthly + game stats

draft ; so this is the draft sheet! as you can see going from left to right is the round, the round pick, the overall pick, the team they were drafted to, who they are, and then the notes is for if the pick was traded. each round is divided by the blue divider that's at the top underneath the green

wildcard standings ; um i haven't gone back and changed this so it looks like the one on nhl but I'll do that later bc i don't have the energy to do it right now. but basically it's just a way to show who's making the playoffs and who isn't with the stats from left to right as follows: team (separated by conference and division), if they clinched the playoff spot or not, the number of games played, how many games they won, how many games they lost, how many overtime losses they had, and how many points they have

division standings ; a more in-depth standings, I'll fill this out at the end of the year so i can have it in one place. anyway, here are the stats that i'm keep track of from left to right: team, games played, wins, losses, otl's, points, percentage, goal differential, goals made, goals allowed, home record, and away record

conference standings ; these are the exact same as the division ones except it's compared to their whole conference

transaction log ; on the left is the trades so when it happened, who they traded with, who/what they got, and then who/what they traded. and then on the right its other transactions which usually are contract extensions, free agency, etc. this is the date, player, type of transaction (extension, signing, etc._ and then how much money they're giving them if applicable

preseason ; so this is where it gets tedious in my opinion. on the left side is each game individually; the game date, who they played, if it was home or away, final score, if they won, lost, or lost in overtime, and then if the game went to overtime, what kind (ot, shootout - rounds 1-3, or shootout rounds 4+). then on the right is their final record for preseason and then the same stats that i have for the division/conference standings. going back to the games, they are colorcoded by the outcome; blue for wins, purple for losses, and green for overtime losses.

regular season games ; everything is the same regrading the games and their colors and stats. the only thing different is the right side. the purple box at the top i'll put their overall record and their monthly record. and then the red boxes are for the stats, the top one will have their monthly stats and the bottom one will be the overall stats through whatever month ofc.

other notes ; i've thought about making a roster sheet but their roster changes so much i feel like so i haven't made the decision about it yet. i have decided against making the overtime wins a different color because if they win in overtime they still get the same points they get if they win, but it'll still have the overtime box next to it. i also have a general season spreadsheet which just has the standings and draft in it.

if you have any other questions or suggestions, feel free to message me or pop into my inbox :)

[shinyacademy]

Is it Legit: Part 2

Today we’re going to look at a shiny Oranguru that was traded to me via Wonder Trade in Pokémon Sun. I’ve since moved him to Pokémon Shield which is risky business for a Pokémon of uncertain origin but I was fairly certain that he was the real deal (or close enough but we’ll get to that later). Since I wasn’t banned or suspended from Pokémon Bank or Pokémon Home, I can assume with confidence that my assumptions were correct. But how did I know?

Quick Note About Pokerus

Pokerus is often an indicator, or at least an orange flag, that a Pokémon has been hacked. However, it’s important to note what type of Pokerus. Active Pokerus is much more of an orange flag than latent Pokerus, which is what my Oranguru has.

Here’s my Dragapult who has active Pokerus, which means she could spread it to other Pokémon in the party with her. This is what hackers typically add to Pokémon because it’s more valuable to be able to spread Pokerus to other Pokémon. A quick note for those who don’t know, Pokerus is a rare but beneficial virus that Pokémon can suddenly develop or catch from other infected Pokémon.

In this case I exposed my Oranguru to Pokerus so there’s no worries either way. Now we’re going to go through the same steps in my last post to confirm his legitimacy.

1. Is it met on an impossible date?

It seems that bringing him to Galar has lost the date that he was captured on but it was not impossible.

2. Did it meet the OT in an impossible place?

Again, we’re not given a lot of information here but that’s ok. A lot of hacked Pokémon will say that they were met in a “fateful encounter”. This is reserved for event Pokémon and some wild Mythical Pokémon. Event Pokémon will often also state that they were an online present but not always.

3. Is it inside a Ball Combination that could not exist for the game the Pokémon came from?

No, Luxury balls are accessible in Pokémon Sun and Moon.

4. Was the Pokémon met at an illegal level?

I haven’t changed my Oranguru’s level so we can assume it was met somewhere around the level it’s at. However, shiny Oranguru who are caught by SOS chaining can be level 17 in Lush Jungle, so this makes sense.

5. Does it have perfect IVs?

As you can see, Oranguru’s IVs are less than impressive. If someone was chaining in hopes of finding a competitive ready Pokémon they would see this and be disappointed, which might explain why his original trainer decided to part with him in the first place.

6. Does it have an illegal moveset?

Pokémon Home has a feature where it will remove any moves from a Pokémon that are not legal for the game that it’s porting into (this is for game balance mostly because some legit moves are not supported in the newer games but it would also alter a hacked Pokémon’s moveset potentially). Oranguru kept all of his moves that he had in Alola though so he’s fine.

7. Does the Pokémon have the name of a streaming website or words that would normally be censored?

Nope! He’s just Oranguru.

Analyzing the Information

All signs point to Oranguru having been shiny hunted, probably via SOS chain, and then discarded for whatever reason (my guess is stats). We can only guess at the OT’s motives but nothing stands out as being suspicious for Oranguru.

Does that mean he’s legit?

People in the Pokémon community use the word “legit” to describe a Pokémon who definitely entered the game through legitimate means. What a lot of people don’t realize is there are no definitive ways to identify whether a Pokémon is legit or not outside of the knowledge of your own Pokémon that you get from your own games. Every time you do a high value trade with another trainer you are trusting that the Pokémon is legitimate (unless of course they are forthcoming about it being otherwise).

But I thought you said Oranguru isn’t hacked?

I don’t think he is based on our criteria and the fact that I wasn’t banned from using Pokémon services after putting him there. But he still could be cloned. A clone is a complete and perfect copy of an original Pokémon. Some streamers will utilize them to do mass giveaways and some people will utilize them to make multiple high value trades (after all, there are some Pokémon like Marshadow that sell for actual money). The thing is, you can identify if a Pokémon is hacked but there’s no way to identify a clone because it would just look like a normal Pokémon!

Should I worry about clones?

This is more of a personal opinion. Some people really agonize over whether their Pokémon are legit or not and some people don’t care. The only reason I care personally is because hacked Pokémon can get you banned from Pokémon services. Would I use those Pokémon? Probably not because I appreciate the value of working hard to achieve a desired result and it seems cheap to go into competitive with a hacked shiny. As for clones, why worry about something you can’t control? Maybe the Articuno I won in a contest recently is a clone? I’ll never know! But he makes me happy so why stress?

So Oranguru and my Articuno both fall into a class of Pokémon that people call “legal”, which means that they are accepted by Pokémon services as being okay for competitive and other services. Could they be legitimate too? Yes but we can’t prove that, so if I were thinking of trading either one I would need to list them as “legal” if I were communicating directly with the person I was trading with and not “legitimate” because I didn’t catch them myself.

If you are worried about clones you essentially cannot trade online with confidence, which will greatly limit your experience with Pokémon in general. So in my opinion: don’t stress out, play the game and have fun!

As a follow up to this post, soon I’ll be writing, “How to Navigate a High Value Trade.” Look out for that post in the future! Until then, happy hunting! ✨

[themadauthorshatter]

Like I said, this is a future/sequel post to that one Karate Kid-The Outsiders AU.

And this one took a very, VERY long time.

This is after Johnny's walk with Miyagi, where he asks Darry's help for Miyagi.

He agrees and goes over to Miyagi's house, even though Miyagi ignored him when he asked for help.

All the same, Darry starts working on Miyagi's roof, but the old man starts talking to him:

"You know Johnny-san?"

"Yeah. He's a friend of mine."

"He know your brothers."

"Well, yeah. We're a gang. We have to know each other. We're kind of all we got."

Miyagi hums in contemplation as he tries to catch a fly with chopsticks.

Darry keeps working on the roof, but does take notice.

"Johnny did that the other day. Did you teach him that too?"

Miyagi remains silent as Darry continues to work.

Neither talk until some Socs drive by and throw slurs at Miyagi and Darry, calling Darry "white trash" and "scum."

Although Darry ignores it, Miyagi still checks on him.

"You don't hear?"

"I'm not really afraid of them. We just need to be careful of when they're mouths stop going and the blades come out."

Miyagi hums at this as Darry climbs down to grab more roof tiles.

"You hate?"

Darry pauses from climbing on the ladder to look at Miyagi.

"What?"

"Them. You hate them?"

Darry looks at his hands, but remains silent, only shaking his head. "No. Not really, at least."

Miyagi hums and nods. "Good."

Just as Darry reaches the roof, Miyagi asks another interesting question:

"Your brother? Little one? Friend of Johnny-San?"

"Yeah? What about him?"

"He like you."

Darry gives Miyagi a very incredulous look because he and Ponyboy are practically night and day; Darry was a football player and Ponyboy is a track runner. If the gang had video game stats, Darry would be a strength based character while Pony would be a speed based character. Darry doesn't read that much, but it's rare to see Pony without a book in his hands. Darry is a beef-cake beanpole and Ponyboy is a pipsqueak.

Darry doesn't spell all of this out, but he simply says he doesn't get it.

Miyagi, now that he thinks about it, gets really confused about something. "Why you work? Work is for the Father, not child."

Darry deflates and climbs back down to sit on the bottom rung. "Yeah, they're... they're gone. Car crash. It's just me and my brothers now. And the gang, I guess. I mean, they're about as close as we can have to a family, but... I just..."

In Darry's silence, Miyagi puts together what he's trying to say, both with and without words.

"You miss them?"

Darry nods.

"That why you work?"

Darry nods again, hands shaking. "Soda and me... We're all Pony has. They're all I have. Sure we're in a gang, but we're staying out of trouble as much as we can. We can't get in any trouble with the cops. I can manage just fine, but they'll... they'll go to a boys home."

Darry trembles, but Miyagi puts a hand on his shoulder.

"Little one. Pony the Boy. He love parents. He love you."

Darry fights a head shake as he chuckles. "All we do is fight. Barely see eye to eye most of the time."

"Try. Then try harder. He your brother. He need you. You need him."

Darry takes these words to heart when he gets home and finds Ponyboy asleep on the kitchen table, surrounded by homework and some books. I should mention that homework is complete and he's working on an art project, a protrait of Darry with a smile on his face. He sees the lines from where Pony messed up drawing said smile in order to get it right.

With a small smile, Darry carries Ponyboy to bed, resting him next Sodapop, who's awake enough to joke that they should put an ice cube in the back of his shirt.

Darry shakes his head.

The next day, even though they have a disagreement, a misunderstanding about what their parents would want or Pony being out late because it's dark and he's tired, and Darry, rather than let his fear and panic get the better of him, takes a figurative and literal step back, sitting in the armchair.

Ponyboy, confused and on edge because this is usually when they start yelling, also sits down, on the floor, though so they're facing each other.

Darry explains he understands that it was an accident, all the same he wishes that Pony was just a little more careful. Like Soda said, they're all they've got, blood-wise, and Darry doesn't want to lose anymore of his family.

Ponyboy nods, saying he'll try to be more careful, especially with the time. He also hopes that Darry gets that he never means for things like arriving home late to happen. Socs are notorious for crossing into Greaser territory, and while he says he'll be careful on the streets and outside, he admits he can't really help it if a mustang of Socs drive by and call him garbage.

Plus, he never reacts anyway. He's got brains, but he's admittedly at a loss of words, if/when they jump him.

Darry chuckles at that before getting up and crouching in front of Ponyboy, pulling him into a slightly awkward hug.

He tells him he worries about Pony because he's the baby of the family. He knows Pony can hold his own, but he's still the youngest. He's fast, but a mustang's faster. He's smart, but words are useless against a group of Socs with blades.

In the house and in the gang, Pony's the baby and he's off limits to getting punched or beaten, especially in practice Rumbles.

On the streets, however, he's just a kid. The Socs don't see him the way the gang does. To them, he's just a Greaser, someone they can pick on, all the easier because he's small. He wants Ponyboy to be safe, and the only way that can possibly happen is if he listens and does what he's told. It can get annoying and ot might rub him wrong, but it's because Darry loves him and wants to keep him safe, regardless of how well he can manage himself.

Ponyboy hugs him back, saying he isn't exactly Sodapop, he will slip up and things will happen because it's his bad, but he will try to be more careful. Goodness knows he's already made Darry grow enough grey hairs.

They continue to hug and say they love each other, even though their pains in each other's asses sometimes.

Since the weekend's coming up, and he's a teenager and not in trouble or getting yelled at, Ponyboy asks if he can see a movie with Johnny. He promises he won't stay out late, and will be back before curfew.

Darry snickers and says for Ponyboy's next birthday, instead of a book, he's getting Pony a damn watch. He then stands up and helps up Ponyboy, saying he can go, but all his work has to be done.

And to capture his cheeks next time Pony draws him.

They have a small mini session and share a side hug before Ponyboy goes off to his room to finish up his work.

They start getting along easier after this moment😁

[captainmazzic]

Saw The Last Episode this morning so I can finally have a dash again, apologies to the dozen or so blogs I unfollowed earlier so I could cope

anyway

star wars spoilers under the cut for my hot steaming rotting carcass of an oPiNiOn

Okay so it was... an okay movie. It moved too fast and tried to do too much and introduce too many brand new characters that could have been used better, but. The parts I liked, I LOVED. The parts I didn’t... well let’s just say that Star Wars will be Star Wars, and there’s nothing I can do about that other than cherry-pick what I like and leave the rest for the vultures.

The number one thing that bothers me is mostly just... It’s kind of been a calling card of Star Wars that

1. villains can never survive their arc, and

2. any villain with a redemption arc (whatever THAT is) has to die at the end of it regardless.

The exceptions being Big Bad Clones Of the Big Bad, which might survive their first arc but ultimately all die in the end, What A Twist. That’s just... how Star Wars does things. That and its penchant for insisting that physical deformity or disability somehow always implies an inclination towards evil, and that is just utter fucking bullshit and it needs to STOP. With that and the villain death thing - mostly the villain death - it’s been like that since the OT, since the EU, since the RPGs and the comics and the novels and the video games. There’s been like, maybe two or three exceptions to the rule, and most of those are in the video games and the RPGs and so are ultimately up to user choice, but mostly those choices are often not the “official” “canon” ones anyway.

and it really bothers me, and it always has. It’s the number one reason I write fanfic, to fix the bullshit like this that they keep putting in Star Wars. Just... honestly would it have KILLED THEM to forcibly haul Hux away kicking and screaming so he could Face Justice or some other rationalizing bullshit you KNOW Poe and/or Finn is totally capable of, only for Hux to be awkwardly hanging around the perimeter of all the Celebratory Festivities at the end? That would have been liquid GOLD.

And would it have KILLED THEM to have Force Healing, like, I dunno, NOT be some sort of zero sum bullshit? That’s not how it works! That’s not how any of this works! Both Rey AND REN should have survived! It’s drawing on the Force Itself, on the entire galaxy, not just your own personal life energy! *headdesk*

But I mean. I don’t want to focus only on the shit that bothered me. There’s lots I enjoyed.

1. FORCE SENSITIVE FINN. I will die on this hill

2. THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP oh my god I love the Finn/Poe/Rey dynamic they are PRECIOUS I honestly could watch a nine hour movie of nothing but banter and shenanigans and couch cuddles and I’d be so motherfucking HAPPY. Bonus points if Rose and Hux and Ren can just. Join in. I need a peoplepile STAT

3. TINY NEW DROID BABY oh no it’s cute

4. Finn’s hair is so fucking hot, y’all. I just. *fans self* is it warm in here?

5. Palps my man, r u ok. Like srsly. I just wanted to hold his gnarled up hands and make him take a nap, this man is Edgelord McDramaPants and I love/hate him so much. “I am all of the Sith” my dude my buddy my pal my friend, there are literally thousands of Sith standing around you, and no matter what you tell yourself you’re still like... average-powered compared to some of the Ancient Dark Edgelords of the Sith. I know you’re a megalomaniac but sit down eat a sandwich and chill, I’ll take you for a manicure

6. Speaking of thousands of Sith standing around -- FUCKING FINALLY SOME ACKNOWLEDGMENT THAT BANITE SITH ARE/WERE UTTER BULLSHIT I mean there was the Lost Tribe of the Sith and plenty of others underground and on the downlow scattered around the galaxy in old canon, but it was nice to have it up front. Can u imagine the sort of response some of my own Sith would have to an invitation/summons to a place like Exegol by the likes of Palpatine it’d be hilarious

7. Rey’s little nose scrunch will never not be adorable

8. I really. really. enjoyed the atmosphere on Exegol. I am also an Edgelord DramaDarkerton and fuck if the vibes on that world didn’t give me shivers. I love it. I love everything about it. The foggy barren landscape, the giant stark monoliths, the depths of (not quite) abandoned temples and monuments, the jagged throne, the chanting hooded figures, even the flashing lightning that threatened to trigger a seizure BUT IT DIDN’T SO I WIN AHAHAHA *cough* so yeah I love all of that and I really wanted more more moremoremoremoreMORE GIMME *grabbyhands*

9. They didn’t do much but just the fact that the Knights of Ren were there made me happy. Kinda wished they’d been more like a Ride Or Die honor guard, so WELP I guess that’s what they are now in Sarc’s Canon and that’s the only canon that mAtTeRs lolololol

10. “I’M THE SPY!” I love you, you precious, fucked up little man, come here

Anyway. It was a much better movie than The Last Jedi, imo, but there’s still a LOT that needs cherrypicking. So I’m just blithely going to say this is What Actually Happened, In The Star Wars According To Sarc:

Hux gets dragged along with Poe/Finn/Rey, whining and complaining the entire time, on a bum leg, because you KNOW Poe shot him in the leg anyway even if he planned on taking Hux with him. Because why not, right? the dickwad asked for it, after all.

Snap goes EV because he ejected at the last possible second and ends up shaken and battered but otherwise alright DO NOT TAKE HIM AWAY FROM ME TOO

The Knights of Ren recognized Ren as their rightful leader and were properly Ride Or Die with him, a man needs his honor guard after all

Ren’s Force Healing does the trick but since it’s drawing on the power of the Force itself, and not some zero-sum personal life energy shenanigans, it doesn’t make him mysteriously keel over and Die For No Reason. He just passes out and Rey has to haul his heavy ass back to the ship by herself. He doesn’t hear the end of it for months.

Reunions are both full of celebration, relief, and grief for those who have fallen, and also full of lots of awkwardness and uncomfortable glances at some of our Intrepid Villains suddenly being thrust in with all the Good Guysᵗᵐ and trying to cope. But they make it out okay in the end. Our new group of Awkward Friends hold a vigil for Luke, Leia, and Han before leaving Ajan Kloss.

And the Millennium Falcon launches out with a crew of seven. Rey, Poe, Finn, Rose, Ben, Hux, and Chewie - not quite yet entirely comfortable with each other but learning that sometimes the unlikeliest of friendships can blossom even from within the most bitter of enemies.

The end ah yes that was a good movie glad I can ignore this weird thing called canon lalalala (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

[ask-vaal-hazak]

And now from this room it's time to bring you a special segment called:

It's time for the dm to go on a Rant~

So buddy of mine wanted to do a homebrew dnd campaign. Hes not a first time dm(so he says). So I tried to help him out just in case (took none of the advice btw)

Mind you I wasn't trying to outright tell him anything just some basics like. Make sure you know xyz. You can use my books for xyz. Here are some websites for xyz, ect.

Ya know things and resources he can use right? Then he goes on and says

"If yall wanna use homebrew races thats cool"

So me being me. Make a jubilan. (A slime person.) Mine look like this. (Not my art btw)

Yes I know looks like a monster. It's a monstrous race. Even showed the dm stats and where I got it and the image you see above.

He asked for a background after telling me its gonna be like a futuristic campaign.

So I told him. I wanna be (this) im a gravaturgist. From the future (bc why not)

And I'm based off of a BLACK SLIME. And yes he know what one is. So dm proceeds to nerf me session 1.

How so?

I asked him can I be a rare breed. Like not many, being the race is rather reclusive he says ok. Then proceeds to. Make them a common race. Am I a bit peeved (kinda) do I get pissed? (Further in the campaign yes)

So dm makes me a super COMMON race. (Told him in my background my kind were becoming more common but still rare due to a goverment pact of the human monster alliance) and gives everything what seems to be a +5 against any intimidation I try.

I rolled a nat 20 and nothing. Not even to civilians. Nothing. Kids (cant even scare em) So moving on. Apparently due to my background or how I came into this world apparently I caused rips in space and time and now theres hundreds of drops across the city and other time travelers popping in.

(Mind you I asked him i was only making this background and character bc it seemed intresting but i wanted no one from my background to follow me as my whole reason is to get back to my time period)

Anyways dm literally makes a ripoff UMBRELLA (like resident evil) cooperation literally named. Shoe Rack.

*face palm* yeah. I even asked him if he was serious...guess what. He was -_-

Anyways. Dm tries to run the campaign using memes and crap tons of anime references (which I dont mind but. Ot every single encounter needs a jojo adventure refrence) and to top that off. He designs every encounter kinda half assed. What do I mean. Lemme give you the last 3 fights.

3 guards vs me (a wizard)

So after a few rounds (bc I love aoe and save or suck spells) the dm goes

DM "Ok I think well call it here)

Me "it's only been 15 minutes"

Dm "well you kinda blew through everything I had planned, I thought it would be harder"

Me "they only had 5 hp? I'm lv 3 I'm sure theres gotta be more than, go down a hall and theres 3 guards."

Dm "Ummm...."

Me "if ya need help or more time all ya gotta do is say you need time. (despite he has more than a week between sessions and more resources than i can count.)

Its been like this for the past 3 sessions. I dont wanna discourage the dude but its.....lazily written? Half assed? (Cant think of a way to put it nicely.

That image does it justice yep. Dumpster fire anyway. I dont know what to say to the dude. I mean I've tried but idk. I kinda feel like no dnd is better than well... all this mentioned above.

Anyways I just had to get that off my chest if anyone has any advice dont be afraid to say something. Now I gotta roll up another hb character for something someone else wants to do. The group seems nice but idk how to feel or if I should stereotype the group bc A Handsome teifling bard, a sexy seductive succubus, a depressed half elf and a chaotic evil monk (who for some reason is also a succubus in a bikini) makes up the new party......I kinda wanna see where it goes but at the same time....err I'm getting that dodge kinda feeling so imma just make an Umberhulk (maybe Eldritch knight or maybe sorcorer) as per RookZer0 on youtube and see where this takes me. Hopefully it's not gonna be some bs. Session starts tomorrow so here's hope to a better party and session. Also if anyone has any umberhulk names that sound weird and or bug like I'd also be happy to hear them.