#obviously more Buffy is great

[prose-for-hire]

Have we all heard about the reboot?

What are everyone’s thoughts ?! 💖

[redlyriumidol]

The Tallis hate is somewhat unwarranted imo. There are worse guys

[oveliagirlhaditright]

...

...

As I've mentioned a number of times, I LOVE how the Buffy and Angel tie-in books acknowledge each other. Like, these two bottom scenes are two of the "Wicked Willow" books referencing "Tempted Champions."

[kamaluhkhan]

read below the cut if you wanna know more about each option ;))

HER CANINE TEETH IN THE SIDE OF MY NECK (werewolf!vi x vampire slayer!reader)

slightly canon-divergent....basically set during pit fighter!vi arc except in this world we've got vampires! and werewolves!!!! (can you tell i've been rewatching buffy the vampire slayer and first kill???)

so reader is also a pit fighter -- they literally meet for the first time when they're competing underground. the next morning vi wakes up with a wicked hangover in some stranger's apartment and that stranger is you! and your dog! vi doesn't realize this yet but you saved her drunk ass from a vampire anyways, you invite vi to train with you and some other girls, which she denies at first but vi's eventually like,, tired of the whole lone wolf thing but still very scared to let people in after what happened with caitlyn,, so she joins somewhat reluctantly and you become friends ("whoever wins the most fights that night picks up the tab for the bar.") and vi maybe has a crush on you but she tries very hard to keep her identity a secret.....while you're also trying to keep the whole vampire slayer thing under wraps....perhaps unsuccessfully, but i don't want to spoil it hehe. i will however share this moodboard thing that i spent a bunch of time at work making

IS IT CASUAL NOW? (college fwb!vi x reader)

SO this is probably my most self-indulgent fic oops - it's kinda inspired by leighton's arc in sex lives of college girls season 1! basically, vi's on the varsity soccer team and after a series of unfortunate events (anger issues, bad breakup) is put on academic probation and has to volunteer at the women's centre or else she'd get kicked off of the team. she goes for her first shift and she's like...that president looks awfully familiar?? and reader's like, yeah, i work at that bar you keep starting fights in....so off to a great start. reader and vi don't really get along at first bc obviously vi doesn't wanna be there and reader is just not having it so there's TENSION. but then vi's like ,, oh this actually isn't so bad??? these ppl are kinda cool??? and maybe wait is reader kinda hot??? and reader's like....maybe this angry butch lesbian has a soft heart (vi is the definition of looks like she could kill you and she COULD but is also a huge cinnamon roll). eventually turns into a friends with benefits situation. (yeah, we bang on the couch.....yeah, she's knee deep in the passenger seat eating me out vibes). but then there are like moments where it's like....are we dating? like, reader will run into vi at the library where she's checking out feminist literature and reader's like...since when are you into this stuff? turns out vi is taking a gender studies elective so she can impress reader; vi starts showering at reader's place after practice bc she just really loves smelling like reader's shampoo, and reader keeps her fridge stocked with those energy drinks vi is obsessed with; reader wears vi's jersey to one of her games, meets her family, and they insist that reader join them for dinner to celebrate (i fucked you in the bathroom when we went to dinner!!! your parents at the table, you wonder why i'm bitter!!!); one night vi is worried when reader doesn't show up for her shift at work so checks in on reader and turns out she's having really bad period cramps and is like super stressed so vi stays in bed with her watching movies until she falls asleep and then cleans up her apartment (vi is such an acts of service person!!!); they both hate doing laundry so they do it together on a sunday morning after spending all of saturday night fucking. something about being happy doing laundry and taxes with someone (iykyk). spoiler alert, it'll end with the centre in dire need of funding so reader's scrambling to save it and one day reader sees vi talking to her ex and gets super jealous but then vi's like ,, babe ,, i was trying to convince caitlyn to get her family to donate and it WORKED !!! so ,, yeah ,, reader is convinced vi's the woman she'll one day make her wife (and she's more than happy to get down on her knees for her oop). the centre is saved and reader and vi confess their feelings for each other and live happily ever after <3

GLORY AND GORE (the hunger games au)

basically sapphic katniss x peeta. vi and reader are picked for the 74th annual hunger games ,, they do the whole fake relationship for the camera thing that eventually turns into them needing each other to survive in the arena...and then after they're like oh shit not only can i not survive without you, i don't wanna survive without you.

LIKE SOME MISPLACED JOAN OF ARC (spiderverse au)

vi is spider-gwen spider-woman! she's in college, plays drums in a band, has an internship at some lab and spends a lot of her time saving the city but there's the lingering guilt that she couldn't save you (canon event: losing their first love). one day she's fighting some villian and....a portal opens? and she's transported into another universe?? the only place she knows of for sure is her apartment and when she knocks on the door, her heart almost stops -- because you're the one who opens it. turns out in this universe, you're spider-woman, dealing with some demons of your own (two canon events rolled into one: losing their first love and not being able to save the life of a police captain....and your vi was an enforcer). basically you have to work together to get vi back home and maybe fall for each other along the way even though you both really really don't wanna go through losing the other and it seems like it's inevitable. but, fuck the universe, right?

[coraniaid]

how about an AU where cordelia stayed in sunnydale?

Oh, that's interesting.

I think that, in reality, if Cordelia hadn't left for Angel, she'd probably have ended up occupying a pretty similar place in the rest of Buffy to the role Anya ends up taking. Maybe not exactly the same one (I don't know if the writers would have had her and Xander get back together, for example, and obviously Cordelia isn't a former vengeance demon), but close enough that I'm not even sure that they'd have made Anya a permanenent member of the cast.

But, ignoring that, and taking Anya's ongoing presence in Sunnydale as given...

I think something has to happen to make Cordelia stay in Sunnydale, right? It's clear from Season 3 that she doesn't want to (see, for example, her reaction to finding out that Buffy got into Northwestern: "great! now you can leave and never come back! [I mean] get out of Sunnydale: that's a good thing"). I guess maybe the lazy option is just to have her trying to save up money to get into drama school somewhere? We already see her working at April Fools in Season 3, maybe she can keep doing that. Or maybe -- remembering Cordelia's role as Buffy's shadow -- her parents split up because of her father's tax issues and she ends up feeling she has to stay in town to help look after her mom? Or maybe put those two ideas together: Buffy's surprised to see that Cordelia's still in town, Cordelia tries as nonchalantly as possible to pretend she's still around for her own reasons and then we learn that she's putting her own ambitions on hold because she has to help her mom look for a new place to stay. And maybe that gives us a chance to explore some of the class issue stuff that Buffy as a show always skirts around but never really touches (how does Cordelia feel about now being in a position more like Xander than Buffy or Willow?).

I've complained about this before (more than once), but I think Cordelia being in Sunnydale is a great excuse to change how the gang react to finding out that Harmony is a vampire. I mean, say what you want about the show's approach to vampire lore, but it's pretty jarring how quickly everyone reacts to finding out that their former classmate died helping fight the Mayor and his minions in the same dismissive "haha, Harmony's always been an idiot" way; as if Harmony had 'decided' to become a vampire in a slightly embarrasing post-school life choice. It feels more in character for Buffy, Giles and Xander to argue that Harmony is dead and That Thing Is Not Her while Cordelia (just as in Disharmony over on Angel a season later) says "no, this is definitely Harmony, she's my friend". (Willow can still react in the same way as canon, sure; it's not out of character for her to dislike Harmony.) And I think it would help the maybe-demons-aren't-all-bad approach that the show obviously wants to go for if Harmony and Cordelia actually were friends this season. Like, Harmony herself still absolutely is evil and will hang around trying to feed on people heading home late from work in the dark -- but when she recognizes her intended victim is Cordelia she immediately drops the vamp face and they cheerfully walk back to Cordelia's place chatting about high school and how much they agree Xander sucks.

I think Cordelia would also help to push Giles out of his mid-life crisis a bit earlier than he manages in canon. Partly in the same way she does for Angel in his show. Sure, she can't fix everything going wrong in her own life but she can stop Giles sitting around feeling sorry for himself in his large house [much larger than some people's houses, she'll point out] and maybe push himself into finding an actual job more quickly. I think that would set up some tension with Anya later (when she gets a job at the shop Giles opens, a little ahead of canon) which I think would be nice to see. (I also think it would be fun to see Anya interact with Cordelia more generally, the way they did in The Wish when Anya was first pretending to be human. They are both pretty blunt speakers, after all, who both see themselves as being outside of the core Scooby Group, and it would be fun to see them commenting on things together. Or to imagine Cordelia's puzzled/disgusted reaction whenever Anya starts talking about how great Xander is and how much she enjoys having sex with him.)

Once we get to Season 5, I'd love to see how Dawn and Cordelia interact. As I think I've said before, I think they'd get on really well (and that this would annoy Buffy a lot). Dawn looks up to Cordelia as somebody a lot like her own sister before she became a Slayer (but infinitely superior because she isn't actually her sister), while Cordelia loves having somebody tell her how great she is and tells Dawn how much cooler she is than Buffy (and not entirely just to annoy Buffy). I think Cordelia might even replace Willow in some contexts (in particular, I think it parallels Cordelia instantly agreeing to drive Buffy home in Helpless if Dawn demands to stay at Cordelia's after Joyce's funeral and Cordelia instantly accepts even though we've already established she doesn't want anyone she knows seeing the reduced circumstances she's living in). Cordelia never interacts with Joyce in canon as much as Buffy's other shadow selves do, but she does seem to admire her [in their very limited exchanges]. Actually, maybe at some point in Season 4 Cordelia quits her retail job to go and work for Joyce at the art gallery? I mean, if Season 4 is (in part) about Buffy losing touch with her mother as she moves away from home, what better way to represent that than by having the character who represents Buffy's younger, pre-Slayer self start spending more time with her?

When Riley delivers his stupid ultimatum to Buffy in Into The Woods, Xander would still give his ridiculous speech to Buffy about how great Riley is and how this is all Buffy's fault, but Cordelia (who, it turns out, has views of her own on what to do when your boyfriend cheats on you and expects you to forgive him and take him back and indeed about whether you should take Xander Harris seriously about anything) would interupt and point out just how bizarre what Xander was saying was (and probably be the catalyst for him to realize that what he's saying applies far more to his own relationship with Anya). We cut to Riley waiting by his helicopter ready to go and pacify Central America for Christian missionaries [or whatever] when a female figure emerges from the woods ... Riley looks up, hopeful, but it's not Buffy. It's Cordelia ["what," she says, paraphrasing Gunn; "you were expecting somebody else?"]. Cordelia gets to give Riley a piece of her mind and tell him how great Buffy is [something she'd never tell Buffy, of course] and how badly Riley messed things up, and then she cheerfully waves him off as he leaves Sunnydale forever. [And, okay, yes, Buffy will still be upset about their relationship ending and she will still blame herself later when the topic comes up -- that's just who she is and how she approaches all of her romantic relationships. But at least we don't have to humor Joss Whedon's ego by pretending that she was right to do this and that her relationship with Riley was actually great all along.]

[604to647]

🥠Show your Blorbos🥠

make a post showcasing all of your blorbos and then tag some friends to do the same!! apologize for getting to your notifs so late 😅😅

Sorry for being soooooooo late (it's my thing?!) - thank you for the tags @baronessvonglitter @joelmillerisapunk @milla-frenchy @sawymredfox @ace-turned-confused @greenwitchfromthewoods @aurorawritestoescape - I love your Blobos too! Here are just some of mine!

Din Djarin - not my first Pboi (that was Oberyn!) or the one that brought me to PPCU fanfic (that's Pero!) but the savior of my sanity during the pandemic, AND he's responsible for my mask kink, glove kink, voice kink, reluctant dad kink, etc. What can I say? He's multi-talented? 🤭🤭

Javier Pena - ummmmm? Like hello??! This man is a tortured good heart wrapped in a tacvest 🤤🤤 I remember when I first started watching Narcos, and Javi's introduction was Steve telling the viewers that "this was the asshole" and I kept waiting for the asshole to emerge?! Sorry, where is this asshole? I just see a deeply feeling hot man committed to his job and hardened by circumstance?! Like, you got here 2 weeks ago, Steve, what do you know?!? 😂😂

Nomad Steve Rogers - and Nomad Steve Rogers, only. Tho Capt has always been hot, I liked him like this, a little (a lot) angry, rule breaking 🤭🤭 I cried when he shaved his beard off 😭😭

James Buchanan Barnes - now Bucky here is way more interesting than his bff 🤤🤤 Love me a competent man assassin, who's finding his way back to the light. Plus, he could choke me with that arm, thx.

Neo - The Matrix was groundbreaking and everything, not just Keanu, was visually stunning! But the thing I will remember most is Neo being the blueprint for devoted partner - not even the fate of mankind could keep him from saving Trinity 😭😭 His love for her is what broke the programming 😭😭

Tadashi Hamada - every time Baymax says something soothing and thoughtful, I just remember that Tadashi programmed him that way 😭

Faramir - first, let me say, book Faramir > movie Faramir (though both are great). The man REFUSED the ring?! He's as noble as Aragorn as far as I'm concerned *sigh*

Buffy Summers - I really don't think this needs explaining - she's the Slayer 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

Max Black - I love everything Kat Dennings does, but Max has my heart. She's hardworking, sassy, kind and can bake! My role model!

Matt Murdock - Okay wait, maybe my mask kink was already established 🤔🤔😂🤭

Obviously no tags because I'm like two weeks late, but if you see this and you haven't done it or want to do a part 2, please do!! 😘😘

[awinterrosesstuff]

I hate how Riley Finn is presented as the perfect boyfriend by the narrative. I know Joss Whedon wanted to show an "healthy" relationship between him and Buffy. And really he failed miserably.

If anything Riley is barely presented as a good boyfriend. Maybe in some instances, like when Buffy thinks of dividing herself in two and he answers that he wants the "whole" Buffy. He seems impressed by her strong personality when she stands against Maggie on Willow's behalf. Maybe it's also her loyalty that draw him to her. But I'm not sure about it. He's also very curious about her physical strength and her mission. And that's great (on the surface at least). I don't think he understands her mindset concerning the slay. It's a game for him. Not for Buffy.

And quickly, he becomes envious and jealous of her strength and powers. He wants to be the strongest of the two. He wants her to be dependent of him for protection and emotional support. It's particulary clear when he loses his purpose in the initiative. But it was already there before.

He's upset about ridiculous things, honestly. He's angry that Buffy got betwitted by Dracula as if it was her fault. Didn't he say in a scene that Buffy allowed Angel and Dracula to bit her and have an hold on her ? That's obviously what he's jealous for. He seems to think to think they had her in a way he never could. He goes to the vampires for that very same reason, to be bitten, to experience it in the first place. Then he stays because they "need" him. He's unhappy when Dawn confesses that she's glad her sister is with him because Buffy was always crying because of Angel. This scene always makes me upset. The teenager is happy for her sister and he's there wondering about Buffy's love for him.

It honestly feels like he dislikes some of the most important traits of Buffy. Her strength, her resilience, her independence, her mission... he wants her to rely on him more. He's upset that she doesn't allow herself to be vulnerable in front of him. To be fair, she doesn't want to be "weak" in front on anyone, but he doesn't care about it. He only cares about his own feelings.

He has insecurities (and actually that's important) but he blames it on Buffy. His jealousy, his envy, his cowardice, he selfishness... it never got properly adressed. When they have their confrontation, after she discovered about the vampires, he explains himself (finally) and blames her. He's really a moron for not talking to her before. I get it's hard. But he's the one being stupid in the room. Not her. His communication skills fucking suck. You could argue he didn't want to put more weight on her, but at this point of the story he could have told her.

What really matters to him is him... his feelings. And with the ultimatum, he only gets worse. Man, if you want to leave, then leave. It's not her responsabilty to choose for you. You're just acting like a child...

[outofangband]

Compiling some of my thoughts on the impact of Urwen’s death on Húrin and Morwen

I love/hate the dual effects it has on Morwen and Húrin.

For Húrin this is one of the first great losses in his life. His father dies in battle and that's obviously awful but it's not shocking in the same way. (Though I think that Húrin’s attitude, even from a young age as we see in Gondolin, that his kinsmen including himself will die in battle is a tragedy in itself)

This is his young child and he is completely helpless. He's a warrior and he can't do anything against disease and death. No matter how many of Morgoth's orcs he kills he can't bring his daughter back I think about that line from Buffy the vampire slayer about the slayer being helpless against death and disease...Húrin is not a man who likes helplessness.

We see viscerally his devastation in his breaking his own harp when he finds himself unable to articulate his grief through song and then striding outside to declare that he should like to meet Morgoth and injure him "as my lord Fingolfin". , this can easily be interpreted not only as a desire to injure Morgoth but a desire to die in the process.

(note: I talked about the aftermath of this for him here in response to an excellent post by @middle-earth-mythopoeia :)

For Morwen this is a grief on top of innumerable ones she has already suffered.

She is the survivor of a massacre that has killed nearly all of her people. She is without her home, her parents, most of her family. She has to learn an entirely new language and culture.

At this point, Morwen has been in Hithlum for over a decade now and after years, has been able to find family and to have a hope at her people surviving in some ways through her children. I imagine the possibility of future loss was forever in her mind; because of the trauma she has endured but also because from that trauma comes the simple certainty that nothing is assured.

And indeed, this weapon of the enemy reaches her house once more. Her children sicken and Urwen does not recover.

Morwen is still losing family to Morgoth.

Is it any wonder she "met her grief in silence and coldness of heart". I think for Morwen this feels the only possibility.

“But you live, son of Morwen, and so does the enemy who has done this to us.”

There is no other choice.

(Second note: I have some posts already but I’m going to make another one about the legacy of Lalaith’s death for Morwen)

[nimbusalba]

Neil Gaiman, my thoughts and my love for good omens

I already said something about all this deal with Neil Gaiman yesterday in another blog. But I still have Things To Say, so here it comes (with links to all the info):

Here is the article (thank you @procrastiel)

Here is a link to the podcasts for free (thank you @queermarzipan)

Here is the Xitter post with the accusations podcast thingy (thank you @embracing-the-ineffable)

Here is the transcript of the first podcast episode.

The Main Thing I Have To Say:

We need to separate the author from his work (and with this I’m not speaking only about Neil Gaiman). While we might not agree with some things about the author's life or thoughts, that doesn't mean we can not keep enjoying their work, as long as that work is not morally unacceptable, obviously. Let’s take the example of one of my favorite tv shows of all time (other than good omens): Buffy The Vampire Slayer (and with this I’m showing my age here, ahem). Buffy is a magnificent show, a wonderful exponent of feminism (strong female protagonist and secondary characters), diversity (one of the main characters is a lesbian), critical thinking, death, love, inner strength, battling your own demons… As we all know, accusations of harassment against Joss Wheddon appeared in 2020 and a lot of his work was left behind. I agree that knowing that the creator of something you love is an abuser breaks your heart. But that doesn’t mean that you have to stop loving that show, that it stops being a great work of art or that you should feel bad for still liking it. Buffy the vampire slayer is still one of my favorite shows and I still rewatch it from time to time (not on loop as I do with good omens, but that’s another problem). And why? Simply because in that show a lot of very talented people worked very hard to make it great, not just Joss Wheddon. And I appreciate it even more now knowing that the actresses and actors (and rest of the crew)  in the series didn’t have as good a time filming it as they should have. 

My take on this story:

I’ve already said that my first impulse is always to side with the victims in these cases, because they rarely lie and the accusations tend to be proven true in the end. In this particular case, for the time being, I’m waiting for developments, as the information that has transpired is fishy, to say the least. I’m not defending Neil Gaiman either, mind you. Maybe tomorrow we will find another 20 people accusing him of abuse. I don’t know him nor pretend to know what he’s done in his life. For the time being, as I said yesterday, this looks to me like consensual sex between consenting adults. That shouldn’t be news to anyone, even if the practices in themselves are not your kind of kink. It’s not on to have sex with someone who is working for you, of course, but still in this particular case that’s not exactly what’s happened. The woman in question (Scarlett) was a friend of the family, not strictly a worker. They already had a friendship relationship before turning it into a sexual relationship and a working relationship on top of that. With this I’m only trying to say that it doesn’t look like she felt forced to have sex with him in order to keep her job and she has said that the sex was consensual. The other victim has also said that even if she didn’t particularly enjoy the sex it was also consensual. 

It looks like both victims were pretty young when the relationships took place. It's true that younger people can have problems when it comes to place boundaries, and an older or more experienced partner could take advantage of that. It is also true that later in life, when that person is more experienced or has had time to think about things, they can think about what they did and feel uncomfortable with it, even though it didn’t feel wrong in the heat of the moment and they said nothing then. But, as far as I know, that's not sexual assault.

This looks to me as something that’s been designed to hurt Neil Gaiman’s public image. Maybe he’ll come out of it without any criminal charges, as he has already offered his help to the New Zealand police and they have refused to interrogate him for the time being, apparently because of lack of proof yet. But his public image has been tainted, not only because of the accusations, but because anyone who has their sexual life exposed and discussed publicly suffers a great deal of humiliation, even more so if their sexual practices are not exactly mainstream. With this I’m not implying that BDSM or any other kink is wrong, as long as it is being played by consenting adults. No judgment here, everyone has their own kink, and I don’t care as long as they don’t harm anyone (or if they want to be lightly harmed).

Keep also in mind that one is innocent until proven guilty and in this case there is not a lot of proof yet and the place the news is coming from is suspicious, to say the least. Wait for developments (and see).

Conclusion

So keep loving good omens, I know I still do, keep enjoying it, writing fanfic, drawing amazing art, writing metas and discussing about it. Because this show is still a brilliant show, in which a lot of very talented people worked very hard to make it the wonderful work of art that it still is and we shouldn’t dismiss all that work because someone wants to hurt one of the authors. 

(Edited because of wording)

[theresattrpgforthat]

Got anything that lets you play as monsters (vampires/monsters/etc) in the modern world in the vein of VTM? Ideally something in the PBTA/FITD area of system, but open to others for sure (: Thanks as always for your recs!!

THEME: Urban Monsters

Friend, the difficulty with this post isn’t that I don’t have recommendations for it - it’s that I’m trying to find recommendations that I haven’t talked about ad nauseam to this point. So I hope you don’t mind a fairly extensive “Past Recommendations” at the bottom of this post, because most of the PbtA games I know of are going to be there. I have limited experience with Vampire: the Masquerade, but I’m a big fan of Changeling: the Lost and other World of Darkness games, so I’m going off of general knowledge rather than specifics.

Bubblegum Vampires / Bubblegum Wizards 2, by Gormengeist.

You're a vampire in an infinite urban cauldron of muck and rot, of psionics and wizards, of danger and shadows. Though you are surely terrible, great, horrifying, (etc.), half the day is an enemy to your people; so set forth through the night to make your coin, secure your dwellings, and vanquish your infinite enemies.

You're a wizard who chews bubblegum and collects trading cards. That is to say, cards with the trapped souls of items and enemies within, obviously. An insignificant wizard in an infinite city has lots to prove and you've got to get help somehow. Break heads, steal money, drive stupid, chew gum, trap souls. Simple as.

Neon-Bright art and d6-based rolls, that’s what’s common across both of these games. This is the same world, but you’re living in two different spheres of it, depending on which game you play. As wizards, you collect spell cards that hold the souls of creatures you’ve vanquished, and use them to get yourself out of sticky situations. As vampires, you accrue vampiric powers through blood sacrifice, and your opponents are usually folks with especially tantalizing veins. Both games have various factions that have different goals than you, so if what you like about Vampire: the Masquerade is the amount of different ideologies that have the ability to fuck you up, you might like this game. Thematically, it looks a little more upbeat and pulpy than your typical V:tM game, but if you like one, you have another game in the same system ready to go.

The Hidden, by Dragons Are Real.

As children our parents read us fairy tales, ghost stories and recounted local myths. We’ve always assumed these stories are told to entertain or scare….what if these aren't just stories….everything you have been told is true. 

The creatures from fairy tales, mythology and folklore all exist.  Have you ever thought you saw something strange out of the corner of your eye but when you look again all looks normal. These creatures live in plain sight, unseen by the majority of people, only those who know they exist see them in their true form. Every culture has a name for these creatures but we know them simply as The Hidden.

The Hidden is a modern urban fantasy game powered by the Breathless RPG. It is inspired by such media as Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Constantine and The Dresden Files.

Another pulpy sort of game, the Breathless system that powers The Hidden is great for replicating diminishing resources, putting your characters in more and more difficult situations every time they pause to take a breath. This makes this game great for horror-style stories, and World of Darkness games firmly find a home in the horror genre. If you want something that’s fast-paced and can cover a lot of ground in a short session, The Hidden might be for you.

Tween Wolf, by Ibi Deficit Orbis.

Tween Wolf is a micro-RPG about middle schoolers experiencing both the fantasy of being exceptional, and the fear of being humiliated. As these kids come to terms with their awkwardly developing human bodies, they will also be faced with lycanthropy. And in the process they will experience supernatural heroism and intense shame—and learn to manage both.

It is designed to be played with a bent towards exploring the unforgiving social cruelty of middle school, self-image, and dysphoria. It requires one Game Master, 1 to 4 additional players, a few hours, one six sided die for each player, and two additional six sided dice for the table to share.

This is a very short game, with very few rules and a big focus on trying to keep your wild side under wraps. If what you like about WoD games is the struggle between the monstrous and the human, this might be the game for you. There’s not nearly as many big moral quandaries as there are in typical WoD games - you’re middle schoolers, not eons-old bloodsuckers - but to a middle-schooler, your problems are massive. I feel like the movie Seeing Red might be a good touchstone for this game.

Glamour of Our Youth, by Yuri Runnel.

Glamour of Our Youth is a roleplaying game based on the Forged in the Dark system. Drawing inspiration from media like Riverdale, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina among others, it works to tell stories of supernatural teenage adventures.

Building on the FitD framework, Glamour serves to tell exciting stories with high stakes, putting the youths through their paces as they try to make their way through a strange and hostile world, struggling with conflicts both internal and external, arcane and mundane. 

This game doesn’t cast your characters as specific supernatural beings, but the character options certainly make it possible. You cobble your character together from two different halves: Archetypes and Arcana. Your Archetype hails from classic high school cliques, such as Rebel, Outcast, Socialite and Athlete, while your Arcana details your supernatural ability, including Shapeshifter (which might translate to werewolf), Oceancaller (which you could turn into a selkie) or Shadow (which feels rather ghost-like to me). There’s also plenty of ways to play a teenage mage.

This game is in playtest, but it’s considerably far a long, with recent updates that indicate that the crew is hard at work refining the final product.

Protect the Child, by MintRabbit (that’s me!)

Humans have always been protective of their young, sometimes overly so. Humans have also always feared that which might make their young strange or different, and so insist that only humans can raise their own young. Monsters cannot raise human young. This is known. You have a human baby. You cannot find its parents. What is even worse, is that this child has powers, powers that others covet, and so everyone wants it. If you want to prove that you’re not the heartless monster that everyone says you are, that means you’ll have to raise it, at least until you find someone who is better suited to it than you.  You are creatures of fur, scales and fangs. You have claws that can rend flesh, faces that can crack mirrors, howls that can cause ears to bleed.  And your charge wants a blankie.

Protect the Child is a Forged in the Dark game about monsters caring for a young human, a human who contains strange and mystical powers that make them a valuable asset in any monster crew. The setting and factions present in this game are flexible: you might be aliens in a far-flung future galaxy, fantasy monsters from rival kingdoms, or even everyday wild animals that fear human society. 

So I’ve only just started play testing this game, which means that it’s very much in barely-playable mode. This game is also setting-agnostic, meaning that you can decide exactly when and where your game takes place - including as modern-day monsters trying to take care of a human baby with magical powers. The game is very specific in the themes of the story you’ll be telling - that is, themes about monstrosity, parenthood and responsibility, but if you all want to play different kinds of vampires, you can absolutely do that!

BloodLite, by ruan8000.

BloodLite is a role-playing game (RPG) designed to be played solo, but can be played in a group. In this game, you will create a Vampire following the rules and you will also create the world that this vampire interacts with, as well as the conflicts and obstacles that he will face. The world in BloodLite is like ours, but a little darker and more dangerous, full of supernatural creatures.

This game has no ties to PbtA or FitD, but it cites Vampire: the Masquerade as a direct inspiration, and you can see it in the Bloodline options available at character creation. You have a supernatural gift that give you advantages and also trigger your Hunger, which is your character’s thirst for blood. The goals of the game are represented through an Oath track, which fills when you fight enemies, overcome obstacles, and solve problems. This a fairly stripped-down game, but if you’re familiar with V:tM, then you probably won’t have a problem filling the world with factions, back-alley deals, and political wars.

Hearts of Yokai, by Lowell Francis.

So, this game isn’t out yet. But I can’t stop myself from talking about it a little bit. It’s the product of a Changeling:The Lost PbtA hack that Lowell has been working on for a very long time. I’ve been a bit fan of Changeling: the Lost and I also love PbtA games so I’m really excited to see more of this.

The link in the title leads to the current google spreadsheets that detail the current content of the game and the associated playbooks. The link for Lowell is to a blog post he wrote about the game, talking about the history, the changes he’s made, and the ideas behind what the current iteration is. What really intrigues me is how it incorporates "the actions of the Gentry through the lens of colonialism.” I’m really eager to follow the progress of this game.

Games I’ve Recommended in the Past

Urban Shadows 1e, by Magpie Games.

Bite Marks, by Black Armada Games.

Monsterhearts 2e, by Buried Without Ceremony.

Strays, by kumada1.

Eldritch Investigative Drama Rec Post

[xaeyrnofnbe]

hmmmm so i've been taking in a good amount of vampire media in recent years, mostly stuff my mom got me into (she's big into certain flavors of vampire stuff), and i've started thinking really hard about something

there are some pretty similar romances in twilight and btvs (edward and bella, buffy and angel), in that they're both about a teenage girl dating a REALLY melodramatic vampire who stalks her creepily. these are both obviously hella problematic, though imo they get a pass bc that's kind of part of why vampire romances are popular and i'm not gonna get into whether or not that's ok (i think it's fine but that's irrelevant to this discussion) but i think it's interesting how they're problematic in similar, but also very different ways. and it's got me wondering which one is more or less okay by general social standards

so like. buffy and angel are a human and a vampire. when he first starts stalking her, she's 15, and they start dating like a year later when she's 16. not great, especially cause he's over 200 years old. not great. he was watching her through her window before she even knew he existed. also he was turned when he was in his mid-late 20s. also not great.

bella and edward are in a similar situation, though they already knew each other by the time he starts showing up in her room while she sleeps. all creepiness happens AFTER he first interacts with her (source: my mom when i asked her just now). and him stalking her is once they're already together-ish. he's a little over 100, but he was turned at 17, which makes him about as age-appropriate as a century-old vampire dating a 16-17yo can be.

which MIGHT make it seem like edward has a leg up on angel in terms of morality (in terms of romance specifically, not including any past evil actions or evil alter egos), but angel and buffy actually have an advantage here as well

edward is a strong, fast, psychic, sparkly monster that craves human blood. bella is a regular-ass human person, and not even a very good one at that. he has a SIGNIFICANT advantage over her in pretty much every way, up until him turning her but i'm focusing on the initial relationship here. and there's a HUGE power imbalance. which, though sexy to some, is far from being a safe situation safe for bella. she is in terrible danger every second she's around edward just on power alone, not to mention she is extra super duper delicious-smelling to him. he wants to eat her BAD.

whereas angel, though a decently powerful vampire in his own right, is considerably disadvantaged when compared to buffy. buffy is the VAMPIRE SLAYER. she ALSO has enhanced strength and healing, and doesn't even have to resist the urge to eat people, as she's still technically human. the only reason she would be unable to defend herself from him is her own feelings. physically, she can overpower him quite easily. they can both certainly hurt one another, but angel is the one who's at the most risk of death.

so i guess the biggest question is which is more of an issue: an extreme and dangerous power imbalance but the ages are excusable, or a creepy stalker man dating a young girl who can easily defeat him?

[pzyii]

Would like to hear more about the black Buffy au 👀

okay so like. There’s a lot to say about it , because it’s ultimately a part of my whole buffy rewrite/ redesign/(modern?) au (which is both fixing stuff I’m bothered with and a way to collect a bunch of head canons and just be more free with these characters). Tho I do also just see her as black at this point and draw her as it even if it’s not directly related to this au.

I got caught up in it and it’s all long so it’s all under the cut

it started with me drawing her as black once, I think it was prompted by a TikTok of someone who was giving heavy buffy vibes. But when I did, it really stuck with me. These are for various reason. One of the main ones, honestly? Racism in this show.

Like I get that it was the 90s but that doesn’t excuse it. There are obviously a lot of examples, the lack of characters of colour being a big one. But Buffys racism towards Kendra is another one, as well as the first slayer only communicating through Tara, a white woman in restless. The way they talk about Romani culture and people isnt good either (and something I’ve been working on how you can make the story work still), neither is ampata and def more examples I can’t think of now.

but it isn’t just about that, and it’s not just about representation. But rather the concept of buffy the vampire slayer itself. The idea of a woman who always is the one hunted and killed in horror movies turning around and just killing all the monsters. Yeah this fits a blonde woman but it sure also fits a black woman. (another part of this is people underestimating buffy, both her enemies but also the people around her. They think she’s stupid, that she’s not strong etc. When she very much isn’t. This is yet again something that while fitting the stereotypes of a blonde woman, but also fits, a lot better today too, with a black woman. Or any woman of colour. To point out an obvious of example of this, we for example have Annabeth Chase in Pjo. Who’s intelligence and capability was underestimated in the books because she was blonde, but makes even more sense with her being black)

but onto the fun stuff!!! Idk exactly whattt you wanted anon but I’m giving you some insights into what I’m working on on and off right now. So Buffys not the only one getting redesigned with this, obviously her family, Dawn and Joyce’s appearances are gonna change. But other characters too, this both being connected to what I said about head canons, but also Xander for examples prob gonna change a bit, he’ll still be a brunette, probably the same height and similar build but he won’t look a lot like Nicholas Brendon. This is because well. I want him to look like a kid!!! All of them, while they’re teens I want them to look like it, and hopefully if my art capabilities go that far, that they look visibly older by the end of it.

this au is my baby so I’m gonna share some random notes of like character design changes.

This is one of those very affected by hcs and personal preferences. A lot changes about willows appearance, she’s a bit taller(I want her to look too tall for herself, she’s all awkward, doesn’t look like she fits in her body), she has freckles (she’s ginger), there will be some changes on her body from magic (and other injuries but lots of magicks stuff, it’s reminders, SCARS) aND her hairs naturally curly but she straightens it, at least in early seasons (this is like 100% personal preference, but it’s also like…. I have things that fit and I wanna explore with it….) and so forth.

Anyas pretty similar because I just think Emma fits real well but she’s less.. human. I have a bunch and more to go in vengeance demon lore but I want her to be Different than human, having been a vengeance demon Changes You. Her ears are pointed (great for expressions, also applies to vampires), she has goat eyes (classic demon move, also fits the Almost Human thing.), her teeth are pointy (it’s fun, she’ll naw your arm off if you steal)

As a final example, that’s actually related to the black buffy aspect of the au. Drusilla. She’s also black. This design is pretty recent, and was created by me both because I wanted to explore the concept of different ways to convey her vibe, but also, and mainly, because she’s a buffy parallel. History wise there’s some things to work out with it but it’s def a design I’m stuck with at this point. (She is supposed to parallel buffy in every way, sharp edges against soft curves). Also she’s really fucking tall. (Taller than spike, which is the most important part of it)

also bonus, given about the whole modern? Au Aspect of it

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Tuesday, February 4

BUFFY: I think it's time for you to go. SPIKE: Yeah, well, can't. Daylight. BUFFY: Okay. I'll go. SPIKE: I'll get the door. BUFFY: Fine! SPIKE: Fine! BUFFY: I'm actually trying to move right now. SPIKE: Me too.

~~Buffy Season 6 Episode #114: "Older and Far Away"~~

The Sunnydale Herald is looking for a new editor. Contributing to the Herald is a great way to get your Buffy on! Find out more.

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Stirring (Joyce, Spike, G) by apachefirecat

[Chaptered Fiction]

Love is Loss Ch. 3/5 (Faith, E, Hazbin Hotel xover) by patriciatepes

hit rewind Ch. 92 (Buffy/Spike, E) by untiljanuary

Devil Inside Ch. 5 (Buffy/Willow, M) by Xyex

The Choice To Stay Ch. 19 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Spikelover4ever

The Buffy Chronicles: Life After Sunnydale Ch. 31 (Buffy/Spike, E) by sweetmelodykiss

Perfect Clarity, Chapter 25 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Joan963z, Ragini

Bound, Chapter 65 (Buffy/Spike, E) by RavenLove12

Guitar Villain , Chapter 8 (Buffy/Spike, E) by RavenLove12

Animal I Have Become, Chapter 9 (Buffy/Spike, E) by CheekyKitten

The Broken That is Lost Amidst Stardust Ch. 7 (Xander, E, Star Wars xover) by ShadowMaster

[Images, Audio & Video]

Artwork: Buffy/Harmony Comics () by sideartblog999

Artwork: Buffy/Faith () by sideartblog999

Video: Willow - I Am The Darkness () by Buffy & Spike Channel

[Reviews & Recaps]

S01E03 the witch by poetryarcade

PODCAST: Episode 136: Grave by Mythtaken

VIDEO: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season One | Analysis & Breakdown by Passion of the Nerd

[Community Announcements]

Tuesday, February 11 - Promotion Day by fic-promptly

[Fandom Discussions]

i haven’t seen a lot of people talk about buffy’s experience in faith’s body during who are you? by thisyearsgirl3

Rewatching Buffy The Vampire Slayer, extending the “magic is a queer metaphor” by in-aether-case

it’s so awesome that riley doesn’t become remotely interesting until his last like three episodes lmao by dykekingofhell

Just amazing how little internal consistency the memory spell in Tabula Rasa has. by defectivegembrain

the real tragedy of buffy particularly in early seasons is that she’s convinced she’s not a normal girl dealing with normal girl things by frogs-in3-hills

Obviously been thinking about Buffy a lot with the revival by kat--writes

I really do think that the majority of the Buffy fandom downplays the importance of Buffy’s relationship with her mother by coraniaid

Something Im noticing while watching older shows (DS9 and Buffy) by kvothbloodless

I didn’t want to say anything about the reboot. by girl4music

Do you consider Buffy woke?! by niambikm

This new show isn’t gonna be Buffy 2: Electric Boogaloo by cosmos0001

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Novels – Recommendations? by Rehboogie

I just finished rewatching the first three seasons for the first time as an adult. by edd6pi

Did Watcher Jr. (undergraduate journal for buffy + whedon shows) shut down? by BriaFaustian

What's something a Buffyverse character or the writers receive from a good portion of the fandom that you feel is unwarranted? (Credit or praise, hate, love, extreme criticism, making excuses, etc.) by PristineSituation498

Should the supernatural world be public knowledge for the sequel spin off? by speashasha

Am I the only one who thought Buffy was unreasonable in Empty Places? by PlaneAutomatic4965

Are there actually some well done HD remasters of Buffy out there? by shukii89

I never understood how Bangel stans can call Riley BORING when Angel is literally Mr. Cardboard by jdpm1991

Season 4 Riley Finn is so dreamy!! by CanisLupusBaileyi

Just look through the pictures already! by Public-Childhood8848

The CEO of Rome Wolfram and Hart is a real life vampire by WerdNerd88

Spike’s Soul by s4071002

Passion of the Nerd does a season 1 analysis of Buffy by WerdNerd88

Smile Time to Not Fade Away is one of my favorite stretch of episodes in a season in the BuffyVerse by jdpm1991

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Never Needed a Sequel by thethreepennyguignol

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[musingsfromthelagoon]

This is what I personally think about the characters in Buffy and their queerness/relationship to queerness because I don’t want to have to get out of bed yet:

Buffy: is bisexual but has a bunch of internalized homophobia for kind of a long time, mostly aimed at herself. Had a fuck ton of homoerotic relationships in middle and high school but considers them to be very close friendships and bristles at the idea of anything romantic that might have played a role in them. She doesn’t really have to confront her queerness until she meets Faith. Eventually comes to terms with herself, but it takes a while.

Oz: Oz is definitely queer but I don’t think he really thinks about it much. They’re just sort of ready to be attracted to whoever, and when it happens he’ll just be like, well okay. Guess I like that person. Also they use they/he and are nonbinary. I think of them as the kind of character who could be transmasc or transfemme or neither and it doesn’t really matter—they’ve definitely got some kind of weird fucked ho gender thing going on.

Giles: also bisexual, realized in college and just accepted it about himself without really thinking or talking about it too much. Probably knew that all of his adopted children are queer and laughs at them privately for not figuring it out yet.

Angel: bi but I don’t want to talk about him because he is annoying.

Spike: bisexual!!!! Adamantly so!!! Full of transgender angst. Could be genderfluid, a trans man, non-binary, any combination thereof, I’m not sure. Not cis though. Definitely not cis.

Xander: UHHHHHHHHG. Bisexual but homophobic and biphobic, and more vocal about it than Buffy ever would be. Says no homo to an excessive degree. Anya tries to help him accept himself and he does not listen. Goes to great lengths to prove that he is straight.

Forrest: Gay. So gay. Madly in love with Riley. I wish he hadn’t died.

Drusilla: bisexual and transfemme. I love her so much. So so so much.

Faith: obviously bi I don’t even really have to talk about this one.

Dawn: straight. Uhk.

Willow: lesbian but I refuse to say that this invalidates her relationship with Oz who again is nonbinary and chill with Willow being a lesbian but also being attracted to him.

Tara: GAYGAYGAYGAYGAY.

Anya: Anya is omnisexual. She probably has a preference for guys but sort of like Oz, is happy to accept whatever attraction comes her way.

Cordelia: I think that Cordelia is asexual but still happy to have sex when she wants to. Also she is autistic. Oh! So is Anya. And Oz and Spike have ADHD. If anyone was wondering.

Basically everyone is gay.

[coraniaid]

🔥 Cassie Newton? Never hear much about her wondering your thoughts

I like Cassie a lot. (I hope that's not an unpopular take.)

I think I've written a bit on here before about how much I like Help. I'm not sure it's objectively quite the best Season 7 episode, but it's exactly the direction I think Season 7 should have committed more seriously to going in. We get all these fun nods and references back to previous episodes from the high school seasons -- Beauty and the Beasts and Reptile Boy and Prophecy Girl being the obvious ones -- only this time from a more adult perspective, with Buffy in the role that Giles or Joyce or Season 3's school counsellor Mr Platt or Season 1's supportive teacher Dr Gregory would have had. It would have been great to see more of the kids Buffy's trying to mentor down the line (I know we do see Amanda again), or to bring back Kit and Carlos from Lessons, but even in isolation Help stands up.

Cassie herself is very, very strongly coded as a proto-Buffy, from the way Buffy describes her as "special"to the circumstances of her parents divorce. The way she talks to Buffy on first meeting her echoes the way Buffy talked to Joyce about her own (lack of) future when she was trying to get out of facing the Master. The way she turns down her friend Mike's invitation to the Winter Formal mirrors the way Buffy turns down Xander when he asked her to go the Spring Fling. Her second speech to Buffy and Xander outside her dad's house ("You think I want this? You think I don't care?") calls to mind Becoming and Buffy being outed as a Slayer to her mom ("Do you think I chose to be like this?"). And of course there's the fact that when Buffy goes to Spike for help saving "a girl" who's in danger, Spike assumes she's talking about herself, and she has to correct him and explain that "It's not me, it's a different girl".

So, yeah, I like Cassie. I'm primed to like her, of course, but I think she's written well for a one-shot (sort of?) character and I think Azura Skye gives a good performance in the role. I'm not surprised that the writers had her come back when they needed somebody to play the role of The First Evil in Conversations With Dead People.

That being said, my hot take -- or at least a somewhat warmer than room temperature take, anyway -- is that Cassie is kind of misused in that second episode. I get that she is there because the writers couldn't get Amber Benson to come back and play Tara, but ... well. I actually went back to watch Help the other day, and it's noticeable that -- although she helps out a little with research -- Willow never even sees Cassie in person. She's the only one of the group who doesn't ("it's kind of weird because we never really met", as the episode has Cassie herself put it). So her appearing on behalf of Tara seems a little off in ways that I don't quite buy, even ignoring that she isn't really doing that.

There isn't any good in-universe reason given for the First not to be able to take Tara's form, or at least use the form of somebody dead Willow actually knew, so -- given that Amber Benson wasn't coming back -- I think probably they should have just dropped Willow's meeting the First on screen altogether. Have Halfrek appear to Anya instead, or have Jesse (or Larry!) come back to talk to Xander. Or, if you do decide you need the Willow scenes for the information it gives the audience about the First, pick ... well, Season 4's Veruca, maybe? Harmony? Somebody Willow had an actual connection with while they were alive. (I know none of those options are great either, if you want the First to try to pretend to be friendly at first, but you don't need to do that. ) Jenny Calendar would have worked, of course, but obviously that was even less likely to happen than Tara coming back.

No, Cassie should have appeared to Dawn instead. Cassie was Dawn's friend, after all, and Dawn was affected by her death more than anybody else we see. Cassie (as the First) could have been the one to tell Dawn that Buffy wouldn't "choose her", if that's the angle you really want to go with. (I know I am a big Joyce Summers defender, but I don't think Kristine Sutherland needed to be in this episode; and I think the fake-out that this might not be the First at all but instead be the 'real' Joyce somehow is needlessly confusing and doesn't add much to the show).

It's only barely tangentially related to your ask, but perhaps my real hot take here is that, while I do think Conversations... is a very good episode, I think it's good almost entirely because of the Buffy and Holden Webster scenes. Not only the Willow and Cassie parts but also the Dawn and Joyce scenes aren't really at the same level, in my view. Dawn and Cassie would have worked better.

[bloomfish]

there are obviously a lot of intended parallels in season 2 between buffy and drusilla, the most obvious of these being that they share a birthday (although I always wonder if what drusilla calls her 'birthday' isnt really the day angelus turned her, which still works given that it's the day angel loses his soul and leaves buffy for drusilla basically) and that they both have prophetic abilities.

but thinking about this more I honestly think that buffy as a vampire would be pretty similar to drusilla. it's implied that angel's end goal was to do to buffy what he'd done to drusilla... before he got randomly sidetracked by acathla (which the more I think about it the more out of character the acathla plot seems, idc though its good drama). and obviously buffy's great loves and drusilla's great loves are the same two losers lol. it makes me wish there had been... any real interaction between dru and buffy. I rly wish she had returned to the show, what a waste of a great character not to bring her back except in flashbacks/the first.

anyway i think it's significant that drusilla as a human begged to stay "pure and good" before angel turns her and takes her "innocence", the name of the episode in which he does the same thing to buffy. he was drawn to them both for the same reasons and ended up ruining their lives. And then spike is just a sub who is drawn to powerful women who treat him like dirt but that's his problem/mommy issues. Dru and Buffy have veeery similar relationships with both Spike and Angel now that I think about it. and I'm willing to bet that Drusilla has a very Buffy-ish sense of loneliness and isolation due to her powers, which is why she's so obsessed with getting her family back together.

capricorn aquarius cusp

strengths: Determined, creative, entertaining, idealistic, witty, empathetic weaknesses: Detached, chaotic, selfish, aloof, critical, judgmental

hmmmmm