#or at least dnd adjacent?

[seraphicsmilodon]

What if kobolds were the draconic equivalent of house fae? (Lair fae?)

Kobolds just show up in a Dragon's lair one day and start doing chores. Polishing the hoard while the dragon sleeps, slowly excavating at the lair walls so that each chamber and tunnel maintains the same size relative to the dragon as they grow, that kind of thing.

They're harmless, as long as nobody compliments them or tries to pay them wages. Woe betide the dragon who does.

[canadiankazz]

@maddieandherboobs

Have you played MOUSE GUARD ?

By Luke Crane and David Peterson

Become cloaked, sword-wielding mice going on adventures. Very Redwall-series vibes.

(Not to be confused with Mausritter)

[creatingblackcharacters]

re: Warhammer anon. I'm into mini painting (although I'm more into fantasy minis used in dnd and adjacent games), and inclusivity is a big issue I've encountered when looking for new models to print.

The vast majority of prints are clearly fitted for white people with european features, and majority of paint jobs (and tutorials as well!) only cover painting lighter skintones. Most of already rare POC models are either Chinese/Japanese, or most orientalist depiction of Western Asia possible.

I can count on one hand all miniatures with Black people I've ever seen.

I'm less familiar with Warhammer specifically, but from quick search, the inclusivity is also non-existent here.

I don't think I'm qualified to give proper advice, but I would love to see representation of POC (and especially Black) people in miniature painting scene. At least because it doesn't exist.

Well in that case! You can follow doll painters! Obviously they're not gonna have the same models, but the tips on how to obtain darker skin and types of hair and such will help you there! There has to be at least ONE Black fan of DnD that does or is into model modification. You might just have to do some digging!

But yeah, part of that issue of representation is "is it safe/inclusive to BE in this space". We have to talk about that from within; if your space is not inclusive of Black people, of course they're not going to be there! Even this reddit I found that discusses Black models (which could also have some resources; I saw some links); there was another thread in it that was getting down voted specifically because it mentioned the desire to even have Black models 😭 so if that's my first impression, I'm sure it isn't that great.

Part of breaking into that is being willing to start, like I said. Even if you just say "hey, I want to see more Black fans enjoying this media and more representation in it; here's my attempt at this", you might make someone change their mind, or even a Black fan might see it and feel like it's worth staying around.

You got to be willing to deal with the hardship that comes with though; being openly inclusive of Black people- and saying out loud what that means- often puts a dent in your creative career, which is why so many creatives dodge it altogether. And based off that little I saw, they might not be so nice.

But if that's what you want to do, if you want to make that change... You just gotta do it! Know what it is you want to do, know how to make that change respectfully, and start. I'm excited for you, actually. I wish I had more advice.

[steddieas-shegoes]

frankie

for @corrodedcoffinfest prompt 'freak'

rated t | 930 words | cw: temporary character death | tags: canon-adjacent events, frankie pov, eddie munson lives

🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴

Frankie doesn't think he's a freak. He knows he's not the typical teenager, but he definitely knows there's weirder dudes out there.

Take Eddie Munson, for example. He's fuckin' weird.

He knows people call him a freak for a lot of reasons: he's got long hair, likes heavy metal, plays DnD, and is allegedly queer.

Frankie stays under the radar as much as possible, but he ends up at Eddie's table, sitting next to his one and only friend, Jeff. Eddie's starting a DnD club, needs people who are serious about playing long campaigns. He's a senior and "wants to leave a legacy."

Jeff convinces him to try it out.

He tries it out.

He has fun.

He becomes a freak, too.

And, actually, Eddie isn't really a freak. He's eccentric, sure, but he's definitely not what everyone implies when they call him that.

He's kind in his own way, inviting to people where most other kids at school have their cliques and don't let anyone else in. He's funny, too, sometimes completely unintentionally.

His Uncle is nice enough to let them use their trailer for campaigns, at least until Eddie is able to convince the school to let them use the storage room in the auditorium. They have to fight for space, especially when it comes time for the end of year drama club performance.

Frankie doesn't think much about what will happen when Eddie graduates. He assumed Jeff will run the club since he's Eddie's right hand man.

But Eddie doesn't graduate.

Frankie starts to get into the same music as him, no longer worried about wearing his Black Sabbath shirt to school. It's just music.

He doesn't worry about shaving his head, letting his natural curls grow out a little.

Maybe he's more of a freak than he thought, but it doesn't bother him when he hears others whisper it under their breath. Eddie wears it like a badge of honor, and now he does too.

****

When the news reports that Eddie is the suspect in the murder of Chrissy Cunningham, Frankie knows they've got it wrong.

Eddie is a lot of things, he's a freak, he's different. But he's not a murderer.

He's also gay as fuck, and while very few people know that, Frankie knows he had no intentions with that girl other than to sell to her. Maybe he should have been more careful, but he's gotten away with it this long. Eddie never pushes anything on anyone, only sells to those who seek him out, so there's no way she wasn't the one who wanted drugs.

It seemed to Frankie like a wrong place, wrong time situation for all involved.

Eddie was missing, which means he got scared and ran, and Frankie isn't sure what that means for any of them.

Everything is hanging in a weird balance for days.

Gareth swears he saw him in an RV when his parents dragged him to The War Zone, but no one believed him. Frankie didn't not believe him, he just figured Eddie was probably already out of the state.

Guilty people may run, but so do innocent people with a bounty on their head.

***

Frankie doesn't think Eddie is coming back.

He sees Dustin crying and handing Wayne something. He sees Steve Harrington of all people in Eddie's vest, a vest that now has some suspicious stains on it.

No one mentions him for a while.

Gareth is a mess, and Jeff keeps saying that he'll come back, but the news spreads that he's dead and Frankie feels like he's the only one who is taking that seriously. He doesn't realize how much he's hurting until they're standing in Jeff's garage with no idea how to fill the space Eddie left in the band.

"I think we should have auditions," Jeff says quietly.

"I think you should fuck yourself," Gareth bites back.

Jeff sighs. Gareth crosses his arms.

"I think you guys should come with me," Lucas interrupts from the driveway.

They go with him because Frankie is sure he wouldn't have even spoken to them if it wasn't important. They barely talked since everything happened over Spring Break, but now that school's starting up again, they'll need to figure out Hellfire Club.

He leads them out of the neighborhood and towards the neighborhood at the bottom of the hill: Loch Nora. The nice neighborhood.

It's hot and Frankie and Gareth are both sweating by the time they make it to their destination: Steve Harrington's house.

"You guys can't say shit to anyone, got it? You'll put us all at risk." Lucas is glaring at all of them as he knocks in a very specific pattern on the front door.

"Are you leading us to our deaths?" Frankie asks, only half-joking.

"Despite what Mayfield thinks, I'm not gonna kill anyone."

"Eddie!" Gareth yells as he runs past Frankie and Jeff into the house.

"Alright, keep it down." Steve says from the couch. "Neighbors don't need to know he's hiding out here."

"Holy shit, it's good to see you," Jeff finally says as it registers that Eddie is actually in front of them.

"You know, I was prepared to take on the role of freak," Frankie said quietly. "Just to protect all your sheepies."

Eddie smiled at him. "Yeah?"

Frankie nodded.

"Well, you still can. I'm not gonna go back to school anyway."

"So what will you do?" Frankie asked.

"Not sure," Eddie shrugged. "Teach you my ways, I guess."

Frankie smiled at him. "First lesson: how'd you come back from the dead, dude?"

[say-hi-intrepid-heroes]

alright let’s go over the junior year clues we got in the rick perry documentary thing (disclaimer: i’ve definitely missed stuff, but i think i got the big things, feel free to reblog and add with stuff that i missed though)

[at the bottom of this post I've typed out the decipherable words that plan out some combats and NPCs from Rick's screen. it's the most interesting thing but it's super long so it's at the bottom under a cut]

We get a blurry look at some minis. I’m seeing at least the PC’s minis, as well as what looks like Baxter the Gryphon.

There’s some major shots of this battle. Includes a Baby mini, the Hangvan with some kind of laser canon on top, a stingray-esque monster that is likely Night Yorb (see below), something that looks like maybe an ice elemental or the crystal (see below), and some large bugs and shirtless people. Clearly set in the Red Wastes. Detailed info of the planning for this battle below.

One of the shots had reference boards in the background. One is clearly for the Hangvan (see earlier screencaps), but the other is unclear. It looks like it includes some sort of tennis or tennis-adjacent sport.

Confirmation that Mordred Manor is a set piece.

Finally, one shot showed Rick’s computer screen with some critical info about planning. I’ve put what I’ve been able to decipher below the screencaps. and under a cut, as it’s very long.

EP. 701 DEFEATING NIGHT YORB CHASE (RED WASTES) Hangvan, Night Yorb is giant flying Manta Ray thing? Rainbow road, being chased by night yorb while trying to throw crystal into portal. Crazy gun on rough [roof] that gorgug made, I can’t get a lock on it. Just need one last final thing to defeat night yorb. Red wastes, chasing the night yorb around, flying bats teleporting onto rough [roof] of van, NPC allies, Balthazar, two other cars they are in contact with, tiefling bakers or sidekicks are reveals Stormchaser twister, trying to get a lock onto it, Night Yorb is escaping the world. Maybe night yorb gets away, why didn [didn’t] you get it? And Balthazar died? Murph invented the Night Yorb. Don’t fuck with the Night Yorb. Exploded out of riz’s chest, needs to be dumb as hell. it’s the jabberwocky, it burbled, hugely terrifying, Horrifying cursed thing. Unending night for two months. Dragon sized, bigger than the Hang Van, 30’ wingspan Stars and moon. While the night yorb flies it is night and not day. Not malevolent force, but everything on earth will die Have giant ghost busters canon, Honey I shrunk the kids cannon Driver, mechanic, gunner, navigator (using SW 5e mechanics) Hang Man - Fabian motorcycle Tether is attached to night yorb, either magic or harpoon Night Yorb could out pace them. Could smash van. Cultist of the night yorb appearing on the road, mad max style ”The night yorb is our god” Red Wastes Cultists: Riding skeleton horses, classic fantasy cultists, Manta ray night yorb masks Sword and Sorcery vibes, MUSCELY, oiled, black leather, rings Shadow of Night Yorb Tether must be reeled in over 4 rounds Success Meter - 4 rounds or it escapes Pop up cultists in the middle of the road 4 maps Straight away, gully bridge crossing, rap popping up, giant portal It’s going to another world but if it gets away thats just as bad Ayada [Ayda?] thing built in. Chekov’s gun. Gun has cool helix of energy that is getting cranked in. Gun is on the back and on the hood is a binding circle that Adaine does. Cultists are making the portal. YORBIES if they catch it, it gets bound into the paint of their van Gun is gorgug’s stuff and circle is adaine 6 cultist perusing them, 4 or 5 at the portal, 1 or 2 back up Single person traps, Vulture with cactus MINIS: Night Yorb - Giant shadowy manta ray, inky black dripping, made of liquid, different underbelly, deep indigo or bone white. Made of shadows, dripping aberration, flat plane, long tail, two weird eyes coming off front on stalks. Second set of PCs TERRAIN: Red Wastes! NOTES: favorite crazy dnd monsters, beholder, [unclear word, bu…ette] Fungal Black light portal battle! Dr. Strange battle set, pseudo pods of elder pod night yorb, day glow run fragments, purple stone castle night yorb temple, floor is octopus made of shadows. Starting mid battle. [blank sections] PROJECTION: Counter here of some kind?

POTENTIAL LOCATIONS Basrar’s icecream shop? Mordred Manor Seacaster Manor [crossed out] Strong Tower Luxury Apartments SAT Prep class [screen cuts off]

EP. 704 DENTENTION [detention] STEALTH CHASE SEQUENCE/ QUIET LIBRARY/ Aguefort chase sequence? Combine sets interrupted by having to make it past a hall monitor Underwater? Books suspended floating, everything is affected by water Don’t wake daddy? Start in Library to get to Aguefort’s office Hallway Classroom Bathroom Lockerroom [blank sections] DYNAMIC ELEMENT: Water

CONCEPTS Dicks! SPIRITUAL GUARDIANS - Full service on minis, summons, etc Psycadelic fungal giant, black light, trippy, beautiful Revisiting old set [screen cuts off]

[fyi everything past this point was very blurry, so I could only decipher pieces here and there]

EP. 706 OUTDOOR CONCERT COACHELLA Music feature? Flaming [?], giant [?] [???] Fig and Gorgug on stage [???] Lighting effects, [???] Floating stage or something [???] Demons? PROJECTION: Lasers?

NPCS/ VILLAINS/ MONSTERS/ ETC. PORTER CLIFFBREAKER is secret servant of nightmare king tactical battlefield combat that [?] 2-3 times larger than PCs LED buried inside him [???] Porter was [???] basketball player [screen cuts off]

[the rest was too blurry to make out anything other than a blank section titled ROLE PLAY/ NEUTRAL BOARD and a section that seems to be for EP. 708 and says EXTRA with some blurry words after it]

[dw-flagler]

actual question chat: so i'm in a dnd group. and i'm kind of worried.

anyways so the majority of the group is like cool, or at least they aren't openly bigoted (or I am merely unobservant). but there's one guy who's--well I won't call him anything, because I don't actually know him that well. so i joined this dnd group about 3 years ago, back in 2022--a friend of mine who was also in the group invited me when they needed members. And for a while I was the newest member, until maybe 3 months ago? This fellow named Josh--another friend of the one who initially invited me to the group, though she didn't know him that well.

and this group tends toward edgy humor--not "edgy humor" as an obvious stand-in for racism, but generally more like 9/11 jokes or something. "9/11 haha!!" that kind of thing. anyways. so this john guy joined pretty recently, and he's been. Well, he's been like. suspicious. He's never said anything conclusive, or could be seen as proof. That he's a nazi. Or fascist adjacent.

For instance, last wednesday--the group meets once a week on wednesdays--last wednesday, he started a conversation about mass shooters--he used the misnomer of school shooters--and he mentioned something about a "high score." This sounds really conclusive, but when I mentioned offhandedly that "high score" was a term already in-use among groups like the terrorgram collective. he seemed to have literally no idea (a bunch of stuff happened before i could probe him further without it looking like an interrogation and my friend derailed the whole thing--for her, i'm like 95% sure she isn't a nazi. so she was just clueless and not playing interference on his behalf. 99% sure). Or that same day, he made a joke loosely paraphrasable as "trump isn't good but the last guy was worse" which, again, sounds suspicious, but isn't conclusively anything, because he was quoting someone!

I'm concerned. I'm frustrated.

How the hell do i figure out if this guy's a nazi (or some other brand of fascist/alt-right) or just extremely unfortunate?

[max1461]

Non-exhaustive list of things that seem to be really popular online, or at least in "extremely online" circles, or at least... if not popular per se, of widely understood appeal. Like someone might go "oh I'm not into that but I get it, or it's adjacent to things I'm into". Anyway non-exhaustive list of things like that that I'm not into, and basically don't get, and at some level feel alienated by the online commonality of:

DnD

Denial kinks e.g. cuckolding and chastity

Isaac Asimov Foundation/Edward Gibbon Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire style "civilizational" thinking

Fandom. How do you guys fucking... remember what happens in books and shit? I swear to god when I watch a movie or read I book I just immediately forget what fucking happened in it. Even some of my favorites, like FMA:B, I don't actually remember the plot of that show really. It's very loose in my mind. I remember lots of scenes and events though.

Dark Souls

I'll add more if I think of them. Just don't really understand these things. I've posted lists before of shit that I like before and said "hey can anybody figure out the commonality here because I can't". Well this is the hatermode (or nonunderstandermode) version of that. Does anyone have a coherent theory of what these things have in common that makes me not get them, even though evidently many people get them?

[bowenoke]

got my new bottle of my regular cologne today and since the gift giving season is rapidly upon us I am going to share my favorite perfumer with you all in case you've got young adult book nerds or dnd players who already have a library card and too many dice but who haven't quite figured out what they wanna smell like on your list: wylde ivy

They've got collections (w/ sampler sets, if you're looking for gifts) based on:

Edgar Allen Poe (smell like coffee and leather. It's not labeled unisex, but ymmv; i have a midnight dreary + this castle by the sea which have notes of leather/coffee/smoke + stone/salt/wood/sage. The other scents in the collection lean floral, sweet and fruity. Kind of a gender maximalist collection. For your coolest friend.)

the Concept of Adventure (my favorite, both for myself + for giving gifts to people who like games and stories with sprawling maps- wayfarer. unisex collection)

Ren faires (unisex, and also one of them has notes of corn?? apparently??? so)

3 different types of ocean/sea sets, not counting Wayfinder which has some sea-adjacent scents

Halloween AND Jack's Woods (spooky!) (stone cairn my beloved) (some are unisex, some are not)

Omens (some are unisex, some are not, but more importantly you can smell like the number 13)

Flowers :) (least unisex of the ones I'm featuring but tbh I'm guessing most of you aren't shopping for exclusively transgender + nonbinary people)

Tbh most perfumes/colognes dont make great gifts for my friends, because a lot of them are still figuring out their shit, the perfume scents aren't well explained, or the obviously gendered scent isn't gonna work. Instead i can get either a full bottle of Fun Space perfume or a sampler of 5 bottles of Rock Themed Perfumes. You can make your own sampler of their entire stock or a premade themed set. It's fun to walk out the door going "i smell like an old map :)" and they've so far been a hit as gifts. Also you can choose to smell like smoke and corn. And I think you should choose to smell like smoke and corn, if given the option

[thydungeongal]

Do you have any suggestions for indies if I'm mostly just interested in DnD/DnD-adjacent experiences? Dungeon crawling, combat, social encounters that exist but are more tertiary to combat, character creation, spells and such, at least some degree of premade spells, weapons, player races/species, monsters, etc.?

I'm actually working on a post about this, basically collecting a huge list of all the "fantasy adventure games" I know of, but since I have kind of stalled on writing it I'm going to take this moment to talk about some of them! :)

First of all, there's the entirety of the OSR (which stands for old-school revival/renaissance/revisionism) out there, a design movement dedicated to replicating the design and playstyle associated with older editions of D&D. Many games that have come from the OSR are just clones of older editions, some are more like offshoots with their own spins on old mechanics. My personal recommendations are Old-School Essentials (a clone of the old B/X set but with lots of supplemental material to expand it with), Basic Fantasy Roleplaying (a Creative Commons RPG that is mostly akin to B/X in complexity but with somewhat less confusing presentation and deeper character options), and Errant (a very interesting "rules light, procedures heavy" TTRPG that focuses on putting an interesting spin on many old-school D&D procedures: there is a free, no-art version of it available).

I'm also going to mention FORGE here: FORGE is very much a game that is inspired by the OSR but also has a bit of modern design to it. It mixes and matches ideas from all over the OSR and I think there's a lot to love about it. Technically classless, but character creation does include choosing two primary attributes which heavily inform your character's strengths.

Staying a bit longer in the "games clearly trying to do a D&D" category, I've heard good things about Shadowdark but have yet to read it myself. What it is clearly going for is a chassis that is mostly recognizable as D&D 5e but with some old-school ideas plugged in, and meant specifically for dark fantasy. It looks very cool and I would love to give it a look at some point.

Break! is one I keep coming back to because it's just so dang nice. Break! is a very old-school style fantasy adventure game very heavily inspired by anime and classic video games, and it's just such a fun game. The game pretty much fits all of your criteria above, with it still being very much a dungeon crawler type of game albeit with streamlined procedures. I highly recommend giving it a look!

And then there's the personal favorite of yours truly, which is Rolemaster. It technically does count as indie and it is very much in the same broad genre as D&D! It's also an insane game for people with something deeply wrong with them! I recommend looking through my posts about Rolemaster before jumping in.

[rottenbrainstuff]

Hey want something stupid and random today?

Have a malkavian playlist I made back from last fall when I was playing V:tM. Cosmic horrors groove: some funky 70s psychedelic rock or psych rock adjacent.

Cosmic Horrors Groove

I read about Anatole (I think it’s a real shame 5th edition got rid of all the signature characters???) and got way into his lore, thought about how much Sound of Silence reminded me of him, and went from there.

I actually worked on making playlists for all of the clans. Maybe I’ll put those up too someday. When I looked online to see what others were putting on clan playlists, I noticed a lot of people just used different kinds of goth or heavy metal for every single clan and….. I guess that’s definitely one way to go, but to me… I don’t know. I don’t see the point in limiting it to such a narrow range of genres. Psychedelic rock to me feels much more malkavian than some generic goth music. IF NOTHING ELSE, you should at least check out the absolutely crazy cover of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds that I found that sounds like nuclear annihilation.

Btw how did that game go? We were playing encounters from Let the Streets Run Red, with the setting changed to rural Alberta which was very fun. I was playing a pre-made malkavian character from the book and I REALLY enjoyed it, got super into fleshing her all out, even made some artwork which I posted in the past. Sadly, the GM decided they really did not like running V:tM for some reason, (they said it was complicated and hard? She has run DnD at like events and cons and stuff before so I’m not too sure what was so hard about V:tM but oh well) so we have since stopped playing. Oh well. It was fun. Love you, Miss Janice!

[pyresrpgear]

Do you have ideas for which classes/races the Bellas would play in DnD? :3

Been giving this some thought over the last few hours. Unfortunately I probably am not the best person to ask, since the last time I played was at least 4 editions ago. So I am a tad out of the loop on playable classes/subclasses/specialties and races/species. Most of my info on current 5e comes from Critical Role and other live play shows.

However, I have come up with a few ideas.

If you want to continue with the idea that Emily has anger issues, then I would think she would jump on playing a Barbarian once she finds out that they can use rage as essentially a superpower.

Lily I could see picking a few different things. Maybe a Necromancer. Maybe an Undead Warlock so she could get Form of Dread (pretty much Laudna from c3 of Critical Role). Or perhaps an assassin of some sort. I also think she would play something not human adjacent. Not human, elf, dwarf, halfling, gnome. Something more “monstrous”. Dragonborn, teifling, warforged, possibly Drow, the bird people who I don’t remember how to spell (aakoroca or something), goblin, tabaxi (cat people), or any other anthropomorphic animal species, and so on. Or if she did play human adjacent I think she would be a lycanthrope of some sort, or cursed/corrupted somehow.

I see Amy suggesting Beca play a Halfling. Then once Beca gets a turn with the PHB and finds out how short halflings are she tells Amy to go fuck herself.

I would kinda expect a bit of a dust up when at least 3 people want to play a Bard once they find out you cast spells with music. And Stacie also decides she wants to play a bard when she finds out that they are considered the slutty class. Stacie can be persuaded to play something else with the promise that she can still be slutty no matter what class she chooses.

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Chloe decided to be a Druid as soon as she finds out about Wild Shape letting her turn into animals for free. She also Wild Shapes into something every night they are not at an inn with the excuse that she needs to snuggle with Beca to keep her warm.

I could see Bree maybe being a Paladin or some other class/subclass with a strong code of conduct.

Jessica and Ashley, regardless of the classes they pick, end up mercilessly flirting with each other. And they also end up being the talkers of the party. They are the negotiators and the ones who convince npcs to do things for the party.

I can see Amy wanting to play something that is not technically a playable species and not budging so they end up needing to homebrew some rules to do it.

Cynthia Rose I can see playing some sort of Rogue that makes their living as a professional gambler (to scratch that itch in a safe way). Or perhaps a pirate/swashbuckler for some reason.

Flo I kinda think might go for a Monk so she can be a straight up asskicker.

Ok, so maybe it was more than a few. If anyone more in the know about 5e wants to add their thoughts feel free.

[scribe-of-stories]

Get to Know Your Moots Writeblr Interview

Was poked by the wonderful co-writers of Sunset @sunset-a-story and @touloserlautrec. Go read their posts here and here!

On the Tumblr Writing Community

How long have you had your writing Tumblr/Writeblr? A short eternity (first post is mid 2022)

What led you to create it? Was very bored at work and wanted to share some recent stories. Also I had never tried social media before, it this looked like the most interesting place to try it.

What’s your favorite thing about the Writeblr community? Getting to see other people's imagination unfiltered. I've read plenty of great works before, but it was definitely an entertaining first to see the author later publicly say "this is my favorite little guy, can't wait till the next time he suffers."

What’s one thing you’d like your mutuals to know about you? I constantly feel like I'm bothering people and or feel self conscious when talking about me/my stuff, so bare with me hah.

Is there anything you’d like to see more of on your dash? Just some really unhinged stuff about y'alls stories. I want to open my phone and see someone discussing the seven major heresies dictated by some cabal of priests only to later realize "oh, this is someone's fever dream, not a history lesson".

What tips/advice do you have for someone who made a Writeblr today? Interact more, take up the offer of "open tags" on other people's posts. Also throw your ideas onto the table for other's to look at, we all seem to love just watching someone go off about something they love.

WIP it Good

Which Works-in-Progress (WIPs) or writing projects are you noodling about, lately? Been in a bit of a writing drought. Lexical is always getting worked on, more so the TTRPG stuff than any story right now though. I've had a few projects pop into my mind and leave over the past while. Have a cluster of characters I can't get out of my head, but no narrative or setting to properly put them into. A god of violence and the man that cut her out of himself, a cultish vampire philosopher and his favorite little guy (little guy has a knife). Surely something will come of this, or they'll continue to just exist in one-off stories in my own head. Amber Hill, specifically The Lawman, is still somewhere in here but it's been struggling to come out for a while. Been trying to find Lars' voice as a POV character.

How long have you been working on them? I've been working on something based in Lexical since mid 2022 (huh, exactly around I first posted here); the other guys are new and only a few months old at most.

Do you remember what inspired them/what got you started? Lexical is a can of worms. The short answer is that my irl DnD group wanted to play something more free form and creative leaning than what our 5e campaign was allowing, so I said fuck it and started homebrewing a system based in a world I have vague ideas about. The long answer is that Lexical is a sequel to a Pathfinder campaign titled "Demis", which was about fantasy super heroes. It was heavily inspired by My Hero, Worm, and inescapably Homestuck. So when it came time to make a whole new system for these same players I took some concepts that worked in Demis, applied some occult-adjacent philosophy I was/am into, and ended up with my years long passion project. Atem and Sadaf were born out of my growing need to explore violence as a concept, philosophy, and inescapable existential crisis. The Vampire and his thrall Ish spawned out of a desire to have a toxic romance to think about. And AmberHill was inspired by a desire to create something cozy and occulty. Ended up being SCP adjacent but maintained the idea of a small community that cares about itself.

How much time, in your best estimation, do you spend thinking about them? Lexical- not enough, I'm lucky I have at least some productive thoughts throughout the day. Atem- too much, his tired ass sat down in my head and I've been too polite to ask him to leave.

When someone asks the dreaded, “What do you write about,” question, what do you usually say? "Urban Fantasy with science fiction elements"

What do you want to say (if it’s different from what you do say)? "My dissertation on the semi-real building blocks of both physical and social reality, also wizards punching people."

Let’s Rotate Blorbos

Name any characters you created. We've got the original Lexical boy Samuel Smith, Atem and Sadaf who you've already heard of, Lars DuPont from Amberhill.

Who’s the most unhinged? Sadaf.

Who comes the most naturally for you to write? For whatever reason Samuel's self-loathing PI perspective just comes very natural and is maybe someone I should write more about.

Do you ever cringe at them? Nah

How much control do you feel you have over your characters? Depends, my mind does not wonder so much that I don't feel like I am ever not in control. But who I am able to focus on tends to be a matter of debate.

Do you enjoy people asking questions about your characters? Yes absolutely. Characters, worlds, magic systems; I'll rant about any of them given the chance.

On Writeblr Engagement

What makes you want to follow another Writeblr account? A combination of preferred genre (urban fantasy), shared interest (books/games/table top). Also if they have Scribe as part of their name it's just an auto follow.

Do your mutuals’ characters occupy space in your noodle? There's a few. The telepaths from Sunset and their many ways of being terrifying are the first that come to mind. Since I already mentioned the scribes I'll go ahead and tag @scribe-cas , @covenscribe and leave the rest of the tag open. Here is an empty template

[lookingforhappy]

Hi LFH! Just thought I’d ask you what other projects could you see any TUA actors doing

personally for me I could see David doing the film adaption of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

I once had a conversation with a friend about Emmy being in the live action Hercules. My friend recommended Emmy being one of the muses, but then I kinda like the idea of her being Meg. (If you don’t know, she can SING)

immediately after I found out Wings of Fire was getting a TV show on Prime Video I could straight up imagine Emmy being Glory, Robert being Jambu, and Justin being Turtle. (If you haven’t read Wings of Fire yet I highly recommend it is SOOOO good)

oh interesting question

idk what they do irl but some stuff id like to see them do hypothetically/unrealistically:

tom hopper should come back and do bbc merlin sequel because holy fuck that also ended badly and it would be so cool to see them reincarnated as modern day and have arthur rise from the lake. give the knights their backstories. percival lost his family to cenreds army like show me that?? give percival an episode that isnt lamia?

i feel like david would be fun to see in a sci fi show (not star wars that sucks now) something like oblivion, moon, alien or a time loop like the edge of tomorrow.

emmy oh my god get her in musicals she has the voice and the energy. she could so be penelope or athena in a live action epic the musical. or one of the moms in beetlejuice the musical. im just thinking of musicals i know lmao but her doing a movie like wonka would also be amazing i love that movie and holy shit she has the vibes.

roberts very prolific tbh (he also seems to just be playing the same guy? no offense but he has been typecast a bit). id like to see him as a serious character? or a straight up slapstick comedy. lean into one of the extremes. hed be very funny as a live action vector from despicable me? im serious w that one actually.

aidan does intense very well, and i hate to be that person but he would do so well as a robin. maybe damian or young dick? we'd have to ignore the ethnic backgrounds a bit which sucks but i mean... robin adjacent character. seeing him play someone young would be a nice change. i realise i am just asking him to play baby five but yes. baby five. i would also like to see him play quiet characters, five is loud and i think aidan tends a bit that way too so itd be nice to see him do intense but quiet.

justin does better with quiet characters im sorry i wasnt taken by sparrow ben. it breaks the vibes a little but if they ever did a good zelda game i think hed do link as a quiet but dangerous guy quite well.

elliott... i know him from inception and beyond two souls. hes done a lot of action and sci fi and thinking films. maybe drop him in a fantasy too tbh. i would like to see him as a knight or rogue. holy shit him in a dnd movie would be cool. like the sequel to the chris pine movie pls. i loved honor amongst thieves.

idk i hope that was interesting at least lmao im not good the actors thing.

cameron britton who did hazel seems so charming as well id love to see him in more stuff as a wholesome character.

[madbadash]

I would like to join in in the DND talk

I've talked a bit about Lilyis, Cypress, and Rosalinde but with the interest in DnD being the biggest I've seen on my timeline, I decided to draw them all together. Go, meet my children. They are babies.

Btw moots/moot adjacent if you want me to draw your guys in DnD please send them in an ask and tell me their race and class. I love DnD!!!! (disclaimer, I can not guarantee that your bean will be drawn until at LEAST next Sunday cuz my schedule is wack but like.... Go ham)/lh

[johnandrasjaqobis]

20 Questions: Writing Edition

@ex-textura didn't technically tag me but i'm technically a mutual who writes so Close Enough!!

How many works do you have on ao3?

37 ~ It never feels like many until I actually scroll through the whole list

What’s your total ao3 word count?

365,335

What are your top five fics by kudos?

A Different Sort of House Call (Danny Phantom / House MD crossover) because Of Course it is, even though I posted it on ao3 years after it started on ff.n a truly bizarre amount of people still found it

Cloaks, Daggers, and Cigarette Smoke (Fallout 4, Nick/Deacon) aka the one I feel actually deserves the kudos count it has fjdksl Longest fic i've ever written, still going strong (relatively, anyway), I love this one a lot

Speak (Z Nation) or that one where 10k had been on his own for a Very Long Time and kinda had to relearn how to. talk to people.

When Ghosts Speak (Pacific Rim!Mad Max au) where Furiosa lost her arm and nearly lost her mother in a kaiju fight, Max just wants to be left alone to repair the jaegers, and unfortunately they keep running into each other

One Step at a Time (MCU, Steve/Maria) that's just a collection of one-shots for a vastly underrated ship, Maria Hill deserves so much more appreciation and also she was definitely wearing Steve's coat in age of ultron

What fandoms do you write for?

there's. a lot. I had a good chunk of Marvel stuff back in the day, a bunch of Helix fics (relatively, for a fandom that tiny), the occasional niche podcasts and syfy shows, some Critical Role, Fallout 4 of course, and I've written a lot for my own dnd games. I have an itch to write something with Severance and Helix but. I gotta figure out What

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

barring the times I read it and then tell myself I'm gonna reply when I get home and then Forget To Do That, yeah!! I love replying to comments, I post stuff so that people can share in my vague flailing about whatever fandom currently lives in my brain, it's even better if it's a conversation!

What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

ahahah you say as if any of my chapter fics have Endings for the one shots I think Homecoming is kinda the most depressing because it is. well, canon adjacent to what Helix pulled on us in season 2. If I were ever to finish my chapter fics. Turning Point would absolutely have the angstiest end. My silly little Left4Dead2 fic that I wrote entirely out of spite with the intention of it ending poorly.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Genuinely most of my stuff ends at least vaguely optimistically, especially since I write a lot of ship stuff. I think maybe Morpheus, the EOS10 fic, might take the cake on that one though, that was practically all fluff and chasing a cat around a space station and did end very sweet

Do you get hate on fics?

I think I had one review that might've counted as a flame years ago, statistically on House Call, but I don't really remember much besides being proud that I'd come far enough to get a bad review fjdskl

Do you write smut?

tragically no, I've made attempts every now and again but simply cannot manage it (never say never and all that but. god.)

Do you write crossovers?

My most popular fic by a landslide is an insanely bizarre crossover. I did a lot more of them in the early years, but they still hold a special place in my heart (again, would Love to do Severance and Helix, but hmmmm) ((and also it's the weird difference of. an au is not necessarily the same as a crossover, right, I throw so many characters into Helix aus but it's Different))

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so -- I've done a quick check every time one of those fic scraper sites pops up and so far I think I'm in the clear

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I know of!

Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

ehhhh some of the stuff Cyrus and I wrote kinda borders on it -- we've turned quick roleplays into fics before, but not really cowritten, I wouldn't say?

What’s your all time favourite ship?

you ask me to choose between my dear beloved children, I simply cannot clint and natasha will always hold a top spot, but so will sergio and anana. I think if anything those two tie.

What’s the wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

of all the wips I'm determined to finish (and I've got a number that I just know are dead in the water). I honestly don't know that I'll go back to Turning Point. which like, is disappointing (to me, it never had a very big following), but also there's some Real Life emotions tied up with that one now and I know how it ends so. idk again never say never, but as much as part of me would like to wrap that up, it might just stay as is

What are your writing strengths?

I've been at this a long time. I'm good at characterization and dialogue specifically, and I've been told I have a skill for making even one-off npc type side characters feel like real fleshed out people. One comment said I am good at resolving a cliffhanger in a chapter only to hit you with Another Different cliffhanger and I think that's funny because half the time it's unintentional fjdksl

What are your writing weaknesses?

fuking. ending Anything. if it's more than a chapter, it will just never end, there's a reason the vast majority of my works are one shots

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

Depends on the context; if it's one or two words that the POV character doesn't understand, I'll probably write it out in that language. If it's more than that it'll just be something noting that they said something in a different language. If it's something that the POV character would understand, probably just note the switch to the other language and write it in italics maybe

First fandom you wrote for?

Warriors. yes, the cats. both in the sense of first fic posted anywhere And literally the first stories I ever actually wrote

Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

the fallout 4 fic is a gem, honestly, I adore that one. and it's technically kind of a spinoff of the main story but or be taken out alive when Carly fights the courser I maintain is probably some of the best writing I've done please if you read the main fic please read that one it came out so good

i am too sleepy to tag anyone tbh it was just fun to do this because a h i love writing, i swear i'll get back to it some day

but of course if any of my beloved mutuals want to yell about their fics consider this your tag i wanna see!!

[beingatoaster]

🤔 🛏️?

🤔 Are there any new characters you want to write about?

Hmmm. Aside from new DnD OCs (for which I always have many thoughts, but the past few years haven't written many down), in Genshin, which as you know is the only fandom I'm really writing in... none of the Natlan characters have really struck me enough to want to write them things, or at least not enough to have hit the important trigger of "no one else is writing the thing I want to see and I'm desperate for it."

I have finally written a Furina bit so I'm not sure that counts as "new," especially as Fontaine is a year old now, but there ARE Fontaine characters I've entertained fic ideas for! Someday... when I'm ready to settle in and get a grip on them, which means after I finish some of my infinite existing WIPs.... XD;; The problem really is that I've imprinted so hard on my versions of my Mondstadt gang that it's genuinely hard to not just take an idea and fit it to them instead.

🛏 Is there a new trope you’d like to write this year?

Does sex pollen count? I'm not sure, since I've written some adjacent/similar stuff (especially heat/rut), and all three of my sex pollen ideas ("Diluc isn't sure if Jean or Rosaria will kill him first," "everyone agrees that Kaeya's dick cannot go in the Outrider," and "Lisa is really enjoying this lab accident, actually") were conceived and outlined at least a year ago, they just haven't been written yet. >> But it is a trope I enjoy, and want to do eventually!

If that doesn't count... I think I've written most of the others I enjoy, even if they're only WIPs as yet. D/s AU, maybe. I've just DONE most of what I want to do, to some extent or another. I'd like to do more of a lot of them! But they're not new. XD