#player: josh marking

[toasttt11]

reagan jade mcgroarty

summary: a grumpy hockey player trying her best not to fall in love with her friend, who also happens to be the brother of her sister’s ex boyfriend.

thoughts

reagan mcgroarty

introducing reagan

reagan x adam

instagram

favorites and facts

blurbs

same team

interested

fics

random

[jrueships]

woaaah dude...

WHO! ARE THESE SEXY SEXY MEN! HANGING AROUND MY SEXYSEXY MEN??!! AND WHAT!! DO THEY DO TOGETHER ????

[oeldeservesthenorris]

SO, HERE’S THE DEAL: every time I read some player decides to opt out of Pride for transparently manufactured reasons, I will amplify in turn the actions of other players who do support it (and contradict the ones who opt out). It’s important to me and my community. There are those out there who support us and I want that highlighted over those who don’t. Every time I see something like this, it makes me feel a little bit better. I hope it does you too (whether you are part of the community or not)

[wintfleur]

I can totally see Ethan having Stella playfully flirt with a freshmen and then mark act like her upset bf . . . def troublemakers!

Can we get a mini blurb on this?

a/n ﹒ofc you can lovely mwah! x

au masterlist - you can find everything under #👩🏻‍🎨 ͡ ꒱ Stella Hughes!

“Hmm how about that one?” Ethan leaned down to whisper in Stella's ear as he motioned with his cup, towards a freshman who stood by the drinks table, getting a refill. Stella shook her head with a smile as she crossed her arms over her chest, looking at the said boy “I don't know this seems kinda mean.” 

“Oh, he’ll survive '' Mark chuckles as he loops his arm around Stella's shoulder, being careful not to spill his drink on Stella at the quick movement. Stella let out a sigh but agreed on the two boys' plan. The Two boys spent the next few minutes giving her a rundown and information about the frieshie, until they deemed, she was ready. “Go get em’ tiger” Ethan smirked, softly pushing her away from them. 

“Hi!” Stella spoke loudly enough for him to hear her over the music, as she popped up next to him, a charming smile on her lips. The boy quickly turned to look at her, and a smirk forms on his lips at the sight of her “Oh hey, enjoying the party?” 

“It's okay, I heard that the football players know how to plan a party” Stella smiled as she filled up her cup, her shoulder brushing against his. She looks back up at him to see him already looking down at her. “You're Josh, right? you're on the team?” 

Josh’s eyes widen and he keeps his smirk on his lips, his ego boosting at the fact that she knew he was already. “Yeah, and your stella” 

“Oh, you have heard of me?” Stella giggled as she tilted her head to the side, wanting to roll her eyes when she saw his eyes immediately drop to her tits and neck, ugh boys. Josh kept on looking from her eyes to her chest, not even caring that it was obvious “How could i have not? You're one of the hottest chicks on campus.” 

Stella bit back a groan of disgust, God Ethan and mark was right, he's a major dick she thought to herself. No wonder why they wanted her to mess with them. She took a step closer to him and looked up at him through her eyelashes, a teasing smile on her lips “Can i quote you on that?” 

“You can do whatever you want babe” he was quick to reply as he moved to take a step closer to her but stopped when Mark stepped up and wrapped his arm around Stella's shoulder, pulling her flush against his chest. Mark glared heatedly at Josh who looked like he saw a ghost “You flirting with my girl freshie?” 

Josh takes a step back and quickly shakes his head no “Oh no no i was just asking her, err where the bathroom was, thanks” Josh gives her a fake smile, panic in his eyes as he quickly turns around and gets lost in the crowd of students. The duo watches him for a few more seconds before breaking out into laughter. 

“God did he forget he lives here?” Stella laughs as she hides his face in her chest. Mark laughs and rubs her shoulder, and excited Ethan walking up to them, a mischievous smile on his lips “That was great stella, we have one more guy.” 

“No no no i'm going to go dance with lily and carmen, have funn” Stella smirks with a wink, trailing off into a teasing tone as she hands her cup to mark before stepping out of his hold, and turning around to make her way to the last spot she remembers her two besties where. And where rutger was . . . but they didn't need to know that. 

°. — taglist ( @lovings4turn @cixrosie @toasttt11 @bunbunbl0gs )

[indierpgnewsletter]

Every Game I Played in 2024 (So Far)

It’s time for one of my favourite posts to write every year. Here is every game I’ve played in the first half of 2024:

Series

Fathoms Deep (as GM): Let’s get my own game out of the way first: I’ve ran about 11 playtest sessions of Fathoms Deep, a game about a community of salvagers aboard a living ship in a flooded world. The game is my big project. If I was studying game design, this would be my masters’ thesis. It’s got a lot of parts – action-packed underwater dives using my flavour of card-based Forged in the Dark, a cool map where you move your ship around, downtime scenes, campaign arcs based on survival, hope and salvation, etc. There’s a lot of tinkering left to do and I am in no hurry to finish because, deep breath, it’s about the journey! Like in the game!

Pasion de la Pasiones (as GM): We took the spanish telenovela game and set it in a X-men-like school. Sadly we didn’t get to play past the first couple sessions but it’s a slam dunk concept and a great game. My game of the year for 2023 if I remember correctly!

The Wildsea (as GM): This was the big campaign that marked the first half of the year in my (online) home game. It has a lot of overlap with my own game, Fathoms Deep – both are pirate-games-without-pirates. But Wildsea has a very different tone – it’s optimistic high fantasy in the vein of some of the best D&D 5e games I’ve played. I would easily recommend it as a game for people who are playing 5e and want something to easily switch to. The world and setting is lovely – a solid thematic core garnished with a variety of fun ideas, great flavour, and lots of stunning, evocative art. I had so much fun playing zany characters to match the vibe of the zany world. The system isn’t my cup of tea for a variety of complicated reasons but this is a fantastic achievement, especially since it was the designer’s first game afaik!

Rich Kid Problems: Last year, I played Capitalites by Sam Mui and this year, we returned to that classic genre of rich people behaving badly with this game by Maria Mison. It’s a light storygame – improv heavy but good fun.

Last Fleet (as GM): We’re one month into this Battlestar Galatica-inspired game by Josh Fox. It’s far future space opera with humanity on the edge of extinction – all inter-personal politics and feelings in the face of almost certain doom. I love this game already. It meshes perfectly with my directorial GM style and helps me serve up some fantastic moments. It feels like every session, I am throwing some impossible decision or loyalty-threatening revelation at my players who pick up the ball and run with the ball unflinchingly. It definitely helps to think about it as prestige TV and frame scenes using that language – lots of walking and talking in corridors, that sort of thing. The characters aren’t on the same side, there aren’t missions – just agendas and obstacles. Will write about some of the cool design stuff going on when the campaign is done.

One Shots

Okay, got to rush through these!

This Ship Is No Mother (as GM): I ran 4 great games of my little lets-make-Mothership-a-storygame game. These were mostly at online cons or things like that. I love playing this game.

Wizards Grimoire and Mobile Frame Zero: Firebrands: Getting to play two games from the Bakers was a real treat. Wizard’s Grimoire is the start of a series of games that flip the GM-player relationship in great ways. You should check it out. Firebrands is a game of daring mech pilots told in dramatic vignettes where the less you force a narrative, the better!

Steal away Jordan and Tales of a Fisherman’s Wife: These are two games from designer, Julia Ellingboe. I think Steal Away Jordan is my favourite of the two. Even as you wrestle with the discomfort (if you’re not Black) of playing Black slaves in the American south, it’s still a game about being heroes with a lot of delight and joy at the heart of it! Fisherman’s Wife is a game of Japanese ghost stories with tentacle porn on the cover. I’m not sure what else to say!

Navathem’s End (as GM): This game by Pam Punzalan and Sin Posadas fits well with Wildsea on this list because it feels like an alternate take on the genre that is D&D 5e. It’s that light-hearted brand of heroic fantasy but with a different ethos – less colonial, more grounded in community.

Yazeba’s Bed and Breakfast: A book which is probably as fun to read as play. You probably have heard about it enough but if not, go listen to the Yes Indie’d episode about it.

After the Mind, the World Again: This is a Disco Elysium inspired game where there’s one player and four GMs who play facets of a detective’s mind. It’s not really a one shot game – definitely takes 4 hours or more but we rushed the ending and got somewhere. Also, free!

City of Mist (as player): I always joke about wanting to read this game but bailing as soon I as open the PDF to see that it has more than 500 pages. The new version has cut half of the system out so maybe I had a point.

The Hunted (as player): This is a slick one-shot game – Forged in the Dark folk horror in the vein of Blair Witch Project and the like. Easy to play and run, would do again.

Swords without Master (as GM): This game should’ve inspired a whole design lineage. The text is a bit tricky to parse but if you get a chance to play this, you should take it!

Damn the Man, Save the Music: If you like Empire Records and don’t mind doing some improv, this game is great.

Cloud Empress (as player): The giant psychic cicadas are a great linchpin for a setting. If you play the game, head straight for them.

There was a bit more here and there. I already wrote about playing older games like Metamorphosis Alpha, Bunnies & Burrows and Dallas RPG on here. There was also a lot of playtesting including a very fun session of Protect the Child by Mint about a found family of monsters looking after a child a la Monsters Inc. Overall, another very satisfying half-year.

[temporalhiccup]

Play Diary

Nahual: So a Priest and an Angel walk into the bar...

In an effort to display how awesome indie ttrpgs are, I thought I'd start sharing some cool sessions I experienced first hand and how I think the design of the game and the play culture was part of that!

This year, Thomas and I are sharing a weekend time slot. Nowadays I'm running Bite Marks and he's running Nahual! We take turns running a game to avoid GM burnout.

Nahual is a fascinating game. Player characters are always three things: they are Mexican, they are poor, and they are angeleros. They hunt angels, terrible parasitic and violent creatures from the invading conquerors long ago. But the Angeleros don't do it out of duty, killing angels and harvesting them is a means to survive. Our group creates tequila from angel blood.

Today was our first real session after making our characters a few weeks ago. Some truly fun stuff happened this session, and the more I think about it, the more I feel it was a really good mix of game design, GM facilitation, and player ingenuity.

The Expendido Move happens at the start of the first session or when time passes. It's a way to see how your business is faring. We didn't roll well: the option we landed on was that one of our regulars brings their troubles to your cantina at the worst possible time.

From the Cantina sheet we choose who our regulars are, and one of them is Zofiel, a double-agent angel, working for both Heaven and Hell, who can be in the right place at the right time.

So you can imagine that the kind of trouble a double-agent angel brings is legitimately awful. At the start of the game we're hit hard with how tough life is for an Angelero, and I loved it! It really sets the stakes for the premise.

A powerful angel, one not to be trifled with and way above our abilities, walked into the bar with a suspicious priest alongside him. They were looking for Zofiel, to take back something important.

Each player had a cool moment thanks to their playbook moves, but my favorite had to be what Josh did as Marco, the Tlacuache. As an Angelero with access to the scoundrel Opposum Nahual powers, we were in for quite a few surprises!

Marco transformed into his Nahual form and used one of his totem moves, Guise. He placed a mirage of Zofiel on himself, and rolled high enough that it was impossible to tell the difference between the two.

One thing lead to another, and a brief fight broke out. We collectively managed to force the angel to leave the bar, but not before he reached out to grab Zofiel - and thankfully he had grabbed Marco in Guise instead! Normally, being dragged into the sky by a deadly angel is a bad time. But Marco had one more trick up his sleeve! Thomas, our GM, couldn't believe it. "You want the angel to drop you? From high above? What?" That's when I said, "Josh, I think you should read the Play Possum move out loud so Thomas gets how cool it is."

"They can BURN your body? And you're UNHARMED? WHAT?"

I marveled at how many things had to go right for this move to be pulled off so perfectly. The guise's mirage needed to be perfect. The fight had to be violent but controlled enough that we would 1) survive it and 2) force the angel out but take fake Zofiel with him.

Play Possum by itself is already an incredible move. But getting to line it up perfectly so that a terrifying angel thinks one of your regulars is dead, so you get to protect them a little longer? Sheer perfection.

It was a great way to start our game. I've played Nahual as a one shot a few times during its crowd funding period, and I'm so glad I get to play the final version of the game as a campaign. I'm really looking forward to playing more soon!

[zepuckinghockey]

It's NHL wedding season! I'm aware of 10 NHLers who got married over the July 7-8, 2023 weekend as well as two related weddings. As best as I can, I've listed them out including as many verified player guests as I could find. Shoutout to the server for helping me ID a lot of generic looking faces. I've got some teams listed for context.

Feel free to let me know of people I've missed! This list has been edited on September 9th. I'm pretty sure wedding season is over, but feel free to message me with someone I missed.

June 16th, 2023 Weddings:

Kyle Clague - Sabres Notable Guests: Nolan Patrick

July 4th, 2023 Weddings:

Colin Blackwell - Hawks Notable Guests: Alex Kerfoot

July 6th, 2023 Weddings:

Tyler Bertuzzi - Red Wings Notable Guests: Michael Rasumussen, Zach Nastasiuk

July 7th, 2023 Weddings:

Alex Nedeljkovic - currently Penguins (previously Canes, Red Wings) Notable Attendees: Scott Wedgewood

Jordan Binnington - Blues Notable Attendees: Jordan Kyrou, Marco Scandella, Sammy Blais, Faulk, Perron, Logan Brown, Joshua Leivo, Vince Dunn, Robby Fabbri, Joel Edmundson, Robert Thomas, Oskar Sundqvist, Colton Parayko, Jake Walman

July 8th, 2023 Weddings:

Tyson Barrie - currently on the Preds (previously: Oilers, Leafs, Avs) Notable Attendees: everyone. Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Mitch Marner, Zach Hyman, Connor McDavid, Alex Kerfoot, John Tavares, Jack Campbell, Justin Holl, Evander Kane, Darnell Nurse, Mike Smith, Bayne Pettinger, Tyler Ennis, Colin Wilson, Michael Hutchinson, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Cody Ceci, Evan Bouchard, Luke Schenn, Devin Shore, Gabe Landeskog

Vinni Lettieri - currently on the Wild (previously Ducks) Notable Attendees: Trevor Zegras, Jake Bischoff, Tony DeAngelo, Jimmy Vesey, Kevin Hayes, Brady Skjei, Kevin Shattenkirk, John Gibson, Zach Bogosian, Sam Carrick, Jake Gardiner, James van Riemsdyk

Sam Reinhart - currently on the Panthers (previously Sabres) Notable Attendees: Mason Marchment, Brandon Montour, Owen Tippett

Chandler Stephenson - currently on the Knights (previously Caps) Notable Attendees: Will Carrier, Reilley Smith, Mark Stone, Cody Eakin, Jack Eichel, Alex Tuch

Sam Girard - currently on the Avs (previously Preds) Notable Attendees: Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Ryan Graves

Dylan Gambrell - currently on the Leafs (previously Sharks, Sens) Notable Attendees: Mathieu Joseph, Austin Watson (thanks anon!)

Gustav Forsling - currently on the Panthers Notable Attendees: Alex Wennberg, Marcus Hogberg, Patric Hornquist, Lucas Carlsson, Erik Gustafsson

Tyler Motte - (Rangers, Blue Jackets, Blackhawks, Senators, Canucks) Notable Attendees: Brock Boesser

Brett Richie - (Yotes, Flames)

Emerance Maschmeyer & Genevieve Lacasse - WoHo Olympic gold medalists Notable Attendees: Sarah Nurse, Erin Ambrose, Laura Stacey, Marie-Philip Poulin, Haley Irwin, just like all the big woho names

Dominik Tiffels - German hockey player Notable Attendees: Leon Draisaitl

Frankie Borrelli - Barstool Sports and Fore Play Golf Notable Attendees: Brock Nelson, Matt Martin, Adam Pelech, Scott Mayfield, Josh Bailey - info thanks to @barzyblogbabe

Morgan Reilly - Leafs Notable Attendees: his wife Tessa Virtue

July 13th, 2023 Weddings:

Dryden Hunt - Rangers Notable Guests: Kyle Burroughs

July 15th, 2023 Weddings:

Tyler Seguin - Stars (Bruins) Notable Guests: Jamie Benn, John Klingberg, Scott Wedgewood, Jesse Blacker, Mason Marchment, Ty Dellandrea, Justin Dowling

Luke Kunin - (Sharks, Wild) Notable Attendees: Colton Sissons, Matthew Tkachuk, Brady Tkachuk, (Taryn Tkachuk)

AJ Greer - Bruins (Avs, Devils) Notable Attendees: Scott Kosmachuk

Andy Andreoff - (Kings, Flyers, Islanders) Notable Attendees: Sean Couturier, Scott Laughton, Shayne Gostibehere, Erik Gudbranson, Milan Lucic

Juuso Valimaki - Coyotes

July 16, 2023 Weddings:

Kevin Hayes - Blues (Flyers, Rangers, Jets) Notable Attendees: Johnny Gaudreau, Tony DeAngelo, Brady Skjei, Jimmy Vesey

July 20th, 2023 Weddings:

Lawson Crouse - Coyotes Notable Attendees: Phil Kessel, Shayne Gostibehere, Liam O'Brien, Nick Schmaltz, Darcy Kuemper, Taylor Hall, Jacob Bryson, Travis Konecny

July 21st, 2023 Weddings:

Nicolas Aube-Kubel - Caps (Avs) Notable Attendees: Anthony Mantha, Julien Gauthier

Brady Tkachuk - Sens Notable Attendees: Matthew Tkachuk, Josh Norris, Thomas Chabot, Mark Stone, Mathieu Joseph, Luke Kunin, Christian Fischer, Ryan Donato, Robert Thomas, Alex Debrincat, Cam Talbot, Nick Holden, Quinn Hughes, Jack Hughes, Luke Hughes, Jake Sanderson, Shane Pinto, Dylan Gambrell, Colin White, Jacob Chychrun, Kevin Hayes

Juuse Saros - Predators Notable Attendees: Eeli Tolvanen, Kevin Lankinen

Tanner Jeannot - Lightning Notable Attendees: Brett Howden, Noah Gregor, Jayden Halbgewachs, Jeremy Lauzon, Alex Carrier

July 22nd, 2023 Weddings:

Alex Kerfoot - Coyotes (Maple Leafs) Notable Attendees: Justin Holl, Colin Blackwell, John Tavares, Morgan Reilly, Michael Bunting, Mitch Marner, Jake Muzzin

Nick Paul - Lightning (Senators) Notable Attendees: Chris Driedger, Drake Batherson, Thomas Chabot, Anthony Cirelli, Alex Killorn

Keith Kinkaid - (Devils, Canadiens, Rangers, Bruins, Avs)

July 24th, 2023 Weddings:

Anthony Mantha - Capitals Notable Guests: Nicholas Aube-Kubel, Julien Gauthier, Nick Jensen, Jonathan Benier

July 27th, 2023 Weddings:

Pavel Zacha - Bruins (Devils) Notable Attendees: Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt

July 28th, 2023 Weddings:

Karson Kuhlman - Islanders (Kraken, Jets) Notable Guests: Kasimir Kaskiskuo

July 29th, 2023 Weddings:

Connor Murphy - Blackhawks (Coyotes) Notable Attendees: Sean Kuraly, Anthony Duclair, Dylan Strome, Jonathan Toews, Alex Debrincat, Taylor Raddysh, Mackenzie Entwistle, Brandon Hagel

Mitch Marner - Leafs Notable Attendees: Best Boy Zeus 🐶, Matt Martin, James Van Riemsdyk, Jake Gardiner, Tyler Bozak, Connor Brown, Justin Holl, Nazem Kadri, Willy Nylander, Zach Bogosian, Kyle Clifford, Jake Muzzin, Auston Matthews, Alex Kerfoot, Michael Bunting, Freddie Anderson, Rasmus Sandin, Morgan Reilly, Tyson Barrie, Connor Carrick, Joe Thorton, Patrick Marleau, Zach Hyman, Jack Campbell, TJ Brodie, Tyler Ennis, John Tavares, Timothy Liljegren

Ethan Bear - Canucks (Oilers, Hurricanes) Notable Attendees: Mat Barzal, Caleb Jones, Jujhar Khaira, Riley Stillman, Thatcher Demko, Austin Strand

Boone Jenner - Blue Jackets Notable Attendees: Zach Werenski, Seth Jones, Nick Blankenburg, Cole Sillinger, David Savard, Andrew Peeke, Scott Laughton, Elvis Merzlikins, Erik Gubranson

July 30th, 2023 Weddings:

Ryan Donato - Blackhawks (Kraken, Bruins) Notable Attendees: Jared McCann, Yanni Gourde, Matty Beniers, Adam Fox

August 3rd, 2023 Weddings:

Kevin Lankinen - Predators Notable Guests: Eeli Tolvanen

August 4th, 2023 Weddings:

Taylor Raddysh - Blackhawks (Lightning) Notable Guests: Dylan Strome, Connor Murphy, Anthony Cirelli

Kevin Hayes (2.0) - still Blues (Flyers, Rangers, Jets) Notable Guests: Keith Yandle, Scott Laughton, Shayne Gostibhere, Travis Sanheim, James van Riemsdyk, Brady Tkachuk, Matthew Tkachuk, Johnny Gaudreau, JT Miller, Zach Sanford, Tony DeAngelo, Brian Dumoulin, Brady Skjei, Paul Carey

August 5th, 2023 Weddings:

Conor Garland - Canucks (Coyotes) Notable Guests: Ryan Donato, Jakob Chychrun, Clayton Keller

Brendan Dillon - Jets (Capitals) Notable Guests: Tom Wilson, TJ Oshie, Jordie Benn, Jamie Benn, Trevor van Riemsdyke, Nic Dowd, Nick Jensen

Charlie McAvoy - Bruins Notable Guests: Hampus Lindholm, AJ Greer, Connor Clifton, Noel Acciari, Taylor Hall, Conor Sheary, Brad Marchand, Jake Debrusk, Matt Gryzeleyk, Derek Forbort, Brandon Carlo, David Krejci, Tuukka Rask, Jeremy Swayman, Charlie Coyle, Krug Torey, Matthew Tkachuk, Casey Fitzgerald, Colin White, Patrice Bergeron

Austin Watson - Senators Notable Guests: Cam Talbot, Anton Forsberg, Jarred Tinordi, Nick Paul, DJ Smith, Dylan Gambrell, Nick Holden, Thomas Chabot

Gage Quinney - Knights Notable Guests: Zach Whitecloud, Nicolas Roy, Jake Bischoff

Micke Rosell - player agent Notable Guests: William Nylander, Alex Nylander, Sam Ersson, Marcus Bjork

Joonas Johansson - Avs

August 6th, 2023 Weddings:

Dylan Larkin - Red Wings Notable Guests: Sam Gagner, Tyler Bertuzzi, Trevor Zegras, Kyle Connor, Troy Stecher, Marc Staal, Jeff Petry, Darren Helm, Zach Werenski, Mitchell Stephens, Riley Sheahan, Cole Caufield, Jack Hughes

August 11th, 2023 Weddings:

Shea Theodore - Knights Notable Guests: Ryan Reaves, Marc-Andre Fleury, Nick Holden, Mark Stone, Chandler Stephenson, Alex Tuch, Dylan Strome, Erik Haula, Jaycob Megna, Will Carrier, Jack Eichel, Alex Pietrangelo

Ryan Hartman - Wild Notable Guests: Matt Dumba, Marcus Foligno, Jared Spurgeon, Cam Talbot, Kirill Kaprizov, Jordan Greenway, Jon Merrill, Alex Goligoski, Jake Middleton, Mason Shaw, Calen Addison, Nick Schmalt, Matthew Boldy, Brandon Duhaime, Connor Dewar, Luke Kunin

August 12th, 2023 Weddings:

Chris Kreider - Rangers Notable Guests: Mika Zibanejad

[theresattrpgforthat]

Ooh right — what would you recommend for roleplaying life in the Silo, from the Silo Saga by Hugh Howey?

Theme: Silo Saga

Hello friend! So I looked up Silo Saga thanks to your request, and I appreciate the further details that you provided me. I started looking for games with underground themes, and then went back and broadened my search for games in cramped spaces.

So with that premise, let's see what we have that hits the mark, or gets close to it at least.

Worlds of Legacy: Generation Ship, by UFO Press.

You’re trapped inside the heart of a decaying generation ship drifting between the stars. How will you survive and find a new home?

Your families woke up from cryostasis halfway through a thousand year journey. Now you must find a way to live on a ship that wasn’t intended to support long-term habitation, keep it running, and try to make sure future generations reach the promised land at the end of your journey.

You’ll need the core rulebook of Legacy: Life Among the Ruins in order to play this game, but it definitely fits the bill. Each player controls a Family with a specific role on the ship, as well as a character who has a unique narrative role within that family. Legacy games like to zoom out and look at long-term changes, so you are likely going to watch your families change according to the needs of the ship as time passes - and who knows, you might even get to your final destination as part of your end-game.

Depths Below, by Josh Domanski.

The surface of the Earth is barren. Left uninhabitable by countless environmental disasters. What remains of humanity has moved into underwater cities, the last of which is known as Terminus. 

Take the role of humanity's last hope, doing what's necessary to survive while the elite cower in wait for the inevitable end.  Depths Below is a complete RPG by Josh Domanski. It uses and expands upon the rules and systems developed for 24XX by Jason Tocci.

I think there are some ties to Silo that you might be able to see in Depths Below, even if the setting is a little bit different. The underwater city of Terminus is just as fraught and dystopian as the underground Silo, with political factions and plenty of hierarchies. The world above the waves is much more a mystery than it is in Silo, and there’s not much in the game that encourages you to seek out the surface - which means you are well and truly trapped.

When it comes to how to play the game, you’ll want a number of different polyhedral dice, as the size of the dice rolled depends on your skill level. Rolling a 5 or higher is a success, and you can use your gear to mitigate harm or give you the ability to do something. The actual rules of play only fill about one page of this game, but there’s an extra 12 pages of lore, character options, beasts to fight, and roll tables for the GM!

Underground, by emmy.

UNDERGROUND is an 8 page gm-less tabletop roleplaying game, where you take on the roles of post-apocalyptic factions living within the remnants of a metro system.

The details of the Cataclysm that brought you down here are long forgotten. You now have the chance to forge your own world.

Underground has a similar premise to the Silo saga in that you are groups of people living underground, in a post-apocalypse. However, the apocalypse looks much more recent, and as the players are all representing different factions, I’m not sure if there’s the same sort of hierarchical structure as seen with the different factions of the Silo - it might be if everyone agrees to represent it that way!

The biggest difference is the structure of these underground settlements - they’re not purposefully built to house people, they’re the old metro system that just happened to be there. You use d6’s to help construct the metro map, including spaces that may have not been fully explored yet. The biggest draw of this game is the exploration, so if you want to spend some time just building your own (altered) version of an underground dystopia, this might be the game for you.

Apocalypse World, by Meguey & Vincent Baker.

Something's wrong with the world and I don't know what it is. It used to be better, of course it did. In the golden age of legend, when there was enough to eat and enough hope, when there was one nation under god and people could lift their eyes and see beyond the horizon, beyond the day. Children were born happy and grew up rich.

Now that's not what we've got. Now we've got this. One of the classic post-apocalyptic games in the scene, Apocalypse World might be able to give you what you’re looking for, if you’re willing to establish some serious world-building. This game has been played in all sorts of apocalypses, and the truths of each one is dependant on what the game group is looking for, as well as which playbooks you choose to use.

Pick up a Hardholder or Brainer if you want someone who knows all too much and is trying to hide that information or control it. Play an Angel if you want to be needed. Play a savvyhead if you want to know how things work, and pick up a Hocus if you want to lead a faction of this settlement to a rebellion. You might want to cut out Choppers and Drivers though - underground, there’s not as much room for engines or gangs of roving bikers.

Neon Black, by NotWriting.

Neon Black is a role-playing game about a community of poor people fighting back against tyrannical corporations and the indifference of the rich, as well as surviving in a dystopian city state. It’s like real life, but in this world you can kill the CEO’s, rob banks to pay rent, and help your friends do the same. You'll help your community, go on dangerous heists, explore artificial realities, and encounter friendly and nefarious machines. We play to find out if the community can survive amidst warring corporations, an unforgiving climate, and the negligence of the extravagantly wealthy.

When putting together your crew in Neon Black, you need to decide which community you live in, and both the 55 (an apartment complex) and the Chariot (an abandoned space station) are possible candidates for communities with no other place to go. The biggest theme that resonates is the mega-corporations that have put you there in the first place.

Neon Black is a Forged in the Dark game, and it’s exceptionally good for playing a long-term faction game. There will be plenty of groups with interests that align or oppose yours, and you’ll be doing missions to help the people you care about while trying to take down those who don’t care about you. The biggest difference between this game and the Silo setting is the introduction of cyberware. Setting up the game is a bit of work, but I think it has legs!

For Similar Vibes…

White Sands, by Critical kit, has a dystopian feeling and the desire for rebellion, but on an Earth where clean air now has a price tag.

Lost Eons, by David Blandy, is for folks who want to explore the world after they breach their underground Havens, a world completely mutated and changed into a solar punk, sci-fantasy future.

2XXX: Promised Land, by Quasinfinity Games, looks like it starts on a spaceship, and with the horror undertones it presents, I'm skeptical about your cultists ever reaching the planet they're headed for.

My Post-Apocalyptic Community Rec List (has some overlap).

[black-arcana]

HALESTORM's LZZY HALE Explains How She Ended Up Moving To Nashville

During a recent appearance on the "Life In The Stocks" podcast, HALESTORM frontwoman Lzzy Hale spoke about her decision to relocate to Nashville, Tennessee after spending most of her living in Red Lion, Pennsylvania. Asked if Nashville is truly the music Mecca of America right now, Lzzy said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think it is. I think that there's a lot of us from like the coasts and stuff like that. And even my friends from New York, it's cheaper to have a yard here, and especially people that wanna have a family life, but also still tour. But there's so many different walks of life. That was what surprised me when I first got here a decade ago or something like that. 'Cause I came out of here kind of sight unseen. I'd kind of visited here, but it was more out of necessity. We were making, I think it was 'The Strange Case Of...' [HALESTORM's second album] or doing something in California, and all of our family that was in Pennsylvania area decided to all move to Florida. They were all in cahoots. And so, so they all kind of called us while we were stranded in California and were, like, 'Hey, we packed up all your stuff,' because truth be told, we way overstayed our welcome living with our parents, like well into as long as we could. So, we get back from making a record, and now I'm pretty much amongst my boxes in a spare room in my parents' place in Florida. I'm, like, 'We've gotta get outta here.' So, Joe [Hottinger, HALESTORM guitarist] and I ended up just renting a U-Haul and just driving from Florida to Nashville. We called our friends that were kind of already here. Actually, our buds in NEW MEDICINE were living out here. And we were, like, 'Hey, can you check out this apartment that we're looking at? Just make sure it doesn't smell funny. But we're coming to just stay here until we figure it out.' And then I got this house that I'm staying in right now about seven, six years ago, something like that. And so, yeah, just putting some roots down here."

Earlier this month, HALESTORM and I PREVAIL kicked off their summer 2024 co-headlining tour. Produced by Live Nation, the trek launched on July 9 in Raleigh and will run through August 17 in Las Vegas. HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD and FIT FOR A KING are serving as support. The tour is also the catalyst and the creative spark for HALESTORM and I PREVAIL's collaborative track "Can U See Me In The Dark?", which was released earlier in the month.

HALESTORM has partnered with mental health organization Sound Mind Live to engage fans to pledge support that will provide free-to-the-community mental health programming across the country for fans and the broader community.

Having amassed over 2.5 billion streams globally, the Grammy Award-winning band HALESTORM has grown from a childhood dream of siblings Lzzy and Arejay Hale into one of the most celebrated rock bands of the last two decades. Most recently, the band released "Back From The Dead", their fifth full-length studio album which has tallied over 100 million streams worldwide. Rolling Stone called the title track "a biting but cathartic howler about overcoming all obstacles," and that song as well as "The Steeple" marked their fifth and sixth number ones at rock radio, respectively. Associated Press said the album "will definitely be in the running for best hard rock/metal album of the year." Their previous album, "Vicious", earned the band their second Grammy nomination, for "Best Hard Rock Performance" for the song "Uncomfortable", the band's fourth #1 at rock radio, and led Loudwire to name HALESTORM "Rock Artist Of The Decade" in 2019. Fronted by Lzzy with drummer Arejay, guitarist Joe Hottinger and bass player Josh Smith, HALESTORM's music has earned multiple platinum and gold certifications from the RIAA, and the band has earned a reputation as a powerful live music force, headlining sold-out shows and topping festival bills around the world, and sharing the stage with icons including HEAVEN & HELL, Alice Cooper, Joan Jett and JUDAS PRIEST. Additionally, Lzzy was named the first female brand ambassador for Gibson and served as host of AXS TV's "A Year In Music".

[maddymoreau]

Me: Can we think about something other then Garten of Banban?

My Brain: Banban mentions in Chapter 2 that only the best of the scientists performed Givanium-related procedures. Bittergiggle created many experiments while trying to create the Ultimate Jokester. So does that mean if Bittergiggle has a human genome donor they were a scientist?

Are all the human genome donors from the scientists?

If that’s the case then is that the reason a huge emphasis was put on later experiments like Queen Bouncelia and Sheriff Toadster to have a role/new identity? To ensure breakdowns like the one Banban had never happen again.

Did they attempt to do this to Banbaleena (with less success) to get her to cooperate? She’s less in tune with her teacher role then the other characters. Even commenting as the player escapes in chapter two, “NO! Not again! I actually tried to be a good teacher this time!” Despite trying she didn’t fit the role of teacher very well.

Banbaleena has a poster in her room called The Cycle of Kindness: Showing that Kindness leads to a cycle of Betrayal -> Sadness -> Evil -> Betryal. Banbaleena never met her human genome donor. So if she believes she’s the actual Dr. Weverly Mason then does Banbaleena blame Uthman Adam for her current state? It’s only after meeting Banban her behavior changes and in the secret tape we see her destroy the cake with the two of them as the topper.

In Case Report #1 Update #41 it says “This reveals the critical necessity of ensuring that each case recieves its genomes from no more than 3 sources/donors, lest we are left with cases that are permanently animalistic and wild.” Is Bittergiggle’s odd split design because he has two human genome donors (Givanium + human + human)? Or because he’s made from a combination of inorganic material (like Jumbo Josh) and organic material (Givanium + human + inorganic material)?

Why do some experiments have stitch marks??

Slow Seline was promised something painless what exactly was she promised?!

WHY IS ZOLPHIUS SORRY?!!?!

[tkachunk]

you know what i think that backyard hat trick celebration made me a sens fan

AS IT SHOULD!!!

noted little german boy tim stützle moves to a different continent and plays his first season of nhl hockey during a pandemic and can't go out to celebrate his first nhl hat trick (and becoming the youngest player in sens history to score a hat trick) and the power of love and residual mark stone energy makes brady and josh organize a celebration that can, against all odds, make tim feel connected to the community he hasn't been able to be a part of and we're supposed to act like it never happened???? like, even back then brady wasn't made to captain this team???????

[huggybearhughes43]

Yall pls send me hockey players to write for and what kind of trope and shit you want it to be

The players I write for:

New Jersey Devils-

Jack Hughes

Luke Hughes

Nico Hischier

John Marino

Simon Nemec

Alexander Holtz

Vancouver Canucks-

Quinn Hughes

Elias Pettersson

Boston Bruins-

Jeremy Swayman

Philadelphia Flyers-

Jamie Drysdale

Anaheim Ducks-

Trevor Zegras

Leo Carlsson

Carolina Hurricanes-

Sebastian Aho

Andrei Svechnikov

Seattle Kraken-

Vince Dunn

Chicago Blackhawks-

Connor Bedard

Columbus Blue Jackets-

Adam Fantilli

Toronto Maple Leafs-

Mitch Marner

Auston Matthews

Montreal Canadiens-

Cole Caufeild

Juraj Slafkovsky

Boston College-

Will Smith

Gabe Perreault

University Of Michigan-

Luca Fantilli

Ethan Edwards

Mark Estapa

Dylan Duke

Tyler Duke

Nick Moldenhauer

Gavin Brindley

Seamus Casey

Rutger Mcgroarty

Josh Orrico

[cuttergauthier]

Hockey Fanfiction Masterlist Part ONE

You can find the Imagine/blurbs/Insta edits i've written for each player under their written below!

Dylan Duke

→Imagine

Teasing 0.9k

→Blurb

→Insta Edits

Dylan Duke x TikToker Girlfriend

Nick Blankenburg

→Imagine

Cuddle Buddy 0.6k

→Blurb

Sick boy 0.4k

→Insta Edits

Nick Blankenburg x Team Mom

Jack Hughes

→Imagine

Lies 5.2k

New Jersey ONE | TWO | THREE | FOUR 4.7k

Fresh Start 1.0k

→Blurb

The One Where They Meet 0.1k

The One Where They Become a Couple 0.1k

→Insta Edits

Jack Hughes x Y/n Jenner ONE

Jack Hughes x Y/n Jenner TWO

Jack Hughes x Female Brisson Reader

Jack Hughes x Childhood Crush

Jack Hughes x Female Kelce Reader

Soft launch x Mercer au

National Champions x Mercer au coming soon...

Graduation x Mercer au coming soon...

Trevor Zegras

→Imagine

Fixing my Broken Heart 3.1k

→Blurb

→Insta Edits

Trevor Zegras x Victoria secrets Model

Trevor Zegras x Older girlfriend

Cutter Gauthier

→Imagine

Friends 1.4k

Lake house 1.6k

Stay With Me 1.0k

→Blurb

→Insta Edits

Cutter Gauthier x Hughes sister au

Matthew Knies

→Imagine

Enemies To Lovers 1.8k

New Leaf ONE 1.1k

New Leaf TWO 1.5k

New Leaf THREE

New leaf FOUR

New Leaf FIVE

New Leaf SIX

New Leaf SEVEN

Saviour 1.5k

→Blurb

Things Change 0.5k

→Insta Edits

Matthew knies x zegras sister

Matthew Knies x Matthews sister

Mason McTavish

→Imagine

Doctor 1.0k

→Blurb

→Insta Edits

Mackie Samoskevich

→Imagine

Hurt 0.9k

→Blurb

Christmas Teasing 0.6k

→Insta Edits

Cole McWard

→Imagine

Are You Drunk? 1.0k

Snowstorm 2.3k

I Care About You 0.6k

→Blurb

→Insta Edits

Ryan Leonard

→Imagine

Secret boyfriend 1.3k

→Blurb

→Insta Edits

Ryan Leonard x Female Smith Reader

Mark Estapa

→Imagine

→Blurb

Sleep 0.5k

→Insta Edits

Mark Estapa x Y/n jenner ONE

Mark Estapa x Y/n jenner TWO

Luke Hughes

→Imagine

→Insta Edits

Luke Hughes x Caufield sister

Luke Hughes x Zegras Sister

Luke Hughes x Duke Sister 

Red Savage

→Imagine

→Blurb

Jealous Red

→Insta Edits

Quinn Hughes

→Imagine

Neighbours 3.4k

→Blurb

Meeting her daughter

→Insta Edits

Quinn Hughes x Celebrity’s daughter 

Quinn Hughes x Actress

Jamie Drysdale

→Imagine

→Blurb

From Hate To Hugs 0.4k ONE

From Hugs To Kisses 0.3k TWO

Drunk whispers 

Philadelphia? 0.3k

→Insta Edits

Jamie Drysdale x Zegras sister

Josh Norris

→Imagine

Love Me First, Hate Me Later 6.3k

Thunderstorm 1.1k

→Blurb

Scared 0.5k

Overprotective 0.4k

Secret Pregnancy 0.6k

→Insta Edits

Josh Norris x Tkachuk sister

Frank Nazar

→Imagine

→Blurb

Listen 0.4k

→Insta Edits

Ethan Edwards

→Imagine

→Blurb

Dogs 0.1k

→Insta Edits

Ethan Edwards x Famous  part one

Ethan Edwards x Famous part two

Ethan Edwards x teammate younger sister

Keaton Pehrson

→Imagine

Fake Dating 2.5k

→Blurb

Knight & Shinning Armour 0.4k

→Insta Edits

Luca Fantilli

→Imagine

→Blurb

Period Cramps 0.2k

→Insta Edits

Luca Fantilli x Famous Female Singer

Colton Dach

→Imagine

→Blurb

Hockey Game 0.5k

→Insta Edits

Thomas Bordeleau

→Imagine

→Blurb

→Insta Edits

NHL Debut

Thomas Bordeleau x Famous Singer

Thomas Bordeleau x Ex back together

Thomas Bordeleau x Girlfriend

Brendan Brisson

→Imagine

→Blurb

→Insta Edits

Brendan Brisson x NHL player’s daughter

Brendan Brisson x LA Influencer ONE

Brendan Brisson x LA Influencer TWO

Cole Caufield

→Imagine

→Blurb

→Insta Edits

Cole caufield x Girlfriend

Cole Caulfield x Actress

Nick Suzuki

→Imagine

→Blurb

→Insta Edits

Nick Suzuki x Caufield sister

Johnny Beecher

→Imagine

→Blurb

Nightmares 0.3k

That's Hilarious 0.3k

→Insta Edits

Johnny beecher x Moving to boston

[oeldeservesthenorris]

Well, another day, another way the National Hockey League has found to disappoint me. At this rate I'm no longer even surprised. Just sad. Very very sad.

ANYWAYS, for those interested, and looking for some bright spots today, here is a by no means comphrensive list of NHL players who have been actively vocal and demonstrative in their support of the LGBTQA+ community, who have attended Pride parades, or in other ways have proven to at least try to be allies. Some might surpise you. They did me as I looked into this (Brad Marchand? Mark Schiefle? yes!) (I'd rather focus the energy on these guys than those who don't deserve my time, fandom, or money for their apparel):

Quinn Hughes

Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Jon Merrill

JT Miller

Jacob Markstrom

MacKenzie Weegar

Jonathan Huberdeau

Rasmus Andersson

Alexander Wennberg

Roman Josi

Jack Hughes

Timo Meier

Matthew Tkachuck

Aaron Ekblad

Charlie MacAvoy

Morgan Rielly

John Klingberg (literally had a video on learning how to be an ally in the dressing room, if you didnt know)

Josh Morrissey

Mark Schiefle

Dylan Demelo

Mat Barzal

Tyler Seguin

Mitch Marner

Erik Johnson

Nathan MacKinnon

Connor McDavid

Anthony Duclair

Gabriel Landeskog

Auston Matthews

Tyson Barrie

Kurtis Gabriel

Travis Konecny

James Van Riemsdyk

 Scott Laughton 

Jordan Martinook

Bo Horvat

Luke Prokop

Brad Marchand

Sean Monahan

Johnny Gaudreau

Mark Giordano

Max Domi

Martin Necas

Ethan Bear

Jeff Skinner

Mattias Samuelsson

[best-supermassive-character]

Pairs from Round 1:

1. ‌The Curator x Dr. Hill – Nick Kay x Salim Othman x Jason Kolchek – Jacob Custos x Nick Furcillo

2. ‌Fliss DuBois x Julia – Laura Kearney x Hannah Washington – Kate Wilder x Julia

3. ‌Hannah Washington x Jessica Riley – Matt Taylor x Ashley Brown – Salim Othman x Dar Basri

4. ‌John x Angela – Conrad x Jacob Custos – Kate Wilder x Jamie Tiergan

5. ‌Mike Munroe x Jessica Riley – Conrad x Beer x Rachel King – Conrad x Fliss DuBois

6. ‌Daniel x Taylor – Hannah Washington x Emily Davis – Nathan Merwin x Joey Gomez

7. ‌Charlie Anderson x Hodgson expedition – Rachel King x Clarice Stokes – Nick Kay x Salim Othman

8. ‌Jeff Whitman x Marie Whitman – Emily Davis x Ashley Brown – Revenant Carver x Judge Wyman

9. ‌Abraham Alastor x Tabitha Milton – Alex Smith x Julia – Nick Kay x Rachel King

10. ‌Kurum x Balathu – Lady Bradshaw x Ellis van Huyten – Hannah Washington x Ashley Brown

11. ‌Emma Mountebank x Kaitlyn Ka – Eric King x Nick Kay – Eric King x Nick Kay x Rachel King

12. ‌Beth Washington x Emily Davis – Beth Washington x Sam Giddings

13. ‌Jason Kolchek x Salim Othman – Erin Keenan x Rachel King

14. ‌Mike Munroe x Jessica Riley x Emily Davis – Conrad x Brad Smith

15. ‌Granthem Du'Met x Kate Wilder – Granthem Du'Met x Jamie Tiergan

16. ‌Mark Nestor x Kate Wilder x Jamie Tiergan x Erin Keenan – Adam Jones x Jonathan Finn

17. ‌Emily Davis x Jessica Riley – Kate Wilder x Erin Keenan

18. ‌Joseph Lambert x Amy Lambert – Mark Nestor x Kate Wilder

19. ‌Joe Roberts x Charlie Anderson – Tanya Clarke x Vince Barnes

20. ‌Danny x Olson – Ashley Brown x Chris Hartley x Josh Washington

21. ‌Emily Davis x Sam Giddings – The Curator x Player

22. ‌Dylan Lenivy x Chainsaw – Tabitha Milton x Taylor

23. ‌Brad Smith x Fliss DuBois – Emma Mountebank x Abigail Blyg

24. ‌Beth Washington x Laura Kearney – Conrad x Brad Smith x Fliss DuBois

25. ‌Kaitlyn Ka x Ryan Erzahler x Dylan Lenivy – Jamie Tiergan x Erin Keenan

26. ‌Laura Kearney x Kaitlyn Ka – Granthem Du'Met x Erin Keenan

27. ‌Laura Kearney x Max Brinly – Sam Giddings x Jessica Riley

28. ‌Conrad x Josh Washington – Emma Mountebank x Kaylee Hackett

29. ‌Matt Taylor x Jessica Riley – Brad Smith x Dylan Lenivy

30. ‌Rachel King x The Ancient One – Dar Basri x Eric King

31. ‌Ashley Brown x Jessica Riley – Kate Wilder x Erin Keenan x Jamie Tiergan

32. ‌Chris Hartley x Ashley Brown – Ryan Erzahler x Dylan Lenivy

33. ‌Kate Wilder x The Curator – Becky Marney x Felicity Graves

34. ‌Sam Giddings x Hannah Washington – Nick Furcillo x Abigail Blyg

35. ‌Josh Washington x Chris Hartley – Laura Kearney x Travis Hackett

36. ‌Max Brinly x Laura Kearney x Travis Hackett – Nick Kay x Jason Kolchek

37. ‌Josh Washington x Jessica Riley – Kate Wilder x Shelby

38. Fliss DuBois x Julia - Mark Nestor x Joseph Morello 39. Emily Davis x Ashley Brown - Kate Wilder x Michelle Morello

[passionandprecision]

Top 5 NFL Teams Most Likely to Regress in 2024

As the 2024 NFL season approaches, fans and analysts alike are buzzing with predictions and expectations. While some teams are poised to build on last year's successes, others might find it challenging to replicate their performances. Today, we're diving into the top five teams most likely to take a step back this season. Are your favorite teams on the list? Let's break it down.

1. Dallas Cowboys

Key Concerns:

- Lost Too Many Key Players: The Cowboys lost several crucial players and haven't adequately replaced them. Key departures include Tony Pollard, Tyron Smith, Tyler Biadasz, and Stephon Gilmore.

- Big Contracts Looming: The Cowboys have three significant contracts coming up. CeeDee Lamb is reportedly unhappy and has not shown up to camp while, Dak Prescott is on the final year of his contract, and Micah Parsons' contract extension is on the horizon.

- Decision Time: Decisions need to be made on veterans like Demarcus Lawrence and Zack Martin.

- Lame Duck Contracts: Both Mike McCarthy and Dak Prescott are on lame-duck contracts, adding pressure and uncertainty to the team’s future.

- Playoff Performances: The past four years have been marked by playoff flameouts, questioning the team's ability to perform under pressure.

2. Miami Dolphins

Key Concerns:

- Defensive Issues: The Dolphins' defense has been lacking. They've let some key pieces walk and need a stronger edge. Granted they have Jalen Ramsey and Xavien Howard, but they let Christian Wilkins walk.

- Offensive Line Problems: The offensive line has issues, which could hinder their offensive performance. The last thing a team with an injury-prone QB needs.

- Fitness and Power Balance: There is a concern that the team has too much finesse and not enough power, which could become a problem as the season progresses.

- Depth and Health: Depth and health have been problematic, and adjustments in these areas are essential for success. It's almost time to start looking at Mike McDaniel funny because there are times when he makes himself look a little silly by trying to be the biggest brain in football.

3. Buffalo Bills

Key Concerns:

- Roster Turnover: The Bills experienced significant roster turnover due to cap reasons and other factors. Key players like Stefon Diggs, Gabe Davis, Jordan Poyer, Tre'Davious White, Micah Hyde, and Leonard Floyd are all critical to their success.

- Wide Receiver Room: The wide receiver room is young and unproven, which could lead to inconsistency in the passing game.

- Offensive Line: The offensive line remains a question mark, needing improvement to protect Josh Allen and establish a running game.

4. Minnesota Vikings

Key Concerns:

- Quarterback Situation: The Vikings face uncertainty with Kirk Cousins and Danielle Hunter both leaving. Trusting Sam Darnold and A Rookie JJ McCarthy isn't the best idea.

- Defense Overhaul: They are overhauling a defense that still gave up significant yardage, and the new lineup might not gel immediately.

- Running Game: The running game is questionable, and the offensive line needs help to establish a balanced attack.

- One-Score Games: The Vikings won a lot of one-score games last season, a trend that's hard to sustain. With questions at quarterback.

5. Jacksonville Jaguars

Key Concerns:

- Protecting Trevor Lawrence: Protecting their star quarterback has not been a strong suit, risking his health and effectiveness.

- Wide Receiver Consistency: Keeping a solid wide receiver group together has been inconsistent, impacting the passing game.

- Secondary and Pass Rush: The secondary still needs help, and the pass rush could use improvement.

- Roster Turnover: Key players such as Calvin Ridley, DJ Chark, Jamal Agnew, Zay Jones, K'Lavon Chaisson, Tre Herndon, and Rayshawn Jenkins are all factors in the team's changing dynamics.

As we gear up for the new NFL season, it's essential to recognize the challenges and changes each team faces. While these five teams showed promise last year, various factors could lead to a regression in their performance. Whether it's due to roster changes, contract uncertainties, or defensive and offensive challenges, these teams will need to address their weaknesses to maintain their competitive edge. Want to dive deeper into these predictions and hear more insights? Check out the corresponding video on Jori’s Sports Stories YouTube channel for an in-depth analysis and fan discussion!