#some of the npcs i understand but also i do not want to deal with them anymore

[ruvviks]

made the realization my vampire story would work best as a video game and now i can't stop thinking about it

[amatres]

it also always heartbreaking when you realize you dont like the character you know gets undue criticism and hate. like im sorry but i can not tolerate you either!!! i wish i liked you!!!

[cloudmancy]

I have no desire to get you in trouble but I would be curious to hear your thoughts on the new episode and the preview because I also have.. thoughts and I'm interested in what other people clocked as not great or kinda.. idk. other people's concerns, because I have had a lot of them and I never see people really talk about those things

they're doing a new format this season where they film a bunch of rp episodes in a row then take a break when there's a battle so the crew can get the battleset ready, so I understand the dissonance. but the tone of this episode from the tone of last episode was SO jarring. I was ready to chew drywall at the end of episode 17 but we head into the episode 18 fight and at the end all I can say is... damn! that sure is a battle that happened. the entire fight felt really low-stakes even though objectively a few of the bad kids were in mortal danger, but the mood at the table was so relaxed and chill and there was almost no roleplay at all... which drove me so crazy

>no rp except for fun silly party stuff (no callbacks to the adaine elven oracle in a storm thing? after all the fun setup last time??)

>fought 8 different antagonists and none of them said a word

>nobody questioned why or what oisin's grandma or all those dragon were doing there they just started taking them out one by one like raid battles in world of warcraft

>cassandra/nightmare king showed up only to not make any impact or get a single word in

>dos2 lady vengeance fight did the floating boat/ballistas/dragon fight better SMH

and then after all of that we're headed straight into ANOTHER battle episode judging by the preview... and it's against the rat grinders and porter/jace! let me out I want PLOT & DIALOGUE fhjy cannot end like this (5 hours straight of battle where they just kill everyone that moves). there's 2 eps left so I really hope they do the last ep as a 4 hour long roleplay only epilogue episode because as we've all seen ending campaigns on a battle leads to frankly really rushed character and world decisions. it's ultra disappointing too because I loved this entire season so much so far. the setup and buildup and plot points and mystery of fhjy is the best they've ever done it in dimension 20 period

ep 18 fhjy battle was a letdown to me... not giving the party an rp episode after 3 hours of loredump + going straight into a final battle without being able to interact with the world after gaining info is bad. they should've had a chance to process everything they learned about house sunstone, porter's plan, the rat grinders being used as ascension fodder, whatever the whole deal behind ambrosia and lucy frostkettle and why they needed a helios cleric in buddy IN ROLEPLAY. I don't want all this stuff explained to me after the battle by brennan or in some throwaway lines in the adventuring party - I want the bad kids to talk to people! I want them to investigate! I want fig to pull some BS with porter knowing the full extent of all his plans. it really sucks for us as an audience too to be hit with all this lore and get approximately 0 time for it to sink into the implications of how the worldbuilding was shaped by it or realizations of "ohhh that's why that happened at the beginning of the season" before we go straight into killing everyone.

with the way this is going I don't have any confidence they're gonna be able to actually empathize at all with the rat grinders too before they start lopping heads off because in battle episodes everyone kind of just. becomes numbers and an objective to take out except for pet favourite npcs of the cast. and they've mostly been interacting with the rat grinders as nuisances all season 😭 I'm PRAYING to be proven wrong and the last 2 episodes of this are fantastic but it's not looking good folks

[utilitycaster]

(I haven’t watched C3 in a while (the party had gotten back after being split into two after Vax got orbed) so my info is a bit dated)

I often wondered about how little info there is about Orym’s husband known to the party, how little has been asked or shared.

And I get that BH is very different from M9, BH tends to be very non-confrontational and doesn’t poke at others pasts much, but we do have another character who had a dead spouse: Yasha.

And M9 did know about Zuala because Yasha shared it and they knew little things like she likes flowers and they gave tribute to her when they could. The mural, the flowers, the remembrance and asking if Yasha would share her stories.

And I dunno, maybe I’m not remembering right, but there hasn’t been much of the same with Orym. I feel like most of what I know about Orym and his dead family comes from monologues or times when Liam sets aside a character moment to act solely. Orym doesn’t share, the party doesn’t ask and some of it feels like because a Orym has often has to defend himself against the Pro-Vanguard debates.

They had to go to Zephrah to get to know more about Orym’s dead family and a lot of that info came from NPCs!

I dunno. I haven’t seen the show in a while but I felt it when more then 50 episodes passed and still felt a difference between how gently Zuala was treated and remembered vs how Will is only brought up to prove bad guys are bad guys with only Orym trying to keep his memories in a soft place.

Hi anon,

I actually disagree with most of this! I think the fandom has a lot of issues with Orym, which I'll talk about below, but I do not think Bells Hells are dismissive of Will. I think the reason it comes up is very simple, namely, the manner of Will's death is core to the conflicts and factions within the campaign, whereas Zuala's death is obviously a huge factor in Yasha's backstory, but the Mighty Nein are not dealing with the Dolorov tribe in any capacity. Will's death, is, in fact, a symbol of the Ruby Vanguard's brutality and callousness as well as Orym's husband within the narrative; whereas Zuala is just Zuala.

I don't think Bells Hells has been particularly unfeeling towards Orym with regards to Will and Derrig's deaths when they come up, nor do I think their discussion of the Vanguard is borne of not caring. I think that the Vanguard's harm is particularly real for some party members, and until FCG's death just now it felt a little bit more distant for others. I think the conflict in-game stems from that: when you combine how viscerally real the threat of the Vanguard is to Orym and the way it's not so direct for others (and, obviously, that Imogen's mother holds a position of power within it) and also consider the characters' differences re: how they bring up (or don't bring up) difficult topics, you get some painful conversations! When I say I understand why Orym might not want to talk to the rest of Bells Hells because this is a topic of discussion, I don't think the rest of Bells Hells are bullying him or being deliberately unkind; I just think that there's a lot of misunderstanding and hurt feelings. When Will has come up as a topic of his own - and the conversations I specifically remember are with Chetney in the Heartmoor and with Fearne and FCG at Will and Derrig's graves - those party members have always been incredibly kind and supportive. It's the fact that his death is fundamentally a political one that adds a wrinkle, and that wasn't how Zuala figured into the party.

I also would add as an aside that the Mighty Nein did ultimately have a much more open arena for discussion, as witnessed by them eventually bringing up the possibility of partnering with Trent; that feels far more analogous to the discussions about the Vanguard than anything regarding Zuala, since the issue isn't ultimately "dead spouse", but "organization that is directly responsible for causing a character's life-altering trauma for the purposes of conquest and deliberately stoking unrest." I think there's a number of reasons why the Nein are able to do this, notably that the first time anyone considers it, it is very much a guarded thing; that no one but Caleb is personally impacted (whereas Imogen and Orym are placed at odds solely by their familial connections); and that it comes much, much later after the party has spent months clearly detesting Trent, so there is an increased sense of trust from Caleb.

Now, the fandom is a different story. Or rather, it's more similar than you think. The CR fandom (and probably others, but this is the one I've observed) has, since I started lurking in mid-2018 and actively participating about a year later, always had its share of people being extremely weird about grief. Some of it is shipping motivated (people who didn't like Beauyasha claiming Yasha wasn't ready and was too hung up on her dead wife; people who don't like Dorym or who resented the fact that Orym was resurrected before Laudna claiming either Orym isn't ready or, more chillingly, that he'd be happier dead). Some is not - I've mentioned before, but my favorite member of Vox Machina is Vex, and after I finished Campaign 1 I started looking for Vex content (again, this is mid-2018) and was inundated with "what if she can't braid her HAIR because she's too SAD because Vax is DEAD." Even now, I must admit, I look askance at the people claiming the throw to the Crown Keepers is good because it's a break - I don't think you need a break, unless you're extremely uncomfortable with grief or strong emotions! The first Campaign 2 episode I watched properly live (at least to the break) was episode 27 specifically because I wanted to see Beau and Caleb and Nott deal with that death now and didn't want to wait until Friday morning. I'm going to a concert this Thursday and won't be able to watch live and I can tell you what, I'm watching the back half of episode 93 Friday morning and the Crown Keepers half when I get to it, because this is what interests me, and it's fine if it's not what interests you, but someone you love is going to die one day and I have found that working through this through fiction lends a lot of meaning and catharsis. This is not, in fact, an unusual position; I highly recommend finding Liam's tweets from after Molly's death, and reading Ashly's essay about losing her partner, which she had written earlier but shared at that time as well. A core part of experiencing grief is that there is no break; there is only time.

In short, grief is complicated and unpredictable and it is indeed a part of Yasha and Orym (and no shortage of other characters) and will always influence them and be a part of them while also not serving as an end to their lives, and I think many people struggle with that. I suppose usually the response is more sympathetic within the fandom as it is towards Orym (though as discussed various fans used it to sideline Yasha's desires, to sand away Vex and Keyleth's ambitions and genuine excitment to live and grow, and don't get me started on Caleb or Vax). But it's always been a problem.

Ultimately, I think the reason Orym is treated so coldly is that, again, there's always been an issue within fandom of treating one's favorite characters as unimpeachable and any conflict with them or discussion of their flaws as a violent affront; but it does feel particularly pronounced in this campaign, particularly with regards to any obstacles (real or perceived) to Imogen or Laudna. [I could write an entire history of this campaign because it started with Laudna being The Untouchable One and only flipped to Imogen around the time of the solstice.] Hence such statements that, I truly cannot stress enough, I would rather give up internet access forever than admit to harboring such callousness within my heart as "Orym would be happier dead because his husband is dead" or "He has an obligation to recuse himself from discussions surrounding the Vanguard because he cannot be objective, a thing that is normal to expect of people with emotions and experiences and possible to achieve." (The latter really does pose a fascinating loophole. If the Vanguard just senselessly kills one or two family members from everyone's family then no one can oppose them, because it would then be biased and motivated by revenge. Life hack! It also reveals a pretty fundamental hypocrisy; if Ludinus is a Calamity survivor, maybe he should also be recusing himself! What's the math on how many people directly connected to you must be killed for your opinion to be right and good, rather than wrong and subjective?)

I think all of the above is, while, as discussed immediately above, not objective in that I'm a human being with personal experiences and emotions, fairly self-evident. I'll conclude by going into something that is within the realm of opinion, but I think is relevant to the discussion.

I personally believe the Vanguard's methods are sufficiently vile so as to cast doubt on all of their goals, but even if one doesn't, I find the idea that the Predathos should be unleashed and the gods should be killed is, ultimately, short-sighted, deeply self-centered, ahistorical within the canon (ie, unsupported by the text both in terms of canon events and, if we're counting them, appeals to emotion and authority - not terribly useful in real life, but very much the truth in a D&D actual play narrative), and a far less interesting story to boot. I think it would be devastating on a cosmic level in-world and that "oh it will sort itself out, probably" is perhaps the reddest flag one can wave in such discussions. So I do think that while Orym is acting on the basis of emotion, I also think he's right, and so the callousness is, as I've said elsewhere, a last-ditch effort by those with no capacity to construct a meaningful argument, because they think he's wrong and pointing out he's acting on the basis of emotion is their only ammunition to discredit him. At best I think the people who are arguing that the Vanguard is cruel but their cause is just have an extremely poor understanding of the setting and the specific narrative structures of this medium. Which isn't to say some of Bells Hells might not still make that choice, though Imogen telling Orym "I want you to know that that for a while it may have felt that you and I were not seeing eye to eye or maybe you felt that I, I didn't have the same goal in mind that you did. But don't worry about that anymore, all right?" in the wake of Liliana's conversation and the death of their only divinely-aligned friend feels rather indicative of their direction. But I do not think it is a choice defensible on the basis of morality; only defensible on the basis of "something a very hurt and angry and damaged person might choose to do."

People are specifically like this towards Orym because he is the mouthpiece for an opinion they don't like but ultimately cannot meaningfully argue against, and part of his justification in-world is the death of Will. While there was no shortage of people who hated Yasha, either for "die for our ship" reasons or your normal Reddit Bro misogyny, Zuala was mostly irrelevant to that discussion, hence the difference in how they're treated.

[indierpgnewsletter]

Should the GM make things interesting?

Obviously, yes. But also, no.

Words are great, stay with me.

I was reading an Alexandrian article that was about the – often debated – idea that when players come up with a good plan and the dice roll in their favour, their plan should just work. While a GM might be tempted to force some hitch, some curveball, some twist – some interesting-ness, the Alexandrian (and lots of other people) suggest that you should resist that urge and just let things be simple.

The sense that “something interesting should happen here” is understandable because it’s so often the role that the GM is playing. It comes from stories we know and other games we’ve played, right? There’s no good heist movie where the plan just works out. And probably your favourite gaming session was one where there were outrageous twists and unforeseen consequences. This particularly applies to trad and storygames – cultures that want sessions to feel like a particular kind of narrative or a particular medium, usually a movie or TV show.

Now the Alexandrian has a very trad focus. In the games being discussed, players normally spend a lot of time planning – discussions, debates, dice rolls around investigation and convincing NPCs. Now anyone who has invested all this time will find it pretty fun if their plan goes well. So I agree with the Alexandrian, if the dice fall favourably (rare!), a hitch-less session is great and will be enjoyed by all. And if everyone is already having fun, why would you feel the need to do something more?

If you think that it’s only interesting when sessions have twists and turns, then play something like Blades in the Dark where the idea is that you plan less and fail more. It’s probably a better fit for you because it’s design is in line with how you want to play.

Okay, but what happens when you’re playing Blades in the Dark and the players are just rolling 6s? In a lot of Forged in the Dark games, there’s been a trend towards designing some kind of currency that the GM can spend to introduce twists that is aimed squarely at this problem. I am not a fan of that stuff for two reasons. First, because mostly they’re giving people permission to do things that they already do. Nothing can stop me when I think of something cool to say, nothing! Or to put it more seriously, there’s a reason Apocalypse World says you make GM moves when players look to you. Or when there’s a golden opportunity. Second, even though these games are it’s-only-interesting-when-things-go-wrong games, even though there is minimal planning investment, it is still perfectly fine for a session to have only expected and obvious things happen.

Why? Because the players’ actions are interesting enough. Or at least, they should be.

Games like Blades in the Dark are more or less defined to facilitate players taking only interesting actions. They’re designed around players coming up with outrageous ideas and having the tools to actualize them. Not always succeeding… but at least crashing and burning in an entertaining way.

I think it’s important to think of these games as ones where players are supposed to be able to entertain themselves.

But, you ask, what if the players’ plans aren’t interesting? Well, I say, interesting to whom? If the players’ actions aren’t interesting even to them i.e. they are bored by their own choices, then that’s a real problem. When I find myself in that situation, it either means I’m having an off-day or I’m playing the wrong game with the wrong group. Not a big deal – I’ve been there before, I know what to do (see last week’s post). But it’s not something that can be fixed by a GM. If their actions aren’t interesting to you but are interesting to them, that’s a complicated situation too. But it has nothing to do with games.

So, yes. Should the GM make things interesting? Obviously, yes. But also, sometimes, no.

(This was first published in the Indie RPG Newsletter.)

[teddybearsandspaceships]

Notes for another Cleo stream, this one from April Fools. (Cleo has been uploading VODs again \o/ so it will probably be available on Youtube soon! Still available on Twitch here.) Featuring Real Life talk and permit office shenanigans with Grian, Scar, Etho, and Pearl.

Cleo reads out a message congratulating them on the Real Life win only a minute into the stream [making life hard for the mods, who pin a message not to talk about spoilers, as usual ^^]

Cleo´s opinion on if their win is canon: “Why wouldn´t it be real? Why wouldn´t it be?” The test, going by TV series rules: if the special gets mentioned in a later episode it´s canon.

They discovered the allays having coffee at the kitty café that False put there :D

Apparently the group was initially concerned if people would be mad, but they were still making content. The “April Fools” part was just that it was a one-off.

In-game chat: Grian announces the permit office is open. Special opening hours for April 1st! Pearl and Cleo are immediately suspicious and say it sounds like a trap. Joel says that Grian is actually nice to day (but on midnight he turns back into a nightmare.) Cleo is not at all convinced.

About Real Life: ~"the first thing everybody did was wave to each other, and dance, and give hugs, and I think that says a lot"

Pearl apparently had a 0/10 experience at the permit office. The permit office is closed again. nobody is surprised.

After the recording, Scar mentioned that he was told he should get a lap belt too… Scar is not Scar-safe. Cleo is frequently concerned/worried about Scar, which is only appropriate. "I´m not worried he´s gonna hurt himself, I´m worried he´s gonna, just, tear down the fabric of society.” "He´s a special little sausage, and also needs poking with sticks on a regular basis. Like big sticks – not little sticks, massive, massive sticks."

ooh apparently three glass permits are up for grabs! Grian, Scar, Cleo, Etho, and Pearl have a discussion in front of the permit office. Very soon this involves talking about loopholes to the permit office rules, but Grian tells them to stop it, he will just make up more rules. Pearl says she might be an NPC, Cleo says AI is not that advanced. Scar has skins, hats, and plans for him and Skizz has permit enforcers, but no spoilers

They looked at the permit office and the backrooms, listened to some unsettling music, and then started talking about cooking (more specifically Scar started talking about his meat. That he cooked, as Etho was glad to hear him clarify.) Grian thinks Etho would eat grey sludge nutrition paste.

Etho´s daily sandwich: a foot-long baguette, provelone cheese, hungarian salami, lettuce, tomatoes, salt and pepper, balsamic vinegar-based dressing. With dill pickles on the side. Grian calls it the most gourmet sandwich. "The more I learn the more I both admire and get confused.” Etho doesn´t understand the big deal [tbh neither do I? It´s a sandwich.] Scar says it´s because of how mysterious Etho is. Etho considers dramatizing everything part of the job as a youtuber.

"being tortured by Grian is fun, right? Right?" - Cleo

What would be Cleo´s mission if someone had created her? Pearl: to burn things down? Cleo asked if she´s burned down things recently. Etho: "She´s a trap door flipper."

repeated discussions about if Pearl is an AI or not

"you don´t have to be an NPC if you don´t want to, you can break your programming" - killing Cleo, however, would not be unexpected. Pearl has already stabbed her in the heart repeatedly. Not in Real Life! They were together that series. [Is it just me or does Pearl´s “yeeah…” sound a little more hesitant ^^]

Bonus: Cleo contemplates stealing cOW

[canmom]

what's the book for? part 2

[here's an intro where I talk about the three hour video essay that inspired me to do this]

[here's the first part where I argue that there's a big difference between the actual thing you do in an RPG and the book that tells you how you're allegedly supposed to be doing it]

So if the actual TTRPG games are mostly learned by observation and practice, what is the something that RPG books claim to give you in order to enable that?

Here's three things I can think of.

This isn't intended as a Forge-like categorisation of games, most RPG books offer (or claim to offer) all of these to some degree, ideally in complementary ways...

A ruling reference - RPG book as legal system

In the intro to a typical mainstream RPG book, this is typically the explanation that is given.

Over the course of a telling a story together, all sorts of weird edge cases come up where you might not want to simply make a call on how it should resolve. Moreover, consistency is valued, for both challenge and narrative reasons.

In this case, the RPG book is a big collection of rulings for specific situations. 'What happens when a character falls off a cliff?' You can look it up. It's like legal precedents. This is how a lot of the stuff in the early D&D books started - stuff that someone had done, and a referee had made a ruling, and it got written down. Then it would get systematised, unified, and streamlined so that it's easier to remember and extend to new situations.

A lighter game avoids special cases and just suggests a general procedure for resolving situations of uncertainty, conflicts etc.

This angle doesn't tend to cover procedures for how the game is physically run - how to go about setting up the scenario, who should get priority when speaking, etc. etc. - beyond perhaps offering prebuilt modules to inspire you. In older games, most of that is stuff you pick up by watching. In newer games... well, hold on.

A grab bag of interesting prompts - RPG book as inspiration in the moment

Most RPG books have flavour text; many also have tables of weird shit you can roll on or select when building a character, character sheets full of interesting abilities, descriptions of NPCs and so on. A select few RPGs like Unknown Armies and Chuubo's Marvellous Wish-Granting Engine have really distinctive prose too.

The aim of all these tools is to give you something to latch onto when you're in the moment and you need to think of the next thing to say. It's also to get people onto some shared understanding of what this game is all about.

This is where the bulk of many RPG books lies. It's explicitly the aim of Apocalypse World's MC moves. Many one-page RPGs are nothing but lists of evocative names and description elements, and a short snatch of prose.

Prompt tables and lists of names are popular in just about every tradition of RPG design - trad, storygames, OSR, all use them. Sometimes they're the most memorable thing about an RPG, like Dark Heresy's crit tables.

Sometimes pages of tables is the RPG - in recent years, card-based games have become popular, using a regular deck of cards which indexes into a big table of events, each of which is like 'here's a short description. how do you respond?'. This type of game has a great deal in common with storylet-based interactive fiction like Fallen London.

Prompts don't have to be short, though. Arguably an adventure module can be pretty much this - something you consult when players arrive in a new place to get an idea of who they should meet for example.

In D&D, the Monster Manual is straight up a book of real freaky guys you can put in your game. It also has stat blocks for them, of course, but the descriptions and pictures do a lot of work here to make them concrete.

This is why I describe the pictures in Lancer as load-bearing. The pictures help - or are supposed to help - grease the wheels of imagination when you're trying to imagine mechs.

This function of RPGs is a large part of the angle you're playing if you tie the game to a particular genre, setting or IP.

A machine to guide you to a specific experience - RPG book as auteur blueprint

So here's the newer flavour.

RPGs can be one of the most feelings-dense forms of art that humans create - it's your story, with your characters. This is something that tends to arise organically after you spend a long time with a character and 'get into their head'.

However, there is often a desire on the designer's side to structure the game to bring about a particular kind of emotional experience more directly. From horror games to games self-consciously 'about' colonialism, abuse, romance, etc., these games try to give you a particular experience, similar to what a film or book gives you - or indeed, a computer game.

Here are some examples:

My Life With Master is an older Forge game. It's about the 'Igor' servant characters in a classic horror movie, billing itself as 'a roleplaying game of villainy, self-loathing, and unrequited love'. It presents you with an emotionally charged scenario and mechanics that try to push you towards specific drama - if you want to be critical, a firm instance of the incentives and buttons oriented design that Huntsman was talking about, sometimes quite explicitly saying 'this mechanic was designed to...'

Dog Eat Dog is a game 'a game of imperialism and assimilation on the Pacific islands', with the DM reimagined as a colonial power adding more and more restrictions and the players as native people who will inevitably break its rules, until they are eventually pushed to 'run amok' (fatally), or assimilate. It's a game whose entire argument is more or less spelled out in the book itself.

But games don't have to be this narrowly scoped to have this kind of aspiration. Something like Apocalypse World still wants to bring about certain kinds of interaction, laid out quite explicitly as 'agendas' for the MC and players. It is strongly 'opinionated', in programmer terms.

Even a very flexible game can take on this model. Fiasco is a very abstract structure, designed to set up a chaotic situation like in a Coen Brothers movie. Microscope is designed to give you a fractal zoom in and out of a fictional history. These games are almost all procedure; Fiasco has some fantastic prompt tables, and a clear way to cook up your own, but the bulk of it is the stuff it tells you to do with scenes and dice.

These could be seen as games on an auteur model, with many of the emotional beats of the scenario already rigged up in advance. You get this type of book to experience a good/meaningful story - with a certain amount of flexibility in the details that gets you more attached. If there is a GM/MC/etc. they have instructions to facilitate the expression of that story.

...well, I refer to it as an auteur model. Thankfully not everyone is Ron Edwards! Apocalypse World has a whole chapter about how to modify the game to your taste, or build new games on its framework, and that - plus its conceptual simplicity - probably played a role in its hundreds of derivatives. 'Hacking' games was well established as a practice in the storygames milieu right from the early days. Probably the vast majority of games put out on itch.io are simply hacks of an established framework, very few offer real innovation.

Despite this, the offer of these products is still that they'll tell you how create a kind of verbal machine to realise some very specific thing.

Secret fourth thing...?

I can't think of others right now, but I hate presenting a list as exhaustive unless I can prove it's exhaustive. It's very likely there's some other function a book can claim to perform.

However, to summarise, you look at an RPG book to get:

a consistent set of rulings to handle situations of uncertainty

a set of prompts to help inspire your imagination when you need inspiration

a carefully designed procedure to lead you to a specific experience

The third thing is kind of a different beast to the other two, huh? You might be thinking that the first two are trad games and the third one is post-Forge 'story games', but it's really much older than that. Paranoia is a great early example; there are shades of it in many games published in the 80s and 90s. Not all these games are affiliated with the Forge and its diaspora either - take for example Jenna Moran's games and Bliss Stage.

Story games are not books either

The Forge and its diaspora led to a lot of games being printed, and launched the careers of many an 'indie TTRPG designer', which was not really a thing you could be in the same way before. It would be easy therefore to think this was the main contribution: we should assess it on the basis of the printed games that resulted.

However, nothing says you have to use a book to pilfer from their idea pool.

The really interesting contribution of the whole movement, to my eye, is that it calls our attention to a facet of TTRPGs that had often been left implicit. Who speaks, when? Who gets the 'narrative authority' to make the final call on what becomes 'true'? How do you organise time - do you frame scenes, use flashbacks, cut between different characters? What makes a dice roll exciting? How do you work out what would engage the other players, and communicate your own interests? Are you trying to help your character win, or are you more like a writer who might choose to make them suffer? How do you make a compelling character arc? What can be changed around behind the scenes to make a better story?

These are all aspects of 'play', the thing that you do at the table. Any given TTRPG group will settle on its own implicit or explicit approach to this kind of thing.

Different RPG books will tell you to do this or that. Some games will tell you to set stakes, or make failure interesting, or make choices that act as 'flags' to show what you're looking for.

But these tools are not tied to any specific game. You don't need the 'permission' of a book, nor can a book stop you doing it. A book may lay out a procedure that makes it easier, may introduce you to an idea that you haven't heard before, but once you have the idea, you can play with it however you like.

The way I approach a trad game like D&D, from either side of the DM screen, has become very different after my sojourn into the world of story games. A lot of what I liked there, I kept doing. Other inspiration comes from outside of the 'hobby' entirely, in related milieu like improv comedy.

This is something the OSR milieu seems to understand quite well. Everything is expected to be mixed, matched, and interpreted by the needs of your group. Posts will be framed as mere advice, which can be picked up and applied regardless of context.

But that all depends on a certain amount of common ground as to 'what the game is'. There is an authoritative DM who runs the scenario. The emphasis of the game is probably on exploring some kind of ruin and surviving in a dark, decaying fantasy world populated by various factions at odds with each other. Players control flimsy characters whose survival is not guaranteed, but if they live long enough, they can become major powers. There is a heavy strategic aspect: you are trying to use your resources to survive and get something. This is the general shape of a 'prototypical OSR game'.

the shared context of storygames

Story games form their own subsubculture, but they do not have this level of shared context. Instead, a different kind of shared context is kind of implicit in the milieu.

Here's how things go at the London Indie RPG Meetup Group, which I've attended a couple of times: a group of nerds gather in a pub. People will pitch games with a couple of sentences; then people will form groups and play that game as a one-shot session. Someone will have a book, or printouts. Most players will not have heard of the game before.

In this kind of context, a lot of the quirks of story games make sense. 'Read this out' paragraphs, rapid character creation based on selecting prompts, simple mechanics designed to push you into drama as quickly as possible: all of this stuff is perfect for a one-shot game you play once or a few times. This type of game is not really trying to 'take on' trad games.

But then there's the 'middle ground' kind of game, which are closer to a 'trad' game - a game master, persistent characters each controlled by one player, multiple sessions, progression - but also instruct you to do something more experimental by trad-game standards. This includes Apocalypse World and its derivatives, Blades in the Dark and its derivatives, the Burning Wheel/Mouse Guard lineage, Jenna Moran's games... and so on.

It's this point of overlap where things get sticky and it all becomes a bit tense. Since, well, story game fans can be quite evangelistic - and part of that evangelism depends on a dismissively book-determinist view of trad TTRPGs. But conversely, trad players can be quite reluctant to imagine there is any other way of approaching this whole activity, and dismissive of any other approach. I do not like it, Sam-I-am.

So you end up with a situation of camps, with both groups bristling at the sense that they should be compelled to give up the thing they like to do it the way they consider inferior.

And if you want to criticise the other camp, what do you do? Pick up their book and criticise it as a product, according to your sense of what a TTRPG book is for. Which seems hopelessly besides the point when a book is such a small part of the story.

I've played trad games, story games, OSR games, 'freeform' forum games, LARP, MMO roleplaying, improv comedy... Not as much as I'd like of anything, but enough to get a sense of the many ways we can do this 'roleplaying' thing, whether by explicit rule or implicit convention.

So the puzzle I now have is, if there is to be a book involved, what is that book there to do? What really makes for a good RPG book? Are there other ways to get that thing? How do you game design honestly?

We'll try to address that in part 3 of this series, coming... sometime soon, hopefully!

[sothasil]

Any ideas on lgbt (mostly gay stuff) in khajiiti culture?

Canon sources of LGBT khajiit are rare from what I know of, encountered some gay NPCs when I was playing ESO which was never commented upon (this was before the Elsweyr expansion which I haven't played), and years ago, sex jokes from Daggerfall were often brought up as crumbs of representation but I believe they're less lore-y and more fantasy flavor takes on basic jokes. Gender is very important to the notions of what makes LGBT- khajiit culture, judging by the creation myth in Words of Clan Mother Ahnissi as well as by the honorifics they use in their naming conventions, seem to go for a male/female binary. There are no transgender or gender non-conforming khajiit mentioned that I know of, although I cannot name any culturally relevant sexism either, so it's fair to assume it's not much of a thing. Historically, the real life cultures I've read about that strictly see gender as male or female seem to inch for both sides of the same coin approaches, or seeing them as two separate things, and given khajiit motives of duality and seeing outside of it I would assume it's the first. I also believe people outside that strict biological binary have and will always exist, although in video games representation it is not fair to read much into their absence because those people are rarely if ever represented in mainstream media.

This being out of the way, here's the headcanons portion! I'll be referring to khajiit and elsweyri culture interchangeably (a can of worms for another day)

My main idea would be that khajiit are very lax about sex, do not consider it a taboo topic and in their culture, have a lot of freedom around it. Ostracizing someone for homosexual relationships would be considered an attack. The times it could be a big deal would be surrounding situations where someone wants biological children, should it be of their own desire or because of peer pressure, which would be niche situations more depending on individuals than culture as a whole. However, I also believe that in using our modern terms, the social norm would be bisexuality and that someone displaying exclusive preference should it be gay or het might raise a few eyebrows. Given this, I do not believe that the born and raised elsweyri have specific gay subcultures as is the case in our modern world. Same sex marriages would also happen (more in my marriage post).

Regarding transgender people, with the strong binary I mentioned above I think gender non-conformity and transgender identities would be understood closely to our modern world. It'd be easier to understand to a khajiit that someone would transition from male to female and the other way around, but more complex personal expressions of gender would be outsides of the social norm and broadly characterized as "third other" or by less gentle people, as a combination of traits of each, the basic "x soul y body" or whatnot phrases you sometimes hear. This could be both rejected and reclaimed by people! And contrary to gay stuff, it's likely that GNC individuals would group up to find in each other respite from the social norm.

But if you're to ask LBGT questions to a khajiit the most likely answer would be in the lines of "why is this your business?", or adjacent 😺

[johnmarstonisawolf]

I love both John and Arthur

“RDR1 Represents John’s Character Growth” Argument… 

I’ve seen people get blocked for disagreeing with the types of posts that complain about “Rdr fans disliking John’s characterization in rdr2”.  I’d rather just agree to disagree but if anyone doesn’t like where this post is going, please feel free to use the block button.

Also, in this post, I am repeating some things I’ve written in past responses/posts. Plus I have read other fans’ posts and opinions about this topic, which will be sprinkled throughout this post. 

Here it goes… Mainly for me, it’s the ret-con. It’s not that John can’t be this man with flaws, but in the first game (rdr1) they hint a lot at John (when he’d been in the gang in the past tense, before the events in rdr2) being this quixotic, well-spoken, “right-hand man of Dutch”, which were traits that were all given to Arthur in rdr2. Even Bill and Abigail hint at this. If you want to hear another rdr fan go more in-depth about this, read here. Plus Rockstar in so many words had explained why they made John a humiliation conga because they didn’t want John to “overshadow” Arthur. 

Yes, Arthur is older and yes, John could’ve been influenced by Arthur (but only by so much, I mean, c’mon John and Arthur are their own person). Yet the fact that Arthur is not even mentioned in rdr1 (yes, rdr2 hadn’t even been created yet. I know.) and they decided to “downgrade” John in rdr2 and give all of these admirable traits (they allude to in rdr1 about John) to Arthur is what baffles me. 

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Arthur’s character. However, it’s the high pedestal that this fandom puts him on, emphasizing his positive traits while continually bashing John in the process, that does me in.

We get it, John wasn’t a good father or a good husband, he treats his wife and kid like crap (he gets better tho), he deserves whatever criticism he gets for those horrible actions of his, but we got to remember this is the Wild West; Abigail nor John had the resources or skills to deal with their own trauma much less even raise a boy in a gang, especially Abigail. But that’s not downplaying the fact that John is a very emotionally-mentally damaged person (as a result of many forms of abuse and being raised by Dutch, Hosea, and Arthur, who aren’t the best examples) while at the same time, Abigail is a very emotionally-mentally damaged person (as a result of many forms of abuse and being raised and working in a brothel) who’s had to carry a kid for 9 months and march on through with barely having much help, aside from some individuals in the gang who helped her—I’m not gonna go with the narrative that not a single person in the gang helped. 

Listen, it’s not that we can’t handle seeing John being this pathetic version of himself that the devs chose to portray him as in rdr2 (so he wouldn’t overshadow Arthur and lazy writing) or that we can’t watch him grow from this immature and flawed human being to a man who loves his wife and child and would do anything for them… but it’s how it was done and how rockstar did it. 

They also did Johnny boy’s physical character design very poorly in the epilogue; in the epilogue (1907) he barely showcases any of the traits we see in (1911) rdr1 (a four-year difference, timeline-wise, which really isn’t that long). Although NPC John and Epilogue John might look different from each other, their personalities aren’t much different. So there’s not much of a change in my opinion.

Also, I just want to clarify that this post isn’t about the fandom preferring Arthur over John but more so about how John’s characterization was done in rdr2 compared to rdr1, which can’t merely be attributed to “character growth” rather than lazy writing.  Understandably, many people prefer Arthur over John. Hence compared to the first game, rdr2 has better accessibility, players get to go more into the protagonist’s mind, and many game mechanics have improved/developed since rdr1 was released. But rdr1 was an acclaimed game when it came out with many fans that still remain in this fandom, in spite of rdr2’s wider exposure. 

And if I was going to mention anything that the games were kind of consistent with when it came to John’s characterization, is that he has a dry and cynical personality that reflects the protagonists of old spaghetti westerns, and the unforgiving world that makes up the Wild West.

Personally, while I do like his character in both games (he’s my fave) I still feel like there’s a bit more they could’ve done with his character in rdr2, in regards to missions and stuff, I would even say the devs had put more effort into some supporting characters compared to John, but that’s just my opinion. And I was really hoping for a rdr1 remaster but more so in a Yakuza Kiwami way (amped-up gameplay, fixed plot holes, better character detail, quality improvements, etc…)

[pleasantmsp]

Been rewatching some of the Mighty Nein campaign cause I was missing them and also I'm excited for their one shot soon! I've seen a few people speculating about the one shot so thought I'd put my thoughts out into the void as well.

I honestly don't know at all what to expect from this one shot. I don't even remember what the description was beyond that it has to do with the apogee solstice stuff. I haven't kept up much with campaign 3 for my own reasons that I don't need to get into now. However, I did actually watch a couple of the episodes during the solstice and got lucky with watching the ep with beau and caleb in it. But otherwise, I barely know what's going on. I have no idea what the M9 will be dealing with. My theories include anything from getting Beau and Caleb back and dealing with cultists along the way to dealing with the Cerberus Assembly's/Ludinus' attachments to this whole thing to stopping Tharizdun or some other entity from doing some fuck shit. Honestly, I don't fucking know man. I don't even really think any of that shit will happen.

I don't know if it's been confirmed that Caduceus is gonna be the one in this one shot but I really hope it is him. One of the things that's been bothering me about this arc from the BH perspective (at least that I've seen) is that none of them or any that they've come across has been able to argue for the side of the gods and the good that some of them can do. As someone who really likes the worldbuilding and rp that gods can bring to settings like this, not having that perspective represented has been disappointing for me. (This is not the fault of the cast or their guests or anything like that, that is not what I'm saying. It is their choice what characters they play and it is Matt's choice as the DM which NPCs/areas they come across in wherever they decide to explore. I'm just mentioning my own preference and feelings as it pertains to the one shot which is what I'm talking about). Anyway, I hope it's Caduceus because I think he will bring an incredibly interesting perspective on this whole thing. And I think Fjord will too but not to the extent that Cad can since Cad and his family grew up as worshippers of Melora.

We don't know the fate of Beau and Caleb and while I don't think they're dead, I really hope they aren't gone for most of this one shot. Beau is my favorite character in any media ever. I fucking love Beau so much. And Beauyasha is my favorite couple, I love them. I will be literally so sad if Marisha isn't playing Beau for this one shot. Like I'll understand but also I will indeed be devastated. Beauyasha is like my Roman Empire (this joke will be aging this post LMAO but its a good comparison honestly), I think about them A LOT. I want to see more content from them. I was at SDCC, I was there when Ashley said she felt like she wasn't fully finished with Yasha and that's exactly how I feel. The Mighty Nein's story was so good but the way it ended felt so long and then so abrupt (but that's another post). I will always be wanting more of Beau and Yasha's story. I want to know as much as Marisha and Ashley are willing to give us. So I hope the one shot starts with Beau and Caleb and how they reunite with the Nein and then get to business. Or even better, with them already reunited for maximum Nein time.

Those are my main two thoughts for now. I actually need to go to bed cause I got work in the morning and it's been kicking my ass these last two weeks so imma cut it there and check back tomorrow. If you somehow see this, I hope you enjoyed my ramblings lol

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

I got an idea, how about about something about how the Poképasta trainers & Pokémon from FNF Lullaby deal with a spunky and energetic reader (who is also a Poképasta trainer that specializes in ghost and psychic type Pokémon)? Obviously, everything’s platonic.

Sure! But I'll be doing just 5 characters bc that’s my limit. I can’t fit every single one in this. sorry

Also to give this Pokepasta!Reader a backstory, they’re a soul who was trapped in the Pokémon Black (creepypasta) bootleg with Ghost as their starter, after Red died in that game. And after many "resets" of the game, they learn to tame Ghost’s murderous antics (and also learn he can’t harm pokepastas).

........

Grey

He’s immediately taken aback, expecting you to be this scary ahh ghost/psychic trainer. It doesn’t help when he’s absolutely terrified of Ghost lingering behind you.

But you reassure him he’s friendly, catching him off-guard with your laugh.

You’re the total opposite of the Pokémon you train. Ghost and psychic-types are meant to be intimidating, alluring, and mysterious...but you break the stereotypes with your energetic personality.

If you have a Hypno or Drowsee in your party, Shinto would be besties with them fr.

And when you see her you’re like “wow that must be a rare species with no fur collar and a short stature!! Where’s her pendulum?”

Grey can’t convince you of her true nature, so he just plays along. You're actually pretty cool.

Silver (Insomnia) 

Your Pokémon aren’t scared by his muffled wailing, and with most of them knowing the move Hypnosis, Feralisleep waking up isn’t a problem.

Even if he did, he’d be too scared to attack anyways thanks to Ghost.

So basically becoming friends with Silver is, in fact, possible.

Of course that takes time given his inability to verbally communicate, but he seems impressed by your strong Pokémon.

Sometimes your energy gets to be overwhelming and he’ll gesture for you to be quiet (mostly bc he doesn’t want his starter to wake up and frighten you away). So you learn to be calmer around the two.

You learn that he hardly ever sleeps, due to his need to watch Feralisleep and his insomnia from nightmares whenever he tries to sleep.

But if you have a Munna on your team, you could absolutely help him with that.

Steven

At first his blood goes cold when he sees Ghost bc “isn’t that part of the missing one???” He still has some regrets from using it.

You, however, reassure him this one’s completely different. Plus, you’ve seen Missingno back in your game and knew very well what it was capable of.

After that, Steven calms down, but he still stares at Ghost every once in a while. Clearly he’s unnerved by him, so you show off your other Pokémon to distract him.

Your energy reminds him of Mike’s, but he doesn’t mind you hanging out with him. He became like a dad to you, as he did with Gold and Grey.

One day you see “Miki” and immediately know how she was brought back, though you can understand Steven’s desperation, having lost her in an accident.

The thing with ghost-types is that they’re already dead, in a way, so you didn’t have to fear losing them. But you take good care of the psychic-types on your team, of course. Steven made sure you did.

Glitchy Red

When you first meet him in Glitch City, he was ready to snap your neck at a moment’s notice.

He thought you were one of those NPC trainers until he notices Ghost, and you weren't a blank slate spewing the same dialogue.

You’re just happy seeing Red alive (even if he’s from another game), and you explain where you came from to him, showing him all your Pokémon.

Considering that all the other pokepastas he met seem miserable, he wonders why you’re not the same.

Where’s your anger?? Your rage??? Do you not have any vengeance in your heart????

He’d ask you this, but decides to drop it after seeing you praise your Haunter for their scariest Mean Look.

For a self-aware ghost/psychic trainer, you’re quite cheery.

Buried Alive

You meet Bury while training atop Pokémon Tower, wanting to find a quieter place so the visitors floors below can pay their respects in peace.

Immediately he thinks of you as fresh meat--ripe for the taking--but then notices you also have a Gengar on your team.

Then he brings his out like “same hat!!!!” and the two actually become friends.

They don’t wanna fight, but Bury’s hunger grows stronger the longer you stay near him, so you find some meat for him so he didn’t get those cravings around you.

Since he’s a zombie spirit attached to the tower, he can’t leave, but you’ll visit him every time you return to continue training.

You’re the first human that became his friend.

[triforce-of-mischief]

You cannot physically stop people from shipping in the LU fandom. As long as it's properly tagged so it can be avoided it's fine

You’re right, I can’t. And I don’t want to. I enjoy my Zelink, Malink, and Midlink (and many more) and I love to see our boys explore romantic relationships with their princesses, sidekicks, and npcs. And I always tag everything so people can avoid ships if they’re not comfortable with them.

But I’m guessing that’s not what you’re talking about.

You want to make a fuss about how I’ve made my thoughts clear about Linkshipping, in and out of LU.

So here’s the deal, once and for all: Non-LU Linkshipping is not bad. In fact, I support it! I’ve been reading @ageless-soul-au and I LOVE the dynamic between their main ship. The creator of @linked-maze is also open to Linkshipping, and has drawn ship art of their characters. 

Too often, people forget that LU is one comic drawn by one person. It’s not the only Links-meet AU and it doesn’t control the rules for every other fandom. Nothing is stopping you from creating content for a different Links-meet AU (that allows Linkshipping), or making your own. You can ship as many Links as you want, and nobody can tell you you’re not allowed to.

The difference with LU is that the one person, who draws one comic, that happened to create one fandom, requested that you respect her wishes to not use her characters for Linkshipping. That’s right: Jojo is not Nintendo. She doesn’t own all Links, but you don’t own her Links. There’s an infinite amount of Links out there for you to ship together, from established AUs to your own. What’s so special about LU that you NEED to be inconsiderate and ship her Links when you can ship somebody else’s (including your own)?

Everybody in the LU fandom is aware of the single rule that Jojo has asked us to follow with her characters. And we like it that way! Shipping discourse is almost nonexistent and it’s a safe place for people on the aroace spectrum who just want their found family content.

But if you come to the LU fandom with the sole purpose of disrespecting everyone just to give yourself a sense of power over somebody else’s creation, I don’t know what to tell you. I hope you reconsider your choice to slap the LU label on your Linkshipping content. I hope you realize how rude it is to everyone when you actively try to mess up the fandom experience for hundreds of people when you could simply avoid LU altogether and let everyone enjoy the content they came here for.

At this point, the only people starting discourse are the wannabe LU-Linkshippers themselves. The majority of the fandom is comfortable with Linkshipping AUs separate from LU, and there’s no need for us to harass non-LU Linkshippers for doing what they want while respecting Jojo and the LU fandom. You’re making a mountain out of a molehill, and for some reason you’re dead set on making it our problem too.

This isn’t what I want to be known for. I just want to be a fic writer who loves to angst Legend. I’m not going to involve myself in discourse and I’m telling you right now that if you try to bring it to my ask box, it’s over before it started. Go check out some other AUs and turn off anon if you absolutely have to continue this discussion in a civil manner.

Thank you for understanding.

[twisted-wonderland-but-gayer]

Do we have a mafia boss yuu?? Cause I would love to talk about one

I can just imagine them coming in during chapter 3 and ruining azul’s plan so quickly.

Azul is trying to get them to sign the contract yet yuu is just playing some mental games on him, or just flirting to catch him off guard

Azul is turned on Furious at this yuu because how did he get played at his own game???

Ramshackle is their base of operations, and I’d feel like this yuu might recruit NPCS

This yuu would never be blackmailed by Crowley, they would find dirt on him and indirectly threaten him with no hesitation

Bonus points if they have some cool looking tattoos

Ok this gave me a mini idea. Forgive me for this ramble but i am verybtired. Nor exactly a super mafia boss type. Maybe an ayato or just clever yuu but:

I heard mafia ans immediately thought like a royal guard in charge of rules oops

Jade: is this your first time her-

Yuu: Cut the shit I know how this works. Let Azul know we need to speak to him. I'd like a cola and get Jack here a tea. Also if you woukd be so kind to allow me to change servers to Ace, you wouldn't mind would ya leech?

After yuu enters the VIP room they give a kiss to Azuls hand, surprising him before sitting down.

***

Jack is staring at you bewildered. "You aren't actually gonna make a deal with him are you?"

"Hmm not yet. I want to see those three squirm for a bit more" yuu smirked and laughed.

"It was their fault for signing a contract so easily, after all. Not even bothering to look it over. Taking the easy way out... in a way i admire how Azul run things..."

Azul beamed "Im flattered and glad we have a mutual understanding. Its good to know that someone in that group has a bit of brain."

"Hmm yes, however sadly, we both know I'm not here for idle chatter. If it were up to me I wouldn't bother with any of this, but Crowleys orders, yknow?"

"I understand. Here is the terms of the contract." Azul reveals the golden paper to Yuu, who takes it and thoroughly reads it.

"Now perhaps if you three actually payed attention in your classes, you would have learned how to see through such deceptive wording." Yuu tutted.

"Oh please you never pay attention in classes!" Ace retorted. "You have no room to talk."

"Well I already graduated college alongside royalty and doctors by my side to serve directly as the Queens right hand man. I don't really need to pay attention to what I already know. I pass every test anyways."

Ace huffed and Deuce looked away. "Okay well good for you. You don't have to try because-"

"-because I already did. Now listen Ace. Imagine if your in charge of practically... everything and always have to keep up appearances. Then suddenly you end up in a place where no one know you with no responsibilities and have to attend a school on the same level as the kindergarten you attended... wouldn't you also skip a few classes?" Yuu raised a brow, their voice eerily cold. "That's what I thought. Now..."

***

As Yuus eyes skimmed through the contract, Jack nudged them. "Dude, you cant be serious."

"Oh but I am. Besides I'm not too worried. Even without me this is a situation that would most definitely solve itself."

"Oh? And what do you mean by that, Yuu." Azul inquired smugly.

"I've seen this exact scenario play out time and time again, Azul. Do you want to know they all ended? In failure."

"Oh please, you doubt me."

"I don't doubt you. You and I both know you're quite smart. However, how much longer do you think you can manage all these contracts realistically, Azul?"

"Organization is key when-"

"Allow me to rephrase that. How much longer do you think your contractors will put up with you?" Azul frowns at that.

"You see, Zul. There are a few ways to get out of contracts like these. To destroy the contracts. To kill yourself. To kill your contractor. Or a rebellion. Usually they all happen at once. No matter how clever you are, you can never account for any of that. Given your reputation, it wouldn't do well to hear some of your clients decided they were better dead because of you. And when that happens, people get angry... people will figure out how to overthrow you. It's happened to kings before."

Azul sat in silence, eye twitching ever so slightly at the gall of this... nobody.

"You have set yourself up for failure. You sit at the very peak of your achievements, the only way to go from here is down, Azul. And when you inevitably do, take it as a lesson. I've seen many promising figures such as yourself dissappear into obscurity. Believe me."

'It was practically my job to ruin stuff like this' Yuu thought. 'Just plant the bait now. Then wait for the fish to come.'

***

"Before I try and negotiate this, answer me this: do you expect a heist from me, Ashengrotto?"

"Oh no, that would be ridiculous. The photo you would be stealing is public property if anything. Nothing more than gum on the wall, no one would notice it missing."

"Uh-Huh and what about it being under the sea."

"You will be provided a premium potion to help you breath underwater. Rest assured, I made it myself."

***

Azul raised a brow when they saw Yuu scribble, circle, and underline certain words and sentences on the contract before pulling out a small pocket journal and ripping out a few small pages.

"I must applaud you work, Azul. You definitely know your way around a contract like a true scumbag."

Azul merely chuckled off the insult. "Of course, however I'm most curious on what your doing with that notepad of yours."

Yuu examines Azuls contract one last time, before ripping it in two, making Azuls eyes widened.

"How about, you make a deal with me?"

***

Azul quirked a brow at the small piece of paper in front of him.

"I have made a simpler deal that sweetens the pot for you. I'm sure you would enjoy it."

Azul looks at the paper, smug grin back on his face when he reads it.

Jack looked over at Yuu confused, before he could ask they answered.

"I have to retrieve that photo in that time span of three days. If I am successful, you release everybody. If I fail, not only will Ramshackle belong to you, but I will transfer to Octavinelle as your personal secretary or butler, no anemone needed. All of my knowledge and experience, yours. I've had a lot of experiencing serving, so I am sure you will be satisfied."

***

"That's crazy!" Deuce yells. "He's gonna run you ragged!"

"I'm part of a corrupted monarchy as an... upholder of the law... There is nothing worse than that. Besides. I win either way."

"How?" Deuce asked.

"Right..." Azul smirks. "I'll sign your contract then, Yuu. Just one—"

"Is there any benefit to staying in Ramshackle? Truly? If I win, Crowley gets what he wants and I get paid and fed. If I loose... well. Would I really? I would be in a new dorm that isn't rotten. I would have more access to food. Crowley couldn't boss me around as much. All this with the only downside of being a servant which I probably will get paid for— something Crowley doesn't do. I don't see a downside for me really."

'Plus if things turn out bad. I can just kill the bastard' Yuu thought.

"You need something from me to make sure I uphold this deal and don't try and change it, yes , yes... give me one moment."

Out of a hidden breast pocket, Yuu pulled out a small decorative box. It's design wasn't like anything from twisted wonderland and it looked quite expensive.

"This is the only personal item I was summoned with. The only think I have left of my family and home. If this ends up ruined in anyway, the deal is off, and depending on how bad the damage is, I may even have your head." Yuus voice stayed eerily calm as ever once again.

Likewise, the fellow businessman Azul stayed calm as well. You both understood each other. This was an act. "Alright then, so far this sounds like a deal..."

"And to calm your nerves, Azul, I'll show you what's in the box so you know I can't lie about anything being broken." Yuu opened up the box and carefully took a few items out. Old friendship bracelets. A couple foreign coins. Damaged Polaroids. "That is all." Yuu said, before putting them all back in.

"Now I would like to receive the potion right before we both sign this to ensure there is no time wasted." "Of course Yuu. It's a deal."

"May the best man win."

***

After another kiss to the hand and exchanged formalities, it was back to the Savannaclaw dorm, where you informed the others about what happened.

"You seriously just signed your life away." Leona snorts.

"Oh please you doubt me. I have a plan. One that you may enjoy..."

"Oh yeah?" Leona asks, unimpressed.

"The entire box is a lie." Leona looked over at Yuu, raising a brow.

"You see, there is several small machines within that box. Regardless if the box is places in that safe of his of not, they'll find a way in and seize all the contracts."

"You really think it would work?"

"If not i have a back up. However I would appreciate if you can be a part of this plan."

"Tch, what's in it for me?"

"Aww, I was being so kind to let you watch Azul squirm..."

"To the point."

"You see my first thought was to burn the contracts, but then I realized they may have a protection spell on them. That's where you come in. You're unique magic can turn it all to dust. Considering that potion you had for that stunt you pulled a while back, I'm sure this isnt your first time making a deal with him too, huh? And don't you hate the bastard? Not only do you get rid of any old deals you made, but you also get the snuff out the light in his eyes."

Leona smirked at your proposal.

"Do we have a deal?"

[thecedarchronicle]

I played through the new beginning of the game and I have to say it's much better than I was afraid it was going to be. I like the angle of MC first discovering another side of Jorvik through the Moon Circle, it feels like a good introduction. Especially since it happens right after you create the first connection with the canonical soul steed!

Except - what's the deal with seeing the Soul Riders right out the gate? I understand wanting to introduce your new players to the main characters as soon as possible, and maybe I am put off since I'm already familiar with them, but it just seems way off. Why is Lisa taking complete beginner classes at Moorland when she's already learning under Herman at Jorvik Stables? Why are all five of them so keen on befriending this random kid? I'm glad they didn't introduce more NPCs to immediately abandon but it doesn't feel like the right fit. Also, am I missing something? Why is Maya the instructor? Isn't she a stable girl trying to save up to start taking riding classes?

I'll be clear I don't want this to sound like I'm bashing on SSE. I really really like the new start of the game. I think it's a much gentler introduction and in general a way better tutorial. I actually feel like I know why the MC is here and what's going on, and as a result immediately feel way more grounded in the story. I just think their choice of characters did them a disservice.

I'm no professional writer, but I think it would have been really cool if Maya was the student learning with us. She could even be the person sharing the cabin with MC. Give MC and Maya a chance to bond as the "newbies" and become friends during the first day, and you immediately have a good reason as to why the MC would be invited into the Soul Riders' group.

Maybe the next day, after having a strange dream, Alex comes and visits Maya, and when you approach them to start the day, you overhear snippets of the conversation they didn't really intend for you to hear --- something about Dark Riders following Anne to France, and hopefully she's safe, or that Lisa just got back from tour, but she's not responding to any of Alex or Lisa's texts, asking Maya maybe Lisa's done with all the magic and danger?

Or maybe MC mentions something they see in their dream that Maya recognizes. MC overhears Maya mentioning it to Alex and realizes these two girls know way more than they let on, and later MC follows them to eavesdrop and gets the drop on the two of them + Linda saying some really incriminating stuff about the druids and Aideen, and once they realize MC is there, they finally give an explanation. It would give MC some more agency in the story, too. Instead of being told to "go here with me and you'll be given answers" MC decides to explore the underbelly of this place themselves.

Although. A really cool thing. Would be if you advanced along the main story to get to the druids and they admit to you that Fripp or whoever sensed a huge energy shift and realized someone of huge power had arrived on the island, and you find out that the entire first couple of days on Jorvik all five of them were just doing this huge undercover operation on you to figure out what your deal was. Because if I was a new player and wasn't familiar with SSO's brand of storytelling I would have been so suspicious of them the entire time.

[sodaquail]

Dude I’m so hyped for your werewolf AU, you have no idea. I’m the biggest werewolf!Chip fan out there. Anyways, if you want asks (sorry if I misinterpreted your post):

What type of werewolf are we talking here? Classic bipedal or twilight style giant wolf? Somewhere in between?

Are any of the other characters werewolves, and/or does Chip know any others?

Is lycanthropy a known thing? How do people react?

One of my D&D books has a section on lycanthropy, and while you can play player characters affected by it, it goes hand and hand with the Evil alignment (it’s an older book, not sure about lycanthropy in 5E). Is this similar in your AU, or are werewolves misunderstood?

Don’t feel obligated to answer any of these haha, I understand that they could definitely lean into spoiler territory, I’m just so excited!! :D Werewolf world building is the best.

Im sooooo glad to see you're excited!!! I can totes add you to the tag list ^_^

for the TYPE of wolf... I totally leant more into mythology rather than werewolf movies. ive never actually watched a werewolf movie (although, a friend said wolfchip would be like the wolves from twilight so now im planning a marathon with IRLs.... oops) I'm doing a lot of worldbuilding into the nature and magic of werewolves and that stays hidden but.. - physically they are BIG. like twilight wolf sized... big big. - They have no tail (a mythology thing for werewolves!! common for creatures rumored to just be witches in disguse actually) I was VERYYYYYYYY much not going to pull the werewolf pop culture thing and have some 'weird human-wolf hybrid cross' because i did not like the idea tooooo much..... would rather be taken out back and killed with bricks than make chip bipedal wolf-man hybrid thing.... noooooooo...... also in human form werewolves are distinctly inhuman!! Won't go into TOO MUCH worldbuilding of mine but essentially, among other things their wolf form and traits fluctuate with the lunar cycle. on new moon they're indistinguishable from human, on full moon they're fully wolf, and all inbetween is a mix of traits. It all depends on when you catch em, whether it's day or night, whether it's new moon or close to full moon.... you might not know what you're signing up for if you find a normal person on the full moon only for them to change as the lunar cycle goes on, lol. but from mythology these are the traits which often identify a werewolf in human form - unibrow (not giving chip this one. no dice) - low, swinging stride (yes!) - lower set ears (also yes!) - when the skin is cut, there is fur under it! (yes, but i felt might be too obscure for people.... not included in common werewolf pop culture sadly...) as well as a few special things of my own!!! I ALSO HAVE A PHOTO OF WHAT WOLFCHIP LOOKS LIKE!! i found this on a dog grooming video on tiktok and went 'thats wolfchip."

2) Yes! I have one confirmed werewolf NPC (of my own making for the purposes of the story) and am toying with the idea of making another character a werewolf. It won't be too big of a deal though... just a neat little reference!! 3) now THIS is staunchly spoiler territory!! sorry dude!!! 4) this is also spoiler territory but what i will say is that I did not go off of DND modules (although it wouldnt hurt to give them a read...)!! I play BECMI and 5e as my DND modules among other TTRPGS but i did not lean from any of them. Honestly, I didn't take much inspiration for my werewolf worldbuilding outside of some mythology shit (and not a lot, anyway). I think i just went off the general, well known werewolf myths and said 'ok what can i do with this' and i sewed and cut and now it is a new beast. it is MY beast. TYSM for your questions!!! Hope you enjoy the final project ahhhh...... seeing the answers for the spoilers in the fic will be SO much better than reading them here i swear :3

[rainbowsystemblog]

things we were fakeclaimed for:

having no amnesia barriers - we have OSDD, not DID

not being a system because our alters don't sleep while one is fronting - wtf? why is that a necessity somehow?...

being mostly an inner system for almost 30 years - we were taking trauma/memories/fears/symptoms/traits/behaviors etc deeper into our brain blocking the host from experiences so she can function but some were fronting or at least co-fronting to deal with stuff so she felt loss of control and got scared of that

not being raped or molested during childhood - that is not required! also we were physically abused that kinda can be perceived as SA but we're not going into details of that for now, some systems don't even remember their trauma so...

having alters who look like celebrities - faces have to be introjected as brain is unable to create them on it's own, every alter that has a face of a celeb in our system has reasons behind that or just had to stabilise in hs due to our aphantasia problems so looking at pics of someone similar helped

having specific accents - it's a reason of trauma, not something we do for fun, we can't change that anyhow

having alters that look like native americans or latino - same as celebs being introjected basically, hyperfixation on culture and identifying with characters in shows that were very experessive like our autistic host during childhood, we didn't split that on purpose - it just happened, we didn't know about cultural appropriation then, host also sadly played cowboys and even weared a gypsy costume as understanding in our country was very different at the time - we wouldn't do that now as we're adults of course, host also been really bad at geography and mixed cultures in her head by accident (mexican, italian, french, native american - usually because of skin color besides french of course due to portayal in american media), we aren't latino nor native americans - some just have a slight darker skin color and happen to have a latino accent during arguments using the italian hand gesture at times, we can't change that as it's natural to us - we tried, apologies if it offends anyone...

having only male alters in the system - that is our trauma speaking and it being pointed out by our abuser who actually caused that is even more stupid

not having jobs/school in hs - sorry but we did have jobs and still kinda do but a) we don't have NPCs anymore so for whom would we work actually besides our bunch that doesn't need that? it was too dangerous for us as they were mirrored trauma, not just background characters b) we want to rest us much as possible because of what we have to do irl as our function and just normal everyday life c) why provide capitalism in our own mind if we have other ways of living as our head space works on illusion so we don't have to buy groceries? d) we share knowledge as we're OSDD system so what would we learn in hs school more than we actually know?... I understand that littles have some blockades over things like sexual or just different understanding about some stuff but for us it comes with alters age to get access to more informations when they grow (gatekeepers can give access to memories for example) or simply through their own experiences and explaining them things if that is necessary which their parental figures did, not every system's the same of course but why would I want a place like this in our brain when we were traumatised by school?! also calling us lazy because of that when we're disabled makes you an ableist

not having a gatekeeper - not everyone has a gatekeeper and gatekeepers vary from each other, we do now, we did before too, there was a short time we didn't but we didn't feel the need to have one at the time as we were trying to get access to all the memories during therapy and fronting was controlled via our inner computer anyway (that took time to set so it could work properly as it's a fucking mental illness and not a imaginary world for fun so every change takes time and hard work + is risky and can ricochet if done too fast/early/wrong way which we learned more than once), it's hypocritical to point out we switch on negative triggers if that is exactly how system should work (especially if you work the same way - that's hypocrisy)

us having a dangerous inner world and having persecutors inner because you have police and your inner world is safe - good for you that you no longer create fake enemies to fight with because you're bored but it's also funny you need that police if you can imagine so easily everything in your head space to be tip top - I am glad our worst persecutors do not front and aren't alters so we know we're not as bad ourselves (a lot of systems struggle with that thought), also Greg and Nat were policemen, dangerous inner world for us is a mirrored trauma from real life, not every system works the same way, we needed it to process things and have symbols of what happened, we also have NPC persecutors that believe we deserve punishment or alters who drastically stop us from things - went to extremes because were desperate, it's a mental illness - not a game

having other diagnosis additionally or being misdiagnosed - if doctors are always right then why they argue about us lol? also is diagnosis of someone who saw us once more important or of someone who knows us for several years? one we got when we were still heavily coverted and inner, also we can't get DID diagnosis because we don't have amnesia and the rest of dissociative disorders in our country fall under one symbol (F44) as OSDD systems aren't known in here so obviously most doctors will tell us we have dissociation but don't have dissociative identity disorder itself and will try to look for other labels, we do have F44 as a diagnosis and our therapist and psychiatrist treat us as a system so it's enough for us now to believe we're valid, we plan to get a better diagnosis in the future but for at the moment we can't leave our parents for longer periods of time

not being known/heard about as a system in the hospital - somebody asking there about us where there are several sections of this hospital and many doctors is ridiculous itself, nobody is required to tell anyone about other patients anyway and not only us been misdiagnosed there (including that person from what we know - somehow we're at least aren't a gossip to laugh about there like this person is), also we were there for our self harm mostly

us saying a lot of things about our head space online - ... why not?

sharing info about alters like they're rpg characters - we did that for memory and to get to know more people so share it with others as part of our experience to make others understand how it is to have OSDD, we prefer to keep many things personal now for safety measures though but it doesn't mean we're romanticising an illness - it has bad and good sides as it's supposed to help but still is a mental illness of course

having an alter that had a different illness than the body - it's complicated and personal but it wasn't really an illness

not having littles anymore - the fact itself that we've read one has to have a little created lots of problems in our life so fuck that misinfo in particular and sorry for spreading that further, that's one of the reasons why we don't wanna educate as we might be simply wrong and harm somebody

switching on command - we couldn't, it took us a long time to front if there was no triggers or we were switching randomly, as an inner system we had huge blockades (gatekeeper) so when we tried to be open about it then how our system worked had to change and that was chaotic, we had to work hard on integration (which was easier because of therapy and that we have OSDD) to be able to front whenever, it's still at times impossible and accidents happen, we continue to react to triggers too as we should

by Green