#that I’ve basically incorporated into the stuff that makes up the person i’ve become

[red-winters]

anyone got any recs for nice sound quality CD players AND/OR bluetooth record players (that can connect to wireless speakers, wired speakers, and wireless/wired headphones)? (staying under the $200 mark, for the most part) I’m gonna have to save up for it, but I’m tired of paying subscription and depending on ONLY that to keep my favorite media of all time—also I miss the days of not having to rely on Wi-fi to listen to stuff. and it seems like it’d be a nice hobby building up a small library of my favorite CDs, records, and dvds again.

[marciaillust]

Hey! I just wanted to say I’ve been following you forEVER now, and that your art has been inspiring me since i was a teenager. I was wondering if you could share a little about your rendering process? How did you improve it over the years, what did you learn you wish u knew sooner, stuff like that?

(Thanks anyway, and definitely getting myself ur new comic)

Hi! oh wow thank you so much for the kind words!

My rendering process hmmmm.... I will try to sum up the thoughts that come to my mind as I'm writing this, though I might be missing some proper vocabulary

The first thing that surfaced in my brain is exposition within a picture. This is what the picture focuses on - things in the light, or things in the shadow, and how much details each of these two receive rendering wise.

It's basically like taking a photo with a phone - if you click on a bright thing (say, a window), the phone will automatically adjust the exposition and all the other bright things will be visible(lotta detail), but the shadows will become turbo dark (no details). Alternatively, if you click on a dark shadow, all the dark things will become visible (details) but the hypothetical window will become blown out and turbo white (no details). You can basically have one or the other but never both. (or I guess you can who am I to tell anyone how to make art yanno no rules up in this house)

anyway, so for example, this pic^ focuses on the things in the dark, meaning everything in direct light receives no details.

and this pic^ focuses on the light and so all the cast shadows are pitch black.

One other thing that I learned a longass time ago was that edges(and shapes) are arguably the most important part of an object within a picture. Clean edges immediately call for focus, while softer or vague edges allow things to fade in the background and communicate the idea of a thing rather than showing you the thing itself. On a related note note, clean edges also make work in progress appear about 25% more finished.

I guess this all has to do with contrast and contrast can be created in many ways - edges (soft/sharp), colours (eg. red fish in a blue sea), spacing (objects being grouped vs. a single object), the amount of detail per object etc etc etc. and all of these can be controlled to solve specific issues within a picture.

In short, if a thing is important aka the focal point, make it stand out - sharp edges, details, specific colours and a lighting situation that make it pop. And if a thing isn't too important leave it vague, communicate the idea of it rather than focusing on drawing it.

On the note of things being sharp, a thing that I always swore by is, if there are eyes in the picture those eyes better be d-o-n-e. Pristine. People will look at the eyes, eyes communicate 90% of emotion, the eyes are the it girl of the picture forever and always, nobody will look at the wonky foot, they will look at the eyes and judge the quality of the picture. If the eyes are shit the picture is shit. (I'm exaggerating but fr. eyes are a big deal.). They don't have to be turbo rendered or physically mad sharp but they need to be done. Whatever that means, take what you will from my word soup.

One thing that I've become a big fan of over the years is the concept of wear and tear. This has to do with texturing things in pictures and I looooooooooooooooove thinking about ways items are used in order to create bumps and scratches that can be featured.

It always makes things look like they belong to someone?? It makes them real? Like the tip of that bone. that bone has been places. That belt has seen use. That bag carried things. Like yanno?? I looove things that chip and have nicks. Give me wood and I'll put a dent in it I swear.

And I thing the latest thing that I'm trying to incorporate within my art, though I haven't had much time or opportunity to do it in personal art because of work, is colour variation within each element.

Like his face. His skin is obviously "beige" but you will see red, and blue and yellow and green in there too. Stuff like that yanno? I'm quite interested in taking this further in my future paintings. I'm still learning how to push what, where and how but ayyy issa journey I'll happily embark on.

And of course apart from all that it's the usual jazz, working on anatomy composition perspective doing it a lot over and over again babababababa and so on and so forth.

I haven't had much opportunity to paint since I started working on the comic last year but it had it own set of challenges for me. Linework is a completely different kind of rodeo and I've improved in different departments a lot and I'd be happy to bring those things into my paintings when I have the chance. I feel like I'm at a point where I know a lot more than what I've had the opportunity to put on paper, it feels exciting!

I hope at least some of my ramblings were of interest to you!! Again, that you for the nice message and have a nice day :)

[wazda-the-great-penguin]

DEVBLOG 01: Finding The Game Direction.

This blog post will take the role of being the central mood board (?) for the game that I am developing. It will go into detail about the inspirations for this game, fundamental game info and mechanics, development tools and methods I will use and stuff like that.

About the Game.

The game will be a Topdown 2D pixel art action RPG/loot collector type game. This game will take place on a HUGE open world with a lot of unique regions for the player to discover. They will have towns with many unique interact-able NPCs (and sometimes the player can battle and kill them to get their items), forests, caves, dungeons and so much more! There will be a huge verity of creatures both hostile and friendly that the player may encounter. And sometimes the player can even tame them

And there will be a very complex combat system too!!

Key inspirations for this game.

Where do I even begin ToT

If I were to be honest I’d have about 100 different inspirational elements I can list down for this game but for the sake of being readable I’ll list down only the a few key ones

1. Terraria and Stardew Valley

Probably THE biggest inspiration for this game are these two games (they have had a huge impact on my late childhood)

The game I have in mind will at its core be something like terraria with open world mechanics, tons of bosses and creatures and loot to collect, but it will also be top down like Stardew Valley. But make no mistake I don’t plan to make a rip-off of these games!

2. The Binding Of Isaac.

The combat system (at its basic level that is, I plan to make the combat mechanics much more complex later on) for my game will be similar to the one seen in TBI. Even though it’s a pretty standard and popular mechanic this game is the first instance I’ve been exposed to it so I shall credit it here :)

3. Final fantasy (anime), JJK, That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime, Overlord

These anime are also very important inspos for a lot of my ideas that I wish to incorporate into my game.

Basic Game Info.

Name: I still haven’t come up with a name for this game. If you have any suggestions please let me know ;-;

Game style: this will be a 2d pixel art game with a topdown camera.

Genre: Action RPG and Loot Collector

Combat mechanics: the basic combat mechanic will be the same as the one seen in TBI, where you move the character using the W, A, S, D keys and you attack using the arrow keys. Pressing any arrow key will result in the player initiating an attack in that direction.

There will be two main combat classes each containing their own sub classes.

1 . Mele class

• Sword subclass

• Sword and shield subclass

• Dual sword subclass

• Spear subclass

2. Ranged class

• Bow and Arrow subclass

• Mage subclass

• Projectile launcher (gun) subclass

The Reputation system, Item system and NPC battle system.

See I plan to include a mechanic where depending on the situation you can kill any NPCs which will have a positive or negative on your player reputation. It works like this and is tied to the game’s collectible item system.

See each item you can collect are scarce and limited. For each play through, there will be a set number of a particular item that the world will contain. And guess what, almost all NPCs have the same likelihood as the player to collect these items.

So for example:

Let’s say a single play through of this game can have 10 instances of a common item x, meaning the player or NPCs can only find a maximum of 10 copies of this item for this entire play through.

And the rarer the item, the less copies of it will be available in the game world. (Legendary and Mythical items will only have one instance per play though)

While most items can be traded, some items become bound to the person who discovers it. And these items can not be traded by anyone, and to obtain a bound item from an NPC the player will have to challenge them an kill them to get it. As that is the only way to unbind such an item. And since all items are limited, if an NPC finds a Legendary or Mythical item before the player, the player will never be able to discover or obtain that item unless taken from that NPC

And doing so will forever kill the NPC and bar the player from certain story quests and game endings. And on top of that depending on the situation it may either positively or negatively impact the player’s reputation. A mechanic that determines how other NPCs interact with the player.

Development.

Development has officially started on 02/05/2024!!!

The team: Me ToT, and sometimes I’ll ask my close friends to help out with game assets and stuff cus they are mad talented when it comes to art ✨

Game engine: Unity, I was originally opting to use Godot but I ran into a lot of walls cus there just isn’t enough free tutorials available to implement all the mechanics I want into the my game.

Final words

Just wanted to let you Im still a student so I’ll only be developing this game on my free time and so it will probably take years to finish development. I plan to finish it with in 3 years hopefully. And if you have any suggestions at all please feel free drop them in the comments:)

That’s all for this blog folks!

- Wazda the Great Penguin

[thatgordongirl]

Fanfic ask! 🥺 🤡 🛒💋🤩🤗

Thank you so much for the ask! If anyone else wants to send one, the list is here

🥺 Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels?

Most of the time, I write singular character focused stuff, but Julian being uncharacteristically kind to someone has always been endearing to me. Whether it be taking Captain outside to avoid loud party music or reassuring Pat that it’s not his fault he got cheated on. Hugging his wife or hanging out with his daughter, stuff like that. 

🤡 What’s a line, scene, or exchange you’ve written that made you laugh?

I technically haven’t written it yet, but there’s a scene I’m planning for the fic where Julian and Pat live, and Pat finds some of Thomas’ poetry online, though it isn’t attached to him. Pat shows Julian and the conversation basically boils down to:

Pat: Well it really spoke to me….

Julian: it’s about worms

I don’t write a lot of funny stuff, I usually write when I’m sad, or if an idea suddenly hits me. 

🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc.

I’m really attached to Captain and butterflies, not only does it symbolise his transformation, but also his disconnect from his former self. A caterpillar looks almost nothing like a butterfly, but it becomes it’s true self when it changes in such a way. Julian and alcohol intertwine quite a lot, but that’s probably due to my own experiences with people drinking. Stories involving Thomas usually have more similes and metaphors, or colourful descriptions because that’s how I think he would describe it in his head. He’d try to make a poem and end up comparing one thing to another in no particular pattern. I try to make it sound more pretty? If that makes sense? Like 1800s novels I’ve read. I know he’s from 1824, but I drew a lot of inspiration from The Picture of Dorian Gray when writing Thomas stuff. 

💋 First kiss fics. Love em or hate em?

I love reading them, even if it’s a ship I don’t like because how it comes about is interesting regardless. But I cannot write them to save my own life, I’ve done it before and it never seems to go well. It’s so much more natural for me to write love that can’t be expressed like Captain or complicated like Julian or Thomas. I’ll get used to it eventually, but for now, I’ll just enjoy other people’s lovely works. 

🤩 Who is your favorite character to write? 

Captain feels the most natural because he’s the first Ghosts character I ever wrote and probably the character I’ve wrote the most for, but I don’t know what more I can explore about him that someone else hasn’t already written, considering he’s so popular. I feel bad throwing my own Captain onto everyone else’s good Captain fics. Julian is really fun to write because me amuses and frustrates me so much as a person. The best way to describe what it’s like to write Thomas is flowery and I love it. 

🤗 What advice would you give to new fanfic writers that are just getting started?

I don’t know if I’m qualified enough to give advice, since I’ve only been posting a year or so, but I’ll throw my two cents in anyway. Don’t feel obligated to post or finish a story just because you think it’ll disappoint someone if you don’t. Engage with your readers and fellow writers, @ginevralinton always leaves wonderful comments on my fics and writes fantastic ones of her own. You’ll feel more connected with the fandom your write for. 

[differentlyweird]

Max Mayfield & Disability

*SPOILERS FOR STRANGER THINGS 4 VOL 2*

I’ve seen a lot of people having discourse about max’s injuries and how she could very well end up permanently disabled next season. As a person with a physical disability I have some thoughts.

1. I am conflicted on a non-disabled person playing a disabled character and having the possibility of representation.

All right so I firmly believe that if you were going to write a disabled character or incorporate a disabled character into media. A disabled person should take that role, however in Max Mayfield‘s case she was not a disabled character she would become disabled. So in this case I don’t think that logic would apply, because as we know anyone can become disabled at any time. The only thing I would be afraid of is falling into the social model of disability. Which usually goes one of two ways: the I-hate-my life-I am worthless-and-a-burden-to-everyone-around-me OR the this-person-is-such-an-inspiration-for-dealing- with- a - world-that-wasn’t-made-to-include-them-but-I- don’t-care-to help-change-it. if they decide to make Max disabled(most likely some sort of blindness) then they need to make her real. Not someone that can be used as a token disabled person for inspiration or a self deprecating person that thinks being disabled is the worst thing in the world. they need to really do their research on this and do true justice to that storyline.

2.  I’m worried for the guaranteed ableism that will come with making her disabled.

I’ve seen a lot of people be very ableist on Twitter and TikTok. Saying that they should just put her out of her misery instead of making her disabled. As if that is the worst thing that could happen to her compared to all the trauma she just faced. The writers need to be prepared to handle that within Max‘s storyline. If they’re really gonna do it they need to be vigilant and aware. They need to make it known that just because you’re disabled does not mean that you would be better off dead. Although if I’m being completely honest the world is very ableist but especially the media so I doubt that this would happen but if it did it would help make max’s storyline more impactful and real. It would avoid stereotypes.

3. I’m not saying that Max is not going to struggle because she is,a lot.

It’s gonna be hard to adjust. Going from a fully able-bodied person to a disabled person on top of all the supernatural stuff going on is a lot. She’s not going to be completely content or happy but I don’t want her to be completely self deprecating either. Not only because it would fit into stereotypes but also because I feel it would do a disservice to her character. Since she first came on the show in season two she has been self-sufficient, confident, honest, caring, and brave. I feel as though Max would know even if she’s having a hard time adjusting deep down she would know that she’s still a bad ass. 

4. I really hope that they do not introduce any ableist slurs in the show because nobody needs those.

I have a sneaking suspicion that if they were to go the disabled route. Max would eventually have to deal with ableism in the form of slurs or may be being made fun of and I have to say we don’t need it. We don’t need to hear Max enduring slurs to get the point across. I know that this show is currently in the late 1980s and people said these horrible things and still continue to say them but don’t do it. I really hope that they don’t do it because it’s ugly and there’s a lot of other shit going on. There are other ways to portray that. Such as inaccessibility that people usually wouldn’t think of. architecture for example would be a great point or maybe how people infantilize disabled people. Literally anything except that. (Speaking of which they did not have to have Lucas and Erica being basically hate crimed this season that was unnecessary. Especially with the whole gun thing)

5. Although I have my reservations about how a disabled Max would be portrayed, having a positive romantic relationship for a person with a disability would be amazing.

Lumax is one of the best ships I have ever seen. Their dynamic and depth is something so special because they’re a lot more subtle. However that subtlety is very impactful. We see their connection and their friendship without ever having to explicitly say it. However I think it would need to be said or shown explicitly, because while I do love their subtlety they deserve to love more openly. Seeing it on screen would be wonderful.Lucas loves Max and vice versa. He would never leave her side, he would always support her, and I know for a fact he would love her no matter what. Seeing this type of positive relationship would do so much for representation (as well as the ship in general). Solidifying their relationship and literally having them stick together through anything. It would just be so nice to see and I think it would fit their characters and the characters relationship really well.

6. There shouldn’t be a miraculous cure when they defeat vecna and save the world.

I know a lot of people have been saying that if they go this route they would like for Max to be healed by Jane/El. I think that would be a disservice because many disabled people do not want to be cured myself included. Many of us have never felt like we needed to be different or “normal”. I do wanna stress however that if you are disabled it is completely fine to feel that way, but to assume that every disabled person feels that way is wrong. It would be going about the storyline wrong. They have an opportunity here to do something great for representation and take a positive realistic approach. If they’re going to do it they need to be all in completely. Because for them to have her magically undisabled would be feeding into stereotypes and would be ableist in itself.

These are just my immediate thoughts, since I’ve seen discourse about it and ableist discourse at that. you don’t have to agree with me and for my fellow disabled people feel free to chime in and let me know your thoughts. For my non-disabled people, especially those that think Max would be better off dead than disabled, this conversation isn’t for you and it would be best if you listen and learn. I hope that anyone that sees this maybe thinks a little longer about how/what max being disabled would look like and maybe that you assess your own unconscious ableism. Because at the end of the day the majority of ableism isn’t your fault. You’ve grown up in a world that has made these jokes, has made inaccessibility, etc. normal. It is your job however to recognize and correct it. I hope this helped.

I love Max and I think she has so much potential for this last season coming up. Her arc in season four was just amazing, and I can’t wait to see where they take her. I just wanted to make sure that people knew if they go this route they should do it the right way.



[writingwithcolor]

Blending Mythos Respectfully

@sapphicq submitted:

Hi all! I’m trying to write an urban fantasy that explores oppression in a world that is basically the same as ours, except with magic, while incorporating magical systems and mythologies of multiple cultures. I’ve done an okay amount of research on each one that I’d like to include (still need to do more for sure, especially considering how colonization has effected mythologies). However, I’m struggling a bit on how they should coexist, since in the world I’m writing about they’re present and tangible. One example of this is fox spirits in East Asian mythology. Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Chinese mythologies each have a nine-tailed fox, and though my research says that the myth originates from Chinese mythology, it also says that each of the fox spirits carry different connotations of malevolence, benevolence, and how widespread they are, depending on which culture’s mythology is being referred to. 

The same sort of thing has been popping up quite a lot in a lot of my research. I started to wonder if I could explain these similarities within world as “different cultures have come up with different names and customs surrounding the ‘same’ thing,” considering mythology in the real world from an anthropological perspective. However I don’t want to overgeneralize, especially considering that these different mythological figures are meant to be present and tangible. If I went that route, I wouldn’t want to say something like ‘actually, benevolent fox spirits do exist, and Korean mythology about fox spirits is wrong since Kumiho are pretty strictly malevolent,’ which would obviously be an implication. All this to say: do you have any tips for multiple mythos coexisting in a way that respects the various cultures they come from?

Avoid Round Pegs in Square Holes

A mistake you sometimes see Western authors make when dealing with mythology in urban fantasy settings is to confine the universe’s worldbuilding to a particular mythology or force the rules of a single culture’s folklore onto other cultures. For instance, here at WWC, we get a lot of questions asking how to represent supernatural creatures from multiple cultures respectfully alongside fae from Western Europe, and it's fairly obvious that the author plans to treat all supernatural creatures as fae. Urban fantasy based on Greek mythology or Christian mythology often falls into the same trap. 

I think a writer can demonstrate greater creativity by embracing these differences. I think a potential way to deal with contradicting mythos between cultures is to come up with compelling reasons why differences exist. What world-building systems, philosophies and real-life phenomena allow for a framework that explains the simultaneous existence of commonalities and differences? As you know, in anthropology, there are theories that emphasize cultural diffusion as a way to explain similar customs within the same region, but there are also theories that hold that multiple cultures can develop the same traditions and principles independent of each other (See: existence of 0, lost-wax bronze casting, astronomical calendars and the use of wheels). The answers I’ve given are mostly technological. However myths and belief systems serve very real social functions as ways to keep people together and cultivate norms and mores. Lesya expands on the utility of intentional cultural diffusion below.

Similarly, within evolution, there are instances of species having common features because of a shared ancestor, but also instances where species without shared ancestors evolve to have similar features because they exist in the same environment. I believe flippers are examples of both types of evolution in marine animals.  Thus, I think you need to question your assumption that “different cultures have come up with different names and customs surrounding the ‘same’ thing.” As the world is daily proof, they sometimes do, but they also sometimes don’t. 

-Marika

First, props to you for sending us this ask. You have been thinking about this a lot and have done research into building an urban fantasy that doesn’t do the thing of putting all Asians under one umbrella. 

Second, I’m going to agree with Marika here. Rather than go for the generalization route, revel in everyone's differences. It's a way for you to acknowledge the variations in the mythology, that not all have the same origins though there may be some similarities. Instead, they may have reached the same conclusions. My advice for blending mythologies is to lean into it, and not create a homogeneous umbrella. You can make something amazing with that. 

-Jaya

Hybridity Through Diffusion

So a myth originated in China. This does not mean Chinese tellings have the monopoly on what a telling is. Marika and Jaya have gone into a possible solution, here, but what I’m going to examine here is a mental framework that a lot of people get stuck in that is actually ahistorical.

Cultural appropriation as we know it is shockingly recent when it comes to history. In the modern day, ownership boundaries of myths have become very strict because of primarily European colonialism picking and choosing everything it likes about a mythos, and, this is important: not letting up on the oppression of those peoples. There’s also a strong preference to kill those colonialism deems “wrong”, instead of creating a hybrid culture.

Historically, this got a lot more fluid.

What happened historically was primarily cultural diffusion, wherein open trade, intermarriage, and shared borders made it that myths, customs, and cultural practices were (mostly) freely exchanged without massive power imbalances happening, and then modified to fit local beliefs.

Key word: mostly. Because yes sometimes it happened that one place took over another place and imported all of its customs (see: China, Rome, the Mughals), but… often* the ruling power either backed off, was fought of, or otherwise left the region, leaving the common people to do whatever they wanted with the carcass of what had been imposed on them. Or sometimes, even, the imperial forces would actively create a hybridized culture in order to better rule others.

* in places where the ruling power has NOT backed off on oppression and assimilation, even if the colonialism is very old, then this is invalid and the power dynamics of appropriation are still at play.

Because, historically, there was a lot less incentive to simply genocide the peoples you took over (which is what made armies that did destroy all they took over so noteworthy). People were needed to keep providing food and materials, even if the new person got the resulting taxes. 

This meant there were a lot more common people to play with the stuff imported by the imperial culture. And there was a lot more incentive to hybridize your customs to the common people’s customs, leading to the sometimes-hilarious situations like “Rome assigns an equivalence in their pantheon for literally every mythology they encountered, which was a lot.” 

This also explains early Christianization, because it was a lot safer to simply adapt what you already had to make it better for your own ends than curbstomp everything that was “wrong” to your worldview. Ireland’s mythology survives in huge swaths, because it was either Christianized wholesale, or it was about “historical humans” and not fae. Norse mythology was similarly adapted for Christian worldviews, which means we unfortunately have no idea what the pre-Christian myths were.

So instead of thinking in terms of ownership, think instead in terms of diffusion. 

Myths get imported along with food, cloth, or anything else necessary for life. Myths were, historically, a way for people to explain the world around them, both in place of and alongside science. “Ghost marches” are really common, globally, because if you have wind howling in the forest, it’s going to sound like predators, and predators mean go inside and lock the door. Weaving goddesses are also common, because weaving was so necessary to survive the elements.

Sometimes trade relationships soured, and you get bad associations with the imported stuff. Sometimes the relationship stayed great for long enough it got completely adapted. This doesn’t mean any one myth is “right”, nor does it mean you have to erase historical trade links. It just means you look at the historical context, understand that cultural exchange often used to be a lot more two-way than it is in modern appropriation times, and figure out what that means for your worldbuilding.

~ Mod Lesya

[qqueenofhades]

Hi. You made a post a couple of days ago about how queer historical fiction doesnt need to be defined only by homophobia. Can you expand on that a bit maybe? Because it seems interesting and important, but I'm a little confused as to whether that is responsible to the past and showing how things have changed over time. Anyway this probably isn't very clear, but I hope its not insulting. Have a good day :)

Hiya. I assume you're referring to this post, yes? I think the main parameters of my argument were set out pretty clearly there, but sure, I'm happy to expand on it. Because I'm a little curious as to why you think that writing a queer narrative (especially a queer fictional narrative) that doesn't make much reference to or even incorporate explicit homophobia is (implicitly) not being "responsible to the past." I've certainly made several posts on this topic before, but as ever, my thoughts and research materials change over time. So, okay.

(Note: I am a professional historian with a PhD, a book contract for an academic monograph on medieval/early modern queer history, and soon-to-be-several peer-reviewed publications on medieval queer history. In other words, I'm not just talking out of my ass here.)

As I noted in that post, first of all, the growing emphasis on "accuracy" in historical fiction and historically based media is... a mixed bag. Not least because it only seems to be applied in the Game of Thrones fashion, where the only "accurate" history is that which is misogynistic, bloody, filthy, rampantly intolerant of competing beliefs, and has no room for women, people of color, sexual minorities, or anyone else who has become subject to hot-button social discourse today. (I wrote a critical post awhile ago about the Netflix show Cursed, ripping into it for even trying to pretend that a show based on the Arthurian legends was "historically accurate" and for doing so in the most simplistic and reductive way possible.) This says far more about our own ideas of the past, rather than what it was actually like, but oh boy will you get pushback if you try to question that basic premise. As other people have noted, you can mix up the archaeological/social/linguistic/cultural/material stuff all you like, but the instant you challenge the ingrained social ideas about The Bad Medieval Era, cue the screaming.

I've been a longtime ASOIAF fan, but I do genuinely deplore the effect that it (and the show, which was by far the worst offender) has had on popular culture and widespread perceptions of medieval history. When it comes to queer history specifically, we actually do not know that much, either positive or negative, about how ordinary medieval people regarded these individuals, proto-communities, and practices. Where we do have evidence that isn't just clerical moralists fulminating against sodomy (and trying to extrapolate a society-wide attitude toward homosexuality from those sources is exactly like reading extreme right-wing anti-gay preachers today and basing your conclusions about queer life in 2021 only on those), it is genuinely mixed and contradictory. See this discussion post I likewise wrote a while ago. Queerness, queer behavior, queer-behaving individuals have always existed in history, and labeling them "queer" is only an analytical conceit that represents their strangeness to us here in the 21st century, when these categories of exclusion and difference have been stringently constructed and applied, in a way that is very far from what supposedly "always" existed in the past.

Basically, we need to get rid of the idea that there was only one empirical and factual past, and that historians are "rewriting" or "changing" or "misrepresenting" it when they produce narratives that challenge hegemonic perspectives. This is why producing good historical analysis is a skill that takes genuine training (and why it's so undervalued in a late-capitalist society that would prefer you did anything but reflect on the past). As I also said in the post to which you refer, "homophobia" as a structural conceit can't exist prior to its invention as an analytical term, if we're treating queerness as some kind of modern aberration that can't be reliably talked about until "homosexual" gained currency in the late 19th century. If there's no pre-19th century "homosexuality," then ipso facto, there can be no pre-19th-century "homophobia" either. Which one is it? Spoiler alert: there are still both things, because people are people, but just as the behavior itself is complicated in the premodern past, so too is the reaction to it, and it is certainly not automatic rejection at all times.

Hence when it comes to fiction, queer authors have no responsibility (and in my case, certainly no desire) to uncritically replicate (demonstrably false!) narratives insisting that we were always miserable, oppressed, ostracised, murdered, or simply forgotten about in the premodern world. Queer characters, especially historical queer characters, do not have to constantly function as a political mouthpiece for us to claim that things are so much better today (true in some cases, not at all in the others) and that modernity "automatically" evolved to a more "enlightened" stance (definitely not true). As we have seen with the recent resurgence of fascism, authoritarianism, nationalism, and xenophobia around the world, along with the desperate battle by the right wing to re-litigate abortion, gay rights, etc., social attitudes do not form in a vacuum and do not just automatically become more progressive. They move backward, forward, and side to side, depending on the needs of the societies that produce them, and periods of instability, violence, sickness, and poverty lead to more regressive and hardline attitudes, as people act out of fear and insularity. It is a bad human habit that we have not been able to break over thousands of years, but "[social] things in the past were Bad but now have become Good" just... isn't true.

After all, nobody feels the need to constantly add subtextual disclaimers or "don't worry, I personally don't support this attitude/action" implied authorial notes in modern romances, despite the cornucopia of social problems we have today, and despite the complicated attitude of the modern world toward LGBTQ people. If an author's only reason for including "period typical homophobia" (and as we've discussed, there's no such thing before the 19th century) is that they think it should be there, that is an attitude that needs to be challenged and examined more closely. We are not obliged to only produce works that represent a downtrodden past, even if the end message is triumphal. It's the same way we got so tired of rape scenes being used to make a female character "stronger." Just because those things existed (and do exist!), doesn't mean you have to submit every single character to those humiliations in some twisted name of accuracy.

Yes, as I have always said, prejudices have existed throughout history, sometimes violently so. But that is not the whole story, and writing things that center only on the imagined or perceived oppression is not, at this point, accurate OR helpful. Once again, I note that this is specifically talking about fiction. If real-life queer people are writing about their own experiences, which are oftentimes complex, that's not a question of "representation," it's a question of factual memoir and personal history. You can't attack someone for being "problematic" when they are writing about their own lived experience, which is something a younger generation of queer people doesn't really seem to get. They also often don't realise how drastically things have changed even in my own lifetime, per the tags on my reblog about Brokeback Mountain, and especially in media/TV.

However, if you are writing fiction about queer people, especially pre-20th century queer people, and you feel like you have to make them miserable just to be "responsible to the past," I would kindly suggest that is not actually true at all, and feeds into a dangerous narrative that suggests everything "back then" was bad and now it's fine. There are more stories to tell than just suffering, queer characters do not have to exist solely as a corollary for (inaccurate) political/social commentary on the premodern past, and they can and should be depicted as living their lives relatively how they wanted to, despite the expected difficulties and roadblocks. That is just as accurate, if sometimes not more so, than "they suffered, the end," and it's something that we all need to be more willing to embrace.

[fostersffff]

do you have a guide into getting into vtubers?

I can certainly make one up!

Much like any other kind of streamer/LPer/“content creator”, the most important thing is just finding one (or several) that you enjoy watching and- if you’re into stream chat- interacting with. The only thing you may want to be versed in ahead of time are in-jokes and memes (which you’ll catch onto over time by lurking, which should always be your first move when joining a new community) and basic etiquette, ranging from normal stuff like “don’t spam chat, don’t talk about other streams/streamers unless they’re brought up first, especially in the name of DRAMA, you are not friends with the streamer no matter how much/often you participate and/or donate” to more vtuber specific stuff like “don’t doxx them”, which is The Big One��� and ranges from “don’t literally doxx them” to “don’t bring up past handles/identities unless they bring it up first”. If you’re looking for suggestions on who to check out, or what you should be looking for, here’s a very wide scattershot recommendation (bolded text is searchable names):

Being affiliated with a big brand name isn’t an objective measure of quality, but by nature of how networks function there’s way more readily accessible content of vtubers affiliated with those brands. If you go to YouTube and search “Hololive clips” or “Nijisani clips” you’ll get infinitely varied results, but if you’ve never seen a vtuber and are looking for something specific to start with, I’m really partial to Inugame Korone’s English-only Super Mario Bros. playthrough. And if you want to narrow down the search to specific vtubers, try searching for clips of Korone, Usada Pekora, Kiryu Coco, Houshou Marine, Oozora Subaru, Sakura Miko, Omaru Polka, Momosuzu Nene, and Amano Pikamee; all of them tend to have a lot of clips made and a huge backlog of streams.

Speaking of English-only, if you want to actively be engaged with streams and can’t understand Japanese, there are also plenty of English speaking vtubers. The most popular ones far and away are the English branch of Hololive (aka HoloEN or HoloMyth, made up of Amelia Watson, Gawr Gura, Calliope Mori, Ninomae Ina’nis, and Takanashi Kiara), and as well as a number of Indonesian Vtubers, who tend to be extremely fluent in English (Hana Macchia of Nijisani, and Ayunda Risu, Moona Hoshinova, Kureiji Ollie, and the rest of the Indonesian branch of Hololive, aka HoloID). However, if you’re looking more distinctly Western/American vtubers (less of a wholesome/idol-like presentation and more chaotic chat), you should check out one any of VShojo’s members (made up of Nyatasha Nyanners, Ironmouse, Froot, Projekt Melody, Zentreya, Silvervale, Hime Hajime, and Veibae). I’ve become particularly fond of Zentreya, who uses a speech-to-text-to-speech program and an absolute ton of chat interaction gimmicks, but they’re all good people. Also worth noting that most Western/American vtubers stream on Twitch instead of YouTube, but they also usually maintain some kind of YouTube presence, as well as Twitter accounts to keep people notified of where they’re going to be and when.

Past those groups, there are literally thousands upon thousands of much smaller groups and independent vtubers to recommend. As I said before, their relative audience size or independent status isn’t an objective measure of quality, and in fact, one of the nicer things about less immensely popular streamer is that you’ll get the benefit of a less chaotic/more intimate chat experience, but in exchange making sure you’re observing good etiquette is even more important since it’s easier to be disruptive to the chat. Off the top of my head:

The Tsunderia group, spearheaded by Hoshino Charlotte (Char Aznable-themed vtuber who does a lot of figure building on stream and makes/eats horrible food) and Umiushi Urara (Urara is especially fascinating, because she’s the real life manager of the company, and her streams are often more focused on behind the scenes and business-oriented facets of the vtuber industry, but that’s also maybe not the best place to jump in if you’re new)

Artemis of the Blue (a shark vtuber who’s perhaps best known for constantly simping for other vtubers)

Bao (a whale vtuber who also dabbles in making music)

Lady Hatsuu (a English localizer who’s worked on games like Trails in the Sky and takes donations for her local cat shelter)

JiBo (aka Great Black Otaku, aka former NFL player Brennan Williams, aka current WWE superstar Dio Maddin/Mace)

Mimika Morph (a Japanese vtuber who tries to incorporate as much English translation as she can and is literally an eldritch abomination)

Valerie Valkyrie (professional wrestler-themed vtuber who’s appropriately collabed with JiBo a few times)

Go Ria (gorilla (!!!) vtuber)

and Tsukimiya Mai, who actually has a presence on Tumblr, although at the moment I believe she’s on a wellness break.

If you’re not into watching streams at all and want Just The Good Parts, there are tons of channels that exist solely to make (and subtitle) clips, and almost always of already popular vtubers. The most annoying thing with them is that they’ll occasionally get aggressively clickbait-y, but such is the nature of the YouTube algorithm. I personally subscribe to Vtube Tengoku, Sushi [Hololive and Vtubers], CMT, JShay Translations, Aru Azumaya’s Pikamee Things, and Cooksie. The first four tend to focus on Hololive, Aru Azumaya of course is pretty exclusively dedicated to Pikamee, and Cooksie covers VShojo and a smattering of other English vtubers.

Last but not least, there are dedicated fan creators who make animations, usually either of whole clips or by stitching unrelated clips together. My recommendations include 2Snacks, tian nya, Kanauru, and Caroline Director. Just note that especially for these folks and other fan creators, content comes out much slower because of the nature of the work, but it’s always quality.

[captainreverie]

dude I'm in love with your loz art!! can I ask what exactly ur forgotten war au is cause it seems super neat and id love to hear ur basis for it (also I REALLY like ur sheik design 💕💜💖)

Thank you!!! 💕💕 I'm very excited to make stuff for it!! The answer to this question is actually part of a 7k doc with the world and character breakdowns but i've tried really hard to narrow down the basics so i don't bore people! I love talking about it so if you want me to expand on certain parts let me know!

In regards to Sheik, Thanks!!! In regards to Forgotten War Sheik, I never liked the idea that Zelda revealed herself by turning into full length hair princess mode. So i like the cropped masculine hair and scared face. I'm still debating whether to change Fixed Timeline Sheik to the Brawl design (as in the braid is wrapped) but i love being able to incorporate the whipiness in the art. The main costume is based of Hyrule Warriors design.

Basic plot info is below the Break.

Thanks for the interest lovely one! 💕💕

Forgotten War AU is essentially a combination of 15 years of head cannons centred around the Era of the Hero of Time. That being said I’ve got a rough outline but some extended plot points that i haven’t decided whether to implement or not. Again I’ve been playing around with this Era a long time and every game that i played after it i added parts of concepts.

It basically is an observation of how Link and Zelda deal with living in a world that doesn’t remember what they did. Their perception of what is and isn’t important is different to the other residents. Also how they cope in peacetime, does war ever truely end in the eyes of veterans?

It’s essentailly split into two parts:

Part 1 - Character Healing. Zelda and Link are reunited after a decade apart (Now physically 21) but they both suffer from memories of the past and how they fit in a world that doesn’t recognise their trauma and views them as naive young adults.

Part 2 - Their future. They become lovers and have to deal with it being hidden while Zelda is expected to fall in line with Court expectations. Figuring out how they can be together when Link’s past deeds and honours were erased, he is essentially no-one except in the eyes of the Sages and High Fae.

To break down some main issues they both deal with indivudually.

Link

- His over use of the Ocarina of Time has essentially destroyed his ability to interpret time. Causing him to recall parts of his past lives so he can’t always discern which era he is in. He has also become hyper vigilant due to being forced to memorise everyones movements and actions in MM.

- Before returning to Hyrule he was caught up in numerous battles and wars in other Kingdoms and Continents. Not all of these ended in victory.

- When he returns to Hyrule he is terrified to try and reclaim the Master Sword as he doesn’t believe it will recognise him as a good person anymore. He doesn’t see himself as a hero.

Zelda

During the Forgotten War she disguised herself as Sheik and infiltrated Ganondorfs forces and gained a deadly reputation as an assassin and spy for him.

She is no stranger to dark deeds as was required of her to maintain her cover.

In the Fixed Timeline she Is expected to be an elegant and noble Princess, and soon will marry for the benefit of her Kingdom

Is treated as a delicate flower who needs protection.

Her father and her have a strained relationship, he still sees her as a naive child, unware that she is mentally a 28yr old war veteran and deadly warrior / master strategist.

Is seen as Cold by all the Court, but to win her hand would be beyond valuable. She despises the pettiness and greed of the Court.

as Sheik, frequently disappears into the City where she overseas a spy network which allows her to pull the Kingdoms strings from behind her Father’s back.

As Sage of Wisdom she is able to frequently visit the other Kingdoms and Faerie Fountains under the pretence of being an ambassador.

There's more expansion on these points as well as the World state and the roles of the Sages and other Kingdoms. Also the Court and Hylian Nobility have a big part. Again I'm happy if you want to hear more on certain aspects or if there are certain pictures from my Inktober series you want the story behind.

[johnbroutledge]

fyeahbuddie >>> kelly-severide

rambling about fandom/the future of this blog under the cut.

first things first, cause i know it’s gonna be a question: no, i am not leaving 911 fandom. i still love the show and i will still be talking about it and creating things for the fandom. 

that being said, a lot is going to change.  to be completely honest, i haven’t been happy with my tumblr in a while. i’ve been doing a lot of stuff because i feel like i should, because i think it’s what people want, and not because its what nikki wants and it’s high time i quit doing that. i’m a people pleaser by nature and i genuinely would rather be miserable myself than upset or disappoint other people, and honestly, that attitude re: fandom is making me hate it. 

i’ve put a lot of pressure on myself in this fandom. i felt obligated to gif every new episode and to liveblog and to keep everything up to-date as best i could. i reblogged everything i was tagged in without question, even if if was something that i maybe, personally, wasn’t all that interested in. even when i’d already reblogged 15 of basically the same thing, even when people who don’t follow me and have never spoken to me started tagging me in things and never interacting with me otherwise. i took every single request. i never wanted to be the person who said no. 

i was miserable. 

i literally measured out every single post i made, did i post enough 911? is that too many posts about other fandoms in a row? did i an answer an ask in a way that could possibly upset someone? am i taking too long to respond, will people think im an asshole who ignores them? 

it was around christmas i guess, i was sick as fuck with covid and i was in bed, going through multiple daily panic attacks about my health and rather or fucking not i needed to be in the hospital, and still beating myself up about the fact that i hadn’t made gifsets, that i realized how awful my experience had become. 

don’t get me wrong, y’all, please, i love every single one of you. i am so fucking eternally, crazy grateful that 900 of you decide to be here everyday. but i can’t do this anymore. 

as some of you know, ive been struggling with writers block and it’s one of the big things that i’ve wanted to work on getting through this year. the thing that got me through covid and christmas was this incredible special outer banks fic idea that @daisiesandmoonlight and i have built, that i love so incredibly much, but i literally have talked myself out of even trying to write it because i felt like my first fic back into writing had to be buddie. 

i’m over that too. so, here’s how the future looks for this blog. 

-this blog is multifandom. completely. it will no longer be 99% 9-1-1. i will still be posting/talking about, and creating things for 911 fandom, but it is no longer my sole priority. my interaction will probably go way down as incorporate my other fandoms in earnest.  -i will be making gifs, but when i want to, for what i want to. i will no longer be holding myself to a strict “i’ve gotta live gif every episode” schedule. i will no longer be taking every single request. in fact, i will most likely not be doing 95% of what was in my inbox pre covid. i just, i don’t have the inspiration for it. those of you who have asked for requests via discord, i will still be doing yours for sure.  -i will not be reblogging every single thing im tagged in, if it’s not something im personally into, if im overwhelmed or i feel like there’s just been too much going on, i won’t be reblogging. im sorry, y’all. i really am, i love you and i love being this positive light who always hypes people up, but my tags are insane, especially on show nights, and it’s honestly too much a lot of the time. -if it inspires me, im going to let it. if that means i post 8 gifsets from one fandom in a row, or my first fic back into writing isn’t buddie, that’s okay.  -i will be adding admins to @thebuddielibrary to help take the stress off there. hopefully that is a positive growth for that blog as well <3 -i will continue to be a positive blog in all my fandoms. i will still not be interacting with drama or ship wars or ship or character bashing. that isn’t me and it’s not the vibe i want to cultivate on my blog. 

basically, i’m prioritizing my own self for once. i’m cultivating a blog that makes me happy. i don’t know what that looks like yet, honestly, but im going to find out. and i love all of you, but if you no longer want to follow me, i completely understand. you’ve all gotta shape your own experiences too, and i get that. 

in short: this may not be my final form, but it is my first evolution.  thanks for listening guys. and thanks for being here. tagging some mutuals so maybe i wont get lost. 

@ashavahishta @maygrant @taylor-kelly @briinstardust @sopheliza25 @bvckleydiaz @burzekbrettsey @gilbxrt-blythe @selenaurrr @matan4il @tylerhunklin @deareddie @doctornineandthreequarters @buttercupbuck @hennwilson  @siriuslyjamie @tarlosbuddie @whattarush @evanbuckleyed @evaneddie @herodiaz @nymika-arts @firefighter-diaz @maurawrites @malikjavaddzayn @captaincasey 

im sure i forgot someone so please signal boost this!!! 

[zirkkun]

🤍ULR Speed Date Event Results - Part 3/5!💛

Metacrit got third place with 25 submissions! He was the hardest to select for, since he’s a lot more picky about the people he hangs around than the others are. There were only two I narrowed the options down two while reading them,

🤍 CozyCandle 💛 Corvus

But only one of them snagged a date of course. You can read who along with the story either under read more or on AO3!

🖤--✨--❤️

Undertale (c) Toby Fox Underlust by @/nsfwshamecave Underlust Reimagine by myself

Thank you for your support, but do remember to support and read Underlust (18+) if you can!

ulr masterpost || ulr main tag || ulr ask box || ulr comic beginning || kofi?

... the anon who submitted under the name Corvus!

🤍💛🤍💛🤍💛🤍💛

Metacrit still wasn't exactly used to the concept of being on the Surface, so seeing someone who proclaimed himself to be "not the going out sort of person" was a bit more enlightening to read. While the Surface was something new to experience, something new to let him become beyond what he used to be… the concept of forgetting your past and leaving everything behind was a lot more difficult than he anticipated.

Nevertheless, he wanted to try something different, at least. He already knew most of monsterkind, so why not try to find out more about humanity? Well, as it turned out, a lot of aspects he didn't like about monsterkind still bled over into humanity -- especially being overly flirtatious, apparently… but, luckily, there were some stray few who didn't like it, at least. Though, he wasn't really all that certain how much people would be willing to believe the trauma that came from even so much as a cheesy pickup line, regardless.

"Metacrit? You okay?"

His attention was brought back to the table in front of him, which was set up for an extremely casual "tea party" of sorts: a few light sandwiches and a pitcher of store-bought tea. The human had tried to insist that he should make some tea for the two of them, but, while Metacrit had no idea how to make it himself, really didn't want him to go through all the trouble of doing that, and settled on this instead. Which… was lackluster at best.

Metacrit's date sat diagonal to him. His eyes blinking with concern lacing his expression while he nervously anticipated Metacrit's response.

Metacrit merely smiled, releasing a soft sigh. "Yes, I'm fine. Sorry about that." He reached for and took a sip from the half-empty glass of tea in front of him. "What were we talking about again?"

The human frowned, but the concern seemed to be wiped from his face. "Uh… I don't really remember. Something about human and monster cultural differences? We went all over the place."

"That's true as well," Metacrit chuckled. He crossed one leg over the other in his seat as he set down his glass. "I seem to recall you saying you enjoyed things like art and enjoyed 'art museums'?"

Laughing slightly, the human responded, "Yeah, I like going to art museums, but like I've said before I don't really like going out very much. But it is nice to historical pieces and the varying amounts of art styles people use all over the world. Shows are also interesting -- like, plays, movies, stuff like that. Something where people are acting. They also vary by place to place and it's neat to see how the actors take their roles."

Metacrit's expression lit up the more the human described things, even though it may have just been the basics of art itself. He couldn't help but find it all fascinating, no matter how trivial it may seem. "The diversity of human culture never manages to not shock me. It's… just so much," Metacrit replied in amazement.

"Ahah, well… it's not exactly that great in a lot of cases. I think some aspects of monster culture are things we could learn from." The human took a sip of tea.

Metacrit, almost insulted, scoffed the moment he suggested that. "Excuse me? What aspect about monster culture could even be remotely better than humanity's?"

"Gender comes to mind first," he answered immediately. "Humans have an age-old binary system that makes it really difficult for anyone who doesn't fit either side to be accepted, making the whole situation really… complex, to put it in the lightest terms possible."

Well, Metacrit hadn't really considered this to be an aspect of human culture at all. The concept of only having one side or the other seemed… bizzare to him. While he tried to wrap his head around it for the sake of conversation, it wasn't working. What if someone can't choose? What happens? What if someone fits in the middle? Doesn't like either option? There's… two isn't enough choices for even monsterkind -- and humanity is much larger in population. He can't fathom the idea of being forced one way or the other.

"Though, maybe I'm speaking a bit too bluntly. I don't know exactly how things are seen in monster culture -- maybe there's something that still makes that situation non-ideal too."

The human's additional statement is what finally sparked something for Metacrit to continue talking about. Luckily -- luckily? -- for him, this was applicable.

"There is one aspect that doesn't quite fit the normal 'decide your gender when you're out of stripes' situation that most monsters have," he began. "Ghosts don't exactly work exactly the same as most other monsters. They're incorporeal, firstly, and they don't usually age either. They don't really have a time where ghosts are "in stripes." Some say that ghosts are made from fallen monsters' ashes�� but I really don't want to think about that." He shook his head. "Point is, ghosts usually tend to go by 'they' or 'it' more than anything else. When they become corporeal by possessing something, that's when most ghosts choose something to identify themselves as, but not all change."

"Really?" the human asked. "I didn't realize there were subcultures for monsters too."

Metacrit half-nodded. "You could call it that, I suppose," he replied. He tossed back and forth the idea of telling the fact that he, himself, was once a ghost, but didn't want to dive down the rabbit hole of his past. Especially since, the reasoning behind becoming corporeal… his reason for his current body…

He tugged at his cyan jacket sleeve.

The reason that she…

It was the human accidentally dropping a sandwich, letting it fall apart entirely, that woke Metacrit back to reality this time. "... whoops," the human muttered, staring at the mess of various condiments and slices that were sprawled across the wooden table. There was a brief moment of awkward silence before Metacrit sliced through it with his own laughter.

He pushed back his seat as he started to stand up. "Don't worry about it. I'll get it," Metacrit replied.

"Wait -- I can clean it up, I'm the one who dropped the sandwich anyway --"

"Don't worry! You're my guest after all. Besides, everyone makes mistakes, I don't mind cleaning it up."

[katierosefun]

i originally had a september wrap-up post queued but then tumblr fucking ate it, which made me very angry because i didn’t want to re-type the whole thing, but i’m procrastinating, so here i am, re-typing the whole thing of all the things i watched/consumed over the month of september, even if it’s a little late: (it’s fine, i didn’t watch a whole ton of stuff except...a lot of kdramas lmao. oh, and visions.) 

k-dramas: 

beyond evil 

okay, so i think this has been on my rec list for literally forever now, but...besties, i’m on my fifth watch of this goddamn show in the span of maybe two months, so if that doesn’t tell you how much this show has been a comfort/eating my brain lately, idk what will. 

i literally never shut up about this show, but if you’ve somehow been missing from my blog for a little bit, a quick summary: lee dong sik (played by the ever-wonderful shin ha kyun) was accused of murder + kidnapping a few young women, including his own twin sister 20 years ago. he’s lived a pretty quiet life on his own, and now 20 years later, his whole world is turned upside down again when hotshot new inspector han joo won (played by the talented yeo jin goo) comes into this little town. when the murders start up again, these two are thrown into a hellishly complex mystery. will throw you in for a hellish loop. i think my thoughts best summarize this show as come for the murder mystery, stay for whatever the hell joo won and dong sik have. 

okay, but all joking aside about how much i love joo won and dong sik (because...i truly do love them), this show was incredibly healing. once again: this show has quickly become a comfort show, basically to the point where i just watch it whenever i feel down (which happens to be a lot these days). idk man. humans aren’t meant to carry burdens on their own and all that stuff. sometimes u just need to remind yourself that. 

the crowned clown 

so, after watching beyond evil the fourth time, i realized that maybe i wanted to watch some of the actors’ other works. that was how i found myself watching the crowned clown, which...is an excellent kdrama now available on netflix (also on viki for free, just as beyond evil is). honestly, it’s been a hot second since i’ve watched historical dramas (saeguks), so i was a little unsure what to expect, but this show. bro. this show reminded me just how much i love historical dramas, because the court politics? the costumes? the music? the acting? fantastic. 

basically, this show is about the young clown (ie. performer) ha seon (played by yeo jin goo) who now has to replace the king, who might be like...two seconds away from snapping (if he hasn’t already). the reason they’re able to do this is because they look exactly identical despite not being related. 

this story is honestly wonderful. i loved it, and it’s an interesting way to look at the story behind the actual king (because. apparently this king was a real person, and i think his story has inspired quite a few other korean movies/shows). i thought yeo jin goo was brilliant in this show, and it’s really no surprise he became the youngest person ever nominated for a baeksang award because of this series. i was truly blown away by just how versatile he proved to be of an actor, and his dynamics with the other characters (the queen, the secretary being my fave, as well as the old eunuch jo), i just...bro. i’ll admit i wasn’t the biggest fan of the romance (don’t get me wrong! it was sweet!), but i think that might have been because this was so court politics heavy, and i adored it for that. if you’ve never watched a historical drama but want to and just don’t know where to start, i highly recommend this. 

d.p. 

bro....this show was dark. i watched it all in 2 days (pretty easy to do, considering it’s 6 episodes and maybe 40-50 minutes long per episode), and i needed to lie down. this is just one of those shows that i feel is...very important to watch, even if the content matter isn’t very bright. 

basically, dp is about two deserter pursuit officers: ahn jun ho (played by jung hae in) and han ho yul (played by koo kyo hwan). deserter pursuit officers are basically people who chase after people who deserted their military post--and for those who don’t know, being in the military is mandatory for men in south korea. this is the result of the armistice between the north and the south--basically, since north korea never agreed to an actual peace treaty, south korea is constantly under threat of war, which is why men need to serve at least a few years. (this is why a lot of actors + kpop band members often take breaks from their careers--to fulfill their military service time. because yup, even celebrities aren’t exempt from service!) 

anyways, this show really doesn’t pull back their punches. major trigger warnings for things like intense harrassment, suicide, domestic violence...it really does capture just how dark life can be, and also how toxic the military can be for men. because of that, i felt this show was incredibly well-crafted, incredibly nuanced, and in the end, i just felt sad. that said though, there was a hopeful ending, and i’m glad that this show was renewed for a second season, as i think this show is just...really important. 

squid game 

okay, so i don’t want to be that person, but your girl was watching squid game right after it came out, so i was here before the hype train--but okay, okay, i digress. (i am glad that this show is getting hype. i feel it’s very important that people watch this show.) 

if you haven’t noticed how squid game’s climbed to #1 on netflix worldwide (i think, anyways), well, then...buddy. squid game is about a bunch of people who have the chance to earn lots of money by playing what seems like innocent children’s games. (spoilers: they are far from innocent.) 

this show scarred me, to be honest. i needed to watch something lighthearted after this, just because it was so intense. lots of trigger warnings for blood and gore, as well as just. losing faith in humanity. but also, like dp, i felt this show was necessary. it was incredibly well-constructed in that it showed just what desperate people will do in order to survive, as well as exactly what a terrible capitalistic society will do to the working class. it’s depressing and sad, but also incredibly chilling because like. you can’t help but watch the characters and think, but would i do the same thing? i just want to pay off my own debt and take care of my family. wouldn’t i do the same thing? 

i won’t say more of this show for fear of spoilers, but. let me just say. that i really am glad this show exists. i hope people actually notice what the fuck it’s saying about our current system too, because hm, maybe i just want to suck the fun out of things, but there’s something very disturbing about how people are already cute-ifying this show (ie. “this is what i would wear to the squid games! :D” and “look at these squid-game inspired cookies! :D”, as if this show didn’t just deliver a heart-crushing message about capitalism + how the wealthy fuck over anyone who isn’t the 1% BUT ANYWAYS) 

tv 

star wars: visions 

lately i’ve been feeling weird about star wars for lots of different reasons which i don’t particularly feel like addressing today, but. visions really reminded me why i fell in love with star wars in the first place. i think for starters, well. it’s no surprise when i say that i felt an intense amount of joy of seeing east asian cultures so beautifully incorporated and respected in this show (no surprise seeing that this show was literally crafted by japanese anime studios), but like. it really was. a beautiful thing. i cried at least once per episode, either because i was so in awe of the animation and the themes or because i was just in awe that this thing exists. 

i think my favorite episode had to be the village bride--there was something so incredibly powerful about seeing someone who looked a bit like me say i am a jedi. what an iconic line. what an iconic story about a sad traumatized gal deciding to step up and fight, actually. peak star wars. 

but besides all that...i really did feel like...this show captured the beauty and essence of what makes star wars actually good. the themes of good versus evil, a lot of stuff between siblings (bro....the twins and lop and ocho FUCKED ME UP), choosing to have brighter and better days ahead (the village bride, the ninth jedi, the duel, tatooine rhapsody)...like, i really loved how each episode really took everything that was good about star wars and just turned it into something even more beautiful. this series will stay with me for a long time, i think--and i am very grateful for the people involved in this project for reminding me why i fell in love with this universe in the first place. :”)

[tendermiasma]

i’m not even into overwatch anymore but i just wanted to say I ADORE your art style and hope to develop my own into a similar semi-realism leaning...have you made a post about your art journey? I’m assuming I just need to buckle down and do anatomy studies but any tips are very welcome!! Ty for your time <3

Oh man thank you! I’ve never made a comprehensive post about how I got to *gestures* whatever this point in my art this is, and I definitely sat here wondering what “art journey” means for me since I always feel like I’m stumbling around so I’ll answer as completely as I can. But a great way to develop a realism-minded eye is to draw from photos and life. Everyone in the world has said it over and over but it really gets it done, it’s not any more complicated than that. It’s how I started when I was little and it’s not something I planned, but the Legolas posters were right there so how could I not? Your own non-realism “stylistic” touch will bubble up whether you want it to or not and that’s a beautiful thing. It’s not something you need to look for because it happens on its own, whether it’s you seeing something another artist is doing that you like and assimilating it into your work, or it’s your own unique way that you absorb information from the world and use it to solve problems in the drawing in front of you. Some new artists also still have the idea that using references is cheating-- I’m not blaming them, sometimes this weird thing is circulated by more established people as well-- but this is a very small minority. Please use references. I’d be lost without them. The Castlevania team has a giant collection of references for faces of every character from every angle, props, etc. and I always have a second screen up with 10 different sheets of whoever I’m drawing. Feeding yourself info is essential to getting better. Look at how other artists handle something you’re having a problem with too. If they’re doing a similar pose or something, study their drawing and ask yourself what specifically, extremely technically about that drawing is convincing-- what marks are where, and what is the quality or direction of the strokes? Try it out on your own drawing. If you’re stuck, become aware of if you’re holding on too tightly to what you think something should look like. I have to remind myself this as well. Really try to let go of the idea you have in your head about how something works and simply try instead to draw what you see, even if it feels weird. The results are often pleasantly surprising. 

I have a funny relationship with studies. You seem to be looking at them like a chore and I feel the same way. It’s impossible for me to sit down and just draw something over and over, disconnected from emotion or a larger narrative. I think a wonderful way to “study” is to incorporate those studies into a project that you wanted to do anyway. I’ve used my minicomics to get better at background painting or specific figure poses that I needed for the story but wasn’t sure how to do. I’m a very “oops I need it now better learn TODAY” kind of artist, if that suits you better than buckling down and doing anatomy studies for hours. Both are great ways to improve, but you have options for how to get there. 

In terms of how much time I spend drawing.. well lol it’s a lot. I almost typed “but I don’t do it every day” but yes, my jobs have made sure that I do (I tend to separate personal drawing and job drawing). But the truth is, to get better, a lot of very focused drawing time is important; how much of it is up to you and your schedule. You can sit down for 6 hours and doodle or you can sit down for 3 with an extremely critical eye. It’s about the volume of time as well as focus and I don’t have a clear answer for it, but I can point to one specific year in my life where I made artistic progress like I’ve never seen from myself since. I drew a comic with regular updates during that time and, looking back, the art was not good. But the point was, I was drawing for 7 hours a day after work, at least 5 days a week, and actively looking to draw things that I hadn’t done before or knew that I wasn’t good at, and the result was that every single update was almost like it was drawn by a different person-- readers noticed and commented on the progress as well. It was very much an art bootcamp and I wouldn’t have the skills I do at this point if I hadn’t done it. It’s important that you’re loving what you do if you do it for yourself! That’s how you get through big projects and continue to be excited with where you are. Love is one of the most important motivators and discipline-keepers in art, in my experience. Draw what sets your brain on fire and attack it wholeheartedly even if it’s really weird or niche, not what you think you should be drawing, and you’ll improve a million times faster.

Art journey in terms of what I’ve done with my life (if this is what you meant from the beginning I’M SORRY I’m just trying everything you might have meant) uhhh I haven’t been to art school. I have no idea what my relationship with art would be like now if I’d had any formal training and I don’t really dwell on it. I could either be a testament to being able to get by without it or an example of someone who has no idea what she’s doing at all and lacks many basic foundational art skills. I have an architecture degree. I love architecture, I love the language of space we build for ourselves, and I’m truly, deeply glad for that eye-opening and often grueling experience, but I think my current field is a much better fit. Before animation I worked as a graphic designer mainly drawing storyboards for commercials and internal-industry stuff-- lots and lots of quick colored sketches (one of our main clients was a big glass company and my god I never thought I’d draw so much glass in my life). I was able to do that job due to the skills I developed through personal work. Maybe I’d be a hundred times more powerful if I went to art school! Maybe I’d be completely burned out and bitter and not drawing anymore at all! I just don’t know. I have friends who have had both experiences. Whether you choose art school or not it’s best to keep tabs on if the art you’re currently making brings you joy. Joy and struggle aren’t mutually exclusive. Oftentimes I’m drawing something I care deeply about but it’s VERY FUCKING HARD and I’m frustrated but it’s worth it.

I also do everything while being very scared of the thing. I have a lot of deep-seated anxiety that I’m constantly trying to root out and my brain compulsively twists things around into why I can’t do something, why people secretly know I’m below-par and are just too nice to tell me, how I’m “tricking” people into thinking I’m better than I am, etc. It’s so bad that my first thought when I was initially offered the art test for my current job was to say no; not because I didn’t want it so badly it hurt, but because I thought I’d be too much of a disappointment.  After completing the test I spent an hour figuring out the most gracious way to apologize for not being enough. It’s common, but not something to accept and we’re all working on it. I just thought it was important to mention because art is also a mental journey and forces you to do all this navel-gazey shit in order to advance, and feeling like you are Not Enough is rife in the creative community. The work feels entangled with my value as a person because art is a massive part of my life. Something I’m learning is that I don’t have to be confident or sure of myself all the time. This ensures that the process is usually painful and frightening. Often there’s no way to make it less painful or frightening, and I just have to hold my breath and do it. An oddly comforting thing to me the past couple years is to remind myself that the scary thing I’m about to do won’t be the scariest thing I’ll ever do. I implies both that this isn’t the pinnacle of my progress and also that I will inevitably get over it. If you continue with art you’re going to run into things like this and I guess if it was me it would’ve been helpful to know I’m not alone in it.

I hope that maybe answered some of your questions, maybe? If you have some specific questions feel free and I’ll try my best. Hope you have a good day/night!

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #159

Today on Fate and Phantasms we bring you the outlaw star himself, Assassin of Shinjuku! As always, it’s hard to go into detail about Sassyshin’s abilities without giving away his identity, so true name spoilers below the cut.

Check out his build breakdown below, or his character sheet over here!

Next up: Wait a minute, I thought King Arthur was a girl!

This build blends Yan Qing’s Shadow Monk techniques with the Doppelganger’s shapeshifting, here represented by the Whispers Bard levels. Kill people, steal their identity, repeat!

Race and Background

Technically Yan Qing is part ghost, but it’s a lot easier to call him a Variant Human instead. If you really want to lean into the doppelganger thing Changeling’s right there, but then you won’t get +1 Dexterity and Charisma, Acrobatics proficiency to jump up entire castles with ease, and the Observant feat to show off why they call you the Skillful Star. This feat gives you +1 Wisdom, the ability to read lips, and you get +5 to your passive Perception and Investigation scores so your disguises are a bit more detailed.

Of course you get the Criminal background, giving you Deception and Stealth proficiencies.

Ability Scores

Speaking of being the Skillful Star, all that martial arts training should make your Dexterity pretty freaking high. After that is Charisma, you’re really good at disguises, and almost as good at making convincing arguments. Almost. After that is Wisdom for more skill and more observational skills. Your Constitution isn’t half bad, you can take a lot of damage and keep going. When you’re fighting against Guda. When you’re actually on their team, that’s a different story. Your Strength should probably be a bit higher, but it’s not very useful for the build. Finally, dump Intelligence. Sassy-shin is many things to many people, but Himbo is definitely one of them.

Class Levels

1. Monk 1: Starting with monk will help you get your shirtless scenes going earlier thanks to your Unarmored Defense giving you an AC based on your dexterity and wisdom. You also get some Martial Arts, letting you use dexterity instead of strength when fighting, giving you a minimum of a d4 in damage when using unarmed attacks, and you can attack as a bonus action if you attack as an action.

On top of all that, you also get proficiency with Strength and Dexterity saves as well as Athletics for even better climbing skills and Insight, because you can’t manipulate people if you don’t know what they want.

2. Monk 2: Second level monks get Ki points each short rest equal to their monk level. Currently, that lets you Dash, Disengage, Dodge, or Attack Twice as a bonus action, but more stuff will come up as we go. Your Unarmored Movement also lets you move just a bit faster while shirtless.

3. Bard 1: Your impersonation powers come from the doppelganger, a fictional creature (also you’re fictional, but hush), so bard’s as good as any class to get their powers from. Grabbing bard second gives you Perception proficiency for even more detailed disguises, as well as Bardic Inspiration. Right now they’re a pool of d6s that recharge on long rests. You can hand out to allies to help them with their d20 rolls-checks, saves, attacks, all that good stuff. Unless your DM somehow incorporated C. Stars into their game, this is one of the closest ways you have to get the actual Skillful Star skill in D&D.

Beyond that, you also learn a couple Spells that use your Charisma to cast. Light helps your dumb human eyes see in the dark and also do the glowy hand thing. It won’t actually help with damage, but it looks cool, and that’s what’s really important. You also get Vicious Mockery, tbh stealing the memory of an enemy’s loved ones means you can get some really disturbing insults.

For first level spells, grab Bane for more insults, Disguise Self for a cheapo disguise that doesn’t even work physically, Longstrider to press your speed advantage further, and Heroism, because you’re a pretty nice guy when you put aside the identity theft.

4. Bard 2: Second level bards are Jacks of All Trades, adding half your proficiency bonus to checks that you’re not proficient in, even making you a little bit faster by boosting your initiative bonus. You can also use a Song of Rest to add a d6 to the healing your party does over a short rest. I mean, you’re a character in a novel, you’ve got to have some good stories to share, right?

For your spell this level, grab Speak with Animals. Working with Lobo is always rough, but at least now you’ll be able to tell his “I’ll tear you limb from limb” bark from his “I’ll tear you limb from limb later” bark.

5. Bard 3: Your doppelganger side grants you the power of a bard from the college of Whispers. When you join the college, you can use your bardic inspiration to create Psychic Blades, adding 2d6 psychic damage to a weapon attack once per turn. I’ve given up trying to figure out if hitting things with your hands count as weapon attacks, so maybe just keep a knife on standby.

You also learn Words of Terror, spending a minute alone with your target to force a wisdom save (DC 8+proficiency+charisma mod) or they become frightened of a creature you choose for up to an hour or until it or an ally takes damage where it can see you. You can use this once per short rest, and if they succeed on their save there’s not tell that you did anything. You also get Expertise in Insight and Deception to make your disguises flawless.

Your spell this time is Enhance Ability, making you even better at whatever you set out to do by giving you (or another creature) advantage on one kind of ability check. For those of you playing along at home, this means you now have a +8 to deception checks, with advantage. Even without your disguises, you’re already doing pretty well for yourself.

6. Bard 4: But “pretty well” isn’t perfect. We can do better. Use your first Ability Score Improvement to grab the Actor feat, rounding up your Charisma for extra inspiration and stronger spells. You also get advantage on deception and performance checks to act as a different person, no spells required. On top of all that, you can mimic the speech of a creature you’ve heard talking for at least a minute, requiring a contested Insight check vs your Deception check to figure things out.

For those rare times you’re trying to be yourself, you can also use Friends to get advantage instead. When that inevitably backfires, use Mirror Image to create some shadow clones for an easier escape. The spell makes three copies of yourself, and when you would get hit by an attack there’s a 75% chance it will hit one of them instead. After they take a hit for you, they pop, reducing the odds of blocking the next attack. MI is technically UA, but it’s not exactly a massive power boost.

7. Bard 5: Fifth level bards see their inspiration dice grow to d8s. While that doesn’t affect your psychic blades, your Font of Inspiration does, letting you recharge inspiration on short rests for more consistent support and damage.

You also learn how to Feign Death to escape any criminal/detective duos on your trail. Admittedly this isn’t as effective as disguising yourself as a civilian, as it basically knocks you out for an hour, giving you resistance to most types of damage and prevents any sort of effect from diseases or poison.

8. Bard 6: The sixth level of bard is where our plan really comes together. No, I’m not talking about Countercharm, get that shit outta here. We’re here for the Mantle of Whispers, letting you steal a humanoid’s shadow when it dies nearby once per short rest. Using their shadow, you can create an hour-long disguise that not only makes you look like the person, but gives you information they would give away to acquaintances. Creatures can see through the disguise with an Insight check against your Deception check, but you get a +5 to that, on top of everything else.

9. Monk 3: Stealing peoples’ identity is nice, but it’s time we got back to punching good. Third level monks get their way, and Way of Shadow helps you take advantage of Shinjuku’s oppressive atmosphere to make the town your own. Your Shadow Arts lets you cast spells like Darkness, Darkvision, Pass without Trace, or Silence using your Ki points. You can also cast Minor Illusion to take your stealth to the next level with some free distractions.

Besides all that, you can Deflect Missiles, catching them out of the air to reduce damage and possibly even throwing them back as a reaction.

Now that you have a bunch of things eating away at your Ki points, you can use your Ki-Fueled Attack to attack as a bonus action if your main action uses your Ki. Now nothing can stop you from delivering those hands.

10. Monk 4: Been a while since your last ASI, huh? Use this one to boost your Dexterity for a better AC and stronger attacks. You can also Slow Fall as a reaction, reducing fall damage by five times your monk level. As Moriarty could tell you, falling off a skyscraper hurts.

11. Monk 5: Fifth level monks get an Extra Attack each attack action, and you can turn those attacks into Stunning Strikes by using Ki. If the target fails a constitution save all attacks on them for the round have advantage. Great way to fish for crits for your psychic blades.

12. Monk 6: Sixth level monks get Ki-empowered Strikes, making your unarmed attacks magic against resistances. You’re a Tier-3 character, you’ll probably need this.

You can also use your brand new Shadow Step to teleport between shadows as a bonus action. Moving so quickly also gives you advantage on your next attack.

13. Bard 7: Seventh level bards get fourth level spells, like using Phantasmal Killer to create a more offensive shadow clone. For up to a minute one targeted creature needs to make a wisdom save. If they fail, they’re frightened and at the end of each turn they have to make another wisdom save or they take psychic damage.

14. Bard 8: Use this ASI to bump up your Charisma again for stronger spells and inspiration. You can also use Freedom of Movement to escape from impossible binds. Just disguise yourself as a free person, I can’t believe nobody thought of this before.

15. Bard 9: Our last level of bard charges your Song of Rest to a d8, and you get a fifth level spell. Mislead lets you move so fast enemies will have to hit your afterimage, simultaneously turning you invisible and creating an illusion of yourself.  The illusion lasts for an hour, but you only stay invisible until you attack or cast another spell. It can speak or gesture just like you, and you can even see through its eyes.

16. Monk 7: Seventh level monks finally get Evasion, turning your dex saves into supersaves. Now your failures deal as much damage as your successes, and your successes avoid all damage entirely. Your Stillness of Mind also lets you shut down effects that are charming or frightening you.

17. Monk 8: Use your last ASI to bump up your Wisdom for a stronger AC. Technically grabbing more Dexterity would be better here, but I like rounding stuff up more than capping it out. Makes room for DM stuff.

18. Monk 9: Your Unarmored Movement Improvement lets you run up walls and over water, so long as you don’t end your turn there. You can finally climb up that huge freaking castle you’ve been eyeing for a while!

19. Monk 10: Tenth level monks get a Purity of Body that makes you immune to disease and poison. At least this isn’t your capstone?

20. Monk 11: As an eleventh level shadow monk gets a Cloak of Shadows, letting you disguise yourself as a Vashta Narada as an action, becoming invisible in dim light or darker. This lasts until you attack, cast a spell, or leave the shadows. I’m pretty sure this qualifies for that whole “cast no shadow” thing you’re always going on about, right?

Pros:

You are the one true imposter. With advantage as well as +21 to all your deception rolls to disguise yourself, you’re pretty much undiscoverable. On top of that, you’re also great at reading people with a +15 to insight. The only person doing impressions around here is you, thank ya kindly.

Like all monks, you’re really fast, with 50′ of movement speed, dash options, teleporting options, and ways to make yourself even faster via magic. You go down harder than the KT event, but you’re fine as long as you don’t get hit.

You also come with tons of ways to mess with the enemy. Make yourself invisible, shoot darkness like a squid shoots ink, have them chasing an illusion, or even just disguise yourself as a loved one. You are a terror to fight.

Cons:

Touching on that thing I said back in Pro #2, you’re pretty squishy, with barely over 100 HP and only 17 AC. Stick to the shadows, you’ll need them.

You also have a serious issue with range. Anything that can outspeed you will find it pretty easy to have you running in circles, since your best ranged attacks are cantrips.

This build is also a little bit complicated, with balancing your Ki, inspirations, who you can disguise as, who you can mimic, and all that fun stuff. Like a lot of the clever people builds, don’t expect to play this one like you would a barbarian.

[palidoozy-art]

i love all your curse of strand stuff!! as someone whos playing and running it rn, did you make any changes to Strahd himself? I’ve reworked him quite a lot, but only because I think he was a lot of undeveloped potential in the RAW module

Ahh, thank you! :D I'm glad you do!

I did make some changes to him! Not as much as several of the other characters, because I honestly felt like he was fleshed out quite a bit compared to people like Rahadin, the Abbot, etc.

But changes I did make to him include (under cut)

- In the base game, Strahd is described as "more monster than man, with barely a hint of emotion left." But there's NUMEROUS segments in the book which suggest the dude absolutely feels shit, just in an unhealthy way (see: crying on Sergei's tomb, slaughtering all of his guards in rage, breaking the gazebo, getting really pissy if the party finds his diary). Honestly, the way Strahd is described in the base book sounds more like how he'd describe himself -- a cool unfeeling badass who was TOTALLY friendzoned by Tatyana amirite???

So I said fuck all that. The way I played Strahd was that he was an abuser that viewed himself as a perpetual victim. He would describe himself as logical and rational, and unfeeling -- when the reality is, no, he feels quite a bit. Just most of that is anger or self-pity. I played him as a guy that would tell someone (probably a woman) that they're "too emotional" and then three minutes later punch a hole in his wall because he's flown into a rage. He thought if Tatyana's incarnations would just give him a chance, they'd see how much he really loved them. And if they didn't? Well, it must be someone else's fault. Not his. How could it be his? He did everything right.

A key element of Strahd's character, to me, was that while he had sympathetic elements in his backstory the man was an abuser through-and-through. Both physically and emotionally.

- I changed the timeline of Patrina's death to happen before he even met Tatyana. Patrina and Strahd dated while he was still human, and he ordered all the dusk elf women killed prior to becoming a darklord. I made these changes to smooth out that story arc, and also to emphasize to my players that Strahd was a monster well before becoming a vampire.

- The Tome of Strahd was actually changed entirely. Rather than being a huge exposition dump, it served as a sort of living journal for my players. Basically they could travel to any location in Barovia, open it up, and they'd get a diary entry from Strahd detailing his personal thoughts as to any major events that happened there. It also meant Sergei's role was kept hidden from my players for longer, and one of the mysteries they had to solve was figuring out who Sergei was.

- Vasili von Holtz is usually Strahd's alter ego. I would up changing this last minute into his simulacrum (one of my players got thirsty and looked up spoilers literally at like, almost the start of the campaign). Vasili was part of one of Strahd's plans to woo Tatyana -- he'd command the simulacrum to act like Sergei, get it to court Tatyana, then kill it and take its place once it had succeeded. What he didn't count on was that it would act like his own interpretation of Sergei, who he felt never listened to him. This resulted in the simulacrum eventually rebelling against him (until Strahd killed him).

- I used this monster block (dndbeyond link) instead of his RAW one. I also ran the campaign to level 13 in general, though.

Those are the major things I changed! Honestly I actually feel like out of all the characters, he was probably changed the least. Rahadin, the Abbot, Kasimir, van Richten, Ireena/Tatyana and even Ezmerelda were all changed a lot more than him (really: their backstories were just fleshed out/incorporated more).

[idrellegames]

Hi! I'm so curious about your writing process! I was wondering, do you have like, drafts of random scenes that will come up later, or do you keep everything entirely in your mind until its time to put it in the game? I personally always write drafts for the scenes i like even before its time for them in the plot but then i get so distracted by these 😅 Anyway, you are incredible and I hope you're having a nice day!

Hiya! 💗

My writing process for Wayfarer is pretty different from how I usually write. I typically prefer writing in chronological order, but on small(er?), contained projects I sometimes jump around depending on what I want to write on a given day. I have a two-act play where I wrote the first act and then the third act and left the second act for last because it was the hardest. 😅

But because Wayfarer is as much a game as it is a web novel, the scope makes it impossible for me to skip around. The number of variations and the way they compound to create unique results and outcomes makes it necessary for me to write in chronological order. I can't start working on scenes from later chapters because I'm not sure where exactly the emotional throughline of the characters is going to land before I've written the material that precedes a specific scene, and I'm also not exactly sure which variables I need to track because I haven't created them yet.

For a project as large as this one, I rely heavily on a rigorous outlining process. I have a master beat chart that gives the rough overview of the major events in each chapter and the most important plot points of each act. I don't go into the nitty-gritty details here, the master chart is specifically for the overall plot of the game.

I have smaller beat charts that go into greater detail for each Act so I can have a clear sense of the pacing (plans for romance/friendship scenes and main character side quests go here). And then when I start working on a chapter, I create a full chapter outline and smaller separate, detailed outlines for each major section and the branches within that section. These are usually done in a way so as I'm writing each branch, I can quickly check off all the things I need to account for as I complete them.

When I'm actually writing new material for the game, I work in sections leading up to a bottleneck (a bottleneck is when all relevant paths/choices lead back to the same scene).

So, for example, right now I'm working on a large endgame sequence in Route B where Aeran and the MC have to return to the Count (returning to the Count is a bottleneck, it's a plot event that will always happen). This sequence is divided into three sections, depending on the player's previous choices. Each of those three sections are further subdivided into branches that split again depending on skill checks before they bottleneck back onto the same path.

The game's mechanics often mean I'm dealing with 4 outcomes per choice. Even though the player only sees 2 choices (like a Strength choice and an Agility choice), the passage actually leads to 4 possible outcomes (i.e. 1 for passing Strength, 1 for failing Strength, 1 for passing Agility and 1 for failing Agility) or more if there are alternative, non-skill based choices.

It becomes a lot to keep track of, so I colour-code everything in my Word document. I also make a list at the start of each major section or branch that covers all of the possible results so I don't miss anything. It basically turns into a game of "Did I do all the orange choices? OK, yes, we can move on now." 😂

Once I've finished all the material for a branch, I'll put an X next to it so I know I've written it and move on to the next branch. I also include notes about any approval changes or variables I need to flag here so I don't forget them when I start coding. I don't like coding directly in Word, it just makes things more difficult to read and keep track of when I start putting new game content into Twine.

I keep an Excel file that tracks all the variables (their names and whether they're a boolean, a string, an array or an integer), what choice they track, what sequence/area they first appeared in, and whether or not they will continue to be used after the end of the chapter. I unset variables when I'm done with them to help keep the game's memory size down (Wayfarer is going to be huge, so any excess stuff in the background needs to be trimmed).

When I'm writing a scene, I try my best to stay in that scene and not worry about anything outside of it. Otherwise, I would get easily overwhelmed by the amount of content I have to create to stay true to the game's vision.

When I have really specific ideas for a scene that occurs much later in the game, I usually jot them down alongside some rough dialogue for later reference (I have a few Mel, Ren and Calla romance scenes that currently exist in this form). I also keep a journal or a stack of paper next to me while I'm writing so I can write down any ideas that may spring up for later incorporation. Writing them down right away and moving on helps me keep my focus where it needs to be.

I also keep a separate sheet for any edits/changes to code/lore changes for existing material I may think of as I write. When I work on a patch for the game, I always tackle the things on that list first before I move on to bug reports.

And that's about it. 😅