#though the flavour of relationship i tend to go for is generally either friendly or familial rather than romantic

[yardsards]

the fact that infinity train book 4 is largely considered to be the "worst" season by much of the fandom, and yet is the season with the most fanfiction by a pretty large margin (primarily because it has the most shippable pair of main characters) feels like a strangely apt summary of fan culture as a whole

[kakairu-rocks]

Get To Know Us!

Hey there! If you read our last What’s Happening? newsletter, you would have seen in our announcements that we have two new mods on our team, @oneinist, and @kaoruhana08​. The time has come for us to formally introduce them to you, and we couldn’t be any more excited! 

You can read about Oneinist & Kaoruhana in our new Get To Know Us category, or below the cut!

Oneinist joined the Mod team in Aug 2021, and they’ve been working tirelessly since to help us make the forum an even greater place to be. They’re the expert who put together our Prompt Generator, and they have many other talents that they’ll be showcasing in the months to come (we wish we could tell you more!)!

Oneinist is a friendly soul who would be more than happy to help you find your way around the forum, so if you’re ever stuck, you can go to them for assistance!

Socials:

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oneinist/ Tumblr: https://oneinist.tumblr.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/oneinist

1. How long have you been shipping KakaIru?

It was a gradual awakening from the anime days. I lurked for ages and became an active creator in summer 2021.

2. What are your favourite tropes to indulge in? Do you have any specific storylines you like within those tropes?

Based on my mood it varies but I enjoy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Whump (either of the pair getting hurt and saved basically) and domestic fluff. Love a good Omegaverse setting too, and mission fics - my gosh, this doesn’t stop does it. I love crossover fanart too.

3. Do you like Kakashi, or Iruka more?

Both, we like both.

4. Out of your own KakaIru creations, which is your favourite?

I don’t have one, all my fics and drawings hold special places in my heart for being made at all.

5. What is your favourite ramen flavour?

Miso Chashu, extra chashu.

Kaoruhana officially starts as a mod in Oct 2021, but she has already been busy working away with us. She is killing it with Meta Monday, which she has chosen to take on; and has also contributed some amazing event & activity ideas (that we will be sharing in the coming months)!

Kaoru is still finding her way around the forum, herself, but she is resourceful, so when she officially becomes a mod, if you ask her for assistance, she’ll do whatever she can to help!

Socials:

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaoruhana Tumblr: https://kaoruhana08.tumblr.com/

1. How long have you been shipping KakaIru?

So, officially I think I’ve been shipping KakaIru for about 2 years now. I did read KakaIru before, but I kind of fell in love with the idea of KakaIru as a ship I could get behind 2 years ago.

2. What are your favourite tropes to indulge in? Do you have any specific storylines you like within those tropes?

FLUFF! I hoard fluffy stories and love writing fluff! I’m pretty sure people who read my stories at this point know this and actively expect it. Specifically, I love domestic fluff: characters going grocery shopping, doing the laundry, lazing about the house on the couch, cooking, etc. There is just something so wholesome about seeing my favorite characters enjoying their time together like that: down to earth, human, doing normal things that show they care for each other or show two characters in love. (Also, if found family fits in here, I guess that’s a trope I like to indulge in too. Especially when it’s mixed in with domestic fluff stories).

3. Do you like Kakashi or Iruka more?

This is a hard one. I like Kakashi because there is something about seeing a character who has suffered so much give back and grow into the man he is. But Iruka cares for everyone and is more like me. Honestly, besides the teacher bit, I’m kind of like the parental figure in most of my friend groups, just like Iruka. And then when I let loose, like Iruka, I tend to let very loose. So, I think I like Iruka more because I can relate to him more, and I like how he cares for everyone, how he’ll go extra miles or do extra things for the people he cares about. (Also, just the relationship between Iruka and Naruto…that is so sweet! And how can someone not like Iruka after that?)

4. Out of your own KakaIru creations, which is your favourite?

Ah! I’m terrible at these questions, because I am my own worst critic. Hmm…let me see. I think my favorite would have to be, and I hope this isn’t cheating, my KakaIru drabble story. It’s drabbles featuring KakaIru in all kinds of settings: canon and AU, crossover, etc. I get prompts from all over: in the comments, from tumblr, from KakaIru events, etc. It’s really fun, and I like to see what the reactions are when people see what I’ve done with the drabble prompt given to me. It gives me the freedom to write a lot of KakaIru, but it also helps me limit myself and not let WIPs get out of hand. (I have a feeling though, that in the next year, when I finish my long slow-burn KakaIru story featuring Yakuza Kakashi and Irezumi master Iruka, that might become my favorite KakaIru. We shall see?)

5. What is your favourite Ramen flavor?

This one is easy! I’m vegetarian, so that’s the one! I actually don’t really know beyond that because my sister and I make a homemade Indianized version of ramen whenever we’re craving it. We throw in a bunch of veggies, either Maggi Noodles or Rice Ramen (whatever is on hand), and do chili-pepper and ginger paste as a flavoring base. I have pictures I can share sometime if anyone wants to see. (Oh, and sometimes we make baaji (the Indian version of tempura) to to along with it).

[utapri-hcs]

Ranrei general hcs

So I was gonna do a Heavens valentines post but I kept thinking about how Raging got Nagi while in the crib so that fell through. Instead, have this

-They are extremely domestic

-Cooking dates are very often

-Typically, they take turns cooking though

-Reiji wanting to learn how to play the bass or something since who knows he might need it someday

-Ranmaru willing to teach him as long as he gives it his all

-Reiji really likes stealing Ranmaru’s hoodies

-Ranmaru and Reiji going on a fishing trip just for fun

-Ranmaru purposely watches horror movies with Reiji, just so Reiji will cling to him

-He thinks it’s cute

-Ranmaru can easily pick up Reiji, considering he is shorter and weighs less then Ranmaru

-When they are together with QN and he gets sick of Camus, Ranmaru would just pick up Reiji and take off

-Ranmaru sometimes helps Reiji with his grey contacts (give the boy his nice brown eyes klab) when he is struggling

-Between the two, Ranmaru is the one to get flustered easily since Reiji enjoys seeing his reactions so he teases him

-Getting Reiji flustered is an achievement to Ranmaru

-He thinks it’s cute when Reiji attempts to hide his red face with his hands

-When Reiji clips his fringe away, Ranmaru will kiss his forehead

-They might adopt a dog?

-It would be a very very friendly dog though considering all the stray cats

-I could see them getting a big dog so Ranmaru can just take it out when he goes on his jogs and it won’t get too tired from it

-The dog also would have to be fairly low maintenance due to their jobs

-They are pretty good at hiding their relationship, even when doing things most fans take it as fanservice

-Reiji tries blocking the door to a surprise but Ranmaru came home early from work that day only for Ranmaru to just pick Reiji up with ease

-Reiji will lay his head on Ranmaru’s shoulder as he slowly strums his guitar

-When Reiji is making Karaage chicken, Ranmaru might take the chance and hug him from behind while stealing a piece

-When Ranmaru is exercising, he’ll sometimes have Reiji sit on his back as he does push ups

-When Reiji is buying streetfood with Ranmaru then he’ll always let Ranmaru have a few bites

-Another cute thing is if Reiji and Ranmaru play in each other’s event

-“Mouuu Ranran! Your events are too hard! Have you seen the borders of villain Ranmaru!”

-“Heh, your events aren’t that much easier either you know.”

-Reiji is the perfect height for Ranmaru to kiss the top of his head, it’s so cute

-Reiji complains about how it tickles but Ranmaru still does it anyway

-It’s very common that Reiji will mention Ranmaru and vice versa when they are apart

-Reiji will remark how Ranmaru would like this flavour or Ranmaru will say how Reiji really likes this brand, etc

-Reiji likes sitting on the floor so imagine Reiji sitting on the floor in front of Ranmaru as he runs his fingers through his hair

-Whenever Reiji’s bassist for Dekiai temptation isn’t available, he almost always calls Ranmaru for help

-Reiji really likes holding Ranmaru’s hand and comparing hand sizes

-Another cute thing to think about is Pop animal Reiran like Reiji being a bunny and Ranmaru being a snow leopard

-Ranmaru would nibble on Reiji’s bunny ears just to tease him

-They know eachother pretty well, very often that the two of them know what the other is thinking with either a low hum or eye contact

-When they are apart, they still try to atleast face time each other

-Reiji sometimes tends to sleep to Ranmaru’s voice though

-Almost always Ranmaru shakes his head softly and chuckles, already used to Reiji’s antics

-At the start it would be pretty hard, considering Ranmaru’s barriers and Reiji’s acting

-Ranmaru is straightforward and tells things how they are

-Reiji definitely needs a person who is able to do that

-He tends to sometimes tries to take on too much weight while not asking for help

-He fears that he would be a burden but asks that others should rely on him

-Ranmaru however doesn’t like to rely too much on other people

-He values his independence

-Ranmaru needs a person who is patient with him and is willing for Ranmaru to come to his own terms before seeking someone’s guidance

-All in all, they honestly had an argument before this relationship started, both coming to terms with who they are and their feelings

-During the start of the relationship, Reiji probably tries hiding his feelings again but as Ranmaru learns more about his habits and trait, he starts knowing the tell tales of when Reiji is doing it

-When Reiji is really mad though he’ll call Ranmaru by his full name

-Ranmaru knows he has done something wrong if Reiji is calling him by his full name, it’s even worse if Reiji swore as well

-They are pretty wholesome, but considering Reiji and Ranmaru some things are interesting to say the least

-Their dog is probably named after a flower

-Ranmaru always sighs softly whenever his boyfriend cracks a joke

-“Ne ranran! I guess we really hit ROCK bottom! Get it? Because rock?”

-“Reiji, I’m pretty sure you’ve already told me that one.”

-“Ehhh?! Really! I swear I only told Otoyan that one yet...hmm”

-Like all normal couples they have some disagreements

-The reason most of the fights would happen is because of Reiji holding too much of the burden, it would make Ranmaru feel he isn’t really needed as much

-Reiji would most likely take some time away from Ranmaru, hanging around the beach or general bodies of water

-Ranmaru stays at the apartment, playing the bass.

-He would wait for a few days but if Reiji hasn’t come back yet then he’ll go to him and talk things out

-It would end pretty wholesomely

-Reiji tends to the one that gets sick more often since he doesn’t take care of himself and tends to overwork, so Ranmaru would have to nurse him till he is better

-Both love cuddles

-Typically, Reiji enjoys being little spoon

-Ranmaru likes running his fingers through Reiji’s hair considering how soft it is

-Tickle fights are pretty often but it’s always Reiji initiating them

-Reiji always loses though

-Sometimes Ranmaru does lose the tickle fights but that only causes him to try even harder next time to hear a genuine, pure laugh from Reiji

-It’s like serotonin for him

-Not that he would say it though

-When Reiji ties his hair back, Ranmaru will kiss the back of his neck

-Ranmaru would be chilling on the couch until Reiji decides he wants affection

-Both are pretty private people, plus their jobs means PDA isn’t very often found

-When they’re in their apartment, Reiji loves the physical contact though

-Ranmaru has a fairly warm body constantly so during winter Ranmaru better expect constant cuddles

-Ranmaru isn’t that against, he isn’t that used to it though so it might take him awhile to get used to it

-Once he does though, you will be his napping pillow

-Reiji has a terrible sleeping schedule because he tends to prioritise work over his own needs so sometimes if Ranmaru feels that he isn’t taking enough care of himself then he’ll force him to

-Reiji isn’t sleeping? Ranmaru drags him to their bed and cuddles him until he does

-Reiji isn’t eating? Ranmaru will bring food to him and won’t leave until he eat it

-Reiji is a much lighter sleeper then Ranmaru is

-Ranmaru is pretty cuddly when asleep, almost always latching onto Reiji

-Both wake up pretty early, sometimes Ranmaru will wake up earlier if Reiji was up late reading a script but both generally wake up around the same time

-Depending on who is more awake, they make breakfast and then Ranmaru will go out on his jog

-Reiji’s activities vary in the morning when Ranmaru is on his jog

-If they have work later that day, he’ll make them both lunches along with lunches for the rest of QN

-He would feed the various stray cats and their dog

-He might reread some scripts and what not

-After they had a long day at work all they want to do is just relax in eachother’s arms

-All in all Ranrei is a ship I approve of

[prokopetz]

You always give great advice! I'm GMing at an one-shot event for International Woman's Day this weekend and was wondering if you had any ideas for one shot systems that would fit with the theme...? No worries if not, I'm aware it's a very specific ask!

Could do. The biggest potential problem you’re going to run into there is that tabletop RPGs that are specifically about addressing women’s issues tend to lean very grim – which isn’t necessarily out of theme, but it may not be the atmosphere you’re aiming for! My inclination would be to start with the more general brief of “tabletop RPGs created by women” and see where that leads.

A few notable authors from my personal collection:

Avery Alder is an educational consultant who runs Buried Without Ceremony, an imprint perhaps best known for Monsterhearts, a supernatural high school soap opera that’s made headlines within the hobby for the fact that it’s game-mechanically impossible to be heterosexual. For a one-shot, Dream Askew would perhaps be more suitable; its core system – variously known as “Belonging Outside Belonging” or “No Dice, No Masters” – has become quite popular for rules hacks, particularly as an alternative to the Apocalypse Engine.

Rose Bailey is a major contributor to White Wolf’s Vampire: The Requiem, as well as author of the swashbuckling planetary romance Cavaliers of Mars and the Castlevaniapunk investigative procedural Miserable Secrets under her creator-owned imprint, Fantasy Heartbreaker. She’s also the creator of a range of one-shot friendly microgames available both via her Patreon and her DriveThruRPG publisher page; I’m especially fond of Die For You (supernatural slice of life) and Princess of the Universe (literally She-Ra).

Emily Care Boss is one of North America’s leading voices in structured freeform gaming, often credited as the founder of the American Freeform school of game design. Her imprint, Black & Green Games, publishes a small library of her work, including the Romance Trilogy, an anthology of relationship-focused games designed to be played by couples or small groups. For a larger one-shot group, however (or any group that’s not terribly comfortable Talking About Feelings), I’d be inclined to give Misericord(e) a spin.

Elizabeth Chaipraditkul is the owner and founder of Angry Hamster Publishing. Though the company’s flagship title, Afterlife: Wandering Souls, is sadly not especially one-shot friendly, Chaipraditkulalso teamed up with fellow author Steffie de Vaan over the course of 2019 in a Patreon-funded challenge to produce twelve games in twelve months, all of which are one-shot friendly. You can find all of those games on Angry Hamster’s DrivethruRPG publisher page; for your target theme, you might pay special attention to The Wicked Sisters.

Erika Chappell is a prolific author whose body of work admittedly tends toward macho hyperviolence, which I suspect isn’t quite what you’re after. There are a few exceptions to the rule in her library, though; my favourite among them is probably Double or Nothing, but it’s strictly a two-player game (three including the GM), so unless you’re planning on running for a very small group, you might instead have a look at either The Way Home (if you prefer your games light and fluffy) or Must Be Tuesday (if you prefer your games not quite so fluffy).

Haley Gordon and Vee Hendro are the brains behind Storybrewers Roleplaying, publishers of the Jane Austen inspired epistolary RPG Good Society and the forthcoming sports anime drama Fight With Spirit. They also publish a small library of rules-light, one-shot friendly games, which are available for free courtesy of their Patreon backers; any of them would likely be suitable, but The Fictional Memoirs of Harriette Wilson & Her Sisters might be an especially amusing choice for the occasion at hand!

S A Hannon, Ruth Lampi and Jessica van Oort are Five Wits Press, a publishing cooperative whose back catalogue largely consists of comics and prose fiction, but just this past year they’ve ventured into the tabletop RPG arena with the magical-girl-flavoured superhero title Super Destiny High School Rumble!!. SDHSR isn’t exactly the most one-shot friendly game mentioned in this post, but you could probably swing it with some careful prep work – there’s nothing about its gameplay loop that demands a full campaign.

Marissa Kelly is co-founder of Magpie Games, and – along with WhitneyBeltrán and Sarah Richardson – the author of Bluebeard’s Bride, which is one of those games I mentioned in the initial paragraph that are a. explicitly about women’s issues, and also b. grim as hell; it’s based on the fairy tale of the same name, which probably tells you everything you need to know about how it plays out. If you’d prefer something with somewhat less spousal murder, Kelly is also the lead designer of Epyllion, a game where everybody is a dragon.

Dr. Jenna Moran likely needs no introduction, but for those who are new to this blog: she’s a veteran RPG author with a long list of contributor credits, including Changeling: The Dreaming, Exalted and Weapons of the Gods, as well as the creator of Chuubo’s Marvellous Wish-Granting Engine, Glitch and Nobilis. She’s mostly on this list for the sake of completeness, as she doesn’t really do one-shot friendly games; about the closest thing in her library is Wisher, Theurgist, Fatalist, which would be… a lot to drop on a group of novice players.

Sarah Newton is a published fantasy and sci-fi novelist, and co-founder of Mindjammer Press. Much of her early RPG catalogue – including the outstanding Legends of Anglerre – is now out of print due to expired licenses, which is probably why she switched to making games based on her own work! This is another for-the-sake-of-completeness inclusion, as her flagship game, Mindjammer, is basically the exact opposite of one-shot friendly, featuring some of the most baroque character creation mechanics I’ve ever seen in a tabletop RPG.

Annie Rush formerly ran the independent studio Itesser Ink, but has since left the hobby to pursue graphic design. Notable works under her imprint include the dystopian robot comedy Run Robot Red, and the 1:1 scale miniatures game The Secret Lives of Gingerbread Men. The title that particularly sprang to mind given your brief is House of Horiku; it’s never been published electronically and used copies are difficult to come by, so you’re not likely to get your hands on it for next weekend, but it’s definitely one to keep in mind for the future.

Elizabeth Sampat’s main gig is in mobile game design, with credits including the Plants vs. Zombies franchise and writing for Fallen London. Her work in tabletop games is largely theory-oriented, but she’s put that theory into practice a time or three; my personal favourite among her tabletop works is the Burn Notice inspired Blowback. She also served as editor for the wuxia psychodrama Mist-Robed Gate, which is, to the best of my knowledge, the only published tabletop RPG that uses an actual, physical knife for conflict resolution.

[pikapeppa]

Hii I have a question: How do you write a couple with two dom partners? Specifically smut scenes? How does it work out? Thank youuu♡

Hi nonny, thanks for such an interesting question!

I’ll start off by saying that I’m not sure whether your question is referring to smut between two people who have strong dominant personalities, or if you’re asking about actual BDSM roles and smut between two doms. If you’re asking about BDSM roles, I actually can’t answer your question. I have no firsthand experience with BDSM, and any smut I write that has dom/sub undertones is either based on very mild kink that (in my opinion) requires no special research, or is based on research I’ve done online and from talking to friends who do have BDSM experience. If you’re asking about more hardcore BDSM smut, then I’d recommend asking someone who has experience, or doing some research. Tumblr friends: can anyone make some recommendations for good BDSM writing resources for our lovely anon?

If you’re asking about smut between two people with strong and dominant personalities who might both be inclined to “take charge” during sex, then my answer is basically this: one of those two people has to eventually cave in and let the other take charge. The fun thing about this dynamic with two dominant personalities is that you can have the “control” shift back and forth between both partners throughout the scene. Importantly, the partners must be comfortable letting the control shift back and forth. If the partners are not comfortable ceding control to each other, it’ll end up feeling like they don’t trust each other, and the scene will just end up being an awkward impasse.

Read more below the cut!

I’ll give some examples now of ways that I have written two strong/dominant personalities having sex. One of my favourites is Felassan and Tamaris Lavellan. Throughout their story, they continuously shift between who is in charge during sex, and their sexual dynamic is very playful and teasing, with the two of them purposely withholding sex from each other in order to make the other partner beg for it. In their relationship, the teasing is something they both enjoy and that heightens their desire. Importantly, this dynamic is only possible because they trust each other deeply. Teasing someone, withholding touch, making them beg: these involve holding power over someone, and they’re only really something that two partners would enjoy if they really trusted each other to hold that power. 

A quick excerpt from Chapter 22 of The Love That Grows From Violence, to illustrate:

*********************

Felassan gasped and jerked his hips. He tilted his head to the side in a silent plea, and Tamaris pulled gently at his earlobe with her lips, then kissed the angle of his jaw and his neck before running the tip of her tongue gently along the tendon in his neck.

He sighed and smoothed his hand up along her back. “Veraisa,” he breathed.

“It’s only fair,” she retorted. She lapped at his neck again, then left a tiny kiss and a tiny little bite just below his ear.

His fingers clenched on her back. She continued to lick and nip his neck, and it wasn’t long before he was rocking his hips up and trying to pull her down onto his cock.

But Tamaris didn’t move. She stayed poised over his lap with the tip of his cock dipping ever-so-slightly into her entrance, and she ignored the lifting of his hips and the teasing pressure of his cock as she trailed her mouth from his ear down to the base of his neck.

“Tamaris,” he begged, and he tried to thrust toward her. “You’re killing me.”

I know, she thought. She knew exactly how much he liked being teased in this way — and this, of course, was the point. More than anything, more than his cock filling her up or his mouth between her legs or anything else, Tamaris wanted to make Felassan feel as good as she felt right now. He was a generous and intuitive lover, giving her exactly what she wanted even if she hadn’t realized she wanted it, and what she wanted right now was to make him feel even a fraction as satisfied as she was.

********************************

Another example is @schoute’s Roman Hawke and Samson, whom I have lovingly adopted. This is also a pairing with two strong personalities who both have a tendency to take charge during sex. For these two, the sex has more of a dubcon flavour, with Roman often telling Samson to fuck off or to keep his hands to himself, but with Samson continuing to goad her until suddenly she’s demanding sex. For Roman in particular, the sex she has with Samson are some of the few times when she can let go of the stresses of being Hawke. The brief lull after she and Samson are finished having sex is some of the few times she feels a little bit at peace. For Samson, having sex Roman — or being with Roman at all —  is the only time he feels like a person and a man, and not like a washed-up wreck. In other words, despite their semi-dubcon dynamic and the fact that they’re both idiots and would never admit to this, Roman trusts Samson to only push her as far as she is comfortable with, and Samson respects Roman’s boundaries and only takes the pain play and the taunting as far as he knows she enjoys. 

An excerpt from Chapter 4 of Making The Bird Sing, to illustrate: 

**********************

Roman growled around a mouthful of his cock, and he exploded in her mouth with a helpless cry. She swallowed his come without pausing the smooth up-and-down of her lips along his shaft, and when his trembling had stilled and he could finally open his eyes again, he curled his fingers in her hair and pulled.

She released his cock with a gasp and pushed his hand away from her hair, then stood up and folded her arms, and Samson studied her belligerent posture with a reckless sort of laziness. It almost felt as though she had swallowed not only his release, but also some of the jaded disbelief that had been stopping him from asking her again to fuck him.

No, not asking. He’d only fucked her once before, but already he had a visceral sense of what she really wanted, and it wasn’t to be asked.

He boldly met her gaze. “Take your clothes off, Bird.”

A tiny sardonic smile touched the corners of her lips. She scoffed at him and turned away.

He stood up and grabbed her arm. “Take them off now,” he said.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” she snapped.

She was glaring at him, but importantly, she hadn’t pulled her arm out of his grip. He pulled her closer until they were almost nose to nose.

“Roman,” he growled, “take your bloody clothes off right now.”

She bared her teeth and leaned in closer. “Make me,” she hissed.

Gotcha, he thought vindictively. Without warning, he kissed her hard.

********************

In summary: when you’re writing a smut scene between two strong dominant personalities who both tend to take charge during sex, one of the partners should eventually give in eventually to the other. You can, however, play with who is taking charge in the scene and let the control shift from one partner to the other, and this can be a good device for amping up the sexual tension and giving the sex scene a sense of playfulness. Importantly, the ceding of control shows trust and respect: it shows that the person giving in trusts their partner with the power, and it shows that the person in control respects the trust of the partner who gave in. If both partners insist on being the ones in charge, the scene will feel awkward, and it will seem as though they don’t trust each other. 

Now, I realize that some of what I’m saying here is consistent hardcore dom/sub dynamics, particularly the importance of trust. However, I don’t want to speak as an authority on anything BDSM, so I will defer to anyone who has more experience and firsthand knowledge to say more about hardcore BDSM smut writing. I will also say that this is just how I, personally, would deal with the sexual dynamic between two strong personalities, but that other writers might do something different that is just as good. For what it’s worth, this is my two cents!

- Love, your friendly neighbourhood Pikapeppa xoxo

[pokemaniacal]

Rockruff and Lycanroc

Lycanroc comes in two varieties, one associated with the day, and the other the night.  The way its path is chosen is a new one for split evolutions: Rockruff evolves differently depending on which version of the game you have, Sun or Moon, though wild Lycanroc of the opposite form can be found on both games.  This is put down to the “influence” of Solgaleo and Lunala, which could mean almost anything and doesn’t appear to have any effect on other Pokémon in Alola.  In future generations we can probably expect this to become a straightforward day/night fork like Espeon and Umbreon.  Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are planned to add a new Dusk form with characteristics of both, which requires a unique Rockruff with the Own Tempo ability to evolve between 5 and 6 pm, on either game.  The solar “Midday” form is wolf-like, and feels to me like a more “natural” evolution of Rockruff than the lunar form, keeping Rockruff’s colour scheme and emphasising his most distinctive feature, the “collar” of stones.  The lunar “Midnight” form is werewolf-like, as hinted by Lycanroc’s name, which seems to derive from “lycanthrope” (from the Greek λύκος/lukos, wolf, and ἄνθρωπος/anthropos, person); the same connotation goes through all of his alternative names in other languages, some of them via the French loup-garou.  Modern werewolves tend to have a specific laundry list of traits like vulnerability to silver and the ability to transfer their curse via a bite, which are not properties Lycanroc shares, although his posture could be taken from the human/wolf hybrid forms of many modern werewolves, and of course he has the most important feature of all: a connection to moonlight (werewolves transform when exposed to the light of the full moon).  He also gets eyes that glow blood-red in battle, for an added sinister air.

The lunar form seems like a much more drastic change from Rockruff, with a shift to a hunched but bipedal posture and an obvious colour change from brown and cream to a striking crimson, as well as the replacement of the stone “collar” with an impressive and luxuriant white mane.  I’m not sure how I feel about one of these evolved forms being clearly so much more divergent than the other – like the solar form is the “true” one and the lunar form is “deviant” – because the whole context of their links to the two versions of the game implies that they should be “balanced,” equal and opposite, but both obviously natural progressions from Rockruff, in the way the “Eeveelutions” are.  This comes through quite strongly with the twilight form, which you can tell is supposed to be a merging of the sun and moon forms’ traits by the way they talk about it, but comes across as much closer to the sun form (and might even work as a Mega Evolution of the sun form).  I’m not sure whether the design has messed up the ideas it’s trying to convey, or I’ve just misunderstood what it’s trying to convey.

Where the sun and moon forms do act as opposites is in their personalities.  Lycanroc’s solar form, provided it is raised well, retains and even accentuates Rockruff’s loyalty and sense of duty, but becomes disciplined and honourable instead of playful and affectionate.  The lunar form, on the other hand, becomes aggressive, violent, and uncontrollable, with a battle style that centres on goading opponents into reckless attacks and then crushing them with overwhelming force.  The Sun and Moon website is careful to point out, however, that a good relationship with this Pokémon in the Rockruff stage will carry over to a strong bond with a lunar Lycanroc.  It further claims that Rockruff will often leave their trainers for a short time to evolve (regardless of which evolution it takes), which could be a reference to “lone wolves” that have left their packs to avoid competition with their parents and siblings.  This is generally a temporary status; a lone wolf can find a mate and start a new pack, and Rockruff will return to their trainers after evolving.  However, there are also wolves that remain solitary indefinitely, and there is a kind of mystique that surrounds them as symbols of individualism and dark, brooding strength.  That seems to fit Midnight Lycanroc – but it’s actually Midday Lycanroc that are explicitly said to hunt on their own rather than in packs.  I don’t think there’s any official word on lunar Lycanroc at all – on the one hand, their sociopathic disposition seems like it wouldn’t lend itself to complex social behaviour, and in the absence of any other information maybe we should assume they act like solar Lycanroc… but on the other hand, maybe it makes just as much sense to assume the reverse, since these forms are paired opposites.  The description we’re given on the website says that Midday Lycanroc “lives solo in mountains and deserts, not creating a pack… and they live without interfering with one another, which helps to avoid unnecessary fights,” which seems like it’s meant as a contrast with a Pokémon that does create a pack and embraces unnecessary fights – otherwise, why else would you mention it?  Maybe Midnight Lycanroc have super-complex social structures mediated by constant supremacy duels?  I don’t know, and I don’t think Lycanroc wants to tell me.

The distinction between the solar and lunar Lycanroc forms’ battle roles is mercifully straightforward.  Both are powerful physical attackers with mediocre defences, which is not a terrible thing for Rock-types to be, since Rock hits a lot of things for super-effective damage.  The Midday form is much faster than the decidedly average Midnight form, but that extra speed comes at a fairly steep cost to its defences, leaving Midday Lycanroc quite fragile, while Midnight Lycanroc can at least claim to be passable.  No word yet on the new twilight incarnation, but it seems like a reasonable guess that it will have stats midway between the other two.  The solar Lycanroc, then, is fairly specialised towards a sweeper or revenge-killer mindset, whereas the lunar form’s natural inclinations are a bit less clear.  Each form gets three attacks that aren’t accessible to the other: Quick Guard, Quick Attack, and the signature move Accelerock for Midday; Counter, Reversal and Taunt for Midnight (at least, in theory – Taunt isn’t on Midday’s level-up list, but is available as a TM, and to add insult to injury, Midday is probably the better Pokémon to use it because of his high speed).

Midnight Lycanroc’s exclusive moves produce exactly the fighting style described in his flavour text: forcing foes to attack directly with Taunt, turning their physical strength against them with Counter, and becoming ever more incensed as the battle goes on with Reversal.  The only problem is that Counter and Reversal are not great attacks.  Reversal requires you to hang around at 1 HP, or close to it, for multiple turns to get any benefit, while Counter will probably only work once in a battle, has to be timed perfectly if you want to actually kill something with it, and doesn’t do anything to special attackers.  Neither of them are actually terrible moves, just very tricky to use to their full potential, and if you’re going to take either, Lycanroc should probably be equipped with a Focus Sash to improve your odds of surviving a strong attack with 1 HP so you can retaliate at full force.  The only really important thing on the Midday form’s exclusive list is Accelerock, best described as a Rock-type Quick Attack.  I’m not entirely certain a Pokémon as fast as Midday Lycanroc actually needs a move like this, especially since his best ability, Sand Rush, doubles his already impressive speed in a sandstorm.  On the other hand, Lycanroc is not a Pokémon who is prone to having a super-packed moveset, so you can just stick Accelerock in as insurance against something even faster than you, or with priority moves of its own (Talonflame, I’m looking at you).

Details are still sketchy on Dusk Lycanroc.  We know he gets both Accelerock and Counter, though it remains to be seen whether he’ll have access to Quick Guard, Reversal, etc, and again, we don’t know exactly what his stats will look like.  We do know he’ll have the useful Tough Claws ability, a hefty +33% damage bonus for “contact” attacks – this doesn’t apply to Stone Edge, Lycanroc’s primary attack, but will significantly improve most of his other physical attacks, making it probably the best ability available to Lycanroc of any form.  Unfortunately, without knowing his exact stat profile, it’s hard to know how this will affect Dusk Lycanroc’s fighting style right now.

Lycanroc gets Swords Dance, and unlike most of the Alola Pokémon we’ve seen together so far, he’s actually fast enough to make good use of it – or, at least, his solar incarnation is.  In theory that should suggest a pretty straightforward moveset; Sand Rush for your ability with some kind of set-up from another Pokémon, Swords Dance, and then three solid attacks.  The trouble is, Lycanroc doesn’t really have three solid attacks.  Your primary attack is Stone Edge, which is great; then there’s Crunch, which is nothing to write home about but basically fine, and then… well, there’s Brick Break, which combos well with Crunch but is starting to get on the low side for power, and there’s Fire Fang and Thunder Fang, which are so weak you’re basically taking them just to victimise Pokémon with a double-weakness, like Scizor.  This is far from an inspiring movepool.  Still, at least solar Lycanroc’s strategy is straightforward.  The poor lunar bastard isn’t fast enough for a Swords Dance sweep to make sense, doesn’t get Sand Rush either, and without Accelerock or Quick Attack, his only priority attack is Sucker Punch, which suffered a power nerf in Sun and Moon, has limited PP, and can be countered by using non-damaging moves.  Lycanroc can also learn Rock Polish, so you can boost his speed that way, but then it becomes almost impossible to justify having Swords Dance as well, and Lycanroc’s base attack stat isn’t high enough to outweigh his lacklustre physical movepool without some kind of boost.  What Midnight Lycanroc does have over his diurnal counterpart is No Guard as a hidden ability, which sets the accuracy of all his moves – as well as all moves that target him – to 100%.  For the most part, the benefit of this is having a 100%-accurate Stone Edge.  That’s not nothing; in fact it’s pretty awesome, but it’s also not Machamp’s Dynamicpunch (the traditional use for No Guard), or even Golurk’s, and remember that it also makes incoming attacks 100% accurate against you (Focus Blast, anyone?).

This is normally the point at which I would describe other options that are probably terrible but at least seem amusing enough to be worth mentioning; the trouble is that not only have I still not come up with anything worth doing with the Midnight form, Lycanroc in general just doesn’t have all that many interesting options.  He is, at present, one of only a handful of Pokémon that can learn Stealth Rock within generation VII (though a bunch of older Pokémon have access to it from the Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby move tutors), which could be important if you don’t have the older games, but it’s a good bet there’ll be a Stealth Rock tutor in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.  Bulk Up is there, but I doubt even the slightly tankier Midnight form really has any business trying a Bulk Up set, since Lycanroc has no healing.  And… I honestly think that’s about it.  Lycanroc’s overall movepool is surprisingly shallow and I’m not sure there’s more than one or two basic strategies for each form.

I really want to like Rockruff and Lycanroc, I really do, because Rockruff is adorable and the day/night thing is at least passingly interesting, but I’m having trouble.  Lycanroc’s forms are both fine, I suppose, but I don’t think they work as well as a pair as they’re supposed to, and the addition of the twilight form doesn’t really change that.  Maybe when we actually see Dusk Lycanroc it will make sense; maybe Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon will reveal some new information about them, or about their relationship with Solgaleo and Lunala, that will make the whole idea seem perfectly elegant in hindsight; heck, maybe there’s even a fourth Dawn Lycanroc form that Game Freak are still hiding from us that will render everything pleasantly symmetrical.  The other problem is that Midnight Lycanroc in particular just has so few options I’m genuinely not sure what we’re supposed to do with him, and the extent to which Midday Lycanroc clearly makes more sense is unfortunate.  Part of me is left wondering whether Midday Lycanroc was originally designed on his own as a single evolution to Rockruff, and then Midnight Lycanroc was tacked on later and accordingly doesn’t mesh very well with the other forms – but then again, if we just take Midday Lycanroc as a stand-alone Pokémon, he’s simply not very interesting.  What do you know?  Maybe I do still have it in me to give critical reviews after all…