#“but i have Ideas on how i'd write it while keeping the appeal of their allegedly complex relationship”

[beevean]

having the Brainworms for something you hate and being assaulted by the urge to rant at best and rewrite at worst is horrible. being a ranty bitch is fun and sometimes i even get lucky to attract discussion but i am fully aware i could channel that energy towards something i actually enjoy :( <- was scarred for life about being too negative on main

#yeah i'm once again in that “lene//ctor was awfully written and all the arguments in favor of it post-s4 make me want to throw up” #“but i have Ideas on how i'd write it while keeping the appeal of their allegedly complex relationship” #it's not worth it! it's not worth it brain! cut that out! #i thought i had found a good fix-it fic but i was left disappointed. everyone misses the point. i hate it #i want to rant. i also want to do something productive. ugggggggggggggggggggh #i 100% understand my bestie who falls prey to the brainworms for the game of all time

[eff-plays]

There's one convo with Astarion that's one of my favorites that I haven't seen mentioned or discussed yet happens (I assume) if you have high approval with him but play a good-aligned character. (This is at 60+ approval, start of Act 2.) It's probably because it's not a romantic cutscene so it doesn't get mentioned as much as the others (or because he's racist in it and some of y'all don't like to acknowledge that he has character flaws), but I think it's vital to his character and to explain his early relationship with a good-aligned Tav.

I would like to break it down a little, step by step. Because we are all cringe here.

First, he claims to feel a connection between Tav and himself, and the reason for this is because he believes he's identified "ambition" in Tav (and I'll explain why he's wrong later, but that's mostly headcanon territory, so we'll ignore it for now).

But, there's also clearly something holding Tav back from realizing their full potential, which is their naivete.

"Just that you ... have a big heart. You like doing what's right."

(The animations and voice acting here make him look and sound so fucking condescending, 10/10.)

However, Astarion doesn't tell them this is wrong, or that he disagrees. He implies it's a flaw, but doesn't state it outright. That's dangerous territory, see, and might predispose them to get defensive and reject what he has to say next.

No, he tries (and fails in my case, but it's cute that he tries, bless him) to manipulate Tav by appealing to that big heart of theirs.

"So I was thinking, what would be the right thing to do when we get to Moonrise Towers? When we come face-to-face with whoever is controlling the parasites in our heads."

"I'm just saying there's an opportunity here. If we can control the tadpoles, we can keep ourselves safe and liberate the world from this evil."

See what he's doing? You like doing what's right, so what would be the right thing to do? We can keep ourselves safe. Liberate the world from evil.

It's very blatant, but he's trying to appeal to Tav's good nature by framing his questionable ideas as something that will benefit the greater good, something that's morally righteous that they would agree with.

And of course, it's incredibly funny when you ask how he thinks you'll do that, and he fumbles and admits he's not a "details person," but it's also revealing.

He thinks he's found in Tav ambition, when all he's actually found is ability. Tav exercises power proficiently, while Astarion does not. If he had the authority they have, he'd let ambition drive his actions, which is why he assumes that's what drives Tav when they exercise their power. A good-aligned Tav has very little ambition, I'd argue, but they have plenty of opportunity to exercise their power, which they do when their hand is forced.

So what Astarion is saying is, in effect, hey, you have power, I have ambition. Will you please use your authority/ability to do what I want? Here's how it'll totally be for the greater good, I prommy.

This is brilliant writing, and I really applaud Larian for managing to walk that fine line of making Astarion so sympathetic while he's literally trying to manipulate the player character. Because when I first got this convo, my thought was both "wow, I adore how blatant and terrible his manipulation attempts are, it's kind of endearing" and "he's so terrified, it's genuinely quite tragic."

If we control the tadpoles, we can keep ourselves safe. This works only somewhat as an appeal to good-aligned Tav, because it could also potentially sound very selfish, especially if Tav is the self-sacrificing sort. So notice how, when he says "liberate the world from evil", it sounds kinda tacked-on, an afterthought designed to bury his main goal, which is keep "ourselves" (i.e. himself) safe. Like, yes, this will keep us/me safe, but if you're not into that, then it'll totally help the world, too! It doesn't quite work, because he still sounds ironic and like he doesn't believe they'd be liberating anything from any evil (work that 10 Charisma, boy), but that's the intent, I think.

Does he want power for power's sake? Yes. Is he gleefully powerhungry? Absolutely. But he's also fucking terrified, and that slips through just a little bit, even behind the smug and confident facade.

He's trying to get Tav, whom he's seen exercise their power over others, to lend some of it to him, so that he may never fear anything ever again.

All of this from a short, smug convo where he admits he's too stupid to figure out how to fulfill his dreams of world domination.

God tier characterization, 10/10.

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #astarion #bg3 spoilers #bg3 meta #video #worsties to lovers

[qqueenofhades]

Do you have any idea why people are so fixated on Biden’s age but not Trumps? I know he’s 81, but Trump isn’t exactly far behind at 77: in fact he’s the second oldest. This keeps stumping me: it’s not a big gap in age

There are a few reasons for this, yes. As you might imagine, all of them are very stupid.

First and most critically is the way Trump's violent extremism has been completely neutered, mainlined, and normalized by the mainstream media. That's why we still have said media largely treating this as a normal presidential election, instead of that of a successful incumbent against literally the most deranged, unfit, treasonous, criminally and civilly liable, already-led-an-attempted-coup, deep-in-hock-to-Russia, adjudicated rapist, 91-felony-counts-indicted career cheater, grifter, and failed businessman who nonetheless appeals to the still-very-powerful isolationist, racist, white supremacist, and Christian nationalist elements in this country. Crucially, he also appeals to the billionaire class that owns the media and who will benefit from Trumpian tax, economic, and labor policies (especially now that Biden used the SOTU to once more call for a minimum 25% corporate/billionaire tax rate). The media also openly wants Trump back in office, as all the shitass insane things he did (and will do) are good for ratings, and allows them to act like the Principled Truth Tellers, instead of shilling so hard for a greasy orange fascist that we may well lose our 250+ year old democratic republic if he, God forbid, is elected again. Profit is more, well, profitable than truthful reporting, so the media has been completely disincentivized to cover this in any accurate way. We presume they will all wake up with shocked Pikachu faces when Trump packs them off to concentration camps with everyone else he hates, as he has openly promised to do.

Because we're also starting from an underlying premise that everything is the Democrats' fault, this means the party should be blamed for running said successful incumbent for reelection, even if he has low poll numbers which have in fact largely been produced by the media's relentlessly stupid and dishonest coverage. I was reading an article in the AP today about how 15 major student/youth groups have endorsed Biden and plan to work for his reelection; even so, the author could.not.stop going on and on about how Zomgz Old Biden was and how supposedly most Americans thought he was mentally unfit for the job (which is a straight-up lie produced by the endless "Zomgz Biden Old!!!!" handwringing have been subjected to without end. Weird how that works). That is also why we have all those idiotic "Biden should step down!!!" opinion pieces by Very Smart Pundits, notwithstanding the fact that a) it would be completely insane, b) it would be completely insane, and c) somehow nobody seems to think that hey, maybe the Republicans shouldn't nominate an openly seditionist generally god-awful fascist shitweasel who has already been the worst thing to happen to American politics in the twenty-first century (I'd say also the twentieth century, but unfortunately that was when we had Reagan).

In other words, Trump is just taken as a given, while the media spends all its time attacking Biden, calling on Biden to step down, amplifying "concerns" about Biden's age, producing idiotic narratives about Biden, distorting or ignoring the things Biden has done, and then writing concern-troll navel-gazing pieces earnestly wondering why people don't like Biden. (Apparently people's opinion of Biden drastically improves when they learn what he's actually accomplished, but the relentless parade of lies somehow makes it difficult for them to learn what those actually are. Again, weird.) Likewise the endless coverage we get of Biden's smallest slips or stumbles, while the media resolutely ignores Trump's full-on recent descent into absolute raving dementia. Hello, double standards!

This is also fueled by a heaping helping of racism and misogyny, because if God forbid Biden does die in office, what happens? The vice president takes over! We have a clear and constitutionally established precedent for this that has happened many times before! Except, oh no scary!!!, Biden's vice president is a brown woman, and that means SHE WOULD BE IN CHARGE!!!! TERRIFYING!!! So all the scaremongering around Biden's age, aside from being generally dishonest and stupid, has as its implicit message that sure, maybe you're fine voting for an old white man, but are you really comfortable doing that if it means a brown woman might also have the chance to be president?? I DON'T THINK YOU SHOULD BE!!!!!

Anyway, yes. It's a complete straw man argument, it's fueled by bad faith and stupidity, and as with most things in the current American media environment, it's geared toward helping Trump win. Because you know. Something something BUT HER EEEEEEEEEEEEMAILS BUT BIDEN WAS OOOOOOOOOOOOLD.

#anonymous #ask #politics for ts

[ddollfface]

𝐀 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

𝙅𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙃𝙖𝙣𝙢𝙖 𝙔𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙣𝙨 (Pt.2)

Warnings; bad writing, possessive behavior, really ooc (I'm 90% sure that I missed the mark on this one), talks of Diane's rape, yandere if you really squint ig. If I missed anything, then please let me know ♡ Oml, tumblr's being a little bitch right now, I literally cannot right now. I'm going to repost Pt.1 and Pt.2. I'm so sorry, I have no clue as to why I have a word limit rn... Just know that this is super ooc :/

When Jack falls, he falls hard, and let's just say that he's never fallen. Throughout his whole life, his only goal was to avenge his mother and bring back her honor, hoping to achieve this by defeating his father, Yuujirou Hanma. Jack, himself, has stated multiple times throughout the show that he has no interest in women, money, or fame, only wanting to achieve his goal of revenge. This obviously means that he has no experience with women, and unlike Kastumi, it's by choice. He doesn't want to fall in love.

I think that Jack doesn't believe in love, that it's something that's fake and fabricated to appease another. There's no such thing as love at first sight and wanting to hold someone for comfort and not just to get off. These thoughts are so out of Jack's worldview that he sees them as just fiction that others' are pathetic enough to believe.

And, adding to that, I think that Jack would have a hard time understanding Baki and his relationship with Kozue. Baki and Kozue have been there for each other, showing true love, something that Jack's never had. Jack eventually learns to respect Baki, after some trial and error throughout the series, but he can't seem to understand why someone like Baki would believe in something as fictional as love.

Moving on from that, I think that Jack's childhood developed this sense of disgust toward love and just being vulnerable in general. I mean, imagine being born to a woman who was raped by the man she was supposed to kill, that's obviously not going to be the best childhood.

I can't imagine that Diane, Jack's mama, would ever show him such motherly love that's expected from a mama to her son. I think that's partially because of how Jack was conceived and her personality. Diane, whether it was a part of her persona as 'Jane' or not, was portrayed as a cold woman who had little regard for human life, and I can't see how she'd ever show warmth toward Jack when he was young.

While we don't know much about Jack's childhood or what happened to Diane later on in her life, I'm assuming that she never pursued relations with any other man, seeing as Yuujiro's actions caused her such distress. This means that Jack never grew up with a father figure present in his life, rather than his absent father, Yuujiro.

I'd assume that Diane would never speak nicely of Yuujiro, seeing as he raped her, and it was her original intention to kill him. Because children are like sponges, Jack probably absorbed all of Diane's hatred and general negativity towards his father, as he should, and internalized this anger.

Overall, Jack's situation growing up left no room for him to experience what love looked like, in a healthy manner. He never had parents who lead a good example, keeping him in the dark about any positives of being in a relationship. And that's what I think the root is for his distaste for being vulnerable, and the idea of being in a relationship with another.

Not only that, but I think that his mama's rape only caused Jack to view sex in a negative light, seeing that's how he was conceived. Now, I don't think that Jack is repulsed by sex in general, but I just think that he doesn't find it as welcoming (?) as other men would. I'm not too sure how to phrase it, but it's just not appealing to him, compared to most men.

However, that changes when he meets you, you, you.

There's no such thing as 'love at first sight' to Jack. He has to know a person for a year or so before he even considers having a lengthy conversation with them, where he actually puts a little effort into speaking with them. Jack's a very closed-off individual who has severe trust issues, as most figures do, and he can't open up to someone he's known for a short time.

This means that for you to catch his attention, that means that there's something special that he saw, whether you notice it or not doesn't matter. Jack saw something in you. Maybe it was how transparent you were, possibly your wisdom, it doesn't matter too much.

(little side tangent)

Though I do see Jack enjoying a partner who's similar to a therapist, someone with a lot of advice to give, someone with a shit ton of wisdom. An observer would be a good fit for Jack, they don't have to be studious or very loud, and he doesn't mind either. It's just that he needs someone who can read him easily because Jack has his own language of sorts (@yandere-writer-momo has discussed this in some of her posts).

It's odd because Jack is oh so blunt, but he holds back whenever it comes to his emotions, wanting to avoid being vulnerable. He doesn't hesitate to threaten someone or tell them that he doesn't like him, he doesn't have a problem with that. But whenever he finds you pretty, or likes the dress you're wearing, even if he thinks you're not taking care of yourself, he'll always phrase it in a "brutish" way.

Instead of saying "Your hair looks nice today" or "Have my jacket, you look cold," instead, he'll say "Did you do something to your hair? It doesn't look like shit today" or "You're built like a stick, you should work out more" as he hands you his jacket (more so throwing it over your shoulders and walking away).

And that's why he needs someone who can read through his insulting behavior, knowing that he's just shielding himself from appearing weak. Being observant is a requirement to having a successful relationship with Jack, and possibly with most of the men in Baki. All of them are so emotionally constipated, that they need someone who can read them like a book to actually have a progressive relationship.

Because of your ability to allow him to open up without words he knows attached, always thinking about you, you, you. He needs to protect you, the one person who understands him on a different level than everyone else. You're able to calm him down with a simple nod, practically telling him that you understood what he was trying to say. You don't just see him as the son of Yuujiro Hanma or as the man who's ruined his body with steroids and intense training techniques, instead, you see him as Jack.

The initial attraction he had toward you, when you first crossed paths, was more superficial than what I was talking about in the previous paragraph. It's most likely a simple case of curiosity that drew him to you. You somehow stood apart from others, causing his eyes to drift to you every time he scanned a crowd. It's possible that you were overly positive, keeping a smile on your face no matter what, or you were oddly quiet, silently observing everyone.

It could've just been your looks that made you attractive! Though Jack is emotionally stunted, even he can appreciate a nice piece of ass!

Either way, throughout the time and as your relationship progresses, the more you two talk, the more he begins to respect your character. Jack begins to see you for who you are and understands that you see him the way he sees you. (sorry that was a confusing sentence lol)

I'm not too sure if any of you have seen the movie Avatar, but in the movie, they use the phrase 'I see you,' and I think that it fits Jack's personality perfectly. It's more than love to Jack, and he likely doesn't even comprehend that it's love in the first year or so. It's something deeper than that, it's understanding each other on a primal level. Jack doesn't just understand your body and how it moves, or what to do to get it going, he understands how you think, and how you feel. But not in a weird way, in a loving way, y'know?

The two of you are like other halves, you'd have to be for Jack to pursue you. Jack has to know that you're meant for him. He's never even considered dating another person, let alone revealing himself to someone else.

#jack hammer #jack hanma #jack hanma x reader #jack x reader #yandere character #yandere headcanons #baki the grappler #baki dou #obsessive love #lovesick #yandere x reader #yandere x you #x reader #yandere male #baki x reader #baki headcanons #baki hanma #baki son of ogre #bad writing

[yanderes-galore]

Underfell AU Sans romantic concept please?

Sure! I tried to keep him as close to canon as possible while also putting in some of my HCs. He's actually really fun to write :) I hope you like my take... sorry if you don't. There's a gap in the middle due to Tumblr's formatting.

Yandere! Underfell! Sans Concept

Pairing: Romantic/Platonic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Violence, Overprotective behavior, Violence, Anxiety, I wanted to make him more possessive (I might in the future but I never thought of it until now), Denial, Kidnapping, Mentioned possible mind break/Murder, Isolation, Stalking, Some jealousy mentioned near the end, Some manipulation, Forced companion/relationship.

I feel Fell! Sans has the possibility of being a terrifying yandere.

He's one of the strongest monsters in the AU and his powers tend to fluctuate due to his emotions.

He's also incredibly stressed all the time from what I've read.

Fell! Sans cares for his brother, they both care for each other actually.

They both want to portray themselves as cool to one another and others.

Fell! Sans is still lazy but also sarcastic.

I know Fell! Papyrus doesn't enjoy killing humans but does it for "sport" to help the guilt, he also does it due to being part of the Royal Guard to protect Sans from Asgore.

However I'm unsure how Sans feels about killing humans according to canon.

I'd assume he'd be indifferent but supports it as it's the law of the land and the job Papyrus is given.

Sans’ obsession was meant to be kept vague however I feel with a human it feels more natural to me?

Maybe you take the role of Frisk or simply aid them.

Either way I'm defaulting Darling to human.

Of course, naturally as the world goes, you end up having to defend yourself against Sans and Papyrus.

Primarily against Papyrus as Sans probably doesn't bother fighting.

Although… you can tell there's some strength there.

Due to what I've read, he radiates power due to his stress.

It's supposedly seen in his jacket at times.

So you have an idea that Sans could easily kill, but are thankful he just chooses not to.

Fell! Sans certainly has an obvious edge in appearance and personality. 

He's very sarcastic with you but in a way you can tell he means well when you befriend him and his brother.

In fact when he forms an attachment he may even show some anxiety about you meeting the other monsters.

You are aware of how easily you could just… die, right?

Even with a flower to guide you, he hopes you can defend yourself and not just talk things out.

Although he is thankful you managed to appeal to his brother enough to spare him.

He definitely tries to act calm in general, especially around you, although there's times he slips.

I imagine Fell! Sans fidgets due to… well… the sheer amount of stress he's under.

Really, who isn't in the Underground?

With Asgore in charge there's strict rules.

Rules that could easily end you as a human.

Sans tries to tell himself to not get attached to you.

He'd be in denial about his obsession.

It's all because he's scared to lose you.

Part of him wants to protect you, yet the other part suggests just letting you go.

The ideas he has tears him apart internally, which Papyrus can definitely tell.

Sans keeps fidgeting and his powers keep fluctuating when he thinks about how he can lose you.

Fanon tends to depict Sans as overly sadistic, while I agree he has aggressive tendencies like everyone in this AU, I don't think he's over the top.

I feel Fell! Sans is more like an anxious and stressed mess more than anything.

Which for him can make him volatile as his powers can be controlled, but are emotion based.

His pent up emotions no doubt drives his obsession.

While Papyrus protects Sans from Asgore, Sans feels like he has to protect you from not only Asgore… but everyone not him or his brother.

While you continue your journey, Sans isn't far behind.

He still has similar powers to his classic counterpart, which means teleportation.

Every area you enter, he's somewhere there.

I never mentioned this in the original draft but I do feel Sans would get possessive/jealous.

It's just not mentioned much in this concept since he's more consumed by anxiety than anything.

But in a way he does feel you two belong together, one way or another.

He would definitely murder, but he has to hold himself back due to his powers.

Which, yes, I assume would mean if he's jealous or enraged enough with you talking to others... his powers may flare.

Papyrus is against this but this human clearly means a lot to Sans.

Admittedly… Papyrus would miss you if you died too.

So he understands where Sans is coming from, it mirrors the care Papyrus has for Sans.

But Sans seems more… intense?

Sans could just feel something akin to close friendship or something more.

Honestly, if a monster nearly killed you, he'd probably snap and use his powers.

Which is why he prefers to just… stick around you everywhere.

Admittedly Sans likes it when you laugh.

He tries not to show it but you mean a lot to him.

The reason he tries to hide it as it shows vulnerability.

But you seem to enjoy his Knock Knock jokes and his company….

You like it because he's more “friendly” than the others.

Honestly, that gives him a bit of pride while also striking vulnerability in him.

Sans really keeps trying to tell himself his obsession is a vulnerability.

He shouldn't be this attached to you.

Yet now he really can't just let you go.

As a result I imagine he'd prevent you from meeting Asgore.

Sure, okay, you may have befriended most of the monsters here…

But not him…

Please not him…

He'll kill you and Sans will snap.

Scared of this he gets more fidgety.

You can probably tell even though he acts collected, he has an aura that scares you.

Sans doesn't know how to explain to you he cares about you.

He just doesn't want to lose you.

So Sans may try to manipulate you into staying with him more to avoid Asgore.

Isn't staying in Snowdin better?

Well… Papyrus may want to see you again!

Y'know… it's futile to go against Asgore, right?

Just… stay with him.

If he has to, he'll use some of his power to lock you away in his home/room.

Look, you don't get it.

Asgore nearly killed Sans before… he could and will do the same to you!

It's behind closed doors that Sans’ facade breaks.

He pulls you closer and mumbles about his fears.

He plans to keep you right here… if you try to leave, he'll know.

At this point he'll kill any monster who tries to hurt you or even goes near you.

Sans curses himself for getting so attached to a human.

However, he's given in now.

He'll keep you away from all the danger.

He'll keep you to himself.

Even if it requires others, including him, to get hurt due to his powers and rage.

#yandere undertale aus #yandere underfell #yandere sans #yandere underfell sans #yandere fell sans

[blakebouchard]

7 Fantasy RPGs to fill the D&D-shaped Hole in your Life

So. It finally happened. Either Hasbro, or Wizards of the Coast, or someone else associated with Dungeons & Dragons finally did something so fucked-up that you've decided to swear it off entirely.

The problem is that for decades, there has been one obvious answer to the question of "What game with Dwarves, Longswords and Wizards in it should we play" and that was D&D, every time. Even their strongest rival in the past couple of decades was just an older version of D&D with a spit shine.

Now you find yourself adrift in a sea of possibility, with no signposts. There are names you've heard, but you have no idea which ones you'd actually be interested in, because you had always just assumed you'd be playing D&D until the heat death of the universe.

So let's take a look at a few games that want to fill that D&D-shaped hole in your gaming life, and examine what they're offering.

Disclaimer: I'm not covering the entire breadth and depth of the TTRPG industry here. I'm specifically going to be covering Fantasy RPGs that should appeal to D&D fans here. So if I didn't cover your favourite indie RPG, sorry. But there has to be a "First step" outside of the D&D bubble, and each of these games should fulfill that need.

The Other "Kitchen Sink" Game: Pathfinder

If you can't bring yourself to keep playing the corporate game, but you still want something that offers as close to that gameplay experience as you can possibly get, your best bet at the time of this writing is probably Pathfinder 2nd Edition.

I say this as someone who very much did not vibe with the original Pathfinder, or its "D&D in space" sister product Starfinder. But at this point, I'd absolutely tell a newcomer to jump into Pathfinder 2E before I recommended they buy any WotC product.

To their credit, the 2nd Edition of Pathfinder does much more to, uh, find its own path by diverging from 3.5 edition and implementing new systems that take it into uncharted territory. The "Two Actions Per Turn" paradigm is often cited by its proponents as being a meaningful improvement over the 5E way of doing things.

The "TTJRPG": Fabula Ultima

One of the biggest success stories of the early 20's was Fabula Ultima from NEED Games in Italy. It came seemingly out of nowhere to win the ENnie Gold Award for Best Game of 2023. Since then it's become notoriously difficult to find in print, though it's still freely available as a PDF.

Fabula Ultima is a "TTJRPG," modelled after Japanese fantasy video games like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Phantasy Star, Breath of Fire, etc. While it's firmly planted in the Fantasy genre, its gameplay will also very recognizable to fans of those types of games.

The major benefit of this conceit is that you can probably already picture how combat in FabUlt works in your mind: Two rows of characters take turns jumping and slashing at each other, or casting magical spells to harm, heal, or apply status conditions. There's no concept of "Spacing," but the game still manages to be mechanically intricate with lots of varied class abilities and status effects to apply.

D&D refugees looking for a game where you simply pick a class and fight some monsters, but aren't too particular about how they do that, will find a lot to love here. FabUlt leans much more heavily on storytelling mechanics than D&D does, so players who've been looking for something a bit more "Theater of the Mind" should be well taken care of here.

Final Fantasy Lancer: ICON

Like Fabula Ultima, ICON is a TTRPG that takes heavy inspiration from JRPGs, specifically tactical games like Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre. It's from Massif Press, who also authored the surprise indie Mech combat hit Lancer.

And like Lancer, ICON is a game with two very distinct rulesets: Outside of combat, a "Fiction-first" narrative system inspired heavily by Blades in the Dark; In combat, a grid-based tactical skirmish game reminiscent of D&D 4th Edition. All backed by the gorgeous art of its author Tom Parkinson-Morgan, who also writes and illustrates the comic Kill Six Billion Demons.

ICON separates its "narrative" class system from its combat class system, giving each character two distinct character sheets that come into play at different times. Because those two systems don't have to cross over very much, each can be as intricate or as rules-light as it needs to be to promote the type of gameplay most appropriate for the situation.

The Old-School Gateway Drug: Shadowdark

If you ever took a few steps outside of the walled garden that is D&D in the past few years, you will likely have read or heard of the OSR, or "Old-School Revival/Renaissance." Proponents of the OSR are players who yearn for an older style of Dungeon Crawling Survival Horror game that hearkens back to the early days of D&D, before the players became akin to superheroes.

Shadowdark aims to be a game that bridges the gap to that style of gameplay, without being totally unfamiliar to players who only ever learned 5th Edition mechanics. It's "Old-School gaming, modernized."

Aside from simply being a modern take on a D20 fantasy game, it freshens up gameplay using a mechanic called the "Torch Timer." It turns light into a resource that dwindles in real time. This serves to elevate the tension of the game as every minute that passes is one less minute of light on your torch. And when the torches run out, well... You can probably guess what happens next.

5th Edition with the Serial Numbers Filed Off: Tales of the Valiant

Tell me if you've heard this one before: Wizards of the Coast introduces sweeping changes to its "Open" license model, leading existing 3rd-party content creators to create their own version of an older ruleset to protect the viability of their backlog. It happened in the past, but what are the chances that happens a second time? Ha!

Well... It did happen again. This time, playing the role of the "Paizo" in this scenario is Kobold Press, who loudly declared that they were "Raising the Black Flag" in response. In order to ensure that there would always be a "Core Fantasy" ruleset that would remain compatible with their content, they announced Tales of the Valiant, which would essentially duplicate the 5th Edition ruleset with a bit of a spit shine, in much the same way that Pathfinder did for 3.5 Edition.

Tales of the Valiant will be the game for the D&D player who just wanted a rules refresh of 5th Edition, but also doesn't want to keep throwing money at the corporate hegemony. It should end up being "The 5E you can feel good about supporting," and that matters right now.

Matt Colville's Big Bet: The MCDM RPG

Kobold Press was not the only publisher of third-party D&D content to have a strong reaction to the OGL fiasco. Unlike Tales of the Valiant however, Matt Colville's response was to announce a fully new Fantasy RPG system, with no expectation of backwards compatibility with any edition of D&D.

MCDM's sights are firmly set on the "Post-Kitchen-Sink" future, and to that end their game is explicitly not trying to be the one game for every possible playstyle. It's Tactical, meaning you'll need a grid to play it on, and it's Heroic, meaning characters should feel powerful, and not like they're constantly one critical hit or failed trap-sensing check away from being decapitated.

This approach might seem like a massive risk considering how insanely powerful 5th Edition became at its peak. But a record-breaking crowdfunding campaign backed by over 30,000 people shows that there is at least an appetite for something new, and that there is a like-minded community of players ready and waiting to join you.

The Critical Role Game: Daggerheart

If the Kobold Press announcement was a shot across the bow, and the MCDM crowdfunder was a bomb dropped, then Daggerheart is a full-blown asteroid, streaking straight towards Wizards of the Coast HQ.

Daggerheart is an original Fantasy RPG from Darrington Press, the publishing arm of the Critical Role media company. That by itself should mean something considering how important CR is to the D&D brand, but there's more to talk about here. Though it superficially resembles D&D in a lot of ways, it has some extremely important differences. Namely, its use of "Powered by the Apocalypse" mechanics such as "Fail Forward" dice rolling and "No Initiative" combat.

While "PbtA" has become somewhat of a loaded term in the D&D community, Critical Role has an opportunity to overcome that stigma with the sheer force of their platform. I've made this case already in the past, but if they were to use their power to do for themselves what they did for 5th Edition, it would be the most significant threat to the Hasbro Hegemony to emerge since Pathfinder. Let alone taking just a slice, Daggerheart has the long-term potential to take the whole damn pie.

And more!

The games I've listed here are all theoretically capable of replacing the Corpo game as your "go-to" long-term game. Not all of them are fully playable as of this writing, but they all represent one possible future for the "Sword and Sorcery" RPG genre.

There are of course a whole plethora of other games out there beyond the limited scope of "Medieval Fantasy" that are just as valid and just as viable, if you're feeling a bit more adventurous.

If you're looking for something explicitly tactical like a miniature skirmish game, but still in the RPG genre, and you're willing to expand your choice of genre beyond Euro-centric Medieval Fantasy even further beyond ICON, you might be interested in Gubat Banwa or the aforementioned Lancer.

If you want a game that promotes a slightly more streamlined, less mechanically-intricate approach to combat while still giving you tons of monsters to kick the shit out of, you might want to check out the "Illuminated by LUMEN" family of games inspired by the games LIGHT and NOVA from Gila RPGs. It might even inspire you to write your own RPG!

If you're more interested in the Old-School Renaissance, you might want to check out Forbidden Lands, Dungeon Crawl Classics, Old-School Essentials, or MÖRK BORG.

If you like the idea of "Old-School Roleplaying" but are also willing to step outside of the fantasy genre into Sci-fi territory, you might be interested in Stars Without Number, its Cyberpunk sister product Cities Without Number, or Mothership.

Finally, if you just want a game that focuses on telling the best story rather than mindlessly killing monsters and acquiring loot, you might want to check out Blades in the Dark, Thirsty Sword Lesbians, Girl by Moonlight, Coyote and Crow, and many more Fiction-First games in the Powered by the Apocalypse and Forged in the Dark genres.

But most importantly: Just play more games! Don't just buy them, play them! The point of this whole exercise is to replace the monopoly with a plurality, for the sake of the health of the tabletop gaming industry.

Because the next time Hasbro lays off a bunch of WotC employees, there should be a much stronger, more diverse industry for them to land in feet-first. We should all want for the people who build the games we love to feel safe in their career choice. Not just for the sake of the ones who are already there, but for future prospective designers and artists who want to make their mark.

It should be viable to be a tabletop game designer outside of just making more D&D stuff forever, because as we've seen, it's not safe to assume that we can all just keep doing the same thing we've been doing and not get bit on the ass by it.

If we want that future, we have to take it into our own hands and build it ourselves. But if there's one group of people that knows about building something very big from very little, it's TTRPG players.

#ttrpg #icon rpg #icon ttrpg #mcdm #pathfinder #fabula ultima #kobold press #tales of the valiant #daggerheart

[mytheoristavenue]

I have seen your masterlist and (ignoring the soon top come) it needs more Leo fluff fics (read the rest multiple times already; some good freaking work)

If you don't feel like it that ist perfectly fine. I really just wanna throw something in here:

2k12 Leo ist pretty traditional so how would he be with the complete opposite as a s/o . Like "If your gotta, throw that katana" kinda vibe.

Anyhow, love your writing! Keep up the great work.

Have a lovely dayyy ok thx byyye<3

Sure, sorry for taking so long!

TMNT 2012 Leonardo x Reader - Unconventional

Summary: Leo grows to care for you, despite your lack of respect for tradition.

Warnings: Angst

If nothing else, you irritated Leo. He had spent hours arguing with Splinter, trying to appeal his decision to train you to be a kunoichi, fruitlessly, obviously. Those around the terrapin couldn't understand his distain for you. You were intelligent, out going, and determined, all traits that were well received in any other situation. In all honesty, Leo didn't understand it either.

----

"How's that lock coming, Donnie?" the leader asked his brother, a bit nervous.

"It'd be coming a lot faster if you'd quit asking about it." the tallest turtle snapped back, his tongue peaking out in concentration.

"Well, I'd love to just let you be," Leo responded rolling his eyes, only being halted by the need to defend himself from the android attacking him. "But currently I'm the only thing standing between you and the Kraang."

"So helpful." Donnie scoffed as he continued to struggle with picking the lock. He glanced over his shoulder to scan the room, finding you in the far corner, with your own set of problems. "(Y/N)! Come help me!" he shouted, instantly grabbing your attention.

"What's up?" you asked, skidding to your knees, behind the shield of Leo's shell.

"Can't get this lock open." he said, frustrated. "I need you to hold these two plates open so I can get into that control panel."

"You want me to stand here and hold this open for you? Don, I've gotta go help fight!" you argued.

As you both bickered about the importance of your time, Leo's eyes narrowed as the enemy forces suddenly drew back. From the other side of the room, a bay slowly began to open, giving an entrance to the room for a behemoth of a bot, which stomped into the room. "Um, guys? Maybe stop arguing and pick the damn lock?"

"Shit," you muttered, glancing back to see the new threat. "Donnie, I've got an idea-" You rushed to pick the last two arrows out of your quiver before plunging them into the panel, effectively securing the the plates open.

"That'll work." Donnie snickered, before getting back to it.

Now that one problem was solved, you had another entirely. Scanning the battle field, you found Mikey lying on the floor toward the center of the room, seemingly incapacitated, and Raph standing over him attempting to hold the menace off. Leo had since began to charge into combat with the droid, carving off bits of scrap metal wherever possible. And there you stood, lacking a weapon, but filled with passion to help your friends.

With little thought, you swiped Donnie's staff and back up before taking a running start and using it to vault yourself into the air. As predicted, you landed close to the monster, hanging from it's right arm. Leo's eyes widened as he watched you scale the thing as if you were climbing a tree. "What the hell are you doing?!" he shouted up at you, imagining all the ways you were going to fall off and hurt yourself. You ignored him, simply sitting at the back of the giant's neck, and doing anything you could to pull out as many parts and wires as you could.

While you did, the leader's attention shifted to the crevice that was opening with a fit of steam in it's chest, revealing a cyan glowing sphere. Donnie, now finished with the lock, turned to inform the team on his victory with guaranteeing their way out when he noticed the light, eyes wide. "Leo! That's the power cell, if you shut that off, the whole thing'll go down!" he shouted at his frozen brother, while patting himself with anything that he could throw, but turning up empty. Your ears perked hearing this. You had an idea.

"Throw one of your swords, Leo!" you called from the droid's head, dodging it's attempts to reach you. "Maybe if you throw it like a dart, you can hit the cell!"

Leo could feel his eye twitch with your interference. That's not how these tools were used and you should know that, but before he could protest, his younger brother piped up in agreeance. "Wait, that's actually not a bad idea. If you can throw it at precisely and 183 degree angle, it should be a direct hit, more than powerful enough to destroy the cell."

With reluctance, and a bit of distain for you and your ideals, Leo did as suggested, and just as predicted, the hit turned the tides of the battle in his favor.

-----

Back at the lair, after the fight had ended, and everyone's wounds were tended to, you, along with most everyone else were sitting in the living room relaxing and filling Mikey, Splinter, and April in on what had taken place. You were coated in honey glow listening to Raph regale the story, showering you, Leo, and Donnie with compliments- a rare occasion. "Oh, yeah you shoulda seen it, Mike. (Y/N) was sittin' on the back on that thing's neck just diggin' in, it was crazy!"

You modestly brushed it off as he began going into the details of Leo's finishing blow and you stood up to get a drink from the kitchen. You decided to treat yourself to some of Mikey's orange soda, pouring the off-brand liquid into a chipped glass, likely one of many that Splinter had salvaged from the trash.

"You shouldn't be drinking that, you're still in training, remember?" you jumped at Leo's stern voice, nearly dropping your drink before sighing.

"I think after the day we've had, I can cheat on my diet a little, right? Besides, you're all still in training and splinter lets you drink soda." you dismissed with a nervous laugh, hoping he'd drop the tough guy act. Sadly, he didn't.

"That's the problem with you."

"Excuse me?" you prodded, cocking an offended brow.

"You have no respect for us or our heritage or how we do things." he said flatly, crossing his arms and leering down at you, something he always did instill that he was superior.

"Heritage? Leo you're a fucking turtle. Being a ninja is separate from that. Anyone can be a ninja with the right amount of training, that's why Splinter chose to train me and April."

"You're not a ninja." he spat coldly turning to walk away. "You don't care about any of the principals that ninjutsu holds."

You felt tears prick your eyes. Why is he always so mean to you? It's so unfair, you do whatever you can think of to impress him, but he's always so disgusted with you. Sniffling you catch his arm to pull him back. "What is this really about?"

He freezes for a moment before relaxing his shoulders. "You don't do things the way they should be done, and yet you still get all the positive results. You use our tools like toys and still end up winning. It's disgraceful."

"Yeah well, my ideas kinda saved our asses today, so I guess your opinion doesn't really matter, now does it?" with that, you pushed passed him, making sure to shoulder check him on the way out of the kitchen, before sitting back down with your friends.

You pretended not to notice as he stared at you from the island, hunched over the countertop. He thought about how he treated you, usually much worse than he intended. It was hard to ignore how he was feeling, and he figured that maybe, blanketing it with hate might help. But if that's the case...why was the ache so much worse now?

Taglist:

@thelaundrybitch

#leonardo tmnt #tmnt leo x reader #tmnt #tmnt 2012 x reader #leo 2012

[drpeppertummy]

Put val in a tight suit and stuff him <3

Pickin On Him,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[light stuffing, little bit of tummy care]

"I feel like a goofball," said Val, looking with amused distaste at his reflection.

"Well, I think you look very handsome." Connie reached around him to adjust his bow tie, then kissed him on the cheek. He smiled.

"Good enough for me." He fidgeted with the buttons of his suit jacket. "Do you think it's too small?"

"Seems impossible," she teased, and he rolled his eyes at her. "No, I think it looks fine. Maybe a tiny bit snug, but I doubt anybody would notice."

Val had been dreading the formal work party ever since he heard about it. It wasn't that he didn't like parties; Val was a very social creature, and he was always glad to get together with his colleagues. It was the formal aspect that had him worried. While he tended to keep himself looking put together, he was more of a business casual guy, and he hated getting all dressed up. Nobody ever had any fun in a suit, he'd always said. Still, he supposed it wouldn't be too bad. He'd catch up with a few people and have a few snacks, and then he could slip out.

It wasn't long into the evening before Val realized that the suit was, in fact, too small.

Val was a skinny man, and the waist of the pants had just barely fit around his narrow middle when he'd put them on. Now, a few snacks and a couple drinks later, he was beginning to feel constricted. The snug pants pushed his tummy up and out, and he wondered how long it would be before they popped open. He could feel his jacket tightening around his belly as well. If he were at home, he'd have gladly unbuttoned it, but the idea of showing off his bloated tummy to all his coworkers wasn't exactly appealing.

"Hey Val, you alright? You look a little off," said a friend, giving Val a pat on the back. He smiled up at her.

"I'm okay. Tired," he said, and he was only half lying.

"Why don't you come eat something? That'll wake you up a little," she suggested, and before he could think of a way out, she swept him off for another bite.

Val couldn't get out of the party soon enough. He said his goodbyes to the people he cared to say them to, feigning a migraine, and slipped away before anybody could catch him. He unbuttoned his jacket the moment he stepped out the door. He regretted that quickly--it was chilly out--but he found himself unable to get the buttons fastened again over his belly. He'd lost track of what he'd eaten over the course of the hour or so he'd been there, but he felt absolutely stuffed, and his tummy pushed out hard against his too-tight pants. Truthfully, he hadn't eaten an unusual amount; the stupid suit was just so tight that he felt like he'd eaten a horse.

Connie covered her mouth at the sight of her weary little husband coming through the door, trying not to laugh. He gave her an exhausted look, then flopped onto his back on the couch, undoing his pants with a heavy sigh. Removing that pressure was a tremendous relief; he was astonished the fly hadn't popped open on its own by now. Connie sat down beside his head, still looking amused, and placed a hand on his tummy.

"So I guess the suit was too small after all, huh?" She smiled regretfully and rubbed his sore belly.

"All part of your wicked plot to get me home sooner, I'm sure," he teased, and she laughed.

"Yeah, right! Hey, that's good, I'll write that down for next time," she said. He grinned up at her. She leaned over him to untuck his shirt, and as she did, he craned his neck awkwardly to kiss any bit of skin he could reach, with little success.

"You better quit it," she giggled, tugging his shirt up to examine his belly. There was a harsh red mark slashed across it where the pants had been pressing tightly into his skin. "Oh, gosh, Val!"

"Told you it was too small."

"I'll say," she said, wincing. She rubbed the mark gently, then an idea dawned on her. "Want me to kiss it better?"

"Connie, I don't know what I'd do without you," he said. Smiling, she leaned down to plant a kiss on his cheek, then leaned over his tummy once more.

#writing #belly kink #tummy kink #stuffing #stuffed belly #message #suggestion #xvalx #xconniex

[creweemmaeec11]

an idea i red somewhere else and think you could write it better :)

villain/hero throwing a punch of jokes to try to cover the fact they are super scared and hero/villain seeing right through it and calming them down

so anyways, here's a hug because why not

. (⁠づ⁠￣⁠ ⁠³⁠￣⁠)⁠づ

Ohhh this is right up my alley! Also, hugs! *hugs*

Criminal Comedies

"You don't have to be afraid," the hero said softly, taking a step forward.

Villain immediately flinched back, eyeing the hero's fangs warily, which they could just barely see as the hero spoke. "I'm not afraid!" They snapped, a little too vehemently, "You just aren't used to people not immediately swooning over you,"

The hero gave a soft, pitying smile, "you're shaking,"

Oh shit, they were.

"I'm trapped in a cage with a vampire," the villain hissed, clenching their fists, "and we're both being held captive by supervillain, so if you're waiting for me to care about my shaking, I hope you brought some food,"

"Yeah but-"

"And as much as I'm sure the tabloids would LOVE to hear about me and you stuck in a cage together, and I'm thrilled at least one part of you is sharp, I'd rather not become either hero food or fertilizer for supervillain's garden!"

"Villain you're not-"

"And while I'd usually be able to pick the lock, supervillain got my lock pick earlier, and I'm not a picky eater and-"

"VILLAIN!"

The criminal in question flinched violently, curling in on themselves, but they didn't reply, instead going silent.

"Villain it's going to be okay, my team is on the way,"

"How much do you wanna bet that even if your team does somehow manage to get through supervillain, they'll only save you and leave me here? What's the saying, two rats, one casket?" The villain asked, trying to sound joking and failing miserably.

"Neither me nor my team would ever leave you in supervillain's hands,"

"Gee, thanks," villain bit back through clenched teach, "What a bargain, get rescued from a supervillain, and all it costs is about a litre of your blood. Shame you can't just have a steak instead,"

Hero sighed, rolling their eyes, "I'm the only vampire on the team, and I told you before I'm not about to eat you! Plus, that isn't even how that works,"

The villain in the corner glared, unconvinced.

Suddenly somewhere in the distance, there was a bellowing metallic bang that echoed through the complex.

The villain flinched violently, gasping as they collided with the icy cold wall behind them.

The hero was next to them in an instant, worry written all over their face.

The criminal tried to scramble backwards, but they were already in the corner. Distantly they realized it was getting harder to breathe. But they were much more focused on the fangs that were hidden behind lips less than a foot away from them. They stared unblinking, heart hammering in their chest.

The hero's eyes softened, "Villain, please listen to me; you don't need to be afraid of me-"

"I have a lot of reasons to be afraid of you actually," the criminal replied, failing miserably to keep their voice steady, "opposite team and all that, want me arrested or dead-"

"That's not the part your afraid of right now,"

"Well, I apologize that the idea of becoming a bloody mary with a body isn't appealing to me; I-"

There was another guttural clang of metal in the distance, and the villain shrunk in on themselves, even more, burying their head in their knees.

The hero took the opportunity, wrapping an arm behind the villain's back to pull them in close.

At first, the villain struggled with all their might, but their strength quickly died down as the hero's embrace remained unrelenting.

"Please- please-"

"Shhh," the hero soothed, "it's okay, you're okay," they felt bad, unsure how to reassure the shaking form in their arms that they weren't going to hurt them. The villain was usually so stoic and in control, but they had come to realize with time that their dry and witty humour was nothing but a shield for their true emotions. For all their jokes- wait.

The hero blinked. What about...

"You know, even if I were about to eat you, this would be a terrible place to do it,"

The villain in their arms flinched slightly, but they were listening.

"I mean, I may be a vampire, but I do have some standards. This place looks like something you'd find in the basement of a seven eleven. Like I'm pretty sure it would be impossible to bring a magnet in here this place is so repulsive,"

The criminal next to them snorted quietly. They'd stopped shaking and tilted their head up, peering over their arm to meet the hero's gaze with a nervous and guarded wariness, but also a slight curiosity.

"I mean, whatever style they were aiming for down here, they clearly missed unless it was 'Gucci in the front, crypt in the basement,"

The villain laughed quietly, "You should feel right at home then," They shot back, a small smirk on their face.

"Excuse me!" the hero replied, over dramatically indignant, "I'm pretty sure the only things that could feel at home down here are roaches and mould,"

The villain chuckled again, resting their chin atop their knees. There was a few moments of silence before they spoke again, "Thank you..."

"My team will be here soon," Hero assured.

"How can you be so sure? Nobody even knows where the supervillain's lair is,"

The hero sighed, "I shouldn't show you this, but..." They shifted, reaching into their mouth to pull out what looked like three molars stuck together, but there was a blinking LED light on one, and small wires on the bottoms of the other two. The villain blinked, furrowing their eyes in confusion.

"Tracking device with multiple different communication lines; GPS satellite, bluetooth, wifi, radio and sonar. Let's just say they know exactly where we are,"

"Wow," villain replied, impressed.

"Which is why I was captured in the first place," Hero admitted, "I had no intention of bringing you down with me,"

The villain took a deep, steadying breath, "The reason I'm so scared is because I've been here before," They admitted, before pulling up their sleeve to reveal a horrific set of scars. The hero gasped.

Suddenly there was an explosion just down the hall. The hero smiled, climbing to their feet, "Well then, want to get your revenge?" they offered, extending their hand.

"Seriously?" The villain asked in shock.

"I'm not above being momentarily distracted, if you get what I mean. Besides, we could use someone to pick the locks in the main building. Deal?"

The villain took the hero's hand, "deal,"

#writing #NOT A PR0MPT #Hero x villain #villain x hero #Heros and villains #heroes and villains #hero x villain snippet #hero #villain #hero x villain drabble #hero x villain snippets #snippet #ficlet #short story #snippets #my writing #my work #creative writing #Crewes writing #writers on tumblr #writblr #drabble #story #writer #writers of tumblr #stories #Crewe

[choicesficwriterscreations]

CFWC Writer of the Month: Princess-Geek

Each month CFWC highlights one of our talented fanfic writers, and this month’s writer of the month is @princess-geek ! We hope you will enjoy learning more about her and her work below! The writer is selected at random. More info can be found on the navigation page.

Quick Links:

Tumblr Blog: princess-geek Blog Masterlist

1- When did you start playing Choices? What was the first book you played? 

I think it was around the summer of 2018. I wanted to improve my English, and I was looking for a fun way to do it. Looking for apps on Google Play, I tripped over advertisements of “simulation” games, including Choices. It was the least bizarre on the list. The idea of transfiguring myself into another reality was quite appealing. The first book I played was “The Freshman - Book 1”

2- When and why did you join Choices fandom?

After playing the first books, I was thirsty for more. I decided to search online and found the magical world of fanfication. In my quest for more content, I found Tumblr. I read for a while without an account, but then I created a profile in December 2018.

3- How did you pick your blog name? 

It took days to pick. I wanted something that would represent my essence and not restrict my blog to the Choices world. I wanted it to lump together all my other interests.

After much thought, I came up with the name "princess-geek."

"Princess" because she was always very girly and fascinated by the world of princesses (Disney's fault).

"Geek" because even though it's not my only interest, since I was a teenager I really like technology and keeping up with the trends. I spent hours as a child discovering all the secrets of our home computer.

4- Pull up the first post in your archive, and tell us about it!  

It was a song, “More than friends” by Jason Mraz ft Meghan Trainor . I was hooked on the song at the time, and I still love it.

5- How long have you been writing fanfiction?

I had never written fanfic until I joined the fandom. My first attempt was a very short story about Ethan x MC (Jane Silva). "Under the hot sun".  It's lost somewhere on Tumblr and I can't find it. Here is the link to my story in AO3.  

It was written in the summer of 2019, so I consider my shy start

6- What is your favorite Choices book, and what is your favorite Choices book to write about? In both cases, the answer is Desire & Decorum, but I would love to try other stories like TRR and BLADES.

7- Share the first fanfic you wrote with us. Do you still like it, or would you change it if you were writing it today?

Despite what I shared in question 5, I consider my first true fanfic was "Cinnamon Mouth", another Ethan Ramsey x MC (Dr. Jane Silva) story, posted on 20 September 2019.

It's a silly story, but I don't think I'd change a single comma, because it represents the beginning of something very important to me.

8- What is your favorite fic that you’ve written?

It’s “Chapters III - First Impressions”. I love it because some important characters are  introduced and it has a bit of everything: fun moments, some mystery and drama

9- Do you have a fic that you didn’t expect to be well received, but it was? What about one you expected to be but found could use a little more love?

I didn't expect you to like "Chapter VIII -Heart in ashes" as it's emotionally heavy, addressing topics such as death and mourning.

The fic “Winter Adventures - All’s fair in love and snowballs” could use a bit more love. It was a pleasure to write with @ezekielbhandarivalleros, and the chapter is so funny! I recommend it to anyone who wants to have a winter adventure in the comfort of the fireplace.

10- If you could write only angst, fluff, or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why? 

Fluff! Fluff!! Fluff!!! Life is complicated, that's why the world needs fluff stories that warm the heart and make us dream.

11- Do you ever recognize yourself in any of your MCs or in your writing?

Yes a bit. I've lived vicariously through my MC|OC Beatrice Foredale. We have some things in common, like curiosity, the dream of becoming a journalist and the will to change the world, although my ambitions are much more modest than hers. 

12- What element of writing do you struggle with most?

Dialogues. I am always afraid that they are not natural and fluid. As English is not my native language, there are subtleties that I don't understand, and I know that this affects my work.

13- Do you have any neglected work you really want to finish?

Yes, the victim is my new chapter. I wouldn't call it negligence, but a mismatch. When I have ideas, I don't have energy; When I have energy, I have no ideas, or often both. I hope can finish it soon. 

14- If someone you know in real life (who isn’t involved in fandoms) asked to read your work, would you let them? If yes, what would you recommend they read first? 

Only if it was someone I trusted completely. I have some fear of judgment. Not even my sister, who is one of those people of absolute trust, knows about my writing adventures. If it ever happens, I probably will recommend the fic “Cuteness & Mischievousness” because no one can don’t like puppies!

15 - Are there any writers (published authors and/or fanfic writers) who influenced your writing? 

The style of the Portuguese writer Eça de Queirós and Jane Auten are definitely my paradigms. Eça de Queirós is a master of descriptions and irony, elements that I invest a lot in my fics. Here on Tumblr, my inspiring muses are @missameliep (her main characters are so real that they become our friends, making us laugh and suffer with them), @noesapphic (Her plots are complex but hypnotic. We get lost in her worlds and we don't want to leave.) and @storyofmychoices (I marvel at the number of plots and characters she creates for her stories. Her blog is a cave of wonders!). In all three, I also deeply admire their dedication to writing and their enormous kind hearts.

16- Which one of your stories would you most like to see as a movie/series? 

I'd love if my "Unspoken Desires" were a TV series. I think people would love the romance and drama.

17- Do you write original fiction? 

I tried several times throughout my life, but I was never successful. For now, I’m happy with fanfiction. 

18 -  What other hobbies do you have?

I love to read as much as I love to write. I like to take walks outdoors, do cross stitch, paint clothes and wooden pieces to offer to family and friends. And, whenever I can, get to know a new place.

19 - It’s Valentine’s Month! Tell us your feelings about the holiday (good or bad!) Do you have any Valentine’s Day fics planned? 

I do not give particular importance to the holiday. Love should be celebrated and demonstrated every day. However, I can say that I have fond memories of the holiday. While we were at school, a friend always wrote to us on this day to say how much she appreciated us. I still have some of those letters. Perhaps by that date a new chapter will be released. Although it was not intended for the occasion, love is the central theme of the chapter.

21: BONUS - tell us anything you’d like (if you want to!) 

Despite all the ups and downs, this fandom has been a wonderful place to be. Thank you so much for all the work your blog has done and for this opportunity to talk about me and my work.

#choices fic writers creations #cfwc writer of the month #writer of the month #princess-geek #desire & decorum #playchoices fanfic

[cladestruction]

so: i am literally going insane waiting for the movie to drop so here's a list of stuff i'd love to see in it (a bitch can dream !).

to my fellow metalocalypse enthusiasts: i'd love to see your army of the doomstar bingo cards!

FLASHBACKS!!! please give me flashbacks of young dethklok, i live for those

Toki's insulin shots and Pickles' inhaler. idk, those are very important to me lol

more of Nathan's creative process !!! let me see my man cook and struggle with the new responsibility of the song of salvation! (plus: how the rest of the boys collaborate with the writing/composing)

+ BONUS POINTS if it goes wrong at some point and we get to see some extra challenge for Nathan as a man AND as a lyricist

Skwisgaar being protective over Toki !!! give me that good worried boyfriend bandmate stuff !!!

Murderface-centric scenes that show us more of him: his upbringing, builtup trauma and psychology

+ Murderface full breakdown scene bc i love drama! the man has gone thru a lot and obviously deals with low self-esteem and emotional issues, and now he's dealing with a demon/posession??? i want to see tears i want to see blood!

something with their families. maybe some of them die as the metalocalypse advances + the boys' reaction to this

i really want the beginning of the movie to clear up what exactly happened post dsr (mordhaus security? how are the fans doing? etc) and how the band is doing without Charles

(this is very biased i'm sorry) nickles moments !!! please let me see them being band dads, or more of them being best of friends post reconciliation (UPDATE: i can settle for nickles angst too but pLEASE let me see Nathan be kinder to Pickles at the end please i'm literally begging)

SOBER PICKLES !!! considering this movie could possibly be more action driven or smth like that, i really wish we could see Pickles being sober and focused

the boys' reaction to their god-moment in dsr (do they even remember? what did it feel like? do they get to keep the powers all the time or how does it work? what even are their powers exactly lmao? etc)

spirit animals throwback yes please

more elaboration on the cave paintings and symbols tied to the band and the prophecy shown throughout the series

+ UPDATE: BONUS POINTS IF WE GET TO SEE DETHKLOK IN ARMOR AND WITH WEAPONS AS SHOWN IN THE STAINED GLASS YES PLEASE

band hugs. yes this is solely for my own happiness, nothing else

considering the clips, i really want Nathan to realize and say how much he values dethklok. he's stated how much he'd like to be a regular guy so i wold love to see him saying smth like "i never wanted any of this responsability!" but later on state that he does in fact value dethklok and would not have it any other way :') (yes it's fucking cheesy, ik)

rockso is back but as a ghost. he serves the only purpose of helping us see inside Toki's mind and shit

Murderface solo song/a very badass bass solo. i'd love to see him being better at performing as a side effect of the posession or something like that. that would also show a new appeal to him falling for the dark side

A CHARLES' SONG !!! specially with goth-religious kinda vibes or smth

MORE MAGNUS' FLASHBACKS

Knubbler being central to solve the conflict with Murderface

scenes with Jean-Pierre. it would be epic and you know it !

a near death experience with someone of the band. y'know, to help with the tension and the stakes. bonus points if it's while trying to save someone else of the band (my idea is something involving drowining, it'd be cool)

the battle with Salacia goes wrong at first. they're losing or they straight up lose and at the last minute they get to revert it with the power of friendship and shit

Nathan getting glimpses of how having a normal life would be (bonus points if we see Abigail as part of his fantasies of the dream life) but, in the end, he chooses dethklok (sorry Abigail babygirl ily). ig it could go both ways too, with Nathan getting to have both things at the end (the girl AND the band)

the boys FINALLY getting to care for the fans/the klokateers and showing concern over them dying!!! (like c'mon man, it's about time)

#i'll add more later #metalocalypse #army of the doomstar #clade talks #long text sorry!

[ohmeadows]

with the experience you have now, what is something you usually do when you feel the creative block so bad that it makes you want to drop all your writing during an indeterminate period of time? (Not considering talking to someone because i don't have friends with the same interests as me)

Lately i have been writing consistently but now i am in a point between the overwhelming need to keep creating and the suffocating need to just stop. the last time this happened not a single word was written in over a year xd

oh and im so in love with your writing btw <3

thank you and i'm sorry to hear you're struggling with a creative block, i know the feeling all too well. (there's a span of years between 2013 and 2016 where i didn't write at all.)

while a little break does do good, i know the threshold to getting back to it becomes so high it feels insurmountable. but it sounds like you need to replenish the well, as i like to call it. think of your writing as a well you draw from, and it needs a steady supply of water to be able to sustain you dipping into it for the power and inspiration to keep going. feeding it involves engaging in texts in a different way. for me, that's reading, and a lot. i sometimes feel so parched i have to steamroll thru ten books before i feel like i have it balanced again.

i've made some posts beforehand on how to approach reading as a writer (wish i'd tagged them better), but it boils down to:

make lists of beautiful words and sentences that you like; could you emulate them? could you write them in your style?

how do the writers pull off the tricks you struggle with? for me this is knowing when to just move the scene along, or how to showcase that time has passed. (i did a whole study on this from my fave books and it boiled down to just writing "A day later/Weeks down the line/Three months passed before she/It didn't take more than forty-five minutes to get across town but it felt like moving backwards through time" which was fun to learn)

just reading for fun. cannot be understated. sometimes you just need to be pulled into a story and feel too dazzled to stop and think to be reminded of how delicious writing feels

and yes, this goes for mangas, comics, scripts, movies, tv shows, even game writing imo (visual novels are great fun for how they do dialogue and emotional appeal).

another thing to not lose touch with the writing as a practice but maybe take a little breather from the project is to start a journal. i like this one a lot personally, there's the concept of morning pages where you get up in the morning and write three pages without stopping or overthinking.

this leads into automatic writing, which is about setting a timer (25 mins is a good one i feel, but even 15-10-5 does wonders) and while it ticks, you have to keep writing. yes, even if all you write is the same word over and over, or your thoughts as they come to you. this is a key component exercise at all writing schools i've ever gone to. personally i like to "guide it" so to speak with a prompt, be it a word (Lust, Rose, Name, Echo) or a full sentence ("She didn't like where this was going.") or an image. what this exercise teaches you is to shorten the distance between hand putting the words down and your thoughts as they process and come to you, as well as embracing writing messy and ugly and shitty because you can always come back and fix a half-assed page, but you can't do anything with a blank one.

third and final thing: movement. go outside. look around. if you can, get moving, take in the surroundings. there's no expectation on you to write anything from this, just let the movement and your thoughts be it. whenever i hit creative rut, i go for a walk. the first half hour my brain is quiet and annoyed. then things start moving in there as well. i'll walk all the way down to the sea and look at the waves and back home and process an idea from it. (i do keep the notes app on my phone readily available for this, but a notebook or receipt or post-it notes also work fine.)

like all art, writing is a practice and the actual act of writing is maybe 20-30% of what it is. nourish the well and it will nourish you back.

+ for what it's worth, i also often try to edge in rest days where i don't write. at least two a week. be gentle and forgiving on yourself.

#ask meadows anything

[lazywitchling]

Review: The House Witch by Arin Murphy-Hiscock

3.5/10 - This could have been a zine. As it stands, I was not the target audience for this book.

Maybe I'm just being mean since I read this one directly after Queering Your Craft, but my goodness I don't think I was the target audience for this one. I am cis-adjacent girl-not-woman, single, living at home with my highly conservative christian parents, and keep my craft in the closet. This book is for a cis-woman who is probably married, runs a household, has a couple of children, and is the spiritual-head-of-household who teaches the kids to say their prayers to the abstract Divine every night before they turn on their essential oil humidifier for bedtime.

It sure would be lovely to live in the world that Arin does, where I could consult with the other family members about their particular Spiritual Beliefs (TM) and integrate those into an Altar in the kitchen where we all make our offerings and say our prayers to the household spirits, but that is not the world I live in. If I tried to start that conversation at home, I'd very quickly wind up with a very aggressive visit from the local pastor who spoke at a rally for 45. Thanks, Arin, but I'm... gonna skip the build-an-altar-in-your-kitchen-and-invite-your-family-to-participate step.

So here's the thing. (And I'm starting to notice that this is a pattern with a lot of the witch books I read...) I would probably have loved this book if it were more of a personal memoir than a How To Witch 101 guide. And I get the feeling that this was more of a problem with publishing than with the author. I mean I could practically feel Arin bursting at the book-seams to tell me about how she practices her witchcraft spirituality in her home, but instead she's stuck trying to write about Hearthcraft (TM) as if it's a universal thing, since that's what's easiest to sell. The whole book feels like it's formatted and marketed to be a Witchcraft 101 book, but it doesn't do it well at all. In fact, in the beginning of the book, Arin practically scolds the reader by saying 'this is a spiritual path, not a magic one, and if you want a magic one, go get a book about magic.' Like... Arin, honey, your book is called The House Witch. I thought I was reading a book about witchcraft.

Furthermore, it feels like this book is filled up with a whole lot of pillow fluff to fill in the gaps. Did we need a whole chapter of cauldron mythology that we never ended up tying into anything else in the book? Did we need that? It seems like there's a lot of stuff in this book that was just put in for a page count; something to make the book seem like it has the wide-appeal of a Witchcraft 101 book. But it just came across as... idk, not genuine.

I just keep coming back to how much I would have loved to hear about Arin's own personal practice that she's so clearly passionate about!

Hey, but also... this book was an organizational mess. Why was the cookie recipe in the chapter with the cauldron lore instead of in the recipe chapter? Why were the instructions on making a clay figure of a household spirit in the chapter with the imaginary altar instead of in with the chapter on household spirits, or the chapter on crafts? Why was there a section on ethics sandwiched in between a section about talking to a tree spirit and a section about talking to a blender spirit, instead of in with the cooking chapter when we actually referenced ethics?

-sigh-

Look, while there wasn't really anything in this book that made me go "Oh wow that's a great idea, I need to use that!" there were a few sections that made me say "Hey, that particular thing is not of use to me, but the idea behind it absolutely is, and I should look into that." Which, once again, comes back to how much I wish this book was a personal memoir. Finding the little nuggets of information that told me what Arin does and how and why were so much more useful than the vague-and-generic step-by-step instructions of... whatever the instructions were for.

BTW, I read through this whole book, and I still am not sure of the definition of "spiritual" nor of "hearth" that we were using. I never did figure out if "hearth" meant "fireplace" or "center of the home" or "kitchen" or what.

Ultimately I came out of the book more confused than I was going in. It's not the worst witch book I've read -- [waves to Skye Alexander] -- and I did get at least some things out of it that I can ponder on my own. But man... idk what that book was for. I'm tired. I'm going to bed.

#jes vs witch books #navigation: reviews

[yuri-is-online]

Love how we're both back on our ace shit at the same time <3. Also, I'm getting back into writing (just working on short stories before I get into fanfiction, and am very quickly realizing my flaws T-T) and I'm thinking about working on an 80s aduecyuu au. Yuu and deuce are punk because I'm punk 😗 but for a wider audience I'm thinking of making yuu grunge or hardcore? Something a bit more neutral. Don't know what Ace will be yet. He might get to be generic the 80s asshole jock 😍. Somebody gotta do it ace <3. But Grimm will be a weird ass cat who seems to have way too much of an attitude and seems a little too human?

But yeah. The au is just 3 idoit doing stupid shit, sharing a braincell, trying to figure out where the line between friendship and queer throuple is while trying to ignore the impending scene of dread because a lot of weird shit™ keeps happening in the background.

Also cater will show up at sometime. Don't know when. Don't know where. But by God I will make it happen, and he will be the skaterboy we all know he is.

Idk if lolitas existed in the 80s but if they did I'll make riddle ouji lolita for you ❤ or atleast ouji lolita adjacent

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! GO YOU! MAKE SURE TO TAG ME WHEN YOU DO!! I promise to be only a little unhinged in your comments.

That's the thing about writing. The more you do it the more you realize what you're bad at but that's not always a bad thing. You can't improve on what you don't know needs improving.

Don't pressure yourself to make Yuu grunge or hard-core for wider appeal. I think all twst writers put a little bit of themselves into their povs, so if you know punk the story will probably be a lot easier to write since that's you! (If you wanted them to be different than Deuce and Ace I'd vote trad goth. That style goes so fucking hard and so does their music bauhaus my beloved. Also i guess kind of fits with Ramshackle?) Is this meant to be a sort of classic horror vibes? Because I dig it. I think Stranger Things did us all a disservice by sucking ass and making people think 80s horror should die because it became too mainstream :/

I'm going to put my unhinged rambling about lolita under the cut but oh my God you don't have to do that I'm so grateful you thought to though I've got such a big smile on my face rn cccc;

OK so to make a very long thing short, yes lolita did exist in the 1980s but it didn't really look like anything it does today. It was pretty much all handmade, and though the first brands were around we have no idea what their peices looked like since the fashion wasn't really widely worn or photographed until the 1990s. It didn't even have its name until the 90s. Lolita as it exists today is very much a 90s/early 2000s fashion which is honestly wild to me. As for ouji, it pretty much grew alongside Lolita so that would also be a no go.

Given Riddle's backstory I can't really see him as an 80s lolita. He doesn't seem like the sewing type to me... but there is this one brand that helped influence Lolita fashion called PINK HOUSE that was stupid popular in Japan in the 80s. I'll link you to this blogspot article which is both about the brand and the misconception in English speaking spaces about the term "natural kei" but I think it suits Riddle if you wanted to give him a lolita like vibe. The tl;dr of the article is that it PINK HOUSE and it's original designer Kaneko was a staple in 80s fashion in Japan, and is referred to as just PINK HOUSE or Kaneko fashion. As it lacks the community or aesthetic of kei fashions or lolita it is not considered a part of those groups... which does sort of fit Riddle in a way as his mother isolates him from both 💀

#<3 asks #twisted wonderland #when i first got into lolita i remeber seeing people argue? #about the term ouji vs the term boystyle #because most people in english speaking places called it boystyle? but i dont fully remember why #hmmm if i had to point to anyone in the cast who would be an 80s lolita I'm almost tempted to say rook #i can see him making his own clothes #i once wrote a male yandere who wore skirts specifically so he could keep more knives on him and i can see rook sharing that logic #gl with your writing friend i hope you have fun with it!!!

[voltfruits]

I dunno if u will answer this. But i want to know about your sunburn take(this is definitely not an excuse to gather some inspiration)

i'm always happy to talk about sunburn!! i'm not sure exactly what you're asking for.. like my general thoughts on the ship? headcanons? idea of what their dynamic is like? i'll do my best to get my general thoughts out, but feel free to let me know if there's other stuff you want me to add :))

i think the main appeal of Sunburn for me is that they're both mentally unwell together while also having complementary personalities that help the other partner better manage their mental illness. they're both weird loser outcasts who have issues with intimacy and emotions, but Sunny is patient and attentive with Aubrey and helps her stay calm, and Aubrey keeps Sunny grounded in the real world and gives him the strength take care of himself. so you get a healthy dose of "this couple fucks everything up together" which is fun and relatable, but it also gives you so much room to explore them growing and healing together.

i think Aubrey would try really hard to stay in touch with Sunny after the true ending, even though she's upset with him for a while. she train-hops into the city late in the summer just to see him and work out some messy post-Truth emotions, and then they stay in touch through email during the school year. Sunny's old childhood crush reawakens itself very fast now that Aubrey's showing so much care for him—actually, I'd argue that the crush never really went away.

Sunny comes back to visit sometimes, too. and when he does, he and Aubrey will always sit on the swings together and talk, just like old times. i think a lot about the game's implications of the swingset being a big heart-to-heart spot for them. it's only a short time before their conversations start to feel free and natural again. they just get each other.

after Aubrey graduates high school, she moves into the city where Sunny lives and gets a job in construction/freelance handywoman stuff. Sunny still lives with his mom, and he's studying for his GED and making a little money as a freelance illustrator on the side. they spend a lot more time together, Aubrey takes Sunny out on bike rides and reminds him to take his meds, and Sunny and his mom have Aubrey over for dinner several nights a week (she's definitely living paycheck to paycheck at this point, sadly, she needs all the help she can get 😔). and this is around the time where Aubrey starts to fall for Sunny in return. she sees how much he's growing into his own person and coming out of his shell, and how badly he wants to be there for her and help her out.

in the years that follow, Aubrey and Sunny finally work through their feelings and start dating, Aubrey goes to trade school and starts working as an electrician or auto mechanic (better job, better money!), and she and Sunny get their own apartment together, and a cat :) adulting is hard for them at first! dinners are burned, bathrooms are flooded, rent deadlines are nearly missed. but they have a hell of a time, and they have each other, and they survive and then thrive. at some point i will write a fic that explores all this is fuller detail. but that's the general gist.

as to what their general endgame dynamic is like: they're both pretty quiet and subtle people in demeanor/appearance, but they're a little wild on the inside. Aubrey's hair is back to black with a single pink streak, and she has a love of leather jackets and earrings and tattoos; Sunny's evolved into a sort of tasteful goth/dark academia aesthetic. they both like listening and observing more than talking. they both keep a lot journals and talk about deep meaning-of-life shit. they do tons of parallel play, and parallel work. Sunny talks more than he used to, but he can be spacey and shy sometimes, which makes Aubrey very protective of him. she's mellowed out, but she can still get a little fiery when she thinks someone's giving Sunny a hard time. they're not overly showy with PDA, but they're almost always holding hands. and they can both understand how the other is feeling without needing to exchange a word.

i also think that Sunny and Aubrey both like being artsy together :) Sunny is an illustrator by trade, but Aubrey also likes to draw and paint with him. and she casually plays guitar, and Sunny does a little music production stuff here and there.

lastly, even in timelines where they don't end up dating each other, i think Aubrey is also the first person Sunny goes to when he's confused about his gender and/or sexuality. if the mystery potion is any indication, he's definitely thought about being a girl to some degree, or being something in between. so at some point after Aubrey moves to the city, they're up late one night talking, and Sunny admits that he wishes he was a girl sometimes, but not all the time? and Aubrey is the only girl he's really close with so he figures it's best to get her opinion. and it takes many more years before Sunny actually puts a label on how he feels (probably genderfluid), but Aubrey is there with him every step of the way (she's an active participant in the city's punk/queer subculture so she's very accepting!!!).

so yeah. that's some of my sunburn word vomit. i love them endlessly, in case u can't tell :')

#volt answers #rayn1lazd #omori #omori headcanons #omori sunburn #i love them.... augh 🥺

[theredofoctober]

Things I'll put in my author's notes for Manna (potential spoilers which I will mark):

1. I'm trying to be as accurate to Will and Hannibal's personalities as possible (given the fic I'm writing lmao) but I should note that Will is 'becoming' just as Reader/Little One is slowly changing. So don't expect the Soft Will from season one— he will eventually be Dark Will entirely.

That doesn't mean we won't have gentle or tender moments of course. I'm enjoying those moments and there will be lots more. I'm just trying to dissuade any readers from expecting me to keep him in season one mode as I'm really not the writer for that at all.

2. If people want to understand the approach I'll be taking going forward, this fic is inspired by Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov and The Collector by John Fowles, so while Stockholm Syndrome is tagged and will absolutely be included, it won't be immediate, it will be gradual and decidedly Not A Good Thing.

Unlike other fics I've written in the past I already know what I'm doing with this story, and I won't be changing any planned plot points or character development. I will say it's going to be a lot different to other fics I've written with similar themes, but I'll have to let the fic speak for itself chapter by chapter to show that rather than yell at clouds.

I don't want to heavy spoil or overexplain in some way, but occasionally readers are disappointed I don't write a fic or characters in the ways they specifically would like me to, or would prefer I state how things are ending so they don't read really far in and feel let down.

I try to be as transparent with my fics as possible in regards to this, I'm stubborn and I won't budge when I have my ideas in place.

PS—

Ultimately I'm always flattered when people wish I'd write fics they personally would prefer to read, as clearly that means my writing style appeals to them if not the plot or content. Like I'd probably be excellent at actual nice romantic stuff, it just bores the tits off me tbh

#manna fic #dark fic #hannibal fic #tw rape