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the-random-phan · 2 years

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"A Field Trip" Chapter 4

aka Ectoberhaunt Day 12- Way of Life

Ao3

FFnet

Chapter WC: 2,013

Overall WC: 10,673

Summary:

Danny's class goes on a trip to the Grand Canyon. It's all fun and games until suddenly it isn't.

“What hit me?” Dash asked groggily and to no one in particular. Immediately everyone’s attention was drawn to the jock, and he looked immensely startled when 20 sets of eyes suddenly swiveled to look in his direction. He gaped like a fish for a solid 30 seconds, before he saw a floating Danny Phantom only a yard away.

Danny, in his defense, had almost forgotten that Dash had been unconscious for most of the reveal discussion. And did not react accordingly.

“What the heck were you thinking, Dash?” He said, trying to sound more concerned than angry. Dash’s eyes went wide and he tried to start talking 5 different times but kept stammering over his own words. Meanwhile, Sam got out of her seat and shoved her bottle of water into his hands.

“You passed out a few minutes ago. We’re on a field trip to the Grand Canyon, you fell in and dragged Danny with you. Luckily he’s Phantom so he saved both your butts. Drink up.” Well, that was one way to catch him up on current events. Danny was not looking forward to another spiel of questions. He just wanted to be home already.

Dash took the bottle of water and chugged at least half of it. Sam gave him a glare with one brow raised and he sheepishly handed it back. Even for her small stature, Sam could be imposing. Kwan came over, taking Sam’s place as she retreated.

“Are you ok dude? Anything hurt?”

“Aside from my pride? Not really.” That made Kwan laugh, and some uneasy chuckles spilled out from their classmates. Dash wasted no time in tackling the next subject, turning to Danny.

“Everything's kinda fuzzy. So, wait- did you like, catch me and Fenton? Where’d he go?” He questioned, confused. In lieu of an answer, Danny reverted to human form, sitting solidly on the back of his seat.

Dash’s eyes just about bulged out of his head, even more so than a minute ago when he woke up to his ‘hero’ berating him. The jock's jaw dropped to the floor, and for a solid minute of time he just stared blankly.

“How the heck?” He yelled hysterically. Dash grabbed a handful of his own hair and tugged, as though trying to wake from a bad dream.

“Long story short, accident in my parent’s lab. Yes I’m still the same person as Phantom, yes I have all the same powers in both forms, and yes you pulled me off a cliff and I had to reveal myself to save the both of us.” Danny deserved a bit of salt. Just a tad. Maybe a pinch.

“You almost killed us both with that kind of stunt. What were you thinking?” Dash shrunk back for a moment, but the sheepishness disappeared as he puffed out his chest and broke eye contact.

“I don’t have to explain myself to you.” Dash said haughtily. It would seem that he had pushed aside the novelty of learning his classmate’s secret in favor of putting on a jerkish front.

“Oh you kinda do,” The audacity-

“remember the whole almost murdered me thing?” Reminded Danny. Dash paled, and looked anywhere but Danny’s face.

“But I didn’t, nothing happened. So I don’t owe you anything.” Danny tried to appear neutral, but he was livid. There was a biting response perched on the tip of his tongue, but he was interrupted by the timely entry of the bus driver.

“Uh-” The driver stammered.

“Why are you back so early?” He stood at the door to the bus, plainly confused. Mr. Lancer stood up immediately before anyone else could make up an excuse.

“One of the students passed out from the heat. I imagine it would be best to return to the hotel, I think everyone has had their fill of the Grand Canyon.” Lancer said quickly.

“Alrighty then.” Said the driver with a shrug. He took his seat at the front of the bus. Lancer sat back down and soon enough they were off, trundling down the highway.

Conversation on the bus ride back to the hotel was sparse and carried out in whispers. They were all distinctly aware that the bus driver wasn’t supposed to be let in on Danny’s secret, but it would seem that was all anyone could think to talk about. The ride was way too long, and yet also way too short.

Danny stared out the window for much of the journey. The sun filtering through the window was cozy, and paired with his frayed nerves he passed out for most of the drive. Tucker shook him awake when they arrived. Danny was still half-asleep as they trekked up to their room, and he phased right through their door without waiting for Tucker to grab the key card. Danny collapsed on the nearest bed, shoes and all. Sam and Tucker hovered over him as he slept, concerned. But the halfa slept peacefully.

Which gave them the perfect chance to get their things and sneak right past him and out of the hotel room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“This doesn’t feel right.” Said Tucker. He shifted back and forth in his flip-flops as the elevator descended.

“They deserve to know more about the whole situation. Plus they’ll just keep bothering Danny if they don’t get answers.” Said Sam. She sounded confident, but really she was worried as well.

“It doesn’t feel right to do it behind his back though.”

“We aren’t really, he’s the one who fell asleep. And we’re just doing him a favor so he doesn’t have to deal with it all.” Sam picked at the frayed hems of her swim top. The atmosphere was stilted and silent until finally, the doors slid open.

It was easy enough to follow the signs that pointed to the pool and made even more so by the number of classmates that had congregated there. They were the only ones in the room, which was a plus. A few people walked past and seemed to debate coming in. But they shied away pretty quick after Kwan started a cannonball competition. Sam double-checked the class's group chat quickly, taking count of how many people they had invited for this meeting. Only about half were there already. So it would seem they had some waiting to do.

Sam sat on the edge at the shallow end, her feet dangling in the water. Tucker sat on a chair behind her, doing something on his phone. They were waiting for the rest of the class to show up before they launched into their spiel.

Finally, fashionably late as always, Paulina and Star walked in the door. Paulina didn’t strut in like she would have done under any normal circumstances. She was quite stiff, and if the redness around her eyes was any indication, she wasn’t late simply because she was doing her hair. Star watched Paulina like a hawk as they wandered over to a chair and set their things down.

Finally, with everyone present, Sam lifted her fingers to her mouth and whistled. The change was drastic, with just about everyone freezing where they were. A few isolated conversations puttered off.

“We all saw what happened today, so I’ll skip over that. The fact of the matter is that Danny is Phantom, and everyone in this room needs to respect his request to keep it a secret. Danny does so much for other people and has so many responsibilities, imagine how devastating it would be if this got out.”

“-And not only that,” Tucker interjected.

“Danny’s world is dangerous. He has too many enemies to count on one hand, not even including the ghosts. His identity is the only thing protecting him from ghost hunters. He’s unique, and the GIW would literally tear him apart if they ever got their hands on him. And his human life is what keeps him off their radar most of the time.”

Sam picked up where he left off.

“If Danny’s secret spreads, adults will find out about it. And then so will the Guys in White. And his parents. We have no clue if they’d be accepting or not, and what lengths they might go to try and ‘fix’ him.”

“Danny’s secret has been revealed before. And the GIW hunted us across the country. Nowhere was safe. Danny managed to set everything back, but that isn’t an option this time.” That had been the worst three days of Sam’s life. Though it was even harder on Danny. And Tucker was along for the ride as well. It was tough for all of them. Sam had never felt more alone.

Tucker stood from his chair.

“TLDR, don’t tell anyone who isn’t in this room. Not even your parents. Don’t even say a word to your dog, if you can help it.”

Kim, who was standing in the shallow end, nervously raised her hand. Sam pointed to her.

“Um, why do so many ghosts attack? Why does Danny have to fight them? Can’t they just leave us alone…” She trailed off.

Sam looked to Tucker, and they had a silent conversation.

“Ghosts are creatures of habit. Most of them have a driving force, a reason to want to exist. And they go out of their way to fulfill it. Like Technus with technology, or Skulker with hunting, or Box Ghost with boxes.” Tucker started. He didn’t want to come right out and tell them about Obsessions. Obsessions could be easily weaponized against a ghost, Danny included. They didn’t want to give their classmates that kind of ammunition.

Sam went on to explain.

“The veil between Amity Park and the Ghost Zone is very thin, and it just so happens that we line up with the Ghost Zone’s barrens. It’s not a very good area and has a lot of people that were forced out of ghostly societies and establishments.”

“In short, we get all the troublemakers. Ghosts whose purposes in death are to cause mischief or harm.”

“But why Fenton?” Kwan piped up.

A harsh sigh was dragged out of Sam. Tucker relieved her of speaking duty. (heh. duty.)

“When Danny became the way he is, the veil was thinned even more. It didn’t used to be as easy to cross over as it is now. And even though it was a complete, freak accident, he still feels guilty.”

“And the ghost hunters in town are mediocre, at best.” Sam added.

“Also that.”

“With his powers Danny was just the one best suited to the job. And he really got in deep once ghosts started being a real threat to people. But now the ghosts expect to have him fighting back, and have made it into a game that he can’t quit. Because if he doesn’t, people get hurt. It’s just become his way of life.” Which was a horrible, twisted role Danny had been forced into. Tucker had to calm himself down. The ghosts had him in a chokehold, stuck between hurling himself at them and getting physically hurt, or being hurt by his core if he refused to engage. Tucker hadn’t fully realized the ramifications until Danny had been physically sick to leave Amity.

A wave of anger rolled over Tucker, this time directed at Dash. Sam and Tuck had just barely managed to convince Danny it was safe to come on this trip, but now Dash had to go and ruin everything and throw Danny into yet another situation. Quite literally.

“Uh, did I do something?” Dash asked nervously, ducking into the water. Tucker hadn’t realized he was staring.

“Yes.” Sam said flippantly. Tucker shook his head to clear the desire for revenge and scratched an itch on the back of his neck. Dash hadn’t known what he was doing. It wasn’t his fault. They were all victims of circumstance.

Speaking of circumstance;

A very stressed half-ghost practically plummeted through the ceiling and right through the pool. There was only the slightest of ripples in the water to indicate that he’d been there. Everyone stared, gaping, at the spot where he’d disappeared.

...

To be Continued...

(eventually)

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talzane · 2 years

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Edward Lancer is a nice name and all, but it should be William and I’ll explain why.

1. He’s an English teacher.

2. His last name is “Lancer,” which means a dude on a horse with a pointy spear that tries to stab people.

2a. That means the lance (aka spear) shakes, which means he’s a spear shaker or a shake spear.

3. William Shakespeare wrote a lot of plays that put some people to sleep because they’re overly wordy and very melodramatic. Mr. Lancer is overly wordy, melodramatic, and puts people to sleep when they listen to his carefully written lessons.

4. William Shakespeare was fond of wordplay and puns, so him renaming himself to Lancer wouldn’t be out of character.

5. Mr. Lancer is clearly an immortal werewolf--with that back hair it’s undebatable.

6. They’re both bald, have light colored eyes, have facial hair, and getting rid of the fringe of hair around Shakespeare’s head would have been a good progression.

7. They look the same

Conclusion: Mr. Lancer should be named William because he’s William Shakespeare, and it’d be funny if he was mad that people didn’t like Shakespeare’s plays because he’s the guy that wrote them.

Also, imagine being Shakespeare, creator of 1700 English words, author of many famous plays and poems, reduced to teaching high school English in some random Indiana high school. (I hate it, but given how Phantom Planet zoomed out, it’s SE of Chicago and therefore in Indiana.) Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

#danny phantom #mr. lancer #edward lancer #william lancer

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thehauntedrocket · 11 months

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Vintage Paperback - Barbarians Of Mars by Edward P. Bradbury

Lancer (1966)

#Paperback Cover #Paperback Art #Barbarians Of Mars #Edward P Bradbury #Science Fiction #Fantasy #Vintage #Art #Paperback #Paperbacks #Lancer Books #Lancer #1966 #1960s #60s

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eldritchsoupconsumer · 2 years

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Willam Lancer this

Edward Lancer that

In my mind its either William Edward Lancer or Edward William Lancer.

#danny phantom #this is mostly a joke by the way please dont attack me #William Edward Lancer #Edward William Lancer

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usafphantom2 · 1 year

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USAF Rockwell B-1B Lancer 86-0099 Ruptured Duck by Mark Allison Via Flickr: "Ruptured Duck" on static display at the Aerospace Valley Airshow 2022 at Edwards Air Force Base. This aircraft was one of 17 B-1Bs retired in 2021 by the USAF, and is now used as the Edwards Aircraft Ground Integration Lab (EAGIL), which will use the aircraft as an integration lab for future B-1 Platform Lead upgrades. -15/10/2022

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azulhood · 6 months

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Danny and Jazz were almost at the end of their rope.

They've checked almost everyone they knew who would take them in.

Sam's family? Didn't want them living under the same roof as their daughter.

Mr Lancer? He did actually want to take them in but his one bedroom apartment was not a suitable place for kids to live and his teachers salary couldn't afford to support three people.

Tucker's family? Got shut down by Vlad.

Which was the end of the list of who could get custody, well living at least.

There was no way either of them were living with Vlad, and with that in mind, they decided to get creative.

--------------------

When Edward woke up, sitting at an old interrogation table in what seemed to be an abandoned warehouse (don't ask him which one, gothem had too many) and splitting pain in his head from most likely getting knocked out, his first thought was I knew it.

Gotham rogues had been disappearing only to reappear the next day with no memory and often in bad shape, like black mask and Bane.

Some of the rogues, such as penguin and Ivy, believed that they would be safe from the next attack.

Edward was slightly more pessimistic.

And it turned out he was right.

"ahem." Noise brought his attention to the warehouses other occupants.

Two teenagers.

It was strange to think that these two put Bane into a coma, but Edward had spent most of his nights getting the stuffing beaten out of him by a child wearing the colours of a traffic light so he was suitably wary.

"How can I help you?" Being polite was always a good idea when kidnapped by possible meta children (because no normal person could walk away from a fight with Bane, the bats don't qualify as normal.)

"Hi, I'm Jazz and this is Danny." The red head introduced herself and the blue eyed boy next to her. "Nice to meet you Mr Nygma."

"Nice to meet you as well." His mouth responded on autopilot as he panicked over being addressed by name, no one who kidnapped him did that ( which was mostly the bats taking him back to Arkham after another foiled plan) unless they were Amanda Waller.

"Right, now that we all know each other, let's get started." Danny said pulling out a sheet of paper and star themed pen from somewhere.

"Get started on what?" Torture? Edward would really like to know if that was the case.

"The interview." Jazz explained " You just have to answer a few questions then you get to go, after we wipe your memory of course, we have someone who we don't want knowing we're in Gotham."

"Oh, of course." Edward replied faintly as he processed the information given to him.

"And if you get job we'll contact you in a week." Danny added as he twirled his pen. "Got it?"

"Yes." Edward had never been more confused in his life.

#dpxdc #dcxdp #dp x dc #dc x dp #if you can't get your own responsible adult then store bought is fine #everyone in Gotham is confused #the bats have no idea whose kidnapping villains and why #Jazz and Danny just want someone they can trust as their guardian #do they care if that someone is a villain? no #anyone is better then Vlad #does Red Hood count as a rougue?#if so he gets an interview too

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dcxdpdabbles · 6 months

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Cave boy Danny AU where he's half asleep and rambling as he mentions some people back home like his exes (especially Valerie), his English teacher, this stalker of his who he likes messing with, and the annoying fruitloop who's the bane of his existence! They're concerned. Only once he's fully awake when they ask for names.

Lancer is Alfred, Talia is Val, maybe Paulina is Julie Madison but idk, Wes is Edward/The riddler (I'm pretty sure there was a time he had a reddish orange hair. Either way, he was the same model as Danny so maybe Wes dyed his hair to not be confused with the Fentons in this AU), and Vlad is Ra's!

Hello! This actually falls out of my planned plotline for Cave Boy, but I will write something for you that is close to the prompt to make up for it! Hope that's okay and that you like it

Flash sends them a message sometime in the early afternoon before any of the Bats are ready to go out. In fact, Damian, Duke, Steph, and Jason are in class when his message arrives.

Bruce, Dick, Tim, Cass, and Barbara are at work. As the Flash is one of the few who knows what the Batfamily is doing during these hours, it is rare for him to bother at this hour. He would have usually waited until after five as that was when a majority of them became available.

They all quickly check their phones when they vibrate to ensure it's not a world-ending threat, just in case.

Since the messages would be sent to their civilian phones- anyone in the know of the Bat's real identity chooses to text in a very specific code. This way, no one would know what they were saying, and the Bats would realize they were speaking to who they thought they were.

Barry Allen chose Disney theme GIFs as his code.

A gif of Mulan singing Reflections lets them all know that somehow, the speedster has again opened a portal into a different dimension and/or mess with time.

"Why is my reflection someone I don't know?" meant "A double of one of you has crossed over from a different dimension and/or timeline"

This causes a brief ripple of anxiety. The last time someone had a double, it was Tim, and his future version of himself was crazy, evil, and surprisingly capable. It took Tim almost ending his life to beat the guy.

Thankfully, the second GIF comes through seconds later. This one is Mulan's Honor To Us All.

"Please bring honor to us all" meant "The double is friendly."

The last Gif was from Lion King, Timon cheerfully singing Hakuna Matata. "It means no worries for the rest of your days" meant "Sorry for the trouble."

Those in class return to their various lessons, but Tim quickly responds, "I love that movie! We should watch Mulan again the next time I see you, Uncle Barry!"

This means, "We will meet the double tonight."

The rest of the day drags on as they all slowly start to make bets on who the double would be for. They all agree that Cass is long overdue to face herself again. Still, Dick makes the complying argument that Duke needed to have his first "My counterpart from another dimensional/ Timal plane" moment.

They all actively hope Duke can clear another block on his Bat-bingo card. He gets two more and a complimentary tray of any of his favorite Alfred's desserts.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

That night, they all meet up in the watch tower, each clutching their bingo card just in case. (The game resets every month, and so far, Jason has written down the most accurate predictions. He needed two more squares for a cooking lesson of his favorite meal, and he was out for blood)

They all silently go to the conference room, where Barry entertains the guests. Apparently, they were trying to find discrepancies in their world's history and the double's life to help find which world they came from and send them back.

They were being shown the main rouges to test the timeframe.

"Is that Wes!?" A young male teenager yells. Sadly, Steph swears, staring at her "A new Batgirl from a different world" box.

"We call him Edward when he's not in his costume. Otherwise, his name is the Riddler." Barry answers, amusement clear in his voice.

"Riddler? How is Riddler menacing? What does he tell you, riddles of death or something?"

"You be surprised......."

Bruce gets to the door, pushing it open with a quick flick of the wrist, and inside is Barry sitting at the conference table next to a boy with dark hair and blue eyes. In front of them is a hologram showcasing the Gotham Rouge files.

There are papers and pencils scattered on the table. Likely, they have been writing down notes of the differences they have spotted.

Barry's eyes flicker to them, but the boy is too distracted to count on his fingers.

"Okay, so Wes is Riddler, Val is Talia, Fruitloop is Ra's, Sckuller is Bane, and ugh....for some reason, Spectra is Harley Quinn." The boy finishes checking his notes.

"For some reason? I thought you said Spectra studied psychology too."

"yeah, but Harley Quinn actually got a Ph.D. What did Spectra do? Land a school counselor position? Please." The boy rolls his eyes dismissively, and Barry frowns.

He's never taken kindly to people disregarding another person's profession, especially if it was connected to the educational system in some way.

"Hey now, that's an important job, and you need years of study before you can be a school counselor-"

"I bet Spectra peaked in high school. That's why she's like that." The boy cut him off, nodding as though he had found the universe's answer.

Well.....this was either a version of Jason, Tim, or maybe early Dick, that was a little too sassy but not angry? It's not sad either; it's more like, fed up? Or teenage tired.

"Oh, who are they?" The boy asks, and Barry zips right next to Batman.

"Danny, meet Batman...the you of this world. And his kids."

Danny squints. "Who is your mom, and how easy am I? Because there is a lot of you that I fathered for me to not be easy."

Jason burst out laughing, checking a box. "Yes, someone calling Bruce easy in costume. That's on bingo for me!"

#dcxdpdabbles #dc x dp crossover #Double Vision #Basically Danny is not impressed #All his villains are villains here too #That Batkids play Batman bingo #It's bonding so Bruce lets them

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gilbirda · 1 year

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DPxDC cheat sheet

So. I'm not a nitpicking person. I understand that mistakes can be made and typos are a thing and sometimes we are just not the kind of person that can make words work for a variety of reasons (dyslexia, for example).

This is not for that people.

This is for everyone who stumbled into this fandom by mistake and had learned things via osmosis and don't have the energy/time to check the source material for the "correct" thing.

Y'all are valid.

This is a cheat sheet of correct terms and fandom things that are not correct that I've seen in fics.

Disclaimer: while experimenting with canon is fun, this is just to lay down the rules of what's what so it can be the springboard of y'all's beautiful creations.

Given that some people just can't behave online: "If you don't have anything constructive to say, don't say anything." Did I say something wrong? You have resources better than this? You want to make a nitpick? Cool! More info to the mix — But come at me in a hurtful and insulting way and I'm blocking you on the spot.

[Will add more when I think more/have suggestions]

DP SIDE - Post "A Glitch in Time" Canon

Sam is Jewish

Sam is ultra-recyclo-vegetarian aka "doesn't eat anything with a face". Is not a real thing.

It's "Amity Park" not "Amity Ville".

Wes is fanon, same as Kyle. Info on Wes here

It's "Casper High", not "Caspar High".

Mr. Lancer doesn't have a canon name. Common fanon ones are William or Edward.

Ghost obsessions are canon. In AGIT, it's explained that ghosts have a purpose or drive. Danny's purpose is "protection" of both humans and ghosts.

Ghost cores are fanon-ish (there is a mention that Danny's ice powers come from his "core" temperature and is never addressed again, of course) (Episode is "Urban Jungle"). Then in the videogame there are different "types" of ghost powers and something about their cores? Very confusing.

Ghost speak is fanon. However, in AGIT, it's revealed that there's an ghost alphabet, and it's ancient form is based on sanskrit and tamil alphabets. Codex of Ghost alphabet.

Ghost Hunger is canon! In AGIT it's revealed that ghosts feed on emotions and thoughts to stay sapient. If they don't, they become feral with time. Halfas feed from their human side, remaining stable.

Danny is the bridge between the spirit world and living world - canon!

Danny beats the Ghost King Pariah Dark in combat, but faints and that fight is never addressed in the series again. Ghost King!Danny is fanon-ish so go ham with interpreting that. (Episode is "Reign Storm")

Tucker is the reincarnation?? (never stated in canon, but he does look alike) of a pharaoh named "Duul Aman" (Duulaman is also accepted as spelling). Said pharaoh never appears in the series as a ghost, just a picture. Who does appear is his (evil) right hand man, Hotep-Ra, who tries to manipulate Tucker (Episode is "King Tuck"). That Tucker gets cool magic from this event is fanon. But cool.

Sam gets possessed by Undergrowth via a vine straight into her spine (gross). Undergrowth calls her "his daughter" and she tries to lure Danny into "joining her to take over the world". (Episode is "Urban Jungle"). That Sam gets cool plant powers from this event is fanon. But cool.

The Fenton parents are never physically abusive - just comedically neglectful in the way parents are depicted in early 2000s cartoons. Incompetent, misguided, dumb... but they are shown to love their kids. The even accept Danny the 2 canon times they find out about him (Episodes "Reality Trip" and "Phantom Planet").

Jazz is never shown as "mature" in the sense that she had to parent Danny and be the responsible adult. She is comedically the "annoying and meddling older sister" from early 2000s cartoons. She wants to be considered an adult. She couldn't see Youngblood, who is a child ghost that cannot be seen by adults, and Danny had to push her into acting childish to make her see him.

Axiom labs is bought by Vlad's company "Vlad.co" not "DALV.co". DALV.co was the fake company that paid for Maddie and Danny to fly to a conference but stranded them in a forest where Vlad's cabin coincidentally was. (Episode "Maternal Instincts")

Dan is not older Danny. He is not even called "Dan" in canon, just "Dark Danny". He is Danny's ghost half, who killed his human half, ate/merged with Vlad's ghost side and then tried to kill Vlad's human side. Was losing his humanity what made him evil? Was it merging with the Bad Guy(tm) of the series? 🤷‍♀️ Take it as you will. (Episode is "The Ultimate Enemy")

Freakshow is NOT a clown. He is the ringmaster of a goth circus (called Circus Gothica). Danny's headcanoned fear of clowns can be traced back to the "circus" and clown-related imagery surrounding Freakshow's performances, but not directly BY Freakshow. (Episodes "Control Freaks" and "Reality Trip")

DC SIDE

Damian (not Damien or Demian) is never confirmed his religion. Fanon has accepted he is Muslim.

Bruce is from a Jewish family (Martha Wayne was Jewish), but he considers himself an atheist. Same with Kate Kane (Batwoman).

It's "Selina" Kyle, not "Selena" or "Salina".

It's "Talia" Al Ghul, not "Thalia".

It's "Jason", not "Jayson".

Damian is vegetarian, not vegan. It means he doesn't eat meat, but eats animal produces like eggs, milk, etc. He went vegetarian after rescuing Batcow from a slaughterhouse, he didn't arrive at the manor already being vegetarian.

Duke is NOT adopted. Bruce is fostering him temporarily and is more of a mentor to him than a father. Duke considers the others his siblings, though. EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT DUKE: Part 1 | Part 2

Dick was not adopted as a kid, Dick was Bruce's ward. That term is not used anymore, though. Adoption happened later in Dick's adulthood.

It's Gotham, not "Gothem".

Cassandra IS adopted. Legally.

Cassandra's nickname is "Cass", not "Cassie". Cassie is the nickname of another character also named Cassandra (Cassandra Sandsmark, Wondergirl)

"Little Wing" is a canon nickname for Jason from Dick.

"Baby bird" or "Baby bat" are fanon-ish(?). Little Wing, Dickie, Dickie-bird... Canon! Jaylad is not canon, but Jaybird is canon! A GREAT post with receipts about all nicknames. ("Replacement" isn't canon btw).

Stephanie Brown was the 4th Robin. She is not adopted, and was part of the batfamily because she was dating Tim. She is still considered batfamily even if they are not dating anymore.

In Hush, when Jason comes back to Gotham, Jason puts a knife on Tim's throat, but barely leaves a cut. Tim's throat wasn't injured during the Titans Tower attack.

Cass is selectively mute because she wasn't taught any language beyond what she needed to predict people's movements. She doesn't know sign language. She doesn't know how to read and write (more recent comics show her reading a bit). But she could learn, with difficulty. Very in depth analysis of Cass' disability.

Jason's "Pit Madness" is fanon. Canon offers Ra's saying "the Pit alters the mind - could happen for a few days or for years, you never know" or something like that, and that's it. There is reason to believe that the Lazarus Pit can cloud judgement for a while but there is no voice in the back of the head or the Pit taking over.

Tim never expressed special interest in photography or in it as a hobby. Nor he is a coffee addict more than the other bats, who pull all nighters on the reg. He is actually addicted to energy drinks.

There are 2 main Conner/Kon-El/Superboy I portrayed in fics: Young Justice cartoon one (grumpy, same age as Dick, kind of an asshole, has daddy issues, wears black shirt and jeans, has a space motorcycle and a pet wolf) and 90s comics one (leather jacket, piercings, punny guy, same age as Tim, has a #nohomo relationship with Tim, kind of a himbo).

There are a few Ghost superheroes - Greta Hayes (Secret), she was in Tim's run as Young Justice's leader; and Boston Brand (Deadman), who is a member of Justice League Dark (with Constantine and Zatanna and Swamp Thing!). So the DC heroes are familiar with ghosts and ghost powers.

It's "rogues" gallery, not "rouge". Rouge means "red" in french.

Clark is never abusive to Conner, he just doesn't know what to do with him and chooses to ignore the problem; which, yeah, is mean, but not to the levels that fanon has taken it. And this is in the Young Justice cartoons, not across all depictions. In comics, they consider each other family and that's why Conner took a kryptonian name (Kon-El - of house of El, Kal's family)

The whole "No metas in Gotham" is not true. Batman understands that Gotham is very Fucked Up and that if you add metahumans and heroes with powers trying to do good to the mix it could make things worse. Outsiders don't understand Gotham and if they get jokerized or mind controlled, it will get ugly real quick. That's why Signal is cool beans! Duke is a gothamite through and through.

While is interesting that no one in the Batfam knows about Tim's missing spleen, is very probable that Alfred knows - post about this

Constantine is more powerful than it looks like. A post about interesting abilities.

Damian has a metal spine. Yeah I don't know how it works either. They used it as way for Talia to control Damian for a bit :(

Interesting links:

What's fanon in DP

Fan project for Ghost Speak, written and spoken form, and a ghost speak generator - post AGIT canon

Transcripts of all the Danny Phantom episodes

The whole DP series + the complementary comics + A Glitch in Time comic (if you are able to buy the AGIT comic please do 🙇‍♀️)

How to pronounce Ra's Al Ghul

BatPham ship names (updated regularly).

What are the canon ages of the Batfam?

In depth guide to everything Batman in one place (be prepared to go down the rabbit hole)

Fanon vs Canon Batfam edition

Superfam family tree

Interactive map of Gotham (Gotham Knights videogame)

Timeline of events (Batfam adoption order and ages when those events happen)

Map of Gotham (made based on various sources, with annotations (check the reblogs for more info))

The Titans Tower attack: Fanon vs Canon

This person has dedicated a lot of time to research receipts of Comic stuff so check out their masterlist

---

Suggestions are welcome! Please be kind with each other and remember to have fun with this fandom!

#dpxdc cheat sheet #cheat sheet #dp #danny phantom #dc #batman dc #dpxdc #dp x dc #dc x dp #dp crossovers

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faeriekit · 2 months

Text

Things Long Gone

for a phic phight prompt from @armed-with-knitting-needles

Edward Lancer woke up the same way he did every morning.

He rolled out of bed. Brushed his teeth. Changed into a button-up and a tie, and slacks he wouldn’t hate throughout the course of the day.

He made his coffee like he did every day: he stuck his thermos under the machine, waited with a slice of toast until the coffee maker stopped pouring, and capped it in one smooth motion that shook its contents until everything was relatively mixed inside. No sweetners. No sugar. No milk.

Great. Ed went to grab his keys…

…His keys weren’t on the hook.

He blinked, hand frozen in its attempt so reach what wasn’t there. His. Where were his keys? He’d had them yesterday.

…He was pretty sure he’d had them yesterday. Hadn’t he gone to see Lizzy and the new baby? His sister had been so excited to show Charlotte off to her new uncle. Ed had been excited to go.

…Whatever. Amity Park was relatively walkable; as long as he dashed, he could get there in time.

So, off he jogged, into the hot, early morning, sweating and puffing as he went.

Ed made to the school entrance just as the bell rang for first period. He sighed, struggling for air—but at least he’d be able to swap in for Mrs. Keppler’s math course this morning. Man, he felt as if he’d run every class at this point. They might as well make him the—

Something invisible SLAMMED into his face.

His nose crunched. Ed swore in every classic title he knew, stumbling back and grabbing at his nose—ugh, and his fingers were coming away wet. He had to go see the nurse, or, more likely, the hospital. He was later than ever, but he’d have to—

He tried for the door again. Again, something stopped him.

…Ed frowned. He rapped against the invisible boundary with his knuckles. It was probably ghosts, again, but this was unusually…static. Benign?

“Ed, good heavens! What happened to your face?”

Ed turned around, nose slowly beginning to swell up in his hands as Ms. Cathleen Rylant stalked up the walkway to the school. “G’Morning,” he grunted, unable to summon the capacity for proper pronunciation. “I…seem to be blocked from getting into the building.”

Cathleen frowned. Her shoulder bag was pulled higher onto her thin, elderly shoulder: a nervous gesture. “I’m sorry to hear that, Ed! Is there anything…”

“Do you mind testing it for me?” Ed tried, carefully cupping the blood he could feel from dripping down onto his dress shirt. “If it affects you, or is unique to me…”

There were a few ghosts that targeted individuals. Ed had some surety that the genie ghost had gotten him to ‘call out from school’ today—there was a text today, and he would not put it past

“Got it,” the elderly science teacher offered sweetly. Cathleen was a gift, truly. “Was it…?”

Ed smacked a hand against the barrier. There was no visible sign of it—no distortion, no ripple, no change in color.

“Got it.” Cathleen—and her much more fragile bones—carefully put a hand out, expecting to be able to put her weight on it.

She just barely caught her balance before falling onto the concrete step. Ed reached out a hand to help her, and, of course, ended up with bruised fingers for the trouble. He swore.

“Huh,” she said. “…Well, I’m late for first period anyway; want me to tell Yuuko what’s holding you up?”

Ed sighed. He reminded himself that informing their principal would be best, considering the circumstances… “Yes, please. Thank you, Cathleen.”

“No problem, Ed.”

And Edward Lancer sat on the front step of the school, back leaned against nothing, and waited to see what could be done for him.

He took his hand away from his nose to reach for his coffee.

…His blood wasn’t red.

Ed’s blood went cold.

Wait. Why had—

—Screeching tires, metal SLAMMED into its final place, snapping, cracking, the lights cutting out, a choked last breath—

…Ed’d had his car yesterday. Why didn’t he have it this morning?

“I’m imagining things,” Ed muttered to himself. He wiped the green blood onto the back of his clean plants and resolved to wait for Principal Ishiyama.

Mr. Lancer was still outside the school by the time lunch rolled around.

“So he’s just…hanging out?” Sam asked around a mouthful of vegan-and-cruelty-free sushi, staring from their place under the tree at their teacher and his crowd of educational professionals.

Danny shrugged. He swallowed a bite of ham-and-baloney. “Looks like,” he observed. They watched as Mr. Lancer proved, again, that no matter how hard his middle-age-professional bulk heaved and pushed, there was no getting past the entryway into the school.

“…Huh.” Sam took a second bite. Across the yard, Mr. Lancer slipped on the invisible barrier, and everyone got closer to help pick him off the ground. “Any idea why this is happening?”

Danny put his sandwich down. He didn’t say anything.

Sam turned to look at him. “Danny?”

“…I saw an accident on the way home with Dad last night,” Danny offered quietly. He picked a little speck of nothing off of his sandwich. “The two cars were bent in half at the bottom of the ravine. There were rescue trucks and police all over the other side of the highway; cars were backed up for like four exits behind it. One of the cars looked like Mr. Lancer’s gray crapbox, but it’s not like I could get a good look…”

Sam went quiet. Danny stayed quiet.

They watched as Mr. Lancer explained, again, for the nineteenth time, that he couldn’t get into the school, and didn’t know why.

“…Oh,” said Sam. She set her chopsticks down.

“Mmhmm.” Danny swallowed. “Uh…looks like Mom’s updates on the ghost shields are working, though.”

“No kidding,” Sam echoed absently.

Eventually, lunch was over. When they went back inside, half-eaten lunches packed back up to take home for later, the distant figure of Mr. Lancer was still outside the school door, hoping to be let back in.

#phic phight #phic phight 2024 #danny phantom #car accident #tw death #i mean it is Danny Phantom. but also #faer fic #is there a better tag for this??#phicphight2024

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uovoc · 2 months

Note

what are some silly goofy DP shenanigans you'd like to see but might not make yourself? 👀 asking for scientific purposes

Thinking about what would happen to re-embodied Dan after AGIT... I think show logic demands that he end up at Amity High, Edward Cullen-style. Leading to:

Lancer: I'd like you all to say hello to your new classmate, Dan Masters.

Danny: YOU

Lancer: Oh? Mr Fenton, I see you know each other?

Danny [internally]: you canNOT say that he's your clone from another dimension

Danny: no

Dan, simultaneously: we're twins

- That yearbook photo that's like "Daniel" and "the cooler Daniel"

#danny phantom #asks

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underforeversgrace · 11 months

Text

Since he doesn't have a canon name and these are the two I see most often - which one is better?

#danny phantom #grace writes #Lancer #Mr Lancer #Polls #I'm curious which one is more popular between two popular options

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yetanothergreyjedi · 1 year

Text

Ghosts of Our Pasts: Part 7

DPxDC Crossover

Danny Fenton and Damian Wayne Sibling AU

Masterpost Previous Next

Part 7

"I saw you!"

"Good morning, Wes."

"What were you doing with Bruce Wayne?"

"...nothing?"

"I know he's Batman. And I saw you on the roof!"

"Whoa! Fentoina met Batman? Where you swapping super hero secrets? Did the Butts match?" Dash interjected, not believing a word Wes said.

Danny rolled his eyes as hard as he could, threw a few extra sausages on his plate and went to sit down.

"I think Wes is dreaming of me," Danny informed them.

"Oh no," Sam said, oh so helpfully.

Tucker stared down at his breakfast plate containing various meats. "Uh, creepy? "

"Maybe it's more like astrial projection, he was definitely asleep when I left, and when I got back, but he knew what I was doing."

"Oh, no."

"Sam!"

"You realize he probably already had abilities, and we just didn't notice because Amity Park?" She pointed out.

"Well, I'm realizing. It's the worst thing that's ever happened to me."

"Can we not trauma dump over breakfast?"

---

Edward Lancer had assumed that the lack of 'I'm technically an adult so's were because his students understood the dangers of Gotham. He was wrong, they had simply been waiting for the most effective moment to utterly crumble his argument. That was how one group was split into 4, one for each chaperone.

His group had been in a former supervillain's lair (and it was a lair, even Edward knew what a lair felt like.) for hours. Technically rehabilitated, sure, Edward wasn't going to judge the doctor for past actions, but he wasn't going to feel safe until he left the gardens either.

Ms. Manson didn't seem to mind as she regarded the next plant in the line. She would consider it for a few moments, say some things to the friends that trailed behind her and either move on, or have a one-sided? conversation with it. Tucker and Daniel had their hands clasped behind their backs like young children, they had not touched anything since arriving at the garden. Wes was regarding them all suspiciously, but seemed to be growing tired. The rest of the group had left when another Casper High group arrived, finished the garden tour in a normal hour, and had decided to go somewhere else.

Edward was not suprised when Dr. Pamela Isley strolled purposefully down the aisle, directly to where Samantha stood. Lancer missed whatever the two women had said to each other in his rush to get closer.

"Nah, I fall closer to winter than anything. The Green tends to take offense to my existence." Mr. Fenton told the Doctor. She nodded agreeably and looked to Mr. Foley.

"Same as him but with Tech. I've never tried doing something with plants and I don't plan too."

She looked to Edward, he froze.

"He's just a teacher." Said Ms. Manson, and the lair's owner turned her attention away from him. He it would probably feel offensive if he didn't feel so relieved.

---

Damian should not have his phone on him; he was in class. His phone buzzed, and Damian was glad he'd chosen to ignore the rule.

Dany had sent a picture, a selfie. In it he was clearly trying not to laugh as Condiment King rampages in the background.

Dany: do I do something? With a little thyme I'm sure I can mustard something up.

Damian almost double checked that a sibling hadn't rearaged his contacts, but the selfie proved this was all Dany... who was facing Condiment King as a civilian...

He did not have time to alert Signal before the next text was received.

Dany:kszkksskmssbsh

Damian: Dany?! Do you require medical assistance?!

Dany: I'm good lmao

Dany: the man sauced Lancer

Dany: one sec

-Dany sent a video-

Damian raised his hand, asking to be excused. Far too much time passed before he reached a place he could watch it in peace. He could not be interrupted if he was to coordinate a plan of action. He pressed play.

The Condiment King sat shamefaced in a restaurant seat as Dany's teacher lectured him on life choices. It was hard to hear exactly what was being said over the snickers from his classmates. The video panned over the briefly before ending. Wait... was that... ?!

Damian: Dany...

Dany: I spell it with 2 n's

Damian: Danny...

Dany: yes?

Damian: that is Poison Ivy at your table...

Dany: She took us out for lunch :D!

---

This guy was an idiot, Dash thought. He and Kwan had cut through an alley, and now this guy was trying to rob them; at knife point! Them! Two burly football players from Amity Park, and this guy was trying to rob them with this little 4 inch knife!

"Uh, no thanks," Kwan said in disbelief.

"I said hand over your—"

Dash tilted his head, "Buddy, the Box Ghost is more threatening than this,"

"I'm pretty sure the box knife is sharper too," Kwan added. "We need to be on the other side of this alley, so if you could do this later?"

The man sputtered and aimed at Kwan, taking the polite dismissal like fighting words. Kwan rolled his eyes, sidestepping, and Dash snatched the knife out of his hand.

They kept walking, continuing the discussion on how football would be different in college.

The man didn't try to stop them again.

---

Lester: Great news!

Mikey: ?

Lester: My greatest fear is no longer failing the STAs!

Mikey: makes sense, since we already took it. Mikey: What made you realize?

Lester: Oh, some guy with a bag on his head gassed the street.

Mikey: that's why my parents said I couldn't go.

Lester: Fright's sword was worse to be honest, Our group is heading back to the hotel to sleep it off.

Mikey: How's that?

Lester: Not the first time I've been in a vehicle with shadow monsters.

Lester: Did you see they're making a Doom the Movie?

---

"I disarmed it,"

"You disarmed it," the officer repeated

"Yeah," the young woman sounded more like she was saying 'duh' . "Wasn't even that complicated! I didn't even need Star's help."

"It was a lame bomb." The blond, Star, agreed.

"Super lame! Everyone always makes Gotham out to be soooo dangerous, but a toddler could dismantle this!" The Latina woman kicked some electrical components with a high heeled foot. "Let's get out of here, find some place interesting!"

---

* group chat created *

Danny: A group chat with 47 people, delightful

Dick (this is his name lol): It's not that bad...

Tim: sibling groupchat

Danny: Cool, can I add my sisters?

* multiple people are typing *

Only 2 of 4 chaperones still have adequate knowledge of where their group has split off to. Lancer because he is hypervigulant and half his group went joined another group.

Group 2's chaperone because they got gassed and decided it was a good day for a midday nap and their students agreed.

Everyone else is in the wind and will show up at dinner.

STA stands for school testing acronym, I'm so creative!

@shyrebeldonutpickle *bonks you on the head with my creep stick* no threatening in my replies!

Tag List

(I will add this to Ao3 when I have my computer again, it will be a while)

(some of you will be added to a reblog, if you are tagged please do not request to be tagged again it's confusing me)

@spectralstardustandphantomnights @avelnfear @idfk-man10 @blackroserelina @candeartist422 @mur-ururu @luer-mirin @insufferablecatenthusiast @skulld3mort-1fan @alonedustspeck @voidbornposts @meira-3919 @marshmello @aethernorwood @mimilikey @undead-essence @cloudminder @markus209 @everything163 @latheevening226 @roman4517 @moobloomrights @battybatbat @lumosfeather18581 @werv @ahyesanerd @pyramaniac @lexdamo @princessbelix @bun-fish @deeannthepan @edgyboi10000 @thatrandomsarahchick @busterkeel @aconitewolfsbane @spoopyspoony @bright-shade @spidey29phangirl @idontgetpaidenoughforthisshit @keimiwolf @u-a-wizard-jamie @gay-puff @bicerise @itshype @blackfoxsposts @icanneverdecide @lolottes @chubbypotato @jovialherringtacoghost @saltyladynightmare

#dp x dc crossover #dp x dc #amity park #gotham #grey writes

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maxattax · 6 months

Text

#Danny Phantom #Fics seem pretty divided and I'm curious what people think

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nat-a-nat · 1 year

Text

I have seen some people baffled by the amount of widely accepted fannon in the danny phantom phandom so I present to you:

The list of things you might think is cannon but actually isn't:

The Guys in White being shortened to GIW

AND it standig for Ghost Investigation Ward (I think I also have seen it being referenced as the Ghost Information Ward before)

Valerie being called the Red Huntress

Paulina's last name being Sanchez

Mr. Lancers first name (the most popular phannon names being Edward and William)

Ghost hunger is all phandom

Dark Danny was never named in the show, only in the end credits, and Dan Phantom is pure phannon

Cores are a WAY less developed concept in cannon

Ghost obsessions

Danny's middle name being James

Ghost speak doesn't actually exist in cannon (the ghost gabber is cannon but ghost don't have a language or a way of communicating other than english)

WESLEY "WES" WESTON

All the Westons are phannon (the current Weston family consists of Wes, his older brothers Kyle and Easton, and their dad Walter)

Flynn Fenton (butch created a Dannys-long-lost-older-brother oc, in phannon he is the son of Maddies sister Alicia)

#all i could think of rn #feel free to add!#seen peps talk about being shocked the giw isn't actually called the ghost investigation ward and decided to make this post #dp #danny phantom #phandom meta

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usafphantom2 · 1 year

Video

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canmom · 20 days

Text

what's the book for? part 1

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

This is a part of a series about TTRPGs! I'm looking at the relationship between the book and the thing you do, the play.

That forum, the 'Forge', was founded on the premise that, in Edwards's pithy slogan, 'System Does Matter' - which is to say Edwards believed that the formal and, perhaps especially, informal procedures you follow when you play a roleplaying game have a large effect on what kind of experiences you can have there. Kind of tautological, but I'll let him have that. It is true that there are many different activities that fall under the heading of 'tabletop roleplaying'.

Edwards and his pals wanted to have a more explicit and intentional 'creative agenda' when playing a game. In general this is something that the players were supposed to get on the same page about when they sit down to play a game. To the Forge mindset, the ideal is for everyone to be pushing harmoniously to the same thing; the root of 'dysfunction' in TTRPGs was seen as arising from an unacknowledged clash of these agendas.

The solution found by the Forge was to design new game systems which put their preferred agenda, 'narrativism', front and centre.

Many more words could be written about the Forge, a lot of them quite mean, but let's bring this back to game design. What is it good for?

Why do we buy all these books anyway?

What is 'an RPG'? On the shelf to my right are... hold on let me count... some 27 different D&D books, mostly from 3.5e. Also a couple other TTRPG books (including Apocalypse World). On my hard drive are... some 94+ other games accumulated from various Humble Bundles and similar. I have played only a small fraction, and honestly, read only a slightly larger fraction.

What is a 'game' in this context? Generally speaking there's a book, and maybe some other tools like character sheets, which theoretically provide what you need to get together with some friends and do an activity that it defines. Sort of like a recipe. But the book itself is not the game; the book anchors the game, which is something rather nebulous, into a thing that can be bought and sold. The game is an activity, which 'exists' when it gets played. However, consulting the book is (usually) part of the game!

I rather vaguely say 'what you need', because it's more than just 'rules'. Lancer, for example, is full of colourful, vivid pictures of giant robots; these pictures do a lot to get players' imaginations thinking about what sort of giant robot they might pilot - how cool it would look and what sort of sicknasty shit it would do. I doubt Lancer would be even a fraction as popular if it didn't have these artworks to get you on board with its fantasy. The pictures are a very load-bearing part of creating the 'game' here.

We could say the aim of the TTRPG book is to convince you that the game "exists" in a concrete enough way that you can actually play it. Much like the Golden Witch, BEATRICE. Then you can gather your friends and say, 'hey, do you want to play Sagas of the Icelanders', and they will say 'yeah, what's that?', and you'll show them the book and sit down and attempt to follow whatever idea the book has imparted of 'how to play Sagas of the Icelanders'.

So, the relationship between TTRPG book and play is rather nebulous. This is something of a problem if you are an aspiring auteur designer who would like to impart something specific to players. Who knows what they're going to do with that book?

let's talk D&D - on the 'proper' way of playing the game

D&D is the oldest roleplaying game, and still by far the biggest. Many TTRPG players will only ever play D&D. Many others will play games derived from some version of D&D, like all the different games belonging to the 'OSR'. It's a point of endless frustration for indie game players, who have to deal with being a satellite to this juggernaut, which they see as poorly designed. If only these players would recognise how could they could have it!

But the interesting thing about D&D - and TTRPGs in general, really - to me is that it's folklore. It's not a product you buy.

How do you learn to play D&D? You could go and buy the 'core set': the famous Player's Handbook, Monster Manual and Dungeon Master's Guide, a tripartite division that has existed since the days of AD&D. However, for all their glossy art and flavour text, these books still do a pretty dire job of actually getting you up to speed on how the game is played, especially for the Dungeon Master.

No, what you actually do is: you join an existing D&D group. Or, in the modern day, maybe you listen to an 'actual play' podcast such as Critical Role. This furnishes you with a direct example of what D&D players say and how that results in a story, far more vividly and concretely than you'd ever get from looking at a book.

Once you're convinced that you wanna join this weird little subculture, then perhaps you go and grab some books, run a published module, create a character, whatever. Maybe you go on D&D forums and read endless arguments about the best way to play the game, which all the while serve to define what that game actually is in your head.

A lot of critics of D&D complain that the rules of D&D as written do a pretty terrible job of facilitating many of the purposes that D&D is put towards. They tend to argue that there are games better suited to it, often from the story-games milieu. If people say 'sure, but we change the games in x, y and z way', this is seen as a bit of a joke - "well you're not really playing D&D at that point, are you?"

If you view 'D&D' as defined by what's printed in the books printed by Hasbro, sure. However, D&D is not really that. D&D is the label we apply to a huge nebulous body of lore, from the Dread Gazebo and Tucker's Kobolds to weirdly endearing monsters derived from knockoff tokusatsu figurines. It is all the ideas you've received about what it looks like to play D&D from listening to a podcast. It's arguing about what Chaotic Neutral means. It is 50 years of material - of frequently dubious quality, mind you! - that exploded out from that time some nerds in the States decided to explore a dungeon in their wargame.

If whoever had the rights to use the Dungeons & Dragons trademark never printed another book, that would not kill D&D. In fact, there's even a condescending nickname, courtesy of Edwards, for people who cook up their own slightly-different spin on D&D and try to sell it - the 'fantasy heartbreaker'. The concept of D&D has considerable inertia.

It's pretty, but is it D&D?

In this perspective, defining what D&D 'is' with a strict demarcation is kinda impossible. Gygax himself was very inconsistent on this front, favouring strict adherence to rules at times (declaring of houseruled games that 'such games are not D&D or AD&D games - they are something else'), and encouraging changing them at others - rather depending on whether he had the rights at the time, and his conflict with Dave Arneson.

"Since the game is the sole property of TSR and its designer, what is official and what is not has meaning if one plays the game. Serious players will only accept official material, for they play the game rather than playing at it, as do those who enjoy "house rules" poker, or who push pawns around the chess board. No power on earth can dictate that gamers not add spurious rules and material to either the D&D or AD&D game systems, but likewise no claim to playing either game can then be made. Such games are not D&D or AD&D games- they are something else, classifiable only under the generic "FRPG" catch all"

In this he sounds rather a lot like Ron Edwards declaring that only his perfect design is the true and correct version of Sorcerer! And to both these fellows, we should say, who gives a shit.

So at this point, beyond the (so far) 11 'official' versions of the books published by TSR and later Hasbro, there are hundreds of offshoots that bear a heavy amount of D&D in their lineage and function almost identically even if they don't bear the trademark... and an uncountable number of small variants, whether explicitly houseruled or just different habits forming from 'who speaks when' or 'what rules we ignore' to the focus of the game.

So. Imagine a person who was inspired by the D&D milieu, gradually figured out their own taste of what they like to see in a TTRPG over many games of 'D&D', and is now having a good time playing a game of 'D&D' about tense feudal politicking, even though they almost never look at a D&D sourcebook and frequently defy the rules printed in there. Is this person 'playing D&D'?

How about someone playing an OSR game derived from early D&D, that can't legally use the D&D trademark, but still uses THAC0 and maybe the occasional Mind Flayer(R)?

Now let's try someone who read Apocalypse World sometime and got inspired to try DMing in its style - asking players leading questions, acting to separate them, applying a cost to a desired thing or rearranging things behind the scenes when a roll goes bad... but they still consider what they're doing to be D&D, and they're strictly speaking playing by the book? After all, D&D doesn't say a thing about whether you should do that stuff or not.

Bit of a tough question imo! Maybe we should call Wittgenstein.

the scope of the book

There are so many different kinds of TTRPG book.

Some are very specific - a game like Lady Blackbird, The King is Dead or Hot Guys Making Out overlaps heavily with something like an adventure, giving you just one very tightly defined scenario and mechanics that only make sense in that context. This isn't a new thing, either - a game like Paranoia (1984-) is designed with a specific game structure in mind, where the characters each have a variety of explicit and secret objectives that are all at odds with each other.

D&D was originally a game like this, though it didn't last long. The earliest editions of the rules instruct the referee to draw out 'at least half a dozen maps of his "underworld"' filled with monsters and treasure, representing a "huge ruined pile, a vast castle built by generations of mad wizards and insane geniuses". As far as I understand the history of the hobby, though, people almost immediately started getting into character and using the game for other things than exploring a dungeon.

Other game-products leave larger gaps to be filled in by the player...

a game like Shadowrun or Eclipse Phase, or D&D settings like Dark Sun or Eberron, will give you huge amounts of information about its setting, but leave 'what you do it in' to the GM's discretion.

a game like D&D gives you various setting elements, and there are many adventures and modules you can elect to 'run', but it is the GM's task to pick and choose some subset of those pieces and build them into a custom setting for that game.

a game like Apocalypse World gives you quite explicit instructions for how to set up a first session, and works very hard to set a vibe with the many examples and general style of its rules, but it tells you next to nothing about a predefined setting.

a game like Fiasco or Microscope offers only a loose structure, that your job is to fill with content over the course of the game.

All of these games market themselves with the same type of promise: with our book, you will be able to have this kind of experience. Like all marketing, they will tend to overpromise! But the marketing is, vexingly, itself part of what makes 'the game' happen.

In the video, Vi Huntsman roughly argues that this marketing is the core of what Root: The RPG is actually doing, trying to sell you on Forge ideology rather than provide anything helpful for running a tabletop game; and that the way it attempts to provide this experience is through crude 'buttons' which are inherently limiting, belonging more to the mechanistic worlds of computer games or board games than TTRPGs.

I kind of agree, but the problem is that... to some extent every game does this exact kind of marketing. For example, here's the Bubblegum Crisis RPG (yes, there was a Bubblegum Crisis RPG, published by Mike Pondsmith's company R Talsorian Games in 1996) which announces:

Those words are lyrics from several songs from the Bubblegum Crisis soundtracks, and they encapsulate the kind of action and drama you'll find in the Bubblegum Crisis Boleplaying Game. With this book, you'll enter the world of MegaTokyo and the oppressive megacorporation Genom—a world where monstrous Boomers, desperate AD Police and the mysterious Knight Sabers battle for the future of civilization.

This copy serves as a promise of what the game will bring, but also a prompt that tells you what kind of game you should use its tools to make. It's attached to exactly the sort of licensed game that Vi Huntsman criticises, applying an existing framework to a licensed RP as if to imply you need this book in order to tell a Bubblegum Crisis-inspired story.

Why? Huntsman called it 'reproducibility'. If every game that ever runs is a uniquely circumstantial snowflake, there is nothing to sell. But if you can offer someone the tools that they surely need to do that thing they heard about...

The problem is that what makes an RPG memorable is something that arises when you get a group of friends (or strangers!) to sit down together and make up a story, and that kind of definitionally can't be reduced to instructions in a book - it's too personal, too specific to the people involved. But we live in the era of capitalism, so... RPG companies and independent designers alike need to have a product to sell to this 'RPG player' subculture-identity.

The drive to somehow make reproducible experiences dates back all the way to the very first time people heard about that crazy game that Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson were doing at their wargames club and Gygax and Arneson decided to print a book to help people do that at home.

And with many RPGs on the market, they need further to differentiate themselves: to tell you that they're offering something you can't get elsewhere.

So what is that something? In the next post I'll get into that!

#roleplaying games #ttrpg #story games #tabletop roleplaying #d&d

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