#Writing Media module

[samaspic31]

More ppl and characters with heavily fluctuating gender presentation in media I am not longer asking. where is representation for ppl who crossdress both ways depending on the day or even ppl putting wild amounts of effort on random days

#think izzard or cumminity's dean if it wasn't played for laughs #ppl irl module and fiddle their gender presentation constantly and yet in fiction it's all so. static. any change has to be plot related #which i partially get but idk let characters have fluidity and gender nuance for no reason but that they want to #sam speaks #i understand part of character is stability and recognizability but that shoulder apply to purposefully unstable characters and yet #this is about bottoms #vic jake and ally from college humor kinda do that. but in any kind of media there has to be a personal brand and i hate this it limits #creativity so much. more inconsistencies more incoherence #i neeed also to make more effort on finding weirder art #one day ill write the essay on gender and effort

[petsdenonne]

hi!! may i request some arkham knight jason smut with a lot of oral? 👀

Should’ve listened

Pairing: ArkhamKnight!Jason x Fem!Reader

Warnings: SMUT 18+, Gun against jaw (for a second in a non-sexual scene), Oral, brief mention of church, semi-public sex.

Word Count: 1,426

Summary: After zoning out at a bad time, you come to learn that maybe it isn’t bad after all.

Authors note: oh my god, I forgot how feral I am for AK!Jason, like ugh, I went down a little rabbit hole of research to refresh my brain after writing so much RH!Jason and I’m sure glad I did. Thank you, Anon 💕 Gonna have to play Batman: Arkham knight again even though I’ve already finished it.

✨MASTERLISTS✨

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

Your breathing faltered as the air got caught in your throat at the sight of him, your heartbeat ringing loudly in your ears. You had heard others talking about him, and you’d seen photos and videos in the media, but none of them had quite done him any sort of justice.

You couldn’t even see his face, it being covered by a full helmet with bat ears and an LED panel front, yet you were still intrigued. 

The way he walked and carried himself, the way his body language demanded respect, and how his voice came out all husky and modified through the modulator had a dampness forming in your underwear. 

You shook your head a little to try to clear the thoughts swarming your mind, thoughts you definitely should not in any circumstances be thinking about the Arkham Knight- 

“Did you just shake your head no?” His voice abruptly cut in.

Oh, shit. 

Your head shake had been a lot stronger than you had intended for it to be, causing him to think that you were disagreeing with what he had been saying to the group of mercenaries present tonight, which you had zoned out of to focus on what his hands might feel like on your body, so you had no idea what you had even accidentally said no to. 

“No”

“No? Are you sure?” 

“Maybe?”

Scoffing he pushed past a couple of people to get to where you were standing in the back row, looming over you as he closed the gap between you intimidatingly. 

“I said that I am going to hand-pick people present here for my personal squad tonight, and you thinking that you have a say of your own makes you target number one, you shaking your head no, thinking you have freewill means you’re stuck to my side tonight… Say no to me again, and I’m going to make you wish you don’t even have a head to shake next time. Am I clear?”

“Yes” You said under your breath, distracted by how close he was to you. If you were brave enough you could reach out and touch him, run your hands along the armoured plating on his chest. 

“Excuse me? Speak up” You only registered what he had said as you felt the cold barrel of his gun press into the underside of your jaw, the metal digging into your skin a little bit.

“Yes” You repeated, this time a lot louder “Yes, you are clear.”

—-------------

Oh, of course, the one day you mess up and get forced to stick to Arkham Knight’s side is the one where he decides he is going to stand on a random Gotham rooftop and overlook the city. 

You’d never really been that fond of heights, not since you’d fallen off that wall at school and broken your left arm in three places. This must have been God’s way of punishing you for not going to church since you’d flown the nest. 

To your right, you could see him in your peripheral setting up some sort of equipment quickly and gracefully like he had done it a thousand times before, which you realised he probably had when you turned to look at what it was and saw that it was a sniper tripod. His fingers worked smoothly to set up the rifle and attach it to the joint. As a bone-biting breeze blew through you, you began to rub your arms a little to try to generate some sort of warmth, walking over to where he was working as you began to feel a little dizzy from how close you were to the edge, you really didn’t need to be fainting and going over. 

The thought made you dry heave a little which caused him to stop working momentarily. His hands paused as if he was listening to see if you were going to throw up. 

“Sit” He instructed bluntly as his hands again began to move, a small tut under his breath as one of the parts didn’t quite click in as it should. 

Blinking a couple of times you stayed standing for a few seconds before you immediately began to move so your arse was on the asphalt as he turned to look at you, even though you weren’t able to see his eyes you could feel them burning into you. 

“Good” a small huff sounded through his modulator “Now stay there. I don’t have time to scrape you off of the pavement” 

You don’t know why you did it, but you scoffed at that statement. As soon as it left your mouth you could feel the air around you tense up, oh shit. 

“Excuse me?” Standing up, he walked over so that he was towering over you. Making you feel like an ant against him, the flickering LED display of his helmet causing a sense of unease to burrow deep into your gut “Up. Now. Get over there.” 

—--------

You knew the Arkham Knight liked to punish those who went against him, liked to torture them until they were so out of it that even prayers and begging wouldn’t pass their lips anymore, because they knew they were already in hell. 

When he told you to get up and move you were convinced you were about to go over the edge of the roof, he said he didn’t want to scrape you off of the pavement, but that doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t cause the mess himself. You hadn’t ever pictured his punishments as…this.

The cold night’s air that had been cutting at your face earlier on was now cutting at your bare arse and pussy, soothing the aching handprint now present on your behind, the firm smack noise and burning sting making you aware that the handprint was now a pair. His fingers lightly rubbed against the growing welt to soothe it a little before tracing down the back of your thigh as he knelt down behind you, making you bend further over the air conditioning unit that was currently supporting your body weight. 

“Keep your head forward” He demanded, not wanting to piss him off more you obeyed, keeping your eyes locked on the city view as you heard his helmet release and slide off of his head, there was a slight heavy noise as he placed it down- fuck. 

Holy shit.

Your focus was interrupted by the feeling of his tongue gliding through your folds, teasingly skipping over your clit as he went. You could feel him gripping onto your thighs as he repeated the path a couple of times before he finally focused in on the bundle of nerves. Closing his lips around it he began to suck, gently at first but quickly growing in force. A whimper-like moan left your lips, causing him to spank you again “Shut up.” 

Without his helmet on you could hear his voice for what it actually was. Liquid gold. 

A thick Gotham accent with a husky tone to it, you didn’t really care for the specifics of his voice too much, you just know it added to the growing pressure in your stomach. 

Whilst you had been distracted by what he sounded like he had decided that he was done being soft, and was now going to eat you like a starved man.

His tongue lapped at your wetness before pushing deep into you, his calloused thumb moving to circle your clit to help you reach your peak faster. Hard breathy moans vibrated into your pussy as he went, causing you to moan louder than before, but this time he didn’t silence you. Because this time he would be a hypocrite. 

As you tilted your head down slightly to try to not lose yourself you could see that he had unbuckled his trousers and the tact straps that usually kept his pistols on his thighs so he could pull his trousers and boxers down to his knees, his hard cock currently trapped in his tight fist as he pumped in time with his tongue moving in and out of you. 

The sight made you hit your high, releasing over his mouth and chin as you let out a strangled groan, after a few short moments you’d hear a similar noise but deeper, more masculine, before the asphalt where he was kneeling was glazed in his own spend. 

“I think you should be a brat more often, Doll” He said as he kissed your inner thighs.

His boyish cocky grin would be ingrained in your brain until you died.

✨TAG LIST:✨

@igotanidea

@gone-batty-fics

@princessbl0ss0m

@fishfetus

@honeybee54321

@nothingbutfilthx

@raisinggray

@ashleylr012507

@my-final-braincell

@baebeepeach

@little-miss-naill

@l3laze

#dc #jason todd #red hood #arkham knight jason #jason todd smut #jason todd x you #jason todd x reader #jason todd fanfiction #red hood x reader #red hood smut #arkham knight x reader

[wisteriagoesvroom]

schools of thought

A landoscar college AU, told through social media

oscar, a quiet english major, and lando, chaotic maths boy, are paired together in a philosophy module at Federation U.

author's notes:

we're being a bit fluid with grid ages, but oscar and lando are sophomores/year 2 of college here

ignore the timestamps, they don't really matter

if you enjoy it, please consider liking / reblogging / commenting! 💙

part 1 🍊 (of 4?)

——————————introducing our protagonists——————————————

INSTAGRAM

@landoooonorriz

📍fed U more like fed UP

liked by charliesangles, carloswithone_S, wochi_jianbing and 158 others

landoooonorriz get in my dump truckkk

view 23 replies

charliesangles photos taken moments before disaster 🕷️😬

maxisnot_here: batman isn't part of the MCU ⤷carloswithone_S: buzzkill

wochi_jianbing nice pic bro ⤷landoooonorriz: ty GY, enjoy shanghaiiii. haha that rhymed comment liked by wochi_jianbing carloswithone_S: on the decks next week let's gooo

GOODREADS

@oz-peartree

oscar spent most of his summer (or australian winter) hanging out in cafés and reading. he once wrote a 2,000 words review on the merits of good omens on goodreads, but then got embarrassed and also thought it would interfere with his deliberate choice to not leave any reviews besides stars. so he deleted the whole thing and saves it in a folder for himself instead. one of his sisters once stumbled on his goodreads page by accident. he has tried to block her IP across multiple devices but has largely been unsuccessful.

——————————— the seminar —————————————

we zoom in on Federation Internationale University (FIU), a sunny campus nestled up in the hills of monaco. two students, lando norris and oscar piastri, have made it into their sophomore year.

prof vettel's philosophy 204 module is notoriously hard. both of them have to take it as part of their degree requirements (but for lando, maybe also because he enjoys a challenge).

assignment pairs are set by prof seb early in the semester. lando already knows of oscar, and vice versa, but nothing substantial beyond passing each other in the hallway or the occasional library run-in in freshman year. lando's made quite an impression because he once spent half the seminar chatting about how "young stalin was kinda cute" despite stalin not being related to the philosophy syllabus, and it being totally tangential to the topic at hand. half the class agrees with lando, the other half is too overwhelmed by his energy to argue.

oscar just wants to get on with the work already. he was the best kid at his prep school, the prep school that he moved halfway across the world for at 14 and worked hard at, and doesn't like being distracted from his very important goal of being class valedictorian at FIU eventually.

lando gets oscar's number after class, before they both skirt off in different directions. oscar wants to talk to lando about the assignment, but when lando exits the room he's already off talking to another bunch of friends, and oscar's too awkward to jump in.

lando texts first.

iMessage

oscar rolls his eyes and gets back to writing his eighteenth century literature class notes.

meanwhile, lando texts max, his roommate and padel bud, about it. max is at a campus hackathon. (max is a junior who has been scouted by at least three big tech firms already, and is on track for early graduation. but lando thinks max has other reasons for wanting to stick around...)

the other thing lando is sure of is that oscar is not in fact better than him at padel. but he is not going to worry about that. or think about how oscar might look, red-faced and flustered and sweaty...

lando's phone pings with social notifications, and the thought disappears.

————meanwhile, the boys do some research——————

lando:

oscar:

and contrary to popular belief, oscar does have some feelings on the matter. he makes these feelings known to his friend logan, one of the few non-europeans on campus who also knows distinctly what it's like when people make fun of his accent. nevermind that everybody has an accent, oscar thinks. the idea of a neutral accent is an arbitrary invention. he'd just rather not expend the energy fighting people about it.

if oscar has any thoughts about how he would feel should lando choose to turn his flirty energy towards oscar himself, well... that is besides the point. because that would never happen. oscar is not interesting, oscar is not noticable. oscar is here to get his grades and move on.

oscar can think of three things that he hates, which he is in the process of overcoming. flight delays, going to the dentist, and now: working in group projects.

but, oscar tells himself, he is a grown man. he's moved halfway across the world to pursue his dream of getting his degree, and then heading on to work in publishing. he tells himself he'll stay focused on this, and nothing else. because pursuing his goals requires singleminded determination. or like the great poet pitbull once said: for anybody going through tough times, been there, done that. every day above ground is a great day, remember that.

so oscar puts his phone face-down on the table. he tries very hard not to think about bee statues or lando for the rest of the day.

(he fails.)

——————————— What happens next, you ask? Stay tuned for Part 2 to find out —————————————

📚 part 2 now live!

more author's notes:

eyy it's my first multimedia(?) fic for f1blr!

this was inspired by an ask. i took some key elements from this (lovely!) prompt and remixed. i meant it to be just one post but i think it's now gonna be four parts, oops.

i love chatting so if you have thoughts or even remotely enjoyed this story, let me know what you think :) or lmk if you want to be tagged on the next updates!

bye!

#landoscar #mctwinks #twinklaren #oscar piastri #lando norris #f1 rpf #f1 fanfic #f1 fic #op81 #ln4 #814 #481 #schools of thought f1blr fic #formula 1 fanfic #f1 fanfiction #f1 smau #social media au #814m #lestappen (background) #f1 rpf fic #text fic #landoscar au #wisteriawritesstuff

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Do you think any of your students follow you on tumblr

Fuck me I sincerely hope not. I do not use this site to be professional. Lecturer Elanor is like "Now of course, this is a nuanced debate, but looking at the evidence on the whole we can see the answer" and Tumblr Elanor is like IF YOU BELIEVE IN OVERPOPULATION YOU'RE A FASCIST WHO DOESN'T UNDERSTAND CARRYING CAPACITY

There's a risk two of them might find me? One of the modules I teach includes climate activism, and as part of that I do a session on using social media. So I know that one uses Tumblr regularly, and another has had a Tumblr account in the recent past that they sometimes revisit. I live in fear of that day. I fear that one day I'll write something like "Hmm, one of my students has written some terrible sentence about the overpopulation myth in this paper guess I'll have to fail him lol" and one of them will reblog it and go "Damn, was that Gareth?" and I'll be like WHO ARE YOU AND HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT GARETH

#asks #the professional world of careers and tasks

[specialagentartemis]

Fics about SecUnit 3 to Read Before We Get All Our Headcanons Jossed

Three! SecUnit 3! System Collapse comes out in one week and it seems like Three will feature prominently!

Three has been the subject of so much speculation and fascination for the fandom. We have a lot of different ideas about who it may become and who it might want to be.

Before all of that gets debunked by the new book, here's a rec list and roundup of some of the excellent fics that center Three!

-

Ficlets About Three and Murderbot Figuring Out How To Interact With Each Other

"Feedlog" by OnlyAll0Saw. 599 words. NR, Multi.

ART is a bit of a bully on the feed. MB is having none of it.

A well-done codefic that imagines the rocky early days of Murderbot, Three, and ART all figuring out how to get along with each other.

-

"Murder Mode Modules" by FlipSpring. 948 words. G, Gen.

3 what the fuck is ‘Murder Mode Modules, Do Not Touch Except For Situations That Necessitate Lots Of Murder?'

Hilarious, great voice, and surprisingly emotional for such a short space and silly tone :') Two excellent podfics!

-

"Real Things" by ArtemisTheHuntress. 715 words. G, Gen.

Three admits that it doesn't understand the appeal of fictional media.

This one's mine :) Murderbot and Three discuss media. There's a podfic!

-

Meatier One-Shots about Three Contemplating Its Identity, Who It Is, And What It Wants Now

"pink and green" by CompletelyDifferent. 5,100 words. G, Gen.

During a diplomatic trip to the university's home system to better establish the newly-formed treaty with the Preservation Alliance, Three tries to figure out who it is. Between exploring new hobbies and its sense of fashion, it attempts to figure out what its relationship with Murderbot 1.0 is, precisely. (Murderbot 1.0 ignores this, until it doesn't).

Hot Springs Episode! CompletelyDifferent @elexuscal writes character interactions SO well.

-

"Uncatalogued and Uncategorized" by lick. 3,033 words. G, Gen.

SecUnit 3 discovers that a hot shower is a good place to work out tangled thoughts.

I loooove this one and return to it regularly. The introspectio makes it a fantastic balance of character study, past trauma, and total confusion of what to do now with itself and its life. Includes a podfic by the author!

-

"Unacceptable Topics of Conversation" by lick. 4,500 words. Teen & Up, Gen.

Murderbot gives SecUnit 3 a haircut. They discuss the governor module.

lick does it again! The feelings are so fraught, the conversation held so gingerly.

-

Long, Plot-Heavy Stories About Three Finding Itself In The Universe

"Heuristic Analysis" by thefourthvine. 11,000 words. G, Gen.

Three makes some choices.

Three travels to Mihira with ART and its crew, gets involved in an AI Rights related mystery, and, as advertised, makes some choices. Well-written with some interesting worldbuilding concepts about the Pansystem University of Mihira and New Tideland!

-

"Seeking Safety" by petwheel. 57,000 words. Teen & Up, Gen.

Three assumes a new identity on Preservation, only to discover someone wants to kill it. To figure out who and why, Three has to delve into secrets from Preservation's past.

A plotty mystery, suspenseful and extremely creative, with some bold and unique takes on Preservation's history - and how Three can fit in.

-

"Function" by FigOwl. 65,000 words. Teen & Up, Gen.

"I have worked assignments solo before, and I have gotten used to the absences of SecUnit 01 and SecUnit 02. But I have not reconciled myself to the absence of Murderbot 2.0, though I know it is not logical. 2.0 made its choices, and fulfilled its purpose perfectly, and it seemed satisfied with that. I wish that I had any amount of such certainty and resolve." The continuing adventures of SecUnit03. How does a newly freed SecUnit make sense of everything without having consumed 35,000 hours of media for context?

Three goes off on its own self-actualization adventure after Network Effect.

-

Three On Preservation

"words left behind" by torpidgilliver. 4,400 words. G, Gen.

"How do you stand it?" Dr. Gurathin's tone is slow and even when he asks, "Stand what?" - SecUnit 3 shares its feelings with someone who might understand.

Three meets Gurathin. Also, a cat. Delightfully soft and gently sad.

-

"Social Competition" by scheidswrites. 2,100 words. G. Gen.

It's been a while since the last attempted murder/kidnapping, and life is good. Everyone is gathered for a celebration on the Mensah Family Farm. The rogue SecUnits invent a new sport. Drs Mensah, Gurathin, and Overse talk about work on their day off.

SecUnit sports! Murderbot and Three bonding without being too awkward about it! I love this.

-

"The Tree That Owns Itself" by BoldlyNo. 865 words. G, Gen.

There is a tree in the FirstLanding University Botanical Gardens that Murderbot is not thrilled about.

Murderbot and Three have conflicting feelings about a tree.

-

Miscellaneous But Also Worth Highlighting

"As Your Legal Counsel" by i_have_loved_the_stars_too_fondly. 1,000 words. G, Gen.

Pin-Lee informs Three of its options and legal status, should it choose to come to Preservation.

This one is so fun and sweet! Directly after Network Effect, Pin-Lee talks to Three about its options. Three is a little overwhelmed. Two podfics of this one, one by me :) Also @ilovedthestars your AO3 name is hard to type

-

"Past the Breakers" by Thylacine_Wishes. 5,300 words. G, Gen.

When Three is badly injured protecting ART's crew on a mission, Murderbot finds itself disagreeing with the safety protocols that it had written. It was supposed to be the SecUnit meat shield, not Three. It doesn't have time to figure out how it feels about that before it's diving in (literally) to rescue Three and maybe coming to terms with some things along the way.

Action! Adventure! Edge-of-your-seat drama written SO well! Almost drowning! Murderbot caring about Three!!!!

-

"Team of Three" by Lillow. 5,500 words. G, no category.

How Three of three became Three of many.

The tags say it best: the real team was the friends we made along the way. Or is it the real friends are the teammates we make?

Either way, Three finds a team, and people it belongs with.

#The Murderbot Diaries #Murderbot #SecUnit 3 #fanfiction #fanfic recs #fanfic rec list #ALL THREE ALL THE TIME #long post

[vexwerewolf]

When writing/developing a Lancer third party module are there any advices you suggest keeping in mind?

Bring into the world that which does not already exist but you wish did. Don't just take inspiration from mecha media, take inspiration from your favourite things that are not mecha media. Do something with Lancer that nobody else is doing.

[a-fox-studies]

September 11, 2023 • Monday

I got new highlighters!

The first half of the day was pretty dull. I played Battlegrounds India with @call-me-rayden so that was good!

I stayed up till 3 am and got some reading done, I'm still a little behind on my schedule, so loads to catch up on!

Uni 'A' gave us options to choose our elective subject, and I chose Media Writing . . . not bad huh? I wanted to pick something out of STEM sooo

Things I did today:

30 minutes of duolingo

Played BGI with my cousin, I sucked :D but had fun nonetheless

Finished control structures theory reading, (I've caught up with everything offline!)

Started on notes for Physics — Module 3 (I'm still a little behind on the online syllabus but I'm making progress)

🎧 huh! — PmBata

Picture of the new highlighters under the cut!

They're double sided :3

#dailyfoxposts #studyblr #studyspo #study #note taking #physics studyblr #math studyblr #compblr #computer science #langblr #duolingo #french #physics #notes #aesthetic #highlighters

[dollypopup]

i saw some wondering about what the major Season 3 conflict between Polin is going to be focused on and

y'all

it's Whistledown. It was ALWAYS going to be Whistledown

i think a lot of people look at Polin or S3 from Pen outward, as in, they focus on her perspective and her reasons and her justification and project that onto other characters, but the idea that Whistledown is just a minor bump in the road in Polin's love story is ridiculous. Colin's comment about not courting her can be resolved in a single episode. Hell, less than a single episode. A heartfelt apology, an 'I missed writing with you', a 'okay, I'll help you accomplish your goal of finding a husband this season' and it's wrapped up and tidy but Whistledown? Whistledown is the overarching conflict of Season 3. What to do with her, how people will find out, and how Penelope will grow beyond her (because she HAS to grow beyond her)

Whistledown is already the tension point between Eloise and Penelope, why do we think it won't be a problem between Pen and Colin? All her reasons and explanations aside, she has been keeping this secret from him for years. She has had plenty of opportunities to confide in him and didn't take them. She very clearly feels guilty (going so far as to tell him she doesn't deserve praise for her loyalty). Narratively speaking, if you look at LW from anyone else's perspective but Pen's, she's the antagonist.

And he falls in love with her. He falls for the antagonist. Who is also his friend. (GOD is that gonna be good)

Admittedly, it's more evident she's the antagonist when looking through Marina's eyes, or the Modiste she ran out of business, or The Queen, but even to him it still holds true. Just put yourself in Colin's shoes. Just for a second. Try it.

You have known this girl for years. You're friends. You trust her. You talk to her about everything, though she's a little shy to open up, herself. You write to her and confide in her. For three years, someone has been out there putting private business on blast to your ENTIRE community. (you can pick so many mediums here: a burner account on social media, a gossip article in the newspaper, a series of anonymous posts on the neighborhood watch app, a tea channel with an animated host and a voice modulator that namedrops to thousands of subscribers: doesn't matter) All the people around you, your sister, your family, your friend herself.

And one day, it's you. Your personal business out there for hundreds to see, to know. Your name smeared across the internet or in your general community. Your privacy that got taken away. It split you and your ex up. You can't go anywhere without your community looking at you a certain way. They know your name. Your face. The face of your previous partner who has to leave town in the aftermath. She listens as you lament about it. She does not come clean.

And then you find out: it was her. And she didn't tell you. She didn't ask if you wanted to be helped or written about. She didn't come to you in friendship, respecting your boundaries and your relationship. Does she get defensive about her actions? Does she justify them? Does she apologize?

you love her. and she hurt you.

do you forgive her?

the conflict has always been Whistledown

#penelope featherington #polin #colin bridgerton #eloise bridgerton #bridgerton #bridgerton season 3 #look me in my eyes and tell me you wouldn't be mad #you're lying #penelope's actions hurt him #she helped him AND she hurt him #the two things can be true at the same time #take the pen stan goggles off for like .5 seconds

[johannestevans]

Also on my Patreon.

A close reading is what we call an in-depth analysis of a piece of text, which might be in the case of fiction a short story, or for novels and novellas might be a portion or an extract from the text.

A “text” can refer to virtually anything — this piece is going to focus on reading and interpreting written fiction, particularly short stories and extracts from novels, but a “text” can be anything: a photograph or a painting, an essay or an article, a television show or a film, a videogame, a news bulletin, a play, etc.

Your skills in interpreting meaning of a text will be transferable, but different forms of media might require learning different forms of language and communication — text is text in different languages, of course, but paintings and still images employ visual language; film and television will employ similar visual language, but might also rely on the movement of cameras, music, actors’ subtle choices, etc; videogames will use forms of environmental storytelling to build a larger meaning in the text, such as codices or in-game books, etc.

As a writer, these skills can be vital to building on your own skills in the craft — we often talk about how writers should read to build up their skills, but reading passively only brings you part of the way there. Reading actively and analysing the techniques used by your favourite authors and used in your favourite texts will better allow you to learn from them, and to incorporate those techniques and effects into your own work.

This guide is not about how to write an essay or how to write up and present your close reading of a given text — essays and any other form of meta-writing are a response to a text, and occur in conversation with them: the text has communicated something to you, you’ve read and considered that communication, and then you’re presenting that interpretation to be read and responded to by others. This guide is merely on how to perform your close or in-depth reading of the text, mining it for evidence to use in one of those essays or conversations later on, or simply to allow you to recognise details you wouldn’t with a more cursory reading of it.

Texts can be read and interpreted in a variety of ways, and every person’s reading and interpretation of a text will be unique to them, affected by their own background and perspective — they bring their own unique skills, their own skill sets or areas of knowledge and expertise, their own preferences, biases, even their own emotional state at the time they read the text for the first and subsequent times.

A lot of people are taught how to approach a close reading at school — this might be in Language and Literature classes, in History and Geography, in Classics or other Humanities; it might be as part of a debate module or class. With that said, because a lot of class sizes are pretty big and because a lot of classes are pretty focused on exam and test results these days, with little individual focus, I know a lot of people don’t feel they internalised skills like these as much as they wish they did, or don’t feel confident in them.

Or they feel comfortable in their skills despite what they were taught in their classes, and because they’ve learned to do this intuitively, they feel comfortable in one medium, but not applying their skills to others.

Performing a close reading, or multiple close readings, is foundational to beginning an essay or presentation on a text, sure, but your ability to explore and interpret meanings in a text is valuable in far more situations than that.

Your skills in reading a text might elevate your enjoyment of them, allowing you to see further details or implications; they might aid your ability to draw parallels between comparative texts, and see those connections.

When you see these details and become used to them, you can recognise foreshadowing when it’s first introduced, and sometimes that means you’ll see plot twists or certain beats in a character arc coming — other times, it means you’ll expect certain things to happen, but then be more surprised when those expectations or tropes are subverted.

You might also recognise certain biases or implications in the text that you weren’t cognizant of on your first or cursory readings — you might notice specific pieces of language, notice and keep track of broader patterns, see parallels, et cetera.

It’s important to note that like… Regardless of whether you follow a guide like this or some other guide, simply by existing and going through life, you will gain new skills, you will gain new experiences, you will read and be impacted by new pieces of media, and you will take those experiences with you.

A favourite bit of mine in Transylvania 6–5000 (1985) is when Jack (Jeff Goldblum) chokes out Gil (Ed Begley Jnr) in a very homoerotic fashion while they argue about whether Gil loves Jack or not —

Very gay. You don’t need a comparative to read a gay undertone in this clip, right? The physical intimacy between Goldblum and Begley Jnr, the pushing him away then pulling him close again, the (barely) plausible deniability of it, etc.

It had been years since I watched Fiddler on the Roof (1971), not since I was a kid, and I laughed my head off when I got to Tevye and Golde’s Do you love me? because I realised in retrospect that Jack was quoting it in this scene — and not just quoting the scene, but quoting and putting himself in Golde’s position, not Tevye’s!

And that’s just a silly example, but there are so many things that might wholly change your interpretation of and your perception of a text — a conversation you have in a bar, a Simpsons episode that parodies it, someone’s joke or TikTok, a personal relationship or experience you’ve had that’s similar to the text, etc.

When you read the same book at fifteen, at twenty, at thirty, it can feel like you’re reading a wholly different text, because you’ll be a very different person. You’ll see different details, notice different things, and you’ll be responding as you read not only to the text itself, but to your own recollections of and past relationships with that same text.

You might hold multiple, conflicting opinions about that text, for example — and to do that is honestly a good sign, because if you can have one dominant opinion but see the way(s) someone else might interpret that text while you read it, you’ll have a better ability to understand and respond to other people’s responses to the text in conversation, and get why their perspective is so different to yours.

A reading isn’t just something we do alone in the dark, and that’s then discussed in a lecture hall or a class room, or some other academic setting. These skills are vital for academia, yes, but apart from being useful to any author who wishes to work on and improve their own craft, they’re used in everyday situations too.

When people have arguments in pubs or on Twitter about whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie, they are arguing about their interpretations and readings of the text, and whether the text therefore meets the genre conventions of a Christmas movie.

---

Super excited about this guide! This is a 10k deep-dive into doing close readings of texts - I'm actually working on other pieces to go with this one, and the next one is going to be about doing close readings of television and film, which I know is even less covered in schools than close reading text!

Please comment and share and let me know what you think, especially if it's helpful! <3

#musings #essays #meta #close reading #Youtube

[brigittttoo]

Writing Patterns (Tag Game)

Rules: list the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there's a pattern!

Thanks for the tag @goddammitjim ! I can't remember when I've last done something like this but hopefully I've created at least 10 new fics since then

"Ben silently watches Cody read." - Feast, my 2nd edwardian wlw codywan

"Cody’s hands are sweating inside his gloves." - Tending Towards Silence, a sombre cody retrospective

" . . . Thus [the Clone Soldier Facility Language] is arguably a pidgin, despite its novel morphology and phonology formulated under isolated conditions." - Abstand and Ausbau, an in-universe media fic for an unelaborated xmen au codywan

"[Typed blue header text: Writing Module.] [In pencil:] Today me and fives and rRex got to punch the big bags [Evidence 03.53.11] to see if we are strong now and I moved it 3 inchs!" - Tunneling, the sequel-ish to Abstand and Ausbau xmen au with a confusing piece of annotated in-universe media at the beginning that tripped me up while doing this tag game

"Ovens these days are such untrustworthy things." - Milk, Sugar, Cocoa, a The Old Guard codywan where they make brownies

"One day, a swan-maiden lands on an imprisoned isle." - Monday: Fairy Tale/Mythology, a wlw codywan au for @order63

"Excerpt from elle.com/culture/celebrities, Aug, 2022. The perfect phrase to describe Cody Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi as a couple is ‘stage presence’." - Tuesday: Arts Professions, a wlw codywan au for Order 63 with stage actress obi-wan and glam rocker cody that also has in-universe media why do I do this to myself

"Cody understands why they call it a snowstorm, when your TV is full of white noise, an endless, blurry white and grey." - Wednesday: Alt Prompt Snowstorm, a wlw codywan au for Order 63, there's a video store

"They’ve been sharing the lodge for the past couple days, a perfect example of genial skiing sports relations." - Thursday: Sports, a wlw codywan au for Order 63, with wintersports

"In Florence, they share a suite that looks out over the high, sharp tower of the Santa Croce Basilica, but the view that truly arrests Ben is the one from the top staircase window." - Friday: Historical, a wlw codywan au for Order 63, and we're back where this list started with edwardian ladies!

Patterns? I think my first lines have gotten shorter over the years maybe, and there's a lot of in-universe media excerpts cluttering up the place lol. I like finding characters mid-way through actions just as much as I like describing a setting, apparently!

I'm not sure who's been tagged, so I'll go with @cabezadeperro and @lttrsfrmlnrrgby and @elwenyere and @adiduck ? I'm sure I'm crossing over into lore's tagged people now so mwah goodnight <3

#my fic #star wars #codywan #tag game

[anim-ttrpgs]

A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club: Adventure Art

These posts probably won't launch for another two weeks at the time of writing this, but we're doing something new in the TTRPG book club that we run.

Our "Adventure Art" program.

This is barely even a "program" really it's just us encouraging players to draw art of their characters and scenes from adventures within the TTRPG Book Club, post them in a certain channel in the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club discord server, and give us permission to post them (with full credit) here on our tumblr blog and/or other social media in the future. Alternatively, you can post it yourself on your own account, tag us, and we'll reblog it here.

This goes for any A.N.I.M. RPG(of which there is really currently only one, Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy), and any other TTRPG that we are currently or have ever played in the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club. That currently includes Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, and Mothership. You can even do this and tag us if you play and draw these games but haven't done so specifically in the book club.

We strongly encourage this regardless of artistic skill--y'all have seen that we will literally post MSPaint drawings of cool scenes on this blog.

Within about a week or two, stay tuned for art featuring characters and scenes from adventures using our games and games that get played in the TTRPG book club! They'll be tagged as "adventure art" as well as everything else relevant.

You can read more about all that we do to support the indie-ttrpg scene, read about our projects, join the book club, and download a free demo of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy all from our website.

Check us out on itch.io too!

If you're thinking "damn that sounds so awesome I wish I could support these people" then look no further than our patreon page, where you can pick up a full copy of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, adventure modules, and short story exerpts from the Eureka horror-comedy vampire novel, and more for only $5. This money supports us, what we do, and many other independant TTRPG developers via the A.N.I.M. TTRPG book club.

#eureka: investigative urban fantasy #coc #rpg #roleplaying #tabletop #eureka #allied forces #indie rpg #ttrpg #dnd #mothership rpg #mothership #vampires #monsters #gothic horror #nosferatu #vampirism #wolf #eldrich horror #ttrpg tumblr #ttrpg character #ttrpg design #ttrpg oc #ttrpg community #ttrpg art #ttrpgs #indie ttrpg #original ttrpg #alien #aliens

[weerd1]

Yet another tale of how much I owe Star Trek

So this is something I haven’t talked about in years, but I was feeling nostalgic today and wanted to capture something. I wanted to write down how Star Trek got me through adolescence. 

Now, I’d already begun decoding Trek and it was already untying the knots my conservative upbringing was instilling from a young age. I can talk about “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” being so on the nose, but 11 year old me NEEDING to see that message about skin color so badly. However, this is not about Trek making me a better person (which it did); this is about Trek helping me learn how to BE a person.  Much more after the jump...

When I was in sixth grade, in about 1984 (I’m 50 now for reference) I got a copy of the old FASA Star Trek role-playing game. Please keep in mind that at this point, there is TOS, TAS, three movies, the novels, and a few comics, but that’s about it. I was consuming and reconsuming them voraciously when I got this game. As a small-for-his-age, nerdy, poor kid living in a trailer, the idea that I could roll a few dice and…BE in Star Trek was a potent elixir. 

Other people around me were growing up. Toys cast aside, actually interacting with other people in nascent romances; I was rushing home to watch GI Joe and Transformers after school. I was playing with Star Wars figures. I was now going through Starfleet Academy, and all it took was a pencil and 2D10. (Sidenote- the FASA RPG system remains one of my favorite RPGs second only to Fantasy Flight Games’ Star Wars system.) It was a way of adding the unknown to fanfiction I was already writing through  my MEGO Trek figures. 

I created a character, a descendant of my own (the biggest fantasy at that time being that I would ever find someone with whom I could start a line of descendants), promoted them to Captain and looking in the “Federation Ship Recognition Manual,” picked out a starship: the NCC-1754 USS Kitty Hawk.

My adventures had begun. Borrowing PLENTY from my heroes, my character was half-Vulcan, and 100% self-insert. To me, this was the POINT of an RPG. It was me, but the version of me I wished I could be. 

As the year went by, I picked up MORE novels and managed to find more TOS episodes (mostly on videodisc at a local place called “Movies to Go”). My sixth grade teacher, Mr. Toresdahl, was a Trekkie and would spend time he probably should have spent convincing me to do homework talking trivia. I would pick up the supplemental bits of the RPG: The Star Trek III Starship Combat Game, the miniatures, modules, reference books.

Probably the most important was when I got “The Romulans” which were certainly my favorite Trek villain.  This was helped along in NO small part by Diane Duane and her novels starting with “My Enemy, My Ally,” and later “The Romulan Way.” Without a whole lot coming out of Paramount for Star Trek at the time, there was a lot of borrowing between the existing media.

The RPG borrowed from the novels. The DC Comics series which started after the film “The Wrath of Khan” borrowed from the RPG.*

There was a congruence of some sort forming, and being as into the RPG as I was, it made me pretty well versed in all the lore. I started finding (and eventually writing for) fanzines at that point. I scoured “Starlog” magazine for Trek news and opinion. I was dead set that I would not rest until I knew all there was to know about Star Trek. 

When I started 7th Grade, there was a shift in the world around me.  Junior High meant multiple classes and even “electives.” Again, the whole physical specter of preteen sexuality was unfolding (and the examples around a young boy in the mid-eighties were seldom the healthiest). It was like I’d landed suddenly after the summer on a whole new planet, and I wasn’t sure how to cope with it all. 

But luckily, I had access to a version of me for whom landing on strange, new worlds was old hat. 

And so, I began what I can only now call LARPing life. I decided I WAS Captain Daomer. I invented an intricate “campaign” for myself, where 23rd Century Romulans (thanks again, Ms. Duane) had come back to Earth’s past to change our history, prevent the Federation from forming.** Just luckily, the Kitty Hawk was monitoring tachyon emissions in a singularity adjacent to the Sol system, and picked up the coming changes to the causality chain. At the last minute a hasty slingshot maneuver around the black hole had taken me and my crew to the time and place of the primary Romulan incursion: Southern Arizona in 1985. Of course.

Now, was this just a protective shell inside my head where I would pretend to be Captain Daomer pretending to be Daniel dealing with the intricacies of social interaction in the 7th grade?  Of COURSE not. I told anyone who would listen the whole story.

For about the next six years. 

I was in a small enough town that my school, Palominas Elementary, was a K-8.  I’d been with the same folks and staff more or less my entire school career. So, when I had to take a bus 30 minutes away to the nearest town to begin attending High School, did I change the story? Did I keep it to myself?  Oh no; if anything I became MORE flamboyant about it. Still a skinny nerd, I wasn’t picked on. Why? Because that kid’s the “Spock Guy,” and why would anyone mess with that Spock Guy?

Something important DID change between my Freshman and Sophomore year though. Star Trek: The Next Generation debuted. So, I had to update my story a bit.  My half-Vulcan character had returned to the 23rd century, continued his career, and in the 24th century, after being promoted to Commodore and as a fleet commander claiming the new Galaxy-Class USS Kitty Hawk as my flagship, had discovered post-Tomed Romulans were up to their old tricks.  That allowed me a real coup at one point, as I had caught through some fan publication early wind of Denise Crosby leaving the show, and “accidentally” dropped my knowledge that Lt. Tasha Yar was going to die before it happened on the TV. Proof of future knowledge! 

My Junior year, I was approached by a fellow student who was writing for the school paper and wanted to interview me.  We spent a couple of class periods talking about my “backstory” and I realized this person knew at least as much—if not more—about Trek than I did. The school paper never did run the interview, but some 35 years later that kid, Will Schwartz (yes, THE Schwartz) remains my best friend. 

I had already started to slow the story down a bit the summer before my Senior year, but also that summer, well, I met a girl. We were hitting it off. But when she mentioned going out with me, the school grapevine was quick to ask, “Are you dating that Spock Guy?” 

And she didn’t run away. Indeed, when she’d once demonstrated she knew all the lyrics to Neil Young’s “After The Gold Rush,” I figured she was a girl I should talk into marrying me. When she accepted I was that Spock guy, because after all, her Dad was a Trekkie and had an AMAZING collection of science fiction paperbacks, well that clinched it for me. Today, Jennifer and I are celebrating our 33rd wedding anniversary. 

So, as I went out into the world after high school, did I never call on Commodore Daomer again?  I can’t say never. Sometimes in a military career when facing danger, or briefing an officer with stars on their shoulders, a mask of stoic Vulcan control would come out of that box in the attic of my brain and get me through. But more directly, Star Trek, and my immersion thereof got me through 7th to 12th grade and gave me a broader world view, a friend for decades, and helped me identify the love of my life.  

Thank you Star Trek for all of that. Thank you creators for the assist. Thank you fellow fans for helping it be such a rich world, and thank you Commodore Daomer for your 24th Century wisdom.

One little coda.  I still watch a lot of Star Trek. Old, new…I don’t like everything that comes out, but I love it all, and that’s something I think some fans struggle with. However, there was a lovely new starship introduced not long ago, and I had to immediately find a fan produced model and make some custom changes.

The Kitty Hawk-A goes boldly... Second star to the right, and straight on 'til morning.

*The DC series had some wonderful early issues ALSO written by Diane Duane! Who can forget the Ajir and the Grond? Or McCoy accessing Spock’s katra still lurking within? Wonderful. The fact I’m mutuals here on Tumblr with someone who was such an influence to young me is probably the thing about my life now the kid in the trailer would be most skeptical of. 

**Thanks to Strange New Worlds for canonizing this, by the way. 

#star trek #long post #meta #personal #Roleplaying #starships

[study-with-aura]

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Finally, a post completed on time! Thank you to those who checked in on me due to my absence all weekend. You are all so kind! Sometimes I will not post on the weekends due to taking a break from social media. Although Tumblr is the only social media I use, the idea of needing to post every single day can get overwhelming when I already have a lot going on. After all, while I love my mutuals and those who take the time to comment and like my content, this is more for my record keeping, sort of like a diary + study and activity journal rolled into one. 18 more school days! I am so close! The best part of it, my brother comes home that same week! I am going to give him the biggest hug and jump ever! In other words, I am going to jump up and hug him and never let go!

Tasks Completed:

Geometry - Congruent Triangles Review + honors review

Lit and Comp II - Reviewed Units 22-24 vocabulary + read Act 5 Scenes 2-4 of Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare + read modern translation of same scenes + typed a summary of the play and emailed it to my mom

Spanish 2 - Created a presentation of a clothing line that I "designed" using future tense and demonstrative adjectives (project presentation tomorrow)

Bible I - Read Matthew 3-4

World History - Watched a lecture video on the Cuban Missile Crisis + watched a lecture video on the Korean War + watched a lecture video on the Vietnam War (Khan Academy videos were assigned)

Biology with Lab - Collected more observational data for my yeast experiment + read over key terms for new chapter + read about protists

Foundations - Read more on tolerance + completed next quiz on Read Theory + continued writing my speech (written speech due Wednesday/speech presentation on Friday)

Piano - 60-minute piano lesson + practiced for one hour

Khan Academy - Watched World History Unit 6: Lesson 11 (parts 2-5 with 3-5 assigned) + completed High School Geometry daily mastery challenge

CLEP - Completed Module 12.3 lecture video

Streaming - Watched Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War episode 6

Duolingo - Studied for approximately 30 minutes (Spanish, French, Chinese) + completed daily quests

Reading - Read pages 126-160 of Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross

Chores - Laundry

Activities of the Day:

Personal Bible Study (1 Timothy 4)

Ballet

Pointe

Journal/Mindfulness

#study blog #study inspiration #study motivation #studyblr #studyblr community #study community #study-with-aura

[nanowrimo]

What Are Tropes and Why Should You Include Them in Your Story?

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. Campfire Technology, a 2022 NaNoWriMo sponsor, creates writing software to help storytellers write better stories faster. NaNoWriMo writers can try out Campfire’s Manuscript Module for free thisNovember! In this post, writer Amanda Jones shares some of the pros of story tropes:

With NaNoWriMo 2022 quickly approaching, writers everywhere are plotting, planning, and exploring ideas for the worlds they intend to visit come November. This, of course, likely includes drafting the elements of your story from literary tropes!

What are tropes, you ask? The definition has changed slightly over time, but we have come to know them as the commonly used building blocks of the stories we read and write. Not only are they just fun to play with in a setting of your own making, but they help us connect over shared experiences, regardless of the places we are from or the time we live in.

As a member of several online writing communities, I’ve often seen anti-trope discourse such as: “If a book contains X trope, I won’t read it,” or “X trope is so overdone, I can’t stand it.” And it worries me to think there is at least one writer out there who will stop writing their story after coming across something like this.

Because tropes exist for a reason. 

You’re probably well acquainted with The Chosen One trope, about the one who came from a place no one has ever heard of. There has likely never been anything particularly special about them until they are called upon to be the hero.

You also know The Evil One and the moment in the story where they raise the stakes by gaining the upper hand—usually in the form of briefly acquiring the one thing you don’t want them to have… Until The Chosen One wins it back by overcoming the odds, that is. 

You know these because tropes are as old as storytelling itself. As the familiar bones that make up our most cherished stories, they make us feel more at ease in unknown worlds. You may be adventuring on a different planet or in a new mystical realm, but hey, you recognize that old wizard there!

So the question isn’t how do you write a story without any tropes, but rather:

How do you make tropes unique to your story? 

How do tropes take shape and form and establish the setting in your world? 

How do they create conflict and how do your characters overcome that conflict?

Ask yourself these questions when planning & ultimately writing your story. 

I know there is at least one writer out there telling themselves that their ideas aren’t original, maybe because it’s been done before, maybe for some other reason, whatever it may be. It's important for writers (myself included) to be reminded that it’s okay if you’re not reinventing the wheel. After all, it is already invented—but that doesn’t mean you still can’t soup that wheel up!

Writing is hard enough as it is, never mind comparing yourself to other writers. So write about the tropiest of tropes that ever did exist if that’s what you want your story to include. All that matters is what you do with it.

Still looking for a place to actually write this trope-heavy masterpiece we are speaking of? Hi, meet Campfire. As a proud partner of NaNoWriMo, we are offering our Manuscript Module for FREE during the month of November to all writers participating in NaNoWriMo 2022. 

You’ll need an account on both Campfire and NaNoWriMo—free to sign up on each—and then you can simply integrate both from your Campfire account settings beginning October 20th, 2022. We’ll automatically track your writing progress, too, so you have one less thing to worry about.

Good luck this year, Wrimos!

Amanda Jones is the Digital Content Coordinator at Campfire Technology where she leads their content marketing initiatives, from managing their social media channels to drafting copy and overseeing Campfire Learn’s SEO strategy. You can follow her on Campfire or connect with her on Campfire’s Discord server. If you’re looking to organize your writing notes better, try out Campfire Write for free!

Top image: The dragon of Moston from Ballads and Legends of Cheshire (1867). Original from the British Library. Source: Rawpixel.

#nanowrimo #writing #writing tropes #writing advice #nano prep #by nano sponsor #campfire #amanda jones

[chrisairgames]

A Year in Retrospect

The social media diaspora began a year ago, and I've been neglecting Tumblr. Trying to come back, slowly, so here's what I've been up to since November 2022.

Bio-Drones & Cryo-Clones

From November to February 1st, 2022, I worked on my Zine Month campaign, a Kickstarter for my first ttrpg zine, a Sleeper Crew Adventure for Mothership RPG called Bio-Drones & Cryo-Clones.

I was blown away by the immense show of support. The crowd-funding allowed me to pay for even more art, better and bigger maps, development and editing, and professional layout. I got to make the zine into the amazing package I'd dreamed up.

The zines were sent off to the fulfillment center last Friday! A ton of my ttrpg work time was spent on what's in these boxes, and it's pretty scary to see it go off into a truck. That does mean the zines will be available at retailers soon, though, which just feels nuts to me.

The Unseen City

I also wrote The Unseen City, the first 3pp setting and adventure for Cloud Empress, the ecological science fantasy RPG, the successful Mothership hack from Worlds by Watt.

I go into depth about how this 20pg zine turned evolved from the "Pamphlet Duet" I originally conceived in my most recent newsletter. A lot of struggles, gained some killer art from HodagRPG, and all for a game I'm really quite happy with. I do plan to return to writing more adventures for The Unseen City as well!

Mitosis, Escape from STAR Station

Last year, RV Games published my Mothership pamphlet series The Cerdo Cycle (that was my last Tumblr post!). Shortly after the campaign, Violet asked me to write a giant 8x16 inch pamphlet adventure for RV Games' upcoming in-universe Mothership board game, Mitosis.

I wrote Escape from STAR Station, a gonzo adventure about a Prison Break amidst two warring factions: Cyberviral Pirate Goons & STARS Staff Brainiacs. Both sides are infected by experiments with the Mitosis board game microorganisms. It's a crazy lil adventure with awesome art by Sigmacastell. You can pick up an abridged print-at-home version for free on my itch page, even.

5 Million Worlds RPG

For the One-Page Game Jam this past summer, I submitted a pocketzine Space Adventure hack of Mothership, called 5MW RPG: Avatar Basics.

In this little A4/US Letter space, I've designed two main pulls away from sci-fi horror to space adventure. The first are Push Tables. Similar to the end of act in a Star Trek episode, these tables push the conflict in new and unexpected directions.

The second is a switch from Stress into Limit. Limit is your PC's XP, used to improve Stats/Saves, build towards projects, etc. Notably, instead of a Panic Table, 5MW has two tables: a Break Down table (similar to Panic), and a Limit Break table (like in FF).

When characters are in the shit, and they have to roll a Limit Check, the players can decide whether to spend their XP and do some cool shit to overcome the circumstances, or accept the Break Down. Good ol' @christiansorrell even did a TikTok video discussing the game, if you wanna check that out.

I'm very excited to continue to pursue creating a player's handbook, 5MW RPG: Avatar Primer. If you download the game on itch, I'll keep y'all apprised of substantial updates. Next up is developing the chargen, and reconfiguring the pocketzine as an A6 booklet: 5MW RPG: Avatar Basics+.

Outer Rim Uprising

I was extremely honored to join 11 other designers to create pieces of the Outer Rim Uprising Megabundle, spearheaded by our intrepid leader, Iko of The Lost Bay Studio.

Several months of brainstorming and collaboration went into this 20+ piece bundle. I contributed two pieces for this bundle. The first is a 12pg adventure module Rusted to the Core. Androids aboard an aerostat station floating in a gas giant's clouds have gone on strike. Can the PCs resolve the issues before the Rust overtakes the station?

The second is the more "experimental" Bones on the Ground. Bones is a bifold adventure into an android museum-prison, paired with three diegetic fliers supporting the ARA, the Android Rights Association (or Android Rebel Alliance, depending on who you ask!). Pieces of the three flyers contain clues for PCs who join the ARA to better succeed when they begin their museum infiltration.

A Buncha Spaceship Deckplans

So I have ADHD, and experience bouts of summer mania. Spaceshiptember rolled around, and I thought, "Hey it'd be no problemo to write 30 deckplans and release them this month, while I'm also trying to print BioCryo, promote ORU, starting a newsletter, and finishing up The Unseen City." Totally sane decision, right?

Well, I got through half the month. And I sketched out a third week's worth of ships on paper too. One of those sketches caught Adam STATION's eye, even, and he asked me to join An Infinity of Ships to turn it into a micro-adventure!

As long as this quick-n-dirty zine remains unfinished, it'll be free on itch.io. Again, if you'd like, follow along and I'll send out dev updates when new pages are added!

the dying tides

Another Jam entry, this time for The Lost Bay Studio's system agnostic fantasy setting + coloring book, SKYREALMS.

I made the dying tides as a short, lightweight fantasy adventure to venture among wavebros and squidillies. The art is based on my 4 yo daughter's paintings. Since she loved coloring the SKYREALMS books so much, I figured it was a poetic homage to the kind and mysterious heart of this game.

An Interactive Terminal Network

Last but not least, I smashed my skull against Twine on and off for six months to create a unified Interactive Terminal Network for my Mothership adventure, Bio-Drones & Cryo Clones.

The terminal is absolutely free to play on itch.io. Though passwords that can be found in the zine lock off a few areas. That said, I'm sure many folk could dig out the passwords without the zine. I don't know how to do that stuff. The fact that I even MADE this thing is a miracle to me, hahaha.

Goal for 2023

Talk about this stuff as it's happening so I don't infodump on people like this, haha.

What I'm working on now:

Twisting Unseen

Untitled Liminal Horror adventure

Provisional sketches, for the artist/layout designer.

Also, if you made it this far, thanks.

-Chris Air

#indie ttrpg #mothership #mothership rpg #ttrpg #horror #spaceship #role playing games #tabletop #fantasy #liminal horror #science fantasy #nausicaa #nausicaä of the valley of the wind #rpg

[qqueenofhades]

write a fic that is epistolary except instead of it being a letter it's Hob writing a rage response to GoT/HotD

OKAY LOOK NONNIE, HOB IS OBVIOUSLY A HISTORY PROFESSOR IN 2022, YES?

So that means he has ABSOLUTELY heard of GoT/HOTD, his students come into class with many dumb ideas because of it, and this (uh, not in any way inspired by actual events) makes him very, very Tired. So one day he just draws up a PowerPoint presentation entitled "Why Game of Thrones Is Not History PLEASE STOP CITING IT IN YOUR ESSAYS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD UNLESS IT IS SPECIFICALLY A COMPARATIVE MEDIA ANALYSIS THANK YOU!" and goes to town. One of his students films it and puts it on YouTube. Hob becomes a viral video star for a while, which is the worst thing that has ever happened to him in 600+ years of life. He gets lots of nasty comments insisting that he is very wrong and a politically correct snowflake and that Joe Q. Viewer, Noted Medieval History Expert, is obviously right, especially about Women, Gays, and Black People.

Hob takes all these comments, compiles ANOTHER PowerPoint, and gives a conference paper about Popular Medievalism and Public Perception, wherein he just reads them all for filth in an extremely thoughtful and academic way. (I see Hob as being primarily a late medieval/early modernist with particular focus on Britain's role in the Atlantic world and the impact of the slave trade in the development of empire, or at least that will be his main research interest in AITWW). However by nature, and for Reasons, he also teaches medieval history survey modules and medieval independent studies and such, so he is definitely very conversant in all that too.

Anyway, Hob then passive-aggressively publishes said conference paper in some journal or other. Professors are like "oh my god thank you." His students tend to think he's cool. Hob may be cool, but he is mostly just a man with a burning, burning grudge. Against Will Shakespeare, and against fucking Game of Thrones.

#anonymous #ask #hob gadling #aitww #i have So Many history professor hob headcanons #me projecting my academic trauma onto him? maybe #dream when they reunite in 2022: okay you do WHAT for a living