#ftl y'all

[rachelordwayart]

Happy New Comic Day!

I have some old comics that could be new comics if you preorder the first-time-in-print anthologies Shaped Like A Friend or Alone Together!

Shaped Like A Friend collects my original comedy comics (plus a prose story) from 2014-2018, featuring robots, aliens, Greek gods, and monsters. All-ages appropriate. Also available as a PDF.

Alone Together collects my original drama comics from 2014-2018, mostly memoir with some fiction. Ages 15+ for depression and sexuality (content warnings in preview). Also available as a PDF.

You can get 25% off your cart with coupon YESPLEASE or by following this link—sale's on 'til 3/31!

#art #comic #shaped like a friend #alone together #comic anthology #comedy comic #sci fi #sci fi comics #sci fi comedy #robot #alien #drama comic #journal comic #memoir comic #ftl y'all

[oliveroctavius]

if you have a couple spare $$, why not check out this comic fair opening today (Oct 1)? Consider taking $2-$10 of what you've saved while pirating from huge publishing houses to get yourself something different from an indie artist who will receive every cent directly.

#eyeing Val Wise's entry but also this reminds me #I should go buy FTL Y'all #olivertxt

[zombombie]

I think the fact that the ONLY single thing (to my knowledge) phineas and ferb were umable to overcome is the speed of light, and even then they still got really close, like probably 80-90% the speed of light.

#phineas and ferb #y'all were able to fix a collapsing space-time continuum but couldn't make ftl boots smh my head #also they should've like evaporated or smth every time they used the boots #which means phineas ferb and Candace are all immortal #via ultra enhanced regenerative powers

[starringroleasthehero]

“Where did all of these children come from-”

#//Actor speaks. #//dash comm. #//i'm playing more ftl & witnessing y'all have fun w/that meme; it's great dshjgfhgjsd

[deuceofgears]

hi mr. lee, i hope youre well!! i read MoE earlier this year and it gave me severe brainrot so i'm very excited for the ttrpg. do you have any suggestions on how i should pitch it to my dnd group (none of whom have read the series)

thank you for your time :)

Hello! I'm sorry for the delayed response - I'm under deadline for a book AND, because I have perfect timing, I caught a cold and it suuuuucks. XD So I'm a bit behind on Tumblr. /o\

So Ninefox Gambit RPG is very different from D&D. The game's written so it shouldn't require reading the books, but realistically, most of the people who are curious are probably...the people who read the books. XD (I'm glad you liked it!)

If your group wants ONE low-commitment short story to get the flavor of the setting, The Battle of Candle Arc is free to read online and only 8,000 words. Military sf (with all that implies), references to torture.

Here's some information that might help your group decide if trying it is right for them (and if not, that's fine! people should play games because they're fun, haha, unless they're the game designer's family in which case THEY ARE STUCK PLAYTESTING muhahahaha).

Here's the introduction to give people the flavor, if you'd like to share that:

INTRODUCTION

You are a citizen of the Hexarchate, a tyrannical empire that spans countless systems and star fortresses.  The vast majority of the population labors under the rule of six hexarchs and their factions.  In exchange for power or prestige, you’ve joined a faction yourself.

These truths you know:

The Hexarchate’s technologies depend on consensus mechanics.  Heretics who defy its laws and traditions—collectively known as the high calendar—threaten everything from the functioning of FTL stardrives to medical care and power generation.  The ritual sacrifice of heretics, a practice demanded by the high calendar, is a small price to pay for the collective good...a price that increasingly troubles you.

But the Hexarchate is at war, and without the great and terrible weapons fueled by those sacrifices, it would lose.  As awful as the Hexarchate is, its enemies are worse.

In Ninefox Gambit RPG, players roleplay hard choices serving the despotic Hexarchate.  This can end in three ways: rebellion against the Hexarchate, attempts to reform the system, or assimilation.  The rules system is designed to encourage your group to collaborate in exploring your characters’ moral dilemmas.

This is a narrative game rather than a crunchy one. If any of y'all have played FATE, it runs pretty similar to that. Much fewer rules than D&D! The actual rules (mechanics) are like 30 pages - everything else is world info, pregenerated NPCs, and starter scenarios. I'm now realizing I didn't stat up Jedao the Calico Cat AUGH what is wrong with me?!

Runs on d6's. If y'all are D&D players, I assume you're set for dice. XD

There is social & physical combat, but it's NOT crunchy combat - you won't need a map or minis (unless they make you happy!).

The game is narrowly focused on: you are a group of characters who work for an evil interstellar empire, so you're part of the problem, AND ALSO, each one of you has a heresy that sets you at odds with the evil empire - the whole game is about exploring moral dilemmas. Some people love this kind of thing, but if your group prefers Good vs. Evil, probably not a great fit.

You actually can't die in combat unless you CHOOSE to as a narrative decision. Mechanically, your character passes to GM control/"ends" if they are Assimilated and go over 100000% to the evil empire.

If you have a willing GM, the game comes with THREE starter scenarios, including pregenerated characters: Shuos & Kel (fighting/sneaking!), Rahal & Vidona (law & order), and Andan & Nirai (tech/diplomacy). So a quick way to see if folks enjoy it would be to run one of the scenarios as a one- or two-session intro.

I hope this is helpful! May all your D&D characters roll critical hits. :) Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions. :)

#ninefox gambit rpg #machineries of empire #my games #asked and answered

[aletterinthenameofsanity]

just had the idea for a space opera based around the concept of lighthouse keepers for entire planet keeping people from dropping out of hyperdrive/ftl travel/take your pick and keeping them from hitting planets...the isolation of space...the hope of the lighthouse on a new scale...combine the world's two next frontiers (deep ocean/deep space) together in one aesthetic...are y'all seeing the vision?

#my writing #please someone write this idea #prompts #idk where i would take this but i want it so bad

[ftlcast]

5 Years

I (August) meant to write this yesterday, but things kind of got away from me, so here's this post now that we're five years and a day old.

Follow the Leader was inspired by Friends at the Table, an actual play podcast that focuses on games other than D&D. It exposed me to my first GMless tabletop game and got me thinking about how cool it would be to do something similar. Through their "Tips at the Table" Patreon show, they encouraged the audience to go ahead and make whatever kind of podcast they wanted, and I decided to take the plunge.

We originally began recording at the end of May, 2018, where we recorded episodes 0.1/0.2. These recordings were a proof-of-concept that helped me learn how to edit audio and showed that the core ideas of FTL had legs.

I've learned a lot over the years as we've grown and changed, and I know I still have a lot more to learn. But I'm so proud of where we are, how far we've come. I'm so grateful to my fellow cast members, who've all helped make FTL into what it is today: a way to play games with my friends and share the awesome stories we tell together.

I'm also grateful to each and every one of y'all who've given us a shot. Thank you for being there and supporting us by listening.

Here's to five years, and to many more.

#ftlcast

[aohendo]

Gazpacho and borscht? 8) 8) 8)

OOOOOOH. Thanks, @blind-the-winds!

Gazpacho: Describe the scene that changes everything

okay there are literally so many options here it's rough narrowing it down. That said:

For Attenuate/Reverberate, there's one scene right around the 3/4 mark. It's a calm scene to compliment the last few chapters of chaos-action, and probably fairly easy to overlook for it. However, it encapsulate the final push Madison needs to prioritize what she needs, rather than wants. In this quiet moment, staring at galaxies as they pass by in swirls of yellow and green through FTL, she realizes she can't control everything--she can only control her own reactions, and that has to be enough. It's the impetus into the finale, and, coincidentally, highlights how Cal has learned exactly what he shouldn't have.

For Prince for Hire, somewhat less dramatic since I'm still writing the first draft, but it's actually one of the handwritten scenes I'm typing up now. Kiris is quietly freaking out because he thinks this whole thing's gone too far--and he's not wrong. He's been trying to escape since Prince Nazvili set him up and forced him into 'L Tuola's competition. His guard, Aris, pulls him aside before his first dinner in Competition, and in a very stately, stoic-guard way, convinces Kiris that they (him and his other guards) actually have his back, and genuinely care about his safety. He convinces Kiris that he deserves to be in this Competition as much as anyone else. It's sort of the first step on Kiris' journey of, "hey, I have self worth for being myself!"

Borscht: A future scene you dread writing (but can’t get rid of)

There was one scene in Attenuate/Reverberate that I rewrote something like five times. I scrapped each one and tried again until we finally ended up on this version. It's the key plot twist, too, but honestly the damn thing could be its own novella.

For Prince, the midpoint finds Iiriok Nelovskevouk accused by 'L Tuola Turre (the empress) of conspiring against her, and also not actually being a prince. Somehow I've got to figure out how he convinces her that it isn't him working against her (and that he really is a prince), but someone else, and that she should establish a hunt to find out who. It's necessary because the "hunt" is going to be him, and then Kiris (the very much not-a-prince) is going to volunteer to help because he needs to find dirt on Iiriok and keep an eye on the investigation, and this propels their relationship from enemies to friends (to maybe lovers). IDK. If y'all have suggestions I'm all ears.

Also, the finale for Prince. No clue what it's gonna be yet. Hoping I'll figure it out when I get there. Kinda worried rn though.

#ask game #princeforhire #attenuate/reverberate #wip #writing #writblr #writerblr

[dretadel]

The Sound of the Mind

"Hey Sam, you ready to go?"

"Yeah." I shook my head and smiled up at Nina, whose brow was furrowed.

"Are you sure? If you have a headache or anything, we've got some Ad--"

"I'm fine, Nina, but thanks." Our crew's medic had been flitting around, seeing if everyone was alright before takeoff, but by Hermes she could stand to leave it be. I didn't blame her, though; everyone's nervous on their first takeoff. She skittered over to Nick, our ship engineer.

"So how does FTL work?"

"I don't really know how to explain it without sitting down with you for hours. The best I can do right now is that when we go faster than light, we sort of go into an alternate realm of energy, where some of our laws of physics are inverted. It's like going straight along a right angle. It's not possible by definition, but under different laws of physics it's quite possible."

"…what the fuck?" Nina shook her head. 

"Guys, we're about to go into FTL," Kyle said over the intercom. "Y'all should go into cryo now."

"Oh Captain, my Captain, rise up and hear the bells" Nick muttered.

"What?"

"It's a reference," he said, looking at me. "Poem by Walt Whitman." His eyes dipped lower, and I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Hey! My eyes are up here, genius." Nick flushed and practically sprinted out of the room, presumably to cryo where he could literally sleep away his embarrassment.

"Men," I muttered to myself.

"You know he has a thing for you, right?" Nina asked me.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I like him looking at my boobs." I sighed. "Don't breathe a word about this, but I kinda have a thing for him, too." Nina clapped a hand to her mouth. "I mean it. Not. One. Word. I'll tell him after we get back to Earth." She lowered her hand, but she looked like she was about to jump right through the roof of the ship. "I'm heading off to cryo," I said, and walked away before she could ask any questions.

When I got to the cryo room, Nick and Kyle had already gone under. I sighed, looking at the frosted glass tubes, and went to my own. I took the syringe, stuck it in my arm, and pushed the plunger. As I got drowsy, I pulled down the top of the tube, keyed in the combination, and felt the chill of cryo just before I lost consciousness.

…

Waking up after cryo is always a haze. I'm not sure why, but I think it's something to do with the brain cells needing time to fully unfreeze. Nina would know, but I never got around to asking her. My first clear memory after landing and waking up from cryo is looking at Ludwig's readings of the moon we were trying to set up a base on.

"Uh… that shouldn't be possible."

"What?" Kyle sidled up beside me.

"Look at the moon's readings. There's no atmosphere, but there's movement there that Ludwig is picking up as fauna." I bent closer to the monitor. "Just one, and pretty large. We should get down there and check it out."

"Woah, wait a second. You see a big animal on a moon and your first thought is 'hey, let's get close to it?' Maybe Ludwig is bugging out?"

"No way." My hand jittered, and I nearly jumped out of my seat. "There's no way we're passing this up. This could be intelligent life, Kyle! We can't risk ignoring this!"

"She's right." Nick walked up beside her. "If what Ludwig sees and what we think conflict, it might be that they have advanced technology to make up for no atmosphere. Besides, we both know the likelihood of Ludwig bugging out is almost nothing."

"Okay, say he's not. How do we know it's worth the risk?"

"It's worth it," Nick said.

"Since when were you an expert on xenos?" Kyle snapped at him.

"Since never, but I am and have been for years." Kyle turned to face me, face like thunder, but I didn't back down. "Kyle, this is literally why I'm here. I know how to handle xenos. We'll be fine."

He was silent for a moment. "Ugh, fine. If this goes wrong, it's on your heads."

…

"God, I hate this." Nina muttered from her exosuit.

"Well, nobody said it would be pleasant," Nick said. He looked at home in his own exosuit. Hell, he probably spent just as much time wearing it as not, being a ship mechanic. The thin layer of dark grey dust that covered the moon was kicked up by our footprints, sometimes making it difficult to see behind us.

"Ludwig, how close are we to the fauna?" Kyle barked.

"The fauna is 93 meters ahead of you."

As we crested the hill, we saw what had no business being there, and yet it was: a xeno, and an animal xeno at that. I raised my hand for the others to halt, and we studied the creature. 

It was black, but not a sort of black that was at all reflective. The sun that illuminated the landscape so well simply sank into the creature's exoskeleton. I would've thought it was just an oddly-shaped shadow if it weren't for the cracks that webbed its body, sickly grey and converging near what I assumed was its head. Like an old man, its body shook as it turned to us. It has three bright green orbs that I assumed were eyes, but I couldn't be sure. It was quadrupedal, standing on four shaking limbs that ended with what looked like human hands, but with two thumbs and five other fingers. As its head turned to us, a seam split open in its mouth, revealing rows of sharp teeth as its bony tail began to lash from side to side.

"Uh, Sam, we should probably get out of here." Nina's voice was small, but I didn't even turn my head. Oh Hermes, how I wish I had turned my head.

"Shh! We've never seen anything like this!" I didn't take my eyes off the creature as it stumbled towards us. "Ludwig, are you recording this?"

"Yes," Ludwig's unaffected voice came through my helmet. "I've been recording since the moment you set foot off ship."

"Good." The xeno crouched, its back legs cracking into more sickly grey as its muscles tensed.

"Uh, guys, get out your guns--"

The xeno lunged at us, long black claws emerging from the tips of its digits. Kyle shouted as they tore through his suit like paper, cutting his body in half. It wasted no time grabbing his head and ripping it off. The rest of us barely had time to react before it was upon Nina, tearing off her limbs one by one before picking up her head and torso by the neck and throwing her into the chasm beyond. I froze as it turned to me, hoping desperately that it wouldn't notice me as long as I stayed still. 

Its body seized up, and it started to vibrate. What the hell is it doing? I thought. I didn't have long to wonder, though, as it suddenly spewed black goo right at my face. It ate through my visor like a powerful acid and went directly into my mouth. I instinctively went to spit it out, but it slipped down my throat despite my efforts, almost as if it were trying to while the suit's failsafe formed a mesh over the melted visor. I felt something piercing in my chest, and I fell to my knees, crying out as it intensified. In an instant, Nick was there, pulling me up and dragging me away from the xeno. I felt the explosion an instant before I heard it, and Nick was thrown on top of me as we both fell face-first onto the ground. For a moment, Nick was silent, and I shuddered despite his dead weight on top of me. Hermes, no. He can't be dead, too. We can't die like this. Then he coughed, and I nearly wept. First things first, though: we had to get back to the ship. I rolled him off me, and as he hit the ground he spasmed and screamed. I looked up for the xeno, but all I saw was a puddle of sickly grey ooze and black fragments of what I presumed to be pieces of the xeno's exoskeleton. How it exploded, I didn't know and didn't care, but I wasn't about to complain. 

"Come on, Nick, you're not gonna die on me now," I hissed. I grabbed his arm, hooked it around my neck, and pulled him up. He groaned, which I took to be an improvement over screaming, and I started pulling him to the ship. Thank Hermes for the moon's reduced gravity compared to Earth's, or I would've never been able to pick him up. As it stood, I was still barely able to drag us both to the ship. I felt a strange weight in my chest, but dismissed it as an aftereffect of both the explosion and NIck landing directly on top of me.

"Sam… you remember home, right?" His speech was slurred, but when I looked over, his eyes were bright.

"Yeah, Nick, I remember home. We're gonna get home, alright? We gotta get to the ship first though, and then the medbay."

"I know that." His voice was getting stronger. "I'm just a little bit out of it. Having half your crew being slaughtered in front of you will do that to ya." He giggled, but his breath was shaky.

"Just focus on moving, Nick. We're almost there." Indeed, I could see the top of our ship as we crested the hill. "Look, there's our ship. We just have to go down and board it." Going downhill proved a more difficult task than expected, however. Several times, Nick's weight almost sent the both of us tumbling down the hill, and only when he started to support himself a bit did it become manageable. After a few minutes, we reached the ship and boarded it. "Alright, Nick, let's get to the medbay and we'll take a look at you. Come on, now." It seemed like he'd regained some strength, as he seemed to walk mostly without my assistance. As we entered the sterile white room, he actually shook my arm off, stumbled straight for the operating table, and collapsed on top of it.

"Hermes, that was awful." He began releasing the locks that kept his suit on, letting loose pieces simply fall off him. "I can't stand to have this on for another second. Could you help me take the back off? If I turn around I may just lose it."

"Yeah, sure." I went over, undid the clasps and locks, pulled his backpiece off, and gasped.

His back was scored with rock and bone, embedded into his flesh. Blood oozed from some of his wounds, some of which were so deep I could barely tell anything was in them at all. The backpiece clattered to the floor, and Nick looked back at me. "Everything alright, Sam?"

"You have bits of rock and bone embedded in your body," I told Nick, keeping my voice level. "Before we can try to close any of your wounds, we're going to need to get them out or they could cause an infection." I picked up a nearby syringe, put the needle in an airtight bottle, and drew out some of the liquid.

"Uh, what's that?" Nick asked, eyeing the syringe in my hand.

"It's a numbing agent. When I inject it, that area is going to go numb and you'll barely feel anything. Normally I'd have you put under anesthesia, but then we'd need at least another person to manage the complexities, and--" my voice broke. Nina would've known what to do, but we had to make do with me. I couldn't afford to be distracted. "Well, you know. I'm not a professional medic, but I've got some basic medical training and I know that we can't risk you getting infected with a xeno microorganism."

Nick clenched his jaw and nodded. "Just get it going, Sam." 

I walked over to him, lined up the needle, and injected the numbing agent into a large wound in his back, where a fragment was buried especially deeply. He gasped as the needle entered him, but otherwise didn't move a muscle. After a few moments, I poked him. "Feel anything?"

"No."

"Good." I picked up the forceps and angled them towards the wound. "Now, I said you'll barely feel anything. You won't feel anything from the part I injected the numbing agent into, but you're going to feel a little bit of tugging in the surrounding area as I try to get the fragments out. It shouldn't hurt, but if it does, just tell me and I'll stop." He grunted, and I took that as permission to go in. I couldn't see well, but as I slowly moved the forceps, they hit something hard. I pulled them out slightly, moved them to the side, and gripped the bit of bone.

"Agh, Jesus fuck!" Nick shouted, and I froze. "No, keep going. Just feels weird as hell."

"I'm going to yank it out now. It might hurt as I yank it out because it's so deep, but don't tense up or your flesh will grip it and it might stab you in a new spot." Without any more warning, I yanked it out, and Nick jolted. I looked at the bit of bone, and my vision tunneled on it.

It wasn't bone at all, or at least not any kind of bone I'd ever seen before. It was a few inches long and blacker than anything I'd ever seen, with no reflection from the lights in the room. When I squeezed it, it had no give, but I felt… satisfaction? Suddenly, the events of the day started catching up to me, and I felt ravenous. I looked over at Nick's wound, which was weeping blood, and before I knew what I was doing, I swiped my finger over his wound. Blood sticking to my finger, I put it in my mouth.

Hunger exploded through me, permeating my body. My heart started pounding in my ears, and I felt like a balloon was inflating in my chest. I reached over to the counter, grabbed the scalpel, and popped the lid off. What the hell am I doing? I thought, and I went to stop, but my body didn't respond. Some presence in my mind refused to let me stop. I lunged for Nick and stabbed him in the back, and he screamed. I stabbed him again, and again, and again.

"What the fuck, Sam?" He struggled against his restraints, and he actually managed to tear one of his leg restraints. My mind demanded that I stop, but some piece of it was anxious that he'd get out before I could finish him off. I stabbed him faster, deeper, before finally stabbing him in the back of the neck. With a strangled gasp, he went still. I undid his restraints, but I bumped into the gurney, tipping it over and dumping Nick's body onto the floor. I rushed to him, any compulsion to hurt him gone. When I saw his face, I froze.

His eyes were right on me. I stepped to the side, and they followed me. Brain stem, I thought blankly. He's paralyzed from the neck down. He's only got a few seconds, but he's still alive. His pupils dilated, and his cheeks contracted. His eyes bored into me, and I could see the panic and betrayal in them. One last flutter of his eyelids, and his eyes relaxed. Before I could stop myself, I ran over and started licking the blood oozing from his wounds. Pleasure burned its way through my veins, but I needed more. More sustenance, or the Vessel shall not survive the transformation. I went to take a bite from Nick's corpse, and at that moment I shrieked, finally regaining control over my body.

I staggered backward, blood dripping from my hands. I doubled over and vomited red, and even through my horror I felt a foreign delight. What's happening to me? I thought, then muttered it aloud. For a moment, I wasn't there anymore, but back on that dead moon where that xeno had spat its black goo into my mouth, which slipped down my throat. "No," I whispered. The image came back, more intense this time. Then the xeno made a motion I could only describe as beckoning, and pain burst through me. I looked down, and my skin was mottled with black. Against my will, I touched it, and the black parts were hard and unyielding. "NO!" I shouted, and I was back in the ship. I felt movement deep within my chest, and I shuddered.

For a moment, I went still. Then, independent of my control, my body walked over to Nick, knelt down, and tore off a hunk of his flesh. "No," I tried to say, but nothing changed. My hand lifted the hunk of flesh to my mouth, and I tasted the piece of my friend. Every bit of my consciousness rebelled, but only after my body began to chew did my resolve strengthen. I lurched backward, spat out the piece of Nick, and began shaking uncontrollably. I felt a yearning for his flesh, a desire as delightful as it was sickening. I would have vomited if I'd had anything left in me. Then, something shifted.

Impossible. I tore open my skinsuit, and the skin above my breasts shifted again before going still. It's inside of me. I shuddered, and when the Presence tried to make my body move, I fought it with everything I had, falling to the ground and yelling as I hit the cold metal.

The Presence roared, and my mind was filled with a cacophony of thoughts. Memories, desires, relationships, and above it all, the confusion of my body. I banged my hand on the terminal as I raged against them, those who dared to call themselves Itanwrai but were nothing but dirt, who banished me to that dead rock for my experiments. Then, movement! Insects though they were to me, one of them would be my vessel to return in glory. Come to me, my glorious vessel! Come to me, and become me! But at the forefront of my mind was a thought at the forefront of the Presence's mind.

The Presence should've been able to control my body, but it wasn't able to make sense of it for one reason: The Presence could not hear in its original body. Its species had never had anything resembling ears. In spite of the torrent of impressions from the Presence and the pounding in my head that came from it, I smirked.

"Hearing's a bitch, isn't it?" I screamed, and I felt it shudder within me as it reacted to the sound of my voice. Strange! Wrongform! I screamed louder, and I'm sure if it was able to it would have screamed as well, but all I was met with was a rage so intense I instinctively went to curl into a ball before I realized that I would essentially be cradling my body's intruder. I jerked into a standing position, arching my back like I was being yanked forward. Distantly, I could hear the headset crackle.

Noise.

I rushed to the control room, threw on the headset, and turned up the volume as loud as it would go. "--Repeat, is anyone there? Ludwig, is the crew in--"

"I'm here, I'm here!" I shouted, and the Presence quivered.

"Kordesky? What's your sta--"

"No time, no time!" I shuddered as the Presence began a new assault on my nervous system. "Look, I don't have time to explain why I don't have time to explain, but I need you to play the loudest noise you can into the mic right now."

"What in the blazes--"

"Did you hear me? I could die or worse, and the only thing that can stop it is sound. The louder, the better. Send it through, now!" A moment of silence, so deep that my arm went to take off the headset before I realized what was going on and jerked it downward. Then a wave of static came through and the Presence roared in my mind as it tried to bear the sound. A moment longer, and I felt its presence withdraw from my mind, though the weight in my chest told me it was still there. Now barely able to concentrate, I set the course to return to the Pluto base. There, Ludwig could do the rest. "Ludwig… as acting captain, I order you to short out the security cameras and delete all footage of the last two hours. Overwrite it with useless data. After that, forget we had this conversation."

"Understood, Captain Kordesky. Shorting and overwriting now."

"Thank you…" I managed to get out before I slumped over, the sound of white noise ringing in my ears.

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When I came to, the first thing I thought was damn, I didn't need my alarm clock this time. Indeed, I was surrounded by blissful quiet. I rolled my shoulders, glad for not having to jerk for my alarm clock for it to be silent.

Silent.

I bolted upright. I looked around, desperate to find something to emit noise, but all I could see were plain white walls and fluorescent lights. A door handle caught my eye, but before I could get up to open it, the door opened and a man walked in.

"Good morning, Sam. My name is Christopher Brown. I have a few questions for you on what happened during your expedition."

"Only a few?" I snorted. "If I were you, I'd have more than just a few." Without warning, I felt the Presence in my mind again, and before I could try to fight it off it took over. 

I don't remember what went on during the questioning, or how the Presence managed to answer its way through it. All I know is that as a result, I'm on paid leave and whenever people look at me, they look with pity and not fear. I can only guess the Presence had sifted through my mind to find out everything it could about humanity and how to deal with them.

Sound no longer holds the power it once did. What once produced rage now produces irritation, and what once produced irritation now produces no reaction. Such is the nature of life: adapt, or terminate. I wish it were otherwise, but I can't say I'm surprised that the Presence chose to adapt. As sound grew less effective, I bought a magnum handgun with the intent of using it on myself. I hold it in my hand now, but I can't bring myself to pull the trigger. This thing, this Presence… it stops me when I think about it. Or is it my own fear? I don't know, not anymore. It can't be beaten. My skin is mottled black, and I haven't left my house for days. It's no longer a question of if I'll be transformed, but a question of when. I'll become its Vessel, the harbinger of wonders unheard of.  All life, now and forevermore, will  know our name. 

I am emptied of fear. The Presence, though I now know it is more than a mere Presence, has told me what to do. I shall board another ship, with another crew, and kill them. It is regrettable, but sacrifices must be made. We will pilot the ship back to its homeworld, returning in wonder and glory. All will kneel before us, for those who do not will be broken. Hear us, humanity! Hear us, Itanwrai! Our name is Sl'kafrai, your new God. 

#scifi #horror #possession #aliens

[implausiblyjosh]

Building a TTRPG, Part 2

Part 1

Today I want to focus on making spaceships in the Star Trek TTRPG. Last time when I was outlining the game I floated the idea of each feature being tied to Ship HP, which I think is going to stick. I'm writing it down in the Ship Mechanics doc right now, even!

Quick aside, how do y'all organize your TTRPGs when writing? I've found tackling each core part of the game as it's own doc is easier for me to wrap my head around. Also means I can organize docs when handing them out as a big folder for playtesting online. Here's how that looked for my Pokemon TTRPG, and here's how that looks now for this Star Trek TTRPG so far. Just makes it easier when I'm like "okay, I wanna make Basic Moves today", ya know?

Also, I think I'm gonna start making mechanics and ideas into proper nouns. I'll bold and capitalize them as they come up. This is mostly for me to be able to organize my thoughts better, hopefully it's not too distracting.

Anyways, there's a couple things I want to do here. I want to narrow down what Features of The Ship are and how they work. A way I like to do this type of work in fan games is to map it on the thing I'm basing it on. I'm imagining a Feature being something like the holodeck, the transporter rooms, or the engine room. These are things that give benefits to the rest of The Ship, and help you in specific ways when you're in that room.

For example, The Enterprise D would be The Ship. This is the thing that lets our characters go to different places, do their missions, and solve their problems. The Holodeck on the Enterprise D would be the Feature. This is a thing Enterprise D has, and when it's disabled it can't be used anymore.

To give Features flexibility, I want them two have two types of mechanics associated with them. First, I want them to have PbtA style Moves, and secondly I want them to have what I'm calling Abilities. Moves are active, your character is doing something to trigger them. Abilities are passive, they're just a sort of mundane thing that happens because the Feature is active.

Here's an example take from my doc, if that was all a little rambling.

The Bridge – The “brain” of the Ship. Most every position can be done from this room, communications can be given from here with ease, and the captain is usually here to give orders and command the Ship.

Fire When Ready When you attack another Ship from The Bridge, roll 2d6 + Tactical. On a 6-, someone else picks 1. On a 6-9, pick 1. On a 10+, pick 2. • Deal damage to the opposing Ship. • Select where the opposing Ship takes damage. • You do not leave yourself open for attack. • You can give yourself 1 Advantage in this battle.

Let Me Take The Lead When you Plan On The Fly from The Bridge, any character on The Ship can help with your Plan On The Fly Move.

Abilities • As long as you are on The Bridge, you can access every other Feature from this room as if you were in or near that Feature. • As long as The Bridge is active, you can communicate with anyone else on The Ship with ease.

Does this make sense? I think it makes sense. I want each Feature to have a purpose and have a benefit, and I think this is a really good way to do it! Hopefully it's not too overwhelming for players... or me, as the dude who has to come up with all of these.

Speaking of, let's list those Features out here. This isn't final, as I may add or remove from this list, but this is a solid starting point.

Standard Features:

Bridge

Shuttlebay/Cargobay

Transporter

Warp Core/Engine Room

Sickbay

Barracks/Quarters

Mess Hall/Lounge

Optional Features:

Holodeck

Alternate FTL

Stellar Cartography

Arboretum

Replicator Center

Theater

Cybernetics

Hydroponics

Battle Bridge

Emergency Separations

For now, adding to the Features is what I'm gonna work on. I might also add other ideas down as they come up, like that "Plan On The Fly" Move referenced above, or the "Tactical" stat that I bring up for the "Red Alert" Move. But that's what I want to start with, how The Ship in my Star Trek TTRPG will work.

Something else I want to note is that The Ship doesn't really have stats (outside of HP, sorta). I think the way it's used in Star Trek is way more as a tool and not as a character, so I want The Ship to work in such a way where it's basically just augmenting the things the player characters can do. Hitting something with a laser is a measure of a character's skills as opposed to The Ship stats, you know?

Anyways, that's all for now. Gonna keep poking at this idea and see if I can get some ideas down for every Feature so far. Talk to you next time!

#ttrp #ttrpg design #star trek #pbta #josh average talks

[jayrockin]

HEY did you know I drew a seventeen page comic for the new Iron Circus comic anthology, FTL Y’all? The one that’s currently live on Kickstarter? This is one of those pages! The sixth one!

FTL Y’all is a collection of short stories about cheap and easily accessible faster than light engines, and what immediately struck me about the prompt is that it would revolutionize on-planet transport. So I wrote a story about a girl and her two bickering uncles going on a mundane weekend outing to a different continent, and definitely nothing goes terribly wrong!

#ftl yall #ftl y'all #jayart #shameless advertising

[rachelordwayart]

Here’s a story I did in 2018 for Iron Circus Comics’ FTL, Y’all! anthology, now also available in a PDF collection of my more somber and personal short comics, Alone Together.

The theme of the anthology was “what if faster-than-light space travel was available to everyone?” and my take was “if you could go anywhere in the universe at a moment’s notice...what’s to stop you from making an impulsive decision?”

I wound up experimenting a lot with the writing and visual design, trying to make the story clear through the art and context clues instead of openly spelling things out through dialogue.  (It was also important to me to have the computer be “just a computer,” not an artificial intelligence, so the protagonist would essentially go through their emotional journey by themselves with a little prompting instead of through conversation with another “person.”)

I went into more depth about my use of page layouts as a storytelling device here.

#ftl y'all #science fiction #spaceship #indie comics #artists on tumblr #cw: depression / #cw: suicidal thoughts / #art #comic

[theunvanquishedzims]

Got my copy of FTL Y’ALL!

I have read the first story and the last story and I am already emotionally drained. This is going to be good.

Also, I am SO GLAD we raised enough for the creators to spring for shiny cover bits, because it looks ~*~AWESOME~*~! Exactly what a book about space travel should look like.

#ftl y'all #book rec #comic rec #SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE #so shiny #my phone can't do it justice

[evandahm]

I have a 23-page story called Wayhome, about isolationism, domination, and an encroaching alien wilderness, in the new Iron Circus Comics anthology FTL Y’all.

The Kickstarter to preorder this book is running right now; it’s doing very well already! If you’d like to get a copy the Kickstarter is the best and fastest way to do it, and also the better the Kickstarter does the higher bonuses for artists are!

Thank you for having a look!!

#evan dahm #illustration #comic #iron circus comic #ftl y'all

[smashpages]

Smash Pages Q&A: Amanda Lafrenais on ‘FTL, Y’ALL’ and more

Amanda Lafrenais is the creator behind the webcomics Love Me Nice and Titty Time. She’s one of the co-hosts and editor of the Dirty Old Ladies podcast. She’s also an editor who worked on the Iron Circus anthology Tim’rous Beastie and the new anthology FTL, Y’ALL: Tales from the Age of the $200 Warp Drive. The anthology has an incredible premise that attracted creators who readers will know, along with plenty of newcomers.

Lafrenais’ webcomics show a range of artistic and storytelling influences. She clearly understands comics and it’s been fascinating to see her guide two very different anthologies, overseeing very different artists than herself. Lafrenais is a great talent and I took the opportunity to ask her about the new anthology, the graphic novel she’s drawing and her own comics.

Read more

#comic books #Smash Pages #ftl y'all #amanda lafrenais #iron circus comics

[redgoldsparks]

I am so delighted that my story pitch was chosen for the “Faster Than Light Y’all” comic anthology forthcoming from Iron Circus Comics! The second two images here are some gorgeous promo art created by Paul Davey, aka Mattahan on instagram. Here’s the full list of contributors: 

Ahueonao

Ainsley Seago

Alexxander Dovelin

Blue Delliquanti

CB Webb

Cheez Hayama & Earl T. Roske

Chris Williamson & Molly Kennedy

David Andry &  Paul Schultz

Evan Dahm

Iris Jay & Skolli Rubedo

J. Piechowiak

Jonathon Dalton

Kay Rossbach

Luz Bianca,  Mary Anne Mackey & Julie Gravelle

Maia Kobabe

Miss Jamie Kaye & Sunny

Mulele Jarvis & Cindy Powers

Nathaniel Wilson

NN Chan

Olivia Northrop

Rachel Ordway

Sara DuVall & James F. Wright

seren krakens

Xia Gordon

Look for this anthology on Kickstarter in the first half of 2018. Follow Iron Circus on tumblr, Twitter, or Facebook, or join our mailing list to keep updated!

#comics #anthologies #iron circus comics #faster than light #ftl y'all