#the game is literally so good and gorgeous i highly recommend

[pathfuckery]

Pathfinder 2e New Player Resource Masterpost

Hey there! Looking to get into PF2e? You’re making a great decision, but you may not know where to start! I’ve put together a handy list of resources you can consult while getting into the game. As always, if you ever have questions about PF2e, please don’t hesitate to reach out! I love this system, and I love helping new players!

Official Resources

The Archives of Nethys are the official host for the PFSRD. You can find ALL of the rules of the game for free there. Literally everything that is not Golarian specific is on the Archives, and all of it is laid out incredibly well. It may not look quite as flashy as beyond, but its search functions and layout are superior. 

If you buy one product from Paizo as you get started, I HAVE to recommend to BEGINNER BOX. This thing is fantastic. It simplifies the rules, gives you GORGEOUS character sheets that highlight all of your abilities, and have a fun little adventure that dovetails nicely into either their Troubles in Otari or Abomination Vaults modules. (As someone who has run both of those now, they’re both fantastic as well and I highly recommend them.) 

Beyond the Beginner Box, I would also suggest picking up a Core Rulebook. It is true that all of the rules information is already laid out in the Archives, but having a CRB on handd is nice for the art, plus the book is laid out incredibly well. If you can’t afford a CRB at this time, though, you’ll still be good! You might also watch for Humble Bundles, as they often have great Pathfinder packs on there, and sometimes it includes Physical CRBs, in addition to a load of other great PDFs. 

When looking to GM, I recommend the following pages in the CRB first. I’ve also linked the corresponding Archive pages: 

Introduction, Pages 7-31. This will give you the rundown on key terms, how characters are created, the base flow of the game, and the action system (the best part of pf2e!)

Playing the Game, Pages 443-481. This is the longest section of the rulebook to read, but there’s a lot of great stuff in here. This will give you the rules for checks, combat, conditions, resolving actions, and the differences between encounter, exploration, and downtime mode. The most important is encounter and exploration mode, so you can feel free to only skim the downtime mode section of this part. 

The Gamemastering section has a lot of great stuff, but for a GM, your two most important sections will be the following:

Encounter Building, pages 488 and 489. The rules for building encounters work in this system, and they work WELL. Obviously, environment, terrain, and how a specific groups strengths and weaknesses compare to a monster affect things, but if you budget a moderate encounter, it can be expected to be moderate. Just be sure you recognize that Moderate encounters are still meant to be challenging in this system, and Severe encounters are potentially deadly. Extreme encounters should be used incredibly sparingly. Maybe 1 or 2 times per campaign.

DC Charts and Adjusting DCs. Pages 503 and 504.  If you ever need a quick DC, these charts are your friend. You don’t need to memorize them, but you’ll want to have them in an easy-to-reference spot.

Youtubers

There are a lot of great youtubers for PF2e. I’ll only be highlighting a few of my favorites here!

How It’s Played  is probably the best resource for a new player, and helped me a ton with all of the rules when I started GMing. They do close looks at different subsystems, and clearly break down how the rules apply. You don’t need to watch all of their content before you jump in and play, but if you watch a few of their main series on PF2e between each session, you’ll be a rules master in no time! 

I also really enjoy The Rules Lawyer. He always has well-reasoned takes on things going on in the hobby, and and has an enjoyable calm/measured tone. I highly recommend his “Combat Tactics” videos, as he highlights some of the major differences with 5e and what things are now expected to survive. A lot of common 5e tactics are a way to a quick death in PF2e, but you do have the tools to survive!

The final Youtuber I’ll be highlighting is Nonat1s. He’s puts out quite a variety of videos, including skits and other fun things, but is also a wonderful ambassador for the game and gives great character advice as well. I want to highlight his “Welcome to Pathfinder Second Edition” video, which is just perfect!

Other Resources

I can’t create a list of resources without calling out Pathbuilder! It is hands down the best character builder, and its available on desktop and mobile. It’s mostly free, with a small donation being required to unlock premium features. At this time, there is no crossover between the web app and desktop besides being able to save and access characters from google drive.

The Pathfinder 2e Subreddit  is a wonderful community of people, and it’s a great place for discussion. There’s weekly question megathreads, discussions about releases, people highlighting great builds and fun things in the system, and it’s probably the quickest place to keep track of announcements. There’s also a lot of love for 3pp there!

Speaking of 3pps, I LOVE the Battlezoo line! One of my players is OBSESSED with dragons, and they have a whole book that was tailor-made for him, and it’s incredibly balanced and fun. They’ve also got a whole bunch of other cool stuff that’s been kickstarted and will be releasing soon. 

What VTT should you use if you’re playing online? My hat is thrown into the ring for Foundry VTT. It’s my VTT of choice. It’s wildly powerful with the Pathfinder 2e system, and a wonderful community of devs have gotten the system almost entirely automated so you can focus on RP! It’s a breeze as a GM as well, and the only difficulty is in self-hosting, but even that isn’t too bad. Their site has a great set of guides, starting HERE with the ways you can host. If you choose to self-host, you only need to make a 1-time payment of 50 dollars for the software, and only one person needs to actually do the hosting. Split between a group? That’s incredibly affordable, especially considering there is no subscription!

I’m gonna shout MYSELF out here. I put together a List of Actions you can take in combat that isn’t just moving or attacking. Coming from 5e, it can be easy to get stuck in the loop of move and attack, but there are so many more options, and those options are very crucial. This isn’t comprehensive, but covers the basics characters can have access to with only minor skill investment.

#pathfinder #pf2e #masterpost #ogl #orc #suck it wotc

[sgiandubh]

Hi there. I enjoyed your post about Sam’s brand and it got me thinking. I feel like he’s stuck between trying to do what other people tell him he should to “make it” and trying to do it himself. Other people: you’re hot, show it off, do action movies, date blonde floozies. Himself: I want to be a good person and a decent actor, but what if I’m not? Guess I should work a lot, build a non-acting brand just in case I get fired, but try not to pay too many people to market it, I can do that myself; the liquor has the added benefit of getting his name out there and hopefully giving him another income stream if acting goes to shit. Where this all becomes problematic is that he’s not the person others tell him to be, so he comes off as fake, inconsistent, disingenuous, contradictory. I worry though that he can’t break away from these “advisors” because of whatever hole he and caitriona have themselves in with Starz and their bosses. We may not all agree on what happened in 2016 or why, but it’s obvious something did. The difference between them both since then is stark. The light has dimmed. They’ve aged exponentially. They’re guarded. They’re not the effervescent dynamos they started out as. She looks pissed all the time, like she’ll trot Tony out if necessary, but she won’t look like she enjoys it. She’ll go to awards ceremonies, but she won’t look as gorgeous as she easily could. She won’t be their ingenue. I don’t know, I think they’re stuck and are limited in what they can actually do for themselves, as much as they might like to. I can only hope there is an end in sight for them and they can persevere until then!

PS, I watched She Said last night. Highly recommend for anyone who doesn’t think a network executive could or would force their tent pole stars to deny a relationship.

Dear She Said Anon,

I liked your submission so much, I have read it three times in a row (and damn the late hour!). I have very few things to add to your excellent assessment of what I think is a very complicated situation. The proverbial Scottish parsimony could explain the choice of a minimally budgeted, all hands on deck sales and advertising approach. But we are quickly passing this stage and he should seriously think of hiring true professionals, if he really wants to make a financial lifebelt out of SS.

Yes. There's a price to be paid for all the games they are being served to play (and yes, something terrible happened in January 2016, of which we will probably never have the full details). Both of them are now striving to show us they can (scantily, painfully) exist without the magical Other. She, with that colorless, wrist-grabbing, fist-clenching literally dumb person (strictly meaning that we never hear him). He, with that (forgive me, Father, for I am about to sin) questionable, loud and tacky Oriental consigliere (it is high time I should write that paper on the Persia I know and love, lest you or other Anon think I am racist, or something). You can't figure out more opposite add-ons to Those Two, both serving, I believe, the same purpose: to deflect, at all costs, any attention given to the real state of play.

I haven't watched She Said yet and I welcome and thank you for the suggestion. On a lighter note, I trade for it Call My Agent (I have already mentioned this very, very witty French series, dealing with the life in a Parisian talent agency) - it shouldn't be a problem to find it on Netflix.

Good night, Anon. This one below is me thanking you for your trouble and time writing this wonderful post. Just look at Mitsuko Uchida's genuine Joy while playing Beethoven - same energy as Two People We Know, back in 2014, right?

#Anon

[accidentallyatekneecaps]

I just watched shayy play undertale yellow and I am in tears

This is genuinely such good game

Literally is in quality to undertale as a whole and of what we've seen of deltarune

I wish I could play it for myself but I have no way too

If you have any way to I highly recommend it

It is gorgeous is so many ways

#undertale yellow #actually sobbing #Like tears running down my face type of deal

[adanseydivorce]

Top 5 fairytale remakes!

•Blanca & Roja by Anna-Marie Mclemore I highly reccomend all the books I’ve read by them, When The Moon Was Ours and Wild Beauty aren’t directly inspired by any one fairytale as far as I know but are fairytale-esque magical realism tales and Dark and Deepest Red is a retelling of  Hans Anderson’s “The Red Shoes”. I also did just start reading Lakelore but it was a library book and my flight to move back to college is tomorrow so I had to return it. But I love all the books I’ve read by theknand this is my favorite one it’s a Snow White and the Red Rose retelling. I absolutely loved the two sisters and how their dynamic was written and explored, the writing is gorgeous to me. 

•Deathless by Catherine M. Valente I read this book in high school and at the time it was a challenge so I definitely need to reread it however despite me maybe not being mature enough at that point to grasp everything in the story what I loved about it, specifically the main heroine Marya Morevna and how much I adored her and her arc really stuck with me. And again, beautiful writing style I need to read more by this author (I did read her book Refrigerator Monologues but it didn’t land for me in the same way and other sff things she’s written look more my speed so I should get on that ). it’s a Koschei and the Deathless retelling and I would say out of the death and the maiden related stuff I’ve read it’s one I’d recommend above others. 

•The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer hard pivot xd, these are very popular so I’m sure you’ve heard of them sci-fi futuristic fairytale retellings of Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Snow White primarily. It’s been literal ages since I read these (I remember anticipating the release of Winter in 8th grade and then lending it to my irl friend after I was done with it that long) but at the time I was so into them. I would definitely want to reread these before the animated series comes out (which I hope is successful not just because I’m fond of tlc and would like to see it adapted well but in a long-game sense I think more ya series adaptations should be animated series. More specific long game the tlc series doing well is how I eventually get a faithful Daughter of Smoke and Bone animated adaptation (delusionalcoded). Also, want to state for the record I thought Fairest slapped. 

•Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust I remember really enjoying it’s a Snow White retelling. I remember picking it up because I heard it was wlw Snow White but it was the Queen and the Princess character’s fucked up mother-daughter dynamic that made an impression on me over anything else in the book, and I remember they made me cry in a scene towards the end.

•When Water Sang Fire from The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo. This was a collection of grishaverse fairytales she wrote and most of the stories I read and forgot about but this is the last one in the collection and it’s lived rent free in my mind since I’m not joking, I think the anthology is worth reading (if you like the grishaverse) solely for this one story. It’s inspired by The Little Mermaid and the character it’s most focused on is the Ursula character Ulla Morozova (yes Morozova as in half-sister to the Darkling) who is a song-caster/siren of sorts and it’s about her codependent homoerotic best friendship with another mermaid that ends tragically and is her villain origin story it had no right to make me feel as many things as it did, again after the previous stories were relatively mid (Leigh’s my bestie so I can slander her works that aren’t as good as what she’s capable of I have a right <3)  I was so caught off guard by how good it was. 

Tysm for asking <3

(ask me top 5/10 of anything)

#s speaks #asks #sergeantpixie #mutuals #to tag #anna marie mclemore #tlc #deathless #grishaverse #girls made of snow and glass

[suspicious-whumping-egg]

What’s a whump scene from a book, show, or movie that really stuck with you? -victimeyez

oooh 👀👀👀👀 so for movies: honestly I really, really loved that scene in pirates of the caribbean, the second one, where will’s dad is forced to whip him 👀👀👀👀👀 orlando bloom is gorgeous and whippings are always very fun, and like, talk about a guy who looks good covered in blood 😌😌😌 also fresh, that cannibalism movie with sebastian stan…. holy. fucking. shit. it’s terrifying and horrifying and absolutely wonderful, I highly recommend. captivity and mind games and cannibalism and lots of fun things 😌😌😌

in terms of shows: this scene from the kenobi show where vader sets him on fire like as revenge, that’s super fun 😌😌😌 and literally all of the andor series, especially the prison break… tbh star wars is pretty good for that kinda stuff 😌 also in the sandman when he’s trapped in that big glass cage, naked and alone, in the first episode… I love that show, I’ve really gotta finish it….

and as for books, there are too many to count. I’d spend my time listing them but I’d have to go back home to my bookshelf to make sure I didn’t miss any… but in terms of books I loved as a kid, island of exiles by erica cameron, battle magic by tamora pierce (that’s when I realized I definitely loved the torture scenes more than other people— I was maybe 8), the eragon series (mmmm a very good whipping scene in I think the second one? and lots of whump in general), as of more recently I just absolutely love the six of crows series, great books with really well developed characters and def plenty of whump… but yeah idk man my brain is dead rn but yeah books good

[pebblysand]

Hi pebblysand, I hope your week is going well!

From the Ask Game: #11, and #14 please.

helloo! thank you! i hope you're doing well too!

11. Link your three favorite fics right now

idk if these are favourites, but these are three fics i recently read for the first time and really enjoyed:

the triumph of magic by miniequill (odainath) (harry/hermione ; <5k ; AU) After Ron abandons them, Harry and Hermione take on the challenge of finding and destroying the Horcruxes. HHr.

i often feel like i have this strange parasocial relationship with odainath (although we've never talked) because they have been in literally every fandom i have been in at some point or other (including the most niche ones) and they are an incredible writer. i was super stoked to find out they had HP fics as well, and of course you know that i'm a sucker for a good harry/hermione story. i found this one very intriguing - the writing is gorgeous as always, and i was very much vibing this.

.

perpendicular by akissinacrisis (it's tagged hinny but i'd say gen ; <5k ; AU) Tom props himself up on his elbow. ‘So, let me get this straight: you’re falling in love with a posh redhead from boarding school who doesn’t own a telephone.’ AU: Harry Potter, member of Stonewall High’s sixth form, meets a pretty redhead at a party. Harry/Ginny, rated Teen+, oneshot.

this is a very interesting squib!harry take unlike anything i've ever seen before. the writing in this was absolutely stellar - i laughed at times, but was also taken by the overall gorgeous heartbreak of this. it's funny, although i totally respect how the author ended it (and understand why they end it that way), it's one of those where i almost wish it could have gone on longer/explored the alternative ending. it would have been a very different (and probably much longer fic) but i would love to see someone write it.

.

orchards by @whinlatter (hinny ; <20k ; CC) The orchard is a wild, thousand-flower, crumpled-gate, fall-down-fence sort of place, where things grow that you’ve never asked for, that you’d never expect. The summer of ’96, the story of something flowery he thought he might have smelled at the Burrow. Canon-compliant, oneshot, summer between OotP and HBP. Non-linear narrative, flashbacks/flash-forwards to DH. Harry/Ginny.

if you gravitate anywhere close to the hinny fandom, you will know that everyone and their cousin has been recommending this fic since it came out - let me tell you: everyone and their cousin are right. it took me a while to get to it but this is one of the most beautiful hinny one-shots out there. the writing is stellar - i left a comment to whinlatter after i read it that went over the AO3 character-count limit and was completely unhinged, and i am not sorry. if you haven't already, go read this. please and thank you.

.

14. how do you write emotional scenes? Do you ever feel what the characters feel? Do you draw from personal experiences?

you'd love it, right? if i could give you a formula.

as european as i am (please don't ever give us compliments, we don't know how to deal), i also think it would be highly hypocritical of me to sit here and be like "ohmygod, idk, i'm so shocked you'd ask me that!' i've been writing for seventeen years and if there is one thing that has always been consistent in my comment section from the very beginning is the fact that i seem to be able to make people feel things. there are writers who are incredibly good with words. gorgeous, gorgeous prose that reads like poetry. there are writers who are good with descriptions, scenery so vivid you can almost touch it. there are yet others who are good at giving you a feel for a time period in your life, describing childhood or adolescence or moving out of home for the first time. what i am good at, is this. the rawness and the gripping emotion that makes you forget how to breathe. i know some of it is healing for some people, too.

i don't think there's a formula for this. it's even harder for me to break it down especially because it's not something i've ever had to work on - i've always had it. ask me how i work on descriptions (which are very much not my forte), and i'll much more concrete advice to give you.

Do you draw from personal experiences? no, not really. i mean, i'm sure i do on some subconscious level, but i very rarely am like "oh, i felt this at x moment in my life, let me channel that". i've never studied psychology either, or done much research on how people react to certain things. for me, it's a gut feeling. it's a raw, instinctive understanding of people, and the human experience as a species. i don't pretend to have any formal expertise on this. i follow my gut, that's it. and, if you ask me: Do you ever feel what the characters feel? no, but i do feel something.

when i write something that works (emotionally works) i get this sense of indescribable peace in me. and this is true for moments that carry very dramatic emotions (think chapter 8 of castles) but also happy moments, like the roadtrip in chapter 16. for me, as a writer, these are exactly the same, in terms of how i feel when i'm writing them. and how i feel is like: nothing in the world exists anymore. i have no job, no family, no friends, no boy trouble, no concerns, no nothing. you know how, in chapter 16, the narration says: "he smiles like no one has ever died"? - yeah, that.

hours of just me and the words on the page. it's hard to put into words without sounding cheesy but i feel this sense of calm alignment with the universe. i'm not one for drugs but i think it's probably what a high feels like. have you ever been able to just empty your head? where you're in complete control and the chaos of the world cannot touch you? that, too.

and, generally, if i feel that, i know i'm onto something. i know that whatever i'm writing is working. generally, in that "state", hours can go by and i won't realise it. i'm writing, writing, writing and suddenly it's like - 5AM the next day. if i don't, that's when i'm like "shit, something's not working," and i have to work and work and rewrite and rewrite until i find a solution. until i feel that. so, while there's no formula i follow, i do get that writing "high" that sends me into the right direction.

and, for the record, that "high" is the only reason i write. like, sure, comments and feedback and the community are amazing and idk if would write *as much* as i do without them. i also 100% seek attention and validation, but i think if there wasn't also this sense of peace in me that came with it, i would probably find community in a different way. but, you know, i'm a bit of a drug addict. i'm sure if someone told you there is one thing that will bring you more peace, joy and sense of accomplishment than anything else in your life and sure you have to work for it, a lot, but once you're done, it'll be the highest, high you've ever been on, you'd sign up, too.

to me, writing (and this happens particularly in those emotional scenes you are referring to), is the absence of fear. it's the absence of anxiety. it's the absence of depression. it's the absence of worry. it's just pure calm and happiness. it may not be all those things for you as a reader (especially if i'm writing something tense lol), but it is for me. i don't think what i feel as a writer and what you feel as a reader are related, but they're definitely linked. and, when i feel one, i know you will feel the other.

and that maybe people will understand and benefit from what i am trying to say.

#asked and answered

[firethekitty]

okay you reblog a lot of albums ive never heard of and am curious about but it’s hard to get myself to sit down and listen to a whole album so please please, Top Ten-ish Songs To Get To Know You kind of list? pretty please?

i literally daydream about people asking me stuff like this LOL. so this is hardly a comprehensive list of all my favorite songs ever but here are some songs that are really important to me!!! this got REALLY long so i put it under a read more

1. meet me in the woods by lord huron

my absolute favorite song Ever like of all time. means everything to me. i could listen to this every single day and never get tired of it. INSANELY fun, incredible vibes, makes me want to go outside and shoot a beam into somebody. lord huron is an Experience. all their albums are concept albums and there’s actually a fair amount of lore going on. on the physical CD for strange trails it actually has the characters’ names next to their respective songs

for meet me in the woods, it sounds very upbeat and happy, but listen closely and you’ll realize it’s not quite as it seems… in-universe, it’s narrated by a woman named francine lu, and the song has the same chords as the first track of the album (and another of her songs) “love like ghosts”. she also narrates “the night we met”, easily LH’s most famous song. francine lu is not having a normal one. what’s her problem? listen to find out…..

2. crystals by of monsters and men

this was my favorite song ever for about 6 years until meet me in the woods ranked just a tiny bit higher. sooo fucking fun, itches a part of my brain that’s only accessible via icelandic stomp & holler. makes me very happy and always cheers me up! of monsters and men was the first new (at the time) band i ever really discovered on my own without hearing about from my parents or other people, and i’ve been listening to them ever since (almost 13 years!!) they are incredibly important to me and i highly recommend all of their albums

3. sunblind by fleet foxes

relatively new but became a favorite as soon as i heard it. this is also one of the most Me songs i can think of on top of just being so fucking gorgeous and raw and heartfelt. this song is a tribute to deceased musicians who influenced robin pecknold (the lead singer and songwriter for fleet foxes) and how their music is pretty much the reason he’s even alive today. my favorite lines are “only way that i made it for a long time / but i’m loud and alive, singing you all night”. this entire album is sincerely a masterpiece and i highly recommend listening to it all. fleet foxes have really beautiful and unique lyrics, they remind me of mitski’s lyrics in that they’re very poetic and personal and emotional but still subjective enough that you can connect them to your own life

4. this must be the place by talking heads

specifically the stop making sense live recording, which i still half-refuse to believe is a live recording because it’s just THAT fucking good. whenever someone says david byrne can’t sing i direct them here, because he does sincerely have an incredible voice and he simply Chooses to sing weirdly bc he’s a quirked up white boy with autistic swag.

this is just a really sweet and romantic song from a band that otherwise stays far away from love songs and it works extremely well. this entire album is fucking incredible and easily the best live album of all time. half of them are BETTER than the studio recordings, and you can also watch david byrne leap straight up backwards like a full 4 feet

highly recommend watching stop making sense just the entire film

5. vein of stars by the flaming lips

back in 2014, i watched a very beloved streamer play a game called “space engine”, in which you explore as much of the universe as we’ve theorized to exist. this was a little before copyright laws got so fucking strict on youtube and twitch, so mr. vinny vinesauce could play any music he wanted while planet-hopping. one of those songs was vein of stars, and it’s been one of my absolute favorites ever since.

the flaming lips are definitely an acquired taste. wayne coyne does Not have a very good voice and it can get extremely grating, especially to someone who hasn't heard them before. but when it works, god it works. this song is so pretty and nostalgic to me, always calms me down whenever i’m In A Mood. it’s nihilistic but not in a depressing way, more like “yeah maybe we aren’t here for any particular reason, maybe there’s nothing after this life. there’s nothing we can do about that, so why worry?”. very peaceful. REQUIRED listening when stargazing

6. good old-fashioned lover boy by queen

one of the first songs i ever truly hyperfixated on. unfortunately i listened to it SO fucking much it kind of ruined it for me, but i still do really love it. i may not listen to it that often anymore but i felt obligated to put it here bc it had a Profound Effect on my developing brain

7. too much time by john vanderslice

the year is 2012 and you're halfway through the newest episode of the hit podcast welcome to nightvale. cecil announces the weather. little do you know that you will carry the next 3 and a half minutes with you for the rest of your life. this one is just absurdly nostalgic to me (and not to mention incredibly vash the stampede coded). beloved song!!!

8. waltz for zizi & the real folk blues by the seatbelts & mai yamane

well it’s no secret that i think cowboy bebop has the greatest anime soundtrack of all time and one of THE greatest soundtracks of all time Ever. this is just an objective fact actually.

i believe this is because the seatbelts and specifically the composer yoko kanno studied real jazz, blues, and bebop to make the ost. like it's not just "jazz-flavored", there is genuine, deep respect and you can hear it in every single track. waltz for zizi gives me physical goosebumps every single time i listen to it, it's absolutely perfect. i've made it a ritual to listen to every time i visit the shore at night and go stargazing. sincerely transcendent experience

9. cuckoo song by cosmo sheldrake

hhhhhrrr this entire fucking albummmm hhhhhhhrhhhhrhhhaauuuuUUUUOOOGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!! AHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

back during my final semesters of college, i had to take a course for art degree seniors. we’d pick something we were passionate about, make art for it, and it would be hung up for a week in the exhibition room. i chose birds of course, but wake-up calls inspired me to shift that choice to something more important than just random funny bird drawings. i focused on bird species that have gone extinct within the last 60 years because wake-up calls is made almost entirely out of endangered bird songs.

i’ll be honest i can barely listen to this song or anything on the album because i WILL literally start sobbing like in real life. cuckoo song in particular just makes me start crying every single time i listen to it, it’s like a magic spell. it’s not even necessarily sad but just viscerally bittersweet. the art for the album is made by flora wallace. here’s the spotify canvas i made a gif just for you 👍

10. take you back by orville peck

and finally………….. the song that made me realize that i actually DO love real country music a lot, and that the derivative “bro country” sub-genre that developed in the early 2000s has absolutely destroyed any positive opinion of country music in society. we NEED to go back, and orville peck is more than doing his part. this is the first song i ever heard by him and it's just so goddamn fun. i am completely unable to not sing along to this when it comes on

not only do i highly recommend orville peck but also any country music from the 50s and 60s, especially marty robbins, charley pride, conway twitty, and of course mrs. dolly parton. and later country rock/folk rock bands like america and creedence clearwater revival. it’s SO good i’m so serious

orville peck is the only modern country singer i can think of who's not afraid to bring back the harmonicas and whistling and steel guitars and whip cracks and yeehaws. it's fantastic. he's also gay and an outspoken trans ally. i believe this gives him the power to revive country music from the dead 🙏

#ask #constellation-dreamer

[cyberpilate]

True Stories from Comics Retail!

The year is... somewhere in the 2010s, I'm guessing. The place? Metro Entertainment, Santa Barbara's No. #1 Comics and Games store and here I am, working the register.

Now, please understand: the one thing I love more than anything in the world is recommending comics to people and, f I can allow myself a little sliver of pride, I think I'm pretty good at it. No complaints, yanno? There is literally nothing like showing a new fan or a new reader a comic book they never considered before and then BOOM - next week they're in for another one! I've made lifelong friends this way and it really warms up the soul.

So when this gorgeous woman, elegantly dressed and erudite, comes in and tells me that she just finished a class at UC Santa Barbara on comics and wanted to read more, I nearly vaulted over the counter to get her to our trade paperback shelves. She tells me she's read Sandman and my mind starts whirring with possibilities. We're looking for something with a high art quality, storytelling and myth, something dark and dreamy perhaps. I show her The Wicked + The Divine by Jamie McKelvie and Kieron Gillian and she shakes her head and says:

"No, I only read books by gay men."

This floors me. Wow! What a specific request! For the 2010s, mind you; it's not like I knew the personal love life of comic book authors at this time. Wracking my brain, I start to take her towards autobiographical comics, the only place I know where writers and artists had "come out of the closet", so to speak and she again says no.

"Books like Sandman!," she reinforces. So now I've practically blue screened thinking about who is a gay man in comics that writes dark fantasy?? I can't let her go with out a recommendation! She's so fancy! And she took a really rad course at UCSB and she wants to read them I can't gatekeep this young woman because *I* don't know enough about comics to know which gay men write dark fantasy-

-WAIT. Phil Jimenez! He was gay! And he was highly influential on Wonder Woman! (I just checked and no, the Omnibus hadn't come out by that time...) I think I have it!! Glowing with relief and pride, I take her over to the DC books and start explaining the mythological connections in Wonder Woman...

She interrupts me again. "No, books by <i>gay men</i>," she emphasizes.

That kinda puts me on the spot so I start to explain, "Well, Phil Jimenez is-"

"Like Sandman and the Graveyard Book, that author."

It hits me like a ton of bricks.

(Shout out to everyone who figured this out during the story - I am impressed by how incredibly smarter you are than like, 30 year old me)

"NEIL GUY-MAN," I say, totally pronouncing the man's name wrong to try and explain where I went wrong in this whole conversation. She does not agree with my pronunciation but I take her over to Murder Mysteries (when it was still in stock at Diamond, one of my most favorite short stories ever), the Sandman TPs, anything I can get my hands on. She does look them over, but doesn't want to buy anything and leaves me in my shame.

I guess I'm telling this story in hopes that Dark Horse puts Murder Mysteries back into print so I can sell the book to Good Omens fans and that maybe, just maybe, @neil-gaiman will forgive me for the butchering of his last name.

We can dream.

#murder mysteries #comic book shop #retail stories #neil gaiman #phil jimenez #wonder woman #the wicked + the divine

[thescrapbookingscientist]

Bimonthly Media Roundup

-Alien (Movie) - Alien was re-released in theaters so my friends and I went to see it. Still a great movie, Ripley is a badass, the cat survives, the Xenomorph is an incredible design, the building of suspense and set design is great, it's a classic for a reason. My one critique from my ADHD brain is that it would be nice of a few of the longer drawn out set establishing scenes were condensed a bit, not because I'm against suspense but because they went on a bit to long that the suspense turned to boredom for me occasionally. That's a small critique though, the creativity of the alien designs and behavior definitely drowns it out in the long run.

-The Mummy (Movie) - Another re-release in the theater, this was a fun one to re-visit. I mean that in a very literal way, The Mummy is the kind of campy adventure mixed with comedy and slight horror elements that I wish they made more of anymore. Egypt as a setting is severely underused in my opinion and the setting was gorgeous. Speaking of gorgeous so was everybody in this film. I can see why it was such a bi-awakening movie. The romance was cute and well established for the kind of movie it is and there's always something interesting pushing the plot along. It is kinda strange how truly bad the guys trying to prevent people from waking the mummy are at their jobs but that's more of a funny flaw than a serious one so whatever.

- Fallout (TV) - Having fun so far, good characters, fun writing, and the use of flashbacks in storytelling is intriguing.

- In Stars and Time (Video Game) - Watched the full playthrough and I'm definitely interested in seeing more, this is a super charming game with a great concept and some absolutely killer dialogue and scenes (I love you time loop stories). Every character is lovable, Siffrin and Loops designs are fantastic, and the game is full of really interesting lore and mysteries that you can sort of piece together on your own once you understand the rules of this universe. In terms of media I like it does score the perfect five of having good comedy, likable characters, good art,genuine emotion, and fucked up but well explored concepts.

- Dungeon Meshi (Anime) - Fucked Up Monster Lady Hot.

- Six (Musical) - Went to see Six live with my sister and it was a lot of fun, more so than I expected to be honest. The dancing was neat, the outfits sparkly, the whole cast had amazing voices, and while the songs definitely lean into the corniness they are all catchy and fun which I appreciate.

- Pokemon Infinite Fusion (Video Game) - Beat the first Elite Four and absolutely love my team. Currently in Johto having fun building a second one. Highly recommend this game, it's a lot of fun with a lot of extra little quests and fun dialogue on top of the amazing fusion sprites.

- One Piece (Anime) - Finally got to Yamato and yes I do love him. Great design, and he's nice and stupid, great character traits.

- Genshin Impact (Video Game) - Yup.

Listening To: Nonsense Speaker by 000, Tounges & Teeth and Metaphor by The Crane Wives, Six the Musical OST, Ghost by Justin Bieber, Meant to Be Yours by Ryan McCartan, How Did You Love by Shinedown, Stray Italian Greyhound by Vienna Tang, Creep cover by Daniela Andrade, Let's Get This Over With by They Might Be Giants, Dial Drunk by Noah Kahan, and Humans by GEN.KLOUD.

#weekly roundup #my post

[cacowhistle]

crosses one game off my list. stares at the dozens of others beneath it. big sigh. anyways heres some games i highly recommend:

a short hike: in their words, "a little exploration game about hiking up a mountain." it rewards exploration. i went into it thinking it'd be like, a twenty minute experience? i played for at least an hour or two. very cute, very low stakes emotionally. i really enjoyed the graphics and characters :]

co-open: this game is genuinely the cutest fuckign thing i've ever played. you're a kid going to the store on your own for the first time. lotta queer characters. so much to explore. at first you're like "woah store" and then you somehow end up in the vents and then you're on the roof?? there is so much to this game. i love it. it's so cute. maybe an hour or two or three in playtime.

everhood: i will admit. i have not finished this game. however. it is so stylish. the graphics are so bright. the characters are WILD. the music goes SO HARD. the combat and gameplay is entirely centered around the music. they describe it as a "psychedelic musical bullet hell" and tbh that is literally it. the puzzles aren't too hard. i haven't finished it only because it feels, to me, like it doesn't really... tell you where to go? i get lost very easily if i'm not being funneled in a particular direction when it comes to these kinds of games, ones that aren't necessarily meant to be open-world. that being said. everhood goes fucking hard. play it. it slaps. i need to finish it. i keep fuckign thinking about it its that good.

dredge: this isn't like, an obscure indie pick. but dredge is so good. the story left me wanting a little more, but the gameplay is fun, the graphics are gorgeous (the style is so nice), there are some real good scares, and tbh there is nothing better than a good fishing game. it mixes exploration and inventory management really well! and i thoroughly enjoyed exploring every inch of the game and completing all the side quests i could. also theres a dog and you can pet it.

eronoctosis: put yourself together: this game is about being TRANS and DYSPHORIA and SEX!!!! it's a two-player game but it's free!! (there's a paid dlc you can get too but the base game is free) (the paid dlc includes sexual content, the base game does not). eronoctosis was really fun. my boyfriend and i were so bad at it at first (hi babe if ur reading this. we should get the dlc i wanna play this with u again). but once we got into the swing of things it was honestly really fun. the scares are REALLY good even when you know what you're doing. really makes you dread going around corners <3

two little bonuses are inbento and sudocats. it's literally just. a puzzle game. and sudoku. but in my defense. both games include cats. which makes them cute. very nice little experiences :]

#girl help i have too many games not enough oh my god tags canceled theres a cat outside #hes orange #and small #and sniffing around in the grass in the driveway #holy shit #HES ITCHING HIMSELF ON THE BUSHES #BABY BOY #i love him what the fuck #ok he left where was i #i still gotta play heartbound off omori little nightmares little misfortune pinstripe fuckin uhhhhh #indivisible.... gotta finish spiritfarer... wandersong and underhero. maybe replay transistor. celeste and inmost!!! #lots of games not enough time....... thats ok. ill get 2 em all eventually :]

[sealer-of-wenkamui]

I need to make a proper report on this, cause I recently finished watching through the first lostbelt and now I am officially Invested…! I was initially just going through it and the LB prologue because I wanted context for LB6 cause I already love Oberon and I want to see him, but was told it would be best to have some additional context, but it was even better than expected, also I now have a second FGO to be obsessed with, Salieri!

I now know what a lostbelt is, and we started in Russia but ruled by Ivan the Terrible for 450 years and also everyone is a furry now because he combined everyone with demonic beasts to survive the cold wave that occurred in this lostbelt. The characters were some of the best part, I liked the cast a lot~ it sounds pretty wild to explain though cause of the nature of Fate having a bunch of famous historical figures. Also Kotomine is there lol. But it turned out not to be him but still just seeing his appearance was like huh?!

I didn’t even think much of Salieri at first, at first he thought he was Mozart and was just the guy keeping the tsar asleep, but then he gets picked up by our party and realizes his identity and joins the team under the condition he gets to kill Mozart

Turns out he’s not great at that either despite being a version of him warped by the false rumors of him being Mozart’s killer, and turned into an “innocent monster” (which is such a cool concept!) and even summoned as an Avenger class servant. But when he’s brought to the palace and remembers what happened when he confronted Mozart when he first was summoned….

YEAH. And after Mozart is literally asking him to kill him. So all his supposed hatred for him just ends up making him somehow come across as even more gay for him, he just says stuff like this

YOU’RE IN LOVE, DEAR

He has his Moments, but he seems surprisingly sane in this LB even with his jumbled memory…? Summoned Salieri seems a lot more taken over by the rumors (and Mozart just makes fun of him for it LMAO?)

The end of the lostbelt is where it really shined, we have our team of servants at the capital as the tsar awakens, Patxi came along too despite a fear so great he had earlier sold out the rebels, the tsar is awakening, Avicebron just made a golem out of the Minotaur’s labyrinth to stand a chance against him, sacrificing himself in the process (…which this also sounds wild typing it out, anyway I rather liked him, just a chill guy passionate about what he does)

I don’t think I was expecting giant demon elephant for the tsar?! Anyway THIS SCENE. THIS SCENE. THIS IS THE ONE THAT GOT ME AND MADE ME GO OH THIS STORY IS REALLY GOOD. Salieri is at the piano, he must play so they stand a chance. He speaks with Mozart in his mind, and channels all his anger into a passionate performance, Dies Irae! And what really gets me is that it isn’t even Salieri’s own (his entire Requiem is a great piece btw, highly recommend, also his attacks in game use part of his Dies Irae). No, it’s Mozart’s Dies Irae. And I believe it’s part of the requiem he died composing iirc? So Salieri is playing with all his rage in a gorgeous, passionate arrangement of it, and ITS SO GOOD!!!! And it’s the key to victory, they were able to harm the tsar now! It’s really cute when he’s all happy about Mash calling his music beautiful lol (Her return to battle here was also really cool!! Her shield protecting him from the lighting!)

And things seem to be quieting down now but it’s not quite over… Kadoc tries to make a last stand, but Anastasia ends up dying to protect him (and he seemed to genuinely care about her) and he’s knocked out, not killed, my friend is hinting that there’s gonna be more on him later…? 👀

And not just that, the cruel reality of what happens to a lostbelt in order to save proper human history came to light with Atalante and her rebels fighting back… and I can’t even blame them, it’s one of those situations where neither side is wrong, it’s the circumstances themselves…. Patxi went and got himself killed to save Chaldea’s master 😭　despite being from the LB, he wanted to help in the end? But I still can’t entirely blame those who were against it…

And finally, the ending where I cried like a little baby! The tree of emptiness was gone, the eternal storm gave way to clear skies, and the world would soon disappear. With their duties done, the remaining servants disappeared as well, except for Salieri, who still had one more thing to do…. And so he sits down at the piano, and plays Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Mozart’s dying wish to him should the world know peace. Oh Salieri, he’ll act all like:

(His scowl is so cute)

But then two seconds later:

And just. A people that had never known peace, that had never seen a clear sky and always had to worry about survival, never knowing even music, listening to his piano, and getting to see a starry sky for the first time in their lives as the world itself came to an end got me 😭

In conclusion, LB1 was really damn good and oh no I’m Invested now!! Didn’t expect this sort of quality of writing from a mobile game, it’s a proper VN…! I think I still will go to LB6 next cause I Need to see Oberon cause I love him, but now I want to see the rest of thr story too. (…and now thee friend that told me about him in the first place convinced me to play, for better or worse LOL)

#sorry this is 90% salieri posting it would get too long if I covered all 11h and he’s the new blorbo LOL #started FGO for Oberon picked up Salieri in the process #also I tried explaining parts to my friends and he’s been called ‘Mozart’s alleged gay killer’ and ‘the gay pianist’ by them so far LMAO #Infel’s fate tag #i can’t stop listening to dies irae

[igneouswyvern]

Interrupting my usual posting to talk abt Cereza and the Lost Demon because I just beat the game today and I wanted to share my thoughts. Keep in mind I have never played a Bayonetta game in my life lmao

So first off the game is fucking fantastic. I had a wonderful time with it truly. The game is gorgeous to look at and it uses the storybook artstyle to its advantage and it is AWESOME. Nearly every area in the game had my jaw dropping cause it just looked so beautiful. In a similar vein the music was really good and I will definitely be going through the soundtrack for my playlist.

The gameplay is honestly really solid. Basically you control Cereza with the left stick, and use her actions with the L and ZL buttons, and you control Cheshire (the demon) with the right stick, and use his actions with the R and ZR buttons. The D-pad lets Cereza use one of four items and the face buttons control Cheshire's transformations. Controlling one character with each stick takes a while to get used to but it does work really well. The puzzles using this mechanic were really good too and I enjoyed them a lot. The combat can be a bit clunky at times but I think it works pretty well, using Cereza as a support character to hold the enemies in place while Cheshire wails on them. I will say it gets to be a bit of a slog towards the end of the game when every required Tir na nOg is an enemy gauntlet and none of them are puzzles, but it's not too bad.

I must say I wasn't expecting the game to be a metroidvania but it really is and a well-designed one at that. Getting blocked off by something you can't get through until you have a certain power and then coming back to it later is fun and looping back around or opening up shortcuts is always something I enjoy. The unfortunate part of this is that the game's map SUCKS ASS and the areas are very mazelike, so I had a lot of trouble trying to clean up items. I really wanted to finish off more of the skill tree before I beat the game but I wandered around in many areas and made very little progress with actually obtaining the items I could literally see just sitting on my map but couldn't figure out how to get to. If the map was better designed I probably would have gone for 100%.

Speaking of the skill tree, I liked it a lot. When I first saw it I thought it was gonna be tiny, but it actually expands twice more throughout the game. And I like that they don't let you get to the good stuff right off the bat, cause that means there are still cool upgrades to strive for by the end of the game. One thing I wish is that there were more upgrades that didn't cost Inferno Fruits/Moon Pearls cause when I have a fat stack of cash but cannot find a way to access the other items I need, it ends up being really frustrating.

As someone who has not played another Bayonetta game ever, I liked the plot a lot and I can confirm you don't need to play any other Bayo games to enjoy this one. It works really well as a standalone, and it establishes the lore and mechanics of the Bayonetta world pretty adequately without needing any background. It's also just a really heartwarming and fascinating plot. I cried at the end. I thought it was gonna be super basic and conventional but it did some really unexpected (for me at least) things in the end.

Tl;dr, if you like metroidvanias with cool artstyles I highly recommend it, whether or not you've played Bayonetta. I'd give it a solid 9.5/10.

A few more spoilery (and rambly) thoughts under the cut:

CHESHIRE AND CEREZA OH MY GOD MY HEART. Their friendship was so well done. The fact that you can SEE them growing closer in their animations together AUGH I love it so much. They try to go their own separate ways but they just can't do it without each other. Cereza is pretty helpless without Cheshire but he can't do it without her either. AUGH

I LOVED the Jabberwock sequence. Letting Cereza struggle with her own fear and then overcoming it and unlocking an ability that will allow them to defeat it and the confidence that comes with that. Meanwhile Cheshire realizing that he's not strong enough to beat it without her help and being deeply humbled by that fact. And when they team up to defeat this monster, this thing that has destroyed witch and faerie alike, and that Cereza was paralyzed with fear of and Cheshire almost got killed by, and we KILL it ONCE AND FOR ALL, it's so empowering and grand and awesome GOD.

And Cereza rejecting her teacher and every convention of being a witch and cutting her hair to save Cheshire. It's SUCH an impactful moment. It really shows how different she is. Everyone is telling her that demons are nothing but tools, to be used for the gain of a witch and then cast aside back to Inferno like they're nothing. But right from the start Cereza shows she's different. She refuses to use Cheshire as a tool, respecting him as a person and understanding that she has to get him back to Inferno because that's where he wants to be. She reasons with him, instead of controlling him. She works with him. She protects him, she sacrifices everything to save him. She is probably the only witch who has ever treated a demon like a person. GODDDDDDD

Okay onto the ending stuff. I remember as I was playing the game I was like "what if Morgana was a villain lol." And during the cutscene where Lukaon reveals his name I was like "this stuff sounds hella manipulative, it would be funny if he was the villain." But the story seemed pretty basic and formulaic and I kind of assumed the villain would be pretty boring. Like why would you fight the friendly person who's been guiding you through your whole journey? Why would your beloved teacher turn against you? But god, they really did it. And I LOVE that they did. Neither of these twist villains were a surprise to me, but that didn't make them less awesome.

The fight with Lukaon was super cool. I loved having to get all of Cheshire's transformations back, and then transforming into the Unbound form and getting a whole new awesome moveset was so freaking good. It was truly the culmination of everything we've accomplished, both in the fact that we get each transformation as an attack on the face buttons but also that Cereza and Cheshire control together, showing how they're a team.

Oh and kind of an aside but speaking of Lukaon I really liked that blue was always the color of the faeries, the color associated with evil. That's true for everything...except the tracks of the White Wolf. EXCEPT LUKAON/THE WHITE WOLF IS A FAERIE AND ENDS UP BEING OUR ENEMY (briefly). That just occurred to me but like THAT'S SO COOL I LOVE THE FORESHADOWING

The final fight with Morgana was hard as BALLS though. I got maybe three game overs in the whole game up until this point but it took me seven tries to beat Morgana. And of course I ran out of all my healing items and they didn't give them back. It was awesome to win but it felt like an odd difficulty spike right at the end though lol.

Man I'm not ashamed to say that I CRIED when Cheshire went back to Inferno. I was hoping against all odds that the two of them would stick together (ofc that wouldn't happen) but of course he had to go back. But their mutual promise to see each other again, to be stronger when they each meet? YEAAAHHHHHH THAT SHIT MADE ME CRY AUGH

Okay that's it. I saw this game in the direct last year and was quite intrigued by the artstyle and gameplay and decided to pick it up but I didn't think it was gonna be THIS good. It absolutely exceeded my expectations and I'm gonna be thinking about it for a while yet.

#wyvern rambles #bayonetta origins #cereza and the lost demon #long post #YEAH IM INSANE ABOUT THIS A LITTLE BIT SORRY #truly did not expect this game to go this hard

[gemsgamegems]

couldn't do this yesterday because it was hella late and I was half terrified of what was gonna come out of my mind.

here to report that going to sleep and then work has done not a damn thing for my psyche so everyone pull up a chair, grab a snack, and get comfy.

I'm literally gonna descend into Straight Madness all over this post and call it a review. you're welcomed or I'm sorry or whatever 💩

(footage of my MC going to bully her beloved on his special chat app💀🖤)

there is surely crack or something very similar to it laced in chatsim games I swear to God??? I've played over a dozen different ones, and then the especially recent popular ones (i.e. Blooming Panic, Error 143) were living snugly in my remaining braincells. so like, I'm not stranger to the rabid insanity I feel when I play a really good chat sim.

also, I have a thing for being mean. let me rephrase: in romance gaming, I love when I as the player character can essentially bully the intended love interest(s) and possibly get rewarded for it 😇. a...bully-a-boyfriend simulator if you will.

Enter A Date With Death.

the game of my dreams.

featuring the victim Man of my dreams.

my fictional tastes in men are so very much not aligned that I never know who I'm gonna be in love with for the next 5 months. so I'm pleasantly surprised each time I get attached LOL!

yeah he's a grim reaper, yeah he's hella edgy, yeah he's got white hair, yeah he embodies what the kids call 'babygirl', etc etc etc. on anyone else, I probably wouldn't have cared. and on our dear Grimmy, at first I didn't. all those aspects of him that didn't register as a need or want for me suddenly became the spices that enhanced the flavor that is Grim/Casper's personality and his interactions with the player character. he is QUITE LITTERALLY the ONLY LOVE INTEREST at the moment WHO CAN GET AWAY WITH CALLING ME STUPID/AN IDIOT even if I very much am, either as my MC or irl lolz

homeboy is literally insulting my intelligence and I'm giggling and rolling my eyes like a textbook school girl 🤣 truly loved that for me.

my goodness the banter??? the RICHNESS of the back and forth and the teasing and the insults and the flirting and the presence of something building up to be intensly romance flavored was at too much and not enough (in a good way, I pinky promise!!)

I found myself playing with the other features (watering my plant, interacting with my bunny and bookshelf, etc) only to quickly rush back to click the laptop so I could interact with Grim/Casper again. I don't know who falls in love first, Grim or the player character, and maybe that's something that's supposed to be headcannoned??? but if that's so, I think that it's a gradual thing. because while Grim is literally commenting on how pretty/gorgeous/handsome we are, and then trying his damndest to take it back, me and my MC are sitting there like...damn....oh shit...we like this fool....shit we LOVE THIS FOOL WTF????

I'd like to take a moment in this random stream of thoughts to talk about the scene where Grim visits us to bring us flowers, reveals his highly classified name, and proceeds to woo and charm and fluster us until you have no choice but to be swept up by him... oh. wait. was this 3rd person or 1st person speak...

BUT ANYWAY I JUST WANNA LOSE MY SHIT ABOUT THE FLOWERS BECAUSE MY GOD WHY IS HE SO FUCKING CUTE?!!?!? (my favorite thing about this game was having the option to call him sexy and not in favor of calling him cute. because what you gonna do about it???? exactly 🤣)

at the time of this rambling, I still have only gotten to 1 ending, but I hope to knock out the others before the end of the month, time permitting lol.

annnnnnd speaking of Other Features and my absolute love and adoration of the Two and Half Studios team...

I bought the DLC so I had access to the additional dialogue, clothing, and physical customization options 🤭hiiighly recommend you grab the DLC if you haven't already or were on the fence about it!

the pet optionssssss. I mentioned this on my demo review, but I loved having my pet bunny. I love that we can interact with our pet. I love that it Casper understands that MC and Pet are a packaged deal. Damn right, that's our shared child now ya dork 🤭

music room was funnnn, the special features on the laptop (games, internet, drawing app, etc) were absolutely perfect and I tired out everything at least twice.

the bookshelf feature??? I clicked on it every day and I gotta say I adored the little diary entries from younger MC. alsoooo the fact that the book 'changed' each time you went to your shelf was SUCH a fun thing???? loved that shit

eavesdropping on the neighbors?!?!? i'm hella noisy in real life, oops, so there was a big thrill in listening in on the peeps on the other side and experiencing a different type of love story emerge. I am mad at myself because I think I missed a day of eavesdropping and by the end of my first playthrough that part of the game felt 'incomplete'. but nothing a second, third, and fourth replay can't solve LOL!!

watering our plant 💓 idk why that made me so happy but it just did. something about giving emotions to inanimate objects gets me ever fucking time

( a tangent within a tangent: there's nothing more attractive than someone with a plush, yes azreal, I'm talking about your owner zjjddgfs and Casper wonders why I called his ass cute. this is why!!!! this is exhibit A-Z my guy!!!!)

I'm sure there's a slew of other things I squealed and fangirled and cooed over in my playthrough, but this is a perfect stopping point, right?

thank you all for coming, see you next time when we discuss another game that's infected my brain and rendered me absolutely useless 👍🏽

#post type: rambling #post type: review #vn: a date with death #have not checked for grammar/spelling lest I start adding more shit #so apologies for anything that doesn't make sense LOL

[thatcrazycrowgirl]

Hi Crowie ^-^ Sorry for the long delay. Here are my gaming asks for You <3 Have fun

1 - 2 - 3 - 10 - 18 - 28 - 30

Tight hugs

🦋 Rumor Imbris 🌧️🎵⛈️🎶

@rumor-imbris! Hello! *hugs back* Don't worry about the timing, I was still happy to receive this from you! I hope you're well! <3 Anyway, allow me to finally get back to you with my answers! ^_^

(Also, sorry this got so gif-heavy, but I'm addicted to using them lol)

---------

1. Last game you finished?

Uncharted 4, baby! Loved it! (Nathan Drake has my heart)

2. Game(s) you’re currently playing?

For a while there, I was keeping on the Uncharted train and working through Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. However, I recently booted up Resident Evil: Village for the first time and have switched my focus over to that. (Chris Redfield also has my heart)

3. 1-3 games you’ve played in the past 12 months that you really enjoyed?

Hmm, let’s see...in no particular order...

1. Bioshock Infinite, for sure. I’ve literally have beaten the game 5 times now, with my most recent completed run being on the hardest difficulty, “1999 Mode” (complete with the tough ‘Scavenger Hunt’ Achievement’ #humblebrag), and I STILL enjoyed the heck out of it. (Booker DeWitt also, also has my heart, and Elizabeth is precious and needs to be protected at all costs)

2. Red Dead Redemption 2. I’m far from completing this game, but I love the world so much. It fun to just run around and explore and visit the towns, and such. AND THE DETAILS. THE AMOUNT OF DETAILS IS INSANE. (Arthur Morgan also, also, also has my heart)

3. Alan Wake/AW’s American Nightmare. THIS. GAME. THIS GAME LITERALLY CHANGED MY LIFE. No joke. It’s not just a game, it’s an experience. Gosh, I cannot praise it enough. The writing is just... *chef’s kiss* (Alan Wake himself may or may not also, also, also, also have my heart)

10. A console and/or handheld you’ve never played but would like to try?

There are some more modern consoles that I’ve yet to try, but since they play basically the same as some previous generation ones, I think I’m going to cheat with this question a bit and not necessarily highlight a console, but an arcade cabinet instead. There’s this one called “Carnevil”, which is basically an on-rail shooter type of game, but it takes place in a haunted, resurrected, and obviously evil carnival, run by a mad professor. (That aesthetic is just my jam, really.) It sadly has never been officially ported to any consoles, so chances of trying it are very low, but if I ever get the opportunity, I’d be one happy gal!

18. A game location you really like

Because I won’t shut up about Bioshock, I’m going to highlight the “Battleship Bay” section from Bioshock Infinite. It’s absolutely GORGEOUS and was one of the things that attracted me to the game in the first place. Seriously, that soft color palette is EVERYTHING.

28. Pick a series you like. What was the first game you played for it? Was it a good starting point? Would it still be a good starting point now?

Since I spoke about Bioshock in my last ask response, let me bring up an older series that was a HUGE staple of my late childhood/early teens: Sly Cooper (or Sly Raccoon, if you’re outside of the U.S.), I started with the first one when I was only 10, and was totally hooked! While most claim the 2nd game, Sly 2: Band of Thieves, is the best in the series, I believe playing the first one was the best starting point, and still think it is, even now. Sure, the other games may be a tad easier, and the first one may not be the most polished, it still has its charm, and sets up Sly’s motives and family history from the get go. (I still haven’t played the 4th one yet, but if I ever get my hands on a PS4 or PS5, you know I’ll give it a try!) Overall, I highly recommend this series!

30. Game you think you’ll finish next?

Given that they’re both what I’m currently focusing on, it’ll likely either be Resident Evil: Village or Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. I'm enjoying both so far!

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Thank you so much for you ask, and your patience! These were really fun to answer! ^_^

#I also realized that this turned into a thirst post for several fictional men and I'm somewhat sorry lol #ask replies #non ac related stuff #general video game stuff

[ghosts-and-blue-sweaters]

10, 25, 27, 40 for the writer ask game

Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?

Ooh, interesting question.

I’d say definitely—I read a novel a couple months ago, What Beauty There Is by Cory Anderson, and I think it rewired my brain or something. It’s such a gorgeous, haunting, beautiful, gut-wrenching story and I would highly recommend it.

There’s a particular scene involving a little kid and a really evil man, and to this day whenever I think about it… makes my blood chill. I was so scared as I was reading it lol

I guess what “haunted” means in this context is that it stuck with me. It stuck with me, and I still think about it. I still resonate and experience emotions over it. Most of all it is still AMAZING and I already want to reread it!!

What is a weird, hyper-specific detail you know about one of your characters that is completely irrelevant to the story?

Oh goodness-

Well. I have. Like 300 OCs. And I know random details about most of them.

However, this question is tricky to answer because I try to include as many details as possible in my fics; I want readers to know my characters as well as I do. I also think it’d be a waste to hide things about my characters and never use them.

I’ll list some random things though!

Elmer’s favorite drink is warm milk

Blanket closes his eyes every time he hears a violin. It’s less of a thing he chooses to do and more like a habit, but… different? I guess it’s instinct to him

Azizi can speak Binary (the language of droids in Star Wars) and I mean that literally. He can make all the correct sounds and everything it’s insane-

Hacks’ real name is Keyair, but he hates it when people call him that

Riff and Raff have a clone doll named Thing Bernie

Tray bangs trays together at random points, always with a terrified expression on his face. No one understands why and everyone is scared. Including Tray

Who is the most stressful character you’ve ever written? Why?

Oh man, hmm… maybe Techno? I still feel like I don’t know how to write him well, so every time I sit down and try I just end up feeling on-edge lol

Please share a poem with me, I need it.

OOOH POEMS I LOVE POEMS!!!

I don’t really know if this means a poem written by me or just a random poem, so I’ll do both!

Postcard from Gone by Leila Chatti

And here’s one I wrote :)

Funnily enough, I don’t usually like writing poetry. It’s something I do very very rarely, maybe once every couple months. It’s also something I started doing… just a couple months ago lol

#bia tag #ask #ask game #the specific table is a place that always has Stuff on it #that Stuff can be real random

[blackberrywars]

curious what lemon eyes is for the wip game! ^.^

Ahh you've found a music-inspired fic!! This one is a fem!Laiden one-shot based on the music (not the video, though it is great) for Meg Myers' Lemon Eyes. I highly recommend the song, because not only is it a banger with a killer baseline, it makes the inspiration for this make much more sense. And Myers is gorgeous. All the italics sections are lyrics and everything after the ~~ is an outline, just to make it all make sense.

For @yolki-palki and @whyzowl as well as my anons. Lemon Eyes for everybody, I hope you enjoy!!

Summary: Aiden is a green-eyed monster and one bitter baby wolf is going to be hers, no matter how much conniving it takes. She’s maybe a little bit obsessed.

You're so bitter, bitter, bitter, yellow

Settle, settle, got to settle down okay

In retrospect, Aiden should have known that chasing after Lambert was going to be something entirely different from every other hunt. As far as she’s experienced, there isn’t a being alive that wants to be left alone more than the beautiful, vulgar wolf does, and definitely none that pull out such a variety of defenses. Animals? They’re simple, really. They run, they strike, they hide, but none of them can outpace her. Monsters are the same, with longer claws and bigger teeth. Humans think they’re different, but all they can do when faced with something like Aiden is put other humans in between them and their death. It never works, of course. They fall on her blades like all the rest, choking on their own blood.

Lambert is something else entirely.

For one, Aiden very much wants to take her alive. Even imagining the pretty wolf’s life snuffed out makes her heart clench, and the idea of that precious, sweet blood on her hands damn near makes it give out entirely.  For another, Lambert is miles more creative than any beast. She’s tried to drive Aiden away with a million tactics, each more clever and enticing than the last —it’s the only thing Lambert hasn’t quite figured out, if the continued attempts are any indication. Every single fucking thing the wolf does makes Aiden want her.

She remembers the swearing came first. All through their fight with the ogre and through getting a reward from that stingy-ass alderman. Lambert insulted everything around her in languages Aiden barely even recognized, with phrases long enough to fill every gap between her breaths as she cut the big, ugly bastard to pieces. And then she’d turned her vicious tongue on Aiden, and she’d been sold.

Then came the ice wall. Probably some Wolf tactic, knowing what she knew about the stiff witchers from Guxart’s tales, but Lambert wasn’t very good at it. The pretty wolf had every skill in the book except for silence, and thank the gods for it. It slipped ever so nicely into the second round of verbal assaults and series of increasingly convoluted abandonments. 

Aiden almost laughed at the irony, three weeks before, at the next phase: Lambert trying to pay an imaginary debt. As if money was the only reason Aiden stuck around, as if every treat and trinket she bought, made, or stole had a price attached. Lambert tried to pay her in coin, in equivalent returns, and she’d refused them until the clever wolf tried to pay it on her back. Aiden is many things, but she’s not good enough to pass it up when Lambert spreads her pale thighs so prettily and invites her between them. It’s quickly become her favorite pastime, especially when Lambert starts melting into it.

~gratuitous sex scene where Lambert brats to an extraordinary degree until Aiden turns her into a literal puddle of goop~

Listen, listen, you listen, yellow

It's a killer, a killer, a killer, jealousy

Aiden and Lambert continue to travel together somewhat begrudgingly, as Aiden keeps trying to get closer to this fascinating wolf witcher. They keep fucking and it keeps being amazing, but Lambert treats it like any other fuck —a matter of convenience— while Aiden is falling deeper and deeper into love (and a little obsession). It all comes to a head when she watches a whore flirting with Lambert, and Lambert takes her up on the offer. Needless to say, Aiden is pissed. She proposes a three way. The whore (whose name is actually Julia) has the strangest fuck of her life, because yeah, the pussy is A1 and STD-free, but two witchers just fucked each other through her for like, an hour.

I bet you wanna walk away, run away, look away, turn away

Shit gets real weird. Lambert keeps turning Aiden down —not just for sex, but everything else. She eats by herself, gets her own room in towns, takes contracts alone, and it’s driving Aiden insane because she was so close to getting her baby wolf right where she wanted her. So Lambert is running, and Aiden keeps chasing, and they have a big nasty fight bc Aiden will not leave Lambert alone. Lambert probably brings out her weapons and tries to cut Aiden out of her life for real.

Honey you can't hide

They……… kiss and make up. Tearful, bloody, in-the-woods fucking. Idk, I’ll figure it out.

Lemon eyes, all mine

#berry's games #berry's fics #the witcher #the witcher fanfiction #witcher aiden #lambert #laiden