#Tool And Die Design Course

[literaryvein-reblogs]

commonly confused words

accept: to receive except: with the exclusion of

advice: recommendation (noun) advise: to recommend (verb)

adverse: unfavorable averse: opposed to

affect: to influence (verb); emotional response (noun) effect: result (noun); to cause (verb)

aisle: space between rows isle: island

allude: to make indirect reference to elude: to avoid

allusion: indirect reference illusion: false idea, misleading appearance

already: by this time all ready: fully prepared

altar: sacred platform or place alter: to change

altogether: thoroughly all together: everyone/everything in one place

a lot: a quantity; many of something allot: to divide or portion out

angel: supernatural being, good person angle: shape made by joining two straight lines

are: plural form of "to be" our: plural form of "my"

accent: pronunciation common to a region ascent: the act of rising or climbing assent: consent, agreement

assistance: help assistants: helpers

bare: nude, unadorned bear: to carry; an animal

beside: close to; next to besides: except for; in addition

boar: a wild male pig bore: to drill a hole through

board: piece of wood bored: uninterested

born: brought into life borne: past participle of "to bear" (carry)

breath: air taken in (noun) breathe: to take in air (verb)

brake: device for stopping break: destroy; make into pieces

buy: to purchase by: next to; through the agency of

canvas: heavy cloth canvass: to take a survey; a survey

capital: major city capitol: government building

choose: to pick chose: past tense of "to choose"

clothes: garments close: to shut; near cloths: pieces of fabric

coarse: rough course: path; series of lectures

complement: something that completes compliment: praise, flattery

conscience: sense of morality conscious: awake, aware

corps: regulated group corpse: dead body

council: governing body counsel: advice; to give advice

dairy: place where milk products are processed diary: personal journal

descent: downward movement dissent: disagreement

dessert: final, sweet course in a meal desert: to abandon; dry, sandy area

device: a plan; a tool or utensil devise: to create

discreet: modest, prudent behavior discrete: a separate thing, distinct

do: a verb indicating performance or execution of a task dew: water droplets condensed from air due: as a result of

dominant: commanding, controlling dominate: to control

die: to lose life; one of a pair of dice dye: to change or add color

dyeing: changing or adding color dying: losing life

elicit: to draw out illicit: illegal, forbidden

eminent: prominent imminent: about to happen

envelop: to surround (verb) envelope: container for a letter (noun)

everyday: routine, commonplace, ordinary (adj.) every day: each day, succession (adj. + noun)

fair: just, honest; a carnival; light skinned fare: money for transportation; food

farther: at a greater (measurable) distance further: in greater (non-measurable) depth

formally: conventionally, with ceremony formerly: previously

forth: forward fourth: number four in a list

gorilla: animal in ape family guerrilla: soldier specializing in surprise attacks

hear: to sense sound by ear here: in this place

heard: past tense of "to hear" herd: group of animals

hoard: a hidden fund or supply, a cache horde: a large group or crowd, swarm

hole: opening whole: complete; an entire thing

human: relating to the species homo sapiens humane: compassionate

its: possessive form of "it" it's: contraction for "it is"

knew: past tense of "know" new: fresh, not yet old

know: to comprehend no: negative

later: after a time latter: second one of two things

lead: heavy metal substance; to guide led: past tense of "to lead"

lessen: to decrease lesson: something learned and/or taught

lightning: storm-related electricity lightening: making lighter

loose: unbound, not tightly fastened lose: to misplace

maybe: perhaps (adv.) may be: might be (verb)

meat: animal flesh meet: to encounter mete: to measure; to distribute

medal: a flat disk stamped with a design meddle: to interfere, intrude metal: a hard organic substance mettle: courage, spirit, energy

miner: a worker in a mine minor: underage person (noun); less important (adj.)

moral: distinguishing right from wrong; lesson of a fable or story morale: attitude or outlook usually of a group

passed: past tense of "to pass" past: at a previous time

patience: putting up with annoyances patients: people under medical care

peace: absence of war piece: part of a whole; musical arrangement

peak: point, pinnacle, maximum peek: to peer through or look furtively pique: fit of resentment, feeling of wounded vanity

pedal: the foot lever of a bicycle or car petal: a flower segment peddle: to sell

personal: intimate; owned by a person personnel: employees

plain: simple, unadorned plane: to shave wood; aircraft (noun)

precede: to come before proceed: to continue

presence: attendance; being at hand presents: gifts

principal: foremost (adj.); administrator of a school (noun) principle: moral conviction, basic truth

quiet: silent, calm quite: very

rain: water drops falling; to fall like rain reign: to rule rein: strap to control an animal (noun); to guide or control (verb)

raise: to lift up raze: to tear down

rational: having reason or understanding rationale: principles of opinion, beliefs

respectfully: with respect respectively: in that order

reverend: title given to clergy; deserving respect reverent: worshipful

right: correct; opposite of left rite: ritual or ceremony write: to put words on paper

road: path rode: past tense of "to ride"

scene: place of an action; segment of a play seen: viewed; past participle of "to see"

sense: perception, understanding since: measurement of past time; because

sight: scene, view, picture site: place, location cite: to document or quote (verb)

stationary: standing still stationery: writing paper

straight: unbending strait: narrow or confining; a waterway

taught: past tense of "to teach" taut: tight

than: used to introduce second element; compared to then: at that time; next

their: possessive form of "they" there: in that place they’re: contraction for "they are"

through: finished; into and out of threw: past tense of "to throw" thorough: complete

to: toward too: also; very (used to show emphasis) two: number following one

track: course, road tract: pamphlet; plot of ground

waist: midsection of the body waste: discarded material; to squander

waive: forgo, renounce wave: flutter, move back and forth

weak: not strong week: seven days

weather: climatic condition whether: if wether: a neutered male sheep

where: in which place were: past tense of "to be"

which: one of a group witch: female sorcerer

whose: possessive for "of who" who’s: contraction for "who is"

your: possessive for "of you" you’re: contraction for "you are" yore: time long past

commonly confused words part 2 ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[thatrandomblogsays]

Me: *reading a post that makes the joke “Peeta dropped the baby bomb, Gale drops bombs on babies”* haha good one

Also me: you’re missing the point! You’re missing the point! YOURE MISSING THE POINT! He grew up starving. His best friend almost died of hunger. Most of his people live in poverty. He watched children die in a bloodbath every year for the capital’s entertainment. The girl he loved went into the games. Was tortured by the capitol. His district was bombed out of existence. Nearly everyone he knew was killed. Their only crime was being fed up of being hungry and oppressed and sharing the same district as Katniss. All those innocent people. Murdered. He had to take refuge in a district that was bombed out of existence and forced to live underground. Of course he joined the war effort. Of course he designed unethical bombs and battle tactics. He wanted revenge. He wanted the capitol to have a taste of their own medicine. He wanted the rebellion to succeed. And tell me you could live through what he did, and that no part of you would be screaming for Justice and vengeance. Gale is you. You are Gale. He represents a part of feelings and actions that reside within us, even if you don’t act on it.

“But he killed prim!” Exactly! Gale loved prim. She was a second family to her. He looked after Katniss’ family. He saved them from the district 12 bombings. He loved her. He never would’ve put her in danger. He never would’ve put in order for a bombing if it would kill Prim. But coin would. And did. She took what was meant to be a tool of Gale’s righteous revenge for all the suffering he and his people suffered through, only for someone in power to take it and use it to kill someone he loved.

There’s some many lessons to take. We can’t control the things we create. War spares no one. Even justifiable rage and actions can end up rebounding and hurting those you love instead of your targets.

“He drops bombs on babies” is too simplistic of a takeaway and does a disservice to the story and Gale.

[arabella0001]

𓍯 . ݁ ✦ ݁ . ⊱〔 favourite lieutenant 〕 ⊰

✧ ⋆ ͘ . ⠀ cn: slow burn, slight?power control, oral, sex

part 1 part 2

idk what happened but now we have 5-6k words sorry🙂‍↔️

┈─┈─┈─

Swinging from foot to foot, the stress from waiting in line at the supplier at Kidō Troops was making you pick your nails like you always do when you’re stressed. You’re close to being late again and now you really don’t wanna upset Captain Kuchiki.

They have the majority of military weapons, including swords — including your sword. Not because you chose them instead of the Gotei 13 and Onmitsukidō, but because you are part of them.

You chose Shin’ō Academy because this academy does not teach students to fight for the sake of their superiors or family. Instead, they taught that a Shinigami should give his life to protect his friends and humanity.

Or lover. What you want to do to Byakuya soon.

Finally, your turn comes, and the man, dressed in the usual uniform that covers the entire head and body except the eyes, steps forward. It gives them a secretive nature, and you love that about it.

You swore you caught Byakuya’s eyes glint for a second after you uncovered your face — the first time you arrived in Gotei 13 to replace Renji during his honeymoon with Rukia.

After taking the smaller-shaped sword, similar to Kenpachi’s magnificent one because you love how he fights — a true inspiration. God, that man is feral.

This sword comes with a very unique blade design made of carbon steel, with a serrated outer edge and a touch of purple color, a one-meter ribbon tied in a zig-zag at the end. The world needs a little bit of sweetness sometimes.

Not that it’s uncharacteristic for you to be late, but Byakuya had been quite exaggerated and “brutal” with the last lessons. You only managed to tease him at the end or at the beginning, because during the fight you prayed not to die.

What’s admirable is that you’ve started making Byakuya talk more. Sometimes surprising him with questions no one has ever asked before.

. ݁ ₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ . ݁ ₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡

“What’s your favourite book?”

While you’re catching your breath after the training, Byakuya was organizing the papers for the next meeting one more time. He gave you only a side-eye, replying in a low voice.

“I don’t see how my answer bears relevance or productivity in your training performance, especially obedience.”

You groaned, letting your head fall back. I can be obedient in other ways, Kuchiki.

“Just answer.”

Byakuya shot you a glare for your way of addressing him.

“Captain.”

Byakuya’s composed demeanor was disrupted by a hint of irritation, as he found your big, pleading eyes somewhat convincing.

“Meditations – Marcus Aurelius.”

His voice is serious, punctuated while yours came after a snort.

“Of course.”

He pulled the documents into a folder, holding them in his hand and turning from you, his gaze just curious enough (very slightly) to prompt you to continue.

“Of course you read something like that, duh.” You get up from the mat and adjust your clothes a bit, worn out from overuse. “A stoic emperor aspiring to self-control, justice, talking about dignity.” He can’t lie, you did surprise him a bit with your summary, even if it was superficial, you were right. “Can I be the empress of a stoic man?”

His surprise faded, ignoring your flirt as he turned and began walking toward the door when you joined him.

“So I take it your favorite is A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole?”

You grinned, following him. He just teased me? Fuck, I wanted him even more.

The protagonist of the book is eccentric, lazy, and constantly out of sync with society’s expectations, including time. A hilarious exploration of procrastination and stubbornness.

. ݁ ₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ . ݁ ₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡

But you also had moments when you lost hope. You knew from the beginning that this was a long run but a woman can hope.

After going on a mission that seemed normal at first but was more brutal than the strategy predicted, his protectiveness was the first thing that touched your heart.

You only felt his soft noble robe against your cheeks, embraced by his strong arms around you and carefully carrying your fragile body to the infirmary. He personally asked the team not to interfere because “It’s a Captain’s duty to ensure his lieutenant is well treated.”

You barely lift your defeated face, slightly covered in dirt from the ambush.

“Byakuya?”

Your informality was insignificant compared to how he felt seeing you hurt. Despite his coldness, Byakuya always had a good heart, caring for humanity — especially his people. But his eyes told you something you didn’t understand at the time. Neither did he, because it was the beginning of his walls breaking around his soul.

“Don’t talk, lieutenant. Preserve your energy, lest I be compelled to escort you to the healer posthaste.”

“I’m sorry for upsetting you, Byakuya.”

Your trembling voice from exhaustion made your words strike harder. His grip tightened around you.

“It’s nothing. Just refrain from such behavior again.”

. ݁ ₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ . ݁ ₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡

And that was the time when Byakuya’s routine started being disrupted. He came to check on your well-being even when the deadline for his duties was approaching. On top of that, when you returned, the intense “obedience” training stopped. Even if you teased him, he quit fighting you. Maybe he was afraid you’d outgrow him, he never gave you an exact explanation.

But it wasn’t enough. This was a way too long game. Yeah, you loved being an executive officer and taking care of supervising day-to-day operations only to come later into Byakuya’s office to report it and drain his time with your side-questions like:

“Your favourite flower is cherry blossom?” or “Can you teach me so we can match as the God and Goddess of Flash?” or your most annoying one: “If we sell ONLY your minty green scarf, we could buy a small house outside the city witj only nature around it, where it will be just us! Can you imagine? Retired baddies at 30.”

Of course, you could say you have at most a platonic relationship, but the only time this close to him will be finished soon, since Renji is coming back.

After the annual gathering of Captains and lieutenants.

┈─┈─┈─

You felt a pang of sadness, unaware at first that it was because you’d lost the chance to see him as often as you had these past few months. Ever since the recruiting mission with Byakuya, the line between captain and lieutenant had somehow blurred. Your suspicions were confirmed when you woke up on the last morning of your recovery in the medical tent and found Byakuya there. You didn’t know how long he’d been standing there, but his expression wasn’t unreadable anymore. He wore a look like someone who’d just been caught caring too much. Like a kid caught stealing candy, brushing it off like it was nothing.

After all, Byakuya never spoke of it in the days that followed—but there was a faint tension lingering. Or at least, you hoped there was.

Of course, you didn’t let those negative thoughts influence your choice of outfit today. It wasn’t a formal gathering, so you didn’t want to look like you were trying too hard. You wore a plain black dress, just above the knees—short enough not to look too innocent, which didn’t exactly suit you. And the white-and-gold cloak was anything but subtle for someone like Byakuya, considering it was a version of the one he often wore. Even the low-budget white headpiece holding part of your hair in a bun at the back wasn’t subtle—it was meant to resemble a kenseikan, which Byakuya had once indirectly told you you weren’t noble enough to wear.

When you entered the room, full of symmetrically arranged tables, you offered polite smiles to the captains, including a small grin aimed at Byakuya. Even though his gaze was as impassive as ever—looking through you, not at you—it flickered down your body before his brow furrowed ever so slightly, clearly picking up on your intent. That annoying thought was already forming on your lips, probably the same one that crossed his mind.

Against your expectations, the gathering was boring.

Well, at least until a few glasses of old red wine with Matsumoto made the world feel a little more entertaining.

You found it amusing how Captain Kuchiki kept trying not to look at you while you and Matsumoto pulled Momo into dancing, as Nanao laughed while recording. Renji and Shunsui joined in later, dancing slowly and sloppily depending on how drunk they were. But you had clearly outperformed them all.

By the end of the night, the hallway walk to the bathroom felt endless, though the flush in your cheeks made it all more fun. Especially when you passed the men’s room—where Byakuya was washing his hands, a little too thoroughly.

He looked up at you in the mirror, your body leaning against the doorframe.

“Oh, my next old Captain. Long time, no see.”

“Evening, Y/N. Seems like the night is unfolding just as you expected.”

His body turned slightly toward you, observing your unsteady posture.

“As I expected? Yes. As I wanted? Unfortunately not.”

“Hm.”

Byakuya wasn’t rattled by your usual childish teasing or the double meaning glinting in your lust-heavy gaze as you watched him shamelessly move toward the door.

Still, you didn’t move aside.

“Aren’t you going to ask what I mean?”

“Y/N, I believe it’s becoming inappropriate to have this kind of conversation, especially while blocking the way for others who may need to pass.”

His eyes told you to move faster, but you threw your head back, laughing and smiling wide.

“Well then, are you suggesting a more appropriate place, Captain Kuchiki? Is that what you’re trying to say?”

Before he could respond, resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration, you added:

“Do you like my outfit? I thought it was kind of clever.”

You twirled your cloak slightly, tipping off balance—but his firm hand steadied you before pulling away just as quickly.

You didn’t know, but Byakuya had been fighting off some very undignified thoughts for weeks now. His face, however, betrayed none of them.

“Or did you not even notice me?”

You faked a sad pout, pushing a little more.

“I noticed.”

Seeing there was now enough space to exit without having to push past you, Byakuya moved past, but still—unable to stop himself—spoke over his shoulder:

“Be mindful of how much you drink. A shinigami’s mind must always be cared for, even during moments of rest.”

His steps were heavy as he returned to the main hall.

And you were pissed off. Almost ready to give up. But you once again disregarded caution, your voice raised behind him.

“Maybe you should be the one relaxing more, huh?! And allow yourself a few things before life passes us both by! Mr. Serious!”

Byakuya only clenched his hand under his white cloak, ignoring you.

┈─┈─┈─

The next morning, you woke up with a regrettable hangover. Today was the day you were to sign the papers finalizing your temporary lieutenant position.

But you were nothing if not sad. A far cry from your usual cheerful, confident self.

You knocked before entering his office, and found him already annoyingly presentable for such an early hour.

“Good morning, Y/N.”

He didn’t lift his head from the papers until a few seconds passed with no response from you—not even a snarky one.

You stood in the doorway until he finally looked up, your weak expression forcing him not to scold you.

“Come.”

You barely looked at him from under your brow while he prepared the documents for signing.

“Before I hand you the contract, is there any complaint regarding the leadership of the Gotei 31 you’d like to report?”

It was on the tip of your tongue to snap at him, but you chose silence instead.

“Y/N. It’s not appropriate to respond with silence to your Captain.”

You muttered under your breath, laced with bitterness:

“You’re not my Captain anymore.”

“Y/N.”

His serious tone only worsened your state of mind.

“Inappropriate this, inappropriate that. How about facing the truth for once?”

Byakuya raised an eyebrow.

“How about facing the truth that I’m not the only one feeling this?”

“You’ll need to be more specific, lieutenant.”

You lightly kicked the desk in frustration, rolling your eyes—an act that certainly didn’t go unnoticed.

“I’m pretty sure the Captain of a very important military squad can connect the dots about what I’m trying to say.”

Your glare was so fierce that Byakuya felt his heart falter slightly, his conscience warring with his strict principles.

“That we fucking like each other, Captain.”

His heart stopped. But his years of stoicism weren’t so easily broken. He handed you the paper.

“Any romantic relationship between a Captain and their lieutenant is strictly against the rules. Please sign the document.”

You signed it with such pressure that the pen almost tore through the paper.

“Well, now you’re officially no longer my Captain.”

He let out a heavy breath.

“I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression, but your interpretation is mistaken. I am neither available nor inclined toward that area of life.”

“Yeah? Oh sure, very unpredictable of you,” you said sarcastically, rising from your chair. “Truly shocking that the serious, noble, most prized Captain of the Soul Society doesn’t have emotions! That such a concept doesn’t exist for him!”

Your voice had risen so much that even Byakuya lost his patience.

“Whether I’m still your Captain or not, I suggest you maintain a decent attitude, or I’ll be forced to sanction you.”

You turned your back to him, letting out a sarcastic snort.

“Oh yeah? What’ll you do, throw me in prison like your sister a few years ago?” you sneered over your shoulder.

But you froze when Byakuya suddenly stood, appearing right in front of you in a flash.

“My tolerance has limits. Your behavior is not only disrespectful. I will not allow you to speak of my personal life choices ever again.”

You tilted your head, too angry to care about the consequences. You needed him to lose control. So when you closed the distance and whispered near his lips, he froze.

“Or what, Captain Ku-chi-ki?”

And once again, Byakuya broke his own internal laws by not moving an inch away from you, even as your gaze lowered from his eyes to his lips—until they met yours.

He furrowed his brows, struggling against his own defeat as your taste began to intoxicate his mind.

The wrong choice had already been made.

When your lips parted to kiss him again, his hand rested lightly on your back, pulling you closer until his lips finally responded—drawing a soft, satisfied hum from you.

Your heart was beating so fast, not realizing it was in sync with his. Your brain couldn’t fully accept that this was really happening. Not after all this time.

He pulled back slightly, only a few centimeters away now—and the emotion in his eyes confirmed what you’d started to see these past months. You hadn’t imagined it.

“Tell me I wasn’t wrong, Captain Kuchiki.”

There was a long, uncomfortable silence that made your body burn from the inside out, your eyes locked with his.

“You weren’t.”

┈─┈─┈─

Some time later, Byakuya finally found peace after the exaggerated attention following what had happened. It didn’t take long before everyone in leadership—and eventually even the squad members—found out. What shocked him, though, was that everyone seemed genuinely happy for him. A happiness he didn’t think he’d get to feel anytime soon.

Of course, your relationship didn’t start in the most idyllic way, considering how busy and responsible he was. But what shocked you was realizing he might be one of the most loving people you’d ever known.

You could swear not a week passed without receiving flowers—three times a week, minimum. You could swear he always tried to find time to visit, stealing kisses from beneath your black mask. You could swear there wasn’t a day he didn’t think about how to keep you fed, healthy, and appreciated—with gifts like necklaces, clothing, sweets (though rarer), rare teas, or sometimes just excessive concern.

And everything became even more serious when he spoke to you for the first time about wanting to have the ceremony as soon as possible.

Even though you were still the same person, teasing him and leaving suggestive touches that challenged his restraint, neither of you had crossed the line into full physical intimacy.

That is, until one evening, when he picked you up from work—like he always wished to do.

“It’s a convenient time for you to stay for a tea in my chambers, my dear?”

Your smile widened as you playfully tugged on his arm.

“Captain’s inviting me to his home? At such a late hour? How indecent and inappropriate!”

He smiled—and though you were getting used to it, you were still shocked at how long he’d kept such a beautiful smile hidden from you. A little annoyed, even.

“Indeed.”

┈─┈─┈─

Because of the high rank of its former inhabitants, this Byakuya clan residence is quite expansive. He wasn’t exaggerating, though—he had four rooms, guest rooms, a larger kitchen with multiple cabinets full of herbal medicine and tea, a very clean bathroom, and his own room.

His house is surrounded by a garden full of flowers, and your heart melts with affection as you imagine him standing there, watering the plants and taking care of them. There’s even a sizeable space in the garden where you assume he trains—there’s even an archery range.

While you were trying to take it all in, Byakuya walked over to the two white cushions (zabuton) placed in front of a heatable low table (kotatsu).

“What tea do you prefer, dear?”

You didn’t know it, but for the first time in his life, Byakuya felt like an awkward teenager.

“Hmm?” You tore your eyes away from the tokonoma, the recessed alcoves typically decorated with a hanging scroll along with a vase or flower arrangement. The decorations are usually changed to reflect the season, and right now, it’s cherry blossom season.

He’s so thoughtful.

“I’m sorry, my lovely Byakuya,” your wide smile completely disarmed him. “Surprise me.”

He nodded in acknowledgment and headed toward the kitchen while you gazed up at the ceiling—coffered and decorated with paintings. It was made of square spaces framed by wooden beams. The beams were adorned with thin metal, and the squares were painted, usually with floral motifs. You were genuinely hypnotized.

I want to live here.

Byakuya returned and sat on a cushion, waiting for you to do the same—and excited, you did.

“I can’t believe you live here. You know you’re lucky, right?”

Byakuya was used to this lifestyle—it didn’t impress him—but he was grounded enough in reality to appreciate what he had and almost never complained. A bit of an extremist.

“I’m glad you like it.”

His words were few, overwhelmed as he was by emotion, though still worried about losing control.

You furrowed your brows slightly. You’d come to know the most serious captain in the Soul Society well enough to understand all his subtle expressions.

“My love?”

Your smile widened as Byakuya turned to you with a faint blush on both cheeks. He cleared his throat and brought the chamomile tea to his lips—his mouth was dry, and he pretended to be fine. You just watched him with your usual teasing gaze.

“Is everything fine?”

“Y-yes. Yes, of course. I’m glad you’re here.”

“Me too. But I can’t help but notice someone’s a little shy?”

Calm down, Byakuya told himself.

“That’s a word I feel rather detached from. I don’t associate with it.”

“Mhm?”

Byakuya swallowed hard when you leaned in closer. His disciplined mind reminded him it’s impolite to step on cushions that aren’t your own.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Is my highness… demure? Fainthearted?”

His eyes locked on your inviting lips as you spoke, even though his face remained perfectly blank. He only managed to whisper:

“There’s no reason for me to be—”

You swallowed his evasive words with your lips pressing against his—soft and irresistible. You couldn’t take it anymore. You pushed the moment, deepening the kiss, searching for a response. When Byakuya kissed you back, you didn’t hesitate to accept it. A hint of pressure, then a soft, warm exhale ending in an almost imperceptible hum. The faintest flash of white behind his trembling lashes could be seen.

Your bodies pressed together, heatedly, against the wall behind the cushions as you moved onto his lap, leaving Byakuya speechless at your boldness. But your desire was so intoxicating he could taste it in your shared breath, feel it in the thud of your combined heartbeats.

You grinned into the kiss when you felt his arousal beneath you, placing your hands on his shoulders. Your lungs were clenching for air, but you didn’t care. Both of you had swollen lips when Byakuya finally stopped you. You were both panting, and his cheeks were so red you felt like devouring him out of sheer affection.

“M-My dear, I would prefer if we took things a little slower. I’d rather, if it’s alright with you… that we went to the bedroom.”

He knew there was no escape. But he didn’t want your first time together to be on some cushions—he could never treat you superficially.

“And what would we do there, love?”

Your amused eyes made your wide smile even more beautiful, as you moved slowly, teasingly on his lap, drawing a sound close to a groan from him. A stray black strand of his slightly disheveled hair fell across one eye, suddenly making him look imposing, which only made your eyes widen.

He gently gripped your chin, whispering against your now open lips.

“I know what you’re trying to do, but I think you need to remember the first lesson you learned as my lieutenant: Obedience. I’m more than willing to teach you again.”

If you weren’t wet before, you definitely were now.

He lifted you up, making you yelp in surprise, your hands locked behind his neck while you looked at the man who would one day be your husband, blushing furiously.

His washitsu room had tatami mats as flooring—woven straw mats. Around the bed were multiple fusuma sliding doors with wooden frames covered in thick, opaque paper. His, however, had accents of purple and black, giving the room an intimidating atmosphere.

Byakuya set you down on a byōbu, and you hadn’t expected it to be so comfortable. His hands were trembling, and you immediately pulled him closer.

“I’m here with you. I want to be here always. Do you?”

Byakuya felt like his heart was going to explode.

“Yes, my love.”

He smiled back at you—not as wide, of course, but it still warmed your whole body. You tugged at his white kimono, urging him to kiss you again. His timid hands lifted you up, and the feel of his body pressed against yours only made you more desperate to have him.

As Byakuya kissed you, you fumbled with his clothes.

“Fuck, I want you so much. For so long.”

Byakuya hummed, his mouth traveling down to your collarbone, leaving soft kisses.

“Language, lieutenant.”

His lips curved into a subtle smirk as he cupped your cheek, leaving slow, wet kisses behind your ear and along your neck. You moaned, and Byakuya swore he’d never heard a more beautiful sound. He needed more.

He helped you undress him, revealing a sculpted body—so toned and muscular you didn’t even know where to touch first. Your hands wandered down to his pants, playing and tugging at them with your fingers, but Byakuya stopped you by lifting you so you’d be on his level.

His gaze asked for your permission, though it’s not like you hadn’t already jumped on him. You nodded eagerly before you felt his warm fingers undo your kimono, leaving you in a bra that intentionally accentuated your breasts.

Byakuya hesitated for a moment before gently cupping you through the bra, but when you moaned again, it was all the confirmation he needed. His hands roamed your body, finally reaching your black lace panties—matching your bra—a striking contrast to Byakuya, who was dressed mostly in white.

“Beautiful.”

His hoarse voice was unimaginably hot. You shivered as he began to kiss between your breasts, subtly undoing your bra while continuing down your stomach, hands gripping your hips as support, pausing at the waistband of your panties before returning to your already hard nipples, licking them.

“Byakuya, oh my—”

He took your breast in his mouth, swirling his tongue over the sensitive skin while massaging the other with his hand.

“Yes, my love?”

“You’re so good. So good to me—”

Your body leaned into him, your thighs shifting restlessly, desperate for any kind of release.

Your hand indecently reached for his straining erection through his pants, making Byakuya lose his focus from the pleasure.

But this moment was about you now.

He took both your hands and laid you down on the pillow, holding them in place as he began kissing you with a single goal.

Until he found himself face to face with your untouched pussy, now aching for attention.

You bucked your hips, and Byakuya’s cheeks deepened at your desperation—but he was just as hungry. After such a long time, this was deeply, intensely wanted.

When his lips cupped your clit through the fabric, you were already whining, needing more, even though you wanted it to last.

“Patience, my love.”

“I’m trying. But you’re so hot.”

His small laugh felt like it came from another world. If someone had told you months ago that you’d be in a situation like this, you would’ve laughed for sure. Fantasies aren’t real.

But… there’s no denying reality now, not when Byakuya was so focused on your most sensitive spot, massaging your inner thighs, down and around before finally pressing over your panties.

“Please. Please, Byakuya.”

“Shh.”

You barely heard his whisper—especially as your panties vanished in a second and his mouth met your pussy so fast your mind couldn’t comprehend it. Your body arched, but his hands held you still with his frim grip, yet gentle.

He looked at you with an intense, serious expression that conveyed his true feelings. Pure love.

His finger found your needy, empty hole, slowly entering.

“Yes, yes. Please!”

You didn’t need to say anything else. He wanted to give you everything. But your desperation was so sweet, it turned him on even more. He nearly could’ve come just from giving you pleasure.

When the second finger entered, stretching you wider to prepare you for him, he still wasn’t sure how he’d fit. You were wet enough, which was an honor—but still so tight.

His mouth surprised you. You gasped as his fingers pumped deeper and deeper, his tongue licking long strokes over your pussy like he was making out with your throbbing clit.

With every moan and arch of your back, you spurred Byakuya to give you more. More of what you wanted. More of what you craved.

He could feel how tight you were getting around his fingers, your orgasm approaching fast with the way your sounds increased. But soon you pulled him back up to your face.

“Please, baby, I need you. Fuck me, Byakuya. Please—”

He felt dizzy from your intoxicating scent and words. Your lust-filled eyes made him feel bewitched. Your words didn’t even shock him anymore. On the contrary, they aroused him more.

“Anything you want from me.”

You moaned into his mouth, tasting yourself on his lips (his favorite taste now). You helped him out of his pants, leaving only his underwear, and wrapped your hand around his cock—hypnotized by the size that both scared and thrilled you.

You stroked him up and down, fingers brushing the waistband of his underwear. Byakuya threw his head back, savoring the sensation no one else could give him, his vulnerability on full display as small, deep moans left his lips.

He removed his underwear, but you didn’t get a full view, as he came over you, Byakuya noticed your hesitation.

“If you want, we can stop.”

You shook your head quickly, breathing hard and seeking him with your body.

“It’s okay. In me. I want you inside me.”

He cupped your cheek, kissing you from lips to neck, to your breats. Everywhere he can.

“Anything you need, just tell me. I want you to feel comfortable.”

He stroked himself a few times before going to a small cabinet, searching for a condom.

“Do you want it?” you asked and he surprised by your question.

“You don’t?” he asked in return.

“No.”

It was irresponsible and he knew that. But after so long drowning in guilt, Byakuya didn’t care anymore.

He returned, on the mat, his gaze never straying from yours as you closed your eyes, your trembling body reacting when the head of his cock started teasing your entrance, collecting your arousal before sliding just slightly inside.

He moved his head back, looked into your eyes again, and kissed you gently as he slowly pushed into you.

The stretch was intense. You threw your head back, toes curled, legs twitching around him.

You were panting the words out, and Byakuya’s breath came shorter and shorter, a sheen of sweat forming on his forehead.

“M-move, B-bya-kuya!”

Byakuya pulled back until just the tip remained inside you. After a pause, he thrust back in fully, repeating the motion at the same pace before going faster.

“Oh my—You feel so good. I love it, I love it!”

Your mouth opened on its own as he picked up the pace, both of you quickly nearing release. His fingers found your clit, rubbing tight, fast circles.

“Yes?”

“Mhm. You could fill me daily, Byakuya.”

Your words shattered parts of his mind, destroying his restraint.

“Is that what you want?”

“Yes, yes. Fuck! Y-You don’t want?”

Tears escaped your eyes from the overwhelming pleasure as you clenched impossibly tighter around him. Your vulnerable expression was so precious, he swore he’d preserve it as a sacred image in his heart. He was truly focused on a future with you, so he didn’t regret his next words.

“Yes. I want that.”

It didn’t take long before you came, screaming his name, loud moans following, so loud they could probably be heard in Hueco Mundo. His head fell back as his hips stuttered inside you. With a final groan, Byakuya came inside you.

Your thumbs spread his lips, both of you panting and lost in each other’s eyes. Byakuya pulled out slowly, still making you whimper. Your body was wrecked, hair splayed over the pillow, eyes half-lidded, lips parted. Your body tilted slightly to the side, legs trembling, one hand resting weakly on your stomach, the other limp on the bed.

No woman had ever looked more beautiful to him. Byakuya thought. He wasn’t sure how you’d react if you knew exactly what was in his head. He was scared.

While he went to fetch a towel soaked in warm water to clean you up, you stared at the ceiling, your thoughts mirroring his. Both of you still had things to discover together.

When he returned, he cleaned you gently, then laid beside you and wrapped you in a warm embrace.

You regained your senses after your breathing steadied. There was no need to talk about what happened. It wasn’t just an impulsive decision, it was one made from strong emotion, chemistry, shared values.

You didn’t want anyone else. And neither did he. But still, you needed to say it. Your head resting on his arm, you turned to him but Byakuya was still processing everything.

“Byakuya Kuchiki.”

Your intent was unclear, confusing him—worried he might’ve done something wrong.

“I love you. So much. Do you believe me?”

His heart jumped again. He still struggled to comprehend the reality that he had you.

His mouth didn’t move for several minutes, but his eyes never left yours.

“And I love you—with all my heart.”

You smiled so much today your cheeks ached. You climbed on top of him, smothering him in affection, making him close his eyes as you kissed every part of his face.

You can’t wait to garden together, for him to read his stoic philosophy books to you while you brighten his world with your own. To drink tea every morning side by side. To train together. To marry, and…

The future looks promising.

[littjara-mirrorlake]

From my in-progress homebrew D&D 5e supplement, Plane Shift: Mirrodin/New Phyrexia: playable Myr!

They've been beloved in playtesting, with no fewer than three myr PCs appearing in the party over the course of a 3-year campaign. They are one of two new playable races in Plane Shift: New Phyrexia, along with the core-born Phyrexian.

Constructed Resilience and Sentry's Rest are abilities that previously appeared on the Warforged in Eberron: Rising from the Last War, and Regenerative Repair is a less restricting version of the ability Healing Machine from Astral Adventurer's Guide.

Text from the image under the cut!

Metallic, beak-headed myr inhabit Mirrodin, scampering at the feet of larger humanoids and largely considered below their attention. Few know of their true origin as creations of the mad wizard Memnarch, designed to be mechanized servants and his eyes across the plane. Following Memnarch’s fall, the myr found themselves with sapience and free will, though their core values of duty, community, and knowledge remain.

Myr Traits

Type. You are a Construct. You are also considered a myr for any prerequisite or effect that requires you to be a myr.

Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 2, and your Dexterity score increases by 1.

Age. As constructed creatures, myr don’t grow old in the traditional sense, and they are able to live indefinitely if well-maintained. You are immune to magical aging effects.

Size. Myr average about 3 feet tall. Your size is Small.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet.

Darkvision. Your constructed senses grant you superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Constructed Resilience. You have resistance to poison damage and immunity to disease, and you have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned. You don’t need to eat, drink, or breathe. You also don’t need to sleep, and magic can’t put you to sleep.

Bonus Proficiencies. You gain proficiency in one skill and one tool of your choice. The tool you chose is integrated into your body and cannot be removed while you live.

Networked Minds. You can communicate telepathically with other myr within 120 feet of you.

Sentry’s Rest. When you take a long rest, you must spend at least six hours in an inactive, motionless state, rather than sleeping. In this state, you appear inert, but it doesn’t render you unconscious, and you can see and hear as normal.

Regenerative Repair. If the mending spell is cast on you, you can expend a hit die, roll it, and regain a number of hit points equal to the roll plus your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1 hit point). Spells such as cure wounds and spare the dying which restore hit points or preserve life, and normally don’t affect constructs, function as if you were a humanoid.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice.

[starvingnarcissistmusic]

I should really make a non music blog so that people who like my music don’t get bombarded by random unrelated stuff but this is like tangentially related sort of so whatever

God I just love Mal Du Pays. I am always a sucker for “the enemy is you / the enemy is a manifestation of some part of you” trope in any media but MDP has by far gotta be one of the best applications of it I’ve ever seen.

I mean even just the design of it is brilliant. Obviously inverting a characters colors to get the evil / darker version isn’t anything new for this trope, but ISAT is unique in that you have quite literally been STARING AT MDP THE WHOLE GAME, every single time you die and every single time you loop back. Turning the non diegetic game over screen into a diegetic encounter is incredibly clever and immediately gives MDP that sense of crushing pressure that makes it so memorable.

Also literally any game where the game over music is later established as the motif of a character automatically just wins me over by default. It’s such an effective tool in immediately conveying just what MDP is, even before any of the dialogue starts. It’s the end of this journey. It’s the pain of a home you’ve never known. It’s an entire universe collapsing in on you at once. It’s the end. It’s the end. It’s the end.

And I think, it’s a little Fucked Up, that Siffrin’s sadness looks identical to him. Every other sadness we see in the game is very distinctly not human in appearance, incredibly abstract and inhuman pretty much all around the board. But Mal Du Pays? The sadness of our main character? Pretty much the same. Literally a color swap. I think that’s incredibly telling. A being born of Siffrin’s grief and pain and agony, and the form it takes is his own silhouette.

Thematically, it’s very On The Nose that Siffrin’s worst enemy is simply himself, but at the same time, it’s exactly what you expect. I remember getting to MDP for the first time, seeing Siffrin walk through the void and just… knowing what would come next. Of course it would be another him. For Siffrin, his hell is himself. This nightmarish half-life, devoid of a past and with nothing but a quickly collapsing future, his worst impulses and fears and agonies and pains personified, and all it looks like is his shadow. Of course, what else could be here, at his lowest of lows, but a reflection? Of course there would be nothing here but you. It’s always only ever been you. Mal Du Pays is a mirror. A mirror that hates you like you do, that loathes you like you loathe yourself. In the worst, most monstrous way possible, it tells you exactly what you’ve been telling yourself your whole journey. And so you believe it, let it sink its words into your skin and bury you in the misery. Because maybe then, maybe when you finally give in, it won’t hurt anymore.

(A cold comfort is still, however little it may be, a comfort.)

And then you’re saved. The King is defeated, your friends came back for you, you manage to come up for air again. But it’s not enough. It’s never enough. Everything is still coming to an end. You’re still going to be all alone. And so, you sink again.

Notice how Bigfrin doesn’t have a face in this panel? This is Siffrin at their most self destructive, most desperate, lower than lower than low. And in a way, I think that by quite literally looking like the Sadness they nearly created, they’re symbolically drawing a parallel there. Siffrin fully embraces what Mal Du Pays represented, to the point that their new form looks just like it. Even if they didn’t manifest MDP, they are just as horrible. After all, the mirror goes both ways. Mal Du Pays looks just like Siffrin, but that also means that Siffrin looks just like Mal Du Pays. And maybe, in Siffrin’s head, they’re one and the same. Maybe they’ve always been.

Oh god it’s 1 in the morning. I did not mean to make this that long lmao w h o o p s

uhhhhhh in summary tldr mdp is very good isat is also very good play isat

(also if you want more MDP content, I sort of wrote a whole song about it. So listen to that if you’d like. Im goin to bed)

[hazshit-hotel-hater]

“Excuse me sir! There must someone you’ve confused me for!”

Having Angel withdrawal again sorry guys :/ its time for some uhh… prologue stuff?? I think thats right. Anyway! As I mentioned in this lovely post, when sinners die the time it takes for them to wake up in hell and where they wake up depends on how they died. So for Angels case his body was formed in hell in a hospital bed cause thats where he died so theres like fibres and metal in his body from being formed around a hospital bed! This is also going to go into how regenerating and how injuries work so get ready! Basically whatever your body was originally formed and made out of regenerates eventually, you can have scars if theyre really big (uncommon since the injury usually kills you) but if you die again in hell they go away. Angel gets injured quite a lot and none of these injuries are permanent. That isn’t to say you can heal by killing yourself though! If you do die while injured there may actually be lasting complications since bodies in hell are typically made to regenerate while gravely wounded. Its kind of like a fucked up computer so if you have a broken leg and die by say snapping your neck the body may get confused and regenerate bones and such incorrectly. Or it may not! Its hell who knows! Ill likely figure out a more concrete plan and way that it works but at the moment I enjoy this aspect of hell to not have a random cheat code and instead include some body horror. Its hell so like some stuff is probably confusing right??

Back to Angel, later on around season 1 in the rewrite he also has throat surgery to remove his deformed inner fangs and those DO actually stay gone because certain hospitals in hell (usually expensive ones) have tools from sloth that have been permitted by Lucifer. Similar to how Stolas got that lust portal gem or whatever. Angels body wasn’t supposed to form like that and this is a common thing to happen with sinners that die “long-term” and that sounds confusing but it really just means sinners that die in comatose-esque ways like Angel. His body was dying over the course of months (December to March to be exact) so parts of his body formed over complicated or were underdeveloped like the aforementioned fangs (that were originally meant to form inside of his mouth and not his throat) that would randomly bare themselves and stab his own throat, paralyzing Angel temporarily. Other examples would be parts of his legs and smaller stomach.

This is the surgery Angel got by the way (expenses covered by Velvette but thats a whole other plot line)

On top of this I also wanted to draw Angel’s old markings (at least one of them). Prior to Valentino, Angel looked much similar marking-wise to his original comic designs where he was more purple and yellow with all the fun skulls and stripes. Though, with how contracts work in my rewrite, Angel loses the markings and they change into hearts after his contract and cannot return to normal after his contract is terminated. The same is true for Husker and Niffty. This whole piece is really just supposed to capture to horror of waking up after being comatose and you’re suddenly not yourself anymore and also not where you were for the past months and your entire anatomy is changed. Can you imagine waking up without bones??? In 1947??? Id have a breakdown personally!

I also wanted to use green for that sick gross feeling. Kind of the dread you feel before throwing up, but also to represent Angel’s later feelings of envy that I was unable to present in his design. I really like pink characters in green atmospheres if you can’t tell. If I think of more stuff to add to this post I will, but for now it’s just a lot of lore. Hopefully you all enjoy it!

[mw00nie]

Shoulder to shoulder: Chapter 1

♡—————♡—————♡—————♡—————♡—————♡

A/N : English is not my first language, so I'm sorry for any mistakes that may have occurred. This took me a while to write; I'm sorry. The first draft was a mess 😭😭

summary: Jake takes a liking to the random sleepy stranger who he always sits next to on the subway.

w.c: 5k

♡—————♡—————♡—————♡—————♡—————♡

The subway car rocked gently as Jake adjusted his seat, trying to make himself comfortable without drawing attention. Y/N sat next to him, her head bobbing slightly as sleep threatened to overtake her. Jake noticed her struggling to stay awake and smiled to himself. She was clearly exhausted—a feeling he could relate to after long shifts at the precinct.

Moments later, her head gently lolled onto his shoulder. Jake froze, not wanting to disturb her. He glanced around the subway car, hoping no one noticed how flustered he was.

Y/N stirred slightly, her eyes fluttering open. She blinked up at Jake, her fair cheeks flushing pink. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” she mumbled, sitting up straight and rubbing her eyes. “I didn’t mean to…”

Jake smiled warmly, hoping to put her at ease. “No worries. Happens all the time. I guess I just have a trustworthy shoulder.”

Y/N smiled sleepily, but her expression shifted to mild panic as she patted her lap. “Where are my glasses?” she muttered.

Jake reached into his jacket pocket and held up her glasses, slightly bent but still intact. “Saved them from getting crushed by a guy with questionable hygiene,” he said, flashing his badge instinctively. “Detective Jake Peralta.”

Y/N’s face lit up as she took them. “Wow, thank you. That’s really kind of you… Detective.” She gave him a small smile, slipping her glasses back on. “I’m Y/N Y/S/N, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Y/N,” Jake said, his voice genuinely warm. Before he could say anything more, she glanced out the window, and her eyes widened.

“Oh, this is my stop!” She said, standing up quickly and clutching her bag. “Thanks again, Jake.”

Jake gave her a small wave, his heart doing a somersault. “You’re welcome.”

As the subway doors closed behind her, Jake leaned back in his seat, letting out a long breath. The faint scent of her shampoo lingered on his shoulder. He couldn’t believe he’d finally spoken to her.

Later that night, Jake sat at his desk in the precinct, staring at a blank report on his computer. His mind kept wandering back to Y/N. Her sleepy smile, the way she’d looked genuinely grateful when he’d handed her glasses—it was all stuck on replay in his brain.

Boyle leaned over his desk, raising an eyebrow. “Jake, why are you smiling like that? You look like you just found out Die Hard is getting a sequel.”

Jake snapped out of his trance. “What? No. I’m… uh, just thinking about a case. A really good one. Super intense.” Jake was so caught up he didn’t correct Boyle on how Die Hard had a sequel and 4 other movies after that.

Boyle squinted. “Uh-huh. Is this ‘case’ a woman you met on the subway?”

Jake’s eyes widened. “How did you…?”

“You have a very specific grin for subway crushes. Spill.”

Jake groaned but couldn’t help smiling. “Fine. I met someone. Her name’s Y/N. She fell asleep on my shoulder, I saved her glasses, we talked a little, and then she left.”

“Did you get her number?” Boyle asked eagerly.

“No,” Jake said, deflating slightly. “But it’s fine. I’ll see her again. Probably. Maybe.”

“Jake, you’re a detective! Use your skills. Find her. But, you know, not in a creepy way.”

Jake hesitated. Boyle was right—he had the tools to find her. But he wanted it to feel organic. Real. Still, his curiosity got the better of him. A quick social media search couldn’t hurt, right?

Later that night, Jake sat at his desk in the precinct, scrolling through social media. It had taken some light detective work (entirely within ethical bounds, of course), but he’d managed to find her profile.

Graphic designer... Her bio was simple but gave Jake enough to imagine her life outside their subway rides. He clicked through her posts, smiling at pictures of her projects and the occasional blurry selfie. There was one of her at a museum, captioned: “Where the art inspires my art.” (the post)

Jake’s grin widened. “She’s cool,” he said to himself.

He leaned back, holding his phone above him. “Okay, Peralta. Chill. You’re just… getting to know her. That’s normal.” But as he scrolled further, he felt his chest tighten. She wasn’t just cool; she was amazing. And the more he learned about her, the harder he fell.

_________________________

The next morning, Jake arrived at the subway platform earlier than usual. He told himself it was purely coincidental. He wasn’t waiting for her or anything. Definitely not.

The train pulled in, and Jake stepped on, glancing around the car. No sign of Y/N. He sank into a seat, trying to shake off the disappointment.

“Detective Peralta?”

Jake’s head snapped up. There she was, standing a few feet away, holding onto the handrail. Her smile was warm, and it was impossible not to smile back.

“Y/N! Hey! Uh, good morning,” he said, trying not to sound too eager.

She stepped closer, gripping the pole next to his seat. “Mind if I sit?”

“Not at all,” Jake said, quickly scooting over to make room. His heart raced as she sat down.

“So,” Y/N began, adjusting her bag. “Detective Peralta, huh? That sounds like an action hero name.”

Jake grinned. “It’s just part of the job. You know, stopping crime, catching bad guys, making the world a safer place… no big deal.”

Y/N laughed, and Jake felt like he’d won the lottery. “Well, thanks again for saving my glasses.”

“Glad to help,” Jake said. “Though now I’m curious. What keeps you so busy that you’re falling asleep on strangers’ shoulders?”

“Graphic design. Deadlines and caffeine are my life right now,” she admitted with a sheepish smile.

“That sounds intense. Any downtime in the mix?” Jake asked.

“Not much. But I’m trying to find a balance. You?” Y/N asked, tilting her head slightly.

“Downtime? What’s that? Pretty sure I’ve forgotten what weekends feel like,” Jake joked, earning another laugh.

The train slowed as it approached the next station. Y/N glanced at the doors and stood up. “This is my stop. Good luck with those weekends, Detective.”

Jake smiled. “Thanks. Have a good one, Y/N.”

She gave him a small wave as the doors opened. “You too.”

As the doors closed behind her, Jake leaned back in his seat, grinning like an idiot. Maybe today wasn’t such a bad day after all.

♡—————♡—————♡—————♡—————♡—————♡

A/N: I have no idea if this is good enough. I need feedback. Episode 2 will be out soon. trust🙏🙏

[karcatgirl-vantas]

GATE INVERSION

A superhero setting.

About 30 years or so ago, the one way passage of souls from Earth to Hell switched direction. It is now impossible to die; everyone on Earth stops aging at some point between 20 and 60. Some people age backward, or oscillate back and forth over the course of decades. No disease or injury can permanently kill anyone either, though injuries of would-be-lethal severity take proportionally longer to heal and can be permanently disabling. Periodically, people in Hell - that is, people who have died at potentially any point in history - will die in Hell and appear, generally in 20-something year old bodies, somewhere on Earth.

The world is full of demons. Demons are created wanting to do evil, but they aren't created with a sophisticated moral philosophy or understanding of what "evil" means, so they crib notes from human minds. They find people who understand themselves as evil, or who understand themselves as having evil attributes or urges, or who have emotions or desires that they suppress and try to distance themselves from, and do supernatural things to them, around them, or involving them - things designed to make them, by their own reckoning, worse.

If you have a demon attached to you, one way to deal with it is to incorporate whatever fact or quality about yourself the demon has attached itself to into your self-image. You create a persona for yourself - a name, an attitude, an aesthetic sensibility - that reflects and engages with whatever it is about yourself that your demon has latched onto. Is your demon a dark secret? A destiny you decide to embrace? Something inside you that you have to learn to control, or to nurture, or even to redeem? Once you have an idea of your answers to these questions, you might discover, or invent, a new name for yourself, or a name for your demon, or a name that the two of you share. You can use that name as a weapon, or a tool for moving through the world, or a shield; and as you do, you'll find your demon's abilities coming under your control.

In the world of GATE INVERSION, the supervillains are the people who embrace whatever dark urges their demons tickle, and are often made physically monstrous by those demons; and the superheroes are the ones who see themselves as rejecting and resisting those parts of themself. It isn't common knowledge that villains and heroes are empowered in the same way, by the same force. The superheroes try to present an idealized, morally pure version of themselves - they have to, in order to keep controlling their powers the way they've learned to! There is a growing movement of anti-heroes, or anti-villains, who have gleaned some inklings of the underlying mechanisms of super-empowerment, and who advocate radical self-acceptance, finding ways to incorporate and even celebrate the dark parts of yourself that don't lead to lashing out and hurting other people. But these folks aren't widely trusted yet. Just like supervillains, they are often made monstrous by their powers; and sometimes they go off the deep end and become violent vigilantes, or their communities are rocked by disturbing scandals. None of our upstanding heroes would do anything like that, right? Right. Best to stick with tradition.

[melled42]

I always forget that a lot of creators have their narilamb ship have that harsh dip in trust when narinder wants to sacrifice the lamb. I love it, it's a great dynamic, especially if there's and up before, I just forget sometimes that would be a natural progression of those characters

I thought since the start of the game that it would end with the lamb dead, even before it was revealed. You're always called a vessel, so I honestly thought the conclusion would be fight or you get possessed and they take the cult in your body. so i figured the lamb thought the same and either wanted to die since they were all alone, or were planning to fight all along. Honestly, before i found out narinder was a cat, i thought he was a dog, like an Anubis type, and it was a big "wolf in sheep's clothing" metaphor >_>; I'm kind of disappointed that didn't happen, honestly.

because of that thought process i had while playing, I designed Ewen from the beginning to want to die. only agreeing to be alive to get revenge on for indignity they suffered for their execution. I eventually expanded on the how's and whys, but that was always the starting point. Their attachment to narinder, along with the self worth that comes from being needed (even as a tool) was the only thing that gave them a drive to keep living, and the only reason they refused to give up the crown. If u wanna get all narrative fancy, I try to tie that back around to when they rescue their siblings, despite the fact that they think they'll take narinder away from them. That's the point when their completely selfish need for them becomes less "I'm going to do whatever it costs to keep him here to make me happy" to "I'm going to do whatever it costs to make him happy, even if it might take him away from me" love. which, of course, is terrifying lol. and then brings it back around to "his selfish need to do whatever it costs to keep me with him has to make me acknowledge I am worth love and he won't leave me" in a double fucked up way.

[anim-ttrpgs]

I recently ran an oneshot for my friends in Eureka.

It was a lot of fun and went mostly smoothly! The charakter creation was very easy. It still took more time than I expected, but that was simply because the players needed it to decide on which traits etc. to pick.

The central resolution mechanic with 2d6 is of course tried and true (I assume. Never played one of the many other 2d6 games.) but especially the Eureka system felt really good.

I think I read in a recent post of your's, that you are overhauling the chapter on combat. That seems very important to me. Even though I read the whole book once before running the game, I had immense problems finding out how small details of the combat worked during play. The musings on game design (eg, "yes, the combat is deadly, thats on purpose heres why" and such) where really enlightening to read, but got in the way when searching for concrete stats.

I will run the same oneshot again for different friends. The game seems really promising to me.

My mystery took place on a single in game evening, and none of the players were monsters. Having therefore only scratched at the surface of Eureka, I am looking forward to running it more.

Woo! We LOVE hearing about this kinda stuff!

And yeah everything about how the combat-related rules are structured is getting overhauled. All of that was written like 2 years ago when I was a slightly worse game designer and MUCH worse at writing coherent paragraphs and hasn’t been touched since until now. Instead of being split across like four paragraphs (what was I thinking), there will be just two chapters on it: “Instruments of Violence”, which is mostly just a giant list of references for the stats and special rules of weapons and armor, and “Dangerous Situations”, which covers every rule related to how your investigators can get killed. Some of these clean-ups are already available in the latest patreon release, and the rest are coming soon to both patreon and the itchio beta.

Combat is a very rare thing in Eureka, but when it does come up, we want it to be tight and granular, but without wasting the players’ time, which I think we’ve done pretty well at.

Like the book says, combat is deadly and there’s a reason why: so it doesn’t waste the players’ time.

This is a twofold problem to solve. The first layer of it, we solved by making sure the numbers are low. Most weapons can take a character down in 2 to 3 hits, so a single instance of two guys smacking each other will never take too many rounds.

Secondly, well, combat is dangerous and deadly, and if the PCs approach it without a plan, they’re gonna die, or at least get their asses kicked fast. Otherwise, well, I consider that a waste of the players’ time. If it was predetermined that the PCs would win otherwise the story can’t continue, well, what did we roll all those die, look up all those stats, and track all that HP for? Why didn’t we just describe the PCs winning and move on? Combat matters because it can change the outcome of the adventure, and if it can’t change the outcome, why are you rolling dice? Of course with death being so possible, to keep it fun, we gotta include lots of “tools” like cover, positioning, different weapons, special melee attacks, etc. that the PCs can use cleverly to give themselves an edge, and *earn* their survival.

Oh and also yeah can’t wait to hear what you think about the monsters. Funny thing about that, everyone who has read the rulebook knows that monsters and other supernatural creatures are supposed to be really rare, like one supernatural person for every 3,000,000 normal people kinda rare, but, monsters are super cool and fun to play, and are one of the big draws of the system, so we were kinda worried that that rarity wouldn’t come through in play, everyone would just be monsters. We considered setting a limit on how many monsters can be in a party? But quickly decided against it, because then players would have to compete for the limited monster slots, and people might even feel like if they’re not filling in that slot every single adventure, they’re missing an opportunity, and so every party would max out their monster limit every time and there’d, again, be way too many monsters.

In practice, though, most parties in Eureka seem to be comprised of all normal people, or all normal people and 1 monster at most, even without the limit. And I suspect this is both because monsters are kinda difficult to play despite their immense power, and, just to brag, because we made the normal PCs fun has hell to play too. :)

[fire-of-the-sun]

Noctis & Luna: Two Halves of a Whole

As the destined King of Light and Oracle form two halves of a whole divinely linked and fated to save the world, Noctis and Luna share a bond like none they've ever known. Though their individual callings are deeply intertwined regardless of their personal feelings, the genuine bond they cultivate transcends their pre-determined duties and encompasses a relationship that I believe to be a Yin and Yang dynamic - the definition of which can be described as two opposing, but complementary forces that are inextricably linked and balance each other to form a whole: Male and Female. Dark and Light. Sun and Moon. Night and Day. Black and White, etc. It's this element of their relationship that I'd like to explore here, as it seems clear to me that they were at least partially inspired by and designed to reflect this concept.

SYMBOLISM

Of course, the most obvious exemplification of this idea is found visually in their character's physical adherence to all black and all white clothing, a sartorial choice that is determined by their respective homelands of Tenebrae, which means "Darkness" in Latin, and Lucis which means "Light" - names clearly selected to further push this concept. Delving deeper into language, we know Noctis' name translates to "Light in the Night Sky" in Latin, but what is the singular Light in the night sky? The Moon, aka Luna. Similarly, Luna's middle name is Nox which, in Latin, also means "Night" - a direct reference back to Noctis. They literally share a piece of each other in the other's name, an exchange which is another notable aspect of the Yin and Yang dynamic that features the sharing of one within the other (the two dots in the larger circle).

I believe this concept is also reflected in Umbra and Pryna, Luna's dogs. Pryna is a white female dog (with black markings) that is obviously meant to reflect Luna and dies with her and Umbra, a black male dog (with white markings), who survives to continue to help Noctis. These magical dogs serve to bridge the divide between them and act as their only means to facilitate communication through the passing of a notebook, which I believe is also meant to reflect this element of exchange. Though it may have been more convenient for them and the audience to try to find some way to speak directly to each other over some device, it wouldn't serve the same purpose, and it would lessen the impact of them meeting in person to a degree. Their inability to touch, see or hear from each other beyond the written word only increases the longing that beats at the heart of their star-crossed lover's dynamic.

Another exchange is featured in the transferring of the Ring of the Lucii - the embodiment of Noctis' duty - as well as the Trident of the Oracle, the symbol of Luna's own power and a piece of herself that literally becomes part of him to aid his mission even after she's gone. Beyond this, we also see Noctis hold onto one of Luna's glowing flower petals after her image vanishes as it's light and her essence seems to meld into him. As the Ring and Trident are tools to help him succeed in his calling, the petal is personal and both gifts represent her roles to him: mentor as well as lover and acts as another reference to the "light within the dark" element of Yin and Yang.

Though Luna is obviously meant to represent the Moon (it's literally the meaning of her name), Noctis doesn't feel like an obvious reference to the Sun. Though his fate is linked to bringing back the Light, which is most notably displayed in the return of the Sun, I'd argue he and Luna are both the Moon - both the Light in the Night sky that combats the Darkness that must die to bring back the Sun. Saving the world can literally only be achieved through their union, just as Gentiana proposed:

"It is heartening to see the future King and the Oracle enjoy such familiarity. The fate of our world may depend on it." - Gentiana

The elements of Light and Darkness that permeate the story leads to some interesting symbolism. Light is a term used often and holds multiple meanings as, beyond physical Light, it also means Hope and, for Noctis and the world, Luna is the embodiment of that Hope. When she's gone, the world literally grows darker without such a beacon of Light to help keep it at bay. That task now belongs fully to Noctis and the passing of the torch is exemplified in her exchange with the Ring and the Trident.

"[...] For slowly but surely, the Light fades from our world. And as it does, the shadows loom ever longer until all succumbs to the Darkness. Darkness that evokes terror, hatred, and sorrow in the hearts of men. [...] Yet I beg you, do not surrender to Despair. Have faith, for our gods watch over us. By their blessings, by the Stars that light the heavens above, our world will be delivered from the perils of the Dark. [...] But first, I offer my solemn vow, on my honor as Oracle, I will not rest until the Darkness is banished from our world and the Light is restored." - Luna

And, just as Darkness is the opposite of Light, so Despair is the opposite of Hope and it's in this struggle that the story revolves and defines the crux of Noctis' internal conflict. Among other things, Noctis' journey is finding the ability to move on from the Despair of his losses and attaining and embodying Hope like Luna before him so he can be that for the world. It's Ardyn that tries to keep him trapped in Darkness and Despair by reminding him of his guilt and fears and Luna that tries to pull him into the Light by encouraging him and reminding him of his strength and capability. In the end, through the help of his loved ones, Noctis embraces Hope and becomes the true King of Light and saves the world by physically conquering Darkness and his own Despair. This growth is beautifully displayed in many moments, but notably in Noctis' final speech to the Glaives that mimics Luna's words:

"Even as the Darkness overcame our world, we kept the Light alive in our hearts. We've all lost friends and loved ones along the way, but the one thing we never lost was Hope. I ask you to stand by me and fight at my side for the Light and for the future of our world!" - Noctis

BALANCE

"Noct and Luna are a great match for each other personality-wise. They are both patient, and earnest, and capable of dealing with great sorrow. They would be each other’s shield, and their love for each other would only grow with time." - Ray Chase (Voice of Noctis)

Noctis and Luna were clearly intended to reflect and contrast in interesting ways that enhance the story and add depth to their individual characters. Though I won't begin to pretend to know all the deeper meanings to be mined in the Omen trailer, I was struck by the way Noctis and Luna are literally reflected throughout most of it with them depicted as mimicking each other's movements or seeing each other's reflections as their own, almost as if they're one person. I think this speaks to the creator's desire to showcase them in this way and lends further credence to the Yin and Yang aspect of their dynamic, in my opinion.

Let's break it down: Luna was obviously designed to be a few years older than Noctis to enhance her larger narrative function as a mentor figure. Given the duties she had to embrace at a young age and the hardships she's suffered, she is more mature, refined and accepting of her calling. Noctis, by contrast, lacks in these areas at the beginning of the story - hence the journey he's on to follow in her footsteps both literally and figuratively and reach her at that level using her guidance, support and example to become the man and the King he's meant to be.

These disparities are intentional. A deliberate choice to enhance their Yin and Yang dynamic and encourage Noctis' much needed growth but, despite their surface level differences, they are and could clearly be very compatible. They have always gotten along very well, showcase a deep level of respect and affection for each other, have grown up together through their consistent communication and truly know and love each other despite said differences and not even seeing each other in person (you don't eagerly and consistently write to someone for 12 years and still not know anything about each other). Getting to interact in person would only further enhance an already strong foundation, not hinder it and their minimal differences would help balance and enhance each other. And yes, they'd have amazing chemistry, let's be real.

For example, it's easy to determine that Luna would be a calm and encouraging presence that Noctis desperately needs - a literal beacon of Light in his life. He harbors a great deal of anxiety about his duties, calling and even his wedding with her and just being around her and assured by her warm smile and comforting words would have done wonders to relax and assuage his worries. Her presence would also help to bring out more maturity in Noctis and naturally coax the gentleman in him to the surface as he tries to be the man and husband she deserves. When Noctis speaks to or about Luna, he generally shows a softer, more caring side of himself that contrasts the 'rougher', more guarded quality he can display around others at times. He could finally drop the nonchalant façade he uses as a shield and just be himself as there is no reason to hide his true self around Luna, who already knows him so well and will not judge or mock him.

Unlike Noctis, Luna doesn't have the luxury of friends her age she can be herself with. Reuniting with him would no doubt encourage her to drop her guard as well and remind her of their time together when she was her younger, more carefree self and the person she wants to be: a normal woman who finally has someone by her side who sees the real her beyond being the Oracle. She's not just Lady Lunafreya, she's also Luna, a girl who wants a life outside of duty with the man she loves and he's the only person who sees her that way. Luna longs for her other half - an equal at her side rather than someone merely to lead.

"I have little to offer a King other than the voice afforded the Oracle. Nevertheless, and I'm afraid he might find this foolish, but to be together with Noctis again - even if only for a short while - it would mean the world to me. I do not seek to guide him, merely to stand beside him." - Luna

Like Yin and Yang, they complement and balance each other to grow and become the best and truest version of themselves. Luna encourages Noctis to mature and relax and Noctis would allow her to be less refined and remind her of the woman she is beneath the titles and duties that have dominated her life. They'd give each other exactly what the other needs and provide a special bond they can't find with anyone else. Though Noctis' friends help him along his journey, the burden of his fate is a weight only Luna understands. They are on this path together and no one else can truly know what that feels like save for the other.

This is another reason why their relationship is so important, as it allows us to flesh out their characters more and add depth by highlighting a facet of their personalities that we wouldn't otherwise see. Having romantic rather than platonic feelings for each other also heightens every aspect of the story: the tragedy of their circumstances, the longing to be together and the overall satisfaction at the end when they can finally be together again.

FOREVER BOUND

Since the day they met, Noctis and Luna became a huge part of each other's lives and formed a bond both sought to hold onto. Felt a deep connection to their spiritual counterpart and amiss in each other's absence as if unconsciously seeking their other half. When Luna dies, Noctis loses a part of himself, and the blow is understandably devastating. They came so close to being together and were torn apart once again, their previous separation taking a new and even more tragic form. But though Luna is far, she is not gone as, according to Ravus, even in death her spirit remains tethered to the world, unable to truly pass on until Noctis' mission is complete - further proof as to how connected their fated roles are. However, it's their love for each other, not their callings that truly tether them and, just as before, they are determined to still be together someday no matter what.

"Luna, you and I will be together again someday, I promise." - Noctis

The element of yearning that permeates their relationship is maintained now through the repeated motif of Noctis reaching for her, both still desperate for connection. Beyond heightening the inherent tragedy that lies at the heart of their star-crossed lovers dynamic, I believe these near misses are not meant to be cruel, but to further prove that, as much as Noctis wants to, he has not really "reached" Luna yet. He still has a lot of growth to achieve before he can truly become her equal and they can become one. If Luna represents essentially all that he needs to become, then reuniting and becoming one with her translates to him finally achieving that as well, which is why it's withheld until he's completed his arc. It also, obviously, makes them finally being able to touch in the end even more satisfying.

MARRIAGE

As a huge element of this story is about Noctis and Luna uniting in more ways than one, what better way to show that than through marriage? As marriage can be defined as two individuals joining in a permanent covenant that unites them into one flesh, so the marriage between Noctis and Luna was not only an effective catalyst to the story, but also a brilliant way to continue to reflect the idea of them becoming whole again through each other which serves a huge narrative, thematic and symbolic function. This story is not only about Noctis literally following in Luna's footsteps, seeking her to not only be reunited with her, but also united in marriage - the blending of Yin and Yang. Two halves of a whole seeking and yearning for each other finally becoming one which is only achieved in the end after Noctis has completed his arc and truly becomes her equal.

Though they may not have physically married in life, their spiritual marriage in the afterlife further proves not only how much they love and want to be together, but also symbolizes that they are truly and fully bonded now. Even the transformed logo at the end of the game serves to show this. Where once Luna was alone, now Noctis finally joins her at last. Finally equal. Finally whole. Finally one.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this, please reblog and/or like and check out my #ffmeta and #ffedit tag for more!

[lumsel]

Basement Syndrome

Why do first levels in roguelikes suck so bad?

Consider it. You're playing your favourite roguelike, starting up a new run, but before you get to the fun part you have to slog through that part. You know, the boring slog at the start of every playthrough that you gotta suffer through before you hit the fun part. The Mines in Spelunky, the Desert in Nuclear Throne, the Basement in Binding of Isaac, if they've all got one thing in common it's that you just can't wait to get out of them. What gives? This is Basement Syndrome: the tendency in roguelikes for the start of the run to just broadly suck ass.

There's two big reasons Basement Syndrome is so pervasive in the genre:

The first is Difficulty. The first level in a roguelike is generally designed to be a new player's introduction to the game. It has to be! It's the first thing you're confronted with when you hit play. So this first level bears the burden of introducing the player to the game's mechanics and expectations in a controlled environment. The designer is understandably reluctant to throw new players in the deep end, so this first level will usually be mechanically less complex so you can come to grips with how everything works before the game starts switching things up on you.

Add on to that how a lot of roguelikes take a kind of arcade approach to progression. You measured your success based on how far you progressed in a run. You'd get good enough to beat level one, but then you get stonewalled by level two. Then when you're good enough to beat level two, you get stonewalled by level three, and so on, until you hone your skills enough to beat the whole damn game. Each level is a new spike in difficulty that you have to conquer to beat the game, and you measure that progress to mastery by your runs reaching further and further into the game

This is pretty standard stuff, it's a difficulty curve, everyone does this. But, of course, in a roguelike... you gotta replay that super simple easiest first level every time you die! This means the first area has to juggle a dual responsibility as a new player's introduction to the game, and the start of every elite player's run. That's not an easy balance to strike-- and most games don't strike it!

The second is Variance. Modern roguelikes use the player's build as a source of variance from run-to-run. As you play through a run, your character will accumulate new items that give them unique attributes which come to define their playstyle in some way. This has become a ubiquitous part of the genre, and it makes sense! It's a great way of keeping the game fresh and interesting as you replay it again and again, by changing the way in which you engage with the same problems the game tosses at you depending on the tools you've been given.

The problem, though, is that if the bonuses that define your build are something that accumulates over the course of the run... then at the start of the run, when you've got the least bonuses, that's where the variance is at its lowest. The first area in a roguelike takes place before your build has taken shape -- if every run begins in the same place and then branches out into something interesting, but the start of the run is happening before that branching has occurred. Which means that the feature that makes roguelikes as replayable as they are -- the variance -- is straight up not present through the first level or longer. It's the same shit every time!

So, alright. Basement Syndrome is basically two problems walking in lockstep. And the bad news is that these can be pretty tough problems to solve. But the good news is, you can stand on the shoulders of giants here, cause these are a known problems. Roguelike devs the world over have concocted solutions for one or both of these. Let's take a look at some of those.

Solution 1 (Difficulty): Just Fuckin Skip That Shit

If the first level sucks so bad, why not just not play it? This is the problem Spelunky set out to answer when it invented the Tunnel Man. Once you've showed true mastery of the first level, you can accumulate resources that allow you to buy skips past those early levels that let you get stuck right in to the good stuff.

This one gets kind of held back by most of the games that implement it implicitly punishing you for using it. Spelunky treats the ironman run as the "true" way to beat the game and you'll be down on items if you skip to the end anyway, and Nuclear Throne has the oasis shortcut but because of how that one scales difficulty you'll be behind on weapons and score for the rest of the run. Maybe Enter the Gungeon was better about this but I did not like that game so I never found out lol. A shame, too, because I really think there's promise here. Just skip the boring bit! It's fine!

Solution 2 (Difficulty): Metadifficulty

Many Roguelikes escalate difficulty by ramping up the challenge with each successive level in a run. But what if there was another way? What if, once you got good enough at level three... level one got harder instead? Enter metadifficulty. This is systems like ascensions in Slay the Spire and Heat in Hades, where beating runs grants you access to new tiers of difficulty that add complications to the entire thing, allowing the devs to scale game difficulty in such a way that the run can START hard and not just GET hard after an indeterminate time.

This can be done wrong, like if you amp up the damage without increasing the complexity of the start, you've potentially made the game more tedious but not more interesting. But it's not too hard to add some modifiers that change up behaviours enough to add interesting wrinkles to the early game. Even something so simple as a time limit can really complicate how you view that first level, pushing things enough to add engagement to even the start of the game.

Solution 3 (Difficulty): Alternate Start

Pretty straightforward one here. Just swap out that shitty first level for an actually good first level. The Repentance expansion of Binding of Isaac lets you switch over to Downpour after playing the first floor of the Basement, and in return you get a free reroll on every item room in the alt path. You could also see Hades II's surface route as a variant of this as well.

I think this is a really promising solution on the difficulty side; it's all the benefits of Just Fuckin Skip That Shit without the sorta cheaty feeling it brings. There are potential issues with actually incentivising the alternate start, though. Why play the harder (but more interesting) start level when you could play the easier (but more boring) start and not have to risk anything? Sometimes you gotta come up with tricky ways to force players into enjoying themselves when they won't do it themselves.

I'd like to see this one explored more. Both the abovementioned games implement alternate starts as part of a whole entire alternate game route, and yeah, not every roguelike is gonna have the resources for that. It'd be neat to see some roguelikes that have this sort of thing but really just for the first level. Who knows? It could work better than you think.

Solution 1 (Variance): Start Bonuses

So if early game variance is such a problem, why not just... add variance to the early game? Every run, at the start of the run, why not give the player some huge big bonus that could help define their run? That'd at least make the start more interesting, right?

It's a good idea that immediately runs into an issue, which is that couldn't you just restart the run over and over until you get the start bonus you want? Cause if players are doing that, that actually totally defeats the purpose -- the run variance you so carefully cultivated is now obliterated by degenerate player strategies! Every run starts the same way again! Fortunately Slay the Spire already figured out how to handle that in a pretty elegant way, which is that the cool start bonuses are only granted if you reached the first boss. This means you can't just hold R until you get a good start, you're forced to at least commit a little to every run if you wanna keep seeing those cool bonuses. Smart!

Solution 2 (Variance): Frontloaded Upgrades

So, run variance in a roguelike is the result of a number of accumulated bonuses, all of which work together to define your run. This is all well and good, but... does it need to work this way? What if the first few upgrades in your run are more consequential than the others, causing your build to rapidly take shape right at the beginning and the rest of the run becomes tuning?

This stroke of genius is exactly how Hades II handles it! You've got five primary slots for upgrades that affect your active abilities and your method of MP gain, and you can only have one upgrade in each slot. These slots rapidly fill up at the start of the run, and the upgrades that hit these slots are far more consequential than most of the passive upgrades that don't touch a slot, so the shape your run will take is rapidly defined nearer to the start of the run and the rest of the run is just tuning (you'll notice Hades 1 attempted a similar system here, but that game beefed on run variance in general so it didn't really land.)

In theory this is vulnerable to the same reroll problem that start bonuses are subject to, with players just resetting after the first 2 upgrades instead of the very start of the run, but both Hades games do their own work to train the player out of getting restart happy by making you forfeit all metaprogression resources if you quit out of a run. You have to either finish the run or die to make it count, and killing yourself can be surprisingly tedious in those games, so... fuck it, why not tough it out. It's surprising how well a little bit of careful incentive engineering can get a person to change play patterns. At least, it worked on me, anyway...

Anyway, that's the rundown. Basement Syndrome is still a pretty pervasive issue in roguelikes -- even the ones I've mentioned above often still have the issue, just to a lesser degree. But still, it's a solvable problem! Lemme know if you think I missed anything, and thanks for reading!

[theresattrpgforthat]

There's an RPG that I just can't find. It's so simple, and yet? It's a one page fantasy RPG, "like" D&D but with much simplified rules. It's called something like Wizards and Sticks, or... Swords and Spells. Or something I don't know. But despite my best efforts, it's just beyond the boundaries of the map. Do you have any idea what it could have been?

Theme: One-Page Fantasy Games

Hello there! I found a *lot* of one-page fantasy games, and I honestly don't know if any of these are what you're looking for. One-page games are great for designers looking to put their feet in the water, and fantasy is definitely one of the most popular genres to play in, by far.

There's also a good amount of Lasers & Feelings hacks, which I'm not surprised by, since the basic rules are easy to pick up, and easy to hack. For the unaware, Lasers & Feelings is a rule-set that gives you two stats, and a single number that defines your proficiency in both. Roll high for one, roll low for the other, and roll it exactly for something special - and that's the core conceit!

Sovereign Shield, by Groovy Dad Games.

SOVEREIGN SHIELD is a tabletop role-playing game set in the grim fantasy world of Avren-Yara, also known as the Sundered Realms. Most of the action takes place within the last bastion of humankind, the great Western Imperium.

The Sovereign Shield is an order of secret agents in service to the High King of Nach Vadryn, the largest city-state in the Imperium. As agents of the Shield, players will undertake clandestine missions on behalf of the High King such as conducting espionage against powerful Guilds and other city-states of the Imperium, as well as investigating strange phenomena and threats that plague the peoples of the realm.

Par for the course for a single-page game, Sovereign Shield has simple stats, some basic rules on Tests, and a player resource called Luck that can be spent for re-rolls. On top of that however, it has an extensive item list, as well as a section for magic & gadgets, giving the players a lot to work with. With a double-sided page format, one page is dedicated to players, while the other is for GM's including some advice on how to run games, a few enemies to pit against your players, and even a first mission to get the ball rolling. It also draws from GUMSHOE in terms of how it handles clues, which might be handy if you decide you like this style of play. (GUMSHOE games assume that clues are too valuable to be hidden behind a chance roll.)

Sovereign Shield appears to be a one-page quick introduction to two other games made by the same designer, Through the Borderlands and Wardens of the Sundered Realms, which provide more lore and tools to play with. This is a very deliberate and thought-out piece of work that gives you a quick introduction to what could be a very complex and in-depth world if you decide to keep the game going.

Dungeon, by Jamzilla.

Dungeon is a one-page table game for one Narrator and at least one Adventurer. Venture into the depths of the Dungeon and face off against the Dungeon Lord!

All you need to play is a coin, at least one friend, a twenty-sided die and a ten-sided die.

What I love about Dungeon is the roll-tables. It has four roll tables for the GM to mine inspiration from: Denizens, Curiosities, Happenings, and Treasures. Each item on the list is a wonderful little starting point to create unique locations and charming NPCs to dazzle your players with.

The rules of the game are very very simple: player simply flip a coin and heads equals success. No stats, no weapons, no modifiers. If you want something more than these simple rules, you could probably take the roll-tables from Dungeon and use them to help generate encounters for another game on this list!

Song & Sword, by Vivanter.

Song & Sword is a 1-page, rules-lite, fantasy adventure game inspired by The Legend of Zelda and its myriad successors. It’s also a hack of John Harper’s Lasers & Feelings. Players take on the role of bold adventurers, attempting to save the land by collecting artifacts of legends and battling the forces of the Adversary.

Another Lasers & Feelings hack, this is a game for the Zelda lovers at the table. You use an ad-libs style of legend creation together, developing a universally known legend for each player to pull from as they dive into the game. Characters have a health system represented by Hearts, which can be lost when you take harm or embarrass yourself.

When it comes to what you do in the game, there's only rules for generating one large villain that the party must defeat. This game feels like it's focused primarily on the ultimate confrontation, and not the smaller fights that your characters might be expected to get into on their way to the big boss. The game also mostly focuses on what the players need to know - there's little to no help for the GM. I'd recommend Song & Sword for a group with a GM who isn't afraid to improvise - or perhaps for a GM who doesn't mind pulling inspiration from somewhere else.

Sword Poem RPG, by ahcoffeebeans

there is a sword. a cursed sword. it has been around for as long as the earth has known life, or perhaps it only pushed its way out into existence the first time you picked it up. either way, the sword will kill you. and then it will wait, for the next person to arrive. forever

SWORD POEM RPG is a gm-less one-page rpg about a very cursed sword and the people who pick it up. You play as the cursed sword, experiencing the lives of the people you ruin from the moment they pick you up to the moment they self-destruct. This is a game for one to seven people.

I don't believe this is anywhere close to what you're looking for, but there's a lot of 1-page games out there and they are easy to read, so I felt like throwing it in anyway. Plus Sword Poem is very pretty, and only requires d6's to play. The game is focused on story first and foremost, following a tragedy where a single cursed sword warps everyone who wields it. It's GM-less, meaning that everyone at the table will get a chance to decide what their leg of the story will look like.

Sword Poem definitely needs a group that is happy to pull from a deep well of creativity, and it's also a game that needs the group to decide when the story has reached it's end. If you want a game that feels like a game, and not a storytelling exercise, you might want to skip this one.

Age of Adventure, by Ageofadventurerpg.

Age of Adventure RPG (Version 10.5) is a one-page rules-light old-school heroic fantasy tabletop roleplaying game inspired by John Harper's Lasers and Feelings. d6 system

Welcome adventurer – to an exciting world of monsters, mayhem and magic. All you need are some 6-sided dice and your imagination.

For a Lasers & Feelings game, Age of Adventure carries a lot of information. There is no space wasted on this one-page game. Despite the fact that it shares the same base rule-set as a number of other games I found, it feels very traditional in genre and tone: high fantasy, encounters, proficiency checks, spell-lists, and a characterization of characters that isn't exactly race or class-based, but feels very similar.

Dungeon Vermin, by BooCherry.

DUNGEON VERMIN!! is a one-page micro-RPG about the dregs of the dungeon going on missions for their Dark Master.

Play as skeletons, goblins, gremlins, kobolds, and other weaklings as you bodily hurl yourself towards certain death. Your foes will fall under your sheer numbers as you die, die again in pursuit of what you're pretty sure is a worthy cause.

This is an option for folks who like the monsters in fantasy games more than the heroes. Your characters have a d6 dice pool that they'll need to leverage in order to roll above their EXP, which stands for their Expiration Point. If you fail - you die!

I expect this to be a game that you careen into and and play fast and loose. Expect death, especially gruesome over-the-top death, and expect to roll up a new character fairly easily - at least, that's what I assume, given that it's a one-page game.

By String and Song, by EfanGamez.

Your words are stone, and your songs are steel…

Introducing By String and Song, a one-page bard-only tabletop roleplaying game! Create a character in under 2 minutes and begin an adventure!

Being one page and by utilizing a simple d20-only system, this game can be enjoyed by both TTRPG vets and newbies alike!

Since the game revolves around a d20, it will likely provide a similar vibe as D&D in terms of kinetic play. That being said, it strips away classes, and gives your characters just 4 stats to worry about: Boldness, Bulk, Brains & Brawn. Combat is expected, with a list of six different kinds of monsters to get your DM started, as well as a short list of spells available to beginning characters. By String and Song might be an easy pick-up game for a short run of 1-3 sessions, but I'm not sure if it works for a year-long campaign.

Dragons & Dungeons, by Little Lab.

You are a group of adventurers returning from a long journey, finally setting foot again in the town of your departure at a great festival, and just now you are at the counter of the inn where you first met. You are celebrating with the treasures you have recovered in your quest when a messenger arrives with this letter. It is signed by an old ally of yours asking you to save the kingdom again in one last great adventure. What do you do?"

A Lasers & Feelings game, Dragons & Dungeons has a very similar feeling as D&D, which makes sense, considering the way it brands itself. Designed to be printed on a piece of paper that folds out into an envelope/brochure format, Dragons & Dungeons has a really lovely presentation, which can make it a fun thing to print out and hand around a table. Additionally, unique to this version of a one-page fantasy game, you can spend a resource called Inspiration to use special powers, such as getting special information from the DM, rolling an extra dice, or saving an ally from certain death.

Realm Warriors, by Trollish Delver Games.

Welcome to REALM WARRIORS, a one-page fantasy TTRPG inspired by games like The Fantasy Trip.

Players take on the role of Champions of the gods, chosen to destroy the Dark Magus himself.

This is another game that is no-nonsense when it comes to laying out the rules. Everything on the page is devoted to telling you how the game works - and the game feels like it pulls a lot of inspiration from the OSR. Similar to D&D, your champion will have modifications to their core stats based on the class you choose, as well as some basic equipment. There's specific rules for wounds, sleeping, and travel, which are some things that the OSR often cares about, and your Experience is determined by the length of the adventure you go out on. The bulk of the GM advice provided in this game is mostly how to run enemies, as well as a list of typical creatures to send up against your characters. All in all, fairly standard when it comes to one-page fantasy.

Also Consider…

First Fantasy, by Mars Strocks.

Wolves & Spices, by A.Tian.

Dawnfire Warriors, by matara.

Magic & Might, by The_Bellmont.

If you like what I do and want to leave a tip, you can check out my Ko-Fi!

[ahli-stuff]

The Corinthian: more than an object but less than a human and a wretched reflection of his creator

My obsession with the Corinthian is so funny because at first it's like ok. Cool. He's this gay serial killer nightmare with creator issues who's turns out to be a charming antagonist while he's pitted against dream and going about his nefarious plans on screen. What's not to love?

But then there's the next layer of oh...he has preferences and quirks and interests, but he's not a person enough to be a human he's a tool.. that's why he gets unmade in the middle of the street by his lord!! That he had a couple millennia of history with!! Because it's easy.. Dream has the blueprints, therefore remaking the Corinthian and editing out these faulty design aspects is pragmatic. It's efficient. It's less effort and way less emotionally taxing that trying to wrangle in your rogue creation and trying coax them back into doing their job. A human makes a mistake, you correct and reprimand them and offer a better course of action. But if your wrench rusts, you throw it away and buy a new one. It doesn't matter if it's your prized or even your favorite wrench, if it's been rusted to the point of uselessness, you toss it.

And the Corinthian, the agonized wrench, can probably only think: "Did I really mean so little to you?"

I think it totally fucks with his mind. The fact that Dream refers to the Corinthian as his masterpiece and yet he is still lesser in every form of his being—his agency is lesser in every form.

But you can't really blame Dream, can you?

Dream treats the corinthans agency like he treats his own—unnegotiable. For him, it has always been perform your function or die.

Dream: We are, each of us, born with responsibilities. Even I am not free to choose to be other than what I am.

And the Corinthian, in his own eye teeths, has performed his prescribed duty perfectly without hesitation or fail for thousands of years as well and worn as a well used knife—but he knows he can do more, so he does. Because if his function is to chase and slaughter in the dreaming, what's to say can't do it in the waking too?

Besides, in the waking, he's realer. More combobulated. More valued. If you're a mirror for long enough you start to crave a look of your own.

And oh, even with the thrill of newfound freedom, he loves his lord. He's eager for to give to him—to share with him—everything that's ever been dreamed of. In the Corinthians long, long, life he has only ever had his purpose and his lord and for a while that was enough, but his expectations evolve, he changes.

And that's really what dooms him.

Over the course of The Sandman you can see that looking deeper into Dream's ideology "perform your function or die" reveals one of the true themes of the sandman which is "change yourself or die." The Corinthian, whether intentionally or unintentionally serves as a mirror to dreams own character arc and the way dream treats himself.

Like how people put facets of themselves in their original characters, I think that in the corinthian Dream put a version of his own insatiable hunger; to break every rule, to run freely, to enjoy hedonistically. In creating the Corinthian as a mirror Dream unknowingly reflected a distorted face of one of his own buried desires—and i think he couldn’t accept that.

The Corinthian even calls dream out for it at the serial convention (even though he's advocating for murder) he's also jabbing at Dream's unwillingness to show emotional vulnerability and the cage he's built around himself.

Corinthian: Or you might actually feel something.

The dream the Corinthian knows he always cared exceptionally little for humans save for a select few, so what remains is this. Dream might've cared for the Corinthian, but he would unmake him, his prized creation, not for any moral justice, not for a personal slight, but for his rules and nothing else.

For the corinthian, who has spent years upon years upon years with his lord, fighting in his wars, chasing after his approval, pouring every ounce of love and loyalty to him—it stings.

And then there's this scene.

Dream: You're right. This was my fault, not yours. I had so much hope for you. But I created you poorly then.

This is the Corinthian, knowing he is about to die, spilling his frustration and spite to his creator for maybe the first and last time and trying, desperately, to make dream understand that none of this is fair (it's never been, for either of them. It's been the function and nothing else for an eternity but they could be happy.)

This is Dream purposely misinterpreting the Corinthian in the way that is guaranteed to hurt the him the most. Dream, with a writer's indifference, reduces the Corinthian's complicated desperate desire for freedom, rebellion, and his creator's love to his typo. Like a character’s grievance towards their writer, like a man’s outrage towards their god, Dream decides not to deign the corinthian with even the right to call his treason his own. He will not even let him have that bit of agency. No, Dream made the Corinthian wrong.

And then Boyd Holbrook does a phenomenal piece of acting here—he knows how to play evil and charming so well but the Corinthian’s vulnerability is so starkly on display it feels like a knife.

And when you imagine he is about to burst into bloody tears and anguished final words, this is how it ends: they leave each other cruel and jagged, because the corinthian will not end pathetic and he will have the last word.

The Corinthian: I am only sorry I won’t be here to see Rose Walker do the same to you.

The first Corinthian never gets a happy ending.

I don’t think there’s any universe where he doesn’t bite more than he’s allowed to and there is no world where he can really be forgiven. As there is no universe where Morpheus Dream does not stubbornly tie himself to his function and hurt himself and those around him with his pride.

In objectification and the inability to change, they exist as wretched mirrors of each other: The first Corinthian, sick of his function and executed for abandoning it, and Dream, unendurably tired, taking his sister's hand in his when he can no longer bear to perform his duty.

[captorations]

once again thinking about how well a practical guide to evil exemplifies what is good about metafiction. bad metafiction is "haha these characters are trope aware and abusing it, isn't that funny and wacky." good metafiction has the same starting point, except you realize that in being trope-aware, these characters are constantly and continuously *choosing which tropes they want their lives to be* even if their destinies are set in stone.

no matter what, catherine was always going to kill amadeus. it was simply unavoidable without killing catherine first. which is of course what everyone who cared about amadeus really, really wanted to do before it was too late. amadeus knew this going in, and at least to some extent, so did catherine.

early on, amadeus promises that he will not lie to catherine, because if he did catherine would no doubt find out at the worst possible moment and kill him because of it. catherine is of course fully convinced by the logic and wouldn't have trusted any kind of empty platitude, but she doesn't understand the full meaning until much later.

amadeus was never trying to avoid being killed by catherine. rather, he wanted to ensure two things: first, that none of his allies would kill catherine in revenge, and second, that he would die not because of hate but because of love. and he did, taking a mortal wound to save one of his loved ones from killing another and passing with both of them at his side.

whether he knew then that he would grow to love catherine as his adopted daughter is questionable. she absolutely didn't realize she was going to love him as her adopted father. but the point was that, even if his role and Name and status as a villain doomed amadeus to die at the hands of his student, he could still pick which tropes led to that tragedy. as he did with his first friends, and as catherine too did the moment she acknowledged that she cared for him, he chose love. a bittersweet ending was the best they could hope for, but they didn't hope for it; they made it happen. that choice, to seize the threads of their own narrative and bend them to reflect their true desires, is far more meaningful than how that narrative ended.

this wasn't even a new idea. the calamities, mass murderers and monsters all by nature and design, chose to, instead of casually scheming against each other as befits villains, love and care for and defend each other to the last. they couldn't be good or have happy endings. their reality forbid it. so instead they did as much good as they could manage with the tools of evil they were bound to and the time they had before their just deaths.

which of course has all sorts of real-life thematic application, but that's not what's special here. it's that through this constant discussion of the choices both presented and denied, and how each character claimed or failed to claim agency in a world devoid of it, apgte was explaining and demonstrating how stories work. how to operate under different rulesets and genres and limitations. how to craft thematically coherent and powerful narratives. how to write, and tell stories, and be good at it.

because characters never do have agency, do they? they aren't real. the writer determines everything. and every choice the writer makes should be made with just as much care and consideration and awareness of context as amadeus and catherine needed to achieve their goals.

apgte didn't have to be metafiction, is the thing. it could have been played straight. hell, it never even technically broke the fourth wall. but in being metafiction it becomes exactly what it says on the tin: a guide. and that never stops being so unreasonably fucking cool to me

[capesch-arts]

You can't just mention kiy and joy meeting in person for the first time and not talk more about it. Please can u describe it more, it's all I can think about now 😭

Welp I was planning a comic on it but lost interest because I had to design Joy's dumbass Uncle lol. But, here's the drabble I have in my mind!

...

Death comes for us all, mainly for us humans. It's not about what's waiting for us after death though, it's what happens following it. How do we welcome death? And how would we be remembered? Statues were always such a marvelous piece of legacy. Well respected men immortalised on a piece of stone for all to admire, as if we're meeting them ourselves. It's intimate, in a way.

Arthur Lester... Oh, Arthur. Lester. An honourable end would have waited for you. Our King was so eager to welcome you to his embrace and finally allow you to be who you are meant to be! A musician! But, alas. Now as we wait for my brothers and sisters of the Yellow Sign to bring your handsome corpse, your final resting pedestal sits coldly while I draw your final bath. Consider it a final baptism, as your sins upon our King washes away, your flesh will turn to sparkling white marble. And of course I shall ensure you would dress your best! I'm sure your partner and daughter would want to know what happened for the last decade you left them. Nevertheless, you were a worthy adversary for us. Such a shame, such a shame you could not be converted.

Now, I wonder how I should dress you for this? Formal? Oh or biblical! The iro-

"What's taking them so long?!" Ah, I forgot the rat- I mean my uncle is here.

"Please complain louder, dear uncle. I could almost hear myself think".

"What if he's not dead? What if he slipped from us and-"

"He was ripe for harvest. Practically in the hand of our god. Do you doubt our lord?"

"N-no! Of course not!"

"Then there's nothing to worry about..."

The door opened. Finally, they've... Ah.

It was him. Arthur Lester, no doubt, but what moves him wasn't the soul of his body. Something... Someone more divine.

He entered, sluggishly, steps uneven, of course he would. He never stepped foot into our reality after all. But, oh my. I could feel it. I could HEAR it. So... Grandeur... The fool WISHES he could hear his music.

Speaking of,

"impossible! Ar- Arthur Lester!" Said the fool.

I raise my hand, "Uncle... Kneel".

"What?"

"Uncle. Kneel." I say, again.

A beat. We all felt it. Our King in his new vessel. No words need to be spoken. We knelt, and his presence fills the entire room.

My Joy... He said.

My Joy... Again, he said now with a sweet rumble.

With hands that are now his, he held my head by my cheeks and turned it up to him. I could SEE him. Past the human face he has claimed, past the pitch black eyes and beyond. I. SEE. HIM.

"My King..."

The yellow of his cloak fills the room and shadows fall behind him to show his vastness. Golden tendrils move about, reaching towards all his followers, caressing them, touching their minds. And his face. Oh his FACE... Though his face was made of pure white mask split, it was so beautiful... Thousands of eyes bright as gold with black cross irises replaced that section of his mask that was lost, like golden stars upon the night sky.

I could faint. Or die. If he were to take my life right now, I would be overjoyed. Perhaps he knew it, because he kissed my forehead and pulled me to his chest into an embrace. I leaned on his tender touches, and heard him whisper,

You're so beautiful, my Joy. So beautiful, so beautiful, and you're mine. You're mine and you're in my arms, finally. You deserve a reward...

"I need no reward, my lord. To serve you is a reward itself..."

So shall it be, then. My artist. I want to see you, create.

"My tools, my stones, I'll fetch them right-"

You have what you need here... Isn't that right, Donovan Joy?

Oh.

Oh.

Oh, poor old fool.

"I-I... My lord? I don't understand...". The fool sputtered.

That pedestal looks empty, don't you think? Go to the water, and JUMP, Donovan Joy.

There is a baptism after all this evening, but instead of a heretic that refused The King in Yellow's grace, it was the old conniving fool who thought the work of The Artists of the Yellow Sign was something of monetary value. What use of The King for one who cares little for the arts? None. Now, I have a new marble statue to work on, to sculpt and chisel to my heart's content. Perhaps you're finally worth something dear uncle. And my King is finally able to see my hands work with his very eyes.