#joywrite

[gamejoypod]

I really like Human Effigies taking the place of Humanity in Dark Souls II.

Hollowing is a really interesting facet of Dark Souls to me, and the Effigies hammer home how personally charged the phenomena is.

In DSII you only get to create your character after being invited to look into one and recall the person you used to be. At this point I don't think there's any difference between an identity you remember and one you spin from imagination. The important part is that you have *something* you can hold tight to your heart that will drive you forward through the trials & horrors to come

I can picture the Bearer Of The Curse (Seek, Seek, Lest) resting by a bonfire and staring through their helmet at the delicate lattice of the Effigy, remembering or imagining as an exercise. Reinforcing their sense of Self; their thoughts, their ambitions, the principles they would follow.

I don't know how to dismount this one, I just like how introspective DSII gets in comparison to the others and the effigies are part of it

[gamejoypod]

While I've never been big on the whole "we're all dumb little gerblins hoarding Shiny Math Rocks" thing,

I have to admit a not-insignificant piece of criteria for a new system moving away from 5e is whether it lets me use the dice I've collected over the years. It doesn't have to use the full set, just enough types to mix & match that i don't feel like the sets i've bought are totally irrelevant now.

(It's also why Fabula Ultima is top of my list rn. It uses multiple dice types that you mix contextually without being a reskinned d20 system)

Now, I do think that there is nothing intrinsic to D&D as a game that contributes to its popularity: otherwise so much of D&D culture would not be so disconnected from the game as a text. The current popularity of the game is almost entirely due to name recognition and it having a monolithic position in TTRPGs.

Now having said that, there is one thing where the game is actually kind of cooking that most games fail to consider: the fact that it kind of rules to roll a d20 and a natural 20 looks cool as hell. Your cool indie RPG that is trying to draw away people from D&D probably can't compete with D&D on that level, but you should still try to figure out some way to make the act of play kinesthetically satisfying.

[joygaytrash]

I forgot how hard it is to write my god how did I pump out fan fics like every other week???

[gamejoypod]

I feel like I missed a memo to the tune of "if you talk about Neon White, you MUST call the dialogue cringe"

Aside from being kinda charming, I felt like a lot of the dialogue was part of the overall aesthetic

The Neons are like if the scene/emo kids of the 2000's grew up in a world built around their styles, and they talk like it.

I don't know any of the details behind the scenes so it's just a personal vibe when I say that the Neons really felt like they were written with a shameless reminiscence. Like "yeah, we were silly and weird kids but we love that for us and we're not going to be embarrassed about it"

Honestly, I feel like if the game didn't wear its heart on its sleeve - was more cagey & ironic about the aesthetic, that would be cringe

[the-cinnabunny-archives]

Hi there! For those of you who have had the pleasure of not knowing me and my fics before, I’m Mia and I’m miathecinnabunny on AO3 (I’m @miathecinnabunny here too if you ever wanna throttle me talk). You may be wondering why I’m not posting on @join-the-joywrite and there’s a simple explanation: I Am Lazy. I don’t want to fix all the links there. I’m just not gonna do it. Instead, I’m going to do the “sane” thing and start over :>

It’s gonna take a while, so just bear with me a moment, folks ❤️

if you like my work, you can buy me a coffee!

✨Masterlist✨

Banana Fish

The Ghost of the New York Public Library

Bungou Stray Dogs

All’s well that ends well (to end up with you)

forgive me for letting you down

I’ll dial drunk (I’ll die a drunk)

if you loved me, why’d you leave me [sskk multiverse au]

It’s a logical ruse

It’s a minor thing, okay?!!!

Love, Chuuya [skk, mcd, no ability au]

tell me it’s love (tell me it’s real)

this isn’t fair (this nightmare) [dazai mcd, dadzawa pov]

we love the things they are for what they are

what a wicked game to play (to make me feel this way)

wrap me all up (in your love)

Julie and the Phantoms

….. I’m gonna come back to these in a minute

Marvel

Pigs Might Fly [tumblr drabble, crack]

More to follow

Miraculous Ladybug

Coming soon

Moriarty the Patriot

Romeo, Romeo, wherefore the fuck art thou like this? [sherliam textfic]

My Hero Academia

Class 1-A and the League of Villains Adopt The Local Villain

Fake dating at its finest

I love you

Strawberry

The Kumi Chronicles [main story]

The Kumi Chronicles [side stories]

there’s no pain that i won’t go through (even if i have to die for you)

[gamejoypod]

it makes me sad to see players apparently forgetting what made them fall in love with these games in the first place. I guarantee it's not because they were easy and never challenged them as players

Like, these games are *designed* to provoke the emotions tied to struggle & triumph. why would you deny yourself that experience by deceiving yourself into thinking the act of struggling in a fromsoftware game is an indication of some kind of failure on your part?

I started AC6 immediately after platinum-ing Dark Souls 2 and was immediately, repeatedly and thoroughly humbled by every boss i've fought so far. And it's AWESOME.

Every victory leaves me feeling like i just passed through a thresher and my AC is being held together by duct tape and hot glue; it's the most engaged and electrified i've been with a game for a long time. this is what fromsoftware is good at

Nothing has been more satisfying than seeing "Git Gud" Soulsborne players lose their fucking shit trying to play Armored Core VI and getting stuck on the very first boss

[shittyficsfordays]

The prompts list I’m using is this one by @joywriting-prompts , starting off incredibly weak with decorating the tree ship

“Oh. Wow.” Hayes had no idea how to respond to the scene that had unfolded in Malcolm’s quarters. The tinsel around the headboard was nice, he figured, but something about the sharp, pointed bulbs hanging from the ceiling was… concerning, to say the least. 

Malcolm waggled his eyebrows, waiting for Hayes to elaborate.

“It’s, uh, very seasonal. You don’t see much holiday cheer this far out.”

“Don’t see much of anything this far out. Candy cane?” He offered a big one, still intact despite the rough travels they had faced since leaving spacedock. 

Hayes moved to take it, stepping across the threshold of the door. Once within the quarters, everything seemed to intensify, becoming even more in-your-face than they had been from the hallway. Malcolm wore an exceptionally smug grin, and it only took Hayes a second to realize why. He groaned, more annoyed at getting tricked than anything. But Hayes still met him halfway and reveled in the sweetness of the moment.

[madeleinejoanstars]

Actual footage of Jupiter in Capricorn feels in my home office - the banner is my favorite part. 🏹🌟 Effort + effervescence for the win. 🥳 Jupiter, the ruler of growth, fortune, expansion, and high concepts feels slightly out of his element in sober, Saturn-ruled Capricorn. He wants to throw a big party in Capricorn's house, but spartan Cap keeps their domain clean, quiet, and organized. They're an odd couple, but these sorts of cosmic partnerships sometimes have the potential to teach us the MOST. 🌟 This transit indicates that discipline, compelling goals, and following defined rules and routines are what will bring us true luck. Ask yourself: what are the unglamorous, unsexy steps to your huge, glamorous objective? 🌟 Jupiter in Capricorn can help us learn to create our own luck at the intersection of ability and opportunity. 🌟 If you want a little cosmic help figuring those out - and overcoming procrastination to get them done - you can order a copy of "Saturn is My Co-Pilot: An Energetic Planning Guide to Structure Your Success," my 40-page workbook that offers a practical (and magical) approach to getting into alignment and reach your chosen destination. Link in the bio! I'm wishing you the big magic of Jupiter in the powerful pinnacle of Capricorn! 🌟💗 #werkbitch #JupiterinCapricorn #JupiterReturn #saturnismycopilot #oddcouple #practicalmagic101 #youbetterwerk #workitgirl #astrologersofinstagram #witchesworkspace #workfromhome #banner #yourekillingmebuster #hailSaturn #workspace #colorful #joywriting #worksmarternotharder #astromemes #astrologersdesk #astrologerworkspace #astrology101 #rainbowconnection #howtocreateamorningroutine #nightroutine #createyourownluck https://ift.tt/38Trss7

[gamejoypod]

Shortly after the huge fiasco re: wizards of the coast updating their license, Matthew Colville told a story about his experience working on a Star Trek TTRPG for Universal, where the higher-ups at Universal seemed averse to player freedom in general

"Do the players really need to be able to create their own characters?"

"Uh, sorry, what?"

"What if they made a character we don't like? What if a player made an ugly character? there are no ugly people in Star Fleet"

His point being the corporations that own the games you enjoy *would* come into your living room and control how you play if they could, and felt like they could increase shareholder value that way.

Just the act of getting together with your friends with some paper, dice, and pencils to tell a story together *is* a radical act in that context.

Make homebrew. Disregard dumb rules. Support indie developers. Lean into your own weirdness and tell stories that would make advertisers balk, even if it never leaves your kitchen table. Deepen your human connections by making Art with your friends

Tabletop RPGs can be such a radical fucking art form. People are out there crafting immersive installations successfully designed to draw emotions from you ranging from gut splitting laughter to existential dread, that you can keep tucked neatly away on your shelf or hard drive until you're ready to experience it. Why aren't they in the MoMA.

[gamejoypod]

I got frustrated with one of the machines at work & channeled it into a weird only-slightly-related mech microfiction

"You think we install alarms for fun? They're for YOU, jackass!"

The pair were an odd sight, clashing so sharply they may as well have been from different planets. The tall, wiry pilot's sleek interface suit only highlighted the grease stains on the technician's shabby overalls. 

The hangar was empty enough for the argument to bounce off all the sheet-steel walls and back to the three occupants.

"I don't care if you get some sort of rush from hearing 'output capacity at 146%', you're damaging your mech!"

"..."

"That banana peel lookin' mess is what happens when you overexert your hydraulics. The fluid in there is incompressible, that's the POINT. If you override the limiter and just haul off on it like you did, it's gonna go SOMEwhere."

"..."

"Yeah. That's why we don't install hydraulics anywhere near the cockpit, because of yahoos like you."

"..."

"Do you see a Lucerne Frame anywhere in the hangar? They do it because their heads-up tech is garbage. You don't need the articulation. Look, we're getting distracted. It's going to be at least three months before she's ready for action again."

"..."

"No."

"..."

"Not if you keep insisting on running 'vintage' weapons. If you dispatched without those recoil dampeners, you'd rip your own arm off the moment you hit something. Maybe your real arm too."

"..."

"One's your own flesh and blood and the other's a giant pillar of steel & cables! What do you MEAN?" 

"... ... ..."

"Well clearly there's some difference, YOUR forearm's not shredded to ribbons. Anyway, the repairs will take however long they take. You can wait for new dampeners or learn to use even a single piece of ranged weaponry."

"..."

"I didn't think so. I'll do a proper inspection tonight—yes i'll stay out of the cockpit—and I'll have a more detailed timeframe for you."

"..."

"It beats getting slagged because I rushed your work."

"..."

"I'm not touching that one. You'd be putting me out of a job though. I can repair you over & over but I can only salvage your wreck once."

"..."

"I promise. But that better not happen for a long time."

"..."

"Alright, alright, get outta here and hit the Habs. Take a shower, eat some food, REAL food, drink some coffee and watch a movie or something. I can take it from here."

"..."

"You too."

[gamejoypod]

This is a shot-from-the-hip thought but I think an undervalued aspect of the Souls games that a lot of imitators miss is the Gentleness.

At least in my opinion, the baseline tone/intensity of the Souls games & their siblings is a kind of Melancholic Gentleness to a lot of the world & how the game is presented to the player. It goes a *long* way to temper the otherwise bleak and perilous journey you take.

It's in the odd but pleasant sound the bonfires make & the way your character sits down to rest at them.

It's in the soothing music written for Majula, Firelink Shrine, the Firekeepers, & other places where you know you're safe.

NPC reactions to your character usually range from being relieved to see you have your wits about you, to aloof, standoffish or indifferent. Very rarely is another person directly antagonistic to you (sans invaders). You're always given the option to forgive Patches even if he's a scoundrel

Item descriptions are often written like you're being told a story by someone much more worldly.

Noah Caldwell-Gervais touches on how the series "teases out your dearest emotions" through its gameplay, it would be exhausting if Fromsoft didn't allow for plenty of time to rest and collect yourself between the moments designed to pull your heart into the game.

Letting your player rest between pockets of intensity isn't new or revolutionary design, but I appreciate how far the Fromsoft games go to let the game breathe with you.

[gamejoypod]

Confession time: I think Dark Souls 2 is my favorite of the trio

Yes, even though there were genuine missteps in design that made the experience worse

Yes, even though Soul of Cinder and Slave Knight Gael are narrative pinnacles of the series that (almost) redeem ds3's backpedaling

(I also really really like the way ds2 handled dual wielding)

There's just something so much more compelling about ds2's atmosphere & framing. It's like a swimmy, heady, hyperreal dream that you can't wake up from.

Instead of a roll-call of all the epic guys you're gonna fight, ds2 opens with "you've become nothing. you're cursed, lost, alone and addled. you're about to go through hell and you better figure out what's going to keep you from going Hollow right quick."

From the ones I've played, the white-hot core to Fromsoftware's stories seems to be a consistent question. "What goals and ideals will you hold on to tightly enough to be able to firmly plant your feet in an impossibly bleak and hellish world and walk forward?"

Ds2 aims the question inward. It's introspective, but tauntingly so. It shows you the fate of would-be monarchs and conquerors, of kingdoms that rise and fall like tides. For all your effort and accumulation of power, you too will be just another footnote in the unending cycle. So why are you REALLY here?

It's that challenge paired with an oddly warm, almost fairtyale type setting in Drangleic that keeps pulling me back, like a moth to a flame.

And good god it's nice when my character actually looks like they know how to use their weapons

[gamejoypod]

I tried & hated demon's souls & dark souls 2 at first. i wrote them off as "not for me" until i saw someone play Bloodborne well and i realized how important the animations in these games are

The *real* moment where it all clicked for me though was the Twin Dragonriders in dark souls 2. Up to that point, i'd been playing very safe with heavy armor and a shield up 100% of the time. i just couldn't get through the fight like that

Until i learned that dodge rolls had invincibility frames. when i started treating dodging as an active tool to negate incoming damage instead of a way to get out of the way of big swings or make distance to heal

I put down the shield that fight, and i've never picked it back up

My fellow Fromsoftware fans,

I want to conduct science.

Did the ‘Fromsoftware curse’ happen to you, and if so, when did it set in?

The Fromsoftware curse being the term for after you click with a Fromsoft game, every other game you play that isn’t Fromsoft will now feel like it has something missing and will never be as satisfying. I’ve seen people use this term mostly on the subreddits.

For me, it was Artorias in DS1. After that it was over for me, no other game could make me feel that way besides another Fromsoft title.

[gamejoypod]

IDK about you guys but V.1 Freud's AC has the most intimidating name on the roster in my opinion

There are other confrontational AC names but even the most aggressive ones are still a little showy. Makes sense, you wanna gas up your AC & how well you fight. They're almost sporting in an "all's fair in love, war and mercenary work" kind of way

But LOCKSMITH instantly made me feel like I was in a different kind of danger.

LOCKSMITH isn't going to do a dogfight-dance and pelt my AC with explosives until its functions fail

LOCKSMITH is going to open up my AC's core, rip me out of the cockpit and smear me like a grape on the pavement

The other Mercs are here to Engage With Enemy Combatants As Needed, Freud is here to Kill People

[gamejoypod]

Been thinking about the CATAPHRACT. It's undoubtedly an entertaining & possibly silly design but something about it felt kind of unsettling too, here's my two cents why

[AFAIK] You never see a single human being in this game, I definitely haven't yet. The only visuals you have to associate with the voices of your fellow pilots are their emblems and crucially, their ACs. As far as we're concerned, someone's AC is just their body. The steel and circuitry may as well be flesh and blood

It's very transhuman to me, especially when you can choose between having 4 legs or treads that emulate the mechanics of a wheelchair if that's what you're comfortable with. A pilot's selection of parts & paint become their identity as far as the player can see

Which is why when the committee-design bunker-buster tank with a "body" dangling between the treads comes ripping across the snowfield, it feels a little like body horror by contrast. The little reflections of humanity you *can* see through the bulk is grafted to a more conventional war machine. it just.. hangs there

The PCA already feels impersonal in their tech and tactics, but the CATAPHRACT just feels inhuman. I love it for that.

[gamejoypod]

I think I've had a mild epiphany regarding discussions around dnd & my feelings towards it + my own dming & the difficulties i've been having. Putting it under a cut because it's mostly rambling.

It boils down to being like "You know what? I DO want to run a Critical Role style game!", a game that resembles a jrpg more than wargaming or dungeoneering. World travelling, emphasis on character relationships, character-relevant plot hooks, etc etc etc.

Before reading a lot of insightful criticism of 5e from really smart people here, I thought the friction I felt was because I was just being lazy/uninspired.

Now that i've learned more, I agree 5e is a pretty bad system for running that type of game to begin with. And not surprisingly, it's very hard to make 5e suit that style when it's not your literal day job to do so.

For a bit I was looking into OSR games because a heard a lot of good things about how well their design encourages a specific playstyle, then I realized that I have very little of the OSR priorities in my creative DNA. I think OSR games are super cool, I'd rather play in one than run one though.

Enter Fabula Ultima. A game built to emulate the video games I grew up playing. It's still about getting the gang together for *~Adventure~*, fighting monsters & villains but the differences support a lot of what i'm after.

I'm excited to play with a system that supports the kind of game i want to run, instead of wrestling constantly with 5e and feeling like it's my fault