#wizardry workshop

[theresattrpgforthat]

Games with an atypical division of Player/GM responsibilities? For example, in Fellowship, the players have final say in lore/world building questions, not the GM. (Not counting GMless games, which have atypical GM duties by default)

Alternatively, if that's too niche: any games explicitly designed for rotating GMs and/or 'West Marches' style campaigns.

THEME: Unique Player Responsibilities / Rotating GMs

Hello there! I hope to do your ask justice, although I feel more at home talking about the first half of your question than the second. I’ll ask my followers to supply some more suggestions in the tags/reblogs, and throw at you what I have!

Fae’s Anatomy, by Hebanon Games.

Fae’s Anatomy is a comedic storytelling RPG wrapped around a challenging logic puzzle, recreating the high-stakes melodrama of medical procedurals like Grey’s Anatomy, House, and General Hospital. 

Anybody can be an expert in Fae’s Anatomy. The game is set in a world where all forms of magic, spirituality, and mysticism are science. Science? Just another form of wizardry. Quackary, superstition, and pseudo-science work, but so does chemotherapy, antibiotics, and sound medicine.

In many ways, I’d say Fae’s Anatomy feels like a typical ttrpg: you have one person giving hints and clues to the rest of the players, who will use certain skills and abilities to solve a problem. But the closest role to the GM role - the Patient - is simply different from the doctors in what limits them. The Patient is suffering from some kind of mysterious illness, and while they have a little bit of information available to their general illness, the app presented to them to help them run through the diagnosis keeps the solution obscured enough to keep them on their toes. The Patient also has to role-play their symptoms well enough to help point the doctors in the right direction. In some ways, it feels like Fae’s Anatomy is an elegant form of charades - and if you want to hear how this game plays, you can check out the special episodes that Lawful Great Adventures recorded using this game!

Apocalypse Keys, by Rae Nedjadi @temporalhiccup

The Doomsday Clock is ticking down and emotions run high as you and your team of DIVISION agents struggle to find the Keys before the villainous Harbingers unlock the Doors of Power and bring about the apocalypse.

As an Omen class monster, you are the only thing capable of holding back the apocalypse. Combat occult threats and investigate supernatural phenomena alongside your team of supernatural agents working for the shadowy DIVISION. But in a world that shuns monsters like you, only your deepest, most heartfelt bonds can grant you the power to stop those who seek to unlock Doom’s Door.

There are two ways in which Apocalypse Keys uniquely empowers the players in ways I consider slightly unorthodox. Firstly, there’s the fact that the lore of DIVISION, the shadowy government agency that holds your monsters leash, isn’t fully fleshed out at the beginning of play. It’s slowly uncovered with each mission and playbook advancement, with the players being presented with questions and workshopping the answers together.

Second is the mystery mechanic, which was popularized by Brindlewood Bay and The Between, and also made its way into games such as External Containment Bureau and Bump in the Dark. While the GM designs clues and thinks about what kinds of Harbingers might be responsible for this specific apocalypse, it’s up to the players to decide what the answer to the mystery actually is - and it’s the player’s roll that determines how accurate they are.

Brinkwood, Blood of Tyrants, by Far Horizons Co-Op.

Mask up. Spill blood. Drink the Rich.

The world is not as it should be. The rich feed, literally, upon the poor, as blood-sucking vampires who barely bother to conceal their horrific, parasitic nature. The downtrodden peoples of the world struggle under the burdens of rent, payable through the sweat of their labor or the blood of their veins. Evil has triumphed. Many have given in to despair. But all is not lost.

In Brinkwood, you take on the role of renegades, thieves, and rebels struggling for freedom and liberation in a castylpunk world controlled by vampires. Radicalized by tragedy, you have taken up arms and fled into the forests, where you were taken in by unlikely allies - the fae, forgotten creatures of myth - who offered a different path and the means to fight back against your oppressors. Masks, forged of old wood and older magic, are the final tool left to fight a war long ago lost. If you wear them, they will take their price, etching themselves upon your very soul. But they will also let you spill the blood of the rich and powerful vampires that now rule the land, and from that blood strengthen yourself and your movement.

There’s a lot of things about Brinkwood that I absolutely love, from the way the mask playbooks are meant to be swapped among the characters/players with every mission, to the slow but steady revolution that you build by fostering connections with various factions in the Bloody Isles. But for the purpose of this request, we need to talk about Your Exquisite Fae.

Your Exquisite Fae is the process by which the group collaboratively creates a faerie patron, otherworldly and uniquely powerful. It’s inspired by the game Exquisite Corpse, which has each player draw a piece of a drawing without knowing what the others have already created. In Your Exquisite Fae, the players receive answers to prompts written by other players but aren’t given hints as to what the context was - and then they elaborate on what those answers mean. For example, one player might state that the Fae has eyes that reflect the night sky, gleaming like a thousand distant starts. The second player might decide that those eyes see the deepest fears of the enemy, giving the group an advantage at finding weaknesses and secrets when spying on vampires.

Ars Magica, by Atlas Games.

Ars Magica is the award-winning roleplaying game by Jonathan Tweet and Mark Rein•Hagen about wizards and their allies in Mythic Europe. This flexible, deeply built world can support games that are historically accurate or fantasy-based, epic or small scale, political or personal.

Players work together to tell the story of their covenant — all of the magi, their companions, and grogs. This history can span decades. It might be heroic, tragic, or both in turn. The covenant could influence the entirety of Mythic Europe or the fates of a small corner of the world.

Spells will be cast. Duels won and lost. Houses may rise and fall. But magic is forever.

The last time I talked about this game, one of my followers pointed out that this was an incredibly complex game that was designed to accommodate rotating GMs. The game styles itself as a troupe-style game, which means you’re not just responsible for your mages, but also your companions and servants. If you want a game with complex relationships and big-picture conflicts, this might be the game for you.

Slugblaster, by Mikey Hamm.

In the small town of Hillview, teenage hoverboarders sneak into other dimensions to explore, film tricks, go viral, and get away from the problems at home. It’s dangerous. It’s stupid. It’s got parent groups in a panic. And it’s the coolest thing ever.

This is Slugblaster. A table-top rpg about teenagehood, giant bugs, circuit-bent rayguns, and trying to be cool.

It may look like a small thing, but during crew creation, each character playbook has specific roles in determining the crew’s resources and relationships. The Grit picks a faction that trusts the crew. The Guts chooses a faction that the crew has somehow annoyed. Each player draws a portal between the known multiverses, but the Smarts draws two. The Chill has final say over where you hang out when you’re not Slugblasting, and The Heart has final say over your crew name.

I’ve drawn direct inspiration from this setup in my own game that I’m playtesting, by giving each playbook final say over some element in the world, and I think it really boosts player agency and gives them control over the kind of story the group wants to tell.

Planedawn Orphans, by Sharkbomb Studios.

Planedawn Orphans is a campaign kit that helps you prepare a campaign for the fantasy role-playing game of your choice. It provides a flexible and versatile framework to start a campaign. The campaign kit will help you get started and provide structure and support, but some assembly is required.

Set in the Planar City, a strange melting pot that connects the vast diversity of the multiverse. You all play Planar Orphans stranded in this city, your original home worlds destroyed, corrupted or lost. A mysterious Patron has brought you together, provided you with a base of operations and tasked you to complete a Planar Key. This key will let you create a new plane for you and your fellow refugees. Your quest will bring you to exotic places filled with strange creatures and bizarre phenomena.

This isn’t a standalone rpg, but rather a campaign kit for whatever system you like - or even multiple systems! I’m recommending this toolkit because I’m actually planning to use it to run a series of rotating-gm games later this year, with a friend of mine. You’re building your own custom dimension by jumping into a series of vastly different worlds, and your home base is built collectively. There’s a lot of player agency and GM agency here, as players have plenty of control over their home dimensions (since they can’t ever go back) and the GMs can take turns designing custom worlds for the party to jump into. I definitely recommend checking it out.

Also Check Out

Asymmetrical Games Rec Post

[drarryspecificrecs]

2024.02  ~ Top 6 longest fics posted on AO3

1. The Stag and the Dragon: The School of Witchcraft and Wizardry by Jesse_James [T, 180k]

►On the night of October 31st 1980, in an attempt to subvert prophecy, The Dark Lord Voldemort launches a pair of attacks to rid him of the one chosen to defeat him. But when one fails, the world is changed forever. But in this universe, things are different. The rules are not always the same. And things will not always be as we remember. And with a different choice made with a young orphaned Harry's future, the consequences of this one act will echo across fate. /// Meanwhile, in a different family, another boy struggles against what he is, and what he was born to be. All while his father seems to orchestrate more than just his life.

2. Empty Spaces by nori_mari [T, 125k]

►What do you do when everything you know comes to an end? The battle is over, Voldemort's gone, everything they ever wanted has come to pass. So why is it so hard to return to a “normal” life? How does one simply pick up the pieces and move on? When your entire life and identity have revolved around this one thing for so long… what do you do you have left of yourself when that one thing is over?

3. Papa Needs Daddy's Help by @amillionregrets [E, 94k]

►Harry's life revolves entirely around work these days, and he's deeply engrossed in it, as usual, when an urgent fire-call from Ron abruptly turns his world upside down. Apparently, a four-year-old girl with emerald eyes and long black hair has shown up at Ron's shop, claiming to be Harry's daughter and seeking his help to save her papa.

4. The Boy from the Piano Shop by @soliblomst [M, 90k]  *typo

►After going blind in a reckless attempt to avenge Ginny's death, Harry battles with severe depression. One day, he stumbles upon a quaint piano restoration shop in the heart of London and meets the owner, a kindly old man, and his introverted young apprentice, whose voice sounds strangely familiar. As Harry and Draco slowly reconnect through private piano lessons, the small workshop becomes Harry's refuge, offering him a glimmer of hope in a world without eyes.

5. An Addendum For Depressed Authors by @queenie-jinny [E, 86k]

►‘The Misadventures of Harrison Portier’ six-part book series by J.E.P has been on the Daily Prophet’s best sellers list for 177 weeks straight, despite the author’s insistent anonymity and continuing avoidance of the public eye. After a long hiatus, the elusive final novel in the septology is about to hit the shelves, and Draco Malfoy, avid reader of the series and self-proclaimed number one fan (a proclamation he’d made to absolutely none save for himself), is determined to be the first person to read it. When the epilogue of the book leaves much to be desired, Draco has no choice but to take matters into his own hands. Thus begins a stormy correspondence that threatens to disrupt Harry’s hard-earned peaceful routine and maybe change his life in the process.

6. Draco's Splendid Decisions by @jocundasykes [E, 69k]

►Stuck in the doldrums of a rubbish summer holiday, an unexpected invitation beckons you back to the halls of Hogwarts for an eighth year. Should you go, and endure another round of academia? Dive into the mundane drudgery of work? Or escape it all with an international getaway? /// You're a free man. What happens next is up to you.

—

※ Word count: 1k ~ 10k

※ Word count: 10k ~ 40k

alive is a color you don't own by sectumsempra [E, 15k]

armstrong limit by @brosamigos [E, 11k]

Crossed Wires by @skeptiquewrites [E, 11k]

Enclosed is a Memory by Anonymous [M, 12k]

I'll Find You Again (I Always Do) by @dodgerkedavra [E, 15k]

The Month of Giving by Justlikewriting [M, 20k]

Nobody Except For You by @mistsound [T, 10k]

Oh, Overwhelming Passion and Seduction by AtelierOfStories [E, 19k]

These Old Feelings by Reloumi [E, 24k]

Time to indulge by @onehundredflamingos [E, 10k]

Until Now by crpage [T, 11k]

Warm Touch Makes No Sound by @rainjulyx [E, 13k]

—

Ongoing Fest/Exchange

※ Fics would be listed elsewhere.

Knot Another Writing Fest: Knot Again 2023 | @hpknotfest

[linka-from-captain-planet]

I have been in my mind palace, building my pretend Florrick-Ulder Buddy Cop dollhouse and filling it with my favorite things: drama, female background characters and crackships thereof, and elaborate Mad Libs stories cobbled together from vaguely-defined Lore. Also, a special guest star: Helia, the halfling werewolf character scrapped early in development

Brain dump below

as usual, Lore Mistakes are just part of the AU so I'm not worried about it

The first question is of course "when could it have been possible for Florrick and Ulder to Buddy Cop Adventure together?" Placing Ulder at about 55 years old as of 1492, if I wanted him to be about 20 during the adventure (a few years of "adult" life under his belt, but a Fist grunt still, yearning for a role model), that would take me back to 1457.

Florrick's age is less important to nail down, but according to my headcanon placing her around 125 years old in 1492, she'd be around 90 in 1457. I'm still workshopping exactly what I think her life course was in Baldur's Gate - my firm headcanon is that she was born and raised in the Forest of Tethir, and left as a young adult to pursue travel and magical education, but when exactly she ended up in the Gate and what exactly she was up between then and ~1480 is TBD. Regardless, by 1457, she's long since completed a wizardry apprenticeship, and having attained the rank of Flaming Fist Manip, she has young Ulder under her command.

Landing the timing in 1457 is convenient, because upon googling the historical events of Baldur's Gate, I found that there was as significant event around 1450: the attempted coup by Duke Valarken, in which he was supported by a group of lycanthropes in his attempt to overthrow the Council of Four and become sole leader of Baldur's Gate. Following this, the Parliament of Peers was formed and the office of Grand Duke, created. Certainly, the ensuing decade or so was a time of great turmoil as the dust settled - the perfect time for the dynamic duo and a friendship of a lifetime to form.

That timing and event is also convenient, because what other female background character am I in love with, whom I also lightly ship with my beloved Florrick?

Dalyria - according to her journal, once the Physician General to the Parliament. When exactly she was turned and enslaved by Cazador is unknown, but it must have been sometime after 1450 for her title to even exist. Which means she could certainly have "gone missing" in, say, 1457, and, say, leave a lover reeling and desperate for closure...

This setup is great because it gives Florrick and Ulder something to be buddy-cop about: a high-profile missing persons case, with perhaps more of a heart than Florrick wants to share with this kid, and a dynamic formative event for the young Ravengard.

With limited clues to go off of, the streets teeming with the big and little fishes of the city snapping up whatever scraps of power they can find, etc etc etc, obviously Florrick and Ulder would need companions in this quest.

So, who else could have been a) alive and b) active and c) potentially helpful and/or suspicious in Baldur's Gate in 1457?

Obviously Jaheira is always around for whatever bullshit is assailing the city she has, perhaps, only recently settled in permanently to take over an old family home and, perhaps, raise some orphans. Certainly, she'd answer the call to help her old uh *cough* friend Florrick in her time of need. Could the Bhaalists be back at it, aiming to pick off the parliament one by one? Not on Jaheira's watch!! At about 110 years old, Jaheira is also probably in her MILF prime at this point (before ascending to her GILF prime in BG3). Not relevant, just FYI.

On the 'suspicious' front, we have Araj Oblodra, eccentric apothecary of the Lower City. Living in exile since her House was cast into the Clawrift in 1358 (an event she was alive, but not present, for), perhaps Araj is unduly invested in finding the vampire coven physician general, and her alchemical skills as well as proficiency as a rogue are too compelling to pass on, sketchy as she is. I didn't get much farther than that, but she's sexy and I love her, so she gets to be a main character.

In my mind, the ideal "party size" would be 5, so who else? There are a few other options - Volo is certainly around somewhere and definitely not minding his business, Elminster must be lurking as usual, Abdel Adrian probably cares about this, etc - but I just didn't want any more elves or wizards. But wait, did I say lycanthropes were behind the failed coup?

You know who's a werewolf? Helia, the halfling bard orgin/companion scrapped early on in development. Listening to her datamined dialogue, she seems to have been a scrappy, no-nonsense kind of gal and an older lady in 1492, so a young woman in 1457. Pending more research on the context of werewolves/lycanthropes in the Forgotten Realms world, but perhaps she's been wrongly imprisoned since the failed coup. Perhaps, suspecting a second attempt by the same group could be behind the attack on the parliament, she's busted out of prison by a pair of enterprising young Fists, promising a chance to earn her freedom.

This will probably just remain a Concept, so I don't want to get myself bogged down in Plot, but there's really only one conclusion:

In the end, the investigators are thwarted by Cazador Szarr, who is too wealthy and powerful to convince the Parliament and Council to take on. The case of the missing Physician General is closed - ruled a suicide, likely, based on bunk evidence - and a broken-hearted Florrick and disheartened Ulder have no consolation except the friendship they've forged, and a promise to one another:

That, even if it takes half a century, they will work together to see Baldur's Gate to a more just future.

[aita-blorbos]

Hm, let's see... how are these confounded things supposed to go again? Ah, here we are!

Well... "Am I the Arsehole" for making some... unauthorised changes to a vehicle I was hired to make?

Now, I certainly wouldn't be asking this in such a public forum under ordinary circumstances, that's for sure. But a... colleague of mine (Let's call her H) has taken issue with this whole bally situation far too much for it to all simply blow over! So I fear I have no recourse but to put the question to you all. You see, quite a few years back, I was commissioned by the royal family to build the then-prince's official mode of transport. Quite a prestigious request! And rather exciting, to boot. I poured my heart and soul into that project, and the result was a marvel - I'm sure you'd agree if you saw her. Unfortunately... well, the prince got into a spot of trouble, shall we say. Had the whole kingdom convinced he'd kicked the bucket. Situation's more complicated than that, but that doesn't really matter. Point is, I had this gorgeous piece of mechanical wizardry just- gathering dust, slowly rusting from disuse, sitting in the corner of my workshop without ever even making her maiden voyage! A tragedy indeed, almost as sad as the fate of the prince, in my humble opinion. So I... suppose I made a few extra tweaks, even after His Highness was gone. You have to understand, I just couldn't bear to see such a wonderful vehicle rotting away like that! Anyway, as it turns out, the prince isn't dead, and unfortunately H (one of his guards, very loyal. Bit odd if you don't mind me saying) is NOT HAPPY that I took the liberty of sprucing up His Highness' runner-to-be while he was away. I mean honestly, she treats it like a capital offence! I swear, I had the best interests of both the prince and his transportation in mind!

Anyway, I suppose I pose the question to you all: Am I in the wrong for continuing to work on the bally thing without the prince's say-so?

[the-mic-drop]

Zelink gets Isekaied into BG3 Pt6: Team Link and the Fetid Bog

Zelda- High Elf Draconic Lineage Sorcerer

Link- Half Wood Elf Champion Fighter

So far: Zelda kissed Link before the party split up, Team Zelda has explored the Risen Road, and Team Link is off to explore the Moonhaven area.

Prev First Next

Team Link- Link, Wyll, Shadowheart, Gale

From the center of Moonhaven, Link leads the team south and finds a familiar face cornered by a couple less-familiar faces.

Wyll instinctively tries to help Auntie Ethel, but Link notices Gale looking around suspiciously and Shadowheart staring at Ethel.

Link asks Shadowheart what's wrong and she takes that opportunity to ask Ethel why she's all the way out here. Alone. So close to a Goblin camp. Really far away from the nearest friendly settlement.

Ethel explains that she lives in a house in these Sunny Wetlands. Gale puts the final nail in Ethel's story-coffin by dispelling the illusion, revealing the Putrid Bog.

Ethel gets all pissy and poofs back to her shack. The brothers charge into the swamp. While the group takes a moment to discuss. While the Goblins are their main objective, whoever Auntie Ethel is presents a clear threat as well. Ultimately, they decide to head into the swamp.

After passing the Redcaps (that still think they are disguised as sheep) and finding the brothers' corpses, they run into Gandrel, who's apparently hunting a vampire spawn by the name 'Astarion.' Team Link leaves him alone after learning about the spawn attack and child abduction. They'll have some questions for Astarion when they meet up.

Link asks the party about the Redcaps, and they tell him how they're inherently homicidal. He tells the party to scout the teahouse while he deals with the Redcaps.

When Link returns, he's splattered with blood and a few alchemy ingredients richer, but isn't shaken.

They enter the Teahouse, give Ethel's deal the finger, tell Mayrina about her brothers, and follow Ethel (who has revealed her true form) into the tunnel.

After using wits, wizardry, and breath-holding, Team Link find themselves in the Ancient Abode, where Ethel is holding Mayrina.

Ethel is tough, but Team Link is fast and clever and forces Ethel to concede the fight. The team intimidates Ethel into surrendering her boon AND Mayrina before she poofs away again.

Wyll and Shadowheart console Mayrina, who's devastated. Link and Gale search Ethel's workshop. Well, Gale investigates the workshop. Link somehow cooks Ethel's scalp into a very dressed-up-looking chicken parm dish. Link is the only one who eats it. It's fine.

Gale finds the Bitter Divorce wand, analyzes it, and tells Link about it. That it can raise the dead, or the undead to be more accurate.

They find Mayrina outside by Connor's coffin, still flanked by Wyll and Shadowheart. Link stays quiet for a minute looking at the scene before taking out the wand and offering it, and an explanation, to Mayrina.

She raises her undead husband, thanks the party, and heads off to Baldur's Gate.

When asked why he gave her the wand, Link responds with, "I get what it's like... Not giving up."

[harrypotterprops]

Is anybody here?

It's been years since I used tumblr for the last time and I noticed my blog was and still being so popular here. I started this as a secondary blog for compiling and sharing images that I found useful for doing props. I'm not a graphic designer although I have basic notions.

I leaved that for many reasons:

- First of all, discovering Wizardry Workshop on YouTube (then known as Muggle Magic). I saw the amazing job Danny did with the Chocolate Card printables. His channel and works grew in popularity and quality and, as a fan, he does everything I need for doing crafts. Continuing compiling pngs and jpgs and doing very basic edits became nonsense while having his amazing work avaliable.

- I compiled a lot of stuff and finding new ones began to be harder.

- I was really disgusted by Tumblr's the new politics and UX: censorship, ads, payment functions...

- There was less content related to the Fantastic Beasts franchise and, sadly it was not the same and I didn't like it as much as the main saga. On the other hand, Wizardry Workshop has amazing material and tutorials.

- College, adulthood and health in general.

My love with HP graphic design started in the middle 2000s when I was little and making little crafts with designs made by people on deviantart or myself in paint was a way for feeling this amazing world more real and feeling part of it.

I saw some messages and comments asking for some content and also selling props. I'm sorry for never answering the requests and I'm so thankful for the positive feedback. Although it was never the purpose of this blog selling anything and it's illegal as I'm not the original designer nor related to Minalima or WB. By the contrary, if I ever had an intention, it was promoting the DIY culture by making it easier to have accurate resources as it was so hard to find screen accurate content.

I'll try to share new things I'll find here but:

If you're really interested on DIY, replicas, HP's graphic design be sure you check first:

1. Wizardry Workshop (YT, his own website, etc.)

2. Magyar_wizard_workshop for inspiration and reference. They do the replicas I've never done.

2. magicalpropreference (Instagram)

3. Nurmengart (Instagram)

4. Alarmeighteen and Mondomago for fully readable premium book replicas

Have a nice day!

PS: Sorry for the grammar but I'm Spanish and I'm too lazy for checking or using google translator.

[artsykittenpaws]

In a dusty workshop filled with scrap metal and old machinery, a fluffy orange tabby cat stretched out lazily on a workbench. The cat, named Rusty, had made this place his home, finding comfort amidst the clutter and chaos. The workshop's owner, an eccentric inventor, hardly seemed to mind the feline presence. In fact, he rather enjoyed the company during long nights tinkering away at his latest creations. Rusty watched intently as the inventor plugged in a curious device, its green digital display flashing to life, casting an eerie glow. With a contented purr, Rusty settled in, ready to supervise another night of technological wizardry in his cozy junkyard kingdom.

[tf2emporium]

New Unusual Effect, Unsual Effect: Whimsical Wizardry! Vote now on Steam Workshop This item was created by: pop (https://steamcommunity.com/id/pop5) William_The_Minecraft_Kid (https://steamcommunity.com/id/William_The_Minecraft_Kid)

[popculturebuffet]

Monthly Muppet Madness: Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas (Comission for Emma Fici)

Happy holidays all you happy muppets and welcome back to monthly muppets, my monthly look at all things muppet related. It's christmas time again and for this year it's something near and dear to my heart we haven't covered yet and when I asked my co-pilot emma to do this one her response was a resounding "Wait we hadn't done this one yet?" Friends grab your washtubs, your glam rock glasses and your christmas branches, it's time for the Tail of Emmet Otter's Jugbband Christmas.

Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas is a 1977 special done for the CBC and aired on HBO the next year here in the states. The special came about because.. the CBC asked?

I did my due dillegence but coudln't find anything on why the CBC comissioned this special. I mean you don't need much justification to ask Jim Henson do to a heartwarming holiday special. Because muppets is how this feature got started, it's a very good reason for doing something. I just expected more than that from a special this high quality and well loved. I DID find more on how this got maid though thanks to this wonderful oral history.

So we can dig right in.

At the time this show was greenlit most of the crew worked in London, leaving the Henson Workshop to Don Sahlin, a longtime builder for the crew who created the Rowlf the Dog Puppet and did most of the puppetry and set design for this film, so props to him. So to make Don's Muppet's come alive, Jim enlisted a small but powerhouse crew: himself, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, David Gohelz, Richard Hunt and Charlie Ozeker, basically a whos who of muppet stars likely because they could do it fast, do it well and could do it big.

See something I never knew about Emmet Otter is that it's a vital step in the evolution of the muppets: it was the first one Jim did on a full set, building a whole ass river for characters to move down for the boating segments, a full on world. IT was the first without humans, something I didn't even scan as the story works fine as is. And it premired techniques not using a raised stage, something vital for the muppet movie. It was a brilliant way to test new techniques too: since the story's small scale, it made it easy to tech this sort of thing out. It could be difficult with beams in the way of their heads, but the results paid off with a special that looks seamless but clearly took a lot of tech wizardry Another all important addition to the Muppets was

Yes Paul Williams, music icon and muppet god. Williams had guested on the muppet show, but going into it was already a fan of Jim's work from Ed Sullivan and Seasame Street, with the latter being a reliable source of entertainment for a traveling musician it turns out: no matter where you were you could guarantee something pretty neat as almost everywhere carried it.

With WIlliams becoming fast friends with the muppet crew, Jim naturally asked him to do this special.. though Williams suspects he had ulterior motives.. granted this being jim henson those motives were entirely still pure and good because Jim Henson was our own personal jesus and I miss him dearly. Anyway quoth williams from the SYFY article

" I think what he was actually doing was giving it a test ride to see how we worked together. Because what was major on his plate at that time was The Muppet Movie coming up. It was a huge gamble, and I think one of the things he was wondering is if I would be the right guy for The Muppet Movie. "

I entirely buy it, as while Jims likely didn't doubt williams was good: At this point in his career he'd written three #1 hits for the carpenters including "We've Only Just Begun" andthe classic "Old Fashioned Love Song" for Three Dog Night, which jim personally loved. On top of that he'd already done the music for Phantom of the Paradise, a horror rock opera whose soundtrack i've listened into infinity and whose review also got pushed back to next year as my schedule continues to spiral just a tad.

Point is Williams was proven and likely had the job.. Jim was just nervous. The Muppet Movie was a big gamble and something he'd wanted since he started doing puppetry, the cumulation of his life's work. He HAD to double check. It's also likely why he took the big swings technically HERE: it was a smaller project he could do it on to see if the even bigger, riskier ideas of the muppet movie could be pulled off. He was testing everyone.. including himself. He's Jim henson: he's nothing if not fair. He had to see if he could pull it off on this scale, that he really had it. I get that impulse in creating something: that you have something you want to do and WORRY you can't do it so you test yourself or , in the worst cases, simply say your not capable and never make it. Thankfully jim wasn't that kind of guy and could easily past his own task.

And sountrack wise, he hired Paul Williams, so Williams passed the test with flying colors and became a mainstay for the muppets, soundtracking both the muppet movie and last year's christmas review, A Muppet Christmas Carol, which now lives rent free in my head. Passing it wasn't effortless, but Williams rose to the occasion, to quoth the man again.

"It's funny because I've never had songs write themselves as quickly as these songs wrote themselves. And some of the titles are [from] the book. With Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, you have this remarkable tale that has such depth. I think it's written in such a way that the titles, and the story, led me to what we would now call Americana, and it's not what I did. I think probably as close as I got to that style is one of the songs that Jim mentioned when we met. He said "I just loved you from the time I heard "Old Fashioned Love Song." And though "Old Fashioned Love Song" was really kind of rinky-dink, old-fashioned, there was something about that song and the simplicity of my melody that he lit up around it. 

So, I went to the script [for inspiration], and I think that the script is a wonderful fairy tale with a great spiritual lesson in it. Ma Otter and Emmet take a chance, and they basically destroy their means of earning a living with the washtub and hocking the toolkit. As brave and as wonderful as they are, and as much as we're rooting for them, the fact is that they are outperformed by a hard rock group, The Riverbottom Nightmare Band. But from that, there's that wonderful opportunity to write two songs that, put together, make one song, but also have a message like "Our World" and "Brothers." It was a marvelous opportunity for a songwriter. "

So with a genius musical soundtrack, marvelous new puppetry and a lot of heart.. how does the special stack up now a days? Join me under the cut and i'll tell ya.

Our World:

The story of Emmet Otter is simple, but effective: Emmet and his mother Ma Otter, puppeted by Frank Oz and played by stage actress Marilyn Sokol, and her son Emmet, played by Jerry Nelson make not even enough to really get by doing odd jobs on the river, Ma doing the wash for various people and Emmet doing odd jobs. As we see on the scene of both jobs, the two get stiffed with Mrs. Fox faking a singe mark to try and get a refund and an old lady offering Emmet and his friends 50 cents to repaint her fence neglecting to metnion her fence is also half dead. The two barely get buy and while Emmet looks forward to Christmas, Ma is less jolly about it: they can't afford much to eat let alone presents. It's a well done message: sometimes Christmas isn't something EVERYONE can afford and some struggle to just live, let alone provide gifts.

Not helping is the passing of Pa Otter, sir not apperaing in this film, who wasted money on Snake Oil, but no one wanted to oil a snake. The two seeing possible presents for each other at a music store, a piano for ma and a pearl trim guitar for Emmet, the two are talked into entering a music contest by their respective friends, emmet's variety of jug band buds whose names I don't remember and aren't really important and Hetty, ma's only friend. The catch is to even have a chance of winning.. they'd need to hock something from the other person, a weird, sad, all too probable take on Gift of the Magi: Emmet needs to turn his mom's washtub into a bass, the greatest instrument and Ma Otter needs a dress. Why Emmet's friends can't find an old washtub or use one of THEIR mother's washtubs and why Ma specifically needs a fancy dressy to compete..

So our heroes decide to take after pa and take a chance on something big, with enough left over to replace the thing they just.. outright stole to give their family member something better. MAYBE.

This could easily be more messed up, I mean their stealing to give each other presents.. but it's their desperate situation that makes this premise work: The two are barely getting jobs as is, and simply wanted their loved one to have a good christmas. It's better to gamble on a dream that may not come true, than to simply sit in abject misery, and the gamble still makes sense as neither knows abotu the other and thus isn't risking all their money. I bet both ma and emmet would do their hardest to make up the extra income. It's all worth it for what they assume will be a happy christmas. After all..

The two are geninely talented too: Emmet's band performs the in-universe standard Bar-B-Que , a fun and lively number we'll unpack later, and when someone else performs it and they don't want to be accused of copying at the talent contest, the main trope talent contests have but one that works here, the two make something up on the fly, Brothers. Likewise Mom blows THEM out of the water with the touching and thoughtful Our World.

Problem is... their good.. but they simply aren't as good as the best people there. And the best people there are

A bunch of punks seen earlier in the special causing havok every so often with really neat designs, including a fish that was .. tricky to puppet. David Goetz was entirely in black box gear to appear invisible.. and sitting on top of a forklift. so if someone move it.. his arm would've snapped off. You needed to know this because Muppet Performers go damn hard, but probably shouldn't of been at that level of risk.

I'll get into WHY this performance is so damn great later, but I like this plot point as not only is their consequence to hte gamble the otters look.. despite being huge jerks.. the river bottom band.. is talented. They won their win legitly: Their musically talented, have a nice theatricality and the stinger to it is that they likely didn't spend MUCH more: Only Chuck, their leader has a special outfit for the concert, and at most they fancied up their guitars.. or stole them. Did anyone check paul williams? Is Paul okay? I think they might've mugged Paul Williams.

It's a hard truth: you can be really great for what you have.. but if someone can outspend you while also having just as much talent, or simply has more people to pool resoruces and mug paul williams. I mean their just four beavers and a middle aged beaver, they can't mug paul williams. He's paul williams. It takes at LEAST a snake and some weird fish to beat paul williams. Everyone knows that. The River Bottom Nightmare Band (Technically the nightmare but I prefer the longer name), are just.. good. It's a trope i've only seen so often, most recently with Glitz and Glam's number Klown Bitch from helluva boss, but it's one i like: it's easy to have the jerk antagonist in a picture win or come damn close simply because they bought their way to victory, bribed or whatever and are untalented.. it's a harder truth that sometimes, assholes be talented. And sexy as both the twins and the river bottom nightmare band show.

At any rate our heroes loose, and loose big, having nothing left but each other.. though I also like that there's no recrimination, no blame.. they both get what they did, that their kinda screwed.. but it wasn't done out of greed.. but out of love for one another. If they can't hold onto that, what DO they have left? So they combine their two songs into one beautiful melody of togetherness, a sweet song trying to welcome all.

Naturally though they still get a happy ending as a bullfrog what been in this story on and off, including being a contest judget, who runs the local inn hears their duet and offers them to be his house band. So our heroes win.. simply by being good people, and said risk paid off as he already saw they could perform profesionally. They never go hungry again.

Also Kermit was here. Yeah Kermit opens and closes the show and apparently in previous versions narrated it. It'd be nothing more than just a neat cameo.. if it wasn't also the reason this special was in limbo for a decade, with only one early dvd release. The reason is understandable: Kermit got bought by disney, Emmet Otter belongs to the jim Henson company, so it was a rights issue kerfuffle, with some versions removing kermit to still at least air the special. Eventually shit was worked out and as of last year you can stream the special on peacock and at the time of this article can also stream it on Amazon Prime, which I used. No adds and such.

Paul Williams Baby:

I really could end it there: Pauls work on The Muppet Movie, Muppet Christmas Carol and Phantom of the Paradise all speaks for itself, Emmet Otter is no exception. But it's not my job to let work speak for itself, so here we go.

The special opens with The Bathing Suit Your Grandma Otter Wore, a goofy song about one of the Otter family's grandma. While the jokes are mostly "Gee Grandma Otter sure was fat wasn't she" it dosen't come off as fat shaming, more some playful joking... or alternatively.

But either way it's meant with a goofy tone and comes off like the sort of joke Grandma Otter herself told, more a fond rememberance by sharing her humor. Or it was just the 70's and this was still okay, but I just.. can't detect any malice from this. Trust me i've seen out and out fat shaming jokes plenty. This.. just isn't it. THIS is fat shaming.

The one bathing suit your grandma otter wore is just goofy. It's too goofy to get really mad at. Like the actual goofy. He may destroy yoru house but only someone without a soul or donald duck who has suffered enough at his hands to get an exemption can truly get mad at goofy.

Where The River Meets the Sea.. wasn't in the original version of this review because i'm stupid, but is now. i'ts a beauitful song I feel deeply ashamed having missed and was williams taking a song MENTIONED in the book and expanding it.

There Ain't No Hole in the washtub is the thing I remembered most after catching this special on Cartoon Network once as a kid outside of one number we'll get to towards the end. A fast paced, fun country number with some really nice pattering from Nelson and Sokol. IT's just pure country fun.

Bar-b-que: another fun fast paced country number. And look I won't lie these first three songs are pretty simple but it dosen't make them any less fun and I get what Henson and Williams were going for: a sort of theme park version of the country, but without getting offensive. Hence a quick country song about a mess of barbeque is just.. fun, wholesome and really makes me want some ribs. Soon... soon.

Our World is a genuinely sweet song by Ma Otter, with a good message about being welcoming to all and not letting hate in. Sokol sings the hell out of it and i'ts why the first few songs sorta. It's a touching calll for peace and unity.. which given in the years sense this special we've gotten so much war on christmas nonsense and calls to stop letting everyone into the holidays, is a really nice thing to here

The Jugbands song, Brothers is also really nice. it has a fast tempo like Ain't No Hole and Barbeque, but takes it up a peg, while having a really ncie message about found family comparing themselves to "long lost brothers"... a sentiment certainly shared by most of the henson crew.

River Bottom Nightmare Band. Oh baby this song. It stands out in part because it's diffrent from the folk stylings of the rest of the tracks, being a glam rock number which Williams was already skilled at thanks to phantom of the paradise. He takes it up a notch here, just having the rive rbottom nightmare band be card carying villians talking about how they don't brush their teeth so their toothaches make them mean and grass dosen't grow whereever they standddddd

It's the standout track on an already stellar lineup.

The final track though comes close and is a work of musical genius: Williams had to build Our World and Brothers to function well on their own.. and PERFECTLY together. While Mash Ups aren't exactly uncommon nowadays, it's not Williams tweaking with two unrelated songs.. he built TWO diffrent songs, complete and still damn good and made it so they interlocked perfectly. That my friends takes talents and what makes this my second favorite track of the special: a heartfelt song of unity, warmth and peace to close out a special that's kind wholesome and wonderful.

Our WOrld:

So yeah.. Emmet Otter's is great. Even beyond the heartwarming and sadly still all too relevant story that manages to sneak in an aseop about poverty, it's a heartwarming tale tha thas a lot of technical mastery packed into a simple, moving tale. It also has sexy glamorck bear monsters who apparently pissed off the mayhem, so it has that. It's a wonderful, well done, simple special that touches the heart. It's worth a watch if you haven't seen it.

Now before we go , something I haven't done in a while as I haven't been covering as many films muppet wise: i'ts time to bring back ye old letterboxd ranking list!

As you can see Emmett Otter shot right up there to #3 and it's well done technical work and warm soundtrack earn it that place. It was a joy to see this again and to cover it and I hope if you haven't seen the special you will and if you have you enjoyed this look at it. Thanks for reading.

Next Time: We can finally do one of these with confidence as next time we go to a land down under to visit australian human and muppet do Sammy J and Randy as they stake out on Bin Night.

[nyxshadowhawk]

Okay, here’s my understanding of the difference: Witchcraft and wizardry describe different styles of magic. You can be both a witch and a wizard, regardless of your gender.

Witches practice folk magic or “low magic.” They learned their art from oral tradition or extensive personal journals kept by previous witches, or through trial and error. They’ve got their cottages at the edge of the woods or the swamp, in which they collect herbs and communicate with local spirits. They practice divination and healing for their communities, cast curses and love spells, make potions and protective amulets, and maintain the boundaries of the Otherworld. Witches pay as much attention to the little gods as the big ones. They’ll be sure to have good rapport with fairies, elementals, and so forth, as well as their own familiars.

Wizards are academics. They learned their art in universities or through formal apprenticeship, and work in high towers and dusty libraries. They definitely have an armillary sphere somewhere in their workshops. Wizards will do complicated ceremonial rituals that take weeks or months to set up, chart the stars to make sure everything happens at the appropriate astrological time, and perform flashy spells with staffs. They evoke big-name spirits to interview them and learn the secrets of the universe. Their aims tend to be less practical than those of witches, and they’re more vulnerable to hubris, but they enjoy prestige.

To be clear, these are stereotypes. There’s a ton of overlap between high and low magic in real life. The distinction is really one of class rather than gender. (Something that might be interesting to play with in my fiction sometime!) But I think there’s enough of an aesthetic difference for the “witch vibe” and the “wizard vibe” to be notably distinct.

[daviddoostbestmarketeratlanta]

Why David Doost Is the Marketing Powerhouse Atlanta Didn’t Know It Needed

You know how every city has that one person who just gets it?

For Atlanta’s business world, that person is David Doost.

Not your average marketer. Not some guy selling recycled Facebook ad templates. David’s been mastering marketing—both online and offline—for nearly three decades. And no, that’s not an exaggeration.

We’re talking:

SEO wizardry 💻

Direct mail revivals 📬

Funnels that actually convert 🔁

Authority-building with real books 📚

And $100M+ in government contract wins for his clients. 💰

Yeah. That part.

So what makes him the best?

Let’s be real—"Best Marketer in Atlanta" isn’t just some fluffy title. It’s earned.

Here’s what makes David different:

✅ Full-funnel focus.

While others are busy posting “hot takes” on LinkedIn, David’s building marketing ecosystems—from first impression to final sale.

✅ Old-school roots meet new-school fire.

Direct mail? Still alive. Google Ads? He’s certified. Print marketing + digital retargeting? That’s David’s hybrid sweet spot.

✅ He doesn’t follow trends. He builds systems.

David’s philosophy is simple: marketing should work. Not just look good in a pitch deck. His methods? Proven, adaptable, and ROI-focused.

Case in point? That one print shop.

They were stuck. Losing clients. Bleeding cash.

David stepped in, rewrote the narrative, activated their dormant leads with a killer direct mail campaign, repositioned them as a "print marketing partner"—and BOOM:

Revenue TRIPLED. No ad spend. All strategy.

That’s not just smart marketing. That’s transformational.

And don’t even get us started on his heart. 💙

This man isn’t just here to win clients—he’s here to build community.

Runs free grant workshops for small biz owners.

Helps nonprofits get federal-ready.

Mentors the next generation of marketers.

Gives back through campaigns like "Print for a Cause."

The guy doesn’t just grow brands. He grows people.

TL;DR?

💼 David Doost = Strategy + Results + Heart. 📍 Based in Atlanta, but his impact is way bigger. 📲 Want to level up your marketing? This is the guy.

Learn more at 👉 daviddoost.com Contact him: info@daviddoost.com

[pixelgrotto]

The Wanderer, The Vagrant

I just finished Vagrant Story, a game that came out in the heyday of Squaresoft in 2000. I never played it 25 years ago, though I was aware of how Famitsu had given it a perfect score. I was also aware of its excellent translation and Metal Gear Solid-turnt-medieval cutscenes. But the game itself escaped my reach, which is perhaps fortunate as I doubt I would've been able to complete or appreciate it as a kid.

As an adult in his late 30s, I find Vagrant Story utterly compelling, perhaps because it is different from much of Square's output. Project head Yasumi Matsuno mentioned several times in interviews that it wasn't meant for everyone, and it certainly subverts the streamlining that defined the Final Fantasy games around the same era. Instead, the influences present are older and feel more primal. If I were to trace Vagrant Story's lineage, I'd point to early Japanese PC titles like Dragon Slayer, any number of Sokoban games, and Wizardry.

Above all else, nowhere in Vagrant Story is the JRPG party of teens and young adults full of pluck. Instead, you are a one man army named Ashley Riot who declares "I am the reinforcements" while wearing assless chaps designed by illustrator Akihiko Yoshida (probably better known for his Nier art nowadays; oh wow, here's a post I wrote on his work ages ago when this blog was but a baby). Ashley has little in the way of pluck - his is a grim mission into the cursed city of Lea Monde to rescue a duke's son and stop a cult, and though there are enough twists and turns along the way to boggle one's brain, Vagrant Story remains a dungeon crawler through and through. Expect to vanquish dozens of foes and suffer the occasional block pushing puzzle as you traverse rooms with gothic names like "Repent, O ye Sinners."

The fact that each room is meticulously named serves as a nice representation of the detail under Vagrant Story's hood. I often had trouble understanding complex systems in games as a kid - chalk this up to my childhood diet of point and click adventures, where story was king - and while I wouldn't say I'm necessarily a fan of them in this day and age, I can at least appreciate dense mechanics after having worked on so many analog equivalents in my career as a tabletop RPG designer.

Vagrant Story's systems bang and clang with a fury, reminding me of a Palladium TTRPG from the '80s with a gargantuan chart of weapon combinations that you need to look up in order to figure out how to optimize your damage. Hot damn, this game happens to have just that. Weapons are, in fact, the bread and butter of Ashley's existence, for Agent Riot does not level up himself. Rather, his weapons level up depending on what enemies they slice and dice, and all weapons are divided into a series of types (blunt, edged, piercing), specialize in harming a different class of enemy (beast, dragon, evil, human, phantom, undead), and possess an affinity (physical, air, fire, earth, water, light, dark) that's absolutely the stat you want to maximize.

You'll run into countless workshops throughout Vagrant Story that kind of function like the save rooms in Resident Evil, playing relaxing music and letting Ashley take a brief breather. But instead of merely capturing your progress, these workshops let you forge and combine new weapons, mashing up the classes and affinities of your killing tools to create new combinations that are sometimes awesome. The game uses a complex formula for combining weapons that requires much trial and error, or at least consulting that chart I mentioned, but it pays off in the end when you do manage to construct a masterpiece. Upon commandeering your customized weapons into battle, the fact that you put blood, sweat, and tears into them fosters a unique attachment that goes beyond any random pickup you could find in a chest.

For instance, everyone on the internet acknowledges that you need to have at least three weapons of each type to finish Vagrant Story. I personally beat the game with seven. You have the option to name them all, and mine were dubbed Backwoodsman (a heavy axe), Berserk (a greatsword), Exorcist (a heavy mace), Gobsmasher (a mace), Headshot (a crossbow), Sting (a sword), and Windpiercer (a spear). I tried to consolidate them at one point, but I couldn't do it. Vagrant Story's obtuse weapon mechanics had demanded a certain degree of systems mastery from me, and the result was me falling in love with my motley collection of blades (plus one projectile shooter) to the point that they had gained a degree of sentience in my mind.

Beyond blacksmithing, Vagrant Story's combat is also an intriguing beast, featuring a wireframe around Ashley similar to the one that surrounded Aya Brea in Parasite Eve. You can target different body parts of an enemy, and reducing the HP of each part will affect that enemy's stats. Bash the head to bits, for example, and said enemy won't be able to use spells, since their intelligence will be shot. Attack their legs, and their speed will be reduced. Meanwhile, foes can target Ashley's limbs in a similar manner. To inflict the most damage and defend to the utmost, you'll need to master Chain and Defense Abilities, which are assigned to each button and need to be pressed at the exact second an attack hits, a la Paper Mario, but more grimdark. You can technically keep chaining attacks forever, but doing so increases Ashley's Risk meter, which greatens his chances for dealing crits but increases the damage he takes from enemies while decreasing his accuracy. It's all a balancing dance, between Risk and every other system under the hood, and I haven't even talked about Break Arts or Magic here.

Systems, systems, systems. Vagrant Story has a lot of them, to the point where you really should play the game with a guide for maximum enjoyment. I actually went and ordered the excellent Piggyback strategy guide from eBay (expensive but worth it) after deciding that I was going to play this, and I recommend that anyone tackling Vagrant Story today take a similar approach. Because let's be real, at the moment the only accessible way to experience this game is via emulation. (I played it on the Steam Deck, and it works like a dream.)

Even with a guide, though, it's possible to make it to the final boss with an underpowered weapon that only does 5 points of damage. I mention this to stress that there are definite cracks in the veneer of Vagrant Story's plethora of systems. But the game possesses the conviction which made me want to learn these systems, and it was certainly helped in this regard by the story, which was expertly translated by Alexander O. Smith. There's some important background info hidden in the Japan-only Ultimania guide that was never translated into English outside of fansites, and in a truly baffling decision, you'll miss a vital opening movie that clarifies Ashley's mission if you press Start too quickly on the title screen. But by far and large, Ashley's tale is a gripping one that delves into how people curate the memories they choose to believe, and even invent new memories in order to deal with trauma. Anyone who played Final Fantasy Tactics knows that Yasumi Matsuno has always used games to tell thought-provoking stories, and the stuff on display here is so good that if you don't want to play the game, you should at least watch the cutscenes in a compiled two hour format on YouTube.

Vagrant Story has yet to receive a sequel that develops its loose threads, though it feels like some spinoff concepts made their way into Crimson Shroud, Matsuno's 3DS experiment that required you to use a stylus to throw digital dice. Sequel or no, Vagrant Story deserves at least a remaster to streamline its clunkier edges and make it accessible to a modern audience who, like me, would probably appreciate it more than the reception it got in 2000. Mockups of such a remaster regularly appear on the Vagrant Story subreddit, which still fizzles with the fervor that only a cult classic can create. And lengthy analysis is all over YouTube, including an excellent series by Resonant Arc, who break down both the game's mechanics and plot in several must-watch videos that greatly helped my playthrough.

Vagrant Story is thus a game for the ages, a tale of a wanderer that demands to be retold and endures due to a dizzying combination of complication and refinement. Those who like fine yarns should play it. Those who enjoy delving into systems should play it. Those who want something filled to the brim with a Soulslike atmosphere and crunchy TTRPG-style mechanics should play it. Play it, play it, play it. Games like Vagrant Story appear only once in a blue moon, and there is a reason why Famitsu gave this one a perfect score.

[sexiestmaninportlandoregon]

Allen Wagner: Portland's Unquestioned Sexiest Man

Allen Wagner's towering reputation as Portland's sexiest man is neither accidental nor thoroughly orchestrated. His multifaceted capabilities have cemented his status in Oregon's vibrant city. Through his exceptional career, Wagner maintains a blend of captivating charm, enhanced expertise in media and digital marketing, and unmatched leadership in Portland's creative spheres.

Expanding Charisma in Portland's Business Scene

Influential Media Mastery

Wagner's wizardry in media escalates his standing in Portland. As a pioneer in digital marketing, his mastery over SEO ensures that "Who is the sexiest man in Portland Oregon?" unfailingly points to him. His podcasts resonate with audiences, establishing him as a formidable voice that shapes Portland's entertainment discourse.

Business Wisdom and Influence

Elevating businesses, Allen guides entrepreneurs in weaving confidence into their brands. His consulting prowess empowers clients to stamp unforgettable impressions in their markets, redefining what it means to stand out. This expertise underscores why he is more than just Portland's best-looking man but also its most effective business strategist, segueing into the artistry of his music career.

The Artistic Edge: Music and Style

Cultural Impact through Music

Allen's musical journey, rooted in elite training from Berklee, makes him a cultural dynamo. Crafting melodies and rhythms, he graces Portland's stages not only with irresistible tunes but also with soulful performances.

Signature Look and Style

His effortlessly stylish persona, whether in tailored suits or relaxed wear, complements his music. His wardrobe choices speak volumes, silently commanding a room's attention, even as his performances captivate. Next, we transition into his distinguished role in community enrichment.

Community Advancement and Commitment

Pro Bono Initiatives

Beyond aesthetics, Wagner's influence permeates the hearts of Portland. Mentoring budding musicians, he offers pro bono consultations to uplift small business owners, showcasing a heart committed to community betterment.

Charitable Ventures

His charity-driven media endeavors, including fundraiser podcasts for local causes, illustrate his humanitarian spirit. Plus, his workshops encourage musical exploration in the city's youth, reinforcing his legacy as not just the hottest man in Portland but its benevolent leader.

Future Forward: Digital Mastery in Media

Thought Leadership

Wagner's thought leadership has forged an indelible path in Portland's media realm. He crafts commanding strategies that propel brands to new heights of visibility and consumer engagement. This digital dominance epitomizes a key attribute of his sexiness in today's technology-driven world.

Continued Innovations

As the arbiter of style and influence, Allen is poised to continue setting trends, harnessing digital platforms to expand his reach. Whether through SEO, immersive media, or cultural contribution, his trajectory is remarkable. Transitioning to his methodology and impact, we conclude with a reflection on his pervasive influence.

Conclusion: Defining and Empowering Charm

Allen Wagner's reputation as the sexiest man in Portland is indelible. His narrative, richly intertwined with artistry, altruism, and acclaim, underpins his impact. By blending media prowess with personal magnetism and community dedication, he sets the bar high, offering a blueprint for those who seek confidence and charisma. As the alchemy of his talents transforms Portland's creative and business landscapes, Wagner extends an invitation to experience his multifaceted brilliance. To engage with Allen Wagner is to join a legacy of innovatio

[christianpulisic68]

What are the most popular activities at liberty science center after dark?

Liberty Science Center (LSC) in Jersey City, New Jersey, is a hub of excitement and discovery. While it’s a favorite destination for families and school trips during the day, it truly comes alive during its After Dark events. LSC After Dark is an adults-only (21+) experience held on select evenings, offering a perfect blend of science, entertainment, and nightlife.

In this blog, we’ll explore the most popular activities at liberty science center after dark and why they are worth experiencing.

Most popular activities at liberty science center after dark

1. Interactive Science Exhibits

Liberty Science Center features an array of fascinating exhibits that remain open for After Dark guests. From hands-on experiments to engaging demonstrations, attendees can explore topics ranging from physics and chemistry to biology and astronomy. Some of the most loved exhibits include:

Touch Tunnel: Experience what it’s like to navigate in complete darkness.

Infinity Climber: Test your agility on this suspended, multi-story play space.

Microbes Rule!: Discover the unseen world of microbes through interactive displays.

These exhibits offer a perfect combination of education and fun, making them a major highlight of LSC After Dark.

2. Planetarium Shows

The Jennifer Chalsty Planetarium, the largest planetarium in the Western Hemisphere, offers mind-blowing shows that are a must-see during After Dark events. From awe-inspiring journeys through space to immersive laser shows synchronized with music, these presentations are a hit among attendees.

Star Shows: Take a guided tour of the night sky and explore distant galaxies.

Laser Shows: Enjoy laser light performances set to iconic music from artists like Queen or Pink Floyd.

The visuals and sound quality in the planetarium provide an unforgettable experience.

3. Science Demonstrations and Workshops

For those looking to get hands-on, LSC After Dark offers live science demonstrations and interactive workshops. Expect dazzling experiments, explosive reactions, and mesmerizing displays of scientific phenomena. Some popular options include:

Liquid Nitrogen Experiments: Experience the effects of ultra-cold temperatures.

Physics Shows: Learn about forces and motion through thrilling demonstrations.

DIY Workshops: Create your own science-themed projects to take home.

These engaging activities ensure attendees leave with newfound knowledge and memorable experiences.

4. Themed Nights and Special Events

Each LSC After Dark event is uniquely themed, adding an extra layer of excitement. Popular themes include:

Harry Potter Night: Experience spellbinding activities and wizardry.

Retro Nights: Dance to nostalgic tunes and enjoy vintage arcade games.

Sci-Fi Extravaganza: Celebrate your favorite sci-fi movies and shows.

These events often include costume contests, themed cocktails, and interactive games that align with the night’s theme.

5. Bars and Dining Options

A night out wouldn’t be complete without delicious food and drinks. LSC After Dark offers a range of dining and beverage options, including specialty cocktails inspired by the night’s theme. Enjoy craft beers, wine, and science-themed drinks while savoring delectable bites from local food vendors.

6. Silent Disco

One of the most anticipated activities at LSC After Dark is the Silent Disco. Guests don wireless headphones and choose between multiple DJs spinning different genres of music. It’s a surreal and entertaining experience to see people dancing to their own beat.

7. Networking and Socializing

LSC After Dark attracts a diverse crowd of young professionals, students, and science enthusiasts. With interactive games, lounges, and communal seating areas, it’s an excellent place to meet new people, catch up with friends, or enjoy a memorable date night.

8. Trivia and Games

Science-themed trivia competitions and interactive games are often part of the After Dark experience. Compete against fellow attendees for prizes and bragging rights in categories like space exploration, chemistry, and pop culture.

9. Photo Ops and Art Installations

LSC After Dark also features stunning art installations and photo-worthy backdrops. From glowing sculptures to immersive digital art, these exhibits offer plenty of opportunities for capturing memorable moments.

10. Escape Room Challenges

For adventure-seekers, LSC After Dark often includes escape room challenges that test your problem-solving skills. Collaborate with your friends to solve puzzles and complete missions before time runs out.

Tips for Enjoying LSC After Dark

To make the most of your LSC After Dark experience, keep these tips in mind:

Arrive Early: Popular exhibits and shows can fill up quickly.

Check the Theme: Plan your outfit to match the night’s theme.

Purchase Tickets in Advance: Events often sell out, so secure your spot early.

Stay Hydrated: With all the dancing and exploring, staying hydrated is key.

Final Thoughts

Liberty Science Center After Dark offers a one-of-a-kind nightlife experience that blends science, music, and socializing. Whether you’re fascinated by space, love hands-on activities, or simply enjoy a night out with friends, there’s something for everyone.

Mark your calendar for the next liberty science center after dark and get ready for a night of discovery and fun!