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oh yeah, you could say i like Disco Elysium... i like it a lot...

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The protagonist self-justification experience

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I have a feeling that the Kittens would get along pretty well. Marckus and Magnus are barely tolerating each other.

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so youre telling me. theres an adaptation of orpheus and eurydice. where eurydice was falling out of love with orpheus before her death but didnt know how to tell him, and when he walks into the underworld to get her back, shes forced to confess that she planned to leave him?? and shes the one to ask him to look back, but he doesn’t want to, because he knows she isn’t coming with him??? youre telling me that when he finally looks back, he does lose her, but only because he’s letting go??? you’re telling me its about grief? about drifting apart?? about moving on??? about love, and how its messy, and how sometimes it just doesn’t work out even if you go to hell and back for it, because we’re human and thats our tragedy????

you’re telling me netflix CANCELLED it?

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You must change! You will change

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I recently read such a wonderful novel as the worm and immediately fell in love with the regent. he's such a chill guy

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Taylor when she went out in that dress to do skitter business

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AI, Chatbots, and HTP

Hey ya'll, Earndil here, but you probably could have guessed that already based on many things.

I've seen some stuff courtesy of the Hunter the Parenting Subreddit, and things people have brought to my attention, and though I have made my thoughts on the matter clear before in some form, I figured I'd give a clear statement on the matter:

With the advent of AI, Chatbots, and exploitative programs that are fed hard work from creatives in our industry, to churn out gray, palatable slop for easy and convenient consumption, it's become apparent to me that some people in our sphere, be they fans or detractors, have begun to use them with our works as well.

I'm not going to speak on the intent of such things, as that's not a battle I'm here to fight. What I can say, is that we here at Ogre Poppenang heavily disapprove of the use of generative AI for creative purposes broadly. We do not want our hard work being fed into a machine to sate the needs or desires of people who are, in my opinion, extremely impatient, or so demanding of instant gratification that they do not care whose toes they step on to get it.

Perhaps it's merely a harmless, fiery passion to interact with our characters, perhaps it's something else, but in any case of it, we disapprove, and are highly disappointed whenever we see it. I have no specific people to call attention to, nor would I, as that is the kind of low-brow dogpiling I disapprove of just as much, but I want it to show in the record, at least here, that we do not want this in our world.

We are working diligently at producing hand-made, effortful media, for everyone, for free, and these kinds of things are extremely disheartening to see. If you see this, and have created a chatbot or other such thing using ChatGPT, or whatever the hell it is going as now, I implore you to do away with it.

Our work is not yours to steal and repurpose in this way.

Thanks for your time, take care.

-Earndil

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aight, just had an insane family lore drop, specifically regarding my absentee father

so i grew in a single-parent family, with only my mom and grandparents on her side as my known relatives (aside from grandmother's siblings, but that's a story for another day). my father was never in the equation, and my mother outright refused to answer any questions as to who he was, what he was like and where he's supposed to be, which i used to find endlessly frustrating.

eventually i just gave up and abandoned this line of inquiry, resigning to never knowing anything about him - which to be honest was probably a healthy decision. fast forward to a few decades in the future, however, specifically to just a couple days ago when i figured i'd ask my grandfather about him one last time before putting this whole matter to rest, fully expecting him to go mum as he normally would.

this time, however, the stars aligned (oh the irony, as you'll see later) and he deigned to share what little he knew about my father dearest, and boy was that a bombshell and a half

brace thine asscheeks, for here it comes

so, back in the nineties i was in a very famous TV show there was a resurgence of various alternative beliefs, like psychics, astrology, faith healing, zoroastrianism and all that crap. trust me, this is relevant. what was once persecuted in the USSR quickly became the next hottest thing after it dissolved, and quite a few prominent cult-like communities formed around these beliefs.

my mom used to be a fairly sheltered teen and young adult, kind of a sit-at-home wallflower type (thanks to my grandmother's particularly overbearing parenting), and at some point she got massively into astrology and zoroastrianism. i vaguely recall us having some literature on these topics back when i was around four or five years old, as well as her praying to Ahura Mazda and making astrological charts, which i grew to consider a bit of a left-field phase of hers, not knowing its origins quite yet. no matter, moving on.

so, somewhere in the early nineties (approximately mid-1992) she traveled all the way to Moldova to attend an astrologist/zoroastrianism meetup hosted by one of the prominent stars of this movement. turns out she exchanged letters with this guy for quite some time preceding that, however we can only speculate on what they were really talking about. anyhow, she's only been there for around a week, then somewhat unexpectedly returned and shut herself off to the rest of the world, which her parents found rather suspicious.

a few months passed, where she mostly kept to herself and continued exchanging letters with that astrologist guy, but then she could no longer conceal her pregnancy and had to admit it to her parents, which predictably caused a massive shitshow in the family. at some point in this transitional period our family was visited by the right-hand man of that very same movement that she was in - who then met up with my mother in private and evidently came to some sort of an arrangement (most likely based on intimidation, as was customary at the time), and the matter somehow blew over.

that was pretty much the extent of info that my grandfather was able to share with me. my mother never divulged the real identity of my father to anyone, including her parents, but at this point it was pretty much obvious who the culprit is, considering how there were only a few of these communities active back in the day. i dug up some info on the prominent cults operating within that belief system at the time, and lo and behold, here he is.

seems like the guy's really intent on keeping the records on his biography and family affairs vague (gee, i wonder why), but based on the limited information available online i was able to verify the timeline of these events - at this stage, he had two officially recognized kids with his wife Tamara, and their marriage fell apart somewhere in the early nineties as his cheating escapades came to light. he then mostly bailed on his family and went onto his merry way, barely interacting with his ex-wife and kids (bit of a pattern there, don't you think?)

but what sealed the deal and vanquished all doubts for me personally was finding a photo of this guy in his youth. just take a look here and tell me i'm tripping

all things considered, i have it at around 85-95% confidence that this guy is indeed my absentee father. so, yeah - guess that makes me a cult leader's bastard child. no fucking wonder i related to Regent so much lmao

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aight, just had an insane family lore drop, specifically regarding my absentee father

so i grew in a single-parent family, with only my mom and grandparents on her side as my known relatives (aside from grandmother's siblings, but that's a story for another day). my father was never in the equation, and my mother outright refused to answer any questions as to who he was, what he was like and where he's supposed to be, which i used to find endlessly frustrating.

eventually i just gave up and abandoned this line of inquiry, resigning to never knowing anything about him - which to be honest was probably a healthy decision. fast forward to a few decades in the future, however, specifically to just a couple days ago when i figured i'd ask my grandfather about him one last time before putting this whole matter to rest, fully expecting him to go mum as he normally would.

this time, however, the stars aligned (oh the irony, as you'll see later) and he deigned to share what little he knew about my father dearest, and boy was that a bombshell and a half

brace thine asscheeks, for here it comes

so, back in the nineties i was in a very famous TV show there was a resurgence of various alternative beliefs, like psychics, astrology, faith healing, zoroastrianism and all that crap. trust me, this is relevant. what was once persecuted in the USSR quickly became the next hottest thing after it dissolved, and quite a few prominent cult-like communities formed around these beliefs.

my mom used to be a fairly sheltered teen and young adult, kind of a sit-at-home wallflower type (thanks to my grandmother's particularly overbearing parenting), and at some point she got massively into astrology and zoroastrianism. i vaguely recall us having some literature on these topics back when i was around four or five years old, as well as her praying to Ahura Mazda and making astrological charts, which i grew to consider a bit of a left-field phase of hers, not knowing its origins quite yet. no matter, moving on.

so, somewhere in the early nineties (approximately mid-1992) she traveled all the way to Moldova to attend an astrologist/zoroastrianism meetup hosted by one of the prominent stars of this movement. turns out she exchanged letters with this guy for quite some time preceding that, however we can only speculate on what they were really talking about. anyhow, she's only been there for around a week, then somewhat unexpectedly returned and shut herself off to the rest of the world, which her parents found rather suspicious.

a few months passed, where she mostly kept to herself and continued exchanging letters with that astrologist guy, but then she could no longer conceal her pregnancy and had to admit it to her parents, which predictably caused a massive shitshow in the family. at some point in this transitional period our family was visited by the right-hand man of that very same movement that she was in - who then met up with my mother in private and evidently came to some sort of an arrangement (most likely based on intimidation, as was customary at the time), and the matter somehow blew over.

that was pretty much the extent of info that my grandfather was able to share with me. my mother never divulged the real identity of my father to anyone, including her parents, but at this point it was pretty much obvious who the culprit is, considering how there were only a few of these communities active back in the day. i dug up some info on the prominent cults operating within that belief system at the time, and lo and behold, here he is.

seems like the guy's really intent on keeping the records on his biography and family affairs vague (gee, i wonder why), but based on the limited information available online i was able to verify the timeline of these events - at this stage, he had two officially recognized kids with his wife Tamara, and their marriage fell apart somewhere in the early nineties as his cheating escapades came to light. he then mostly bailed on his family and went onto his merry way, barely interacting with his ex-wife and kids (bit of a pattern there, don't you think?)

but what sealed the deal and vanquished all doubts for me personally was finding a photo of this guy in his youth. just take a look here and tell me i'm tripping

all things considered, i have it at around 85-95% confidence that this guy is indeed my absentee father. so, yeah - guess that makes me a cult leader's bastard child. no fucking wonder i related to Regent so much lmao

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aight, just had an insane family lore drop, specifically regarding my absentee father

so i grew in a single-parent family, with only my mom and grandparents on her side as my known relatives (aside from grandmother's siblings, but that's a story for another day). my father was never in the equation, and my mother outright refused to answer any questions as to who he was, what he was like and where he's supposed to be, which i used to find endlessly frustrating.

eventually i just gave up and abandoned this line of inquiry, resigning to never knowing anything about him - which to be honest was probably a healthy decision. fast forward to a few decades in the future, however, specifically to just a couple days ago when i figured i'd ask my grandfather about him one last time before putting this whole matter to rest, fully expecting him to go mum as he normally would.

this time, however, the stars aligned (oh the irony, as you'll see later) and he deigned to share what little he knew about my father dearest, and boy was that a bombshell and a half

brace thine asscheeks, for here it comes

so, back in the nineties i was in a very famous TV show there was a resurgence of various alternative beliefs, like psychics, astrology, faith healing, zoroastrianism and all that crap. trust me, this is relevant. what was once persecuted in the USSR quickly became the next hottest thing after it dissolved, and quite a few prominent cult-like communities formed around these beliefs.

my mom used to be a fairly sheltered teen and young adult, kind of a sit-at-home wallflower type (thanks to my grandmother's particularly overbearing parenting), and at some point she got massively into astrology and zoroastrianism. i vaguely recall us having some literature on these topics back when i was around four or five years old, as well as her praying to Ahura Mazda and making astrological charts, which i grew to consider a bit of a left-field phase of hers, not knowing its origins quite yet. no matter, moving on.

so, somewhere in the early nineties (approximately mid-1992) she traveled all the way to Moldova to attend an astrologist/zoroastrianism meetup hosted by one of the prominent stars of this movement. turns out she exchanged letters with this guy for quite some time preceding that, however we can only speculate on what they were really talking about. anyhow, she's only been there for around a week, then somewhat unexpectedly returned and shut herself off to the rest of the world, which her parents found rather suspicious.

a few months passed, where she mostly kept to herself and continued exchanging letters with that astrologist guy, but then she could no longer conceal her pregnancy and had to admit it to her parents, which predictably caused a massive shitshow in the family. at some point in this transitional period our family was visited by the right-hand man of that very same movement that she was in - who then met up with my mother in private and evidently came to some sort of an arrangement (most likely based on intimidation, as was customary at the time), and the matter somehow blew over.

that was pretty much the extent of info that my grandfather was able to share with me. my mother never divulged the real identity of my father to anyone, including her parents, but at this point it was pretty much obvious who the culprit is, considering how there were only a few of these communities active back in the day. i dug up some info on the prominent cults operating within that belief system at the time, and lo and behold, here he is.

seems like the guy's really intent on keeping the records on his biography and family affairs vague (gee, i wonder why), but based on the limited information available online i was able to verify the timeline of these events - at this stage, he had two officially recognized kids with his wife Tamara, and their marriage fell apart somewhere in the early nineties as his cheating escapades came to light. he then mostly bailed on his family and went onto his merry way, barely interacting with his ex-wife and kids (bit of a pattern there, don't you think?)

but what sealed the deal and vanquished all doubts for me personally was finding a photo of this guy in his youth. just take a look here and tell me i'm tripping

all things considered, i have it at around 85-95% confidence that this guy is indeed my absentee father. so, yeah - guess that makes me a cult leader's bastard child. no fucking wonder i related to Regent so much lmao

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I TRIED TO GET THE 10YRS ACHIEVEMENT ON STANLEY PARABLE AND FUCKED UP

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oooh have you ever done a post about the ridiculous mandatory twist endings in old sci-fi and horror comics? Like when the guy at the end would be like "I saved the Earth from Martians because I am in fact a Vensuvian who has sworn to protect our sister planet!" with no build up whatsoever.

Yeah, that is a good question - why do some scifi twist endings fail?

As a teenager obsessed with Rod Serling and the Twilight Zone, I bought every single one of Rod Serling’s guides to writing. I wanted to know what he knew.

The reason that Rod Serling’s twist endings work is because they “answer the question” that the story raised in the first place. They are connected to the very clear reason to even tell the story at all. Rod’s story structures were all about starting off with a question, the way he did in his script for Planet of the Apes (yes, Rod Serling wrote the script for Planet of the Apes, which makes sense, since it feels like a Twilight Zone episode): “is mankind inherently violent and self-destructive?” The plot of Planet of the Apes argues the point back and forth, and finally, we get an answer to the question: the Planet of the Apes was earth, after we destroyed ourselves. The reason the ending has “oomph” is because it answers the question that the story asked. 

My friend and fellow Rod Serling fan Brian McDonald wrote an article about this where he explains everything beautifully. Check it out. His articles are all worth reading and he’s one of the most intelligent guys I’ve run into if you want to know how to be a better writer.

According to Rod Serling, every story has three parts: proposal, argument, and conclusion. Proposal is where you express the idea the story will go over, like, “are humans violent and self destructive?” Argument is where the characters go back and forth on this, and conclusion is where you answer the question the story raised in a definitive and clear fashion. 

The reason that a lot of twist endings like those of M. Night Shyamalan’s and a lot of the 1950s horror comics fail is that they’re just a thing that happens instead of being connected to the theme of the story. 

One of the most effective and memorable “final panels” in old scifi comics is EC Comics’ “Judgment Day,” where an astronaut from an enlightened earth visits a backward planet divided between orange and blue robots, where one group has more rights than the other. The point of the story is “is prejudice permanent, and will things ever get better?” And in the final panel, the astronaut from earth takes his helmet off and reveals he is a black man, answering the question the story raised. 

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didn’t miss the social cue i ignored it cos it was fucking stupid

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