mishahandman

[mishahandman]

Happy Valentine’s Day, my friends and my followers. My latest campaign setting for Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine, which is also my first campaign setting for Chuubo’s, is now available on my Itch page in Beta form. 

Rustic Vale: Life in the Shadow of Adventure is a lot of things. It’s a story about being the average people in a city on the edge of a bunch of fantasy dungeons. It’s a story about rebuilding a world after it all comes crashing down. And it’s a story about me. If you don’t want the essay, that’s cool! Click on the link, and tell me what you think. I hope you love it.

But if you do want that background…

2015 and 2016 were not good years for me. I’d given up on my dream of being a writer as my primary trade, thrown myself into my secondary passion to become a professional fundraiser, and was struggling with a tough job market, stringing together contract work and part-time jobs to make ends meet. My romantic life was a bit of a mess, my personal life was a lot of a mess, and the world didn’t seem to be going great.

So I did what I often did when I was depressed. I created. And what I built was a little town, where people who were ordinary went about their days surrounded by things that were big, and magical, and dangerous, and they focused on their day-to-day lives because making changes there was what would save them. 

I built a hero who just wanted to live a normal life, and a fortune teller who just wanted an exceptional one. I built a kid who wanted to grow up too fast, and a merchant who was losing sight of her goals. An old man who’d forgotten the things he sacrificed everything for, and a young one who was quietly rebuilding without anyone knowing. A priest who had seen the world pass them by and didn’t know how to reach out, and a mechanic who was reaching out and didn’t know how to stop. All of them were my own fears, my hopes, and my dreams. These little folks were living the life I was, or the life I wanted or the life I was afraid was waiting for me. 

And in the middle of all of that, I got a bit of encouragement. Jenna Moran, the creator of Chuubo’s, happened to see Rustic Vale, and she let me know that she thought it was good. It meant a lot, and I set about turning it from a campaign into a project - something that I could actually share with the world.

Which is where things kind of changed. I’m in a better place these days. The world is still a mess, but I have a job that I care about, a spouse I love deeply, and a life that I’m proud of. I’ve published two novels, I’ve written commission work that inspired me, and I’ve got a raft of little RPG projects that people like to read.

But I never published Rustic Vale.

I wanted it to be perfect. I wanted it to be professionally laid out, with gorgeous artwork and careful editing. I wanted it polished, and finished, and I kept making little changes and shifts. Along the way, the mechanics I’d used to build the characters changed as Jenna continued her own work on the Book of Golden Hours, and suddenly the characters were going to need substantial fixes. And releasing the book incomplete felt wrong. It felt like a betrayal.

But it’s not. The world is in a bad place, and maybe what some of you need right now is what I needed back then - just a little bit of a window into a place that lost everything, and built it back up. It’s not much. It’s not finished, and maybe it never will be. But it’s mine. It’s Rustic Vale.

I hope you love it half as much as I do.

[mishahandman]

[mishahandman]

some wips of my newest project!

this one will have hair, maybe a cape of some sort, and possibly mechanical wings, but i'm not quite sure how i'll approach any of those things, so i'm posting her as she currently is. i've really enjoyed doing projects that involve both making the base sculpt and a fair bit of post-printing customization, and painting & adding details to this doll was mega fun to spend my weekend on. the sculpt itself just kind of happened; couldn't exactly tell you why she is a steampunk violin demon girl, except that it was what i found fun in the moment.

[mishahandman]

witch's treehouse (updated)

cross stitch pattern here

support me | commission me | buy a print | buy a sticker

[mishahandman]

You: The Anniversary of the First Airing of Amok Time, the Genesis of Slash, K/S Day

Me, an intellectual: Amoktoberfest

[mishahandman]

so much for all this talk about “jester’s privilege”. i’m currently being held in the pillory in the town square with a sign around my neck that says “CANCELED” as punishment for teaching the king’s parrot to say slurs he can’t reclaim

[mishahandman]

"I wish more people on Tumblr would watch Community" bro this website couldn't handle Steven Universe how do you think they'd react to something that actually IS problematic

[mishahandman]

I legit used to only turn off the laser after the cat hit the spot so they would think they got it.

[mishahandman]

[mishahandman]

cant even fault those bailey school kids for this one if i saw that dude i wouldg just go Thats Fuckin Dracula man

[mishahandman]

mcapriglioneart

[mishahandman]

This is all reminding me that I need to finish developing the New Beginnings Job Agency (a Chuubo's campaign for high-powered characters) at some point.

One of the main characters is Khalos Everwrath, the Beast of the Fells, an ancient and terrifying wolf-monster who adopted a young girl solely because a dying man asked him to and the novelty of someone begging for a favour instead of for mercy totally disarmed Khalos's usual instincts.

Only now Khalos is trying to be a parent in a moderately magical town, and he can't just eat people who annoy him because that will definitely affect which school his daughter gets into so he's trying to play nice without compromising the monster that he is. It's a complicated tightrope to walk!

I like stories where a normal human child is being raised by a sinister supernatural being who is totally malevolent except when it comes to their kid. Those are so much better than the “kids are scary” changeling type horror movies.

[mishahandman]

Please. Help.

The girl I'm dating and I both think that we sleep on the left side of the bed. I'm coming to terms with the fact that she may be a psychopath and I don't know what's real anymore.

[mishahandman]

Game 1 - Sentinels Comics

Just because it's on the mind, let's start with Sentinels Comics which is the RPG based on the card game Sentinels of the Multiverse.

Sentinels Comics has one of the most well-done and interesting random character generation systems I've ever seen. More to the point, it doesn't really generate a character on its own, what it does is narrow down the choices for your character at each point. It gives a bit of a boundary to avoid the option paralysis that happens with a lot of open games.

So, let's do this in steps.

Step 1 - Background

This step gets you your first Qualities and describes what you were before you became a hero.

First, we are going to roll 2d10.

In this case, I get a 7 and an 9. This gives me three choices because I can use the option at either result or use the option that I get by adding them together. This means my options are:

7 - Academic

9 - Performer

16 (7+9) - Former Villain

Academic would give me a strong quality here but fewer selections on the next step as well as an Expertise principle. Performer would give me a couple of good qualities and full selections next step, along with a Responsibility. Former Villain gives me some good qualities, an Expertise principle, and full selections for the next step with a better dice pool than Performer. I think I will go for academic.

I'm going to assign the d8 to History and the d12 to Self-Discipline.

For the Principle, I'm choosing "Principle of History"

Most principles follow this pattern. Stuff to color roleplaying things and questions to ask when bad stuff happens. And then an ability that allows you to Overcome using your Max die instead of a Mid die. This increases your effectiveness in that situation tremendously since you're comparing three different dice.

There are some "roleplaying" bits that seem extreme such as the Indestructible principle allowing you to just ignore low-powered attacks in a roleplay scene or the ability to survive in open space... or so on. And there are one or two Abilities that are a bit different than the Overcome with Max standard.

Also note that Principle abilities grant Hero Points. These are spent between sessions for benefits in the next session.

And that leads on to Step 2.

Step 2 - Power Source

This step gives you your first Powers and defines what gives you your power.

Most characters will roll 3 dice at this point, being able to take any one die or combine any two, creating anywhere from 2 to 6 choices. However, because our Background we only roll 2 dice, a d10 and d8.

I roll a 1 and a 3 making my options as follows:

1 - Accident

3 - Genetic

4 (1+3) - Experimentation

I'm leaning toward Genetic. Here, not going to break down the options this time. Just it leads into the idea I have most. There's other power sources I could have gotten like Cursed, Supernatural, or Relic... but this is cool, makes me think that whatever she stumbled on triggered a genetic heritage like she's a descendant of the gorgons perhaps.

I love the fact that you can tell same story from different angles dependent on your choices. I end up taking Signature Weapon, so she clearly finds a Relic, but it isn't the source of her power. Heck, if Relic had been a choice, I could have later turned to Genetic and discovered the power was mine all along.

So, now we assign the dice that we rolled. I'm going to assign the d10 to a power from the Intellectual powers and choose Awareness which is the catch all physical senses ability. And then apply the d8 to Signature Weaponry and I'll name that the Serpent Bow.

As to Abilities.

Green - Always available

Yellow - Available when health is low or situation is serious

Red - Available when health or situation are dire.

For the two abilities, I'm going to choose Adaptive, and assign Awareness to it, and Area Assault with Serpent Bow assigned to it.

When you roll an action you choose a power, a quality, and take a die dependent on your or the scene's status. In order to use abilities, you must choose the named power or quality. So in order to use Area Assault (which we'll rename later) she needs to use Serpent Bow as her power, but she can use any quality that fits what she's trying to do. Note that Serpent Bow can be used either with melee or ranged combat... she can still hit people with her bow.

Note that Adaptive primarily Boosts her, and since it doesn't specify, it would use the Mid die (ie, if she rolled a 6, 3, and 1 she'd boost with the 3) and then she can also either remove a penalty or heal 1 (her Min die, the lowest rolled).

The main benefit of Abilities are to either take multiple actions, affect multiple targets, or use dice other then the Mid die in some situations. Abilities are either Actions, Reactions, or Innates (passive).

For the Green power, I'm going to choose Growth and it uses a quality, so I'm going to assign Self-Discipline to that. Persistent means the boost lasts the entire scene (like ongoing in Motw) and Exclusive means that if you use it you can only use it, it won't stack with anything else.

EDIT: I have been informed that Exclusive bonuses will stack with non-Exclusive bonuses just fine. They just won't stack with other Exclusives.

Now, we move to step 3

Step 3 - Archetype

This describes how you have learned to apply your powers and gives you a mix of Powers and Qualities. Now, at this point, we roll the 3 dice from Step 2. d10 + d8 + d8.

I roll a 2, 4, and 7 making my options as:

2 - Shadow

4 - Marksman

6 (2+4) - Close Quarters Combat

7 - Armored

9 (2+7) - Elemental Manipulator

11 (4+7)- Sorcerer

Now, the obvious choice is Marksman. But I'm feeling like going a little bit less the obvious route. I'm going to rule out Elemental Manipulator and Sorcerer, because doing flashy energy stuff isn't what I'm looking for here.

Sneaky type (Shadow) is tempting... and so is Armored. This wouldn't be the first time I've done an unusual Armored (I have a character who is an Armored archetype based on Precognition... she sees the attack coming and thus can dodge).

I think I'm going to go with Close Quarters Combat. Yup, I'm making a melee archer.

bwuhahahaha!

I have 3 dice to assign here.

I'm going to assign d8 to Close Combat... Agility is tempting... and yeah, I'm going to go basic there. d8 Agility. And then I'll assign the last d10 to Ranged Combat.

Now, for abilities.

Going for Flexible Stance using Agility, Defensive Strike using Close Combat, and Dual Strike using Ranged Combat. This means that one of her moves requires melee, one can be melee or ranged, and one requires ranged.

Now I get one at Yellow. For the Yellow, I'm going to take Precise Strike using Serpent Bow... which means I can either shoot arrows (or snakes?) from it, or thwack people with it like it's a club or staff (or whip?). Another ability that can be either Melee or Ranged.

I've made a "Close Quarters Combatant" who is actually better at range, but can fight melee as well.

This also means I have to take a Responsibility principle. Let's see.

Detective and Everyman are both tempting... lets see, do I want a Sherlock/Batman-esque type who sees through everything? Or a normal lady who just got power she didn't ask for?

Let's lean into the Academic background and go Detective:

Anyway, this leads us to Step 4.

Step 4 - Personality

As with Step 1, this step always gets 2d10 to roll. It will give you one quality which you name for yourself, an Out ability to use on your turn if your character has been taken out of the fight and also cause you to pick your two Red abilities. This will also set how your status die works.

Some of these have weird special things they do, but most are pretty similar and more less just roleplay specific.

I rolled a 2 and a 5 giving me the following options:

2 - Natural Leader

5 - Sarcastic

7 - Stalwart

None of these do much special. Two of them have d8s at all the Status levels and one starts at d6 and ends up at d10.

I'm going to go with Sarcastic for the Out ability of being able to Hinder opponents even after I've been taken out.

For the backstory quality I'm going to say Descendant of Euryale.

Step 5 - Red Abilities

Now I choose two Red abilities. These have to be a from categories of Quality or Power I already have, so let's look at my list:

Qualities

Self-Discipline d12 (Mental)

History d8 (Information)

Close Combat d10 (Physical)

Ranged Combat d10 (Physical)

Powers

Awareness d8 (Intellectual)

Serpent Bow d10 (Hallmark)

Agility d8 (Athletic)

This means that I can pick Red Abilities from the following categories

Athletic

Hallmark

Information

Intellectual

Mental

Physical

I have a bit of a love for passives, and I'm going to take one here in the form of Endurance Fighting from the Physical category:

Then I'm going to focus on the ability to tackle objectives and rescue people by grabbing Canny Awareness from Mental Qualities.

This moves us to Step 6.

Step 6 - Retcon

Now, I choose one thing to add or change about the character so far.

Swap any two dice of your Powers.

Swap any two dice of your Qualities.

Choose a different Power or Quality used in one of your abilities.

Add any d6 Power or Quality from any category.

Increase your Red status die by one size (max d12)

Change either of your principles to any other principle.

Gain an extra Red Ability.

The third option is there because technically you can't choose powers or qualities you haven't taken yet.... but I generally ignore that in character creation so I just don't use those.

But I think I'm going to take the d6 extra power and give her Shapeshifting.

And this takes us to Step 7.

Step 7 - Health

Max Health is determined by adding the following:

8

The maximum value of your Red status die (d8 in this case).

The maximum value of any of your Athletic powers or Mental Qualities. So I could choose either d8 (Agility) or d12 (Self-Discipline).

Either a roll of d8 or just add 4.

Now, I usually try to maximize Health, but it does occur to me that someone with lower health will get to Yellow and Red faster so there is a a weird sort of reason to go for low health if you want to go for the powerful but fragile route. And I tend to not roll.

However, as a Close Combat type, I'm going for higher health.

So: 8 + 8 + 12 + 4 = 32 health.

There's a chart to follow for breaking this down:

Green: 32-25

Yellow: 24-12

Red: 11-1

And then we come to Step 8.

Step 8 - Finishing Touches

This is basically where you add color to your character's stats, so this is where I describe the character and rename her Abilities.

So, my idea here is that Sahar Zamani is a historian who was hired to take part in an archeaological dig which was attacked by villains seeking to do a tomb raiding and in the course of the chaos, she stumbled upon an ancient relic which reacted to her buried genetic heritage as a descendant of true gorgons and woke it up, enabling her to fight off the raiders.

[mishahandman]

Awesome video displaying phenomenal craftsmanship—posted by one of my favorite Tiktok accounts: Tlingit_Haida

Aani (the land known as Southeast Alaska) has been home to the Tlingit and Haida Peoples since time immemorial

Edit: To clarify, this particular video features Git Hoan Dancers, of the Tsimshian Tribe. They say so in the video, but I realize my caption about the Tlingit and Haida Nations might cause confusion.

[mishahandman]

Everything is terrible have a picture of some lovely birds

[mishahandman]

Reposting my ttyd humanizations to include the whole party!

more humanizations: x