seesawsiya - Tumblr blog

[seesawsiya]

lmao it finally happened, despite all precautions, i got COVID a second time, nearly exactly four years later

i’m gonna drop my donation link here bc i’m broke and disabled and already have a post-viral syndrome

this fucking sucks and i really, really need help to be able to get through the recovery phase and not worsen my existing conditions

[seesawsiya]

[seesawsiya]

There is a mystery, and its name is Goblin.

The Far Roofs, an adventurous RPG about talking rats and their faraway rooftops, by the creator of Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine and Nobilis, is coming to Kickstarter TOMORROW!! i am incredibly excited for it, and this video has me SCREAMING

[seesawsiya]

Having ADHD is that your brain either feels like

Or

And it can switch in a matter of seconds.

[seesawsiya]

The Far Roofs

So today I want to talk a bit about what this game wants to be. In particular, I'm going to go over its key technical and artistic goals.

The Far Roofs focuses on immersive hidden world fantasy adventure. It's intended to offer the experience of a grounded, emotionally real base world attached to an idealized, fantastic "hidden world" setting.

One might say, the streets and buildings and houses of the game's world are basically our own. Above us, though, is a stranger, more idealized, and more fantastic place. It's hard to get to. It's dangerous. It's less grounded. It's full of wonder.

Those are the Far Roofs.

This divide exists to make the game feel as real as possible, if you want to go that way. That's part of what hidden world fantasy is about, after all---the idea that magic is here. That it's not in some distant alien land or mythic future or past.

It's here, if you want to reach for it.

(Now, the game is flexible enough that you can play "protagonist" types instead of realer people, and many traditional gaming groups will probably prefer that, but that'll mean getting less of that immersive effect.)

The mood the game is interested in is that feeling you get when you take a huge risk---move to a new place; try a new thing. The feeling you get in those times in your life when everything is alienated and wondrous and terrifying but there's also so much more *hope* than there was in the still times before.

It's a mood of being swept up and called forward.

This is, among other things, meant to be a game for people who've been beaten down or exhausted by the ... everything ... to feel that sensation of moving forward again.

To remember what it's like, why it's worth it, how to reach for it again.

It's meant---and I do understand that I am finite and flawed and this can only go so far---as a tonic and refreshment to the soul.

--

Rules

The Far Roofs uses a 5d6-based dice pool system for day-to-day task resolution. It's relatively traditional and optimized for fast, fun dice reading. There's a loose consensus I've seen in RPG design circles that dice are for when outcomes are uncertain and both options are interesting, and I don't disagree ... but there's also this thing where rolling dice to decide is intrinsically interesting and fun, where it's fuel for a certain part of the brain.

This game tries to get as much out of that side of dice as it can.

You'll also collect letter tiles and cards over the course of the game. This is for bigger-picture stuff:

To answer big questions and to complete big projects, you'll either assemble representative words out of those tiles, or, play a poker hand built out of those cards. Word and their nuances express ideas and shape how outcomes play out; poker hands, conversely, just give a qualitative measure of how much work you do or how well things will go.

In keeping with this, the campaign is represented principally in the form of questions or issues your words and hands can address. Player/GM-created campaigns would be the same.

--

Physical and Electronic Product

I wanted to put the print version within the range of as many people who might need that tonic as possible. That means that for this particular game, I wanted to cover the full territory that I'd normally cover in a two or three volume set (core rules, setting, and campaign) in a single 200-250-page volume.

In practice this means there's a guide and examples for constructing the setting, rather than a deep dive into a fully-detailed world; that there's a bit less in the way of whimsical digression and flourish than in the writing I'm known for; that there's minimal "flavor" text on abilities; and that the campaign presentation is pretty fast-paced.

Conversely, it means that the game should be easy to absorb and to share with other possible players, and, that the game and campaign in this one relatively small volume should provide enough content for five or six years of play.

The book will be 8.5"x11" with grayscale art, available in a limited hardcover print run and a print-on-demand softcover form.

--

On the Rats

You'll see a lot of talk from me and others about the talking rats in this game. They're one of the jewels of the experience, and I think they're probably a significant draw just for being talking rats that are core to the game.

... but I'm going to hold off for now, because, to be clear, this is not a game of playing talking rats. It's just a game where talking rats and probably one of the top three most important setting elements.

I couldn't get that feeling I wanted of ... the base world being grounded realism; of the hidden world pulling you up and out and into a world full of magic ... with your playing rats, with your playing something so distant from the typical player.

So this is not a game of playing them.

They're just ... I like rats, and so I made the rats in this game with love. They're great ... whatever the equivalent is to "psychopomps" is for a magical world instead of for death ... and a way of talking about how in the face of the world, we're all pretty small.

--

I'm really excited about this game; the playtest was lovely.

I hope you'll enjoy it as well!

[seesawsiya]

Opening a Georgian restaurant that serves food from

The Caucasus

The American Southeast

Britain 1714-1830

[seesawsiya]

I’m so happy to see Destiel Confession in Gibbous Xylophone.

I found this colour palette from @color-palettes and it kinda reminded me of @dilfosaur 's Neopet Destiel Confession, so I tried drawing him using it. I also coloured him using his original colour palette because why not

[Video ID: a 60 second timelapse of me drawing Destiel Confession lying on some grass while holding a bottle of Coco Colo in his right hand]

Please do not repost. Reblogs and likes are much appreciated!

[seesawsiya]

Just posted my Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine introductory heist one-shot, To Rob Death’s Dominion. Steal the jewel that justifies existence from the Headmaster of the Bleak Academy, or fall into chaos trying! If you’ve ever wanted to see what the fuss is all about with Chuubo’s but wanted either something bite-sized or something a bit less pastoral, this is what you’ve been waiting for.

[seesawsiya]

today I learned* that we don't have eggnog for the other holidays because they would add red food coloring to the Valentine's Day eggnog and people kept mistaking it for blood

* well, made up, really

[seesawsiya]

Me: *Despertly shaking tumblr “celeberties”*: “Have you, Ever read, Hitherby dragons?”

[seesawsiya]

Stop the Clock and Stop the Day; Everything is Happening and I Can’t Get Away - Submitted by SeesawSiya

#4f4c9d #064c4a #3382a9 #8fb1cd #dddfec #c88534

[seesawsiya]

Migrants are amazing people/families filled with love and hope. Of course, conservatives turn all migrants into boogeymen to protect the myth of white superiority and structural whiteness.

[seesawsiya]

Adrift With the Snow - Submitted by SeesawSiya

#f0a7c6 #db2636 #e27105 #ffe0d1 #acd8cd #51b9ba

[seesawsiya]

i ended up liking how gendered french is solely because i can say that i want people to use he/him pronouns for me the same way they use it for angels, blood and blunts

[seesawsiya]

A good friend of mine is fundraising to get his top surgery done at a private clinic! He's based in Britain and the NHS has blown him off, so with how long it'll take to get another opinion with them his need is getting desperate.

Right now he's funding on gofundme but donations have been slow, so myself and a number of other friends wanted to try to help raise additional funds for him! We've put together a bundle of 16 tabletop games, short fiction, and larps spanning a number of genres and systems to help support him! All proceeds will go directly to him at the end of the bundle.

If you help support us, thank you! And if you can't contribute directly or buy the bundle, shares are always appreciated!

[seesawsiya]

Where you can donate to help Maui, Hawaii

this article has places listed that you can donate to, but i’ll also put direct links to some of these places in this post:

Maui United Way

Maui Strong Fund

Maui Food Bank

Maui Humane Society

my family is based in Oahu, but i consider all the islands my home even though i physically haven’t stepped foot on them before. seeing all the homes and history and memories being lost in this hurts.

if you are unable to donate, don’t feel guilty—doing things like spreading the word and making people aware of the situation helps as well. thank you for whatever you can do! mahalo

UPDATE: removed Maui Mutual Aid Fund for now because upon further research using the charity checking sites provided by this gov site, it doesn’t appear in results unlike the others listed. so i advise caution for now if you decide to donate there! they may still be legitimate, but i want to exercise caution.

[seesawsiya]

also. been having a very hard week. our house was burglarized / mini invaded. no one got hurt, but my sisters iPad she uses for her online school and dad's phone got stolen, and our kitchen was semi destroyed, our rice supply was spilled everywhere and some?? eggs?? and canned stuff was stolen. After that, a family friend who was helping me with house duties got a stroke. So now I am all alone in dealing with all of this. It would be a huge mental health imrpovement, would absolutely mean the world to me if you guys can maybe help me boost my art? it's just that I love drawing and it's the only thing that's been cheering me up.

my Twitter is my "home base" and I've been posting lots of my drawings there that I don't post here, idk only if you'd like to follow ofc.

>> (link to my Twitter)

my patreon is only 1 dollar a month, and if you'd like to support me n my disabled family, through patreon would be awesome! if you'd like!

>> link to my patreon

and here is my imprnt

>> link to my imprnt

I also have three more slots of commissions on my ko-fi if you'd like to directly help.

My dad's phone has the philippine version of venmo, called "gcash", and it had about 200 usd in it that was only accessible through his phone (that got stolen).. it was for my mom's next hospital visit for her glaucoma and some grocery expenses.. so, if you'd like a custom portrait from me, I will do commissions. The automated message says the deadline is June, but full disclosure, the earliest I will be able to send a commission completed is JULY.

>> link to my commissions

mostly I just want a bigger audience for my drawings, I want to share my comics and my love for southeast asian culture, and would really really love a boost. Thank you for reading through n I hope u have a good day.