#The modding potential of the game is a blessing

[ketrindarkdragon]

Dancing Escher for your dash

[clouseplayssims]

So, sim holidays.

I sat down and really focused on my mega list of things to do and implement in Edirann, and one of the bigger chunks was a functional holiday system. I plan on the general holidays being based on a mix of real holidays and sims-canon holidays, which are below the cut, and I'll be using this mod as my baseline.

But it did make me remember that I'd like religion traits, potentially with holidays of their own. My question there would be: is it possible for a trait (item in inventory essentially) to trigger pop ups at all? Like "It's x, time to begin morning prayer." etc.

Anyway, time for my rough drafts for holidays!

WINTER ---The Purge First Day of Winter Celebrate in home.

Clean all objects, place brooms outside every door, reset fields for spring. Said to purify the home and keep Our Lady of the Glitch at bay. In the evening set lighted candles at the front door.

---Winterfest ? Celebrate in home.

Sims should decorate their home, put up a traditional Winterfest tree in their front yard, and have a holiday meal. The king provides 1 butcher parcel of duck to all indentured and peasant families.

---Snow Flake Day & Bonfire Night Last Day of Winter Celebrate in home, the fields, festival grounds, and feasting grounds.

Give gifts to friends, neighbors, and family - apples, wheat and oranges favored. The king will also provide gifts. Ice skating, snow activities. Followers of Zeus should make promises for accomplishments for the year to come. Bonfires in the fields. Toast tress and crops with spiced cider. Decorate the home with evergreen boughs. Hang mistletoe above main door - it will also be hung in public spaces. Chop down tree on land and burn in small ceremony (yule log) with the mantle decorated with evergreen and dusted with flour. Keep fire going for 2 days. Common to set out gold pillar candles, wreaths, holly, poinsettias. Feasting grounds serves all who attend a turkey dinner and dessert.

SPRING ---Feast of Fools First Day of Spring Celebrate in the festival grounds.

A child sim is randomly selected as King For A Day.

---Love Day Third Day of Spring Celebrate in the field, festival grounds, and feasting grounds.

Traditional day to celebrate courtship and romance, as well as fertility and the first bloom of spring crops. Sims should send love letters, go on dates, and kiss under the mistletoe. Dancing is common, and a lucky woman will be crowned the Queen of Love & Beauty and hand out prizes. It's good luck to gather flowers on this day.

*Followers of St. Persephone should visit the grounds in hopes of creating a Luck Baby.

*Followers of Mara often marry on this day or propose. A child born on this day is considered a blessing from Mara.

---Flower Day ? Celebrate in festival grounds and feasting grounds.

A celebration of fertility and motherhood. All ladies wear flower crowns and hunt for colorful eggs. Men are expected to try and catch a live rabbit to bring good luck to their homes, presenting the rabbit to a sweetheart is considered the highest of regard. Stay up until midnight dancing and drinking around the maypole. Sims should also wake early the next morning to watch the sun rise. ( Traditional foods of the season include leafy green vegetables, dairy foods, nuts such as pumpkin, sunflower and pine, flower dishes, sprouts. Herbs and flowers of the season include daffodil, jonquils, woodruff, violet, gorse, olive, peony, iris, narcissus and all other spring flowers.)

SUMMER

---Leisure Day ? Celebrate at home.

Sims are to do no work on this day. They should spend the day relaxing, swimming, or exploring the festival ground. Many games are played on this day and the king awards ribbons and prizes to the winners of multiples tournaments like log rolling and axe throwing.

---Stendarr & Artemis Festival ? Celebrate at home.

Sims should do their best to earn a skill point or learn something new. Acts of charity are encouraged. This is the day before the first harvest and it is tradition to bake barley loaf on this day to eat.

---Humble Day ? Celebrate in festival grounds and feasting grounds.

The bones of St. Humble are moved to the festival grounds and displayed where they can be touched for luck before being returned to the shrine. (The custom of placing a cabbage on the doorstep of girls who had behaved imprudently through the year was a more novel method of social control. Regardless of the care they may have undertaken with their flirtations and indiscretions, they were surely to be found out on Mayday.) Foods traditionally served at this time include apples, grapes, crab-apples, pears, grains, breads and berries. Herbs and flowers favoured for the celebration include all grains, heather, blackberries and sloe.

FALL ---Harvestfest ? Celebrate in home and in fields.

Farming sims should take in their first harvest on this date. Other sims can symbolicly harvest in the royal fields. Cook a large family meal that all sims sit down and eat together. Socialize with friends and family. ( The Druids call this celebration Mea'n Fo'mhair and honor the The Green Man, the God of the Forest, by offering ciders, wines, herbs and fertilizer to trees. Symbols of Mabon include wine, gourds, pine cones, acorns, grains, corn, apples, pomegranates, ivy vines, dried seeds, tobacco, and horns of plenty. Herbs and foods associated with Mabon include acorns, benzoin, ferns, grains, honeysuckle, marigold, milkweed, myrrh, passionflower, rose, sage, Solomon's seal, thistle, vegetables, breads, nuts, apples, pomegranates, potatoes, carrots, and onions. )

*Followers of Kynareth sacrifice a small animal to the goddess.

---Spooky Day ? Celebrate in the home, field, festival grounds, and feasting grounds.

Sims should put out treats for friends and neighbors, paint faces with skull paint, and honor their dead. ( Bonfires were lit and fortune-telling were popular activities. Mask wearing was also part of the celebrations. The festivities were similar to those of Carnival, just before Lent, though on a smaller scale. There was much feasting, drinking and playing of games, as well as story telling and sometimes, plays. Cock fights, pig baiting and sport events such as racing, leaping or wrestling were other favourite activities. Food was plentiful right after the harvest. Meat, from the autumn slaughter of those animals that it was not possible to house and feed over winter, could be salted or smoked to preserve it, but sausages and other foods made from offal would not last long. They had to be consumed fairly quickly before they spoiled. It also was the day that marked the end of old contracts. Hired help moved on to new positions and there were farewell and welcoming banquets for them and the new staff.)

*Followers of Kynareth sacrifice a small animal to the goddess.

---Festival of Talos ? Celebrate in the field, festival grounds, and feasting grounds.

A large tournament is held and the best swordsman, archer, and fighter are provided places of honor at the feast and prizes from the king. ( This feast marked the sowing of wheat, the brewing of ales for winter and the preparations for the winter season. The feast of St. Michael and All Angels or Michaelmas fell about the time of the autumnal equinox. His feast was celebrated with a traditional well-fattened goose which had fed well on the stubble of the fields after the harvest. In many places, there was also a tradition of special large loaves of bread.)

LOCATIONS Festival Grounds Fields Feasting Grounds Humble Shrine

[freshydip]

i'm having trouble nailing down the interview that directly references this, but toby "your choices don't matter" fox once talked about the issue of choice in video games in a mod of earthbound he made called Halloween Hack. long story short, in that hack you “have” to kill a character because the narrative directs you to- but this bit from the wiki for the hack makes an interesting point:

the only way to avoid killing a character is to turn off the game.

think about how much kris is obviously suffering, being just a shell, a container to someone else's will. think about susie potentially having to perish for the sake of whatever this prophecy foretells. think about all the hurt and pain you can cause in the snowgrave/weird route. you are an outlier here. you are not a character; you are a force, an entity, a puppeteer. our mere presence, the act of turning on the game and interacting with it, gives us both the blessing of interacting with the characters and experiencing the story, and the curse of watching those characters suffer and struggle throughout. neither the good nor the bad happen if we don't touch that play button. we can always try to get the good ending, but we are inherently limited, thanks to the medium of Video Game, in our choices. what if we learn what the prophecy is? what if we learn that we can't stop it? what if we make all the right choices to save everyone we want? what if it doesn't matter? what if toby puts us in a spot where we, the players who want to do right by the characters, truly only have the option to proceed with death and violence?

what if the only way to win is to stop playing?

[samsammysamson-archive]

y'know how it is, babey! ask blogs are fun!

a couplea ground rules;

▸ Don't be a dick to the mod pls! In character dickery is great though. ▸ You can pick on Sam, but use common sense when doing so and don't go overboard. ▸ We ain't doin' irl politics or irl religion here! In-game versions of these topics are fair game! ▸ Being overall bigoted ain't tolerated, and it won't even be posted if they come in! ▸ Suggestive + jokey nsfw stuff is fine, mod is 18+. Just don't send anything that would potentially get the blog nuked, please! ▸ Direct blog x blog shipping requires that you are 18+. I am not comfortable writing romantically with anyone under 18. I don't need to know your exact age, but if the words "I am 18+" or "I am not a minor" aren't anywhere on your blog, or you don't tell me yourself, romantic shipping asks will be deleted. ▸ I LOVE longer in-character interactions. Rp whole threads with me, if you like! I can trim posts to keep things from getting lengthy! ▸ I'm working really hard on making super-customized icons. I hope you guys like them! But please do not take them for personal use without my permission. If you want to use them in edits, please ask me first! ▸ Please check this post if you're going through a crisis. Understand that I feel for what you're going through, but I cannot be the one to help you. So please don't send vents that explicitly detail or idealize harmful behaviors.

aaand mod time ! hiya , i'm rott , a ghoul with way too much time on his hands ! i'm 26 , he/they , and desperately love my gay little gremlins . let's fuck around and have a good time ! :) (the portraits are from bugboybehaviour's sam with a mullet mod, with hella edits by me!)

additional sprites edited by @sebastians-asks and @sheepkebby i am so blessed <3

Tags:

Music: #💿 sam's mix tape 🎵

Fanart: #☀️ fanart 🎸

Headcanons: #;; hc

The horrifying saga of 😎: #😎 anon timeline

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

alright, so we can supposedly only have joy and whimsy about Engage Emblem what-ifs if we can back it up with gameplay, alright, i see how it is, im game. for sake of argument this is under the implication that Emblem Soren is replaced by Emblem Tibarn, now due to potential concerns about overlap with other canon Emblems the two Emblems i could see overlap with are also being replaced(Emblem Camilla(flight) and Emblem Tiki(transformation)); however, i still will repurpose some of their other gimmicks as it seems my fellow anon can only comprehend any sort of thought by regurgitating what we have already. Emblem Tibarn: as per my last submission i've mentioned why i would want him from a story standpoint, so let's get straight to gimmicks: the main two are taking Emblem Camilla's flight capabilities alongside Tiki's transformation, albeit the latter is a bird transformation not a dragon(yeah i can see argument about not truly being overlap, but covering my bases), it would be Talons/Beaks instead of Breath attacks but just like Emblem Tiki the user cannot use non-Emblem weapons(as a Tellius enjoyer this makes extra sense as the Laguz do not use Beorc weapons). furthermore, i feel like the skill inheritance that provides stat buffs would be related to Attack and Speed buffs(could also see Luck instead of either of those, but that may be getting weird level ups in my recent Radiant Dawn playthrough). his unique map would likely be based on one of the Hawk Army levels in Radiant Dawn part 4, or if you want to be silly one of part 4's Endgame maps. Emblem Lyon: couldn't think of anything more fitting to fill the niche of long-ranged tome usage, so i am taking Mod Goldmary's idea and running with it. making Lyon a DLC Emblem makes sense as he yet again had more story significance; however, one may be arguing an antagonist should not be recruited, despite the fact we still have Emblem Veronica, which i point out is null and void due to the Creature Campaign allowing you to recruit him via Lagdou Ruins, continuing on that point his unique map is likely referencing those very same ruins. as mentioned he has the niche of Bolting, which also makes sense as Selena carried Bolting in the Creature Campaign too, but i also want to give him the niche of Divine Blessing(likely called something else but not smart enough to rename it rn) as a reference to how he fell under the Demon King's control in the first place. his inheritance skill stat boost would be Magic and Resistance, duh. also should be noted he would also reference Dark Magic tomes, which in combination with Emblem Micaiah allows for most if not all types of magic from the franchise be referenced in the anniversary celebration game. Emblem Azura: needed to refill Emblem Camilla's Dragon Vein niche somewhere, thus we needed another Fates rep. Azura is important to Fates' story no matter the route, thus just like Tibarn and Soren she makes more sense as the Emblem rep then Camilla. now we can't easily replicate her Songstress capabilities, Emblem Veronica and Emblem Byleth work the same as in canon for this hypothetical so can't take something from there; however, we can utilize her personal skill by making it so nearby allies have their HP healed when next to the user(when the user is Engaged for the sake of not breaking the game). her main weapon would be the Blessed Lance, which would have effective damage against the Corrupted, her other weapons would likely reference her Heart Seal classes, thus she would get a Bow(Kinshi Knight) and a Staff(Falcon Knight). her inheritance skill stat buff would have to include Luck(Songstress class gets Luck +4 as a skill), though i could see argument on what the secondary stat would be. is that enough gameplay gimmicks to justify wanting the Emblems to make more sense, Anon?

[needlemeister]

I'd love to see an info post about the goobers you made. I want to know what their deal is!!! And their designs are so cool, my fuckin' brain craves INFORMATION

See this post for how the antitheses of the canon/DLC scugs look!

EXPERIMENT

Era: Spearmaster Diet: Same as Spearmaster. After meeting anti-FP, they can use their mouth to devour anything they can fit inside it whole. (OOOOO|OOOOO) Abilities: The Experiment has the same ability to create needles as the Spearmaster, though not as efficiently - mostly, they have several poking out of their flesh at any given time when in combat for protective reasons. They have the agility and scales of a Red Lizard and the might and appetite of a Leviathan, albeit with their mouth currently bound shut. Iterator: Anti-SRS, Silently Recursive Sanity, considers the Experiment their magnum opus. The product of a machine that decided to play God rather than focus on the Problem, which still exists in Antiworld. The ultimate apex predator, set loose upon the world. Rather than treating the Experiment as an equal, anti-SRS treats them as nothing but a potential weapon, a wild animal given their "blessings". Anti-FP, Fragmented Precipice, marks the Experiment and frees their jaws.

EXILE

Era: Artificer Diet: Same as Artificer. (OOOOOO|OOO) Abilities: The Exile still has her pups, and yet has even more bloodlust - this time more like hunting for sport than for vengeance. She is constantly on the verge of burning out, and her explosions are much more violent - at the cost of reaching her limit twice as fast, her explosions do mass-scaled damage. One of her legs is replaced with an explosive spear, and if she does a front flip and lands directly on top of a creature, it impales them. Rather than having a normal tail, a stump leaking sparks and embers in her wake trails behind her. She is untouchable by spears, the equivalent of using the Auto-Parry mod ingame. Iterator: Fragmented Precipice is caring for her pups, as she would rather paint the Wastes red than be a parent. She is already marked thanks to stealing an ID Drone - the Antiworld equivalent of the one the Scavenger King has.

PARADOX

Era: Post-Artificer, Pre-Hunter (Inv) Diet: Capable of digesting most things it can fit in its mouth thanks to being full of void fluid. In the amount of time it would take a Jungle Leech to steal a pip from an attached creature, the Paradox randomly gains or loses a pip. (OOOOOOOOOOOO|) Abilities: The entire world has a mix of the Voidmelt and negative Hunter cycle effect on it at all times, and each movement to a new room changes what part of the timeline the Paradox is placed upon. The Paradox can do bomb jumps like the Artificer/Exile at the cost of forcing the timeline to randomize mid-room and disorienting the Paradox. Contact with acid, explosives, and electricity causes the Paradox to explode like a Singularity Bomb due to being full of void fluid. Iterator: No matter what part of the timeline the Paradox is in, every single can is eerily silent and empty. The gravity turning on and off causes a timeline jump every time.

CARNIVORE

Era: Hunter Diet: Obligate carnivore. Going too long without eating will cause its pips to slowly drain - going past zero fills the pips with red. All pips filling with red causes a permanent game over where the Carnivore completely loses itself to its Rot instincts. Starving twice in a row does this as well instead of killing it. Can only eat by grabbing creatures and pulling them inside its mass, like a Rot Cyst. (OOOOOOOOOO|) Abilities: Weak to explosives and feared by any creature that fears the Rot. Extra sensitive hearing at the cost of heavily reduced vision. More agile than most in zero gravity conditions, and capable of suspending itself from its tendrils. Iterator: Originally purposed to be an assistant to anti-NSH, The Never-Signaling Herald. Anti-SRS "borrowed" it, claiming to be giving it improvements in its purpose. Instead, it was mutated into a monster and starved so that upon returning to anti-NSH, it saw his neuron flies as a buffet. The Carnivore came to in a now-silent wing of anti-NSH's can, completely devoid of all organic matter. Assuming that it killed him, it fled, never looking back.

VANTABLACK

Era: Post-Hunter, Pre-Gourmand (same as Caregiver). They were cast out from Journey's End by the Despot for speaking out against their hoarding, selfish tendencies, so they have no idea that their family (Remnant, Pacifist, Dragon Slayer) was further torn apart. Diet: Same as Survivor and Monk. (OOOOO|OOO) Abilities: Completely silent and invisible in the dark, except for their eyes. They make an unnaturally low amount of noise, able to slip past even the most keen of Black Lizards. Iterator: Eventually marked by anti-FP. I don't have much for this fella OTL

DESPOT

Era: Gourmand Diet: Same as Gourmand. (OOOOOOO|OOOO) Abilities: Very similar to the Gourmand, but various valuables are in the pool of items they can cough up. Mostly pearls. They can direct allied and tamed creatures by pointing and gesturing, able to command others to do things for them - such as gathering food for them. Their fatigue bar is shorter due to being a lot lazier thanks to expecting others to do things for them. Iterator: N/A

REMNANT

Era: Survivor Diet: Same as Survivor. (OOOO|OOO) Abilities: The least divergent when it comes to abilities. If dragged into a den by a predator, they have a low chance of being able to crawl back out out of sheer determination instead of dying. Iterator: Marked by anti-FP.

PACIFIST

Era: Monk Diet: Same as Monk, with the ability to eat from corpses at half their usual nutrition value. (OOO|OO) Abilities: Their tail is like one giant Yellow Lizard antennae, giving them dominance over and the ability to communicate with them. Yellow Lizards are tame by default and treat them as a pack member and leader, and drop karma flowers if they die. If a Yellow Lizard in their pack is hurt, it will stun the Pacifist for a moment due to them being capable of feeling their pain. Iterator: N/A

DRAGON SLAYER

See this post!

RIPTIDE

Era: Rivulet Diet: Same as Hunter - nearly an obligate carnivore. (OOOOOO|OOO) Abilities: Even faster underwater than Rivulet with nearly infinite breath at the cost of being incredibly clumsy on land (minus climbing being okay). They get easily fatigued with extended land movement and their back legs are vestigial. They have good sight both in the dark and underwater due to living mainly in the murky, rotten lakes around anti-LTTM, Lingering Traces Toward Malady. Eel Lizards and Salamanders are positive to tame toward them. They can maul creatures while underwater and are slightly bioluminescent. Iterator: Created by anti-CW, Churning Waters, but closer to anti-LTTM. They're similar to the Experiment in that their creator doesn't really treat them very well or like an intelligent equal. They feel monstrous and like assisting anti-LTTM in cleansing the rot out of her system - she's rotten instead of anti-FP, thank anti-SRS - will somehow "redeem" them.

MESSIAH

Era: Saint Diet: Completely incapable of eating and has no need for it. Shelters refuse to work until the blizzard flares up to make up for this. Abilities: Already attuned, thanks to sort of being an echo despite not ever reaching the void sea yet. Or have they? Their attunement state lasts longer the less maximum karma they have, and they are capable of "ascending" Echoes to avoid raising it. The X-shaped marks on their body open like eyes when they are in the attunement state. They cannot die in a way that matters - cycles continue as normal and whatever killed them simply closes up and scars. Iterator: Anti-SOS, Solitude Over Salvation, created them while experimenting desperately to try and solve the Problem. Anti-SOS does not think they are the solution - they think the Messiah is a horrible, horrible mistake. The Messiah, however, genuinely believes that they are the Triple Affirmative made flesh. basically if saint is scug jesus this is the scug antichrist

UNDETERMINED

Anti-Watcher will be figured out when we know more about the Watcher.

[oxcjae]

Half-Life: 25 Years Later

Given that today marks the 25th anniversary of Half-Life's official release, it's only right that I finally deep dive into how the series majorly changed the course of my life. As I touched upon in a previous entry into my roots, my father incidentally blessed me with Half-Life in 1999 by fault of his own interest. Though I was merely five years old, I endured its nightmare fuel for the immersive story-telling and interactive cinematics... and also the hilarious friendly-fire feature.

Admittedly, I wouldn't actually finish the game for years, but I didn't need to: It's impressions on me were very immediate. Every time I played with my maternal grandparents' sets of wooden blocks and toy soldiers, I recreated the hallways and labs of Black Mesa and reenacted the events, even destroyed parts of the layouts to mimic the resonance cascade. I also mocked the FPS-style of weapon-holding when I played finger-guns with siblings and friends. On the other hand, the scarier aspects of the game would creep into my childhood nightmares (usually those damn headcrabs.) By 2005, I was drawing comics with similar disaster stories and writing fan fiction told in the eyes of my own self-inserted character.

Yet, the most impressive impact about the first Half-Life wasn't the game itself but rather the mods that followed. While I briefly investigated the up-and-coming Counter-Strike while it was still in beta, it was Team Fortress Classic that stuck with me and kept my interest alive. By 2002, I was spending a lot of my free time on fun community servers with server-side mods. "Wild's Wild Server" is the oldest one that I can recall, followed by "Axl's TFC" in 2003, then "The Yaypit", "The Monastery" and the official "AdminOP" server in 2004. Their fun game modes, additional class abilities, and (most-importantly) building features all kept me captivated.

Of course, Half-Life 2 was its own story, inspiring me enough to fake sickness to stay home on the day of its release in 2004. (My dad probably knew what was up, and I'm sure he understood.) I couldn't had been happier with the sequel. The immersive graphics amplified the whole cinematic experience, and the extra dynamic of real-time physics was a whole new dimension. Ravenholm made me straight-up say "nope" and skip the entire chapter. My impressions with Half-Life 2 served as a seamless transition into Garry's Mod in 2005, when the creative potential with building scenes and posing ragdolls with Half-Life 2's assets felt infinite. By 2006, I was frequently submitting pictures for Planet Half-Life's ongoing "picture of the day" contest, even catching a few spotlight features on their homepage.

Still, I bounced between Gmod and the Monastery community, who then had their own popular building mod on Half-Life 2 Deathmatch. Because I mainly only used Gmod on singleplayer, most of my fondest memories were made with the HL2DM community, and I went on to actively play with them for over a decade, creating seemingly-endless memories from the thousands of hours spent. And I'd be wrong to not mention the Fortress Forever community, since their friendly players endured my abrasive teenage self yet still welcomed me to produce content with them (2007-2011).

Speaking of producing content, the greatest gift from the Half-Life series was being inspired to begin producing machinimas by mid-2006, when I was merely twelve years old. One video led to another, and once I was gaining traction on YouTube by 2008, I was ultimately inspired to create content as an adult.

Basically, it's truly a wonder where I'd be today if I hadn't played Half-Life in its heyday. I'm blessed to have touched millions of lives at this point with my videos, and it's heartwarming to know how many lives have played a part of mine over the years, whether we were messing around in-game or interacting in a comment section.

Thank you, Valve. And a HUGE thanks to the online friends and fans that I've met along the way while playing the series and its derivatives. Although I stay mostly to myself these days, you've all made an impact on me in some way or another, and that'll never be forgotten.

[falderaletcetera]

determined to find something positive for my brain to latch onto today, SO

stardew valley mods, apparently, are it!

god bless modders though. I thought East Scarp was gonna be a smaller mod than Stardew Valley Expanded, but looking at all the optional add-ons... it really might not be. and I'm interested to see how a bunch of mods made by different people in collaboration with each other plays as opposed to one big mod made by a very dedicated nutter (affectionate.)

((I think it might help! I like SVE a lot but I've also played enough to have bones to pick with various aspects, and I think having individuals focussed on the specific characters and parts they really want to flesh out might be good.))

also extremely amused by the person who made four different "let me date that old man" mods. I'm definitely leaving off the wizard one, because I've been playing SVE and I kinda miss the vanilla wizard - and because, well, it makes me a little sad to have those upper friendship levels locked behind a dating requirement. but the marlon one might be pretty cool. and I deeply respect the modder's decision to make him grumpy and sweary.

the annoying thing, the difficult thing, is that there are in fact lots of characters I'm curious about, and in order to find out as much as I want to about them, I do have to date most of them. which. the first time I played the base game, I dated everyone in a fit of aromantic apathy, saw all the heart events, got a bit creeped out by some of them, then had to edit my own save file to dump them all because that wasn't a game option yet.

I can see that happening again and it's already mortifying. potential solution: attempt to play as a character and not as myself, and see where things take them. 95% chance they'll stay single but it tends to make the interactions a little more interesting anyway.

(it's a lot of mods to wrangle and hope they all still work okay, but I've been needing the distraction, so fingers crossed that happens soon!)

(am I still ignoring the game I bought my current computer for? yes. very much so. vesemir beat my arse in the tutorial and I don't yet trust a friend's assurance that playing with a controller makes it way better.)

[hotsugarkrp]

hello! i was just wondering if there were going to be any changes to the ac anytime soon? it just feels like there's a stagnant lull that's fallen over the rp and its shown time and time again that everyone just shows up in the last 3 days of the ac to be active.

Hi nonny! We got a few asks regarding some of the same issues, so we're going to use this one to address all of them.

Regarding potential AC changes, we've run a few polls in the community about making changes to the way we do things, but the overwhelming majority of our members would like to keep things the same. So as much as we might like to make adjustments, we're going to respect our community's wishes, since these are the rules you joined us under! There will be no changes at this time.

We know some people only come around for the last 2-3 days of activity checks, but when we proposed our changes to the community, our mods did their research. We went back to look at activity checks as far back as November and found that less than 10% of currently active muses were doing this. And of those that were, very rarely were there repeat offenders. There is of course an influx of activity on the feed the last day or two of an AC, but you'll be hard pressed to find a directory that's not like that. It's just more pronounced in ours because we have over 200 muses. We do what we can to promote activity outside of the end of AC periods, but we're still taking a break from events like this after the backlash from our last one. But members are welcome (and encouraged) to do things on your own! Start a comment competition with your friends, host movies and games, or make your own mini event. You have the mods' blessing to do things like this as long as you're being inclusive and self-moderating to an extent.

If you're concerned about face hogging, please come to us off anon with your concerns so we can investigate. We have removed people before for face hogging and bubble rp'ing, but in a community of this size we can't identify potential rule breaking of this nature on our own! We rely on community members to report potential problems if they encounter them. But we also know a lot of our members are very active privately in DM's and private groups rather than on the feed or in public group chats, and we view that as valid activity as long as they're making an effort and meeting our AC requirements. Which is why we need to investigate these claims as a team before we take action. But if you notice someone breaking our rules that has managed to fly under our radar, please report them! Your report will be kept confidential, and we'll always look into it.

[linuxgamenews]

Discover the Mythical Worlds of Drakkon World Builder

Drakkon World Builder tabletop world-building game launches on Linux and Windows PC, but is Steam Deck playable. The innovative team at Electric Falcon is the driving force behind this creative endeavor. Available on Steam with 95% Positive reviews. Drakkon World Builder is a fantastic toolkit designed for those who like creating and engaging in tabletop world-building adventures. This isn't just a simple set of tools; it's a powerhouse for creativity and storytelling. Perfect for whether you're diving into adventures alone, teaming up with a friend, or a whole group of friends. You're a master of a vast, uncharted universe, or perhaps an explorer in a land brimming with mystery and danger. The Drakkon World Builder grants you the power to bring these universes to life on Linux and Steam Deck. It starts with a world generator, an incredibly flexible system that crafts a digital landscape. You can also zoom in and out, just like you might with online maps when you're checking out new places. Now picture this: towns, villages, towers, dungeons, and hidden places of intrigue, all showing up on your game map. It doesn't stop there. Since each of these spots comes alive with characters, potential challenges, and secrets waiting to find. This isn't a world of empty buildings and silent stones; it's a tapestry rich with stories, quests, and unexpected twists. What if you're flying solo, without someone to guide your quest? That's where the Drakkon World Builder oracle system comes in. It steps in like an invisible guide, helping you make decisions and move your story forward. Always ready with advice or a nudge in the right direction when you face tough choices or need a spark of inspiration.

Drakkon World Builder Trailer

Rolling dice is a big part of the thrill in these adventures. The extensive dice roller in this toolkit mimics the real thing. It's not just about numbers; it's about the fate they decide as they clatter across the table. Except here, it's digital and instant. If you're keen on the thrill of exploration, the real-time dungeon generator is your key to endless labyrinths and lairs. With a few clicks, you'll have a mapped-out and ready to explore dungeon for Linux or Steam Deck. Each one is unique and filled with peril and plunder. And it's not just about places. The tabletop world-building toolkit also has generators that whip up characters you can meet and challenges you can undertake. The weather that might bless or curse your travels and the relationships between people you encounter. Even the treasures you might find. While you're embarking on these adventures, the Drakkon World Builder gives you space to note everything noteworthy. Due to be like a legendary tome, keeping a record of your heroic deeds, the places you've visited, and the people you've met. Want to leave your own mark on this world? You can! Add your own places of interest right on the map. And with a variety of graphic themes, your world's look and feel can switch from an ancient map to a spy's satellite view. Since this can be whatever sets the right mood for your story. When you're proud of what you've created, you can export it as a PNG file. This means you can print it out for your tabletop or send it to friends to marvel at your world-crafting skills.

Modding:

And for the tech-savvy creators, modding support means you can tweak and tune the toolkit to your heart's content. Make it your own game, bending the Drakkon World Builder to fit your vision. Lastly, there's a 3D mode for when you want to dive even deeper into the visual aspect of your adventure games. Due to make your creations pop out of the screen and come to life in a way that flat maps just can't match. In short, Drakkon World Builder" isn't just a set of tools; it's a gateway to worlds of your making. While offering a level of depth that brings your stories to life in ways you might not have thought possible. So whether you're an avid fan or new to the realm of tabletop storytelling, this toolkit has something to ignite your imagination. And is due to keep your tales spinning for years to come. Priced at $2.39 USD / £1.99 / 2,39€ with the 20% discount on Steam. Available on Linux, Steam Deck playable, and Windows PC.

[messydiabolical]

Ah, mod entitlement. I have some related experience, for me it was mods that I once had published but had to stop. sorry to hijack your post but I have many thoughts lol. I used to mod for Stardew Valley and Fallout 4, then my various illnesses got a lot worse and I had to stop, as I could not keep up with all the updates and did not want to have mods out that could potentially ruin people's saves as they wouldn't work with current versions. Like, it doesn't matter if you write 'this will not work with any version past 1.3' people will still download and then get mad, so I just made them all hidden as that seems reasonable and responsible (and less work for me fielding the panic replies). I had semi hoped at some point I would get back into it, hence hiding and not just deleting. With stardew valley I was lucky in that they were cosmetic only mods, and there was a very sweet modding community, so it was very easy for a handful of modders to take on my work and continue it in updated formats (they reached out to me and I sent them my original image files and gave my blessings, nice and simple and wholesome experiences, they all put me as co author as well even though I wasn't actually fussed). From time to time I'll get a nicely worded dm asking about my old mods and I can just point them to the new versions. Fallout 4 was a whole other ballgame. No one was particularly interested in making updates to my mods- which is completely fair! One of them was a behemoth where I had painstakingly made looksmenu presets and starter character saves for every single named NPC character in the game- literally hundreds of files. Not an easy undertaking. looksmenu (the framwwork from which my mod depended on) and the game updates caused some wild facial glitches, sadly breaking the project. But I would get messages from people asking me to unhide the mods. I explained multiple times why they were hidden. A couple of times people were very polite, wished me well, or asked that I send them the old version on the understanding that it was an old game version and they would have to do work themselves to make them compatible. No problemo, I sent the files a few times that way, nice interactions. But christ I have recieved some vile responses. People get so absolutely livid that I dared to share a mod back in 2017 or whatever and they enjoyed it then and HOW DARE I not make it work 7 years later (you can't find these mods publically searching btw, they had to have stored the url back then, or had the file still installed on their pc, it's not like it's out there teasing people). I've had someone tell me that I should never have published a mod back then if I didn't intend to keep it updated forever???, even after I explained that I had to stop because of unexpected health matters (not that anyone is owed any reason for why I stopped anyway?). I ended up completely deleting the mods rather than just having them hidden because I was sick of it. Even so, I still get the occasional message, and I brace myself every damn time- will today be a reasonable person or an entitled arsehole?

Modders are allowed to have Private Mods

This got me pissed off and I want to make it really damn clear;

You being jealous of someone else's private mod is only YOUR problem! YOU need to cope with your jealousy, and being entitled to the point of throwing a little public tantrum makes you pathetic

I'll just repeat myself; Modding is a creative outlet just like any others

A lot of us spent a lot of time customizing our OCs, be it by manually editing their faces outside of CC options, giving them custom garment appearances that aren't available in the game files, custom bodies and custom refits, etc...

And none of you are entitled to it! We don't owe anyone anything The work we pour into OUR OCs do NOT have to be PUBLIC AT ALL

Do you go up to every writers who write fanfics of their Canon/OC ship because How DARE they portray THEIR oc? You can't project yourself or your own OC into this fic so how DARE they publish it? How dare they flaunt it in your face

Same as artists making master pieces featuring their OCs and not some no-name, blank-face nobodies that people can project into

You realize how stupid and entitled these statements are? It's really similar to how people react to private mods everytime they're told "no, you can't have it"

So deadass, fucking Cope If you want something SO BAD, learn how to mod

[hotseok]

going thru my mods folder before the patch update & god is it a mess

[oasivy]

sims get to know me.. thingie or w/e 

this seemed fun! thank you for the tag @rebouks ♡

1. What’s your favourite sims death? i love the telescope/meteor death and how not rare it is even if it is supposed to be lol

2. Alpha CC or Maxis Match? maxis match, aiming to be a bit maxis mix lately lol

3. Do you cheat when your sims gain weight? not usually no, whatever happens, happens. kinda off topic but rosalie likes the gym and i made her use the  machine like twice and now her arms are getting BUFF

4. Do you use move objects? yes ma’am

5. Favorite mod? i used to only really have ui and mc command center but recently i’ve really been liking the rpo mod and other story enhancing mods! 

6. First expansion/game/stuff pack you got? first expansion: get to work, first stuff: vintage glamour, first game pack: parenthood... i think. i was there since the beginning lol

7. Do you pronounce “live mode” like aLIVE or LIVing? lol i like how  rebouks described it... LIVE, laugh, love is how i say it 

8. Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made? it changes all the time, i love making sims. laurynn is really cool and i enjoyed making her, as well as charley

9. Have you made a simself? i actually did recently! sent it to my dear friend @aurorangen

10. What sim traits do you give yourself? ambitious, bookworm, high maintenance 

11. Which is your favorite EA hair color? there’s a very specific brown swatch that they added recently that i really like

12. Favorite EA hair? they’ve been adding a lot of good natural hair textures lately, so one of those!

13. Favorite life stage? i’ve grown to really like infant gameplay! it’s my first time playing with them and growing together adds a lot of cool depth. but other than that probably young adult

14. Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay? rarely a builder, god bless you guys who can build, but i LOVE decorating rooms and builds. definitely more of a cas/gameplay girly tho

15. Are you a CC creator? god i wish, but no

16. Do you have any simblr friends/a sim squad? yeah! i mean i think so? i like to imagine we’re all basically besties at this point lol

17. What’s your favorite game? (1, 2, 3, or 4) i used to say sims 3 because my nostalgia, but i think right now 4 is where i spend a lot of my time 

18. Do you have any sims merch? nopeee

19. Do you have a YouTube for sims? i made one years ago, but never posted on it lol. i don’t really have the time for it right now unfortunately, but it was always in the back of my mind

20. How has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing? i have a lot more skin details and cc, and looking for much more tbh. i also think i pay a lot more attention to smaller details in my sim’s faces

21. What’s your Origin ID? siimlee

22. Who’s your favorite CC creator? gegesimmer and simstrouble!

23. How long have you had a simblr? i think since 2019? summer before junior year of high school lol

24. How do you edit your pictures? photoshop

25. What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next? the answer is not a horse pack...jk i want bands, let me be a musician without it being so.... classical? but also idc just give me more apartments please and thank you

25. What expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far? i am a seasons girl through and through. i like the depth of growing together, but i have yet to really dive into thanks to rosalie being... well rosalie. and highschool years had the potential of being really good if it wasn’t so broken

feel free to ignore the tag! @d4isy-nukes @duusheen @aurorangen @duskiivy @thereesespiece @bakersimmer @seokolat @papiermaker @maxismade @bobnewbie

[daedrabait]

⭐ tell me all about your favorite buddies ⭐

Thanks for enabling my rambling. This question is very vague but I'm guessing you mean my ocs! <3 ask template here

So. I'll tell you about my OC couple first, who I've got an ongoing longfic about that you can read here. I'm going to sum it up without dropping too many spoilers, so the characters and descriptions may be a little vague.

Their story is based off of a Skyrim companion mod called Lucien Flavius. I always liked the idea of the Dragonborn being someone's adventurer mentor and protector while also fighting their own battles.

Theo is the Imperial scholar in the situation - I took inspiration from Lucien, but Theo is my own oc that I've put lots of time and effort into building. He's got that sweet, sheltered innocence of any apprentice but strives to learn and understand both the ways of real people and the ways of the world. He is learning that not everything is as he read in both history and storybooks.

Griffin is the dragonborn - the mentor. He's a Bosmer thief who's had a rough life and struggles to make connections with people that go deeper than skin-to-skin because of his past experiences. Despite all this, he exhibits a kindness and a more patient and tempered way of going about things that makes him extremely interesting. He's a confusing fellow, especially for Theo, who doesn't have much experience with people beyond his own parents.

But anyway - it's a story that came from my partner and I wanting to explore the potential of a whirlwind fastburn romance between a kind, humble, yet wary dragonborn and an overeager scholar. The potential angst was too good to pass up. So I ended up writing out the story about them. I decided to forego the canon events of the Skyrim game and make it into an alternate universe where yes - there are dragons - but there's no Alduin, and dragonborns are just coincidental heroes that keep being born. It also takes place about a decade after the civil war (Imperial victory) because I wanted to add some flavor and thought it would be interesting. Plus both MCs' parents have involvement in the civil war.

Progression in their story has been a little slow up to this point because I struggle to keep writing sometimes but I'm coming onto some important scenes soon so. If you do decide to read it, I hope you enjoy!

Onto Faelon - another Bosmer Dragonborn

Canon events of Skyrim's main quest do happen, but they're weird.

Faelon is an ex-thrall whose spell was broken by Akatosh upon the arrival of Alduin. He is Dragonborn - but so is his sister. Faelon has had many near-death experiences and because of this and the strange consequences of his birth (Serpent sign), Akatosh decided to bless Baela (his sister) with a dragon soul as well.

Faelon's years of being broken down by thrall magic erased his memory of anything before waking up. Essentially, the amount of magical and physical damage done to him by the wizard had wiped his brain clean except for knowledge of basic tasks and muscle memory. He forgot who he was, where he was, and everyone he had ever known. This made things quite difficult for him upon waking. To sum it up simply, he woke up in a cave near Riften, killed his captor, found maps and journals (he retained the knowledge of how to read), found out he was a thrall, and followed the map into Riften. Following cryptic notes scattered about lead him to an imprisoned Khajiit who shed more light on what happened to him.

Inigo was responsible for shooting Faelon and leaving him to die, causing him to be found and enslaved by the wizard. If you've ever had the Inigo mod installed, I decided to canonize the story that he tells the dragonborn about his betrayal into Faelon's story.

Onto Faelon and his sister - yeah, I know what you're thinking. His lore is huge and extensive. I know.

Faelon and Baela share a father - the whereabouts of Faelon's other parent are unknown because he doesn't remember any of it. Baela doesn't know much about their father either, as she was very young when he either died or disappeared. Her mother was never in the picture, having had her and then fleeing to Morrowind. Faelon, the older of the two siblings, raised her from then on until she reached 14 - at which point he went missing after taking a mercenary job with Inigo.

They meet about a decade and some change later in the Ragged Flagon below Riften. Faelon has no clue who Baela is even though she's ecstatic to have finally found her long lost brother - who she had presumed to either be dead or long gone to some other place outside of Skyrim.

Faelon used to be a very compassionate and loving brother. Years of unfathomable abuse and feeling vulnerable had twisted him into something sinister, though, something power hungry and ruthless - and even still, Baela didn't blame him and tries to rekindle their familial bond. We love tragic siblings, don't we?

I talk about Mercer and Faelon a lot. I won't add more rambling about them here, but if you want to know about them specifically, feel free to send me an ask about them. The amount brainworms I have for those two are unending.

I'll also do the same for Veris - I feel like this ramble is long enough.

Feel free to send hyper-specific asks to me, whether they're about ocs or my stories! As long as they don't potentially spoil future events within my main story (Dust and Dim Sunshine), I'll answer them.

[peppermint-ginger]

DOWNLOAD mesh/texture replacements - simfileshare (3.3 MB) | MEGA (3.1 MB)

DOWNLOAD Midge the Tree’s Name Fix mod edited (ENG/PL) - simfileshare | MEGA

Another one of these. I wasn’t particularly happy about already existing matchmaker overhaul mods (I wanted something more... magical than just modern businesswoman, lol) and I stumbled upon Meduza’s conversion of TSM Alchemist outfit and really liked this idea. Also, it kinda works since matchmaker she also sells potions.

I even made a “lore entry”/backstory for her, in case you like this kind of stuff:

The Alchemist Once powerful and energetic member of The Mage Brotherhood, after having a major disagreement with her colleagues, she was forced to leave for good. Banished and on her own, she found source of income in giving her magical services to common folk. However, after living hundreds of years, magical community started to fade away and people stopped believing in the effectivity of magic. Her services become redundant and she started to struggle to make ends meet.

Immortality became more of a curse than a blessing. Exhausted and broke, she started to perform cheap tricks rather than real magic to her customers. Now she mainly gives matchmaking services, through she still sells some of her potions. Sometimes, her old personality still shows up. From time to time, you can see her sneaking into somebody's backyard and leaving a small gift...

(Long post - more under the cut.)

I also take a step further and edited MtT’s/Shasta’s/ Chris Hatch’s name mod to rename her to The Alchemist (or Alchemist Matchmaker in some cases) where I could. Still, in “Call... >Services” menu, she’s still named as in the original. I tried to find its string in the game files to edit it, but I couldn’t.

Dodałam też polskie tłumaczenie do moda MtT. Zastąpiłam “C-gańską swatkę” na Alchemiczkę, Alchemiczkę-Swatkę lub Wróżbikę (ostatnie tylko w kartach kariery, bo “Alchemiczka” nie pasowała do kontekstu).

I also added one resorce to the mod for Love Potion thingie and edited the text.

It’s my 1st attempt to make/edit actual game mods, so please let me know if something is wrong!

Ok, so now the DFR info:

fhairg-psy default replacement: dfr file mine | mesh: Stealthic Envy (9k poly, @eir-sims-uploads‘s conversion) | yf-ef | unlocked in CAS | enabled for townies*

efbodyg-psy default replacement: dfr file mine | mesh: TSM Alchemist (~3,9k poly, @jellymeduza‘s conversion, my recolor) | yf-ef

effaceg-psy (costume make-up) default replacement: texture made of @digisims2‘s XOD Eyebag Rcs and @mouseyblue’s Superlashes (short brown). Should look fine on any skin color.

NOTE: I actually kept original naming of the DFR files. I did that so people downloading my defaults can easily navigate those files in case of potential conflicts. Sorry about that. If you’re not comfortable with that, you can rename the files as you like.

Anyway...

Credits: @midgethetree, @shastakiss, Chris Hatch, @stealthic, @jellymeduza, @digitalangels, @mouseyblue, Ephemera, @eir-sims-uploads, @zeusar​, @poppet-sims​, @pooklet​, pastry-box, @ikari-sims​

[photog-crafty]

Bless the Habanero, it tried so hard. This little Lexus RX knockoff loved to throw its rear end out and had a high-strung engine note that reminded me of a small displacement V6. It made it feel like it really, really wanted to be a tuner. If it had a little more mod potential or speed it would have been one of my favorite cars.

Also on the Lexus train, the game had a Lexus GS in the form of the Intruder. Naturally, I had to BIPPU it with an obnoxious wrap and oversized wheels. In spite of that, it was still a comfy car to drive. I think I'm just a sucker for full-width taillights.

The Weevil Custom was another really cool car released very late in the game's life that just wasn't enough to keep me coming back to it. It was fast, fun, cool looking, and mean, but when the cards were down it was just another car. At least it gave me some pleasure to take English Dave's prized car to the chop shop. Enjoy that panther cage, jerk.

There was a time when a Sultan was in every player's garage. As a fast four-door with good handling that could go off-road and be found on the streets, it was popular among brand new players who needed a reliable vehicle for heists and missions. Other cars eventually outclassed it and left it to be just another street car, but its day in the sun was bright indeed.

The poor, poor Bullet. Such a nice car doomed to a lifetime of heckling for being misclassified as a Super and landing squarely at the bottom of the rankings, when it would have fared much better in Sports. If you disregard the race tiers and judge it purely on its own merits, you'll find a fun little Ford clone that's great for cruising.

The Surge was a car that was easy to pick out in traffic due to its neat illuminated grille. It was ahead of its time, in my opinion, considering it was from 2013 and light-up badges and grilles didn't start catching on until years later. Performance was subpar, but it was at least small enough to fit between the bunker bollards and go roll around the weapons factory facilities.

My first GTA winter was spent in the company of a Radius. It even had steelies on so the nicer wheels wouldn't get damaged in the snow. This lovechild of a Dodge Caliber and a Ford Edge won my heart with above-average speed for an SUV and a comically aggressive exhaust note that you'd never expect from such a round little creature.

Honda's modern automotive offerings rarely caught my eye, but it was nice to see an interpretation of their new NSX in the form of the Jester. I remember it having quite a throaty sound to it that made it enjoyable to drive in spite of being an otherwise average sports car.

Sometimes I found it hard to believe that the Jackal was a car that could be insured directly off of the streets. It was a fast little thing and I remember being taken aback at how much torque it had in higher gears, where similar cars would have run out of breath. If I had to start all over and pick a four-door fresh out of the gate, I would probably pick a Jackal.

Truthfully, I was never much of a fan of the Swinger, but it showed up for free on the podium once and I couldn't help snagging one just to show off the needlessly obscure and nigh-unobtainable livery that was only available to people who played during one specific week many years ago.