#advanced dungeons and discourse

[dresdencodak]

I'm really glad I stumbled on you Tumblr and your work. It's amazing and engaging, and just good and fun.

Now, an actual question!

I only know of Dark Science - do you have other works you'd like for people like me to discover? Or, for someone who enjoys Dark Science, are there other works by other artists you enjoy and would like to share with people?

Thanks so much! While Dark Science is my main work, I did make a decent amount of comics before starting that. In my archives page on my site, you can find those older comics. Most of them are one-offs (ie: single-page stories), and this is actually how Kim was introduced.

There are also a couple more recent one-off comics that I made parallel to Dark Science like Kingdom of the Last.

The other series that's functionally a prequel to Dark Science is Hob, aka "The Tomorrow Girl." At 28 pages it's a lot shorter than Dark Science, but it's a little adventure that sets up a lot about Kim, like how she first became a cyborg and who her dad is, etc.

Hope that's helpful!

-Sen

[storkmuffin]

Essays about Ateez (a masterlist- ongoing)

because no parasocial kpop obsession is complete unless you throw thousands of words at it. ) (Updated 25.2.17)

Seonghwa: I went off about Seonghwa & Queerness to start. Which led to follow up 1. And another follow up question this one about Jongho (mentioned in the first post). An ask about the general perception of Hwa. The magic of how he speaks. How he is out and yet not. How he gentle parents stalkers. Eventually I wrote a giant thesis about Seonghwa's Idol Persona. I manifested the finger suckage. Fingers in his mouth.

Is Matz 'real'? part 1. Part 2. The Lego Liveblog (Lego Queer Kink Dungeon)

Wooyoung: 입덕요정 Idol vs Real Manly man. Manly man part 2. Manly man part 3. Manly man part 4. Manly man part 5. His 형아미 Manly man debate continues. Etymology of 영부인 fandom name. Strong candidate for bias. Analysis of his dancing. His tattoos. His post Ateez career.

Side discussion about Minsung (Stray Kids) Brief Han Mention in context of Babygirling.

Short discussion on Ateez lyrics being advanced Korean,

Mingi. The Hippo Live. Mingi's Sound and Dance. His When Aliens Attack Live. His Don't Oppa Me Live. Liveblog of Mingi's song reveal live for untitled. Follow up to live blog. Is he ND. Mingi talking about Yunho's role in his life. Mingi the old testament prophet.

Yunho: his alleged 병크. follow up to the 병크. Yunho's beauty & appeal part 1. Catholic Hottie. The Magic of Yungi (Yunho Diction Focus)

Hong Joong: Leadership style.

San: In context of Woosan Tattoo. The Magic of San Ep 1. The Magic of San Ep 2: Men Crying, and the Gyeongsangdo Accent.

Kpop Dancing. As a ballet fan. Wooyoung focus. Hongjoong and Seonghwa as dancers. The older greats.

Kpop Idoldom: To be pitied or no? First discussion (failed) on kpop values. Do I think Idols fuck around? Aegyo 애교 and its discontents. Pity for the Hardworking kpop Trainee (or not) The Inevitability of Shipping & Boy Idols all Grown Up

How I stopped fearing being identified with Kpop fandom and became a fan. Saseng discourse. Authenticity and kpop. Comparison to soccer hooliganism

I started buying stuff. The first CDs (The Golden Hour Part 2). The first Set of Merch Unboxing.

Ateez as a known unknown band. My first impressions of Ateez. The effect each member has on me (unhinged post). Analysis of intragroup relationships. Leader and Maknae Relationships in general. Sorting the members into Hogwarts. Tour 2025 Flail. Unhinged thoughts about making members fight etc. Each Friend Group Has... Ateez on Korean TV?

Fan Service/ Queerness: A short discussion about 'fanservice' type queerness in kpop. More on 'seeming' gay. Speculation (or not) about individual members' queerness. Queerness in the arts & legal research. 7 ways to view BL fanservice.

Kpop Industry: KQ's Status or lack thereof. Boys vs Girls. Hybe v Min Hee Jin controversy. BTS As the Key Turning Point of Korean Pop Culture History. My thoughts on Virtual/AI Idols. Who are the 경상도 Idol?. Shinee Fandom Story.

Ateez & Neurodivergence. Discussion 1. Focused on Mingi.

Towards the Light: Will to Power Tour 2024-25: I got tickets to the Seoul Finale! It didn't sell out immediately in Seoul. Responsible Ticket Delivery.

Writings by other fans: Eye witness account from Amsterdam! Eye witness account from Zurich! Concert Experience also from Amsterdam. San is Born To Dance!

I recommended some books and films. Music I love. More books

[dungeon-meshi-tournament]

It's near Valentine's Day again, which means it's time for the

Seaworthiest Ship in the Dungeon Tournament 2025

This is the masterpost for the tournament. I'll pin it and update it with every new round, so you'll be able to find all polls easily.

The rules are very simple: You just vote for whichever ship you like better, for whichever reason. The ship with the most votes advances to the next round.

Propaganda is encouraged! Please put it in the body of the post so I can reblog it. I don't reblog propaganda from tags or replies.

Spoiler warning: This tournament contains material up to the end of the manga. If you haven't caught up yet, you may be spoiled.

I will not engage with pro-ship / anti-ship discourse. If you are very annoying with this discourse, I may block you.

Finally, I would like to thank Tumblr users Pulim-v and Takemyadvice-dontlistentome for helping with finding images from the series to use, Amaianita and Miscellaneousrenaissant for editing together new images, and Octy-in-boots for drawing art to use in this tournament.

Finale:

Izutsumi by herself vs Kikimari (Izutsumi by herself won)

Battle for the bronze:

Farcille vs The Canaries' ship (Farcille won)

Previous rounds under the cut

Semi-finals:

Farcille vs Izutsumi by herself (Izutsumi by herself won)

The Canaries' ship vs Kikimari (Kikimari won)

Quarter finals:

Farcille vs Kakimari (Farcille won)

Chilchuck x his wife x Senshi vs The Canaries' ship (The Canaries' ship won)

Izutsumi by herself vs Chimera Falin x Coatl Marcille (Izutsumi by herself won)

Kikimari vs Chilshi (Kikimari won)

Round 4:

Farcille vs Holmbru (Farcille won)

Fleki x Cithis vs Kakimari (Kakimari won)

Chilchuck x his wife x Senshi vs Labrumisu (Tie, Chilchuck x his wife x Senshi advances)

Canary polycule vs The Canaries' ship (The Canaries' ship won, with one vote difference)

Izutsumi by herself vs Zon x his Orc wives (Izutsumi by herself won)

Flycion vs Chimera Falin x Coatl Marcille (Chimera Falin x Coatl Marcille won)

Kikimari vs Kakamari (Kikimari won)

Chilshi vs Mithril (Chilshi won)

Round 3, part 2:

Izutsumi by herself vs Farinsha (Izutsumi by herself won)

Otta x Chilchuck's wife vs Zon x his Orc wives (Zon x his Orc wives won)

Cithidol vs Fleki x Lycion (Flycion won)

Chimera Falin x Coatl Marcille vs Fleki x Otta (Chimera Falin x Coatl Marcille won)

Kikimari vs Maizuru x Toshiro's mom (Kikimari won)

Zon x Senshi vs Kakamari (Kakamari won)

Chilshi vs Milf polycule (Chilshi won)

Lycion x Mithrun vs Mithril (Mithril won)

Round 3, part 1:

Farcille vs Hienichidori (Farcille won)

Toshiro x Namari vs Holmbru (Holmbru won)

The Flokes vs Fleki x Cithis (Fleki x Cithis won)

Laishuro vs Kakimari (Kakimari won)

Yuri Kabumisu vs Chilchuck x his wife x Senshi (Chilchuck x his wife x Senshi won)

Labrumisu vs Fionil x Doni (Labrumisu won)

Yuri Labru vs Canary polycule (Canary polycule won)

The Canaries' ship vs Laios x Lycion (The Canaries' ship won)

Round 2, part 4:

Kikimari vs Jackmari (Kikimari won)

Marchil vs Maizuru x Toshiro's mom (Maizuru x Toshiro's mom won)

Zon x Laios vs Zon x Senshi (Zon x Senshi won)

Headless Bicorn x Anne the Kelpie vs Kakamari (Kakamari won)

Chilshi vs Marcille's parents (Chilshi won)

Falin x Namari vs Milf polycule (Milf polycule won)

Lycion x Mithrun vs Kabro (Lycion x Mithrun won)

Mithril vs Laios x Thistle (Mithril won)

Round 2, part 3:

Izutsumi by herself vs Izutade (Izutsumi by herself won)

Island governor x Shadow governor vs Farinsha (Farinsha won)

Otta x Chilchuck's wife vs Kabru's party x Touden party (Otta x Chilchuck's wife won)

Zon x his Orc wives vs Kabru x Laios x Marcille (Zon x his Orc wives won)

Cithidol vs Cithis x Mithrun (Cithidol won)

Fleki x Lycion vs Falin x Toshiro (Fleki x Lycion won)

Winged Lion x Laios vs Chimera Falin x Coatl Marcille (Chimera Falin x Coatl Marcille won)

Fleki x Otta vs The Dryads (Fleki x Otta won)

Round 2, part 2:

Yuri Kabumisu vs Marcitsumi (Yuri Kabumisu won)

Chilchuck x his wife x Senshi vs Senshi x Chilchuck's wife (Chilchuck x his wife x Senshi won)

Chaios / Chilaios vs Labrumisu (Labrumisu won)

Fionil x Doni vs Marios / Laimar (Fionil x Doni won)

Labru vs Yuri Labru (Yuri Labru won)

Canary polycule vs Leed x Chilchuck (Canary polycule won)

The Canaries' ship vs Senshi x Maizuru (The Canaries' ship won)

Laios x Kensuke vs Laios x Lycion (Laios x Lycion won)

Round 2, part 1:

Farcille vs Falin x Marcille x Mayjack (Farcille won)

Hienichidori vs Helsiril (Hienichidori won)

Toshiro x Namari vs Toshiro x Rin (Toshiro x Namari won)

Delgal x Thistle vs Holmbru (Holmbru won)

The Flokes vs Rin x Falin x Marcille (The Flokes won)

Namarcille vs Fleki x Cithis (Fleki x Cithis won)

Yuri Laishuro vs Laishuro (Laishuro won)

Namari x Kaka & Kiki vs Marcille x Touden siblings / Laifarcille (Kakimari won)

[natalieironside]

Princess Tumblrella and the Dragons of Discourse: A New Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Adventure for D&D 2nd Edition

[tornioduva]

Gerudo Redesign (coming at some point)

ok, so, i discovered that i like being active here, it kind of motivates me uhuh. so, while i have energy, i want to give breath to some other ideas and discussion i have and want to make.

So, long story short: i'd like to propose a new look for the Gerudo women from the Zelda series. But this will require some research on my part first. But you can join in it too!

So, while this is a fun exercise on its own, it's been motivated by a specific thing, that being a series of threads on orientalism i read, plus articles and discussion.

One of the things i always praised about the Tears of the wild duology, is the way they built the world, made it feel alive and how grounded and thought of a lot of things were, especially regarding the various people living. and especially regarding the Gerudo, the citadel blew my mind at the time.

At the same time, something always felt off about how they looked, despite being extremely varied and interesting. Like, them showing so much skin in the scorching sun and freezing nights; I appreciate the sight, and i'd love nothing more than to spend the rest of my life being pressed against the midriff of these beautiful women, but it feels like their outfit is designed more for appeal than for...using it. You could say is part of their genetics in being a different race altogether to not suffer extreme temperature, but it does not convince me honestly, at least not while they look so human. At the very least, i think we can convey it better than just "they can", something along the line of the dwarves in dungeon meshi.

Plus they all wear heels and run on the sand.

In addition to my personal gripes, then all this discourse on orientalism added on, all the various borrwed aesthetics in their clothes borrowed from a century of stereotypes, and so on.

All this to say that i very much think a better design, far less rooted in orientalism and fetishitazation. also racism, because yes, having one race of people, amidst other more fantastical ones, being defined different than the regular "human" ones just by being taller, browner, genetically and culturally more violent and living in the desert,

But it requires a good amount of research on a lot of things i don't know, like how people live there, what kind of different actual cultures might be appropriate to represent and maybe some changes in their physical appeareance.

Am i stroking my ego a little in announcing it instead of just making it? maybe.

Mainly though this was to motivate others in joining the discussion if they liked the idea. i'm going to do this research on my own anyway (very slowly though, uhuh), but if anyone reading want to contribute, share ideas, culture, attires, or just their own opinion, feel free too and i'll try to consider them all!

Thanks in advance if that will be the case! otherwise, till we meet again with some actual ideas put to paper uhuh.

[astralscrivener]

✨ fic directory ✨

i’ve created a post to keep all of my fics in one place. all fics can be found on ao3. (last updated may 4th, 2024)

major ongoing works

STEALING OUR OWN PLACE IN THE SUN

- voltron: legendary defender: a rewrite of vld seasons 4-8. - team focus, broganes, klance, adashi, romellura - rated M, graphic depictions of violence + other warnings in author notes - 22/45 chapters, 251k words (december 25th, 2022) - last posted: chapter 22: season 7, episode 3: elliptical orbit

AT SKYFALL

- voltron: legendary defender: canon-divergent au in which keith and shiro are captured by the galra at a coalition gala. things become more complicated when the team’s search for shiro turns up someone else: adam, shiro’s fiancé.  - broganes, klance, adashi - rated M, graphic depictions of violence + other warnings in author notes - 8/? chapters, 25k words (september 2nd, 2023) - last posted: chapter 8: division and discord

ABCS OF KLANCE

- voltron: legendary defender: oneshots, one prompt for each letter of the alphabet, focused on keith and lance’s relationship - variety of aus, some overlap with squad up (2017-19 modern au), mostly established relationship klance - 18 works, 87k words (may 4th, 2024) - a: artistry • b: brutality • c: comfort • d: defeat • e: elegance • f: faithfulness • g: grief • h: homelessness • i: information • j: jealousy • k: knell • l: loyalty • m: mercy • n: need • o: opportunity • p: pain • q: quest • r: rumor • s: sleep • t: trust • u: uncertainty • v: victory • w: worry • x: xenon • y: yearning • z: zero - last posted: lightning in a bottle (y: yearning)

other ongoing works

THESE 20S ARE RAWRING AND THESE DUNGEONS ARE DRAGONING

- voltron: legendary defender: modern au + d&d series started in 2020 as a stress response to quarantine - team focus, klance, adashi, romellua, hunay

• main work: the rawring 20s XD - chatfic that only updates if i think it will be funny - rated M, no archive warnings apply + other warnings in author notes - 5/5 chapters, 17k words - last posted: chapter 5: there is no easter bunny, there is no tooth fairy, (september 8th, 2022)

- other works include klance-centric oneshots + snippets of the group’s ongoing d&d campaign - 5 works, 37k words - last posted: midnight into morning coffee (february 7th, 2024)

VLD FIC REQUESTS

- voltron: legendary defender: oneshots across a variety of aus written in response to prompts from friends and followers - variety of ships, but mainly klance and adashi - some overlap with squad up  - 15 works, 92k words (july 8th, 2023) - last posted: distraction

major completed works

DECEIT SO NATURAL

- voltron: legendary defender: canon-divergent trilogy in which lance and keith fool their way behind enemy lines and onto lotor’s ship to steal vital information on the galra empire—only for lotor to become far more dangerous than anyone anticipated. - mainly klance, extremely one-sided lancelot - written before gay shiro reveal + age discourse, contains side shallura - 3 works, 315k words - completed june 15th, 2018

• WHERE PEOPLE GO TO DIE - lotor mistakenly believes that lance is a galra soldier spying on the paladins, and invites him to return home. keith follows him undercover as a prisoner, and quickly draws lotor’s ire as things spiral rapidly out of control. - rated M, graphic depictions of violence - 14/14 chapters, 49k words - completed july 9th, 2017

• DYNASTY DECAPITATED - lotor becomes vindictive after having been played for a fool by team voltron, and the team struggles to hold the voltron alliance together while fending off his rapid advances. meanwhile, keith and lance explore a new stage of their relationship and learn exactly what the other means to them. - rated M, graphic depictions of violence - 18/18 chapters, 67k words - completed august 7th, 2017

• STARS GO DOWN - lotor has captured lance and sentenced keith to death halfway across the universe. lance struggles to hold onto himself as he plays the role of an amnesiac, while keith attempts to fight his way back to the team, alone. meanwhile, the team, down two lions and two paladins, scrambles to bring keith and lance home amidst betrayals and tumult in the voltron alliance. - rated M, graphic depictions of violence, temporary major character death + other warnings in author notes - 37/37 chapters, 198k words - completed june 15th, 2018

SQUAD UP

- voltron: legendary defender: modern au written from 2017-19 to cope with the horrors of being in high school and the transition into college - written before gay shiro reveal + age discourse, contains side shallura and shiro/allura/matt - 25 works, 561k words - completed may 10th, 2019

• main work: squad up - chatfic chronicling the gang’s last year of high school - rated M, no archive warnings apply + other warnings in author note - 140/140 chapters, 327k words - completed june 15th, 2018

• main work: a midsummer night’s meme - chatfic chronicling the gang’s last summer before college - rated M, no archive warnings apply + other warnings in author note - 27/27 chapters, 79k words - completed august 31st, 2018

• main work: because guys like us are cool in college - series of oneshots/snippets following keith and lance’s freshman year of college - rated M, no archive warnings apply + other warnings in author note - 84/84 chapters, 83k words - completed may 10th, 2019

LIGHT UP THE PATH (THROUGH A SKY FULL OF STARS)

- voltron: legendary defender: 28 oneshots completed for klance au month february 2019. - klance - variety of aus, including but not limited to modern au, canon-divergent/other paladinsverse, fantasy au, and more - rated M, creator chose not to use archive warnings + other warnings in author note - 28/28 chapters, 49k words - completed february 28th, 2019

additional oneshots not mentioned here can be found on archive of our own ✨ other writing (including drabbles, snippets, and prompts from tumblr ask games) can be found in my writing tag ✨

happy reading!

[palmolli]

🫒Master Post🫒

Hi! Hello! :D I'm olli, and I like to draw and write! I'm a multi-fandom blog, but I mainly post about the Legend of Zelda.

My art is under the tag #ollisart!

If you wanna check out the fanfics I've written, my Ao3 account is PalmOlive (not the soap brand, lol)

Apologies in advance if my wording is difficult to understand, I'm nuerodivergent, and words are a bit tricky, especially in conversations.

I am a minor, and I can't donate to any gfms

About me (olli) down here 👇 (Warning, I ramble, and I'm odd)

About me and the blog!

I'm an INFP, which is a personality type, I'm very interested in psychology and might look into a career in that??? Maybe??? Doubt it, I'm kinda too stooped for that.

Pronounz and stuffs

I don't really like being called "she" so anything but feminine pronouns, please, and thank you. Also, don't call me "it", I know some people like being called "it", but I personally find it dehumanizing, which is kinda the point of it, lol. (I don't like being dehumanized!) I'm also aroace, which means I do not feel romantic or spicy attraction. But I'm not romance repulsed, tho. Actually, I find romance interesting, and it can be a powerful storytelling thing, and I like writing/reading about it. I just would not want to be in a romantic relationship myself. I view and inspect from afar.

I always try to be respectful unless I'm joking. When I'm joking, I can get quite rude, but I don't actually mean the things I say unless I'm serious, which... that's VERY rare. Me being srs is like a rare occurrence that ought to be filmed. I love people and hate people, and I'm kinda shy at first, but I do really like interacting with people despite my anxiety.

Also I tend to ramble and get off track...

This blog is a place I can show off my art and rant to the wall so my irl friends don't have to deal with it, lol. I don't like getting involved in serious discourse and will avoid it like the plague because of what I said above. Any problems will be solved privately and not blasted online for everyone to see bc that's just dumb. I want to make friends, not enemies.

Interests and things I like!

(This is where the ramblings begin.)

Fav shows and movies🎬: Fantastic Mr. Fox, Puss n Boots, The Last Wish, Spiderverse, A Series of Unfortunate Events (the show), The End of the F***ing World, School Spirits, Dead Boy Detectives, The Hollow, Delicious in Dungeon/Dugeon Meshi, The Dragon Prince, Arcane (not league tho)

Video Gaymes👾:

The Legend of Zelda (ofc), but I have my favorites, like Skyward Sword, and Majoras Mask, although I haven't finished mm myself, I know the story and am absolutely in love with every aspect of it. (I like stories) It can be interpreted in many different ways. And despite being made in a time crunch, it came out BEAUTIFULLY. The whole thing is kinda a metaphor for the struggle of growing up, childhood trauma, and grief. I LOVE IT AHHHHHHHH. And I love how much life is in the game. The npcs feel so real and have their own stories and lives and things they do. RISNDHKSHDJSVD

Cookie Run Kingdom. I don't know why. Gambling addicting. Cookies pretty. Funny cookies beat up funny monsters. Decorate kingdom. Make cookie do labour. Gamble. Fight things. CAPTAINCAVIARCOOKIEEEEEEEEEEEEE MY BELOVEDDDDDD

Deltarune! I have never played undertale, but I do know the story. I have played Deltarune, though. Susie's my favorite. I love her character sm. Toby Fox's humor and musical ability is incredible and unique, and I definitely can't find anything else quite like the stuff he creates.

Mouthwashing! AHHHHH psychological horror and inventive storytelling with complex characters and themes crafted by a passionate team, my beloved! I finished the game in one sitting while also voice acting it to myself. It was very fun. 10/10. Daisuke is so me. Anya is amazing, I wish we saw more of her. Curly is... a coward, but I get it, but also, SERIOUSLY DUDE? but also victim blaming? But also, DUDE HE COMMITED AN UNFORGIVABLE ACT YOU CANNOT DEFEND HIM AND HE CLEARLY WANTS YOU DEAD YOU OBLIVIOUS LITTLE GOLDEN RETRIEVER I WANT TO SHAKE YOU VIOLENTLY PLEASE TAKE THOSE GREEN-TINTED GLASSES OFF BECAUSE JIMMY IS A WALKING TALKING BREATHING RED FLAG. Swansea, my beloved. He's a tired guy, seems rough on the outside, but he's actually got good morals and a good heart. Love him. Don't love Jimmy, but that's because he's written well. Mouthwashing makes you think that Curly is gonna be the classic, scary monster, but no, actually, you were playing as the monster the whole time, and he's far more disgusting and horrifying, because he's a real monster.

Slay the Princess, although I don't have the game, i watched a playthrough of it like a long time ago. loved it. Bird guy and beautiful woman, my favorite ship dynamic. Also, EVERYTHING WAS HAND-DRAWN?!?! THE STORY IS FREAKING BEAUTIFUL, ALSO IT'S FUNNY TOO. 10/10, LOVELY.

MiSide. Never played. Still loved. Like another horror game based on dating sims (I'll get to that later that game is special to me), it subverts expectations in such a cool way. The different Mitas and all their personalities were so interesting! Can't say much for the game play, but the story and concept are so freaking cool.

Sims. I like people sims. It's funny and I make characters and ocs in it do funny things and fankids and yeah yeah, but also, I cuss and yell at my screen whenever they do something stupid, which is all the time. Also, nobody hates the Sims more than the Sims players. I hate the Sims.

Doki Doki Literature Club. This game. Oh my goodness flipping gracious. I was exposed to this game when I was very young and impressionable, and it has actually shaped me as a person honestly I think. I drew fanart of Sayori uh... hanging out... my grade school teacher saw it and told my mom, then she posted about it... then she got interviewed and an article was written and she went on a talk show that was basically "moms blaming the content their children consume rather than regulating what they see to shield them" also my mother and I are chill, love her. I don't regret this experience bc it's funny and also doki doki has shaped me as a person and I like me somewhat. It was genuine art. Disturbing, but in the right way that really chills you to your bones. It catches you off guard and really subverts every expectation, making a crazy experience. So to a young mind who found disturbing, dark things interesting, this game was EVERYTHING. I fell deeply in love with it and everything like it from then on. Even when I rewatched it after years of basically being banned from it, it still surprised me, I still enjoyed it, I still got spooked. It's meta-story telling takes cliches and uses them WELL, twisting them into something new to make them feel more real. It also taps into existential themes, which I just freaking adore. I adore everything about this game honestly. Each character was basically just a trope from surface level, but as the game progressed they were given amazing, realistic and beautiful depth. 10/10, life-changing shiz right there.

cough cough, anyways.

I have hobbies.

I like draw, I like write and I like read, I like sculpting, but I flipping hate pottery it drives me insane I hate making pots and boxes and stupid pinch bowls let me make a flipping chimera you blasted school system flip you. (I took pottery class. I'm still in pottery class. Made the mistake of signing up for it again. I hate it)

I like to dissect things, not literally, lol. It's why I like psychology and analyzing stuff. People are all so unique. They're kinda maybe like clay. They pick things up whether they like it or not (like dirt or hair that was left on the school table, very nasty), and they get molded into a unique little guy. And I like knowing WHY they're a unique little guy, and I like knowing HOW being molded into a unique little guy makes them act and think based off of their unique experiences and perspective.

YEAH SO THAT WAS... JUST RAMBLING NOT RLLY ABOUT ME AT ALL. But if you really think about it is an about me because everything we consume shapes us and says something about who we are and what things we like. Cough. Dunno how to end this... bye? Uh...

So yeah, greetings internet strangers and maybe hopeful acquaintances? 😊

[t-oppenheimer]

All That's Beautiful, The Mental Divide

To proceed apace, no conversation can be had about prominent fantasy rpgs without discussing the original racial science underscoring 'mental stats': the failed hypothesis that there are human beings who are more capable of reason, of retaining information and applying it as well and those who are less. That, moreover, there must be a singular, objective and quintessential trait which is fixed and measurable within any given human and, when all of humanity is honestly and earnestly compared, a Normal distribution will occur. This explicit application of the theory, most thankfully, has become entirely gauche in the imperial core, and the latest rpg material I've read it reproduced is classic World of Darkness material (such as the earliest editions of Vampire the Masquerade). The bastard children of that IQ remains with us today, however.

A key component of contemporary rpg design are inherent opportunity costs. To excel in one area means to have sacrificed in another, and this I do not object to. It creates interesting and engaging design space where a person discovers what compromises they are willing to make to bring their flawed and all-the-more human character to life. I only question "stupidity" as a valid flaw and drawback.

We may think our society enlightened in our abandonment of IQ, but we are surrounded, indeed inundated, with its descendants. We will keep critique of the field of psychology brief as this is ultimately RPG design discourse, but I encourage the reader to reflect on our society's pleas to engage with archetype making such as the Myers-Briggs, or Gardener's more immediately evocative "Intelligence types". Just like IQ before it, there is no empirical basis and ascribing these ideas comes out to advanced, well funded astrologies.

Consider the Student of War Feature for the Battle Master Archetype of the Fighter class in WotC's most recent product: the essence of a fighter who applies his superior knowledge to his martial prowess. Two additional proficiencies, one of which is exclusively for the ribbon. By personal experience one would be better off using the Eldritch Knight archetype, whose abilities at least actually are guaranteed to key off of Intelligence-- but then WotC has never bridged the martial-caster divide so at that rate consider why one should restrain themselves to 1/3rd casting benefits for nothing but the 'vibes'.

Wisdom and Charisma have both seized upon the domain of Intelligence and all three come away malnourished for it. RAW Charisma's skills have miniscule application in the archetypical dungeon environment. If a facilitator permits any use of Charisma skills to completely bypass a combat challenge, then I am afraid your group is no longer playing Dungeons and Dragons! I don't know how to define what they would be playing, but I sincerely recommend such a group stop engaging in their Calvinball and play Fabula Ultima instead, a game whose mechanics actually support an ethos where combat is a fail state. Wisdom-- I weep for thee-- is sort of a magical defense stat but otherwise just reserves a variety of recollection tasks to Clerics and Druids even though nothing about the mechanics or writing of WotC's products should imply that the practice of any spell caster is materially different than any other. Once again, Fabula Ultima addresses this issue with sterling clarity.

To hell with the whole poisoned tree, I say! The first thing to fix is the whole abandonment that these traits are fixed at all, secured with the Litered progression system which will be the subject of a future writing. These things don't slowly grow with time and effort, but can explode in potential over the matter of seconds depending on the context. This firmly erases all allegory drawn to our unfortunate, real life counterparts inventions of a definite intelligence.

Technical and Beauty are both much closer to personal invention than Athlete and Precise: to prevent Rhetorics as a spell casting ability from becoming dominant, I divided its supposed duties in half. Technical represents those abilities one could obtain in an institution or from theory alone: creation and recollection. Beauty represents skills which are more contextual, mysterious and require an 'x-factor': coercion, negotiation, soothing and performance. Then in combination these both contribute back into a final "Rhetorics" score which becomes directly useful in combat.

Next will be the last word on my classes and that single stroke I might be proudest of: that final niche of "renown".

[wiredtiresias]

This is an open journal entry. Just thinking my thoughts, and sharing in case someone benefits. I’m not, like, disavowing anyone or anything, not a callout post, or anything like that. It’s not at that level to me. I don’t hate any of those people, i continue to have a parasocial love for a number of them. I still have a subscription, and there’s shows I’ll probably keep watching. for now.

But gosh how fast the magic of dropout is fading for me. I always had critiques, but a few months ago, I still breathed dropout. D20 was my favorite show, period. Going back to previous seasons was an easy comfort. Now, it’s like, whatever, idk. Some of those stories are still close to my heart, but it’s not a cozy ride for me anymore.

There is a certain level of acceptance trans girls do for everything, where the world isn’t built for us, and we accept it. Almost all media isn’t for us, and we kind of turn off parts of ourselves to watch it comfortably. If we didn’t, we’d have, like, five books and ten web comics to read and no television.

It wasn’t until a bunch of girls on here turned themselves back on and complained that I had to look at how much empty air was in this pillow. How part of the reason I am so eager to see Evan Kelmp as a trans woman is because there are no trans women with lines in misfits and magic. Nor in most of the seasons. There’s been one (I think 3-4 of the questing queens are non-binary, but I don’t see anything anywhere that any of them call themselves women) at the table in d20 history.

And that wasn’t a huge problem! After all, we’re just one kind of person. One kind of person that’s like in the top 3 targets for fascists, but just one of the three (barring intersections of course…) Until we got a mis mag season 2, the show that is ostensibly a fuck you to terfism and a revision of some painful stuff for girls like me, and there’s even less tgirl content than last time (unless—no, stop it. Not now). And I was like “yeah, this is getting…uncomfortable.” And I know, they plan these things out in advance, pre-taped, but on the tails of this discourse, this discourse of “why are there more drag queens than trans girls on dropout?” we go…back to dungeons and dragons queens for a season 2. Like the best case scenario is they’re not listening. I hope they’re not listening. This isn’t some sort of response, I fucking hope it isn’t anyway.

And some people have come out of the woodwork to say weeeeird shit in the wake of trans women complaining about this. Misunderstanding people on purpose sometimes, in other cases just going full mask off to say trans women “just aren’t marketable,” like that’s not literally what the complaint is about, or that they just don’t exist in LA…or that there are only so few of us period.

Dropout is just some 2nd/3rd tier streaming service. They’ve always been pretty white, and pretty cis. They’re only so big, they can’t do everything, and they can’t do everything they do right. I know that. But they do talk a big game about doing it for all of us who no one else will do it for.

Except, not for me. Not for girls like us. Not really. I’m still watching, but I see that now. It’s just another thing that’s not really for us.

We’ve got some great stories about how fucking hard our lives are, but I have to…live one, so I’m still looking for stories where people coercively asssigned male get to play, experiment, laugh, feel safe, and end up or stay in transfemininity. No awful coming out, no isekai gender bender excuses, no undead/time travel psych torture, no Ranma Saotome gender Hokey Pokey. Stories about the joy of becoming or being yourself, and the magic of that, because it is magical, something that acknowledges that it’s hard, but isn’t about how it’s hard. Nice stuff for us.

My recs for that:

Yellow Brick Ramble, Daisy Finch McGuire (she has it rough at home but she leaves asap)

the one piece wano arc (good luck getting there), Eiichiro Oda

is it strange to feel dysphoric coming back from an isekai?, Squipkechi

I quit being a man, I got cancer so I decided to dress up as a woman and fall in love, Half-Me

She is convinced her half-brother is a girl, Mizukami Ice

And for the fembies, I cross-dressed for the irl meetup, Kurano I Want to Be a Cute Anime Girl, Azul Crescent

[purple-templar]

~ Welcome ~

What is Purple Templar Stories?

I'm planning to use this blog as kind of the center hub for my content. I love writing and want to start getting some of my writing out there. I think mainly I'll be writing fanfiction for whatever my current obsession is (Twisted Wonderland). I do apologize in advance for the random nerdy ramblings that will probably appear at all unholy hours of the day. I don't know how consistent or often I'll be able to be with my posts because I'm always unhealthily busy. I'm kind of just trying to share my writing here so that I can have an outlet for all of the random ideas in my head instead of just letting them stew and then die. I do also have an A03 now where I may post some of my stories that are probably too long to just post for some poor soul to attempt to read on Tumblr.

Who am I?

You can just call me Purple, Templar, or Anna; either one is fine with me. I'm an 18-year-old female with what I have been told is a disturbingly low amount of free time for someone my age lol. Sadly, for me, Truck-Kun has not given me a visit and my mother's interventions have thus far prevented me from working myself to death, so I remain here in this realm and have not yet achieved my ultimate goal of getting Isesaki'd to Night Raven College. I'm always a bit of a mess but I love to write even if any confidence in said writing was long ago squashed, so I hope anyone even if it's just one small person enjoys my writing.

Requests

I am open to requests but currently only for Twisted Wonderland, Obey Me, Gravity Falls, and Transformers Prime because those are the only fandoms that I feel knowledgeable enough to participate in. The only thing I can really offer is long-winded mini-novellas, ramblings, and the funky headcanons that lurk in the dark caves of my sleep-deprived noggin and held captive in the dungeons of Anna La-La Land.

Rules

Please be nice. I'm always open to constructive criticism and discussion for opposing opinions or theories to the ones that I may present in my posts but please be cordial. I believe that discourse is an important part of writing and fandom but that does not mean that general nastiness for the sake of nastiness is something that I will allow to remain on my blog.

If you're under eighteen please do not interact with my blog. I do plan to post more mature content and NSFW writings that those under eighteen may not be suited to handle.

[rhela-xiv]

Taking a break from my regularly scheduled posting to do this. Advanced warning: rambling incoming. There's been a lot of conversation, and discourse, about whether or not the content in Dawntrail is "too difficult" for casual players. And after the experience I had today, I can't help but wonder if some of that feeling isn't the result of the attitudes of many long-time XIV players. Sure, there's a certain amount of "get good" that goes along with having a character at level 100, but some things just come down to whether or not you've seen a fight before. And are we really giving people the kindness and patience to learn and improve? I spent more than an hour in a level 100 dungeon today. We wiped more than 10 times across all three bosses. This isn't about my frustration with "oh I'll run a quick roulette before lunch" turning into a 75 minute excursion. This is about how the other people in my party reacted, and why I think the XIV community can do better. More under the cut.

I queue into Alexandria as a tank. I see a DPS and a Healer "Viewing Cutscene". "first time, forgive me" pops up, from the healer. "nw~ need me to pull a lil slower?" I don't mind doing that, especially in higher level dungeons where you can easily wipe to trash if someone misses a critical heal, or doesn't see the AoE indicator under the wall-to-wall pack of enemies. We get to the first boss. Which is not an easy boss the first time, or even the fifth time. There's a lot going off on top of each other, the safe spots are small and not always easy to see in the window of time you have to find them, and it's not very forgiving if you miss a mechanic. The healer dies, and despite the best efforts of our summoner to get everyone up again, we wipe. And wipe again. I double check to make sure everyone understands the mechanics, and it's just a timing thing. All good, we keep going. (I'll acknowledge my own failings here, I ate a lot of vuln stacks. Someone stuck a Dorito on me and it was just too much pressure.) And keep wiping. But we're getting further in the fight each time, and cleaner. At some point, the following comes in from the healer: "I'm sorry, I just might not be good enough" And it absolutely gutted me. Because I've been there. As a healer, as a DPS, and even as a tank. When it feels like you're trying your hardest, and you swear you can feel the other pixels on your screen getting more pissed at you by the second. The first time I ran Aurum Vale, I got so frustrated I cried and nearly quit the game. I had a similar experience with Heroes Gauntlet. The people in my parties were flat out -mean- about every missed mechanic, and every death. I still, to this day, with several Extreme clears and at least one Savage clear under my belt, get anxious when Aurum Vale pops up in Leveling. It would have been really easy to let the healer drop out, or kick them, or vote abandon. But what would that really have accomplished other than making someone feel like they're not good enough to enjoy the game that we're all here because we love?

All of this to say: For you, it might be a daily roulette between meetings or on your lunch break or after a long day at work. For someone in your party, that might be their MSQ experience. They might be learning. They might be coming back from a two year break between expansions. It costs absolutely nothing but time and a little bit of patience to be kind. And if we don't give people time and opportunity to learn, the whole community suffers for it. Dying is not the end of the world. Messing up a mechanic is not the end of the world. I've seen a lot of comments about "getting comfortable with messing up" floating around, but that only works if the other people in the party are also comfortable with messing up. With wiping and restarting three, four, TEN TIMES, and continuing on.

It was a level 100 dungeon this time, but I've been in ARR trials where someone queues in to a party that's half sprouts going through the fight for the first time, and gets pissed when there's a wipe. I had someone abandon me with two brand new players fighting Titan for the first time because we wiped twice. And we have to stop doing that to people. I can say for damned sure that the healer I played with today has a much clearer understanding of the mechanics in Alexandria bosses now. Because the party was patient, and gracious about mistakes, and wasn't afraid to own their own mistakes. And the next time they queue in for expert, they'll do better. And if everyone extends the same courtesy I experienced today, the whole community gets better together. Last thing. Rorrie the Summoner from Diabolos, if by some chance this finds you: you have the patience of a saint and you were absolutely the MVP of that run. I hope the people you play with regularly appreciate the hell out of you, because I sure did.

[narbevoguel]

So Splatoon Community

I'm gonna vent my heart out, so I apologize in advance for the possible long text. Anyway.

Splatoon community is a funny one, one I cannot fathom to be even anywhere near. And yes, before anyone says or thinks anything, I am fully aware that all communities have their bad apples, but at least I can talk about anything easily to others in other communities. I can still find people interested in talking about characters or monster ecology in the Monster Hunter community, about the possibilities that New World might have in store for MH lore from here on out, it's not always having to deal with or partake in graphics or game mechanics discourse (World good, Rise bad. Old Gen good, new gen bad, etc.) Same with the Legend of Zelda community, I've made so many good friends in the past few years, and I'm forever grateful I can always talk to them about anything LoZ wise, lore, games, dungeons, NPCs, literally anything lol. Even smaller, more niche communities like Risk of Rain or Megaman.

But Splatoon? Oh boy. You have to deal with nothing but people's takes. You wanna talk about the lore? Nope, gotta deal with either people not interested in talking about that (like, the vast majority of the community), or the few that will only care about the lore as long as idol shipping is involved. It's been like what, 2 months since the release of Side Order, and I have not been able to sit and talk about the lore to anyone aside from small bits of venting here and there with friends that don't even play the game or are into it, even they seem more interested than the fandom. You wanna talk about gameplay? Gotta deal with most of the community making their opinions from splatoon youtube, heck, I even have to deal with people in the fandom that haven't even played a single game tell me I'm racist for picking Shiver on a Splatfest instead of Frye, whom I adore greatly.

I can't even bother looking for a Salmon Run farming gang, which has been my goal for months, because most of the people who play the mode are busy blaming others for their failure, including the Salmon Run influencers that made the guides and helpful content for free out of their love for the game, or just not as committed.

Long story short, can't talk about anything without people making it about a ship, can't talk about DLC lore without people making it about Pearlina, can't find myself a party that's willing to grind for hours on Salmon Run cause I'm prone to running into people complaining for a couple wave losses, I can't say I like A without being accused of hating B, when I never said that. Headcanons are also good, but god forbid if you ask people here to respect yours or don't overstep.

I'm tired. And I'll still get Deep Cut plushies one day, cause I love them. And Acht merch, if possible.

[liondrakes]

Reposting my response since my alterhuman blog is currently shadowbanned:

I come from Toril, and for those who don't know, Toril is the world belonging to The Forgotten Realms of Dungeons & Dragons. To get to the long and short of it, Toril is one of the Planes' greatest magic magnets. My world is synonymous with chaos and high adventure for this exact reason, and what I'm about to tell you is just one example of that.

One of the wildest practices we have is planehopping. Although it didn't originate from Toril, it's certainly quite popular with residents of Toril.

If you're interested in good, old-fashioned fantasy fuckery, here's the rundown:

The realms that my source calls "campaign settings" exist as their own universes where I come from, independent from each other but capable of being accessed through either advanced levels of magic or the assistance of a Planar being. In terms of how people achieve these means, both sound harder than they actually are. All it takes is one overachieving wizard or one kiss-ass warlock to get the job done.

Individuals who regularly venture between these universes are known as Planehoppers. Ranging anywhere from seasoned wizards such as Mordenkainen to adventurous parties itching to become cosmic legends, planehopping culture is well-documented but hardly ever encouraged. If anything, it's in the same vein of things you'd argue over at Thanksgiving. Magic is not out of the norm whatsoever, but what type of magic you practice will always be squabbled over.

As one would assume, Planehoppers rarely stay in one realm after they depart from their realm of origin. Many pursue this lifestyle with individual goals in mind, whether it be Mordenkainen's quest to protecting The Balance (a cosmic force that is exactly as it sounds) or a ballsy adventurer looking for treasures across the realms.

Some individuals become Planehoppers as a rather extreme form of soul-searching. Spiritual Planehoppers take to the stars and explore the realms beyond to broaden their understanding of existence. They are the minority of Planehoppers; even so, their introspections create some pretty interesting spiritual and philosophical discourses.

Although planehopping is a point of contention in some realms (like my own), it is far from a new practice. In fact, there's a couple of civilizations that exposed the fabric of the Planes early on, forged their own means of travel and became culturally nomadic as a result. The most notable of which are Astral Elves.

Having left the Feywilds to further their knowledge, Astral Elves were the first spacefarers and would observe other realms from afar. Some members of the community argued that there was too much risk in entering the Material Plane and exploring its realms when they didn't originate from them.

Others insisted that this could establish interplanar diplomacies and unprecedented opportunities for future generations of Astral Elves. Lest they forget, this also meant an unrivaled wealth of knowledge for Elvenkind. All of it was in their midst and could be theirs if they took the chance. Unsurprisingly, this led to division.

Some Astral Elves weren't wrong in being cautious, however. Constant planehopping isn't without its consequences. Time passes differently from realm to realm. Depending on how far a neighboring "setting" is from one's own, a simple visit for a couple of hours could've been a couple of years in your realm's time.

Following up on the previous bulletpoint, traveling from realm to realm is one thing. After all, most campaign settings exist within the Material Plane. Traveling from plane to plane is a completely different case. Why? It's because Planes are the very layers of our reality. Traveling from the Material Plane to the Outer Planes, for example, would have the most extreme effect out of any venture, likely causing centuries (at most, a millennium) to pass when one returns to their realm.

This affects one's biological clock as well. Getting adjusted to the passage of time is never easy, no matter how experienced one is. That's because traveling feels so sudden when it wasn't sudden at all. Reckless planehopping is a fast way to fuck up your life, because unwittingly, you're stretching out your age like elastic. Astral Elves are nearly immortal because of this.

Mind you, this isn't even touching on the fact that some beings have interplanar/dimensional counterparts of themselves.

Most Planehoppers are fortunate enough to not cross paths with them if they have any, but those odds are never zero!

I hope this was of interest. I had fun to talking about this!

I want to hear about other worlds. Tell me something about your world, please

[ganurath]

Whenever I hear about people personifying ChatGPT and software like it, my mind goes to the cannibalism panel from Advanced Dungeons and Discourse. They only seem like they feel pain.

[vanxcks]

if any of my community mutuals are black could you tell me your opinion on advanced dungeons and dragons being taken down?? i feel like I'm too separate from the issue to decide whether i agree or not

[elfdragon12]

Apparently there's Boyfriend Dungeon discourse that is basically:

Game "hey, content warning, there will be references of stalking and unwanted advances."

Audience "hey! There is stalking and unwanted advances in this game! How dare you!"

I guess this is mostly on Twitter, but I had seen a Steam review before now quibble about that it was more than just "references" to it.

Like... Guys. Really? Really, really?

The content warning is there for a reason. Also... I'm gonna say... That a creep lurking around is a pretty common romance trope. And, thankfully, none of the legit romance options do this to you, just the antagonist. Which is more than can be said for some.

Take content warnings seriously. If stalking and other unwanted advances are something that really do trigger you, than this game is just not for you.