#and then idk come up with a plan to save the world using the super powerful magic prince and secret fire queen and guard with the info

[acourtofquestions]

The true villain of Heir of Fire MISSCOMMUNICATION

because for the love of wyrd CHAOL CELAENA DORIAN just sit in a room together and talk and please especially the latter SOMEONE FILL DORIAN IN🤦‍♀️😅😂

[crystalandrose]

So my idea for my version of evil ford is that his timeline splits at the science fair incident. This ford was paranoid enough to know stanley would somehow fuck up his chance, so he fixes the machine and takes the toffee peanut bag as evidence (maybe he also pulls security footage). So ford makes it into his college and stan gets punished (but not kicked out). Stanley runs away of his own volition due to the anger at ford leaving him behind and also ratting him out to their parents. Stan partly wants to prove hes just as good as his brother and also wants to prove it to himself.

This means Ford never met Fiddleford in college. Instead, after getting a lot more grant money than from Backupsmore, he goes to Gravity Falls and works alone. Eventually, after he makes the deal with bill, he realizes he doesnt have enough experience making computer things (sourcing parts and such) to do this alone (even if bill is helping him). So he puts an ad for a research assistant good with computers. Perhaps some of this extra grant money went towards pay, and Fiddleford took the opportunity. But having no real connection to Fiddleford, Ford is more up to use him as a tool to get what he wants. So when Bill says his use is up and its time to get rid of him, Ford obliges.

Maybe since he went to this fancy college he had an easier time making connections or doing schooling quicker. So this extra time means he spends more time in partnership with bill and the connections make it easier for him to make side money he can also funnel into the portal project.

This Ford also learns more about Bill's backstory because he connects more to Bill (disconnect from family, not feeling recognized, wanting a home with people that get him/etc). So this guy is more sympathetic and knows more about Bill's desires (create a nightmare realm). Maybe Ford rationalizes it as a good thing or thinks he can talk Bill out of some destruction, or maybe at this point he wants some revenge on the world himself. So hes still on board with the portal when Bill reveals its actual purpose.

However, maybe Stanley needs another place to sleep on the couch at and sees his brother in some headline or mentioned as an inventor for some product. Or his brother needs a test dummy that can speak for the portal so he calls him. Or maybe Ford wants to potentially say his last goodbyes before he goes into what he knows is potentially the end of earth.

Fight still happens, Ford wants Stanley to thank him for money hes sent the family, for not completely ostracizing him from the family after what he did, offering him a place to stay, idk. Ford fights him, Bill possesses Ford at some point as another try to prevent Ford from getting sucked into the portal. This freaks Stan out and he pushes him. Ford, holding journal 3 (which does not have pages ripped out), chucks it at stans head (not to help him but to literally hurt him). Stan is like "wtf did i just do" and shuts the portal down, reads through the journals and thinks Ford is unwillingly possessed by a demon and spends his days trying to get him back.

Ford and Bill are now stuck in the portal, going through dimensions trying to get back to Earth in order to reopen the portal and finish what they started. I think Stan is fully anti-cipher-ified, planning on killing bill as soon as he shows up again in order to save his brother. Im thinking this Dipper and Mabel got killed by zombies or something. So when Ford does get back, stan is there super unhinged and angry and somehow eventually kills bill, leaving no statue behind. Evil ford is like "wtf" and devastated, but keeps looking for a way to bring him back. Maybe this Bill, having not gained sympathy from the axolotl, decides hes not worth rehabilitation and so hes actually dead in this reality.

(Then "canon" bill opens up a reality rift and evil ford comes through, hoorah)

[carterstarlight25]

Hi everyone! So I been thinking hard on a rather unique 3way crossover that I been considering about writing. Please feel free to give me your input.

The 3 way crossover consist of DC x DP x Halo Infinite. With the ships being Jason and Danny (Obviously). Master Chief and Bruce as the second ship to be included. And Tim Simping for Katrina. (Cortana 2.0 from Infinite)

I see these possible dynamics being cute as Chief will learn how to be human, and how to love. Him and Team Phantom Finding Family. Also I don't mean the bull Chief pulled in the god awful Halo TV Show!

Bruce will learn that killing isn't an act of God. It isn't you kill once, and become a mindless murderer. That there is a difference, between a Soldier doing his duty to protect humanity and his loved ones. And a mindless killer, enjoying the horror of its victims as the bleed out with please for mercy. Effectively stealing their innocent lives... Oh also learn to not be as emotionally constipated after Katrina effectively out smarts him into a therapy session with Jazz Nightingale. (Last name changed after she saved Danny from the their parents lab…)

Danny will learn what it means to be apart of a family. And how screwed the GIW are.~

Jason, finds out he’s ghost pregnant and a heavy underdeveloped Halfa. All while the Pit becomes a full ghost that he ends up birthing. Which is gonna be a Dinosaur that will be Jason’s “Nightmare.” To his Fright Knight. (I am really wanting to go for Altispinax, or Spinax Vivosaur from Fossil Fighters series. But idk, might just use the Giga from Jurassic World Dominion. Just to change it up from what I seen people have the Pits become.

How Chief comes into the story however, would be introduced via Clockwork leaving a very obviously placed Halo Infinite Xbox Game case with a unmarked disc inside it. In an Alley Danny was taking refuge in. With a sticky note of course. And a few chapters in, when he was alone in Wayne Manor decided to play the game. And by Play. I mean go ghost and jump into the game. But of course. With his Fabulous Phantom Luck (trademark pending.) A new power began to make itself known as the code latched on him on his way out. Bringing Master Chief and Katrina to life in the real world, with all his memories and Katrina with the entire UNSC Database.)

While that’s how I plan to bring in Chief and Co. the main gist of this will be an all out battle, to destroy the GIW. Outlaws, Sirens, Chief and the entire Batfam Team up.

Despite the JL repealing the Anti Ecto Acts. A few Private donors continue to find them to get their hands on Ectoplasm. The League of Assassin’s, Lex Luthor. And of Course Vlad Masters will be the main villains connected to the GIW.

I can see Jason and Chief getting along like wildfire. And when Bruce finds out Jason is one leading the squad his kids, trying to get them to go on a date with Master Chief. It leads to some funny moments I would think. And of course can’t forget Chief reluctantly surprise appearance in Civies at one of Bruce’s Gala’s. (I kinda wanna make him wear Olive Green suit and dress pants. Black Bow Tie with a white under suit. Black belt. And an Olive Green Military Cap to hide his Neural Implant. Maybe having all his Medals from the service pinned to his chest. At least the ones that match ones in this universe. So not all of them obviously.

And Jason would absolutely catch his father freeze up when he sees the handsome Spartan.

For looks regarding Chief’s face since we don’t know what he looks like. I was thinking Caucasian Male, short brown hair that could be the right height to spike it up at least. Not a complete buzz cut. Rather bright blue eyes. That do not glow like Danny’s. But at least around that color. Of course he will have some scars on his left Temple, his lip and across his right eye. Freckles too. His muscle mass would of course be a bit more built then Jason. Which says something. But, you know. Super Soldier and all. (Update: I did in-fact Draw it ^^. If you want to see. Let me know if you wanna see Master Chief in a suit at the Gala ^^)

The Ages I was gonna go for was as follows.

Alfred: Immortal (Thanks Clockwork!)

John (Master Chief): 46yrs (I know it’s not his cannon Age. But it’s what I want for the story.)

Bruce: 45yrs

Barbara: 29yrs

Dick: 26yrs

Jazz: 21yrs

Jason: 21yrs

Cass: 20yrs

Sam: 20yrs

Danny: 19yrs

Duke: 19yrs

Steph: 19yrs

Tucker: 19yrs

Val: 19yrs

Tim: 18yrs

Ellie: 14yrs

Damien: 12yrs

Katrina: 6 months old

And that’s the little Fanfic I been thinking about. Of course it’s just an idea. but I think it would be fun to write.

[bryce-bucher]

.50 Caliber 3D Platformer Post #7

Environment AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAART:

Finally, I've gotten around to making the environment art for the one level that I've got rn. I've been playing the system shock remake, and I really love how that game creates the illusion of grungy detail that reveals itself to be very low-resolution textures up-close. I knew I wanted the game to look like of grungy for a while now, but I didn't know exactly how I would go about achieving it. I toyed with the idea of layering photocopy textures over everything, but I eventually settled on using low resolution textures that are dithered with web colors. I'm quite happy with how it ended up looking. I think it has a source engineish vibe that reveals itself to be more colorful and strange up-close.

The Textures:

The process for making these is a lot simpler and less time consuming that how I usually make textures. This is mostly because I'm relying a lot more on the baked lighting to make things look good in this particular game, so the textures can get away with being less detailed. I'm mostly just grabbing stuff off of websites like textures.com and adjusting the contrast / coloration before shrinking them down and lowering the color depth. Here are some examples of how they look wowee wow:

Lightinggg:

For this game I'm using baked lighting as opposed to vertex based or realtime. I really like how it looks, and it ends up saving me a lot of time. If you don't know how baked lighting works, basically I place lights around a scene in unity, and then I use anything but unity's built in lightbaker that is bad and sucks (I use bakery) to essentially turn the lighting into a texture map that is placed on the mesh. It turns lights into textures basically. It is a lot more performant than real-time lighting, and it usually looks a lot better as well. With this game's particular art style, everything really ends up coming together with the lighting, and it would look pretty trash without it.

Cameo Skinz:

I've always really liked putting cameos in my stuff from artists that I'm friends with and/or take a lot of inspiration from. In this game, I plan to include a lot of unlockable skins for the player character that are characters from games / animations / whatever that I like. So far I've made a couple to breakup my time working on environment art. Check um out:

This one is Peter Shorts from an upcoming game called You Are Peter Shorts. I loved this dude at first sight and it was the first skin I ended up making. He was really fun to make because he has no body or hands, so I ended up making his head/torso one big thing that is attached to the head bone. You are Peter Shorts is made by the talented ondydev who I don't think I've actually asked permission to include this skin yet. If it doesn't end up in the final game pretend I didn't post about it lol. You should check out their previous game Tres-Bashers if you haven't.

This one is Appy from Brawlers World! Brawlers World is one of those creative projects that is so great that it gives me envy. I'm honestly so excited to be able to have this little dude in my game, and I think he ended up fitting into the art style super well. Those are the only two skins I've made so far. I have a lot more planned including Nova from Anodyne 2, Frog from Jamphibian, Knight of Trye from Knight's Try, Orbo from Peeb Adventures & Orbo's Odyssey, and some characters from my own stuff. They aren't a high priority right now because I have to actually make the game first, but I'll probably make a few here and there to curb burnout, and I'll show them off whenever I do. I am v passionate about the cool shit my peers are making, and I hope other people are too.

Conclusion:

idk it's like 8 am and I haven't slept. I've just been workin a lot while listening to the magnus archives. I guess I can turn this conclusion into me talking about the magnus archives. I'm on episode 197 while writing this so im almost done. It is p cool and I like how much it changes tonally overtime. It really feels like a big long journey, and I like media that can do that kinda thing. It is now a series that I will forever associate with the development of this game considering I listened to it all while working on it. It's kinda funny how that happens. Sometimes I'll be in a location in one of my games and it'll make me think about some video essay or w/e that I was watching while making it. Anyway, have a good day every1 pls tyty

[happyk44]

actually annabeth joining luke's army as a double agent for chb but percy doesn't know this so he just thinks alright and grabs grover and hooks it over there bc annabeth does what she wants and he knows there's no convincing her otherwise bc she's a stubborn ass and also ares fucking sucks so as far as percy's concerned the gods can suck it based on that alone

grover is just ??? bc he does NOT want to be over here and percy's just like "look, we can't convince annabeth to not be part of monster army, so the only option is to be part of it ourselves" and annabeth walks in on them trying to join (or rather percy trying to join for both of them and grover looking on the verge of tears) and she's just ??? bc what the fuck percy why are you two here

whole time percy is going on a rant about ares and how he sucks and how he's pretty sure the god has abused clarisse ("maybe we should get clarisse to sign up with us") because no one believes that he wants to join luke's army and they just thinkk he wants to spy on them so he's trying to show that he thinks gods (well at least one god) is a total ass and can get obliterated and percy will be happy to do that bc he did it once before, he can totally do it again! and if they get clarisse she can deliver the final blow as an FU

someone asks why grover's there and percy is like "um. he's my best friend? he has to come with me? what, you think I'm gonna fucking fight my best friend? are you stupid?"

meanwhile grover is having the worst panic attack of his life. like why is this how he discovers percy has no morals. couldn't it be something smaller like putting french fries in a strawberry milkshake?

and annabeth is resisting the urge to start screaming and now she's gotta vouch for percy and her vouch for percy is basically "if it came to saving me and grover or a bus full of people about to plunge into the atlantic, percy would save us, no hesitation" and everyone's like "jesus christ, the hell is wrong with this kid" because like maybe they're on the side of a cannibalistic titan but they're not fucking evil

ofc once they're let into the group, annabeth drags them both to the side and wrings percy a new one for fucking up her double agent plans and they're both whisper-arguing bc it's not his fault he didn't know she didn't really shack up with the enemy, but like fuck off percy, you didn't have to follow me here! why the hell would you choose to come here, were you going to try and kidnap me and bring me back to camp by force??

and percy is just like "yes that is 100% what i was going to do, i was definitely not joining with the intent to be by your side and blow up olympus because i'd rather destroy the world than fight my friend" and grover turns to annabeth and is just "he's fucking lying" "yeah i know"

anyway grover is released as a double agent for the monster army (but actually for CHB) bc the idea is that he can help them get more demigods to their side as a searcher being sent out to grab kids and he's mentally banging his head bc NOW he has to figure out how to get unclaimed demigods safely to camp without making it look like he took them there on purpose and if it looks like he defected back to CHB, they'll probably kill annabeth and maim or imprison percy and good gods, percy i hate you so much rn

percy? idk. it's past summer so he just goes home and luke is like "bro you can't just fucking leave" "um no offense luke but if you try to stop me from going home to my mom who i love more than life itself i will legit eat you" and then he goes home

come december, grover is calling percy up like "hey i found these fucking powerful ass kids, plz help me get them to camp without making it look like i got them there on purpose" and so they gotta loop annabeth in who's just mentally banging her head and cursing percy out over this whole thing as she strategizes a way to get the army there but have them fuck up so badly it would look super suspicious if grover just shoved them over

so first she yells at percy then she makes grover call thalia up so she can help him and it'll be okay 'cause she's in the same area as him so it won't look suspicious, it'll just seem like camp sent her in with him, like they do sometimes when there's dangerous monsters that a satyr might not be able to handle by themselves.

and then she makes percy go with them as support for grover's "nefarious" deeds since thalia's there. and it's a whole fucking thing, and mentally she's just like "oh thank fuck" when artemis and the hunters show up.

they retreat back to wherever the monster army was at this time (not the boat, but like idk. atlas' post? were they all chilling there or was it just luke and some ppl being assholes and everyone else was still on the boat, i can't remember) and curse their loss of two powerful and clueless demigods, only for percy to call annabeth up a couple hours later like "hey, remember those kids from a couple hours ago with the manticore and the hunters and everything"

"percy it was two hours ago, ofc i remember it, my memory isn't as shit as yours" "right right, you're elephant" "oh my- why are you calling me!!" "oh yeah. uh. well. they're kinda in my house" "what??" "yeah they're sitting right across from me. my mom's giving them some hot chocolate."

"how the hell?"

"i have no clue. they also have no clue. they just, uh, didn't feel safe at camp, bc grover was being weird about trying to save them. which, um, yeah, makes sense. and they don't like thalia because her spear scares them 'cause they don't like lightning. and also the girl said the hunters keep trying to convince her to join them which is freaking her out, so they didn't want to stay at camp. and then suddenly they were in my house."

"..."

"what do i do?"

this time annabeth bangs her head physically on the closest wall. and somewhere in the fine forests of new york, grover is banging his head on the nearest tree, both of them unified in their feelings of "for fucks sake percy i hate you so much rn"

[lixenn]

♡ 𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐌𝐔𝐓𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐒. ♡ Tag 10 followers you’d like to get to know better

TAGGED BY @dreamieparadise

TAGGING. @childe-of-saulot @dontknow-willaddlater @tangomagnolija @moonlit-mystery-writer @cloudvaria I ain't tagging 10 people that's too much effort, also no pressure in doing this btw and if anyone else wants to participate go for it!

✧. ┊ 𝑵𝑨𝑴𝑬 : Lisa (don't mind sharing that because do you know how many people exist with that name? I can recall meeting at least ten in my life like dude this name is so fucking common in Germany)

✧. ┊ 𝑨𝑳𝑰𝑨𝑺 : Lix but that's just my most common nickname, I'm taking this oppurtunity to share my nickname collection:

Lixxie

Lixxy

Buddy (@myrmyrtheorca exclusive)

High Priestress and Name Bringer (@childe-of-saulot exclusive)

Gremlin

Lili (unlocked by @dreamieparadise)

Phoenix (also unlocked by momo but not often used)

Your Highness (unlocked by @rebo-chan though also not often used)

There might be more but those are the most common or unique I suppose >.<

✧. ┊ 𝑮𝑬𝑵𝑫𝑬𝑹 : Mystery! I don't fucking know what it is and I have no plans of finding out so my gender will stay unknown for me and the world lmao

✧. ┊ 𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑹 𝑺𝑰𝑮𝑵 : capricorn

✧. ┊ 𝑯𝑬𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻 : 170 cm

✧. ┊ 𝑺𝑬𝑿𝑼𝑨𝑳𝑰𝑻𝒀 : Like my gender this one is also a mystery! I'm some sort of queer as in not straight as in trying to define my sexuality gives me a headache. I'm probably also wandering around like a lost lamb on the aroace spectrum so yeah... I join Momo in being perpetually confused.

✧. ┊ 𝑨𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑨𝑮𝑬 𝑯𝑶𝑼𝑹𝑺 𝑶𝑭 𝑺𝑳𝑬𝑬𝑷 : Ummm... varies greatly? If I have a good run and it's during week days than somewhere between 7 and 8 hours. If I have an insomnia spell than it's between 4 hours and nothing. If I'm on holiday it's 8 hours or sometimes nothing when I hyperfixate on something. Me and sleep have a difficult realtionship.

✧. ┊ 𝑫𝑶𝑮 𝑶𝑹 𝑪𝑨𝑻 𝑷𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑶𝑵 : Cat person, their smug and dumb aura compels me.

✧. ┊ 𝑩𝑳𝑨𝑵𝑲𝑬𝑻 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑺𝑳𝑬𝑬𝑷 𝑾𝑰𝑻𝑯 : Ummm it's a blanket? Like a regular ass bed blanket, I ain't really special with blankets. It's currently my thinner one becuase it's summer. I do have more blankets, but I only ever sleep with one unless i get super cold and even then I often end up covered in just one when i wake up.

✧. ┊ 𝑫𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑴 𝑻𝑹𝑰𝑷 : Trip across to world to visit my online friends. I wanna go visit Japan with @unwrathful, I wanna chill with buddy at the beach in Italy, eat lots of food with @nxmimochi in Korea, hang out with my liege in Denmark and lots more! Unfortunately I kinda get major anxiety when I think about travelling alone especially via plane so I will need to overcome that first.

✧. ┊ 𝑩𝑳𝑶𝑮 𝑩𝑰𝑹𝑻𝑯𝑫𝑨𝑻𝑬 : 2020 but no clue about the month

✧. ┊ 𝑾𝑯𝒀 𝑰 𝑴𝑨𝑫𝑬 𝑨 𝑻𝑼𝑴𝑩𝑳𝑹 𝑩𝑳𝑶𝑮 : I really don't remember, maybe because I wanted to follow my favourite fanfic authors? Or because I basically had so many tumblr screenshots saved on pinterest I thought at this point I might just as well join. But honestly could be some completely different reason too it's been four years my memory isn't that good lmao

✧. ┊ 𝑼𝑹𝑳 𝑴𝑬𝑨𝑵𝑰𝑵𝑮 : it's based on one of my irl nicknames. Breakdown: Lisa -> Lischen (-chen suffic in german often indicates something cute and small but it can't be applied to every name and object it's a bit complicated) -> Lischenn (the additional n comes from me fucking up the nickname in put in a DS game and it stuck) -> Lixenn (replaced the sch with x because Idk it looked cool? once again I can't remember)

[itsslivernotsilver]

Ok dude I've been going nuts thinking about this show /pos

Since she's your fav, tell me about your favorite MIST moments PLEASE

ok hi sorry this took so long to answer i was overthinking everything and then i got distracted but this is literally the best question i’ve ever been asked omfg

honestly the main reason mist caught my eye is because i’ve always liked characters who are misunderstood by others. maybe it’s just projection but there’s something so compelling about character who can be surrounded by people who love and care for them, yet still feel isolated. when s2 finally released, i went on reddit (ew) to see how people reacted to her and it was split between “she’s cute i like her” and “oh my god she’s so annoying and terrible.” after that i loved her even more cause i got defensive lmao but all in all i just really like the premise of her character and i think she’s adorable and fun and she spices up the cast because sometimes they get a little monotone idk

so i don’t really feel like screen recording a bunch of videos and stuff so here’s some silly moments that i really liked in no particular order and then i’ll talk about other stuff

isn’t she adorable :)))

ok so one part that i really like is her convo with maddie about nostalgia in yair. something about this scene just hits really hard because she’s trying!!!! she’s really trying to connect with maddie in the only way she knows how. and it’s just never going to happen. there’s such a large gap between them that makes it almost impossible to fully understand one another. like. ok so maddie had been willing to empathize with her dad because while his upload was drastic, it was still her dad. she still has those bonds from before his upload and she can understand that he was once a person. but mist doesn’t have anyyy of that. she’s completely different and maddie can’t reconcile her digital-ness with her humanity because there’s not much to begin with. there’s a constant disconnect between the two and oh my GOD is it compelling your honor i love them so much

another thing that has always stood out was her fight with holstrom during apokalypsis and the aftermath. she immediately approaches holstrom with such fervor and she argues from a logical perspective, aka “you’re planning genocide, here’s the definition of genocide, my name is mist kim you killed my father prepare to die” type shit. but what ultimately gets her to rethink her views on him is that he frames his plan as saving a doomed society rather than committing genocide. the argument boils down to the main message of the show, “are UIs (and CIs) actually human and not just glorified corpses?” holstrom weaponizes her disconnect with nostalgia against her by calling it humanity’s fault rather than a Normal Human Emotion (also it’s super interesting how much he uses “us” when talking to her idk). and mist really struggles to reconcile the 2 perspectives she’s heard when it comes to nostalgia. she needs someone to inform her on things like social cues and human experiences because she’s never felt them. she tries to connect with maddie once again by saying “we talked about nostalgia, just like you and i” but maddie is obviously upset because she’s annoyed that mist simply can’t understand a lot of nuances regarding the importance of the physical world. i think maddie’s biases really shine here because of how quickly she shuts down mist rather than caspian who’s just like. sitting there the whole time lmao. she’s so set on labeling holstrom as genocidal because the two options he’s giving humanity are death or uploading, both of which are underneath living normally to her. mist, being a CI herself, gets that uploading isn’t necessarily the end all be all of life, and is “more open” to holstrom’s ideas of nostalgia being the true genocidal factor. i think this line from the short stories also adds a little flavor here, specifically “the way the shapes of her decision algorithms seemed adapted for the methods of warfare.”

obviously there’s a lot more expansion in the show but i feel like it’d be cool to mention this. she charges at holstrom harshly, but upon learning more information, she heads back to maddie and caspian to rethink the plan of attack, which is pretty warfare-y to me but idk i just thought it was a fun little connection.

finally i wanted to mention her plot line with the CIs real quick because it felt like a culmination of her whole character yk???? she’s fighting for a world where she can be with the UIs and humans she cares about, but she can also be with those who can fully understand her. it’s such a defining cause for her character and it’s just so well done. anyways i think that’s it for now but i just think mist is really neat and so is her sibling dynamic with maddie :)))

[starry-blue-echoes]

Further Thoughts inspired by the spacesuit horror comic (and a lil by the rest of the guy's gallery frankly)

So. The pillarmen.

A lot of stuff about them is vague and idk exactly what I'm remembering wrong or whatever, but!

From what I recall Kars and Esidisi used the masks to elevate themselves above other pillarmen, created masks for other creatures like humans and horses along the way, and the long term project was the perfect mask to make them the ultimate lifeform.

I wonder how much control they had over those manipulations of their biology, when they mutated themselves thus.

The form Esidisi takes after Joseph initially beats him- nothing but a nervous system with maybe a few blood vessels - he must have known he could do that, by how seamlessly he was able to hide, to possess Suzie.

Was that knowledge because he and Kars had planned it, had gone through the cold calculations of survival, deciding what parts of him to reinforce the best against hamon, even knowing it might be excruciatingly painful, not quite sure how well he could recover if he was reduced to such a state -

Was that knowledge from experience, from Kars thinking he'd died before, cornered by hamon users, all his flesh burning away bit by bit- perhaps a battle of attrition, cutting off hamon-tainted flesh again and again even as his energy to replenish it runs dry, before a final desperate attempt to peel away every inch of himself save the bare essentials so he could escape - and even then they found him - but he wove his veins and neurons into their own in an act of desperation, puppeteering them from the inside, taking advantage of the ensuing chaos to flee back to Kars before the hamon user wrests back enough control to burn him out of their body, they manage it, just shy of fast enough to kill him, he stumbles into the cave in a body ablaze and Kars rips apart the flesh to reveal his lover and Esidisi cannot move or speak for weeks, months, as he recovers, and all he can say is that he saw the sun through the hamon user's eyes and it was beautiful -

And in the end it happens (again) it comes to this, Esidisi stripped down to only the most essential parts of himself, knowing this time there's no way out, this time he'll burn, but he can at least give Kars, Kars who lacks this gift, this curse, to survive after your flesh burns away, the chance to see the sun -

(and Kars gets a gift/curse of his own, to achieve everything he'd ever wanted but incapable of appreciating it and utterly alone, unable to ever die-)

I wonder how vampires/pillarmen might respond to ionizing radiation besides UV, since it never comes up in cannon. I mean, most likely it'd burn the same as UV if not worse, but -

Would even touches of it poison them? What if it didn't kill outright? What if it disabled or weakened their healing factor? What if it only seemed that way because the healing factor was entirely absorbed healing the radiation damage, until suddenly, perhaps even well after the exposure, it gives out entirely, and they rot from the inside out. Radiation can cause cancer too- and with a healing factor like that, so many rapidly dividing cells... Perhaps with other parts of them giving in, the careful guiding hand of that healing factor falls apart and that turbocharged flesh bubbles with tumors like a pot of water at boil.

(I do have an oc with a radiation based stand but uhhh they're not super fleshed out and explaining enough about their world to explain even the basics of who they are and the symbolism in their stand would be. So much.)

... I'm in a very Horror mood today.

HEHEHEHEHEHEHHE YESYESYESYESYEYS

we love spooky horror shit in this household <33333

[andmineisyellow]

Hey, I know you are mostly a Polin blog, but I like to read your thoughts on here, so I thought I'd ask anyway: do you think it could be possible that bridgerton is doing the rich x poor trope with Eloise and Theo and instead saving a different storyline for Benedict (hopefully something queer 🤞)? And no, I'm not just saying this bc I like Theo, but since Ruby is most likely not coming back and I really can't see Eloise settling for some old man, idk... Btw, I haven't read any of the books, but what I've read about Eloise's and Benedict's arcs doesn't rlly make sense to me (sorry)

I wouldn't necessarily rule it out mainly because there are always practical/logistical reasons that may force the show to go in a different direction. That said, I don't think it's the current plan they have in mind.

Theo only exists in Eloise's world. He has a bit of a run-in with Whistledown as well, but he never interacts with Penelope directly. He exists only to push Eloise's story forward and because of that, he feels more like a plot device than anything else. He is there to demonstrate that Eloise is perhaps more interested in love than she realized and to drive a wedge between her and Penelope (and to try and convince the audience that Eloise is straight tbh).

Phillip, while still a supporting player, has been introduced to Bridgerton's larger world. He is familiar with the family through the Featheringtons and through Colin now as well. I don't know why the show would go out of its way to introduce Phillip and bring him back unless there was a plan to make him more important down the line. The only way I could see this changing is if Chris Fulton booked a bigger job elsewhere. As a guest star, he is not under a multi-season contract. Even then, there is always the option to recast.

It's not necessarily what I would like to see personally. Any storyline that involves Marina dying or having to abandon her children would probably outright ruin the series for me. I would much rather the show flip the script. They should kill off Phillip and have Eloise run away to Marina instead. They could still hit the basic plot points of TSPWL while avoiding killing off Marina and giving us the queer representation so many people have been asking for. If Ruby were to make the decision not to come back, there would be a precedent for recasting.

We all know that this won't happen as Netflix has shown over and over again that it's not interested in appealing to Bridgerton's potential queer/LGBTQ+ demographic. This is especially true for sapphic women in particular because Netflix worries about losing the straight female demographic that the show has been marketed towards. But I do think it's the option that would please the most amount of people and they're definitely missing out by excluding the queer community.

I don't know... changing Eloise's love interest from a white man to... another white man, wouldn't feel like a particularly bold or interesting move to me even if Theo is of a different class, I'm also not sure why the writers would be motivated to do so. But if the only alternative to Phillip is Theo, then I would much rather see Theo in the future than have to witness any harm coming to Marina.

And you're definitely right about Phillip and Eloise's books not lining up. They're my two least favorite in the series. A Cinderella Story is basic enough that it could still work for Benedict, but Book Eloise's love story is just super far removed from who Eloise is in the show.

[zutaralesbian]

I was technically not tagged (which is fair. I haven’t been super active in the Gallavich fandom for a while). But this game is super up my alley so I’m doing it anyway 😊

rules (more or less): use this au generator to assign you an au, this fan fiction trope generator to give you a trope/situation/sometimes another au, feel free to keep clicking until you get something that inspires you.

then try to come up with the title, plot, vibe, and details of a fic including whatever the generators gave you. you don’t actually have to write it, just put the concept into the world! this is basically just a thought experiment.

I got:

AU: Shipwrecked AU

Trope: Write a modern royalty AU

The Gallaghers are a royal family from some European country. (Possibly somewhere in the UK or a made up one idk). They’re notorious because of the antics and scandals of their father, King Francis, and the whole world is basically waiting for him to finally get himself killed and for the eldest, Princess Fiona, to become queen.

Prince Ian, frankly, is glad that he is two people behind from ever becoming king. Being a prince in the public is bad enough with having to keep his sexuality on the down-low. Not to mention he always has the fear of his true parentage one day being leaked to the press. (In this AU, he is secretly Clayton’s biological son just like in canon).

The Gallagher siblings decide to take a break from the scandalous life the castle brings them by going on a long cruise on their private yacht.

Mickey is hired to work on the ship as a deckhand during the cruise. At first he didn’t want to take the job because working under a bunch of prissy rich royals was the last thing he wanted to do. But he eventually talked himself into it because hey, the pay is decent and it would mean a good month of being away from Terry. (And if he played his cards right, maybe he could find a few jewels or other expensive shit to snag).

Ian meets Mickey on the ship and is smitten immediately. There’s something about Mickey’s grumpy exterior that just charms him. Being a prince, he’s always had to be careful about his hookups not getting exposed. But they were on a ship and away from the general public. Perfect timing to have a fun fling, right? Only, Mickey doesn’t seem super receptive to his flirtation. Maybe his assumptions that Mickey wasn’t straight were off?

Mickey can’t tell if Ian is flirting with him out of genuine interest or just to be a cocky asshole. Either way, he’s not falling for it. Fuck him for thinking just because he’s a prince that Mickey will fall into bed with him. Sure Ian doesn’t seem all bad and is definitely less irritating than the other Gallaghers. And sure Mickey gets this annoying, fluttery feeling in his chest whenever the fucker smiles at him. But whatever, it doesn’t mean anything.

The ship ends up sinking of course, due to some sort of accident. Everyone makes it onto a lifeboat except Mickey. The worst part? He never learned to properly swim. Ian, having ended up in his own lone lifeboat, spots Mickey struggling in the water and quickly rows over to his aid, grabbing him and pulling him onto the lifeboat.

The tides separate Ian and Mickey from the others. They eventually find themselves on a small tropical island. And there are no other people.

Ian is panicked. Having grown up as a royal, he never learned proper skills to survive in a situation like this. Mickey, however, has grown up teaching himself survival skills and sets out to work on getting them shelter and food. He includes Ian in on all his plans because, as annoying as the guy may be, he did save Mickey from drowning and Mickey supposes he owes him for that. And right now, all they had was each other.

They eventually get themselves a pretty decent setup. They create a fort for them to sleep and take shelter from the sun in. There’s a stream a little further into the forest where they can get fresh water. And their diet consists of fish from the ocean, fruit, and small animals they hunt on the island. Mickey teaches Ian as they go.

Once the threat of death is for the most part evaded they begin to bond. After all, what else do they really have to do besides talk? Ian opens up to Mickey about the pressure he feels being a closeted gay man in the royal family. And eventually, tells Mickey his biggest secret-he isn’t really King Francis’ son.

Mickey in turn tells Ian about his life growing up under Terry’s thumb and his own dark secret. About how Terry once caught him with a boy when he was a teenager and was nearly beat to death.

Horrified by Mickey’s story, Ian makes a silent vow that, if they ever got off the island, he would come out to the public and use his fame and image to become an activist for gay kids who could be suffering the way Mickey did.

Mickey for his part makes a promise to himself that if he got off the island, he would finally leave Terry behind once and for all and make a new life for himself. Even if it means leaving the south side.

Months go by and they of course begin to fall in love. And both of them start to wonder…maybe being on the island isn’t all that terrible. It somehow becomes a solace and escape from the drama of their normal lives. And here, it’s just the two of them. They can finally be themselves.

They do eventually get discovered and rescued. The news of Prince Ian Gallagher being found alive on an island months after the family’s yacht sank becomes huge news. And Mickey somehow gets painted as a hero-the ordinary citizen who helped their beloved prince survive months on an uninhabited island. The Gallaghers are so grateful to Mickey for keeping Ian alive that they give him a large sum of money. Mickey doesn’t want to accept it at first but Ian convinces him to use the money to begin building his new life away from Terry.

Ian and Mickey reluctantly go their separate ways. No matter how they feel about each other, Ian is a prince and has an image to uphold. Mickey knows that Ian already has enough shit to deal with being closeted and having to keep his true parentage under wraps. The last thing he needs is to be tied to a south side thug. It’s better for them to say goodbye, or so he tells himself.

Some time goes by and Ian eventually reaches his breaking point. He misses Mickey and, as much as he loves his family, he’s never fully fit in the royal life anyway. He finally does what he promised himself while on the island and writes and publishes an article where he comes out as gay. And at the end of the article, he officially announces his intent to abdicate his title of prince.

Though Ian never name drops Mickey in the article, a lot of the public had already romanticized their relationship from the island story and assume Ian is abdicating so he can be with him.

Mickey is sitting in his new apartment and watching the news. His jaw drops when he see’s a story about the famed Prince Ian Gallagher coming out as gay and leaving the royal life behind. But before he has a chance to fully react, there’s a knock on his front door.

Ian is at the door. And he smiles at Mickey before asking if his apartment has enough room for two.

[daz4i]

You said you wanted to talk about Nikolai so I'm subjecting you to this because I am thinking about it now having come across it again (I had forgotten about all but the telephone pole thing with his dialogue) trying to find manga caps for something else

The blast of an explosion...Nikolai can store just straight kinetic energy in the overcoat???? And just keep it in there for whenever till he wants to use it? And he is confident enough that he could "dump" it into his coat without blowing himself away then??

Everytime I'm forced to think about how his ability works it makes me think he is the most op other than Fukuchi, like imagine if he had different goals and motivations. The terror??? Like what are the limits here even for his coat storage???

Thoughts? Opinions? Could your man be world ending with different motivations? Inquiring minds would like to know 🙏

oh damn i didn't remember that detail!!!!! i wish we got more information abt how the pocket dimension of his overcoat works tbh. tho, this one sounded a bit weird to me so i went and checked a different translation and this one says "expose you to the blast of an exploding bomb" which might imply it's just sending bombs at him? or maybe just connecting the space around him to someplace else where a bomb is exploding, really 🤔 we simply don't have enough info atm to know exactly what it means asdkjfdgkh

ANYWAY!!!!!! i definitely agree he could be more op than fukuchi, if needed. the 30 meters limit of his ability is bc it's just way too powerful otherwise akdjsfgh. this is one reason i think he might play a part in defeating fukuchi - his ability is kind of perfect for that. stay someplace hidden and take his sword through a portal while he's not looking and you already took away half of his power, and now you can send someone else (perhaps sskk: the sequel) in for the kill.

when i think about it, i assume one reason he's a clown and a fun character if to throw off both other characters in-universe and the readers off to how scary he can be. think about it - we barely even know what his goals are, given how contradictory some of the things he says can be (like... wanting true freedom and a proof free will exists, envying people who don't realize they're trapped... but joining the organization that seeks to literally mind control everyone on earth...? idk. maybe his end goal is for everyone to be brainwashed so he can prove he's able to break out of it or smth and thus prove his free will). for all we know he could straight up kidnap everyone in the main cast and keep them in his pocket dimension if he so pleased. even dazai! this is the first ability we see that worked on him!!!

not to mention he's really smart!!! i pointed this out before, but he literally outsmarted fyodor and managed to ruin a part of his plan by not dying when he was supposed to, and the way he uses his ability is super clever as well (look how he saved sigma)! so he potentially could be one of the smartest characters in the entire story and we wouldn't even know bc he hides it so well

so yes 100% he could end the world if he wanted. he's so scary not just bc of his ability, not just bc he's smart, but bc he's so unpredictable and we don't actually know what goes on inside his head bc he keeps lying and hiding it and joking and faking who he really is and nothing about what he does makes sense in the moment bc that's what he's hoping for, as far as we know 👀

[zorphie]

Here I saw that you dropped this so I came into your inbox to return it to you 🖊️ (give me any precious OC you have in stock I wanna Know about them)

ty for the ask!! (eats 🖊 whole) everything is below :]

i shall talk about devin for 2day.. my token failboy. God

he's from earth Except it Sucks!! because he's ostracized a lot and has no friends💔 he will often come home and indulge himself in a bunch of his hobbies like drawing ,writing , making music, he's literally just the art kid. he was into a lot of fantasy and imagining himself in those kinds of worlds, doing lots of heroics , yeah you see where this is going . The irony

his only company is his mom which he doesn't mind too much, but it's led him to develop a very self centered attitude (he focused more on himself because he didn't have other people to empathize with if that makes sense?)mf never learned how to share

he ends up in the spiral because there was an urgent situation where mana was flooding into earth, quinn was sent to deal with it. he was worried that devin absorbed it because he could sense his magic and also wanted to save him because devin had some weird negative aura cast on him Somehow (effects include nausea and blurry vision, headaches to anyone nearby, fun all around) quinn was like What Is Going On, panicked, and took him along. worried about this decision later because what if the teachers flip . the plan was just to help devin and bring him back home (uhh very long groan. because this is wizard101 we all know the latter didn't happen)

coming into the spiral has changed devin a Lot for better and for worse. he felt guilty for leaving his mom behind, and she disappeared when he came back to visit. he was excited to learn magic but i think the realization settled in after he killed a man (malistaire)

as the arcs go on he has friends now! finally a circle of people who will accept him. he learns what empathy is because of that! hes still silly and loud but he becomes selfless, a bit more mature and level headed. but he feels like he's become "too selfless" to the point where he's going a little nuts ? always being self sacrificing just to save everyone if possible? the yw pipeline. he wishes he could settle down for A Minute to use his hands to create art again not destroy things . gwah.

just wait until he hears about azteca🙄

he learns his dad is the giant tree and his mom straight up stole him when he was like 3 or something and took him away . Crazy. he's conflicted by the fact that he's being shaped into a weapon by no matter who it is? his mom or the spiral? (his mom is a completely different can of worms I will not be getting to rnLOL but yeah she was just plotting to use him for selfish reasonz) he doesn't like knowing he was born for the sake of (all the horrors he's had to deal with. Erm?) and wants to have an identity seperate from that. his friends remind him that he's still just a human being too. he's doing his best

he delved more into astral magic around arc 3 which was not by choice. at all. (crazy woman told him to . idk why but ihave a lot of evil wizarfd women) and he should not have learned that much but he did! uhmwhoops. it's hazardous. it does not just enhance spells -he could accidentally fuck up time and space. he's learning how to control it with eden and lalin because he needs to eventually. does not actually go to the arcanum scholar about it because he's terrified of seeming like a threat to them

hypothetically he could time travel but that's for his super secret alternate version who's stuck in a time loop we don't worry about that guy

devin's other path would've been a villain if quinn never dragged him into the spiral,, he was missing and people were looking for him but it was near impossible to find him because of the aura he had going on. ambrose's spell wouldn't have worked. (his mom was taking a lot of precautions) it was just known that the scion was out there and he needs to get his ass in the spiral asap or we're all fucked (quinn standing there like 🧍‍♂️as if he isn't ambrose's errand boy)

devin's alternate self is aware of him and is supposed to show/answer "which life would've been better for him". since he's obviously not having a care free time in both

dasein kinda reached him around empyrea because of the astral magic stuff sorta fucking with reality but it was very limited

oh and his eyes turn from full purple to a tint of blue he's got stardust hands now. it's "contagious" and he can flick his hands onto anything and get glitter all over it, he does it a lot on his friends . his blood is also glitter. somebody help him. pros: glitter. Cons: black holes. is it worth it

he's trying to start a silly band.. only amari and erin will join nd they will never stop annoying the others about it

devin is good at the storm spells, but the machines related stuff that his teacher assigns? not at all.so he cheats and asks for eden to do it

his pet is a zappy glowbug who's always scared of everything and frequently flies into glass. it acts as his nightlight. it's also probably radioactive . it can charge your devices but they have a chance of exploding. has also probably electrocuted people

[distort-opia]

I think it’s interesting that jokers been dunked into Lazarus juice many times yet his skin and hair discoloration has never been cured by it? Yet his madness/mind was cured by it (albeit temporarily) I’m not sure what that means but I feel like something is there. Also interesting that it seems his hair & skin discoloration can only be cured via regularly taking certain pills (like he did while he was Eric border to disguise himself) However, pills didn’t do anything for his mental state- just physical. Does joker have some sort of separation between his body and mind? Idk. Any thoughts?

Has Joker been revived through the Lazarus Pit more than once? I only know of the one time:

-- Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #145

Bruce brought him back to life in order to find out about Ra's al Ghul's plans and save the world. But the Pit supposedly turns someone temporarily insane after they come back; in Joker's case, however, it turned him temporarily sane. It of course didn't last long and he reverted back to his usual self eventually. But as you already mentioned, none of his physical features are affected in this instance-- only his mind.

Though the example you give with Eric Border isn't quite accurate. The pills Joker took for the disguise were muscle-relaxers, meant to help him stop smiling, with added afamelanotide (a substance that stimulates the production of melanin and turns skin color darker). The rest was just hair dye and make-up. None of it was supposed to affect his mental state:

-- Batman: Endgame

However, Joker did take a dip in the chemical called dionesium. If that's what you were referring to when you said he had multiple experiences with Pits, that's true... although, dionesium is not the same substance as the one inside a Lazarus Pit. It's similar, but stronger:

-- Batman: Endgame

So while the Lazarus Pits contain dionesium, they're filled with a corrupted version of it. After the events of DotF, Joker discovered a pool of dionesium and healed his injuries in it, but they weren't life threatening. He didn't get revived, he only got healed, with the same thing happening moving forward through Endgame. However, at the end of Endgame, both Bruce and Joker actually died. The dionesium didn't just heal them, it actively brought them back to life. So, it does make sense to me that Joker's entire body got "rewritten" alongside his mind, something the Lazarus Pit was not capable of doing before since it's not as strong or potent as dionesium.

As to the separation between Joker's mind and body... [sigh] it's complicated. Mostly because Joker's mental state has been written so inconsistently, and because for a long time insanity was treated as Joker's superpower. As if lack of rationality or being random was his Thing that he used against other heroes, and that could be turned on and off like a switch-- something that essentially happened a bunch of times in different stories. Overall, some writers depict Joker as if he's a metahuman but his ability is Being Crazy, and some writers actually put in the effort of making him into a nuanced individual with a complicated mental state. I've written more about Joker's state of mind in other metas if you're curious: discussion of Joker's "super-sanity", discussion of his fourth-wall breaking habit, and general discussion of Joker's origin and identity.

Though hell... at the end of the day, people writing Joker can barely agree if the color of his lips is a result of lipstick or a result of the acid bath, if his grin is compulsive or if he can control his own smile, if his physiology can be affected by drugs or not. There's a lot of canon, but it also contradicts itself again and again. So I think for aspects related to Joker's physiology and mind (and tbh comics in general), it's up to the reader to decide what depiction they prefer and what makes sense to them.

[cindersnows]

Is there more info 'bout the jsab au?

It's so good I want to know more

I CANNOT BELIEVE I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO REPLY TO THIS (JAN 2)

okay since i doubt i'm ever going to make the comic i might as well drop all the plot i remember

just a note i'm not sure how much you know about ava/m because i have gotten my fair share of reblogs from people only in the jsab fandom; but i'm going to assume you know the characters at least the story was going to be: red, green, yellow and blue are the "players" (which in this story are just regular guys). they live on this super sci-fi moon world with androids and stuff. the Giant Life Tree, called yggdrasil (inspo from an old friend) is like yk. the thing that gives all shapes life. shapes would still be born without it, and they could live without it, it's just sort of the "electricity" that keeps the entire moon running and alive. without yggdrasil, all the plant matter n stuff would die. of course the shapes are advanced enough that they've developed ways for everyone to live even without any plant matter, but it's still a bit awkward. their society has no actual 'Rulers' persay, but used to have a royal family. the second coming and the chosen one are brothers who are descended from that royal family.

the actual story's plot; the prologue of Ad Lumen would start off with rgyb exploring and stuff because they like to spend time just fuckin around and looking for cool things. they go into this cave, and hear second calling for help. they free second, who has lost all his memory, and promise to help him regain it. suddenly the dark lord bursts into the cave and starts attacking rgyb, and the four run away with second. (he was actually here to find and save second, and attacked rgyb because he thought they were hurting second) chapter 1 would have a year or so timeskip. and then something about dark and chosen taking yggdrasil because they believe chosen has like, the rightful heritage to the throne and that society needs to be united under one rulership again or something. idk rgyb and second get split up (and from here it gets super vague bc i didnt plan out a ton); rgyb have to go and find second because he was taken into the castle by dark. they follow chosen into the volcano (chosen is there to find one of the pieces of yggdrasil because it broke apart). rgyb fights chosen and mentions second. chosen is like oh shit wait second is there??? and just zooms off to go to the castle rgyb turn around and go to the castle too, albeit through a different entrance. they find out dark is doing smth smth with yggdrasil idk --- which turns shapes pink/red and kind of aggressive but also stronger. (dark did this to himself too) second is being forced into the line of people that are going to be turned pink because dark doesn't yet realise second is in the castle --- if he knew that, then he'd get second out. rgyb find second, who's about to be pinkified or wtv, and red jumps in the way. now he's Actually red (and not just orange). brief fight because red's body cannot handle the process and she goes a little bit beserk but green, yellow, blue and second manage to calm them down. then the five go up to stop dark once and for all (peacefully). but once they get up there they see chosen and dark arguing which turns into a fight that catches color gang in the crossfire. dark uses a piece of yggdrasil, and stabs it into herself to gain more power to stop chosen. this goes horribly wrong, annihilate happens, dark goes insane and just destroys everything in vir path: aka red, green, yellow and blue die second gets really angry, and chosen and dark panic and stop fighting. but second has superpowers (re: descended from the royal family) and just goes absolutely apeshit and beats the shit out of dark. he also gets his memories back. he manages to revive rgyb before passing out and then the gang make up with chosen and dark once second explains what he's remembered. all of shape society comes together to agree that actually they do kind of need some sort of rulership (because prior to this everything was anarchy and it Wasn't Working) but we don't see that because the comic ends

i was also thinking about making a second part of the comic, Ad Astra, smth about king/mango tango and purple and victim. i didnt get super far with the idea tho: ik that king would be elected the new ruler, and purple his vice president (??) and they would be doing something bad with yggdrasil. color gang would be trying to convince everyone that king is doing something weird but no one except chosen and dark would believe them. purple would be an android (modeled by pink/orchid after the actual purple, who died as a kid fighting with navy). mango would be a shape. victim would be an android that mango found within the castle's old computer room, who hasn't been turned on in years and gives mango advice on stuff.

sadly i dont have any of the wip panels since theyre all on my old laptop, which broke :((

sorry for the super late response!!!! but here ya go. giant compilation of The Horrors, avjsab flavor

[utilitycaster]

so, idk if this is in your wheelhouse or not but I remember you mentioning something about West Marches style campaigns a while back, so (hoping you have some insight here that I'm lacking):

up until this point I've mostly run the published campaigns, but I'm slowly putting together a sandbox style setting for my group, and I'm hitting a bit of a snag when it comes to setting up random encounter tables. namely, that my players will be starting at 1st level, and I don't want to risk accidentally tpk'ing them while they're just starting out, but I also want random encounters to still provide challenges at higher levels....but I'm worried about having *too many* tables to be manageable from my end if I divvy things up by levels rather than just sticking everything the party could potentially encounter in a given location on one table.

any advice? do I make things easier on my end, limit my tables, and risk upsetting my more sensitive players with a tpk, or do I just bite the bullet, take some added pain in the ass on my end, and make tables scaled to levels?

So this isn't really my wheelhouse for a couple reasons but I can walk though how I'd approach it and hope that helps!

So, I do not really do significant random encounters for my west marches campaign. I plan out the encounters. I use tables for myself, but when we know where they're going, I say "ok these are the specific reasonable encounters that make sense", or I make up my own encounters. This would be more work for you, but it's honestly not that much more.

I also will openly admit to struggling with encounter balancing, and I tend to make things easier than they should be. I took the reverse route from you, namely "HEY I could probably make up a giant fantasy world to suit your characters" rather than running published adventures, for my DM-ing so far, and I am only just now running a published adventure, and I'm also *Ashton voice* been getting a little introspective lately, specifically regarding my attitude towards encounters and the signalling of danger in them, so my answer right now is a giant ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ on how to best approach this.

The last thing is how to cover the TPK, and I think it's worth just...asking the players, sensitive and otherwise, how they want to deal with death. I happen to like death in D&D, and multiple popular actual plays in D&D have depicted permanent PC death, but if your players genuinely don't want it, you can play a game without PC death. I don't like this, because it lacks certain stakes, and I think people who say "well D&D is about FUN" are people who think that there is no fun in exploring loss and catharsis and dark themes, and who don't understand that games are fun because there are win and lose conditions, and generally fucking suck, and if I talk more about this I'm going to sound like some kind of kids these days get off my no participation trophies kind of person, which I am actually not.

But, I do think it's valid, if your table wants to not get TPK-ed in the first session, to give your PCs a little plot armor until they hit level 3. You could give them periapts of wound closure that will expire in a few weeks; or have them receive a blessing before they leave that grants a certain amount of extra HP each day that will only last the duration of the first two adventures, or something like that. Honestly, a lot of low level monsters CAN just TPK a party if rolls go bad simply because one crit or one failed save can do that, and you're allowed, quite honestly, if the players don't want that risk, to fudge a roll or two if you're willing, so long as you know how to stop.

You could also, because it's west marches, just be honest and say "hey, at low levels, it is super easy to die with no chance of return, so my idea is that you play some throwaway characters for L1-3, and then if you DO have a TPK, your level 3 "real" characters come in to find out what happened to the original mission. Or, because it's west marches and the plot isn't really that important, you can make a dead character miss the rest of the adventure, but everyone respawns back in town and can go out on another one.

This is really rambly so I think what I'm trying to say is talk to the players, ensure you're all on the same page re: character death and how you all want to handle it, because there's no way to truly guarantee that you won't tpk a L1 party unless you're just taking death off the table temporarily or faking rolls, even if the encounters are planned.

[journalwithpapi]

So confused.

I just had an amazing weekend with Litebright — kinda. No arguing, just good time. The only disconnect is conversation. Now one morning some good discussion was sparked after watching a video. Other than that it’s just surface stuff, physical, and sleep which isn’t super fulfilling.

SM and I seem to be done done. She isn’t happy with communication and idk what can be done right now. LiteBrite is coming every weekend and even some weeknights we sleep together sooooo…..it’s tough to maintain.

LiteBrite seems to be ready for some serious stage in life, but idk what our compatibility looks like financially, friend and family overlap, and communication. I have my own plans and goals but idk if my timeline will coincide with hers. I have a nice income but my savings and home ownership won’t reach the point I want it to be at for another 1-2 years.

Then there’s D. D is similar in age, an attorney, no kids, another homeowner and high earner which is nice. We had a great time together but her communication is super trash. Getting a text back almost impossible. She’s cool though when we talk here and there. In a perfect world I can lock in here, but doesn’t seem like she has the time or space. I was transparent and said hey if you too busy that’s fine, she actually didn’t take the out, apologized and been open that right now she’s in deep demand. It’s an ebb and flow she says.

This weekend she’ll be out of town, so maybe next weekend I’ll just send her a date and time and hopefully we can connect some dots here. Fingers crossed .

My plate is full haha

What’s funny is before this weekend, like Tuesday and Wednesday I thought all of this was over. It felt like no one was interested I had messed up big in all departments. I said what I said to everyone, even had a depression day with AV. All for everything to work out…quite favorable.

In therapy I did some inner child work and my subconscious gave me: Be patient, be firm, it’s okay to let go, it’s okay to cry (still not crying tho), and “make a way it’s okay” (this so corny idk where this one going).

I see in my life I definitely need to be more patient. I can get in my feelings really hard, create narratives I want to avoid, and then use drinking or being out to block out that negativity (and I’m starting to see I may deal with anxiety really bad). But by coping with alcohol or extroversion I typically make really bad mistakes in either what I say or how much I spend. I need to get a hold of that and understand how to let go of situations momentarily, not take everything to heart so much, and give things time. I want immediate resolution and gratification too often.

Therapy is really chill, but I think it’s paying off with me. I wanted some huge, revelations but I think even this slow burn of growth and change is important for me to experience.