#and then the second one with all of the options and changes and variations

[aparticularbandit]

the thing about knowing that this next couple of dr haruhi crossover fics are covering endless eight is that. well. i'm doing what would normally be the second write, but like.

the rough draft can just be the first timeline y'all read, and then the second write expanded edition gets to be the second version.

which is to say that yes, even in parts that look like they're identical, there are probably subtle differences.

....

in this case, the second version has a whole diatribe about something that isn't in the first version. so that's fun.

and possibly more later!

:D

[alexanderwales]

Spells are a non-renewable resource. One a spell has been cast, it can never be cast again.

But thankfully, what counts as a unique spell is permissive, and very early on in the history of wizardry, wizards found many ways to use the arcane language to specify a similar effect even if the wording was different.

And still, spells were a non-renewable resource.

There are only so many ways to call forth a beam of lancing light, only a limited number of methods of purifying food to make it safe to eat. Soon it became necessary for the wizards to start casting spells that weren't quite what they wanted: a beam of light that arced to the left, a purifying spell that added a bitter taste, some changes cosmetic and others very functional.

And still, spells were a non-renewable resource.

Wizardry was divided into ages by the historiographers. The First Age was the age of plenty, when wizards could make minor tweaks to the spells and cast as much as they liked. The Second Age was the age of modification, when wizards were jumping through hoops and using methods with side effects. But the Third Age was the age of decay, when so many spells had been used that only the oddballs were left. It was impossible to cast anything even remotely resembling a fireball, not even one that hooked to the left and exploded with sharp green shards.

It came to be that few wizards could produce a spell on their first attempt. They would try, only to discover that someone else had already taken their idea and the spell does not work. They would try again, only to discover that their second idea had also been taken. Wizard battles, which had once been glorious light shows, were reduced to two wizards standing in a field trying to be the first one to stumble upon a spell that had never been cast before.

~~~~

Here are some plot hooks:

Wizards jealously guard their knowledge, fearful that someone will learn of a "seam" of untapped spells, but they also write down every spell they know to have been cast, to reduce their search space. Obviously this trove of knowledge is highly valuable.

The existence of spell "seams", which are really just collections of spells that work off the same cluster of discrete variations, mean that wizards tend to be very specialized. The Sheep Wizard knows eight hundred ways of turning someone into a sheep, because he's studied that area of the arcane language extensively, as well as historical precedents that have been ruled out. The natural enemy of a Sheep Wizard is, of course, another Sheep Wizard.

During the Second Age, a group of wizards get together to deliberately reduce the spell-space, largely in the hopes of reducing the capacity of wizard-kind for making war. Their work largely consists of sitting around casting as many fireballs as they can, depleting all options for everyone else.

During the Third Age, a group of wizards gets together and in the spirit of mutual cooperation begins to define "spell blocks", a collection of spells that a single wizard is entitled to and all other wizards agree not to use. When you become a wizard, you're given a thousand spells which are thought to still be valid, and will lose your license to practice wizardry if you cast any spells that are outside your block. This is difficult to enforce, rife with accusations and suspicion, but is thought to be better than nothing.

During the Fourth Age, a group of "wizards" (none of whom have ever actually cast a spell) are working on the arcane language in the hopes of a revival. As the age of hoarded knowledge has mostly passed, they're able to get their hands on many books that weren't previously available. One day, they invent a new form of specification that allows hundreds of thousands of new spells, re-igniting wizardry.

[crossdressingdeath]

You know what? I think a lot of DAV's biggest plot weaknesses ultimately come back to DAI, because a lot of them can be summarized as "Why didn't they get into [thing that DAI set up]" and... the answer is that Bioware was never going to be able to meaningfully engage with those things, and they should've known that when they wrote them into DAI. The Divine, Kieran's existence, Urthemiel's soul, the Well of Sorrows, all that stuff DAI set up that people are mad DAV didn't focus on? All of those should have led to pretty big alterations in the worldstate, and the worldstate has to remain roughly the same for everyone. We were never going to get the massive impact those choices should've had, for the same reason the Warden's boon at the end of DAO was quietly forgotten about as soon as Dragon Age became a series instead of a standalone game: the writing just can't support choices that would create such massive divergences. Like... take Urthemiel. Whether or not Mythal got Urthemiel's soul (and by extension whether or not Solas potentially had the chance to take it) should have been a huge deal! It should've led to two pretty different paths! Except... it can't. Because Bioware can only write one story for each game they make, which means the critical path can't really change beyond flavour text and occasionally which character gets a cameo slot; Mythal didn't get Urthemiel's soul in every worldstate, so Urthemiel's soul can never be relevant to the main plot. And the thing is, they would've known that going in! DAI was the third game, they must have known that worldstate variation could never be more than flavour text and cameos! Hell, you can see Bioware scrambling to make all the Divine options more or less the same in terms of impact on Thedosian society in DAI, which was definitely done to make writing sequels feasible. So why did they write Mythal getting Urthemiel's soul into DAI? And it's the same for all those other big, story-changing choices. People have differing opinions on the merits of including variable flavour text just to say it's there but that's not what this is about; in terms of the actual plot the variables cannot be relevant (unless it's something like the Warden ally choice where every option is ultimately the same in terms of plot impact, and even that one's pushing it; it never is explained how Hawke ended up friendly with Loghain). I think when talking about choices from DAI that DAV didn't engage with it's important to take a second to ask yourself if Bioware could have written a version of events that worked equally well with every possible outcome of that choice and could be tweaked to engage with every variation without having any major impact on the main plot. If the answer is no I think it's better described as a DAI problem than a DAV problem, because it's not actually DAV's fault that DAI wrote checks it couldn't cash.

[rcsea]

𝐇𝐀𝐙𝐄*

Multimuse version of 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐑* and 𝐆𝐇𝐎𝐒𝐓𝐋𝐘*.

✧ Features: A more in-depth carrd design prioritizing information, so you'll have plenty of room to write all the important stuff. Highly customizable but may require more patience when editing due to the amount of unique elements. Tested to be mobile friendly but that may vary by device. Contains a customizable sticky header, a page for guidelines, two variations of a muse roster depending on if you want to use a more complex or simplified roster, a bio page that you can optionally use (and duplicate for other muses), a page for connections & a page for npcs. There are small quad-style image galleries in different sections, and there should be plenty of room for you to resize images to fix the block style of presentation when your text runs over. If you have any issues or questions about editing the carrds, you are more than welcome to ask me here on my tumblr and I will try my best to help you!

✧ Terms of Use: Like / Reblog if you use, please. Do NOT use this for illegal content or to promote hate (this includes "burn books" and callout / vent blogs). Do NOT remove the credits or make them invisible somehow. Edit as you wish, but no matter how much you change it, do NOT claim it as your own!

✧ Price: $6 for early access , now FREE / pay what you want as of February 9th. If you want to help a girl out with a tip, I'd greatly appreciate it 💗 ( Important Note! This template requires Pro Lite or higher to use due to the number of features included ! )

【 DEMO ✧ DOWNLOAD 】

important info below the cut, please read !

1.) The default muse roster is the gallery style one with images. The simple one does not display in the demo. If using the template, if you want to use the simple roster instead of the more complex one, change the link at the top navigation from "#muses1" to "#muses2". You may want to delete the entire section of the roster you don't end up using to save space.

2.) If you choose to use the bio page for your muses, you need to make copies of it with unique sections. If you have a lot of muses, you may need to make a separate carrd just for your bios to save space and loading time. To do this and use the bio template in this carrd, use this template for a second carrd then delete everything else beside the bio, create new sections as needed (don't forget to add the section breaks), and link to the second carrd from the first. If you need more in-depth guidance with this, I will happily help you.

[losergames]

Chop Shop is strictly 18+ for language, themes, and potential explicit content. 

🔗 - Game Intro | Bug Report | Ko-Fi

Episode Three is now available! (+ 86,000) - PLAY HERE

Get your first taste of the underground car scene.

Meet some other players in the game.

Be made an offer.

5 achievements up for grabs!

And more!

AN: thank you so much for the patience - i've been dying to put this update out. lots of new characters and lots of variation!! there are 3 major paths to choose between in this ep, i recommend trying them all out! and thank you to my betas for keeping me sane lmao

This update comes with a patch and UI refresh (Version 1.1.2) Notes are under the cut. If preferred, you can access them in game in the start menu.

STORY

EPISODE 01:

MC should now be able to smoke! Buying cigarettes at the shop was not triggering correctly. If playing with an old save, you DO NOT have to restart as code at the beginning of EP 03 has resolved the error. Player will need to restart if they wish to read smoking related scenes in previous episodes.

Updated MC Name selection. Player can now choose from a list of names instead of having to input one to proceed.

Player can now give Taha their chocolate bar if it's in their inventory.

When asking Maz about their scars, the second choice 'You want to ask about it but you're going to keep your mouth shut.' should now take you to the correct response.

Extended and updated 'End Game' scenes.

EPISODE 02:

If MC is faint after exiting the car, but also drunk, they should now get the fainting scene, followed by Dilani helping the MC in the bathroom.

UI + TECHNICAL

SETTINGS:

Autoname Save is now defaulted to ON. This is to add ease and flow to gameplay, especially for mobile, tablet, and app users, instead of calling for an inputted saved name. If player wants to input save names, toggle Autoname Saves to OFF.

Autoname Save previously only used the forename of the MC but now includes the surname as well.

Removed the Fullscreen toggle as it is only intended for desktop use. Player can still toggle fullscreen function via the UI bar on the desktop interface.

Added a choice indicator toggle. (This probably won't come into effect until EP 04 or 05)

Changed serif font from Vollkron to EB Garamond.

OTHER:

Changing the MC's pronouns via the Dashboard has been updated. Additionally, after confirmation will take player back to the Dashboard and not close the dialog boxes entirely.

Hovering over 'Personality', 'Motives', and 'Skills' titles in the Dashboard will now display an information box with a definition. Mobile and tablet users will need to tap on the title.

'Resume Game' now only appears on the main menu when there is an autosave in the saves log.

Choices styling changes.

General UI and button style changes.

Fixed errors with the text message styling.

Added styling for reading text off of a page in game.

Darkened blue in light theme 'Skyline' to reduce eye strain.

CREATE A SAVE

Introducing Create a Save! This feature allows players to quickly manufacture a save file and start at a later point in the game.

Set your identity, appearance, history, and statistics; including personality, motives, and skills. Continue to set key decisions made in previous episodes.

Randomise options available for creating a PC and key decisions.

OTHER

Fixed gaps and spacing issues.

Minor phrasing and sentence structure changes.

Grammar and typo fixes.

whew -- that's a lot of patch notes! apologies for so much that needed to be fixed.

this update shouldn't break/ mess with saves but as a disclaimer i will say, if you spot anything funky, broken, or you don't think things are triggering correctly, try starting a new save. the new create a save feature is incredibly code heavy, and it's been tested relentlessly, but i wouldn't be surprised if something crops up.

if starting a new save doesn't resolve your issue - please submit to bug report or just send me an ask/message.

some things have been meaning to get fixed for Some Time - thank you to everyone that is using the bug report form!

apologies if there are typos and/or bugs - this was a long one to edit and my lovely betas did an OUTSTANDING job reading so much for ep 3 - thank you so much again!!! this time i am going to give it a bit more time before i put together a patch so i can grab more error responses haha.

create a save has also added a wee chunk to the word count, somewhere around 6k, but i'm not including it in the episode 03 word count as it's purely code. so, if you think the total wc is off, that's why!

if you've read this far, happy reading and thank you so much for the continued support!! :) - becky <3

[yanderedrabbles]

hiii, love ur stuff. Do you have any tips on writing/making it better? Anything I try to write is super short and bland tbh

I'm so flattered that you're asking me anon! Personally, I think writing style can change a lot over time. And bland doesn't necessarily mean bad.

I used to have such a huge issue grasping the idea, but your work doesn't have to be dense with metaphors or paragraphs of prose to be good.

I think a lot of it comes from the prestige of literary writing. The idea that you're not a real writer unless you're being artistic. And to most of us, artistic usually means lots of metaphors, lots of prose, lots of slightly confusing allegories. And God forbid you write to be popular or to cater to mass appeal. In that case, my mind insisted on telling me I wasn't an artist, I was a hack. A sell-out.

What utter bull. A simple, bare-bones writing style is just as appealing as a richer, more descriptive one. Think Hemingway. Notorious for clear cut and direct prose, and he's considered one of the greats.

That being said, here are some of my tips to write longer, more interesting pieces:

Clichés. Oh, the dreaded cliche. Almost unavoidable, because it gets the job done. Says what needs to be said. I thought avoiding clichés like the plague was the best option, but I've since come to appreciate the art of freshening up a cliche. Giving it a unique twist.

The most famous example I can think of is:

She looked like a million bucks tax free.

Two words added onto a tired cliche, and suddenly it's new and fresh and has all sorts of implications.

In fanfic, there are more than a few phrases that get used by just about everyone.

"His eyes darkened. He growled. His grip tightened."

If using those was a crime I'd be serving on death row. But the truth is, they work. They convey the idea. With how often they show up though, I think it's fair that they get spiffed up now and again. Exchange the classics for slight variations.

"His eyes were getting darker by the second. He snarled. His hold was hot iron, and it was cooling fast."

Don't be too fanatic, but whenever a sentence feels a little stale, see what you can change to make it unique.

Voice. Seriously, the secret power behind the best authors. Voice is that undefinable sense of character that makes a piece far more engaging. Examples of fics that use a pretty strong voice are the Hush fic, Yandere Sherriff and Yandere Prison Warden.

When it comes to nailing down voice ask yourself:

What time period am I writing in? Are there phrases or slang that were popular at the time?

How educated is my character? Are they a stickler for grammar or do they speak more casually?

What is my character's background? How does that affect the way they think and speak?

What is my character's attitude towards life? Do they observe everything with a cool, detached mind? Are they jaded or angry? Are they sarcastic or prickly?

An exercise I like doing when it comes to creating a stronger sense of voice is a free flow document. Where I pretend I'm interviewing one of the characters, getting a better sense of who they are. Here's an example of a free-flow doc I did for an upcoming cyberpunk character:

V: How did you grow up? C: Rough. The kind of neighbourhood where you don't look twice at what you see. V: And do you think that's affected you in any way? C: What are you, some kind of head doctor? 'Course it affected me. You'd be pretty kicked up, too, if you saw the shit I did. V: Is that why you're so comfortable with violence? C: Violence. What a shitty fucking word for it. Kind of thing you say when all you've ever seen is the inside of a university. It's not violence, doc. It's surviving. It's living. It's tranqing someone else so you can live to see another day. It's the fucking sticks.

As you can probably tell, this isn't a nice character. He doesn't speak the way a polite man would. And that's voice.

Planning. Now, this one greatly depends on your own preference, but I like to plot out my stories. Usually before or in the middle of the fic. This doesn't have to be intense. Just a few notes jotted down to determine the outcome and the best way to get there. I've found that as I plot I tend to get new ideas, too. Usually leading to a much longer story (cough yandere prison warden cough).

Read the style you want to write. Boring advice, I know. You've heard it already, and you've heard it better. But, the truth is, when you read mindfully, you pick up half a million little tricks. The trick is to read like an editor.

Read over your favourite pieces and ask yourself what makes them so good. Is the characterization? Is it the author's style of prose? What works and what doesn't? After a while, you'll find yourself recognising patterns and implementing them in your own work.

And lastly, remember that your work is your own and that's what your readers love. If your style feels a little bland, experiment with different genres or styles of writing. I promise you, your readers won't mind one bit.

[octaves-of-estoiles]

I didn't realize my oneshot was that long so have an excerpt and the link.

*

You walk into your kitchen with your phone in hand,grumbling curses to Hu Tao that you hope transcend code and reality.

You haven’t had breakfast yet, so food is in order. Yet, you aren't an avid breakfast eater due to how early your job requires you to wake, so breakfast food isn’t really your thing. You think you could probably find something online that fits your tastes.

Scrolling through social media platforms gets you nowhere, the recipes often require portions too large for one person. Nothing grabs your eye until a notification from Hoyolab appears.

Oh yeah! Your Hoyolab just stopped working after a while, weird notifications would come through with way too casual variations of ‘Hello!’ to be nobody you haven’t spoken to, online or not. So, you kinda just ignored the app.

Now, you’re intrigued because the notification leads to a recipe. For… Kirara’s bento?!

They’ve made their way to your phone, huh? At least, they’re being helpful, but that doesn't answer how they’re doing all this. 

Scrolling down the recipe, you can’t help but notice you have all the ingredients. Maybe not all the vegetables but the key components sit in your fridge and cabinets. It looks appetizing too.

With a shrug, you scroll down to the instructions for the first step.

…

You walk into your room with the bento, aweing at how cute the kitties looked in real life. Too bad you’re gonna eat them, you did a good job.

Like usual, your computer has opened the genshin application. Not because you left it there open, no, but because you can’t seem to close the app or turn off your computer. You think it’s a miracle it hasn’t exploded yet from constant use.

You place the bento for a second, paying attention to your computer. You go to change your team for the day (you rotate near daily), and take everyone out. You skim through the character options until you find the one you were looking for. You smile softly as you put Kirara on a team by herself. 

You pull her out, and lead her to the nearest table. After she sits, you angle the camera/view so that it feels like you’re at the table with her. You grab the bento from where you left.

“Thanks for the recipe, it saved my ass this morning.”

You can definitely see her eyes brighten and ears perk up at the thanks, but you ignore it in order to enjoy your food. It’s good, maybe you should save it to make it for work day lunch.

*

The rest is on Ao3, here

[cripplecharacters]

Hello! I am currently creating (planning and executing) a webcomic at the moment and wanted to come to you for some tips in properly representing individuals with disabilities, more specifically learning disabilities. I have done my research and asked individuals I personally know how said disabilities affect them or how things are with such conditions. I am a disabled individual (autism, add, chronic illnesses) and know how experiences are varying for every person under the sun, and want to showcase an array of how people live with their own. I guess specifically, I’m writing a character with schizophrenia and she is a variation of aroace—one of my personal friends I consulted is schizophrenic and coincidentally asexual—but I don’t want to make it seem as though individuals with such conditions do not feel attraction and/or cannot. I just wanted some consultation to ask if I can have her be as she has been written and keep her aroace identity or must I change it to avoid stereotyping? Additionally, I have a few characters with autism and am avoiding writing them to be the basic stereotype of autistic people portrayed in media (I myself am sick of it) and that’s easy because they’re all very different characters in almost every possible way lol, but just wanted to ask for some advice on how to more vary it. Anyways, if you don’t get this, no worries and I apologize for my rambling towards the end lol, and I very much appreciate your blog and how you share how to represent disabled characters, it’s very refreshing, enlightening. 

Hello!

I am schizoaffective and on the aro spectrum. This is not a bad thing or a bad thing to portray - there are many people with schizophrenia who are so many different orientations. As a general rule, you can have another character with schizophrenia or a psychotic disorder who is not aroace to show that this is not the only option and that this is just how your character is. I would also highlight that your character may have symptoms such as flat affect or lack of pleasure in things they would find joyful but that doesn't mean they can't be a warm person or a good friend if they have important friendships or an important part of their community.

As for variety in autism - which I believe is the second question, please correct me if I'm wrong - look at the natural variety of autism. Different support needs, characters who are verbal, non-verbal, and semi-verbal, non-verbal characters who use a variety of low-tech and high-tech AAC, characters with dyspraxia and cerebral palsy and intellectual disability and other comorbidities, characters with physical disability not related to their autism, characters of different races, genders, and sexualities. This is the tip of the iceberg, but it's a good start.

If you have any questions about learning disabilities specifically, please clarify which ones and send in another ask when the ask box is open again - we'd be happy to help!

-Mod Bert

[jarride]

Paint "Brambles" Version 2

Special for Rosen-Hard Dynasty

Not even a month has passed (okay, almost) — and Brambles gets its promised continuation. This is still part of the same commission. And not even the last one yet.

We’ve already gotten our hands dirty in the first part, and now in the second, we’re witnessing the aftermath of these playful fingers. But only in certain options for now: in most swatches of this set, there is only one mark left on the body. The exceptions are the groin area and thighs—by the client’s request, I covered everything my imagination allowed.

Now, the important part — why is everything placed in the makeup category? So you can change the paint color! Initially, I painted it in red, but for the cover, I used CAS tools to show its variability. So feel free to experiment and combine different marks however you like!

96 variations: 4 patterns on different body areas.

Convenient previews for easy selection.

Ages: Teens – Elders.

Available for all genders.

Downloadable in 4 categories:

Lipstick

Eyeliner

Blush

Face Paint

Instead of a collage of previews, this time there’s a showcase video. Why? Because a collage wouldn’t show much. It's only available on Boosty, so I'll leave a link for you in case you're interested.

Boosty Video Preview

DOWNLOAD (Always Free)

Boosty | SFS | Patreon

Thank you so much for your likes and support!

[fantasy-anatomy-analyst]

Making Humanoids Less Human

I did make a small post on this, but now I've got the art for a much bigger and more detailed post! so here we go.

I had several anonymous asks that all came in quick succession weeks ago. Every single one of them was basically just a variation on "how would you take (typically humanoid) fantasy being, and make them look less human?"

This blog does not exist for me to just give people original designs for free, my goal is to show off my own personal thoughts about fantasy design and help people figure out how to adjust their own designs to fit their vision better. That means when people ask me questions about how to do something, I want to give them things to think about so they can come to their own conclusion. I don't mind making original designs to illustrate concepts, but a whole flood of "show me how to make this specific thing look different" all at once like that was too much. I'm not answering them all individually, it's just not what I want to do.

But what I can do is show my own thoughts and ideas about how to take any fantasy design and push it further away from "human", and you all can look at my ideas and figure out your own way to do things!

So here are the main 4 methods I've come up with to make humanoids look less human.

(image description: a simplified drawing of a humanoid face surrounded by four altered versions of the same face. clockwise starting from the top left, they are:

Speculative, drawn as a cat person. Additive, drawn with horns, pointy ears, sharp teeth, and a second pair of eyes. Subtractive, drawn with blank eyes, no nose, and no eyebrows. Exaggerative, drawn with a long face and huge eyes, as well as a wide mouth, narrow nose, and big ears.

end description)

I am personally a fan of the speculative route, which means exploring an alternate root of evolution to create a new design. Through this method, I've created monkey elves, frog goblins, and pig orcs.

the additive option is the most common, I think. adding new feature or doubled features to a humanoid form is a very intuitive way to change the design and make it look less human. you see this in most fantasy and scifi designs, like star trek aliens and the dnd player races.

subtractive and evaggerative are the most common options for people that like the uncanny valley. it's really easy to make uncomfortable designs by removing or exaggerating recognizable features, and they're often used together. Slenderman, for example, removes all facial features and skin color but also exaggerates the limbs and body.

Combining the four methods will give you a really interesting design as well! So for practice I decided to explore an alternate design for Tieflings, the part-demon player race in dnd.

(image description: four examples of differnt tiefling designs using the previously described methods. the additive example is just offical dnd art of a tiefling woman with purple skin, horns, and a long tail.

the subtractive sketch looks very alien, with a bald head, empty eyes, and no other facial featuers aside from a small mouth. it has three fingers per hand and two toe per foot.

the exaggerative sketch shows a hunched humanoid figure with huge eyes and big ears. the neck, limbs, and digits are all long with claws at the ends of the fingers and toes, and the limbs are also quite muscular.

the speculative sketch shows a bipedal figure with features similar to a giraffe, including a long neck, ossicones, and hooves.

end description)

now, because tielflings have such a distinct look to them, obviously my new sketches don't really look like tieflings, do they? the only one that comes close is the giraffe. relying only on one type of alteration to the human form has left the designs rather empty and lacking in the more iconic traits of the original concept. so i tried a sketch that combined my ideas! it came out looking like a completely different creature lol, like it could be a kobold or something, still not really a tiefling.

(image description: a sketch of a creature with a giraffe-like head, long tongue, and sharp teeth. it appears to be roaring at something and stands in a half-crouch. it has long limbs with hoof feet and clawed hands, as well as a long tufted tail curled behind it. end description.)

didn't work out. too far into the animal side of the speculative evolution, I think. so I tried again and got a design I liked much better!

(image description: a digital painting of a tiefling leaping back and casting a glowing orange spell. she is wearing a tunic with a corset and detached sleeves, as well as several pieces of jewelry. Her skin is purple with dark patches like a giraffe's spots, and she has a giraffe's ossicones as well as hoof-like hands and two-toed hoof feet. Her tail is long with a tuft at the end. She has glowing eyes and a flat nose, and there is a single sharp tooth visible poking out of the side of her mouth. end description.)

Brought the face back into slightly more human proportions and that helped a lot. Sometimes designs just take a few tries! that's normal.

and hopefully this is helpful to all of you! there are so many ways to alter humanoid designs to come up with something original and unique to you!

[howtofightwrite]

What is the difference between fencing and actual sword fighting, exactly? If I were to throw an olympic fencer against a master swordsperson, what would the most likely outcome of such a fight be?

The first and most obvious answer is that only one of these individuals is trained for combat.

The second answer is that only one of them uses (and trains with intent to use) a real weapon.

I’m going to assume this question revolves around an Olympic fencer dueling with a master swordsman with a live weapon and not in accordance with Olympic fencing rules. An Olympic fencer’s best chance at winning is a bout with a modern epee/saber under Olympic fencing rules and it’s also the case where (probably) no one dies or is gravely injured.

Olympic fencing is a sport. As a result of its evolution, it’s pretty much unrecognizable as even a martial form today and, in pursuit of the new requirements for winning, has divested itself of the weapon aspect. While much of the terminology remains the same, the key difference to grasp about Olympic fencers is that they’re not trained to fence around the idea that the sword in their hand is a dangerous weapon (because it isn’t.) In fact, the ultimate goal of winning in their sport (score points) is hindered by that mentality. To the Olympic fencer, it doesn’t matter if they get hit so long as they score first and have right of way when they do. If those at the top of the sport were handed a real historical epee, told to fence, and changed nothing in their approach, the end result would be a double suicide. (Which is ironic because that’s one of the reasons why the epee was restricted historically. When it came to dueling, it was a little too efficient.)

There is no caution here because there doesn’t need to be. Tactics and techniques which will cause a fencer to commit suicide against an opponent with a live blade work exceptionally well once the risk of death is off the table.

This isn’t just restricted to Olympic fencing. If you take any martial art that has transitioned to a sport and put the practitioner up against someone who kills people for a living, even if they are one of the best in their field, they will be at an inherent disadvantage. The requirements for winning according to the sport’s rules are vastly different from the requirements for winning in a life or death situation.

And that’s just the first hurdle.

The next hurdle is the weapon itself.

Duels are specifically between weapons of the same type. This rule is meant to level the playing field and ensure the duel is decided on “skill” rather than weapon advantage. Depending on their point of origin (for the purpose of this question, I’m assuming European) a master swordsman would have been familiar with and likely trained in several different sword styles, depending on era would be a master of their own school or in the employ of a noble house. If you need a comparable profession for a master duelist, think of them like lawyers. Except, the victory was decided by skill with a blade rather than a compelling argument. (We could say that skill with a blade is a compelling argument, but I digress.) One doesn’t get to be a master swordsman until after many years of study with the blade and victories under their belt. Depending on the era of history, the duel requirements of the duel could be anywhere between armored or unarmored, to first blood or to the death, and cover a variety of different swords, each with their own developed styles (and that is styles plural.)

Our Olympic fencer will be fucked by varying degrees depending on the live blade in question but, make no mistake, they’ll be pretty much fucked by any option picked. Running counter to their ubiquitous nature in popular culture, swords are not one size fits all. Outside of common principles there’s almost no training crossover. Every sword handles differently. These variations include length of the blade, length of the hilt, location of the crossguard, the weapon’s weight, the weapon’s weight distribution, the location of its balance point, whether it is primarily used with one hand or two, whether it is primarily a weapon for thrusting (the rapier) or cutting (the saber,) etc. Their grip would be off, and  probably wouldn’t be able to hold the sword properly.

The modern version of a fencing “sword” is not equivalent to any of these. Their closest stylistic match up in terms of inherited movement is the 19th century epee, but we’re still miles apart.

Then there’s the mentality issue.

The Olympic fencer hasn’t trained around the idea that death or major injury are accidental. Possible, yes, a risk, yes, but in the same way they are for any other sport. These are surprise, tragic occurrences and not part of regular bouts. For reference, in terms of the dangers of physical contact, a modern fencer faces less risk than a football player. For the master swordsman, the opposite is true. There is no variant of historical dueling which doesn’t risk death in some capacity, whether that’s a confirmed death on the dueling field itself or from an injury or infection later. Those historical circumstances where you see individuals dueling topless is (ironically) for practical reasons and not titillation. Many duelists, victorious or not, died from infection after cloth or other detritus got into their wounds. In this way, our modern Olympic fencer is less prepared than a duelist of average skill, much less a master.

Is the Olympic fencer ready to put their life and body on the line? To risk death, permanent injury, a potential blinding in one eye, in a bout that, at best, involves zero physical protection? I’m not sure. Probably not off the cuff. It requires a different mindset.

Are they ready to inflict damage on another person? Are they ready to kill another person? And even if they’re ready, are they willing to? Are they resolved to? Are they ready to risk their own life in pursuit of it?

The Olympic fencer is on the starting line with these questions.

The Master Swordsman has already answered them.

One of the difficult aspects about writing violence and characters who practice martial disciplines with intent to exercise those skills is internalizing the risks involved and ensuring their a natural part of your character’s mindset and their approach to combat.

Fiction is an illusion. Your narrative’s world is as real as you, the author, choose to make it. Characters are immortal, have infinite stamina, possess skill with every weapon, are unbeatable unless you choose otherwise. Regardless of reality, if you choose to make an Olympic fencer and a Master Swordsman fight exactly the same way with the same skill set, that’s how it is.

I’ve seen plenty of published authors treat swords as universal and modern Olympic fencing like it lends their character any real martial skills. (I mean, beyond excellent conditioning.) You can do it and get away with it if that’s what you want. Personally, I find it less interesting because it cheats the character out of their growth. Also, you don’t need to lean into that approach for “Girls Can Fight” or as a way for a female character to gain combat skills because there were female fencers who trained on the blade.

Ways for the Olympic fencer to win:

Dumb luck.

Yeah. That’s it.

The Master Swordsman should knock the blade out of their hand, take the Olympic fencer under their wing as their apprentice, and wander the world together solving crimes.

10/10.

-Michi

This blog is supported through Patreon. Patrons get access to new posts three days early, and direct access to us through Discord. If you’re already a Patron, thank you. If you’d like to support us, please consider becoming a Patron.

[protagaster]

Part 3 of the Warrior!Penelope Swap AU

Do you guys have any idea what I've been through this past week!?

Here I am in the middle of this vignette, wondering how I can write Ares' abilities so they are not copies of Athena's powers while also staying canon-compliant, when out of nowhere Mr. Jalapeño himself releases more details regarding Epic!Ares!?

I was both extremely happy (as my fic continues to be canon-compliant) and very much exhausted (you guys have no idea how much I had to change in order for it to match Jorge's canon)

With that out of the way, hope you all enjoy part 4! I'm so glad to introduce to you all one of my favorite Greek Gods ;)

[Appropriate Credits: @gigizetz, for it is Gigi's variation of warrior!penelope that I picture whilst writing this AU.

Also, special shoutout to @somereaderinblue (GeminiWillow on Ao3)! Blue's lyrical rewrites helped shape the dialogue!]

(Cross-Posted on Ao3)

EDIT AS OF (10/24) - I changed the title of this vignette, and so the lyrics were also changed to both sound better and more naturally fit the themes of the story! Hope you all enjoy!

Warrior of The Heart

Penelope knew that in order to successfully lead her comrades home she had to be more than a captain. More than a queen even. No, what Penelope needed to be was a warrior.

A warrior of the heart.

However, as with all mortals, there are moments where she needs to be reminded of who she’s meant to be. 

And who better to remind her than her own mentor… 

~

Penelope and Circes had just about finished up on the lotus eaters’ island. 

After the emotional conflict and resolution they had faced moments ago, the two women decided a light rest was necessary before sailing their raft back to the main ship. Upon their return Penelope would be sure to inform the others of the cave the lotus-eaters had revealed. 

Looking up from where she sprawled, Penelope saw Circes playing with one of the little lotus-eating creatures. Despite the danger the captain initially thought them to be, they were actually quite helpful (not to mention a little cute). 

She was glad Circes convinced her not to resort to violence. 

This resolution with the lotus eaters proved that peaceful solutions were an option and did achieve results. It proved that cruelty and success did not go have to go hand-in-hand. It proved that, when left to make a decision of her own will, Penelope would go for the one that displayed kindness and mercy. 

It proved that without the Gods’ intervention Penelope was not a monster.

That was a thought that gave her an immediate sense of comfort, even if it was a relatively selfish one. 

Maybe, just maybe, it really was better to greet the world with open arms…

Suddenly, Penelope felt her mind and senses tingle with anticipation. 

A very familiar dose of adrenaline rushed through her body, traveling to the very core of her soul. Time around her began to gradually slow, her thoughts and reactions starting to increase in speed. 

Penelope blinked, this action lasting only for a second. 

Upon re-opening her eyes she found she was no longer on the island. Instead she stood in a sandy plain, reminiscent of the Trojan battlefields she had fought in not too long ago. Circes, the lotus eaters, even the thoughtless creatures of nature and the night, they were all gone. The only thing Penelope could see, apart from miles of endless dark sand, was a red hourglass floating above her. 

The hourglass was tilted precariously, dangling over a metaphorical edge. But if one were brave enough to look beyond it's glass frame they'd notice a faint, distorted halo circling above it; dangling from that halo was an invisible pendulum, dancing constantly in circles a safe distance away from the instrument.

Everything around her was silent, leaving Penelope to hear only the sounds of individual grains of red sand streaming down the hourglass

Until the call of a vulture screeched from above.

Looking up, Penelope saw the carnivorous bird circling over her similar to how a normal vulture would. He was covered with majestic brown feathers, the tips colored a deep red akin to the aftermath of a victorious battle. He had an array of feathers atop his head, formed in such a manner that it almost looked as if he wore a war-man’s helmet. 

Looking at the vulture from a distance it would appeared as if his eyes were void of thoughts and emotion. However, if one dared to look closely enough, they could see the fowl had the gaze of a man; one eager to stain the ground with blood. 

A voice boomed inside Penelope’s head, coming from nowhere and everywhere. 

“Have you forgotten the lessons I taught you?” 

“Ares!” 

The bird continued to circle her person, coming closer and closer with each flap of his daunting wings. 

“Have you forgotten to close off your heart? This is not you!” 

The vulture was finally within reaching distance to Penelope. His talons, sharp and glinting in the moonlight, were dangerously close to her flesh; If he really wanted to, he could dangerously maim, or possibly even kill, the woman with a simple dive and strike. 

Still, despite knowing what he was capable of, Penelope knew she was safe. In spite of his label as nothing more than a bloodthirsty brute to the majority of Greece, she was one of the few who knew his true nature. 

His lust for blood revealed itself only to those deserving of it. 

But that was not to say she was completely off the hook in this situation

“I see you changing from how I've designed you!” 

The vulture landed on the sand not too far from where she stood. Though much smaller in size, for the moment, his presence alone very much made up for it. It was quick to make itself known to Penelope, rattling her deep to her very core. 

“Have you forgotten your purpose? Let me remind you…” 

With a flash the vulture set before Penelope was no more. 

Standing in its place was a very large, very intimidating man, in both height and figure. 

This man was taller and stronger than any mortal man could ever hope to be. His arms and legs, thrice the size of a normal male, proudly displayed the tell-tale scars of a warrior with experience. He adorned red and gold greek armor, its design a natural mix of traditional Spartan origin with recent additions of Ithacan influence. His helm, a golden one with a deep red plume, very clearly symbolized what he himself represented to Sparta and what the kingdom meant to him. 

This helm covered the entirety of his upper face, the only features left clearly revealed being his nose and mouth. Shadows in the place of his eyes were displayed to the outside world, but the emotions behind them were masked to all who dared to gaze. 

“Master of Courage, God of the War,” 

A magnificent glowing spear, Ares’ signature weapon, manifested inside his hand. 

“My life has one mission…” 

Ares thrust the spear-point in Penelope’s direction. An outsider might have thought his intent was to kill her. Thankfully, all he wanted was to place the blunt end of the spear-point on her shoulder.

“Create the greatest warrior!”

Using his divine power as a war God, Ares performed his signature “quick-thought” and dove into Penelope’s mind. Momentarily one, the God sifted through Penelope’s life experiences until he found the memory he wanted her to recall. 

~

Penelope remembered that day as if it were yesterday. 

About 20 years ago, having barely entered her teenage years, a young Penelope had been asked by her father to accompany him to Ares’ challenge: the magic hunting field.

“I had a challenge, a hunting field, a divine spear only the best could wield!” 

The magic hunting field, created with the aid of the Goddess of the Hunt, was a challenge orchestrated to see which mortal was worthy of pulling a divine spear, created by the God of Forging, out the earth. Once that mortal took hold of the spear they were to honor Ares by spilling as much wild blood as they could in His name.

Whoever was able to wield the spear, if anyone could manage such a feat, would be blessed by the God of Courage himself. 

Penelope remembered her younger self feeling quite uncomfortable. She was never able to forget what her father tried to do to her as a babe, despite trying to desperately make up for it by being so affectionate toward her; something he continued to do to this day. 

However, despite her hesitation, Penelope also recalled feeling elated. 

Sparta was a kingdom that believed all their people should at least be familiar with the art of combat, females included. The great kingdom had influenced a few other lands in Greece to adopt this progressive mindset, with others well on their way. 

But even then, that day in the hunting field was one of the first times that women were allowed to participate in a challenge set forth by the Gods.

“One day a girl came for the thrill,”  

That young Penelope, eager to prove herself to both the world and her father, was determined to show that she could be both a lady of the court and a soldier of the battlefield.

It was one of the many qualities that intrigued her to Ares in the first place. 

“A girl whose heart rivaled the spear’s own will!” 

Penelope did not know it at the time, but the random spear buried in the dirt that she just happened to pull out on a whim would catch her the eye of the God of War himself. 

And he only found himself growing more and more impressed with each wild game whose blood she spilled in his name. 

“Let’s go!” 

By the final hour of that day young Penelope had proved herself to be a more formidable hunter than any of the numerous young men who tried to prove themselves worthy. Not only had she offered Ares a pleasing amount of blood, but she had ensured her carnage was not without purpose. 

She distributed the pelts of fur and rounds of meat amongst her fellow hunters in an act of goodwill.  Penelope even gave a sizable chunk of boar and a beautiful wolf pelt to her father despite her reservations toward him, most likely as some sort of thank you for allowing her to come. 

Half of the hunting field’s participants were appreciative of her kindness and impressed with her physical prowess; these people consisting of her father, the few other female hunters, and the men who knew there to be great merit in empowering a young lady beyond what was expected of her.

The others, men who were angry by the fact they were bested by a mere little girl and longed to put her in her place, could only accept their peace offerings with strained smiles and wicked eyes. Still, despite their irritation, these men knew they could not do a damn thing about it; for they were in Ares’ land, and one does not dare harm a young lady under the Protector of Women’s gaze without longing for an excruciating death. 

Regardless of how her spectators felt with the matter, everyone knew that the girl had gained the very thing they all were hoping to obtain: the blessing of Ares. 

“Maybe one day she'll follow me and we'll make a greater tomorrow, then they'll see I know she'll change the world 'cause she is a Warrior of the Heart!”

As the day’s events unfolded a mysterious vulture, one bigger and more sublime than a vulture should be, flew into the scene. He fit in perfectly with the background of the field. 

No one had noticed this vulture watching the young Princess of Sparta since the moment she first stepped foot on the field. 

“Maybe one day I'll reach her and we can build her skills as I teach her. If there’s a problem she’ll know to act first,”

Penelope, her father, and their guards had stayed in that field until nightfall. The exhaustion behind the day’s events claimed the girl with an instantaneous sleep, though this was of no surprise to her loving father. 

The vulture followed the young girl even while she and her entourage made their way back home. Upon arrival at the palace gates King Icarius carefully carried his daughter inside. However, the princess had not yet been fully claimed by sleep. 

Feeling the presence of someone watching her, Penelope looked up from her father’s shoulder. 

Right there, perched on a tree branch just outside the gates, was the brown and red vulture. The same one that was watching her back in the magic hunting field. 

Penelope’s eyes never left the vulture, even as she was carried inside. 

“She is a Warrior of the Heart!” 

Later that night, the Princess of Sparta snuck out of her room. 

She ran outside the confines of her palace, an easy thing to accomplish with the secret exit she and her siblings shared amongst themselves. Penelope then made her way to the large clump of trees behind the royal palace, not necessarily a forest but more grand than a grove. 

Penelope looked around, searching for the vulture that followed her all the way from the hunting field. She gazed from treetop to treetop, gawked from branch to branch, and even tried to search for any dead carrion that may have resulted from its hunger. 

But alas, nothing. 

… 

Well, not entirely… 

Penelope just knew something, or perhaps rather someone, was watching her. She could feel their eyes. 

“Show yourself.” Penelope searched in every direction, hoping she could finally catch sight of the mysterious presence. “I know you're watching me, show yourself.” 

Still nothing. 

Unbeknownst to the young girl, a large man was watching her from nearby. If he were a normal man Penelope would have spotted him the second she snuck out; however, this man was anything but. 

He had covered himself with a special spell, a divine air that made it so he and his kin could roam the earth without being seen by mortals. He needed to use this spell if he wanted to continue discreetly watching the girl, for it seemed she had recognized his animal form to be more than met the eye. 

The divinely-clouded man watched as the girl continued to whirl her head around in search. Finally she stopped, most likely giving up is what the man thought. 

But then, and much to his surprise, the girl smirked. Because her back was turned to him the man could not see the mischievous glint in her eyes. 

“I can see you.” 

The man grew stunned, quick to remove the divine mist that shielded him from mortal eyes. 

“How can you see through my spell?”

“Aha!” Penelope whirled around at his voice, hands on her hips in triumph. “I was lying and you fell for my bluff. Hahahaha.” 

The man’s eyes grew wide behind his helm, astounded with the bravery and daring of the tiny human before him. Many of his kind would have found themselves insulted at being so easily deceived by a mortal, especially one so young and feminine. 

This man, though, was unlike his kin in many ways. He saw no offense, but untapped potential…

Wearing a smile, the man approached little Penelope with not a single hint of hostility in his step. 

“Not bad, enlighten me, what's your name?”

Penelope raised her eyebrow at his question. She crossed her arms over her chest and turned her head away in a playful motion that betrayed her supposed suspicion. 

“You first, and maybe I'll do the same.”

The man, while not known for his patience, found it no trouble to entertain the child’s stubbornness. He was, after all, no stranger to the whims of daughters. 

“Nice try, but two can play this game.”

Penelope silently scrutinized the giant man, quick to note how his carefree personality did not match his intimidating appearance. Based on this observation any normal human would have assumed him to be just another man of Sparta, albeit much bigger compared to the rest and most likely blessed by the Gods. 

But alas, Penelope never did fall into the category of “normal”. She knew this man was no mortal simply blessed by another God. 

“Nah, you’ve got me wrong, I'm aware you're a God, let’s drop the facade…” 

Allowing herself to beam a smile, Penelope revealed to the man a truth she had already known since first becoming aware of his presence. 

“Your name is Ares!”

Ooh, Ares

“Badass in war, you carry! Unmatched, Fearless, and very much King of the Battlefield!”

Ares was already impressed with the girl based on what he had seen back in his magic hunting field. This moment, though, of her being able to surmise his identity with barely any clues to help her only further improved his impression of her. 

Looks like his challenge truly did end in a success. 

“If you're looking for a mentor I'll make sure your time's well spent.” 

Penelope had to stop herself from jumping with glee. A God, and not just any God either, but the patron deity of her kingdom and the personification of battle himself had just offered to take her, small and inexperienced Penelope, as a student! 

“Sounds like a plan! God and woman, Bestest of friends!" Penelope ran to embrace the God but instead phased right through him. 

“We'll see where it ends.” Ares answered in response to her attempted hug.

“Okay.” Penelope said undeterred, lifting herself back up as if nothing had happened.  

And with that the God and his mortal made their way back to her room. The memory may have concluded, but that moment forth led to a long and fruitful friend partnership. 

“Maybe one day they'll follow me, and we'll make a greater tomorrow,"

Ares would go on to watch over and advise his student. Sometimes he would take the appearance of a standard human male, posing as a Spartan guard trusted to keep the princess safe. Other times he would assume his vulture form, flying over Penelope and guiding her from the skies. Most times, though, Ares would shape himself into a small snake that wrapped around Penelope’s throat; conspicuous enough not to arouse suspicion but with just the right amount of menace to keep any adversaries from coming too close. 

"Then they'll see I know we'll change the world ‘cause we are the Warriors of the Heart!”

Ares and Penelope would spend a lot of their time together in training. The mortal learned how to properly wield a spear, handle a dagger, and even aim a bow. She learned that her feminine rage was a good thing and that setting it free could be beneficial at times. And, thanks to some advice from his loving partner, Ares found ways to help Penelope build up enough muscle to enhance her strength while also keeping her body just lithe enough for the sake of norms and appearances. 

“Maybe one day we'll reach them and we can build their skills as we teach them,"

And it did not stop at just his student either! 

Penelope was thankful to have married a husband who was so supportive of her endeavors and even wished to help her in achieving them. Ares was too, he supposed (even if he vehemently opposed the idea of marriage in the beginning). 

Penelope became the paragon of female warriors. She would lead and become a role model to the women willing to put themselves through even harsher training regimens than what the men in their lives partook in. In the beginning there were never a lot of women who were willing to learn, but as time went on more and more strove to push their limits. 

"If there's a problem, we'll know to act for we are the Warriors of the Heart!”

The point is over the years Penelope grew to be more than she ever thought she could be. She had shown the world that it was possible for a woman to be a formidable warrior while also staying true to her femininity (remember, Penelope was known all throughout Sparta and Ithaca for her immense talent in weaving). 

All of it thanks to the guidance of Ares. Of what he had allowed her to become. 

~

Back to the present, Ares was satisfied with the knowledge he wanted Penelope to recall. Enough to motivate her, but to also remind her of their goal. 

“I still intend to make sure you don't fall apart. Don't forget that you're a warrior made to be a work of art-” 

Even if she had learned almost all he could teach her, Penelope was still only a mortal. The Gods had only so many stories of what could happen when mortals are left to their own devices. 

And Ares couldn’t allow that to happen. Not after all the time he devoted into molding her. 

“You are a Warrior of the Heart!” 

Penelope, the current one, let out a sigh. 

Ares was right, of course he was right. As a God he knew best; he knew what needed to be done to accomplish his their ultimate goal. 

As his student it was her duty to heed his every command. For both their sakes. 

Seeing that she had taken his words to heart, Ares prepared to release her consciousness back to reality.

 Before he did though, the God gave her one more warning…

“Don't disappoint me.”

And with that he was gone, the only proof of his presence a cluster of vulture feathers carrying the scent of burnt torches and carrion.

The sandy landscape quickly faded, returning to the grassy thicket that was the lotus eaters’ island.

The top end of the red hourglass was practically empty, save for a lone grain of sand. That faint halo, the one holding the invisible pendulum, inched closer to the instrument. 

This single grain fell, joining the rest on the bottom of the glass. The Invisible pendulum swung a hair of a distance away from the sand clock’s glass, not quite close enough to crack but very close.

In a flash everything went back to how it was before. Circes, the lotus eaters, even nature itself, they all returned to their normal speed. It was as if nothing happened. 

Penelope let out a breath. They needed to get return. 

Now. 

[idrellegames]

Wayfarer 2024 Roadmap

It’s the start of a new year and I’m excited to announce my plans for Wayfarer’s development.

The primary focus for 2024 is finishing Episode 3 and starting Episode 4. My goal has always been to get the alpha build to the point where it is one episode ahead of the public build, and forcing my way through this period has been very difficult. Episode 3 has turned into a more challenging endeavour than I anticipated due to its sheer size and complexity. I did not intend to take over a year to finish it, but if I’ve learned anything from the creative process it’s that it is unpredictable and things never go according to plan.

The 2024 roadmap is for an idealized scenario. I am hoping I have given myself enough wiggle room should things go off-course. With that in mind, the plan for the last 6 months of the years is an estimate and will likely change. Regardless, the goal remains the same: finish Episode 3, finish Episode 4, and release Episode 3 publicly.

Winter • January to March

This quarter will be focused on finishing the next stages of Episode 3. Episode 3 is divided into 4 parts:

Part 1: the beginning of the episode, following the routes that occur if the player ends Episode 2 with Aeran or Veyer. This part is finished and was added to the alpha build in May 2023. It includes over 300,000 words of playable content.

Part 2: the beginning of the episode, following the routes that occur if the player ends Episode 2 with Melchior, alone, or drunk. This part was skipped over and will be returned to at a later date.

Part 3: the middle of the episode, split into three different routes that eventually bottleneck at a specific point. This part is currently in-progress, with Route 1 nearing completion.

Part 4: the episode finale

January and February will be devoted to writing Episode 3 Part 3, which includes finishing Route 1 and completing Routes 2 and 3. In March, I will code that material and playtest it. Once it has been thoroughly playtested, it will be added to the alpha build (playable on my Patreon).

March will also see an update to the public build. Patch 2.7. will not add any new content, but it will patch reported bugs in Episodes 1 and 2 and update some quality of life issues.

Spring • April to June

This quarter will be focused on writing Episode 3 Part 2, the Episode 3 finale, and coding and playtesting all of the remaining material. Should all go according to plan, the Episode 3 alpha will be finished at the end of June. All routes will be playable for members of my Patreon.

The next round of playtester applications will open in May. Playtesters are volunteers who play the alpha build in search of bugs, continuity errors, and typos. They get first access to new content, and updates and patches before anyone else does. Because Wayfarer’s gameplay includes hundreds of choices and many, many variations that build on each other, playing multiple times and checking different options is essential for testing to ensure each area of the game functions as intended.

In June bonus content (short stories, writing tutorials, worldbuilding and lore posts, etc) will return to my Patreon. It is currently on a break, but the backlog of extras and specials are available to members of the Apprentice tier.

Summer • July to September

If the Episode 3 alpha is finished on time, this quarter will start the development of Episode 4. Episode 4 is divided into three separate routes that have no-crossover and each feature a main companion. Alexia’s (Route A) will be worked on in August and Ren’s (Route B) will be worked on in September.

This is an estimated timeline and is subject to change.

Fall • October to December

The last quarter will see the end of Episode 4’s development. This includes Calla’s route (Route C) and additional coding and playtesting. A second round of playtester applications will open in October. If all goes well, December will see the release of the Episode 4 alpha on Patreon and Episode 3 will launch on the public build.

This is an estimated timeline and is subject to change.

[ljjsims]

Greek Goddess Legacy Challenge: Generation #2 Aphrodite: Complete Sheets

I present to you: Aphrodite!

You’re pretty and you very well know it. Sims lie at your feet, so you decide to date and kiss as many sims as you want. Too bad no one can keep up with you, you never seem to find your match. This all changes when you see him. Ares, god of war. He is your equal in every way. You both fall madly in love with each other. No one can keep you two apart. Until your brother Crius forces you to marry rich and influential scientist Hephaestus. His ring feels like a prison. you find yourself falling back into old patterns and new beds. More often than not it’s Ares’. The magazines and public have a lot of opinions on your life, constantly bothering you and your family. but you don't care what they say. You deserve the world. All is fair in love and war.

Little bit explanation with the sheets: - First sheet is for describing your current generation, with the challenges you need to do each life-stage. Also, because I love the myths, a bit of mythological background. May it inspire you :) - Second sheet is the preparation sheet for this generation, with important characters for your story. It is technically optional, but I love seeing sims with a backstory in my world, so I would highly recommend it. - Third sheet is for your gens children. They all have their own little challenges if your interested in those. I try to make all of them a bit different from each other, so it doesn't get boring. Your heir is also on this sheet, but I've put their challenges on their own sheets. Stay tuned for those ;) - Fourth sheet is completely optional. If you want sims with names from the myths and love making sims to see them in your world, this is for you! All with a little mythological background ofc, you know me.

Next Generation is Hera! Previous (and first) Generation was Gaia

The Greek Goddesses Challenge by LJJ-Sims is a challenge based on the ancient mythical creatures and stories from Greece. I fell in love with Greek mythology in high school and have not let that love go since. In this challenge you will follow 10 deities in their journey through life. Every goddess has a different take on and goal in life. Special about this challenge?  All your kids have little challenges of their own, not only your heir. These challenges are optional, so if you feel like these are too much or just too restricting for you: by all means let them go. I also have sheets for characters that you can make before you start each generation. This gives your challenge a lot more personality and makes it frankly easier and more fun!

A little disclaimer: because I made these gods and goddesses into a legacy challenge, the relationships in the myths don’t exactly match the relationship in this challenge. There is a lot of keep it in the family in mythology, to put it lightly. And apart from the fact that you can’t do that in the Sims, I don’t really like that part. So I didn’t include it, thus the inconsistency. An example: Ares is now Hera’s stepfather instead of her son, which she conceived with her brother  and husband Zeus. This inconsistency can also be found in the stories. It’s just based on and not copied exactly, as Sims live lives that are a lot shorter than those of immortal gods. And it takes a way from the creativity if we just copy the myths. Even if we wanted to do that, it’s quite hard, as every myths has its fair share of variations and some are just completely different stories.

I use the MCCC-mod to alter the length of life states. You can find the days-years ratio here: the boring stuff.

[duckprintspress]

An Interview with Tris Lawrence

Meet Tris Lawrence! Tris has been with Duck Prints Press since our very first anthology, Add Magic to Taste, and is the author of multiple novels, including seven books of the Welcome to Pine Hills University series. We’re currently crowdfunding the second book of that series, Missed Fortunes, so what better time is there to get to know this awesome author?

About Tris Lawrence

Tris Lawrence has been writing since she was a child, filling notebooks with the worlds, dreams, and voices from inside her head. She declared in sixth grade that she wanted to be a writer, promptly started drafting her first novel in seventh grade, and never looked back.

Tris has always been fascinated by the way people work: how their relationships fit together, how they interact socially, how they learn and discover. She has read avidly her entire life, devouring mysteries, romances, science fiction, and fantasy novels, and as an adult still loves all of these genres. Her favorite stories center on people who are learning or discovering new things, and coming-of-age stories top that list, which is how Pine Hills University came to be. She wants to share stories of people who are learning how to relate to each other, how to adult, how to college, and how to just be. She hopes to share stories about diverse characters with representation of everything she wishes she could have read growing up, and she hopes that these stories will touch the lives and hearts of those who read them.

When not writing, Tris is a wife, a mother (to two children, two cats, and a dog), a knitter, a system administrator, a black belt in taekwondo, an avid reader, and a music aficionado. Sleep, she claims, is optional.

Links: Bluesky | Dreamwidth | Facebook | Mastodon | Patreon | Pillowfort | Tumblr

An Interview with Tris

How did you pick the name you create under?

I’ve written in the past under multiple variations on my meatspace prior-to-marriage name, but that was always separate from my fandom identity. When I started the Welcome to PHU series, I made a conscious decision that I wanted to lean-into my fandom self. I’ve been tryslora online for over thirty years, and many of my friends called me Trys. The names are pronounced with a short I, so the shift from Trys to Tris was easy for me, and the surname Lawrence is another callback to the other half of my fandom name. The fact that my surname is also the (full given) name of the very favorite character of the first short story I ever had published is just a happy bonus.

When and why did you begin creating?

Oh. Goodness. Apparently my first short story was written in the first grade. I was in the resource room–taken out of my class for enrichment time so I didn’t get Bored since I was the only one in the class who could already read. They gave me a picture, and I wrote a story about a sad little boy whose parents were getting a divorce. The school called my parents, very concerned. Spoiler alert: my parents were NOT getting a divorce.

I started writing in earnest in seventh grade. I was already a voracious reader, and it seemed like the next step to start creating the kinds of stories I wanted to read. Sweet wistful romances. Stories where I could be the hero. As an only child, I’d been making up stories in my head all my life; putting them down on paper and sharing them was fun. And I quickly realized that writing was like breathing. I couldn’t stop. I filled notebooks. I started submitting short stories to markets (and being rejected) when I was fifteen. I wrote a serialized novel my senior year of high school and sold it in thirty issues to other kids in my high school. To be fair, I got the idea from a friend who started his serial the year earlier, and I wasn’t the only one. We were a whole little crew of writers in high school, and we beta read and encouraged each other.

Why I wrote changed over the years. At first, I just wanted to tell stories. The kinds of stories I had going in my head to entertain me when I was bored/alone/whatever. Then I started to need to write to tell stories that worked out problems in my head. Then I started creating the kinds of stories I really needed to read when I was a kid/teen/young adult. Which is what I’m still doing. In a way, everything I write is to tell younger-me that the future is different. Better. More expansive and diverse and accepting. That the world has words for things, and we are working toward change.

Are you a pantser, a planner, or a planster? What’s your process look like?

I am a plantser. I used to be a straight-up pantser, but when I started writing serialized novel-length works (first for fic, then original), I found that I needed some kind of structure to help keep me on schedule. My process involves a lot of random talking to myself on paper to spew ideas, then trying to form the ideas into a loose timeline of major events. Sometimes those events are tropes (like: “the only one bed moment should come relatively early”) or they could be something more plot-related. Once that’s done, I figure out how many chapters I want and put blank docs for those in my Scrivener file. Then I index card the first few, but which I mean make a 1-3 paragraph set of blathering to myself notes about high points that need to occur in the chapter. I can’t call it an outline. It’s not really specific. Sometimes it’s a quote I want to include and a note about who is interacting and why.

I can’t overtell the story when I’m planning or I won’t want to write it. Or I WILL write it, right then, instead of planning. So. Yeah. Plantsing is the way to go. And every time I approach the end of the chapters I’ve done index cards for, I do the next few. Somewhere in the last third, I find myself needing to do it for the rest, at which point I can roll on through and finish the story.

Which of your own creations is your favorite? Why?

Um. My true and absolute favorites are horror pieces for an old fandom that has a lot of conflict around it now, so I hesitate to point to those. They make me want to write modern horror, though. I miss horror. In current writing, I’d have to say “Delta” from He Bears the Cape of Stars. It’s hard to say why other than that Ellis is a character of my heart, and I was so so thrilled to be able to write a story that had a positive outcome for him. “Worldplay” in the anthology Game On! from Zombies Need Brains is a close second. I went into it with a goal it having a particular taste and feel to the words, and I achieved that. I also went into it with the goal of the main character never being gendered, and am really happy with how it reads. The fact that it is only 4,000 words long and everything fits so neatly within that amount of words gives me incredible joy. In terms of craft, I am intensely proud of this piece.

Do you like having background noise when you create? What do you listen to? Does it vary depending on the project, and if so, how?

I need music going, but it has to either be music I know and can ignore, or sometimes classical. And it does vary with the project, but I don’t make playlists specific to the book. I did listen to a LOT of pop punk while writing Rory’s book (Marked #2: Not Your Love Song) in the PHU ‘verse, because that fit with his band’s theme. What I can’t do is use headphones – if the music is right in my ears, it’s interruptive. I need it to be low and truly in the background, so it doesn’t draw my attention. Once upon a time I could write while watching TV (and I wrote a lot of early fic that way- t hat would be where a Deadliest Catch inspired fic came from!) but not any longer. It’s too distracting.

When you look at your “career” as a creator, what achievement would you most like to reach – what, if it happened or has already happened, would/did make you go “now – now I’m a success!”?

When I graduated high school, as part of our writeup under our picture, they asked for our life goal. Mine was “2 go 2 SF cons 4 free” because at that time, being invited to be the guest of honor at a convention was the best goal I could see. I’d still love for that to happen. But really, more than that, I just hope to hear someday that something I wrote meant something to a reader. That the book impacted them in a positive way. That would be a success.

If you could give one piece of advice to a new creator who came to you for help, what would that advice be?

All words are awesome words. There will be days where you hate everything you write, and that’s okay. Put them on paper anyway. Burn them later if you want, or edit them, or tuck them in a drawer to look at in a year. But write them. Give yourself that chance to grow. Remember that everyone starts at the beginning – no one is a pro from moment one. Keep at it, and those words will change as you learn. But never forget: every word you put on paper is incredible, because you did it. You wrote. Keep writing.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

You have to write your million words of shit. Which in my mind, I have turned it around to “All words are awesome words” whether you make one or a thousand, whether you keep them or cut them. The gist is: in order to improve, you have to write. You have to get it down on paper, and yeah, it may not work and it may get tossed in a drawer (or lost in a virtual file folder named “omgDoNotLook-this-is-awful.docx”), but the writing is how we learn.

Additionally, ALL words count. Original fiction. Fan fiction. Non-fiction. Blog posts. Carefully worded emails. Everything that makes you slow down and consider your word choice and seek a direction and find flow. It’s all important, and it’s all part of the learning process. Which is the flipside of writing that first million words of shit. Much like gaining a black belt in a martial art – achieving that goal isn’t the end of the journey, it’s the start. Keep going. Keep making words. Every single one is important, and we always have more to learn.

What’s the worst advice you’ve ever received?

That you are only a writer if you write every day, and that to be successful, it should be at the same time, in the same place. I get that it works for some people. In fact, it’s great advice for a lot of people! But for me, I internalized that as “if I miss a day, I’m a failure” or “if I can’t get into my home office, I’m a failure” and that meant I stopped writing.

I had to learn that zero days are okay. It’s how much you work, not necessarily having a strict schedule, and learning to roll with the changes in schedule is important, too. I started tracking my word count in a spreadsheet so I could see those ups and downs, and visualize my averages, even when half the days out of the year I wasn’t writing at all. In 2023 I started tracking time, as well, because I’ve been spending more and more time on authorial tasks that aren’t just the creation of new words – editing, social media, publication prep, buying supplies (business cards, etc.), conventions. Being able to see that I am still spending a lot of time on this career, even if I’m not making words, has helped me come to terms with times when I’m not writing.

What book or media franchise or other creator’s work do you always come back to? How many times have you rewatched/reread/reviewed it?

Roger Zelazny’s Amber series, and I honestly do not know how many times I’ve read it. My view of it has changed over the years, certainly. It still impacts me a lot when I think about it; there are so many spaces and so many ways to take inspiration from it. It was a perfect story for a lonely teen who wanted a way to believe in a life beyond where I was. I read it many times between the ’90s and ’00s because I got involved in playing an RPG based in the universe – diceless roleplaying with a heavy emphasis on character and story. It was perfect for me, and was something that kept me writing (for my characters) during the times when my children were young. The last time I read it was in 2017 so I could write a postscript canon-based story for a Yuletide prompt. That’s another one I’m very proud of from a craft perspective, because I feel like I did a good job of mimicking Zelazny’s style (but more modern).

Thank you for sharing, Tris!

If you’ve enjoyed this interview, why not check out our current crowdfunding campaign for Tris’s book Missed Fortunes?

[neopronouns-in-action]

So can we start calling this the progress trans flag and using this, or is that too radical a concept for people in 2023?

[ID: A version of the progress trans flag with eight horizontal stripes of: purple, black, blue, pink, white, yellow, black, and brown. In the center are concentric circles of black, dark purple, and gold. End ID.]

Explicitly include nonbinary and intersex people in the trans pride flag. Not just “including nonbinary people” as a single single white stripe for people with “neutral” genders that 99% of people don’t even know is for nonbinary people, and instead think is there to represent transitioning.

If you want support nonbinary people, one small step is to explicitly include us in the trans pride flag, and not just by lumping all of us together into a single “neutral” category that seems like it’s only there to separate the pink and blue stripes.

I’m tired of binary people, both cis and trans, promoting exorsexism and erasing and speaking over nonbinary people. If the pride flag can change to explicitly include and support trans people and people of color, then the trans flag can change too.

Being trans is not just for binary men and women. It’s not just for perisex people or white people. It’s 2023. How about we put the most erased parts of our community front and center in the trans community, and how about the rest of the trans community be proud to fight with us?

There are three main versions of this flag, with the most simplified version up top.

Symmetrical version:

[ID: Three versions of the trans progress pride flag, both with symetrical horizontal stripes of purple, black, blue, pink, yellow, white, yellow, pink, blue, black, and purple. The first version includes a brown sideways chevron, followed by a gold triangle of the intersex flag, with the dark purple circle in the center. The second version has a brown diamond in the center, with concentric circles of black, dark purple, and gold inside it. The third version has only the stripes. End ID.]

The white and yellow stripe on this six-striped version are reversed so that the white stripe, like the black, is easy to see against all background colors.

[ID: Two versions of the six-striped version of the trans progress pride flag, with stripes of purple, black, blue, pink, white, and yellow. The first version includes a brown sideways chevron, followed by a gold triangle of the intersex flag, with the purple circle in the center. The second version has a brown diamond in the center, with concentric circles of black, dark purple, and gold inside it. The third version has only the stripes. End ID.]

Here is the web archive link where you can download the HD versions of these flags, including the symbols:

“https://archive.org/details/progress-trans-flag”

Do not add images to this post unless they include a plain text image description in the body of the post directly below the image.

ALT text is not accessible for everyone who needs an image description. Plain text image descriptions are the most accessible option. That’s why I used an image description and not ALT text.

Please also do not suggest replacements or variations of this flag that leave out the black, white, purple, or yellow. They were all chosen for a reason. You can add other colors if you want, but removing the purple, yellow, black, or white is just as egregious as removing the blue or pink would be.

The black, white, yellow, and purple all represent forms of identity outside the binary. Combining the black and white into grey erases so many people and completely misunderstands the purpose of those stripes.

These are the baseline colors for the flag, you can customize them via less saturation, darkness, ect, when making art or using it for your own purposes. You do not need to color pick directly from this flag any time you use it.

Edit 12/10/23: go read this post too.