#but the game? the game is as fun as ever. i think the added mechanics work well and there's a LOT of content for early access

[eastgaysian]

hades 2 is just as addictive as hades was if not more. supergiant you've done it again

[bmpmp3]

my inability to play mobile games nowadays is also a source of suffering as a person who loves rhythm games. i miss her (SIF1).....

[enchantedbarnes]

Uncle Buck

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Single Aunt!Reader

Summary: You take your nephew to a Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson Q&A event. The mischievous 8-year-old asks if he can get in line to ask a question. Against your better judgement you agree and let him go up by himself.

Word Count: 626

Masterlist: One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven

A/N: I had no intention to write anything on this account but here we are. Excuse the mess.

A young boy - 8 years old, dark hair and eyes full of mischief - walks up to the microphone.

"Hi, I have a question for Bucky..." He asks shyly.

The moderator nods, "What's your question for him, little man?"

The boy looks over at the seats nearby behind him and smirks, turning back to the stage with some more confidence this time.

"Will you marry my Aunt?"

The crowd let's out collective gasps, giggles, and awws. There's some cheering and a loud "OW OWWWW."

You inhale quickly and choke on your own air supply, trying to compose yourself. "BENJAMIN!!!"

You're horrified and shrink down in your seat while pulling your hood up over your head for added cover.

While you contemplate the fastest way to snatch the little traitor and get out of there as swiftly as possible you hear Sam's loud laugh echo through the room.

"I assume that was your Aunt and you're Benjamin?" Bucky asks while smirking.

Tiny traitor nods while grinning ear to ear. "I'm Benji, Auntie's name is Y/n and she thinks you're sooo handsome," he exaggerates with an eye roll, "and she's super fun and pretty and you'd be the coolest unc--"

Exit plan secured you jump out of your seat and rush over to cover his mouth and pull him back from the mic. Your hood still up and head ducked down.

"You said you were asking about the mechanics of his arm, you tiny little punk," you mutter at him but the microphone still picks up what you said.

While you have him secured in a headlock you quickly speak into the mic, avoiding all eye contact. "I apologize, I've never met this child before... I'm going to return him to the proper authorities immediately."

Picking your nephew up as quickly as you can, you toss him over your shoulder. His fit of giggles exploding while he tries yelling out again, "But he hasn't answered yet!"

"He's free later tonight, Aunt Y/n!" Sam shouts while you retreat to the back of the conference room towards the exit. "Your future family seems nice," he jokes while nudging Bucky's arm.

Benji tries to shout back across the room, "SHE IS FREE TOO!! EVERY NIGHT!!"

You shove the exit door open, "You're so dead. On my pick up days for school I will be blasting every embarrassing song I can find with the windows down. I'm going to start saving now and I will be buying every ad space available in your future yearbooks and I will be plastering them with your baby photos. And not the cute ones." Like this kid ever took a photo that wasn't cute.

***

The two of you walk around a food truck area set up outside the conference space. Benji is happily eating a pretzel you only bought so your sister wouldn't kill you for neglecting her child. You grab a seat at a small table to people-watch while he finishes up his undeserved treat.

You let your hood down, setting your vibrant and wild hair free. The color is easy to pick out in a crowd.

Benji is explaining in great detail the plot to a video game he has been playing with his friends and how one level keeps tripping them up.

The chair next to you slides back, "Is this seat open?" A deep voice asks.

Benji grins, "Yes!"

You already know who it is, but you're still startled when you look over and see none other than Bucky Barnes sitting with you and the small trouble matchmaker.

"So... is the potential cool Uncle position still available?" He smirks, hand on his chin looking over at both of you.

This little punk might be getting free pretzels and ice cream for life.

Alright folks! By popular demand, here is part 2!

Next: Uncle Buck Returns

[allieebobo]

Do you have any if recommendation?

Ooh! I have really, really bad memory(!!) but these are current faves that I have played/replayed recently that I can think of. A lot of the authors are also THE BEST HUMAN BEINGS EVER. So, double recommendation.

I probably missed a bunch out, so take this as a non-exhaustive list! In no particular order:

(Edit: Added some descriptions but yeah I got a little unhinged so I'm sorry nothing makes sense or if the quality of the write-up went down over time/did not actually give you any useful info)

WIPs with demos

Citadel, @bouncyballcitadel (I think of all the IFs on this list, this one makes me sweat the most. And I've said it once and I'll say it again: the dialogue is so snappy and well-written, and characters are SO DAMNED LOVEABLE.)

Infamous, @infamous-if (I've been manifesting Band/Musician IFs for the longest time, and then this popped up! I've even played Choice of a Rockstar, that's how desperate I was... Anyway, this is legions better than that. Angsty ex routes are my kryptonite, and Seven is just. Inevitable.)

Defiled Hearts: The Barbarian, @defiledheartsblog (I went into this wanting something juicy and fun/historical—and it's all of those things, but I didn't expect it to be so damned funny, too. The ROs are all impeccable.)

Raiders of the Caravan and Apartment 3-3, @leftski-if (A'ight listen, fantasy slice-of-life is my fave genre, and these are IT. Like, everything I never knew I needed in my life, and SO cozy/wholesome, with a cast of characters that I want to befriend in real life.)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: An Affair of the Heart @doriana-gray-games (First off, the customization in this game is INSANE, and the branching too. I've replayed a couple of times and the little variations I discover each time just blows my mind. Secondly, it's so funny and written so well. Ngl I'm not a Sherlock fan but that's just testament to how amazing this IF is.)

When Life Gives You Lemons, @when-life-gives-you-lemonssss (Modern slice-of-life with an adorable kid, a bunch of hot ROs, CC. Hill's humor, what can I say?)

Golden @milaswriting (Really interesting world-building, one of the coolest fictional cities I've read in an IF, AND I'm obsessed with the ROs, in particular K de la Renta. Also Mila is such an awesome writer, I'm beyond excited for @beyondthegame.)

A Tale of Crowns @ataleofcrowns (This game is beautiful, polished, and SO exciting. Honestly, it looks like the kind of game created by a whole-ass game studio and would cost $50 to buy, it's that good. I really got swept up by this IF—probably played it all in one go.)

Rougi @rougi-if (Again, another game with scrumptious visuals/UI and also is just so well-crafted. I love the premise too, it's so original and fresh.)

Scout: An Apocalypse Story @anya-dev (Unfortunately this one might be on hiatus but I am/was really, really obsessed.)

Wayfarer @idrellegames (Love the game mechanics of this one, and the visuals. Probably controversial, but I like the D&D / random dice effect. And I also like the fact that it feels like an old-school RPG.)

Chop shop @losergames (The premise is all I needed to be sold, really—I'd always wanted to buy GTA as a kid but my parents were like NO WAY. Anyway, this IF did not disappoint, and let me live all my childhood dreams.)

Edit: AHH! How could I forget, one of my recent faves, Folksaga @folksaga-if (Lush atmospheric writing, super unique premise—norse mythology, plus I'm head over heels for Katla).

Completed IFs

Butterfly Soup 1 and 2 @brianna-lei (these are completed and I will never not promote them. Honestly the most adorable, wholesome, funny sports/coming-of-age IF I've read)

Elsinore: After Hamlet @lapinlunairegames (Insanely cool premise, insanely cool execution)

The Thick Table Tavern @manonamora-if (I love bar/tavern games, and this one actually lets you mix drinks! Instant fave.)

Other HGs/COGs I love: Slammed, Tin Star, Fallen Hero, If it pleases the court, A Player's Heart (these last two are so underrated, though I guess cause it's mainly wlw)

[zoeythebee]

This is THE single largest milestone in my entire 7 year game programming career.

I don't think I've ever gone over my history with moving platforms before, but basically. Back in my sophomore year of highschool I had a programming class! I hadn't chosen to take it, but the class I wanted got cut so I got this instead. And I already knew how to program, and the teacher was chill so I was like "can I like just work on whatever?" and she said sure. The rest of the class was doing an online html+css class.

Anyway I was like "yo I have an entire class period to program! I am gonna make a game!" That game was the first version of ThreeEye, and it's scope was very small. My plan was some like 8 levels, and the only mechanics were movement, spikes, and moving platforms. Spikes were extremely easy.

But there are no words for the difficulties I faced trying to impliment moving platforms.

I spent... Every. Single. Class period.

For. A. Semester.

Trying get them working.

I tried making the game in Gamemaker and Godot.

In Gamemaker I had a strange issue with the player sorta hovering above the platform, instead of cleanly moving on top of it. And also sinking a pixel inside of the platform when moving up. I never fixed it.

I then tried Godot, and I continued to struggle.

Oh I struggled, I struggled and struggled and struggled.

And was it worth it? No.

I found the bug, and it was caused by my refusal to actually read documentation and instead follow tutorials. The tutorial I was reading had the arguments for a 'move_and_slide_with_snap` function out of order.

So I fixed the bug.

And immediately found another bug that was even more dramatic and hard to debug.

And I quit.

I quit game dev for 2 years, and never looked back. At that point almost all I had done was watch tutorials and ineffectively debug. And I was so hyper focused on fixing this ONE issue that I never grew. I burnt out and I declared that programming wasn't for me.

2 years later I discovered a video of someone making a game without a game engine, but in C. And I thought it looked fun. So I decided that I would try programming again, but I wouldn't focus on trying to FINISH something. I would program as a hobby, and try to enjoy the act itself.

And I got that spark back, and now, 2 and a half years later. I solved moving platforms with the following 2 lines of code.

And it's not these lines specifically, my skills as a programmer and EVERYTHING surrounding these two lines is what brought me here. My code structure was good enough, such that actually implementing the moving platforms took 5 minutes. I copy and pasted some code, cut some stuff out, and added the above lines.

I know I am technically a better programmer than when I first faced this challenge, but after having actually beat it. I feel like I have made it further than I ever had before.

Also that means this game is also further along in progress then anything else I've made before.

Yippie!

[tally-ace]

So one of my all-time favorite ways to play through botw is without teleporting. I adore the additional challenge it brings and it adds a certain level of planning ahead and requires you to become familiar with the layout of the world and locations of things.

I've been upset to find out through testing that a TRUE teleport-less run of totk is impossible thanks to the tutorial island. So I have yet to try a "partial" one to see if it's still as fun as in botw.

(EDIT: I've heard conflicting things saying it's possible to get to the fourth tutorial shrine without teleporting? I haven't tried it myself but when I say true run I also mean without exploits. If you need to do some precise exploit of the game to make a run like that work, it isn't really that fun for me anymore. I'll attempt a teleport-less tutorial island one day so we'll see)

I have, however, found a fun way to play totk through accident on my second playthrough.

In botw, it is impossible to finish all 120 shrines without completing each of the four divine beasts. That's because there are exactly 4 shrines (1 in each region) that only become available after completing a shrine quest that does not unlock until after the respected divine beast is cleared.

(EDIT: Correction, there are exactly 2 shrines that are inaccessible without the completion of their respected divine beast. So all the shrines in the game can be completed with the minimum completion of 2 divine beasts. These shrines are the warbler's nest shrine in rito and the sand seal race shrine in gerudo. I mistakenly believed an npc for a shrine in goron did not spawn until after rudania and that the ceremonial trident did not spawn until after ruta (my searching skills are abyssmal and I missed both those things on my playthroughs prior to the beasts lol))

In totk, NONE of the shrines are dependent on the completion of a dungeon to access. All save for ONE SINGLE QUEST in Eldin that requires Yunobo's sage ability to access the shrine.

AND through the heart container granted after completing the tutorial, the heart containers granted after completion of the rito, gerudo, zora, and goron dungeons, and choosing the heart container granted by the bargainer statue beneath the great plateau... You can unlock the door to the underground dungeon without spending a single spirit orb.

Meaning that the only required story progression beats in totk to witness 80% of the (non-flashback) cutscenes with link as a silly little fucked up beast is getting the paraglider and getting up to the point in the goron story line to have Yunobo as a companion. Also meaning that every dungeon in totk can be completed without spending spirit orbs beyond the tutorial.

Playing through totk on a mission to get every shrine without upgrading health or stamina ONCE is more fun than I ever thought it would be. I had a BLAST. As someone who thinks the building mechanic is neat, but not really made for me, it made me interact with a mechanic that I never really enjoyed and find something to appreciate about it.

I also added the challenge of NOT upgrading my battery charge at all, which I would recommend if you're really wanting to make the game a bit harder.

AND it has the added bonus of Ancient Link staring into everyone's soul in every single cutscene.

So get out there and run around as a little beastie.

[dailyadventureprompts]

Random mechanics idea: The problem with mechanics like weapon durability, encumbrance, supplies, lighting etc. is that they add a lot of busywork only to make the game more unpleasant to play. If we want to include these type of systems in our games, we're going to need to figure out a spoon full of sugar to help the mechanical medicine go down, and I think a large part of that is giving the party toys we can take away when needed, rather than imposing unnecessary restrictions.

A computer can easily handle an infinite amount of gruntwork behind the scenes but there's a reason that every system introduced with the intent of artificially creating "challenge" or "realism" is thought up by dms who spend a lot more time theorycrafting on forums than they do telling enjoyable stories: Trying to implement these sort of systems at the table effectively forces the party to stop any fun they might be having to do boardgame taxes...which really makes sense when you learn that Gygax worked in insurance around the time he was dreaming up d&d.

I put this all together after spending a whole evening scouring the internet for a worthwhile weapon durability system. None of them were actually FUN or story enhancing, instead asking players to do varying amounts of busy work (sometimes counting dozens of interaction and adding three or extra dice rolls per weapon swing) to hold with a DM's desire for arbitrary complexity.

Returning to the idea of giving fun benefits rather than messing with fundamentals, I've seem far too many attempts at a "blood magic" system that makes casters have to spend HP to do their basic spells, when really the exact same could be accomplished by allowing the player to earn a boon that gives them their con bonus in bonus spellslots that could be used to upcast their spells.

The same goes for durability: rather than having to create an umbrella mechanic that applies to every weapon ever, slowing down EVERY swing, make it something that the fighter manages on their own, learning to keep their weapon in tip-top shape by spending a precious hitdie during a short rest to grant their weapon an additional damage die (which goes away if they roll a nat 1), and letting players and monsters break weapons as part of a combat action.

The opt in nature is essential here, because it rewards players who want more mechanical complexity without slowing down the whole game.

Now the question is if I can figure out a way to make the ever cumbersome encumbrance rules actually fun to play with.

[rpgchoices]

What rpgs do you recommend? This blog made me find out about a lot that ive never heard of and wanna play some day ^_^

Ohhh hello!! I think it depends on what you like in an rpg in general or what rpgs you played before and your priorities!

For me the main elements I want are characters and good story, but characters will always be first so I basically only play rpgs with companions. I also love romance but I tend to play only queer romances so I mainly play rpgs that allow me to play a wlw or mlm romance.

You can also check my series of useless recs and what to expect for different recs!

Let me know what kind of games you'd like to play and I can give some more personalized recs!

In general my absolute favorites are (divided in types)

ISOMETRIC (so a lot to read, and you look everything from above):

Pathfinder Kingmaker: amazing character, fav polyamorous romance with a lady elf and an orc guy, the story is okay and the mechanics are fine, but the characters really make it shine.

Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous: incredible customization of player character, great companions and romances, AMAZING story and villain. The mechanics and gameplay are like Kingmaker and not my favorite, but here they added turn based.

Pillars of Eternity (and sequel): amazing amazing story and very well created characters, the romances are not my favorite but I still love Tekehu!

Rogue Trader: this is set in a very bleak world where everyone is a villain so well, everyone is horrible. It is still quite a fun game if you do not mind the setting! And it has one of the most messed up romances ever (Marazhai)!

Shadowrun Hong Kong: I love the setting and the companion so much, but no romance.

Expediton Viking: Historical setting is not my favorite, but the game is still quite good and allows you do play as an usual companions rpg. It also has romanced!

DISCO ELYSIUM: I know I said I mainly play games with romances, and this has none, but everyone in the world should play Disco Elysium. One of the best isometric rpgs ever made.

Divinity Original Sin 2: If you liked BG3 maybe you will like this one too! The tone is much more humorous and absurdist, the story is quite good and the companions are amazing. The romances are also pretty good and as BG3 you can play as one of the companions.

ACTION RPG (is this even the name? Rpgs like Dragon Age and Baldur's Gate 3, so you can see the characters, and they speak)

Of course these need no introduction (but I put them in order of how much I love the companions and romances): Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Origins, Baldur's Gate 3, Dragon Age Inquisition, Mass Effect Andromeda, Mass Effect trilogy.

Enderal: If you have Skyrim you can easily install Enderal for free, it is a mod but it is an indipendent game with its lore and characters. The only game that destroyed me and makes me cry when I think about it, so... play at your own risk. Amazing romances, incredible story.

The Technomancer: While the gameplay is a bit repetitive, the game is still pretty good! The characters are all interesting and the romance is kind of cute even if short.

OTHERS:

Sorcery!: This is an rpg that is basically the adaptation of a text game. It is absolutely perfect, one of my favorite games ever. It also has one of my favorite romances (Flanker)

Not exactly classic rpgs but still amazing: (I just wanted to recommend two of my favorite games that have roleplay elements):

Heaven's Vault

Dreamfall chapters (and the series in general)

[rockturbot]

I saw in an interview that the GK2 writer did consider writing about Manfred, Gant and Blaise but he thought it wouldn't be a fun game to play. If that game WAS made, what do you think it would be like in terms of story and gameplay?

I'm obviously not sure how exactly *Capcom* would make this game, but I can write you an outline of a version of it that I at least wouldn't be disappointed by!

Hope everything makes sense, I'm writing this at 4 am. Under a cut because wow did this get Long.

There'd be AAI-style gameplay, with the usual interrogations and the logic mechanic. That one would be modified in such a way that you're not only piecing facts and events together, but uncovering people's emotional weak spots. Once you find them, they're added to the organizer and you can object with them during interrogations to pressure characters into saying what you need them to say to win the case. Also, outside of interrogations, Gant can use Perceive.

Unlike regular AAI, this one would include actual trial segments, at least in the final case. Now, I'm pretty sure the reason regular AAI does *not* do this is because it's simply hard to incorporate cool twists if you're playing as the prosecutor. As the defense, if the prosecution says the case happened like this and you prove it happened differently, that's fun and exciting! But if you're the one saying it happened like this, and then you just ... prove exactly that ... yeah. That would feel kind of flat. So the way that this would work is similar to the last day of RftA, where Phoenix has at least a rough plan in mind to prove Gant did it from the beginning, but we the audience aren't in on it and watch him unravel it testimony by testimony. Basically the tension would be in the "how" rather than the "what".

On to the story. I know the common idea for a game like this is that Manfred would be the main character, but with what we canonically know about him - a perfect record and nothing ever really going wrong before Greg came along - it would be hard to write meaningful conflict for him, external or internal, and I feel like a game as dark as this one would have to be in order to do its cast justice wouldn't work without plenty of both.

So: except for the segments in court, Gant is the protagonist. A detective who joined the force out of idealism, but who's growing increasingly frustrated and disappointed in the law because of how little justice he feels he actually gets to create, between having to let obviously guilty culprits walk free because some loophole makes the evidence proving their guilt illegal and feeling like he's forced to uphold the letter rather than the spirit of the law more often than not. Insert sad backstory of Blaise (a minor antagonist/rival character in this game) destroying his faith in prosecutors by accepting bribes by a corrupt politician Gant risked his life to apprehend and losing the trial on purpose, thereby also ruining any chance of them being held accountable for their crimes in the future because of double jeopardy.

Manfred fills the sidekick role, but as more of a mentor character than an assistant, showing Gant how to manipulate people, evidence, and the law itself to get the results you want. Although Gant knows Manfred's obsession with perfection makes him dangerous, he's also the only prosecutor he still feels fully comfortable working with, because he's the only one he knows for sure will never betray him like Blaise did and lose on purpose, and Gant reasons that as long as he makes sure they only ever convict people who are actually guilty, it's morally okay for him to use Manfred and his methods as a "weapon" to arrive at that goal. His trust in Manfred - or rather his trust in himself to keep Manfred under control somewhat - gets shaken throughout the game, though; if Manfred can forge evidence to fool the court, he could also manipulate evidence to fool Gant. Can he really be sure he's only arresting the right people?

Manfred also gets to be the viewpoint character for a mostly comedic filler case with incredibly low stakes blown incredibly out of proportion because of how big a threat even small things pose to his perfection.

Blaise, as said before, is a minor antagonist/rival who keeps impeding their investigations and generally making their lives harder (think Verity and Eustace pre-AAI2-4) Every once in a while he's actually useful, providing vital information, but always at a cost. Maybe his and Gant's shared backstory is revealed in a flashback case.

Remember what I said earlier, about Gant worrying about Manfred deceiving him? At around the 75% mark of the game, Gant finds out this has happened at least once, whether by Manfred deliberately framing an innocent person or by going so far with his methods that the resulting injustice completely outweighed the justice of the guilty verdict. With this knowledge, every single other case they worked together now seems suspicious too. Gant confronts him. They end up beating the hell out of each other, and Gant has his Dark Night of the Soul moment where he despairs over the fact that he became a detective to fight for justice, but is unable to stop injustice when it happens right in front of him. The next day he decides to report Manfred to the PIC, even at the cost of incriminating himself by confessing to all the ways they broke the law together, but when he arrives at the building, Manfred is there, waiting for him with a deal: he knows how to get around double jeopardy, and he'll help Gant finally bring the politician Blaise let walk free to justice if he agrees to tell no-one what he knows.

Gant is conflicted at first, but agrees eventually, and they get to work. Now - if this game was actually made, they would of course base this on Japanese law, and I don't know much about that. I've read that in the US, at least, double jeopardy does not apply if it's proven the judge accepted bribes from the defendant to pronounce them not guilty, because then the defendant was never "in jeopardy" in the first place. So, at least in this outline, that's what Gant and Manfred are doing now: framing the judge from back then for taking bribes. Gant feels conflicted again - this is his first time deliberately framing an innocent, but Manfred convinces him that one innocent man going to prison will be worth the justice the politician's victims were denied for so long. (Manfred doesn't care about the justice aspect too much, of course - he just knows it'll convince Gant to stick to the deal).

They succeed, the case is retried. Blaise ramps up his efforts to stop them, worried about his positive public image suffering for losing a case with such a high-profile suspect if they're found guilty now. He fails, of course - Gant and Manfred win, the politician's original victims come up to thank them, and Gant thinks to himself that if the price of fighting the world's many unnecessary evils is employing some necessary evils in turn, it's one he's willing to pay after all. There's some RftA foreshadowing in the end credits with Gant saying to himself that since Blaise has aspirations of becoming Chief Prosecutor one day, he'll need to find a way to control the Prosecutor's Office somehow to ensure they act according to *his* idea of justice, not Blaise's.

[karniss-bg3]

Where do you think Kar’niss got his sword? It’s a very nice sword. Not just some off the rack gear. And named as well—-

*drags palms over face* This effin’ SWOOOORD! It has haunted my nightmares since Kar’niss’ corpse first dumped it into my Tav’s lap. I’ve dug and dug and dug and I’m left with more questions than answers. Knowing my luck there is some obscure text or throwaway dialogue somewhere I’ve missed that might lend me a better clue. Damn you Baldur’s Gate 3, you’re too bloody big.

So, I began to write out this big blob of text going into the history of drow weaponry, hues of metals, in-game model comparisons, the stats on the damn thing, and so forth. I was out here looking like this guy for two hours.

Truth is, it’s really difficult to pinpoint the source of Kar’niss’ weapon. Not because there aren’t clues, but because Larian reuses longsword models so much that looking at the weapon alone isn’t solid enough. I almost came to the conclusion that it was an original drowcraft sword pre-1370’s DR until I discovered another sword model that was identical and not tied to drow at all. That and if it was truly a drowcraft weapon forged via faerzress methods then Larian would’ve changed the rules on how they worked. Which makes sense. It’s a fun bit of lore, but it would be a pain in the ass for a game mechanic. Who wants their badass weapons destroyed or losing all magical abilities when you leave the Underdark?

“ME ME ME,” said no one.

The only thing I can say for certain is that it is a drow forged weapon because it carries a buff that only activates if a drow elf is wielding it. It also seems to be perfect for a drider since it also has ensnaring strands, an attack that does 1d10 slashing damage and possibly enwebs the target. This works in conjunction with the added 1d4 poison damage to restrained targets. The swords description may hold the best clue of its origin:

“The trauma of becoming a drider is quickly set aside with a cold arachnid dispassion. This sword follows that disturbing trend - a replenishing poison gland is built within, deployed only against trapped opponents.”

This description and the name, Cruel Sting, lead me to believe the weapon...was a gift.

Imagine Kar’niss fresh from his transformation. He’s dazed, in pain, lost and alone. He’s been exiled from the only home he’s ever known and has lost favor with the Goddess he’s worshiped from birth. His future is uncertain and how long he has left to live is even less so. His mind is shattered, the incoherent thoughts his only remaining company. He hears frantic footsteps approaching from behind him and his already broken heart shrivels more. His kin have come to finish the job, to put him down, so enraged by the offense he caused Lolth. Weak and struggling to keep himself upright he turns to make a last stand, to show strength in his final moments, to die with some level of honor.

His resolve melts into confusion when he sees who is sprinting toward him. The individual would be unknown to us, but well known to him. A childhood friend? A lover? A confidant? Or perhaps someone he fought alongside faithfully for many years. Regardless of whom has arrived a strong bond is present between them. They approach and peer at what Kar’niss has become. Their face twists, a brief flash of sorrow betraying their features. Yet they cannot let it remain, nor are they able to stay with him for too long. Instead, they unsheathe a sword they brought with them, hurriedly holding it up to Kar’niss. Naturally he flinches at first, expecting the blade to pierce his flesh. The strike never comes, rather the new comer pushes it toward him with urgency, expecting him to take it.

Hesitantly Kar’niss complies, taking the hilt in hand and admiring the beautiful drow craftsmanship. He frowns, his eyes lingering on the one who brought it to him, too stunned to speak.

“It will protect you, Kar’niss,” they said in a hushed tone. “...Goodbye, and good luck.”

Kar’niss could do no more than stand there as their former companion darted off quick as a shot, not willing to run further risk of being seen with the newly transformed abomination. He clutched the sword close to him, the last connection he had to the life he lived before. It would forever act as a reminder of everything he has lost, the cruelest sting of them all.

[primojade]

𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄.

𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐈 : 𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐀 𝐈𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐀 𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀. ( the die is cast )

𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐄 𝐈 : 𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐔𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐔𝐌 𝐀𝐃 𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐌. ( argument against the man )

" the only impossible journey is the one you never begin. " - tony robins.

𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒' 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘 | As a veteran AR60 player of Genshin Impact, you pride yourself as someone who knows the ins and outs of Teyvat, even studiously completing Spiral Abyss every reset, and having 100% exploration to some, if not all, of the released regions so far. Everything is fun and enjoyable, especially since Sumeru just recently debuted so you still have a lot to do!

All that ends though, when a mysterious passerby pushes you off the building of your university while playing Genshin. But instead of meeting your inevitable end, you find yourself waking up in the very world you were addicted to! 

It's supposed to be a fun dream, right? Something you could laugh at when you wake up? Right?! So, why is that you were back in AR1 with nothing but a dull blade in your inventory?!

…well, at least you still have those 700+ sunsettias and mints, Timmie's fowls…and surprisingly similar game mechanics you used to merely see on the screen before. But what should you do now? Flirt with the Genshin men??? Good lords...

"Welcome to Genshin Impact, Dreamer. Here, we can show you a happier ever after you've never had before…so, ready?"

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘 | In which your utter disappointment with your game progress (or regression) cause you to trigger a new quest? Is this a chance you should take? And Tighnari told you that humans are often more predictable, however, you're an odd one out.

𝐂𝐖 / 𝐓𝐖 | Cursing, hasty confession (but not really?), tighnari is getting suspicious of you, rightfully so lol. Let me know if I missed anything <3

𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒 | I don't know if I should post the route 1 and 2 at the same time but...eh...let me know what u think! Reblogs and comments are appreciated!

masterlist | prologue: that love is a fallacy | (alternate route) route ii: argumentum ad ignorantiam

For your own sake, you logically decided to remain still inside Tighnari's house. Your body was still aching all over, even though the Therianthrope had meticulously treated your wounds well—which you guessed was from your fall with him—it also doesn't leave the fact that you felt even more tired than when you were reviewing for your exams every night.

Well, that would be the first reason. The other is that you were still in shock—and denial—at what the hell is happening right now. Tighnari was real, you could see and touch him in the flesh, and you can't be mistaken that that person isn't him because you know it's him by the amount of shameless staring and gushing you did with his soft-looking ears and tail during his first banner and in his idles.

So, yes…if you were indeed get isekai'd in Genshin Impact, one question still begs to be answered. A lot, to be honest, but for now, you were still not accepting this reality wholeheartedly.

"M…Maybe I just misclicked it or something. That's right, I probably just misread it." You tried reasoning to yourself, a little desperate, before closing the hologram screen. After you take a lungful of breaths, you shakily pat your chest once, and the screen appears before you again.

[Username]

(No Signature)

Adventure Rank: 1

Adventure EXP: 0

World Level: 0

"NOOOOO!!!" You wailed loudly, almost thrashing your feet in the bed as you animatedly heard the cracking ice and booming volcanoes in your head, goading and laughing at your misery. "...my AR60 account, my characters…I grind so hard for them…for two years…"

Almost in tears, you gulped shakily as your eyes travelled down to the Inventory tab, tapping it only to groan in utter disappointment when ALL of your precious weapons were gone! Every. Single. One. Of them! Not even a trusty Prototype Rancour or a Harbinger of Dawn! All of them are gone except for that damn LVL1 Dull Blade!

"I can't believe this…all of my hard work…" You sniffed and stiffly tapped the icon of the Dull Blade, and to your surprise, the weapon suddenly appeared in front of you. "Woahhh—!" Its sharp blade almost grazes your skin. you manage to grab its hilt in time but you almost dropped it when its unexpected weight almost crushed you. "This is so heavy!"

Before you hurt yourself further with the Dull Blade, you immediately unequipped the sword and switched the tab to the Artifacts, and just as you dreadily expect, it was also empty. All your precious five stars artifacts are gone so suddenly. The CD Items, Quest Items, Gadgets, Furnishings and Precious Items tab are as empty as your soul when you were done checking. 

With a shake of your head, you console yourself with the fact that at least some of the Materials (like the local specialties) and Food (sunsettias, starshrooms and apples) were still as high as you remember. 

After some time glaring at your nearly emptied inventory, you closed the tab completely, glossing over the Map in disappointment (which was, by the way, the Teleport Waypoints or Statue of the Seven were still locked, even the ones in Mondstadt and Liyue), and the Quest Menu is still empty. 

As for the other ones, if you remember correctly, the Wish and Shop were unlocked when you reached AR5. While the Character Archive would be available only when you get Amber to be playable—which you think is impossible for now considering you were in Sumeru and Mondstadt is like…a nation away.

This is all so depressing. Add to the fact that you don't know how to return to your world, almost all of your trusted resources, a chance of survival, is gone.

A few moments later, Tighnari arrived with your medicine and he raised his brow when he saw you sulking in the farthest corner of the bed. "What happened to you? Do you feel any pain somewhere?"

You gaze soullessly at him. "My hard work vanished along with my determination to live."

He rolled his eyes. "Okay, drink this medicine and let's get you back to bed." You lamely took the green pill the Therianthrope gave you, toss it on your mouth and immediately gulped the glass of water he offered.

"Blegh!" You almost choked at the bitter taste and Tighnari offered you another glass of water, which you gladly took. 

"I apologise if my concotion is too bitter for your taste. On the bright side, its effectiveness could be trusted." He said in a matter-of-fact tone, though the light twiched of his ears and the swish of his tail tells you that he found your reactions amusing.

"I know, I believe you—uh, what?."

Tighnari was staring at you like you grown two heads. "Hmm. Well, curious how you just swallow that thing without asking me what it was or checking to see if its something dangerous. Even though you appear to know me, you should've been more careful."

It looks like he was about to lecture you about safety and stuff so you immediately replied. "...Dunno, maybe because I don't think you have any reason to poison me after helping and patching me up? Plus, I know your reputation, your talents and your dedication to help. Poisoning me is something against your principles."

"That's true," the Therianthrope looked thoughtful, his green-olive eyes staring down at you intently. "However, humans tend to be a little more cautious about this, you know, which makes them quite predictable. And speaking of which, you appear to know me, but I never have the chance to ask yours. I believe introductions are overdue?"

"Oh, uh…I'm [Name]. Hehehe. Sorry again for all the trouble, Tighnari." You said gratefully. For a moment, you wonder if he would recognised your name. Well, you don't even know if this Tighnari is the same as the Tighnari you were playing before. And even if he was, he probably wouldn't recognised your real name since you were using a Username instead.

Speaking of which…

WHERE IS YOUR PHONE?! AND YOUR BACKPACK? 

Before you could ask what befall your other stuff, Tighnari cut you off. He was looking at you curioisly, never hostile but you could see his guard was up, his tail tensing a little. "...I believe myself to have a decent memory, and I'm confident I never seen you before. How did you know my name?"

How could you tell him he was a video game character you were playing before you die?!

Yeah, no. As if he would believed you. He might've thought you were losing your last braincells and even send you to Bimarstan for real this time.

Quick, [Name], just throw any excuse you could find! Your hippocamus was internally panicking along with you.

"...I KNOW BECAUSE I LOVE YOU—" you blurted out in a frenzy before you realised what you said. Your eyes widened, as shock as him. "I mean, I love your ears and tail! I don't love you as in you, since you're not rea—wait…that will sounds wrong. But not that way—ugh!"

Before you could dug a hole to hide your embarassment, Tighnari's ears perked up as he glance outside the door. At the same time, the hologram of the Paimon Menu suddenly appeared in front of you. A blue exclamation mark marking the Quest tab made you do a double take.

Did you just triggered a World Quest with whatever nonesense you just said?

The Fox and the Jackal

70m

Go with Tighnari to see Cyno.

Quest Chain Rewards: 250 Adventure EXP, 150 Character EXP, 20 Primogems, 5 Adventurer's Experience.

HOLY SHIZNITS—Wait, WHAT? Isn't this going a bit too fast? Why is Cyno suddenly coming here?! Why do you have to go see him, too?

And damn, whoever is the mastermind of all this is tempting you with those delicious rewards—

Route 1.1: Beg Tighnari to let you come to him and see Cyno. After all, you desperately need those primogems rewards to level up your AR. Plus, you were curious what he looks like, too.

Can you even refuse if those primogems are waving hello at you? 

TAGLIST (open! Send a dm or ask to be added :3) | @xinii , @maehemthemisfit , @abvolat , @crazypriestess , @ghostsaysno , @kittence , @unabashedlyminiaturetyrant , @xiyanin , @toasterinabathtub , @sketcheeee , @a-single-pizza , @fuoon , @luvwukong , @salty-salty , @rosebatsc , @inky8 , @thegeekact , @almighty-raiden-shogunate , @isuckat-avery-thing , @perhapsabitgirlypop (if ur username is orange, it means i cant tagged u :(( maybe its in ur settings?)

Route 1.2: Abandon the quest! You have more pressing matters to attend to. After all, who knows if that Quest were as long as that Aranyaka that would make your hair white till you finish it. Plus, you're not a huge Cyno simp and he could tell when you lie, man! A danger! You also need to find your phone and your bag!

[its-dean]

I’ve been posting on other online platforms about Fossil Fighters for a long time now, and most who are familiar with what I share know that a lot of my content has a heavy focus on original vivosaur ideas. With these vivosaurs I come up with, as well as the stats I create to go with them, I notice that there are often people questioning whether what I come up with would be balanced or not from a gameplay standpoint.

As I’ve gone on with developing this unique vision for my vivosaurs, I’ve also slowly refined my idea of Fossil Battles entirely. All of us are aware that both the original Fossil Fighters and Fossil Fighters Champions don’t have the best balancing in the world. There are certain cast members and even a few core game mechanics that allow so many otherwise memorable characters to fall to the wayside, and with the stats I was coming up with I was only further encouraging that type of hostile environment. The more I worried about whether something I was coming up with would feel realistic or balanced the more I considered the fact that the formula itself may have been broken in the first place.

There have been others in the community that have projected their own ideas of how to change things up regarding gameplay, things like adding new elements or even having customizable skills. Because the series felt like it had ended so suddenly there's become so much to dream for in a potential sequel. These are the people that inspired me to attempt something similar myself back when I was making my vivosaur last year. It inspired me to take a step back with my thinking and ultimately led to me creating a total re-imagining of the classic battle system we all know and love. 

That's the thing, the games may not be perfectly balanced, but I always find how these games work to be something that's just inherently fun in a very unique way. Above everything else, with this project I wanted the new system I was creating to still have the "feel" of having a good old-fashioned Fossil Battle. These games have incredible potential for an interesting competitive landscape, just if only some of those unbalanced mechanics were to be adjusted. This is what I strive to achieve the most with my ideas: an environment where every vivosaur has something practical to them, a format where you CAN win using your favorite vivosaurs. The only thing that should stop you is how well thought-out and unique of a strategy you can come up with.

Fossil Fighters Odyssey is a personal project of mine that I've technically been working on for over half a decade now. Still, I think it's most important to stress the fact that everything I come up with and will be talking about in this post is for fun. This shouldn't explicitly be seen as a vehicle for a potential fan game, I make these things for my own enjoyment and have no plans or obligations to turn any of these ideas into tangible content in the future. We all can pretty unanimously agree that it’s fun to dream about a theoretical continuation of this franchise, especially because of how it felt like it came to such an abrupt halt in a way none of us were really ready for. This project is simply meant to represent the changes I'd most want to see if that were to ever somehow happen, and that vision of mine simply might not appeal to your individual preferences.

But now moving to the fun stuff itself. I strive to be as in-depth as possible when taking into account how I would rework the gameplay, taking a comprehensive look at the entire series. To keep things feeling familiar while also feeling like an "evolution" of sorts, I found it most compelling to try and utilize standout mechanics from all three of the previous games. Yes, that includes Frontier because, while I can't defend its battle system as a whole, I do think there are some features it introduced that can really enhance potential team building and strategy (mainly referring to the boost system it uses).

Since there are far too many changes to cover in a text post, I created a PowerPoint to explain everything in a more presentable and organized way. The link to it can be found directly below this paragraph, with the presentation being separated in order of different areas of discussion, from how vivosaurs have changed to the differences in the battle system to new and altered abilities and so much more! Plus, attached to this post are the stat sheets for every single vivosaur, #1-300. My own vivosaurs as well as the 10 unique vivosaurs from Frontier are included in the lineup, and all the vivosaurs you're already familiar with have received numerous changes and enhancements to their skill sets so that they can thrive in this new Fossil Battling format.

Link to the PowerPoint (in case the picture quality is too poor to be able to read on this website)

FFO Mechanics.pptx

Link to all 300 vivosaurs and their stat sheets:

FFO All Vivosaurs.pptx

(Disclaimer: not all of the vivosaurs have artwork to correspond with their dino medals, but those will be hopefully trickling out down the line in the future.)

To round things out, I definitely want to thank the people that have already been supporting me and the things I create these past few years elsewhere. Without the level of the recognition and approval I see from the people who always respond to what I make, I definitely never would've come this far with developing my ideas. You guys are the ones who've been enjoying these things, from vivosaurs to characters to the overarching story I hope to one day be able to share with you all. I owe it to you for allowing myself to become as invested in my favorite series as I now am. And hey, depending on how people react to what I have here I may make another post outlining the more creative story and character elements I have in mind… 

Thank you to everyone who's been there for all this time, as well as anyone willing to read through everything I've been able to put together here, this project never could've been completed without you all for me to share it with.

[pseudepigraphia]

A Love Letter to Herobrine

So, fun fact: that screenshot that I'm using as the thumbnail is not the origin of Herobrine as a piece of Minecraft mythology. This image was first posted on 4chan around August 31st, 2010, and the character had been floating around the Minecraft forum for a while before that.

The earliest description of a character resembling Herobrine was posted around July on a general creepypasta thread. The Minecraft wiki calls this story "White Eyes." It was posted by a user named Flaky and you can read it here. The post doesn't feature the iconic Herobrine design, but it's the origin of a lot of the beats that keep coming up in Minecraft horror stories.

To summarize real quick: a Minecraft Alpha player is so creeped out by the weird noises and phenomena in a cave under their base that they seal it up and move elsewhere. Eventually they discover a dungeon with a single broken music disc inside, which causes the cave noises to return louder than before. To play the disc, they need resources from their old storage room built directly above the cursed cave. When they return to their base, the player has an encounter with a pair of glowing white eyes. Eventually they go creepypasta-insane from listening to the music disc and (I think) die.

The contents of this post are not as important as the fact that the author provides us with a screenshot of the cave, which should be right next to the famous Herobrine image in the history books.

(If you're not seeing it, check the bottom left.)

The next Herobrine sighting is the famous one. It's pretty much a compilation of all the ideas about the character that were floating around the Minecraft forum at the time. The main thing it introduces to the canon is the idea that the "Herobrine" account was owned by the deceased brother of famous Minecraft dev Hatsune Miku. The obvious implication is that Herobrine is his ghost. It also gives us the classic "fog hill" image, of course.

The third "canon" sighting was concocted by an early Minecraft streamer named Copeland. This is the highest effort of the three and probably the first Herobrine Sighting Video ever recorded. The first thing Copeland did was edit Herobrine into a few wide screenshots of his base to create hype for the stream. This resulted in the third member of the triumvirate of famous Herobrine screenshots, and honestly maybe the creepiest.

In order to get Herobrine on video, Copeland changed the texture of a painting. He went live shortly after, playing like normal for a while before “encountering Herobrine” in a dimly-lit room, screaming, running out of the room, and turning the game off. He continued to stream for a bit after that before declaring he would delete the world.

Why is Minecraft scary?

It's important to keep in mind that Minecraft at this point had exactly one full-time developer and no marketing department. The only reason a given thing was added to this version of Minecraft was that the developer thought it sounded interesting. This had two major effects on the state of the game that enhanced its creepypasta factor substantially.

One: the game is very bare-bones. Minecraft Alpha's infinite replayability comes from its core concept rather than a depth of additional features. Even some basic quality-of life fixes like the ability to stack most food items are absent from this version of the game. This resulted in the features that were present being scrutinously analyzed and theorized about by hundreds of people at a time on the forums, because once you had diamond armor and a big house there wasn't much else to do except dig into mechanics.

Two: many of those mechanics and features that did exist in Alpha were bizarre, and several of them seem like the developer was going out of their way to create a creepy atmosphere. Let's take a look at the mechanics I'm talking about and examine how each of them contributed to the Herobrine mythology.

Fog and light

One thing the White Eyes story and the famous Herobrine post have in common is a focus on low view distance. The second post even specifically mentions that they were playing with their render distance set very low since their computer didn’t have the specs to run anything higher, which most people in the 2010 indie gaming community could probably relate to.

This is relevant because Minecraft cuts off your view distance really sharply. If your render distance is set close to you, everything beyond the cutoff disappears into a thick bank of fog. This is probably best illustrated by looking at the same hill from the famous screenshot with a higher render distance.

In the Herobrine screenshot, this entire back half of the hill is completely cut off. Literally anything could be inside the fog and it would be totally invisible until you got within a few dozen blocks.

On top of that, this hard cutoff of visibility happens the same way with darkness. Walking just a few blocks into a cave leaves you completely unable to see anything until you place a torch. And, of course, if that torch were to be somehow removed, you would be instantly plunged into pitch blackness. Just look at the White Eyes screenshot up above.

The simplistic lighting engine of Minecraft Alpha is obviously not intended to make the game scarier. That said, as someone who’s become totally accustomed to modern Minecraft’s smooth lighting mechanics, it’s really remarkable how much more eerie the game is when you’re consistently forced to walk into total darkness and thick fog to get anything done. Without smooth lighting, when night starts to fall it looks like an enormous shadow passing over the whole world.

If you've heard of the classic Internet creepypasta Ted the Caver, there's a bit where Ted is stuck inside a similarly cursed cave with no light. Earlier in the story, the writer points out that darkness in caves is different from darkness above ground - there is straight-up no light to see with. Your eyes never adjust. Something could be literally inches from from his face and he would never see it. These older versions of Minecraft feel like that.

(If you want to experience the horrors yourself in the modern day, turn smooth lighting off, brightness down to Moody, and crank your render distance down. I seriously recommend it.)

Dungeons

Dungeons are the only place in this version of Minecraft where you can find naturally generated cobblestone. The normal way to get cobblestone is to mine stone and place it back down, and it was the go-to strong building block for quite a while. This gives dungeons the distinct feeling of having been built by someone.

But this is contrasted with the monster spawner, which is one of the most alien blocks in the game. It’s not obtainable in survival mode in any way, it’s destroyed if you try to pick it up, and the floating image of a monster inside the cage is still probably the least blocky thing in the game.

Dungeons are also extremely rare for some reason. You could easily spend weeks in the same survival world and never find one, especially if you didn't enjoy caving for the sake of it once you had all the diamonds you needed.

All this is to say that if you were a Minecraft player in 2010 who’d never encountered one, someone on the forum describing finding a dungeon would sound exactly like the intro to any other creepypasta you'd read recently, right up until it happened to you. It's hard to convince your subconscious that an eerie forum story is completely fictional when things like dungeons are real.

Music discs

Okay, I've been writing about the eerie side of Minecraft for like a thousand words, and I somehow haven't brought this up yet. We need to talk about Discs 11 and 13.

The vast majority of music discs in Minecraft are electronic music tracks composed by German musician C418. They’re basically lo-fi beats to relax / play Minecraft to. There are two considerable exceptions to this genre. Let’s talk about 11 first.

The first thing you’ll notice about it is that the colored portion is black and the outside of the disc is cracked and broken, which is one of the most creepypasta things to ever be in a real game. And then, when you pop it into the jukebox and turn it on, instead of lo-fi electronic beats, you get this.

The track opens with heavy breathing and footsteps on stone, as the recorder of the disc runs through what is pretty clearly a cave. They sound terrified of something, but after a few seconds they stop and catch their breath. Soon, though, there’s a sound like faraway music and the recorder breaks into a run, faster this time, terrified again. The speed of the footsteps increases until the sound changes from stone to dirt, a sign that they’re almost at the surface, until there’s something that sounds like a growl and the sound abruptly cuts off. The last few seconds of the recording are static.

This is probably the most overtly horror-themed Minecraft ever gets, and this disc features heavily in a lot of Minecraft creepypasta. It makes sense. In the middle of an album of chill, electronic music, there’s one disc that’s a found footage horror short film, complete with the person holding the recorder meeting with some fate at the end. Imagine you’re going through your friend’s old VHS collection and there’s a copy of The Poughkeepsie Tapes in the middle of it with no explanation.

Also, this is the only time there’s any real physical evidence of another person existing in this world. Villages weren’t added until the release of Beta months later, and even then, this doesn’t sound like a villager. It sounds like us.

Disc 13 is less infamous by comparison, but it’s still jarring compared to the rest of the soundtrack. 13 consists mostly of slow, reverberating ringing sounds, and at this point I’m going to bring in the last weird Minecraft feature, because they sound like cave noises.

Cave noises are maybe even more infamous among the community than disc 11 as “the thing that makes Minecraft scary.” The most common of these noises are either relatively realistic, like wind or something, or eerie but obviously musical, like part of the soundtrack. Every so often, though, you’ll get one that sounds like footsteps, or the sound of a minecart traveling down a distant track. There’s obviously nothing actually there, but it’s another piece of evidence that even if you’re the only person in this world, there are things here that you didn’t make. This is not helped by the fact that the criteria for a cave noise occurring include darkness.

Conclusion 1

If you take all of these things together - the fog, the darkness, the weird signs that you’re not necessarily alone in this world - it’s easy to see where the sheer amount of creepypasta about this game comes from. It would not be unbelievable in 2010 that something like Herobrine could actually be in the game, and even if you were an adult and didn’t buy that he literally existed, Minecraft Alpha is still a nearly perfect game for scaring the shit out of yourself after just having read a bunch of horror stories.

(I know this because I scared the shit out of myself several times while revisiting Minecraft Alpha for this essay.)

Why Herobrine?

Surprise! There's more.

So we know where the Herobrine story comes from: a bunch of people playing an old, weird sandbox game that - intentionally or by accident - also functions surprisingly well as a survival horror game, and scaring themselves because it’s fun.

Now I want to talk about why the Herobrine story specifically resonated so hard with people that it still exists while hundreds of others have been basically forgotten. Keep in mind, the White Eyes story originated on a thread for a completely different creepypasta that no one has ever heard of. So what’s special about Herobrine?

To start with, we need to take a look at the specifics of Herobrine that set it apart from other creepypasta characters. The Minecraft wiki has a definition of “canonical” Herobrine that includes the first forum posts and images, like the famous 4chan post, as well as the Copeland streams. These are, quote, “fundamental to the creation and popularization of the character.” So let’s look at the commonalities between them.

Herobrine apologism

The most interesting thing these stories have in common, especially compared to more modern Herobrine, is a complete lack of aggression from Herobrine in game. The narrator of White Eyes does go crazy and maybe die, but that happens due to influence from Disc 11. The actual entity with the white eyes only appears once, and it never personally acts on the player.

In the original 4chan post, Herobrine is explicitly stated to run away and disappear if the player tries to approach and get a clearer look at him. The Copeland saga begins with Herobrine watching him in the corner of a screenshot, and even during the close encounter Herobrine doesn’t chase him out of the house or even follow him. He just stands there.

Just looking at the original Herobrine canon, there’s almost no reason to even conclude he’s malevolent at all.

So if Herobrine isn’t out to get you in the original canon, what does he do? Aside from watching you from the edge of your vision, there are a few consistent things to watch out for in the oldest videos. The most famous Herobrine signs are pyramids made of sand, trees with the leaves removed, and tunnels to nowhere, almost always lit with redstone torches.

The thing that strikes me about these signs is that they’re almost player-like, except with no internal logic to them. Building structures, cutting down trees, and digging tunnels are core to the gameplay loop of Minecraft, except in the Herobrine versions there’s no productivity. The pyramids are uninhabitable and the tunnels are never deep enough to find ore. It’s like what someone would do if they knew what you were supposed to do in Minecraft, but couldn’t understand why.

By far the most common explanation for the origin of Herobrine is that he’s a ghost. The most famous herobrine story says that he’s the dead brother of Hatsune Miku, and that part of the mythos is considered basically canon now. Even if you don’t like that element (can you tell I don’t?), a lot of posts from this time period describe him as the ghost of a miner. This is probably because the game literally has inexplicable mining sounds programmed into its caves. Either way, it’s hard to avoid the idea that Herobrine used to be a normal guy. Someone who lived in this empty world before you did.

"REAL HEROBRINE SIGHTING 100% PROOF"

There’s a Youtube playlist that I come back to a lot. It’s called “The Oldest Herobrine Sightings Ever (In Order!)” Most of the videos are either clearly faked, made by a 9-year-old, or clearly faked by a 9-year-old, but they still have a vibe to them that totally captivated me when I was younger and half buying into it.

They still give me a similar feeling years later, which is obviously partially due to nostalgia, but I don’t think the feeling is actually the exact same. It’s not quite nostalgia, and it’s not the the fear-slash-fascination I felt in 2012, glued to these videos while ready to run out of the room at any time in case something too scary happened. It’s closer to a good kind of melancholy.

And if you go back to The Oldest Herobrine Sightings Ever with the idea of feeling some empathy for him, it makes them hit a lot harder than if you just assume he's a murder ghost who’s coming to get you. I know I’m pretty far into Death of the Author territory at this point; I’m projecting an amount of emotional complexity onto fake cryptid sightings made by internet babies that almost definitely wasn’t there to begin with, but that doesn’t make this reading of the story any less impactful to me.

In order to make this point of view more believable, I’ve cherrypicked a video from the playlist for us to look at. The video is, naturally, called “REAL HEROBRINE SIGHTING 100% PROOF” by CreeperAssassin87. It's only five minutes long and I recommend watching it so you can determine for yourself if I'm making shit up.

In the video, CreeperAssassin heads out of their (pretty impressive) base only to find themselves face-to-face with the man himself. What happens next is probably the best example of my point in the whole playlist, but if you watch the other videos closely you can notice this pattern.

CreeperAssassin says very confidently that Herobrine started “chasing” them, but look at what he’s actually doing. He’s not running at the player or even really looking at the screen, and he’s not armed with anything more dangerous than a pickaxe. Remember, at this point in history, Herobrine wasn’t believed to have any magic powers to attack you with either. There’s nothing actually threatening going on here.

After that jumpscare, CreeperAssassin naturally spends the rest of the video running away and hiding, with Herobrine following close behind. My favorite part comes after the player has sealed themselves inside the wall of the castle. Herobrine breaks in, and once he has CreeperAssassin completely cornered...

...he doesn’t do anything. He just stands there and stares. The narration claims to have “luckly escaped” [sic], but I genuinely find it hard to see any malice in his behavior here.

One of the last appearances of Herobrine in the video is him watching CreeperAssassin through the window of their base after they block off the door. At this point, the video has firmly established that he's able to break blocks, and CreeperAssassin is completely cornered again. If he wanted to harm the player, he could do it easily. But once he's shut out, he just resigns himself to it.

Again, this video is probably the strongest example, but this observation holds pretty well for the vast majority of Herobrine sightings from this time period. If you shift your perspective a little bit, his behavior is not far off from what a normal person might do if they encountered another player for the first time.

Oh, hello. Who are you? It's nice to finally meet someone else. I thought I was alone out here.

Of course, nearly everyone he meets runs away and shuts him out. Eventually most of them either abandon their haunted worlds or delete them entirely.

Conclusion 2

For a lot of people on the Minecraft forums in 2010, Herobrine may have been an introduction to stories like this. I obviously doubt that a tragedy about a ghost doomed to wander alone forever was what any of the people involved here intended to make. That said, those emotions are still present, and strongly enough that they inspired me to write this entire thing.

I believe this contrast between the fear created by reading a scary story about an eerie game and the inherent sadness of the Herobrine figure is what made this story stand the test of time. Compare Herobrine with his more one-dimensionally hostile imitators, and then compare him with other creepypasta hall-of-famers like Ben Drowned. All the greatest urban legends make you feel something more complex than "afraid."

One last thing that I thought made a really good anecdote to conclude this vibes-based essay.

One of the most successful post-canon additions to the Herobrine lore is the idea of a Herobrine spawner, a structure you can build that will let him in to your world. The materials needed to do this are pretty consistent between stories, involving a base made of gold, redstone torches, sometimes some mossy cobblestone, and a netherrack pillar on top. Lighting the netherrack on fire is what activates the structure.

(There are some pretty obvious parallels here with real-life rituals meant to summon ghosts or spirits, especially the lighting of a fire.)

The origin of this structure, as far as I can tell, dates back to one of the first ever mods meant to add Herobrine to the game, a server plugin released in 2010. This plugin not only introduced the spawner, but Herobrine’s behavior in it is really interesting. He’s much more docile in this plugin than in the substantially more famous Herobrine Mod released the following year, where he directly attacks the player and summons zombies and whatnot.

The keystone here is the name of the plugin, the file you have to download to let him into your world. It’s not called “Him,” or “WakeUp,” or “WhiteEyes.”

It’s called “iLoveYou.”

[beepborpdoodledorp]

Me in 2021, a poor, foolish, naïve youngster sheltered from the horrors of the outside world: Okay, this cookie game that everyone started babbling about out of absolutely nowhere is driving me insane. I need to see what all the fuss is about. I’ll play for like...one, two weeks, maybe? I’ll have my fun, use it as a timekiller, then uninstall it and forget it ever existed. Isn’t it kinda like Genshin Impact? Don’t know much about that one, either. But it also has a kingdom building mechanic...sort of like something like Dragonvale? Sure, I really liked those kinds of games when I was younger. I’ll try it out for a bit and then never speak of it again.

Me in 2023, eyes bloodshot as I vigorously tap on my computer at 2 AM, every fiber of my body telling me to go to rest my aching soul: and also Prune Juice’s line ‘I just want to get famous and live lavishly’, while initially seeming like simply a throwaway, actually acts as an incredibly important facet to his character - you see, seeking fame inherently involves seeking approval from other people, thereby adding yet another implication that Prune Juice does in fact want to be accepted by the outside world more than he lets on and does in fact care about what others think of him, even if he deeply conceals it underneath layers of snark, theatrics, and an uncaring persona. And also 

[tmntxthings]

Hey! idk if youre taking requests but i love your writing!

I was wondering how about some angst where the reader likes to make things like donnie does, she talks about it but donnie keeps talking about how he can make something better than that or add improvements and one day she comes in with something she made to show them but before she can show the whole group donnie just goes “thats it? i could make that in a hour, heck 2 hours to make it better than that” and it kinda just diminishes the reader and she leaves

you can add more! Ive just been thinking about this for a bit c: I hope you have a wonderful day!!

I Can Do It Better

author’s note: awww tysm c: i love this idea though i didn’t know whether to keep it just angsty or throw in the comfort at the end so I just went for it!! i hope you enjoy~~~~ <3

warnings: angst, slight cursing, fluff

————————————————————————

This time. This time for sure, you felt confident in your creation. “The bros are gonna loveee this,” you laughed to yourself as you fiddled with a controller. You had made tiny color coded racing drones. One for each turtle and then yours, they were small enough to all fit in your backpack as you carefully placed them inside, also stacking the controllers in as well.

Of course your miniature drones were nothing like Shelldon, and that was the first response you were expecting from Donnie, but maybe he’d be a little impressed by the mechanics and how mini sized everything was, you basically had to make everything yourself, propellers and engines not really coming in such a small size. But you thought it would be a fun way to hang out with the turtles, they all loved a good competition you had come to realize. Whether it was video games or DDR in the arcade, lately even pizza box stacking! The record being a total of 50 boxes on Mikey’s head.

As you locked your apartment door, sending a text to the group chat that you were heading to the lair. Raph had been the first to acknowledge so you deemed it fine to continue your journey. It took about 20 minutes by foot to get to the turtle’s manhole cover. Which left you with plenty of time to mull over how nervous you were becoming. It all stemmed back to when Donnie had first shown you his lab.

“Wow! This is incredible!” You said turning around in a circle taking in the entire place. Donnie held a smug expression on his face, “built entirely by yours truly,” he bowed dramatically and you continued to stroke his ego, gasping at that fact alone. “How long did it take you?” You asked curiously and Donnie waltzed over to his swivel chair, pushing a spare one towards you. The conversation had been you asking questions, him answering arrogantly and you praising his achievements. To someone like you, Donnie’s mind was just phenomenal, he was your very own genius you could badger with a billion questions trying to get a glimpse of his ingenuity. And Donnie didn’t mind all the questions he was used to his brothers not being interested so this was like a complete 180.

“I’m also interested in making tech,” you added shyly, it was your first non question. Donnie blinked, “well I doubt it’ll ever be better than anything I’ve ever created, but cool!” And then he turned to his work table and got busy, asking if you wanted to watch his skills at work. That had lessened the sting as you pushed your chair to roll closer, watching his steady hands.

That hadn’t been the last of Donnie knocking you down. The things you had brought to him, he’d recalibrate or completely dismantle saying, “Don’t worry I can fix this and it’ll be wayyy better,” Even though you hadn’t asked him to do it. At first you were just happy to have sort of collaborated but you soon fell out of the whole idolization.

“Don’t focus on Donnie just focus on Mikey, or Raph, maybe even Leo if it comes down to it!” You chanted to yourself as you descended into the sewers. You had started to visit Donnie less because you realized his words really hurt your feelings. You had yet to build up the courage to tell him that too. So you hadn’t seen him in a while, you doubted he even noticed, he was a busy turtle. “Knock knock,” you called out as you entered the abandoned subway that was transformed into a home. “Y/n!” Mikey hollered and ran over to pull you into a hug. Raph doing the same hugging the both of you, “It’s been a while!” Raph noted as he set the two of you down.

“Sorry about that! Nothing personal in fact, I was building something for you guys!” Raph and Mikey smiled at you,

“Ohhh really??” “What did you make??”

“I’ll show you!” And just as you were grabbing your backpack, opening up the zipper, Leo and Donnie walked in. “Lookie here! Just who we were-“ Leo had started but Donnie elbowed his brother in the plastron effectively making him double over. “OW!” Leo said after regaining his composure. You turned back to your backpack, shaking your head with a smile, they were always fooling around. With your back turned Donnie pointed at Leo, then dragged a finger across his neck. Meaning, ‘you’re dead if you keep talking.’

Leo rolled his eyes, “Guess what guys! Y/n made us something,” Mikey beamed and that had the twins coming to stand in front of you. “Well all of you,” you clarified and Leo rubbed his hands together excited to see what you would pull out. You decided to take yours out, along with the controller. “I made everyone tiny racing drones!” And you quickly went on, not looking at anyone’s face (for fear of seeing any disappointment). Placing the drone on the floor and flipping a switch on the controller, the drone powered to life and it raised slowly according to your controls.

“I thought it would be fun since you guys like to compete, and-“

“That’s it?” Your heart sank as you turned to Donnie, the turtle you had told yourself you would ignore. For some reason that was impossible for you to do. “It’s so tiny, you know Shelldon was a racing drone once, I could totally make-“

You sighed, “yeah never mind.” You surprised yourself and Donnie by cutting him off. Embarrassed you let the drone drop into your backpack, flinching at the clacking sound, but to prove your point you threw the controller in there as well. “I don’t know why I thought this would be a good idea,” you said grabbing your bag quickly and heading for the exit. “Y/n!” Mikey called out worriedly. Raph was glaring at Donnie who had his mouth open, watching you leave. “You might want to apologize for putting Y/n down like that, I mean really Don??” Raph reprimanded his purple brother.

Leo took out a sword, and started swirling, making a portal underneath Donnie’s feet. “Try speaking your actual mind,” his brother winked as Donnie fell through eyes wide with surprise since he had been looking at you and not at his feet. “wait!!” He hollered and reappeared in the alleyway, you stopped thinking that had been meant for you.

“Uh Y/n, what I meant to say was…” he fell short not knowing what to say at all. You turned your head, you hadn’t been expecting anyone to follow you, maybe Mikey if any of the turtles. But Donnie?! “You meant what you said.” You grumbled as you turned back to face the street. “Well yeah but not as bad as it sounded,” he said quickly and you decided to turn completely and face him. “How exactly am I supposed to take your criticism that comes with every single thing I show you, you never say anything positive and-“

You were so upset that you threw your backpack at him. He fumbled catching it as it hit him in the plastron. Then he noticed you rubbing your eyes, his own softened. “Y/n..”

“No!” You cried, hiccuping, “y-you hate all of my stuff, that’s fine but, I was just trying to show your brothers, not you.” Donnie chewed the inside of his cheek, “I don’t hate them,” he gently placed the bag on the ground. “I like that you’re into tech and building your own creations,” he was mumbling. “Sure, just throw it all away, it’s junk.” Donnie grabbed your arm before you turned away again, “I’m sorry, I’m not the best at apologizing and I know I messed up big time,” he sighed letting his grip loosen as his hand slipped to hold onto yours. You blinked and he continued, “I know you’ve been ignoring me, I don’t know why I keep putting you down, it’s like a very bad filter turning my real thoughts into egomaniac bullshit,”

He paused looking into your eyes, “What are your real thoughts?” you said softly. “Just how much I miss hanging out with you, because you’re really cool and actually like the same things I do,” Donnie squeezed your hand before letting go. “Come back, I wanna race with your drones,” he said and you blew out a breath, “fine but don’t cry when I beat your ass,” you said going for the bag. But he beat you to it, tugging it over one shoulder as he uncovered the manhole, “Scoff! We’ll see,” he said with a playful smirk and you stuck out your tongue going down the ladder again.

You won the first match, to which everyone called for a rematch saying they were getting used to the controller or mechanics. “AH HA!” Leo said as his tiny blue drone won the second race. Donnie groaned wondering how he could lose to Leo of all people in a drone race. Mikey had placed all kinds of cute orange stickers on his drone. You went over to him as Leo and Donnie bantered back and forth. “I’m glad you came back,” Mikey said smiling up to you from where he was sitting, the drone in his lap. “Me too.. sorry for the outburst,” you said as you sat next to him. “It’s okay, did he apologize properly?” You drew your knees up and rested the side of your head there as you talked to Mikey though you wondered if he was being Dr. Feelings right now. “Yeah, we’re good,” you smiled softly thinking of how he had grabbed your hand.

“Donnie has always had that kind of trouble, he doesn’t really say how he feels,” Mikey glanced over at his older brothers, Raph trying to break up the twin feud. You closed your eyes, “he kind of said that actually,” you spoke and you felt a hand pat your head. You peeked your eyes open and saw that Mikey had leaned in closer, “you know what I think?” He whispered, and you waited for him to continued, eyes confused. “I think Dee likes you more than he lets on,”

As if to prove his point you felt his hand suddenly leave your head. “Mikey keep your hands to yourself,” Donnie’s voice was suddenly close. Mikey gave you a wink as you turned your head to the other side to see Donnie was now sitting next to you. “I was just telling Y/n how much I appreciate my baby drone!” Mikey quipped as he got up to go ask Leo to race him.

“He’s so bad at lying,” Donnie shook his head as he looked ahead, “what was he really talking about?” He asked still not facing you. “You,” you said honestly and that made him look down, “what about me?” He seemed wary to even ask. “something along the lines of what you said in the alleyway,” it was the truth but you kept the other statement to yourself. “Oh!” Donnie nodded, relaxing as he took out his phone. You watched him, wondering how much more Mikey meant, like a really good friend… or?

You blushed and when you blinked clearing away your thoughts Donnie wasn’t looking at his phone anymore but at you. “What’re you pondering?” You shook your head giggling, “can’t say,” and that only piqued Donnie’s interest. “Oh c’mon we’re rekindling remember?” His phone all but forgotten as he tried to guess your thoughts. “Don I’ve always considered you a friend even though you were being a big meanie,” you teased trying to change the topic. “Not gonna work,” he smiled smugly knowing the tactic you were using very well. “Ugh,” you groaned turning your head straight into your knees as you closed your eyes. You felt him poke your cheek, “penny for your thoughts?”

“They’re worth more than that!” You sputtered keeping your eyes closed despite wanting to see him now. This was the second time he had touched you today. Then you felt his body move closer until he was brushing against your side. “How much are they gonna cost me?” He joked and you couldn’t resist turning your face back towards him eyes opened. He was still looking at you, eyes crinkled in a teasing smile. “A few compliments,” you replied and his eyes widened slightly before his facial expression went back to teasing, “that’s easy!” He said and you rolled your eyes thinking he had never done so the entire time the two of you knew each other. Other than today!

“You’re brain is above average,” he started and you snorted. “Wow thanks,” you said sarcastically, enjoying how he got flustered. “Mmm your style is next level,” he noted and that meant more to you as you let go of your knees, sitting normally, looking down at your outfit. “And you’re really pretty,” he said so quickly you almost did a double take. Your face heating up as he turned away and you could only see one side of his face turning a darker green. “I was pondering.. the idea of us being more than friends,” you said quietly, giving him the answer he ‘paid’ for.

“And that made you blush?” Donnie asked and you replied, “the same shade as you when you called me pretty,” both of you turned away too embarrassed to keep up the teasing. “I’d like that..” Donnie said his hand inched towards yours where it rested on the ground. “Me too,” your hand moving, meeting Donnie’s fingers shyly. Both of you whipped your heads back around, both blushing furiously. “Then it’s official?” Donnie whispered and you nodded. Mikey and Leo’s drones flew past the two of you and Mikey was jumping up and down in victory as Leo crumpled to the floor in defeat. Raph cheering his little brother on happily. But despite that you couldn’t seem to think of anything other than Donnie’s hand in yours, and the way his eyes were showing you so much emotion, how you affected him greatly and he utterly adored you.

[doomzday-zone]

hey sorry it's me again (<- girl who needs to go to sleep) urrhm ok walks into ur office with a stack of papers it's me secretary over apologizer

anywah rum um um th hey hi so uh looks around can weeee talk about the really big theme of nowhere to hide in the book and the game interchangeably like um. um. hi. okay so I'm literally laying in bed right now complete darkness like oh wow the characters oh wow oh wow smacks into a wall face first. and um um

okay like I just feel like god this thing with like.. yeagh.. there really is nowhere to hide from your parents ❤ that's literally the ultimate thing being a child like you can't just LEAVE and that's actually such a scary ass theme and the way the house keeps getting put on more and more lockdown in the game is like This is so alarming ❤ BUT that doesn't happen (or isnt stated) in the book, the difference in the book since u havent read it is just that oz doesn't leave for a few days because he's scared and can hear the. the thing standing outside his door all the time and it's like (steps up to microphone) WOW I LOVE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LITERALLY NOT BEINF ABLE TO JUST LEAVE AND THE MENTAL STATE OF NOT BEING ABLE TO Just Leave um and the way you run out of places to go in the game is so like ohhfmygodd sorry it's just really good like the game feels like it's suffocating that boy like u gotta get out of here because soon there will physically be no exit !! and the way the hiding minigames work ooogg ooohhh hi hey um hi sorry this game is written so beautifully it makes me physically nauseous only good fnaf game ever. uh but the hiding games not being designed like traditional hiding mechanics in games like holding a door shut or something, but stuff like oh keep the spiders away because it feels more like SORRY KID THERE'S NOTHING THAT YOU CAN DO OTHER THAN SIT THERE AND PRAY havr fun!!! ob my god head in hands like You can try to stop the toys or not breathe so scared but you can't physically hold a door shut because you're too little 🙁🙁😞😞😞😢 this game is so alarming I hate it not really but it's like ohntmmgdos and and and and hi hey okay so more with nowhere to hide like

I said this in my insane tags on that one post but the way that every single adult is like Oh you're so fucking strange weird little kid causing trouble . like it's not only like he can't tell anyone because he'd sound crazy but the universe being predisposed to everyone not listening to children about anything ever is like I feel like I've been punched in the face thanks like directly in the jaw my teeth r on the floorrr

like ugh I h h RATTLES BARS

um and and and looks around :c I can say more things but I just yeagh..

YEAAAAAAAA ARGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THEFUCMING. AHHHHHH !!!!!!! thats smth i REALLY REALLY like abt into the pit like you REALLY feel like ur put into the shoes of a kid here you can only do so much while trying and experiencing shit wayyyy bigger than yourself, n it just elevates the horror bc like, obv ur oarent/someone you love being replaced by an imperfect impostir is already a scary notion. n being a CHILD TOO????? like fuckkkkk man your options r dwindling. n the way kuds r treated in society n shit as well as eveything else, oswalds just a kid, hes in sixth grade like?????? how do you deal w this???????? theres a fucking EVIL ANIMAL in your house. the world is already si scary as achild w/o all this but yhis maies it ten yimes worse, AND your home isnt even safe either. the amount if stress n trauma this kid experiences in a work week is fuxking insane hashtag justice for ozwald gotdamn.

AD AND i still xant stop thinking about the fat like. oswald is forced to relive the trauma of the events n shit that transpired a freddys, from the child victims at the pizzeria, to Michaels and the crying childs in his own home. smth smth themes of generational trauma n whatever its insane my brian explodes into ten million bloody chunks.

n what u said abt the book..... man........ imagine being holed up in ur room for days in end bc of The Thing on the other end of the door. like LITERALLY FNAF 4 SHIT GODDD. oswald reliving the trauma of the entire fnaf franchise in five nights like: INSANEEE. CRAZYYYYY.