#first published 2/25/2024

[thevikingwoman]

another letter reached Meryta before she sets out for the Rak'tika Greatwood

Fandom: FFXIV | Words: 786 | Read on Ao3

part 1 | part 2 | part 3

Meryta Khatin x Tansui | during A Little Faith | romance Rating: Teen. Letters, longing

LETTERS AND LONGING, PART 3

The next letter finds her at the Imperative. They’re looking for remnants of the Church of the First Light, but before she starts looking in earnest, the post moogle bounces into her view.

“I came all the way from Fort Jobb, Kupo! You better be grateful.”

She ensures it she is, and sends it off with her thanks and a plea to wait and rest at least a little, to give her a chance to write back. The moogle hums and agrees, scuttling off to rest in the shade.  It’s not been long since she sent her last letters, but when she opens it, it’s clear Tansui has received his already. The moogles – or Feo Ul – must be working overtime. Perhaps it helps to be king.

Tansui congratulates her on her win, and she’s not sure what to make of that. She fights and she wins and it’s what everyone expects. It feels different in his words, however, his expectations more like support, and less like a duty. Like he seems equally proud and concerned for her, between his teasing words. Or perhaps that he wants her to win for herself, and not because anyone else expects her to. He sounds relieved too, and it feels good to know he’s concerned.

Tansui tells news from the Confederacy, a long story about a hapless captain unwilling to let go of his cargo when met with mostly newer recruits. Until one of them had put an arrow between the man’s feet, perhaps backed up by Tansui’s scowl. His letter downplays his own role, and she can feel how proud he is of the people he trains. It had turned out that the captain had spent his very last gil on his cargo, and in a vain hope of maximizing his profits had all but forgotten about the ruby tithe. The ship’s hold had been filled with Hingan furniture bound for Eorzea, and now the Confederacy is the proud owner of gleaming red-lacquered garden benches.

She imagines it, pretty benches in the sand. Mayhap they will pass them on to Doma in a trade, but truly she does not know if the Domans need them any more than the Confederacy.

She chuckles at the story, as she sits on the stairs as she reads. Thancred passes by, a curious look on his face, but he doesn’t ask. She should help with the search, but mostly the letter makes her want to go to him again. With his letters, she knows that he did not tire of her visits, that he wants her. The thought makes her happy, warmth coursing through her. He says as much too, that he misses her, that he wants to hold her, kiss her, touch her.

She looks at the aetheryte, the sparks of aether currents humming about it. It would be so easy, to throw herself into the lifestream, to see him. To feel his hands on her.

His lips.

The warmth of his skin beneath her fingers, his beard scratching across her chest…

Minfilia bounces up the ramp to her left, a white blur of motion. Meryta shakes her head. As much as she wants to, she can’t leave now. Not even a day’s rest here, and who knows if a trip will be an hour or a week on the First. Maybe soon, when they’ve met with Y’shtola, she can find time. Or mayhap when they’ve delt with the next Lightwarden.  

She shudders at the thought. She’ll keep going, no matter how terrified she is, for the sake of those she can save, but right now her mind turns to Tansui first. His smirk and the challenge in his eyes. The affectionate words in his letters, and the appreciation in his hands.Curiously, she finds determination in thinking of him, a promise to see him again, her battles done. There’s a hunger to not only win for herself, or the scions, or everyone else; but so that she can go to him, victorious. She’ll never give up and flee a battle, that is not her nature, but this kind of longing is new.

Across the courtyard, Urianger braces himself against a heavy door. It’s probably stuck from disuse. He seems to have the task well in hand, as it swings open, and he disappears into the darkness.

She should write tonight, at least. She wonders what he’d think if she put her desires, her yearning, on paper, but she’s not sure she can find her words as easily with pen in hand as in her mind. He surely wouldn’t mind, his boldness always evident. She blushes, want running through as she think of his touch again, and tucks the letters into her clothing.

[lxvsiick]

O U R

PAIRING: uni student! han taesan x uni student! fem! reader

SUMMARY: Romance developed after a book was dropped on his head. Han Dongmin or Taesan, liked his quiet time. After spending time with his friends, he needed to get away a little. Finding a quite spot in the library by a shelf, Taesan peacefully read to himself and then all of a sudden, blop, a book was dropped on his head. He rubbbed his head, cursing to himself, before looking up to yell at the person that dropped the book on his head. Taesan froze. He couldn't hear anything. All he saw was her face. She was beautiful. He only snapped out of it when her figure started to disappear. Shoot, Taesan forgot everything she said and could only remember the image of her face.

I forgot everything but your face ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁

GENRE: social media au, college au, love at first sight, fluff, angst, humor, and crack

WARNINGS: cursing, drinking, mentions of kms/kys jokes, bad jokes, and more!

FEATURING: jungwon, niki, and sunoo from enhypen, ningning from aespa and others!

STATUS: ongoing CREATED: 09.09.2024 PUBLISHED: 09.20.2024 ENDED: . . .

TAGLIST: [CLOSED] comment a 🐝 to be added

PROFILES

101 % tired | leehan's aquarium pt.1 | leehan’s aquarium pt. 2

TEASER

PART 01 | riwoo on the loose

PART 02 | australian twinkle toes

PART 03 | sungho scheming

PART 04 | emergency (written)

PART 05 | TBH

PART 06 | y/n has a crush

PART 07 | jungwon’s interrogation

PART 08 | diner of fate (written)

PART 09 | what are you british ??

PART 10 | MY NAME IS JUNGWON

PART 11 | heHeHEEHEe (written)

PART 12 | SUNGHO FIRST WIN!! (written)

PART 13 | taesan vs. sungho, 2024

PART 14 | wanna see something funny?

PART 15 | he’s usually not that much of a loser (written)

PART 16 | leehan's even bigger aquarium

PART 17 | gongfourz

PART 18 | is he . . . ?

PART 19 | are you a bank loan?

PART 20 | juice say oh

PART 21 | you have a problem (written)

PART 22 | what a pretty view (written)

PART 23 | hypothetically jealous

PART 24 | my eyes are starting to sweat

PART 25 | cat boy (written)

PART 26 |

PART 27 |

PART 28 |

PART 29 |

PART 30 |

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, lxvsiick, 2024

[avayarising]

Deaths of Jason Todd

Part of the Batfam Death Project.

Jason has died five times. There are also a further three times when he might have arguably died. I have not found any instances of Jason visiting the afterlife without being dead.

Total time dead: 6 months, give or take a few days.

Verifiable deaths

1. Killed by the Joker in Ethiopia (Batman 1:427–428, 1988)

As we all know, Jason was killed by the Joker (Batman 1:427–428, 1988).

He went to Heaven (Green Arrow 3:7, 2001).

He woke up in his coffin six months later because something something Superboy Prime (Batman Annual 25, 2006),

and was restored from catatonia by Talia via the Lazarus Pit (also Batman Annual 25).

Time dead: probably around six months, but it’s complicated.

2. Killed by Batman to release him from demonic possession (Trinity 2:15, 2017)

Circe and Ra’s al Ghul worked together to get the Outlaws (Jason, Artemis, and Bizzaro) possessed by demons from the Pandora Pits intent on sacrificing Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman. Bruce injected a possessed Jason with potassium chloride to kill him, forcing the demon out, then restarted his heart by defibrillation.

(This comic also features Superman and Constantine climbing through a portal to hell in possessed!Jason’s mouth.)

Time dead: a minute or so.

3. Beaten to death by groblins (Dark Nights: Death Metal 7, 2021)

Jason, along with other members of the Batfamily, was overwhelmed by a swarm of ‘groblins’: mindless evil Jokerised Robins invading from the Dark Multiverse, led by the Robin King (an evil child Bruce Robin).

Shortly after that he was raised as a zombie (missing an arm) by Black Lantern Batman to continue the fight.

Jason was restored to proper life when Wonder Woman, powered by the determination of her friends, defeated the evil Batman Who Laughs and persuaded the gods to remake the multiverse as it was before the evil universes invaded the good ones.

Time dead: somewhere from quarter of an hour to an hour? Or perhaps a lot longer, if it took longer to rebuild the world. It’s always a little tricky to be sure when world remakes are involved.

4. Shot in the back by zombie Deadshot (Task Force Z 3–4, 2022)

Jason joined a team of zombies called Task Force Z, an organisation run by Harvey Dent with questionably legitimate government backing and copious quantities of Lazarus resin to bring them back every time they died. He was sent to recruit Deadshot by raising him from the dead. Apparently some fool buried Deadshot’s wrist guns with him, because the first thing Deadshot did on being resurrected was to shoot Jason in the back.

Jason was rushed back to the organisation’s facility but flatlined on the operating table.

He was revived by an injection of Lazarus resin into the brain (or possibly just the outer ear? picture is unclear), administered by one of the staff of the questionably legitimate facility.

Time dead: less than a minute.

5. Killed by the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh (Batman 3:148, 2024)

Batman’s dissociation backup personality, called Zur-En-Arrh, turned evil and downloaded itself into a robot. It fought Batman and Jason jumped in to save him; Zur took him out with a stong uppercut to the jaw, smashing his facemask, and threw him down hard, which broke his neck and killed him.

This was a setup by Bruce and Jason: Jason was wearing a special suit that injected him with Lazarus resin, so he was revived almost instantly, while having killed someone caused Zur-En-Arrh to crash.

Time dead: a few seconds.

Inferrable and arguable deaths

1. Arguably died when Joker takes over the world (Emperor Joker, 2000)

After the Joker stole reality-altering powers from Mxyzptlk and remade the universe to his liking, he placed Jason’s rotting corpse alongside Dick’s and Tim’s for a macabre poker game.

Emperor Joker was published in 2000, well before Jason was revealed to be alive in the Under the Hood storyline, published in 2006 (and later retconned to have been present in the Hush storyline in 2003), and absolutely before any writer had conceived of bringing him back to life. But given that he is supposed to have been shambling around as a zombie and then getting assassin training for a long while before that, taking the retcons into account he ought to have been alive at the time of Emperor Joker.

So while at the time of writing Jason was intended to be continuously dead, after the retcons we have to say that Joker killed Jason again, perhaps even unknowingly, to put him in his poker game.

After Joker was defeated, Mr Mxyzptlk, with Spectre!Hal’s guidance, restored the world to its previous state, which presumably also involved restoring Jason to life again.

Time dead: it’s complicated.

2. Perhaps dies in the confrontation with Bruce involving the Joker (Batman 1:650, 2006)

When he returned to Gotham as the Red Hood, Jason engineered a confrontation between himself, Batman, and the Joker. Batman ended up throwing a batarang which clipped his shoulder. (Jason had previously in this story monologued about how shoulder wounds can kill quickly from blood loss but are easily treated if you’re quick.) Then the Joker shot the explosives Jason had set and the building blew up.

Batman presumably assumes Jason is dead (Jason and Joker were right on top of a large pile of explosives – in fact, it’s pretty amazing even Bruce, who was standing a few feet away, managed to get out). So no-one is around to rescue and treat Jason. But Jason returns later with no explanation of how he survived. Either he’s returned from the dead again or he is supernaturally good at not dying.

Then again, the Joker survived too, so who knows?

Time dead: unknown, if any.

3. Perhaps dies when Dick throws him off a bridge into Gotham River (Batman: Battle for the Cowl 3, 2009)

After Jason nearly killed both Tim and Damian, during the Battle for the Cowl while Bruce was lost in time, Dick confronted him in a battle which ended up on top of a train going over a high bridge. Dick knocked Jason off the train, and they ended up on the bridge with Jason dangling off the edge.

Dick did the whole ‘Take my hand’ thing and Jason said “I’ll be seeing you sooner than you think,” before letting go and dropping into the water from a great height.

This suggests either Jason knows he’s going to come back from the dead or Jason thinks Dick is going to die soon. Dick definitely reacts as if he thinks Jason is dead, and Dick probably has a pretty generous idea of what’s survivable when it comes to heights.

Again, Jason returns later with no explanation.

Time dead: unknown, if any.

Batfam Death Project Masterpost

[thaoworra]

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association recently released the poems that made it to the finalist stage for consideration for the 2024 Rhysling Awards for Short and Long Speculative Poems of the year. Congratulations to all of the nominees! This will be the 46th year these awards have been conferred!

Short Poems (50 finalists)

Attn: Prime Real Estate Opportunity!, Emily Ruth Verona, Under Her Eye: A Women in Horror Poetry Collection Volume II

The Beauty of Monsters, Angela Liu, Small Wonders 1

The Blight of Kezia, Patricia Gomes, HWA Poetry Showcase X

The Day We All Died, A Little, Lisa Timpf, Radon 5

Deadweight, Jack Cooper, Propel 7

Dear Mars, Susan L. Lin, The Sprawl Mag 1.2

Dispatches from the Dragon's Den, Mary Soon Lee, Star*Line 46.2

Dr. Jekyll, West Ambrose, Thin Veil Press December

First Eclipse: Chang-O and the Jade Hare, Emily Jiang, Uncanny 53

Five of Cups Considers Forgiveness, Ali Trotta, The Deadlands 31

Gods of the Garden, Steven Withrow, Spectral Realms 19

The Goth Girls' Gun Gang, Marisca Pichette, The Dread Machine 3.2

Guiding Star, Tim Jones, Remains to be Told: Dark Tales of Aotearoa, ed. Lee Murray (Clan Destine Press)

Hallucinations Gifted to Me by Heatstroke, Morgan L. Ventura, Banshee 15

hemiplegic migraine as willing human sacrifice, Ennis Rook Bashe, Eternal Haunted Summer Winter Solstice

Hi! I am your Cortical Update!, Mahaila Smith, Star*Line 46.3

How to Make the Animal Perfect?, Linda D. Addison, Weird Tales 100

I Dreamt They Cast a Trans Girl to Give Birth to the Demon, Jennessa Hester, HAD October

Invasive, Marcie Lynn Tentchoff, Polar Starlight 9

kan-da-ka, Nadaa Hussein, Apparition Lit 23

Language as a Form of Breath, Angel Leal, Apparition Lit October

The Lantern of September, Scott Couturier, Spectral Realms 19

Let Us Dream, Myna Chang, Small Wonders 3

The Magician's Foundling, Angel Leal, Heartlines Spec 2

The Man with the Stone Flute, Joshua St. Claire, Abyss & Apex 87

Mass-Market Affair, Casey Aimer, Star*Line 46.4

Mom's Surprise, Francis W. Alexander, Tales from the Moonlit Path June

A Murder of Crows, Alicia Hilton, Ice Queen 11

No One Now Remembers, Geoffrey Landis, Fantasy and Science Fiction Nov./Dec.

orion conquers the sky, Maria Zoccula, On Spec 33.2

Pines in the Wind, Karen Greenbaum-Maya, The Beautiful Leaves (Bamboo Dart Press)

The Poet Responds to an Invitation from the AI on the Moon, T.D. Walker, Radon Journal 5

A Prayer for the Surviving, Marisca Pichette, Haven Speculative 9

Pre-Nuptial, F. J. Bergmann, The Vampiricon (Mind's Eye Publications)

The Problem of Pain, Anna Cates, Eye on the Telescope 49

The Return of the Sauceress, F. J. Bergmann, The Flying Saucer Poetry Review February

Sea Change, David C. Kopaska-Merkel and Ann K. Schwader, Scifaikuest May

Seed of Power, Linda D. Addison, The Book of Witches ed. Jonathan Strahan (Harper Collins)

Sleeping Beauties, Carina Bissett, HWA Poetry Showcase X

Solar Punks, J. D. Harlock, The Dread Machine 3.1

Song of the Last Hour, Samuel A. Betiku, The Deadlands 22

Sphinx, Mary Soon Lee, Asimov's September/October

Storm Watchers (a drabbun), Terrie Leigh Relf, Space & Time

Sunflower Astronaut, Charlie Espinosa, Strange Horizons July

Three Hearts as One, G. O. Clark, Asimov's May/June

Troy, Carolyn Clink, Polar Starlight 12

Twenty-Fifth Wedding Anniversary, John Grey, Medusa's Kitchen September

Under World, Jacqueline West, Carmina Magazine September

Walking in the Starry World, John Philip Johnson, Orion's Belt May

Whispers in Ink, Angela Yuriko Smith, Whispers from Beyond (Crystal Lake Publishing)

Long Poems (25 finalists)

Archivist of a Lost World, Gerri Leen, Eccentric Orbits 4

As the witch burns, Marisca Pichette, Fantasy 87

Brigid the Poet, Adele Gardner, Eternal Haunted Summer Summer Solstice

Coding a Demi-griot (An Olivian Measure), Armoni “Monihymn” Boone, Fiyah 26

Cradling Fish, Laura Ma, Strange Horizons May

Dream Visions, Melissa Ridley Elmes, Eccentric Orbits 4

Eight Dwarfs on Planet X, Avra Margariti, Radon Journal 3

The Giants of Kandahar, Anna Cates, Abyss & Apex 88

How to Haunt a Northern Lake, Lora Gray, Uncanny 55

Impostor Syndrome, Robert Borski, Dreams and Nightmares 124

The Incessant Rain, Rhiannon Owens, Evermore 3

Interrogation About A Monster During Sleep Paralysis, Angela Liu, Strange Horizons November

Little Brown Changeling, Lauren Scharhag, Aphelion 283

A Mere Million Miles from Earth, John C. Mannone, Altered Reality April

Pilot, Akua Lezli Hope, Black Joy Unbound eds. Stephanie Andrea Allen & Lauren Cherelle (BLF Press)

Protocol, Jamie Simpher, Small Wonders 5

Sleep Dragon, Herb Kauderer, The Book of Sleep (Written Image Press)

Slow Dreaming, Herb Kauderer, The Book of Sleep (Written Image Press)

St. Sebastian Goes To Confession, West Ambrose, Mouthfeel 1

Value Measure, Joseph Halden and Rhonda Parrish, Dreams and Nightmares 125

A Weather of My Own Making, Nnadi Samuel, Silver Blade 56

Welcoming the New Girl, Beth Cato, Penumbric October

What You Find at the Center, Elizabeth R McClellan, Haven Spec Magazine 12

The Witch Makes Her To-Do List, Theodora Goss, Uncanny 50

The Year It Changed, David C. Kopaska-Merkel, Star*Line 46.4

Voting for the Rhysling Award begins July 1; a link to the ballot will be sent with the Rhysling Anthology, as well as with the July issue of Star*Line. More information on the Rhysling Award can be found here.

[reasonsforhope]

"In a first-ever human clinical trial, an mRNA cancer vaccine developed at the University of Florida successfully reprogrammed patients’ immune systems to fiercely attack glioblastoma, the most aggressive and lethal brain tumor.

The results in four adult patients mirrored those in 10 pet dog patients suffering from brain tumors whose owners approved of their participation.

The discovery represents a potential new way to recruit the immune system to fight treatment-resistant cancers using an iteration of mRNA technology and lipid nanoparticles, similar to COVID-19 vaccines, but with two key differences: use of a patient’s own tumor cells to create a personalized vaccine, and a newly engineered complex delivery mechanism within the vaccine.

“Instead of us injecting single particles, we’re injecting clusters of particles that are wrapping around each other like onions,” said senior author Elias Sayour, M.D., Ph.D., a UF Health pediatric oncologist who pioneered the new vaccine, which like other immunotherapies attempts to “educate” the immune system that a tumor is foreign.

“These clusters alert the immune system in a much more profound way than single particles would.”

Among the most impressive findings was how quickly the new method spurred a vigorous immune-system response to reject the tumor, said Sayour, principal investigator at the University’s RNA Engineering Laboratory and McKnight Brain Institute investigator who led the multi-institution research team.

“In less than 48 hours, we could see these tumors shifting from what we refer to as ‘cold’—very few immune cells, very silenced immune response—to ‘hot,’ very active immune response,” he said.

“That was very surprising given how quick this happened, and what that told us is we were able to activate the early part of the immune system very rapidly against these cancers, and that’s critical to unlock the later effects of the immune response,” he explained in a video (below).

Glioblastoma is among the most devastating diagnoses, with median survival around 15 months. Current standard of care involves surgery, radiation and some combination of chemotherapy.

The new report, published May 1 in the journal Cell, is the culmination of seven years of promising studies, starting in preclinical mouse models.

In the cohort of four patients, genetic material called RNA was extracted from each patient’s own surgically removed tumor, and then messenger RNA (mRNA)—the blueprint of what is inside every cell, including tumor cells—was amplified and wrapped in the newly designed high-tech packaging of biocompatible lipid nanoparticles, to make tumor cells “look” like a dangerous virus when reinjected into the bloodstream to prompt an immune-system response.

The vaccine was personalized to each patient with a goal of getting the most out of their unique immune system...

While too early in the trial to assess the clinical effects of the vaccine, the patients either lived disease-free longer than expected or survived longer than expected. The 10 pet dogs lived a median of 4.5 months, compared with a median survival of 30-60 days typical for dogs with the condition.

The next step, with support from the Food and Drug Administration and the CureSearch for Children’s Cancer foundation, will be an expanded Phase I clinical trial to include up to 24 adult and pediatric patients to validate the findings. Once an optimal and safe dose is confirmed, an estimated 25 children would participate in Phase 2."

-via Good News Network, May 11, 2024

-video via University of Florida Health, May 1, 2024

[bokujou-monogatari]

So, the Marvelous CEO stepped down.

Let's talk about that!

❕This post contains speculative discussion covering: Marvelous Entertainment, Rune Factory, Story of Seasons, and touches on other IPs in the Marvelous folio. Also some fiscal discussion! It might be boring 😅...❕

Following the money

For those unaware, Marvelous isn't doing so well fiscally. In response to a (consistently) poor earnings report from 2024, the current Marvelous CEO Sato Suminobu announced his retirement from the position to elevate Shinichi Terui (an executive director) in his place.

The reasoning for the poor fiscal reporting was cited as "too few core IP releases and low sales".

What does that mean for the future? Well, while this decision focuses on 2024's performance, let's first take a bit to recap the first-time releases from 2019 to now:

January 18, 2019: Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes

June 3, 2019: Dead or School

June 9, 2019: Senran Kagura: Peach Ball

July 18, 2019: WACCA

September 13, 2019: Daemon x Machina

October 17, 2019: Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town

February 6, 2020: Granblue Fantasy: Versus

February 25, 2020: Rune Factory 4 Special

August 25, 2020: Kandagawa Jet Girls

November 5, 2020: Shadowverse: Champion's Battle

November 10, 2020: Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin

February 25, 2021: Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town

May 20, 2021: Rune Factory 5

(Almost a year later!) May 19, 2022: Deadcraft

October 17, 2022: Potionomics

November 2, 2022: Doraemon Story of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom

January 26, 2023: Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life

March 2, 2023: Rune Factory 3 Special

June 1, 2023: Loop8: Summer of Gods

October 3, 2023: Silent Hope

November 3, 2023: Fashion Dreamer

November 9, 2023: Cuisineer

(Almost a year later, again!) November 1, 2024: Farmagia

Dry Spells

From 2019 to 2024, 23 titles (please correct me if I missed any!) were delivered. 2022 and 2024 were undoubtedly fiscally dry periods, with one-year periods between releases.

Of the released titles in this period, 10 were from more notorious series; and 6 of those were from the company's self-described Flagship IPs (3 from Story of Seasons and Rune Factory respectively)!

Despite Rune Factory and Story of Seasons being flagship IPs, over half of the games (4/6) released 2019-2024 were remakes or remasters of previous titles (Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town, Rune Factory 4 Special, Rune Factory 3 Special, and Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life), leaving only 2 titles as standalone, new mainline entries in their respective series. Oh, and there was Doraemon too, I guess.

Even with the massive sales seen - with Pioneers of Olive Town being the fastest selling XSEED published title ever and Rune Factory 5 topping 500,000 units sold worldwide after an unprecedented comeback - the games still massively under-performed at launch. The backlash was so strong for Olive Town that the producer (Dai Takemura) was run off his social media platforms and formally apologized for the poor launch. Rune Factory 5 also suffered during the Japanese launch, garnering criticisms from Japanese and North American fans alike amid celebrations of the series' return. This left fans in each space wondering what their favorite series would look like after such rocky starts on the new Nintendo Switch hardware.

The Future, Sprouting

Despite the struggles and setbacks, and nothing to really "make it rain", the flagship series are continuing to grow with 2 new additions to Story of Seasons - a cross-play online multiplayer title, and the next mainline game (purportedly the 30th anniversary entry) - and 2 new Rune Factory games - with entry 6 in development, and Guardians of Azuma releasing in May 2025.

These games are really going to have to do something outstanding to make up for the broken trust of their fans. But with a company struggling with its financials, there's always going to be a tug of war between satisfying fans and generating revenue.

This is where speculative analysis on my part comes in.

Flexible and Mobile

Current market trends point towards more open-world, cel-shaded style games for mobile (ala Hoyoverse games, Wuthering Waves notably). And the Nintendo Switch is, after all, a glorified touchscreen tablet. It's not lost on fans that there's something going on in the background regarding the games' development, and how eerily alike they are in visuals into some of the bigger, heavy hitting and grossing mobile titles out there.

The style on its own is simplistic, colorful, and warm. It's also very fast to develop and refine - no overly complicated textures or super granular details. The art direction also makes it lighter than other games which have many materials or polygons. It just works.

However, that can point to speculation around development; whether the studio is trying to streamline into shorter times...or is headed in a mobile direction. Let's take a look at some recently released screenshots from Guardians of Azuma.

There are elements of UI design displayed here that would feel right at home on a device held in one's hands, and not just with controllers in palms! Make no mistake, mobile is not an insult here. In fact, mobile may be just the direction these series need in order to sustain themselves in the current market era. Mobile gaming currently accounts for (roughly) 110 billion USD annually, across the globe! Even indies like Stardew Valley can see sizeable mobile market gains from concurrent releases on app stores.

It also wouldn't be the first time either series appeared on mobile. A company with as long a history and staying power as Marvelous would surely see no small number of players and a steady revenue for Story of Seasons and Rune Factory by tapping back into that market. Perhaps we're due to see things sprout on that platform soon?

(What happened to that in-development Story of Seasons Mobile title, anyway...?)

[maharetscompound]

IWTV S2 - Cast & Productions Interviews - Part One

This is a compilation of all cast and productions interviews during Interview with the Vampire Season Two.

(Disclaimer: If I've missed something or miscalculated, please just let me know.)

From April 29 2024 - July 3 2024.

There were 159 interviews published in this period.

I tried to only count original interviews with their initial publication. So if another publication quoted an interview that happened elsewhere, I don't count those separate interviews.

Interview Breakdown:

Jacob Anderson: 68 Sam Reid: 54 Delainey Hayles: 48 Assad Zaman: 43 Rolin Jones: 29 Eric Bogosian: 25 Mark Johnson: 12 Luke Brandon Field: 10 Roxane Duran: 6 Ben Daniels: 5 Mara LePere-Schloop: 2 Carol Cutshall: 2 Levin Akin: 2 Daniel Hart: 2 Hannah Moscovitch: 1 Emma Freeman: 1 Jonathan Ceniceroz: 1 Shane Munson: 1

The first half of the interviews are listed and linked below, from April 29 - June 8⬇️

The second half of the interviews are listed and linked here, from June 9 - July 3.

Pre-Premiere Interviews (April 29 – May 7)

April 29 – TV Guide – Interview with the Vampire Returns Once More, With Feeling - Rolin Jones, Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid, Mark Johnson, Eric Bogosian, Assad Zaman, Delainey Hayles, Ben Daniels and Levin Akin

April 29 – Pix 11 (Video) – Retelling 'Interview with the Vampire' with Jacob Anderson - Jacob Anderson

April 30 – TV Insider – Love Bites in ‘Interview With the Vampire’ -Rolin Jones, Mark Johnson, Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid, Eric Bogosian, Assad Zaman, Delainey Hayles and Ben Daniels

April 30 – TV Insider– INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE team talks Paris, love triangles & all things Season 2 - Mark Johnson, Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid, Eric Bogosian, Assad Zaman and Delainey Hayles

May 1 – TV Guide – The Best Quotes From the Interview with the Vampire Cast We Couldn't Fit in Our Cover Story - Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid, Eric Bogosian, Delainey Hayles, Assad Zaman and Ben Daniels

May 2 – TV Insider (Video)– Your Burning ‘IWTV’ Questions Answered by Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid & More - Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid, Eric Bogosian, Delainey Hayles and Assad Zaman

May 3 – Out – Queer love triangles, fierce looks & theater: Interview With the Vampire stars talk season 2 - Jacob Anderson, Assad Zaman and Delainey Hayles

May 4 – Tammy Reese Media (Videos)– Premiere Interviews - Sam Reid, Assad Zaman, Delainey Hayles, Luke Brandon Field, Eric Bogosian and Jacob Anderson

May 6 – Tribune News Service – TV Tinsel: Fangs breaking, nails popping off, eye lenses blinding -- actors describe the pains of shooting 'Vampire' Season 2 - Delainey Hayles, Assad Zaman, Sam Reid and Jacob Anderson

May 7 – Screen Rant Plus (Video)– Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid & Delainey Hayles Tease Interview With The Vampire Season 2's Love Lines -Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid and Delainey Hayles

May 7 – Screen Rant Plus (Video)– Interview With The Vampire's Assad Zaman & Eric Bogosian Share Daniel & Armand Secrets In Season 2 - Assad Zaman and Eric Bogosian

May 7 – The Knockturnal (Videos)– Jacob Anderson, Delainey Hayles, Sam Reid & Cast Talk 'Interview with the Vampire' Season 2 -Jacob Anderson, Delainey Hayles, Sam Reid, Luke Brandon Field, Assad Zaman, Eric Bogosian, Levan Akin, Mark Johnson and Rolin Jones

Pre-Premiere Interviews (May 8 – May 11)

May 8 – Decider – ‘Interview With the Vampire’ Star Sam Reid Totally Gets Why We Love Lestat’s “I HEARD YOUR HEARTS DANCING!” Moment In Season 1 - Sam Reid and Jacob Anderson

May 8 – Tavis Smiley (Podcast)– Eric Bogosian joins Tavis Smiley -Eric Bogosian

May 8 – Wild Nights on the Prairie – Eric Bogosian "Barn Burner" -Eric Bogosian

May 8 – TV Insider (Video)– The Very Serious Cast of ‘Interview With the Vampire’ Plays a Very Silly Game - Assad Zaman, Jacob Anderson, Eric Bogosian, Sam Reid and Delainey Hayles

May 8 – Comic Book – Interview With the Vampire: Delainey Hayles Teases Claudia's Season 2 Journey - Delainey Hayles and Jacob Anderson

May 9 – People (Video) – People in 10 – Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid

May 10 – Decider – How ‘Interview With the Vampire’ Star Jacob Anderson Knew “Amazing” Delainey Hayles Was The Perfect Bailey Bass Replacement: “She’s Claudia!”

Delainey Hayles and Jacob Anderson

May 10 – Pop Culture Planet (Video)– Interview With The Vampire Cast Talks Favorite Season 2 Moments and Future Immortals Crossover – Jacob Anderson, Eric Bogosian, Sam Reid, Delainey Hayles, Luke Brandon Field, Mark Johnson and Rolin Jones

May 10 – Rotten Tomatoes (Video)– The 'Interview With the Vampire' Cast on the Vampire Bond and Living Across Time Periods - Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid, Delainey Hayles, Assad Zaman, Eric Bogosian, Mark Johnson and Rolin Jones

May 10 – Out – Interview With the Vampire returns for a 'grander' & gayer season 2 - Rolin Jones

May 10 – Out –  Here's what Interview with the Vampire star Jacob Anderson thought of all those 'Colored Only' memes - Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid

May 10 – Nerdist – ERIC BOGOSIAN ON DANIEL’S SEASON 2 RELATIONSHIP WITH ARMAND AND PLAYING COUPLES COUNSELOR ON INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE - Eric Bogosian

May 10 – Nerdist – DELAINEY HAYLES ON CLAUDIA BEING LOUIS’ SECOND CHOICE, MEETING MADELEINE, AND JOINING IN INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE SEASON 2 - Delainey Hayles

May 10 – Vanity Fair – Anne Rice's Interview With the Vampire Returns for More Blood - Jacob Anderson

May 10 – TV Insider – ‘Interview With the Vampire’: Meet the New Claudia With Delainey Hayles - Delainey Hayles

Week of Episode 2x1 (May 12 – May 18)

May 12 – Popternative (Video) – Sam Reid talks about Season 2 of Interview with the Vampire on AMC and much more! – Sam Reid

May 12 – AP News (Video) – Jacob Anderson ‘anxious’ about ‘Interview with the Vampire’ season 2 - Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid

May 12 – Forbes –  Season Two Of ‘Anne Rice’s Interview With The Vampire’ Delves Further Into The World Of These ‘Complex Monsters’ - Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid, Assad Zaman and Mark Johnson

May 12 – The Wrap – New Blood: Delainey Hayles Unpacks Claudia’s Evolution in ‘Interview With the Vampire’ Season 2 - Delainey Hayles

May 12 – Variety – ‘Interview With the Vampire’ Cast Break Down Season 2 Premiere, and the One Scene That Got Tons of Notes From AMC - Rolin Jones, Jacob Anderson, Delainey Hayles, Sam Reid and Assad Zaman

May 12 – TV Insider (Video) – ‘Interview With the Vampire’ Stars Break Down ‘Me & You’ Scene From Premiere - Sam Reid, Delainey Hayles and Jacob Anderson

May 12 – TV Line – Interview With the Vampire Trio Talks Claudia’s Recast, Lestat’s Haunting ‘Return’ and More in Bloody Premiere - Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid and Delainey Hayles

May 12 – Entertainment Weekly – Interview With the Vampire stars break down fiery season 2 premiere ending - Jacob Anderson and Delainey Hayles

May 13 – BET – Jacob Anderson Dives Deep into the Darker, More Spectacular Season 2 of 'Interview with the Vampire' - Jacob Anderson

May 13 – Decider – Sam Reid Looked to Anne Rice for ‘Interview With the Vampire’ Season 2 Inspiration: “Louis is Always Haunted By Lestat” - Sam Reid

May 13 – TV Guide (Video) – Interview with the Vampire Stars on Playing Mind Games – Assad Zaman and Eric Bogosian

May 13 – Autumn Brown (Video) - Hannah Moscovitch

May 14 – Men’s Health –  Jacob Anderson Always Wants More Chaos - Jacob Anderson

May 14 – In Creative Company (Video) – Interview with the Vampire with Sam Reid & Jacob Anderson - Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid

May 15 – Publimetro – Jacob Anderson: “Es el libro el que dicta hacia dónde vamos” - Jacob Anderson

May 16 – Comic Book – Interview With the Vampire: Jacob Anderson Doesn't Think Louis is An Unreliable Narrator - Jacob Anderson

May 16 – Edge Media – The Queer Men with Fangs Are Back! 'Interview with the Vampire' Cast Spills the Blood - Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid, Delainey Hayles and Assad Zaman

May 16 – Blavity – MEET TWO OF THE MANY REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD BE WATCHING AMC’S ‘INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE’ - Jacob Anderson and Delainey Hayles

May 16 – Dish Studio (Video) – Interview with the Vampire Season 2 on AMC+ DISH Studio exclusive interviews – Assad Zaman, Eric Bogosian, Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid and Delainey Hayles

May 17 – Gizmodo (Video) – How Has Louis Changed Since Season 1 of Interview With the Vampire? - Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid

May 17 – Out – Interview with the Vampire stars are bringing supernatural queer love back for season 2 - Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid and Assad Zaman

Week of Episode 2x2 (May 19 – May 25)

May 19 – Newsweek – Jacob Anderson on the 'Darker' Season Two of 'Interview with the Vampire' - Jacob Anderson

May 19 – KTLA 5 (Video) – Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid preview Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire Season 2 – Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid

May 19 – Entertainment Weekly – Interview With the Vampire stars unpack that 'bloodthirsty' Théâtre des Vampires debut - Jacob Anderson and Delainey Hayles

May 19 – TV Insider – ‘Interview With the Vampire’: Ben Daniels Shares Santiago’s Takes on Louis, Lestat & More - Ben Daniels

May 20 – Decider – ‘Interview With the Vampire’ Star Jacob Anderson Confirms Louis and Armand are Giving “We Saw You Across the Bar” Energy: “It’s Totally That Vibe” - Jacob Anderson

May 20 – Wonderland – Assad Zaman - Assad Zaman

May 20 – The Wrap – ‘Interview With the Vampire’ Stars Eric Bogosian and Assad Zaman Unpack the Tension Between Daniel and Armand: ‘We Are Dancing’ - Eric Bogosian and Assad Zaman

May 20 – Salon –  "A thin veil": Why that "Interview with the Vampire" letter to Louis rings true to Anne Rice's style - Jonathan Ceniceroz & Shane Munson

May 20 – Autumn Brown (Video) – Dream Conversations with Delainey Hayles - Delainey Hayles

May 22 – AMC Talk – Jacob Anderson On Louis’ Gut Reaction To The Théâtre Des Vampires - Jacob Anderson

May 22 – The Parting Shot (Podcast) –  Jacob Anderson on the 'Darker' Season Two of 'Interview with the Vampire' – Jacob Anderson

May 22 – Pride (Video) – Interview with the Vampire star Assad Zaman DISHES on season two and all things Armand - Assad Zaman

May 23 – Bustle – Jacob Anderson Isn’t Playing on Interview with the Vampire - Jacob Anderson

May 23 – Pride – 'Interview with the Vampire' stars on how season two tackles identity and desire - Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid & Delainey Hayles

Week of Episode 2x3 (May 26 – June 1)

May 26 – Entertainment Weekly – Interview With the Vampire star Jacob Anderson on Louis' violent hookup: 'He's not okay' - Jacob Anderson

May 26 – Variety – How ‘Interview With the Vampire’ Used Sacreligious Statues, Projection Animation to Create the Théâtre des Vampires - Mara LePere-Schloop

May 26 – TV Insider – Why That Major ‘Interview With the Vampire’ Character Was Left out of Episode 3 - Rolin Jones and Sam Reid

May 26 – Salon – "I don't want to see some glittery vampire": Why Anne Rice's undead reigns in a post-"Twilight" era - Sam Reid and Jacob Anderson

May 27 – Autumn Brown (Video) – Artful Articulation with Assad Zaman - Assad Zaman

May 28 – TV Insider – ‘Interview With the Vampire’: Delainey Hayles on What Claudia Really Thinks of Louis & the Coven - Delainey Hayles

May 29 – La Vanguardia – “La serie es como echar gasolina a la experiencia humana y después prenderle fuego” - Rolin Jones

May 30 – Fox 7 Austin (Video) – 'Interview with the Vampire' star Assad Zaman in Austin - Assad Zaman

May 30 – Variety – Busy Producer Mark Johnson Builds the Anne Rice TV Universe for AMC Networks: ‘He’s Indefatigable’ - Mark Johnson

May 31 – Nerdist – SAM REID AND JACOB ANDERSON TALK LOUIS AND LESTAT IN INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE SEASON 2 - Sam Reid and Jacob Anderson

May 31 – The Root – Jacob Anderson on Season 2 of ‘Interview with the Vampire’ - Jacob Anderson

Week of Episode 2x4 (June 2 – June 8)

June 2 – TV Insider – ‘Interview With the Vampire’: Jacob Anderson Explains Those Final Dream-stat Scenes - Jacob Anderson

June 2 – Collider –  'Interview with the Vampire's Delainey Hayles on the "Heartbreak and Confusion" of That Big Fight - Delainey Hayles

June 2 – Screen Rant – Interview With The Vampire Season 2, Episode 4: Delainey Hayles On Losing Theater & Gaining Madeleine - Delainey Hayles

June 2 – Entertainment Weekly – Interview With the Vampire stars break down episode 4's 'tipping point' of the season - Assad Zaman, Jacob Anderson and Delainey Hayles

June 2 – IndieWire – Edith Piaf and Fred Astaire Provided ‘Interview with the Vampire’ with Season 2 Style Inspo - Carol Cutshall

June 2 – TV Fanatic – Interview with the Vampire Post-Mortem: Delainey Hayles Talks THAT Louis and Claudia Confrontation & 'Lovely' Fan Reception - Delainey Hayles

June 2 – Fangirlish – Post-Mortem: Delainey Hayles on Claudia Taking Center Stage - Delainey Hayles

June 2 – Comic Book – Interview With the Vampire: Delainey Hayles Talks Claudia's "Toxic" Relationship With Louis - Delainey Hayles

June 3 – Collider – 'Interview with the Vampire's Jacob Anderson & Sam Reid on the Sad but Satisfying Season 2 - Sam Reid, Delainey Hayles and Jacob Anderson

June 3 – Autumn Brown (Video) – After The End: A Post Mortem Chat with Mara LePere-Schloop - Mara LePere-Schloop

June 5 – TV Insider – ‘Interview With the Vampire’: Delainey Hayles Says ‘Trust Is Gone’ With Louis After Episode 4 - Delainey Hayles

June 3 – AMC Talk – Delainey Hayles On Claudia’s Pain & Delight In Season 2 - Delainey Hayles

June 6 – Tell-Tale TV – Why Assad Zaman’s First Scene as Armand Came Later in Season 2 - Assad Zaman and Rolin Jones

June 7 – Playbill – The Devil's Minion: How Assad Zaman Is Bringing The Théâtre des Vampires to Life in Interview With The Vampire - Assad Zaman

[levihanweek]

Hello! We are waking up with a bang

Back to our usual Secret Santa exchange! Let’s goo—

How the gift exchange works:

You will be assigned a partner to give your gift to (it doesn’t have to be christmas themed) thus they'll become your giftee.

Your identity will remain secret until the publishing date, so please make sure your inbox and IM are open so we’ll be able to communicate with you in case your giftee needs to contact you.

Info about the gifting:

All forms of works are accepted! These include but are not limited to: fanart, fanfiction, edits/graphics, gifs/animations, manga colorings, playlists, aesthetics, AMVs/videos, etc.

‎Reposting/copying/using another person’s work, and any A I generated works are NOT allowed. We won’t reblog any submissions that you did not make personally or any work that is offensive/discriminatory in any way.

‎Please be sure to tag accordingly if your work contains blood/gore/mature content.

‎For this event, we set minimum requirements for the gifts. We’d appreciate that you try your best to make your work meet the following guidelines:

↳art: draw at least a fairly detailed and colored bust-sized drawing or a b/w well detailed one

↳fic: 1.5-2k words across any genre

↳gfx/gif/edit: 2 big/complex images or 4 simple/small images for the photoset

↳misc: (the above are common gift types for exchange events, but if you plan on making something else and would like to know a minimum requirement for that medium/gift type or if you just have some doubts in general, feel free to ask us. We’ll be happy to help!)

Take these as a potential reference. You’re not obliged to but remember that someone else may be working hard on your gift, so it’s only appropiate to put some love into your piece as well (:

Timeline:

November 25 | Sign-ups will be closed by midnight EST. Be sure to fill up THIS FORM if you want to participate. Might close earlier or later depending on the speed/amount of the sign-ups.

November 26-27 | The mod will inform participants about their giftee and their respective wishlist.

December 14 | The mod will check in on each of the participants’ progress

‎December 25 | Time to post your gifts! If you publish your work here in tumblr, tag @ this blog's and your giftee's username, also include #levihan secret santa 2024 in the first five tags so we can be able to find it. We’ll be reblogging your works on this blog.

If you publish your work on instagram, tag @ale.man.art and your giftee's username, also include #levihansecretsanta2024. The posts will be shared and sent to people.

The date might be extended a day or two but it will depend on the progress of your works.

AN IMPORTANT PSA: If you feel like you cannot meet the deadline or want to drop out halfway, please message us ASAP and we will sort it out. We’d rather you be honest with us if you can’t meet the deadline than be a no-show on the day of.

[cyber-dump-171]

Masterlist: Objection! Stand your ground! Marvelous! (Twisted Wonderland x Reader)

This work is also published on Ao3: Click here!

This work is also published on Wattpad: Click here!

Tag List: Want to be notified whenever a new chapter is uploaded? You can enter your username here.

Summary: A kendo student, an heir to a jewelry empire and the child of a detective and a lawyer are now stuck in a bizarre world where everyone can wield magic.

It was just a summer job at the police station where your father works. A distraction from the heat and extra money. But what happens when you join the ever expanding list of people who have mysteriously disappeared?

Notes:

The reader uses they/them pronouns.

At the beginning of each chapter, there will be a warning if there's any graphic content.

English is not my first language, so if I make any mistakes please point them out to me! I do my best to double-check everything but there might be a few details that slip out for me.

CHAPTER LIST:

Prologue: Missing - Published 16/7/2024

Chapter 1: Fire - Published 19/7/2024

Chapter 2: Weirdos - Published 29/7/2024

Chapter 3: Insomnia - Published 16/8/2024

Chapter 4: Crewel & Crowley - Published 25/8/2024

Chapter 5: Call a doctor! - Published 8/9/2024

To be added...

[barrencelenny]

coldflash fics 2024 wrap up!

I spend too much time hanging around in the coldflash tag on ao3 so here's some data I gathered on the fics published this year!

a total of 171 works published/updated by 87 writers (+orphaned and anonymous authors). it brings the total fics in the tag up to 4991 fics, we're almost at 5000! this is a total of approximately 2,924,914 words, which is over 1.5 times the entire ASOIAF series lol (technically this is an overestimate because I didn't bother excluding word counts of longfic chapters published before 2024 whoops)

34 people published a coldflash fic for the first time this year! welcome, we are very happy to have you :)

14 people published fics in a language other than English (5 Russian, 2 French, 2 Spanish, 2 Chinese, 1 Hungarian, 1 Portuguese, 1 Czech)

16-ish cross over fics (obviously this ship has way more crossovers than usual because len goes over to the legends so I didn't count those, but I DID count those highschool/college/groupchat/watch the show au's where every arrowverse/dcu character is chucked into one fic as a crossover) (my post my rules lmao)

1 podfic, 1 fic set in someone else's fic, and 2 translated fics! the transformative works are getting transformed :D

8 gifted works. much generosity, very wow

most fics: 🥇Lady_Meg_666 with 20 fics 🥈SoftBoyDepot with 10 fics🥉BeauregardsTaxicab with 7 fics

highest word count: 🥇 BeauregardsTaxicab with a total of 519,382 words 🥈alex_jude with a total of 155,458 words🥉MK_Morreaux with a total of 95,957 words

longest fic (began prior to 2024): 🥇Arrowverse watching arrowverse with 381,534 words 🥈That Rare Arctic Thunderstorm with 233,199 words🥉Just for a Second with 118,757 words

longest fic (began 2024):🥇Mr. Blue Sky with 268,722 words 🥈There Are Some Strings on Me with 124,404 words 🥉 This Is What You Came For with 107,485 words

oldest fic writers: 🥇 moriavis first published 25 December 2015 and published 07 February this year 🥈coldflasher first published 28 September 2016 and published 17 December this year 🥉n_a_feathers first published 02 October 2016 and updated 12 May this year

funniest tags goes to "Canon is an Ecclesiastical term and I am a heretic," "Slow Burn but just the feelings part they're having sex the whole time," and "Barry Keeps Learning Things About Himself"

least funny tag goes to "no beta we die like Leonard snart" WHY WERE THERE TWO FICS WITH THIS STOP I'LL CRY

most use of taylor swift lyrics as titles goes to alex_jude with three fics. literally no one else is competing in this category lol

thank you to all the fic writers who kept me well fed this year love you <3

[thehomelybrewster]

1d8 "Free" Fantasy RPGs To Replace 5e At Your Table

D&D 5e sure is a roleplaying game, and it's one that I have enjoyed a lot. However, that doesn't mean that I'd recommend it automatically for other people. This has many reasons, which I won't elaborate here. It has also shaped the perception of TTRPGs significantly thanks to its market dominance, and not in a good way.

5e has a reputation for being an expensive, complex game, and 5e players fear that other RPGs might just be the same. That it's too much of a hassle and too much of a financial burden to switch systems.

So, to help 5e players pick out a different system, I've made this handy 1d8 rolling table to help them pick a fantasy TTRPG with a combat component that they can try instead!

Let's now go through these eight nine RPGs and see what's up with them, right below the "Keep reading" section!

I'll be listing some metrics like the page count for the rulebook(s), the core resolution mechanic, how complex the game is in terms of character creation & combat, and how well-supported the game is by their publisher and the community-at-large.

1. Cairn

Author: Yochai Gal

Release Year: 2020

Cost: Free PDF, printed copies cost between $3 to $10 depending on the print quality.

Page Count: 24

Website: https://cairnrpg.com/

Resolution Mechanic: 1d20 Roll Under system for ability checks/saving throws, attacks hit automatically, "fiction-first".

Action Economy: Movement + one action per round.

Characters: Random character creation, class-less and level-less, advancement based on "Scars" (suffering damage that reduces your HP exactly to 0)

Setting: Implied. Low-magic European-style fantasy; mysterious woodlands.

Other Noteworthy Mechanics: Hit Protection and Ability damage instead of HP, Slot-Based Inventory.

Degree of Support: Very high. Available in fifteen languages (e.g. Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and German); full rules text is under CC-BY-SA 4.0; multiple published third-party adventures & supplements available; some official bonus material (e.g. bestiary, magic items/relics, and spells) is available for free on the website.

Addendum: An expanded 2nd Edition is currently on Kickstarter (ends April 26th 2024); Cairn is legitimately easy to learn, however the Hit Protection system and the connected Scars system is a very different abstraction to health and advancement compared to 5e.

2. Cloud Empress

Author: worlds by watt

Release Year: 2023

Cost: Free PDF of the rulebook and the creator-written sample adventure "Last Voyage of the Bean Barge", $20 for the print edition of the rulebook, $12 for PDF supplements, $25 for print + PDF supplements; free solo rules also available as PDF only.

Page Count: 60

Website: https://cloudempress.com/

Resolution Mechanic: d100 Roll Under system for stat checks/saving throws, critical successes or failures on doubles (11, 22, 33, etc.), 5e-style advantage/disadvantage, attacks generally hit automatically.

Action Economy: Two actions per round with no free movement.

Characters: Semi-random character creation, four classes ("jobs"), no rules for character advancement in the ruleset.

Setting: Specific. "Ecological science fantasy" heavily inspired by Hayao Miyazaki's "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind"; costly magic, giant insects, dangerous mushrooms; only human player characters.

Other Noteworthy Mechanics: Damage points culminate in Wounds; Wounds and Stress as ways to track your character's physical and mental state; slot-based inventory system.

Degree of Support: Low-ish. Several official supplements exist, however third-party material is very sparse. May improve due to the recent establishment of a Cloud Empress Creators Fund, has a simple 3rd party license system.

Addendum: A supplement, "Cloud Empress: Life & Death" is currently on Kickstarter (ends April 26th 2024, yes, the same day as Cairn 2e) and as a disclaimer I even backed that current Kickstarter; Cloud Empress is built on the engine of the sci-fi horror RPG "Mothership"; clearly built for one-shots and short campaigns; has a wonderful resting system that encourages roleplay between players.

3. Iron Halberd

Author: level2janitor

Release Year: 2023

Cost: Free PDF of the rules; no print option available.

Page Count: 60

Website: https://level2janitor.itch.io/iron-halberd

Resolution Mechanic: 1d20 + Bonus Roll Over system against difficulty or armor rating, however most non-combat-related actions follow a fiction first approach without dice rolls.

Action Economy: Movement + one action per round.

Characters: Semi-random character creation, class-less but there are four different "gear kits" that nudge your character towards certain archetypes, levelling up with XP.

Setting: Essentially non-existant. General European fantasy with magic, gods may or may not exist/shape the world, various fantastic ancestries included.

Other Noteworthy Mechanics: Includes rules for building strongholds and maintaining warbands; slot-based inventory with a durability mechanic.

Degree of Support: None. The game is intended to be relatively compatible with other OSR content and the creator suggests using adventures made for the D&D retroclone Old-School Essentials if you wanna use pre-published ones. An official introductory adventure, "Sea-Spray Bay", is apparently in the works. No 3rd party license available, as far as I know.

Addendum: One thing about Iron Halberd I like especially is how it uses random tables for generating equipment. Most of the equipment is listed in a numerical order by category, and the various gear kits include references on different rolling formulas for those equipment categories. For example someone taking the "soldier's kit" rolls twice on the d20 Weapons table and takes their preferred pick, while someone taking the "sage's kit" only rolls a d4 on that table.

4. Mausritter

Author: Isaac Williams

Release Year: 2020

Cost: Free PDF of the ruleset available; box set with the rules and several goodies including an adventure costs $55; additional box set + PDFs containing eleven official adventures costs $55 (or $20 digital-only).

Page Count: 48

Website: https://mausritter.com/

Resolution Mechanic: 1d20 Roll Under system, 5e-style advantage/disadvantage, attacks always hit.

Action Economy: Movement + one action per round.

Characters: Random character creation, class-less, levelling up with XP.

Setting: Vaguely specific. You play as mice and everything is related to mouse-size; cats are the equivalents of devils or dragons; humans exist as a setting background but may or may not be present in a campaign.

Other Noteworthy Mechanics: Includes rules for recruiting warbands; slot-based inventory with a durability mechanic.

Degree of Support: Very high. Several official supplements exist, as well as loads of content, be it adventures or supplements, made by other creators. Available in seven languages (all of them however are European). Has a simple 3rd party license system.

Addendum: Mausritter uses the phrase "adventure site" instead of dungeons. On the website a free adventure site generator is available, as is a digital tool that can be used to generate your own item cards for the slot-based inventory system.

5. Maze Rats

Author: Ben Milton

Release Year: 2017

Cost: $4.99 for the PDF, no print option regularly available.

Page Count: 32

Website: https://questingbeast.substack.com/

Resolution Mechanic: 2d6 + Bonus Roll Over system; advantage system that uses 3d6 drop the lowest + Bonus.

Action Economy: Movement + one action per round.

Characters: Semi-random character creation, class-less but instead there are character features (e.g. spell slots or attack bonuses), levelling up with XP.

Setting: Essentially non-existant. Magic is very irregular (s. the section below), but otherwise it implies a vaguely European fantasy setting.

Other Noteworthy Mechanics: Spells are randomly generated each adventuring day and spell effects are negotiated between the GM and the spellcasting player; includes several fantastic d66 tables that can be used to randomly generate worlds.

Degree of Support: Decent. The rule text is licensed under CC BY 4.0 and unofficial translations are available. Some third-party content has been made specifically for the game.

Addendum: The only purchase-only game on this list. However "unofficial" distribution of the PDF is very common. Also this is the oldest game on the list. Ben "Questing Beast" Milton is a prolific OSR blogger and runs a YouTube channel on the OSR. Great dude.

6. Sherwood - A Game of Outlaws & Arcana

Author: Richard Ruane

Release Year: 2022

Cost: Free quickstart PDF titled "Sherwood - A Quickstart of Outlaws" available; digital rulebook costs $7.50 and the print edition (including PDF) costs $15.

Page Count: 25 (Quickstart), 32 (Rulebook)

Website: https://www.r-rook.studio/

Resolution Mechanic: 2d6 + Bonus Roll Over system for skill checks (including attacks), 2d6 Roll Under system for saving throws; advantage & disadvantage system that involves rolling 3d6 and using the higher/lower of the two results; almost all rolls are player-facing

Action Economy: "Conversational", assumption of movement + action.

Characters: Largely choice-based character creation. Combine two (of six) background abilities with the benefits of seven different careers. Big focus on interpersonal relationships during character creation. Limited character advancement takes place during downtime.

Setting: Specific. Takes place in a fantastical version of 13th century England, with fey and magic coexisting with outlaws and crusaders.

Other Noteworthy Mechanics: The group of outlaws possesses two shared resources (Resources and Legend) that can be spent to gain certain benefits; spellcasting is divided into two categories: arcane talents and sorcerous rites, with the former being immediate and the later taking significant time; slot-based inventory.

Degree of Support: None. No further publications exist for the game and while it is published under the CC-BY 4.0 license, no third-party content exists as far as I know. It does include a guide on how to convert D&D and Troika (N)PCs into Sherwood characters, as well as three adventure seeds (one in the Quickstart, two in the rules), which is at least something.

Addendum: Might just be the game on this list that encourages the most roleplaying; the character sheet is sadly very provisional-feeling and the Quickstart feels outdated compared to the finalized rulebook.

7. The Electrum Archive

Author: Emiel Boven

Release Year: 2022

Cost: Free Rules PDF available, zines cost $12 as digital PDFs or $24 as print + PDF combos; the first zine contains the entire contents of the Free Rules PDF

Page Count: 26 (Free Rules), 72 (Issue 01)

Website: https://www.electrumarchive.com/

Resolution Mechanic: 1d10 Roll Under system, attacks always hit.

Action Economy: Movement + one action per round.

Characters: Largely choice-based; three archetypes roughly corresponding to fighters/rangers (Vagabonds), rogues (Fixers), and spellcasters (Warlocks); player characters are presumed to be human; levelling up with XP.

Setting: Specific. Mechanics heavily tie into the lore; humanity has abundant access to minerals but requires a rare substance known as Ink to operate certain pieces of tech (like guns) and cast spells but cannot produce Ink themselves; spirits of various sorts can be foes, targets of worship, or sources of power.

Other Noteworthy Mechanics: Uses a spellcasting system for the Warlock archetype that's heavily based on the one used in Maze Rats, as in it uses randomly-generated spells whose effects are negotiated between the player and the GM; slot-based inventory with a durability mechanic.

Degree of Support: Minimal. The game consists out of the free rules and (soon) two zines; a third party license exists but content produced under it is very rare.

Addendum: I need to disclaim that I recently backed the Kickstarter campaign for the second zine for this game; the free rules feature wrong page numbers in its table of contents which is unfortunate; The Electrum Archive uses incredibly simple stats for NPCs which makes creating new ones based on other games rather simple.

8. Shadowdark RPG

Author: Kelsey Dionne

Release Year: 2023

Cost: Free player and game master quickstarts exist as PDFs and are available in print for $19, the core rules cost $28 in PDF form and $57 in a print + PDF bundle

Page Count: 68 (Player Quickstart Guide), 68 (Game Master Quickstart Guide), 332 (Core Rules)

Website: https://www.thearcanelibrary.com/

Resolution Mechanic: 1d20 + Bonus Roll Over system, 5e-style advantage/disadvantage, natural 1s are critical failures and natural 20s are critical successes.

Action Economy: Movement + one action per round.

Characters: Largely choice-based; players have a fantasy ancestry and a class; levelling up with XP; class progression largely random.

Setting: Vague. General (dark) western fantasy conventions apply; alignment is a force in this universe and a sample pantheon is provided; the most potent enemies in the rules are named individuals that fit classic TTRPG monster types; illustrations and lore snippets have recurring motifs.

Other Noteworthy Mechanics: The key mechanic of Shadowdark is how the game handles light, namely that light sources are tracked in real time (i.e. a normal torch lasts 1 hour), which increases tension; slot-based inventory; has a 0th-level character creation option using an eliminationist "Gauntlet".

Degree of Support: Fantastic. Several official supplements and offically sanctioned digital tools exist; lots of third-party content available under a generous third-party license.

Addendum: Definitely the most similar game to 5e on this list besides the next entry; very robust mechanically and the Core Rules features extensive lists of magic items, monsters, and spells; also for early play giving your players only access to the quickstart is a totally valid choice; and finally, before Dionne made Shadowdark, she made 5e adventures for years and it shows (affectionate).

9. Pathfinder

Authors: Logan Bonner, Jason Bulmahn, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Mark Seifter

Release Year: 2019 (initial release), 2023 (remaster)

Cost: Free and comprehensive SRD available via the platform Archives of Nethys, free "Pathfinder Primer" abridged rulebook available via the Pathfinder Nexus (powered by Demiplane), Core books are priced $20 for PDFs and $30/$60 for print as a softcover/hardcover; a Beginner Box set with shortened soft-cover rules costs $45

Page Count: 464 (Player Core), 336 (GM Core), 376 (Monster Core), 160 (Combined Beginner Box Softcovers)

Website: https://paizo.com/pathfinder

Resolution Mechanic: 1d20 + Bonus Roll Over system, 5e-style advantage/disadvantage, four degrees of success based on result compared to target number.

Action Economy: Three action points per round; various actions may require more than one point; every character can use one reaction per round of combat.

Characters: Choice-based; players first pick an ancestry and a background and a class (the ABCs) and then tend to have meaningful choices after each level-up; levelling up with XP.

Setting: Important. Golarion, the game's setting, is a world that has been long in development and it shows; powerful magic and influential gods; very clear notions of what the societies of the various peoples of the world are like and how they should behave.

Other Noteworthy Mechanics: Balance between character classes and reliable combat challenge calculations are an important design goal; weight-based inventory system; archetype system for "multiclassing".

Degree of Support: Fantastic. Loads of content gets regularly produced by the game's publisher Paizo; the Pathfinder Infinite program (similar to D&D's Dungeon Master's Guild) provides lots of lore-compliant third-party content; uses the ORC third-party license for content produced outside of the Pathfinder Infinite program. Translations into other languages available but Paizo does not provide a comprehensive list of available languages (only German and French confirmed after brief personal research).

Addendum: The most popular and commercially successful of the listed games; but also by far the most complicated, though it is easier to GM for specificallty than 5e; also I dislike how certain feats create situations where fairly mundane actions get mechanics through these feats instead of being things you can generally do; anyway the reason why it's a 9 on a 1d8 table is because if you wanted to try out Pathfinder 2e you already would have and because while Paizo is better than WotC it's still a flawed big company.

...

So this was an exhausting little project. I hope you found this helpful and I hope you give at least one of these games a shot! A follow-up to this post is not out of the cards, but I don't plan on one.

Before we go, have this poll about which of these systems you're most looking forward to try! Shame it can only be open for one week...

[richonneevents]

Richonne Fictober 2024 Rules, Guidelines, & Calendar

Richonne Fictober 2024 is a 31 day challenge for fanfiction writers/creators to write/create and publish a Richonne-centric story or related content everyday for the month of October.

Fics should be between 100 and 5,000 words. Rick and Michonne must be the main pairing. Richonne is an interracial pairing, so be mindful of tropes and language that perpetuates racism and misogynoir. Rick is a canonically disabled character, so be mindful of using tropes and language that is ableist. Fanartists should be mindful of not whitewashing Michonne, Andre, and RJ in their pieces.

Please tag @richonneevents and use the tag: #richonnefictober24

Be sure to tag your prompt and which day you are filling.

In addition to Richonne-centric fanfiction, creators are encouraged to make fanart; playlists; edits; moodboards; rec lists; graphics; podfics; gifsets; photo sets; fanvids etc.

WEEK 1

Day 1: Making Caramel / Candy Apples

Day 2: Seasonal Shopping (Clothes, decor, etc.)

Day 3: “The leaves are changing!”

Day 4: “Pumpkin spice...what?!”

Day 5: Autumn Breeze

WEEK 2

Day 6: Overcast Morning

Day 7: Bobbing for Apples

Day 8: Pumpkin Patch Visit

Day 9: Rainy Day

Day 10: Scarecrow

Day 11: Haunted Hayride / Haunted House

Day 12: Horror Movie Marathon

WEEK 3

Day 13: Jumping in A Leaf Pile

Day 14: Warm Apple Cider / Hot Chocolate etc

Day 15: Corn Maze

Day 16: By The Fire(place)

Day 17: Candles 

Day 18: Flannel

Day 19: Nestled Under Blankets

WEEK 4

Day 20: Festival 

Day 21: First Frost

Day 22: Kissing In The Rain

Day 23: Baking Pies

Day 24: Cemetery Stakeout 

Day 25: Black Cat

Day 26: Dead-End

WEEK 5

Day 27: Underneath The Sky

Day 28: Full Moon

Day 29: Carving Jack o’ Lanterns

Day 30: Costume Party

Day 31: Trick or Treat

[junkissed]

ᯓ★ 2024 tumblr wrapped ₊˚⊹♡

a peek into user junkissed's year in writing

check out my stats below! send me an ask to vote for your favorite fic of mine from this year, and i'll share some extra thoughts on it :)

thank you so much to everyone who followed, reblogged, commented, and sent asks this year!! any kind of interaction means so much to me and i love being able to write and post and be part of this community. and of course, the biggest thank you ever to all my wonderful mutuals who made my year so much better. i wouldn't still be here without you all <3

🏆 fan favorite! most popular fic:

›››› ☆ midnight cravings — posted 02/05/24 ; minghao ; 2,212 notes

🏆 longest fic:

›››› ☆ goodnight n go — posted 11/17/24 ; vernon ; 10.2k words

🏆 recent fic:

›››› ☆ the first snow — posted 12/02/24 ; joshua

🏆 personal favorite fic:

›››› ☆ ocean view — posted 06/30/24 ; junhui

🏆 top artists:

›››› ☆ 🥇 junhui — 11 fics ›››› ☆ 🥈 minghao — 4 fics ›››› ☆ 🥉 joshua — 2 fics

🏆 top genres:

›››› ☆ 🥇 smut — 17 fics ›››› ☆ 🥈 fluff — 12 fics ›››› ☆ 🥉 angst — 3 fics

🏆 total fics:

›››› ☆ 25 new fics posted this year

🏆 total words written and published:

›››› ☆ 76.2k

inspired by @xinganhao— this isn't a tag game but i thought i'd make it one bc this was really fun to see and it put things in perspective :) tagging some mutuals but anyone pls feel free to copy if you want!

@onlymingyus @petrichor-han @cheolism @kwanisms @daechwitatamic

@wonustars @jeonghunny @simpjaes @wooahaeproductions @nonranghaes

i hope you all had a great year!! wishing you a wonderful 2025 <3

[coochiequeens]

Good News for women! If it passes the state senate.

Published: Mar. 20, 2025, 11:05 a.m.

By Mike Cason | mcason@al.com

Alabama consumers would no longer pay the state sales tax on diapers, baby formula, menstrual hygiene products and other items under a bill approved today by the House of Representatives.

The bill, by Rep. Neil Rafferty, D-Birmingham, would save taxpayers an estimated $13 million a year by removing the 4% state sales tax.

The exemption does not apply to county and municipal sales taxes unless approved by county commissions or city councils.

The legislation follows several other tax cut bills approved by the House on Tuesday.

Rafferty’s bill applies the tax exemption to baby formula, baby bottles, baby wipes, breast milk pumping equipment, breast pump, diapers, maternity clothing, and menstrual hygiene products.

The House adopted an amendment by Rep. Ginny Shavers, R-Leesburg, to apply the exemption to adult diapers.

The bill passed by a vote of 102-0. It moves to the Senate.

On Tuesday, the House passed a bill to reduce the state sales tax on food from 3% to 2%, which is estimated to save taxpayers about $123 million a year.

Another bill approved Tuesday would increase a state income tax exemption on income withdrawn from individual retirement accounts and 401(k) accounts from $6,000 to $12,000. Taxpayers 65 and older would be eligible for the exemption.

That bill is estimated to save taxpayers about $45 million a year.

A third bill passed on Tuesday would make several changes to the state income tax that would save taxpayers an estimated $25 million a year.

All the bills passed without a dissenting vote. They all move to the Senate.

Lawmakers still face a decision on whether to extend an exemption to the state income tax on overtime pay, which has been in effect since January 2024.

That exemption is scheduled to expire at the end of June. House Democrats held a news conference on Wednesday calling for the exemption to be made permanent.

The overtime exemption saved taxpayers $230 million during the first nine months of 2024, according to the Alabama Department of Revenue.

Lawmakers are trying to balance the benefits of tax cuts for citizens and the impact on the Education Trust Fund, which relies mainly on income taxes and sales taxes to support public schools.

[shewroteaworld]

The Shewroteaworld Library

Published: 6/14/24

Last Updated: 12/20/24

Total Works: 8

Find me on ao3!

Reposting my work is NEVER okay. If you see any of my fics published on Tumblr or Archive of Our Own with a URL that is NOT shewroteaworld, it isn't me! Please let me know!

BROOKLYN NINE-NINE

JAKE PERALTA

Full-Length One-shots

How He Made You Feel (published: 7/21/24)

Right before the first sleepover of your romantic relationship, Jake puts a high school teacher behind bars for attempted sexual assault. The case brings up some difficult high school memories for you.

(Find this fic on ao3!)

CRIMINAL MINDS

AARON HOTCHNER

Full-Length One-shots

PCOS (published: 12/2/23)

You've been keeping a secret from your boyfriend. At the most inopportune time, it thrusts itself into the light. He doesn't have the reaction you feared.

The Aftermath (published: 4/25/24)

You're nearly killed on the job. Aaron is there to help you through the aftermath.

SPENCER REID

Full-Length One-shots

"Brilliant Sunshine!reader" Edition (aka fics featuring super smart, human-sunshine reader)

I'll Hold Your Weight When You Can't (published: 9/30/23)

Brilliant sunshine!reader gets heat stroke on a case. Your best friend, Spencer Reid, is predictably worried about you. What he doesn't expect is to be forced to come to terms with his feelings for you.

Unsub Bait (published: 10/7/23)

For the fourth time, brilliant sunshine!reader is asked to bait the unsub. For the first time, Spencer has a problem with this.

Blurbs

Detached (published: 3/15/24)

You think you're alone in a storm of feelings. There's one person who won't let you get drenched in this downpour alone.

THE AMAZING SPIDER--MAN

PETER PARKER

Full-Length One-shots

Movie Date Migraine (published: 7/16/23)

On a movie date with Peter Parker, a migraine strikes you down. You don't want Peter to see you like this, but he refuses to let you go home alone.

And So, You Will (published: 12/20/24)

Premise: You have a difficult time coping after the 2024 US election; you're not sure how to perfectly react. Peter reminds you that you don't have to.

[puckpocketed]

PART 3 of the modern defensemen transcripts I started a while back. You don’t need to have read/listened to the other parts to understand what’s being said, but they’re very fun reads if you have the time! Topics of discussion:

Broadly, more on Lane Hutson and how he defends (he is SOOO the main character of this entire series and I’m very happy about that)

passive vs aggressive defending

reading the pinch

surfing (skating forward when defending the rush)

inside vs outside leverage

the weak-side fold

Another archival effort as always… so many podcasts live and die by the whims of the services they’re hosted on + the guys who own the channels. </3 This is full of random extra media which is why it took so long. I ended up just making my own damn diagrams and archiving stuff and making gifs so I could put them here. This part is tactics-heavy and they kinda get into a little debate about passive/aggressive defending which I really liked! Will need to go over parts 1 & 2 soon when I can to clean them up <3

Published 20th November 2024, Hockey IQ Podcast: Modern Defensemen (with Will Scouch) Ep #3 - By Hockey’s Arsenal, hosted by Greg Revak (apple / spotify / youtube)

If you missed them: part 1 / part 2

[START Transcript]

Greg Revak: Alright, welcome back. Week three of our series here with Will Scouch, we're looking at defensemen.

First week, we talked about modern day defending. Last week, we talked about point play, so; shorting the zone, why point shots are truly the worst… Point shots just suck, point shots suck. I mean, everyone knows it, we all know it.

Will Scouch: The crusade, yeah.

GR: We looked at Zach Werenski; he was leading the NHL in goals — he's consistently up there leading the league in goals from defensemen. And Will, you had a great study there showing the offensive increases that we've seen have all basically come because of defensemen being more involved in the offense.

It was perfect for our point play piece — making sure [we’re] going into the details; catching with movement, catching in good spots, giving ourselves spaces to operate in; and common mistakes of players [where] they start in wide open spaces rather than maybe starting in more congested spaces, but having space to go into. So, common mistakes there.

This time, we're going to talk about defending the rush. So [the team has turned] the puck over, we're now having to play defense. There's that transition moment where we're going from offense to defense. And now, just straight, we're playing defense.

Two ways I think about this when we're playing the rush is one, passive; and two, aggressive. [If we’re being] aggressive, we have an opportunity to maybe kill the play early, we can really get in the attitude of “We play you.” Versus passive; maybe we're not in a good spot or our team hasn't set us up in a good spot as a defenseman, maybe there's some kind of scramble, whatever it may be.

And then the third piece I'd love to dive into is reading the pinch.

So where do we want to start? I feel like this is maybe a good opportunity to start with our main man Lane Hutson because I feel like he's someone who has the ability to play aggressive, but often he's pretty passive in his rush defense.

WS: Yeah. I think that you're dead on with that. I've seen a lot of Lane Hutson over the last few years. I remember when he was a draft-eligible kid, I remember watching him in college. Now he's in the NHL and actually he's been quite effective on paper in the NHL.

I know people are throwing around player cards, and throwing around this, and throwing around that. But in aggregate, on the whole so far this season, relative to the rest of the team in Montreal, he's been — for a kid who's, again, 20 years old, playing upwards of 25 minutes a night — he's doing pretty well.

I think that that's asking a lot out of a kid, and he's doing quite well, especially [at] 5 foot 9, with all the question marks people have with players like that. With him, I think he's a really good showcase of how smaller players can play defensively and be a positive impact player, right?

There have been… I mean, I wrote for you in the newsletter over the summer. It's the area where I think, in the context of the NHL draft, there is still a lot of work that could be done of discovering some good value. Of looking at these really, really mobile and creative guys that may lean a little more offensively, but… may not actually.

A great example, while we're talking about Lane Hutson; a guy who doesn't score a whole lot, but every single time I watch him, he just does the right things all the time and has done so since his draft year, is Tyler Duke.

He's in Michigan now, and that kid is 5'10, I think, 5'9, and doesn't score a tremendous amount. But I remember watching him at the NTDP, and I remember a few interviews with his teammates going, “This guy is the most underrated guy on the team. He's small, but he works his tail off.” Just like his brother Dylan — Dylan Duke is having a great year in the AHL too — but that's beside the point…

GR: Both are Ohio boys, just say that.

WS: Ohio, yeah, exactly.

GR: I gotta rep the state that I'm from. Ohio kids!

WS: Yeah, I mean, hey, I love me some Ohio, for sure. But yeah, I think that guys like that, and Lane Hutson, showcase a lot of the same things.

Number one, possession is good defense. If the opponent doesn't have the puck because you have it they're not scoring, so that's number one. And number two, Lane Hutson does a really good job using his feet to at least put himself in good position to block play from occurring. Like we said; staying between the dots, not over-committing but not opening up too much of a gap.

I think you mentioned surfing off the top of the show, but he is an aggressive neutral zone defender as well. He can track that play laterally, challenge guys with his stick and force them to make plays, force them to make decisions, before the puck even gets in the defensive end.

And from there, if you've got good support from your partner or a forward that's backchecking, then you're golden.

To me, it's the little things that you may not notice or that may not jump out at you, but when you watch game after game after game, you kind of go, “Oh, I see how this guy has got the trust of a coach. I can see how this guy is playing so many minutes relative to the rest of the guys on his team because of the things that he brings, even though he's not the biggest guy in the world.”

He's not perfect.. There have been situations where I'm watching Lane Hutson going, “Well, that didn't really go your way, and that's unfortunate.” But that’s any hockey player.

GR: That's also learning as a 20-year-old rookie defenseman — at five foot 10, if you're lucky.

WS: And that's hockey. Hockey is a game where sometimes things are going to go your way and [sometimes] they're not. If I got upset every time a big physical guy lost a physical battle, then… But nobody really does that, nobody really is concerned when that happens once in a while.

So with Lane Hutson, he loses a physical battle once in a while. He's not involved in as many because they often have the puck, and if they don't have the puck he's doing work in the offensive zone or neutral zone to prevent [the opponent] from keeping the puck.

There's a lot of good things that happen in his game that I think brought him to this point in the NHL. Faster than I thought to be perfectly honest. I thought Hutson was going to take a little bit more time, but he hasn't really looked out of place and I think he's a really fascinating case study as to guys like him and how they might be able to work.

GR: Yeah. You wrote on the Hockey IQ Newsletter, so I'm just going to reference it exactly. You mentioned, “Hutson shows off a number of strong defensive moments that highlight his style of blocking offensive zone exits, keeping opponents to the perimeter, and establishing body position on retrievals.” Three very translatable things to the NHL.

Note: one of my very first Lane Hutson gifsets was a sequence like this. He beat Robby Fabbri on a puck retrieval by gaining body position on him — this was from his 2 games with Montreal at the end of last season. I’m so glad the broadcast chose to highlight that play. He really is something special.

Yes, he's going to continue to grow and fill out, so he's got more progress [to make]. I mean, we talk about the deficiencies and my actual areas of worry [are] more around his skating base and feet and all that. But from a standpoint of, “Can you survive in the league?” The answer is yes.

Victor Mete would be the anti-example, I would say, where he didn't have the way of deploying the things that Hutson does. The brain wasn't there to the extent that Hutson was while being small — also a Habs draft pick, so track that one as well for those that want to nerd out.

There were some great quotes that Hutson had talking about his defensive game. I'm just going to read them out because I think they're so good, and then we can dive into the details here.

So from Hutson talking about defense, “I just think it's more about being in the right spot, being more skillful and knowing the game rather than just being a big frame. It's about making the right plays and the right reads.” 

And continuing on, [he’s talking about how he does that], he says, “Being able to get up in their face,” so having great gap control, “…without getting pulled out of position,” [as in] not overextending yourself, “Controlling my speed and my gap and my spacing around the inside of the ice to keep guys to the outside.”

He just keeps talking about the things we're talking about, which are playing the game with intentionality, playing it very smartly. Basically, the opposite of how Rasmus Ristolainen came into the league, which was like, “I'm a big body, I'm gonna go make things happen.” This is just more tactful.

It's not gonna scream at you — like you said, he's gonna have his moments — but from an overall standpoint, he's gonna drive positive results. He has a way of playing the game smartly, especially for his size, where it has to be a very intelligent game, where he can't make as many mental errors and be able to recover from it. He's shown so far we're off to an absolutely great, great start.

WS: Yeah, I mean, it's like a different side of the coin. I talk a lot on my show and with you about players who seize control of the ice when they're on the ice, but that doesn't necessarily mean physical play.

It's a lot of other stuff that happens, and I think Hutson's a really good example of what that means, and it’s everything you said. It's this understanding of the game, and this understanding of what your opponents are doing.

How to minimize… Really, it’s like, “I'm going to take control of this possession and I'm going to minimize their opportunity to do anything. As many things as they can possibly try, I'm going to minimize as much of it as I can.” 

And there's ways of doing that that aren't that physical style of play that you see out of defensemen that is unheralded, a lot of it just kind of flies off by the wayside. I think people look at a guy like Hutson and see the way he plays, and if you have a really strong [tactical and aggregate] understanding of what is going on when he's on the ice, both the offensive-good, but also the defensive-good, you see a lot of really interesting traits there.

Guys like him, I agree with you, that the skating base and the quickness and all of that, like it's not… He's not Quinn Hughes, right? That's not really his brand, so he has to think of other things and have an understanding of the game that can help patch that up.

And so, yeah, the things like gap control and guiding guys laterally and being a little more aggressive are definitely key areas of interest for me. Especially because earlier on in this series, we were talking about how much I love defensemen who can skate and how many doors it unlocks.

But if you're not an elite skater, which I don't think I would consider Lane Hutson an elite skater — at least defensively — you have to… It doesn't mean you're automatically not an option, it's just that the equation changes.

The things that you need out of that player shifts and you have to help guide them in the right direction so that they can use what they do have to the best of their ability while the rest sort of develops around them. It’s fascinating to me, it's a really, really interesting thing, and I love seeing guys like Lane Hutson figure it out and play the way that they do, because it just goes to show that you could, you know…

He's obviously special in a lot of ways, but it just goes to show that all kinds of different players have a place at the highest levels of hockey. It's just a matter of how you approach the game, how you see the ice, how you manage your behavior, and what you bring to the table.

GR: Yeah. I want to dive into some of these ways to play, starting with if you're playing it passively. So say we're just doing our normal two defensemen coming back; passive, letting the offense kind of have some space. First step needs to be inside.

You need to get inside ice, you need to get good positioning, you need to get within the dots, that's first and foremost. So, first step is inside. I've heard a few coaches call it lateral gap. For me, I just say you need to get inside positioning.

And really, if I take this to the football field, so American football, Canadian football, think about it as leverage. So either you have inside leverage or outside leverage. 

Note: this next section on inside/outside leverage was reaaally messy sentence-wise. I tried my best to clean it up and make sense of it. Whenever anyone says “inside” or “outside” in hockey they’re referring to areas of the ice defined by an imaginary line we draw through all the faceoff dots where the side closest to the boards is the outside and the side closest to the center of the ice is the inside.

Inside leverage means you're taking away the inside, that's where you are and you're giving the outside. Outside leverage is [when] you're on the outside, you're taking away the outside, the boundary, and you're giving away the inside.

Now, the question is, everyone's like, “Why wouldn't you always [want] inside leverage?” And that's the most common [way]. But when would you [want] outside leverage? When you have help on the inside; like, you're pushing them to a bad spot, into a teammate, into support, into someone who's there to help you.

But for the most part, we want to be starting with good leverage. Some coaches call it lateral gap, where we're taking that first step inside, getting inside the [faceoff] dots, and being able to passively let them have the bad ice.

We may not be in a great spot to finish the play [or] stop the movement yet, but we're going to put them in a bad spot where they're no longer an A-plus threat that we need to address immediately, like we're in deep doo-doo.

You can pokecheck out there, just don't extend yourself. The time that you finally get aggressive off of that pass [is], “Okay, I'm able to get this puck, I'm able to separate, I'm able to get position before possession, I'm able to cut it off, able to seal it off,” that kind of stuff.

When I'm developing my defensemen, that's what I'm talking about with them. Like, if you have to, if you’ve gotta play passive, just get inside leverage. Unless you have a good reason to play outside leverage, just let them have the wall until they overextend, whatever it may be, and give you an opportunity to seal it off.

Great example would just be good pokechecking. You're kind of like a cobra, you wait, wait, wait, and then boom, pounce! Rather than overextending.

Showing your stick early is another classic terrible example of something you don't want to do, or we call it declaring your stick. You declare where your stick is. You're overreaching stick on puck, because some coach told you to go stick on puck, and now you're reaching, you've lost good posture, good balance, good weight distribution. That's bad. 

We want to keep all of the good things, the posture, don't want to overextend, but just make sure we're positionally sound.

WS: Have you been watching me at beer league? Like is that what you've been doing here? Is that what the prep is for this show? Because I gotta take some notes for sure. But yeah, I agree fully.

I think playing passive defense is something that can work. Personally, I think that it's something that is not as successful as being a little bit more aggressive, which we'll get to in a second. But everything you said is, to me, bang on.

If you're gonna do it you do have to play a little bit more… I guess the word would be cerebral? A little bit more unpredictable and positionally aware.

Be aware of what's going on elsewhere on the ice. You gotta keep your head up and scanning in front of you, and really just try to force them into… Nothing. Force them into a situation where they go, “Well, crap, now I have to rim it around the corner, or dump it back to my defensemen and hope that they're there with a drop pass.” [Keep] them in a position where they're not getting inside space on you or getting the puck through you into scoring areas, whatever it takes to get that done.

I think handedness plays a part in this as well, depending on which hand your defenseman is and what hand the forward is. It just makes things like stickchecking both easier or more difficult depending on the situation.

There's all kinds of things to sort of keep in mind with more passive defenders. And it can work. I think a lot of NHL teams still deploy their defensemen a little more passive.

They go, “Yeah, here ya go. You can have the defensive zone, but we're not going to give you many options. We're not gonna give you so much space that you can pull the puck around us and get in deep with a carry or get around our defensemen with a carry.”

In my view, I think that it invites a lot of potential for really talented NHL players to do just that; sort of tuck the puck between your feet and the stick. Or drive, drop a shoulder, drive down low, and make a play. You see more and more of that in the NHL these days.

But… that doesn't mean it's everybody, and I think that there's still a place in the game for this kind of thing. It's just a matter of, do you have defensemen who are aware of their surroundings, aware of where their partner is, aware of where the other offensive players are, aware of their positioning? [Are they] staying within the dots, like you said, and just keeping options as low-risk as possible?

If you [are] aggressive you may suppress risk initially, but you may increase risk down the road, assuming things don't go your way, which again, in hockey definitely happens.

So it’s, again, it's all a balancing act. And that's kind of the thing I love about hockey, there's a lot of different ways to do stuff and they all have trade-offs.

GR: Yeah, I like how you put that. It may be low-risk now, but it could be high-risk later. Where do you want to start making your defensive plays? Is it in your own zone or is it higher up the ice? Modern day [defending] is finding ways to, as West Point says, be an active defender. When you're thinking about military doctrine, you're talking about keeping the initiative.

Note: West Point is a U.S. Military Academy. I honestly thought he was referencing a movie <3

Who has the initiative? It's super important. Even if you're playing defense and you're almost in a siege perspective or you're in a fixed position, you still need to be active so they can't have free maneuvering, [so] they don't have the freedom of setting up in a good spot to challenge you.

You still need to have a way to be active and find ways to keep the initiative in some way, shape or form, which will lead us directly into our other way of playing defense which is a little more aggressive, where we're talking about concepts like surfing.

So surfing [is like] angling [while] skating forward. My personal favorite, I call it the weak-side fold. So you‘ve got a weak-side defenseman, they're able to see the whole play. There's no real threat on their side, whether it be from a forward coming back or just no one's really there.

Note: Imagine the ice bisected through the middle of the goal posts. The side that the puck is on is considered strong-side, the side the puck is not on is considered weak-side. Strong-side and weak-side are relative to where the puck is! Diagram here

They've got good defensive positioning, they're able to go and skate and angle actively over to the strong-side to take out the puck carrier, [who] inevitably ends up chipping the puck right to the strong-side defenseman.

So, weak-side fold, boom, pull that over. That means that your strong-side defenseman needs to at least get inside the dots, just like they should anyways. If not, start going over to the weak-side in case that play does get made there, whether it be an area pass or whatnot.

Note: per Greg Revak: “An area pass can be defined as a tactic where the passer spots the puck into an area of the ice currently unoccupied but allows the receiver the space to skate to that area.”

So surfing would be the first concept I think we should dive into, [where] you're on the offensive blue line, you see the play starting up, rather than skating back and playing it passive, you're skating forward and going to attack the offense.

WS: I love it. I love seeing this deployed all over the place. If I were coaching a high-level team, that's how I would want to deploy the types of players that I would put on a team.

Again, I think a lot of the battle in hockey is understanding who you have on your team, what they can do, and putting them in a position to do what they're best at as much as possible. Not everybody is good at everything, but that's okay.

So for me, I look at guys and I go, well, the types of players that I like, this is kind of how they should be utilized. Be a little more aggressive.

I love the weak-side fold idea. I think it gives a little bit more of a sense of safety because you have that strong-side defensemen who can play that more traditional style between the dots, but you're utilizing their partner to cut across the ice and apply pressure.

And in my world, again, this is where skating [becomes important.] You have the opportunity to go, “Yeah, okay, the weak-side guy is coming over to the strong-side and you have two defensemen on one side of the ice.” That opens up a whole half of the ice where there might be a lot of space, but then I'm going, “Right, but that's what you have a really good skating center for, that's what you have a really intense 200-foot winger for!”

It's why, when I look in the draft, I see guys who are more offensive leaning… I say a lot; you don't get the chance to really produce offensively a whole lot if you don't chip in defensively, at least in my books.

And so when I see guys like Zach Benson, for example, who we talked about in a previous episode… [He’s] a guy who did not take a shift off, a guy who covered for defensemen, a guy who chipped in defensively as a winger, and brought a lot to the table, that allows him to push play up the ice and be part of that, and allows his defensemen to be a little more aggressive.

That style of play definitely resonates with me; the style of defenders that I always value, those really high-end skating guys that, regardless of their size, those stick-first, body-later type of defenders, I think it works for those types of guys.

I love seeing this kind of play personally. I'm a person who, I think, on the ice, with my strategy and my view of the game, I'm a lot more risk-tolerant than a lot of people. But I think it's because in this situation and in the data work I've done over the years, no matter which way you slice it, when it all comes out in the wash, generally being aggressive is a better approach than not — on paper.

Obviously, though, that depends on the types of players you have on your roster.

To me, this is exactly what I want to see out of the game, this is exactly the kind of strategy that I think is a modern development that really benefits a good type of hockey player that I love to see more of. So I'm all about it. I'll throw it back to you, but this stuff gets me going.

GR: I can already feel that the passion has risen in Will Scouch.

WS: Well, it's also after 9 a.m. now, so I'm good, yeah.

GR: Yeah, the other piece here is… I'll call it the strong-side surf. That's that inside, like, you're getting inside or starting inside positioning. So either [your] first step is inside or you're already starting inside the dots, and you're able to just surf very short.

Rather than a big weak-side fold, you're able to do a short surf into the player. Again, position before possession, feel free to take their head off if the opportunity presents it, but really, you can do this all over the ice.

And finding ways to defend skating forward is a good thing. I've yet to find the defenseman that skates better backwards than they do forwards. I don't know any player that does that. It's probably impossible, unless you're that bad of an offensive skater and you need to absolutely skate backwards to have any ability. [It’s] something that we should all try to find; more opportunities to skate forward to defend.

The other piece that I think is super important is finishing with contact and staying on the inside.

So, going back two episodes where we were talking about Rasmus Ristolainen, where he would finish with contact, or he'd try to finish contact — or even if he made it, he was the last guy getting up and the other player ended up on the inside.

If we do go stick-on-puck, we are doing position before possession — you still need to rub that player out, you still need to hit the player; have some level of contact where you're now jarring them, you're getting in the way, you're limiting their freedom of movement.

In which case, advantage [to] you and your team.

And then [we’re] making sure we're smartly staying on the inside where we've gotta win the race off the wall, where we've gotta continuously have inside leverage over the opponent.

That's a common mistake I see with guys, we just do stick-on-puck and that's it. 

Well, now the other team still has the opportunity to get a second crack at a puck, or they're still very fast to get to it. Rather than finishing it, sealing it off, [the defender has] to now restart their speed, restart their feet, all of that, where they're in a terrible, terrible position.

So making sure that, boom, you may have got [the hit, then maybe take] another step or two to ride [the attacker] into the wall. That's a step or two well taken.

WS: Yeah, no, I totally agree. I don't have any real notes to expand on that, to be honest. It's a multi-stage process defending like that, and [you] don't want to give your opponent too many opportunities, you don't want to overcommit.

I think, being a guy who's played defense my whole life I can attest skating forwards is a lot easier than skating backwards, and so if you can have defensemen who can defend by skating forwards, it's probably going to be easier for them, especially at the NHL level. So yeah, definitely something that I'll get behind fully regardless of the risk.

GR: Yeah. The last piece I want to touch on before we go into reading the pinch [is] around keeping clean feet. One of the best opportunities for a forward to change direction — and this is something that I've been toying around with and it's been absolutely great for my offensive production off the rush — is just reading the defenseman's feet.

One; I gotta figure out, “Okay, where's their stick? Are they declaring it or are they not?” And after that, “Can I get them to cross their feet? Or are they really good at shuffling [and] therefore, they're able to move wherever I move and be able to respond easily.”

So, as much as humanly possible, defensemen that are [defending] the rush should be shuffling, not crossing feet.

Basketball would be the prime example, they do a ton of drills on shuffling your feet. [It’s] similar here with defensemen, we’re making sure we're able to shuffle — so going back to our passive [concepts], now that I'm thinking about this further — making sure that we're not putting ourselves in bad positions to [defend] the rush.

So if you have anything on that, feel free to add. Otherwise, we'll go towards reading the pinch.

WS: No, I see what you're saying, I get it. I think that lateral motion is extremely, extremely important. And, again, I have no notes on that situation. I'm all about all of this stuff, I'm learning lots.

GR: Prime example of this, for anyone who wants to see Connor McDavid absolutely burn someone. This exact example of changing direction when the defenseman crosses their feet — like, just starts the crossover — would be Connor McDavid. The goal against Toronto where he just absolutely burned Morgan Rielly there.

It's so noticeable, you can't unsee it once you're looking at Rielly's feet. As soon as he makes that crossover movement, McDavid changes, boom! And he's behind him already. It's insane, so feel free to look that one up if you want to.

Note: I looked it up. Good lord. Here is the clip, and I gifed it:

The last piece here is reading the pinch. So this is maybe more of a team component, [of] seeing more than just your role. [As opposed to how] Rasmus Ristolainen, early in his career [would] just go for the pinch, destroy the guy because he could. Like, he's got him, but is that good for your team? Maybe not.

For me, you‘ve gotta look. Do you have help? Where's that help coming from? Is your team’s system to always have F3 high where it's almost like a left-wing lock in the offensive zone?

Note: here’s a fun article I archived on the left-wing lock if interested!

WS: I mean, that's the difference between a two or three-on-one coming your way, or a neutral zone stop.

I think that it highlights the importance of mobility, especially from your forwards, because if you have a center who is caught between the hash marks in scoring position and your defenseman goes for a pinch and misses, it certainly helps to have a guy who can really skate and help backcheck and help cover for that. It sort of mops up for what might be a mistake from the defenseman, or maybe the defenseman thinks they have the support from a better skater. But that absolutely is a big thing.

It goes back to hockey sense, or awareness; being aware of where your linemates are, being aware of,  “If I cause a turnover in this situation, who is probably going to have the puck at the end of this? Does this guy — who I'm about to hit 20 feet inside the blue line — does this guy have someone directly behind him, supporting him, who's just going to get the puck after I hit this guy? And then just toss it to a breakout option coming up the middle, and I'm caught a third of the way into the offensive zone.”

It's these little decisions, and in the NHL…. Again, I go back to my work doing stuff outside the NHL, but the NHL is fast. These things happen really, really, really quickly. If you're caught, you can be caught for a while.

It's about finding and identifying players who can, if they are doing that kind of thing, they are either really, really effective at it, or they cover their own butt really, really well, or they just play it a little more safe and a little more reserved, and it works out for them in that way.

But in terms of reading it, yeah, I mean, awareness is so, so important. Head on a swivel, peripheral vision-type things, it's all super important.

GR: I like your point about, who's going to get the puck once you do smoke this player? Or if you go for the contact…

WS: It might not be you, you know.

GR: It’s probably not going to be you. So who's it going to be? Like, do you have F3 support? Is there someone on the other team? Thinking is always a good thing.

I know everyone wants to read and react, but there is an opportunity and there's time and places where [you can think, you know?] Like, “Oh, okay. Should I go? Yay or nay?”

Or team rules, if you're a coach, “Hey, if you have F3, go for it. You think you can get it, go for it!”

Or just reading, I always like reading the winger. “Did they scan up ice? Do they even have an idea where I'm at? If they're looking directly back at the puck, [I’m] probably going to go.”

[If] their best option is like, “Oh, crap!” And when you go, “Oh, crap!” rarely do you make the best play possible. Often, it's a turnover.

WS: Yeah. And I think the point about having support — winger support makes a huge difference as well. I think it's a really interesting thing. I mean, all of this, this whole discussion about defensemen, it just goes to show why guys might take longer to develop, why guys might take longer to play more premier roles in the NHL, because there are so many little details.

They might have an area of the game that when they're 18, 19, 20, 21 years old, they hit the NHL and they're comfortable with it, right? That's totally fine. But then, they play game after game, after game, after game. And opponents start going, “Okay, well, here's the thing they're good at. So let's try to target blah, blah, blah…”

But the better that they can be at these little fine details of monitoring defensive rushes, pinching in the offensive zone and trying to pick the right timing on all of these things… Not trying to do everything themselves, but chipping in as much as they can in a positive way. It’s all really complicated and very on-the-fly, considering how fast all this happens in the NHL.

It’s thinking a little bit more beyond the thing that's right in front of your face, that I think is a huge thing that makes the difference between a guy who may be able to play in the NHL and a really good player at that level.

If you have that ability to read the ice, take a good survey of what's going on, not take on too much risk, but take on risk here and there when you see an opportunity to do so, I think you're laughing at this point.

GR: I think the key piece for me in what you mentioned was, you're reading the ice beyond what is directly in front of you. I think this may be just a maturity thing as well, but the more mature a person becomes, the better they are at surveying their surroundings. They take in more of the picture, they're not just hyper focused on, “This is my thing. This is what I do.”

[In life and in hockey], having a better picture of, “How does my little detail play into the bigger picture?” [That’s a big part of] reading the pinch and the thing I love that you brought out there. [We’ve got to] survey the ice and understand, “More than just my little piece, is there speed ripping? All this guy has to do is chip it and they're off on a two-on-one or a breakaway. Bad time to pinch.”

If you're not reading beyond the one player that you're trying to pinch on, [you’re] likely to make a bad decision there. That is super critical. Read the winger, read your support, read the whole play. How is it playing [into] everything?

Will, I think this has been a phenomenal series on defensemen. I feel like everyone should send this out to their favorite defensemen in the world, or just send this to your favorite NHL hopeful prospect, or just like anyone in the AHL. What’s their (inaudible)?

Anyone in player development at the NHL level should send this out to the defensemen. And if you're at any kind of level of player development, which is pretty much every other coach, yeah, send this out to your defensemen.

There's no way some of this information isn't one; going to get them thinking about “How do I play the game better?” [and] two; it's probably actionable items for them to go and work on in their own game.

WS: Yeah, I mean, I'm trying to find a way — as we talk about this and all these little subtleties of playing defense and all the things that kind of go undervalued — I'm trying to find a way to shoehorn Brad Hunt into this discussion but unfortunately I'm not sure I'm going to be able to.

I think he's just a really good example of a lot of these things going his way and seems like a beauty of a dude. And, I don't know, if Brad's a reader of this I want to have him on the show to talk about his experiences as an NHL player because I find him fascinating for a lot of the reasons we're talking about. 

It's just [he] might have been a little bit ahead of his time, but a lot of this good stuff is there with him. I don't know, it was the last thing on my mind before we call it a day.

GR: Beautiful. Alright, someone knows Brad Hunt — or, Brad, [if] you're out there, please reach out.

[END Transcript]