#how NOT to do a magic system

[sanguine-tenshi]

Quick rant

I just finished WoF book nine and man is it a good example of how NOT to do a magic system.

Look so far the series has been interesting to read. It's nothing overall special and it has some nice messages in it.

All the characters are interesting in their own unique way and the author really makes them real and relatable in their POV books. It was nice seeing different reactions to the same trauma in the first arc.

But man does animus magic fuck everything up. Literally nothing up to that point matters. No character matters, no decision matters, no power maters. Nothing matters.

And it doesn't matter because an animus dragon can just... undo and redo and remake and adjust as they please.

There are no limits put on them, not even a single one.

"Oh well if they overdo their magic use they could turn evil! That's a limit!"

Except no it fucking isn't. An animus dragon can just undo whatever damage their magic does, they can just erase the negative effects, make themselves immune to them, make themselves better dragons. They can do what the fuck ever.

Darkstalker can just spell his gf back to live. What's fucking stopping him? Just write the spell down, figure out a way so you cover all the possible monkey's paw effects and you are done. He can spell Moon to like him and then spell himself to forget he did that, so he doesn't have to feel guilty or for it to feel shallow and wrong.

Oh and an animus dragon can just make and unmake other animus dragons! Isn't that a fucking grand idea!

I just... the series was fine up until that point. And the worst part is that Tui did write in an interesting idea for a magic system in this mess.

Darkstalker's magic scroll.

That's it. That is how you fix it. Just expand on the idea.

Like for example, there is an island, a magic island that kills all dragons, but animus dragons. Which is important because a plant grows there that enables animus dragons to do magic.

So an animus dragon would have to go to that island, gather the plant, make paper on the island from that plant and in the process embed their own magic into it so they could do magic. They can make only so much magic paper in their life or something.

This way their spells are only what they write on the paper and only the paper itself is magic. Like it was in the book. This way you can limit the duration of magic as well, as once the paper rots away the spell disappears.

And you can limit it even further by forcing dragons to actually understand how to get the result they want. I mean like, you can't just write down "Make the wearer fireproof." Make it so the dragon needs to know what that means. Eg. there's a plant that is fireproof. Okay why is it fireproof? What makes it fireproof? Kinda force it to relate back to things that can be found in nature, I guess. Don't really have a good way to explain this part, sorry, I'm just kinda writing out my thoughts. But basically slap a high INT and WIS requirement on it.

Anyway rant over, was just so frustrated I needed to get this out of my head.

Bye and take care of yourself💗

[lolottes]

Revenge for Ida

Ida Manson is an ex of Constantine's, it didn't end well….

So when Ida sees him in HER town, she's seething with old anger. So she does the worst thing she had in mind:

Tells her granddaughter and her best friends about Constantine

The phantom team was not going to disappoint her 😈

[nonasbirthday]

I still don't understand why Crux had to die for the tomb to be opened at the end of NTN. Wasn't the tomb already open? How could it have re-set to need John's blood again?

It sounds like Paul was somehow able to get some of Kiriona's blood despite her impenetrable skin ("Take all of it." "I don't need all of it - but I need to keep it wet..."). And that maybe they only needed "fresh thanergy" because Kiriona (and presumably her blood) is dead. Because Harrow didn't need to kill anybody the first time she went in, right?

But in HTN it's implied that Harrow entered the tomb multiple times and that it took her a while to dismantle the traps in each section. And she presumably didn't have Gideon's blood under her nails every time she went in (hard to say for sure, since the memory recounted to us has been edited to be Certified Griddle-Free). (And anyways, doesn't Pyrrha say in HTN that fresh blood is thalergenic, not thanergenic? So why would Gideon's blood being fresh meet the thanergy requirement?)

So I don't understand why the tomb wasn't just open for our little rescue crew to bust in, and if it had been re-locked, why Crux dying unlocked it. (Or how they got Gideon's blood, really, but for that one I'm willing to just accept the magic of "it happened offscreen.")

[cool-sword]

bad gif so sorry but there’s this random alchemist who basically only exists to get killed by Scar in FMA:B and he dresses like the monopoly man and he has a sword which cool fine whatever

but he does this weird move where he like turns into a spinning top and launches himself at scar

how did he do that

what kind of alchemy is that

what is he transmuting

alternatively, can he just do that?

i watched this show a while ago but i still think about it

[squishosaur]

hey man. i'm just saying. why would we put inexperienced teenagers with over-inflated egos and obvious emotional issues into combat classes and make them claw their way to the top of their dorms and expect things to just run smoothly. who actually thought this

[whimsicallywiddershins]

Reading Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, getting more and more of Hoid's pov, then in the end, with Design and Hoid talking about how to leave. It made me realize that the Cosmere isn't a fantasy series. It's a damn sci-fi!! Design tells Hoid to steal a space ship where they can get to some space station and get to another planet. Hoid is living in a sci-fi novel while everyone else is living in epic fantasy. The Cosmere universe, I swear!!!

[jellysmudge]

Some more AU doodles because a surprising amount of you were really interested in it. I really like the Rose drawings (though she looks a little bit older in the one on the left than she’s supposed to be).

[malulurivers]

I don't know if you do crossovers, but if you do, how would viktor react to a spider-person S/O? Spidersonas have been blowing up again since across the spiderverse so it made me curious

when it comes to spiderverse i absolutely do, anon! i've seen some fantastic art of jayce and viktor in the style of spiderverse, i think i reblogged it somewhere, so to say 'i love this idea' and 'i've had a little think about it already' would be two big understatements!

i'll try to keep it succinct though XD

☾ ₊ ˚ ✩ ˚ ｡ ☽

How Viktor would react to having a spider-person SO

honestly, the word 'fascinated' could tldr this entire post

Viktor is quite a private person, who would absolutely treasure communication and trust in a relationship

so as the Spider of the Runeterran universe, as soon as you had made your relationship official, you knew you had to tell him of your secret identity sooner rather than later

you'd been surprised neither he nor Jayce had worked it out yet, being incredibly intelligent inventors and all

but you'd figured they'd be safer not knowing, so you'd tried to subtly keep it from them anyway, and directed the conversation away from your Spider-alter ego whenever they occasionally came up

so you had it planned out.

you were going to tell Viktor next time he was at home, when you got him in a break day, and it was going to be the just the two of you. somewhere private, somewhere safe.

you would explain everything gently. you'd reassure him that if he wasn't comfortable with being with you because of it, then you'd have no resentment towards him

there were plenty of good reasons to be wary after all

then one night you had a particularly long escapade

trying to uncover a deeply-rooted crime circle, you'd ended up rescuing a group of young people who had gotten in trouble with enforcers for frankly ridiculous reasons

you'd then had to outsmart and deal with said enforcers (who were undoubtedly the worst part) to escape, and they head nothing back in their chase

you'd decided to head to the lab instead of home for safety, as at least that wasn't as incriminating. also there was more spaces to hide

it was so late that it was morning, and even you expected that Viktor had gone home by now

but he had, in fact, not

so you'd entered the lab by climbing through the Jana-knows-what storey window, blood rushing with adrenaline, levering yourself down to the floor cleanly with a web

right beside Viktor's desk, where he was sat, eyes wide and frozen

it hurt to see his expression focused on you. he was hiding it well but there was fear in how he swallowed, in how he clenched his fist on the handle of his cane

it hurt until you remembered that 1. he did not know it was you, and 2. he had just witnessed you crawling on glass, spinning on webs and moving way too fast for a normal human

also 3. you bore a striking resemblance to the description given of a 'criminal' (as described by enforcers) that had recently been reported to be involved in the explosion of a factory in the Undercity

sure, you knew it had been for good: that you had apprehended your target, and there had been no casualties

but it dawned at you that Viktor remaining as calm as he did was inherently a miracle

"can I... help...? you...?"

his thoughts were rushing at 100mph compared to their normal 50, and you could see it in his searching stare, watching and waiting for you to move, speak, do anything

luckily, after a few seconds of stumbled words and a hasty removal of your mask, he was back down to earth, heaving a sigh and almost laughing in relief

"I cannot believe—I thought you were...!"

for a moment anyhow, before the reality sunk in further and you were bombarded with questions

"wait, you are the Spider? the masked vigilante?"

"where did you just come from? were you fighting someone?"

"are you alright? are you hurt? did anyone follow you?"

after some explanation and reassurance, he relaxes a lot

honestly he takes the news very well! despite the unplanned nature of its reveal

he's very pragmatic as a person and very loyal

despite the obvious exhaustion on his face, he perks up with intrigue as you tell him everything—how you got bitten, how you got hold of your current suit, how you chose your identity, what you've been keeping tabs on, who you've fought, what you've lost.

however, he is a scientist first and foremost after all, so even after the basics are out of the way, his curiosity is never going to be quite sated

so later on, he's asking more specifics

he's always very polite when requesting to see your abilities, very gentle and never overwhelming you. he wants to see all of them, if you'll allow him to

the webs, the wall-climbing, the increased agility and strength, the spider sense, no matter what it is, you always leave him amazed

and your abilities quickly become a source of inspiration for his own trajectories into science

he's particularly fascinated with the possibilities of your webs, regardless of whether they're organic or mechanical

he sees this as an opportunity to work with you and that makes him very happy indeed

on top of inspiring him scientifically, your passion for helping others reminds him what he's doing his work for, as well as how much he loves you

he adores your heart, your compassion, even if it worries him that you're putting yourself in harms way

this likely leads to him putting time aside for side projects, where he invents things to help you

he may be more of a pacifist, but he's surprisingly down with vigilante justice

he wants to help and protect people with his own technology, he'd be a hypocrite with his head in the sand if he believed that never fighting was truly an option

just as long as you're careful

because of this, he's not going to make you weapons. not that you would ever ask him to. that's not your style, and you'd much rather have the tools he creates to help you escape extra sticky situations

his main focus first and foremost is to help upgrade your suit, particularly providing more safety for your mask so you can breathe in the Undercity

however, whatever upgrade or mechanism it is as time goes on, he always lets you take the lead. you're the hero, not him, and he just wants to support you as best he can

for what it's worth, he'll talk positively of your secret identity to Jayce, hoping it'll get through to Mel

he would even defend you publicly if he was in the council room and the Spider came up

much to your chagrin, as you're worried for his safety just as much as he's worried about yours

when you move in together particularly, you're aware of the danger you're putting him in

you regularly frequent the Undercity and have dealings down there, so returning to live Topside by day has its innate dangers

especially when you're constantly avoiding villains and enforcers alike

but also your identity must stay a secret for his sake as well as yours

he'd be ruined if the fact that he's in a committed relationship with a a vigilante became known

unsurprisingly, Viktor overlooks this part

but as long as the two of you look out for each other, you're certain nothing can go wrong

overall Viktor is a caring and loyal partner, and this wouldn't change in the slightest if his S/O was a vigilante spider-person

he'd be incredibly supportive, though likely wouldn't be able to keep from getting a little excited over the capabilities of your powers. and from asking a ton of questions

you'd become a muse of sorts for him in some of his inventions, and a close partner in his technology in other ways

although, if you have access to the Spiderverse? poor man's going to start fizzing internally

the prospect of portals? already functioning across dimensions? universes?!

he's a reserved kind of person, but I don't think he'd be able to stop himself from trying to weasel his way into meeting someone who knew a lot about how it worked

aka, if you don't know how the Arachnoid Humanoid Poly-Multiverse's teleporting mechanics work, then he's going to try and talk to someone who does

with your permission of course

I think that Viktor would get along very well with Miguel...!

...until he very much doesn't.

☾ ₊ ˚ ✩ ˚ ｡ ☽

masterlist | buy me a hot chocolate <3

[miracleghast]

never watched a second of hermitcraft, but JOEL IS THERE NOW SO I HAVE NO CHOICE !!! epic first episode

[beholdingslut]

i love counterspell very much and this change would make it unnecessarily complicated but it is wild to me that characters who get their power from the divine (clerics/paladins) can have their spells counterspelled by arcane casters, and they have no equivalent offense or defence. functionally i know spells are all cast in the same way (somatic, material, verbal) so it's likely something to do with that, interrupting the spellcasting process on a fundamental/action level but these bitches don't know anythinggggg about divine power or spells and honestly if an arcane caster did this to my paladin, she would use all her highest level smites (un-counterspellable) to obliterate them

[metanarrates]

orv scratches that good gamer itch in my brain because i learned about the term "ludonarrative resonance" once in class and now every time i see a mechanic that serves as storytelling fuel i start screeching with delight

[dallonwrites]

random sunday afternoon thoughts but i think the thing with writing advice isn't only that it's just that -- advice -- but also that most of the time it's really just an intro to some kind of craft theory. like you can see a post about how to write better prose for example and it can give beneficial ideas -- show don't tell, specific language, utilise the senses -- all of these are good as theories on craft but with any theory there are exemptions, there are ways to bend it. you also have to ask why this is a theory in the first place, what idea of good prose does this theory come from? but ultimately the thing is no writing advice can tell you how to work that advice into your writing voice/specific story. so seeing these posts as examples of craft theory rather than advice helped me out a lot because instead of wondering which advice to take on for a story, if i "knew" enough about this writing thing to make that call, i was seeing these posts as an intro to a theory on craft, and then i'm asking myself what i can do with this theory, what can this theory do for my story? where does this theory come from? what kind of story/writer does it consider, what kind does it not?

atm i'm writing a flash in 1st person present which is not a POV i use a lot and before i would read as many resources on 1st person present as possible -- which in itself isn't bad, resources exist for a reason! -- but i'd always get stuck because in my attempt to learn as much about "how to write" something as possible, i would forget the only person who can teach me how to write something in my story is me. those resources do help, but the answer is in my story. and that answer will look different in the next 1st person present story i write. there's a garth greenwell quote i love about drafting that says "if anything i try to forget all considerations of craft or technique, to work from a place as near to ignorance as I can manage". i think part of taking in writing "advice"/craft theory is also understanding the gaps in it that are filled in by your story, what will strengthen and what will weaken it. and understanding writing advice as just craft theory helped me because it's just that -- theory, possibilities with craft -- and isn't meant to answer specific questions about how to write a specific story, and you will also learn a lot more if you let yourself lean into the unknowing that is a natural part of writing. because you don't need to know craft to write, you just need to know what your story needs, and a lot of advice and "rules" are really just intros to craft theory that can help you start to know where to look for your story's answers, rather than giving the answer itself. tldr most writing "advice" and "rules" is just craft theory, and instead of trying to shape your writing to fit "advice/rules" you should be thinking about the ways you can shape theory to fit your writing

[sysig]

It started with a whisper ♥ (Patreon)

[reluctantbylerblog]

they really have the gall to say they aren’t biased against byler when these are their reactions to both of these posts:

like c’mon bffr

[ffd-sys]

seeing all these systems with super organized sp accounts with a coherent color palette and all while the one time I dared to suggest to a headmate to use a somewhat muted color instead of his bright neon fuccia for her profile it looked at me as if I had cursed his whole family to eternal suffering or something

[cookinguptales]

Thank you so much for the tarot reading you did for me a little while back 💜 i'm sorry it's taken me so long to say that! i do rather think you have prophetic gifts, by the way- it was spookily accurate and helped me a lot 🔮

No problem! I'm glad it was helpful to you!

I do tend to get at least one message like this every time I do a tarot night for my followers, and like... you are totally entitled to that belief! What do I know about psychic phenomena and prophecy anyway? lmao. Maybe I am psychic.

But personally, I believe that tarot has a high likelihood of speaking to us no matter what, if just because the archetypal nature of the cards means that they're dealing with problems that we all struggle with. We all have self-doubt, we all have complicated relationships with money, we all crave love of some kind. We all have trauma in our past and we all want to believe that this time, things could be okay.

One of the reasons I like tarot cards is because they are inanimate objects that we imbue with meaning. They were just playing cards, y'know? We're the ones that gave them power over us, and we did that by filling them with our own stories. We placed a mirror in those cards, and while mirrors can be used for scrying, they can also just be used to take a good hard look at ourselves.

If I say "oh, you've had money troubles in the past," who doesn't that apply to? Maybe I'm thinking about me, when we were homeless for a while when I was a kid. Maybe someone else is thinking about the money they lost to gambling last week. Maybe someone else, someone wildly wealthy, is thinking about a stock market crash that brought their five mansions down to two. Maybe a final person has just never had quite enough to make ends meet. God knows that describes a lot of people.

I like tarot because we can all look at the same spread and see something different. I see a story to tell to the best of my ability, and that's how I do readings. But for the people getting those readings, they're often looking into little mirrors and seeing how they reflect their own personal experiences.

Because, you know, we all see different things in the same mirror! That's how tarot works, I think. Maybe some people are a little better at reading things in that mirror and interpreting what they see there, but we all see something new and different and deeply, deeply personal when we look at those cards.

Love that for us.