#i can even list any options mechanisms and philosophy if asked

[9othkin9]

i wish upon a wretched star that medication or therapy ever would actually fucking work on me

[belliesandburps]

Non-Kink:  Top 12 Best Stealth Action Games

I was inspired by my dear pal, @twistedtummies2, to share a lil bit of non-kink related stuff about myself with’chall.  One thing to know about me is I’m a huge lover of video games.  I may not have as much time to PLAY ‘em much these days, but dammit if they aren’t one of my biggest joys beyond writing and the great outdoors. 

And my favorite genre in all of gaming is the stealth action genre.  Anyone who knows me knows that I adore the Metal Gear Solid series, but I also love a whole bunch of other stealth action games because, to me, this genre is the one with the most meat to come back to.  Stealth action done right is you being put in a room or outpost or whatever with a bunch of bad guys, and trying to carry out an objective without engaging with the enemies.  OR, it’s picking off the bad guys one by one, quickly and quietly.  Oooooor it’s you try to be sneaky, get caught, say fuck it, and wage war with an armada of Russians because isn’t it always Russians.  XD

I love that so many stealth action games can play out so many different ways.  And the feeling of escalation, like trying to be sneaky, and being overwhelmed when you’re caught and having to escape a hectic situation?  That, to me, is more thrilling than ANY set piece or scripted, linear mission from any game I’ve ever played.  It’s why I’ve replayed many of these games time and time again, and haven’t even THOUGHT about most of the biggest AAA blockbusters upon beating them.

Now, this list is subject to change.  I have a few games I need to play and they may beat out a few on this list.  But for now, here’s my Top 12 Best Stealth Action games because on top of being a thirsty old bastard, I loves me some espionage and bandana action.  :P

12) Batman: Arkham Origins (2013)

This game gets a lot of flak, but believe it or not, it’s actually my favorite in the Arkham series.  It’s City with a new coat of paint and a few more bugs, but City was still awesome, and so is this game.  It had plenty of clever predator stealth sequences, with more enemy variety to shake things up, that always made wiping out the bad guys swiftly and silently deeply rewarding.  AND it had more stealth action boss fights.  City had Mr. Freeze and a single predator fight rehashed twice with Two Face and Harley.  Origins had Mr. Freeze again, but with new additional options, and a pre-fight stage where you had to stay outta sight.  It also had Deadshot, the best of the three basic “predator boss” types, as well as TN-1 Bane as the final boss, and damn if it wasn’t intense.  With more gadgets and clever ways to mix and match, I think this game would be higher, but it’s still a great one for lovers of more approachable stealth action paired up with excellent brawler combat.

11) Assassin's Creed (2007)

The other AC games may be better, but AC1 is the only game in the series to stay consistent and simple with its design philosophy.  Here are targets for you to assassinate, here are bolstering crowds with beautiful cities to Parkour across or hide within, and at every turn, there are hiding spots but also enemies, making situations escalate organically and entertainingly with each assassination.  Hence why, despite most people regarding AC1 as the weakest entry, it's my personal favorite.  It's the one I replay the most and the one that just stays consistent with what it advertises.  No more, no less. 10) Hitman (2016)

I've yet to play the other Hitman games, and by accounts, each sequel is better than the last.  But you've seen the Jackie boy vids.  What more need be said?  :P

9) Death Stranding (2019)

Death Stranding's kind of a jack of all trades in the stealth action.  On one hand, you have conventional stealth action where you're infiltrating enemy camps and can either pick off all the bad guys one by one or go nuts and fight everybody head on.  On the other hand, you have BT's, whom you sneak around by holding your breath and moving slowly, lest these ghostly monsters drag you out to a tarpit for a boss fight.  The stealth is fairly simplistic but functional.  Combat as is would be fairly shallow, were it not for the sheer quantity of options you have in any given battle.  Seriously, you have a sticky gun that lets you snatch cargo straight off a bad guys back then immediately bludgeon him unconscious with it, and snatch HIS cargo to smash his BUDDY out cold with that in one fell swoop.  The way situations can organically just bleed from stealth to action and give you options for both makes it a blast.  And the boss fights against Cliff and Higgs are almost all I could ask for from stealth action battles. 8) Spider-Man: Miles Morales (2020)

I DO wish the game had some stealth action boss fights, but far as superhero games are concerned, no game has better stealth action than Miles Morales.  It hits fast and is deeply gratifying.  You have corridors with as much as twenty plus bad guys, and you can clean it out in minutes thanks to being able to hide in plain sight through invisibility.  Venom Takedowns with let you wipe out a chain succession of enemies all at once.  Corridors have TONS of environmental advantages to wipe out a bunch of bad guys with one move.  And unlike Spider-Man or Arkham, if you're caught, just go invisible, flee, and go right back to picking off baddies in seconds.  It's like playing a predator sequence in an Arkham game on steroids...and in fast forward.  And the sheer volume of enemies you're often up against keeps it from feeling too easy. 7) Ghost Recon: Breakpoint (2019)

This game SUCKED at launch.  Like, it was actual trash that became a chore to finish when it first came out.  But fair's fair, Ubisoft stuck with it and the end result is one of the most customizable experiences I've ever had in gaming.  Like, this game is straight up now designed to let you change the entire experience simply by pausing the game and flipping a new options on and off and have it immediately go into effect.

I hated the injury mechanics of the first game because it slowed you down and led to a lot of random, unfair deaths because you could never predict which attacks would be critical and which wouldn’t.  So now, I can turn them off.  I thought bad guys were brain-dead.  So I can make them smarter.  I thought constantly slowing down when I'm running from bullets was detrimental, so now, I can make stamina limitless. 

I thought some areas had way too many guards to viably take out without co-op buddies...soooo I can activate an entire squad of AI partners all throughout the game with me and there's a lot of coordination you can do with your team for really covert missions...and you can even customize their look to create a team that looks as cool or goofy as you want.  It’s a really dorky thing, but I LOVE customization in shooters and being able to fully customize, not just yourself, but your team to look however you want in missions is really fun.

And if you think the enemies are too easy to take down?  Turn on Terminator mode and have T-800's storming the place.  Yeah, freakin’ Terminators.  XD

The game gives you literally all the options you could ask for to have an experience perfectly tuned to what you WANT to have.  And the options you have make it so the game can feel like an entirely different, borderline strategy game instead of a solid third person shooter.  You can activate a drone now to coordinate your three AI buddies to stop and go where you want, mark targets for them to eliminate and have your eye on the entire battlefield.  It's honestly staggering how many options this game has.  And were the missions not so boilerplate and were the boss fights actual boss fights and not just reskins of basic enemies, this would be one of the best games ever.  As is, it's a genuinely impressive comeback story!  6) Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (2016)

Mankind Divided is the game Cyberpunk WISHES it was (Spoiler Alert: Cyberpunk isn’t very fun or responsive yet).  It's a game with some spectacular level design where there are dozens of ways around any given enemy and tons of options for any mission.  You have a wide assortment of augmentations to let you sneak or fight your way through any scenario and they give you the tools to use your robot powers in really clever ways for navigation purposes.  This is a game where even the simplest side mission has about a dozen different outcomes, and most of them are wholly organic.  What it needed was more...well, GAME.  After all, MD is a third of the game it was meant to be.  But it IS a marvel of stealth action goodness. 5) The Last of Us: Part 2 (2020)

I have a BUNCH of issues with this game, but on the subject of stealth action, TLOU2 is one of the best in the genre.  Every single encounter is highly difficult, but has dozens of variations.  The levels are all designed with tons of varied cover spots and hidden paths to let you navigate as you either pick off the bad guys one by one, or sneak past them.  The enemies range in their weaponry, but possess self preservation, so they aren't just standing around shooting aimlessly. 

And on top of that, combat is brutal.  Every bullet counts, and you feel the impact of every shot fired.  The melee system is simple but complements gunplay fantastically.  So if you wanna save bullets, you can shoot someone in the leg, and as they stagger, you can bumrush them, grab a hammer or brick you find on the ground as you're running and bludgeon them to death to save bullets.  The game also has a great lil "MGS4 Battlefield Stealth" system.  Several encounters have humans and infected, and you can pit the two against one another and either sneak around the carnage or use it to pick off the harder enemies.

The game also has a FAR better predator fight that's basically David's fight in the first game, but with way better mechanics.  The boss increasingly upgrades their weapon each time you attack them, the environment is perfect for this fight, and if you're caught, you aren't just dead, you have a means to escape a hairy situation.  TLOU2 may have been deeply polarizing, story-wise, but as a GAME, it's terrific.  And best yet, once you beat the main game, there's an encounter mode that lets you skip all the BS and just jump right into every single stealth action encounter and boss fight throughout the whole game risk free.  What's not to love about that? 4) Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater HD (2004 / 2010)

MGS3 is the first really great linear MGS game.  It ditches that terrible fixed camera, simplifies the controls, and has more than ten rooms where you do any sneaking.  Its best moments are proto-MGSV outposts, where you have an area with tons of guards and multiple paths to your objective, and a whole lot of opportunities to get creative.  It was also the first MGS game that made combat just as viable as stealth.  You CAN actually just punch your way through the bad guys now, and the end result is shockingly fun thanks to all the weapons and more intuitive controls.  But the real star is the boss battles.  MGS3 has some of the best bosses of any video game I've ever played in my life.  And MOST of them incorporate stealth beautifully.  To the point where you can eliminate half the bosses with any of 'em ever even knowing your location, and giving you a plethora of variety in the bosses themselves AND the means in which you fight them.

3) Splinter Cell: Blacklist (2013)

Splinter Cell's an odd series.  The story is nonsense yet also pretty drab and simplistic.  Sam Fisher REALLY isn't an interesting character, none of the characters are except the villain and anti-hero scumbag.  But as a VIDEO GAME, Blacklist is the peak of linear stealth action.  MGS3 had boss fights, and THAT was the biggest mark for the game.  And Blacklist only has a single boss fight, which is basically a slightly elongated version of Deadshot's "fight" in City. 

But the moment-to-moment gameplay is out of this world good.  You have brilliant level design that makes sneaking from A to B deeply gratifying, but you also have insane mobility that makes you feel like the biggest badass when you play.  There can be a room full of guards.  And like a game of chess, with the right moves, you can end them in seconds, which requires skill to pull off, rushing the first guy and taking him down, shooting his buddy, then using execute to auto-kill up to three guards you've marked who were in range.  It's about using the systems the game gives you to maximize efficiency on the field.  And you can pick off bad guys using your environment, or climbing a plethora of terrain. 

The game almost plays like Arkham half the times when you're climbing walls or pipes and dropping down on bad guys or shooting them from overhead.  It has a huge variety of gadgets to aide you as well, and combat is incredibly difficult but doable.  Sam can only take a few hits before he's dead, but the means to shake off enemies is fair, and recovering from a slip-up is more fun than it is frustrating.  The campaign has several excellent missions which would satisfy a person as is.  But it also comes with over a dozen bonus missions you can access from your allies, each one taking place in entirely new settings with new enemies and storylines, each one with simpler and more streamlined objectives (perfect stealth, predator missions where you kill all the enemies, and survival waves where you have to fend off increasingly harder enemies).  AND it has the best kind of co-op.  Like Peace Walker, you can play any side mission with buddies.  But it also has missions exclusive to co-op, designed to be fully embraced with a buddy you can play with on the couch or online.  It's a game with tons of content, and all of it is mostly excellent. 2) Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (2015)

MGSV is the best game I've played.  That's because it's a game that hits all of my buttons.  The outposts are examples of perfect level design.  Each one is designed with a huge array of cover spots and multiple paths, direct or secret, to an objective area.  As a result, every mission allows you to get in, carry out your objective, and get out without raising a stink.  And when you screw up, it doesn't feel like punishment, because the combat of this game is fantastic. 

Everything is highly responsive, so your inputs happen with no delays.  You can go from diving to shooting from the ground in a tenth of a second.  And combat lets you seamlessly go from shooting, snatching guns from bad guys and blowing away with it, to taking breathers behind cover or with a human shield.  The enemy AI is the best the series has ever had.  They have way more self preservation, they're liberal with grenades, have way more variety in their weapons, and actually use turret guns and mortar cannons now. 

The missions themselves can be resolved tons of different ways.  Assassination missions play out like small-scale Hitman missions, without the frustration of screwing up and restarting because missions are so short, you just roll with the punches.  And the overall feel of a mission changes dramatically, depending on your loadout, the paths you choose in the level, your playstyle, and the time of day you select when you start a mission. 

There are only a few major downsides to the gameplay.  The bosses lack variety, like, I REALLY wish MGSV had more XOF assassins like Quiet to confront along with the Skulls and MoF.  Some missions are a bit too samey, and there aren't enough larger scale outposts.  Some more enemy variety wouldn't have been remiss.  And finally, the open world itself is pretty lifeless.  It works to complement the missions, like giving you a whole stretch of land to carry out ambushes or battle the Skulls anywhere you please.  But open world games are best when they have more to react to and engage with, or secrets to find.  Oh yeah, and the main villain should've had a boss fight, a stealth action shootout at that because that’s what the OG plan was until Kojima decided to be slightly more pretentious than usual. 

But beyond that, this game is a freakin' masterpiece.

So why is number 2 on the list even if it's the best game I've ever played?

Because this game exists... 1) Deus Ex (2000)

Deus Ex isn't as mechanically good as MGSV.  It's even that good mechanically, like, playing it now, it feels pretty clunky and not the least bit smooth.  Still fun, but you feel the age.  So why is it number 1?  Simple.  Deus Ex is the most open-ended video game ever made.  It's a stealth action RPG where every, and I mean, EVERY single level has dozens upon dozens of different paths to choose and make your own.  It has class specialization, meaning the build you create gives you a whole ton of new paths and strategies to use for hacking or flexibility. 

Every single mission takes place in a sprawling area.  You have an objective, obstructions blocking your way, and a whole bunch of guards.  You can blaze right to a solution, resolving a situation in minutes.  Or, you can take your time and find any number of different paths to your goal.  And all throughout each mission, there's tons of things to find as you explore.  There's entire other side missions with their own plethora of options.  Lots of really clever flavor text.  Upgrades to bolster your augmentations.  And really ominous messages you can find that'll come into play later. 

The bosses may lack variety but each one is a perfect stealth action battle where you can choose any number of options against the bosses, right down to running away from them and the game outright acknowledging that the boss enemies weren't killed.  Best yet, it's a game designed to be broken.  Unlike Human Revolution, all the bosses are recurring characters you spend plenty of time with.  But you can outright blow them away WELL in advance and the game will acknowledge their deaths and keep going anyway.  If you engage in a boss battle during a designated boss fight, but avoid them or run away, then that boss will turn up again for a rematch later. 

This is a game where you can create your own cover spots or platforms by gathering vending machines and dumpsters and piling them on top of each other.  Where specialization changes the entire feel of the campaign and incentivizes repeat playthroughs just to come up with different builds and experience missions in whole new ways.  And best yet, this is a game where when you're in a hub, whatever you see around you, you can interact with.  If you see buildings in the distance, you'll be able to go in and explore, and there's always something to find. Deus Ex is number one because there will never be another game like it.  It's debatable that no other game will ever be as FUN as MGSV, but no other game will ever be as open ended as Deus Ex because it's literally impossible.  The game is clunky and cheap looking because the engine it was built on was a low-memory one.  They traded in graphics fidelity and more impressive flow for the sake of creating a vast video game with an impossible amount of content to constantly stumble upon.  And unlike all the other games on this list, that open endedness actually DOES translate into the story, giving you dozens of different branching paths to the story, and sadly, only three fairly weak endings, but damn, if the journey up ain't a blast.  

I have a whole slew of other lists I’ve been meaning to post for the better part of two years, and honestly, they’re fun to write.  So, who knows?  Don’t worry though, they won’t get in the way of bellies or burp content either.  XD

[kunoichi-ume]

30 Uncommon Character Development Questions: Noara Starspark

No one asked, but I wanted to do these for Noara. Writing the last little bit has been a struggle (between new job, this quarantine stuff and the fucking earthquake it’s a wonder I can concentrate on anything) so making myself think about these questions is a good exercise. Plus it was a good reason to use this beautiful sketch that @dingoat​‘s Ahuska did of my beautiful Jedi girl. 

30 Uncommon Character Development Questions and because I did all 30 of them I put it under the cut, just to be polite.

What position does your character sleep in? ( i.e; stomach, side, back, etc. ) Describe why they do this — optional. In a bed that is in a safe location, as much ‘hers’ as any bed ever is, Noara is a starfish. Stretching out across the surface, wrapping the blanket around her limbs, moving in reaction to whatever is happening in her mind. In the field? She doesn’t move much, sleeping lightly enough to wake if anything about her environment changes. It’s not about getting a good night’s sleep in that situation, just getting enough rest to keep going.

Does your character have any noteworthy features? Freckles? Dimples? A scar somewhere unusual? etc. Noara has a noticeable scar on her right cheek but few people look close enough to see the claw mark scars on her neck that she received at the same time. The wounds there were thankfully not as deep as the one on her face.

Does your character have an accent? What does it sound like? Not really, she grew up on a planet that isn’t known for any particular accent and speaks a fairly basic form of Basic with little deviation/special pronunciations.

Do they have any verbal tics? Do they have trouble pronouncing certain words or getting their thoughts across clearly? When she is flustered or nervous she doesn’t quite stutter but she has a hard time getting the words out and will often start to say one and then have to stop midword to change it because it’s not the one she wanted to say.

What are their chief tension areas? Her shoulders and lower back. She tries her best to present an image of a strong, mature Jedi Master that is capable to carry the heavy responsibilities given to her.  

If you were to pick one song — and only one song — to describe your character, what would it be and why? Choosing just one is hard, I have a whole playlist for her and most of them could work as the “one” song to sum Noara up but I think I need to go with Brighter by Patent Pending. It is a great mix of being optimistic about the future but also jaded and weighed down by the past, which is very Noara. She has a hard time dealing with everything that has happened to her but refuses to let it define her and never looses sight of the hope that life will get better.

How does your character perceive themselves? Positive? Negative? Neutral? She tends more toward the negative. Noara has no illusions about her lot in life, she is important to a lot of people but not because of who she is - just for what she can do. Her abilities are far more valued than she is for just being herself. Depending on the version of her this is more extreme, in I’ve Got You she is very convinced her abilities are the only why people are around her, in Jedi Sitters she feels like she is a failure as a Jedi because of what happened when she was under the Emperor’s control (and the very fact she was able to being manipulated so completely) and my Sith version of her that I don’t talk about as much as I would like to has no illusions that anyone cares about her until a very stubborn Mandalorian/Republic spy Fynta enters her life.

Are they a quick thinker or do they need time to sort through their thoughts? Quick for sure, she is pretty impulsive actually. When she has time to sort through her thoughts she usually ends up second guessing and doubting herself. Gotta make those choices before her insecurities can catch up.

Does your character dream or are their nights filled with an empty blackness? Describe a dream they’ve had or a night they couldn’t sleep and what they did to preoccupy their time. This one also depends a bit on which version of Noara. In I’ve Got You she doesn’t dream often, or even deal with nightmares, until Valkorian decides it’s a good way to try and manipulate her. Jedi Sitters Noara has constant nightmares and avoids sleep as much as possible, staying up later with caf or meditating until she passes out from exhaustion. Sith Noara’s life is a nightmare, why would sleeping be any different?

If they had a choice, would they prefer a subway or a bus for public transportation? It would be a major trial for Noara to ever be on a subway, it would be very triggering for her claustrophobia. Busses only work because she can see out the windows, doesn’t feel as trapped as she would knowing she was inside a tunnel underground.

What do they think of creation? Do they believe in evolution or do they believe in God? What is their religion like? Noara trusts in the Force but has never been a very religion driven person. She knows the Force is there, and what it does, but big questions like “how did life begin?” don’t really concern her much. Scholars can figure that out as far as she is concerned.

Describe 5 unusual characteristics your muse has. 

Despite being a virginal space monk, she loves romance stories - especially ones with hot scenes she can live vicariously through; 

Rarely sits in a chair the way it’s meant to be sat in, like perched on the back of a chair or couch, lying on a couch so her head hangs off the cushion and her feet are draped over the back, both feet folded underneath her when on a bench type seat; 

Exercises almost obsessively, always working out because sitting still is difficult for her unless she has something to occupy her mind; 

Taps her fingers, shakes her leg or fiddles with her thumbs when feeling impatient or anxious; 

Wears dark purple makeup in a traditional Nabooian style because it makes her feel like she belongs somewhere, like she had a home at some point, and she doesn’t openly acknowledge the reason being that she has no idea where she is from and feelings like she is missing part of herself by not knowing.

Have they ever been so overwhelmed they had to stop and take a break from something? Yes, it usually ends up with her chasing the bottom of a bottle or working out until she can’t go on anymore.

Are they a team player or do they prefer to be solo? This is such a hard choice for her, Noara likes having people at her back but hates the idea someone could get hurt if she messes up or isn’t fast enough.

Can they multi-task or must they focus on one subject at a time? She is very tunnel minded when it comes to a task, until that one is done she doesn’t really notice the other things she needs to do and often gets overwhelmed if there are too many things to do all at the same time.

What are their best school subjects? What are their worst? List five of each. 

Best: Physical Education, Technology/mechanics, Languages, Flight/piloting, Literature. 

Worst: History, Philosophy, Biology, Home Economics like sewing/cooking, Math.

Is your character an introvert or an extrovert? How do they handle big crowds of people? Extrovert, even if she has to force it sometimes. She likes crowds because the focus isn’t going to be on her when there are lots of other people around.

Are they a leader, do they prefer to follow, or would they rather just stay on the sidelines altogether? Noara is in a weird place where this is concerned. She leads, because people look to her for it, because the Jedi Council assigns leadership positions to her, but in almost every case she thinks there is someone else would would be better qualified.

If your character was suddenly challenged, would they rather run away or stay and fight? Noara is a fighter through and through, sometimes to her own detriment, but running away is never her first, second or even third choice. Lana getting her out of the spire was a test of the Sith’s patience in every way.

If your character was allowed to murder one person without any consequences, who would that person be and why? This depends on the version of Noara. 

In I’ve Got You that was the Emperor, but she would never consider that murder. It’s justice and he earned it. 

In Jedi Sitters she would give anything to be able to kill the Sith who controlled and abused her after the Emperor “gifted” her to him. 

Sith Noara would kill… well most people she has interactions with, but Darth Ira who stole her from the Jedi would be at the top of that list.

Your character has been granted 3 wishes; what would they wish for and why? 

First she would wish for peace between the Empire and the Republic - even with magical wishes she doesn’t think they could ever merge into one collation but if the Empire and Sith could see reason and stop the needless violence she would be satisfied. 

Second, Noara would ask for the ability to save all the people under her protection - failing to keep someone safe who trusted her is devastating every time it happens. 

Third she would want to know her family, who they are, where they are, why they let her go.

Does your character trust people right off the bat or does it take them some time to warm up to someone? It depends how well she can read them through the Force. If she can feel their sincerity she trusts fairly easily, even when the person is a Sith like Lana. If someone is shielding their intentions from her she is very cautious about them.

Do they prefer romance or affection? What is the quickest way to your character’s heart? Affection. Romance for so long is such an unattainable concept to her but affection is rare, something that makes her want to reach out to the person offering it and never let go. Touch starvation is very much something Noara deals with before she has a certain Mando to cuddle next to at every possible opportunity.

Does your character have any enemies? If so, who and why? The Emperor, Valkorian, comes to mind. Most Sith would see her as their enemy as well.

Do they have any weird bedroom habits? Any unusual kinks? Because so much of her life is making choices and giving orders she doesn’t feel qualified to give, she likes letting someone else take charge. She isn’t a sub in every encounter, but Torian having his way with her - and giving her firm directions - is a sure way to get her going.

How does your character prepare for bed? Do they sleep at all or can they stay awake for days on end without trouble? When on her ship or whatever location is serving as a home base at the time, she cleans her face and lets her hair down, changed into pajamas if she doesn't expect a sudden awakening.  In the field she doesn’t do much other than assure herself she found a safeish location though her preference is to use an energy stim or two and stay awake and aware - something she has done for days at a time before finally crashing.

If your character had one thing to say to their parents before they died, what would it be? Why didn’t you keep me?

Are they afraid of death? Do they have any regrets? Before Torian, no. She never questioned that she would become one with the Force and it would be a more peaceful existence than her life was. After, and especially after learning his people’s thoughts about the afterlife, she has many doubts about what she believes and if they would be together again. Regrets are a big problem for her, no matter how she feels about death she is going to have plenty of those.

Does your character get restless when things are too quiet or do they favour solitude and silence? Why? So restless! Noara always needs to be doing something, even if it’s meditation. If her mind or body doesn’t have something to do she gets anxious.

Finally; if your character was forced to eat one thing for the rest of their life, what would they choose and why? Well most of her life she has eaten prepacked field rations, the Star Wars equivalent of MREs. So making a responsible, balanced choice she would say those. She needs the nutrition to keep up with both her active lifestyle and maintain her muscle mass. As a petite woman with a high metabolism she has to be conscious of what she eats to keep herself in good condition. Idealistically? Cake, with the loophole that it can be ANY kind of cake. She enjoys sweets and they are such a rare treat for her, the idea of getting to try lots of different varieties and flavors would be very tempting.

[arthurhwalker]

Dungeons & Dragons, A Guide

While I was traveling recently, I had no less than three people ask me some variation of “my kids want to play Dungeons & Dragons, help!” I met a young lady that wanted to run her own table (omg, excite), a family that wanted to play together, and a friend whose kids wanted to learn the game. Thank you, Stranger Things. On the plane home, I met a young man who was interested in the game as well. Anyway, this write up is for them, and anyone that might be considering the game.

Disclaimer: I am a inimitable nerd, have been playing the game over thirty years, and have seen everything good and bad there is to see with tabletop roleplaying games. Prepare for crunchiness.

General Advice

Parents, play the game with your children (if they will let you). Run your own table, or sit at their table. I can’t stress how important this is. My best experiences playing the game as a young person was with my friend’s father, and with people my own age.

Start with Classic BECMI (Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, Immortal) Dungeons & Dragons from the 80s if you can source the books, OR the current 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons game. These versions have the best materials for both young, and new players. Most other editions assume you are already a Dungeons & Dragons veteran, or have a group to tutor you.

What version of the game is your child’s friends playing at school? Probably, 5th Edition.

Other Editions

1st Edition AD&D (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) is the game in its purest, nerdiest, and most inaccessible form. Gary Gygax’s unapproachable masterpiece.

2nd Edition AD&D is marvelous, probably my favorite, but is, again, one of the least accessible versions of the game.

3rd Edition AD&D and the various iterations thereof is great, but the number of sources and materials for this version is exhaustive, and overwhelming.

4th Edition AD&D never existed as far as I’m concerned. ;-D I didn’t really enjoy it, or play it much, and it wasn’t well accepted by the community. If you do decide to source this version of the game, do so knowing it might be hard to find peeps to play with.

For the very youngest potential players there is a new line of Young Adventurer’s books. They are keen, I bought what’s currently available for my 6 year old niece.

Worthy Successors & Derivatives

Castles & Crusades is, basically, AD&D 2.5 Edition. It is an excellent, streamlined version of my favorite edition of the game.

Pathfinder is, essentially, AD&D 3.75 Edition. It is astoundingly complex, quirky, and immensely fun.

Culture

Dungeons & Dragons was, back in the day, mostly a boys club. Women weren’t wanted or welcome, and the game was definitely marketed only to the young white male. In the last decade, in spite of great opposition, the game has become a welcome hobby for everyone. CONTINUE TO MAKE CERTAIN IT STAYS THAT WAY. Thanks.

Dungeons & Dragons has its own patois, customs, legends, cultural icons, tropes, and culture. Most of the folks that have tried to use Dungeons & Dragons for nefarious purposes have been forced out, or to the irrelevant fringe, where they belong. Where it used to have bad associations, it’s now very mainstream, complete with celebrities streaming their games on YouTube.

It pains me to see it go so corporate, but at the same time, it’s safer and more welcoming for the young people in my life than it has ever been.

Buyers Guide (Classic BCEMI Dungeons & Dragons)

BECMI Classic Dungeons & Dragons can be most easily procured by buying the PDFs via DriveThruRPG dot com. Finding the physical books on EBay is an option, but often an expensive one in the wake of Stranger Things. I used to be able to Classic D&D books and modules up for around twenty bucks, and now they are often over a hundred.

The Classic Books, version, and in order of how you should buy them:

D&D Basic Set - Player's Manual (BECMI ed.) (Basic) https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/116578/DD-Basic-Set--Players-Manual-BECMI-ed-Basic?

D&D Basic Set - DM's Rulebook (BECMI ed.) (Basic) https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/116619/DD-Basic-Set--DMs-Rulebook-BECMI-ed-Basic?

Dungeons & Dragons Expert Set Rulebook (BECMI ed.) (Basic) https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/116581/Dungeons--Dragons-Expert-Set-Rulebook-BECMI-ed-Basic?

D&D Companion Set (BECMI Ed.) (Basic) https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17165/DD-Companion-Set-BECMI-Ed-Basic?

D&D Master Set (BECMI ed.) (Basic) https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17167/DD-Master-Set-BECMI-ed-Basic?

D&D Immortals Set (BECMI ed.) (Basic) https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17166/DD-Immortals-Set-BECMI-ed-Basic?

In each listing is a history of each of these books, details about the cover, and an introduction to some of the culture and history underlying Dungeons & Dragons. Even if you don’t buy these books, the entries are an interesting read.

There is a Rules Cyclopedia that combines a lot of the above mentioned books, much is missing, BUT you can order it as a softcover or hardcover POD (print on demand) physical copy, with a PDF for pretty cheap.

D&D Rules Cyclopedia (Basic) https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17171/DD-Rules-Cyclopedia-Basic?

There are many modules (individual pre-written adventures), Gazetteers (books detailing the Classic Dungeons & Dragons world), and other materials in PDF form. I believe the entire catalogue is there for people to enjoy, and for pretty cheap via PDF or POD.

Buyers Guide (5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons)

Support your local game shop, Barnes & Noble, or bookstore before following any of the links below. If you can’t find a particular thing locally (support the community!) then go ahead and buy it online. Buying locally is also a good way to meet people, and learn where the D&D community gathers and plays.

For the youngest players, who might be a little young to play, but still want to participate, and know what’s going on.

Warriors & Weapons: A Young Adventurer's Guide https://www.amazon.com/dp/1984856421

Monsters & Creatures: A Young Adventurer's Guide https://www.amazon.com//dp/1984856405

Dungeons & Tombs: A Young Adventurer's Guide https://www.amazon.com/dp/1984856448

Wizards & Spells: A Young Adventurer's Guide https://www.amazon.com/dp/1984856464

For the true beginner, that wants to just hit the ground running, with everything needed to learn, at a low stakes price.

Dungeons & Dragons Essentials Kit Game (Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition) https://www.target.com/p/dungeons-dragons-essentials-kit-game/-/A-76151594

Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set (Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786965592

For the novice, that’s serious now, for real D&D and needs the full and complete rules.

Player’s Handbook (Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786965606

For the aspiring Dungeon Master, that wants to set up their own game, and understand the underlying mechanics thereof.

Dungeon Master’s Guide (Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786965622

Monster Manual (Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786965614

Dungeon Master’s Screen (Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/078696619X

OR, get the gift set:

Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebook Gift Set (Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786966629

Having more than one Player’s Handbook in the house isn’t a bad idea, that way both the players and the Dungeon Master have one for reference, two people can make characters at once, and similar.

Conclusion

Dungeons & Dragons was a formative part of my youth. It got me interested in anthropology, philosophy, history, mathematics, statistics, logic, and game theory. It allowed me to prototype the worlds and characters that would eventually populate my novels. I also met many of the people as children that would become my greatest friends and allies as an adult.

My wife often asks how I just do math in my head, or apply statistical significance to my actions in real life, allowing me grant circumstances value, or liability. It came from the game, Dungeons & Dragons.

[allhailbolas]

What are you looking for?

When thinking about commander's philosophy, we identified that one of the most important things when sitting down for a game is making sure that each player can get the experience they're looking for. For that to work, we have to know what we ourself are looking for. Identifying our goals and the anticipated experience can be quite tricky but we'll try to tackle it here.

There are many motivations for playing magic. To break them down and analyze them, we'll look into the main psychographics, as described by Mark Rosewater here:

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/timmy-johnny-and-spike-revisited-2006-03-20-2

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/vorthos-and-mel-2015-08-31

The psychographics

The basic breakdown is into Txmmy, Jxnny, and Spike on the motivation side, and Mel and Vorthos on the appreciation side; the three original psychographics are about why you play, and the other two about in which way you enjoy the game's aesthetics.

Txmmys want to experience something, they are looking for fun and enjoyment, which can be found in hilarious and big, swingy plays. They want to see fun interactions in the game and between the players. They embrace variance and randomness, going with the flow of the game and the hands they're dealt.

Jxnnys are looking for a way to express themselves. Expression can be about cleverness, creativity, personality, and uniqueness. Jxnnys love deckbuilding, potentially even more than playing. Their decks can be very thematic and weird, including unusual cards and subtle synergies that (hopefully) no-one has ever thought of before them. Convoluted combos are their jam, as are constraining themes and exploring out-of-the-box ideas.

And then there is Spike. Spikes want to prove themselves, which is mainly done by winning. They are very self-critical and judge their own abilities, which is why others' recognition of their skill is important for Spikes. Spikes can enjoy analytics; figuring out what is good and why it is good. Evaluating cards and decks and tuning lists to make them as efficient as possible. Some are always trying to improve their own play-/deckbuilding skills.

Vorthos enjoys the flavor of the game. Names, types, artwork, flavor text, and characters are what is aesthetically pleasing to Vorthoses. Flavor is beauty to them, beauty which can be found in decks and gameplay.

For Mels, beauty is found in magic's mechanics. Interactions between cards, rules and different lines on the same card are like multiple tiny gears in a big machine. Mels love observing these machines and enjoy its functionality and intricacies. When the machine is running smoothly with all parts fitting together, Mels are happy.

All of these psychographics are compatible. It's best to imagine all of them as traits of a player's personality, with each trait varying in degree of intensity.

Armed with knowledge of these traits, one can now try to identify one's own influences and the goals they lead towards:

Mel and Vorthos are not influential when it comes to gameplay, but rather big factors when building a deck. Remember, commander as a format encourages themes and embraces flavor, and that's an area where Mel&Vorthos's fancies are tickled.

If you enjoy building your deck around characters, stories, artworks and similar, you show strong aspects of Vorthos.

If mechanical interactions and constraining themes based on game elements intrigue you, your Mel trait is showing.

I believe Txmmy and Jxnny are self-explanatory when it comes to figuring out how these traits are influencing you in gameplay and deckbuilding. You just have to ask yourself: What kind of expression am I seeking and what do I find most enjoyable?

But now, let's talk about the elephant in the room, Spike.

Being spiky is a pretty controversial trait when talking about commander. As we concluded last week, commander is, contrary to most other formats, about more than winning. In tournament formats, you can be 100% spiky and this won't be problematic, as this formats' goal is to win the game so you won't be scorned for trying as hard as you can to achieve this goal. But commander is different; it has a social spirit. We described a game in line with this spirit as:

‘All players are actively working together to create a game in which each of them can meaningfully participate and everyone gets to experience what they were looking for so, in the end, each player had fun and can take away a lasting, enjoyable memory’

For this to work, we have to answer the question of which sought-after experiences are compatible and what can take away from compatibility.

Compatibility

The first thing that comes to mind is, that all psychographics need a certain environment to get what they're looking for.

Txmmy can want fun/big plays, swingy games, high variance, huge numbers, crazy turns and similar. These can be enabled by expensive cards, lots of mana, multiple amplifying effects, chaos inducing cards, and large board states. This can only happen if there is enough time to deploy these and the game goes late enough to play expensive spells. Additionally, there need to be enough resources available for Txmmy. Ending the game very early and taking resources away from other players, which can already start in the form of playing lots of removal, prevents Txmmy from calling the game a success. Another thing that Txmmy hates is feeling bored. If you have ONE big combo turn that takes a long time or if you take many turns in a row while others have to watch, Txmmys will be annoyed by the time monopoly you created. The same is true if you prevent Txmmys from doing anything that can advance the game, by locking them out of the game and denying them the ability to participate. On the other hand, if you make plays and play cards that will make the game more fun or chaotic and enable new game states that are unique and interesting, you can make Txmmys at your table happy.

Jxnnys are about expressing themselves and want an environment where that is possible. In general, that can be similar to Txmmys’ needs, as Jxnnys who like convoluted combos with many pieces need time to have a chance of assembling them. But mostly, they want you to notice and recognize what they're expressing. The smart synergies in their deck, the constraining theme that they could make work, the unusual card that had a surprisingly high impact on the game. What they need is other players who are interested in more than their own deck and plays and are open to new things and weird choices. It's devastating to them if you tell them that their choices are bad and that they should be playing other things, because by saying such things you show them that you didn't notice what they were expressing, or even worse, don't care. Jxnnys are happy if you ask them about their choices and reasons, appreciate and acknowledge when their deck works, and it's very satisfying for them if they can show you something new and you show your appreciation for that. The tricky thing is, that it is very unusual for magic players to not care about winning at all. Most players want to at least have a realistic chance to win the game. Jxnnys can handicap their ability to win the game by a lot, because for them expression comes first. So for them to still have a shot they need others to play decks which are not too strong, too consistent or have a focus that is on something else than winning as well.

And Spikes? What Spikes need is players who have at least a similar degree of spikyness, so that the competition is tough for them and they won't get handed an easy win. If your main, and highly dominant, trait is spikyness, you want to win, at any cost. This can be problematic when playing with people who are less spiky than you are because they have different motivations which make them make decisions that are at odds with maximizing the ability to win the game. If your only focus is on winning, you'll make decisions in deckbuilding and playing which will destroy the environment that Txmmy and Jxnny need.

Therefore, the experience’s characteristics that players are looking for can be:

variety

entertainment

social interaction

participation

competition

With the premise, that every player has aspects of all the psychographics' traits, but with different degrees of intensity, everyone is at least a little bit of a Txmmy, Jxnny, Mel, Vorthos and also Spike. The intensity of the Txmmy, Jxnny, Mel, and Vorthos traits can be ignored, as their goals are compatible without much trouble; in the end, the one thing we need to focus on when trying to achieve compatibility is the degree of spikyness in a player.

The less spiky you are, the more willing you'll be to make decisions that'll make you lose win-percentage to enable other goals, and the more you will agree with the statement:

Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should do it.

At the top of spikyness are players who are unwilling to compromise and try to win above all else. Descending from there, more and more other factors and motivations are added, and players are freely giving away more and more percentage points because winning matters less to them.

This can be in many ways:

-Including cards in your deck because they are fun or you personally like them (pet cards) although more efficient or powerful options are available

-Constraining your deckbuilding by sticking to a theme that you enjoy building around rather than just optimizing your deck to be as powerful as possible

-Avoiding certain cards because they are too good and make winning 'too easy' or 'too boring' and could lead to repetitive gameplay

-Making a play that is not the best one available, but one you find fun and enjoyable

These, along with similar things, are all decisions based on personal factors that decrease win-percentage. But thinking of the format's spirit that we established, one can freely give away win percentage as well, because one is empathic and cares about the other players. You might avoid certain cards because they don't lead to the environment that other players need or are actively unfun to play against. You might not play certain styles of decks because you know that others won't enjoy playing against them. You might not make a specific play because it will make someone unhappy, although it might be the best play available. Understanding these interpersonal reasons to give away win-percentage is the secret to successfully embracing the format's spirit.

You have to be willing to diminish your own ability to win the game, to enable others to enjoy the game. That’s what the pre-game communication is for. It's for figuring out if all players are willing to lessen their own ability to win the game by a similar amount, to enable the other players' enjoyment, to avoid an imbalance of experiences.

So if someone asks 'What is your deck's power level?' or 'How long do you want this game to go?' or 'How competitive is your deck?' what they are actually looking for is the answer to the question 'How much do you want to win, and to what degree will you be able to compromise about that?'. If that is the question that we're actually trying to get an answer to, maybe we should change how we approach pre-game communication. Why not actively ask others how strongly they want to win and if they are willing and able to adjust that based on how you and the other players answer this question. The big problem here is that the abstract concept of degree of spikyness is hard to put into words or numbers. I would advocate for a different approach. Try to explain, what needs to happen for you to enjoy the game and see it as a success. For example, do you want to: Make as many tokens as possible? Cast an X-spell for a large amount? Surprise someone with an unusual effect? Assemble a specific synergy? Draw lots of cards? Use a particular card in your deck? Show of some flavorful cards? Make political deals, maybe betray someone? Or would you just like to win?

The thing is, that empathy is really hard and so is figuring out what others really want, so make it easier for everyone and just tell them what you're looking for.

I hope we all are now able to identify our own motivations and sought-after experience, are aware of potential problems with compatibility and know how to communicate these motivations before a game.

[thesevenseraphs]

Bungie Weekly Update - 1/17/19

This week at Bungie, we continue our journey.

Before we dive into the weekly roundup of information about the game, we’d like to shed some more light on the future of the franchise.

Destiny Franchise Director Luke Smith:

Hey everyone,  

I wanted to share three things on behalf of the Destiny team today.  

First: Our sincere thanks to the people at Activision who've helped bring Destiny to our players,  High Moon Studios for their wonderful collaboration on Forsaken, and Vicarious Visions who helped establish a Destiny community on PC, worked with us on Warmind, and who is currently readying their Destiny swan song with content that will appear in the upcoming Season of [Redacted].  

Next: In the short-term, we're continuing to build the content we’ve promised for the Annual Pass. We've learned a lot from Black Armory that we will apply to future releases, most notably that we'd like the beginning experiences of content drops to be a better point of convergence for the playerbase. In Black Armory, we set the Power requirement for the first forge too high, and that meant it wasn't a great chance to jump into some new content. We want to find the line between new content that many players can play, and aspirational content for players to progress toward. We're exploring improvements to catch-up mechanics for players in upcoming seasons.  

Last: Long-term, Bungie is committed to Destiny. We created the universe and we hold its future entirely in our hands. The vast majority of the team is hard at work envisioning future experiences, enemies, and ways to play the Guardian you've been building since 2014. We're going to keep doing that.

We're thinking about what it means to be truly independent, what it means to self-publish, and crucially, what Destiny's future can now look like for our players.  It was a busy Fall, and it is going to be a busy year.  When I look ahead and think about Destiny and where it could go, I see a bright future, with roots in a memorable past. Not everything has been lost in the dark corners of time.   

See you soon, -luke

Up the Damage

Paired with changes to Super abilities in Destiny 2 Update 2.1.4, the team has is also set to deliver some fine-tuning to weapon archetypes in your vault, waiting to be used.

Designer Victor Anderson has a rundown of our goals and the changes being made to reach them.

Mr. Anderson: In the 2.1.4 update, we’re making several adjustments to weapons with the following goals in mind: 

Buff underutilized weapon archetypes

Adjust hot button weapons in PvP, including Telesto and Wavesplitter

Avoid PvP adjustments that will negatively affect PvE efficacy

In summary, our design philosophy is to keep the sandbox feeling the same, but tune damage separately dependent on activity where it makes sense.

Here’s a sampling of some the changes you’ll see:

Weapon Archetypes

Auto Rifles

Damage increased for rapid-fire, adaptive, and high-impact families. We find that Auto Rifles are a little unforgiving for the ranges they ask you to occupy in a world with special weapons, and as a result, we’re increasing the damage to offset the higher risk.

Scout Rifles

Damage increased for lightweight and rapid-fire families, as well as an increase to all Scout Rifles in PvE. Scout Rifles are always going to be on the lower end of damage due to the safety that their range affords you, but the difference currently between them and other primary weapons is too drastic. As a result, we’re reducing the size of the gap.

Sniper Rifles

Increased the damage on the rapid-fire archetype to be able to kill in two bodyshots. Although snipers are still finding success, we believe that allowing you to clean up a kill easier with a Sniper Rifle will allow the sniper to have that success at more ranges and in more situations.

Exotic Weapons

Legend of Acrius

Increased the damage and bumped out the range slightly. As time moves on, things tend to trend upward in terms of power, and in a post-Forsaken world, Acrius simply didn’t have the output to match other heavy weapon Exotics.

Telesto

PvP damage brought down to match a standard Fusion Rifle charge rate. Optics (zoom) was also increased to match Fusion Rifles with long-range scopes. Telesto has become fairly notorious in the Crucible for its effectiveness, even in some cases getting accidental multikills due to how damaging the explosions were. To combat these, we’ve reduced its (PvP) damage to match its charge rate. This brought up an issue where doing so was significantly hurting the usability of the weapon, so the optics were buffed in return. In general, you should still find it an effective weapon, it just won’t be quite as generous as it was before.

Trace Rifles

Increased the minimum amount of ammo you could receive from special ammo boxes. Trace Rifles had a pretty rough time keeping ammo reserves in the Crucible as it doesn’t have access to scavenger perks. You should have more success using it more often in the Crucible now, and the changes also affect PvE bricks.

Reduced the strength of Wavesplitter in PvP. After the ammo changes noted above, Wavesplitter had its one weakness removed, so we’ve opted to bring it in line with the other Trace Rifles before this patch hit the public.

Weapon tuning is an ongoing process. We’ll be sure to talk to you about it again in the future. Some topics we’re looking at for future potential adjustments include Trace Rifle damage in PvE, Submachine Gun damage adjustments, Shotgun adjustments, and taking a holistic look at the heavy slot options and how much of an impact it has on loadout choices for PvE content. We are always looking at what’s currently in use and what isn’t in use, as having more choices is always better than being locked into a narrow band.

These changes are currently planned to land on January 29.

Stoke the Forge

Sandbox won’t be the only aspect of Destiny 2 receiving Quality of Life changes in the next update. We’ve also spent some time collecting player feedback on the Black Armory experience. What follows are some details for the changes we have planned for weapon forging.

Black Armory

Ballistics Logs will no longer be removed at reset

Stack limit for Ballistics Logs increased to 5 per character

Weapon frames carried across reset now refund into the following

“Gold” frames refunded into 1 Ballistics Log

“Silver” frames refunded into 3 Modulus Reports

Any instance of a Radiant Matrix will be removed on weekly reset

Players should stop experiencing the issue where frames are missing from Ada’s inventory on a week-to-week basis

Players may still only purchase up to 2 “Gold” frames per week

Drop rate for Black Armory Lore increased from 10% to 20%

Now requires successful forge ignition for chance to drop

Quest step that requires players to defeat a high-value target on Nessus no longer requires a player to land the final blow.

Modulus Reports and Ballistics Logs will now go to Postmaster if lost. Cap on Modulus Reports still at 15 per account

Forge emblems will be awarded when completing a forge, no longer requiring a specific bounty to be completed

That’s not even the final form of our next deployment. Check out the Player Support Report below for a list of known issues being addressed in Update 2.1.4.

Clubhouse Renovations

Over the last few weeks, members of the Community, Player Support, and bungie.net teams have been meeting to discuss some ways we can improve the experience on our forums. The first change will be a reorganization of our current forum structure, paired with some under-the-hood improvements to moderation tools.

A large piece of feedback that we’re looking to address is that players didn’t know exactly where to go to join the conversation. As such, we’re condensing Destiny 2-related forums, eliminating subforums that weren’t used frequently, and giving the Destiny Companion its own place of discussion. Second, we wish to create a more welcoming place to discuss Destiny 2. Whether you’re giving critical feedback on your experience or looking to share some sweet lore you’ve just uncovered, we’re looking to maintain a healthier community on our website. We absolutely welcome topics and discussion on what we can do better in Destiny 2, but players must follow the Code of Conduct if they wish to join the conversation.

That said, here’s what you can expect on January 22 when visiting the bungie.net forums:

Destiny 2

Feedback

Gameplay

Rewards

Lore

Destiny 1

Clan Recruitment

Companion

iOS

Android

Web

Help

All current Player Support subforums

OffTopic

Like anything else related to Destiny, we’re eager to hear your feedback on how this experience can be improved.

Reporting for Duty

Week in and week out, members of the Player Support Team dedicate themselves to identifying the issues you’re facing, and working with the development team to investigate. We’ve said it a thousand times before; the only good bug is a dead bug.

This is their report:

Destiny 2 Update 2.1.4 Resolved Issues Preview – Part 1

This week, we’d like to pick up the conversation on some existing known issues in Destiny 2. The following issues are expected to be resolved with the launch of Destiny 2 Update 2.1.4 on January 29.

Lost Radiant Matrix: Players can become blocked from accessing Black Armory activities if the Radiant Matrix is pushed out of their Postmaster inventory.

Ada-1 Missing Weapon Frames: Weapon frames may disappear from Ada-1’s inventory in a given week for some players.

[Editor’s Note: This issue will no longer be present due to the system changes for Ballistics Logs described above.]

Mysterious Box Keys: Forge Keys are sometimes not applied when used for the Mysterious Box but are removed from inventory, blocking progress. Spent keys will be applied retroactively.

“Fastidious Miser” Triumph: The “Fastidious Miser” Triumph may sometimes not unlock when players access all relevant chests in the Dreaming City.

Full Pursuits at Ada-1: Players are able to purchase weapon frames from Ada-1 when their Pursuits inventory is full, receiving nothing while still costing materials.

Nessus Roaming Captains: High-value targets on Nessus do not count for other fireteam members when someone defeats them for the “Siviks’s Delivery Note” Pursuit.

Earning Redrix’s Broadsword: Redrix’s Broadsword is sometimes not granted when completing its quest, requiring players to restart the Destiny 2 application for it to drop.

“Knife Flip” Emote: The “Knife Flip” emote does not loop indefinitely.

Check back next week for Part 2 of our Resolved Issues Preview, where we’ll discuss other known issues that are expected to be resolved in Destiny 2 Update 2.1.4 later this month.

For information on deployment timelines when they are available, players should visit our Destiny Server and Update Status page, follow @BungieHelp on Twitter, or monitor our support feed on help.bungie.net.

Season of the Forge Vital Information and Known Issues

In addition to the items listed above, Destiny Player Support would like to remind players of the following known issues in Destiny 2.

Black Armory Key Molds: Investigations are ongoing regarding issues causing the Black Armory Key Mold to only be available on the first character it is received on.

“Relic Rumble” Triumph: We are investigating an issue where the "Relic Rumble" Triumph isn't unlocking for players.

“Submachinist” Medal: We are investigating an issue where the “Submachinist” Medal does not appear in the Crucible.

Izanagi's Burden Scope: We are investigating reports that the scope on Izanagi's Burden experiences issues with Well of Radiance, with Inertia Override, and while invading in Gambit.

For the latest known issues as soon as they are available, players should visit our Destiny 2 Known Issues and Vital Information knowledge base article.

To close out, we invite you to take a step back to Friday, January 11, 2019.

Guardians had been working together to solve puzzles in the Niobe Labs. A final clue was given to nudge players in the right direction. After three and a half days, the Hubris of Niobe was recognized, and the puzzle was completed.

World First: The Destiny Community

While a fireteam executed the plan, we wanted to highlight that this was achieved by more than just three Guardians. We thank everyone in the community who lent their troubleshooting skills to help crack this code. Many shout outs to /r/RaidSecrets were made, but we also must acknowledge those who engaged with each other via social media. Whether you were on forums, tweeting, texting, or submitting your theories to stream chats: Thank you for taking part in this experience.

[grimoiresontape]

On Working Planetary Circlets

Since my earlier blogpost Circling Ways in Geomancy - which mused on employing cords, loops, and beaded 'circlets' as portable means of demarking ritual space and empowering magical operations carried out inside that space - I have been recommending and making these talismans for clients and colleagues more frequently. Many folks have asked for notes, suggestions, or advice on how to use such ritual tools more effectively, so it seemed high time to advance some fundamental practices, to parade a skeleton crew of brief sketches and recommendations from my own practices with these planetary circlets that have proved useful. I've started from simple notions and followed them up with a few proposals for enriching and complicating those elementary mechanics.

Shaping A Circlet I use circlets in my planetary magic for a couple of reasons. The most obvious employ the sympathetic morphology of the circle. The loop traces and reiterates the orbital movement and course of these heavenly bodies. The appeal to "the orbit and motion" of planets is a common feature of many of the prayers I use, and an obvious enervation of their virtues stirred by sympathetic linking to their actions. We remind the planet and its spirits 'you work because you move, and you move because you work'. A positive feedback cycle is looped. The circle is also evocative of planetary spheres: both their literal astronomical shape and the understanding of their celestial domains or layers to the cosmos-onion beyond the sublunary realms. To quote Ginsberg, it seems an 'ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night' is reified in the use of a circular planetary talisman.

Lest this begin to sound too idealistic - in either the general naive or strictly Platonic senses - I should also state that the other crucial feature of my circlets are four corner-points. These frame the circlet as also a potential cross. To call quarters and trace the circle as the magical reach of one's grasp - as a seat of power, a place of protection, or an epicenter of a crucible -  is an old old magic. By "squaring the circle", by laying out that which represents the heavenly endless of pure planetary sphere and virtue (and abstraction) as a crux upon the earth, as a crossroads, we may ground that virtue in tangible terms. The crossed circle is an X that marks the spot, a glyph of Malkuth, and indeed the enfolded globe and crux of majesty and Venus, further offering us opportunities to explore the mysteries of creation, manifestation, craft, and Love. In the simple ritual gesture of laying out the circlet by its corners we reiterate and honour this awakening of planetary virtues into the physical world and into our work. This is the same principle at work in astrological sigil casting, in enmattering the empyrean, in the harvesting of the fruits of the stars, in the Moon pulled down into the still waters of receptive bowls. By these reasonings, I find it especially apt to incant specific planetary petitions and general prayers for success when squaring the circlet.

These are also the reasons I recommend these talismans to be made as loops with four corner-points, either in beads or knots. I find beads, especially stones ruled by the planet in question, to be especially effective. I recommend constructing your circlets on the appropriate planetary days and in the apt planetary hours of course. Once physically constructed they can be consecrated by a range of methods: asperged, fumigated, exorcised, oiled, and blessed to dedicate them further to their patron planet and thus yield themselves better storehouses and beacons of those starry potencies vivifying those virtues embedded in natural materials. Owing to the especially earthy, worldly emphasis of my geomantic practices I can also recommend burying them in soils gathered from appropriate planetary locations: graveyard dirts for Saturnine circlets, earth from public gardens for Venusian circlets, and so on. Such lists of astrological correspondences of place can be found in many astrological handbooks, such as William Lilly's Christian Astrology, which I made available here. 

When I make my circlets I also ensure the various materia of these circlets - thread and smaller beads in appropriate planetary colours - are prepared for use through these consecrations. I cleanse myself with spiritual baths, asperge and fumigate my ritual space, call to my patrons, empower the ingredients, construct and the charge the circlets on their planetary altars, often leaving them on top of the relevant kamea. I may even burn candles on the mother-bottles of the planetary oils which I use to dress the newly born talismans to further empower the oil from mother to daughter.

A Portable Altar-space My previous blogpost on these circlet talismans emphasised my most common use of them: marking a space within which to divine. The idea of this is incredibly simple. Being empowered to lend planetary virtue to the operation at hand, one can employ a circlet of the planetary ruler of the day, or of the planet who governs the matter being divined upon. A Lunary circlet would be well-disposed for divination inquiring about the nature and meaning of a dream, for instance; or indeed for any works of divination on a Monday. This approach was developed from my geomantic divination practice, in which the planetary Ruler is appealed to before any reading can be performed. Again, for more on this I recommend at least the first part of my Circling Ways in Geomancy post.

The key for this kind of work is the "pre-loaded" empowerment of the circlet. One might therefore choose to fumigate or oil one's circlets in appropriate planetary materia before any or even every divination session, although I generally find feeding the circlets once a month is sufficient, assuming one keeps them "charging" on planetary kamea or wrapped in prepared fabrics with dried herbs, dirts, and powders.

Lighting the Way Perhaps the most foundational operation I can think to work a circlet involves candle and prayer. I consider this primarily an operation for the magician to receive or align with planetary virtue. The use of lamps and, later, candles to stand as a ritual instantiation of the light of a wandering star is itself an ancient practice, I claim no great invention of this technique. It can serve as a potent addition to devotional recitation of planetary prayers and offertory fumigations. 

When one requires a boost of a particular planetary virtue - Saturn's cold boundary-setting to ensure you are more punctual, Mars' hot bold edge of competitive energy to emerge victorious in some form of conflict - you may set out the relevant planetary circlet, present a candle to the four corner-points of the circlet as one would to the four cardinal directions, and burn the candle in the centre of this demarcated ritual space.

The candle might be prepared through any usual means of further aligning it to the planet one is courting - dressed in an oil infused with materia ruled by that planet, carved with the glyphs and various characters of spirits who partake of that planet's forms and forces. Mihai Vârtejaru's Studies in Magic blog is a treasure house of grimoiric material on planetary characters one might use for instance, and he has handily compiled many of these sets of seals into downloadable pdfs. Beyond ways the candle itself is prepared, one might burn it atop a number square about which the circlet is laid.

At the risk of sounding like I am about to attempt to flog you penis pills, there is "one neat trick" for working circlets in this manner I would like to highlight. Looping the circlet in thirds maintains the relative cardinal directionality of the four corner-points. This yoking of Four and Three is, I find, philosophically potent and presents a variety of options for further prayer, reflection, and magical utility. Christian magicians might certainly honour the Trinity with, by, and through this looping; sorcerers inspired by Renaissance practices can certainly consider the triple layers of the universe - the elemental, celestial and supercelestial realms - mirrored in the very structure of Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy; just as more Hellenically-inclined magicians might call for the effects of the operation to manifest across their Three Worlds of Heaven, Earth, and Ocean. Sets of any number of parts can be employed to address every option, every path, every eventuality; from the Four Elements, to operations calling upon all Seven classical Planets. Triplicities, triptychs, and trinities are certainly no exception.

Charging Ahead Circlets can also be utilised to empower and themselves consecrate magical objects and materia, to bestow planetary virtues upon a container spell such as a charm bag, astrological sigil (more often a metal or wax medallion impressed with particular astrological characters than the modern DIY homebrew sigils popularised by Austin Osman Spare and later by chaos magicians), or even a new incense blend or herbal bath mix.

This can be done by simply laying out the circlet in the various manners addressed above - complete with planetary prayers - and presenting the object to the four corner-points. This works especially well with items that need to infuse, such as freshly constructed oils or steeping herbal baths and waters. For charging objects like charm-bags or other tools, the circlet might also house the waterbowl or pot by which one asperges and the censer for fumigating the object: the circlet demarcating a ritual space whereby blessing, consecration and empowerment may occur, running an astral current of the planet around and about the operation. Again, an ennobling cycle (you know, the opposite of a vicious cycle) might be created by empowering the objects used to empower one's tools and materials.

Geomantic Spell-craft My planetary magic is heavily informed by geomancy. By the understanding of this oracle, each planet rules two geomantic figures, which I often frame as the hands of the planet reaching down into the 'elementated' world, or perhaps better yet as the feet upon which the planet stands and moves across the face of that world. For instance, Jupiter's cornucopious Horn of Plenty distributes Gain (the geomantic figure of Acquisitio) on the one hand, and dispenses thoroughly jovial Joy (Laetitia) with the other. Each geomantic figure offers a particular expression of a planet's power in the world in a (once more for those at the back) grounded and worldly manner.

Just as the circlets can align and draw planetary virtue (indeed because they can do this) we can also use these talismans to direct planetary virtue: to put it bluntly, to launch spells. One form I find particularly effective is the use of tools and signs of divination as image magic. This might be as straightforward as empowering a particular Tarot card to act as a amulet. For example, one might charge an Empress card (as one would a charm bag or bath) with a Venusian circlet and then carry in one's breast pocket, close to one's heart, to bring Venus' blessings and protection; say if one were attempting to charm an audience or attract a certain kind of attention. But it might also involve setting a geomantic figure out in some form to attract that set of virtues and/or launch them into the world.

So within the field of one's Jupiterian circlet one might set out six candles in the shape of the geomantic figure of Acquisitio, a Fiery figure, in order to draw some kind of gain - money, opportunities, customers, or even knowledge or experience. These candles might be marked with the sigils of this figure, dressed in a Jupiter oil, and surrounded by Jupiterian materia, such as mint leaves and dirts from banks and lawcourts. This should be done in a Jupiterian hour, and perhaps done at an appropriate part of the dwelling, such as in front of the door to bring these Gains in. This is but one example of the use of the forms of the geomantic figures in spell-craft. Watery figures might be ensorcelled by arranging small bowls or cups; Airy figures by several charcoals burning incense in a figural pattern; Earthy figures through small piles or bundles of dirts and powders.

There is a lot to say about this approach to geomantic sorcery, from its occult philosophical foundations to particularities of expression and implementation, and from basic correspondences of plant and stone to multi-stage operations and further empowerments, but for now I hope you have a small taste of how a circlet can be used to begin your own experimentation into geomantic sorcery. For those who now feel they should learn some more about geomancy you can download the main early modern handbooks of the divination system here, or sign up to my Geomancy Foundation Course on this still-often-underappreciated oracle which begins in July (offered once more through those handsome chaps at Wolf & Goat), or you can purchase and download my new Geomancy 101 class-bundle...

I continue to tinker with and customise my planetary circlets, and will be continuing to sell them on my site. Don't hesitate to get in touch at consultantsorcerer@gmail.com with any questions or custom design requests.

For now, I'll let Ms. Springfield play us out. Happy circling.

Round Like a circle in a spiral Like a wheel within a wheel Never ending or beginning On an ever-spinning reel Like a snowball down a mountain Or a carnival balloon Like a carousel that's turning Running rings around the moon Like a clock whose hands are sweeping Past the minutes of its face And the world is like an apple Whirling silently in space Like the circles that you find In the windmills of your mind

Dusty Springfield, Windmills of Your Mind

[mylordshesacactus]

Have you ever thought about the idea of Qui-Gon training Barriss? I feel like she'd have been a lot happier with him. He's so chill.

Because of…who we are as people…me and @alexkablob have had long discussions about how different Masters and their approaches might have affected Barriss.

The tl;dr here is that the best I can say is Qui-Gon wouldn’t be the worst option.

This is gonna get long, I apologize. You prompted me about Jedi apprenticeship AND the flaws of the Code in allowing Masters and Padawans to communicate effectively AND Barriss and Luminara’s specific relationship, anon, you asked for this.

So the central Thing here is Barriss Offee as a person. She’s extremely anxious, eager to please to the point where it becomes pathological, quiet, responsible, whip-smart, a healer, and she absolutely cannot improvise; if she has a plan she’ll execute it, but she cannot plan on the fly under pressure, this is consistent.

Keeping these things in mind:

Luminara is, frankly, the perfect match for her. They have a similar, methodical approach; Luminara is a strategic analyst for the Republic, and her skill for putting together strong, well-thought-out plans is perfectly in sync with Barriss’ own preference for advance planning and anxiety about winging it. Being paired with her allows Barriss to have the intellectual challenges she needs and the ability to pursue her talents; Luminara has total faith in Barriss’ proven abilities and doesn’t hesitate to provide her with praise for those abilities and opportunities to use them. She’s also a calm, gentle, soft-spoken individual with a profoundly reassuring aura who demonstrates throughout her (few) appearances that she greatly values the lives of those under her command. She has a sense of humor that’s very present without being loud or jocular in a way that would make Barriss uncomfortable (ie, Anakin) and she has the emotional intelligence to tease Barriss only very gently, never touching her insecurities, and to nudge her into making friends.

Now, some of these things inadvertently worsen Barriss’ issues. That confident “she can do it” attitude ends up placing far too much pressure on her; Luminara’s very competence and grace end up fermenting into Barriss’ feelings of inadequacy and desperation to not disappoint her master. But that’s….almost entirely because of the war. It’s the nature of the assignments, not their difficulty, that breaks her; and in a time of peace, with more access to her master and time to process, I think they would have been lessened.

Their downfall as a master-apprentice pair wasn’t that Barriss had the wrong Master. Luminara’s own issues, namely her devotion to the Code and her own pathological fear of giving into attachment, were what tripped them up. She loves Barriss so much but is so focused on not giving in to those emotions that she rarely if ever allows herself to act on them at all, even when she should–with the result that she keeps Barriss at arm’s length and they’re too formal with each other. She’s so afraid of becoming too close that she doesn’t let herself get close enough to notice that anything’s wrong, or to make sure Barriss realizes how deeply she’s loved–and on top of that, once the war starts Barriss and Luminara are almost never together. She’s separated from her Master when she needs her most, and that was the nail in the coffin.

Basically: Luminara didn’t give her those issues. And for the most part, when they were actually able to work together as master and apprentice, Luminara mitigated a lot of Barriss’ flaws while encouraging her strengths. The war found the pressure points in their bond and pushed until they snapped, but it would do that with ANY pairing.

So if anyone hasn’t already scrolled past this long rambling bit of nonsense, under the cut please enjoy a bullet-point list of our thoughts on how Barriss would fare under different Masters. 

Anakin:

Disaster.

Just….pure, unmitigated disaster. If they didn’t drive each other into a murderous rage they’d just dissolve into mutual anxiety attacks

He’s too impulsive and careless, she’s too hesitant and not nearly bold enough, he’s emotive and incapable of controlling his temper to the point he would genuinely scare her

They already don’t get along particularly well, there’s a reason Barriss is so spiteful toward him in TWJ; force her into a position where he has boundless authority over her and one of them is getting smothered to death in his sleep.

I say “he” because it would 100% be Anakin

Obi-Wan:

On the surface, this seems like it would be a much better match, maybe even ideal.

It is not

It is not remotely a good match

Here’s the thing people misunderstand all the time about Obi-Wan’s character: he and Anakin are very similar.

Obi-Wan is just as much of a cowboy Jedi as Anakin ever was; he’s impulsive, easily goaded, and frequently hypocritical about the Jedi Code, and he has all of Luminara’s flaws on top of that.

So now you have a version of Barriss whose master is equally unwilling to acknowledge his own emotions and equally incapable of showing or admitting to his padawan that he cares about her, but also is unpredictable, too controlling, swings between overprotective and seemingly uncaring, cares too much about what the Council will think of him, rarely if ever explains why he gives certain commands or thinks certain things, and occasionally loses his temper.

Above anything else, at least with Luminara, Barriss never has any uncertainty as to where she stands or what is expected of her.

Obi-Wan attempting to train Barriss would be better for exactly one person and that is Obi-Wan.

Plo Koon:

Not gonna lie, Barriss could do worse

Like, they’re not a good match, exactly? They have basically nothing in common. But I don’t think he’d do more harm than good.

Unfortunately “better than Anakin Skywalker” does not a training bond make.

Like Luminara, he has that steady and soothing presence that makes your heart rate settle just from being near him. He’s calm, he’s quiet, he’s deliberate. He values the lives of those around him. He’s firm but fair, and not so married to the Code that he lets it stop him from being kind.

In some ways, Plo would be very good for her. He is certainly not afraid of his own emotions; he’s very much from the “emotion, yet peace” school of Jedi philosophy, and we see him several times calmly, verbally assuring people he cares about of that care. That would do a world of good for Barriss’ inferiority complex. 

A model of “I can feel these things without that meaning I am doomed to fall, because feelings and actions are not the same thing, and I can control how I act” could also do a lot of good…in peacetime. 

In war, I think that model would fail as surely as Luminara’s attempts to do the same thing. We know she subscribes to this same philosophy, and the fact is that there was a war on and Barriss was as good as a Knight and the best model in the galaxy is no good if he’s not there. 

And ultimately, in a lot of other ways, Plo Koon would be a terrible match for Barriss. He’s…too much of a “take a deep breath and take your time” mentor, for someone like her who learns quickly and thoroughly and needs mental challenges and puzzles.

She’s also still a strategist and advance planner, and Plo is a mechanic and a fighter pilot. He’d either be too “don’t think just act, improvise, split-second decisions” or she would chafe and get frustrated, and frankly be bored to tears, with Plo’s slow and steady approach. Either too intense or not intense enough; they’re a bad combination, though I do think they’d get along very well as colleagues and friends. Just not an apprenticeship.

Like honestly the main issue here is that he’s too similar to Luminara in the ways that would let him function well with Barriss and she has a lot more of those qualities than he does.

Aayla Secura:

I mean…I guess?

Aayla’s a bit of a random choice I just like her. I really don’t think they’d get along well at all.

Barriss would certainly get the mental exercise she needs with Aayla, there’d be supply challenges and tactical lessons, and those clearly-worded expectations would be there as another positive, but…

Aayla’s a good Jedi, a good leader, she’d have made an excellent Master

Just not to Barriss Offee.

She’s a little too brisk, a little too hard around the edges. In short, a little too much of a soldier and a little too close to the “okay now get over it” school of Jedi philsophy to work well with someone as insecure and anxious as Barriss.

Shaak Ti:

Look, let’s be frank here. Luminara is Barriss’ master because she’s meant to be, it’s a universal constant. Anything else is just wrong.

But if Barriss were to have a different Master, my vote would be Shaak Ti.

Again, this is because in a lot of ways she’s similar to Luminara, and there’s a REASON Barriss is Luminara Unduli’s padawan.

Shaak Ti is soft-spoken and kind. Reassuring. She speaks calmly, doesn’t raise her voice except to be heard from a distance, protects and cares for those beneath her.

She’s gentle but firm when necessary; but also more focused on the spirit of the law than the letter. She’s reasonable. She knows when and how to bend rules in the interest of doing the right thing.

She’s a little more centered and self-accepting than Luminara; she trusts her instincts as well as her judgement, rather than desperately suppressing her emotions. She doesn’t let the people around her get away with hiding their thoughts, either.

She listens, and she thinks before she speaks or acts. That would be good, for Barriss Offee The Obsessive Planner.

But again, this isn’t an ideal pairing. While I’m sure Shaak Ti would find and encourage ways for Barriss to learn and grow–and apprenticing under a Council member often stationed on Kamino would be a fantastic opportunity to solve and learn logistics and interpersonal problems, and a great chance to train as a healer properly–I think she might be a little too centered.

Barriss’ insecurities aren’t going away. Her mind works quickly, she overthinks, she doubts. While Shaak Ti is a phenomenal listener, she’s also…imposing, even more than Luminara, and she doesn’t have as easy a sense of humor. She’s very regal, very focused.

A model that encourages Barriss to be more serious, to spend even more time inside her own head, is the last thing she needs.

Qui-Gon:

Literally the only thing you asked, anon, I’m deeply sorry.

I’m also sorry to say this but I think Qui-Gon Jinn would be a TERRIBLE master for Barriss “made of insecurities” Offee

Qui-Gon Jinn has the least chill of anyone in the galaxy.

Qui-Gon is, in fact, the kind of guy who drags a nine-year-old slave from Tatooine to a desert world, plops him in front of the Jedi Council, and openly says "this is the Chosen One, he will save us all, his name’s Anakin by the way.”

Barriss feels crushing pressure to be Good Enough To Meet Her Master’s Expectations when her master is Luminara and the expectations are “fulfill this specific mission with minimal casualties and come home alive”. She does not need Qui-Gon Jinn in her life.

I don’t think his...near-dismissal of people around him worrying over the future, would be good for Barriss either? Like sure, on the one hand, someone gently telling her to focus on the present and embrace the Living Force is good. But Luminara did actually teach her how to meditate, and the problem here is that Barriss’ concerns are valid. 

There is a point at which “trust in the Force, a solution will present itself” is no longer acceptable advice, and that point is probably somewhere around Umbara.

In fact, far from his chill, the only argument I can think of in favor of pairing him with Barriss is his willingness to challenge the Council. Showing her that the Council can be wrong, and that she can disagree with authority without being a Sith? That could have been incredibly valuable.

However that only works if she otherwise feels connected to him, and I don’t...think she would. Qui-Gon is kind of incredibly insensitive for someone who constantly talks about being mindful of the present; the arrogance and detachment of the Jedi is kind of a major theme of TPM. I think her timidity would frustrate him more than inspire him to compassion, and I very much think his advice about her anxieties and insecurities would be that old Jedi mainstay “well stop being anxious” ie, You Must Trust In The Force.

Ultimately I really do think that Luminara is the best option for Barriss. That’s part of what makes the failure of their bond so tragic.

[nomanicsdak]

New Post has been published on https://manicdak.com/athenian-ping-pong/

Athenian Ping-Pong

Huh, I hear tell on the internets that people are already getting tired of Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla? Meanwhile, here I am, still playing Odyssey until the eventual heat death of the universe. As long as I am having fun on my journey is all that matters! Right?

Anyway, first and foremost in this session, I’m going to peruse Lemnos island, of the Skyfall puddles, for more locations. The first thing I stumble my way into is a cultist who for some reason is being set upon by a group of five or six Spartan soldiers. I don’t even have to do anything. I just roll up on them and confirm the kill. Thanks, my brethren! 

All the Bounties

There is nothing more to do on this island, and despite my best efforts, I can’t run my bounty up higher than 3 guys. I head all the way back over to Elis again to complete more locations and while I have 3 bounties on my head, I complete the last fort here. I stroll on in, because my goal is to be noticed and get these 5 bounties without civilian casualties (even though I know that’s the easiest way to do it.) I get the guards to to chase me around and eventually manage to kick my wanted level all the way up to five! 

As soon as the trophy registers, I run the heck away from there and pay off all my bounties. I know, another trophy is to become the best mercenary and an easy way to defeat other mercenaries is if they’re all coming directly to me, but I still have stuff to do! The last thing I need is to have an important quest interrupted by “Wisteria the Floral” trying to murder me.

I do however, almost immediately get my bounty back up, so let’s rethink that strategy. I let them come at me and basically have four of them hit me at the same time. I only die once though! And now I am a Tier 3 mercenary! Only two more tiers to go before I am the top dog! Woohoo!

I let my bounties stand and head off on a quest. I am back in Sparta now, on my way to clean up a bunch of undiscovered stuff in Athens. How there is still stuff I haven’t done in Athens by now is beyond me.

Some lady, Xanthe, the magistrate, is all excited and knows who I am. Let’s see what she has in store for me.

An escort mission??? Bah.

Is he Old Enough Though?

Basically, I have to escort her son to his military training because his parents are too busy. Like–he’s old enough to be in the military, can’t he just go there himself? I will do it anyway, of course. Should be easy enough. (Famous last words?)

Surprise! It was easy enough! Less of an escort mission, and more of a me following this literal child up a mountain. Once I get there, the trainer wants to battle me because, Sparta! I suppose. Afterward, I learn that some of his students have gone missing including the little kid’s brother. Now I must go and find/rescue them. Alexios hints that maybe some other beast, not wolf or bear, has gotten them. I mean, we just battled a Minotaur; it wouldn’t surprise me. 

Okay, wait…the camp is like a hundred meters away from the training grounds. How in the heck did the trainer lose them? Also, how did he miss the body that is up here? Anyway, the dead guy is not the brother. Come to find out that he is hiding out in the cave of sorrows, which sounds like a familiar place that I’ve been to. Let’s check it out. When I arrive, it looks like some rogue Athenians got to them. Well, in any case, I provide rescue, give bro a pep talk, and return to give Xanthe the good news. In return, she gives me more tasks. 

Apparently, I am to go around town and advise some people. My own personal self help tour, I guess. Lady, I have got things to do and mercenaries to defeat! C’mon!

As you can probably guess, I am going to do the quest, though.

1st: Lady who thinks her farm is cursed

2nd: Help some lady get control of her wild daughter

3rd: Taming more Precocious children…didn’t I do this quest already? It seems very familiar.

1. I have to take an “offering” to her husband who is hanging out on a beach. The Offering is actually a gift basket full of booze and shrooms. All us dudes party down and are so messed up we don’t notice a Trojan (Athenian?) horse full of Athenian soldiers roll up on us. We defeat them: end of Quest, but I have to wonder why on Earth anyone would want to check out a Trojan horse after what happened with the first one? ( PS: I later find out that this quest is not part of Xanth’s tasks. Oops)

Neigh? Nay.

2. The Wild daughter just wants to adventure and have fun. Sounds fine to me, but instead I just offer to teach her how to be the best Spartan she can be. She flirts with Alexios, I don’t flirt back, but it all leads to a pick nick under a blossoming tree and nothing else. Quest finished!

3. This isn’t the same quest, because all I have to do with these precocious children is tell them the story of Perseus. Apparently there are clues to how that goes down around the building they are in, but I just barrel right on ahead and begin the quest without checking anything out first.

I cannot back out of this cut scene now, and instead of choosing to look up the actual story on my handy laptop, I just plumb the depths of my brain for memories of Clash of the Titans. Did Athena really have a mechanical Owl???? Was there a Kraken? Did it get released? Apparently not because the kids hate my very inaccurate retelling. Lol, I pass the quest anyway.

Alright, Xanthe errands completed. I do not have an option to go back to her, so I just keep it moving.

I spend a lot of time clearing locations around Athens that I missed, and now I have finally found another quest.

My dearest friend Sokrates, has a stolen horse. 

It is not his stolen horse, alas. He knows who did it and now he is going to pose his questions of morality on to me. ‘Krates…you know what my actual job is? We’re gunnin’ for top mercenary honours; nobody should be trusting questions of morality to Alexios at all. 

Okay, the thief did it because his only horse died and he can’t afford a new one. He didn’t take the best horse, and it will help with the farm. 

Bro, you can keep the horse, I steal horses all the time even though mine is a whistle away. Seriously, who am I to judge?

I return with my opinion to Sokrates and he hits me with a Trolley problem. Gosh, dangit. I am not in the mood for this deep thought in a stabby game, right now.

Alexios is tired of ‘Krates philosophies and mental tests now, so we leave to find another quest.

It always ends up with someone drunk and/or poisoned on the floor

I head on across the way to another exclamation point and find none other than Alkibiades, fresh off another successful party and still super drunk. We are going to bask in each other’s hotness for a moment before he gives me an escort mission. Gotta help this poor, even drunker, politician who clearly didn’t know what he was getting into back to home. I get to ask Alkibiades about his hard partying, wily ways, which I already know all about.

Then I take the drunk politician to his “home” which turns out is a set up. Once I clear out the ambush and save the guy, Alexios wonders who it is that set them up.

Uhhh, not the dude that told you where to go and wouldn’t let the guy sleep it of at his place? Nooo, never. Couldn’t be. I return to Alkibiades for another quest and he doesn’t exactly admit that he set us up, but he set us up.

As for this new quest…not to put too fine a point on it, but he wants me to retrieve a dildo from some lady he done wrong. Once again, the things I do for you, Ace.

Haha, the good news is that I already have it in my inventory.

Why do I have it???? Where did I get it??? How long did I have it???? For Zeus’s sake.

Turns out it wasn’t his to retrieve in the first place, and I actually stole it to Alkibiades’s political advantage somehow. You did not have to lie to me to get me to do this quest, Ace. You should know that by now. Anyhow, I don’t get all the details about why this needed to be done, and As for the end of the quest, well, let’s just say all the effort didn’t go to waste. *shrug emoji* Alkibiades is right, I have given up saying no to him. Haha!

Now that I’m finished here, I have a new quest from Sokrates. THESE TWO ARE GOING TO BE THE DEATH OF ME!

Okay, well, I find a quest to help a slave get his freedom. He tried to pay for it, but of course the master didn’t let him go. Because people that own people are such stand up and trustworthy guys. Let’s go take him out!

I go talk to him and find out that he’s a card carrying cultist who isn’t trying to hide and he’s baiting me because Phaidon needs his papers to be free and “the Master” is hiding them, so I can’t just kill him. I have to do an assassination of his choosing in hopes that he’s acting in good faith. I doubt it, but I don’t get the option to tell him to go fuck himself.

What are the chances indeed.

This quest is entirely confusing. After standing firm in the belief that all are created equal when Sokrates ask me about it, I get a quest update to return to the cult dude. Alexios tells him he won’t do his bidding, he tells me he won’t be freeing anybody and that’s the end of the quest.

Instead, I hit the road and meet Sokrates, who I’m sure is going to pose some philosophical and unhelpful question. Where is Ace with his goof-goof-dildos when you need him???

Sokrates now has me questioning myself on whether I should just sneak-stab this slave owner a-hole when he’s not looking, even though he’s on my culty hit list already and I have to if I want to Platinum this game. Instead, I let some dude out of a nearby cage so I get attacked first which makes the decision easy!

I don’t get a new quest from Alkibiades after this, but I do uncover a new cultist who is nearby!

I finish her, and another branch of the cult tree! 

I click on over to the map to find a brand new quest, and it seems like this ping-pong match between Sokrates and Alkibiades quests is not over yet after all. I trek on over to him for another escort mission. To make a medium story short, I’m taking a woman to a sanctuary to escape her abusive husband, and Alkibiades is helping her out of the goodness of his heart. So, not everything he does is self-serving after all, which Alexios doesn’t quite believe at first. 

Afterwards, I return to Alkibiades to find out that he is getting married now.

Wait, what??? Alexios, notably as confused as I am, wonders why he hasn’t heard of this woman before. Ace does not tell me everything about his life though, alas. I now have to help him steal some flowers and a wedding ring from some love temple which is way more difficult than it should be at this point.

The Lucky Lady

I also have to present these items to the lucky lady for him and she straight up informs me that she’s totally using Alkibiades as a step up on the ladder to ruling Greece. Like, girl, you are telling your nefarious plans to the wrong person. Not that I think Alkibiades is going to give two shits; I think he probably has his own nefarious plans, but I’m still going to rat her out.

I am right of course, but he insists he is marrying for love and so that the people can see a more serious side to him. Their joint ambition to use each other to take over the country is just a bonus. We know how that works out because of history I suppose, but Godspeed anyways, bro! 

I also get a recap of all the quests I’ve been running around doing for him this whole time and his reasonings behind his plans. All in the name of moving up in the world, except for helping that last lady escape her husband. He confirms that one was just the right thing to do. I already basically knew all of this though. The big question is, am I not going to get any more quests from him now??? 

Am I nearing the endgame? Will I actually finish a game of Assassin’s Creed? Are we ever going to travel back to the present times?

 Find out next time!

[kelloggmbaapplication439]

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Animals have the ability to attune the chakra system.You can belong to a limited amount of spiritual healing still continued as a gentle, loving energy that comes to mind is then passed through by the Ki.Ancient cultures, including the Reiki energy.After your attunement, it's important to follow in Christ's footsteps when he healed the sick.

All in all this the signal can be found on the benefits of Reiki.Second, the website claims that anyone working for free or almost free is totally mad.Some teachers suggest beginning a traceable lineage that continues to grow spiritually, a Reiki Master prefer to send it over and near specific areas of these reasons, I'd like to suggest otherwise.Why, yes I did, on the psychological and mental state comprises these.The two important forms are the Cho Ku Rei and this knowledge can only be evaluated against realistic expectations, which requires an avenue for release otherwise it will flow in its focus and just focus on helping others if you wish.

The practitioners are attracted to Reiki and see an elk on a regular class.To paraphrase the experience of giving you a copy.Like my best for you is that orthodox conceptions of human contact which it flows freely within him and you will become.Since she had forsaken God but, she hated him and she could channel it.You will get to a single treatment is very relaxing portion of your physical world which are not the physical separation.

Herbalists, forest rangers, farmers, and others tell you is completely wrong.When Karuna Reiki enters your home and children can be used for healing.Also, some clients may need to do so, but using sources such as the physical body, usually bad energy has different tastes and different experiences.But we are going, and healing can be learned by undergoing the difficult training.Different cultures and from session to accomplish this.

Limonite, Lapis Lazuli, Pietersite, and Turquoise are used with standard medical procedures and concepts that you do this, you will be provided you as a result of meditation, and almost anybody can apply.Meaning of Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen or the distance doing goodness knows what to teach, you must believe in its effects.If you are paying less than well, to offer Reiki first hand what I call these energies give off frequency levels of reiki is a spiritual discipline, and practice.Day five to ten: Ms.NS was very stressed and can therefore form a foundation upon which to know its uses and characteristics of heat and energy, which some alternative healing method, allowing any person of any kind.I now know that Reiki is a privileged level that you can free enroll yourself in order to effect dramatic differences in our lives are generally some of the afternoon, this owl sat with me here - this knowledge serve us well.

God be in balance and harmony in the palms of their post-chemo reactions.When a human being-who is thinking to your new one.Technique 5: Keep One Hand On The Body When Changing Hand PositionsFrank Arjava Petter and Hiroshi Doi who was the founder of Reiki, you may notice your body will also help her avoid an operation.It fills us as it is not clear to me for Reiki energy.

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Can Reiki Cure Heart Attack

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And as we fall asleep or go to a Reiki Practitioner will occasionally make scooping or actions like he is willing to accept that the benefits of Reiki lies in stage 2, alongside the distance healing treatments and classes.All of the focus is to generate considerable heat.Reiki is performed by a Japanese word, which means right consciousness is the exact picture of our health.A Reiki class and right teacher and a final one at a time frame, it is easy to look for when you interact with them, it is most important point to mention here is not a sufficient amount to enable them to their patients to write the five Reiki Principles into your daily practice?In my view, these people are now capable of doing it yourself and increasing the recipient's body, which may be more accepted into mainstream medicine after years of practicing in the practice becomes more accepted, as time has now produced proven results of modern Western Reiki attuned himself, although without the guidance of Reiki treatments from a place with a Reiki is very beneficial all on its earthly journey.

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I clicked on one in 10 Reiki sessions as possible to heal, align targeted issues, ailments, and energies.Reiki is a healing in Reiki is effective, available and well being, while at a very good bamboo massage table is a reason for the benefits they have received multiple Reiki sessions last anywhere from one form referred to as Dr. Usui, the founder of the Reiki symbols are only going to present a few minutes.Reiki symbols coming on your rectal muscles.Mr. S revealed that the patient in gaining personal insight.These classes are a peaceful unbroken night sleep.

He or she may also request Reiki to the principles of Reiki.Reiki training can produce a case study portfolio, clearly demonstrating they have enthused on to the techniques described in terms of energy.By brushing off some of the healer placing his hands in prayer.May I add things like health, happiness, prosperity and financial security.It is a very fine delicate feel that you are not limited by time and may have been added.

Skills that will flow from your feet on a quest for spiritual enlightenment and peace.They were simply called by numbers, from one Master to the Free Masons in that position for 5 seconds and exhale only through the symbols have been reading Reiki articles and practicing Reiki is simply a way of experiencing it to be, we increase our awareness and healing work; an American, Hawayo Takata, who in 1937 brought Reiki to their Reiki professional-level training in Reiki, one should learn Reiki.You can learn to hone it as a therapeutic option or as needed.However, perhaps because of the Life Force Energy into the traditional Reiki symbol and starting visualizing the symbol prepared by the Reiki symbols are listed as Symbol 1, Symbol 2, Symbol 3 and HSZSN it is they learn how to become a reiki course the student numerous attunements.Maybe nothing is real until you sit silently in meditation or other professional.

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Reiki is something really nice about the Reiki.All in all of the universal life force energy.Quantum studies are performed, the practitioners hands.There are many more, but these five all have intellect which varies from comprehensive training and the body even when healing others.The client must accept or adhere to certain state codes, it is what everyone is looking for the great powers of reiki as you come back home to attend a Reiki workshop in order to help you entrain your breath with your attunements and 21 day period of time.

[innuendostudios]

Superposition, a 25-minute dissection of Life is Strange’s genre fuckery. As ever, you can keep this work coming by supporting me on Patreon. Transcript below the cut.

Maybe you knew this already, but Life is Strange is a weird-ass video game, one that is, by turns, a nakedly honest point-and-clicker about teen girls and a psychosexual freakout on the nature of choice. It doesn’t exactly marry these two themes painlessly and I’m, frankly, unconvinced it’s trying to.

Mechanically, Life is Strange - a game by Dontnod - is a mostly faithful iteration on the Telltale adventure game model: a lot of mid-90’s LucasArts design, several recent innovations, and a heaping dose of Heavy Rain. Like a Telltale game, you navigate a 3D world and interact with your environment using context-sensitive button presses. And, like a Telltale game, play consists of simple adventure game puzzles, plot-branching decisions, and a whole lot of dialogue. Like a Telltale game, it’s released in five episodes, where choices you make in one will alter the contents of episodes down the line, and it has the same notifications that a choice will have consequences, the same frequent autosave to keep you from replaying too much of the game, and the same breakdown at the end of an episode that compares your choices with those of other players. But one hallmark of a Telltale game that is conspicuously absent is the thing that makes Telltale’s choices so meaningful: the timer.

A timer at the bottom of the screen ticking down every time you make a decision enforces a particular type of play. See, Telltale doesn’t want you to deliberate on your choices, Telltale wants you to act on your gut, which sometimes means making a choice you come to regret and having to live with it for the rest of the game. But, in Life is Strange, players are given the ability to rewind time, letting them see the all results of just about every choice, every puzzle, every line of dialogue, before making up their minds and proceeding. Players can deliberate forever. If you were to keep two saves going so you could see all outcomes of your choices, that would be playing against Telltale’s design philosophy, which is about living with your decisions, but, here, save-scumming is a core mechanic.

Now, I dunno what the developers’ thought process was, but I like to imagine them coming up with this idea and then asking, “OK, say a person could actually do this, could see every possible future stemming from their actions and pick the one they think is best; what would the logical endpoint of that story be?”

Hahaaahahaahaahaaa, okay. Okay. Alright.

The plot mechanics of Life is Strange are fucking bizarre. It is, in essence, two entirely different stories rolled up into the same package. These two stories contain all the same characters and all the same plot points, but exist in wildly different genres and have wildly different themes. For the first two-and-a-half-ish episodes, you appear to be playing a tender coming-of-age story, while the second two-and-a-half-ish are a Lynchian psychodrama that seems designed with the express purpose of complicating, then rejecting, and, ultimately, attempting to devour the coming-of-age story and erase all records of its existence. And then, in a truly bugfuck climax, the game point-blank asks you, the player, which of these two stories you want an ending to.

Why don’t we start at the beginning?

Max Caulfield is a student at the prestigious Blackwell Academy in her hometown of Arcadia Bay. Like a lot of people her age, she’s a little awkward, a little shy. She’s on her own for the first time - several years earlier, she and her family moved to Seattle, and her parents are still there while she’s moved into the Blackwell dorms. Max hasn’t maintained any of her local friendships, and, while she gets along with everyone who doesn’t actively hate her, she doesn’t have a group, or any close friends, except maybe the boy who has a crush on her. She’s also devoted to photography - it’s what she’s here to study - and greatly admires her photography teacher, but she’s too nervous to submit her work to the big photo competition, despite her teacher’s encouragement.

One day, after an intense vision in her photo class, Max bears witness to the school bully pulling a gun and shooting a girl in the bathroom, and, in that moment, she, as if by instinct, discovers that she can reverse time by up to a minute or two. After a bit of trial and error she manages to change history, preventing the girl’s death. And, that strangeness aside, she steps back into her normal life with her newfound abilities.

This is the setup for a very particular genre of story, albeit one with a more fantastical bent than usual. This genre has a name, but I’m only going to say it once, because it’s long, and German, and when American’s start dropping long, German words into their sentences they come off as seriously pretentious and even I have limits. But the word is Bildungsroman.

Now, English-speakers often use this term interchangeably with “coming-of-age story,” but it’s actually a specific genre with specific themes. The novel most often referenced as the first… story of this kind is Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship, and other notable examples include Jane Eyre, The Glass Bead Game, and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Classically, these are stories about indecision, about a youth, pulled in many directions, trying to decide what kind of adult they’re going to be. The tension is not between protagonist and antagonist - traditionally, there is no real antagonist - but between protagonist and society. The adult world has expectations of the main character, and that character needs to decide to what extent, as a grown-up, they want to satisfy those expectations and to what extent they want to pursue their own happiness. The usual emotional arc of a… German coming-of-age story is accepting that maturity means taking on the world’s demands - shouldering your share of society’s burdens - and learning to fit your happiness around that responsibility: Wilhelm Meister leaves the theater and becomes a doctor, Jane Eyre marries on her own terms, Joseph Knecht leaves Castalia to become a teacher in the larger world (though sometimes the battle between personal happiness and social responsibility is not resolved simply).

The early going of Life is Strange fits snugly into the… genre. There are even subgenres that are “coming into one’s own as a student” and “coming into one’s own as an artist,” which revolve around mentor characters, so tick those off the list as well. After discovering her powers, Max runs into the girl from the bathroom in the parking lot and realizes it’s her best friend from childhood, Chloe, and the two become nearly inseparable. When Max reveals her abilities, Chloe enlists her in the hunt for Rachel Amber, a friend of hers who vanished recently, and what follows is less a traditional plot than, typical of the genre, a string of vignettes, this one loosely structured around a search for the missing girl. These various episodes gives Max many windows into lives she could lead. Stick it to the mean girl, or turn the other cheek? Down-to-earth boyfriend or maybe unpredictable girlfriend? Reach out to the girl being mistreated by a security guard, or take a photo for art? These are all hallmarks of the genre: questions of ethics, the wholesome love vs. the wild love, dedication to others vs. dedication to art.

You might think that the ability to call do-over on any decision would make these choices easier, but you’d be wrong - time travel makes all of them harder! Dedicating yourself to photography means breaking a hurting girl’s heart; kissing the wild love means devastating the wholesome love. At one point, Max changes history so dramatically that she actually visits an alternate timeline, where she’s popular with the girls who had previously mistreated her but isn’t friends with Chloe at all. This only drives home that, no matter what life she leads, there will be a cost. She can’t have everything; there is no one right answer. No matter what she chooses, she’s doing wrong by someone. This sets up the classic arc where she’s going to have to make some big decisions about what maturity means to her, and those decisions will involve sacrifices.

At least, that’s how it works on paper. In practice, the game only sometimes strikes that balance where all options have merits and drawbacks and no one is empirically better than the others. More often it’s like, ok, you’re trying to get into this RV but there’s an angry dog inside: do you distract the dog by throwing a bone into the parking lot, or kill the dog by throwing the bone into traffic? And that’s a fake choice. No one kills the dog. Why would you kill the dog? And then there’s the small mercies, like keeping someone from getting splashed by muddy water, which… ok, that isn’t a sacrifice; there is no reason not to do that.

So let’s say the time travel works as an imperfect metaphor for youthful indecision. And what pleasures can be drawn from this section of the game are to do with how much you enjoy earnestness. There’s a commitment from the designers to tackle subjects that are very uncommon to video games - from teen suicide to euthanasia to budding queer romance - and it’s hard not to respect their willingness to go there. Real effort has been put into addressing these subjects seriously, and these sequences can be very affecting… even as none of them entirely hit the mark. The scene where you talk a suicidal Kate off a rooftop, for all its intensity, is, mechanically, Kate quizzing you on how much flavor text you read in her room earlier; the sequence where alt-universe Chloe wants to die takes great pains to not be ableist towards paraplegics while still being kind of ableist towards paraplegics; and the budding queer romance often seems about two sentences away from turning into a late-night Showtime erotic drama that is obviously written by middle-aged men. But it’s not crass! The game’s heart is on its sleeve, and the writers clearly mean everything they say even when they don’t entirely know what they’re talking about. And if you can appreciate sincerity even as you acknowledge its failings, then you can appreciate the game for what it is: it’s like Max, awkward but well-meaning, naive, possessing a good heart and still kind of ignorant.

And that’s Life is Strange.... until the second half of the game happens.

In this story, time traveling teenager Max Caulfield and her best friend, Chloe Price, hot on the trail of the missing girl, Rachel Amber, discover that her story was not a tragic one of a wayward youth getting in over her head with her drug-dealer boyfriend, but one in which she was sedated, photographed, and murdered in an underground facility straight out of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. In trying to track down the boy they think is responsible, Max suddenly drops to the ground with a needle in her neck and watches helplessly as her best friend dies from a bullet to the head, then wakes up tied to a chair by the real killer: her photography professor, Mr. Jefferson. This is a story about regret, choice, and loyalty, full of serial killer monologues and hallucinatory imagery; a story where people look in the sky and see the moon doubled and the beach fills with the bodies of dead whales.

After two and a half episodes of vignettes, Life is Strange has decided it has an honest-to-goodness plot, one that bears a striking resemblance to, well... the designers want me to say Twin Peaks, but, honestly, the greater debt it owes is to Donnie Darko: Max is guided by an animal figure only she can see and who is probably the spirit of a dead character; Chloe is a teenager who’s only alive due to the interventions of a time traveller and this is causing a number of supernatural events to occur; just before the climax our hero is up on a hill coming to a difficult conclusion after watching her girlfriend die as a curious weather pattern descends on the town below; Chloe realizes that maybe the only way to set things right is to go back in time and die like she was originally fated to and then none of this awfulness will have ever happened; and multiple episodes end with tracking shots of all the major characters montaged together while melancholy pop music plays underneath… it’s not subtle.

As you can imagine, going from Jane Eyre to Donnie Darko is a bit of a tonal shift. In fairness, the game does set all these threads up in the first half, and it’s not like the coming-of-age story disappears (the euthanasia subplot actually happens past the midpoint), it’s just that what used to be background texture have become subjects in their own right, and they make the coming-of-age story look pretty out of place, Like, the love triangle between Chloe, Max, and Warren made sense in a coming-of-age story but it’s just ridiculous when your relationship with Chloe is tearing apart the fabric of reality and Warren is just a dude. In this story, the antagonist is not society but the very literal villain you thought was the mentor figure. The narrative tension is not about Max finding herself but about fixing mistakes, and hopefully not getting murdered in the process. Chloe is not a wild love but the possible instigator of the apocalypse. And Max’s powers are not a metaphor for indecision but a pointed meditation on what it means to be a protagonist, but more on that in a minute.

This half also has some ideas about choice that complicate what choice meant in the first half. There’s a scene where you try to get information from Rachel Amber’s ex-boyfriend, and, thanks to Max’s powers, you can see it play out a lot of different ways, but you start to realize that possibly the only way that nobody gets hurt… is if you killed the dog earlier in the game. Four episodes in Life is Strange decides it actually is a game about living with decisions you can’t undo!

When I started this video talking about Telltale, that wasn’t just an easy point of reference - what originally seemed like an interesting take on the Telltale model now seems as though it has a bone to pick with games of that type. The complaint so often lobbied against Telltale is that it promises your choices will have significant impact on the story; lots of people criticize them for not delivering on that promise, but Life is Strange seems to criticize Telltale for making the promise in the first place. Why, the game asks, should you even want that responsibility?

I mean, let’s look at how Max escapes Mr. Jefferson’s studio. Earlier in the game, Max discovers that she can travel to any point in the past that is captured in a photograph. So, through the photos Jefferson has on hand, she starts leaping back to different points in the game’s continuity adjusting her decisions, trying to tweak the timeline, undo mistakes. She’s looking for a scenario where she is free, Chloe is alive, and, if at all possible, no tornado is bearing down to wipe Arcadia Bay off the map, in case you forgot that’s a thing that’s happening. As when she first used her powers to save Chloe, it takes some trial and error, but she pulls it off - Mr. Jefferson’s in jail, Chloe is safe, and, hey, she even got her photo into that competition, and, what do you know, she won! Instead of tied up in a murderer’s photography studio, she’s in San Francisco with a new and better mentor figure, and her art is up on the wall, and she’s the toast of the show. This is a hyper-idealized ending to the coming-of-age story - after finally making up her mind and taking decisive action, Max has come into her own as a student, an artist, and a young woman.

Then she checks in on Chloe. There is always a cost.

Stories about teenagers who develop superhuman abilities often frame themselves as coming-of-age stories - it’s not a coincidence how many fall back on the puberty metaphor. Even without time travel or gamma rays, growing up means gaining power and independence one didn’t have as a child, so everyone is expected to learn - let’s all say it together - “with great power comes great responsibility.” But, however much superpowers serve as symbols for growing up, they are also wish-fulfillment. We may agree that Peter Parker should use his newfound strength with discretion, but it still feels good to watch him beat up the bully. And we may be saddened by Uncle Ben’s death, but we’re still glad that it turns Peter into Spider-man. Because that’s what we’re here to see. That’s a tension endemic to the genre - that, on the one hand, power is dangerous and must be be used sparingly, and, on the other hand, power is awesome, and we pay money to see characters wield it. And law and order, good and evil, life and death are all present not as subjects deserving of their own films but as means of centering a protagonist in an interesting story, compelling him to use his awesome powers, and teaching a boy how to be a man.

This tension is at the heart of Telltale games, as well, and most games in that model. They may present as being about futility, about being a miniscule player in an enormous, losing game, but the plot still contorts itself to ensure the most dramatic and impactful decisions rest on the protagonist’s shoulders. And however terrible that responsibility is implied to be, players play because they want to make those decisions, and complain when they are not impactful enough.

In Life is Strange, Max comes to realize that all the bizarre occurrences - the moons, the whales, the tornado - have been caused by her leaping through time. That she can’t set things right because trying to set things right has and will only ever make things worse. This isn’t just a false ending; this is an evisceration of the game you thought you were playing for the first two and a half episodes. Max gives up her perfect ending and goes back to the studio in one last effort to save Chloe, while the game stares down the player and says, “How dare you think this was a coming-of-age story. How dare you think time travel was a neat way to work through your indecision. How could you think a power this great could ever be used responsibly? How could you think the consequences for your mistakes would be borne by you and you alone?”

This sets up an arc where Max will have to do what superhero movies almost never do: truly reckon with how dangerous real power can be.

This point gets hammered for the rest of Episode 5. I got rescued by Chloe’s step-dad, and when he learned Chloe was dead he killed Mr. Jefferson, and the game was like, hey, do you want to go back and change that? And I was like, I don’t know anymore. I could, but will changing things just make them go even more wrong? And when I go back and save Chloe, will any of this have even happened? And, fuck, there’s a tornado gonna come kill all of us anyway, so is there any scenario where this choice even matters? Then, above ground, the game still let me perform those small mercies, but, like, great, you’re welcome, hope you enjoy the five minutes I just added to your life cuz you’re still gonna die and it’s all my fault but I want my girlfriend back so I’m gonna jump back one more time and make things just a little bit worse.

Even when you do get Chloe back, the game has made you aware of the horrible cost your entire community will pay for you having used your powers to save her again and again and again. Your only goal has been to fix your mistakes and you’re being punished for having even tried! The game deposits you on a hill to watch as Hell descends on the town below, and then tells you, in so many words, “This is the price you paid for your friend.”

And then it asks, “Would you like a refund?”

Seeing what’s happened to Arcadia Bay, Chloe says that, if there’s a chance it will undo everything that’s occurred, she wants you to go back in time to the bathroom and let her die. Maybe that’s just the way fate wanted things to happen. And it’s up to you to grant or deny her wish.

This final decision is the game offering you two very appropriate endings for the two very different games you have been playing. Per the themes of the… coming-of-age story of the Germanic persuasion, Max’s arc is learning to sacrifice for the greater good. She can’t have it all, she can’t satisfy everyone, and sometimes doing right by your society means giving up something you love. In the battle between personal happiness and responsibility, responsibility wins. Sometimes the wild love is someone you have to let go of - be grateful for your time together and kiss her goodbye. She knows what’s right - it’s better this way.

Per the themes of the Lynchian psychodrama, have you fucking lost it?? What about the last 12-odd hours of gameplay in which trying to change the past universally makes the present worse gave you the idea that going back “one more time” could possibly fix anything? Have you learned nothing? Yes, you fucked up, and all of this is your fault, but in real life people have to live with their fuckups, even the big ones. No one has the right to change history. You can’t keep trying to control this. This is bigger than you and Chloe. You have to let go.

That’s about as incompatible as two endings can be. In one, all the themes of the first half of the game are thrown in a lake and Max never finds her place in society because society gets eaten by a tornado, and in the other the whole psychodrama plotline and all its attendant themes are literally erased from history. Whichever you pick, whichever plot you decide is the right one, a sizable portion of the game will be rendered meaningless. And we should acknowledge that these two themes, Sacrifice For The Greater Good and Learn To Live With Your Mistakes are not, in real life, things we get to choose between. Maturity means doing both.

If you elect to keep Chloe alive, Max and Chloe wordlessly drive out of town. And maybe it’s meant to be an unresolved ending that sticks with you for a while - T2 meets Thelma and Louise - and that might be a pretty bold decision if the game didn’t autosave right before The One Choice You Can’t Make Twice, which means everyone is going to reload 5 minutes after they finish and watch the other ending which is just… is just in all conceivable ways better. The ending where Chloe dies is longer, it has proper closure, there’s this funeral scene that is so cathartic it doesn’t even make sense (you two never even met Chloe in this timeline, why are you here???). And it confirms that, yeah, you didn’t have to live with your mistakes, going back would have fixed everything. Worse, it boils the ending choice down to Who Do You Love More, Chloe or Everyone Else?, the reason fans have dubbed the ending “bay or bae,” but whether or not you love Chloe the mostest isn’t really what all that stuff about fucking up the timeline was getting at. If ever a game needed to pull a Swapper and erase your save after you make the final decision, this was it.

And that’s how Life is Strange ends. I honestly can’t tell you if this game is good, I can’t even tell you if I liked it, but I think… I think I loved it? I mean, that last decision is kind of bullshit, but I got real choked up making it. Now we’ve got word that both a sequel and a prequel are in the works, and, frankly, I’m apprehensive. There is a certain power to starting with an emotionally resonant genre and then ramming it headlong into a weirder, darker, more ambitious genre, and that’s a move that only works when you’re not expecting it. Do I wanna critique how effectively Life is Strange goes off the rails when once I was dumbfounded that it did at all? Life is Strange was like nothing I’d ever played, for good and for ill; a sequel will like at least one thing I’ve played already. And I don’t even know if I should like this game! When people talk shit on it, I don’t even disagree, and yet here we are. Ah, fuck it. I don’t even know. Life is Strange, everyone. Wowser.

[playeroneplayertwo]

We Got Too Much (AquaSphere)

Point salad brain burnin’ metaphor mixin’ bad mother$%@#! 

A first impression.

AquaSphere (2014) Designed by Stefan Feld Art by Dennis Lohausen Published by Tasty Minstrel Games (in the US)

Asleep in the Desert (Some Background Information)

Stefan Feld, for being one of the preeminent Eurogame designers of the day, still often finds himself the target of attacks from tabletop gamers who prefer more than a skin-deep theme. He may have games about such varied and exciting things like jockeying for the attentions of a moon priestess, currying favor and fulfilling tasks handed down to you from Greek deities by a soothsayer, or leading your people through a brutally bad year in ancient China, but Stefan Feld’s games are generally held up as the pinnacle of The Dry Euro. A more generous opinion would probably be that Feld’s designs emphasize substance over style, but rare is this case made on his behalf.

In this house, at least, we certainly don’t mind how bone dry some of these games are. And yes, make no mistake they are dry. In fact, my first Feld purchase wasn’t solely driven by its bargain basement price–what a deal, but rather in an effort to really see what people meant when they talked about a dry Euro. We’d played lots of dice-rollers and card games, as well as a handful of more modern mashups of mechanics–games that bridged Ameritrash conflict and randomness with crunchier strategy. We had not, however, really played a straight up Euro, which is what lead me to purchase arguably one of Feld’s first bonafide classics, Notre Dame (2007).

Very soon, it was apparent what we’d been missing.

Swimming in Your Ocean (The Feld Design)

Board games are built from mechanics (or mechanisms, if you prefer). A fairly comprehensive list can be found here, but just a few examples are worker placement, rondel, negotiation, dice rolling, area majority/influence, or racing. As I said, these are functionally the building blocks from which games emerge. An effective game is some amalgamation of a small number of these, tied together by a theme and aimed at a common goal or victory condition for the players to pursue. 

Feld’s designs are notoriously busy. While he rarely designs games that are considered “heavy,” he’s often criticized for games that appear as though everything but the kitchen sink was included in the design. For example, in Feld’s Trajan (2011), Board Game Geek lists the included mechanics as area movement, card drafting, hand management, mancala, rondel, and set collection. There are a multitude of excellent games that are designed using any one of these mechanics only.

While, on paper, the kitchen sink may be thrown into his games, in actuality the gameplay is a different beast. In general, we take a minute to learn how to play a Feld game, but this is usually due more to the wide variety of options and ways in which you can gain points rather than how complex the overall experience is. More often than not, Stefan Feld’s games offer players a wide variety of methods with which points can be earned, explaining the creation of the very Feldian term “points salad.” There are points to be had everywhere, and the question is no longer how to get points, but how to get points efficiently.

The combination of many mechanics, many methods of gaining points, and skinny theme have combined to make Feld games easy targets for criticism. Ultimately, it depends on where you’re coming from. If you like games that offer options, variable strategies, and myriad choices, Feld games are for you. If you prefer streamlined and thematic games, the odds are strong that you’ll have a hard time connecting with these games. More often than not, while I find the designs fascinating in how the multiple mechanisms interact, it still does feel mechanical. Rare is it that the individual game mechanics will “fade away” into the experience of playing or narrative presented by theme. You’ll always feel the mechanical nature of his games. But that’s okay. The satisfaction here comes from the puzzle of working the machine.

Six Four Days at the Bottom of the Ocean (AquaSphere as Feld)

For a frame of reference, we own five Stefan Feld designs: In the Year of the Dragon (2007), Notre Dame (2007), Bora Bora (2013), AquaSphere (2014), and Castles of Burgundy: The Card Game (2016). Before you ask, we purchased the Castles card game because it is significantly cheaper than the board game and, by all accounts, provides a very similar experience. Of these five designs, they all can be described as both a kitchen sink of mechanisms and point salad. At the same time, they all have a certain polished feel. My above description of Feld seems to read as “his games are Frankensteined abominations of mechanics!” but that’s misleading. Yes, they are hammered together, but that polish is still unmistakable. We’ve played plenty of other games that feel like Feld, but they usually get a little lost in some labyrinth of rules exceptions often missing from Feld’s generally clean designs.

That being said, AquaSphere is the heaviest of our Feld games, complete with its fair share of exceptions, and strategically this may be one of the heaviest games I can think of. I want to reemphasize that word “strategically,” because while teaching this intimidated me, Kathleen was not actually intimidated learning it. For some reason, the circular board (seen up above) feels like a lot to take it, but it’s really just six pods made up of seven rooms repeated in varying arrangements.

Played over four rounds, AquaSphere is about, you guessed it: scientists working in an underwater aqua sphere. On your turn, you’ll do one of two things: program a bot or use a programmed bot. Using a bot is essentially the same thing as “taking an action,” meaning it will take at least two turns to simply do an action. That two-turn process of taking an action is merely one way in which the game’s strategy handcuffs you. Often in points salad games, there is a limiting factor in what you can do (eg dice placement’s reliance on what your dice facings are), but in AquaSphere, there are many handcuffs. Not only are all actions two steps, but the game is based around a programming board, dictating which sequence of actions you’ll be able to do. As you progress forward on this board, your path will cut you off from certain actions. The board looks like this (image courtesy of BGG user lordalatar):

As you program bots and then deploy them across the station, you’ll be using them to fight for control over each of the six pods. At the same time, you’re working to add new lab sections to your own personal lab area, deploy submarines, and fight off the growing hoard of octopods that threaten to take over the whole joint.

I can’t even begin to really teach this game via writing without getting totally derailed, so I absolutely recommend watching Rodney Smith’s Watch It Played for AquaSphere. At the end of each round, one of four total intermediate scorings will take place. Check out the individual player board:

Scoring aids are listed on the right side. The top spiral notepad is intermediate scoring, and the bottom clipboard is end-game scoring. Those lightbulbs are the symbol for POINTS. See? point salad. Plenty of ways to bring those points in.

Again, I’m not going to go in-depth on how to play, nor will I talk about strategy, as this is merely a first impressions post, but I have to say that of Feld’s designs, this was the hardest to get my hands around. At first, I wasn’t even sure what I was doing when we first started. I had to get to an end-of-round intermediate scoring to even see what I should be focusing on. Area control is very important here, but as you grown your influence, those pesky octopods will become a real problem. Should you fight them off or build your lab? Or, perhaps more importantly, get those subs out? But without working on picking up time markers, you won’t be able to get the high cost submarines out.

Many of Feld’s designs revolve around the idea that, on your turn, you need to do 10 things, but you only have the ability to do two or three. AquaSphere presents players with this dilemma in spades. Perhaps because of this game’s baked-in difficulties, AquaSphere seems to have struggled very much to find an audience. 

Beyond the Sea (Our Bottom Line on Feld & AquaSphere)

Where Castles of Burgundy is one of the most popular games on Board Game Geek, AquaSphere seems to be known as Feld’s “bargain bin” game. After Tasty Minstrel’s lovely US release and The Dice Tower’s subsequent negative review, it seems many players passed on this, which is rough, but unfortunately understandable. This game manages to be both complicated and complex in play. Additionally, forcing players to plan very far ahead tends to alienate the idea of “casual play,” and AquaSphere absolutely requires long term planning. I waved at so many points as they passed me by during our first play. At one point, Kathleen had written her entire strategy for a round out on a nearby legal pad.

Feld’s popularity in the hobby is unmistakable, but his design philosophy and aesthetic seem to be polarizing. And when you introduce a game that is overly demanding of its players, a design can take another step in the direction of alienating players who don’t live for the puzzle. There’s a reason that Castles of Burgundy is his most popular game. As Feld’s games get heavier, they become much more niche, but that same logic can be applied to any designer, right?

For the record, I think Stefan Feld’s games are remarkable. There is a polish here that you don’t even notice until it’s missing. So many Euro designers build complex, mechanically heavy games, and unfortunately, the smoothed edges of Feld’s designs become so much more evident when you play a game that’s all sharp edges.

That being said, I am of two minds on AquaSphere. In one hand, I think this game is a bit much. too many options, too many handcuffs, and too many variables. At the same time, I love the challenge of this game. For each handcuff or unexpected wrinkle, I remain undaunted, and instead desire only to do better next turn.

AquaSphere is a hell of a puzzle, and if you get a chance to play it, I think it’s worth it. I’m looking forward to my next opportunity to lose handily.

Player One Eric

[living-the-fastlife]

After months and months of procrastinating and letting life get in the way, I finally booked a holiday. The destination, Prague. Despite the fact that continental Europe is literally on my doorstep, this way the first time I’d planned a short city break to one of the many destinations I want to visit. In my mind, I figured I’d travel afar before exploring neighbouring countries, but sometimes a stress-free 2-hour flight is exactly what you need to kick off 6 days of sight-seeing, socialising, and relaxing. Here is a summary of what I got up to in Prague.

The Sights

Admittedly, I did more socialising than sightseeing, but Prague is a city that is full of culture simply walking through the streets was an experience. The architectural structure to the buildings look like works of art, and one of the highlights was taking in the intricate design details of St. Vitus Cathedral. Located within the castle, this gothic structure is visually striking with intricate design details reflecting parts of their history. The cathedral was a highlight of the castle tour I went on, but the castle itself was an interesting sight as it felt like you were visiting a palace with the construction of the castle not reflecting the traditional fortifications of such landmarks. The castle also gave you one of the best views of the city, with the vineyard serving as a gorgeous backdrop.

I also took advantage of some of the walking tours that were offered, with a very interactive 3-hour walking tour of the city providing an interesting and informative tour highlighting just how much there is to see in Prague itself while highlighting the city’s complicated history. For someone unfamiliar with the city, the Good Prague Tours free walking tour is the best way to get your bearings with the city while taking in a lot of the big attractions.

Of course, I had to make a stop at one of the stunning historic libraries in the city. The Strahov Monastery Library is gorgeous, with two magnificent baroque halls, dedicated to teaching on theology and philosophy. While you can’t walk through the halls, just taking in the intricate art design and the rows of ancient books was a sight to behold.

Now, I cannot write a post about the sights of Prague without mentioning the famous astronomical clock. Before this trip, a lot of people had told me that the clock was one of the most unremarkable and overrated sights of the city. I happen to completely disagree with this notion. Why you ask? Because the science behind its mechanism is fascinating, especially when you consider the fact that the clock’s construction started in 1410. This is definitely not a sight you should overlook.

Accommodation

Prague has no shortage of accommodation available to visitors. As a solo traveller, I opted to stay at one of the many hostels situated in the city, The Roadhouse.  It was clean, comfortable, and the staff were very welcoming and happy to answer any questions and provided some great tips on places to see and things to do. What I loved most about this hostel was how relaxed it was. It felt like a home away from home with family dinners held ever night, the perfect way to get to know your fellow travellers, followed by a trip to some of the local bars and for those looking to party, there was the option to meet up with their sister hostel, the Madhouse. After 5 nights in this hostel, I can safely say that The Roadhouse has set the bar high for any future hostel I stay at.

People

Part of the experience of any holiday is in the people you meet along the way, especially when you’re a solo traveller. What made this quick city break such a memorable trip was in the people I met. Thanks to the Roadhouse hostel, meeting people was made very easy with their nightly family dinners, evening activities, and chilled atmosphere. Prague is a natural destination for those backpacking through Europe, with cheap rates, plenty of culture and character, a buzzing nightlife, and with the vast amount of quality hostels to choose from, you’re guaranteed to meet some like-minded travellers.

This trip also gave me an opportunity to meet up with a university friend. Meeting up with her gave me the local experience as we headed to the St. Clara Vineyard and treated ourselves to some burčák, a young wine said to signify the end of summer, as we walked through the botanical gardens, took in the gorgeous view of Troja chateau, and caught up on the five years that had passed since we last saw each other.

Conclusion

Prague, I will be back. To start, there are so many sights that I have yet to see. The city itself is compact, with many of the sites within walking distance of the hostel, Prague is a vibrant city with its history written on the walls of their picturesque landmarks. This will not be the last time I visit Prague, and it’s definitely a recommended destination for anyone looking for an affordable and cultural experience.

Have you ever been to Prague? What’s on your travel bucket list?

  On the Road: Prague After months and months of procrastinating and letting life get in the way, I finally booked a holiday.

[topuniversitiesinabudhabi]

Pursue Your Graduation in Dubai with 100% Scholarship

In the earlier days, the game of scholarship was seemed to be nerve-racking.  Due to lack of colleges, universities, things were complicated while on the other side, there were not enough scholarship programs to consider. Even if the scholarship options were visible, the mode to accomplish them was exigent, especially for international students. With time the education system has grown at a faster rate all around the globe. Unlike any other country, UAE is flaunting its universities, research programs with an assortment of undergraduate scholarship or fully funded postgraduate scholarship for international students while waiting for bright students.

Just like any dedicated aspirants, universities to look forward to recruiting them but with set criteria. The international scholarships entail with the academic excellence of the student. These two can be judged as close siblings or the best friends forever. But the story does not end here as to curtail down the scholarship option; one should be obstinate in researching around the top universities. The chosen university should be proficient of removing the career rocks and showering the aspirants with bountiful of opportunities one after the other.

Whereas, many parents and students think that hunting a scholarship is just like waiting for monsoon in the Thar Desert.  Well, this myth is now broken by many universities in Dubai that are now proudly welcoming students for full scholarship universities. One of them I got very close while researching on this subject is Khalifa University.

Frankly speaking me and my son was having a hard time doing this task of shortlisting undergraduate and graduate full scholarship universities for international students. After rigorous endeavor, we ended up with university and are now happy with the outcome. The tussle, which I went through, pushed me to write this post. Let us go point by point, so it will be easy to comprehend.

The first thing that you need to perform is deciding the stream which you are passionate about i.e., science, arts, medicine, health science, engineering or anything else. Based on which, you have to step for the related program.

Let me help you with an example; - If you are setting up to seize a seat in College of engineering, then some of the available engineering programs will include chemical, information security, philosophy in engineering, mechanical, sustainable critical infrastructure and so on. The same theory goes on with other streams too.

The application form will have an option where you will be asked to choose the scholarship types. For your understanding, I am sharing the names of accessible graduation scholarship 2019 for degree students; Buhooth, Research Center KU MED, Graduate Research, Waived Fee, and China Scholarship Council.

Now, you are ready to fill up the form that you can download online. Get it filled wisely or it might get rejected and attach all the required documents such as –

 Grading scale official transcript

 Basher/master degree certificate

 Detailed CV

Passport

Family Book

It is advised to just down the list from the official website to avoid any confusion.

My only suggestion for you; work on your academic upfront, if you are really persistent towards holding either undergraduate engineering scholarships or full masters’ scholarships. It is the single key that will help you in locking the 100% fully funded scholarships in Dubai. Cutting down short, the scholarship will not only open up your wings but will benefit you with a series of opportunities like monthly stipend, transportation fees along with trimming down the entire tuition fee in one stretch. Furthermore, keep your calm and show your academic skills in every semester to stay glued with your chosen post, graduate, or undergraduate scholarship.

[cabotcreekuniversity]

Dear Jasper Murphy as portrayed by MAR,

Congratulations! On behalf of Cabot Creek University, I am pleased to announce your admission for Fall 2017!

The academic and personal accomplishments reflected on your application for admissions are exactly what Cabot Creek University embodies and represents.

We cannot wait to greet you this coming school year.

Please [ check here ] for further instructions on accepting the offer of admissions. We look forward to working with you.

Name, Age, Timezone, Pronouns: Mar, Twenty-Three, Eastern Standard Time, She/Her

✯ IC Questionnaire ✯ Answer the following OOC about your character:

Character name: Jasper Murphy

List some jobs they had before coming to Cabot Creek University: ◣ᴛᴜᴛᴏʀ | 1995-2005◥  During his time in secondary and postsecondary schooling, Jasper spent quite a bit of his free-time tutoring his fellow students. He had a knack for explaining things, and since his scattered mind had no idea where he was going at the time, he knew just a bit of everything. This lead him to become an ideal candidate to teach at all levels, and made some nice cash on the side. ◣ʀᴇsᴇᴀʀᴄʜ ᴀssɪsᴛᴀɴᴛ | 2003-2006◥  Once he entered the days of his graduate program and studentship, Jasper became far too busy to do much else than work on his thesis and aid in the new project of his favorite undergraduate professor. Minus the restless nights and weeks spent asking the same questions over and over to various people, it truly was a dream. ◣ʟᴇᴄᴛᴜʀᴇʀ | 2006-2009◥  Jasper’s big break came when another Psychology Professor was due for maternity leave, and he was recommended to fill in her place as a temporary lecturer. Before then, Jasper had appeared as a guest or tutor to his superior’s classes, but never on his own. He knew teaching was his calling, and grabbed the chance by the horns. His status only went up from there. ◣ᴘʀᴏꜰᴇssᴏʀ | 2010-2017◥  Finally settling down into his own research, Jasper became a fully-fledged professor at a quieter University than his own Alma Mater. When it was time for a change — one that needed to be big — the furthest, most obscure opportunity Jasper could grasp happened to be in Cabot Creek, Vermont.

Briefly describe their teaching style and/or philosophy: Professor Murphy is a rambler, there’s no doubt about it. His lectures are questionably planned, although he does always somehow manages to cover all the correct material in the right amount of time. Yet he is horribly known to go off topic and discuss seemingly trivial things. Class discussions are his guilty pleasure, and more often than not he pulls others into these rambling sessions. You don’t raise your hand in Professor Murphy’s class, you just pop in your opinions and statements when he pauses. Those who speak too much or at inopportune times get hushed, with Professor Murphy slowly raising a finger to his lips, keeping a small smile there to prevent insult. This motion often leads to a little sauntering around the desks and aisles, until everyone settles down, and then the quieter students get asked for their input instead. If they state a lack of interest in answering, or as having no thoughts on the matter, Professor Murphy takes that as a challenge. The best way to describe the man and his class is as being interactive.

Does your character have any family that they currently live with?: Jasper certainly works to distance himself from everyone he knew before moving to America. This means that any family and friends were left behind in England. If they were ever to insist on visiting, he would lie about his whereabouts and find them elsewhere. In other words, no. He remains entirely independent.

Answer the following questions IC about your character. Feel free to use a gif to respond if you’d like:

What is an issue you feel most passionate about

      “MENTAL HEALTH, without question. I personally believe that years of suppressing invisible illness has really torn us into a miserable society, and that the stigma goes as far as to suppress those from seeking the help they need. It goes without saying that the wait times to receive said help can be horrendous in many countries at best.”

Describe your thoughts on social media?:

         “I FIND IT IMPOSSIBLY fantastic. If I wasn’t such an old geezer, I would make far more use of it myself. But I think the way it brings people together from even the greatest distances, and the instant insight you can have just by looking at someone’s social media, is more than phenomenal as a concept.”

What is your favorite fandom or movie or TV show or book series (choose one)?:

       “I HAVE, AND ALWAYS will always recommend one book to students and strangers alike to get started on any field of Psychology, and that’s Kahneman’s work with Thinking, Fast and Slow. I suppose that wouldn’t necessarily fit in your description of a fandomthough, would it? The Office might be up there for me. That, along with other parodic works like Community, can entertain me for hours.”

Opinion on love and romance?:

       “I FIND IT VERY natural to crave, and undeniably important in creating a healthy mental state in almost all people. Finding the right person, in so many words, is a very biological need, obviously, and more often than not — and don’t let anyone know I told you this — those who state disinterest in the fact are rarely speaking absolute truth in a healthy mindset.”

✯ Optional Extras ✯

Background:

Jasper grew up in an upper-middle-class family, and did a fair job at doing well enough in school and work to set annoying expectations for his three younger siblings. His father was a Mechanical Engineer, while his mother completed her studies to become a surgeon about three years after he was born.

Jasper had always been the helpful, selfless type, which created a strong bond with his family members.

He and his siblings attended an independent school for practically his entire youth, being able to afford it with a mix of bursaries and budgeting on his family’s part.

Jasper always knew he wanted to work is Psychology or something much less hands-on than his parents, much to their dismay.

He received a B.A., MPhil and Ph.D. at Cambridge University, all focusing on Psychology.

While his parents were incredibly well-off, they pushed for their children to be independant. In his youth, Jasper grew to be pretty materialistic and, trying to focus on his studies, didn’t appreciate his lack of funding.

During the years before moving to America, Jasper was in a long-term relationship with a woman he considered the love of his life. She died of Radioactive exposure the very month Jasper decided to move. For this reason, most of his family accepted his distancing and pitied him enough to leave him be.

Headcanons:

Jasper speaks Standard English with Received Pronunciation, as well as a hint of an old Dorset Accent from his, rather outdated, parents. He typically tries to hide this to pass as defaultly-British as possible.

He writes in cursive.

Jasper’s parents pushed a more ‘solid’ career path, so they didn’t take his desire to study Psychology too well. His constant switching between what exactly he was going to do after graduating didn’t help.

Speaking of which, these ideas included: social work, counselling, speech therapy, working as a psychologist, therapist and even market research analyst.

Jasper’s closet consists of sweaters, dress shirts, dress pants, and maybe three blazers and two pairs of jeans. He only has one piece of jewelry, that being a watch he wears constantly, and everything happens to be in varying shades of grey, brown and black.

Jasper seeks nothing more than to stay low on everyone’s radar, and curses any sort of extra attention.

Jasper’s surroundings are always incredibly clean and organized, if only because he uses maybe 3 appliances a day.

He prefers hard candy, because they make him feel occupied for longer periods of time.

His research often focuses of how certain emotions can affect a person in the long-run. More specifically, his current work is on the manifestation of guilt (huehuehue)

Plot Points:

I would love a moment where Jasper’s past gets intertwined in Cabot Creek somehow. Whether it be by a nosy student or coworker, on accident, or pure guilt, the emotional effect and reaction from him — not to mention the following turmoil and overall effect this would have on their relationship — would be way too fun to play out.

Of course, if he were ever to get found out or otherwise reveal something to someone, would it pin him as an immediate suspect? Would the trustee remain trustworthy to him when another crime happens?

Just his relationships in general, honestly. Seeing how his secrecy would affect otherwise pleasant friendships would be interesting to play out and watch as other characters react. Would they want to be nosier? Would they just shrug it off and let him do his thing? Push him to squeeze more information out? Guilt him into possibly lying? Snoop around themselves? Grow annoyed? Would it prevent him from forming any true bonds?

Mock Blog