#i have actually done this with varying amounts of success

[shadowshrike]

Interfering with Halsin's Portal

It's pretty well known that there are a few situations you can get in where Halsin is well and truly angry rather than disappointed or worried, but I don't think a lot of folks know one of those situations is if you mess with his portal to the Shadowfell. It's a heartwrenching bit of acting. It's also fundamental to the plot of my in-progress fic Girdled Roots, so I figured I might share it with the other Halsin-lovers out there who have never seen it.

EDIT: Please be aware this is datamined dialog and may not be visible in game. It appears to be intended to trigger if the player attempts to enter the portal, which I don't believe is possible in the final game, or at least I couldn't find a way in the most recent version. Sharing this is simply to enjoy the incredible acting and get some plot bunnies moving, not to make any commentary about the game's canon.

Halsin's Initial Reaction

Halsin: No! Stop! Halsin: It's gone... that was our one chance. You've doomed this place to darkness! Halsin: I warned you - told you this was my burden to carry. Why didn't you listen?

The pure rage and despair is visceral. Prior to this, Halsin mentions this portal has been a century in the making, but he's so calm and measured (even upon success) that it is easy to dismiss just how much agony has plagued him as he hoped to make things right. This chance is everything to him. It has guided his every action for a century. It is a hundred years of work, prayer, and guilt to rectify the horrific fate of both land and people that came to nothing because a stranger he trusted refused to listen to him.

The portal breaking is the only time we hear Halsin speak the truth of its importance to him without a hint of emotional regulation. He is wild with pain. This man who is always thoughtful and slow to anger in the face of horror with the wisdom of age and suffering to guide him has become too overwhelmed to show any kindness.

Player response

The player is given several different ways to respond, and Halsin's reaction varies a surprising amount depending on how understandable their reason is. In most cases, he states that he needs to be alone afterward.

Option 1: I'm sorry - I acted on instinct. Halsin: Words won't repair what's been done to this land. Nothing will... I need to be alone.

You can hear the ache in Halsin's voice, but he's somewhat understanding of this response. He projects more sadness than unchecked rage. The player has admitted to making a mistake, and Halsin isn't the type of person who hold onto vengeance when an apology has been made, but he's not naive or people-pleasing enough to say "it's okay" or offer comfort either. The safest thing for everyone is for him to step away to grieve when there is nothing more to be done.

Option 2: I did all the work here - I couldn't just let you take the glory. Halsin: Glory?! There's no glory here. Now there's nothing here - only shadows and the total absence of hope. Halsin:  There is nothing more to be said... I need to be alone.

Pure fury radiates from Halsin's response if the player focuses on the idea of being some grand hero rather than actually caring for the outcome. What the player did was an unforgiveable act, dooming everything that Halsin holds dear, and you have the audacity to complain about not getting glory from it. Again, he steps away, but this feels more like he's doing it because he believes you're worthless to reason with rather than because he needs a moment.

Option 3: I saved your grove - I figured it'd be best if I handled this as well. Halsin: We were this close to healing these lands. Now your arrogance has torn open the wounds once more. Halsin:  There is nothing more to be said... I need to be alone.

Halsin is still frustrated with this response and unmistakably angry, but it's significantly toned down from the idea of wanting to go through the portal for glory. More like he thinks you're a self-important idiot than a truly terrible person.

Specialized player responses

There are also three special responses you can give if you have a particular class or diety.

Druid: I thought my powers were equal to yours. Halsin: It wasn't just power this needed - it was wisdom, understanding. I suffered along with this place for years trying to understand the curse... and it seems I will continue to do so. Halsin:  There is nothing more to be said... I need to be alone.

Interestingly, he responds much more intensely to a druid than some of the other player choices. It might be in part because he feels like a druid should know better. He lectures the player like an Archdruid would initiates in his Grove, alternating between angry and explanatory, trying to get the player to understand why they were wrong and the sheer magnitude of their error. He ultimately ends in a much more resigned place here rather than personally resentful. Like a father-figure being forced through further life trials because of a child's foolish indiscretion. Frustrating, but inevitable.

Selunite: I trusted in Selûne to guide me through the shadows. Halsin: My friend - I wish you had trusted in me.

This is probably Halsin's most simple response with the least vitriol. He fully understands this answer, even if he's disappointed by it. The fact he calls the player 'friend' suggests a certain tired acceptance of this being a natural behavior for a Selunite trying to do good. We don't see this calm in other responses where Halsin was surprised by the player's choice.

Sharran: The Shadowfell is no place for non-believers - I couldn't allow you to soil it. Halsin: I should never have trusted an ally of the Dark Lady.

If you've ever taken Halsin along with Shadowheart in Act 2, then you know he is absolutely scathing toward her and her faith. He likely isn't as angry if a Sharran breaks the portal because it is utterly predictable. It merely confirms a truth he already knew and talked himself out of. That Sharrans cannot be fully trusted in matters of their goddess, even if one was good enough to rescue his people from the goblins.

[txttletale]

In response to your overwatch posting but more about competitive games in general, why is it fine and good for certain things to be low or high teir? It's a pipe dream to perfectly balance a game, but isnt the shackling of playstyles, characters, etc to a certain skill group a problem that fucks players at every level?

it's fine and good because it allows for designs that you couldn't make if you really want every character to be equally good. there's a basic expectation from players of competitive games that success should be correlated with skill, that if you play better, if you are better at the things the game asks of you (skillshots, or aiming, or movement tech, or inputs, or whatever) you will see better results. this is what makes a game competitive, right, the ability to get better and see your performance improve as a result.

this means, that, generally speaking, the harder a thing is to do in a game, the more rewarding it will be. this is the logic behind headshots in FPS games, right--it's more difficult to hit a headshot than a bodyshot, so you get rewarded with more damage. better players can hit more headshots, so they'll get more damage (and presumably more kills) in an average round than worse players. so now, let's say you want to introduce some playstyle differentiation into your game, so you add the Scanner, a gun that deals half damage on bodyshots but double damage on headshots.

this is a cool idea! it rewards you even more for showing skill at the game, makes people using it feel really cool when they get that bonus, poses interesting questions to players about trading consistency for volatility. but because it interacts with a skill-based mechanic, its viability is obviously going to be tied to a player's skill--if you're in a pro lobby hitting 60%+ of your headshots, it's an obvious pick. if you've just started playing and you average one headshot a match, it's a total dud.

this is a really on-the-nose example, of course -- but in any kind of competitive game, there are likely going to be far more than just one skill-based mechanic, as well as meta-skills like team communication, positional awareness, understanding matchups, etc. that are going to vary between low and high levels of play. so trying to make a character/weapon/playstyle equally viable at every level of play would mean having to make them essentially agnostic to all those things--which would mean not allowing them to interact with any of the mechanics of the game--which is, practically speaking, impossible.

on the other hand, purposefully designing 'low-tier' or 'high-tier' characters lets you do lots of really useful things! first of all, it lets you make easier characters for beginners, who don't have a huge amount of mechanical complexity to deal with, have some kind of 'training wheel' ability that mitigates a new players' lack of all these game-winning skills. like, say, a gun in that same FPS designed for a 'spray and pray' playstyle, or a character in a fighting game who revolves around one comparatively simple combo. having something like this lets new players onboard to your mechanically complex game without getting overwhelmed or disheartened, by letting them get into a match and feel like they're doing something as soon as possible.

as for 'high-tier' characters, acknowledging that a character will have to be nerfed into unplayability for low ranks lets you actually play with the upper ends of the mechanical complexities you've put into your game. creating characters with extremely complex movement techs that can offer marginal benefits that are game-defining in pro play but basically meaningless in casual play adds a new dimension of depth to high-level play that you can't get if you're too concerned about making every character good at every level.

ultimately, i don't think it fucks players, and i don't think there's any shackling being done--i think it's good to create characters that lean into different parts of a game, for characters to fill different niches in a meta's ecosystem, and for the lists of pro staples and pubstompers to be different.

[gorbalsvampire]

Gehenna War

It's pretty neat, yo.

Like Blood-Stained Love, it transforms the core "personal and political" horror of Vampire into another subgenre. Unlike Blood-Stained Love, it has a lot of concrete advice for Storytellers on structuring scenes, assembling pools, building characters to interact with, and making that subgenre work at the table.

An effort has been made, here. There's a little chart in the introduction claiming that Chapters 2 and 3, and the Appendices, will be of use to any action chronicle, be it more high concept or street level, and having read the durn things I think that claim's borne out. I'm gonna talk about those sections first, and later loop back around to the specifically Gehenna War stuff.

Chapter 2 has neat archetypes for characters in various armed conflict roles - generals, spies, intelligencers, recruits, veterans - with recommendations for priority stats rather than statblocks, so these can be flipped for player or Storyteller use. Suggestions for bonus XP amounts if you want more powerful starting characters, and focused specialisations that advise you to focus particular areas of your character sheet - almost like soft classes, or playbooks. A handful of new Merits and Flaws (one of which is getting slammed onto Penny), and a mixed bag of Discipline powers. Bloodform is back? Woo! There are "reroll Rouse checks for raising this one Attribute or using this one Discipline" openers for the Physical Disciplines? Swing and a miss, more filler. There's two incredible new high-end Blood Sorcery rituals (I shall be using both of them very soon), and some funky Thin-Blood Alchemy if you want your Duskborn to join a Methuselah cult.

Then: advice on running Basic Combat, and explicit guidance on the modularity of the Advanced Combat rules, and a few new ones. This is brilliant stuff for new Storytellers, reflective of the demand for the Combat Primer, and it's given me some ideas I didn't have before, and ALSO. VINDICATION. OBSERVE.

One of the things that waters down play over time is if the characters need to build the same dice pool every time for the same task. To avoid this, Storytellers should vary the traits involved according to the situation, to keep things interesting and to curb players trying to optimize their pools.

Leaving aside that awful syntax at the start - "Play becomes predictable if the characters need to build the same dice pool every time they attempt a task" - activate your voice, and dismiss "is" clauses, you cowards! - anyway, leaving that aside, this is how I've been doing things all along and I love that a book explicitly says "do it and don't get hung up on the exact RAW every time."

Car chase mechanics, cute new gear (I like the Scourge Blades, nasty-ass duelling swords that delay vampiric healing). Then it's on to story advice!

Chapter Three does something I wish Blood-Stained Love had done for romance: getting into the structure of action stories, how action interacts with other genre qualifiers (crime, horror, survival, thriller etc.), the escalating role of villains - like, actual formalist thinking about how stories work. We then get some mechanical advice on how to shift the mode of play, how to approach things like Hunger and Frenzy to make them more or less of a factor. It's short, but it's fuckin' GOOD.

Appendix I is all about dice. When you should and shouldn't roll, as opposed to taking half. Grouping those moments into broad types by what they do to the emergent story. How to add variation with tracker rolls or unusual dice pools. How to manage failures on tests and what to offer players to keep the story moving. And, most important of all, how to deal with the Beast, going through each Skill and showing how the Beast impacts a Messy Critical (still a success, remember!) or a Bestial Failure.

You need this Appendix. The corebook needed this appendix. Maybe it took six years of best practice and sharing ideas to get these ideas fully understood. Maybe if there'd been one dev team since the start we might have had this sooner. At least we have it now.

I'll talk about the Gehenna War itself in a follow-up post. That's Chapters One, Four, Five and Six, and Appendix II.

[waitmyturtles]

THE MORNING AFTER: ONLY FRIENDS, EPISODE 3 ("BINGBONG! MUST BE THAT WIRETAP THAT I ORDERED") EDITION

Before I get started on my episode review, I just want to gather some quick thoughts about my observations of yesterday's internet:

1) Tumblr was a lot more subdued than after the first two episodes of Only Friends. Now that I've seen episode 3, it makes a lot of sense: I've noticed that I've gotten myself prepared unconsciously before watching OF much later after everyone else through the streaming vibes on my dash. I even saw some Laws of Attraction gifs before the Only Friends gifs, ha! But there's a lot going on to dig into with OF, and it makes sense why feelings are starting to get complicated over what's happening.

2) The Ephemerality Squad ( @ranchthoughts, @chickenstrangers, @lurkingshan, @slayerkitty, @twig-tea, and honorary shout-out @neuroticbookworm) hit spot-on in analysis yesterday. This was definitely another episode about the fleetingness of just about everything. Let's do this.

@ranchthoughts in their ephemerality analysis yesterday hit on the two big themes of episode 3: the continued fleeting of time, and stronger attempts of control. (@slayerkitty also nailed some excellent observations about voyeurism, which I'll hopefully have time to get into in a bit.) We were left to see how Top, Sand, and Nick, respectively, dealt with the attempts of Mew, Ray, and Boston, the three college friends, to control their environments -- and their people -- around them, all to varying degrees of.... I don't think we can say success.

I wonder if I can try to map this out, this web of attempted control. But before I do this, I want to repeat something that I jotted down in my notes as I watched the episode:

These guys are spending a disproportional amount of time -- especially Boston, Sand, and Ray -- explaining that their dalliances are only fleeting and non-committal. I noted that Sand seemed to be weakening just slightly at that during the car make-out sesh with Ray. (At the same time, I think Sand was also like, this guy's available rn? Well -- awlright, whateves, shrugs, I'm in the mood.)

But more surprisingly, WOW -- is Boston EVER BAD at setting boundaries. (Considering the discussions we on Tumblr were having about Boston's shower scene last week, that is very not surprising.)

My dude. My DUDE. "YOU CAN CALL OUR RELATIONSHIP WHATEVER YOU LIKE?" You call THAT being clear about friends with benefits? Well done, dumbass. Bro, Khai from Theory of Love is waving his damn hands in front of you, being all like, "NAAWWWW, THAT'S NOT HOW YOU DO THIS, DUDE, NOOOOOOOOOO."

And THEN Nick taps the car, but hold up, let me get back to THAT in a sec.

Anyway: @ranchthoughts did an excellent control outline here, but I'm just going to do a very quick interpersonal web to demonstrate how these guys are actually failing spectacularly at keeping things together for their own selfishness sake:

Boston -->

1) is trying to manage his "relationship" with Nick, quite failingly 2) is trying to convince Top to sleep with him by planting in Top's mind doubts about Mew and Mew's alleged virginity

Mew -->

3) is... doing what, at this point? Top is calling Mew his boyfriend. Why is Mew still holding out on sex? What's the point of the game at this point?

Ray -->

4) is clearly intrigued by Sand, to the point of hanging out at the bar alone, and inviting Sand to perform at the pool party. But, Ray: 5) is still clearly drawn to Mew. Back to Mew:

Mew -->

6) is still very aware that he has a draw on Ray (cc @neuroticbookworm). As @neuroticbookworm noted to me last night: Mew didn't call Cheum or Boston when he lost his key. He called Top first -- of course, he had to, Top is his boyfriend. And THEN, he called Ray. Mew knew Ray was checking out Sand all night. Mew called Ray out on it. MEW ENCOURAGED RAY TO GO FOR IT. And yet, Mew called Ray, knowing likely that he was going to be interrupting something. And in a Pavlovian reaction (credit @neuroticbookworm), Ray stops everything with Sand in the car to run to Mew.

Top -->

7) is trying to control his urges around Boston, and fails quite spectacularly

Sand -->

8) tries to give Ray the ol' "just friends" razzle-dazzle, but listen, when the boi be cute like that and all kissy-kissy, then, Sand, I'm not holding it against you, you had every right to dive on in, my man. And finally:

Nick -->

9) Nick is outta control, ha. I see some corners of sympathy for Nick around this way and that, but a few words here on this.

Boston is a terrifically BAD communicator. I want to say that Boston has had a consistent message for Nick: there's nothing going on here. But that's not quite the case. Boston's ALLLLL over the place with the way he's talking to Nick.

I've been in situations where I desperately wanted a man that I was sleeping with to be my boyfriend. I know the ache of being held at arm's length. It's a horrible feeling to not quite know what your FWB is thinking about you at any given moment.

On the flip side -- oh, that flip side. This kind of reminds me of how I thought about Third in Theory of Love. Boston's inconsistent communication with Nick should, arguably, be a red flag for Nick. If Nick wants, say, a relationship with Boston, welp -- do you really want a relationship with a guy who's holding you at arm's length? I might argue that Boston's inconsistent communication is CLEAR communication that he's not ready for whatever Nick is wanting from him, whether it's a relationship or even an exclusive FWB arrangement.

Again, I know and remember the feeling of being held back, of being pushed away. But as I grew up throughout my 20s (A LONG TIME AGO, DAMN IT), I figured out that the way I could find happiness was by being accountable to myself and any future partner I might have. If a guy was wasting my time, then -- he was wasting my time, and there was no other story to it. I had to learn to move on to find what I really wanted and needed for the betterment of my life.

My man, Nick, on the other hand, taps Boston's car and hears and sees the bang-bang. Boston's up to no good, no doubt, he is messing with EVERYONE. But, Nick -- what do you want from this? Where do you think this is going to go? If I were you -- damn, brother, if I were YOUR MOM -- I'd be like, sashay away. But, no, you tapped his car, and we'll find out what's really going on with that, hopefully, in the next episodes.

Last little bits. Some blue-balling in this episode. Oof. Arguably, Mew's been putting the squeeze on Top over the long haul. But to see Ray do that to Sand in the car -- eeeeyikes. Sand walked away from that with clarity -- I was impressed.

I am not getting enough Jennie Panhan in this show. First off -- FIRST OFF -- she is SLAMMIN'. Did you see those biceps? And her calm demeanor as Yo. As opposed to Cheum, who knows that Ray can get whatever he needs, fiscally, from his father -- Yo encourages Ray to get off his ass and seek out answers to his questions and feelings about Sand himself. (@twig-tea attributes this to Yo knowing that one can't control everything in one's life, an analysis that I love.) Yo encourages a touch of independence from her friends. I wonder if this is a theme from her that will continue to unwind moving forward.

We finally saw Title! And I would like to see more Tee Teeradej, pretty pwease.

Finally, rolling back to @slayerkitty's thoughts on voyeurism: @slayerkitty posited that each episode had a different modality of voyeurism and passive participation in engagement with others, an analysis that I love. (I think that absolutely speaks to the sense of aloofness and disconnect that I continue to get out of Ray and Boston in particular.) @lurkingshan also noted that a lot of the flirtation and sex in the first three episodes have involved cameras, photography, audiences, and so on.

Voyeurism: you're watching something, but you're not necessarily participating IN IT. Your engagement with an event is at arm's length.

I want to think that this, in part, is a continued commentary on the shipped couples acting in this show, and how we're SEEING them continue to break down. We might see a kiss between Khaotung and Book next week. We've seen Neo and Force together now, acting out intimacy. There's something happening between the characters of Sand and Top that will have First and Force interacting. The passive act of expecting the shipped couples to continue to ship -- is that not voyeurism on demand on behalf of the fandom?

I don't want to be passive about this: I actively continue to cheer for the ships to sink. This episode was GREAT, it held a lot, it was complicated and very open-ended, and there's a lot that needs to be explained next week.

(Speaking of next week: I will likely not have OF meta, as I'll be moving. If I do have meta, it'll maybe be stream of consciousness from the depths of my disorganized despair. But I'll be back in action after America's Labor Day -- SUPPORT UNIONS!)

[valerieisunavailable]

Slender Brother Headcanons

These can be varied and everyone has their different opinions, but this is what vibes I get from him so--

Slender:

- Slender is blind. Sort of. While he can’t see you physically, he can see you very clearly with his mind (if that makes sense?) Like he knows where you're at and what your facial expressions are, your movements, etc., but with his mind. But nobody knows this except his brothers. (I also think this would be interesting for fanfics too)

- He does change his ties from time to time, but he rarely ever does it hardly anyone notices. He also has different colored suits, grey and dark dark blue (to wear it almost looks black). But only wears them on occasion.

- I feel like while yes, he does speak English, he can also speak Slavic languages too. (Oh to hear him speaking Russian, truly my favorite language. прекрасный. I also think it’s hilarious that people have added that he can speak German because of him constantly working and getting things done.)

- While he may seem cold-hearted, that’s not entirely the case. While he may think that he’s superior humans for obvious reasons, this doesn’t mean he necessarily despises them. Humans have done a lot of awful things, but have also made a lot of great accomplishments. They’re very creative and wise and have made various arts and literatures, And how can a bookworm hate the authors? Many of his pastas have suggested ideas to him about a multitude of things that have surprised him and consider other options.

- He has a caseload of all the pastas. Their backstory, mental illnesses, etc. He keeps this in mind always, even adding personal notes of how they respond in certain situations and ways to modify their behaviors if need be.

- If your ever finding feelings for him, trust me, he already knew before you thought of ways to show your affection or appreciation. He’s just waiting to see what things you’ll come up with, rather he’s interested or not. Your doing tons of research on his species and general and getting into chemicals naturally in the body and how their brains and organs work. But Offender is already helping you with that because he thinks it’s funny and wondering if you can actually pull it off. Trender is in the background criticizing both of you.

Splendor:

- Splendor is the way he is because he had more attachment to his mom. The others were ridiculed and tried to be forced into the mold their father were giving them. But his father seemed to give up rather early on Splendor for being too light-hearted. This also explains his rather child-like behavior. But Slender especially was forced into the mold to become successful. That doesn’t mean he isn’t jealous or doesn’t feel guilty at times. Whenever their father does come over, while he still complains at Slender, he mostly compliments him and says to him and the others that they should have done better and that they’re an embarrassment to the family name. This has lead up to multiple family fights and Offender and Trender standing up for Splendor when it does happen.

- Despite him acting happy, he is very insecure and causes him to very poorly bottle up his emotions. He tries to do what is expected of him but it never works out. He stands out more than anything and he’ll often isolate himself.

- Splendor is more lenient on humans because of how empathetic he is. Especially with getting to know some of the pastas’ backstories, he feels deeply connected with them because of what he’s been through, and what they’ve been through are as bad if not worse than what he’s had to deal with.

- Even though he generally wears the multi-color polka dotted suit and hat, that is not all that’s in his wardrobe. Oh no. He has the flamboyant hot-pink suit, he has purple suits, red suits, suits of all colors and suits with different polka-dot patterns. Not to count the amount of props and accessories he has for the suits alone-- I’m talking stop-watch clocks and everything.

- This man is also so fucking oblivious. Compliment all you want, but if your trying to show that your actually falling for the doofus, your going to have to be WAY more flirty than that. Why do you think Offender has all these extravagant ways to embarrass him? Because what your doing didn’t work for him in the first place.

Trender:

- Remember this dude is canonically gay. But that doesn’t necessarily mean he would be the dom in the situation either. While his general attitude is very intimidating, during sexual things he’s the more submissive guy. But that doesn’t me he won’t still complain or argue about things ya’ll should. And don’t think he isn’t kinky either. Some things I imagine him saying lol:

“In that position? Really? No offense, but I thought you’d be more creative.”

“Could you maybe go a little bit faster? Seriously this is kind of embarrassing.”

“ No no NO WRONG HOLE WRONG--” (They have more than two *wink*)

Then there’s just the random thoughts during intercourse:

“Do you think Kylie Jenner ever did it like this?”

“What kind of things would you think the Kardashians are into?”

- While he’s big in fashion design and will wear extravagant clothes from time to time, he does prefer more simple and cozy styles of clothing. Sometimes he likes to sit back and relax with some coffee too, you know.

- Catches onto things that others might not. These can be things that are very obvious to things that are complex and easy to miss.

- Despite being a fashion designer, he is afraid of needles. And tattoos. Anything with needles.

Offender:

- Acts like he doesn't care. He does.

- Despite being a sex addict and alcoholic, he does try to make those close to him happy.

- Has a bunch of scratch marks from gardening.

- Has, on multiple occasions, tried to get Slender drunk or high by putting things in his coffee or food. It has also, worked on multiple occasions.

- Has had multiple relationships with the pastas. Most of them have failed.

- A male stripper

- Will try any of Trender's outfits, including feminine ones. And any sexy clothes.

[dino--draws]

How to Play Pokemon Without Dishing Out 60 Dollars: a Guide to Pokemon as a TTRPG

I thought this would be a fun thing to do, as I’ve been a part of three ttrpg (D&D eqsue) pokemon campaigns and both use a similar set of rules for how its done (I helped co-create this specific system for how it works to begin with). So this is going to be a long post about the mechanics of running a Pokemon D&D/ttrpg-style campaign!  Since this is going to be one HELL of a long post, I’m putting it below a read more! 

Alrighty, let’s get into this shit! 

First and Foremost 

Resources that will make your life SO MUCH easier:  

https://pokemondb.net/ (Literally going to be your best friend. Use it.)  https://rolladie.net/ (Or any dice-roller website (or actual dice), this is my go to because you can put custom values into it)  https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Main_Page or  https://www.serebii.net/index2.shtml (basically any pokemon wiki that gives you access to item info, shops, areas and maps!)  A calculator of some type, weather digital of physical (you will need this, trust me)

Stats 

Pokemon have... a lot of stats and it involves a lot of numbers, and the aim of this is to reduce the amount of math needed to be done as much as possible. So there are 4 stats that actually matter to us when it comes to this guide, and those stats are:  Health, Defense, Special Defense and Speed You can find all of these specific stats for every pokemon on the Pokemon Database (first link under Resources) 

Speed will determine the turn order during a battle, just as it does in game. This stat remains static no matter the level of the pokemon, and only can change with evolution or an fed item that can increase the base stat in game. 

A pokemon’s base health stat is exactly that, it will be their base health. With each level, a pokemon gains usually 2 HP. To calculate the health of a higher level pokemon you can do the following formula: 

Base Health + 2(Level) 

This will give you the base health of the pokemon. This stat can change with evolution so sometimes a recalculation is required. 

Defense and Special Defense only truly matter if they are HIGHER then the pokemon’s base health. If a pokemon’s base health is lower then one of its defense stats, the defense stat becomes the new base health. This is so that more tanky pokemon retain this.

Leveling Up

The leveling system is also simplified. A pokemon requires only 100 XP to level up each time, making the meter look more like this:

0/100 XP

The XP yield from battles is determined by the DM, just go ham there doesn’t exactly have to be rhyme or reason to it, if you have a plan for the levels of each area/story beat, try to manipulate the XP drops to keep your party on level. 

Wild Encounters and Catching Pokemon 

The Wild Encounter system for this is pretty simple, pokemon have designated areas that wild pokemon spawn in, aka the tall grass. Have your players roll a varying number of d20 (depending on how big the grass patch is) and if they roll a number that is above a 10, they are given an encounter. 

Utilizing one of multiple pokemon wikis, you can find the spawn rates of pokemon within specific areas, usually the pages for the Routes contains this information! From there you can create a table of sorts, and with that table your players can roll a 1d100 to see what exactly their encounter. 

To catch a pokemon, one must, of course, utilize a pokeball. When a pokeball is thrown, the pokemon must do a 1d20 saving throw against the player. If the player rolls higher then the pokemon, then the catch is a success. Modifiers do apply to catch rates. 

If a pokemon’s health is very low, their roll can be subtracted from by a number the DM can determine. If it’s high, their roll can be added to.  Different pokeballs have different modifiers for their catch rate, a great ball can add a +2 modifier, a ultra ball a +5, for example. The DM themselves can determine the modifiers. 

A pokemon’s gender is determined upon capture, for the most part you can just flip a coin for the gender. 

For fun, you can also include a shiny percentile. This can be done by rolling a 1d100. If a player rolls a nat 100 after catching a pokemon, that pokemon is shiny. (The campaigns I’ve played in usually go for 95 or above as shiny) 

Battling 

Alright here’s where a LOT of the math comes into play. Get out your calculator y’all.  As you probably know, all damaging pokemon moves have a Power Level, and this power level will determine the hit-dice (aka the amount of dice you roll for damage) that the move has. The power level functionally becomes the highest amount of damage that the move can do. 

For example, tackle is a 40 power move. This means it would utilize 2d20s as the hit dice. The number from that roll would be the damage.  A 100 power move like Spacial Rend would utilize 5d20s as the hit dice, as 100 damage would be the maximum. 

For the moves a pokemon can learn, utilize the Moveset from the most recent pokemon game. This can also be found on the Pokemon Database. 

Accuracy is usually not calculated for unless it is an intrinsic part of the move, such a Sheer Cold of Guillotine. These moves would require the rolling of a 1d100, and if the number lands within the percent range of the attack’s hit chance, then it lands. (However, if you wish to include accuracy, use a 1d100 and if you roll below the accuracy number, then it hits). If a pokemon is attacking out of battle, and for this example we will use attacking a trainer, they must roll a 1d20 for their aim. The one they are attacking must roll a 1d20 against this attack. If the attacking pokemon rolls higher then the target, they hit and now its time to do the damage calculations. If the target rolls above their attacker, they dodge.  Human character’s HP can be determined by the DM, but 100 HP is always a good number to use. 

Similarly, a moves PP (Powerpoints) are also not calculated for the most part. The only exception it the signature move of a legendary, or one that specifically has a PP level of 5 due to its power. 

Super Effectives and Resistances work as normal. A normal super effective hit does double damage, while a resistance takes half the damage. A quad super effective if 4xs the damage, and a quad resistance is 1/4 the damage. If you don’t feel like memorizing a typing chart, or keeping track of multiple things, resistances can be expunged and only super effectives kept if one needs additional simplification. This is all up to personal preference of the players and DM. 

Mega Evolution increases the health of a pokemon by 25%, and adds a +20 to their damage output. Undergoing mega evolution requires the player trainer to have a keystone, and a corresponding mega stone for their pokemon. 

If one wishes to give their trainers an extra challenge, operate on some of the Nuzlocke rules! You can add extra tension or stakes by making pokemon killable. With these rules, if a pokemon hits 0 HP, they must roll a 1d6 saving throw. If they roll above a 3 they live but are in critical condition and fainted. If they roll below that the pokemon is dead. 

Example of a Pokemon’s Information + Template 

An example of how a pokemon’s information can be set up is as followed: 

Eclipse  Female Charizard (Shiny) Fire-Flying Type Level: 45 (20/100 XP) HP: 168/168 Moves: Flame Burst (3d20, 1d10 burn (fire)), Wing Attack (3d20, (flying)), Fire Fang (3d20, 1d4 for burn (1d6 damage) (fire)), Flamethrower (4d20 + 1d10 (fire)) Ability: Blaze (Increasing fire-type moves power by 50% when below 50% health) 

And here is a blank template for your own use: 

[Nickname] [Species]  [Typing] Level: (0/100 XP)  HP:  Moves: Ability:

The World Around You (NPCs, Shops, Items, the Map)

The use of NPCs (especially trainer NPCs) will really depend on what you’re doing for the campaign’s story. If it is taking place in a pre-existing region, then you can utilize any pokemon wiki to see what trainers are in specific areas, and see their team and moves! You can utilize the multitude of NPCs that exist.  If you’re doing something completely original, or in a fan-region, the DM will have to set up all of the NPCs on their own.  And of course, you can use this to play around with the characterization of pre-existing pokemon characters. Have fun with em! 

Shops and Items are relatively straight forward. You can utilize the prices from the most recent games for items as a way to price them for purchase. (For example, pokeballs across almost all games cost 200 pokedollars) Pokedollars can be given to players are post-battle rewards, quest rewards, or just in general found items (or stolen if you want smh). 

The Map, Route, and World your players explore once again heavily relies upon what your campaign is. If its within a preexisting region, you can access the map and routes from any of the pokemon wikis and work from there. If its a fan-region, then the map and routes can be custom made. And you are always free to add or take away things! You do not have to fully adhere to everything. 

Story, Plot, all that Jazz 

The story and plot is all up to you as a DM! Are you running a campaign that is the same as the plot of one of the pre-existing games? Are you modifying a pre-existing game to change the story? Are you throwing it all to the wind and using your own fan-region and fakemons? Are all your players characters friends about to embark on the gym challenge, only to be swept up in the dark plot of an evil team? Is it a band of guild pokemon going on an adventure Mystery Dungeon style? The sky is the limit! Have fun with it! :D  You are not constrained by much of anything plot wise! You can make it a fun and silly adventure with friends in a fantastical world, or it a dark and tragic tale full of bloodshed and perseverance through world-ending catastrophe. Or like... both.  Both is good too.  

And that, everyone, is how you play pokemon with friends without actually buying a pokemon game! And hey, this time its multiplayer! 

If you have ANY questions, hit me up and I’ll be happy to answer you! 

[tangled-wires-and-a-dead-heart]

for SH asks (your questions are fun I enjoy them lol) - 12, 13, 14, 19?

Here you go! (Warning this is a bit long, especially on 13 lol)

12. What's your favorite ship(s)? What's your least favorite ship(s)?

In general my favorite ships that don't include the MC are Stabby (stella x Tabitha) and kaneeka x Reese (in a world where the mc isn't romancing either party)

My favorite ships that include the MC are Andy (my mystical/keen eye MC) x Avery and Raymond (my powerful build/street smart MC) x Kaneeka!

I don't really think that I have any least favorite ships? (Unless you want to include any incest ships- which yeah- I really don't like)

13. What's your favorite non romantic relationship in the game? (Friendship, family, ect)

I love the bond between you and Tabitha, I particularly like it when the MC has a good relationship with Tabitha, but having a strained/tense/negative relationship with Tabitha can be just as interesting!

Pastor Daniel’s whole family unit is also very funny and sweet, Daniel's “firm parenting moment” with tulip is actually hilarious, overhearing janey and tulip’s conversation about the MC at the diner during ep 1 is also hilarious, and Daniel and Janey really seem to love each other a lot, it's so cute!

This is a more “me exclusive” thing but I enjoy the dynamics that all of my MCs have with Wayne, which aren't necessarily positive? None of my MCs really have a good relationship with Wayne, in my eyes they all sort of fall on a spectrum where one end of that spectrum is complete avoidance (Eleanor and Andy) and the other end is very adversarial. (Wesley (although his relationship with Wayne leans slightly positive(?) and Raymond)

Eleanor really hates Wayne, he scares her out and she doesn't want to be anywhere near him, and she basically takes any chance she can to try and run away from him, as she does with any of her problems(to varying levels of success). By the end of episode 4 I think that she's realized that she can't just keep running away from things that scare her and that she really can't run away from Wayne, so she's just resigned herself to hating him in silence.

Andy has (by virtue of always being near Tabitha) had the least amount of interaction with Wayne and that is just fine by them. They don't hate Wayne, Andy doesn't have it in their heart to actively be putting their energy into hating someone, but that doesn't mean that Andy would want to be all budy budy with Wayne (cause they don't). Andy doesn't agree with a lot of the things that Wayne thinks and does, they have fundamentally different values from Wayne so the two don't really mesh that well. Andy doesn't really try to talk with Wayne that much, and doesn't want to.

Wesley is very similar to Andy in his original dealings with Wayne, but Wesley has far much more bite than Andy does, so (like he does with almost anyone that he has a problem with) he isn't afraid of speaking his mind about all of his feelings about Wayne. But Wesley also has a bit of a strange curiosity when it comes to Wayne, like, what is he? Why is he here? Why is he following him? Some random lawyer that (up until his visit to Scarlet Hollow) had never done anything interesting with his life ever? He's like “I want to know this strange man's secrets” “what does he know?” (Wesley and wayne actually tend to have similar mannerisms and thought patterns, if circumstances were different, wesley might actually "get along" with Wayne (in the way that he gets along with anyone who doesn't completely annoy him, which is only somewhat friendly acquaintances at best. Wesley is not a social guy.))

Raymond is well…he's Raymond y'know? He's a pretty commanding presence that (up until now) had rarely found anyone that could match him, let alone utterly surpass him, in anything and now a literal corpse is up and doing all of that and more. So it's safe to say that he's a bit razzled by all of this. (He's never actually encountered a problem that couldn't just be solved by punching before so yeah- he's pretty razzled up by all of this) He also doesn't appreciate how secretive Wayne's being about everything? Like, Raymond knows when someone's holding out on him- and Wayne clearly knows more than he's letting on. Ray doesn't like people pulling on his chain and he would much rather that they be open and honest, not purposely holding back because it's “not time yet” or whatever. Up until ep 4, Raymond acts very punchy and fighty towards Wayne. After ep 4 and Raymond's finally had a chance to actually hit Wayne and realizing that he really can't hurt him, he's just a bit tired of it, he'll probably get back to business as usual when he's had rest, but for the few minutes that it took Wayne to walk him back to the estate, Raymond was (kind of) chill with Wayne.

14. Any predictions/theories you have about future episodes?

I think that a lot of my theories about the future episodes are ones that are generally shared with a lot of other people in the fandom. I’ve realized that I don't really have a lot of original thoughts lol.

I think that one of my better thoughts is that Big Betty (Duke and Bo’s pumpkin) is probably some kind of plant monster and that Julius (probably) didn't steal her (because how does one man carry off a 2,000 lb pumpkin by himself? Julius is clearly stated as being a very weak fellow, and an MC with PB can even mention how whoever managed to make off with a 2,000 lb pumpkin must've been super strong- which clearly doesn't match up with Julius.)

A more, slightly out there(?), thought that I have is that maybe the missing Alexandra Scarlet (pretty sure that's her name?) got taken by the “rats” infecting the church for some purpose or reason, and now that she can't do whatever they want, they want another kid who can, which is why they keep trying to temp tulip out into the forest (probably to where the “rats” live/gather).

(A situation that is very similar to the book “Took: a ghost story”, in which a witch encourages little girls to abandon their families in order to go and “live with her” in the woods (aka: being her maid/servant). The witch keeps the girl for fifty years, and then she lets the girl go and finds another one that's "new" and can work better/harder)

Don't know how probable this little theory is, but yeah!

19. What is/are your favorite scene(s) in the game?

As stated before, I love the whole haunting scene at Oscars house in episode 3! The whole thing is so creepy and cool!

Tabitha giving up her years to the ghost instead of you if you have a close enough bond with her is just great, it's both really sad and really sweet that she's willing to do that for you if you're close enough with her.

I also love the hangouts with the love interests (+Tabitha) in episode 3 as well! My favorite ones out of them are kaneeka's, Avery’s, and Tabitha's!

The romance lock in-s with kaneeka and Stella are really nice as well, I find them very cute!

I also love the little ice cream social that you have with Tabitha at the end of episode 4! It's just so sweet to see Tabitha and the MC getting along and being friends!!

[rosasappho]

as someone who is almost done uhhhh only friends is “good” if you liked the messiness of the kinnporsche relationships (aka kinn cheating and/or the general messiness of exes getting involved or whatever). the show has like. no plot whatsoever it’s basically just three couple groups that keep cheating on each other with another person in the group (though if you’re boston, you just cheat with whoever).

like kinnporsche it mildly touches on serious topics but then plays it off despite it being interesting? the main appeal of the whole show to me is sand and ray. the actors have pretty good chemistry, ray’s storyline is interesting (although the seriousness of his addiction wavers which i hate), sand is like genuinely one of the only likeable characters since he does like the least amount of cheating and is actually honest.

but if you wanna see guys get shirtless for no reason and cheat on each other with varying levels of success, this show is for you!

[dadumtss]

Slenderman Headcanons: Jobs

What do the Slender Brothers do in the AU?

I realize I went over Willow’s job in a previous post but didn’t mention what any of the brothers do. Well, let’s remedy that. TLDR at the bottom. 

Slenderman

Because of Slender’s role as the leader of The Revolution, he naturally took on a leadership role in both building and eventually governing the resulting cryptid society. 

Currently he is in the highest position of government. Or rather, he is the highest position of government.

Every branch or body of the government ultimately answers to him. He can undo any law, override any ruling and reject any vote. However, he rarely does this. Not only is it tiring and inefficient, it’s also bad for morale and societal cohesion. 

Instead, he mostly deals with things at the highest level. The more ‘important’ the governing body the more scrutiny and oversight they receive from him. For example, the military is almost entirely under his control while any law passed by anything larger than most cities just needs to be signed off by him and the decisions of your village council probably won’t even make it to his desk.  

He’s often playing the diplomat instead of the dictator, preferring that others work things out instead of relying on him for every decision since he’s well aware that he doesn’t have the capacity or patience to micromanage things on such a large scale. 

Offenderman

Offender has many clubs of varying types that he owns and oversees personally. They’re all regarded as the best entertainment spots anywhere when it comes to staff, drinks, food, music and (most importantly) fun! As a result they’re also the most exclusive. Differing spots have differing levels of exclusivity but even the most ‘open’ location often has a waiting list and a line down the block of people hoping that a spot will open up.  

These clubs are wildly successful and the money they bring in would set anyone up for life, but they’re actually not where Offender gets most of his money or what he considers his job.

His considers his actual job to be an investor. He takes businesses that he thinks are / would be fun and helps them with anything they might need - from funds to advertising to a little leeway with the law - in return for ‘partial’ ownership.

Nearly every place that deals in entertainment in any form has called in a favor from Offender at some point and in return he gets whatever he wants from them. Usually its just money and the ability to use their services whenever he wants. But for those places he really likes, he takes a more hands-on approach, often taking over in all but name and adding things things like private rooms only he can access or extra services for himself.   

You see, Offender’s ‘investment’ job is a selfish endeavor only designed to ensure that he has access to things that will fuel his hedonistic lifestyle. He isn’t in it for the money or power but for the ability to have fun in as many ways as possible.

As a result of the vast network of businesses he has under his thumb, Offender makes a great spy and informant. He often works with Slender in return for help with any... difficulties he may have with the law. 

Trenderman

Trender is a designer through and through. 

He deals primarily in fashion but that’s certainly not where his talents end. He does makeup, architectural design, interior design, furniture, photography, and more. And thus, his business does all of that too, and does it the best. 

It’s one of the most well known and best regarded businesses out there. It is the name in design and everything they do is regarded as gospel in defining what looks good. Having anything designed by his business is a status symbol and doesn’t come cheap, both because of their name AND because of the extremely high quality and amount of work that goes into each piece. And that doesn’t even mention things done by Trender personally.  

Trender is a god in the design world and a bit of a celebrity outside it to those that care even remotely about fashion or design. The rich, the powerful and the famous beg him to create even one outfit for them, his photographs and collections are sought after by museums and if he’s seen wearing anything from another business their stocks and revenue soar.

Trender doesn’t particularly care about fame or money, however. He’s honestly just in it for his love of design. He knows he’s good at what he does and he doesn’t need validation based on his bank account or the status of the person he designs for. 

He’ll personally only take clients based on how ‘inspired’ he feels by their request no matter what they offer him. He’s also refuses to stay stagnant, always looking for new inspirations, styles and upcoming trends and he makes sure to keep up to date with the releases of even the smallest designers.   

Splendorman

Slendor’s always been fascinated with non-combat magic and his vast natural talents made him extremely useful in both magic research and policy. While he may not be able to perform some types of magic himself (for example, as those exclusive to other cryptid races or that otherwise aren’t compatible with slenderbeings) his instinctual understandings of the structure behind them and his ability to see where it could backfire or be applied elsewhere was extraordinary. 

At the behest of his brother Slender and on the recommendation of their father, Splendor worked with the government on magic research. In the beginning, when cryptid society was still being built, much of his work centered around generalizing existing magic used by one cryptid race so it can be useful to the broader population, but by the end he was helping with everything from developing new spells to advising on what magic should be used for what crisis or whether its a good or bad idea to allow or deny the use of this particular magic, or even just being called out to a random location because “we found this obviously magic thing, what does it do and is it dangerous?”

The job was also extremely academically rigorous in ways Splendor found challenging, with the other researchers wanting details on mechanisms and facts and figures while oftentimes all Splendor had for them was “well that’s the way the magic feels.”  

He was relieved when he left. And honestly, by the time he quit he was confident that the magical research division had developed to a point where it was just as capable without him there as it was with him there. Though, he is still ‘on call’ if they feel they need him.

Nowadays he has a pastry and confectionary business that he loves and is very successful. While the paperwork and logistics can be a bit tedious, he loves experimenting by trying out new recipes for new products. He also may or may not use magic in the making of these sweets. Trade secret.      

_______________________________________________________________ 

TLDR: 

Slender: Leader of the free world

Offender: Club owner and shady investor

Trender: Designer 

Splendor: Owner of a business making confectionaries and pastries 

[frozen-fountain]

Weird Questions for Writers

…All.

Alright, everyone else go home, I guess. I'll be doing this in stages over the next couple of days because, as much as I enjoy talking about myself, I do still have to write this afternoon. Thank you!

What font do you write in? Do you actually care or is that just the default setting?

Basic Times New Roman, more out of familiarity than anything. I keep meaning to try the Comic Sans trick that supposedly makes it easier to focus, but I don't know if I can bear to look at that all day.

2. If you had to give up your keyboard and write your stories exclusively by hand, could you do it? If you already write everything by hand, a) are you a wizard and b) pen or pencil?

I don't relish the thought of those wrist cramps, but yes, I think I would. I can't stand the thought of just keeping it all in my own head.

3. What is your writing ritual and why is it cursed?

I usually end up doing it early afternoon, after lunch and a few minutes of pacing or stretching to clear my head. I'll also play with my cat for a while beforehand, as if he's tired from being a fearsome hunter he's less likely to get up on the clackboard to help me (results may vary). Then I procure something to drink, pick out something to listen to, and freewrite some word association for a bit if I'm not in the right headspace.

While I have a vague goal in mind for where I'd like to write up to, these days, I only make myself do a single sentence per day. It's usually much more than that, but just that sentence absolutely has to happen every single day if it's really all I can manage. When I'm done, I try to leave at a point I'm actively excited to get back to and have a clear picture, so it's easier to pick up the next day. Usually I jot down a few notes to help.

It's cursed because a lot of the music I enjoy probably is, and because the aforementioned notes have sometimes been things like "toilet paper" or "[character] on her Caravaggio bullshit" and I'm left just sitting there trying to work out what any of this was in reference to, or why Past Froze thought it was going to be helpful.

4. What’s a word that makes you go absolutely feral?

Susurrus. I try to limit it to one use per story, and maybe one per chapter if I'm feeling extra indulgent.

5. Do you have any writing superstitions? What are they and why are they 100% true?

Not a superstition I actively believe, but every time I think a fic might do well it's met with silence, whereas the ones I assume are for me and an audience of three end up performing way better than expected. I don't judge success on external factors and will write what I want to say regardless, but it's a nice reminder that whatever niche oddness you're cooking up might have more of an audience than you realise.

6. What is your darkest fear about writing?

It's more a fear about myself, which is that my ability or lack thereof to execute an idea doesn't matter, because what I have to say in the first place is of no interest or value whatsoever and no amount of minutely crafted phrasing can change that. (Needless to say, I would never think this of another person, no matter what they were trying to tell me.)

7. What is your deepest joy about writing?

That I do it anyway. That, regardless of how it does or doesn't impact on the world outside of me, I experienced something that made me feel strongly enough to take the time to attempt to recreate it in words. And when, after minutes that feel like hours of agonising over which words to use, I find some that hit the exact resonance and well of allusion I was hoping for? It's about the most accomplished I've ever felt.

8. If you had to write an entire story without either action or dialogue, which would you choose and how would it go?

I'd choose the all-dialogue option because that would be a bigger challenge for me, and also because I have a great model for how to do it in The Fall by Camus. So I'd reread that and pick apart how it was done in a way that worked; I can picture the setting of the novel so clearly even though it's only described in ways that feel naturalistic for characters who are walking through it. I'm guessing this would remain a shorter piece, and I'd have a specific reason for zooming in so completely on what's being said to the exclusion of all else, and I think this would be a great medium for an unreliable narrator. The negative space around what isn't said would have to be as intrinsic a part of the story as anything that makes it onto the page. I think it'd be a really interesting experiment, some time.

9. Do you believe in ghosts? This isn’t about writing I just wanna know

I believe many, many people have experienced things we currently (and most certainly always will) lack the scientific method to understand and quantify. I'm about ninety percent sure I had a premonition once. I also believe what we say and do resonates, in ways that are hard to track and trace, beyond the moment where they occur. I'm not sure whether this means I believe there's a non-corporeal part of us all that lingers after the physical body reaches its planned obsolescence, and that sometimes this remnant is able to reach out and touch the living from time to time, but it's something.

10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?

At least a fragment of everything I've ever read or written lives under my skin. Even if I hated it or even if I can't remember anything about it besides that splinter that stood out the most. All I've lived - and not lived, especially when I might have had the chance to - is waiting over my shoulder and following me along the corridor, whether as a warning or a tormentor or a guide.

[pertinax--loculos]

Update

Writing So, I'm back on Psyche Shards, primarily because I was trotting along writing down ideas for a new WIP inspired by some media I've been consuming, and I was halfway through that when I stopped and went, 'wait... I already have a lot of these plot-points in a previous WIP'. So I guess that's an advantage of having a gratuitous amount of WIPs? When you get a new idea there's a whole plethora of already-existing stories into which you can incorporate the new ideas?

I'm also giving zero drafting a try. This came about because of my tendency to 'write' things in my head when I'm trying to sleep, which is something I've always done. In the past I've then got up the next day and tried to write the scenes, with varying levels of success (sometimes they're really good! Sometimes I lose a lot of it. Sometimes I'll think up like four 3k+ scenes the night before and by the time I've written one I'm out of brain-juice for the others); and that final point in the brackets is why I started zero drafting. I also haven't written in a while so the words weren't really coming, so I just went fuck it, let's just basically dot-point what I remember and that's how I got down the meat of three scenes in 4k words. It's actually a fun time! I don't have to worry about word choice, if I can't think of a response or a witty remark I just write 'he says something witty here', and if I haven't thought up the end of a scene I can just skip to the next one.

(Yes, I'm aware the above is exactly why people champion the idea of zero drafts in the first place. Sometimes you just have to do something to understand it. 😆)

So yeah, I'm having fun with it! I've now written about 6.5k in the last four-ish days, after months of writing nothing. The plot and structure of this WIP is still hell on earth, but again, the advantage of zero drafting is I can flick through everything quite quickly and see how it shapes up and how that influences the choices the characters make and how everything turns out. Plus, it's a lot less effort to put in the scrap pile if I need to get rid of scenes, etc etc.

In semi-related news, I'm hoping to start getting more active with tags, asks, reblogs, all that good interaction-y stuff. So if you see me answering an ask or a tag from millennia ago, that's why. 😅 We'll see how we go with all the Life things (see below), but that is the plan!

Life So, I've officially dropped back to a single degree, which I did late enough into the semester that I can't pick up units, so I'm on a part-time workload for this semester. Which is good because I'm hoping it will mean I have more time to write and get back into the community. ^_^

In saying that, I've also applied for two jobs recently; #1, which is exceptionally unlikely I'll get very far, and #2, where I've reached stage 3/5 of the (lengthy, competitive) application process. So if either of those go anywhere I'll obviously need to rethink things.

But generally, with any luck this semester will bring more time to write and a lot less stress. :D

I hope everybody is going well! If you've made it this far congrats. <3 If you wanna pop in and let me know how you're going, feel free! I've been lurking on and off over the last few months or so, but I'd love to catch up with what everybody's doing. ^_^

[scribeoffate]

not tagged, shamelessly stealing this game

Rules:

post the top 5 works you’re most proud of that you released in 2022 (not necessarily your most popular)

your top 4 current WIPs that you’re excited to release in the new year

your top 3 biggest improvements in your writing (or art) over the past year

your top 2 resolutions (ways you wish to improve your writing/blog) for the new year,

and your number 1 favorite line you’ve written this year!

Top Five Works:

1 Daily Scott Rec Blog

This a rec blog where I rec one Scott fic per day. I have read things I might never have, encouraged writers and artists and commenters. It's just a nice place. And I kid you not, I legit cried when I was queuing Dec. 31st's post. For a person who has been so good at... not finishing things, I am so proud of this.

2 Scottuary Set (ratings vary from G-E)

My first set of scottuary fics. 13 fics all with a significant amount of effort by myself and @spikeface combining the prompts to fill out an entire card. I was so thrilled when I got that blackout. And I am really proud of every single one of those stories.

3 Deucalion's Progeny (e, dark fic, noncon)

This is the fic that probably really got me back into writing. I did it for nano 2021 and spent a lot of 2022 finishing it. It's incredibly self-indulgent and I really just let myself indulge of my dark little urges for it. It's also truedemon. I'm so close to finishing it, tbh. But I am still proud of it even if it isn't done.

4 Amplification (e, darkfic, noncon)

This was the first wip I have posted before completion in decades. I was Very Concern that it would join many from the past as "never completed forever". But I did finish it. And I really liked how it turned out.

5 Scott/Multishipping Edit

I think this shows a lot of what I have learned re: editing this year. I also love how many different pairings I managed to get. I have plans to make another with just as many *different* pairings. Scott should be the fandom bike and I am so happy to show everyone why.

Honorable mention: Scott/Nemeton edit

Listen. I spent so much time on this crack edit you don't even know. And it makes me laugh every single time.

Top 3 Improvements in your writing:

1- Confidence. I know have a lot more confidence in my abilities and ideas than I did before the beginning of last year.

2- Learning to work with a beta reader and really use constructive feedback to make something good Extra good

3-Writing a fic about someone who isn't the POV character and finding that balance. I would point to my Noshiko and Scott, Boyd and Scott and Satomi and Kira fics as fics where I felt like I really learned a lot about find that. It's challenging but so rewarding.

Top 2 resolutions

1 - quit measuring the success of my writing by kudos, especially as compared to others. it's not super reasonable in general, and so much worse in this fandom

2- work with helping other writers, possibly by beta reading. understanding i can offer valuable insight even if I'm not the best at spelling and grammar help

Top Five WIPs:

Truedemon long fic, 50k+ of Scott goes with the alpha pack

Explicit Scottuary Bingos: scaleo, scott/nemeton ft: polypack agenda, sciles holidays, scallison and scott/ethan, lydia/jackson, lydia/scott, jackson/scott

Rafael and Scott casefic basically

Maybe Satomi fic if I can get myself motivated

Edit! I forgot to answer: and your number 1 favorite line you’ve written this year!

Which, to be fair, is a completely impossible question to answer. I love a lot of the lines I wrote this year. But I haven't had the opportunity to brag about the summary for my scira fic:

for your pleasure (e, consensual) : Or: Kira sells her husband to his former enemies for his (and her) pleasure. (And charity.)

Fortunately or unfortunately for you guys, I think I'm hilarious. This summary never fails to make me smile. And the fic is p hot porn, too. Very loving. <3 (For real, actually.)

I tag with no pressure: @spikeface, @momentofmemory, @scintalla, @letthestorieslive, @azraeldoesnotdispute, @rhyslahey, @domesticated-feral, @nacreousgore, @slumop, @slice-of-magenta

and anyone else who wants to do it. steal it like did! it's fun

[oreganosbaby]

I just remembered, that thing you said about Shiv not seeing men and women as meaningfully distinct from one another in terms of how she would romantically pursue them reminds me of why I've never quite been able to get behind the idea of her just being a comphet lesbian. Also I find the thought of her being kind of a shameless pig not worried about some internalized male gaze pretty funny. Skeevy asshole women representation ❤️

ok yeah there like, she doesn't have the internalised male gaze (not that she isn't at all aware of how she's like perceived physically) and obviously, roman definitely does. i really do think people can't wrap their heads around that because it's so inverse from the norm.

i wouldn't call her a pig, even affectionately but, i'd say that y'know... fucking is all business and she goes for what she wants with varying success. it's not necessarily done out of some kind of hedonistic appetite which is what I see as being "pig"-like. like, she's not very licentious or anything like that. it is about domination and control, though. like, she only cheated on tom with two different and incredibly pathetic guys, one of which was a one-night stand with an actor. so, i don't really see her as having as much sex as maybe roman claims she does and i'd say the same about how shiv talks about kendall. neither of them really have an exceptional amount of sex, casual or otherwise. i wouldn't say, however, that shiv and roman's respective remarks are made out of envy or whatever. shiv claims kendall's "addicted" to relationships and sex and really, she's just trying to pathologise his general need to be liked. it's not about how much sex he actually has, it's just that he's so obvious about this to the point where she reads this as mentally ill because to them, overt expression of emotions is mental illness. roman's comments are interesting because i'm not entirely sure how he understands shiv's sexuality and y'know, fair enough because i don't think he wants to think of her sexuality in earnest but, i do think it stems from this need to cast her as "just as fucked up as [he is]." i don't think he sees her as a "slut" either because that (and similar words) mean something very specific to them. it's uh, complicated in a way that i can't really articulate now lol.

[saltyenthusiastpizza]

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[quahogchowda-blog]

Update... Omgosh... My whole house smells so good right now... Once the rolls finished rising... I brushed with egg... Sprinkled with more cheese... Added a few extra slices of Jalapenos to each roll... Soooo soft and yummy... I would say this is a success... Not quite spicy enough for me though... Next time I'll use some Habanero's too. But still very good. I really love the crispy cheesy bottoms. I will type up the recipe and add it later... 😍

Recipe added....

1.75 cups warm water

6 T. Whipping cream powder

2 eggs

.5 cup sugar

8 cups white flour

1 cup wheat flour

3 teaspoons yeast

1 1/3 cup sourdough starter

2 teas salt

1 cup butter

Note: I do not pack my flour tight into the cup. Liquid measurements can vary depending upon the thickness of your starter and the actual weight of your flour. But then again this is what makes us rebels. Lol. No scale.

Also: I warm my flour up before use. 1.5 minutes in the microwave... stirring every 30 seconds. Trust me this helps a lot where proof time is concerned. Especially when your house is cold like mine.

Mix all ingredients except the salt and butter. I used KitchenAid. I used the low setting #1 just until most of the flour is incorporated and #2 for approx 8 minutes. Until mixed well and no longer sticking to sides of bowl. Please KNOW that this is a LOT of dough. Borderline toooo much for the KitchenAid. But I always make it work by stopping and pushing dough back down often.

Add salt then mix for another minute or 2.

Add butter and mix until completely incorporated.

Note: The dough will be VERY soft and tacky... but should not be too gooey and too sticky. It should hold its shape a bit when you dump it out of the bowl.

I dump the dough out onto oiled counter and cut in half.

Knead each half briefly just to form into nice balls. Place each into an oiled bowl. Cover and let rest 1 hour or until doubled.

Roll into logs and place in loaf pans. I used 1 extra large 1000 gram pan. But this would make 2 - 1000 gram loaves or 4 regular sized loaves without a problem. Allow to rise again until at least doubled. This took about 50 minutes.

Score top if you choose. I did one long slit down the center.

Preheat oven to 425°. Place loaf pan in oven. Immediately turn heat down to 375° I baked this one large loaf for 46 minutes. I am not quite sure how long it would take to cook a regular size loaf.

I baked until bread registered 206°.

Note: if you do not have whipping cream powder or powdered milk replace the water using whatever milk you have. Whether it's cow milk... goat milk etc... 😍

For the Jalapeno Cheese rolls...

I used 1/2 of this batch of dough... Patted it into a rough rectangle shape approximately a half an inch thick. Divided into 12 pieces... Sprinkled liberally with jalapeno chunks and shredded cheese. I used three large deseeded jalapenos... but I have no idea the amount of cheese. Formed into balls. Placed on parchment covered baking sheet equally spaced. Let rise for at least an hour. Was probably a bit longer because I had my loaf of bread baking and I had to wait for that to be done. Brushed with scrambled raw egg. Sprinkled with more cheese and added a few slices of Jalapenos on top. Baked at 350° for approx 35 minutes. Final temp of baked roll was 208°.

[stumblngrumbl]

i have about an acre of severely overground land - so thickly grown over that you literally can't walk through it, and before the main fence went around it even the deer didn't walk through it but went around it. it's like a jungle with vines (blackberry & poison oak), a few types of brush and a few different species of trees. it needs to be cleared - or at least majorly thinned - because as it is it's a huge fire danger during the very dry summer we get here.

i've tried just cutting the trees that i could reach, and that works great for pines - cut it and done. oaks however sprout zillions of shoots from the stump if you cut them (you have just coppiced the tree). that's fine if you're just trying to reduce height but it's actually counter to the goal of reducing fire danger as the shoots are even more vulnerable to fire than before.

unfortunately, pulling the trees which is the alternative has always been very difficult; i've tried pushing them over with the tractor but they usually just break, and pulling them out with the tractor works if they're small but once they're more than two inches thick they tend to hold on too well, and you really need to pull up and the tractor can only do so much of that. the ground here most of the time is super hard - only when it's been raining a fair amount does stuff soften up.

so last year i decided to make something to help in pulling trees - called it the "A-frame" for soon-to-be obvious reason. it worked pretty well if the soil was moist as the ground is looser then, but i was severely traction-limited and really not able to pull much more out as the tractor tires slipped in the moist soil.

well a couple months ago i picked up a winch for the truck, and i figured i'd give the A-frame a try with the winch - not that the winch can actually pull harder than the tractor, but i can actually anchor the truck to a big tree and then use the winch to pull without losing traction - the tractor pulls by moving so it can't actually be anchored.

so today was the day to try the A-frame:

the experiment was a success -- i had tried to pull this post out with the tractor, and it just wasn't budging. i could've broken it off at the bottom*, but it definitely wasn't coming out of the ground especially with that huge clod of concrete at the bottom.

so what's the idea here, how's it work?

it's called "mechanical advantage"; basically the idea is to use something that essentially multiplies your pulling force. think of levers - given a long enough lever, and a fulcrum, and you can move the world (so said Archimedes); pulleys also work by multiplying pulling forces.

how this mechanism works is that when you tip the A-frame, the line pulling it shortens a lot more than the line from the A-frame to the post - in fact, for every inch the post gets pulled up, the main line going to the truck gets pulled almost six inches; this means that there's almost a 6:1 mechanical advantage, and one pound of effort on the winch line results in six pounds at the post:

(there's some minor trig involved in getting the decimal numbers)

(the mechanical advantage varies as the angles change - the advantage is highest right at the beginning and as the A-frame tips it reduces; the advantage also varies with how close the A-frame is to the post and how far it is to the winch.)

of course the primary thing for my purpose is that the truck can be stationary while pulling (as it's powering the winch); more to the point it can be anchored. in this demonstration case with the fence post, it wasn't actually anchored and during the pull it actually got pulled slightly towards the post, but i could've anchored it if needed.

after the test, i decided to go to my jungle space and clear some minor brush so that i could actually access a tree to try the A-frame on.

as it happens, the soil conditions were perfect today, and before i knew it i had pushed over an oak tree by accident as i was pushing through some brush - usually they stop the tractor! it had been pushed with ridiculously little effort and in all i made a HUGE mess in just ten minutes which will take me a week to make into piles that can be set aside to chip or dry for burning ... so tomorrow i'll probably try the A-frame on a much larger tree than i'd ever expected to pull.

[*: i hadn't realized just how much concrete was at the bottom of that post and so i'm probably going to cut the post off above the concrete and then shove the rest of it back into the ground; it's right next to a drive going to the barn so it won't be a long-term problem having concrete in the ground there]