#i really wanna play her more in a ttrpg :(

[tilthedayidice]

I've posted a mini i had made in Hero Forge of this character a few years ago, But this is Despiria my Tiefling Bard that I played IRL.

She never got to finish her campaign (also took place in the forgotten realms) so she's getting to do her adventure in bg3 :)

There are a lot of mods here so if you wanna know any let me know in the replies and I'll list the cosmetics I used!

[blujayonthewing]

with his campaign most likely never actually picking up felix exists only as a mental chew toy for me and as someone for mel to kiss

[mr-laveau]

People don't take audio RP seriously and I have opinions about it

I can't find the original post but the gist is a discussion on how people don't treat Audio RP as a serious medium of media and story-telling which I agree with. People don't. To mark it with a disclaimer tho-I don't inherently disagree with that post, I thought there were some valid points brought but I wanted to throw my hat in the ring as a VA and as a person who consumed a lot of Audio RP content and still does to this day (I just don't got a lot of time to be a fan and a creator whilst working a job) so here it is, my opinions on why people don't take this seriously and bi-products of that.

To start, I wanna say that Audio RP to me specifically is by its nature very collaborative because I as a VA and writer have to make my character appealing whilst also understanding my audience and what their appeal to my characters are*. It's kinda why I think Erik and the Redacted fandom have such different views on characters and the story-Erik does not have much of a connection with his audience (not hate, just a fact) so things tend to feel flat in some areas versus others-my point however is that I genuinely believe that if you want to make Audio RP, you have to actually understand your audience a little bit, which creates a good segway to my first point.

*if someone doesn't like your character, this isn't to say you're not doing a good job, it just means that people have preferences and their preferences do not align with your character.

Firstly, not a lot of VAs understand the RP(Role Play) part of Audio RP, and it shows. I think a lot of people who make content in this sphere don't take into account the person who's listening to their audios and following along. I'm not going to pretend I know about this but I am going to say that it shows sometimes when you don't understand the core of your audience and it causes people to disengage with your audios because you don't take into account who is listening to your audio (which creates problems like audios which are hard to engage with because of a speaker talking too much/too fast to process anything, issues where listeners are treated less like characters and more like ear pieces and problems where the speaker is written more to show them off than to be engaged with a listener). Really and truly the crux of this is in my opinion is that a lot of people who came into Audio RP, seem to have never RPed with another person or are unfamiliar with those spaces (TTRPG, Text-based Roleplay, Fandom Roleplay and the like) and rather saw an audio RP video and just did something like that (not hating, I started because I liked Castle Audios and wanted to be cool like her). That is not only focusing on VAs, that also applies to the audience, some of y'all are new to this and it shows because some of y'all don't know how to act right*

*That being said, some of y'all don't know how to act right and that is because there's no compendium of ettiquette(/j) for how to engage with this media and that is not on y'all. That said, (lovingly) learn to learn to behave like a listener and less like a spectator.

RP is collaborative by nature because you are creating a character with a narrative for another character who engages with said narrative by role-playing together and creating a collaborative story. Half the fun of RP is that it's a process of two people showing off their dolls and having fun. That is not something that can be said a lot about some Audio RP channels because a lot audios do not take into account their listener as a participant in this process (no, this does not mean the audience has explicit rights to the story, let's calm down there(/j). I will add that Audio RP is different given that the listener cannot directly influence the story like traditional roleplays but that does not take away from the fact some VAs and script writers don't think about who is listening and focus too much on who is speaking.

Secondly, a lot of the audience does not know to engage with the medium and that's a hard pill to swallow because it's not their fault but it is also their fault (/lh). Put down the torches and hear me out. I think that a lot of people who interact with Audio RP do not have the best media literacy and I also think this is true for some VAs. Some people who listen to audios don't read enough into audios on more than a surface level view (which makes for people going "teehee, look at that loser listening to people talk") and some people read too much into an audio to the point that it breaks their immersion and they cannot focus on the audio but have to point shit out (this does not mean that you cannot be enthusiastic about lore and info in audios or notice errors in an audio). To solve this, I just have this to say: expand the media you intake and learn to think critically about what you're intaking and how you're intaking it. TLDR; consume media outside of your usual range and think about that media while questioning the media to see how you feel about it rather than have someone tell you about it. This also applies to VAs and Scriptwriters, it makes your work better, this is a fact of life and I need y'all to see that. Love you all so much and the work you put into this community cannot be understated. That said, everyone sometimes shows a lack of media literacy and awareness and it should be known that it's not just the audience.

Finally, Both creators and fans are trying to make the medium something it's not and they need to stop. This isn't to say you cannot advance or experiment with the medium but trying to make it something it is not will mess with the core idea of what it is, you lose people when you try to do X,Y and Z when you ain't even reached A*. A lot of the audience does not understand the limitations of Audio RP and they need to see what can be achieved within the space and what cannot be done. A lot of creators in the space try do too much and while I get the need to push boundaries, there comes a point where you need to reevaluate what you are trying to make and determine how you are going to do that moving forward. That is not to say you can only make a specific brand of audios and anything other than that isn't Audio RP. No cut that shit out, that is being an asshole. You can make whatever Audio RP you want, it just needs to be audio RP. At the end of the day, the goal is to make an audio where the listener feels like they are a part of it. How that looks can differ and that's okay.

*I'm adding onto this by saying that you can experiment with the medium of audio RP, different genres of it are valid (people like what they like) and there is no one way to do Audio RP and anyone who says there is a way is lying to you.

In conclusion, I want to add that a part of the list of reasons people don't take Audio RP seriously (on top of people not respecting VAs, people not being considerate, people treating Audio RP like they do fanfic and people just being people) is because we as a community are all over the place and don't even enage with our own community right and don't know to respect and treat the medium the way it should be. That's all folks!

[ao3-shenanigans]

I have a fanfic related question im struggling with, and figured that this would be the best place to ask. So:

I wanna write fanfiction for a game franchise that may or may not have a super cool animate series that drew me in, but I find myself unable to play the game itself due to hardware issues. However, because of this (and the fact that the game is massive, thus making it an actuall challenge to watch on youtube as its like a good few dozen hours of content) I'm struggling to find ways to properly immerse myself in the setting so I can make my fics as cannon-accurate (aka as believable) as possible. I know timeline videos and the like exist, but in my mind there's a sharp disconnect between being told about something (a faction, a location) and being able to fully absorb and understand the details of it myself. And yet, I really, REALLY wanna write for this fandom. Any tips? In case it helps, the fandom in question is Cyberpunk.

Ah! I have friends in that fandom!

Everyone connects with fandom franchises differently, so to recommend a way to really connect will be difficult. One of my friends loves playing the games, another enjoys hour long video essays and another enjoys forums and discourse

My best suggestion is for you to just write. Write the story you want to tell and allow yourself time and space to fill in details that you want to be accurate later. Accurate is good- but honest and heartfelt in fanfiction is better.

The brackets method works really well for this, for example:

She turned her head twords the towering city skyline. The neon signs advertising [FILL IN ADVERTISEMENT] hurt her eyes.

For a series as massive as Cyberpunk with a game, an anime, AND a ttrpg, anything goes. There are so many cracks and crevices within the world that if you want Militech to go up against the Voodo Boys gang or whatever- it’s totally believable. Additionally, not many people read fanfic for the accuracy, more so the vibes (which I think a few play through clips can provide)

Ultimately, writing for a fandom should be about writing to enjoy yourself - so have fun with it! Allow yourself to not be accurate!

[emilynyaaa]

My pinned post~

Open to suggestions and critisms on how to upgrade this post

Hi, I'm Emily, trans girl, AMAB | Polyamorous, Pansexual/Omnisexual | 20 | She/her/it Anonymous asks has been turned off, but like, if you wanna send something and not have it post tell me (or just dm me instead)

__________________________________________

If you're a minor, you shouldn't be here, this blog will have a lot of hornyposting and 18+ content. That means you either block me, or don't follow me. TERFS, homophobes, fascists, and any other kind of hateful people i haven't mentioned, GTFO __________________________________________

Other than 18+ content, i share random memes, shitposts, cute animals and beautiful art! This blog will have no true continuity or order, I'll share whatever I'm interested in, and whatever i wanna share.

You can ask me anything, and do it anonymously if you prefer.

I am Pansexual/Omnisexual but I'm more interested in women, and feminine people. I can still be attracted to men, but in a less extreme way.

I'm into gaming, ttrpgs, and programmation. I'm also interested in artistic stuff, i like to appreciate. I'm also interested in science.

I'm politically left wing. Workers unite! LGBTQIA+ rights!

__________________________________________

Now, 18+ stuff~

if you don't wanna see that, don't press the keep reading

__________________________________________

Hey there! I'm a really horny tgirl!

Feel free to send to send anything you want in asks and dms!

__________________________________________

Anyways, now kinks~ I'm a submissive, and a bottom (but more of a sub than a bottom, i will service top if I'm in a sub role). I have an extensive kink list~ :

BDSM, bondage, submission, being dominated and given orders, receiving pain, latex and leather, petplay, degradation and praise, exhibitionism, secret public play, chastity, objectification, asphyxiation/breathplay, hypno, cnc, threats of violence (kifeplay/gunplay), watersports, blood, snuff, tentacles, tranformation, furry/scalies/monsters/etc, mild interest in vore. (working list)

stuff in green is more related to porn and hentai

Turn offs

Important to know, i'm not into

scat, detrans, ageplay

If there is something i haven't mentioned, I'm probably fine with it, but if you're unsure, ask. I won't kinkshame, even if you're into something I've mentioned not being into. __________________________________________

So yeah, now you have a tutorial on how to interact with me in a horny way.

[letmetellyouaboutmyfeels]

I wanna ask about all of your WIPs but if I have to choose

I’m so intrigued by the D&D Game one! 👀👀

So someone made a poll asking who would be most likely to play D&D, and while I voted Chim, that quickly sent me off into a spiral because, well, most of them I think would enjoy it? Buck would have a lot of fun,and Bobby's the right age he probably grew up with the original version and would be a great DM and enjoy helping Harry and his friends learn, Athena and Hen would I think both deeply enjoy the battle/strategy element, and Chim would fling himself so hard into the roleplaying that everyone else would be a little concerned. He'd show up with a pile of papers several inches thick about his backstory.

(He is the only one who comes prepared with a backstory. Bobby nearly weeps with joy.)

The idea of the 118 playing D&D just delighted me so very much. And then I realized - Buck and Eddie would 100% be the idiots who romanced each other through their characters (something I have seen happen in real life, actually).

So a bit of an in-joke among the TTRPG community is that your first character is a lot more like you than you'd ever want to admit and there are several jokes about D&D being group therapy, etc. And Buck and Eddie would 100% fall into that category. Maddie would, I think, be someone who struggles for a while to get the hang of the rules and be a bit tentative on the roleplaying (but would play a bard and 100% write little songs she sings for her spells while Chim stares at her with heart eyes across the table), Athena and Hen would get really into their characters' rivalry, and Chim would have a lot of fun NOT being himself, but Buck and Eddie? Totally accidentally playing themselves.

And they're not aware of it.

So their characters are growing closer, having these long intimate talks - they even will roleplay as their characters privately over text so that they don't monopolize the whole night - saving each other in battle, giving each other gifts, etc. EVERYONE can tell what's happening but Buck and Eddie are just like aww our characters are having such a great slow burn! We're so secure in our masculinity and our friendship that we can roleplay this!

So the fic is the two of them realizing their feelings for one another by roleplaying in D&D while everyone else silently suffers.

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Rose's Day of Asks

Ok. I know I already sent you one. But now I really wanna now your answer to this one too. So pick the one you prefer.

Characters not actors. Let's put together a TTRPG group for a one shot. Who are you inviting?

Have a great Day💜

Yay! Thank you for giving me this question!

On behalf of socially awkward, queer autistic kids everywhere, let me introduce you to my one shot party: 

Shin, 3 Will Be Free

Quiet, kind, nerdy, smart-ish, lucky, and in need of friends? I think Shin would be a perfect candidate for a one shot. He seems like the kind of player who might not say much at the beginning, but would get ahold of the game quickly, would be comfortable with the improvisational aspect of a TTRPG, and would probably come out of his shell the longer he plays. 

Heart, Moonlight Chicken

This is very much so that he has a reason to get out of the house. Honestly, Heart has been severely undersocialized the last few years, and has mostly stuck around Li Ming and Li Ming’s community since then. I’ve set entire parties up before just to give people better access to a queer community, I would 1000% set up a one shot just to give Heart a chance to make friends outside of Li Ming’s social circle. Plus I genuinely think he would be good at it. 

Aylin, 23.5

The hardest part of recruiting Aylin to play a TTRPG is getting close enough to her for her to listen to me. But the second she is presented with the knowledge that she could play…mm….Githzerai or some sort of Dark Heresy style game where she has any opportunity to play an alien, I think she would be there. 

Zhou Zi Shu, Word of Honor

You know I almost put Wen Kexing on here, because he’s a #dramaticbitch but he’s the type of #dramaticbitch that would probably be annoying for everyone else at the table. Zhou Zi Shu, however, is a smart, charismatic #dramaticbitch with a modicum of self restraint, and I would absolutely refuse to let him play a monk or fighter because I will not be arguing with him about martial arts. Thank you. 

Im Han Te, Sing My Crush

Im Han Te gives off the kind of jock-who-secretly-loves-nerdy-shit vibes that I think he would absolutely kill it in a TTRPG group. Not only that, but I fully can picture him getting in to mini-painting as a hobby. He’s also sociable but not imposing and clearly has a penchant for adopting introverted queer kids so I think he’d be a great resource for the other people in the group, and he’d 100% help them figure out the rules if they didn’t know how to play. 

Erika, KinnPorsche

Would I allow Zhou Zi Shu to play a martial class? Absolutely not. But, Erika? Oh she’s only allowed to play a gunslinger. Mostly because I think she deserves to have even fancier and more badass guns in her arsenal. Also you know she’d come up with such a badass character, and she’d make my life a living hell in the best possible way if I was GMing the game.

[pumpkajelly]

Get to Know Me Tag Game

@silverskulltula I love doing these thank u for think of me! 🦇

🍃 1. Are you named after anyone? All three of my middle names are after people! An aunt I've never met, my father, and my father's sister (also an aunt but I know her)

🍃 2. When was the last time you cried? Yesterday but it's been an emotional time in my life lately

🍃 3. Do you have kids? No, but I'd like to have two some day.

🍃 4. What sports do you play/have you played? Haven't ever been a huge sports person but I used to really enjoy dodge ball (if that can be included) and volley ball. The most I've ever enjoyed a sport was when I was doing fencing in university. I'm pretty decent at lunges actually!

🍃 5. Do you use sarcasm? It's been said

🍃 6. what’s the first thing you notice about someone? Clothing, maybe? I like to see the different ways people express themselves through their fashion!

🍃 7. Eye color? Hazel (the bluey-green kind)

🍃 8. Scary movies or happy endings? Lately I've been really enjoying psychological horror movies like The Menu, Cabin in the Woods and Nope! I used to really not be into horror but more recently I've really started appreciating the different ways themes are tackled in a movie that aims to scare/horrify/disturb! Cabin in the Woods said 'What if in a situation with literal axe-wielding redneck zombie murder family the real horror was systematic, government-ordained violence?' and I loved it for that.

🍃 9. Any talents? For drawing! There's always more room to grow but I'm happy with the art skills I do have. I'm also pretty decent at writing and telling stories, I'd say!

🍃 10. Where were you born? In Ontario! Oakville, if that contains any significance to anyone 👶

🍃 11. Hobbies? Video games, drawing, RP (whether it's written or TTRPG style), writing letters, and cooking! I also watch shows here and there and enjoy cooking / history youtubes.

🍃 12. Any pets? My beloved cat Cheshire! We usually call her Chess she's 13 and developed Cat Asthma this year

🍃 13. Height? 5'

🍃 14. Favorite school subject? English

🍃 15. Dream job? I really want to be a researcher. I have a bachelor's in psychology, and to be a psych teacher and researcher is pretty up there, but lately I've been considering what it might mean to take that research interest in other directions!

I'll throw some tags out here but if I miss you and you still wanna do it please do I love to read these thangs

@doeraymmie @clairric @nakimochiku @first-renegade @arandomeldritchbeing @yourpsychothicccgf @final-girl-lorde @kinryouku @cinnamintal @corosiaspara @interclouds @confettigraffiti @darkvampire111-blog @orionsvoid @justlikeloving

[yoshihashismattebum]

9 People I'd Like to Get to Know Better

Thanks @sycamoretrees for the tag!

Last song: I'm going to cheat and go for a whole album. I've been really enjoying Where's My Utopia? by Yard Act recently: deceptively clever stream-of-consciousness lyrics that walk the line between wry irony and passionate sincerity, all set to post-punk beats that you can dance to. (Shout-out to HELLMODE by Jeff Rosenstock and Sorry for the Late Reply by Sløtface too – both brilliant albums as well)

And while I'm breaking the rules, I might as well mention my wrestling playlist that I've been working on! It's a really eclectic mix of songs that remind me of various different things in wrestling – feuds, characters, general vibes etc. It's not finished yet (I'd like to organise it thematically and write some annotations to explain my thinking behind the choices), but maybe you'll find something on there you like!

Favourite colour: it's a tie between blue and purple (especially lilac). Also currently enjoying the yellow-green of the new leaves that are appearing at this time of year!

Currently watching: wrestling, surprise surprise. I'm just about keeping up with AEW and completely failing to keep up with NJPW. Other than that, I've not really been in a big TV/film mood recently. Although I did see Dune Part 2 the other week, which I thought was fantastic. My partner and I have also become slightly addicted to watching Gab Smolders play Nancy Drew games on YouTube.

Spicy/savoury/sweet/(sour)/(salty)/[umami]: since @sycamoretrees set a precedent of adding options, I'm going to go with another write-in candidate: my beloved umami. I am a Marmite fiend and will eat just about anything if it has soy sauce/miso/strong cheese etc in it. I enjoy pretty much all of the above tastes though, especially when combined in interesting ways. If I had to choose between the original options, I probably lean towards savoury; I have extremely strong opinions on crisps.

Relationship status: I've been with my partner for almost 11 years now :) (While I'm here, go check out her fantastic art and tabletop RPG writing at @mortphilippa! Obviously I'm biased, but she's super talented!)

Obsessions:

Too many to mention them all, but here's a selection:

Wrestling (of course): as well as my usual AEW & NJPW, I've watched some CMLL recently, which has been fun. I also recently reached new levels of nerd by emulating King of Colosseum 2, a Japanese wrestling game from 2004, on PC. It's good! Holds up well!

Tabletop role-playing games – an ever-present obsession for me. I've just wrapped up a 4+ year D&D campaign that I was GMing, which is an odd feeling, but I'm so proud of the story we told together. I'm also currently GMing/writing stuff for Cy_Borg, Liminal Horror and Brindlewood Bay, among others! There are tons more I want to run though – too many games, not enough time! (I am always up for conversations about TTRPGs by the way – I could talk forever about them! Hit me up if you wanna chat!)

Puzzle games: more of a recent obsession. I continue to do the Wordle every day, but I've recently been enjoying Connections (sorting words into categories), Heardle Decades (identifying songs from the intros), and Squeezy (a weird game about fitting letters into other words). I'm also going through a bit of a point-and-click adventure phase. Really enjoying Unavowed by Dave Gilbert currently. I'm not usually an urban fantasy fan, so it's a testament to how good the writing is that I'm loving it as much as I am.

Spring flowers: spring has well and truly sprung here in the UK, and I am loving all of the flowers that are popping up everywhere! There's nothing that brings me joy quite like going for a walk and doing some plant-spotting (I'm trying to get better at identifying plants this year! I'm mostly reliant on Google Lens and a bit of inherited knowledge from my Grandma currently)

Oops, that was A Lot! Enough about me. Time to tag some other people! (Only if you feel like it though! Absolutely zero pressure)

IRL friends (I know you all very well already, but I always love hearing what you're up to 💙): @thewaythroughthewoods, @thepenultimaterolo and @mortphilippa (and @unpairedbracket if you fancy it!)

Some Tumblr people wot seem cool (sorry if we've not interacted much – I've not been on Tumblr a lot recently and I'm bad at starting conversations!): @norfkid, @sybilius, @dansedan, @unlikelywrestlingfan, @punkrockpariah

[moofahdrome]

U have very good taste in ttrpgs !!

U should talk about ur fave character uve played as if u have one!

thank you thanks!!! its GOTTA be Ellen Weaver, alias Alloy, a PC I made for a Masks game that I'd love to use again! I've got a few pieces of her to share here, and I'll paste her bio below the cut :)

art by @beedokart and @paperandpencilsandskips respectively!

and some INCREDIBLE music from @maxknightley !!!

She's just. SO fun to play and explore and be cool and interesting and queer with. I really hope I can play another game where she'll fit! Plus designing her gave me sooooo much gender euphoria and I've started looking a lot more like her irl its wonderfullllll

Here's her bio if you wanna read!

Ellen Weaver is the goddaughter of the hero Stainless, an iron man-style figurehead hero for a major tech and defense company that her actual parents own. Ellen always admired Stainless and wanted to be a hero just like her, though as the eldest son (at the time) of a CEO she wasn't taken very seriously until she genuinely committed herself to the task throughout her adolescence. On her 18th birthday, a year after she came out as a girl, Stainless finally promised to take her on as an apprentice once she turned 20 as long as she constantly trained and studied, and the inheritance of Stainless Corp. was passed down to her younger brother.

One day, while Stainless was taking her on a tour of the company's weapons R&D, they observed the study(torture) of a captured alien creature resembling a long strand of silver. Sensing Ellen's deeply hidden empathy, the symbiote escaped its cage and bonded with her, becoming a living metal tattoo across her skin. This disturbed everyone greatly, but after months of testing, it seemed to not be a threat. The symbiote is sentient but not (yet) capable of human expression, but it gets along with Ellen and wants to help her. As long as it's still connected to her somehow, it can detach from her skin to be used as a weapon or tool akin to a whip, a spear, a rope, or anything it can coil into. This gave her a genuine superpower, when both she and Stainless were only using intelligence, martial training, and gadgets before.

This disturbed Stainless. She encourages or demands her apprentice to keep the symbiote dormant and unused, ostensibly because she doesn't want her protege to rely on an unpredictable power. In truth, though, alien or not, Stainless has a prejudice towards all genuine superhumans, viewing them as priding themselves above humanity and unfairly accomplishing what normal people have to work to create. Stainless was never a truly good mentor or hero, but this soured her further, and she is now much harder on Ellen, who still idolizes her.

Ellen, for her part, took the alias Alloy and officially registered herself as a hero on her twentieth birthday. The process was somewhat perturbing to her, since most heroes undergo various tests and trials to be officially licensed, but Stainless pushed her through the process without telling her and the judges just let her sit with them for a while before parading her out and celebrating her newly 'won' status. Alloy still strives to be a hero that will make her mentor and family proud, but eventually her doubts and fears will take over or she'll be pushed too far. When that day comes, she'll abandon her birthright and privilege and technology, becoming a vigilante entirely dependent on her relationship with herself, her symbiotic partner, and her friends.

[luvtonique]

How do you keep up the motivation to work on your game?!

I've been stalled out on 2 ttrpg projects and every time I try to get started, either my motivation dies like a candle in a hurricane or I get immediately interrupted and motivation gets hijacked to go do someone else's thing.

I have a few motivators of various different weights.

I want to play the game with my mom. I wanna show her what I've made, and get her honest first-time reaction of seeing a video game designed by her son. Especially with the Pixel Animation, which lets my mom see my art come to life. When I was growing up, our family was a Disney family, and animation has always been something of a dream of mine to one day be able to do. So showing my mom that I have made a game with animation in it that I made all by myself is a priceless thing that I want to experience.

I need to just figure out motivation in general. I'm 35 and I've only been employed a total of 2 years in my life at Victoria Secret in Hollywood. If I don't make something of my life soon, I'll never get anywhere. At least I don't think I will.

Money, obviously. I can absolutely live on commission money and conventions for the rest of my life if I keep producing merchandise and commissions, but I've got extremely high hopes for my game. After making the Lil Miss Rarity animation with almost 9million views and daily comments after 9 years, the Bestia mod for Binding of Isaac with over 100,000 downloads and sitting at the 70th most downloaded mod in the game, and the Full Service Playing Cards which made me lifechanging amounts of money at conventions, I'm convinced that I'm entirely capable of making something that people will love and will give me a real income that will let me live more comfortably and continue to follow my dreams.

I am extremely excited to tell this story. I've always been a creative writer, my teachers used to call my parents just to tell them over the phone to encourage me to keep writing. I wrote a story called "The Wolf and the Vixen" when I was 13 that was about a wolf inside the earth who built mountains to try and impress a Vixen in the moon who was making rain and water with her alchemy, and a guy got called in from a university in Florida (I'm in Cali) to read my story and he talked to me about getting a Young Writers Scholarship and moving to Florida to study in some program where I'd get a publisher at the end of it. (My dad told me to turn it down and I did).

Added to the above: I think Melodi, as of right now, is the most insanely deep and compelling story I've ever written, and that's saying a lot. I've been writing the world of Lucidia since I was 13 or 14, and I gave a hint of it in Lil Miss Rarity with Malice and Lucidia's story arc, but that was only the tip of the iceberg.

So, I know, what you were asking was "How (IN GENERAL) do you stay motivated to keep working?" and a lot of these are very personal reasons that won't really help the average person, so I'll give some advice here. The advice here is, because if you truly are passionate to tell your story, nothing should stop you from telling it.

[sailorgundam308]

This up there is Alexena, my first/original Tav in BG3. She is a strong barbarian skull-bashing human lady with a breezy haircut.

When I started playing BG3 I knew NOTHING of the story or Early Access. What I knew was that I had played BG1 and 2 decades ago (or watched my older brother play, in case of BG1), and was beside myself to learn Baldur's Gate was getting a third game. I'm not a gamer, I only play few titles that appeal to me, but I watched the Panel from Hell live and saw the bear scene… and I pre-ordered the game immediately. :V

Anyways, back to Alexena. She is not a "new" character. I play as Alexena in any medieval-ish fantasy game I get my hands into that allows me to make either a barbarian woman or a paladin. I also played her for years in D&D. I always name them Alexena because, well, my name is Alexandra, and motherfucking XENA. THE Xena. Sounds funny and I've been doing it for decades. So I repeated it in BG3.

I didn't know about the characters, about Astarion or Karlach (besides just laughing at the bear sex), or the premise of the story. So I went in blind, and BOY HOWDEE it was a wild ride. I left Gale stuck in the stone, so he didn't exist in my play (oops - but to my defense, the narrator said it looked dangerous…). I made decisions as I would if I could freely do so irl - meaning I was alternating between nice and absolute douchebagery, depending on my mood and how the characters came across to me at the time. I killed what annoyed me, and defended those I liked. As a barbarian, I was having A BLAST. I'm not an experienced or technical player, I just wanna bonk shit to death and growl epically while doing it. It's my happy place.

I ended up meeting Karlach only after I did the entire goblin camp, south map and underdark. I genuinely opened the HUGEST GRIN when I talked to her. She was brash, foul-mouthed, muscular, flirty and an all-around BADASS. She was what Alexena wanted to be when she grew up. I'm not crazy about tieflings design-wise, but Karlach was KARLACH. I didn't bring her with me all the time, then, but everytime I did I was laughing from any and everything she said or did. She is THAT charismatic.

I romanced Astarion (cause looks and because he suddenly hit on me before the party). So, you know, ez fun. Later on I did some smooching with Wyll too, and Astarion called me out on it so I did the right thing and ended things with the Blade. In my mind I had already decided that I'd let the companions do their own thing - it made sense for Alexena's personality. So, in the end, I let Astarion ascend, eventhough I knew I would break up with him soon after.

That is a funny thing. I am not, and was never into the whole vampire aesthetic. I even refused to play Vampire (a ttrpg) and instead joined a D&D group back in high school. It's just not my thing. I'm more the big-ass warhammer, large pauldrons, teeth smashing kinda girl. So I was surprised with myself, truly, that I really got into Astarion as the game progressed (and I was very whatever about him at first, just went with the flow).

He grew on me immensely (his story arch is great and I love me some angst), but I did NOT want to be a vampire. I wanted to continue to be a human woman, who would grow old and die. That was my tragedy - the fact that a human life is one of the briefest in the lore. And in my logic, it made no sense to ask Astarion to NOT ascend for my sake, or whatever, when I'd die in a blink and he'd live alone. Kinda selfish, in my view. Also, the thing was that the Ascension promised to quench his vampiric hunger (which in DnD lore is so horrible it drives vampires to madness), and allow him to be in the sun. Alexena would end a relationship even if she was in love if it was the best to do. Coincidentally I learned that when I refused to be bitten, Astarion also thought the same and so we broke up anyway.

Which takes me back to Karlach. Her breakdown after Gortash BROKE ME. I took a no shit 1 month+ break from my run after that scene. I was devastated - and honestly mad at Larian for just leaving her story like that (still am). In the end I swallowed my disappointment and rushed the end fight just to get the game over with. Alexena decided to go with her, with this impossibly amazing woman that was as strong as herself. So off she went with her to Avernus, with her friend. Two badass barbarian women raging and smacking the shit out of devils and demons.

The end was disappointing overall, and, to be honest, after Karlach's quest journal said "we did all we could for her", I tried a Karlach Origin run cause I was sure I'd missed something. I was okay with the separation from Astarion because it made sense, role-playing wise, for me to break up with him. But the Karlach thing just threw me off the last half of the experience.

BUT HEY. That's Alexena, my alter ego in fantasy games :3

[tea-the-reconstructor]

hehehehehe new TTRPG just got delivered and oh my gosh it's so pretty

Eat the Reich by Rowan, Rook and Decard is genuinely one of the most stylish looking games I've seen in a hot minute, and while I've yet to have a chance to run a game, I'm obsessed with it nonetheless! The basic premise is that it's 1943, Europe is in flames during the 2nd World War, and you are all a part of a crack squadron of vampires being sent to occupied Paris to do one thing and one thing only; Drink all of Hitler's blood. There's a full list of the stuff I got and my thoughts below the cut.

It arrived in this really cool manila folder, like just look at the detail!! like this alone would be such a neat thing to have sitting on my desk just as a prop, but this is only the beginning

The book itself is nothing short of a masterpiece, and honestly the pictures do not do it justice. The title is done with a really nice glossy finish, the cover has an amazing texture along the bottom and back to give the sensation of dried blood. the inside also folds out!! that little slit in the front is a full piece of art, and it really sells the appearance of peering into a coffin. The style of the entire book is genuinely so crunchy and good and I wanna put it in my mouth-

There's also the bookmark, coin, and patches which, once again, are so stylish and feel so high quality. I've been just stimming with the coin since I got it, the patches are so bright and look so pretty, and the bookmark is just fantastic. Pretty much everything from this is something I'd genuinely wanna get tattooed on me. There is one more thing I got, arguably the most important piece from this entire set...

WE GOT PIN-UPS BABY WOOOOOOOOOO! So the game comes with six characters you can play as (there are options to make your own), and there are associated character sheets within the book, but good golly these got me blushin' up a storm so hard that they can all smell the blood in my cheeks. From left to right, top to bottom, we have: - Cosgrave, a hackney necromancer who's on the run from the undead mafia of East London, crooked, charming, and damn lucky. - Nicole, a resistance guerrilla fighter and demolitions expert. Turned by her girlfriend and packing hella heat, she wants to meet a glorious end in battle. - Iryna, the Old Money occultist and the black sheep of her clan, who provides a significant portion of the funding to F.A.N.G. - Chuck, a whole-ass-real-ass corpse eatin' cowpoke. Genuinely a sweetheart, if you can look past that bit. He's on this mission not just to survive, but to earn freedom after eating a county sherrif and half his deputy. - Astrid, an ex-fighter pilot that was bitten by something in the frozen taiga, now bearing the soul of a wild predator within her. - Flint, the half-human half-bat, all nightmare. He's a cave-dwelling hunter who may or may not talk, possibly because he's just shy. Each of the characters have their own unique traits, abilities and stuff and I wanna kiss them all so bad it's not even funny man they're all so goddamn fine I'd let them drink me dry for just a single chance to feel the sweet nip of their lips against my skin, like being granted by a mere glimpse of heaven while still on earth simply by the hand of some foul creature who has not seen the light of God in far too long for simply doing what they must to survive, just. I need help.

Anyway uh. Eat the Reich is a goddamn beautiful game, thank you Rowan, Rook and Decard for making hot nazi-killing vampires that have not paid rent within my mind despite occupying it since like August of last year.

[coolcattime]

Hiya it's the Usual anon here.

All the recent post about the Noir au has me caught up in it again. I really do love some magic and eldritch horror themed noir. I especially love the your Under The New Moon story from earlier. (IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT YET READ IT #ad) now i might be getting the mianite brainrot again so i've been re looking over my noir au notes and

My original idea for the noir was someone (originally was going to be champwan, in disguise sent by dec, but i also left a note that i didn't really like that idea too much.) came to tucker with a case of a series of missing people connected to a cult, and a man with a skull mask that seems connected. Originally the story was going to eventually lead to the fact that the police force are involved with the cult and

sonja goes undercover and joins the cult and finds that they are worshiping an eldrich god that promises them all great power, and in the altar to that god sonja feels an allure from the ancient statue of the god. a shadow creature with hundreds of lashing tentacles shaped like wisps of smoke. She doesn't submit to it but from that point on it lingers in her mind enthralling and beckoning to her from that point she can draw on it's powers the same way she can draw on Mianite's. From that point on she finds her struggles against the corruption infesting the police and her friendship with tucker both weakening

Tucker, Is quick to realize a pattern in the missing cases and realizes there are two separate cases of people going missing, but they are both very similar conditions, one is just much easier to find information on and investigate, the other is way more difficult and tucker realizes that the police are covering up the latter. Turns out there is a splinter cell in the cult and now two competing factions both heading for similar ends, but for different reasons

I have no notes on what the ianitees are up too, the section with them are just completely blank i think i got caught up in writing angsty stories instead right after this lol

Hi Anon!

I’m so so so happy that you like Under the New Moon 🥰🥰🥰 I had so much fun typing it up and editing it these past couple of days and I’m so glad that people have enjoyed it! I absolutely love to vibes of magical and eldritch horror in detective and noir stories (a TTRPG channel I watch has released two Call of Cthulhu oneshots in the past month and I have been absolutely consuming them).

Okay, I love these original notes so much! So Under the New Moon would, if I continue it, follow the plot idea I laid out of the group trying to track down the serial killer who kidnapped Redbeard, but gods do I really love the idea of Sonja going undercover in a cult to the Shadows. Like it works so well with her character and I also love the angle of Tucker realising the cult has split into two with the police being loyal to one half. It works so well as a noir eldritch horror mystery.

If I continue Under the New Moon, I’m definitely stealing the Sonja and the Shadows cult ideas, possibly with it being linked to the serial killer, possibly just because the time limit is getting desperate and she feels the need to do something extreme for information. Idk which one but the cult vibes that you described are just so !!! and I wanna play with them!

Thank you for the ask! Glad you’ve still vibing with the AU ❤❤❤

[evilweasel-cosplay]

Redraw of one of my old TTRPG characters, TavVi!

TavVi was originally made for a space themed campaign where we were all Cowboy Bebop esque bounty hunters and she was a juggernaut barbarian. She was a homebrood race called a Gen-Thrax who are cat, bat aliens who originate in an asteroid belt. My DM didn't write up more for the species besides that, and she kinda dropped the ball with making it as a whole. Also we only played for a few sessions before dropping the campaign but I still love this character and would love to play as her again.

Here's the original headshot I made back when I was playing her. I was really proud of this and her design, like it was my first time making something 100% from scratch.

I was planning on writing down more info about Gen-Thrax in case I wanna play her again, including biology and how their society is structured. I already have ideas in mind and I'm down to make a species sheet in case anyone wants to make their own Gen-Thrax!

[emerald-dragonflame]

Really dumb thing I've been thinking about is what classes and races the MHI Crew would play in DnD/Pathfinder.

Earl wouldn't because the only board game he'd be interested in is Monopoly, cause that's when money made sense (I genuinely think he finds video games and TTRPGs silly)

Tanya wouldn't cause she would try to use real elf magic in the game and would get frustrated when Tripp, the DM, says she can't do that.

And Edward wouldn't simply due to the fact that there's way too much talking and numbers involved.

Tripp is obviously the DM, playing either Pathfinder or a more homebrewed version of DnD

Owen would play after Tripp tells him it'll be fun (even though he says that it's a nerd game. As if he isn't a giant fucking nerd himself. My mans, your an accountant, this is a numbers game, and you don't even have to factor in taxes, it was, like, made for you), so he decides to play something he thinks is funny: A Dragonborn rouge who is way too good at sneaking around. He's not edgy, and doesn't have a tragic backstory or anything like that, he's just a shit stirrer. Only later realizing "Oh... crap this is actually kinda fun", turning his character into the best part of the campaign.

Julie would play a gunslinger Halfling, mostly cause I think she would play something she knows (and Tripp would definitely change some gunslinger rules to make them more realistic), and I think she really likes the trope "cute, but deadly". She'd 100% play the sweetheart of the group, and play the character closest to her personality.

And while Owen and Julie try not to have their characters fall in love, it kinda happens on accident cause the two idiot lovebirds won't stop jokingly flirting with each other, and whoops, how did they end up in the same bed?

Holly would play a male Goliath barbarian, and would be the only person playing someone of the opposite sex. She doesn't care about the roleplaying or anything like that. Her characters entire personality is: A'm only 'ere t' crack skulls, an' fuck bitches... and a'm all outta bitches t' fuck". Girl doesn't care at all about the kingdom they need to save, she just wanna roll dice and swing her axe around.

"I would like to rage" is her favorite thing to say.

This is all mostly headcanon that I have no proof for other than "yeah, that feels about right", but it's fun and i think fit's their personalities... I... might have to draw these characters now, lol