#myst eerie

[ruckis-vandalizes]

a collection of new character refs I've been amassing

Spectators are an original species by @6clawdy6

[pupsmailbox]

ELDRITCH ID PACK

NAMES ⌇ abacuc. abholos. abianak. aether. ahoth. aine. alala. alder. amadio. arkham. ba'al. basmach. bast. belial. blank. bonifatius. byagoona. byte. caelestoth. caine. calogerus. chaos. chrodechildis. cipher. clue. cthulu. custodia. cypher. daoloth. darkness. dethal. diaz. ebony. edwyn. elder. eldritch. elm. emereo. enigma. epiphagan. epoch. eternity. fortunatus. godid. habakkuk. han. haze. hitch. hydra. hynos. ieremahel. illuminathia. inpesca. istasha. juniper. kaiser. kallistos. kaos. kaprosistha. keme. kross. lapse. leto. lovecraft. luxoth. lythalia. maya. mechal. melekh. miasma. mirabilis. mirage. morana. mormo. mystery. nctolhu. nctosa. nightmare. nodens. noire. noxia. nyctelios. oddity. oroprimus. oroursus. ortun. oryx. oukranos. pandora. paradox. peregrinus. pseudo. pulse. renatus. rom. rowan. runa. rune. runfrid. sebek. sitheach. spy. sthanee. stitch. stranger. thasaidon. trojan. truth. unoch. user. veil. vibur. void. vulture. wylie. xitalu. yamath. yorith. zycanthe.

PRONOUNS ⌇ abso/absolute. absolute/absolute. answer/answer. blind/blind. book/book. chao/chao. chaos/chaos. cipher/cipher. claw/claw. clue/clue. code/code. confuse/confusion. corr/corrupt. corrupt/corrupt. cosmic/cosmic. curio/curio. curse/curse. cypher/cypher. danger/danger. dark/dark. death/death. deep/deep. deity/deity. delete/delete. depth/depth. destroy/destroy. dev/devour. devour/devour. diety/diety. doll/doll. dread/dread. eat/eat. eerie/eerie. eld/eld. elder/elder. eldritch/eldritch. en/en. end/end. eon/eon. ero/ero. error/error. eter/eternity. eternity/eternity. eye/eye. faith/faith. fear/fear. find/find. flesh/flesh. forgot/forgotten. glitch/glitche. glow/glow. god/god. hidden/hidden. hide/hide. hint/hint. horr/horror. horror/horror. hunt/hunt. hx/hxm. incompre/hensible. it/it. ix/ix. jolt/jolt. lack/lack. lord/lord. lost/lost. mad/mad. madness/madness. miasma/miasma. myst/myst. old/old. omen/omen. one/one. puppet/puppet. quiet/quiet. raven/raven. read/read. sanity/sanity. see/see. seek/seek. shx/hxr. space/space. spot/spot. spy/spy. star/star. stellar/stellar. step/step. string/string. submit/submission. sui/sui. that/thing. thon/thon. thxy/thxm. track/track. uncanny/uncanny. unknown/unknown. virus/viruse. void/void. what/what. whisper/whisper. ☄️ . 🎭 . 👁️ . 📜 . 🕳️ . 🧠 . 🧿 .

[yarpharp]

Some people who are game nerds eternally seek the return to nostalgia; a game that makes them comfortable or fond or experience the same level of thrill. People playing Harvest Moon end up loving Stardew Valley. Folks who played Pokemon are probably still playing Pokemon, or one of the popular catch-em-all copycats that are essentially Pokemon but with better gadgets.

But me? I eternally chase after a game that mentally and psychologically challenged me in the same way Myst did. I remember when my sister and father played it; they played together and they had fifty pages worth of notes and it took them months to beat the game. My sister had a special edition copy that came with a puzzle with the entire Myst game map on it. The music was haunting yet terrifying yet dreamy in that eerie sort of fashion. When I finally got a chance to play it, I became absolutely Apeshit Obsessed and I loved how it looked and played and everything.

Do I have four different copies of Myst? Yes, for four different game platforms. Do I have the remake available on Steam? Yes. Have I played their other games? Yes, but they do not capture The Vibe or The Challenge.

But good fucking God, I crave a game that drives me bonkers like Myst.

[supersilverneos]

dark / mysterious themed neopronouns.

🌙 shad/shadow/shads/shadows/shadowself

🌙 umbra/umbras/umbraself

🌙 noir/noirs/noirself

🌙 crow/crows/crowself

🌙 raven/ravens/ravenself

🌙 cor/corvid/cors/corvids/corvidself

🌙 dark/darks/darkself

🌙 nigh/night/nighs/nights/nightself

🌙 night/mare/nights/mares/nightmareself

🌙 moon/moons/moonself

🌙 jet/jets/jetself

🌙 voi/void/vois/voids/voidself

🌙 un/known/uns/knowns/unknownself

🌙 null/nulls/nullself

🌙 cave/cavern/caves/caverns/caveself or cavernself

🌙 crypt/crypts/cryptself

🌙 crypt/cryptid/crypts/cryptids/cryptidself

🌙 no/nos/noself

🌙 rot/rots/rotself

🌙 myst/mysts/mystself

🌙 myst/mystery/mysts/mysterys/mysteryself

🌙 fathom/fathoms/fathomself

🌙 fear/fears/fearself

🌙 ghost/ghosts/ghostself

🌙 curse/curses/curseself

🌙 haunt/haunts/hauntself

🌙 evil/evils/evilself

🌙 smog/smogs/smogself

🌙 caw/caws/cawself

🌙 trick/treat/tricks/treats/trickself or treatself

🌙 hoax/hoaxs/hoaxself

🌙 rumor/rumors/rumorself

🌙 theory/theorys/theoryself

🌙 myth/myths/mythself

🌙 spell/spells/spellself

🌙 magic/magics/magicself

🌙 eerie/eeries/eerieself

🌙 dusk/dusks/duskself

🌙 mourn/mourns/mournself

🌙 grave/graves/graveself

🌙 tomb/tombs/tombself

🌙 tomb/stone/tombs/stones/tombstoneself

🌙 bury/burys/buryself

🌙 skull/skulls/skullself

🌙 obsidian/obsidians/obsidianself

🌙 phan/phantom/phans/phantoms/phantomself

🌙 spirit/spirits/spiritself

🌙 ecto/ectos/ectoself

🌙 ecto/plasm/ectos/plasms/ectoself or plasmself

🌙 eclipse/eclipses/eclipseself

🌙 twi/light/twis/lights/twilightself

🌙 star/stars/starself

🌙 rune/runes/runeself

🌙 ruin/ruins/ruinself

🌙 em/empty/ems/emptys/emptyself

[theresattrpgforthat]

Do you know of any creepypasta and/or internet urban legend themed ttrpgs? Not (just) horror, but specifically creepypasta with all the kind of silly stuff that includes like… themes and vibes of common ones that might even make the game silly depending on how you play it? Whether u play as Jeff the killer or have to fight him I’d love to see it lol

THEME: Internet Legends

What I looked for when I tracked down these recs were either a) things that referenced creepy pastas in their description, or b) games that directly connected to internet culture. Have fun with these ones!

Watching Us, by Justinquirit.

Tonight, we are alone together with the Watcher. None of us knows who or what he is, but he has been haunting each of us with his silent gaze. Although he has never approached us, we have imagined what he might do if he did.

Perhaps, if we stick together, we may escape this nightmare.

Watching Us is a game for 2-6 players and takes about an hour to play. Draw cards and answer their prompts, then invoke the Watcher's image. Together, slowly uncover the face of the entity that has been haunting all of you.

This looks like an excellent way to slowly build up the terror of something that’s been following you for a long time. It’s built on For The Queen, which is a game that relies on a story that’s built slowly over time by answering questions. This game was also made for the Fucked-Up Guy Game Jam, which has a number of other ttrpg items that may fit into the creepy-pasta mold about eerie human-like entities that won’t leave you alone.

Chase the H0ll0w, by Brandon Leon-Gambetta.

A game of fear and isolation for 3 to 5 players who would go into a bunker in the woods to follow something horrifying.

Chase the H0ll0w is a secret identity roleplaying game that tells a story similar to creepypasta fiction over the span of about two hours. It is intended for 3 to 5 players with one of those players taking on the role of game facilitator.

Players portray a group of internet sleuths exploring an abandoned or hidden place that is haunted by something terrifying and strange. They will be attempting to learn enough about it to solve how to get it to stop chasing them and (hopefully) to get their friend back who was already taken. 

This is a game in which each player is going to take on a secret role that will also likely determine their objectives throughout the course of play. If you want a game that will challenge you to out-last your friends, this might be worth checking out.

Contact from Unknown, by Speak the Sky.

..the graveyard shift 24-hour store clerk has too many teeth (pale like the moon, which is losing its shine)

...the airport never gets any night flights but there's always arrivals (in the moon-shaped terminal)

...the public-access astronomy TV show that starts at 3:33am and plays backwards (with a weird fixation with 'lunar songs')

Why doesn't anyone see this? Nobody seems to care. So, you turned to the best store of esoteric knowledge you could find - pseudonymous night owl weirdos in online chatrooms for paranormal investigators. Luckily, you matched with someone else in town, but it sounds like you might have different ideas about what's causing these things to happen. Still, someone is better than no-one. Now you just need to swap your knowledge, share your insight, and see if you can find the truth that's out there.

Before it finds you.

Contact from Unknown is a 2-player role-playing investigation game of dark lunar mysteries, esoteric chatroom weirdos, and gut-feeling horror that's designed for play via online messaging apps!

Each of you plays a paranormal investigator who's realised there's something terribly wrong with the moon, and the only other person in town who also knows is a fellow night owl in an internet chatroom... unless they're actually in on the mystery too. It's up to you to find out the truth and live to tell the tale. How do all the local urban legends and assorted weirdness in town figure into the mystery? Is the force behind everything merely alien or truly malevolent? Play to find out!

This is a great two-player game for making up and tracking down urban legends, especially if you don’t necessarily want a horror element. The two of you will put together clues together while on an internet chat-room, as you figure out whether the street sign parasites are connected to the new kid who everyone already knows, or whether both are just signs of something bigger… and weirder. This is also perfect for play between two people who can’t share the same physical space.

[becdecorbin]

I finally started playing Scorn!! I got my copy ages back (I backed the kickstarter all the way back in 2016)

I only just started and I had to put the game down for a bit because the camera caused me motion sickness. maybe I should play it for shorter bursts so it doesn't happen.

so, my impressions so far... (no spoilers in this post)

wow um, damn. I do like exploring the environment and trying to figure out what I can interact with and such.

trying not to spoil anything for any peeps who are interested in the game but haven't played it yet and want to go in as blind as possible, but it definitely has the vibe of old point and click adventure games, especially Myst and its clones, the similar kind of eerie, isolating atmosphere and whatnot, and natch, the Dark Seed series (which had direct involvement from H.R. Giger himself)

so, puzzles are definitely a thing. I honestly do prefer that over combat, but so far, after procuring a weapon... the combat hasn't been too involved.

anyway, where I left off, I hope it keeps the same momentum, where you explore the environment, familiarize yourself with it and then try to figure out what you can do with what you have available. it's pretty satisfying to figure out a solution.

it definitely feels different compared to the early alpha demo where you're thrust into action pretty early on and get a weapon with ammo and everything. I'm pretty terrible with aiming with shooters and such (moving targets, ough), so if combat involving shooting things is minimal, that'd be nice.

SO YEAH

[etakeh]

All of the Rusty Lake games are on sale like half off.

Do yourself a favor and at least get the Cube Escape collection. It's $2.49 and slightly disturbing.

There will be blood.

[beetlejuiceearrings]

Gore/horror related neopronoun ideas

(//ofc warning for horror/gore-y words)

Gutz/gore/bits/hiss/gir/whirr/wyrm/teeth/riot/ze/zir/spli/cer/ar/son/butcher/sh*/hxr/malice/pain/doll/IV/blood/greed/lust/wrath/envy/knife/in/cisor/para/claw/gri/grime/saw/gutz/vei/vein/rot/core/cor/corpse/bone/dread/en/tomb/dirt/hearse/mag/got/fran/ken/stein/drac/ect/crypt/ghou/ghoul/ghost/haun/haunt/hell/hound/bite/chomp/necrom/rake/sin/axe/vamp/spir/zomb/cata/comb/flesh/org/an/succumb/inc/styx/scythe/stick/sickle/scyr/zo/zom/cer/berus/thorn/sharp/chi/maera/go/lem/grim/chain/mor/morbid/voi/void/vae/vaer/fog/myst/ter/ror/terror/eye/shriek/fright/chain/saw/hall/hallow/macabre/eerie/slip/knot/tor/ture/rope/rheum/syringe/gut/hook/graft/sti/stitch/wick/wicked/rage/cruel/brutal/dark/bale/tragic/V/bat/beast/gnarl/growl/snarl/bleary/brute/cellar/ceme/tary/semetary/coffin/diabolic/dire/dour/drab/dread/dusk/fer/vor/gloom/grave/stone/hex/howl/masque/sav/savage/shiver/sin/sinister/skull/snake/fury/ire/malice/acri/rage/ira/irk/memento/mori/slash/slasher/wrench/thrill/sick/jab/stab/terror/grotesque/ghast/lurid/crypt/splint/stifle/cough/morgue

[polygamousfistingchaos]

hey! may i request name and neopronoun ideas for a male vampire? thanks regardless!

Sure ! ! I had a lot of fun with these

tw for blood, sharp objects, gore, death, teeth, inner body parts

*Names

Victor Crowe Prince

Marquis Wolf Lord

Lucifer Daemon Alexander

Amos Cyril Merritt

Percival Silas Sterling

Valentine Ghoul Piers

Gray Rhodney Lixus

Hemo Leech Nox

Dusk Keir Cadell

Poe Elwin Eldritch

Ingram Kazimir Lycidas

Payne Salem Valerian

Zane Blackwell Blade

Griffin Obsidian Raven

Requiem Rogue Whisper

Vel Noir Edward

Haunter Austen Doom

Century Castle Manor

Myst Grim Rae

Labyrinth Colton

*Pronouns

vamp/vampself fang/fangself teeth/teethself

tooth/toothself victorian/victorianself goth/gothicself

candle/candleself blood/bloodself gore/goreself

vein/veinself burst/burstself drain/drainself

creep/creepself spook/spookyself bone/boneself

dark/darkself garlic/garlicself night/nightself

shade/shadeself artery/arteryself crow/crowself

horror/horrorself haunt/hauntself evil/evilself

demon/demonself lovecraft/lovecraftself eerie/eerieself

hallow/halloweenself occult/occultself ethereal/etherealself

morbid/morbidself fear/fearself gush/gushself

slice/sliceself crypt/cryptself velvet/velvetself

[caseyspronounshop]

Theme Day #2 |:| Void Theme!?

Hey! Look! Some of my pronouns are here! I love todays theme! Void! The Abyss, Mystery, etc! If you're anything like me these terms are gonna be RIGHT up your alley >:D Looking through all of this made me realize I'm probably Voidkin but I'm gonna ignore that crisis for now ^-^ Anyways... This post isn't as long as the Robot One, but thats alright! Lets start off with some neopronouns! Remember that you're free to change up and edit these however you'd like! For example: Void/Voidself! This could be used as "Void/Vois/Voiself (my pronouns!)" or maybe "Vo/Voi/Vois/Voidself"! Its whatever forms you wanna use! Experiment with them! (Tip: Pronouns replace names in sentences, so Neopronouns are also a fun way to find names to go by! Try em out! I realized I also love using Void as a name!) And remember, if you have a question on how to use any specific neos, gimme an ask and I can help! I'd love to answer any question! Neopronouns: Voi/Void/Voids/Voidself Vo/Vos/Voidself ?/?self End/Ends/Endself Dark/Darkself Null/Nullself Ent/Entityself Space/Spaceself Ves/Veses/Vesselself Pit/Pitchs/Pitchself Abyss/Abysself No/Nons/Nonself Mono/Monoself Eth/Ether/Etherself Etern/Eternityself La/Lacunaself End/Enders/Enderself Eni/Enigmaself Myst/Mysts/Mysteryself Eer/Eerie/Eerieself

Xenogenders: Gendervoid - in which one feels nothing where a gender should be Voidic - relating to the void, darkness, abyss, etc. Keingender - Umbrella term for all genders kenochoric in nature Neagender - Feels like the void, but has some gendered components tied to it. Voidflux - having a voidlike gender that either 1: is fluid between multiple void-like genders or 2: usually void in the same way, but with fluid gendered feelings. Media To Satisfy Your Voidcoric Needs!

Voidcore Aesthetics Wiki Voidpunk Subculture Kenochoric Term Voidcore by the hank taper Voidcore by VOID ED voidcore by miss ava lavinia Image Blog

[autolenaphilia]

Dark Fall: The Journal

Dark Fall: The Journal from 2002 is a point-and-click game largely created by British designer Jonathan Boakes, who did basically everything except voice acting and music. It’s heavily inspired by Myst. But the way Boakes uses the Myst style is important to understanding Dark Fall.

In Myst the environments are empty of life. No characters standing around to interact with and have dialogue-tree conversations with. You explore buildings, but the people who built and lived in them are gone. The only actual characters are literally trapped in books, monologuing to the player. The player character is unseen and unvoiced and uncharacterised, a stand-in for the player. Together with the unbroken first-person perspective it’s all meant to contribute to the player’s immersion.

The end result is that there was a strong atmosphere to Myst and its sequel Riven. And that atmosphere is rather eerie, even if they aren’t meant to be horror games. And Jonathan Boakes clearly noticed that and decided to use the Myst-style of gameplay to create a full-on horror game.

It starts as a ghost story. You explore an abandoned railway station and connected hotel in an English town. The hotel was abandoned after the owner, his workers and guests all disappeared one night in 1947. The player character’s brother called them and asked them to come to this abandoned place, but he’s not there, even if his belongings remain.

And it’s obvious right from the start that the place is haunted. The place has decayed little despite being abandoned over 50 years prior, and seems stuck in time warp. You’ll hear lots of strange noises, see weird events, and mysterious disembodied voices are everywhere.

The game overall is very simple technically and in presentation. It makes sense, since it was largely developed as a one-man production. The game is like Myst, basically a slide-show of 2d images with some animations and interactable elements. The player moves from one image to the next by clicking with the mouse. And like Myst, the game is played from a first-person perspective and the player character is never seen or even voiced. They are not even given a definite gender. Their own brother uses singular they for them (which is meant to facilitate player immersion, but can be interpreted in an in-universe way as the player character using they/them pronouns)

The technical simplicity of the game is most obvious in the save system. When you save the game, the game opens file explorer and saves a .txt file. If you open the file, you’ll find surprisingly few lines of simple code. It works, but it’s one of the most bare-bones save systems I’ve ever seen, with no ingame menu for saving and loading.

And you can also tell in the limitations on the player. For example, if you go into a close-up view of a closet, you can perhaps open the closet and look inside, but you have to close it before you can leave the close-up and go back to a wider view of the room you’re in. That’s so the developer didn’t have to render two images of the wide-shot of the location, one with the closet open and one with it closed. Same thing goes for drawers and the game’s puzzle boxes.

Still the presentation works. The 2D images while simple and in 4:3, do have a lot of detail and care put into them. So they manage to create an atmospheric and convincing portrait of an abandoned, but well-preserved English station hotel from 1947. And it’s haunted by ghosts, so you also get spooky animations to suggest that.

The game’s sound design is very good at creating a creepy atmosphere. The soundtrack lacks conventional background music and instead go for these strange unnerving noises and sounds.

These visual and auditory ghost signs are however not that effective in being scary. The game has a limited repertoire of them, and it repeats most of them, and familiarity is not effective for horror. When you’ve see a ball ghost travel across the same corridor multiple times, it soon stops unnerving you. The lack of technical complexity seems to hold the game back here. A more varied, subtle and randomized set of ghost manifestations would have worked better. Yet the overall atmosphere is strong and creepy due to the art and audio design, even if these gimmicky hauntings don’t really work.

The game’s environments are empty of characters, but Dark Fall still has a fairly complex story with multiple characters. And it conveys that story by relying much more on text than Myst does. You’ll find notes and letters, even entire journals from the 40s and also PDAs and computers from the recent disappearances. And you use them in order to piece together the story. The story becomes more complex than a simple ghost story, and has cosmic horror themes, of a strange, malevolent and powerful being from another world invading our reality.

The game’s writing is actually rather good.I really love this type of horror story, and it’s clear the author Jonathan Boakes does too. You can find a book by M.R. James on a bedside table as a tribute.

The writer is able to create surprisingly vivid characters out of those who have died and become spirits. You hear them talking to you, you can even talk back to a few of them via a text parser and get responses via ouija board in one case. But above all you’ll find their writings. The information is split into pieces and scattered over the game, but when you piece them together, you get a strong sense of who these people were and their stories. It’s actually rather sparse writing, but makes effective use of relatively few words.

The game creates some rather strong characters via this method. The owner of the hotel George Crabtree and his boyfriend Arthur (they’re heavily implied to be lovers) who tried to fight the evil behind all this before you. There is the actress down on her luck after her last unsuccessful West End gig. Or the widowed mother who practically runs the hotel and loves music. Her daughter who also works there as a maid and hides her boyfriend away from her mother in the hotel. There is a nerdy astronomer and writer. And also more modern characters like a pair of ghost hunters who came just before you to investigate the hauntings.

It lends this sense of weight to the story. It’s not just a spooky environment with puzzles, but the remains of people, of lives being lost. It creates this depth to the game’s environments and story that adds to the atmosphere.

The actual gameplay gives me mixed feelings. The game is built around open-ended exploration, you can access most locations from the very start and take on most puzzles in any order. Yet the game’s large amount of text makes this an easier game than most myst-likes, because it bakes in plenty of clues to the puzzles in the game’s various documents. You don’t get any in-game journal, nor can you take documents with you, you have to make notes yourself.

Several puzzles in this game are well-designed and play fair with the player. If you pay attention to the environment and take notes of everything that seems relevant, you can figure most of them out and are given the clues to do so. There is even a music puzzle, where enough information is given so you can solve it without knowledge of notation or even being able to hear music. The overall goal is to solve the game’s overarching puzzle, and the bulk of the game is collecting the scattered pieces of the solution and putting them together, to solve it at the end of the game. It works rather well.

There are a few really clunky and flawed puzzles standing in the player way though. The worst is a puzzle involving placing alchemical symbols around a waterbowl, which requires far too much precision of the player and little guidance mechanically. Another relies on trial and error and uses sound alone as a guide. which is not accessible game design. This inaccessibility problem is an error that is repeated in a trio of puzzles in the endgame. So some puzzles work well, others don’t.

Dark Fall: The Journal is thus far from a perfect game. There are some design flaws and it’s a small-scale and technically limited game. It’s not as scary as it wants to be. Yet overall the game succeeds at what it tries to be. The gameplay overall strikes a decent balance between being an open-ended exploration game and giving enough clues and information to the player for its puzzles. The game’s environments and sound design successfully convey this spooky atmosphere. The writing is remarkably good, with striking characters and telling an effective horror story. It’s largely the work of a single person, and as such the game is an impressive achievement.

[audiodrama]

Marshalltown after Midnight

[funkylildragonfella]

My hoards of names & pronouns!

Names

Doctor/Doc

Lu/Lucifer

Void

Eleven/11

Ouroboros/Ouri

Nemo/Nem/Nemmy

Ophion/Ophis

Mnemosyne/Mneme

Jinx

Dot

Solace

Clover

Nexus

Vortex

Limbo

Nova

Veil

Ghost

Echo

Sirpa

Sephtis

Achlys

Reeva

Ness

Glitch

Cian

Teal

Calypso

Trinket

Fidget

Cavity

Doll

Static

Scythe

Abyss

Crow

Kelpie

Wisp

Vig

Onyx

Opal

Thistle

Diamont

Nettle

Oran

Obsidian

Palloc

Juniper

Solace

Alden

Kay

Key

Lock

Puppet

Echo

Birdie

Ash

Shep

Nydia

Shadow

Fenn

Gill

Canto

Coral

Linu

Scar

pronouns

abyss/abyss

algae/algaes

antique/antiques

babble/babbles

bat/bats

beep/beeps

bite/bites

bizarre/bizarres

blendy/blendys

blob/blobs

blub/blubs

blue/blues

blur/blurs

boing/boings

bouncy/bouncys

bow/tie

bubble/bubbles

bug/bugs

bun/buns

cae/caer

cat/cats

chain/chains

chameo/chameos

chaos/chaoss

chomp/chomps

chord/chords

claw/claws

clock/clocks

cloud/clouds

clover/clovers

coin/coins

comet/comets

confusy/confusys

cool/cools

coral/coral

crab/crabs

creature/creatures

crow/crows

cry/crys

crypt/crypts

cub/cubs

cuddle/cuddles

cyan/cyans

cy/cyber

dark/darks

deep/deeps

deer/deers

depth/depths

dino/dinos

dipper/dippers

dive/dives

doc/docs

doll/dolls

dragon/dragons

drake/drakes

dream/dreams

drift/drifts

drizz/drizzles

drop/drops

dust/dusts

eclipse/eclipses

eerie/eeries

end/ends

eon/eons

eternity/eternitys

explodey/explodeys

ey/em

fade/fades

fall/fallen

fang/fangs

fawn/fawns

feather/feathers

fez/fezzes

fin/fins

fish/fishes

fizz/fizz

flame/flames

flap/flaps

flare/flares

flick/flicks

flight/flights

flinch/flinchs

float/floats

flock/flocks

fluff/fluffs

fog/fogs

fractal/fractals

frill/frills

frisk/frisks

fur/furs

fuzzy/fuzzys

gill/gills

glacier/glaciers

glide/glides

glimmer/glimmers

glitch/glitch's

gloom/glooms

glow/glows

gravity/gravity's

grawr/grawrs

growl/growls

gull/gulls

gup/gups

harmony/harmonys

haunt/haunts

he/him

hiss/hiss

hoard/hoards

hour/glass

howl/howls

hug/hugs

hum/hums

hydra/hydras

ice/ices

it/its

ix/ixs

jam/jams

jelly/jellys

jelly/fish

jinx/jinxs

jump/jumps

kelpie/kelpies

key/keys

leviathan/leviathans

liminal/liminals

lock/locks

loop/loops

lu/lu's

lumi/lumis

lyric/lyrics

mar/mars

mavity/mavity's

meep/meeps

meow/meows

mer/mers

mix/mex

moon/light

moon/moons

moss/mosses

mud/muds

myst/mysts

myth/myths

nap/naps

ne/nym

nebula/nebulas

nem/nems

nest/nests

night/light

night/mare

nix/nix

nom/noms

nova/novas

oak/oaks

ocean/oceans

odd/odds

orb/orbs

orbit/orbits

other/others

paint/paints

past/pasts

pastel/pastels

paw/paws

pebble/pebbles

per/pers

phantom/phantoms

pin/pins

pit/pits

planet/planets

play/plays

plushie/plushies

pond/ponds

puff/puffs

punk/punks

pup/pups

purr/purrs

quail/quails

quest/quests

rai/rais

rain/rains

rarity/raritys

rat/rats

rattle/rattles

rawr/rawrs

ray/rays

reef/reef

ribbon/ribbons

ripple/ripples

river/rivers

rock/rocks

rot/rots

ruffle/ruffles

rumble/rumbles

rune/runes

sand/sands

scale/scales

scratch/scratches

sea/seas

seal/seals

serpent/serpents

shadow/shadows

shark/sharks

sharp/sharps

shed/sheds

shell/shells

shore/shores

silly/sillys

silk/silks

sing/sings

siren/sirens

sleep/sleeps

slither/slithers

sly/slys

smol/smols

snap/snaps

soft/softs

sol/solar

song/songs

soul/souls

space/spaces

spacey/wacey

spark/sparks

spike/spike

spin/spins

spirit/spirits

splash/splashes

squeak/squeaks

squeal/squeals

squid/squids

star/stars

static/statics

steam/punk

stellar/stellars

stim/stims

sting/stings

stream/streams

stuffie/stuffies

swamp/swamps

tail/tails

thalassa/thalassas

they/them

thing/things

thorn/thorns

tide/tides

tilt/tilts

time/times

timey/wimey

tiredy/tiredys

torn/torns

toy/toys

travel/travels

trinket/trinkets

tune/tunes

twirl/twirls

uh/uhm

uncanny/uncannys

unknown/unknowns

vast/vasts

void/voids

water/waters

wave/waves

weep/weeps

whale/whales

whisp/whisp

who/whom

wibbly/wobbly

wolf/wolfs

worm/worms

wyrm/wyrms

zey/zem

[toddlazarski]

“Thai Cave Rescue”

The A.V. Club

There’s something about a kid in a well. 

Even if you don’t have registered memory of the 1987 “Baby Jessica” ordeal — with endless CNN coverage, commentary from President Reagan, a Pulitzer for photography for the rescue coverage, an ABC movie starring Beau Bridges, the Regis and Kathie Lee interview — somebody has likely harkened the spirit of the Texas tale at some point in your life. Some caretaker, believing in the motivating factor of fear, maybe, using the story to caution on the perils of carelessness, the nefarious threat of nature, the ubiquitous presence of terrestrial body-swallowing vacuums lurking in the tall grass. 

Irresistible as a narrative, the trope is a very literal projection of Kurt Vonnegut’s infamous “Man in Hole” story type. Somebody gets in trouble, gets out of it, and ends up better than before. “You see this story again and again. People love it, and it is not copyrighted,” said Vonnegut. And if there’s something about a kid in a well, well, who could resist 13 (13!) young ‘un’s stuck in a cave for 18 (18!) days?  

Which speaks to why the years since the July 2018 rescue of 12 teenage boys and their soccer coach from the flooded limestone Tham Luang cave in Thailand have seen a barely countable number of screen projects. The Cave led the theatrical way in 2019, giving focus to rescue diver Jim Warny, who played himself. Last year came a Nat Geo documentary called The Rescue, which used body-cam footage of divers. Ron Howard gave the story a Hollywood treatment, fronting Viggo Mortensen and Colin Farrell in the Australian-shot 13 Lives, recently out on Amazon Prime. At least two other studio projects have been announced and, so far, unfulfilled. In the meantime, a re-edited version of The Cave has been cut for digital release as Cave Rescue.

Got all that? As Al Ruddy, producer of The Godfather, said on a recent episode of Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, “every movie is a movie.” When the movie is made about the makings of the big and small screen efforts of this miraculous story of survival and heroism, Netflix’s unfortunately-titled Thai Cave Rescue will at least be able to tout its authenticity as having both a Thai director and exclusive access to both the cave and to the boys themselves. 

Though it is most probable that all tellings straight wash each other out, here is a story about defying odds. 

This limited series version of Rescue opens with a world-is-watching spectacle: a slow motion montage, barrel-chested men with beards and without shirts carrying ropes and flippers and oxygen tanks as Times Squarers and pub-goers the world over watch on screens like it’s a bated-breath rocket launch. String-swelling unification aims at the pathos of the moments before a sports movie’s big match, or like a Sunday Night football game featuring the Patriots or some irredeemable evil that humanity can collectively root against. Of course, if you follow these things, kid-in-well stories almost never end well. (One of the rescuers of baby Jessica died by suicide after suffering from PTSD. And that one did end well).

Eventually we are set back and plopped into the jungles, and into the rain, and to the exotic backdrop of “Northernmost Thailand,” on the border of Myanmar, ramshackle and lush, with leafy vegetation and operatic mountain ranges spiking forever against eerie myst. Vaguely Eastern-isn music sets the vibe, as we are introduced to a myriad cast of precocious, maybe-bummed, half-hopeful teens and their unflappable coach, Eak. The gaggle of impish buddies each get their own introduction, character ticks and background stories briefly plotted, as a terrifyingly obnoxious title card counts down the hours until shit hits the fan, monsoons fill the cave. It feels vaguely like a more doomed Stand By Me, or maybe Stranger Things, with teen and pre-teen pals — the so-called Wild Boars — inextricably linked on a journey of self-discovery, triumph over adversity. Or, in this case, a journey of not starving, somehow not despairing, and waiting around while someone figures out how they might not die.

There is much backstory to compose and juxtapose, and so we are bounced around. 

An instantly-summoned amateur cave explorer, making for a convenient narrative device, knows an almost suspicious amount about the caves, how rain gathers therein, how to talk convincingly in a Michael Caine accent over charts while leading a command team with wit and metaphor. There is a park ranger, who cares, a Ministry of the Interior, who does not care. An intern named Noon at the meteorological center is not taken seriously because she’s a woman, while her piggish boss is distracted by soccer and handicapped by a fear of authority. Eventually we get the local Governor, a seeming father of the situation more than a hero, gentle-eyed and honest. “I believe more in science than faith,” he says often, softly conjuring sympathetic images of “our boys,” with occasional breaks for quarter-baked halftime speeches, as needed. Highly specialized cave divers are summoned from around the globe, as are Thai Navy Seals, and the U.S. military, for support, and baseball-hatted bravado. A hydraulic engineer appears, with brows furrowed and measurements already taken. 

The hours tick, in an echo of the nature-gives-zero-fucks predicament porn of 127 Hours or Open Water. You know how it ends up, or at least have an idea. But by the middle of episode two they’ve already been underground for one week, and after some fart jokes, tries at song (“anything but Maroon 5!”), and half-efforts to dig, there is not much for the boys to do but wait, be sad. Eak is certainly a hero, keeping the group tight and calm, but one mild and meditative, without much options for action. With our protagonists stuck, there’s a quickly disintegrating point of view, little hold to a grounded storytelling center. Such is the way when most of the heroes are secondary characters, when much of the action is inaction, when the real moves of a thrilling story are actually sprinkled around the edges of centerstage. A bevy of parallel rescue efforts happening outside don’t have much in common or any great velocity on their own. And it begins to feel a bit like watching Alive, with snow replaced by limestone, survivor’s grit replaced by ennui, without any of the grisly payoff of cannibalism.    

Questions of spirit turn to a race-against-the-clock puzzle piece. “We need a new rescue plan,” it seems the Governor is saying every 15 minutes. And plan they do, vacillating between bad and worse choices: teaching the kids scuba diving once they are found, drilling them out by alternative route, waiting months until the end of the monsoon season dries the caves. Viewers begin to learn, obliquely, about hydrology and soundquakes, we get glimpses of drills, then obscenely phallic sci-fi-leaning drills, there is something called a dragon pump, something called an aquifer. There are big rulers and weather charts and much talk of the water table. Between this are the life platitudes: “The most important duty of family is to love each other,” “sometimes we get to choose family,” guilt over bad goodbyes, reminders that “families are complicated.” Scientists get rained on, have epiphanies, they splash water in frustration, they go back to the drawing board. Families hold vigil, try to appease the Gods, they write letters that are curried by divers, they get rained on.  

For as much as it can seem interesting and tense, the six-hour treatment begins to feel stagnant and bogged, like one of those coffee-ringed New Yorker articles that sits open on your desk for weeks, too long and too tangential, but with enough of a feeling of investment to slog on, if only because finishing it will give you enough anecdotal ammunition to feel interesting at your next cocktail hour. And interesting a viewer will be, because the facts of the story boggle logistical sense. Which is why in the end the entire enterprise of production, of all the productions rolled together, seems a bit ostentatious—here, at least, true life would more than suffice even a Vonnegut storytelling impulse. 

As a type of inverse of a sports movie, with an impossibly-distanced finish line, it actually seems borderline cruel. Almost to the point of necessitating a parent trigger warning: watching the children’s guardians go from concern to dread to frenzy to despair is a grueling churn. “Night must come back for his cake,” says one mother, planning her son’s birthday for that very day. A gut punch of a line, it is also easy to wonder: why the melodrama, plushed and padded and stretched and string-scored? There’s a guilt-ridden privilege to watching from the couch, late at night, with a glimpse at a baby monitor to see some kids sleeping safe and dry and sound.    

As we swim half-blind toward the conclusion that is promised right in the title of the show, it is natural to hope for nothing but less drama, less dramatization, less exposure and exploitation of their terrible and then improbable good luck. Though on this project the Wild Boars were actually compensated, through the Thai Film Board, for their story rights, it seems far deeper to wish, for the boys and everyone around them, something closer to normalcy and remove. It’s not a desire of conclusion or release, but rather an end, so that they can simply get on with more days of sunshine and fresh air.  

[thepnictogenwing]

Real Myst Masterpiece Edition

it’s eerie. I haven’t touched “Myst” in a long time—probably not since the 1990s, when it was new, and I played it on a Caltech chum’s Quadra 700. I’ve never played any of the 3D reimaginings of “Myst”.

it stirs up powerful, and often unpleasant, memories of the past. I feel like we were a horrible ungovernable monster at Caltech. didn’t know our arse from our earhole. didn’t know how to be polite even. and we did nothing but play games and watch movies and read comic books and after two years ‘Tech threw us out.

[expletive deleted]

~Chara of Pnictogen