#of CoC game 1

[yamikakyuu]

I'm listening to Harlan's CoC games since many have ties to Malevolent, like the first appearance of the Butcher, and I'm on Game 1 and just hearing them talk to Armitage, talk about Anna Stancyk, the 3 soldiers and Shubby, with all the knowledge I have from Malevolent is so fun. I definitely see why people who'd listened prior to Malevolent or during the early seasons get so excited. Even the creepy crow typewriter makes an appearance. I'm listening in "order" but I can't wait to get to Witcher's Mark and my boy Collins.

[oswin-remains]

i don’t know how i’m feeling right now, im reeling. the amount of lore that i just ingested from the first call of cthulhu game that ties to malevolent is making my brain explode

[kirbyskisses]

shared || satosugu/reader

1.38k words

this was supposed to be like two sentences about a dream i had but I just… couldn’t stop??

cw: spitroasting, light overstimulation, mutual teasing, established relationship (throuple), light breeding kink, cervix mention, gojo curses when he’s pussydrunk

maybe had typos idk it’s 1 am and I wrote a whole screenplay today cut me some slack. also geto never left au ig???

suguru using your mouth as satoru fills your pussy :(

you’re spread over the table as they stand on either side of you.

satoru playfully teasing suguru for cumming first, the latter leaving thick white ropes in your mouth that connect your plush lips to his twitching cock head.

his huge hand is caressing your face as he coos that “you’re taking satoru so beautifully, my jewel. satoru, be gentler. you’re probably bruising her cervix by now.”

gojo gives a large smile, crystal blue eyes still staring into yours even as he addresses your black haired lover.

“ah c’mon sugu. you know she can take it. look at that fucked out smile. you want this dick don’t you, honey bunny?”

you smile both at the euphoric feeling - your walls are practically melting at the loud wet slaps of gojo’s long, pink cock sliding in and out - and at suguru’s calm concern. using whatever strength you have left - that is to say, whatever strength they haven’t simultaneously fucked out of you - you hold geto’s rough hands. your heated body shakes

“ ‘m okay, geto. promise.”

he smiles with a glint of pride in his eyes - leaning down to kiss you lightly, tongue sliding over yours to taste the sloppy remnants of the milk he had just spurted down your throat.

“see, man? she’s our girl. she can take anything we give her.” there’s a laugh in gojo’s voice, his nails digging into your thick thighs. “b’sides what’s so bad about kissing that sweet spot? just means i’m that much closer to filling up this nice womb.” he spanks your side with a deeper thrust that makes you squeak into geto’s mouth, a sound both your boyfriends thoroughly enjoy.

“that’s where my cum is supposed to go after all, right (y/n)?”

he smiles when you break away from geto, letting warm air fill from your nose to your lungs before exhaling a lascivious moan.

“yeah, satoru. fuck - your cum goes in my pussy.” his confident smirk falters just a bit as you squeeze down on his length, a strangled moan forcing itself out of his throat, silvery-white hair shaking as his body buckles.

“shit- holy fucking shit baby.”

suguru chuckles, fingers massaging your shoulders and lifting you to sit up - partially to relieve you from the discomfort of the hard table of your shared living room and partially to get a better view of gojo’s cock slapping into your dripping folds, while hungrily swallow him in.

“who’s fucked out now, satoru?” he gives a breathy laugh at his best friend’s sweaty disposition.

gojo bites his lip. “sh’t up, sugu.” almost as if punishing him for the demand, you grind your fat, little clit onto his white bush of lower hair the next time he goes balls deep. your legs wrap around his waist despite feeling like putty and when he’s trapped in their grasp, you squeeze again.

“fuck - baby! can’t pull out if you’re holding so tight!” his breathing gets heavy - your insides have a vice grip on his cock and his balls twitch. he knows - all three of you know that he’s only a few strokes away from spilling into you and he’s grinding against your innermost wall absolutely desperate to do so.

“don’t be so mean to sugu, ‘toru.” you pout and suguru can hide his expression of pride - obviously as best friend and lovers he and gojo make jabs at each other all the time. it’s like a game of seeing which one of them you’ll side with and which you’ll chide for “taking it too far.” usually satoru would just laugh it off or tease more, or pout until he gets a kiss from one or both of you.

it’s a rarity of mythological proportions when he actually apologizes but so ravenous to spill his seed into your womb and keeps thrusting his cock into your sweet, sweet hole - he has no choice.

“okay. okay fuck -” he’s practically drooling when the word shake out of him. “sorry. fuck - sorry suguru - you don’t have to shut up and you aren’t soft for cummin’ so fast - i would’ve too with a pretty mouth like our baby’s - so let me do it in her pussy. fuck it’s so tight and warm suguru - she’s just begging for it.”

at suguru’s nod, you unclench and unwrap your legs from gojo’s waist and he wastes no time battering into your perfect hole - he can tell suguru’s groping and earlier use of your throat has made you wetter than ever and it’s driving him insane.

“that’s it, my treasure. just let satoru treat you so nice. cum when he does. can you do that?”

between their two huge frames you feel so small and obedient that you immediately nod, hips rocking to the animalistic pace of gojo’s hips as your nails find his back and he pull you into him, one of his huge veiny, soft hands squeezing into your hair and the other into your shoulder.

you bury your face - teary from just how deep he’s thrusting in - into his neck and bite down. with one more curse and a shaky breath his eyes meet geto and they both share a mutual look of a sort of possessive, mischievous confidence - taking pride in how they’re the only people on the planet who could tear you apart and make you cum like this.

there’s no announcement when you cum, just a loud cry of both their names when gojo’s fat, dripping tip juicily kisses your cervix. you shake and convulse and squeeze as geto’s hand roll along any part of you not covered by gojo’s form, cooing as the latter shoots his hot seed into you.

suguru’s cum is thick, as is his cock, but his orgasms are usually quiet and produce less than your other lover - he’s almost always more focused on your pleasure.

but gojo’s a different story. equally as thick but with more length that shoots out thin continuous ropes that you can practically feel filling your tummy. he’s loud and fucks your crying form through your simultaneous climax. for every drop of his you feel fall out there’s another thrust to fuck it back in until his groans stop and his twitching cock settles. he gives you one last spank that is immediately healed by suguru’s calming touch.

“that’s our girl. fuck, my love.” suguru’s voice is hot on your earlobe as you disentangle from gojo who kisses your head and goes to get desperately needed towels to clean all the sweat and sticky stains of white they’ve covered you in. “you’re still shaking.” he presses a tiny series of kisses to your neck as gojo returns.

“hold suguru baby. this might feel cold.” he gives a well-meaning chuckle at your jumpy form when he wipes the cool water against your lovingly abused thighs. unable to resist he gives your little clit apologetic kisses, lips curving up at how it tastes and smells like the spunk he’s left brewing inside you. you squeal when his kisses turn into nips.

“toru!”

suguru’s eyes sharpen and gojo shrugs in mock sheepishness.

“okay, okay! couldn’t resist. no more, scout’s honor.”

“you’ve never been a scout.” suguru rolls his eyes but gives a content sigh, wiping around your mouth and cheeks and pressing his lips to them ever so occasionally. “but he is right, our dearest better half. kissing you is very hard to resist.”

gojo smiles. “kissable lips, nice tits, big heart, tightest sweetest fuckin’ holes to fill… we really hit the jackpot huh, suguru?”

“i’d most certainly say we did.” he smirks, turning your head gently to have your eyes meet his sharp brown ones.

you can’t tell if your cheeks getting hot is from blushing at the heartfelt compliments or the remnants of physical exertion from having the thoughts fucked out of your head by not own but two beloved men.

“aww.” gojo coos. “say (y/n). how about next time we trade places? i’m certain geto wants a chance to breed this nice hole and i’d love to fill my sweetie’s mouth with my own cream.”

[artsyunderstudy]

“You did it, didn’t you?” Baz whispers. “You defeated the Humdrum. You saved the day, you courageous fuck. You absolute nightmare.”

COC Day 1: The End

I decided to participate in Carry on Countdown so late in the game, I'm already late on day one. I just saw so many good (gut-wrenching) submissions today and I was inspired.  I was also the mood to make something sad so here we are. This was supposed to be quick, but I lost control and and it turned very ambitious. I'll probably actually color this eventually.

What are endings anyway, hmm?

[christiansorrell]

TTRPG Read-Through: Liminal Horror

Here is a read-through I did last year (originally posted on Twitter) of one of the my current go-to game for modern horror: Liminal Horror by Goblin Archives! - Christian

I cut my teeth learning to GM as a Keeper in Call of Cthulhu and I've really been jonesing for a game in this genre that's more in the style of rpg I enjoy these days. I'm hoping this will be it!

Really excited about this. Shifting away from mental illness and trauma, both of which have their obvious problematic pitfalls, is something I could see really opening up what a character looks like and goes through after having things go wrong in interesting new ways.

Big spread on Facilitator and Player Principles. I think this is all very solid advice as a one-time or just-before-play read, but it's definitely too much for quick reference. That said, I always love reminding folks that we "play to find out what happens."

I may be off the mark but these two bullets make me think Goblin Archives is a Friends at the Table listener. Both of these make me immediately think of Austin's openings on there (which is a very good thing, for me).

Very straightforward stats. I like the HP distinction here and how it seems to refill between events/encounters and when drained is when you see actual damage occur. More inventory structure than I expected (I like that tho!) Cool to see character AND party questions here.

I really loved the Backgrounds and character options in The Bureau, a Control-inspired megadungeon-like module for this system I did a read-through of about a month or so ago. Excited to see more of that here. Also, I really need to play as a Very Online character.

Nice open character creation. I enjoy these types of questions: why do you believe there's something weird going on? What ideology guides you? What are your connections in the world, important relationships, etc.? Those create way more juicy bits than stats alone can provide.

I first encountered these kinds of character bonds in Fate years ago, but it's been a go-to house rule of mine during Session 0/1 for anything my group is planning to do longer than one-shot play for. Even in a single session, it can add a lot. Cool to see it here.

It's a d20 roll-under system (no modifiers, yay). Adding fatigue to inventory slots is a great way to make a mechanic out of that. Also, associates were unexpected! Shows this game could be more than just 3-4 bumbling normies going into the unknown (which is what I envisioned).

Combat is fairly straightforward (in a good way). No rolls to hit, it's just damage that is varied. Props to not using Advantage/Disadvantage as a game term like everyone else. Again, the Detachments make me think this game could have some wild situations come up!

Open-ended spell casting here (reminds me most recently of Primal Quest). They come and go day to day which is interesting, potentially changing entirely. I like the failure being equal to the desired effect. Want to kill someone with a spell? Be prepared to die if things go bad.

Okay, these relics are extremely cool. A blade that does MIND DAMAGE and requires recharging by feeding it memories? Good stuff.

Fallout is really interesting. Take enough DMG to go through your HP and it ticks away your Strength until you die (or take crit DMG). Fallout is the same but wears at your Control. Gaining Fallout makes you odder/more open to the true nature of things, but makes you heartier.

This is a good approach bc it means leaning into the things most games gate behind "sanity" here makes you more able to cope with the weird in the future. Feels like a path to more interesting stories (rather than the CoC-style "you are in a sanitarium now" character ending).

Remainder of the book is a small bestiary with monster creation guidelines, spark tables and a lean but comprehensive mystery creation guide along with a sample mystery. The loose framework, a steady clock ratcheting tension, and a focus on lots of clues feels like good guidance.

Having a mystery take only 6 pages feels much more approachable than the very traditional heavy-prep and lots-of-writing mysteries of something like Call of Cthulhu or Delta Green. I homebrewed a lot of CoC, and the prep work there can be pretty huge. This feels nice tho.

Overall thoughts: the book is a very lean and focused take on creating horror that doesn't get bogged down in the other ttrpg pitfalls of the genre while also having nice mechanics for associates, large scale encounters, etc. so there's room for a lot of types of stories here.

I'll definitely be trying to knock out a mystery for this as part of the jam. I've got a lot of weirdness to get out of my system and this seems like an easy, streamlined way to do it. Also, excited to play The Bureau and The Mall.

You can pick up the most recent addition of Liminal Horror in print via Space Penguin Ink. You can also find it on Itch. The rules and additional content also available entirely for free on Goblin Archives github.

Also, I wrote an adventure for this system last year: Tunnels in White.

Old money siphoning new money from every corner of your city. An aging mansion, quiet and worn. An old corporation shifting its gaze from development to development, always hungry, always growing.

A warehouse bearing the name Singleton Solutions, small and unassuming in one of a hundred industrial parks like any other, takes in truckload after truckload but never sends anything out. It’s the same for the people. Sometimes, they arrive in towncars, other times in shuttle vans. None come out. Ever.

What you know is something strange is going on inside that warehouse and you are determined to discover what it is. What you cannot know is where and how far the mystery may take you.

You can grab a print or digital copy HERE. It's also available via Itch.

Lastly if you like seeing my thoughts on games and how I make stuff for them, here's my monthly newsletter (which now has a free TTRPG thing to take to your table each month): https://meatcastle.substack.com

[edmundthearchwizard]

so. I watched Nerdy Prudes Must Die yesterday alongside my buddy @indigos-shits-and-giggles and my sibling @robotdevilblue. While watching, I realized that Grace Chastity’s arc makes perfect sense in the context of a Call of Cthulhu game.

I’m not going to explain the entire rules of CoC, but what you really need to know about is the sanity system: you have a sanity score between 1 and 100. You lose sanity when you see something that would harm your mind. When it gets low enough, you go insane.

at the beginning of the musical, Grace is pretty good. Pretty solidly not insane. But after her various encounters with Max Jagerman, both real and in her head, her sanity probably takes a mild hit. After she and her friends inadvertently kill Max, her sanity takes a nosedive. As the events progress, and more people die, it gets worse and worse. And then she reads the Black Book.

In Call of Cthulhu, when you read a tome of Eldritch knowledge, like the Black Book, you lose sanity. At first she only has time to skim, so the sanity loss would be lower, but still considerable. And then the big thing. In Call of Cthulhu, if you cast a spell, you lose sanity. And Grace casts a big one. To summon the Lords in Black, her sanity would take a massive dent. What’s worse for her is that she is in an almost irreversible spiral- in CoC, once you start losing sanity, it becomes even easier to lose more. What makes it even worse is that she summons Eldritch Deities. Obvious sanity loss. By now, I don’t think she could have much more 20 remaining. Finishing off Max might also dent it a bit more. And then she keeps casting spells. The inevitable descent into madness has reached it’s bottom.

[rottenshotgungames]

Alright, let’s talk about what everyone’s here for: cool powers

Footfall Devlog 2

This Devlog will be covering the basics of what Footfall is and the challenges of making a game so heavily inspired by immersive sims.

So, without further ado:

What Is Footfall?

Footfall is an occult-industrial stealth-action rpg inspired by Dishonored, Mistborn, and Bloodborne. It aims to emulate the systemic ecosystem and emergent gameplay of immersive sims, particularly the fast, creative, movement-centric gameplay of Dishonored.

You play as Gifted of the Watchman, the god of stories and action. You are functional demigods, arcane in nature and forever part of a great cosmic play of chaos and change.

Some basics about how the game is played before going forward:

You get 3 Action Points at the beginning of your turn, each action point representing a period of 2 seconds.

If you do something cool, succeed on a check by 1 or less, or arrive to a dangerous Encounter fashionably late, you can get a point of Adrenaline. Adrenaline allows you to take an extra Action—even on another creature’s turn—or increase the size of the die you roll on a Check. You can only have up to 3 Adrenaline at a time.

Movement is measured in ~3 foot increments labeled "Strides." These are about the average length of a walking stride, and tend to be measured with one's arm.

There’s an interactive, yet digestible, physics engine at play. More about that can be found here.

The Question

The first question one must ask when creating a TTRPG about movement, and probably the easiest to answer, is how to make it interesting. When I say easy, I more-so mean that this is something you’re probably thinking about before you’ve even started writing anything down. This is a question you probably both asked and answered as part of the “I have a cool idea!” phase; at least, that’s what happened with me.

My answer was

Arcane Locomotion

During conceptualization, I decided a traditional class structure was right out. Instead I leaned toward a VtM-style power-centered progression system, with the various “Disciplines” (here called Gifts) covering individual forms of otherworldly movement. Because the spell system is the core of the game—something presumably every player character will be using—I decided that cost-based casting limitation (spell slots in D&D, sanity in CoC) would’ve been an exceptionally poor fit, and randomization limitation (disciplines in VtM, psychic powers in Traveller) has never sat well with me; I ultimately landed on a style of consequence-limitation using heat-management gameplay:

Entropy Quick Reference - Gained by taking the Power action. Cleared by taking an action without gaining Entropy. Once you have 3 or more, you take 2 damage and cannot use any powers for 2 rounds.

As for the powers themselves: First I’m going to provide an overview of the steps of conceptualization and implementation, then I’m going to walk you through the process of applying those steps to one of the Gifts, and finally I’ll show you the current state of each Gift (with some designer’s notes).

The process used is as follows:

Assign a unique form of supernatural movement, or an otherworldly ability that allows for unique interactions with one’s environment.

Identify the core niche of that ability, in what situations does it shine brightest? (i.e. Combat, Stealth, Support)

Create a base power (this one comes with your Xbox) that provides a type of mobility (e.g. social, hidden, group) within the established niche.

Create additional powers that support the Gift’s niche.

Playtest and identify weakpoints in powers and interesting additions to their capabilities.

Create Addendums that modify powers with those weaknesses and possible additions in mind.

Playtest again.

Design Note: A goal of this system is to create interactivity between powers—I want people to figure out cool and unique solutions to the problems they are presented, it’s a core aspect of the design ethos. That means that, during playtesting, a power doing something unexpected shouldn’t be flagged as a problem, it should be flagged as a success.

The Gift of Passage

1. Teleportation. This is gonna be our baseline power set, teleportation is what people think of when they hear “supernatural movement.”

2. Stealth. Teleportation, beyond getting people places quickly (or to places they normally can’t reach), is particularly suited for moving unnoticed.

3. Three aspects factored heavily into the design of this base power: 1.) Teleportation as a baseline. To represent this, this power resets your Momentum and Fall Height to 0. 2.) Teleportation as stealth. To represent this, not only does this power move you unseen, it actively degenerates enemy awareness. 3.) Teleportation as breaking rules. This one was pretty simple—you can teleport to a location without line of sight, so doors and walls can’t block your movement.

4. Two of the three additional powers are, at their base level of conception, just different forms of teleportation. One of them (Sharp Displace) allows you to swap places with another creature or object, and the other (Prepared Recall) is a normal teleport that reverts you back to your original position at the end of your turn. Both of these powers have stealth capabilities beyond Radio Motion’s removal of Notice, particularly Sharp Displace, which contains the following statement: “If you swap places with a conscious creature, make a Stealth check. On a success, the creature comes up with some sort of excuse as to why it isn’t where it was a second ago.” The exception to both of these rules is Flash Step, which act as a parry-and-riposte in short-teleport form (almost every Gift has one of these).

5.

6. During preliminary playtesting, one of the playtesters asked if “swapping positions with Sharp Displace also meant swapping momentums.” I immediately said, “No, obviously not,” but we both agreed that it would be incredibly cool and fun . . . so I added an Addendum that makes it so you can do that exact thing (Momentous Swap). This was the basic process for creating many of the Addendums.

7. Further playtesting has (so far) not revealed any problems. The Gift of Passage is strong in its niche, and sets itself apart from similar power sets (e.g. Gift of Doors).

Here’s the final product:

The Gift of Reaching

Supernatural Movement: Body extension

Niche: Combat, enemy positioning.

Design Note: This was one of two Gifts that had to undergo complete overhauls after testing (the other being Tempo).

The Gift of Pushing

Supernatural Movement: Kinetic projection

Niche: Combat, crowd control.

Design Note: This Gift is the most aggressive and directly combative. It also hasn’t been revisited in a while.

The Gift of Tempo

Supernatural Movement: Time manipulation

Niche: Assault, self-buffs and enemy denial.

Design Note: This Gift is one of two to be actively designed to limit its interactivity with other Gifts (the other being Possession). Time powers are REALLY difficult to balance.

The Gift of Doors

Supernatural Movement: Portals

Niche: Support, group and object movement.

Design Note: This is the gift that most heavily engages with the physics engine, and everyone who picks it up has an ungodly amount of fun (they also tend to be STEM majors).

The Gift of Shadows

Supernatural Movement: Shadow form and manipulation

Niche: Stealth, remaining hidden while acting upon one’s environment.

Design Note: This one is inspired by an old forum RP superhero character I had. It was also kinda lacking up until the recent light update—note to all would-be shadow-ability designers, they work better with light sources.

The Gift of Possession

Supernatural Movement: Entering and manipulating living creatures

Niche: Stealth, social. Hide in plain sight.

Design Note: Up until this point, every iteration of Dancing Puppet has been too powerful in combat and too weak out of combat. Adding the “No direct harm” clause has balanced it out quite a bit, but I’m still not happy with it. Gonna ask a player in the next playtest to take it in hopes that they might inspire some innovation.

The Gift of Mirrors

Supernatural Movement: Self duplication

Niche: Support

Design Note: Matthew Mercer made my favorite 5e subclass and I shall forever live in shame. I haven’t played D&D 5e in years, and I still love Echo Knight.

Conclusion:

There are two big lessons that I want to leave you with today:

Weaponize Playtesting.

Have your cake and eat it too.

When people think of playtesting, they often see it as solely a means to find flaws within their game or to reaffirm design decisions that they’ve made. If we extrapolate that idea—expand its scope—what we come to understand is that playtesting is a means of gauging which aspects of your game that players find engaging or frustrating, and if we look at it from that perspective then we can use playtesting data to determine how to make engaging additions. Sure, players don’t always know what they want, but even if we just look at how they’re playing we can see how they’re attempting to interact with the game and thereby deduce what additions to the formula might make the game more fun for them. This process is what I mean by Weaponizing Playtesting, using playtesting data to help plan how you want your game to develop in the future.

As for having your cake and eating it too, I have a sincere preference for classless games (I never really liked PbTA style Playbooks all that much either), but I understand the appeal of class based games. Classes give you structure, they give you a basic plan to follow in terms of how your character will develop all united under a connective theme. For new and experienced players alike starting with a class then building a character around it can be incredibly helpful, perhaps even inspiring; however, classes are ultimately restrictive, they require you to play within their rules—your understanding of your character’s capabilities will always be, by necessity, grounded in the abilities of their chosen class. Ultimately, I wanted the structural inspiration that classes can provide and the freedom of choice that comes with classless play—the Gifts were my solution, and I think they’ve done a stellar job of providing both.

Self Promotion:

Hey y’all, sorry for the short hiatus. Work has been killing me recently.

If you wanna check out my other games, and get updated when the Footfall free playtest goes live, follow me on Itch.io! If you want more devlogs, and more rpg design talk, follow me here or on twitter.

Either way, I hope you have a great night and a great day.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

I enjoyed the Taskmaster finale episode, it took a while but seemed like everyone had finally loosened up in the studio and was having fun. They made the right call in saving the game show for the last task, that was very funny. Though it was genuinely a bit weird to see John Robins ironically play an intentionally bad gameshow host that was so similar to the actual game show host he actually played in Beat the Internet. Really underlines how bad that show was that they couldn't make a worse show than it when they were literally trying. It was really funny though. Sophie especially.

And their game show is the funniest I've found the Steve/Nick team all season. Steve's character was probably more impressive but I found Nick's character funnier, doing an idea he hadn't wanted and choosing to also play it as a character who didn't want to do it.

I think Nick Mohammed might be the biggest surprised standout for me overall, now that the season's over. In the early episodes I enjoyed his little cinnamon roll thing, but by the end I sort of caught on to how his humour works too and was loving every time he was on screen. Though Joanne McNally, whom I disliked going into this season, really won me around too by the end.

I called before the season started that John Robins would do very, very well. Not just because I like him, but because he's 1) competitive enough to try really really hard, 2) has spent years hanging out with Alex Horne and playing those little games that Alex comes up with so he has practice at this (he mentioned on the radio once that he and Alex played No More Women - later changed to No More Jockeys for obvious good reasons - in pubs), and 3) there are years of documented radio evidence of him being good at silly games, particularly any games that require quick or lateral thinking, and quick thinking is the skill that's transferable skill to the most aspects of Taskmaster. Then I spent all season watching it while being genuinely tense, treating it like a real sport because I wanted to be right so much (I did ease off the tension a bit in the last couple of episodes as the winner became clear). However, even I can't say I called in advance that, out of all contestants on UK Taskmaster in the regular seasons (outside of NYTs and COCs), John Robins would come out top of the leaderboard in total points overall, and in points per task. Coming out 8 whole points ahead of second-place Dara O'Briain in total points.

It's possible that the reason we didn't get as much of John being furious as we were expecting in this season isn't the editing, it isn't that he's now sober and enlightened and not in such a dark place, it's just that he didn't fuck up enough things to be worth yelling about. Well done to him.

Congratulations, John, fantastic season, I'm very very pleased for you. Now release Howl on Bandcamp like you said you would months ago. I haven't forgotten about that, you know.

[rayfishandchips]

Torchwood as a call of cthulhu run: ideas

So last time I thought the dw episode "the giggle" can be a great coc story if the kp do some little adaptations and add some eldritch.

BUT. You know what would be even better? Torchwood.

Torchwood is literally about a team of regular humans fighting alien threats, defending humanity, and ending up tragically. All the team members have a distinct responsibility within the team. No need to really ADD san dropping stuff, just rearrange the original alien enemies and turn them into similar but cthulhu-appropriate stuff. Torchwood stories would make great coc material, and it works all the better with non-torchwood fan pls.

The easier running plan would be to just use the core plot. But this might mean losing some of that torchwood feels in terms of in-team dynamics.

Another possible plan would be like this. (note: handouts are info given only to one pl. The players can't directly access each other's handouts.)

Jack: major npc, because you can't give away all that backstory to a player.

Ianto: depends, especially if kp plans to play that cyberwomen plot line.

Handout 1 (HO1) Gwen. Give pl info and say the HO1 player joined the agency (torchwood) because they came in with pizza to investigate. Basically just the Gwen backstory.

Handout 2 (HO2) Owen. Give the pl the Owen backstory, lost wife to alien pest and joined on Jack's invitation.

handout 3 (HO3) Tosh. Same thing, give the pl the Tosh backstory.

usually I prefer HO games with 3 players (it's big enough to form a team but still managable) but the kp can also have Ianto as a HO4. The other three characters don't have backstories locked so tightly and directly to plot, so I would suggest keeping them as HO characters, but again it's all up to the kp. It is also up to kp to decide exactly how much info HO contain.

Note that players don't have to necessarily choose their professions based on the original character their HO is based on. For example the HO2 pc can choose to be a nerd police officer instead of a doctor. The HO determine the most basic backtory and team goals so the basic torchwood team characteristics is kept, but HOs should not restrict pc generation in any way (if they do restrict pc design then it's not coc anymore it's just torchwood rp).

So now there's a lot of possibilities. See torchwood as a organization of investigators united for one goal. pc can have a huge range.

I would personally insist we have Jack as a npc because this is going to be so fun for the players. As captain he can help keep overall plot more or less in check, and other torchwood members (pls) doubting him is literally canon plot. Helpful major npc that seems to be concealing info? Classical. Fun team interactions ensured.

If kp would like to include that "Owen kills Jack" bit somewhere, make sure one HO (preferably HO1) contains the info that Jack can regenerate.

I should write this one as a complete module someday and run it. If it works I may be able to release it somewhere.

[pradnyesh1008]

COC: Journey So Far #1

Long time no see, huh? Yeah, I know. My bad. Life's been a whirlwind lately, and that thread issue was like a constant migraine. But hey, it's sorted now. Happened a few days ago actually. The reason? Well, let's just say it was... interesting. But I'm not here to rant, so let's leave it at that.

Now, onto the main stuff. This will be long so…

I've changed the name of the game. Might change it again, who knows? The universe's name probably won't change though, because everything starts and ends with The Golden Throne. All the events are happening because of it, for it. But hey, if you come up with a cool name that fits the bill, I'm all ears!

The first book, for now, is called Crown of Conquest. As the name suggests, there's gonna be some conquering done by our MC due to politics, scheming, and a whole lot of other reasons. So yeah, war is coming. Not as big as you might think, but it'll set the stage for violence, gore, and all that jazz. I want you guys to get a taste of how wars are fought in this universe. I don't want anyone caught off guard when the big wars happen.

Back to the topic, progress has been slow. I'm at about 10k words right now. Why so slow? Well, between studies and other less productive activities {yeah, I'm looking at you, Girl (if you are reading this)}, writing has taken a backseat. But I'm planning to update this twice before Hot D season 2 releases. So now, I'm gonna write as much as possible.

Remember the Gazebo scene? Yeah, that was a tough one. Some of you were upset, saying it was torture, misery for the MC. I did give warnings several times before the scene happened but still, some folks were taken aback. In this game, there will be several scenes which will be morally complicated for characters. I've written these lines in my rework too but I'm gonna share here so you might understand the concept of this game:

"This is the reality of your position, the reality of power. It’s not just about wearing a crown; it’s about making decisions that can change lives. It’s about carrying the weight of those decisions, living with the consequences. It’s about understanding that every choice you make will have an impact, will create ripples that will touch everyone around you. It’s about realizing that sometimes, there are no right choices, only less wrong ones. And it’s about having the courage to make those choices, no matter how difficult they may be."

That's the whole point of this game.

As for the asks, there are 40+ of them. Most are ROs related. I know I said I'd answer them, but I don't want to spoil the personalities of the ROs before your first meeting with them. So, I'll wait till your first interactions with the ROs are done. Other asks related to history and world are so good. Seriously, you guys have some very interesting and damn good theories and questions. I can't believe how much you all thought from this small 100k WIP. They are so fun to read. And the rest of the asks, bug related and other stuff, don't worry. I know about them, and they will be resolved in the rework. I'm also going to drop our Mentor's details along with their portraits soon. So, be ready for it.

And lastly, If I haven't forgotten anything. Thank you so much to all of you who are supporting this and are really interested in this game. Seriously, thank you.

Catch you on the flip side,

Pradnyesh

[truefant4sy]

PROMPTS

rules: choose a number. you MUST say which character, or I will not answer. character of your choice- COC

1: "you'll never find nobody better than me" -heartless by Kanye west | COC goes on date after date after breaking up only to come back because no one is better than you | smut

2: " you look so happy when I'm not with you"- save your tears by the weekend | COC sees you with your friends in the club and tries to rekindle old memories | angst or smut

3 " oh, baby where are you now that I need you the most" - after hours by the weekend | COC is touring/on a mission/dead when reader needs them the most i.e. panic attack, losing someone, needing to vent | angst

4: " if you go, I'll stay you come back, I'll be right here" - yes to heaven By Lana del Rey | reader waits for COC to come back to them after leaving for touring/a mission | fluff or smut

5: " if I told you who I am, would you use it against me?" - Die hard by Kendrick Lamar COC is trying to hide their past from reader from fear of reader no longer wanting to be with them/ love them | angst or fluff

6: "Don't blame me, love made me crazy and if doesn't, then you ain't doin' it right" - Don't blame me by Taylor swift | reader defends COC even after its known by everyone the things COC did | angst or fluff

7: "But I'll love you better if you let me" - ALL MINE by Brent Faiyaz | COC wants to be with reader whose partner treats them like shit, but the reader is still loyal to said partner | angst or smut

8: "my love is not a joke" - Just a fan by Roar | COC confesses to reader just for reader not to take them seriously and think it's a joke/prank | smut, fluff or angst

9: " wish I could turn back to a stranger - eventually by tame impala | COC has strong feelings for the reader, but reader has trust issues leading into a constant cat and mouse game

10: " I know your tired of loving with nobody to love" - bound 2 by Kanye west | COC comforts reader after reading confines their problems with trusting partners in them| smut or angst

11: "every time you come around, I feel like glitter" - glitter by Tyler the creator COC | tells reader how they feel every time they are with them (established relationship) | fluff or smut

12: " 20/20, 20/20 vision cupid hit me, cupid hit me with precision" - see you again by Tyler the creator ft kali uchis | COC sees reader (at school or at a club or a new co worker) and immediately falls in love with them | smut or fluff

13: " but if you need dick, I got you" - Nikes by frank ocean | COC is readers sneaky link and only ever calls them when they want sex | smut or angst

14: "fuck me good, fuck me long, fuck me numb" - Nova cane by frank ocean | reader wants COC to be rougher during sex | smut

15: " no matter what you say or what you do I when I'm alone I rather be with you" - 3005 by childish Gambino | reader always forgives COC even if they say something fucked up | smut, fluff or angst

16: " you say you miss me and I wanna say I miss you so much"- west coast by Lana del Rey | COC doesn't want reader to think that their soft so they never show any emotion towards reader | angst or smut

17: " been around the world and I can't find my baby" - all around the world by Lisa Stanfield | COC and reader loses contact for the a few years and once reunited COC tells reader how they tried to find them | smut, fluff or angst

18: " I hope nobody catch us but I kinda hope they catch us" - Les by childish Gambino | reader and COC fuck in a semipublic area | smut

19: " have a baby by me baby be a millionaire" - baby by me by 50 cent ft ne-yo | COC wants reader to have their kids so reader can have their money | smut

20: " I got a thing for you, and I can't let go" - age ain't nothing but a number by Aliyah| reader has a crush on older trainer/teacher and can't stop trying to pursue them | smut

21: " I don't really wanna stay I don't really wanna go but I really need to know can we get it together?" - get it together by 702 | reader and COC is breaking apart, but reader wants it to work | smut, fluff or angst

22: " well this has got to be the longest crush ever" - power trip by j Cole ft Miguel | reader has liked COC since elementary school and finally gets noticed by them when the visit they're old city during the summer | smut

23: " all the loving I've been giving goes unnoticed" - love drought by Beyonce | reader is devoted to COC just to always get pushed away/ never noticed (established relationship) | angst or fluff

24: " take me for one last ride I'm out of my head tonight" - sextape by Deftones| reader and COC take one last ride around the town before reader leaves for mental/work reasons (or wtv you want really) | smut, fluff or angst

25: "bet you still won't forget me" - ball w/o you by 21 savage | reader starts to sleep around after them, and COC break up but still can't forget them | smut or angst

26: " I just wanna see you shine cause I know you are a star girl" - star girl interlude by the weekend | COC supports famous!reader even during the controversial stages because they just want to see them shine | fluff.

27: "baby if you do it take your time do it right" - take your time (do it right) by the SOS band | COC teaches virgin!reader how to have sex and what to do | smut

28: " are we dating? are we fucking? are we best Friends? are we |something?" - heartbeat by childish Gambino | reader wants to know what the relationship with COC is after constant sex, dates etc. | smut or angst

29: " your obsessed just let me go" - dead to me by kali uchis | COC is still talking about/ still contacting reader after their breakup even after being told not to | smut or angst

30: " cause your just a man it's just what you do" - Norman fucking Rockwell by Lana del Rey| COC does something that reminds reader that after all COC is just man| angst

31: "I'm still working on me" - f*****g fans by drake | COC still isn't ready to be with reader because they feel unworthy of their love but mask this as "working on themselves/ not being ready" | smut, fluff or angst

[yamikakyuu]

Listeningt o CoC Game 1 (I'm on part 9) knowing the ties to s1 Malevolent

[who-is-page]

Hello! Do you know anything about why Kinmunity recently decided to stop supporting Othercon? Almost didn't attend because of it (glad to have done so anyway, it was fun and informative). The thread on it is short and vague, and I want to know if there is anything to be concerned about. Thanks!

From what I was informed, KM's statement against OtherCon happened after Naia was barred entrance due to past behavior outside of the convention that violated OtherCon's Code of Conduct, and I think it is reasonable to assume that the KM statement was inspired by that if it's true. But I'm neither a moderator on KM nor a staff member on OtherCon, so I did not see what happened myself, only what has been said regarding the situation on KM and elsewhere.

Admittedly, Naia citing OtherCon's stated of Code of Conduct policy that "any action or behavior that causes significant interference with convention operations, excessive discomfort to other attendees, or adversely affects our relationship with our guests, is strictly forbidden and may result in permanent suspension of attendee privileges" as a driving reason for KM's announcement against OtherCon is fairly curious given that:

1. Kinmunity has an equivalent immediate policy in their Terms of Service (section Termination, paragraph 2) which states, "Kinmunity may terminate your access to all or any part of the services provided at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice, effective immediately. Kinmunity can terminate this website immediately as part of a general shutdown of our services. All provisions of this Agreement which by their nature should survive termination shall survive termination."

2. Kinmunity has equivalent derivative policies from what is presented in their Community Guidelines and Terms of Service.

For OtherCon's "any action or behavior that causes significant interference with convention operations," section of their CoC, KM comparatively has these similar guidelines to prevent people from using their forum/aspects of their forum and associated KM-aligned communities and features in ways that may disrupt the website or its intended purpose(s):

"You agree not to take any action that undermines the safety and security of our site, including attempting to bypass or circumvent account restrictions, bans, or other security measures put in-place to protect the site." (In Terms and Rules, subsection Prohibited Behavior)

"No Data Mining: Do not, via manual or automated means, collect large amounts of data including but not limited to: forum posts, blog entries, articles, media, chat logs, or other user-created content for the purposes of aggregating, mirroring, re-publishing, or storing off-site. You are also forbidden to reproduce content found in secure sections of the site (protected by username & password) without permission from the Kinmunity administration team and the content's author." (In Community Guidelines, subsection Global Guidelines)

"Don't Spam or Advertise: Kinmunity is not an appropriate venue to spam or advertise; it just annoys others. Besides, we report spammers we catch to external security services, like StopForumSpam, so it isn't worth it." (In Community Guidelines, subsection Global Guidelines)

"One Profile Per Person: Kinmunity only supports one profile per person. Exceptions can be made for members of a plural system, simply talk to staff first!" (In Community Guidelines, subsection Profile Guidelines)

"Don't game the system: Use Kinmunity how you normally would; don't attempt to exploit the system to earn KinCash." (In Community Guidelines, subsection KinCash Guidelines)

"Read the Stickies: Please read all of the sticky threads within a given forum before posting in it; some sections have their own unique rules." (In Community Guidelines, subsection Forum Guidelines)

"Title Appropriately: When creating a thread, please use a meaningful title that accurately depicts what your thread is about. Your thread's message should also be meaningful and descriptive; it sets the tone for the conversation to follow." (In Community Guidelines, subsection Forum Guidelines)

"Search Before You Post: Before posting a thread, please search the forums to see if somebody else has already submitted a thread regarding the topic you wish to discuss. If a thread exists, consider posting in it instead of starting a new one." (In Community Guidelines, subsection Forum Guidelines)

"Stay On-Topic: Make sure you post threads in the most appropriate forum. When posting a reply, please ensure it actually contributes to the topic being discussed. You should stay on topic, and you should avoid useless one-word or non-contributing replies." (In Community Guidelines, subsection Forum Guidelines)

"Don't double-post, Don't cross-post: Double-posting and Cross-posting unfairly increases post counts and bones; don't do it! Double-posting is the act of posting two messages back-to-back. This can take the form of submitting two replies to a single thread or submitting a reply to a thread you started before anybody else has replied. Cross-posting is the act of posting the same thread in different forums on the site." (In Community Guidelines, subsection Forum Guidelines)

...and more!

For OtherCon's ""any action or behavior that causes [...] excessive discomfort to other attendees," section of their CoC, KM comparatively has these similar guidelines to ensure community member comfort and safety:

"During your use of Kinmunity, you agree not to post content that is: libelous, defamatory, abusive, disruptive, obscene, violent, threatening, harassive, or blatantly pornographic. It is also prohibited to post unsolicited advertising material (SPAM) or material which violates any federal law of the United States of America. [...] You agree not to take any action that violates the privacy of other users. Copying, screenshotting, reproducing, or otherwise sharing of material which requires a valid Kinmunity account to access outside of Kinmunity without permission from the content's author is explicitly forbidden. Additionally, you are not permitted to post personally identifying information about Kinmunity users on-site or elsewhere without their express permission." (In Terms and Rules, subsection Prohibited Behavior)

"Show courtesy and respect to all: In your interactions with others on the site, please show courtesy and respect. It's okay to disagree on something, but disagreements should happen in a civil and cordial manner. Insults, talking down to others, personal attacks, and harassment will not be tolerated." (In Community Guidelines, subsection Global Guidelines)

"Keep it audience appropriate: The majority of Kinmunity is accessible to all users over the age of thirteen. Except in designated areas, please keep content suitable for members aged thirteen and above." (In Community Guidelines, subsection Global Guidelines)

"Absolutely no proselytizing: That isn't what we're about. You can discuss spirituality or religion in the proper areas, but you cannot attempt to convert others to your spirituality or religion." (In Community Guidelines, subsection Global Guidelines) (Note: This also fits into the previous mentioned similarity group, especially based on the 'this isn't what we're about' portion of this.)

"Retaliation is not tolerated: If you've been given a rating you disagree with on a particular piece of content you posted, do not act in an abusive matter to the person who gave it to you. Instead, contact a staff member if it violates our Terms & Rules or Community Guidelines." (In Community Guidelines, subsection Reaction Guidelines)

"No dirty tricks: Don't scam or trick other users into giving you their KinCash." (In Community Guidelines, subsection KinCash Guidelines)

"Don't be rude: Please do not use all caps, multiple exclamation marks, or excessive formatting (bold, italics, colors, etc.) in your posts. It's considered rude and makes them hard to read." (In Community Guidelines, subsection Forum Guidelines)

"Don't discriminate: While group owners are free to grant or deny membership at their whim, discrimination based on race, religion (creed), sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, disability, marital status, genetics, or similar factors is absolutely forbidden." (In Community Guidelines, subsection Groups Guidelines)

...and, once again, more! I think you catch my drift.

And it's important to note that OtherCon doesn't have a direct equivalency to these hyper-specific and niche guideline sections and subsections because it's a digital convention that is significantly much more freeform in comparison to the rigidity of KM due to the difference in social media platform (a forum vs. a Discord server) and its impermanent nature (a forum that exists for multiple years vs. a Discord event that goes on for three days). I'm not saying that KM is bad for having these various parts to their guidelines, I'm just pointing out that they are meant to fill identical functional roles in both settings, and that KM is hypocritical for criticizing the convention's CoC while not simultaneously adjusting their own to match.

So yeah. Sorry for the long rant, but as one of the two panelists who hosted an 18+ panel at OtherCon this year, I haven't been able to help but roll my eyesockets at the whole debacle and find KM's position largely meritless. I've been working on this survey since December of last year and found it especially frustrating to see the convention (and specifically its 18+ events, half of which were mine) disavowed for largely personal and hypocritical reasons on the part of Kinmunity.

[lapisslunaris]

Every Cthulhu game EXCEPT CoC, yes. So, thoughts on Fate of Cthulhu?

Okay so, rating from 1 to 10, 5 being "as fun as CoC", and considering i actually like playing CoC in spite of everything:

Delta green: I like modern settings and most of the rule changes, except for combat. Fuck the US though. Also I called the co-creator a pervert on twitter. 5/10.

Trail of cthulhu: Cool concept with enough crap to make every side of ttrpg mad. Pelgrane press loves AI art now. 5/10.

Cthulhu dark (paid edition): A setting guide with a ruleset to make trail look like pathfinder. insight instead of (in)sanity. insight is Still pretty much sanity. 5/10.

Pulp Cthulhu: It's not enough to live under Hairy Longcraft's racist shadow, one must rise to the occasion and become Doc Savage. 5/10.

Fate of cthulhu: it's FATE, of Cthulhu. it's messy, but kinda fun. No (in)sanity but corruption. Yet losing humanity makes you a monster, and monsters are the irredeemable bad guys. it's FATE. 5/10.

Achtung! cthulhu: 3 or more versions for different systems. All of which make no sense to me, i don't even like the setting. Maybe killing nazis will let us forget about Harry polyp longcraft. 3/10.

Cthulhutech: 2000s japanophilia-infused dice-pool system D&D with cthulhu stuff. Humans are being replaced with aliens! But also the human government is bad (but not racist, just anti-alien)! South America is there! Madness is reversible! Some of the worst misogynistic shit I've read in a game! It's a mess that should be researched for the sake of humanity, lest us repeat our history. Also, it's probably an evil artifact that possessed catalyst game labs. 1/10.

Arkham Horror: boardgame fun 6/10. Eldritch Horror: Arkham horror but better 7/10. Mansions of Madness: Betrayal at house on the hill but with cthulhu and you need a phone. 4/10. Elder sign: worse arkham horror 4/10. Cthulhu death may die: miniatures 4/10. Every chaosium book for other ages of history: idk 5/10. Munchkin cthulhu: NO 2/10.

[rxpurrs]

A test run at an ad for a 1 on 1 CoC game with BC!

[cfcreative]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who liked or reblogged something from you! get to know your mutuals and followers (ू•‧̫•ू⑅)♡

1. My “Outdoor Pets” aka the birds that come to my feeders. After living in a place where the main outdoor birds were pigeons (or the incredibly out-of-place but now thriving Monk Parrots of Brooklyn & Queens) I adore the variety we see here. Frequent visitors include:

My “Finchy Friends,” the local Goldfinches and House Finches.

Tufted Titmice

Nuthatches

Mourning Doves

Red-Bellied & Downy Woodpeckers

Junkos—My spouse and I joke the collective nouns for them is a “Drawer” so you get a Junko Drawer!

The occasional muppet that is the Rose-breasted Grosbeak (no, seriously, look at pictures of them)

…also buttloads of grackles and cowbirds but the cat likes to chitter at them so they get to hang out.

2. My Spouse's cooking. I have no idea how they can take what I consider the four incompatible things we have left in the cupboard/fridge and create a meal that could rival most restaurants but they can and they do on the regular.

3. My FFXIV FC and the Spin-Off D&D Group. I started playing FFXIV during the pandemic and after dealing with atrocious communities in WoW I declared that there would be NO WAY IN HELL I was going to join any pre-existing Free Company (aka Guild) and made my own. We have a radically inclusive mindset; a mission statement; and an enforced CoC which may mean that we are "smaller" overall, but goddamnit we share the same values and we are a safe place for LQBTQIA+ folks. From there I have met some excellent people (shoutout to @fishcoelysium) and am running a small, hilarious D&D game for some of them (which I have mentioned a couple times).

Here, look at my Warrior of Light:

If you ever wanna try FFXIV drop me a DM and you can have a discord link to the FC discord.

4. Sharing my humor with others. This is perhaps a strange way to word it but my spouse, friends, and I can absolutely riff improv-style, deadpan, for several minutes at a time. I love stupid puns and wordplay especially, the more likely to make someone groan the better.

5. My Art! As much as I will get SOOOOOO frustrated with it on the regular, I love drawing and other art-related things. I used to sell pieces of leatherwork on Etsy and intend to do so again once I finally get my workspace sorted.

Bonus: 6. My Cat, who was mentioned in point 1; he is the most handsome and lovable absolute menace. He gives hugs!