#pc build documentation

[baublekute]

Baublekute's Custom PC - Part 4

The Case

AKA the shell (without a ghost?)

[edenesth]

[5:45 PM]

'Don't wait up for me! Go home first, Woo. There's food in the fridge.' — future wifey💘

Your boyfriend pouted as he read the text you'd sent him at 5pm. He had arrived at your office building and was waiting at his usual spot when he received your message. Normally, you got off work sharp at 5, but today you seemed overwhelmingly busy. Unlike usual, you hadn't even been very responsive during lunch hour.

Wooyoung glanced up and noticed that the lights in your office were among the few still on. Although it was still early, it was a Friday evening, and most people preferred to leave on time and deal with any leftover work on the following Monday.

How long could she take anyway? I'll wait.

Refusing to go home without you, he patiently waited downstairs, hoping to surprise you when you eventually emerged from the building. His unease grew as he watched more and more people leave, the offices slowly emptying, and the sky darkening, yet there was still no sign of you. There were times when you stayed late at work, but never this late.

Nearly an hour later, he sent you a text to let you know he didn't mind waiting and was still in the same spot, asking how much longer you would be. If you needed more time, he'd go to the nearby café for a drink while waiting. But he frowned when 10 minutes passed, and you hadn't even been online; his message was sent but still unread. The final straw was when his call went unanswered.

Despite feeling panic creep in, he tried to stay calm as he walked into the lobby of your office building. Breathe, Jung Wooyoung, breathe. He tells himself you were probably just really busy. But why? You had told him the peak season ended a week ago, so this should have been a slow week. It didn't make sense that you were working so late now. What weren't you telling him?

Crap, is she cheating on me?

Slapping himself on the cheek, he chastised himself for even entertaining such a thought. You had been nothing but the best and most dedicated girlfriend he'd ever had. How could he think that way about you? Now, he only prayed you were alright. What if something had happened to you? What if you had passed out? What if someone at work was doing something untoward to you? He remembered you mentioning a coworker who persistently pursued you despite knowing you were taken.

Well, that wasn’t comforting at all.

"Come on, come on, come on!" he muttered through gritted teeth as he watched the elevator numbers climb slowly. He only needed to get to the ninth floor, but the trip had never felt longer. His mind conjured up all sorts of wild scenarios, and his heart was pounding in his chest. He needed to see you right now, to have you safe and sound in front of him so he could be okay again.

Ding!

Before the elevator doors fully opened, he was already dashing out at full speed. The dim, empty reception counter of your department greeted him as he sprinted towards your office—the only place he knew to go. "I'm coming, love. Just wait for me."

He had no idea what to expect as he saw your door open, the light from your room spilling into the dark and silent office. Anxiety flooded him as he braced for the unexpected. And indeed, it was unexpected. His steps faltered as he stopped to catch his breath at the entrance of your office, eyes glued to the sight before him. He didn't know whether to cry or laugh at the extent of his overthinking.

Wooyoung let out a huge sigh of relief, his eyes softening as he took in your petite frame, now slumped over your workdesk, fast asleep amidst piles of documents. The glaring screen of your PC reflected off your glasses, which were crooked on your face as you snored lightly. Your phone, in silent mode, lay beside you.

This explained everything.

Your boyfriend approached you slowly, careful not to wake you yet. With one glance at your computer, he immediately understood why you had been so busy today. Your team leader's emergency leave had left you responsible for a case that ran into some hiccups. Scrolling down the trail of emails, he felt relieved to see that you had eventually solved the issue. The exhaustion must have hit you hard once the adrenaline was gone.

Gently, he removed your glasses from your face, placing them back in their case before running his hand through your hair, tucking loose strands away from your face. Unable to resist, he leaned down to press a lingering kiss onto your temple.

That seemed to have stirred you awake. You emitted a small groan and fluttered your eyes open, prompting him to step back slightly. But you reached out and held onto his shirt.

"Woo? Wh-what are you doing here?"

He shook his head, planting another kiss on your cheek before standing upright, his hands resting on his hips. "What kind of boyfriend would I be if I let you sleep in the office, hm? Pack up now, we're going home."

Your heart warmed at his words. Just when you thought it wasn't possible to love him any more, he continued to prove you wrong each time. "Yes, sir."

Despite his directive, he ended up doing all the packing for you as your sleepy form waited by his side. After shutting down your PC, he reached for your bag and wrapped an arm around your shoulder. "Come, let's go."

Suddenly, in the elevator, he found himself wishing the trip would last longer. He pulled your cardigan snugly around you, sliding an arm behind your back and resting his forehead against yours. Admiring the way your sleep-deprived eyes drooped adorably, he grinned softly, biting his lip. His other hand cupped your face as he whispered, "Just hold on a little longer, love. You'll get to rest soon."

You nodded with a pout, and the sight of your tempting pink, soft lips made a sigh escape his mouth. "Good girl," he muttered before leaning in to capture your lips.

His heart skipped a beat when, despite your exhaustion, you responded to his kiss almost instinctively, though a bit more sluggish than usual. His heart swelled with affection at how your body reacted to him, knowing it was only for him. Stroking your cheeks lovingly, he deepened the kiss, only to let out a disappointed whine when the elevator dinged too soon.

You giggled, gently pushing him away. "You know we can continue in the car, right?" His excitement reignited at the suggestion. Insisting he'd help you with your things and settling you in the passenger seat first, he felt his heart flutter as he hurried to the driver's seat. "Alright, where were we?" he asked eagerly, only to find you fast asleep.

Of course, she's asleep. What did I expect?

He chuckled in disbelief, securing your seatbelt and shaking his head in amusement. As he started driving, he slipped his hand into yours, smiling when he felt your fingers unconsciously curling around his.

God, how he loved you.

ATEEZ Masterlist

This is me failing miserably at my "try to stay loyal to Park Seonghwa challenge" because what the hell is Jung Wooyoung so attractive for? The way bro made me write the longest timestamp to date...

Also, guess who clowned herself thinking she could post the first part of Mingi's TWTHH spinoff this weekend?🤡 it's only 1k+ words in so far, I was out all day yesterday and didn't get to write much huhu but hopefully by next week, it'll be out! Hopefully🤞🏻

Anyways, hope y'all enjoyed this random little timestamp and as always, let me know your thoughts! <3

General ATEEZ Tag list:

@aurasblue @marievllr-abg @itsvxlentine @minghaoslatina @huachengsbestie01 |

@evidive @weedforthoughtz @minkiflwr @cheolliehugs @ho3-for-yunho |

@the-kpop-simp @itstheghostofmypast @vantediary @green-agent @skzline |

@sharksandminhos @writingwieny @heyitsmetonid @tinyteezer @hollxe1 |

@pandabur666 @vampzity @tournesol155 @lilactangerine @oddracha |

@haven-cove @idfkeddieishot

All Rights Reserved © edenesth // DO NOT REPOST, TRANSLATE, PLAGIARISE OR REPURPOSE.

[ayeforscotland]

What is Dataflow? Part 3: Doing the Practical

Apologies for the delay in getting this next section up - past few weeks have been super busy and then, hilariously, I was ill last week.

Read Part 1 here.

Read Part 2 here.

In Part 2 I wrote about how important diagrams have been throughout history. Understanding the 'big picture' has been important for every triumph of engineering. From bridges to skyscrapers to oil rigs and wind turbines, all of these have had diagrams backed by international standards which enabled them to be built.

The digital world hasn't quite managed that yet. In the other posts I've tried to drill home the point that modern digital businesses are often extremely siloed, communication and documentation isn't there and there is a lack of a common language between 'Business' and 'IT'.

This lack of understanding means organisations do not understand how data flows through their business and their supply chain.

It's the understanding of dataflow that's important here because it enables organisations to focus on optimising, securing and maintaining flows across an organisation rather than siloed teams patching things up where they can and not understand the upstream and downstream impact on the business.

Method and Layers

Going to preface this by saying that this may come across as complete common sense, and to some extent you'll be completely correct!

This is an example of how to create a very basic dataflow. But I will first start with understanding all of the People, Processes and Technology that I use to post on Tumblr.

So I start with six layers:

Ownership

Business Process

Application

System

Hardware

Infrastructure

What is important to remember here is that you do not have to be a specialist in every single layer.

A Business Analyst will feel much more at home in the Business Process Layer, while an Infrastructure Manager will be much more knowledgeable about the Infrastructure layer.

The important thing is that this Business & IT Diagram allows them to communicate more efficiently.

Let's Build a Dataflow!

In this example - There's an 'AyeforScotland' Element (the rectangle!) at the top. I'm the owner of everything below that element. The black lines are 'connections' representing the connectivity between the different elements.

Following the example, I'm responsible for' managing my blog 'Blog Management' which breaks down into smaller processes: Draft posts, schedule posts, answer anon abuse, and reblog shitposts.

Coming down to the Application Layer (red) - You can see that I draft and schedule posts using Tumblr Desktop and I'm using Firefox Web Browser for that.

But for answering anon abuse and reblogging shitposts, I'm using the Tumblr App.

In the Systems layer you can see I'm using Windows 11 on my PC (Hardware) and I'm using iOS on my iPhone.

Both my PC and iPhone connect to my BT Router.

And that's it for this Business & IT Diagram. I've shown clearly how I'm responsible for the processes and how I use the technology to perform those processes. I don't necessarily need to show everything on a single diagram because it would lose clarity.

This next Business & IT Diagram is much smaller, and establishes the relationships and dependencies on Tumblr to provide the service. And that's because we're complying with the laws and rules of a methodology.

In this diagram (probably need to zoom in to see it) I'm at the top left as 'AyeforScotland' and my 'BT Router' is spatially below me. Following the rules and laws of the method, that maintains the relationship that I have with the BT Router, I own it.

But I don't own the small 'Internet' that's next to it horizontally. I've simplified the concept of the internet for this example.

There's also two owners - 'Automattic' which owns and operates 'Tumblr' below it, with Tumblr being responsible for the 'Provision of Tumblr Services'.

Now naturally 'provision of Tumblr services' will break out into loads of sub-processes. Tumblr could map out their entire organisation (and if they need a hand, they can DM me!) But for this dataflow it's not really required.

Now both diagrams above are not dataflows. But close your eyes for a second and you can visualise what they are.

But because we've created our two diagrams, we understand the connectivity and using the software we can create the dataflow.

Now again, this is very basic. But when you put things into a dataflow context, you can put this down in front of a wide range of people from different business disciplines and they can start to optimise how the business works.

Here's a much larger Dataflow example, that you won't be able to read because it exceeds A0 printing size, but it should convey the scale.

If any of the connections or elements fail along this dataflow - The dataflow stops.

This costs organisations time and/or money.

So understanding dataflows allows IT people to articulate to business people "Hi boss, if this server goes down it will bring down this dataflow and cost the business $10,000 an hour" - Suddenly it's in a language they understand.

It helps with strategic decision-making, it helps with communication, it helps document how things *actually* work as opposed to how people think they work, and once you switch to thinking in terms of 'dataflow' it's hard to stop.

Conclusion

I can't wait to answer all the questions on the back of this.

Also one area I didn't go into is that each of the elements (rectangles) can also hold data (Financial data, Technical Specs, Risk & Cybersecurity metrics, Governance documentation etc).

It's also really easy to get started with it. You can start in any of the layers based on your area of work.

[academicfever]

Study tips from a mid student;

This is geared towards research students mainly… but feel free to try out if u want regardless!

Make a gantt chart beginning of ur research semester. This is absolutely lifesaver… for sure there will be like a 1000 versions of ur thesis but having a rough timeline gives u the push and when u r down in the dumps u can actually visualise ur progress so far… which motivates me.

There will be like a lot of versions and corrections and drafts of everything u do. Starting with lit review . I’d highly suggest using one note and keeping track of every piece of article u r studying… u can arrange them according to themes when u r still looking for a topic… this way after 3 months of reading lit u wont feel like u r losing ur mind … because on paper u have nothing to show…

On a similar note , I’d suggest use mendeley to organise papers. U can annotate them there and login from multiple places like lab computer or ur pc etc. this way u know which ones u have marked and read and where to find what.

Don’t use ai for lit review … it’s a massive waste of time and gets u confused. Instead just start reading and u will get there … u don’t have to read every paper but skim through abstract and findings and u will know what to do next

Don’t delete any work ever… like from the first draft of ur lit review to the last draft of ur thesis … keep them all neatly in a folder… make sure to copy it in multiple places so u won’t lose it in case of emergency

Print out key papers u r using to build ur research around … like maybe 10 or 15 of them … this will give u a boost cuz for once u don’t have to sit in front of a screen…

Actually have a conversation with ur sv… talk to him like u r a newborn because we all r… in research world. Also make sure u communicate ur timeline with him very clearly… like when u want to complete what … because they r busy people and u don’t want to be stuck and frustrated waiting for their feedback… so at least make some key milestones clear to him and keep it in written document so u can refer back if he forgets.

Now when it comes to ur actual research and experiment or simulation, always start early… these things take forever and u will eventually have unexpected problems… so always start early … play around and see what happens …

Have some hobbies outside of ur research… it gets more difficult as time goes on… but plz escape once in a while to refresh ur brain

Academia doesn’t pay nearly enough to survive but I don’t care if u have to ask for help never compromise on nutrition…

I’ve seen so many people living in lab and surviving on ramen … ur body will eventually fail u… so don’t be frugal about nutrition… brain doesn’t work if it’s not healthy… and empty stomach puts u in a funk

When the inevitable doom hits about where this is all going or if ur research is worth the time and effort … talk to ur peers … always or ur sv even… they r there on the same boat and they will help…

Also don’t work 24/7 in ur lab… move around… it’s a massive boost for motivation…

work at most 7 -8 hrs a day … then take rest … because after that I feel like I don’t function well and it’s just dragging my brain …

Treat urself after a milestone like publishing a paper or completing a chapter… u totally deserve it .. and it is positive reinforcement!

I won’t pretend I’m a 4.0 gpa student cuz I’m not … but these things I wish someone told me when I was starting grad school and I hope it can help u… so all the best 💜

[theresattrpgforthat]

THEME: RPGs for Accessible Gaming

The RPGs for Accessible Gaming Bundle is currently live, and it's raising some money for a great cause: DOTS Braille Dice, which makes tabletop gaming more accessible for blind gamers. Here's a few great games that you can find in this gigantic bundle!

Arkyvr, by Alewood Games.

ARKYVR is a multimedia MOTHERSHIP 1E setting & toolkit to play documentary filmmakers in space for 1-4 players and 1 GM.

Equipped with only their camera gear, ARKYVRs will attempt to document life in space and expose corporate client atrocities while surviving the void’s unspeakable horrors. Players will make ends meet through corporate media contracts but with each assignment they will also find horrible truths hidden just under the surface of their mission. If the ARKYVR crew survives their film shoot, they must then decide how to distribute their footage. Some clients will pay a handsome price to cover up their atrocities while others will use it to lead a revolution. How will players use their recorded stories to shift the balance of power? Will they even live long enough to tell the story?

Created by and in collaboration with industry filmmakers! ARKYVR is a 60 page zine that brings a unique vision to deadly space adventures through the lens of a camera!

ARKYVR only works if you have a copy of MOTHERSHIP to play with it with, but since the core rules of MOTHERSHIP are free to access, this shouldn't stop you from being able to pick up the game and enjoy it's film-making twist. Each character concept comes with duties: elements of the role's job that help you define your character and give them some bones to build a personality off of. The core rules of the game are re-contextualized around missions that involve capturing footage, rather than investigating jobs gone wrong.

I feel like ARKYVR has the potential to combine the horror of space with the lovely irony present in horror movies that involve artists getting in way over their head for the pursuit of the art that they love. How much will they sacrifice for the perfect shot? What kind of art does their team want to make? What kind of art can their team afford to make? What dark secrets will they uncover in the process?

Fang, by Joel Happyhil.

You’re a Fang, an ageless super-powered being living among humans, you live in city that doesn’t matter surrounded by people who won’t live to see a fraction of your life, yet you can’t help but be intrigued. You are driven by your desire, an ever-growing thirst that has the power to reduce you to something less than human, but who knows how long that could take.

Here's a game for the vampires and their human companions. FANG has a lot of common hallmarks when it comes to what you think about ttrpgs: stats with ratings attached (in this case in the form of dots), playbooks that define your character type, and a method of advancement, to show how your PC grows over time. Similar to Blades in the Dark, there's dice pools and staggered resolution levels. There's also a thirst track that increases and decreases as your vamp experiences the visceral parts of life, like physical harm, strong emotions, or the thrill of victory.

What I love in games like this is when you see what happens when you hit your character's limit. In FANG, this limit is Starvation - when your Thirst track hits 12. Your character has an outburst, or breaks down, pushing you closer and closer to getting taken out of the scene. On the other side of the coin, Human characters have a Passion track, which is less powerful than Thirst, but also exempts them from the consequences of Starvation.

If you want a game about a desperate character having a terrible time, you'll likely find some really satisfying moments in FANG.

Be Seeing You, by Tanya Floaker.

This roleplaying game contains dangerous levels of dystopian science fiction, social allegory, and psychological drama.

Influenced by fiction in the vein of The Prisoner, Stalker, and Utopia, and real struggles against mass surveillance, the Hostile Environment, and the alienating effects of capitalism.

Be Seeing You is a game about surveillance and dystopia, but it's also a collaborative world-building exercise, building a story through a series of short vignettes. No character is controlled by one single person; each player will pick up the role of the Prisoner throughout the story, focusing on how this central character is treated by the village and its residents.

The game itself is diceless; things change in the story based on the kinds of choices you make when it comes to answering the prompts and following the parts of the story that are interesting to you. This is a game that thrives with a group that feels comfortable in the dystopian genre and loves hitting thematically resonant story beats.

Pretty Beastly, by Em Hubbard.

Calling all disaffected furniture, oppressed appliances, and humble housewares ready to rise up against monstrous monarchists! You were once simple servants in the household of an overbearing oligarch. Years ago, you were victims of an unfair curse and now you really are objects - dishes, chairs, mirrors, and ornaments. The time has now come to rise up against your Prince, defeat the vile sorcerer, and fight back against an oppressive social system!

Pretty Beastly is a collaborative roleplaying game for 2-5 players. Players work together to create a story of cursed household servants struggling against their oppressive social system. A deck of cards will help determine your challenges, successes, and failures.

Taking inspiration from animated musicals and dramatic historical epics, a fantastical (problematic) fairy tale collides with the French Revolution. Quirky and political, this game will take you on a wild anti-establishment musical adventure.

Welcome to the story of Beauty and the Beast, from the furniture's point of view. Set firmly in the setting of 18th century, this is a game of rage and revenge; working as a group to escape, defeat, or break the chains you find yourselves under as the servants of cursed and cruel monarch. The game is played over a series of scenes, using playing cards to provide inspiration for challenges as well as the means by which you can overcome those challenges. There's also a hilarious addition of musical numbers, where your characters break into song if you draw a low-enough card.

Corporate Fae, by ryland.s.

You’re a really weird fae, as far as everyone knows, you’re the only one who’s got an obsession with human corporate work life. Fortunately for you, you can stand in as someone’s secretary, manager, or the barista across the building. Unfortunately for humans, they don’t remember you before and after you temporarily take up someone’s position.

A close human friend asks you to attend some company galas and parties to do some corporate espionage and learn some gossip your friend can monopolize.

All you need is a deck of standard playing cards without the jokers, a way to record, and some time to play.

Hello solo gamers, I haven't forgotten about you! Corporate Fae is a prompt-based solo game that uses a deck of cards to generate details that allow you to imagine a story about a fae trying to commit corporate espionage.

The game is rather simple; you draw to determine the role you've taken and the kind of party you attend, and then continue to draw various juicy pieces of gossip that your fae will overhear. I think it might be interesting to try and piece the bits of gossip together, to paint a portrait of a slowly unraveling secret being pieced together from the various bits of information you gather while socializing at the party.

The only criticism I have for this game is that there isn't a great way to wrap up the game in a neat little bow at the end - I think I would have loved some kind of tension underneath getting found out, or perhaps a timer that gives you a hard limit on how much time you have to gather information before you need to leave the party - maybe like a clock-strikes-midnight situation or something like that.

Darkest Hour, by Emmeryn.

Here, a night like any other.

Rays of sunlight slowly recede over the wilds, the cabin, the steeple, the mausoleum. A gathering of friends, allies, comrades, hunters, united in their cause. They may not yet realize the danger they are in, but a cruel eye turns upon them. Something cursed awakens, stirring to life with the fall of dusk. A hunger claws free from the pitch black.

In the darkest hours of night, hearts tighten as untold horrors bear down. Fangs, claws, the glint of rusted steel and the scrape of bone. Howls and screams resound in the darkness, creeping ever closer.

Will you live to see the light of day?

Darkest Hour is a horror tabletop game designed for one-shot horror sessions. It can be played as a GMless game or with a GM, and can accommodate 2 to 5 players (with or without a GM) for one to two play sessions totaling 2 to 5 hours. It can be played with as little as the book and three six-sided dice.

Say hello to a one-shot horror game that can provide multiple sessions of fun, thanks to the various settings and horrors you can combine for a different theme each time. Your characters are hunters, pursuing a monstrous and terrible haunt that has trapped them somewhere. You use six-sided dice to try and overcome the challenges this story throws at you, each obstacle becoming harder and harder to overcome the longer the story goes.

The author refers to the work of Avery Alder, but I feel that in some ways, there's also a little bit of Ten Candles hidden in the roots of this game, especially with the rising doom the further into the story you go. That being said, the Haunt does have a weakness, and defeating them is much more likely to happen than in a Ten Candles game. If you want a game that's dripping in monster vibes, you probably want Darkest Hour.

Other Games I've Recommended in the Past…

Teenagers With Attitude and Post Apo Calypse, by CardboardHyperfix.

A Witch, A Gallows Bird, by Jellyfishlines.

Protect the Child and Copper Shores by me!

Wrath of the Undersea, by EfanGamez.

If you like what I do, you can always leave a tip at my Ko-Fi!

[elliegoose]

long post but i'm getting really excited to run Lancer: Far Field

my players are going to be exploring the galaxy in the Union Science Bureau Ship Nearer The Sun Than Is Advisable. they chose this art for the ship because it looks "pink and cunty":

our PCs

an Egregorian medic who is also an astronomer. his name is Malice and he's a very sweet guy.

a survival expert and anthropologist whose anthropological specialty is recreational space drugs

an NHP who controls a team of subalterns. she was originally the ship's security detail, but during these many years traveling through deep space she became obsessed with anime maids and now all her subalterns are dressed as maids and refer to any problem as "messes" to "clean up". she's even installed a tea room in the ship. her broom has magic blinkspace powers, including the ability to suck things up into a mysterious hammerspace and shoot them back out again

an Egregorian theologian and engineer researching how to spread Witness on other planets.

NPCs

i've also been having a ton of fun making NPCs to fill out the crew. thus far this cast of little freaks includes:

Captain/Linguist: Tana Zorale (she/her)

A well-traveled Cosmopolitan in her middle-age, the far-field expedition’s departure from the Dawnline Shore was itself a return to a home long left behind for Captain Zorale. A native Laureline, Zorale was born during the early days of the Baronies’ colonization of Upper Laurent. Escaping the brutality of Baronic subjugation, Zorale’s family took refuge in the stars. Outlaw, revolutionary, surveyor, purveyor of goods in markets black, white, and grey, and so much more, the Captain has played countless roles during the past 1,150 realtime years. However, it was only after Zorale had decided to settle down on Cradle that she was recruited by the Union Science Bureau to captain the USBS Nearer The Sun Than Is Advisable.

Confident, knowledgeable, and ambitious, dedicated to her work and adoring of her crew, the Captain is eager to explore, finding herself feeling more at home now that she’s once again among the stars than she had ever felt during the past few years on Cradle.

Installed through her neural port is an experimental version of the Adaptive Translator COMP/CON that interfaces directly with her brain. With this interface, she has near-fluent use of virtually every language documented by Union.

Kind of a MILF.

First Officer/Ontologistician: Hrijn Udrún (they/them)

First Officer Hrijn Udrún is an experienced ontolgistician hailing from Harrison’s World. During the recent war in the Dawnline Shore, they defected to New Madrassa after exposing Purview plans to build a blink-powered bomb capable of heretofore unseen destruction. Refusing to work for the New Madrassan military or the Union Navy, they were instead quickly recruited by the New Madrassa World Science Organization. Now, they are eager to explore the Watchers, known as they are for their high concentration of blinkfield anomalies.

Udrún is also an experienced and passionate chef, and could not be stopped from taking care of food operations on this expedition.

Pilot/Narrator/The Ship Herself: NEA (Navigation and Exploration Assistant) (she/her)

An NHP with over 400 years of exploration under her belt, NEA’s early career involves war stories from the Third Committee’s Revolution, but how many are tall tales is unclear.

She walks around the ship with a variety of subalterns and holograms, though her favorite representation is a hologram of an orange tabby cat.

Surveyor: Mulri Krevul (he/him):

Mulri Krevul has been at this for a long time. The sole survivor of a lost First Committee Far-Field Team, unfrozen from thousands of years in cryosleep by another FFT which rediscovered him 98 realtime years ago, Krevul wasted no time getting back to work. Given a second chance at life, Krevul is now doubly dedicated to a life of science. He was recruited for this expedition due to his prior experience surveying worlds with failed colonies.

Krevul spends much of his free time on the omninet, correcting historical misconceptions about what life was like way back in the 16th century of Union.

He is also an avid gamer, and is seldom ever seen not wearing his GMS-issued hoodie over his uniform.

mulri krevul will definitely end this campaign still using he/him pronouns for sure. my players are gonna have to forcibly pry that dysphoria hoodie off of her🥚

[marticoresims]

My Rotational Gameplay System

Hi! There's a video on my channel about how I play rotationally, but some info there is outdated. I figured a post can always be edited, so it's a better way to share how I play The Sims 2.

What is rotational gameplay?

Playing rotationally means that you play multiple households for the same number of days, jumping from one to the other in rounds. This way, you keep the households even, have story progression in all of them, and then you can make them interact, intertwine and merge into new families, not leaving any playable Sim behind.

If you play two-three households and leave the rest unplayed, that's also rotational gameplay. There's no right or wrong way to play The Sims 2!

Setting up the neighborhood

First of all, stealth hoods. I don't want all the same Sims appearing in my family bin over and over, so I made the stealth hoods empty. This tutorial shows how to do it, but it's actually more simple than that – just go into those folders and delete all files in 'Characters'. DO NOT do it in the Documents directory!

Second, I think of which subhoods make sense for this neighborhood. I hardly ever add Downtown. Vacation destinations depend on what I need, I usually add one during gameplay if I'm planning a vacation (which is rare). I like to have one, max two university hoods, especially if they include pre-made Sims. And Bluewater Village is completely redundant, but I sometimes make my own shopping district as an extra area. For example, in my Pleasantview 2.0 I made "Goth Square" that is kind of like a downtown district with apartment buildings, restaurants, clubs etc.

Sometimes I'll tinker with seasons, e.g. Strangetown seems like warm climate, so I might turn off winter in it. Riverblossom Hills must stay default, though.

Basics and keeping track

One round is 4 days for most of my neighborhoods. Some people do it by days of the week or seasons in-game, but I can't be bothered synchronizing my neighborhood after someone moves out and it's again a summer Monday for them. If it's Thursday in the middle of winter in another household at the same time, I really don't mind.

I'm an old school gal when it comes to taking notes to keep track of played days. I have a paper notebook with the grid pattern and mark rounds as squares – each line is one day. I have a whole list of families named by last names mostly, but if a last name repeats (which is often), I either sign them with one of the Sims' first name or their last name + initials. For example, in Riverblossom Hills I have families named Roth (for the "main" Roth family still living in the original house) and Roth LF (Roth – Larch & Fiona).

These days, I use erasable pens in my notes, so no crossing out if a family merges with another or changes its name. For marking days, I still like to use a simple pencil. For side notes (such as planning someone's career or matchmaking) I either use sticky notes or draw a special square and use the erasable pens again to take easily erasable notes. If there's no space on the page anymore, I move onto another. I always keep the old pages, though! I have them pinned in the back of the notebook. Also, I only use notebooks that have tabs of different colors and each neighborhood has its color. Blue for Pleasantview, green for Strangetown, purple for Veronaville, orange for Riverblossom Hills etc. I like to match pen colors to it as well. Yes, I do have ideasthaesia.

For more "serious" neighborhoods I have an additional document on my PC in table form where I plan out the storytelling. I pretty much only have it for my Youtube let's play neighborhoods like Townieville. Fun fact: I have two separate notebooks for "work neighborhoods" and "private neighborhoods". The work one is in smaller format 😂

Here's a fragment of my Townieville notes (the Bendett-LeTourneau family takes too much space when spelled out lol):

As for aging, I made my own custom lifespan that mimics real life years (1 day = 1 year). However, I only age up Sims at "1 day away" (aka the orthodox way) when they're babies and teenagers. Babies because I want them to be 1 year old as toddlers (only Nopke somehow figured out a way to make the baby stage actually 1 day), and teenagers to give them time to attend college. In all the other stages, I wait until the last minute for them to age up on their own. I would never remember to age them up manually or throw parties, also the 1 extra day would make it difficult for me to count their age. That results in the elder stage starting at "57 days old", but I count it as 60 years old. I like to know how old my Sims are for context, that's all.

Population

My limit for one neighborhood is 16 families. If there's more, one round takes forever and I lose interest. In my old Pleasantview, I finally managed to lower the number of families from 24 to 18 and still going. It feels great! So, as you see, I can't do an uberhood/megahood.

To stop my neighborhood from expanding too much, I simply don't make too many kids. I have pretty strict rules that are based on aspirations: Family+Family is 3 kids, Family+Other is 2 kids, Other+Other is 1 kid. If both Sims have family as a secondary aspiration (and I remember that they do), I'll make them have two. It has been working pretty well, but I'm open to changes in the future. Sometimes I will even impregnate a Sim with InSimenator instead of naturally to make sure it's not twins.

I mark every birth on a certain day as a dot and letter (B/G – boy/girl) and plan newborns in advance to have babies be born at a similar time and with balanced genders, so I can match them later. Of course I do have same-sex couples and big-age-difference couples as well. It all comes out when the babies get older, but synchronizing births creates a solid basis. Usually there are no more than 4 kids born in one round.

I love townies, but I avoid bringing them into the neighborhood as much as I can (it expands the population). If two playables are not related and have the potential to be together, I'll tinker with their chemistry to make it happen. I have this mod to help me avoid marrying second-cousins, even if it's not really that big a deal in real life. I do follow chemistry very much in matchmaking though, so if there's any decision to be made between two Sims, I'll always go for the one with the higher chemistry (sort by chemistry and choose the one that appears first – even if the bolts are the same, they are sorted by points).

Wants & Fears

I like to say that I play half-wants-based. I especially like to use wants to avoid having only wealthy families. How? Only if they roll a want of getting a skill point, I'll prioritize career skill points and let them get promoted. Otherwise, they might stay at the same level for years and do other things instead such as hobbies. Even if their lifetime want is the top of a career – the Sims are responsible for progressing in their careers. I don't lock the skill wants either, only the promotion ones if a promotion is guaranteed. But keep in mind that I use mods for no friends needed for careers and less often promotions (I changed it to 85%). That way, some Sims struggle financially, some just have enough to pay the bills, some accumulate money very slowly, and some become rich fast. It's true that it's fortune Sims that usually reach the top of their careers, knowledge Sims are second place, but isn't that actually realistic? If a Sim's lifetime want is anything other than a career, I realize they won't get everyday wants regarding that LTW (unless it's a knowledge Sim with "Max out 7 skills"), so I will push them towards it, but still, not every Sim completes their lifetime want. Also, I use 50 New LTWs and Slower LTA Gain. Homework works a similar way. Since, without mods, your Sims are either failing or having an A+, I use the School Grade Mod for more grade variations, but also base doing homework on the child or teen's wants. If they have any wants about education (private school, college, fear to go to school because of bad grades), they do their homework that day. Also, on weekends I make them catch up on homework if they're not busy.

I do like to listen to what my Sims want to do, but if the want is ridiculous (like wanting to get married to 3 Sims at once for Romance Sims on dates), I'll ignore it. I only use wants or lack thereof for more variety and less decision-making. I use a lot of mods that change wants as well, such as Fewer Hobby Wants. What about pets? If more than half of the household has corresponding wants to get a pet, I'll get them one.

Decisions

Deciding makes me anxious. I want gameplay to be fun and the Sims to be their own people. That's why I have certain rules for choosing aspirations and careers. Here's my entire calculator that saves me in choosing careers. For aspirations, I only use the calculator sometimes if I'm not sure, but usually I look at the Sim's personality and can easily see their aspiration based on traits. Obviously I make exceptions to that rule, I WILL have a grouchy Family Sim from time to time. But I do that only if I feel a certain vibe, so no decision is needed either, I just know this Sim will be the exception. Sometimes, I make exceptions to also differentiate Sims from their parents, as personality is genetic for the most part, so it's likely for two Knowledge Sims to “produce” another Knowledge Sim and I'd like to avoid repetition. Especially with Family Sims, as with my population system it might lead to one family dominating the neighborhood. Family+Family having 3 kids and all of them with the Family aspiration? Not on my watch!

In families of more than one child, how do I decide who moves out and who stays home as an adult? If there are no other factors influencing it, the youngest child stays because the older ones moving out will create the space for the next generation. But it varies based on what housing situation the potential partner has. Oh, yeah, I don't play with elders only, that's boring.

How do I decide who changes their name at marriage? These days, I like to keep the OG last names, so if there's a townie marrying into a pre-made family, I'll keep the pre-made family's name. Gender doesn't matter. If it's two pre-mades getting married, I decide based on how many other Sims there are with that last name (do the Sims have siblings?). It's real tactical work sometimes. If I want to keep both, a hyphenated name is always an option too.

Random events

Not a lot of random events happen in my game. Mostly it's just Sims cheating. I have ACR's risky woohoo set to zero most of the time. I do have some mods that make Sims' lives more risky like more dangerous fires (this version is edited to work with the fire safety skill) or death by childbirth. But if someone dies untimely, they die. Especially if they've already had kids (which sounds cruel lol, but my gameplay is based on legacy and genetic continuity). I also ignore chance cards because they make my game too hectic, and my Sims don't get promoted too much, so I don't need the difficulty. I'll only click on them (randomly without reading) if a family is exceptionally boring.

University

One round is 4 days, that means 4 years, so I guess it would make sense to play the "empty nest" once the offspring is in college. But I don't do that. College is frozen time. In my game, the teenager stage is 9 days – from 13 to 22. It would be too short if I treated university as passing time, as 22 is when US college students graduate. So, I mark a dot with the letter C whenever someone is "1 day away" and ready for college. It's often for the future more than the past, as I like to send a few Sims at once (you know, the babies marked 22 days earlier), so I plan ahead and need to know how many days left. I also send them to college according to their age (even if I don't have to do that with frozen time, it's fun to do), so if there's 2 years difference between Sims, one of them will be a Freshman when the other one is already a Junior. Also, not everyone goes to college! It's wants-based, again. If the teen has the want to go to college the very last morning of their teen stage, they go immediately. And again, exceptions. Sometimes I'll lock in the college want because I just can't imagine that Sim not going to college. I have the No Memory Uneducated mod to stop Sims who didn't want to go to college from crying about it. My university gameplay is the most strictly wants-based, to avoid having all Sims graduate with honors. Don't have a want to gain skill points, but fear academic probation? We're doing bare minimum. That kinda thing. The only want I lock in is "Make Dean's List" because it's pretty rare, and without it I was ending up with 3.2 GPA for every single Sim. This want means we're doing everything to get the highest grade possible.

Supernatural Sims

I'm not a fan of supernatural in The Sims (unless it's Planet Alades). The only occult I absolutely LOVE is ALIEN. I will have aliens in nearly every neighborhood. No Multi PT mod needed. PlantSims are cool too, but only in neighborhoods where they appear from the start. Very rarely do I let my Sims become werewolves, or especially vampires and zombies. If a Sim doesn't age, I don't see a point in playing them. Best regards to all the 'aging off' Simmers out there 😆

That's all! Now I can stop rambling about it in my let's plays and just send you guys to this post if you have questions. Phew!

[simsi45]

The Sims 4 Amber House Pack - PUBLIC RELEASE!

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE PATREON PAGE!

Oh...my...GOD!!! I can't believe this is actually happening....

After 3 years of hard work, I am here to welcome everyone to:

The Sims 4 Amber House Pack!

It's time to create your own mission style dream house, with this collection of 345 brand new and hella cool build/buy mode items, inspired by Dontnod's "Life is Strange: Before the Storm" game.

EARLY ACCESS: You can get the pack right now, on my PATREON on the 3-5$ tiers, or wait for the 12th of May for the public release!

Please read EVERYTHING included in the post as it contains useful information about the pack!

DISCLAIMER: Simsi45 or The Sims 4 Amber House Pack is NOT affiliated or associated with Electronic Arts, Square Enix, Deck Nine or Dontnod in ANY way. This is a purely fanmade pack made by me, a fan of both games that wanted to get the best of both worlds.

FEATURES:

 345 new items (including sofas, tables, decor, windows, doors and much much more!)

 Search for "amberhouse", "lis", "simsi45" to find most of the items in the build/buy catalog.

 Custom original names and descriptions. (the best I could come up with :P)

 Tons of custom recolors (based on original textures) to mix and match items more easily.

 Heavy modification on original meshes and textures, including english text turned into simlish.

 Everything has been playtested thoroughly.

 Included are a couple of easter egg items from The Sims 2 that I thought fit the theme well.

New lot I made showcased in the trailer and pics (found in the gallery under my tag @simsi45_mods) a recreation of Rachel Amber's house.

LOT INSTALLATION:

Included in the pack is the lot recreation of the Amber House that's featured in the pictures and videos.

You can get the lot by:

Using the gallery. Make a search under my EA id: @simsi45_mods and download the lot as usual. I've included customized pictures to identify my own lot more easily. Make sure you have the "enable custom content" tag ENABLED for the lot to show up in the results.

If you have difficulties using the gallery you can download the lot tray files from the bottom of the post, and move them inside your own tray folder. This can be found in your documents/electronic arts/the sims 4/ tray folder. This way you can install the lot without the need of the gallery.

NOTES:

~ The pack is in an EARLY-ACCESS STATE! I have dedicated a lot of time to test everything but I'm a team of just a single person. If you find any issues please let me know so I can take a look.

~ Because of the amount of items the size of the pack is quite big. I tried my best to make everything as compact as possible with the final size being 1.5 GB of required free space. 

~ The majority of the meshes and textures of these items are ripped straight from the LIS: Before the Storm game, and then each individual item (both mesh and textures) has been heavily modified and edited to fit and function properly within the Sims 4 game's engine. That's why some items will look identical to the original game, some look somewhat different, and some are brand new meshes I made using the original items.

~ Some of the original ripped meshes' poly counts were WAY too high so I had to lower the polygons so The Sims 4 wouldn't explode when filling a lot with them. I lowered the polygons and edited most of the items as much as possible without compromising their original look too much. In other words I tried to find the best balance between looks and performance and after lots of testing on my moderate PC system, I can confirm the game runs super smoothly on my end. 

BACKSTORY ABOUT THE PACK (no spoilers):

This pack started with an idea I got back in 2017 when I first played Life Is Strange Before The Storm. When visiting the Amber house, I immediately fell in love with it as I am huge fan of the craftsman architectural style, it's literally all I'd want my dream house to be. The art team has done an incredible job on it, and as I personally find the art style of the Life is Strange series and The Sims 4 to fit very well with each other, I wanted to make these assets available for The Sims 4. Of course back then this all seemed impossible, however a few years later in 2020 during quarantine I revisited the idea as it had been stuck on my wishlist ever since.

To make a long story short, this project has been in the works for about 3 years now, and after a lot of hard work, head scratching and quite a few sleepless nights I managed to overcome all the obstacles I came across (which were a lot mind you) and I'm honestly hoping you'll be as pleased with the results as I am. Seriously this exceeded my expectations as it started as a small little pack for my personal use, to what I'd consider an expansion pack's (or even more) worth of build/buy content.

INSTALLATION:

Due to the size of the pack I had to split it up into multiple parts. You will need a .RAR extractor unpack it. More specifically:

1 -> Download ALL 6 parts of the pack and put them ALL in the same folder. 2 -> Right click the 1st part .RAR file named "Simsi45 - The Sims 4 Amber House Pack.part1" and click "Extract Here"   3 -> Once that's finished a package file will appear, this is the entire pack and you can now move that into The Sims 4/Mods. Simple as that!

CREDITS & THANKS:

~Dontnod, Square Enix, Deck Nine for the original meshes & textures ripped from Life is Strange: Before the Storm that were used to create most of the items.

~EA for some meshes & textures used to convert some items from The Sims 2.

Special thank you to all the patreon members that stuck with me throughout me developing the pack. Although not many I really appreciate every single one of you for the support you've given me and for sticking around!

[baublekute]

Baublekute's Custom PC - Part 2

Cooling System AKA Fans Galore: choosing fans over liquid cooling for my use-case and avoiding the slightest chance of leakage and fucking over this very expensive project.

120mm (x3) | bottom right = exhaust

120mm (x2) | top right = rest of intake

140mm (x1) | top left = handles ~80% of air intake

CPU Cooler | bottom left = keeps the brain cooled.

[psychhound]

the more i dm vs play other ttrpgs the more frustrated i get with how npcs work in 5e. my game centers around a small town with a recurring cast of npcs, as well as newly introduced npcs each arc that my players frequently adopt, and every time i open my Documents (tone: weary) filled with npcs i just wish 5e npcs were Built Different(tm) to pcs. obviously theres statblocks and stuff you can use but if youre working under the assumption these npcs are Full People who are going to take up space in the pcs lives youre going to be building them like you would a pc and frankly it sucks for a couple reasons

one, if i want to introduce a new batch of npcs of a level that will prove imposing for my pcs to fight, it shouldnt take me 10 hours to make them. two, once the fight is happening it would be great if they didnt have so many abilities and spells that im just hoping and praying i can make them function even a little smartly without grinding the whole fight to a halt every time its a spellcasters turn

and third, which i think deserves its own paragraph(s), i wish npcs didnt have the same set of skills that pcs get

i like trying to give my guys, pcs or npcs alike, pretty high mods on things, bc, you know, good for the game and also big numbers fun. but some skills are either inherently useless for an npc to have, or imply a loss of player agency if i was rolling them

like, charisma skills. deception is really useful for an npc to have, because then pcs have to roll insight against it to learn information. persuasion, however, is not something an npc should really ever roll. if theyre rolling persuasion on a pc, that player is experiencing a loss of agency over how their pc reacts to a request. if theyre rolling it on another npc, youre now just playing dollies with yourself while the pcs watch. if im ever choosing between persuasion and deception for an npc, im always going to give them proficiency in deception even if that makes less sense for their character. same problem for intimidation. either youre telling the pcs how to feel or playing dollies with yourself

stealth and sleight of hand are overall way more helpful for npcs than for pcs who arent rogues. and perception is far more useful for an npc to have than like ... survival. when are your npcs going to be rolling survival? if you have a ranger or ranger-like character whos helping your pcs navigate wilderness then why does it make more sense for them to be rolling survival and potentially mess up something they are meant to be good at, causing potentially unfun complications for your party, than just ... knowing that character can help them navigate, so they do? especially if thats the reason that npc is there?

idk like my players respond very well to the npcs being Full People and i do think theres a level of enjoyment to like. comparing pc and npc stats or players learning what feats an npc took or lore around subclasses but also. also im so miserly and decrepit and my google doc of my four bad guys this arc and their spells is 59 pages long im Tired Save Me

[shellseaisms]

shellsea's empty & organised mods folder.

just a random upload, but I've been organising my stuff + setting the sims 3 up on a pc for my sister and I got the idea to upload an empty version of my mods folder that's already got a bunch of categorized subfolders in case I need it somewhere down the line. if it'll benefit me, there's probably someone else out there it'll benefit too, so here you go.

my wrist hurts so I can't type out every single folder I've got in here, but the 'general' folders are: build mode, buy mode, create a sim, mods, patterns & poses. there are 143 folders in total; I am pretty pedantic about the way I organise my cc and it's very much reflected here lmao. I've also included a version that includes the framework required for your game to recognise mods in the first place; you should only download this if you need a brand new mods folder/don't have one set up in your game already.

note that there are no mods/cc in these folders. please don't see this and mistake it for me sharing my mods folder with all my stuff; that still will not be happening!

just unzip and put the folders in your 'mods > packages' folder, or unzip and drop the 'mods' folder straight into your documents > the sims 3 folder if downloading the version with the framework.

download | download + framework

[anthurak]

So I recently saw a demo video for an upcoming mech-action game ‘Mecha Break’, which if you haven’t heard of it, looks like basically ‘Armored Core, now with hilariously blatant and obvious waifu bait’ in the form of sexy bombshell pilot player-characters that you can customize and have strut sexily around a hub-world between missions.

The thing is though, I can’t help but think there is something very interesting and honestly FUN about the idea of a mech game with a customizable Pilot-PC and a hub-world that you can explore ‘on-foot’ between missions. That just feels like something that would add so much fun immersion into a game like this.

Like the general rule of mech-games is that you are always essentially playing as the mech, and nothing else. With everything else like mech-customization and mission selection being done purely through menu-interfaces.

But with an actual Pilot-PC and an explorable hub-level, I feel like things get a lot more INTERESTING. Like now you can have fun with incorporating all those menus diagetically into the hub-world. Like actually going to the hanger to build and customize your mech, going to a shop to purchase new equipment, and of course the opportunity for plenty of RPG elements like chatting with other characters, finding items, reading documents and just simple exploration. And even some especially fun and egregious stuff like actually going through the full process of prepping and boarding your mech and going through the entire launch sequence before a mission.

And I can’t help but feel like that makes things at least a bit more fun and engaging overall? Sure it’s all so much ‘fluff’ and the dreaded word ‘filler’, but you know what? I think having some fluff and filler is a GOOD THING.

Honestly I feel like this is probably the one thing I really wish we’d gotten in Armored Core 6. Like yes, I know there is a Watsonian excuse for why you can’t have a Pilot-PC, but that game was made in the same engine as Elden Ring, Sekiro, Dark Souls and basically all of FromSofts other games. Would it really have been so hard to port over the PC assets from Elden Ring to make Pilot-PCs and a Firelink/Roundtable Hold-esque hub-world to hang out in and explore between missions?

Now sure, I realize that this level of immersion in a mech game wouldn’t be for everyone. Some people prefer the streamlined, simplified ‘go through some menus then play missions’ framework. But I also feel like this would be easy enough to accommodate for by having an option to easily access all of the between-mission menus and interfaces without running around the hubworld? Like say your PCs quarters in/aboard the homebase/spaceship/carrier/etc has an interface that lets them/you ‘remotely’ access all the mech-customization, parts-purchasing, mission-selection, etc. and skip the immersive fluff if you wish.

(Though perhaps with the caveat that if you do this too much, your character develops a reputation for being reclusive, anti-social shut-in which has potential consequences for the story XD)

I even think there’s a lot potential in the concept of a customizable Pilot-PC alone, aside from just being a sexy waifu. Like one game that actually did some REALLY interesting stuff with this concept was DAEMON X MACHINA from a few years back. That game not only gave you a customizable Pilot Player Character, it actually gave the customizations tangible effects on gameplay in the form of your character being able to get various cybernetic augmentations through a skill tree that gave different bonus’s to your piloting ability as you gradually turn your character into a full cyborg over the course of a playthrough.

I think we all understand value of a good hub-level in video games, particularly games that are very mission-based (shoutout to Hitman WoA’s Freelancer-mode Safehouse), and I think there’s a lot of there for the mecha-action genre.

[ckret2]

I need to know: how you think bill would be in chat if he ever got the priviledge to get a phone or use a PC?What social networks would he use?

Types in all caps at all times. Punctuation optional. If someone asks him to turn off caps he instead doubles the font size. He can do this even on sites/apps that don't allow you to change the size. He won't say how.

Considering this is 2013? He's probably a pioneer in spreading misinformation and bullshit on twitter. He's one of those "MANIFEST LOVE and $$$ get your DREAM JOB through the POWER of the LAW OF ATTRACTION" cultish New Age grifters making money off a website selling self help PDFs. He's building an internet cult.

Anyone who knows him IRL gets to hear him laughing about how stupid his followers are. However it sounds like he kind of buys some of his own New Age BS to a degree that worries people.

He gets in stupid drama and then spends all night digging up something to cancel his opponent over and sic his followers on them, not because he thinks he's justified, but sheerly for the thrill of the hunt. It makes him feel powerful. His twitter has been banned four times. People run webpages dedicated to documenting his heinous bullshit. He reads them regularly.

He's waiting til 2014 when bitcoin prices drop to like $50, buying as much as he can, spending six years waiting, and selling them in 2020 for like $69,000. He runs a blog telling people to buy crypto. He can actually foresee when the prices are going to peak and fall. He doesn't share this info. He makes bank himself and gleefully ruins everyone else's finances with no regrets. (He would encourage Mabel to buy and tell her exactly what day to sell.) (He would not tell Dipper when to sell.)

He hangs out in doomsday prepper forums so that he can make up new conspiracies and see if he can make everyone even more paranoid.

He's got a youtube channel that's a mix of all of the above BS. New Age self-help buy-crypto buy-gold our-universe-isn't-real access-the-higher-planes doomsday conspiracy mishmash. You can imagine the viewers he attracts. He disdains them all and tries to make them worse on purpose. Never shows his face, every video is a slideshow of psychedelic & pseudo-religious art (mostly stolen) with a voiceover and mystical-sounding music.

Mabel gets him on tumblr, because if Mabel has any social media of course it'd be 2013 tumblr, and probably a deviantart. She's posting her art and really badly photoshopped gif edits of her favorite cartoons and musicians, and generally acts like a normal person online.

Bill's tumblr is completely divorced from all his other horrible online activity. All he posts is cryptic rhyming couplets and terrible local photos of things that fascinate him. The photos could be anything from a car with a really sweet flaming paint job to a stunningly beautiful double rainbow over pine-covered mountains to a literal pile of dog shit because he thought it was interesting how it was drying out unevenly. Once he gets investigated for arson because he posted a picture of the house in flames within three hours of the crime. (He was, in fact, guilty, but he wheedled an alibi out of friends before they knew what he was being investigated for.)

He has like eight followers. The only content he reblogs is Eye of Providence images and pyramid images, which he tags #LITERALLY ME and thinks he's hilarious for; and also every single thing Mabel posts without exception until the end of time.

[theresattrpgforthat]

System Overview: Caltrop Core.

For three weeks, I’m exploring various ttrpg systems and what makes them tick, as per what was voted on in this poll. This week I’m going to dive into Caltrop Core!

Caltrop Core, by titanomachy (also known as Lex Kim Bobrow), is a genre-neutral SRD that uses d4's. It's flexibility sits in how you use the layered result system; from dice, to dice & tokens, to a pack of cards.

Let's take a look at the core pieces of this SRD!

Cybercore-Revelation, by Xelsius @ Forward Lightning, & A Night of Possibilities, by Vinicius de Souza.

The Results Table.

The actual SRD document for Caltrop Core is rather concise, and that's because pretty much everything in the game revolves around the Result Table.

When you describe an action by beginning with the words "I want to…", you roll 1 or more d4's. Your result is determined by the highest roll, and each level of the result is different.

Absolute Failure - You don't get what you want; things get worse.

Partial Failure - You don't get what you want (but possibly gain a benefit).

Partial Success - You get what you want, but with a complication.

Absolute Success - You get what you want, and more.

This is the centre concept for Caltrop Core: once you know this, you can iterate on this as much or as little as you want! I think this is why Caltrop Core can be such a great option for a first time game-maker: you can add some flavor to the core roll, use some basic modifiers built into character creation, and you're good to go.

That being said, there's more layers that can exist in a Caltrop Core game if you want there to be. One way is how you get to the results listed in the table above, and the resolution tools available have some interesting options.

Let's take a look at some of the examples available in the deep deep pool of Caltrop Core games!

Full Moon Investigations, by Patchster0730, Party Animals, by Dani Belonia, & Ceremony in Shadow, by tlando.

Stat Pools.

The most common resolution method uses dice pools pulled from your PC stats. These stats often are built out of an array, and then modified by a character class or background, such as in Full Moon Investigators: in this game, you have Bark, Bite, Brains & Bullets. You assign a 1, 2, 3 and 4 to each, and then gain modifiers to certain stats in certain stages of the game, depending on the background that you take.

Alternatively, you can create your character from a number of different pieces, like the options available in Cybercore Revolution. Since this game has 12 Skills instead of just 3 or 4, you have an opportunity to build a more highly specialized character. Instead of choosing a single character class, you can build a character out of Traits, Vocations, & Specializations, allowing you to hone in on just a few abilities, or allow yourself a generalized advantage in as many as you can.

In Dead Armour, your character has a stat array, but they don't have any backgrounds to improve their skills. Instead, this game introduces an additional mechanic: Tokens.

Dead Armour, by tim zee, I'll Be Taking That, by porchlightdusk, & Ghost-Fi, by aghostofeli.

Tokens

Tokens are a form of player currency that can be spent in a number of different ways in Caltrop Core. In Dead Armour, tokens are currency earned through role-play in Downtime between scenes, that can then be spent to avert disaster or find some crucial resources.

Similarly, in Hexfall, tokens are used to adjust the outcome of a roll, provide a narrative boost, or activate character actions assigned to your character class.

In The Stars Will Not Go Out and Party Animals, players gain and spend tokens through various prompts, which then fuel their dice pools. These prompts are often tied to character backgrounds, allowing your character abilities to remain unique and specialized.

There's also a fun twist you can add to Caltrop Core games by adding another form of resolution or randomness: Cards.

Or4cle, by 1eona, Hexfall, by titanomachyrpg, & The Stars Will Not Go Out, by RJKGames.

Cards

In the SRD, Lex mentions that Caltrop Core can also accommodate other toys in its game design, such as playing cards or tarot cards. Cards are often a great way to add randomness into a game that allows the group to play without a GM, or to provide results that don't map onto a success/failure matrix. Here's a few examples of how designers have decided to include cards into their Caltrop Core creations.

Or4cle, by 1eona, is a game that combines the d4 rolls with tarot cards, which are used for character & story generation, and might allow the game to become GM-less in the process. The Major Arcana are used to determine the hook of a story: such as investigating someone's lover if you draw The Lovers card, or a world-ending threat if you draw The World. The Wands are used for plot twists, Cups for a patron, Swords for Antagonists, and Pentacles for rewards. When it comes to character generation, each of these decks are also used to give you details about your character, allowing randomness and interpretation to both have a role in the game.

Meanwhile, Ghost-Fi pairs a pack of playing cards with the dice to determine details that connect ghosts to the world around them. The suits are categories of Tethers: things that keep the ghost connected. The symbols on the cards can occasionally offer up unique encounters, such as increasing Spite - a corrupting currency that could affect your ghost's ability to cross over to the afterlife. Since Ghost-Fi can be played solo, these cards allow for unexpected obstacles to face your character, even if you don't have a GM to come up with NPCs and enemies to stand in your way.

Rat Guardian by FiloHazard, & Space Taxi, by gothHoblin.

The Playground.

All of the examples I've talked about so far are just a small taste of what you can do with Caltrop Core. The basic mechanic is very simple, which means that you as a designer can take a lot of ideas from other games that you like and weave them into the basic rules to create an incredibly unique and inventive game.

For example in I'll Be Taking That, you wager items from your goblin hoard (read: inventory) to increase the number of dice you roll. This replaces the stats, although it doesn't have a token economy like Party Animals.

In Hexfall, stats are not even included in character creation; you simply roll 3d4 for every interaction, but the rules change depending on the kind of encounter you face.

In Rat Guardian, players have to pair up: one Rat player for every Resident player. The game's pacing happens through a series of Beats, which involve goals that the guardian Rats need to work to help their fellow humans achieve. In order to achieve these beats, Rats and Residents can sometimes pool their dice in hope of increasing their odds.

Caltrop Core is an excellent option for folks who want a fairly easy-to-understand resolution system that can be modified to fit a broad number of genres. If you're a new designer who wants an easy system that will allow you to try your hand at this hobby, or if you're a designer who wants to play with a neat mechanic and watch it interplay with a basic system, you might want to check out Caltrop Core.

Let's take a look at a few more Caltrop Core games that might interest you!

FishBlade on a Bright Reef, by PlaceHead Here, is a game about FishBlades helping human souls escape a Reef and move on to the afterlife.

NIGHTHAWKS is a game about lonely people in a Diner, who have to make a choice between risking rejection or succumbing to isolation.

Magic Moth Island, by LeightonConnor, is a game about animals defending their magical island from human invaders.

Duat, by Deep Light Games, is a game about recently deceased souls overcoming trials in the afterlife.

OK See You, by Bebop Tabletop, is a game about immigrant families and convenience stores, inspired by shows like Kim's Convenience.

Wardens of the Sundered Realms, by Groovy Dad Games, is a game about beast hunters in the service of the High King.

Final Notes...

You can check out my folder of Caltrop Core games on Itch, if you want to see what I've found so far.

If you like what I do, you can always leave a tip at my Ko-Fi!

[matti2k2]

3t2 Soundtrack (kinda) (unfinished)

I just remembered I had this in my mediafire account, but it's an unfinished project really - also the reason I didn't upload it to SFS neither I gave it a preview - I'm not fond of the quality as the volume change is very noticeable between Sims 2 and 3 tracks but if you're actually interested in this then go ahead and download?

This rar file only has CAS, Buy/Build and Map View music. I remember I converted the radio music too but I reset my PC and lost allat =( so until I get back to this project this is all you're gonna get.

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

Just plop the file in Documents/Sims 2 (whatever edition you have) and you're good to go.

DOWNLOAD

MEDIAFIRE

[numberonetacostan]

PACO SWAP AU

Here is the somewhat awaited long post for the Paco Swap AU! I’ve taken pieces from the other posts made about it for this, so you don’t need to read the other posts about it to understand anything!!! I know quite a few of you like this au, so please enjoy the full post about it!!! :D

SO! As the name says, Pickle and Taco swap roles here. Taco’s season 1 persona is her real personality, and Pickle is using her. Initially he’s using her popularity with the viewers to make himself look better, and get himself further in the competition by proxy of being her best friend and primary caretaker, but he doesn’t break his act upon getting voted out/losing, like Taco does in the season finale. Other than that, season 1 is roughly the same besides the end result. He sticks to the role of being her also-dumb-but-mildly-smarter best friend, at least for longer. She wins the season, it doesn’t particularly matter what changes but we’ll just say Bow doesn’t attack her this time, she gets to the finish line first, hooray for Taco!! She uses her money on a lemon orchard, and then somewhere for them all to live with the others’ urging. Taco’s name is on the deed and documentation, because it was her money that bought it, but everyone pitches in to run this hotel. It’s better for OJ and his relationship with Paper, without all the stress of running the hotel on his own and the ego boost he gets from that and winning in the first place. Taco would choose a lot of the decor though!! Not all of it, since someone would step in to make sure not every single thing in the building is lemon-yellow, but there’s still a strong lemon theme, yeah? 

Since Taco is Baby and doesn’t know how to manage money at all, and because as is stated by Bomb in season 1 she currently only speaks French and a few English words here and there, her best friend Pickle is the one who manages her finances. And… well he sure does manage them alright, but not for Taco. He buys a video game here and there. And then maybe some new headphones, a console, a PC, etc. And since he has so many games and consoles to play with, he doesn’t really have time to be hanging out with and watching Taco. And the other contestants start to notice this, seeing Taco by herself more often, more and more packages coming for Pickle, and even Taco sitting outside his closed door waiting for him like a dejected puppy. They try to be more gentle about it at first telling him not to buy too much with her money and to go hang out with her, but they'd get more firm, especially when Taco starts getting rather upset that he's more or less ignoring her now that she's served her purpose to him. 

They end up taking away his access to her money, and he lashes out at them like Taco does in the s1 finale, and then disappears off into the woods like Taco did as well. He’s pretty furious about not getting to use the money he’s worked so hard to earn, taking care of Taco day after day. He’d insult her here too, and even though she doesn’t understand much, I think she’s been called “annoying” enough to understand what it means, and for her best and only close friend to call her that? Sweet little Taco would be heartbroken actually. She doesn't understand what happened enough to understand that it isn't her fault, but she does understand how angry Pickle was and how scornfully he was talking to and about her!!!!! She understands that he hates her but not why, and that it wasn't anything she did. I can imagine her trying to make him feel better when he's lashing out at everyone, trying to give him a lemon or a nuzzle (armless hug; either she really doesn't have arms or truly just doesn't use them often) and him pushing her away and hard enough to make her fall over, which ends up being the last straw for him getting kicked out. 

Augh, and she'd be sobbing too, because her best friend Pickle was so so mad and now he's gone and she doesn't know what she did. I think it would be interesting for Knife to take on a parallel role here to the one he did for Pickle too. When Pickle is gone, he ends up taking over as Taco's caretaker/best friend. Knife the protector, yeah? Genuine or not, Pickle did look after her to keep her from unknowingly getting into trouble, and she still needs someone looking after her. I mean, I think the entire cast would be pitching in more to make sure she's okay after what happened, but I see characters like Knife, OJ, Paper (as the other two menu squad members), and the lot really making sure to take care of her. Knife wouldn’t be as openly affectionate with her as Pickle was, at least at first, but I think she’d wear him down eventually, enough to accept all the affection she gives him and give her head pats. For the whole cast, I think they'd actually start liking Taco more after this reveal? Mostly because they all feel quite badly for her, and all pitch in to take care of her, and then get to know her more!! She pretty exclusively stuck by Pickle's side during season 1, yeah? So spending more time around her may subject them all to the glory of her silly whimsy. They'd bond with her more due to Pickle's betrayal, yeah? I think the others would also put more effort into helping her learn English when they're all taking care of her after Pickle leaves. They don't know her nonverbal cues as well as Pickle did, and as well I'd imagine him not wanting her to learn English if he can manage it. The more she understands the harder it is for him to keep using her, yeah? So they start using little vocab flashcards and simpler language that will be easier for her to pick up on, and she starts understanding more!! She still isn’t a big talker, but when she does decide to say something it’s much more comprehensible!!! Good for her!!!

Onto season 2!!! Taco is not really involved in season 2, beyond episode 7. She doesn’t make it into the season 2 cast, but as a result of the lawsuit the others help her file against Mephone, she does get to host episode 7!!! She would sing the elimination time theme <3. I think she would eliminate Knife. Not because she wants him to lose but because she misses having him in the hotel. He would be all >:| but walk over to her and let her nuzzle him excitedly, since he’d plan to make sure the proper elimination is done when Mephone4 gets back. Taco being Taco, instead of having everyone clean the hotel, she’d make her get her lemons from her orchard!!! No coin flip either. It’s basically the same challenge as s1 ep2, honestly. What can I say? She loves her some lemons!!! I think this would be when her and Mic meet as well. Mic is currently being bothered by Cheesy or being scolded by her team, so I think Taco’s silly, loud fun would be a welcome presence for her, as well as her pretty unconditional affection if you’re someone she likes. S1 Taco would be among the few contestants that don't mind at all when Mic shouts to her heart's content, yeah!! Since Taco shouts all the time too!!! Mic might get a sort of shovel talk from Knife after what happened with Pickle, yeah? Mic would not like that someone was so mean to Taco and put even more effort into being her friend!!! I don’t ship them in this au, but I do think they should be best buddies!!! Loud girl solidarity!!!

As for Pickle, he’d probably try working behind the scenes like Taco, though not with the same success that she does. He doesn’t have her intellect, even in this au, so he can’t come up with the same plans that she can. He’d pick someone that could get further in the game based on likeability rather than strategy like Taco in season 1, and someone that would be willing to work with him, since he can’t offer the same advantage that Taco can. He can’t scheme well, nor did he make it to the finals like she did. I’d say Lightbulb could be a possibility, her being very well-liked and having been Taco’s second choice, yeah? She’s friendly to canon Taco so I think she’d be relatively friendly with Pickle too, with the same hopes of him getting better. Mic would probably be voted out earlier without Taco’s help, so there’s that too. Knife would probably play the same role here, finding out that LB and Pickle were working together, as much as Pickle could manage. He is manipulative in this au, don’t get me wrong, he’s just not that smart. He’d still reach for the portal, though she wouldn’t see it since she got sucked in, so she doesn’t ask him about it. No eye injury for him! He already had one in s1 anyways. As for why LB would cut things off? I think Pickle would sabotage the rocket, like Mic does in canon, but he does it after telling LB he was going to- to which she gives an adamant no. Testy is her friend, and Fan just got kidnapped! It’s serious o’clock!! But he still does it, the rocket nearly fails, and LB cuts things off with him. She’s not gonna work with him if he’s gonna hurt her friends, and Pickle is left once again without a silly, happy companion.

Onto season 3!! S2 is on hiatus now!!! I already answered an ask that goes over everything involving her in season 3 lol, so I’ll just gently place that here. 

I suppose most of her swapping is done with Pickle, in regards to the betrayer/betrayee dynamic, but since the winner would swap she is indeed taking OJ's place in season 3!!! And yes, she would not care about being "dethroned." Frankly, she'd find Silver to be rather funny and probably burst out laughing during his speech. I think she'd more or less understand what he was trying to do, but think it was funny that he was taking things so seriously and that he'd seen her as some sort of obstacle to overcome. She just likes having fun with her friends!!! Winning doesn't matter to her. She'd just give a happy little "bye-bye!!" and be sent off to Indefinite Island. Though, at least for Painty, this would cause more scorn towards Silver. It's one thing for him to make that speech at OJ, a pretty mature guy, but to do it at Taco? A little Taco who already had one pulled over on her by who she'd thought was her best friend? Painty would not be cool with that. I think she'd be on Indefinite Island for a bit, primarily because it wouldn't be safe for Taco to try and get back to her hotel on her own. I'd imagine she stays until Painty gets out and they go back to the hotel together. Lifering and eventually Tea Kettle when she gets there would be the ones watching over her while she's on Indefinite Island. Like you said, Mic probably would get out sooner without having Taco to help her, which might be for the better with how much better she can grow her confidence without being in the competition.

As for the finale, I think she'd initially want to vote for Silver, actually? Because she still thinks he's funny. But after he punches Candle's flame out, she doesn't like him much anymore, he's more scary than funny now, and she would vote for Balloon. I don't think she'd talk much to Cabby, since Cabby doesn't get to Indefinite Island too long before the rejoin challenge and she's not as patient with the others until later on. She'd definitely be frightened by the unvitational committee, she'd understand what's going on more than she did in season 1, yeah? TK and Lifering, having had taken care of her, would definitely be watching out for her, as well as Painty and even Nickel, though in his own way. He doesn't like Taco that much anyways, but he might casually position himself between her and the unvitationals, yeah?

To add on to the season 3 finale, I think Taco and Cabby would interact a bit at the end!! Cabby is the first winner since Taco, after all. I think Taco would poke her arm out of the top of her shell (I love it when she does this IT'S SO CUTE) and offer Cabby a victory lemon!!!! With a little "We're winners!", yeah? Keep in mind that, in this au, Taco really did only speak French and some other random words in the beginning, but her English has been improving!! Mostly in comprehension, since she doesn't talk much in general, but by the latter end of this au she can definitely speak more!! Pickle's betrayal did set her progress back, though. She didn't feel like talking for a while after he left.

Truth or Flare would be similar, Pickle probably couldn’t even try reprogramming Mepad like in canon, so he’d just be spying and take the chance to jump into the challenge when he hears what it is. He might hold Mephone or Mepad at like… rock point? Threaten to throw a rock at them, which is a genuine danger to their lives, I suppose. I’m doing my best here guys it’s not my fault he’s a much less threatening antagonist than Taco. Well I guess it is a little but it’s more in character for him!! Regardless, he doesn’t fall apart but instead retreats into the woods when he finds out someone else is coming, and Mepad goes after him of his own volition. It’s Mepad, he sees someone who needs help, he’s gonna help them. (RIP king you would have loved my shiny buneary). 

Finale!!!! Okay, not too much changes!! But we’ll start with the Pickle & Taco apology scene and go from there. He comes in and knocks on her door, and she’s so very happy to see him!!! Surprised, but happy!! Before she can start giving him affection though, he gives her his apology. He doesn’t know how much of it she understands, since she learned a lot of English in his absence, but he gives a solid, sincere apology. Which Taco is very happy to hear!! She wasn’t really mad at him in the first place, she just missed him a whole lot and was very sad. But now he’s back!!! She squeals and “sour creams” and nuzzles him!!! She even tells him it’s okay and that she’s not mad, though not in so many words. Though unfortunately for Pickle, Mic hears Taco getting all excited, and comes to check on her, catching them together. Mic isn’t happy and starts berating him for showing up around here, as I think she’d be prone to do with him having hurt her buddy Taco is deeply, as Taco tries to get her to stop. That gets cut off, though, because their yelling attracts MephoneX, and Pickle is yet again the first to fall. This gets the attention of more of the cast, especially as it starts to go after Taco and chases her into the lobby area, X-ing her like he does OJ in canon. The finale starts playing out relatively normally after that. 

I think Mic would help her through the red line game and hold her hand (if she could convince Taco to bring it out of her shell), like in canon, and Taco might even help her too! With how she stops in the finale because of the images of her being ignored no matter how loud she screams, yeah? But there's a little Taco who likes to yell with her pulling on her hand, and they run across the line.

But after they all get back she wouldn't understand why Mepad isn't powering on. She didn't spend much time with him, since she didn't compete in season 2 nor kidnap him in this au, but she'd know it isn't normal. They probably would have to keep her away from the body, because she'd keep trying to get his attention and get him to turn on like normal, especially since Pickle would be quite upset about his death like Taco is in canon. 

She would understand that Mephone made them when someone tells her directly, but I don’t think it would really phase her, honestly? She doesn't care, their priority should be getting her lemon orchard back. Everyone else is being so very careful, but it's business as usual for Taco, yeah? She'd probably get another babysitter or two with how fragile her shell is. She might playfully spit a lemon at someone, and end up with Knife carefully but very firmly telling her she can't spit lemons at people anymore and has to be very careful not to hurt herself or anyone else. Getting scolded might make her sad since she doesn't totally get the stakes of it all, but after a few days of hiding from him behind Microphone she'd be okay again. 

She and Pickle would hang out again!!!! But on a tentative basis with everyone else. Taco would definitely be annoyed that the others weren't letting her and Pickle hang out one-on-one. They used to do it all the time, and now Pickle is nice again, so there's no more problem!!! She might try to be cheeky and sneak away to go hang out with him, but he'd probably let one of the others know where she is and that they're together anyways. She wouldn't like it, and it might make her think he still doesn't want to spend time with her, but he'd still be on thin ice with everyone else, yeah? So he wouldn't want to be sneaking around them and losing even more of their trust. I think eventually they’d be let alone again, and Pickle would take even better care of her than before, even if he isn’t her main caretaker after coming back. He’d slowly get off thin ice with everyone else, though there may be some (Knife) who are extra protective of Taco and keep an eye on him. But overall it’s a happy ending for Pickle and Taco!!!! :D

I think that’s everything for this au!!!!  ＼(＾▽＾)／ I hope you’ve enjoyed, and if I forgot to include anything please let me know!! If there are any questions, please feel free to send in an ask!!!