#regardless i have such a cool edit to post today ^^

[violetsareblue-selfships]

good morning!!! <333

[peridots-pixiwolf]

sketches from @mipexch 's whiteboard a couple days ago!!

also feat. a very small reference to @onlineviolence :]

[dodger-chan]

Inspired by this post by @0nemorestranger Hopefully close enough to what you had in mind

Edit: now on AO3

Lost Media

Steve didn’t realize he’d been humming along to anything until the music cut off suddenly and looped around to start over. The opening riff played for about three seconds before it cut off again.

“Wait, who’s humming?” The question came from one of Steve’s younger co-workers. A part-timer working his way through college. Steve couldn’t remember his name.

“Uh, that was me. Sorry,” he tacked on the apology as an afterthought.

“You know that song?” the kid asked. He sounded like Dustin.

“It’s called Plane of Shadows. I think it’s a DnD reference,” Steve answered. “Band’s Corroded Coffin. Haven’t heard them in years.”

That wasn’t strictly true. Every once in a while, Steve would play the tape he still had. Think about that one summer he’d spent as an unpaid, unofficial roadie. Daydream about what could have happened if he’d known himself a little better back then.

Not too often. Steve wasn’t that much of a loser.

The kid came over and plopped down in Robin’s empty chair. She was out sick today, getting over the flu Steve had picked up last week.

“It is. A DnD reference, I mean,” the kid said. Steve probably needed a better thing to call him; he was probably Erica’s age. “Shit, one of my friends posted that clip to this metal bulletin board. We've been trying to identify it forever. How do you know it?”

“They’re from the same small town I am. We all went to highschool together.” Not that Steve had known their music in highschool. “I don’t think they ended up with a record deal, but they did have an EP they used to sell at concerts. I can bring it tomorrow if you want.”

*********

Steve brought the tape, along with the souvenirs he’d saved from that summer. A couple of photocopied flyers. An ad clipped from a local Bloomington paper for a concert. A wristband from a bar that had marked him as too young to drink. Also his Walkman. Steve wasn’t sure if kids still had cassette players now that CDs were everywhere.

“This is so cool,” the kid - Brian, apparently - gushed when Steve handed him the shoebox he’d brought it all in at lunch. “Is it alright if I scan these? And can I borrow this tape? I want to digitize it and share the full song with the board.”

“You can do that?” Steve really needed to learn more about computers. Just not from Dustin who couldn’t teach anything without turning into a condescending asshole.

“Yeah, just record from the Walkman like it’s a mic. I’ll burn you a copy of the whole EP. That way you won’t have to worry about wearing out your tape,” Brian offered. “I would never have guessed you were such a metal fan.”

“I’m not, really,” Steve admitted. Brian blinked at him, surprised. And, well, it wasn’t the eighties anymore, and they weren’t still living in Hawkins. “Massive crush on the lead guitarist.”

“Oh, uh, thanks for telling me.” Brian leaned over and patted Steve’s shoulder. “So you and Robin aren’t-”

“Strictly platonic.” Maybe Robin was right and they should get signs for their desks.

*********

It was nearly a month later when Brian grabbed Steve at the water cooler and dragged him over to his desk, saying “You’ve got to see this.”

This was a post on the Brian’s metal bulletin board:

Crazy to hear from a buddy that our old band is a minor Internet sensation. Thanks, all. If you guys had been around back in the day we might have managed a full album. Or maybe not. Gareth’s parents would have killed him if he dropped out and Jeff actually wanted to go to college, so maybe we still would have broken up in ‘87. Regardless, we’re all thrilled our music is bringing joy to today’s metal heads. As the primary songwriter, and with the agreement of the rest of the band, I grant permission to upload and download the entire EP. We think any money we might potentially have made on it is worth less to us than the value of preserving what could have been lost media. Just make sure to credit us if your garage band turns one of our songs into a hit. Anyway, if you guys have any questions about Corroded Coffin, or the songs, reply to this post and I’ll do my best to answer in a timely fashion. Aside to OP: Is your preppy co-worker who had all our stuff a handsome former jock with spectacular hair? Because I’d love to get back in touch with our old roadie. -EM

“Oh my god,” Robin squealed, leaning over Steve’s shoulder as he read. “Please, you have to give Eddie Steve’s email. Or get Eddie’s email to give to Steve. Or both. Both would be best. That way at least one of them will have the balls to reach out first.”

“Eddie’s already reaching out,” Steve said. “And I thought you said it was anti-femminist to use testicles as a proxy for courage.”

“Stop quoting me when I’m being right, Steven.”

“So I should get his contact info for you?” Brian asked.

Steve hesitated. Real life was not some romantic comedy where attraction was always mutual and true love overcame all obstacles in the end. But it wasn’t like he’d spend the last decade pining. Even if it was nothing more than getting a friend back, it would be good to get in touch with Eddie again.

“Sure,” Steve answered. “Why not?”

[an-au-blog]

i have 1001 wips waiting for me, so instead of writing a fic abt sanuso have a concept au bc I've been thinking abt them:

Usopp -one of those artists with social medias that draws people on public transport or on stations. He would leave his tag/somewhere to follow him on as a "signature", give it to the person and walk off.

He would usually do two or three sketches for a day, edit a quick video, post it and that would be that.

Another day, like any other, he did one of a mother with her cute kid, a boy with cool hair talking on the phone, and a pretty blond guy.

The mother thought Usopp was trying to sell her something but with a bit of reassurance, the kid took the little piece of paper. The guy on the phone gushed to the person he was the phone with about the cool drawing guy. And the blond dude? Well, he had a bit of an underwhelming. His cheeks flushed pink, his eyes widened and he just... gawked there for a moment. Speechless. Usopp walked off after a solid five seconds but still. It was a shame though, he really was pretty, and his eyes were such a deep blue it gave him whiplash.

Regardless, he went home, edited the video, got his one meal of the day and started scrolling. A few notifications from nice comments popped up and made him smile but he decided he'd respond later.

Before closing the app, a dot indicating that someone had texted him caught his eye. The app didn't allert him in any other way, so it must be someone he's not friends with.

It was some random profile with a fish as a profile picture.

"Hello, it's me, from earlier today. I'm sorry I didn't react accordingly at first but I don't get flirted with often and I was a bit startled."

Who was this person?

Usopp kept on reading.

"I appreciate that you took the time to draw me (prettier than in reality) and I'd like to see if you're free for dinner this Friday?"

Huh? Oh. oooohhh... it was blond guy. the pretty blond guy...

...

THE PETTY BLOND GUY THOUGHTHE WAS FLIRTING???

... would he date pretty boy? Usopp though for a moment. Not noticing his growing smile. Yes. Yes, he would.

Alright, Usopp remembered to breathe. How would he do this while not making it obviously that he didn't flirt with the guy and would draw just about anyone?

(lazy to describe how but:) Pretty boy's name is Sanji and he's apparently working long shifts but eventually they arrange a meeting spot and time and it's finally date night. It starts off really awkward, both of them stiff and tense, but at least Sanji is being more than gentlemanly. Bringing flowers, complimenting him, ordering from the french wine that Usopp couldn't pronounce... but he looked a bit sad.

Usopp finally has had enough and asks what is wrong. Sanji rejects the idea that everything isn't just fine for a solid 5/10 minutes before cracking. He said that at first he was so excited that a talented and handsome guy had tried to woo him, and not some dumb pickup line, but actually courting-type ritual, that when he was finally done with work, he opened the app and immediately texted him. But he opened the profile after texting the date idea and was shocked to see it was an art account. He was just one of the many. He wanted to delete the message but it was too mate, Usopp had seen it. So he decided that this must mean Usopp was too polite to reject him and went on a date he didn't even want to.

When Usopp heard that he laughed in his face.

they have a nice "nah i rly like u cuz u cute but now ik ur funny and cool so ye :)" moment and that's it i need sleep gn

[dailydemonspotlight]

Backbeard - Day 61

Race: Foul

Alignment: Dark-Chaos

July 1st, 2024

ZEHAHAHA- wait, no L. Unfortunate. Today's Demon of the Day is, strangely, a modern version of a classic type of monster, and one that originates from a very specific source- a manga. Yep, we have another one that leads you in circles in research, though in this case, it's because it might not even exist. Enter Backbeard, a yōkai that originates from GeGeGe no Kitaro. Before I start digging into what little there is to offer, I'd like to give a huge thank you to @kanekocribs 's fantastic post about this subject, which also had a great delve into Porewit, which you all know my very... intense feelings about.

For the most part, Backbeard's origin is incredibly hard to trace; the purported origin of the yōkai in the book "100 Ghosts and Hauntings of the World" seems to have just been made up by the SMT fandom wiki, as the closest thing I can even trace to that name is the series of woodblock prints from the 1830's called "One Hundred Ghost Stories" which can be further traced back to a set of parlor games called "Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai." In these sources, though, I can't find any reference to Backbeard or even just a single-eyed entity, which appears to be the primary trait for a lot of depictions. Even going back and trying to find anything related to an August 1965 edition of Shonen Book, which the wiki page cites...

Sends you right back to GeGeGe no Kitaro. Please get some sources cited Megaten wiki. Regardless, though, what on earth is GeGeGe no Kitaro even about? It's about yōkai, of course! In the story, Backbeard appears as a major antagonist, leading scores of the 'Western Yōkai,' effectively meaning groups of classical horror movie monsters such as the Wolfman, Dracula, Witches, etc. He's seen as the main antagonist of several of the stories, but in most adaptations he's cut for more personal antagonists. I'm not well versed in GeGeGe no Kitaro, especially because I haven't read it, but the design says all it really needs to say.

Later on, it's attributed and believed that Backbeard may have taken inspiration from several sources conglomerating together, though I could not find a source for the LIFE OF ME regarding the first one. TW for body horror and bugs below, but some people purport that Backbeard may have been based on the 'Eye Bugs' from the aforementioned magazine '100 Ghosts and Hauntings of the World,' though again, I have no idea where this picture comes from, and searching is turning up diddly squat. The second picture, though, I can attest to existing- a piece of art called the Shinjuku Phantom Chimera by Masatoshi Naitō.

Ironically, I pulled this from another blog! Special thanks as well to @littleeyesofpallas for this post about Bleach that ALSO goes into Backbeard. Finally, we can trace the inspiration for Backbeard and Shinjuku Phantom Chimera all the way back to the 1800's, wherein we have this painting by French artist Odilon Redon, simply called Eye Balloon.

So, cool! What do I do with this? I have no idea! There isn't really a moral at the end of this, or any grand message, and my hours of digging have dealt me many, many headaches with not much else in return. I guess, at the very least, I satisfied my curiosity, and also found out that Bleach has a GeGeGe no Kitaro reference in it.

[warmhealerr]

1, 12 and 18 for Oulmat and Juofos!

Thank you Rook! :)

Joufos

1. What was the first element of your OC that you remember considering (name, appearance, backstory, etc.)? 

Joufos kind of spawned out of thin air. My first BG3 run lasted until the beginning of the Underdark, Selûnite temple, because for some reason, the whole campaign got corrupted. I stilll have no idea why, as I had no mods, no corrupted in game data files, or anything of the sort. After getting over the initial disappointment, I decided I wanted to really give this game a chance, as I was finally starting to get into it. I knew I was going to play a Blue lightning draconic sorcerer, I just love indulging my dragon love. I was messing around in the character creator, did kinda whatever I pleased on a Deep Gnome. Pink? Sure, fun, whatever, I don't care the scales should be Blue, that's a cool palette. I fell so, so in love with his appearance. I sat there for a second, laughed at how lore unfriendly he looked, and embarked on my second attempt at the journey to Baldur's Gate.

12. What have you found to be most difficult about creating art for your OC (any form of art: writing, drawing, edits, etc.)? 

Nailing down Joufos' face was the worst. A long, arduous journey, that taught me to have fun with facial shapes again. It took me months to nail down something that I liked. A comparison of my first art of him, October 10th 2023. The portrait where his head finally began to develop that distinctive shape I love so much, April 27th 2024. And August 14th 2024, the refs he got post Art Fight. I don't have recent art of him that allows clear reading of his Shapes, but know some of his features have changed now, like a DA2 elf style nose bridge. It was a frustrating designing process but I think it was worth it. He's very fun to draw now that I "get him".

EDIT : Another version of the answer to this question focusing on writing here.

18. What is the most recent thing you’ve discovered about your OC?

His birthday LOL. I only very recently canonized it's May/Mirtul 9th, which is...Today, hilariously enough. The number 9 is a big recurring thing with him, and I don't just mean because I can make childish 69 jokes. The 9 lives and his lichdom parallel is an especially important thing to me. There were once 9 Hayhoof siblings, too, though I cut that down to 7 to better focus on each individual, regardless of who lived and died. I associate Joufos with the warmth of Spring, and what better month than May to illustrate that?

Oulmat

1. What was the first element of your OC that you remember considering (name, appearance, backstory, etc.)? 

I had planned Oulmat for a while. It came to me early in backstory writing Joufos must have a big family. Oulmat was always meant to be the exception to the "draconic girls" rule; the runt. Her name and appearance came pretty fast though. I had already figured out the phonetics I was going to lean for, and BG3's character creator proved satisfying enough, using the SAFT heads mod for her face, "Gnosephine", and the Corrupted Alt eyes from the Ghastly Ghouls Undead Race mod. She was included in my third replay of BG3, March 5th 2024.

This was my first art of her from the following day, if you are curious :

12. What have you found to be most difficult about creating art for your OC (any form of art: writing, drawing, edits, etc.)? 

I'm a sketch artist, I don't do in the details. Armors notoriously look like fucking shit until you add those details. Big problem when Oulmat wears some gaudy ass spikey fantasy armors. I find Oulmat to otherwise be very fun to draw. Her writing comes to me very naturally, too.

18. What is the most recent thing you’ve discovered about your OC?

She has a few moles here and there now. I don't know I think it fits her perfectly and it's very charming. Feels like they've always been hiding from me in plain sight.

[zuzsenpai]

Zuzu's bug ventures - lots of jumping spiders (and some other guys) edition!

Took a walk and did some yard work today, since it was super warm out. Also fucken WIMDY, so I'm thinking there would've been even more bugs if it weren't. Regardless, I'm learning so much about which insects and spiders are out in early spring. Namely jumping spiders. Some of these spiders will be the same species, but they are all different individuals that I found.

Northern plantain flea beetle (Dibola borealis). I'm sure this cute little guy would've looked really good in the sunlight, but it's still pretty!

Possibly a leafhopper of some kind. Yes that is my car, and yes I know it's filthy

Winter ant/false honey ant (Prenolepis imparis). I think this might be a queen? Apparently this is their mating season

Damsel bug (Nabis roseipennis). Kinda funky looking design. I really like the picture I got

Starting off strong, I have no idea what this bug is. Possibly a type of darkling beetle (Uloma imberbis), but I couldn't get a good photo. I realize now it would've helped to turn the flash on

A type of midge (Chironomus whitseli). Thought it was a giant mosquito at first, but I've been seeing other kinds of midges around, so that makes more sense.

Eastern boxelder bugs (Boisea trivittata). UGH. I mean, this isn't the worst of them I've seen by far. But it's still not super fun to look at

Birch catkin bug (Kleidocerys resedae). I have legitimately never heard of these before.

Possibly also a birch catkin bug, just in shadow.

A western lynx spider (Oxyopes scalaris). I swear I saw so many insects and spiders yesterday I had never seen before.

Turf running spider (Philodromus cespitum). Crab spiders are just so cool honestly. I thought this photo was neat because it looks like the spider made that scratch in the wood.

Not 100% sure, but reddit seems to think it's a twospotted cobweb spider (Asagena americana). It's got the same spots, but it's abdomen is a lot larger than the pictures on google

If you can believe it, the rest of these are all jumping spiders! This incredibly cute little guy is an Asiatic wall jumping spider (Attulus fasciger).

I went back and forth on what this one might be. I landed on fleecy jumping spider (Pseudeuophrys lanigera).

This one is metal as hell. A white-jawed jumping spider (Hentzia mitrata) eating what appears to be a midge (Chironomidae family).

I landed on black-palped jumping spider (Pseudeuophrys erratica), but I'm not confident

This absolutely adorable little guy might be a Fencepost jumping spider (Marpissa muscosa), only because I did actually get a better shot of its body. But I thought I would post this one because WOW CUTE.

To me this looks like another fleecy jumping spider, but I'm unsure. the pattern is so cute though

And here we have the bold jumper brothers (Phidippus audax). I found them all in completely different locations and I have no idea if they're males, but bold jumper brothers sounds fun. This is the fluffy, dumb and lovable one.

This is the emo and sarcastic one

The brains of the operation

So there we have it! Everyone I found yesterday! I started the day out thinking I wouldn't find much, but I was pleasantly proven wrong!

[pkmin4]

✮⋆˙ 02/02/2025

blue lock (season 1)

it's like soccer but squid game. sorta. actually it's more than that now that i made it past 2 episodes. (💭9/10)

i'll collect my thoughts more once i finish the second season with my partner (🩷🩷🩷🩷) but i don't think i'd get THIS invested over sports anime because i used to think sports anime.... was dumb.......... this is because of my natural aversion to sports and physical movement, so nothing personal against those extremely yaoiful sports anime.

i bought a bachira chibigurumi a day after starting this show so you know i am very invested. i like him. strange weird little guys with a fear of loneliness and being seen as an outcast really resonate with me. and (spoilers?) seeing him come and embrace himself and not to let Fear and Perfectionism (this is what i like to interpret that Thing as) (actually i could be very wrong but i havent had the time to sit down with this and think about it hard yet) hold him back is such a lovely moment for me. no he's not the main character but he is my little baby boy.

my partner's favorite doesn't show until the very last episode of the season and funny thing was i was asking them when he'd show up and the reveal was like being punched in the gut LOL. but we started season 2 today too and not gonna lie their favorite is pretty cool. bit of a freak. but i like him because he is pink and has cat eyes. shidooouuuuu...

aaah watching each episode of this anime is sooo intense!! although it ALWAYS cuts the episode on a veeeery crucial moment which is both cruel and funny and every time it did i'd punch the wall. metaphorically. and then i would wail. literally. my partner thinks this is funny. i can't help it thoughghfgrhrhgh it's just VERY very very very veeeery intense and it really hooks you in episode after episode!! what the hell!!

anyway yeah :3 like i said we also started season 2 today!! and i'm super duper excited cuz the stakes keep going higher each time. i love the show's characters too!! i am obviously biased for my son BUT having a large cast means having a good handful of interesting ones!! there are some that make me Furious but i do enjoy them as characters regardless.. having a large cast also means not being able to put the spotlight on others, but i appreciate the ones we do get to learn about regardless :) !!

isagi is a suuuuper cool protag too. mr blue lock himself (why his character color is Green i dont fucking know). i thought he would have gone down a dark path where he would think of nothing but himself but his character somehow balances off striving to make himself better as an "egoist" among the rest and working with others toward a clear goal. and it does so without being too corny LOL but it's neat i think!! he is a good sport. i like him!!

very fun watch!! i think we got through this in like. 3 days of watching together hehehe. (i love my partner so much)

editing this post to say that the second op of the first season ROCKS like it is genuinely visually stunning and no joke it is one of the openings of all time. it's so pretty i was squeeing and kicking my legs and giggling and gushing and giddying about it sooo much when i first saw it ITS SOOOO COOL AGHHHHH I LOVEEEE ITTTT i am still thinking of it right now

[wirewitchviolet]

Do experience systems do more harm than good?

Earlier today I saw someone talking about the common wisdom that you can't make an RPG without SOME sort of system where after you finish a session (or maybe an adventure), the GM gives you some sort of points that, whether automatically or based on assigning them, makes your character better at doing stuff. Not only do I strongly disagree that that's something every game needs, I'd like to present the argument that even in games you'd have a hard time imagining without them, experience points might actually be doing more harm than good.

Before I even get into this, let's take apart the obvious perks to having experience systems:

1- It helps maintain longterm interest in keeping a campaign going when the players are getting some sort of regular reward.

This is true of certain campaigns, but I don't think I'd really ever want to be in one. In a good campaign, everyone involved should be having a fun time just hanging out with each other, putting themselves in the shoes of the characters, building up a story and a world together, and generating cool memorable scenes. That should be more than enough incentive to stick with a game, and if you don't have those things going on, you should really stop and work out what's going wrong, not try and pave over it by powering everyone's characters up. I don't need to boost some Watcher Score when I marathon through a good TV show or a movie, and I'm not even getting to influence how those unfold, you know?

This is also one of those many things where what we have today is sort of a twisted ghost of what was originally conceived back in the early days of D&D. I had an old project on this very blog where I was reading through the books for 1st edition AD&D with a critical eye, and a huge takeaway from that was that Gary Gygax seems like he was just the absolute worst kind of GM (also backed up by reading message board posts of his, and various accounts). Back in his day, leveling up wasn't the expected inevitable progression as a game went on necessarily. You'd roll your stats, with some harsh restrictions, be forced to play what you had, roll your HP too, and the game was just kind of inherently hostile to the PCs, so you had a good chance of dying in a given session. Not only that, but when you did, there was no real coming back from it, you make a new character, starting from scratch, with 0 experience, and see if you can keep this one alive long enough to get up there again.

And aside from the carrot of maybe getting one of those elite high level characters if you stuck with it, there was the stick of characters partying their gold away. Seriously, by AD&D 1e rules, characters would just kinda burn through... I want to say it was 100 GP per level per day. And not in-game day. Real life day. You'd better show up for every session, because a week from now, your character's going to have 700 less gold in their pocket whether you show up to play or not.

We don't really play that way anymore. At least nobody I know does. Leveling up is planned out in advance by GMs, characters level up at the same time as everyone else even when the player misses a session, and if you need to make a new character or you're just joining the game late, obviously you come in at the same level as everyone else. I don't even want to dignify the arguments against doing that with discussion. It's even common for people to start games at levels other than 1 because people just don't like low-level play.

And you know, this is way outside the scope of what I was sitting down to write, but I've gotten into the jobification of video games before, right? Where people keep doing stuff like daily login rewards and weekly challenges just so there's a sense of obligation to log into games every day? That crap doesn't actually make things more FUN, it's in there to keep players compelled to play regardless of how much fun they have, and that's... literally the argument behind experience as an incentive to keep a game running.

2- It good when number go up!

Funnily enough, this is the hardest one for me to refute. There is some basic direct release of the good brain chemicals when you have numbers, and they go up. And I mean... sure, but in a tabletop game you're not generally seeing a number climb on its own, you're getting points thrown at you that you have to jot down or mark off or otherwise track and do math with, and like... there's plenty of other results from playing the game good to release the good brain chemicals. You don't explicitly need this one.

3- It's cool when you can have a story where like some dorky little kid starts off barely able to do anything and all unconfident and then gradually gets it together and gets more confident and competent as time goes on!

Oh yeah, everyone loves that sort of thing, and there's a strong case to be made that this is the primary reason people feel the need to put an experience system in basically every RPG, but those systems are all kind of just the worst at actually delivering on that, is the thing.

D&D and its derivatives are the absolute worst with this. The way I put it in this earlier conversation, you start out all, "I am a poor peasant child, barely able to afford the clothes on my back, a length of rope, a week's worth of food, and this dagger here" and then a few months later "I am basically a god and any amount of money less than 1,000,000 times my starting net worth isn't even worth stooping over for." And when I made this point someone corrected me that if you really go by the expected pacing, a campaign without big stretches of downtime between adventures with the recommended combat pacing is going to get you to level 20 in a month.

Now, I don't want to completely spit on the D&D power curve here (the economic one though can absolutely go to hell, stop making me a billionaire as a side effect of killing monsters and do all that bookkeeping). I do enjoy the eb and flow, campaign to campaign, of playing the same characters as wimpy little nothings and demigods over however long it takes my regular group to finish a campaign. But as far as having characters with arcs to them? It is AWFUL!

First off, it's just too damn fast and abrupt. When our little ragtag band heads off into the swamp to deal with those goblins or whatever, we're going to come home from even that little speed bump of an adventure tougher than all our neighbors and absurdly wealthy, to a point where it feels almost inevitable that you leave your old life behind completely and look down on everyone you grew up with.

It's not IMPOSSIBLE to have some sort of long or medium-term personal quest to avenge my parents or show I'm better than some bully, but it takes a real delicate touch to do it right, since you really have to decide up front when exactly I'm going to have that confrontation, make the villain something of an appropriately challenging nature for the level I'm going to be when I settle things, and that I don't manage to arrange that confrontation much earlier or later than planned, because again I'm pretty quickly going from dealing with food rationing, animal attacks, and slippery ravines, to taking down monsters four times my size without breaking a sweat, to like changing the course of history and rivaling evil gods. There's a very small window where it makes sense for me to get back at that owlbear who put me in the hospital or whatever.

And that's not even getting into the problem of how I've got these other three humble little kids from home experiencing all this rapid growth at the same time. Can't really have a wise old mentor if we're using experience as experience. We're either never going to catch up, or we're going to leave them in the dust if they're not leveling with us.

Now, again, D&D is kind of a huge exception here. Most RPGs I've played instead go with a starting setup where you don't start off as some starry-eyed youth who can't do anything, but instead have some skill-based system where every character is an expert without peer in a handful of skills that fit some archetypical theme, and for anything else, they need outside help, either from fellow PCs, or making arrangements with NPC experts. Standard with this is a little drip-feed of extra skill points, but this... really doesn't work for what we're looking for here. If I want to be the party's hacker, I'm going to start off as an excellent hacker. I'm not going to put all my points into shmoozing people and then expect the rest of the party to put up with me looking for the any key over a dozen adventures before finally working out this make or break ability.

4- You gain new abilities as you level up!

So... first off this actually isn't generally all that true. If you're playing a wizard in D&D, sure, every couple levels you get access to a new tier of spells, and hey that's a big game changing deal maybe. Most level-ups though are just about numbers going up. All of them in most games. Hitting harder, more often, in bigger areas, maybe. Skills and abilities work more consistently. You maybe get more HP.

For now though let's focus on when you do level up and get cool new abilities. One moment you're some kid with a stick, then you bonk the magic number of goblins with it, and now suddenly you can make all your friends fly, unbound by gravity, or you can read the thoughts of everyone around you, or you can teleport home where it's nice and safe no matter what the situation. Well that actually really sucks for the GM!

Let's say I'm doing what everyone ever making an 8 or 16-bit RPG did and lifting plot concepts shamelessly from Laputa. We've got our big floating continent. Maybe we've got some kinda evil emperor up there, raining terror down on people or something. Nobody can get there and confront him... until they hit level 7 or whatever and have access to the fly spell. I better get any air superiority based adventures out before then. Also anything where there's a tower that has windows, or dangerous terrain, etc. Better get mysteries and hidden agendas taken care of before that mind reading. Better not think about trapping the party or them getting word of an attack somewhere else before that teleporting. And that's assuming I'm being on the ball about that sort of thing. I might have this whole thing planned, where the party desperately needs to get to that flying continent, and it's this whole quest hook where maybe they have to befriend a dragon or help build an airship or get some kinda rubber bones potion and access to a powerful cannon. Whole adventures about getting that power of flight, and any of these might just totally fizzle because oh whoops, the party leveled up and they just do that now.

Less dramatically, what if we're playing of those skill point games. I'm already a super great seductive femme fatale sneaking past laser sensors and stealing keys off people I'm charming right from the start of the game, and hey, cool, that's a nice simple archetype, everyone knows what I'm good at, we can plan missions around me being all sleazy over here while someone else sets up in a sniper position and someone else is in the basement hacking and all that. Several adventures down the road, well, I have all these skill points, I haven't been able to put them into the stuff I'm good at, so now I'm also a combat monster. The original combat monster can also hack. The original hacker can also charm the pants off everyone. We're starting to develop a lot of redundancy, but that's not necessarily bad? But then we play a bunch more adventures. Those secondary concepts capped off, we're working up more. Nobody is unparalleled at the thing they originally did. Have the party is equally amazing at a given thing. If we keep going like this, eventually everyone is going to loose all sense of unique identity, and there isn't really a strong in-game reason we need this whole ragtag crew anymore. Anyone of us can take on any problem solo, really.

5- The power fantasy of being super amazing.

This is kind of a point I've already hit but I'm stuck with this format, but the thing with experience is, again, sometimes sure you gain new abilities, but usually all your various numbers go up, and that actually kinda sucks in practice. First off, it's a lot of tedious bookkeeping, in basically any system you can name. It also doesn't generally really make a difference in the grand scheme of things?

I'm level 3. I've got a +7 to hit, doing 15 damage a hit, and an AC of 18. I'm fighting some orc with 40 HP, 15 AC, and attacking at +5. I level up a few times. Now I'm level 7. I've got a +13 to hit, doing 30 damage, and an AC of 24. I'm fighting crustaceanoids now, with 80 HP, 21 AC, and attacking at +11. Objective numbers wise, crustateanoids are way way tougher than orcs, but in my experience this is the EXACT same fight. I hit on an 11. I need 3 hits to take something down. It's bad news for me if my enemy rolls a 13 to hit me. All we've done is a bunch of annoying math refactoring with nothing to show for it but cosmetically reskinned mooks.

Now here, interestingly enough, I ONLY have the D&D type example here. Again, most other RPGs I have don't have that same sort of rampant power creep. You start out absurdly skillful at whatever your specialty is, and there's little if any room for growth, numbers wise. So here, if we go from orcs to crustateanoids to hellborn cyberdragons as enemies, not only is this technically a set of progressively scarier enemies to have to deal with, they actually ARE more meaningful threats to the party. Maybe those orcs were all show, they never really hurt us because we're awesome secret agents or something, but now things are getting serious because these crustaceanoids are just as good at sick flips and firing machine guns in two different directions as we are, so we have to take them much more seriously. And oh damn, after this we have to deal with a hellborn cyberdragon? Those are so scary if we all just rush in we're probably all gonna die. We need to come up with a whole complex plan to avoid directly engaging that if at all possible, and run for it if that doesn't pan out, or something.

And hey, we don't need something even more epic than a hellborn cyberdragon to top that. One of those is still going to be harrowing no matter how late in the campaign we bust it out. We can establish a power balance early on and keep it relevant like that. PCs gotta get more innovative and clever not just kill most monsters until demigods are easily punchable.

6: Revenge of 3- Well character growth is still important!

So, I really shouldn't be trashing experience points' ability to deliver cool character growth if I don't have some alternative to it, right? We need some way to change things up so the game doesn't stagnate. Well sure, but we can do better than experience there.

Just off the top of my head, how about we go with plot relevant respec-ing? Like at any given time a character's got their main spotlight thematic kit. Your best of the best at being a hacker or wizard or whatever. Maybe also a secondary skillset. And then definitely some number of slots for stuff they're into but it's not their main thing. Maybe we have a few variant minisets for those. Like if someone just unlocked their psychic powers and haven't fully figured them out, you have access to this here set of abilities. Once you have your big dramatic power mastery moment, that becomes their main thing and we demote their previous main thing to a secondary thing... and if we don't like this psychic stuff in the end, we demote it back down and fill a tertiary slot with like Lost Psychic Powers, where you still get to be all knowledgeable about how this sorta crap works and maybe have some battles of wills but your cool telekinesis is all locked away. At least for now.

I don't want to sit down and fully design a game at the tail end of a blog post here, but feel free to try this out with whatever system you like. Just pick whatever level feels like the good one, build characters with that as their basic kit, let'em have a few dips into secondary and tertiary angles, do a lot of getting thrown out of orders and taking major injuries and getting temporarily possessed or infused with mystery things. And you can do the plucky young kids in over their head thing with this sort of system easily enough. Start off with just the tertiary interest/mini-skill-packs, and once whatever you want to grow into starts coming up, rapidly grow into that over the course of a few adventures, no needing some big dramatic status quo change like this usually calls for.

Oh and I haven't been talking about video games here, but kill experience there too. If I'm not doing the whole Metroidvania/Zeld'em Up thing to pick up new powers as I explore, just gimme the whole kit from the get-go. Have traditional difficulty curves. We're good. Leave the skill trees and the level-grinding out of it. What are you holding back for, replayability? It's been raining free big-name big commitment games for years. Quit demanding that much of our time.

Oh and I keep forgetting to beg for money while I write these. I went 24 hours here without eating because I was just out of food and couldn't afford to go to the store. Someone took pity on me and hand delivered a big bowl of soup. Things are getting real bad. Patreon link.

[star-my]

berserk tiger - i. inception

Pairing: Min Yoongi x Kim Seo-ah (OC)

Rating: PG-13

WC: 1.7k

CW: mentions of stalking, threatening

A/N: I have very little plotted out for this series. It's gonna be random and sometimes I'll post non-chronological pieces. No beta so feel free to point out typos or give concrit. Compliments are always nice. Moodboard photos are taken from Pinterest, edit is mine.

| Series Masterlist & Description | Masterlist | Ao3 |

Taglist (open): @bangtan-famiglia-net @bangtanwritershq

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap tap.

Tap tap tap.

Tap tap tap tap tap.

The quick tempo of his footsteps sped up even more as she glanced behind her. He was gaining on her quickly. Practically running, she ducked around the corner, coming face-to-face with a man in black.

Gasping out a quick apology, she made the executive decision to ignore the stranger danger signs blaring in her mind. She was in enough danger from non-strangers as it was–besides, most crimes, especially violent ones against women, were committed by people the victim knew and were close to. Statistically, she was safer with this random guy she’d found all in black in a dark alley where no one else was around…wow, she wasn’t safe anywhere, was she?

Ignoring everything but the fact that so far Random Guy hadn’t pulled a knife on her, she cleared her throat and widened her eyes pleadingly, begging him to play along.

“Babe, I was waiting ages for you! What took you so long to come get me?” she exclaimed, taking his hand in hers, unwilling though he was.

He stepped out of the alley into the street and saw who she was running from. His gaze flicked down to her, then back at him. 

His grip tightened on her hand. 

A black car came gliding to a stop at the curb in front of them, and a man in a black suit climbed out of the driver’s seat to open the rear passenger door.

Random Guy handed her in with the grace of one born into a chaebol family, then closed the door and turned to face her pursuer.

She glanced through the smoked glass to see what was going on, surprised that she could barely hear any noise through the car.

The driver flashed a bright smile at her through the glass, blocking her view. Wow, he was really pretty.

The smile disappeared and he opened the door, letting Random Guy get in. She scooched over, tugging the hem of her dress down, aware she didn’t look her best at the moment. The interior light showed his gelled hair, soft features, onyx-sharp eyes, and a faded scar running down the right side of his face.

He studied her silently in return, making her uncomfortably aware of her wind-blown hair falling out of her braid, the perspiration beading on her body, and her rumpled clothes.

Putting a bright smile on her lips regardless, she extended her hand to him. “I appreciate your helping me get away from him. I sincerely thank you.”

He shook her hand, his large one dwarfing hers, his long fingers cool and clean. “You’re welcome. What is your name?”

“Oh, right. Kim Seo-ah.”

“Min Yoongi,” said the man just as his driver got in at the wheel. He threw him a startled look, glancing between her and her rescuer with an unreadable expression on his face.

The car started with a barely-there hum, and Min Yoongi turned to her again.

“Could you tell me what was happening back there?”

She glanced down, smoothing her hem more carefully than it called for. “He’s my little sister’s ex-boyfriend, Lee Geum. He created debts in her name and decided that we needed to placate him; he thinks he’s some hotshot yakuza or something, like he’s playing at being Agust D or something,” she laughed shortly. “He’s been following me home from the pawnshop where I work for the past few weeks, trying to intimidate me into giving him our money and following me to see our new living arrangements. I’ve managed to lose him so far, but today he started getting closer and closer and I saw him with a knife in his pocket. It was a blessing that you were there.”

He hummed, uninterested. “How many men does he have working for him that he thinks he’s the next Agust D?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe twenty or thirty? He’s not a good leader.”

Min Yoongi coughed. 

“Have you gone to the police and asked for their help to deal with the issue?”

“I don’t know if you noticed, Mr Min, but this part of town isn’t exactly the most protected place. We’re all too poor to require any real guarding. What valuables could we possibly have? And I did try the police, when he threatened my sister, but they didn’t care.”

The driver clicked his tongue disappointedly.

“What if someone was able to do something about it?”

“Like what?” Seo-ah glanced at him curiously.

“Sent evidence of his crimes to the police or something. Do you think that maybe they’d take you seriously and do something about it then?”

“Maybe,” she admitted dubiously.

“Are you any good at acting?”

She glanced at him suspiciously. “I’d say I’m decent. Why?”

He simply flattened his mouth into what she suspected was a half-smile but could have been a grimace. She took the hint and dropped her line of questioning.

With a gasp she realized that the car had stopped outside of a luxurious villa in Seongbuk-dong. 

The driver opened her door, extending his hand to her. She gingerly took it, stepping out onto the pebbled drive as she took in her gated surroundings. 

Min Yoongi’s warmth alerted her to his presence behind her.

“Er…”

“Come with me.” He took her elbow gently, leading her into the house, past a man in a suit like the driver’s, but looking considerably more dangerous. 

Min Yoongi led her to the kitchen, putting a kettle on to boil for tea and pulling out two cups.

He paused, hand on a cupboard door as he glanced back at her. “Would you prefer something a little bit stronger?”

“I’m alright with tea. Thank you. May I ask why I’m here?”

“Because I’d like to talk to you.”

“Without asking for my permission?” she raised an eyebrow, dropping the formal tone.

He raised one back at her impropriety.

“You essentially kidnap me, I don’t have to add honorifics,” she shrugged, hoping to cover up the unsettling thought she’d been struck by, that she’d traded the devil she knew for the one she didn’t.

“I apologize. Would you like to join me for tea at my home?”

“I’d prefer to have you to mine as a thank you, but given your look–” she waved a hand at his suit–”and my home, this is the better option. I’d be delighted to join you, thank you for asking.”

He gave her another inscrutable, curious look as he poured the tea. “You’re welcome.”

She perched, feeling only slightly awkward and out of place, on the white leather seats at his marble island, gratefully taking the cup he handed her.

He stood across from her, his own cup in hand. 

“So, from what I’ve gathered from you, is that you’re the head of a low-income household, you’re in financial difficulty, your dongsaeng’s ex is threatening trouble, and there’s not much happening to address these issues.”

She swallowed a sip of the hot tea, feeling like the words had burned hotter than her tongue now was. That was her situation, but somehow the cold way he had laid out those facts threatened to tear down the defensive walls she’d built.

“Yes, that is the state of things,” she said quietly, already feeling the fuzz on her tongue from the tea burn.

“How much debt did the ex leave you?”

She swallowed another sip. “About thirteen million won.”

As expected of a man who lived in this area, he didn’t bat an eye.

“I have a proposal for you, then.”

She nodded.

“I will help you pay off your debts and take care of this ex, and in return you will enter a contractual marriage with me for five years.”

Seo-ah coughed, expelling the tea from her windpipe that she’d inhaled in shock. “You want me to do what?”

“Marry me. For five years. What do you say?”

“Why do you need a wife? You look fairly young, you’re rich and hot and appear to be influential.”

He smirked at her list of his traits. “Business reasons. There are some things I cannot tell you until you have signed the contract, if you so agree. I’ve been looking for the right wife for a while now, and I think you’ll be splendid.”

“Could I have a copy of this contract so I know what’s expected?”

Min Yoongi pulled his cell phone out and pressed a button. “I need the papers in the kitchen.”

A minute later footsteps sounded in the hallway, then a man in a suit jogged into the kitchen, carrying a small briefcase in hand. He paused as he took in the scene, then handed the briefcase off to Min Yoongi.

He opened the briefcase and pulled out a sheaf of papers, rifling through them to collect a handful that he handed off to  her.

She flipped through them, reading the surprisingly simple legal jargon. It looked aboveboard. 

She was getting desperate: some creditors were already hounding her enough without Geum’s pressure, Jinah would be needing to pay for her schooling, plus the usual living expenses…Well, she could use this stroke of luck that had fallen into her lap. She was well aware that this contract, though it sounded fair, would likely end in Min Yoongi’s favour, but she would cross that bridge when she came to it. He was the best option at the present time and she would not borrow trouble from her future self.

“I’ll do it,” she declared.

The man who’d brought the briefcase handed her a pen, the clicking of the end sounding loud in the suddenly supernaturally still kitchen.

She signed her name with a flourish, watching the black ink seep into the paper. Min Yoongi took the pen from her and slid the papers from under her arm, scrawling his signature quickly and handing them to the man.

“The registration will come through in a couple days. Would you like to stay here until then?” he asked courteously.

She shook her head. “I appreciate your offer, and this opportunity, but I need to get back to my sister. I don’t like leaving her alone in our area, especially with her ex around.”

“Alright, I’ll get Hoseok to take you back. Thank you for signing this.”

She swallowed, mouth suddenly dry despite the two cups of tea she’d drunk.

[wheeboo]

EXACTLY fear js made everyone shine 😭😭 what r ur top 5 fav svt songsndn and could u recommend some artists for me <33

exactly omg w2e is gen so beautiful and i need to listen moreee, i just listened to the songs u mentioned and csn i say im inlove. rania what are u not good at 😭😓 ahdhsj omg as a huge swiftie can i say you have such good tastete and i love champagne problems and ivy with all my heart !! do u listen to frank ocean? if u doo what songs do u like of his

canadas so pretty omgg manifesting the same luck for u bc we're always getting skipped 😓 (justice to canadian and european fans fr)

ahh omg violin is so cool 😭 i feel like ud be amazing at singing id loveve to hear u singing 🫡 hope you're having a good day and im assuming it's well over 3 pm now?? id love to see how it looks (rania always looks good regardless) and hope u ate well 💗

DGSH SAKE IS SO ADORABLE she looks so smalll 😭 she looks like she deserves all the treats in the worlddd

(p.s https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeSKNrwa/ daily dose of seungkwan and i hope today treats u well, make sure to rest and put urself and ur health first !!)

omg top 5 fav svt songs... i'm a vocal unit girly so i love all vocal unit songs like equally;; hmm i would def say same dream same mind same night, healing, i can't run away (whole attacca album tbh), kidult, fast pace!! that was SO hard lmao. what are ur top svt songs?? <33

so happy u enjoyed the w2e songs !!! i'm mainly into like indie, bedroom pop, rnb, or just like calming songs in general... so if ur fine with that, some artists i would recommend are beabadoobee, grentperez, alessia cara, UMI, wasia project, lyn lapid, dhruv, mitski, faye webster <3

i do listen to some frank ocean!! i don't know like the entirety of his music but some songs that i have added to my playlist is thinkin about you, self control, nights, seigfried <3 do u have any recs for him??

i took some pics w a cute outfit on but i'm a bit too nervous to post, but i'll prob post right after i answer this cuz atp why not LMAOO but ahh tysm :(( do u play any instruments or sports ??

my day is going fine so far!! sadly i have to go to work later on T-T and then do a lot of homework when i get home but we can power thru 💪💪 i hope ur day was good lovely, lmk if u did anything !!

I LOVE SAKE SO MUCH 😭💞 i jus wanna give her all the treats n cuddles in the world fr !!!

STOP THE SEUNGKWAN EDIT-- literally fucking deceased HES SO FINE 😍 anyway here is ur lovely daily dose of jeonghan <3

[ourstaturestouchtheskies]

Hello, lovely Charlotte! The other day that I was going through your blog I noted that you do take requests, so my mind started buzzing and I wanted to drop by to ask if I could request a spooky, vampiresque edit? I’d love love love to see your take on it. I have three songs in mind that could be cool as inspo (but you don’t really have to use them if you don’t like any of them! These are just songs I think are different vampire vibes)

1. Uninvited by Alanis Morrissette (the ultimate vampire song imo)

2. Iris by Kim Dracula (it’s a cover but they make it way more eerie/dark)

3. Change (In The House of Flies) by Deftones (Idk if Deftones would be your style, but this is more of a grunge vamp vibe to me because this song is from the ‘Queen of the Damned’ soundtrack)

Again, you really don’t need to listen to/use any of these as inspo at all! I’m just super curious to see what you come up with with a vampy vibe in mind, regardless of the song! 🥰 (and I know it would be so badass, considering the artworks you chose when I asked for a ‘Deadman’s Party’ art vibes during your blog celebration!)

Thank you so much in advance, my lovely! 🖤🖤🖤

hello my darling Irma! so lovely to see you in my inbox! 🥰

I do indeed take requests!! (I'm just atrociously slow at actually completing them, which I am very sorry about)

I was so taken with the vibes of "uninvited" that I actually did two vampire-y edits inspired by it, one that posted today, and one that will go up tomorrow!

I hope you like what I've done with these, but of course always feel free to let me know if you'd like something different! 💕💕

sending so much love to you always!! 🥰☺️

[blrbaileys]

Mob Vote and Minecraft Updates in General

*Edit:* Warning - Extensive rambling with no through line or halfway decent structure

Idk, I need a place to put my thoughts.

The original mob vote concept was cool, 4 unique and honestly kinda challenging looking mobs, we can vote on which gets added. I'm actually a fan of Phantoms, despite them being a nusiance to most I think having flying mobs is cool and they should add more mobs that just fly about.

And I actually liked the follow ups where the mobs were tied into biomes because it wasn't *about* the mobs, they were just nice tie ins. But at the point we're at now they have to force us to be excited about the "features" these mobs add and while they are somewhat cool features, they aren't really much in isolation.

The Sniffer could've been much cooler bundled with an extensive update to say, the Jungle or Desert biomes, or an actually interesting archeology update.

Or in the Glow Squid case, its a weird single use feature, they could have easily bundled the glowing sign effect into Glowstone Dust.

None of this is to say adding more mobs is the wrong choice, I think the opposite, we need more mobs which just, don't have features attached.

Ambient mobs, fireflys, birds flying overhead, snakes in the Desert, rats around structures, more variety in the oceans (actual variety, the differnt combos of Tropical Fish are a nice touch, but the mob is the same regardless)

Then as you do updates, you can add features to them where it makes sense, but tying the feature to the mob from the get go and then forcing a vote on it just means less features in the long run. And I'm not unaware as to why they do it this way, the mob vote gets people talking, I mean I'm talking about it right now so I guess I'm not helping but whatever at this point we are half way through the vote anyway.

The chatter, even that against the mob vote conceptually pushes Minecraft into our feeds, even the BBC are reporting on Minecraft LIVE and the mob vote cause its a story now.

I will say on a slightly other note, the whole "modders can make this in one day argument" is kinda flat. Modders usually have to make it for one version in one language on one platform. Mojang have to consider localisation, cross-compatibility, actually conceptualising the mob idea, etc. That's not to say Modders aren't incredibly hard working, they usually are, but if you're looking to call Mojang lazy I wouldn't do it based off just that.

This is already a long af post with little coherency but we're rolling with it.

I think really what I want to see, as a player since like, 2012, is Mojang just to make bolder moves in regards to the updates. I want them to change core gameplay mechanics and just, see what happens. And yeah last time was 1.9 and it divided the community into two distinct parts that exist today but we need something like that alongside 2 new wood types.

In regards to recent/planned changes to villagers and the netherite upgrade template, its clear they are trying to lengthen the "midgame" of Minecraft to capitalize on how most people play (that being they have a 2-3 week fixation on the game each year and then stop) This sucks, don't strech your midgame, extend your endgame.

Add more powerful mobs in a new dimension, make a place where even netherite armour feels like iron. I have no doubt it'd be a nightmare for new players so make it difficult to get to (like the totally-not-a-portal-frame in the ancient citys) make the overall gameplay loop of Minecraft longer.

I'm going to stop here for now, if I'm bored/procrastinating studies enough I should actually format some of these thoughts into something.

Anyway, boycott the mob vote, its unlikely to do anything, they truly don't have to care, but people made posters and played Poor Mans Poison over them, can you really still vote after that?

[morrowlegacy]

Honestly, the drama weirdly gave me the courage to finally make a Hogwarts Legacy blog today (and just an account on Tumblr in general) after debating it for months.

(Now, I’m not educated on what the drama is, so I’m just spilling my thoughts out of context)

I’ve been a lurker since September, which is when my obsession with the game started. A lot of the fandoms I have been a part of in the past have always had some negativity around them for various reasons, but in a way it always makes me more passionate about the fandoms I love.

I’m not saying the drama, hate, and shaming is a good thing, (That’s not what I’m saying AT ALL) but what I will say is that when people come around and try to bully me for my interests, it always inspires me to keep doing what I’m doing. Because at the end of the day, they’re my characters from my favorite media. If they don’t like it, they can just move on. And if not? Well, that’s why we set boundaries with the block button.

Fandom is meant to be fun, but there will always be people who try to ruin it. Taking a break from a fandom if you need it is always a good option if it will help you (and it’s something I’ve done a few times over! And recently too with other fandoms). But for those who decide to stay, let me be the first to say there will always be people out there who appreciate what you’re doing, regardless of how many likes or followers you have. Even if haters try to bring you down. And if the only person who is loving your work is you? Well enjoy that! That’s why we create after all. To have fun with ourselves and escape from the world for a bit. Just like OP said, this fandom is for everyone to brain rot together and just enjoy a common interest as a community. That’s why I made my account in the first place. To meet people and share my art because I love being creative and seeing others be creative too!

Again, I don’t really know what happened to make the Hogwarts Legacy fandom so divided lately, (the context escapes me), so maybe what I said here isn’t relevant, but regardless, here’s the bottom line:

Don’t be a jerk to people simply because they have a different perspective on canon lore, characters, etc, or because you don’t think their art, writing, and edits are not as good as yours. It’s not cool. Just block if you see something you don’t like. No need to start unnecessary drama. And if someone is being a bully to you because of your interpretation, then do what you need to do in order to make the fandom fun for you again. Whether that means taking a break, blocking a bunch of people, or continuing to post. You will always have the good side of the community to come back to, even if it takes time.

All of you are so talented and amazing. We will get through this together 💜

WHAT IS UP WITH THE HOGWARTS LEGACY FANDOM?????????????

I am so fucking fed up with this fandom & honestly it makes me lose any desire to post anything here anymore.

So many people here look at EVERYTHING as a damn competition and it’s NOT. It should be a place for people to brainrot together, talk about theories, and enjoy seeing what other people draw and write etc. Have I sometimes felt insecure bc I don’t get as many notes as other people?! Yes of course…but I always focus on the connections and the lovely people I’ve met and like talking to bc that’s why I post in the first place. I didn’t spend 4 months posting my fic to 10 kudos and 1 comment with basically no feedback bc I care about popularity😆😆

I’ve never been part of a fandom before this one but honestly everything feels so immature here, especially lately. Is it NORMAL to send hate to people who interpret the characters differently than you?! Or send hate to people who ship something you don’t like???? Is it NORMAL to start a confessions blog that’s for people to vague post about others & give everyone reading it anxiety??? (And NO, it’s not “leveling the playing field” wtf). Is it NORMAL to be so close minded, that you’re always trying to start shit with other people?!!??

It is SO FUCKING EXHAUSTING & honestly I try my hardest to NOT feed into any negativity and I’ve never posted the hate I’ve gotten because quite frankly, it’s ridiculous.

I genuinely love seeing what all of you post and always try to comment when I have the mental energy, because I love having a sense of community and you’re all very talented.

[into-the-center-of-things]

day five: looking at local chicago southside sights

"paper-thin thorax

humming with hidden lyric

sharpened by the sun"

Today was a bit slower, which was a relief. I haven't really "traveled" beyond camping the last few year, meaning stayed overnight at a destination with a detailed agenda and whatnot. Not saying that either of us have a like, official itinerary but a lot of exploring is being had which I love a lot.

We cut through the beautiful campus belonging to the University of Chicago. As we walked @germfreeadulthood kind of gave me a tour, pointed out various buildings and their purposes or focuses. The campus feels huge and architecturally cohesive—apparently it was modeled after one or the Ivy League schools, so that checks out. Also, they have an ice skating rink which I found funny (pictured below).

Anyways. The Farmer's Market was bustling, very busy with students and families. It was kind of hot but it was really cool to see the kind of stuff people were growing and selling in Illinois versus the Farmer's Market I have gone to in California. My favorite was probably the tofu booth (just different kinds of tofu and dipping sauces to try) or the guy selling navy bean pie that tasted almost exactly like a pumpkin pie (he had samples out and they were delicious).

I also liked the sheer amount of zucchini I saw, if I wasn't taking a train back I would definitely have bought some back to make zucchini bread or something.

I got a pastry that had tomato, feta cheese, and basil in it, and it was very, very chewy and bready. @germfreeadulthood got something similar, both were very good. We sat in the grass in the shade and ate amongst other people. I felt kind of tired and headachey, which was weird, and I was kind of worried I was getting sick or something. @germfreeadulthood gave me some immune support throat spray, though, which tasted weirdly good, so I am hoping I am just tired and not coming down with something...

Erm. Anyways. We decided to go check out some bookstores, the first being the Seminary Co-Op Bookstore near campus.

I was impressed that the poetry selection was actually pretty big, and I leafed through the entire shelf and the books they had felt kind of random, but interesting regardless. I wonder how a co-op bookstore accumulates its collection, how does it choose books to sell back to those here at UChicago, what does it do with the books no one wants? I saw a lot of poetry I wasn't familiar with, or things I thought would be not verybpopular among the general public. For example, they had an anthology of Fence as well as an edition of Chelsey Minnis' books Zirconia and Bad Bad together, which felt a bit rare or special. But that may just be me being pretentious.

They also had some copies of The Best American Poetry of 2023 (Elaine Equi was the editor—coincidentally she grew up in Chicago, and apparently teaches in New York now), which I haven't actually seen printed yet until now. I saw that Amy Gerstler was in it and also Dorothea Lasky! Which was cool, very happy to see that.

The prices were standard and if I had like, a real salary job and was local I absolutely would have bought a few things. I didn't even really look at the nonfiction which I maybe should have but the poetry shelf was just that good.

More on the next post...I am yapping way too much about books and taming way too many pictures of them...rip...

[401bmma4]

A Rollercoaster Ride

By: Jericho Solis Podcast 🎧 Podcast Script 📄

[Opening music playing]

Welcome to another episode of The New Media podcast. Today I'm going to reflect on my experience in the New Media Writing course that I just finished up. It really has been quite the roller coaster ride!

[Intro] New media writing is all about embracing the digital age and using creative ways to connect with your audience. Whether it's through blogs, social media posts, or podcasts like this one, the possibilities are endless.

[Transition Music] So, what does the journey in new media writing look like? Well, it's a rollercoaster of creativity, innovation, and sometimes, a few roadblocks along the way. But hey, that's all part of the adventure, right?

[Transition Music] As writers in the digital age, we have the power to reach people all around the world with just a few clicks. It's a powerful tool that allows us to share our stories, ideas, and perspectives in ways we never thought possible.

When I first started the course, I'll admit I was a little unsure of myself. I wasn't positive that I had what it took to keep up with everything we'd be asked to do and learn. But I went into it with a positive attitude, telling myself that as long as I worked hard and did my best, I could accomplish anything.

Man, was that an understatement! This class really opened my eyes to the world of new media. One project that really stands out was when we had to create our own vlog from scratch. Going through the entire process, from planning to filming to editing, was so cool. Not only did I learn a ton, but I also got better at working with classmates I wasn't super close with before. We really bonded over that project.

Engaging in various experiences throughout my journey has been pivotal in shaping my perception of new media. These diverse encounters have definitively enlightened me to the fact that new media transcends beyond mere academic achievements; it is a canvas that demands collaboration, nurtures creativity, and necessitates consistent dedication to crafting high-quality content within set timelines. As I reflect on my growth and aspirations in the realm of new media writing, I have come to recognize that my paramount contributions lie in the realms of fostering originality and fostering innovation. Given the current digital landscape's inundation with content, it has become increasingly imperative to carve a distinctive niche to capture and retain audience attention. Embracing this reality, I am devoted to pushing the boundaries and exploring uncharted territories in content creation, thus ensuring a lasting impact and resonating presence in the fast-evolving world of new media.

[Closing music fades in] And that's what I want to focus on - experimenting with new styles and forms to create buzzworthy content. I believe that by pushing the boundaries of creativity and staying true to my authentic voice and perspective, I can truly captivate my audience and leave a lasting impact, regardless of my size as a content creator. The spark ignited within me through this course has filled me with a renewed sense of enthusiasm, propelling me towards the exciting journey of implementing the valuable insights I've gained and adapting to the ever-changing landscape of emerging digital platforms. I am looking forward to immersing myself in the process of honing my craft, refining my skills, and embracing the challenges that come with navigating this dynamic realm of media creation. Your receptiveness to my reflections on this transformative experience is greatly appreciated, and I am eager to continue sharing my growth and evolution with you as I embark on this thrilling adventure. Thank you for being a part of this journey!

[Closing music playing]