#so i'll just have to rebuild that

[soaked-ghost]

girls that struggle to breath and can't maintain a stable form and who hate each other

[spacedlexi]

maybe if i just put these screenshots together youll understand why i think their relationship just Works so well as it pertains to the characters and themes of S4 in general

neither of them know what theyre doing, but theyre figuring it out Together. the old ways are dead. and together theyll build a new future thats worth fighting for

[moe-broey]

Idk I also just hate the future actually. My ass is Always living in the past or simply day to day 💪💪💪

[plexippusangel]

I either need to accept that I am just a way stronger person than this friend and can handle way more while still being able to engage with the world as a person, or recognize excuses as excuses, accept that I am not valued and be done or. Maybe both. Idk. It might be somewhere between the two. I am just sick of regular life stuff rendering him unable to spend any time with me, and of him being unable to bear any of the details of my life, when I would move mountains to rekindle our friendship. Though I'm starting to wonder if I still would.

[voloswag]

highkey tempted to have a playthrough of Ironsworn (free solo ttrpg!!! very good I highly recommend) ft sanctus and volo and just post summaries of the (mis)adventures here. sanctus, a sword for hire who just arrived on an unforgiving island haunted by the spirit of a primordial deity and who is hired by a Totally Normal Average Charming Bard™ to escort him to strange ruins at the heart of the island. said bard is totally just looking for inspiration for new songs, that’s all :^)

neither of which know the other have both been marked by said eldritch deity, both having undergone a cruel ritual in their childhood that left them as something not fully human anymore. sanctus wants to find this deity and destroy it one way or another, whereas volo wants to fully awaken it and procure for it some sort of physical avatar so it can walk the earth once more and also grant him sooooooo much power as a reward for all his hard work bc he deserves it

nothing can possibly go wrong!!!

[gay-caesar-truther]

I'm kicking my legs and giggling thinking about the catastrophic mental break down Gabriel's gunna have now he's got his dad to project purity and he's safe.

Dudes spent the last few weeks struggling with his morals about killing, getting covered in blood, thinking that his dad abandoned him becuase he's a horrible no good son.

(None of this is becuase of how James raise Gabe, James is a good dad- Gabriel just has some issues as a result of being raised in a Vault, suddenly having his life ripped away, and having to kill everyday just to survive)

He was convinced that he was either hunting a corpse or when he finally finds his dad he's going to so disgusted by the things he's had to do out here to 1) survive 2) find him that his dad's going to hate him and want nothing to do with him.

Gabe's only frame of reference for James is the kind, warm and tender hearted Vault 101 Doctor. Even when he found out his dad wasn't born in the Vault he didn't really consider what that entales (Killing, fighting for your life, etc). So when Gabe HAS to resort to violence, he's convinced the blood is gunna stain him to his very soul and he's now some sort of monster, and that his dad will see that horrible change in him and HATE him for what he'd become and what's he's had to do. Even though James gets it- He KNOWS what the wasteland is like.

Don't even get me started about Tranquility Lane. Gabriel was so close to finally having his dad back, finally not being alone in this horrible wasteland anymore that he did everything braun asked. He didn't even question it. He was so frantic and stressed out and refused to let his dad get away from him AGAIN.

Once they're at project purity Gabriel just collapses. All the stress and all the emotion he's pushed aside from the second he stepped out of Vault 101 just comes crashing down like a wave. He's hyperventilating, he's sobbing- when James comes over to comfort him Gabriel just clings to him like he's gunna disappear.

Every second that James is out of Gabes line of sight part of Gabriel's mind is going to be trying to convince him his dad's going to leave again.

Gabriel is emotionally and physically EXHAUSTED.

[yo9urt]

more minecraft updates...it tests my patience -_-

[the-land-of-snr]

One of my many character flaws is that if we don't talk for too long, I simply forget how to talk to you. But you usually remember how to talk to me. So it's all awkward and depressing. Stressful for me, confusing and hurtful for you.

[simstoyourdismay]

i think it's time to restart my mods folder but i'm scared because right now is the worst time to be downloading cc and mods. but i know i need to since my laptop is practically begging me to kill it every time i open the game

[caputvulpinum]

Every so often I go to the bathroom mirror and put on some eyeliner and some mascara and do a little bit of contouring and I'll ask the girl in the mirror "Is it time yet?" and the girl in the mirror will shake her head and smile sadly and say "Not yet. Not yet time." and I ask her why it isn't time yet and she tells me a new reason every time. This time I think she's running out of excuses, because she doesn't smile, she just stares at me and says "Because when the time comes you're going to destroy everything around you and then yourself, and you're not ready yet to start rebuilding. You're not ready yet to let yourself break down. All you're ready for right now is to stand in place and watch the clock keep ticking down to midnight. Only a few more minutes to go, baby girl."

And then I say, "So what happens next?" and she tells me, "Have you seen I Saw The TV Glow yet?" and I say "No, not yet." and she says, "You should watch it." and I say, "Okay."

[starlightkun]

hi mel!! i’ve tried finding your fics through the search functions on tumblr and apparently i can’t find them unless i specifically type in your account user (which, again, does not show up in the recommended bit) and find your account. just wondering if it was intentional, since it means that you and your fics don’t show up in tags 😅

hi!! yeah i've suspected for a while that tumblr has, uh, shadowbanned me? for some reason? like, essentially ever since i came back from my hiatus last yr. it started with my messaging being randomly turned off like this was a group blog even tho this isnt, it's just me and i've never given admin access to anybody else? and i've had a couple ppl now tell me that my fics aren't appearing in the tags, even tho i don't have anything set for that to happen? and i literally have no clue why my blog wouldn't be appearing in the tumblr search, i have that visibility turned on. i suppose i'll reach out to tumblr support and see if anything comes of it. thanks for confirming for me!

[hua-fei-hua]

i'm finally importing the last of my playlists to my new mp3 player (bc i have been lazy otherwise lol), n on one hand, i feel okay just letting some of them vanish into the aether forever, but on the other hand, the tiny archivist in me wants to at least keep an xml file for nostalgia purposes

[probablybadrpgideas]

Bullshit villain plans by genre

Fantasy: Fuck it, this whole "manipulate adventurers into doing my bidding" sounds hard. I'm just ordering the cursed artefact that will let me dominate all life through Wizard Amazon. Sure, I'll agree to next day shipping. I'm evil.

Post-apocalypse: Villain who wants to destroy the world sad at having missed chance, trying to rebuild the world so they can destroy it a second time.

Sci-fi: Even the alien invaders aren't sure why they're invading earth rather then just mining asteroids, but they're too stuck in the sunk cost fallacy to leave now.

Horror: Tax evasion but spoooooky

Cyberpunk: Guy who wants to stop the megacorporations and has a fully ethical plan to do so, then remembered what genre they were in so quickly added five wildly immoral parts for no reason.

Superhero: Dr Devastation and his Doom Legions plotting to take over the world via a several decade gradual erosion of civil liberties and government regulation.

Comfy: Gonna brutally torture everyone to death but, you know, a low-stakes pastoral way.

Urban Fantasy: Learn the spell "summon gun" and use that to take all the other wizard's stuff by shooting them in the fucking face.

Espionage: Look, just pick any random news story and go with that one.

[maximumzombiecreator]

I've seen a lot of posts recently where people say they can't find players to play non-5e TTRPGs with. As someone who moves countries every few years, I've had to rebuild my roster of local TTRPG players from scratch a number of times. Here's how I do it.

Caveats first: while I've done this in small cities, I have always done it in cities. If you're in, like, a rural environment, you might just not have enough interested people around. You can always do it online in that case. I'm not really going to cover finding players online, except to say you should probably look for communities for the specific system you want to play. Most of them are enthusiastically looking for new participants. Especially game masters.

Okay, first things first, you gotta find people. I generally find I get better results if the search is location first. That is, rather than using city-wide or regional Looking For Group type internet groups, I look for physical locations that host gaming groups. Local game stores, public libraries, gaming cafes/bars, etc.

Being location first helps avoid some common bad behaviours. Online LFG groups often have a few shitty people hanging around who can't find long term groups because they're shitty. They'll jump at the opportunity to join new groups where people don't know them, because everyone else knows better than to game with them. But location-based groups are better at filtering this. Someone who harasses people at an LGS can be banned from the store, but decentralized online groups struggle to handle these situations in my personal experience.

Being location first also solves the next problem, which is giving you a location to play. Eventually, when I have a long term group, I'll host games in my home. But there needs to be a level of trust before that feels safe, and we're looking for randoms, so for now we need a public gaming venue. If, for whatever reason, there aren't dedicated gaming spaces where you can do this, I've had the most success gaming in cafes or restaurants during off peak hours. I've run a bunch of games in restaurants from, like, 2pm-5pm on a Saturday, and as long as you're buying drinks and some snacks or something, and being polite and non-disruptive, it's typically not too hard to get permission.

Now, if that local group has enough interest in a non-5e system that I'm interested in running, I'll happily do that, and it's pretty free from there. Most people who are willing to play one other system will gladly try others if they find they like playing with you. But even in big cities, I feel it's pretty often the case that postings for local games of other systems don't wind up actually finding successful groups.

So, here is the bit where, unfortunately, finding people to play non-5e games with involves playing some 5e. Community groups are always looking for more GMs to run games, so I will set out to run a number of short 5e adventures, each with different groups. These are typically oneshots that I have the option of extending for another 1 or 2 sessions.

I always run adventures that I've written myself for these, because I want my particular GMing style to really come through. Looking for players is a two way street. I'm looking for people I like GMing for, but I'm also looking to make sure they know what they're getting. Especially if I'm going to ask them to play a system they've never tried, they should know that there's going to be something they enjoy. So, these short adventures are full of the types of silly but sincere NPCs I tend to run, the open-ended scenarios I prefer, the tropes I favour, etc. If someone isn't going to enjoy playing with me, I want them to know it from this adventure.

I structure the adventures to give me a lot of flexibility in terms of how long they run. They're nearly always mysteries, but with some active component to the mystery, so that if things drag or dawdle I can have the villain show up and force a final confrontation. They're also structured to have a natural "next thing." You find and defeat the villain, but there's an implied next villain you'll be going after. That way, if the group is working well and I want to continue, it's easy to present the option to the group. But if I'm not interested in continuing with the group, the next thing can just serve as an "and the adventures continue" implied epilogue, and the game still feels complete.

I don't like players just bringing their own character sheet to the table. Someone who brings a disruptive character can ruin a session without me getting much useful information out of it, other than that I don't want to play with that person. And if it ruins the experience for the other players, I'm often out the opportunity to game with those people, through neither of our faults. I've experimented with both asking players to submit their characters in advance or making them choose between a collection of premade characters. The former is a good check for whether people will put in a basic amount of effort and follow instructions, but it can dissuade people who are just looking to dip their toes into playing for the first time. The latter can turn off players who are into crunchy games and are excited about character building. As a result, I'll usually choose the approach based on what non-5e system I'm currently most excited about running. Do I want to get together a group for a rules-light game? Premade characters it is. Looking to run some PF2e? Please submit your character sheet in advance. Some locations also do more drop-in based games, in which case it's premades all day.

As I'm running the game, I'm observing the players. There's a simple vibe check, obviously. Do I like playing with this person? But I'm also looking at how they play. What are they here for, what's exciting them? Are they struggling with finding optimal turns in combat, or do they like mastering a system? Are they curious about the world, or do they glaze over when the spotlight isn't on them? Do they light up in dialogue scenes? Do they want to try crazy things outside of their on-sheet abilities? Remember, later, I'm going to try to persuade this person to try to play a game they've never played before. I need to know what specifically is going to excite them.

I have (always with permission) recorded sessions before to go over in making these choices, but honestly even just a few small reminder notes will help me unravel things later. If a session goes well, I'll ask at the end for people to give me their contact information if they'd be interested in playing again. Non-committal, at their comfort, and it doesn't single out people that I don't want to play with. I can always just not call them. Usually I find I'm interested in playing again with a little more than half of the players I meet this way. In my experience, it's fairly rare for a player to say they're not interested in playing again, TTRPGs rule and there's a DM shortage.

What I usually do is keep running these until I have enough people in mind to run something else, even if it isn't the system I'm most excited about. Probably it would be better to spend more time in this starter phase building up more connections, but after running like 4-5 5e adventures, I'm usually more than ready to run anything else, and if I have to shelve my Lancer ideas because I've mostly found crunch-averse players, I'm usually fine with that.

So, next comes the invites. Now, most players I meet this way will eventually be open to playing most games, but listen: you can put people well out of their comfort zone for their third TTRPG, but you gotta be real careful with their second. Most of the time, the game I'm inviting people to will be their first real exposure to a non-5e TTRPG. If they don't like it, they will run back to the safety of 5e and you will never get them out of it again. So I am very careful in picking the right system for the players I am inviting.

Whatever the new system I want to run is, I will set up a pilot session for it. I am very clear to players that I will teach them the system at the session, they do not need to know it in advance. Eventually, when I have a reliable group of TTRPG people to play with, I'll expect them to be able to pick up systems without a ton of help, but for players that are only used to the complexity of 5e, the idea of learning a new system is daunting. I rehearse the teaching of the game session. It's the only thing for TTRPGs I ever rehearse, but I want to know down pat how I'm going to quickly teach a new system and make it feel approachable and non-threatening. I'm also very clear that this will be a single session, with the possibility of turning into a campaign if we like it. All of this is structured to feel very safe. No initial learning required, no long term commitment, with a GM you already know you like.

But even as safe as that is, you still have to pitch the system. Why should the player be excited about playing this new game? Don't go all TTRPG nerd on them and explain all the details of the system, or use a bunch of jargon. Give them one or two things to be excited about with short, detailed anecdotes to back them up.

"We're going to be playing Blades in the Dark. It's a game where you play a gang of criminals in a haunted, steampunk dystopia. Every session you'll do heists, but instead of meticulously planning them, you start right in the action, and when you need to have planned for something, you can do a flashback scene to explain your preparation. One group I ran this for got busted by guards during an early heist, but used a flashback to create a scene where they had gotten a buddy of theirs a job as one of the guards, and he helped them out of the situation. And for some reason they fell in love with this bumbling goof I improvised to be the buddy, and then on a bunch of future jobs they kept using flashbacks to get him jobs wherever they were robbing. So this one idiot was just a de-facto crew member who worked a dozen different inside jobs despite being about as sharp as an eraser. And eventually they fucked up and got him killed, but they brought him back as a ghost, because you can do that in Blades in the Dark."

I find using a specific example of play really helps get peoples' imaginations going, which is what is going to help them say yes. And that example is tailored to what I know that player vibes with, what it is I think that makes them a good fit for this game.

The last detail about the invites is that I'm telling them, not asking them. It is not, "Hey, are you interested in playing this new game?" It's "I'm going to be running this new game. If you're interested in playing, please let me know what times work for you." If you're asking, you're going to get some "well but can it be 5e?" If you're telling, then they can choose to learn a new game in order to keep playing TTRPGs with a GM they know they like, or they can choose not to play at all.

Once you get enough yesses for a game, you run it, and then from there you're on your own. I think those are basically just friends you have at that point, and I'm not gonna tell you how to have friends.

Hopefully at least one person finds all that useful!

[fading-event-608]

DO NOT LET THE SEED OF HOPE WITHER!

LINK TO THE FUNDRAISER

DONATE TO RESCUE FALASTIN'S FAMILY TO MAKE THIS OLIVE TREE GROW!

Listen, I'll try to make this as brief as possible for you. Falastin is a mother of three small children, desperately trying to rescue her 24 family members including their children who remain in Gaza. A part of her family's situation has even been documented by Al Jazeera News (scroll down for the video).

In November of 2023 she lost three of her cousins — some still buried under the rubble.

In March this year, she lost two more cousins at Al-Shifa hospital.

DEATH DOES NOT STOP IN GAZA! THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS! BOMBS DO NOT DISCRIMINATE BETWEEN CHILDREN AND ELDERS, WOMEN OR MEN!

Right now, her family is living in a tent made from plastic bags and torn clothing. They have been displaced more than 20 times. Each day is a battle for survival — unsure if they’ll have food to eat, clean water to drink, or a safe place to rest. Every day, they wait, uncertain of their future.

How you could help? DONATE & SHARE!

Just as a store profits from many customers buying small amounts, FUNDRAISERS ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS THROUGH MANY SMALL DONATIONS FROM MANY PEOPLE!

And even if you think the goal seems distant - THEY STILL NEED WATER, FOOD AND MEDICINE TO SURVIVE!

$25 (254 SEK) can provide a family with food for two days.

$50 (509 SEK) can ensure a family has enough food and water for an entire week.

$100 (1018 SEK) can provide emergency medical care for the injured.

$1,000 (10,182 SEK) can help rebuild their homes.

$10,000 (101,823 SEK) can cover the cost for one family member to leave Gaza.

Recently, there has been a decline in interactions with donation posts. Although I won’t delve into that now, it’s worth noting that Falastin started this fundraiser in late June and has barely received any contributions. So, let’s try something new.

DONATE TO MAKE THIS OLIVE TREE GROW!

Right now it might not even look like a tree, but every time I make an update of this fundraiser, I will update the tree to reflect the donations received.

If you donate more than $100 (1018 SEK) to this fundraiser, you can message me here to request a doodle of your choice (please be respectful and avoid suggesting anything inappropriate; also, don't expect it to be highly detailed).

I PLEAD YOU TO SHARE AND DONATE IF YOU CAN! EVERY BIT COUNTS!

LINK TO THE FUNDRAISER AGAIN

GOAL AS OF TIME OF POSTING:

9.812/2,000,000 SEK or 963/196,063 USD

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Vetted by @90-ghost and shared HERE

Right now this campaign is number 282 in The Vetted Gaza Evacuation List

Shared with the permission of Falastin herself.

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[mangocheesecakes]

Please guys. Someone who can afford even just the minimum amount please donate to any of the Munir family's fundraisers. All four of @yousefmoner, @mohamedmoner1994, Karam and Dina's fundraisers have stagnated. Karam just messaged me asking if I can donate even just a little so they can buy a carton of milk for their baby, and it broke my heart but I literally have zero money right now.

I'll make a separare post for Yousef and the others, but please can someone send Karam even just a little amount today? Their last donation was 5 days ago (!!!!) and they still only have just £422 on their gfm:

Tagging for reach below the cut, I'm very sorry for bothering, but if you can help me reblog this I'd be so grateful:

@buttercuparry @beserkerjewel @neechees @comintoyoulive @cairamelcoffee @wonhos-fabuloso @anneemay @womenintheirwebs @malcriada @dirhwangdaseul @appsa @magnus-rhymes-with-swagness @nonbinarymerbabe @lafemmemacabre @sar-soor @sayruq @communistchilchuck @opencommunion @7amaspayrollmanager @feluka @commissions4aid-international @freeasfishes @birbs-in-space @90-ghost @still-indigo @northgazaupdates