#stonetops

[nimarts]

No legacy to honor,

no home to return to.

[haveyouplayedthisttrpg]

Have you played STONETOP ?

By Jeremy Strandberg

Stonetop is a “hearth fantasy” tabletop RPG set in an Iron Age that never was. The players portray the heroes of an isolated village near the edge of the known world. Their adventures focus on dealing with threats to the village and seizing opportunities. These aren’t rootless mercenaries seeking fortune and glory; they’re exceptional people, taking risks on behalf of their friends, family, and neighbors.

[qbabydollv]

everytime I look at her lips I have to stop myself from kissing her

[queer-decaying-z0mbie]

Yes I still use a juul, I just like it okay! 😭

[butchaugust]

How does this work do I treat it like twitter I didn't have a Tumblr phase

[ephirae]

a lil sketch of my new stonetop oc alis!

[ticklechambers]

There are so many different kinds of connections and ways of being with others.

There is not much information out there about being a stone top, or being with a stone top lover.

You can love someone completely, enjoy them intimately and sexually - and not want them to touch you in return.

Everyone has different boundaries and that is okay.

[iheartbillholden]

Freestanding - Transitional Home Office Example of a mid-sized transitional freestanding desk carpeted and beige floor study room design with gray walls

[alastor-x-reader-stories]

reader tries to cook for Al, (we all know he’s a great cook). But reader sucks at cooking so Al has to step in (Or Lucifer)

Up to u to take the req or not, take care :3

Thank you for the request! I'll do both for you <3

You just thought it'd be a nice thing to do. Alastor was always cooking something for someone, due to him actually being a good cook. You just thought it'd be nice to make him lunch

Staring at the very burnt stonetop, it occured to you that you were never really a good cook. Or decent

Ah well. When at first you don't succeed, try try again!

"What are you doing?" Alastor said from behind you, leaning over your head to stare at the atrocity that was your third attempt at cooking.

Of course he startled you, so you jumped, and everything went everywhere.

Even on Alastor's coat-

OH GOD YOU WERE GONNA DIE AGAIN

He'd be upset, obviously, but his curiosity out-weighed his desire to destroy everything and everyone.

So at the moment he'd just give you a look and repeat his question

When you tell him your goal and motives behind it, his expression softens.

Only for a second and if you say he looked soft he'll deny it

The drama queen just snaps his fingers and everything is all clean again.

He'd be wearing an apron that says 'Oh Deer' on it

Didn't you give that to him as a gift?

"Well, if you're going to insist on trying to burn down the kitchen let's at least make something edible, yes?"

You end up feeling kind of bad because this was supposed to be a gift and thank you to him.

He waves you off

"My dear, I'll consider teaching you how to not burn down a kitchen plenty thanks enough"

He actually really likes teaching you things but he'd never admit it

You think Lucifer'd be a lot better a cook

No

He has his strong points, most of which were sweets and apple-related snacks

But eating sweets alone is not a good diet

You tried making him something with more vegetables and other healthy stuff

Then you remembered you also suck at cooking

He'd appreciate what you're trying to do for him

He's thankful for his permanent blush otherwise you'd see how flustered he is

So you end up trying to learn together!

It did not go well

You didn't burn anything down though

And what you ended up making didn't make you vomit

So you considered it a success!

Lucifer suggested just using magic next time

You told him you didn't have that kind of magic

"No worries, starling! I'll magic up something for you whenever you want!"

Even if you wanted to cook for him?

"OOoohhh... Well i mean if you want I guess I can just join you for a meal or two or whatever you want! Hahahahaa!"

Help this man

[the-anonmaton]

Sevika x Reader Masterlist

Well it's about time a did a Masterlist of my Sevika fics, so here it is!

All of the Completed Works are already posted on AO3. Mind the tags and any content warnings, please!

Minors do NOT interact, please and thank you.

Will keep updating this as it goes.

Completed Works

Who do you belong to? Jealous Sevika punishing f!Reader. Explicit / Smut / One-shot / 5.076 words

The Burden of Battle f!Reader massaging a tired Sevika. Mature / Suggestive / One-shot / 2.480 words

Again and Again A drabble of f!Reader making Sevika squirt. Explicit / Smut / One-shot / 203 words

Over the Edge, or Not Sevika edging the fuck out of f!Reader. :) Explicit / Smut / One-shot / 4.847 words

Whatever Feels Right Sevika with an inexperienced f!Reader. Explicit / Smut / Multi-chapter / 5 chapters / 17.331 words

Quivering Dance Reverse cowgirl with both Sevika and f!Reader topping and bottoming. Explicit / Smut / 2 chapters with a changed perspective / 1.531 words

Mend the Broken Sevika making love to a f!Reader who's struggling with work. Explicit / Smut / One-shot / 7.509 words

What She Sees StoneTop!Sevika's second person POV with a bossy f!Reader. Explicit / Smut / One-shot / 7.847 words

A Lover's Memory Sevika and f!Reader are exes and having hate-sex. Explicit / Smut / One-shot / 8.153 words Please read the notes at the beginning!

Urgency Top!Sevika just have to make f!Reader cum. Explicit / Smut / One-shot / 3.445 words

Works In Progress

WIPs? What WIPs?

Move along quietly, please!

(Okay, there was a list here, but I decided to remove it because ideas kept coming in and I couldn't stick to what I had here! Oops! They may slowly appear in the 'Completed Works' list! hehe )

Disclaimer

English is not my first language, so writing and editing takes me a lot and I can't guarantee that there aren't gonna be any grammar mistakes, but I'm trying my best.

My WIPs are gonna be out in a month or in a century.

I don't consider myself a writer that knows what is doing.

Holy shit, it's been a year since I started writing!

I'm writing for fun because Sevika has a hold on my poor brain.

Read the tags for each completed fic for any content warnings.

Feel free to bother me.

No, really, bother me! :)

[eyesteeth]

Details from The Mermaid's Tongue (Demo)

Spoilers for the entirety of the demo/the Mermaid's Tongue Prologue and Tangle Tower + theorizing on future plot points for the final game.

So, right off the bat: 

Stonetop Inn: as in Selena Stonetop, mother of Felicia Fellow and grandmother of Freya Fellow, as indicated by the Tangle Tower family tree. The boat being named The Dearest Selena cinches it.

The dragon-looking thing on the board is the Silversnake noted in the Children's Book (and Secret Research) in Tangle Tower. It is also present at the bottom of the family tree image.

The crab design on the table could be the Soulcrab... Or just a regular crab, lol

Felicia... Stonetop? Not Fellow? Perhaps she took her father’s last name after some incident? Or perhaps her heritage as a Stonetop was ignored by the family in favor of her status as a Fellow? Or perhaps it’s a retcon? Who can say...

Kristen Kale publishing… wonder if that’ll be relevant down the line.

This book also gives us some potential foreshadowing and a route for misdirection... but it being entered into evidence suggests that at least the author or publisher will be of some relevance.

I didn't take screenshots of it, but there's also an alliterative name outside the theatre on land, a W name. It's not any of the extended Fellow-Remington-Pointer family, but alliterative names have a tendency to come back... so maybe they'll be relevant to the full game, or perhaps a future one?

Tangle Tower took some beats from The Goldbug by Poe, so is this perhaps a Great Gatsby-esque green light? More literary connections? Post-war cynicism and the death of the American dream? Opulence as a disguise for deeper issues? Could be fun.

The likelihood of this being a cheeky All The Wrong Questions reference is a Big Zero, but "Silkwirm-on-Sea" is giving me "Stain’d-by-the-Sea" vibes by both the name and it being utterly dead.

I’m going to assume this is a statue depicting one of the Ambassadors (my guess would be Lord Fellow) attempting to capture the Silversnake - or the Silkwirm Serpent, as it’s called here.

I'm convinced these creatures are one and the same despite the name difference. Boggy's real name is The Amphobi, after all. It could happen again.

Also look at the hanging sign in the top right. Hold that image in your mind for a second.

Hm. Now doesn't that furnace and that glass of wine feel a little familiar... not to mention the shade of red...

...who wants to bet an Ambassador had a hand in making this submarine?

I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that’s the Seafoam crest hanging over the Stonetop crest. (That is the Stonetop crest at the bottom, by the way. If you click on the hanging sign over the inn before you get onto the submarine, it reveals this information.) Perhaps the complex web of interpersonal relationships didn’t end with the Pointer-Fellow-Remington family.

And so the guessing game begins… Is The Captain’s Corpse Slumped Over The Panel In That Room

Oh, hey! I recognize that lamp. Has Felix Fellow been down here on one of his many supposed adventures?

The Silversnake returns as a metal structure inside the ship! This is starting to remind me of the constant egg motifs around Tangle Tower... and strengthening my theory that one of the Ambassadors made this ship. This is quite a prominent bit of Mystid decor, and Sally even suggests that it might be load-bearing.

The bottle of tablets having a sun on them leads me to think they’re Vitamin D tablets or the like. Not getting enough sun can really mess the body up, and being deep underwater would leave someone with no access to it. Therefore, these are likely vitamin supplements. The other side of the label having an onion, however… no clue. A mystery for the full game!

Likewise, the moon vial could be a sleeping drought. It’s hard to keep up with your sleep cycle if it’s always dark, after all.

POSTER PLAGIARISM!! Though, it's not like you're going to get called out for it twenty leagues under the sea... My guess is whoever refurbished this room into a theatre really likes the shows topside. But a witch girl seeing the ferryman while in the cauldron herself carries a different tone than a mysterious doppelgänger.

Both the “The Stargazing Girl” text and the footprints have bled through slightly to the other side of the cloth, so they must have been applied similarly (to some degree) - but the circle seems like it was always there. This is definitely part of a larger puzzle, so there's not much to say now.

Claw marks inside the cauldron… like the claw marks in the Tangle Tower aquarium, perhaps? And the gear marking on top… perhaps that’s how it was unlocked?

I also must say - I disagree with Grimoire's belief that the cauldron entity did the murder. The scratches inside the cauldron, with a single exception, are in groups of three. Magnus was specifically killed with a single slash across the throat. The creature in question would have left at least two slashes.

And so, the final analysis of this post. Grimoire suggests a supernatural entity responsible for the murder. Magnus' feet were right up by the cauldron. He fell onto his back. He left a puddle of blood on the ground. There's even a suspiciously placed hole in the wall! This is so, so similar to Freya's death. And, were it done like hers, I'd say that a long blade, like a spear, was thrust through the hole and slashed Magnus in the throat, at which point he fell backwards.

Except, I don't think that's what happened. Look at the bloodstain. Look at how it's pooling towards the cauldron. I don't think the submarine was horizontal when this murder happened. I think there was an initial impact, the main circular stain, and then the ship moved 90 degrees, resulting in the "second circle" of the stain dripping the way it does.

But, this is just theorizing from the little bits we have so far. What's done here so far is phenomenal and I can't wait to see how it goes. Will we meet the mysterious bug-post-sender? Will Penelope return? Will there be two murders on this submarine?? We'll see in 2024!!

[michimonie]

I usually post stuff here relating to ducks and things, but this is going to be a rant about an upcoming game that I'm excited for, so...

Spoiler Warning for "The Mermaid Mask" Demo (Sequel to Tangle Tower, part of the Detective Grimoire series)

(For anyone who needs a reason other than storyline to try this series, the entirety of Tangle Tower, and probably The Mermaid Mask, is fully voice acted and they have little animations for every conversation, not to mention puzzles and comedic moments.)

Warning: Extremely long post ahead, Also written mostly at 2am one night a while back

So, The Mermaid Mask is coming out sometime this year, which is super exciting! The demo has been out for a while, and I keep replaying it. Here are a list of interesting things I've noticed while going through the demo.

1. (Probably obvious, but wanted to state it anyways) The Stonetop Inn, where the demo begins, is owned by Felicia Stonetop. According to the family tree from the first game (shown below), there's a Felicia Fellow who's mother's last name is Stonetop, so it's easy to assume that Felicia Fellow, mother of the murder victim from the last game (Freya Fellow), is the owner of the Inn. More family drama possibly??

2. I believe the Submarine is called the Selena, same name as Felicia's mother. Sylvia Seafoam and Felicia Stonetop are related in some way... (friends? cousins? dating? same person?...) which further shows this may be a family matter. The question is how does this relate to the mystery?

3. Continuing from the previous point, the Stonetop Inn symbol is on the back of the mysterious painting. It in itself is a lot to unpack, but for now I'm focusing on the symbols on the back.

My best guess is that the Stonetop symbol might mean something different than what Sally originally guessed (3 stones stacked up). It definitely looks like 3 stones, but what is it were something more? It's not like these games have shied away from twists/misdirection (what are mystery games for if not that?)

I have a feeling that the two sack things above the Inn symbol might be the creepy buoy from the beginning (found in top of the submarine), which could suggest a second buoy later in the game that may hold some level of significance.

Alright! Let's get to the meat of the game-- the murder victim!

Shown below is the case file.

Murder Victim: Captain Magnus Mortuga (age 39) Location: Illusion Theater, Mortuga Submarine

"Mortuga had locked himself in the room. It was forced open, and the body was discovered.

Mortuga was found alone, laying on his back, with a single cut across his throat. No bladed weapon of any kind was found in the room."

Just to cover the murder location and Captain status...

There are so many things one can assume based on the information so far.

The Submarine used to be owned/captained by Sylvia Seafoam.

It was, through one reason or another, captained by Magnus Mortuga when the murder occurred.

The swap was most likely rushed, which could explain the rushed paint job (shown above).

The rush could've been for a number of reasons, but mutiny (or some equivalent) seems like the most probable.

When they go down into the first room, it's lit by a pink flame. There are plenty of things you can probably burn to make it pink, but one that caught my eye was a possible clue (though, honestly, this could be a bit of a jump).

Two sentences I want to pull from this are: "Lithium salts affect the central nervous system in a variety of ways." "[it] was prohibited after the toxic effects of the compound (tremors, fatigue, nausea) were recognized."

Again, this might be a jump, but I could imagine that the fire has some level of importance to the plot and/or location, even if it's not necessarily what's burning in it.

Now, this post is getting pretty long, so I don't want to cover literally everything I've noticed, but here are a few quick theories I have. They aren't exactly strong ones, but better a few ideas than none, right?

Theory #1: Sea Vampirism

Now, I'm not 100% on this, because it feels like a sort of red herring to draw the attention away from whatever the actual solution is.

A few clues that lead me to this conclusion (minus Sally outright saying "vampires"), were...

The bottles marked with a sun (and what appears to be garlic) and a moon. The moon bottle was found at the scene of the murder, right next to the victim's body, as if he'd dropped it.

There are a variety of reasons why it could be there (both supernatural and otherwise), but I was thinking it could've been part of either what unlocked the cauldron, or affected what could have came out of it (something alive in a cauldron that's never opened sounds as ridiculous as being stabbed by a painting of a knife).

Another Part could be the slice in the neck that ended Mortuga's life.

It wasn't a neck bite, sure, but it was a slice to the usual vampire target. The fact that it's also mainly to one side (not a single drop to his left?) feels somewhat suspicious.

Another piece of information that could help this theory, is the fact that the door can apparently be locked/unlocked from either side (albeit with a good amount of strength according to Sally). This could mean that Sylvia (or someone/something else aboard) could've slipped in anytime and just told the police/whoever that they had to break it open later.

The painting is also a possible part of this, i mean, what/who is that? Not to mention, Sally straight up says that it smells of soil. Why does it smell of soil? What kind of soil? These probably don't matter, but vampires tend to need soil from their home to be able to sleep/maintain their powers.

Another related thing could be that the creature/person in question is actually a mermaid (or some other creature that's been shown across multiple points of the demo already wink wink).

(Mini) Theory #2: It Takes Two

Sally points out in the mess hall that two crayons are probably an important clue. This could be a one-off comedic comment, but this could also be alluding to something else. I'm not entirely sure, myself, what this theory is going to hold (I was just thinking of it while writing out the other one and looking at screenshots).

I didn't get too many screenshots, but there are many things that allude to the power of two or opposites. Could this have something to do with Seafoam and Mortuga? Or maybe Seafoam and Stonetop? Considering their names, I want to lean towards Seafoam and Stonetop. As for how it affects them, I'm not entirely sure yet, but this is definitely the beginning of something. (or a whole lotta nothing, we'll see)

Later Addition:

I had much more to post in terms of theories, but I created this post a while ago at like 2am and can't entirely remember what other theories I had (also I may be close to the image limit), so I guess this will have to do.

[whisperingrockers]

felicia stonetop FUCK OFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

[indierpgnewsletter]

New Games From December 23 and January 24

I. Dear Reader Another regularly scheduled roundup of games that have been released on itch.io that caught my eye over the last two months. Usual disclaimer that I haven’t really read or played these games; they just seem cool based on the pitch alone. Also, most of them now come to me by people using this form.

Protect the Child: A Forged in the Dark game about monsters caring for a strange, mystical child. Playtest version. (Mintrabbit, Free)

Aftermath: A solo-friendly sci-fi about a team of first responders trying to make the world a better place after a terrible war. (Ember and Ash)

Space Aces: Voyages in Infinite Space: A comedy scifi sandbox inspired by the Hitchhikers’ Guide. (Stephen Hans)

The Connection Machine: A cerebral scifi game about exploring a dreamlike world and overcoming trauma. (Tanya Floaker & Julia Nevalainen)

Daybreak on the Battlefield: An unofficial set of extra playbooks for Girl by Moonlight, the excellent magical girls game. (Ben K Rosenbloom)

Buried in Ice: A mystery for Apocalypse Keys, the Hellboy-inspired PbtA game. Something trapped in a glacier thaws out and causes havoc. (Morgan Eilish)

Boyfriend Dungeon: Life on the Edge: The videogame gets officially adapted into a PbtA game. Explore your inner psyche, confront you fears, and also smooch swords. (Trumoi)

Like Real People Do: A two-player prompt-driven game about a mage trying to keep secrets in a vault but the vault wants to be a real person. (Meghan Cross)

The Mystery Business: Scooby Doo-inspired mystery solving game with no combat. You beat the baddies by setting traps to catch them. (Greg L)

The Flood Bell Tolls in Saint Magnus: A system-neutral campaign set in a drowning city on the verge of rebellion. (Tempest RPG, PWYW)

Also, cheeky last minute addition, the Showcase Zero bundle features games that came out of my playtest community. It’s got my scifi horror game, This Ship Is No Mother, as well as the mecha game of friendship and war, Spectres of Brocken and more.

II. Media of the Week

People Make Games take a good look at jubensha, a gaming phenomenon in China that started out just as spiffy murder mystery party games but has transformed into much more, including what sounds like scripted larps where everyone cries at the end. Really cool story.

The new season of DiceExploder is back with John Harper talking about Psi*Run, a unique game by Meguey Baker that should’ve inspired a slew of games but inexplicably didn’t.

Please consider joining 100+ other patrons and support the newsletter on patreon to help keep me going.

If you’ve released a new game on itch.io this month, let me know through this form so I can potentially include it in the end of the month round-up.

III. Links of the Week

Reviews

Indie Game Reading Club reviews Stonetop, the community-focused iron age fantasy game from Jeremy Strandberg.

It’s a solid review and also features this neat bit of analysis about how PbtA developed: “Monsterhearts spawned the branch of PbtA games that are concerned with constrained, evocative moves with a strong editorial voice. Dungeon World, conceived as a reverse-engineering of Dungeons & Dragons style play, is concerned with efficiently resolving tasks, boiling down the activity to its core essence.”

Cannibal Halfling reviews Free League’s vanilla-ish fantasy game, Dragonbane: “…when we live in the world of Old-School Essentials (also a translation, though from Gygax to English instead of Swedish to English), there’s clearly recognized value in taking an old system, cleaning it up, and sending it back out.”

Explore Beneath and Beyond has a blog series reviewing and discussing all the early adventures and scenarios published for D&D. This is part one.

Possum Creek Games publish their 2023 year in review including completing the mammoth Yazeba’s Bed and Breakfast.

DIY & Dragons explains why we should all probably stick to calling it “Jaquaysing”.

A short post about the oldest ttrpg forums – usenet groups.

Misc

ZineMonth 2024 is around the corner and since the “official” site isn’t ready yet, there’s an unofficial” page listing all the projects being crowdfunded. Take a look and submit your own if you’re doing one.

There’s a game jam to create a megadungeon in honour of Jennell Jaquays.

From the archive

Skerples’ cool blog post about how to portray aliens and alien intelligences in your game, approaching it from a bunch of different angles. (Issue #8, Sep 2020)

[wildflowercryptid]

spoilers & speculation for the mermaid's tongue demo below the cut!

okay, i need to talk about this bc it's making me go batty. i was looking through the demo again, ( mostly to grab screencaps bc i might update the wikia if someone doesn't before me, ) and i already found something i missed in my first playthrough.

i'm really gonna have to remember to thoroughly look over the clues in this game bc i didn't check the back of the her painting at first. and well...

hey, that symbol looks familiar.

yeah, i think the stonetops are going to be important to this game's plot. we're getting more freya family lore, baby!!

[airborneham]

New Game Lab Post!

This week's Game Lab post is about teamwork in TTRPGs and how Chris Sellers of Hectic Electron made it phenomenal in Raccoon Sky Pirates! I discuss how most games fall short and versions of collaborative actions that feel as interactive at the table as they do in the fiction. I touch on teamwork mechanics in Blades in the Dark by John Harper and Evil Hat Productions, and Stonetop by Jeremy Strandberg and penny lantern. Check it out!