#the evil books might also be inspired by the evil books in the Castlevania games

[forcedhesitation]

maaaaaaaaaaan. ridiculous to be calling DBD "pathetic" because it couldn't get licensing for various final girls. as if it hasn't always been because of some bullshit on the end of the copyright holders. fuck, we would have gotten more material from Hellraiser, had it not been for the copyright holders. we lost Stranger Things temporarily because of the copyright holders being out of touch with fans and greedy. Ghostface exists in the game because luckily, the character of Ghostface isn't actually owned by Big Bad Viacrap.

also like. DBD isn't Fork Knife. it's just not. and if I'm not mistaken-- it's not like Fork Knife has any horror character that DBD doesn't, apart from Eleven and Hopper. Eleven could never be in the game anyway, because any character added has to be over 18/a legal adult (for legal reasons). and we have Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan instead. It makes much more sense that they chose those characters for the game, as this followed S2, which made Steve one of the most popular characters from the show. so much so that he can even contend with Eleven in popularity.

and let's not downplay the fact that DBD does have other, very, very impressive licenses in it. such as Silent Hill. that was the first big thing Konami let happen with the ip in YEARS. Resident Evil was...HUGE. Wesker's chapter brought in an unprecedented number of players and anyone who played survivor at that time knows that for WEEKS, all you would get was Wesker after Wesker. We have Chucky and Tiffany, voiced by their original VAs. Sadako from the original Japanese Ringu, not the American version of the same concept! You can play as the Xenomorph, and the Xenomorph Queen! Vecna, from D&D is a killer, and he is voiced by Mr. Matt Mercer! We have Ash Williams, Alan Wake, Leon. S. Kennedy, Cheryl Mason, and very soon Lara Croft! and then After her-- we are getting Castlevania!! So there is no shortage of incredible of characters from horror that are in this game, and it's disrespectful to act like the people who work on this game don't care enough about it to try their fucking hardest to give fans the best possible licensed chapter dlcs they can. it's not their fault if the copyright holders want something different.

Besides, I think it's gross to suggest that DBD doesn't have a claim to the title of "Horror Hall of Fame" just because it doesn't have specific licensed characters in it. what about all the amazing original characters that the game has? do those suddenly not count, just because they do not include super well-known characters from popular old horror movies? A lot of these popular old horror movies don't include/don't give much of a spotlight to people of colour, so the original chapters often give the devs the room to add diversity to DBD's cast of characters, whereas a license might have otherwise not allowed it. and many of these original characters even have nods to existing horror media, like the End Transmission chapter drawing inspiration from both the horror-survival game SOMA, and the sci-fi horror movie/comic book Virus. Does the hard work that the many talented members of the DBD team put into making this original chapter, among many others, mean nothing, just because Sidney Prescott or Sally Hardesty aren't in the fucking game? I should hope the fuck not.

[victorluvsalice]

Forgotten Vows Friday: A Few Creatures Featured

Keeping on the topic of Victor’s Otherland for the moment, I decided to go poking around my old LibreOffice document on the subject to see if I had anything to share. Most of the info in it is sorely outdated these days, and/or stuff I’ve already discussed, but it turns out I did have a few ideas for creatures for the Magic Tower and Sketchbook World realms! So I might as well share, right? So yes, have four representative examples of enemies you might find in a “Victor: Madness Returns” video game:

Booksnaps:   Angry tomes that have been kept on the Wizard’s shelves for too long and are quite bitter about not being read. They attack by flying through the air on their covers, then hurling themselves at Victor’s face and attempting to chew on it with their pages. They can also shoot blasts of magical energy. Probably best to take them on with a ranged weapon. (I’m pretty sure the inspiration here was those books you have to find in the Skool’s library in the original American McGee’s Alice that form a bridge to the big book that you find the shrinking potion recipe in.)

Wayward Runes:   Magical symbols that have escaped the confines of the mystical tomes and eldritch circles the Wizard uses in his work. They can freeze Victor in a cloud of mystical energy, requiring him to dodge to break free. They can also hit Victor with a magically summoned blast from above, or simply stab him with whatever pointy bits they possess. Again, ranged weapons are best for combating them. (Visuals I believe were inspired by the runes you gather for Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem, while the freezing attack is clearly from the Ice Snark (the bastard).)

Thinner Squirts:   Bulbous purple blobs that scurry around on little legs, squirting thinner from a spout on their top. They attack by spraying Victor with the liquid, or by surrounding themselves with thinner, creating an unsafe “melted” area Victor can’t enter until it evaporates. Fortunately, they’re weak, and a shot from the Quill Bow or a stab with the Grim Scythe usually takes care of them. (Huh -- I don’t remember any specific inspiration for this one! They’re an interesting design though.)

Inksplots:  A large inkwell with hands and feet which wields a fountain pen. They can either be capped or uncapped. Capped ones attack by simply slashing or stabbing with their pen; uncapped ones can also fill the pen with ink and shoot a painful stream of it. Victor can counter with the Wedding Wine or Quill Bow best. (Definitely inspired by the Madcaps, complete with two variations -- I just went with a more offensive variant rather than a more defensive one.)

[ashenpages]

Current Projects & Emoji Voting Key

Quick disclaimer: I’m a romance writer in all aspects of the term, so most of my works will contain mature content. Engage at your own risk, you know the rules, you’re responsible for curating your own experience of the internet, blah blah blah.

This post serves as a current mock up of fic ideas I’m either actively working on or considering working on next. You can drop me an ask about any of them, or just vote via the emoji combo I’ve assigned them.

Voting lets me know you’re excited about an idea and makes it more likely I’ll actually work on it. You can vote anytime, there’re no deadlines or winner announcements, just me gauging your interest by what I see in my ask box most often.

You can also ask me about the original stuff I’m working on currently. The current WIPs are Medusa centric and the emoji for them is: 🐍

Support my original work on Ko-fi and Patreon.

- Lupin: 🤑🤠💍  These are all oneshot ideas, between 5-15K each. If you want to vote for a specific idea, send me the emojis and the number of the idea.

Born from the idea that Goemon and Zenigata probably couldn’t be an item, my brain decided to come up with how I could write for them. Goemon’s teaching an ikebana class as part of his training, and Zenigata shows up as a student on forced recreational leave for his health from the ICPO. Zenigata wins the samurai’s heart through flowers. But what happens when Lupin and Jigen find out? (Only good sexy things, I promise. These beans are in a healthy polycule--be gay, do crimes) (WIP)

Jigen/Lupin, but it's Jigen deciding to seduce Lupin while wearing his own Lupin disguise. The thief is waaaaay too into it, and some artistry is taken with the sex so that they don't mess up the disguise too much during their encoutner.

Jigen/Zenigata/Lupin where Jigen has some fantasices about Zenigata, but is pretty sure they'll never happen. Tells Lupin about them. Suddenly the fantasies are coming true, in the middle of a heist, and Jigen doesn't what to do except get swept up in the moment and enjoy. Plot twist, it's Lupin dressed up as Zenigata granting all his gunman's dreams. Plot twist again, Zenigata catches them at it.

Zenigata/Lupin, where Lupin keeps doing good things in illegal ways and Pops has to find a way to punish him for it. Good thing for Pops Lupin's a masochist?

Trans!Lupin and Trans!Jigen premise: Jigen cares for Lupin after the master thief has top surgery, since Jigen has Been There and Done That. Caring, sweet, and a little sexy. Lupin is a much better patient than Jigen.

The one time Zenigata caught Lupin in an alley and kissed him and it was Jigen in disguise. Things get sexy anyway, and Zenigata has crushes on two thieves now. Lupin and Jigen "kidnap" him later for an evening of taking care of their inspector.

The background plot of Jigen's Gravestone where we see Jigen think he's done for and try to leave Lupin. Our thief has none of it, and we get to relish in the inherent eroticism of Lupin sitting in sniper fire, knowing Jigen's got his back. This is the moment I think Jigen finally believes he can be with Lupin forever.

I love the idea of something longer and more plot driven like a Lupin special where Lupin ends up in hot water and Jigen and Fujiko have to work together to save him. Jigen and Fujiko have such an interesting relationship. They're both partners of Lupin, they don't really like each other, they constantly screw the other over, but when it really matters they take care of each other. I'd like to see that highlighted a little more and also give them space to call each other out and bicker. Nothing sexy between them, but maybe a really interesting threesome with Lupin and Fujiko in a strap on once they save their boy.

- Sonic Vampire Novelist Coffee Shop AU: 📚☕💐

Shadow is an immortal vampire who has seen the world change for the worse too many times. These days it feels like he only lives for his coffee dates with Rouge, another immortal who loves each new era they encounter, warts and all. He has to admit that the book series she got him into speaks to him, at least. If someone in this era can understand him without meeting him, it can’t all be bad. But he hardly expected the goofy blue barista at the new coffee place to understand him the way those books do.

This is a novel length romcom romp with some big feelings about what it means to watch as things change, grow, and die. Expect lots of Big gothic feelings from this one, emotionally charged kissing, and overly-adoring sex. But also expect shenanigans from everyone in the coffee shop, which include Rouge, Amy, Tails, Knuckles, Cream, and more.

- Sonic Blazamy, "Like the Sun": 💖🌸💎

Amy Rose has been in love with Sonic for a while.

Or has she?

When the Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, and Silver are trapped as the fuel sources for Doctor Eggman’s newest evil scheme, Amy teams up with Blaze, Rouge, and Cream to save them. With Sonic out of the picture and Amy fulfilling his role, was she ever really in love with him? Or did she just want to be like him?

This is a novel length epic romance with lots of competent women and lots of romantic Blazamy content. Expect flowery hopes and dreams, badass self-actualization, and glancing hand touches that give way to cuddly and sweet sex.

- Persona 5: 🗡🍛☕

After bringing down the Metaverse twice, Ryuji didn’t think graduating high school and figuring out what to do with his life would be so hard. Akira’s back in town, and the gang’s more-or-less all in Tokyo, but everyone else seems to have a plan while Ryuji just floats. How’s he supposed to change the world when he’s not a phantom thief anymore?

This is a novel length fic that addresses how powerless one can feel being just one person in the face of all the corrupted systems and bigotry the world has to offer. It’s about holding on to what you believe in, working through the doubt, and fighting your way to a better tomorrow with the power you do have. The whole gang is queer, featured relationships being Mako x Ann, Ryuji x Akira, Futaba & Yusuke as platonic life partners. Akira is polyamorous and omnisexual, Futaba’s asexual and aromantic while Yusuke is demisexual and very romantic, Makoto’s a lesbian, Ann and Ryuji are bi, and Haru’s pansexual, demisexual, and aromantic. They’re one giant band of queer Phantom Thieves, and even if they’re not really doing the Metaverse thing anymore, they’re still gonna save the world!

Also, I’m gonna make Makoto not a cop. That super didn’t age well. Zenkichi and his boss can work on making them better/abolishing them for other better organizations.

- Hades Game: ❤️‍🔥💀

Oneshot. I just really need to elaborate on the threesome you can have with them in-game, okay? Healthy and canon poly relationships are so few and far between, so often I have to do a ton of groundwork to explain why it’s working in the fic, but NOT WITH THESE KIDS!

Get ready for Meg helping Zag and Than be better at expressing their feelings, lots of kissing, and probably pegging.

- Castlevania Animation Trevor/Sypha/Alucard: 🧛🏰🛌

Castlevania gave Alucard a threesome last season, and I just really need S4 to give me him being taken care of by his partners. They’re probably not going to give it to me, so I’ll need to do it myself. This is just an everybody loves Alucard oneshot, with the gang’s signature banter (to an extent), Sypha being sexy, and Trever being remarkably sincere. This fic is gonna feel like that Ann Hathaway picture with Trevor kissing Alucard and Sypha holding the end of Trevor’s whip while she leans her head on Alucard’s shoulder adoringly.

- Devil May Cry Nico/Lady/Trish: 💋✨😈

Nico’s gay, okay? Like really, really gay. And Lady’s bi and not into men who make her pay bills, but very into women who make amazing guns for her and demonesses with hearts who fight by her side. Trish is ace, but loves people and is pretty attached to Lady at this point. Plus it’s cute when Lady blushes and says nice things like they’re insults. I don’t have super solid ideas for them yet, and I envision these more like a polycule where Lady’s with Nico and with Trish but they’re not with each other more than seeing it as a threesome, but who knows what might happen. This is probably 1-2 oneshots depending on ideas, but might turn into a series of oneshots if people are interested (or I can’t control myself and inspiration strikes).

- Post FMA:B Blind Roy & No Alchemy Ed: 👀👑🙏

This is actually an old novel-length fic I wrote ages ago and didn’t post that didn’t turn out well because I was new to writing sex when I first wrote it. The plot is good, and is all about Roy learning to work with his blindness to reclaim his ambition of being Fuhrer and changing the system to something that actually cares for its people. He and Ed reconnect, fall into bed, and both set about working through their respective traumas about being “useless” having lost their sight/alchemy. They go to Xing as an ambassadorial party to offer Amestris’s collaboration on Al and May’s Alkahestry experiments--and uncover a plot that might threaten both kingdoms.

- Age of Calamity continuity Mipha x Revali: 🦚🐟💘

The first time Revali noticed Mipha, it was in the heat of battle. She stole his mark, taking them down with a flurry of quick blows from her spear. Violence rained from her like water--and then she healed him on her way to her next battle. No questions, no conditions, just pure kindness. The usual need to measure himself against those around him was quiet in her wake. And Revali couldn’t understand it. But how to get to know more about her? A fish and bird may fall in love, but where would they live?

This fic could be a oneshot or novel length depending on how far down the hole I fall. I need it to cover time, but it could be done in linked vignettes or with actually covering events in detail. I may elect to do a oneshot just to get it done and out of my system faster. So much fic to write, so little time.

Expect trans!Revali, polyamorous Zoras, scary competent Mipha, songbird Revali, love confessions that are made up entirely of berating Link for not loving Mipha the way she wants him to, and breaking these characters a little outside of their assigned roles in BotW and Age of Calamity. Background Link x Zelda, and Urbosa x Zelda’s Mom.

- Epic desert romance about Urbosa and Zelda’s mom: 🏜🏝⚡

I just think Urbosa should kiss women and Zelda’s mom should get more development and maybe a name or something. Also, lightning imagery/metaphors/play.

It also went way over my head that Riju wasn’t Urbosa’s daughter the first time I played BotW, so now I want to write about the Gerudo queen who refused to produce an heir. The Gerudo are fascinating and have a very interesting cutlure, but I think it could be examined from a nonbinary perspective that rejected pregnancy and wanting to find a husband. Not in like a hateful way, but in a way that examines if that’s really right for everyone. There’s that shop in town that sells Voe armor, after all. Maybe finding a husband and having children isn’t something you have to do if you don’t want to. And Urbosa really doesn’t want to.

[prokopetz]

I've recently been playing (well, watching my roommate play) Persona 5 Royal, and was thinking that the way that game goes back and forth between heavy story segments and heavy combat segments could work quite well as a TTRPG. Any recommendations for systems to adapt for that purpose? Alternatively, any recommendations on a good place to start if I want to build my own system?

Depends on what exactly you’re shooting for there -- i.e., whether it’s just the alternation between high-level social manoeuvring phases and tight, blow-by-blow action phases you’re after, or whether you’re aiming for games that specifically employ a dating-sim-like framework for the social bits.

A few currently published examples:

Blades in the Dark - An urban fantasy heist caper game that some have described as Dishonored: The RPG, and honestly that’s not entirely inaccurate. (Note that there is also an actual Dishonored RPG, but it doesn’t have the framework you’re after.) This one alternates between abstract downtime play whose framework actually somewhat resembles Persona’s high school dating sim setup in terms of its mechanics, which is kind of hilarious given who incredibly grim Blades in the Dark’s actual subject matter is.  

Flying Circus - Erika Chappell’s latest opus, this one superficially resembles Blades in the Dark in its framework, though with a very different tone and focus (i.e., the player characters aren’t nearly such shit-awful people). Setting-wise, it casts the players as mercenary flying aces in a Studio Ghibli-inspired fantasy Central Europe. Notable for the incredibly detailed aerial combat system that will have you tracking everything from altitude to fuel consumption to engine RPM -- crunch-wise it’s definitely not for the faint of heart!  

Legacy 2nd Edition - A generational post-apoc game where each player takes on the role of an entire family or faction, alternating between zoomed-out political drama, and zoomed-in crisis resolution where you stat up a specific member of your family to be that generation’s protagonist. One of the setting books, Rhapsody of Blood, is within spitting distance of Persona 5 in terms of its metaphysics, though tonally it’s more Castlevania or Vampire Hunter D (i.e., a generational saga of monster-hunters who oppose an evil magic castle).  

Super Destiny High School Rumble!! - At first glance, this one is the most Persona-like entry on this list, being a high school game with explicit social link mechanics. In practice, however, it’s much more a conventional superhero game that takes a few aesthetic cues from high school anime, and its default player characters skew a bit younger than Persona’s protagonists, so getting it to do Persona proper would take a fair amount of tinkering. Still, there’s not a huge amount of distance between the Phantom Thieves and a masked superhero team.

As for forthcoming titles, you might keep an eye on Voidheart Symphony. A contemporary urban fantasy sequel to the aforementioned Rhapsody of Blood, this one is a standalone game that doesn’t require the Legacy core rulebook, and it’s not at all subtle about taking its cues from Persona, right down its tarot-based theming. However, it’s still in an early development stage at the time of this posting, so understand that if you buy this one you’re paying for the privilege of being a beta tester, not getting a finished game -- fair warning!

(Yes, I’m fully aware that every game mentioned in this post is an Apocalypse Engine variant, though some of them -- e.g., Flying Circus or Blades in the Dark -- stretch the definition enough to be functionally distinct systems. I’m not sure if it’s something about the Apocalypse Engine per se that lends itself to games about moderately dysfunctional people leading double lives, but things do seem to run that way.)

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: Count Dracula

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

So, in all my time doing Psycho Analysis, there have been a few villainous characters that, while extremely obvious, have such large and daunting scopes that it seems a bit scary to think I could accurately analyze them. Characters like Disney’s Pete or Bowser come to mind. Both are obvious 11s, but where to even begin with them? And that is a similar problem I faced with the villain who is arguably the single most important foe to ever grace fiction: Count Dracula.

How on Earth is one supposed to talk about a character who has spanned so much media and has remained an enduring fixture of pop culture for over a century? The guy has been in movies, comics, books, video games, plays, cartoons, musicals, songs… and he hasn’t even been a villain in all of them! How does one talk about such a villain with such a broad, all-encompassing scope?

The obvious answer is, of course, to talk about him in a broad sense and how he has affected culture, of course! This one’s going to be a little different than usual since I’m focusing more on the concept of Dracula than one single version, so there’s a lot of Dracula’s to go over here:

Performance: Throughout the years, Dracula has had many actors take a shot at him, though I think the finest takes are courtesy of Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee. The former is basically what cemented Dracula as a sexy, Gothic horror icon, changing the far less attractive man from the book into a seductive monster that would color numerous adaptations after. Lee’s take brings the sexy, but is also far more violent and monstrous, mostly because Hammer horror films were all about that bright red blood, so gotta have someone spill it all!

If you’re looking for more flamboyant, hammy Draculas, Richard Roxbourg of Van Helsing and Duncan Regehr of The Monster Squad have you covered, playing Dracula at his most deliciously, monstrously evil. However, the hammiest (and thus most amazing) Dracula was Michael Guinn’s take in Symphony of the Night, with the entire opening exchange between him and Richter Belmont being a testament to the joys of chewing the scenery.

More comedic takes on Dracula have popped up over the years, with the most notable ones being Adam Sandler’s lovable, fatherly take on the character in the Hotel Transylvania films and Phil LaMarr’s performance on Billy and Mandy, where he plays a ridiculous, possibly senile version of Dracula who is abrasive and hilarious in equal measure.

Basically, when it comes to Dracula, you can easily find any sort of performance to suit your needs and give you what you’re looking for.

Best Scene: Over the years, Dracula has had a great many fantastic moments under his belt, so many fantastic scenes and boss battles… but for my money, the single greatest moment Dracula has ever been in is the opening battle of Symphony of the Night. Just watch this cheesy melodrama unfold and try and disagree with me:

Though, of course, his death in the animated series sure is a contender:

Best Quote: From the above scene, we have “What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets!” among moany other meme-worthy bits of dialogue from Dracula. 

On the subject of Castlevania, from the TV show we have Dracula at his most tragic and pitiable, especially when he delivers these fantastically tragic lines like “ It's your room... My boy... I'm- I'm killing my boy... Lisa... I'm killing our boy. We painted this room. We... made these toys. It's our boy, Lisa... your greatest gift to me... and I'm killing him. I must already be dead.” and “Your greatest gift to me... and I'm killing him." as he does battle with his son, Alucard.

Then of course, we have the legendary moment from The Monster Squad where Dracula drops any pretense and starts strangling a little girl, screaming in her face "Give me the amulet, you bitch!" It’s so deliciously, horrendously evil!

Final Thoughts & Score: It’s very strange to think of how much all of fiction owes Dracula. The original book invented a lot of traits (the lack of reflection being one) and popularized others (such as shapeshifting and weakness to garlic), but at the same time also predates a lot of things modern vampire fiction takes for granted. The Dracula of the book has no weakness to sunlight and gets younger as he drinks blood, starting as an old man; in fact, Dracula in the book is entirely lacking in the Gothic sex appeal that almost every adaptation of the character after would give him. He was also not very seductive, instead outright attacking women if he wasn’t hypnotizing them. Hell, he wasn’t even explicitly Vlad the Impaler in the books!

More than any other villain I’ve covered so far, Dracula is truly deserving of an 11/10. Even Count Orlok owes him a debt, seeing as Nosferatu was just a blatant ripoff. Hell, aside from villains from old mythology, I don’t think any villain can lay claim to the sort of scope Dracula has, having forever altered vampire fiction even as certain elements of him become lost in translation.

But what of some of his other incarnations over the years? How do they fare in terms of score? Well, I’m certainly not going to be incredibly thorough and list every Dracula ever, but here are a few I’ve encountered:

Obviously it’s unfair to give the Bela Lugosi incarnation anything less than an 11/10, mainly because this is the Dracula who pretty much inspired most other interpretations of Dracula after him. He’s suave, Gothic, attractive in that dark and mysterious way… it’s no wonder Lugosi’s Dracula became such an iconic fixture of cinema. Then we have the other classic Dracula, Christopher Lee’s take. I think he’s only a 10/10 because I feel like Lee’s tenure is a bit more overlooked and Lugosi tends to supplant him in terms of iconic status.

Castlevania as a franchise is specifically built qround defeating Dracula as the heroic Belmont clan or some adjacent vampire hunter. So you’d better hope that the big bad and master of the magical castle the game takes place in is impressive, right? Well he most certainly is; while he’s not completely fleshed out in every appearance he has some, like his iconic portrayal in Symphony of the Night, really help sell the idea this incarnation of Dracula is a rather tragic villain, though at other times in the series he seems to revel in being a monster far more than that interpretation would allow. Notably, the Castlevania show went with the more tragic approach to great effect, with Graham McTavish delivering a fantastic performance that swings from being genuinely terrifying to hauntingly emotional (just watch the scene where he breaks down upon fighting Alucard and realizing he’s killing his own son). Both game (in a broad sense) and show Dracula get a 10/10, for different reasons.

Duncan Regehr portrayed the Dracula in The Monster Squad, and it is quite obvious he’s having a hell of a time. He’s just wonderfully hammy, and he might be one of the most evil Draculas ever seeing how he called a little girl a bitch and tried to slaughter children with dynamite. This one’s a 9/10 for sure. I honestly think he’s the best take on the character, but his movie is sadly too obscure to really give him that push to being a truly iconic portrayal. He just captures the menace and charisma of Dracula so well, it’s a shame more people don’t know about him.

Van Helsing had a Dracula, played to hammy perfection by Richard Roxburgh. Say what you will about the rest of the film, but any Dracula movie that features evil bat monster Dracula fighting fallen angel werewolf Hugh Jackman in a battle to the death over Frankenstein’s atomic heart is worth at least an 8/10. For a more minor role, we have the Dracula who appeared in the blaxploitation classic Blacula. While he only appears for a bit at the start, long enough to curse an African prince with vampirism and dub him “Blacula,” this Dracula firmly cements himself as one of the most evil Draculas ever, gleefully participating in the slave trade. I believe that’s another 8/10 right there. On a related note, Blacula serves as a chief inspiration to the Billy and Mandy incarnation of Dracula, who is a cranky old black man with a big mustache and lots of sass (in fact, he’s accidentally closer to the original book’s depiction than most other Draculas). Sadly, as a more neutral chaotic comedic figure, I can’t give him a rating, but boy is he a riot.

Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf features a more comedic and zany Dracula, one who participates in some good-old-fashioned Wacky Races cheating in an attempt to keep Shaggy as a werewolf forever. He’s mostly amusing for a oneshot villain, so I’d say 7/10 is fair. Speaking of oneshot villains, Dracula also showed up in an animated straight to video movie for The Batman, where he did things such as turn Joker into a vampire and get killed by Batman. He’s probably a 7/10 as well.

And then there are all the heroic takes on Dracula, such as the version from Dracula Untold or the “overbearing but endearing father” take on the character from the Hotel Transylvania movies (though that rap Adam Sandler does at the end of the first movie is pretty heinous).

And this is not an extensive list by any means. There are so many Draculas I haven’t watched yet, so many different takes I haven’t read the adventures of. And that, I think, is what makes Dracula such a great villain. He is a character who any writer can bend and shape to fit a plot, a villain who can serve almost any purpose and who can fit in almost any fantasy story imaginable. Dracula is incredibly versatile, and whenever he shows up in a work, things almost always get better for a bit. And keep in mind, this is a character who has been around since the year 1897, and yet he is still a household name that even people who have never read the books or seen the movies can accurately describe and recognize.

Is Count Dracula the greatest villain in all of human history? It’s debatable for sure, but I don’t think there’s any denying he’s up there considering his scope and influence and how he helped mold modern vampire fiction into what it is today. If nothing else, Dracula is still wildly influential.

[lunarmoonflowyr]

Because I’m bored I’m going to write down a bunch of my passive thoughts on a new game I started playing and because once I start making streaming/youtube content related to viddy game I might make a video on this

Vambrace: Cold Soul Initial Impressions

Vambrace: Cold Soul is a game by Devespresso Games, an independent game developer based out of Seoul, South Korea who’s other notable titles seem to be a series of horror adventure games titled “The Coma”. 

Vambrace however, is a game far more akin to something like Darkest Dungeon in visual style and gameplay design however the Steam store page description has it claiming to be inspired by “the gothic fantasy of Castlevania, the deep lore of a series like The Elder Scrolls, the replayability of roguelites like FTL: Faster Than Light, and the sweeping, character-driven epics of our favorite JRPGs.”

This is going to be a small writeup of my initial impressions after 2 hours of the game. 

THE STORY SO FAR

We are a woman named Evelia Lyric, although she just goes by Lyric most of the time so that’s what I’ll be referring to her as throughout the rest of this writeup. Lyric immediately begins showing tell-tale signs of “JRPG Protagonist Syndrome”, as she:

1. Survives being passed out in a freezing arctic-like environment while wearing what could maybe be called clothing for a slightly harsh winter in New England, and comes out of it with barely any complications to speak of

2. Has an (allegedly) famous father who leaves her a Mysterious Book That No One Can Read, and the titular Vambrace, which is now apparently fused to her arm, that lets her pass through what the game refers to as the “Frostfell”, a massive magical ice barrier surrounding the city of “Icenaire” that apparently kills anyone who touches it. Apparently she can also one-shot evil ghosts with it, but only in the narrative. She did it in a cutscene once, and so far that hasn’t translated to gameplay.

3. Has so-far-unmentioned heterochromia

4. Gets a high-ranking soldier to trust her almost immediately when only one brief conversation ago he had a suspicion that she was a spy for “The Green Flame”, apparently some rival faction that’s very, very Not Good. 

Getting confused by all the random names yet? Trust me, it doesn’t really get much better. This game’s story shows a lot of the very painful signs of an over-written, over-developed fantasy world that someone very obviously put a lot of time and love into, but didn’t really know where to stop.

Names, places, and concepts are thrown at you non-stop with a new one being introduced almost every dialogue sequence if you spend time talking to the locals of Icenaire once you convince the guard captain to let you go wandering the streets. You can also find random lore pages strewn around the place that add even more lore on top of everything else. 

It all gets to be so dense and confusing you almost completely lose track of what the actual, present-day story is. The game has no trouble throwing random scraps of lore at you, full of names that mean nothing, but when it comes to actually explaining what the hell is going on right now, it falls a bit short. Here’s my understanding so far. 

Lyric’s father has either died or mysteriously disappeared, I can’t remember which, and she’s been left a letter, a book, and the titular Vambrace. The book is referred to in the game mechanics as “The Codex” and is referred to by NPCs as a “book that nobody can read”, because apparently foreign languages don’t exist in this world, yet so far I’ve counted 6 or 7 distinct fantasy races that apparently all speak the exact same language all the time. 

The vambrace has fused itself to Lyrics arm, and her fathers letter tells her to go to Icenaire (I have no fucking clue what that name is supposed to mean by the way, and it sounds really fucking awkward to say so it has to mean -something-. The “ice” part is pretty self-explanatory if a little on the nose, the entire game takes place in what appears to be an apocalypse along the lines of if you took the events of “Frozen” and turned it up to 11, but the only insight I could get on the “naire” part is that it’s from the Irish Gaelic word “náire” which means something along the lines of “ashamed” or “to have shame”. So this city is basically named “ice-ashamed”, which I have no clue what that’s supposed to mean, and it’s bothering me enough that I’ve gone on an entire run-on paragraph to rant about it because it sounds stupid to say and exactly like a city name I would’ve come up with for my crappy fantasy stories that I wrote when I was fourteen.)

Where was I again?

Right, okay, so Lyrics father instructs her to go to Icenaire (blech) and find some dude named “Zaquard Ventrue”. That name also means nothing, except as far as I can tell, “Zaquard” is the pseudonym of one of the people at Devespresso, and the first thing that comes to mind for Ventrue is Vampire: The Masquerade, and I’m not sure it really means anything there either. 

The naming system in this game seems really off, it has no consistency and a lot of it is really self-indulgent, because you find out that this Zaquard fellow (in the game) is the big head honcho of what apparently is some kind of resistance movement of the oppressive organization called “The Green Flame”. 

So Lyric goes through the “Frostfell” (the magical ice barrier thing around the city that allegedly is the cause of this whole Frozenpocalypse deal) by using the power of the mysterious Vambrace, and...passes out because of it, only to be found by a scavenging party in a tutorial section where the game teaches you how to play it using said scavenging party. 

More on that later. 

Lyrics unconscious body is dragged back to the city, she somehow hasn’t contracted hypothermia, and the next scene we’re given is an interrogation from some guy who’s last name is Esquire. 

I don’t think the writers of this game knew what the word “Esquire” meant, because despite traditionally appearing after a person’s name, it is not a surname, it is a title. So the strange and unconventional naming choices continue. 

Anyway, Captain Generic Man, Esq., interrogates Lyric for all of five minutes before believing her at face value that she has a magical super-gauntlet that lets her pass through this extremely lethal magical barrier, when he has all the reason in the world to believe that she’s some kind of spy sent by the people his resistance faction is supposedly fighting against. 

And instead of keeping her under close watch until she’s at least somewhat established some trust that she’s not a mole or a spy or an assassin, he just...lets her roam free, around the city. Completely by herself. With no supervision, whatsoever. 

As you can probably tell, I already have several problems with this games pacing and general overall writing quality, and we’re not even past the prologue section yet. 

Oh, yeah, and Captain Generic gives Lyric some free money for her troubles, because the player needs to know how the market system works and how to buy healing items, and we can’t be assed to have them come across money in a non-contrived manner. 

And the currency is really weirdly specific? Its this stuff called “Hellion”, which in real-person-language is a word for a malicious troublemaker or nuisance. But in the same setting where a city is named “Ice Shame”, “Hellion” is apparently some kind of magical incense that the fox people burn to appease their gods. 

Oh yeah there’s a race of fox people in this game. They run the markets. They’re less full on furries and more like regular humanoids, but with fox ears, a tail, and pointy teeth, so like that weird halfway “haha guys look I’m totally not a furry” deal thats basically just “catgirls but with a different animal”. 

Anyway. 

You’re given a fat stack of cash and told to go buy yourself some food from the market, because we need to give you a tutorial on how to buy shit. 

So you go to the market and are taught by a smooth-talking fox-man-person-thing how to buy things at a market, after which you are immediately spotted by the only guard in the city with an ounce of sense who instantly goes “Hey holy shit isn’t that the person that literally nobody recognizes in this city that’s been cut off from the outside world for presumably several years at this point and the only other known faction that has the resources to keep a human alive is one we’re actively at war with?” and throws your ass right back in jail. 

By the way, the things you can choose to buy at the market are all pretty typical JRPG items that heal stat debuffs, or are basically different flavors of health potion that restore different amounts of health, and for any seasoned JRPG veteran it’s pretty easy to guess what items do what and how they function (sort of) but there’s plenty of unique-to-this-game stat conditions and the way the health mechanic works is kinda wonky, and the game asks you to buy your healing items before it even explains to you how the hell that part of the game actually works. 

I’ll go more in-depth to the gameplay once I finish this story synopsis but I just felt like pointing out that at this point you’ve been walked through some of the basic mechanics of the game and some of the combat, but the part of the game that deals with debuffs and HP and how you deal with those things hasn’t been explained yet. 

This game is very weird. 

Anyway, during the attempt to throw your ass back in jail, some shit is going down in the room that has the elevator to the surface (yeah apparently this city is like, underground. They don’t actually explain why, or how, or if it was like that before the Frozenpocalypse or if the Frozenpocalypse buried it, and if it was buried, how the hell did it get excavated so cleanly like this and why are all the buildings intact? Whatever, apparently the game doesn’t consider this important, which is weird considering all the random lore tidbits it does deem important, so we’re moving on now.)

OH hold on let me backtrack a bit. While you’re being let out of your jail cell because Captain Generic just felt like it apparently, you walk up to this other jail cell with a goth chick inside it and you’re told she’s an Extremely Powerful Bad Guy, Do Not Fuck With Her. 

So, as you arrive at the elevator to the surface, guess who just made an escape and caused a spooky ghost person to invade the city and injure two people! That’s right, Spooky Not-So-Jailed-Anymore Goth Chick! Who’s name is Isabel Salazar, and it’s really saying something that that’s the most normal name we’ve encountered so far in this god forsaken game. 

So you’re now face-to-face with a spooky ghost. You think you’re about to get into a combat section, you’ve been taught how to do combat, but nope! Lyric just waltzes up to the fucker and smacks him in the face with her Vambrace hand and it...melts...him? Just, with absolutely zero fanfare? 

Uh. Sure. Alright. Weird, do we get some kind of special attack that hurts ghosts? Guess we’ll find out. 

So the guard who was trying to arrest you, a redhead with pointy ears who’s very obviously an elf but hasn’t directly been called an elf in-game yet so I’m not sure if we’re using that word but fuck it she’s an elf, who’s name is Celest. That’s all, I don’t remember if she’s given a last name. 

Celest is reprimanded by Captain Generic, Esq. for trying to re-arrest the possible spy who was let go with literally no actual forethought put into it, and she’s understandably miffed, and Captain Generic tells you to come meet him in the war room because “someone is very interested in meeting you.” 

This leads nicely into the scene where our protagonist meets the leader of this massive underground (literally) resistance movement, who, upon hearing our surname and being told we’re the daughter of Some Random Guy, immediately trusts us to go after Isabel and lead an expedition all on our lonesome with a party of random soldiers we get to pick from a “help wanted” board instead of, I dunno, maybe sending some actual soldiers with us. 

This leader is the previously mentioned Zaquard Vampire Clan Man, who looks exactly how you’d expect a self-insert resistance leader to look, a young white-haired anime boy looking dude who’s bangs cover his eyes and we can’t see them. And he has earrings. 

Farquaad here apparently knew about our dad, and our dad was apparently the lead researcher about Archons (?) and the Vambrace is an Archonian (???) artifact (also they spell it “artefact” in the game and I hate it, they also say “magick” and it makes me want to find whoever was in charge of writing this and punch them) so that’s why he trusts us now, apparently. 

We are then tasked with a mission to go retrieve Evil Goth Chick, who apparently is going to go tell these Green Flame fellows the location of our massive underground city secret base, which is somehow super duper secret despite being huge. 

Keep in mind that this entire game’s setting is allegedly one massive city, it’s not like Eragon where the big inside-the-mountain Dwarf city was kept secret from Galbatorix, because that at least had the justification of being halfway across the entire fucking continent from the Empire as well as being on the other side of a massive fucking desert. 

This is all apparently one huge city! And the “secret underground base” is kinda big itself! It doesn’t make sense that its some big secret!

Ugh, whatever, if I keep harping on about every bit of the narrative that doesn’t make any fucking sense when you think about it for more than ten seconds I’m going to give myself a stroke so now that I’ve caught you up to where I am in the story, let’s move onto the gameplay. 

THE GAMEPLAY

If you’re at all familiar with Darkest Dungeon (a much better game) the gameplay is most similar in style to that. You have a party of 4 adventurers, you walk through room after room of a connected “dungeon” except in this case its neighborhood streets and buildings, find treasure, manage the balance of treasure in your inventory vs healing and utility items, and you have combat. 

Let’s talk about the combat first, because its the part I like most about this game and the reason I’m probably going to keep playing it. 

Vambrace takes a similar approach to Darkest Dungeon in that each character has a certain number of skills at their disposal, being limited in use by where the character is standing in the party order and what position slots in the opposing party they can target. 

When you get into combat, the party orders will look like this, with your party on the left and the opposing party on the right. 

4-3-2-1-1-2-3-4

The skills are divided into three range categories.

- Short or melee range skills can only be used in position 1 and 2 and can only target positions 1 and 2 on the opposing side unless those two positions are empty, in which case they can target 3 and 4. 

- Medium range skills can be used from any position, but can only target positions 1 and 2. 

- Long range skills can be used from any position and can target any position. 

Some skills also take flourish points to use, and characters build up flourish points throughout encounters by using their basic skill. 

Different characters have different classes, which determine different skills they’re able to use. 

This is a basically solid combat system, as proven by Darkest Dungeon, however Vambrace falls short of DD in two ways:

The first is Darkest Dungeon’s position system, and its supplementary corpse system, work slightly differently. Position order is the same, however, there can be no empty spaces breaking the line. If the line would be broken, units that are furthest back move forward to close the line. 

So say you encounter 4 enemies, so positions 1-2-3-4 are all fully occupied. If you kill the enemy in position 2, the enemies in positions 3 and 4 will move forward to fill in the blank space, so now only positions 1-2-3 are occupied. 

This is mitigated in Darkest Dungeon by the corpse system, when you kill an enemy it leaves a corpse behind, which fills up the space and prevents the backline from moving forward. However there are several skills in DD that remove corpses as part of the effect. 

This opens up different paths to take in terms of strategy. In both Vambrace and Darkest Dungeon, the 3 and 4 positions are usually filled by the more deadly foes, the enemies that take those positions usually cause debuffs to your party or have a higher damage output. 

However, in Darkest Dungeon, you can either run a strong backline of your own and try to eliminate the opposing backline quickly, or you can run a strong frontline and a more supportive backline to try and take out the frontline, and then wipe out the corpses, pushing the backline units to the front and making all their skills basically useless, since most enemies that stick to the back in DD have maybe one attack that they can use in position 1 or 2, and it’s usually not a very good attack. 

There are also attacks in DD that you can use to force the enemy to shuffle positions, bringing the backline to the front and crippling them without even touching the tanky frontline. 

However, in Vambrace, positions are static on the enemy side. When you kill enemies in front, the backline enemies stay in the backline. This leads to a much more limited strategy, where you pretty much only want to focus the backline first, and the frontline afterwards. 

There’s also the matter of turn order. Characters with a higher Awareness stat (more on stats in a second) get a bonus on their initiative and can go higher in the turn order, beyond that I’m not actually sure what factors are involved in determining this. However, the turn order itself is transparently displayed in the bottom center of the screen during combat, telling you very clearly which position on which side gets the next move, which helps out a lot with planning out your encounters.

Once you get the hang of it though, Vambrace’s combat is still enjoyable, and I’d say the aesthetic and environment around it makes it different enough from Darkest Dungeon that I can enjoy playing both for different reasons. Vambrace far more embraces certain JRPG aspects, for instance. 

Speaking of which, lets talk stats. 

Before I do though I want to talk about one of my biggest gripes with the game so far, and that’s the fact that its interface is terrible. This game doesn’t have a menu for keybinds, it doesn’t let you re-bind things, and its control scheme is a little awkward to say the least. 

It also hides a lot of information to be only accessible in the tutorial pages, which you can access at any time in the pause menu, but it makes things tedious because this game has a lot of smaller things to keep track of.

Each character has 5 stats. Combat, Sleight, Merchantry, Awareness, and Overwatch, and each one has a different impact on the game. 

Combat is fairly self explanatory, it determines how good your character is at fighting. 

Sleight determines how good the character is at scavenging, and it affects the quality of loot you find in containers.

Merchantry affects buying and selling, the higher the merchantry, the cheaper stuff is to buy and the more people pay for your junk. 

Awareness determines how well you can avoid traps

And Overwatch determines how good your character is at managing the party during camping.

Your stats can also affect the outcomes of certain random events that can trigger throughout the dungeons, although I’ve only encountered a handful of them so far.

Speaking of camping, one of the most under-explained mechanics in this game is the camping mechanic, and my first and only death so far has been because of a failure to properly explain said mechanic, causing me to fuck it up 3 times before I did it right, and because camping is actually extremely vital to success in this game, it caused me to die and fail the mission. 

Any healing items in your inventory cannot be used on the fly, they are only usable during a camping session. You can initiate a camping session upon finding a suitable spot for one, which you can either randomly find in the generated rooms of a “dungeon”, or in between the “dungeons” on a mission in shelters where you get sort of a mini-camp session. 

A full camping session involves you selecting the character with the highest Overwatch skill to manage said session. You need to do three specific things to maximize your sessions effectiveness, and these things are not properly tutorialized and are easy to misunderstand or miss out altogether. When the camping session starts, the character you’ve chosen to manage the whole thing starts out by standing in front of the campfire, with an “interact” icon hovering above it. 

Do not interact with the campfire. It will end the camping session immediately and you cannot redo it, you will have to find a new campsite. 

Instead, you need to find the interact icon for sleep and the icon for music. The first one will restore the HP of your whole party equal to your session leader’s Overwatch skill provided it goes without incident, and the second one will restore the Vigor of your whole party equal to the session leader’s Overwatch skill. 

Oh. Right, Vigor. 

Vambrace has 2 health bars essentially. There’s your Hit Points (HP), and then there’s Vigor. HP works how you think it does, you take damage in combat or from poison or traps and if you hit 0 you die. 

Vigor is basically a worse version of the Stress mechanic from Darkest Dungeon, but instead of ticking up as your characters get more and more stressed out, their Vigor essentially goes down as you walk through the various dungeon rooms, and certain debuffs and traps can reduce it as well. 

Once you’ve done both a sleep and a music session, you then need to open up your inventory and use the appropriate healing items to cover up whatever those two things didn’t get. If one character was particularly badly hurt and needs extra patching up after a nap, do it with healing items now. You cannot use healing items outside of a camping session, so do it now. 

You can also only use status healing items here too, and status ailments don’t go away with a nap. 

Only once you have done those three things should you interact with the campfire again, ending the camping session and continuing on with the dungeon. 

The Other Stuff

The other reason besides the gameplay being interesting enough that I plan on continuing to play this game is that the art direction and the sound design are actually very, very well done, with a feeeeew small exceptions. 

Let’s start with the art direction. 

Visually, the game looks fantastic. It’s as if you took the visual style of Darkest Dungeon but made it more anime-esque and less horrifying, more pleasant to look at. It’s really pretty and well stylized, and is a style that will hold up visually even when graphical advancements outpace it. 

The character designs are also all fairly unique, if a little over-designed sometimes. You can pick out all the named characters on sight alone, they’re all visually distinct from each other and are easily recognizable. 

The sound design is also, for the most part, really really good. The ambient noise is a good quality, the audio is well balanced and none of it really grates on my ears, and some of it is actually pretty nice to listen to.

The music in the game so far is also good, and while I haven’t come across any tracks that made me want to just sit there and listen to it on loop for a few minutes, I also haven’t found any tracks that made me go “oh god oh god make it stop”

The only part of the audio I have a problem with is...the voice acting. It’s only shown up in a few very small cutscene bits so far, mostly the initial opening scene, but I can’t really put my finger on what’s wrong with it. The only character who’s spoken so far is Lyric, and I really am finding it hard to say exactly why her voice-acted dialogue bothers me, but it really grated on my ears and I was glad when the cutscene ended. 

I think it was a mixture of the quality of the audio, it didn’t sound professionally recorded although I’ll grant it that it wasn’t “Skyrim mod voice acted by the modder” level of terrible, but it still left a lot to be desired. The other part that got to me was just the style with which the actress was talking, however I can’t really pinpoint if it was just the stilted dialogue she was stuck with, if the direction was bad, or if she just didn’t really have much of an idea what she was doing. 

She had a very monotonous voice throughout, and while she wasn’t speaking flatly or like she was bored, it was moreso that kind of voice people give characters like Sasuke in fandubs, where they’re overly mopey and Serious™ which kinda takes the oomph out of lines that should have had the more somber tone. 

Overall Thoughts and Opinions

Keep in mind this is all based on the first 2 hours of gameplay, and that I’ll probably post a more detailed version of this (or make a video) once I’m either a lot further into the game or I beat it. 

I don’t hate the game. I think the writing is completely overdone and obnoxious, and has way, way too much lore and way too many things going on without focusing on the more narrow plotline, and I have a huge problem with the very very inconsistent naming scheme, but aside from those two specific criticisms, I’ve definitely seen worse writing. 

And it’s not like the characters aren’t endearing in that “this character 1000% slots into a very specific JRPG trope but I’m here for it” sort of way. I did enjoy what I got to see of Lyric and the other named characters, even though they were completely stereotypical and Lyric comes off as a bit of a Mary Sue. 

So far the writing is very flawed, but in a tolerable way. I’d much more rather play a game written with love and care and have the flaws come from human error rather than a game that was written by committee to be as bland and appealing to as wide an audience as possible without offending anyone. 

The gameplay definitely isn’t as deep as it could be, but the out-of-combat mechanics actually do require a lot of forethought and planning once you actually understand them. 

That’s probably my biggest criticism of the game outside of the writing, the game has a pretty decent tutorial that tries to explain everything, but the UI design and how the game presents its information outside of the tutorial works against that and forces you to memorize things and constantly refer back to the tutorial pages. 

There’s a lot of quality-of-life things that are missing that shouldn’t be. The ability to rebind keys, the ability to even check a simple menu solely dedicated to the keybinds instead of sifting back through the tutorials trying to figure out what fucking key you need to press for things is. 

There’s no hover-over information, on anything. The mouse does literally nothing, you could control the whole game with the keyboard. This is especially problematic when dealing with stat buffs and debuffs, because while you can open up your character stat menu in combat to check exactly what their debuffs do, you can’t open up an enemy stat page and are completely reliant on having memorized what icon corresponds to what debuff and what that debuff actually does. 

But if you can look past the cripplingly bad UI and inability to rebind keys, along with the weird writing, the game is actually fairly charming and does have a lot to offer, so I’d definitely recommend checking it out! I bought it on sale for about $16 USD, and if the game keeps up the current quality for a decent chunk of playtime, I’d say it’s worth it around that price. Probably not at full price though. 

[pixelgrotto]

A look at D&D’s Curse of Strahd

From about October 2018 to August 2019, I led a group of four friends through Curse of Strahd, the latest campaign book featuring a dive into the realm of Dungeon & Dragon’s most famous vampire, Strahd von Zarovich. It went well, and it was an interesting experience for me as a Dungeon Master, since this was my first time using one of Wizards of the Coast’s official modules. In the past I’ve always come up with my own homebrew adventures, and I still homebrewed a good chunk of Curse of Strahd, remixing characters and formulating story twists on the fly once I learned the ebb and flow of my group.

One of the things I love most about D&D, however, is that such behavior is encouraged, and pretty much all of the major 5th Edition releases outright tell DMs that they shouldn’t hesitate to make a campaign “their own” by only following the book when necessary. Thus, the version of Curse of Strahd that my players ran through was an experience specifically tailored to them - one where a motley crew known as the “Well-Doners” (like a well done steak...or a stake to the heart of a vampire!) were sucked into Strahd’s strange valley of Barovia and forced to ally together for the sake of survival...aided by a few key comrades, including a funny gnome mage who’d lost his magical mojo, the reincarnation of Strahd’s lost love, a grumpy monster hunter and a massive ranger and his dwarf wife. If I ever run Curse of Strahd again for another group, it’s very likely that many of these key comrades - as well as the general crux of the adventure - will turn out completely different.

To all enterprising DMs who might wish to run Curse of Strahd for their own groups, it’s worth first noting that this is very much a Ravenloft campaign. Ravenloft is the setting that sprouted from the 1983 module of the same name, originally devised by Tracy and Laura Hickman and then expanded upon during the heyday of D&D 2nd Edition. In a nutshell, it’s D&D’s horror setting, and the horror is very much steeped in the gothic tradition, with a heavy dollop of foes inspired by the Universal Monster Movies of the 1920s to 50s, sprinkles of Eastern European creepiness and a dash or two of dark romance to complete the mix. I quite like this combination because it reminds me of the melancholy yet deeply beautiful world of Mordavia in Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness, one of the formative experiences of my youth and a game that has a great soundtrack for the backdrop of any Ravenloft campaign. (Interestingly, Quest for Glory creators Lori and Corey Cole were D&D players before they went on to design computer games, which means that the gothic realm of Mordavia surely is a clear descendant of Ravenloft.)

But horror of any variety isn’t necessarily everyone’s cup of tea, and certain parts of Curse of Strahd - if run straight from the book - can veer quite sinister, because Barovia is ultimately a crappy place presided over by a crappy undead warlord. The introductory adventure of the module, dubbed “Death House,” actually deals with ghostly children who’ve died of starvation in a haunted manor due to the cultist ways of their mad parents. It’s entirely possible to make these kids untrustworthy antagonists in order to emphasize that the Ravenloft setting simply does not mess around, but since I was running this campaign for a group of four new players whose prior experience with D&D ran the gamut from limited to absolutely zero, I decided to make them into a spooky but still likable duo who could “possess” the players’ characters and offer sassy running commentary on the monsters infiltrating the manor. Like Casper but with a tad more snark, in other words - and the endearing nature of the children made the moment where my players had to lay their corpses to rest and confront their sad origins all the more compelling.

This act of balance - between ensuring that players recognize this as a dark adventure but also making sure that just enough light and humor alleviates the depression - is one that I tried to perform during every session of our game, and I’d encourage future Curse of Strahd DMs to do the same. I’d also encourage enterprising Dungeon Masters to perform a similar balancing act on the monsters and scenarios that permeate the adventure - specifically on the ones in the Death House opener as well as Strahd himself.

Death House, more specifically, is described in the book as a means to help the party quickly progress from levels 1 to 3, but played as is, it’s quite possible for players to get absolutely curb-stomped by everything within the manor - particularly a “final boss” that they’re technically not supposed to engage with, at least in a fair manner. Veteran RPG fans might relish the challenge, which is more reminiscent of Call of Cthulhu than D&D, but newbies might not like having to re-roll a character because their first one got wrecked by a Shambling Mound after only a few hours of play. So, retool Death House to suit the needs of your party - in my case, I limited the encounters somewhat to prevent a steady drip of HP and also gave my players a few tips on how to beat tricky baddies via those aforementioned ghost kids.

The opposite strategy goes for Strahd von Zarovich himself, who might be the big bad of Barovia but is surprisingly squishy when confronted by a hardy group of level 8 or 9 players, especially if they’ve found all the fancy sunlight-shooting artifacts of the adventure that can limit his powers. I can’t count the number of posts I’ve seen on the D&D Reddit or a Curse of Strahd Facebook group I’m in where frustrated DMs have written something like “Strahd was killed by my players within two rounds, where did I go wrong” - and in order to circumvent this from happening in the last session of a shared storytelling experience that had nearly spanned a year, I took a heavy pair of tweezers to Strahd’s stats and gave him three forms, each with their own HP. The first was his regular vampiric self, the second was him riding on his Misty Steed-summoned horse Bucephalus, and the third was basically Strahd going into berserker mode with black angel wings bursting from his back. (I stole the concept art of Satan from Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 for that. Worked perfectly!)

Speaking of Castlevania, I drew inspiration from the recent Netflix series - which I’ve written about here and here - when it came to developing Strahd’s actual personality, because even though the book updated his original Bela Lugosi-esque appearance into something more regal and fantasy-inspired, his essence is still something of a two dimensional bad guy, and the fact that one of his eternal missions in undeath is to make the reincarnation of his original lover fall for him is a problematic pill to swallow in 2019, even if it is meant as an ode to Dracula’s obsession with Mina Harker in Bram Stoker’s original novel. And so I decided to make my version of Strahd similar to the depressed, weary-of-life Dracula in Netflix Castlevania, turning him into a vampire of complexities - a guy who’s been immortal for so long that he almost wants the players to kill him, a man who believes he’s entitled to the love of a woman yet somewhere deep down realizes the inherent selfishness of that belief, and a lord who’s grown bored with his kingdom yet can’t quite relinquish the power he’s held over it for centuries. My Strahd, in other words, was still a bad dude, but at least a somewhat deeper bad dude that the cardboard cutout as presented in the book, and one of my players even described him as “a little like Kylo Ren,” which I took as a compliment.

Before I wrap this up, I’d like to return to the concept of the balancing act with regards to the structure and scope of Curse of Strahd, which is a true sandbox adventure. Players are not required to visit half of the locations outlined in the book, and the replayability factor is high, because the various artifacts that you need to defeat Strahd, as well as the specific non-player characters likely to assist you along the way, are dependent on a tarot card reading that occurs near the start of the adventure. The locations that I found the most important for my players were the towns of Barovia and Vallaki, the Wizard of Wines Winery, Yester Hill, Van Richten’s Tower, the Ruins of Berez, and Castle Ravenloft itself. Other groups online swear by Krezk, a third town that my players never bothered to visit (though I would have urged them to go there if we’d had any clerics or paladins in the party, since Krezk is a town with a giant church), and the Amber Temple, the lair where Strahd obtained his undead powers (a place I feel is best suited for players of neutral or evil-leaning alignments). Your mileage may vary, but if you’re going to DM this module, one of the best bits of advice I can give would be to see which locations your players are naturally inquisitive about, and then focus on those. Exploring every nook and cranny of Barovia can quickly turn into a slog otherwise.

With all this in mind, I think it’s time for the so-called “Well-Doners” to leave the world of gothic horror behind for a bit. They’ve somehow managed to find their way back to their home plane and the city of Waterdeep, and only one of the party was infected with a seemingly fatal curse after their stay in Ravenloft. What further quests await, I wonder, and what new campaign book will I hack apart to suit my players’ tastes? That’s for me to know, for them to find out, and for another long blog post examination...sometime in 2020, hopefully!

All photographs taken by me.

[thenightling]

Why Peter Vincent is the most underrated modern vampire hunter

Notice and disclaimer:  Though I like David Tennant as an actor I feel his version of Peter Vincent is sorely lacking.  This is not the fault of the actor but rather the decisions made by the director and writer of the Fright Night remake.  This post is mostly in regard to Roddy McDowall’s version of the character from the original Fright Night, Fright Night: Part 2, and the Fright Night comic books.

11.   He is honest.

Despite being a former actor, Peter Vincent is very, very honest.  He no longer seems to care what people think of him.  He went from has-been horror movie star with a public access TV show to reinventing himself as a real monster hunter.  Once he learned that monsters (particularly vampires) were real he chose to become the man he had always pretended to be in the movies.  Unlike others who took up such a mantle though, Peter Vincent never lied to protect his own image.  He openly admitted monsters are real and what needed to be done, not caring that this might make him look mentally ill.    

This has lead to some wincable moments where it might have been in his own self-interest if Peter Vincent had simply lied to protect himself and how others saw him but he won’t do that.  If he feels there is a terrible, other-worldly threat he will not beat around to bush.  At one point in Fright Night: Part 2 this lead to him being committed to a psychiatric hospital.  Fortunately, with the help of some friends, he escaped.   

Peter Vincent also loves to wear his old costumes from the movies that he used to star in, which were usually set in the nineteenth century.  He has no real fear or concern of how others see him now that he has shed his status as fading celebrity and embraced his role as eccentric protector of the innocent. 

10.   He’s surprisingly down-to-Earth.

At first Peter Vincent comes off as this aloof poseur, a pretentious has-been.  He’s a has-been horror movie actor with a public access TV show.   He seems quick to assume (or hope) people might want his autograph but the reality is he is struggling to make ends meet.  His show is in the verge of cancelation and his rent on his apartment is overdue.  All he really has are relics from his old movie career.    When Peter Vincent learns monsters are real he sheds all trappings of his old, fading, career and all the apparent pretentiousness.  You realize that for all his melodramatic swaggering he’s really very afraid but he still stands against the forces of darkness because he knows he’s needed.  

He’s not superpowered.  He’s not attractive.   He’s not combat-trained.   He’s just someone that used to star in old monster movies and now that he knows monsters are real and preying on the innocent he has become someone who cares...

9.   He learns not to judge people.

Through the course of the original Fright Night movies Peter Vincent undergoes amazing character growth (More on that later).  In the first Fright Night movie Peter Vincent is quick to dismiss Charley as “mad” but by the time you get to Fright Night Part 2 and Peter Vincent has come to terms with learning that the supernatural is real, his outlook has entirely changed.   He has changed so much that all bias he had in dismissing other humans or judging them as all but evaporated.  

There is a scene in Fright Night: Part 2 where Peter Vincent is forced to escape a psychiatric hospital. He was put there after he was caught trying to stake a vampire on live TV.   Here he is nearly thwarted in his escape until an inmate who believes his wild stories helps him to get away.   Peter Vincent is so moved by this gesture that the next scene of him he smiles and comments on how he has friends in the most unlikely of places.   The man is adorable. 

8.  He faces very powerful old-school vampires.

Many modern vampires are super strong and super fast and that’s about it.  They have been stripped of some of their more eerie attributes like being able to summon storms, turn into a wolf, or bat- like Count Dracula in the original Dracula novel.  But Peter Vincent doesn’t face off against the low-budget, modern vampires, that can barely do anything.   No, when he faces Evil Ed, Ed turns into a full sized wolf when he attacks him.  Peter Vincent is not super-strong, nor does he have any combat skill.  He is forced to use his horror-movie knowledge (as he was a B horror movie actor) and his own wits, and makeshift weapons to defeat him.

Honestly, I think this makes him more “badass” than many modern vampire hunters in pop culture.  He’s a frail old man taking on vampires with the full array of classic powers.  They can shapeshift.  They can hypnotize.  They are incredibly strong.  They can conjure fog and lightning.  They can become wolves or bats.  They are a Hell of a lot more intimidating than most TV or movie vampires today who have been stripped of a lot of these powers.

And he manages to face these monsters despite being very, very afraid.   

7.    He’s delightfully hammy.

Because Peter Vincent went from being a has-been actor to real monster hunter there are certain aspects of his old-self that he can’t quite shead.  He’s still very melodramatic and theatrical in nature.  This makes him a bit campy and for better or worse this carries over when he has worked up the courage to stand against various threats.   It adds much needed levity to the gravity of the situation when you remember this man was an old cheesy actor and he delivers a movie-style line to remind you of this.  He wasn’t actually born into monster hunting, it was thrust upon him later and life and he took to it like a duck to water, when he finally accepted it, but in doing so he couldn’t leave behind aspects of his old hammy self.

 6.   He is still influencing pop culture over thirty years later.

Remember the character of Vincent Van Ghoul in The Thirteen Ghosts of Scooby Doo cartoon of the 1980s?  Vincent Van Ghoul was originally voiced by Vincent Price and meant to be similar to Doctor Strange from Marvel comics (who likely had been inspired by Vincent Price’s Doctor Craven form the 1963 film The Raven.)  Vincent Van Ghoul was a powerful sorcerer who aided Scooby and Shaggy in the capture of thirteen ghosts that had escaped from a sort of Pandora’s Box.

In 2010 the character of Vincent Van Ghoul was dusted off and reinvented with Maurice LaMarche providing the Vincent Price inspired voice.  The new version, though, is not a sorcerer.  Instead he is a has-been B horror movie actor who dresses flamboyantly in his old movie costumes.  He’s also a little bit of a coward and is melodramatic.  Sound familiar?  

The newer version of Vincent Van Ghoul is based on Peter Vincent (who was partly inspired by Vincent Price the way Doctor Strange was).   This version of Vincent Van Ghoul is still occasionally being used in recent Scooby Doo cartoons.  

There is also the character  Abraham Van Rental in the recent stop motion animated film, Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires, whose outfit, personality, and behavior are modeled after Peter Vincent, particularly in Fright Night: Part 2.

And in the Castlevania video game franchise there is an NPC inspired by Peter Vincent.  An incompetent vampire hunter named Charlie Vincent.  And if he gets turned into a vampire (like the originally planned ending of the first Fright Night) he becomes a threat. 

5.  He is an unlikely hero.

Peter Vincent is no Blade in a leather jacket.  He is not Hugh Jackman with his rapid-fire crossbow.  He’s not Buffy or Vanessa Helsing in tight leather pants.  He has no muscles.  He’s not young and sexy.  He does not have super strength.  He’s very much an unlikely hero.  He’s a washed up old horror movie actor, struggling to make ends meet, and who learns monsters are real.  

His weapons consist of old monster movie props, as well as his knowledge of the occult and supernatural gleaned from decades of starring in cheesy horror movies.  If there is any character he might be compared with it’s Professor Abraham Van Helsing, himself, from Dracula, or perhaps Giles from Buffy The Vampire Slayer.  

Peter Vincent not conventionally attractive.  He doesn’t fit a popular demographic.  It would be wrong to try to make him appealing to a specific and young demographic because that is not the character.  He’s actually kind of dorky though he feigns confidence on his TV show and when he is trying to be heroic but that just makes him all the more likable.  

He’s afraid but he does what is right anyway.  He knows the odds are against him.  He cannot physically best the monsters he stands against.  He has to rely on his wits and the fact that he’s easily underestimated for his usual meekness. 

He’s so different from the current trend of muscular, attractive, and physically combative monster hunters that he’s actually a breath of fresh air, for being the odd man out, the meek and frightened old actor who gains courage when he realizes he might not be the ideal hero but he’s all they’ve got and they need him. And that makes him so damn amazing.    

4.   He teaches us that it’s never too late to change who and what you are.

Peter Vincent undergoes an incredible character arc, soul search, and self-reinvention though the course of the original Fright Night movies. 

Peter Vincent is an old, has-been horror movie actor who ended up hosting a public access TV show where he would intro his own old movies and provide commentary about them at commercial breaks.  He thought his career and life was nearing its close but then he was made to realize monsters are real and the world needed the sort of hero he always pretended to be.  Despite his age, despite his fear, despite his physical frailty (he is no muscle bound hero) Peter rose to the occasion and reinvented himself as a protector of the innocent.

He found a faith he didn’t previously have, he gave up a fading celebrity status and abandoned all concerns for how people thought of him just because he felt it was the right thing to do, because he knew he was needed.

He shed his old persona of has-been and skeptic and became the hero and believer he had always pretended to be.  He had become the unlikely hero and it was the role he was born for.  

3.  He was a proud neo-Victorian Goth before the term even existed.   

Peter Vincent was a has-been horror actor who eventually learns that monsters are real and when he takes up the mantle of real monster hunter he puts on his old costume.  The character he played was an 1890s Doctor Abraham Van Helsing style protagonist, similar to the characters Peter Cushing always used to play in the Hammer Horror Dracula movies of the 1950s into the 1970s.  Peter Vincent calls this his “uniform” and makes it a point to wear it when he knows he’s about to face real monsters even if he knows it’s incredibly out of place. 

He had lace cuffs, old Sherlock-style duster jacket with mantle, waistcoat, and cravat.  And he was not ashamed.

We’re talking about a man walking around like it’s London 1891 but in 1985 American suburbia and he was completely unashamed.   You go, you brave, yet strangely meek extrovert!

2.   He is very likely an LGBT hero.

   Though Peter Vincent’s sexuality is never explored in the movies, the character was inspired by Peter Cushing and Vincent Price.  Vincent Price’s daughter confirmed after his death that he was bisexual.   Peter Cushing was likely straight but Vincent Price was most assuredly bisexual.

The actor who played Peter Vincent was the great Roddy McDowall.   Roddy spent his life in the closet but after his death stories emerged from his friends that confirmed he had been bisexual.

(Roddy McDowall with Vincent Price.)

It was Roddy McDowall who told Vincent Price’s daughter “You know, we didn't have any idea what bisexuality meant in that sense, and if we didn't know, then how can we know the answer to that question."

Roddy was very likely bisexual and it’s been confirmed that Vincent Price (whom he was friends with) was bisexual.  This is particularly coincidental since Roddy’s Peter Vincent character hs half-based on Vincent Price (the other half being Peter Cushing, who played Doctor Van Helsing in several Hammer Horror Dracula movies.) 

There is a very high chance that thanks to the character sources, Peter Vincent was bisexual.       

1.  He is kind.  

  Today it’s too easy to be cynical and to deconstruct heroes into cold and cynical avatars for the jaded writers behind them.  The characters either don’t really care about the individuals that are in danger or someone behind the scenes just loves watching their hero pose stoically in a long leather jacket, without showing any emotion.

Peter Vincent, on the other hand, is warm, compassionate, and sympathetic.  He’s kind.  He genuinely cares about people despite once imagining himself a great and aloof actor.  

Ultimately it’s the realization that innocent lives are in danger and witnessing the painful death of the newborn vampire, Evil Ed, that finally pushes Peter Vincent to stand against Jerry Dandridge, despite his own fear.  

 Peter Vincent is terrified.  He’s just has-been horror actor with a public access horror themed TV series. Peter is given the opportunity - the destiny to be the hero he always secretly longed to be, the protector he may have secretly always dreamed of being.  

Peter rises above himself and it’s not for glory.  It’s not for fame.  He does it because he feels it’s the right thing to do and people need him.  And he truly cares about them. 

He forsakes his old fading celebrity status to be an anonymous hero that others think is nothing more than an old, washed up actor, who has finally lost his mind.  In Fright Night Part 2 Peter stops caring about his fading movie and TV career and realizes that’s not what he’s meant to be.  He IS Peter Vincent, the Great Vampire Killer!   And he sheds his old identity and even public reputation because he knows... he knows this is what others need him to be.  This is the hero he has to be for the sake of others.

it’s for these reasons and more that Peter Vincent is one of the greatest vampire hunters in contemporary pop culture (within the last forty years).

[murfeelee]

It’s July~! Weekend Replies!

Summer’s like officially here now. Let the good times roll! ^0^

I’m kinda backed up, so bear with me, guys. :P

white-enamel replied to your photoset “Something Wicked This Way Comes - Pt2 Far down the avenue of yews we...”                                                

I just love it!! <3 <3

My fellow sister of darkness! <3 I have to upload that set soon; I said I’d do it today, but I’ve been so effing lazy & distracted; good lord I need help. U_U

Pink Replies

palimpa replied to your photoset “Pink, Like the Paradise Found  Let’s count the ways we can make this...”                                                

your sets are sickening awesome! You must have spend so much time work and sweat on it that i would totally share my donuts with you if i could xD

Not even lying I went out and bought a whole box of like 30+ donuts BECAUSE OF YOU! XD They’re almost gone now; I’m disgusted with myself, but I can’t stop eating them!

shhhushhh replied to your photoset “Pink, Like the Paradise Found  Let’s count the ways we can make this...”                                              

That's one of the cutest posts EVER!    

soloriya replied to your photoset “Pink, Like the Paradise Found  Let’s count the ways we can make this...”                                                

how beautiful! ♥__♥

embysims replied to your photoset “Pink, Like the Paradise Found  Let’s count the ways we can make this...”                                                

you have the best pic sets!!! so creative and just brilliant

Aw, thank you all~! :3 I seriously doubt that I have the best pics when simmers like pixelsinmyveins & kosmokhaos exist, but it’s nice to dream! ^_^

ashuriphoenix replied to your photoset “Pink, Like the Paradise Found  Let’s count the ways we can make this...”                                                

I like Ryu!  Interesting looking sim.                    

Thank you! :D Ryu-San was made in homage to all the long white/platinum-haired anime/game characters I’m in love with -- I have a type (and half of them are evil half demon shapeshifter undead mofos, too, wtf is wrong with me :P ).

My crushes wallpaper (High-res): Sesshomaru & Inuyasha, human!Artemis (Sailor Moon), Emperor Mateus (Final Fantasy 2/Dissidia), Aion (Chrono Crusade), Alucard (Castlevania), Ukitake (Bleach), Inu no Taisho (Inuyasha), Sephiroth (Final Fantasy 7), youko!Kurama (YuYu Hakusho), Undertaker (Kuroshitsuji), dragon!Kija (Yona of the Dawn), Kunzite (Sailor Moon).

simblu replied to your photoset “Pink, Like the Paradise Found  Let’s count the ways we can make this...”                                                

So beautiful. What a great theme for a flower sim.                    

I keep telling y’all that Sakura’s a cherry tree faery, and then I realized that I never even bothered to actually make her a flowery PlantSim.  *facepalm* :P I had to fix that, frikkin embarrassing, lol.

packagedblyss replied to your photoset “Pink, Like the Paradise Found  Let’s count the ways we can make this...”                                                

I love plantsims flowery tracks ! I'm sad to see them disappear in my game after a while. (I also love those shoes, super cute !)

SAME! :D

kosmokhaos replied to your photoset “Pink, Like the Paradise Found  Let’s count the ways we can make this...”                                                

😂😂😂😂 Now I'm singing the song I love it                    

My frikkin anthem lately, LOL XD

palimpa replied to your post “20 Questions Tag”

Who’d You Most Like to Have Lunch With? “Oprah. Preferably while she hands me a check for a couple million dollars, amirite." 🤣 👏 Who wouldn't?                   

I KNOW, RIGHT!?!

lifeasasim replied to your post “20 Questions Tag”

Hahahahah love this                    

lifeasasim replied to your post “20 Questions Tag”

I saw the shadowhunter tag before I read the post and knew it was you xP

You are wise and experienced, that’s why! XD

Malec Replies

(See what I did there, y’all? ;) )

alice-and-white-lapin replied to your photoset “Yasumi no Edo - Pt3 (Machi wo Mistete Kudasai!)  For their last day in...”                                                

Your Malec family's fan art is so cute and I love it ♡      

I love that you love it! どうも ありがとう ございます!

simblu replied to your photoset “Yasumi no Edo - Pt4 (Owari) CAPTIONS AS TEXT - Alec and Magnus spent...”                                                

I love all the pix and, under your cut, the changing eyes. This series will live on with you and other fans. Take it in directions you wish, perhaps?    

Precisely. Most of it's taken from the books anyway, especially the whole bit with their children, since I had a sinking feeling that the tv show would never catch up in time for us to see Max & Raphael Lightwood-Bane. Now that it might be cancelled I’m glad I wasn’t setting myself up for extreme disappointment on that end. U_U But yeah, as long as the books keep coming out, and the fanfics are still plentiful, and the fanartists stay active, I’ll have plenty of material to use in my gameplay. :) I just really want the show to keep going; it’s gotten so much better, and doesn’t deserve this at all! :( How will I live without Harry’s Magnus!?

declarations-of-drama replied to your photoset “RSoM Insp. Pt1 - May I Have this Dance?  A slow sweet song with a...”

I thought I read "Dozens of masked downloaders" lol thought you was making a statement ^^ Lovely pics as always x                  

Maybe I was not! 8) LOL

andantezen replied to your photo: “RSoM Insp. Pt1 - May I Have this Dance?  A slow sweet song with a...”

amazing scene!

simblu replied to your photoset “RSoM Insp. Pt2 - Your Host, Lorenzo Rey  Lorenzo Rey spent a...”                                                

Beautiful setting, glam characters.                    

Totally can’t take credit for the scenery/setting -- you know how effing long it took me to find a gorgeously decorated Baroque lot with a decent ballroom? -- but thanks for liking the glam characters~! ^_^

simsdestroyer replied to your photoset “RSoM Insp. Pt1 - May I Have this Dance?  A slow sweet song with a...”                                                

Wow these poses and pics are amazing... Stunning!!!!  I've always loved your blog.                    

That is such an amazing, nice thing to say, it really is. I always get worried that my followers are sitting around like wtf is Murf even doing? And the answer is: Whatever I want, really, idek.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But I know people often follow me for specific things, and I feel bad cuz I never stick to anything for very long. So it makes me feel better knowing that I have guys like you who just like my blog in general, regardless of whatever I’m up to at the moment. The support is deeply appreciated! <3                                                                 

Pride Replies

venusprincess-simblr reblogged your photoset and added:

I love it! What a great parade :D

I’m so happy you think so! You are such an inspiration for the community, LOVE YOU, VENUS! Thanks for everything!

palimpa reblogged your photoset and added:

She nailed it! I love this! big kiss!

andantezen replied to your photoset “Pride ‘18 - Part 1 “I’m sure there are millions who’d like nothing...”

epic!

simblu replied to your photoset “Pride ‘18 - Part 1 “I’m sure there are millions who’d like nothing...”                                                

Again, compliments on this amazing set-up!                    

Y’all are just too nice to me; I’m so happy and pleased, I can’t~! <3

simblu replied to your post “Happy Pride! CAS Set”

Thank you                    

You’re very welcome! :) Thanks to everyone who liked the Pride CC set I shared! I felt it was only fair to upload it, to do my part in contributing to the LGBT+ CC pool for Pride Month.

Thanks for the continued support, everybody!

[aion-rsa]

Metroid Dread Looks to Prove 2D Horror Games Can Be Scary

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

The latest Metroid Dread previews include quite a few (mostly positive) words about the highly-anticipated upcoming Switch game, but the one word that’s jumping out at everyone at the moment is “scary.”

Granted, the Metroid franchise has always utilized horror elements (its revolutionary atmosphere can partially be attributed to the various ways it was influenced by the Alien films), but with a few possible exceptions (most notably the SA-X sequences from Metroid Fusion), it’s tough to say that the Metroid franchise has ever been especially frightening. Creepy, perhaps, but not really that more traditional kind of scary that makes you jump out of your seat or keeps you up at night. Yet, early previews of Dread suggest that the game’s opening hours feature moments of outright horror highlighted by your battles against the new E.M.M.I. robots: Terminator-like hunters that will stop at nothing to kill Samus.

So is Metroid Dread scary? Well, I sadly have not had the chance to play the game yet, and even those who have played the game have been quick to say that it’s hard to tell how consistently creepy the game will be beyond those opening moments. We’re all going to have to wait until the game’s October 8 release date to see if it lives up to its full potential in that respect.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

What’s really interesting at the moment, though, isn’t so much the debate over whether or not this particular game will be scary but the early concerns from some gamers who seemingly doubt that a 2D game can be scary in the first place.

In a way, it’s easy to understand why some people feel that 3D is simply superior to 2D when it comes to horror games. Our own list of the scariest horror games ever featured 18 3D titles compared to just two 2D/2.5D titles (Clock Tower and Darkwood), so I can’t easily argue against the suggestion that there are more memorable 3D horror games than 2D horror games. Besides, the rise of the horror genre coincided with the rise of 3D gaming, and, since then, most major developers have elected to make 3D horror games over 2D horror games when they’ve been lucky enough to secure the funding for a horror game at all. As such, there have certainly been more 3D horror games to talk about in the last 25 years or so.

Of course, it’s also difficult to simply point at some of the best 2D horror games ever and close the door on this topic. Yes, titles like The Last Door, Home, The Cat Lady, and the aforementioned Darkwood and Clock Tower are genuinely scary 2D games (in my mind), but this debate seems to be more about the viability of genuinely scary 2D games rather than a hand-picked selection of titles that exemplify that concept. Besides, convincing someone to play one of the scariest 2D horror games ever made is different than convincing them that genuinely scary 2D games (especially a 2D game published by Nintendo) are more than exceptions to what many see as a rule.

No the best argument for the viability of 2D horror is the fact that there have actually been countless intimidating/scary 2D games released over the years that have relied on the same concept that Metroid Dread looks to emphasize: the lingering feeling of inevitable defeat.

Long before Resident Evil revolutionized horror gaming and gave a generation of gamers nightmares, some of the most intimidating games in our collections were also the most difficult. Contra, Ninja Gaiden, Castlevania 3…our list of the hardest NES games ever essentially doubles as a collection of the games you almost dreaded to play because you weren’t confident you could beat them.

Indeed, the “Dread” part of Metroid Dread‘s title feels like a more revealing word choice than we previously suspected. While the decision to limit Dread‘s E.M.I.I. encounters to specific rooms that are marked on your map might feel like a poor substitute for the more chaotic encounters against video game stalkers in 3D titles (such as the Mr. X moments in the Resident Evil 2 remake), this doesn’t seem like a case of Dread‘s developers simply trying to compensate for the technological “downgrade” by making these encounters more structured.

Instead, the decision to “telegraph” your encounters against Dread‘s E.M.I.I. foes feels very much deliberate and part of Dread developer Mercury Steam’s desire to leave you genuinely dreading having to enter those rooms. Yes, you know that a battle against one of these enemies is coming, but are you properly prepared for it? Can you survive rather than just play through the scare? It’s the old Alfred Hitchcock “bomb theory” approach to suspense/horror in which you show the audience that there’s a bomb that’s about to explode rather than have it be a surprise. The latter may result in more of a “jump,” but the former makes the jump feel like more of a relief compared to the tension that came before.

The only thing that horror fans love more than watching horror is debating what is truly scary and what actually qualifies as horror. Through years worth of those debates, the truth we keep coming back to is that there is no universal horror experience and that the variety of the genre is part of what makes it so great. Some works of horror ultimately scare more people than others, but horror is sometimes more of a mood and a feeling than it is a tally of nightmares caused or time you jumped out of your seat.

So maybe Metroid Dread won’t lead to as many reaction videos as the latest VR horror game or give you as many nightmares as Silent Hill 2 once did. However, if one of the pillars of the horror genre is indeed that sense of dread you feel from the thought of simply having to experience the horror game/movie/show/book itself, then the fact of the matter is that some of the most outright intimidating games ever made have been 2D titles. The mechanical demands of many 2D titles and that feeling of being deprived of that extra dimension of movement have historically combined to grant 2D games a baseline level of intimidation that can certainly be turned into pure terror in the right hands.

If Metroid Dread can capitalize on that intimidation factor and combine it with some of the more “traditionally” creepy qualities we’ve seen from this series in the past, then it may very well not only show how uniquely scary 2D games can be but perhaps inspire more developers to pursue this style of horror that honestly deserves more love than it has historically received.

The post Metroid Dread Looks to Prove 2D Horror Games Can Be Scary appeared first on Den of Geek.

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Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/netflix-castlevania-perhaps-best-cinematic-video-game-adaptation/

Netflix 'Castlevania:' Perhaps the Best Cinematic Video Game Adaptation

I’ll say it again, now is a great time to be a geek thanks to all the great cinematic comic book adaptations coming out like Spider-Man: Homecoming, Doctor Strange and Wonder Woman; the return of classic video games and a combination of both in Netflix’s Castlevania TV series. Comic books are now enjoying great adaptations on both the big and small screens, but video games haven’t been so lucky. The new Castlevania TV series from Netflix went out to challenge the game to cinema slump that has plagued the industry. I can name only two western animated series in the past that were somewhat true to their games, and that’s Mega Man and Legend of Zelda. The most successful videogame to film franchise is Resident Evil starring Mila Jovovich, but the series, unfortunately, ended on a low note. Financially, the series was okay but storywise, the series was terrible. Just saw Doom on cable and that didn’t have much luck either. But Castlevania, in animated form, is just amazing and perhaps a live-action adaptation given the same script, visuals and choreography would have been great as well. I’d like to congratulate writer Warren Ellis (Iron Man: Extremis, Astonishing X-Men), producer Adi Shankar (Dredd 2012, Power Rangers Fan Film) and company for re-capturing many gamers’ childhoods and reinvigorating their adulthood. As mentioned before, Castlevania is my favorite action-adventure video game franchise. Well, until the 16-bit era. The current crop of Castlevania games isn’t my cup of tea especially after they screwed up the character design. Devil May Cry I and II would have been great additions. Anyway, I still play Castlevania I to IV whenever I get the chance and would snap up the upcoming SNES Classic Edition if I can. Nintendo, call Tim Cook for supply chain tips if you have to. Unfortunately, I haven’t played through Castlevania III from which the Netflix TV series is based on, as I don’t have much time and is too difficult. The old reflexes aren’t what they used to be. Anyway, the series’ story and characterizations were fascinating. Right off the bat, (no puns intended but might as well have), Dracula is given some character and even a love interest, and thus we’re given his motivation for the entire series. That love interest also explains the origin of his son Alucard who is featured in the games Castlevania III and the acclaimed Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. His love interest humanizes the Lord of the Vampires so imagine what happens upon losing that. It’s like Dracula: Untold and Bram Stoker’s Dracula all over again. Yes, one thing that fascinates me about Castlevania is the Lord of Vampires. Bram Stoker’s Dracula is actually the first paperback I read for an English book report still inspired by the Hammer Horror films I vaguely remember. The series also gives us a fascinating backstory about the Belmont family. That they’re a known family that dealt with the supernatural but later excommunicated by the church and forced into exile resulting in the vagabond character Trevor Belmont featured in the series. Trevor is featured as a drunken wanderer, seemingly wandering without purpose until he finds it after wandering into a city under siege by Dracula’s forces. Trevor Belmont then rescues magician character Sypha Belnades in a quest to rescue a group of Speakers, the equivalent of a modern humanitarian charity group from both the church and Dracula’s final siege. And lastly, they meet Dracula’s vampire son, Alucard in a quest to awaken the town’s supposed legendary savior. The visuals are simply amazing. The series opted for anime style to better convey all the action and violence that the script requires. The animators tried to adapt the NES game’s colors in their character designs for both Sypha and Simon. Dracula looks close to his design in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and we geeks and gamers appreciate that very much. Loose adaptations sink ships you know. Simon’s design was great, and Sypha was just terribly attractive. Alucard looks wonderful as well. But what about the knife wielding Grant Danasty? He’s not in the current season but maybe in the second which has recently been greenlit given how amazing this first season is. If one has to nitpick, it’s how the Catholic Church was depicted and demonized as the real enemy within the first season. The series may not be historically accurate as to the Vlad Tepes character himself, but it delves much on the bloody history of the Catholic Church during medieval times. God bless their poor ignorant souls for their treatment of learned women and non-conformists in the past that actually drives this whole story. About the whole story, the first season is basically a setup but a great one before the actual castle action begins. This is not a cartoon for young children ladies and gentlemen. It’s for us who don’t mind seeing a lot of blood, guts, severed limbs and entrails. There’s a lot of inappropriate language as well. It’s an R-rated show for language and violence. Someone tells you you’re too old for cartoons; they’re sorely mistaken. Netflix Castlevania is perhaps the best videogame to screen adaptation I’ve seen by far and is a must-see if you love the franchise and video games in general.

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[ashenpages]

Current Fic Ideas & Emoji Voting Key

Quick disclaimer that I’m a romance writer in all aspects of the term, so most of my fics will contain mature content. Engage at your own risk, you know the rules, you’re responsible for curating your own experience of the internet, blah blah blah. This post serves as a current mock up of fic ideas I’m either actively working on or considering working on next. You can drop me an ask about any of them, or just vote via the emoji combo I’ve assigned them.

Voting lets me know you’re excited about an idea and makes it more likely I’ll actually work on it. You can vote anytime, there’re no deadlines or winner announcements, just me gauging your interest by what I see in my ask box most often.

You can also ask me about the original stuff I’m working on currently. The current WIPs are Medusa centric and the emoji for them is: 🐍

- Lupin: 🤑🤠💍  These are all oneshot ideas, between 5-15K each. If you want to vote for a specific idea, send me the emojis and the number of the idea. 

Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon always play rock-paper-scissors after a big heist to decide who’ll give the group a striptease, and who will get showered with money. Based on a piece of fanart that is basically this sequence of events in a 4koma (except in their version Jigen loses and in mine, it’s Goemon). (written, just needs editing)

Zenigata cuffs Lupin four times, and Lupin steals his heart. Very NSFW conclusion. Zenigata is the most caring lover you’ll ever find. Lupin is as thirsty as usual and twice as intense. (written, just needs editing)

Jigen protects Lupin from poison darts during a treasure hunt in an Aztec temple, and Lupin nurses him back to help--forcibly, since Jigen is a horrible patient. Born from my desire to spoil Jigen and talk about what ridiculous domestic husbands these two are. (WIP)

Born from the idea that Goemon and Zenigata probably couldn’t be an item, my brain decided to come up with how I could write for them. Goemon’s teaching an ikebana class as part of his training, and Zenigata shows up as a student on forced recreational leave for his health from the ICPO. Zenigata wins the samurai’s heart through flowers. But what happens when Lupin and Jigen find out? (Only good sexy things, I promise. These beans are in a healthy polycule--be gay, do crimes)

Trans!Lupin and Trans!Jigen premise: Jigen cares for Lupin after the master thief has top surgery, since Jigen has Been There and Done That. Caring, sweet, and a little sexy. Lupin is a much better patient than Jigen.

- Sonic Vampire Novelist Coffee Shop AU: 📚☕💐 

Shadow is an immortal vampire who has seen the world change for the worse too many times. These days it feels like he only lives for his coffee dates with Rouge, another immortal who loves each new era they encounter, warts and all. He has to admit that the book series she got him into speaks to him, at least. If someone in this era can understand him without meeting him, it can’t all be bad. But he hardly expected the goofy blue barista at the new coffee place to understand him the way those books do.

This is a novel length romcom romp with some big feelings about what it means to watch as things change, grow, and die. Expect lots of Big gothic feelings from this one, emotionally charged kissing, and overly-adoring sex. But also expect shenanigans from everyone in the coffee shop, which include Rouge, Amy, Tails, Knuckles, Cream, and more.

- Sonic Blazamy: 💖🌸💎

Amy Rose has been in love with Sonic for a while.

Or has she?

When the Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, and Silver are trapped as the fuel sources for Doctor Eggman’s newest evil scheme, Amy teams up with Blaze, Rouge, and Cream to save them. With Sonic out of the picture and Amy fulfilling his role, was she ever really in love with him? Or did she just want to be like him?

This is a novel length epic romance with lots of competent women and lots of romantic Blazamy content. Expect flowery hopes and dreams, badass self-actualization, and glancing hand touches that give way to cuddly and sweet sex.

- Persona 5: 🗡🍛☕

After bringing down the Metaverse twice, Ryuji didn’t think graduating high school and figuring out what to do with his life would be so hard. Akira’s back in town, and the gang’s more-or-less all in Tokyo, but everyone else seems to have a plan while Ryuji just floats. How’s he supposed to change the world when he’s not a phantom thief anymore?

This is a novel length fic that addresses how powerless one can feel being just one person in the face of all the corrupted systems and bigotry the world has to offer. It’s about holding on to what you believe in, working through the doubt, and fighting your way to a better tomorrow with the power you do have. The whole gang is queer, featured relationships being Mako x Ann, Ryuji x Akira, Futaba & Yusuke as platonic life partners. Akira is polyamorous and omnisexual, Futaba’s asexual and aromantic while Yusuke is demisexual and very romantic, Makoto’s a lesbian, Ann and Ryuji are bi, and Haru’s pansexual, demisexual, and aromantic. They’re one giant band of queer Phantom Thieves, and even if they’re not really doing the Metaverse thing anymore, they’re still gonna save the world!

Also, I’m gonna make Makoto not a cop. That super didn’t age well. Zenkichi and his boss can work on making them better/abolishing them for other better organizations.

- Hades Game: ❤️‍🔥💀

Oneshot. I just really need to elaborate on the threesome you can have with them in-game, okay? Healthy and canon poly relationships are so few and far between, so often I have to do a ton of groundwork to explain why it’s working in the fic, but NOT WITH THESE KIDS!

Get ready for Meg helping Zag and Than be better at expressing their feelings, lots of kissing, and probably pegging.

- Castlevania Animation Trevor/Sypha/Alucard: 🧛🏰🛌 

Castlevania gave Alucard a threesome last season, and I just really need S4 to give me him being taken care of by his partners. They’re probably not going to give it to me, so I’ll need to do it myself. This is just an everybody loves Alucard oneshot, with the gang’s signature banter (to an extent), Sypha being sexy, and Trever being remarkably sincere. This fic is gonna feel like that Ann Hathaway picture with Trevor kissing Alucard and Sypha holding the end of Trevor’s whip while she leans her head on Alucard’s shoulder adoringly.

- Devil May Cry Nico/Lady/Trish: 💋✨😈 

Nico’s gay, okay? Like really, really gay. And Lady’s bi and not into men who make her pay bills, but very into women who make amazing guns for her and demonesses with hearts who fight by her side. Trish is ace, but loves people and is pretty attached to Lady at this point. Plus it’s cute when Lady blushes and says nice things like they’re insults. I don’t have super solid ideas for them yet, and I envision these more like a polycule where Lady’s with Nico and with Trish but they’re not with each other more than seeing it as a threesome, but who knows what might happen. This is probably 1-2 oneshots depending on ideas, but might turn into a series of oneshots if people are interested (or I can’t control myself and inspiration strikes).

- Post FMA:B Blind Roy & No Alchemy Ed: 👀👑🙏

This is actually an old novel-length fic I wrote ages ago and didn’t post that didn’t turn out well because I was new to writing sex when I first wrote it. The plot is good, and is all about Roy learning to work with his blindness to reclaim his ambition of being Fuhrer and changing the system to something that actually cares for its people. He and Ed reconnect, fall into bed, and both set about working through their respective traumas about being “useless” having lost their sight/alchemy. They go to Xing as an ambassadorial party to offer Amestris’s collaboration on Al and May’s Alkahestry experiments--and uncover a plot that might threaten both kingdoms.

- Age of Calamity continuity Mipha x Revali: 🦚🐟💘

The first time Revali noticed Mipha, it was in the heat of battle. She stole his mark, taking them down with a flurry of quick blows from her spear. Violence rained from her like water--and then she healed him on her way to her next battle. No questions, no conditions, just pure kindness. The usual need to measure himself against those around him was quiet in her wake. And Revali couldn’t understand it. But how to get to know more about her? A fish and bird may fall in love, but where would they live?

This fic could be a oneshot or novel length depending on how far down the hole I fall. I need it to cover time, but it could be done in linked vignettes or with actually covering events in detail. I may elect to do a oneshot just to get it done and out of my system faster. So much fic to write, so little time.

Expect trans!Revali, polyamorous Zoras, scary competent Mipha, songbird Revali, love confessions that are made up entirely of berating Link for not loving Mipha the way she wants him to, and breaking these characters a little outside of their assigned roles in BotW and Age of Calamity. Background Link x Zelda, and Urbosa x Zelda’s Mom.

- Epic desert romance about Urbosa and Zelda’s mom: 🏜🏝⚡

I just think Urbosa should kiss women and Zelda’s mom should get more development and maybe a name or something. Also, lightning imagery/metaphors/play.

It also went way over my head that Riju wasn’t Urbosa’s daughter the first time I played BotW, so now I want to write about the Gerudo queen who refused to produce an heir. The Gerudo are fascinating and have a very interesting cutlure, but I think it could be examined from a nonbinary perspective that rejected pregnancy and wanting to find a husband. Not in like a hateful way, but in a way that examines if that’s really right for everyone. There’s that shop in town that sells Voe armor, after all. Maybe finding a husband and having children isn’t something you have to do if you don’t want to. And Urbosa really doesn’t want to.

[jmnua-blog]

Indie Dev: 1 - The New Idea

I switched my idea around and wanted to do some kind of fighting game since I am a huge fan of the genre and therefore I think I would be more motivated to make something good. I listen to a lot of black metal and thought about making a game where two corpse painted humans fight each other to the death. This would, however, require a lot of animation work because both of them would be human, so I went with a more cartoony/stylized style instead.

Game name: Illskapur

Illskapur is a Faroese word which basically translates to being angry in an evil way, or with evil intent.

Illskapur is a 2D fighting game in which two players face off against each other in a gothic/horror setting. The players can pick between two characters, who are unique in their moveset.

Character 1 is a lumbering ghoul, who has 200 hp but is rather slow and has long reach on his attacks due to his size. His special move is shooting his morningstar hand forward across the whole stage and returning it, damaging the other player both ways if it is not dodged.

Character 2 is a fast flesh ripping vampire-like being, who has 100 hp. He has short range but makes up for it with speed. His special is going to either be a frenzied attack, during which he turns red and dashes back and forth across the screen rapidly or a large projectile of swarming bats that fly across the screen, damaging everything in their path.

Both characters lose blood (hp) when they attack each other. This blood will spill onto the stage, which the players can then pick up, thereby recycling each other's blood.

 Age group: Probably 12+, but because of the blood it might have to be higher.

Graphics: Pixel graphics in varying bits, as the larger character is probably going to have a higher bit count than the leaner, smaller one.

Inspirations:

Castlevania in terms of artistic theme, style and music.

Street Fighter 2 in terms of mechanics and balancing.

I am also looking at games like Owlboy, Shovel Knight and Blasphemous for artistic and mechanical inspiration.

Books I'm using: ‘Character Design for Mobile Devices: Mobile games, sprites and pixel art’, ‘Game Plan: Great Designs that Changed the Face of Computer Gaming’ and ‘Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals’.