#top 5 strategy games

[deshigeek]

5 Best Upcoming Strategy Games 2024

So, get ready to put your skills to the test and explore new worlds of strategy and adventure in the coming year as we have tried to list promising top 5 titles of 2024 in this list article of ‘5 Best Upcoming Strategy Games 2024’! This feature is based on every type of strategy game whether it is RTS, Turn-based, grand or other types released for PC, PlayStation or other platforms. Well, I have covered the Top 5 RPG titles in my previous feature and you should definitely check that out.

[skyplayssplatoon3]

The one hill I will die on for Splatoon is that the Spawn Bubbles will always be superior to the launchers because of the sheer amount of inescapable camping I have seen in Splatoon 3

That launch armor is JUST not strong enough to give people a real chance to escape on some maps

If you don't believe me...

[Source]

And in case anyone is thinkin' "But they lost! It didn't help them!"

This team is apparently notable for not caring about losses, even intentionally extending this lost game to feed their kill counts as much as possible

They aren't even mad about it! They just do it for clout LMAO;;

[twilightcitadel]

Top 5 Best Medieval Strategy Games

Top 5 Best Medieval Strategy Games

Using our carefully curated selection of the top 5 greatest medieval strategy games, take a trip through time and immerse yourself in the epic realm of medieval conquest. For aficionados of the genre, these games provide unmatched depth and excitement, from leading powerful armies to creating expansive empires. Prepare to be astounded by the majesty and difficulty of these medieval masterworks, regardless of your level of experience as a tactician or your potential as a strategist.

Crusader Kings III

In Crusader Kings III, you yourself in the position of a medieval monarch and negotiate the perilous political, scheming, and combat situations. This expansive strategy game, created by Paradox Interactive, features a rich tapestry of dynastic intrigue against the backdrop of medieval Europe. You will make alliances, set up marriages, and plot your path to power as you lead the dynasty of your choice through the years, all the while fending off rival nobles and outside dangers.

I love playing strategy games and medieval history, and Crusader Kings III provided me with an immersive experience unlike anything else. I became engrossed in my dynasty's destiny, excitedly arranging connections and marriages to preserve my family's heritage. My interest was piqued for hours on end by the complex character interactions and dynamic events, and I felt a great feeling of success when my dynasty succeeded.

Both reviewers and gamers have praised Crusader Kings III extensively, praising its richness, intricacy, and compelling narrative. It is evident from the game's highly positive rating on sites like Steam that players admire the replayability and attention to detail in the title.

Platforms: Steam, Playstation Store

Stronghold Crusader II

In the real-time strategy game Stronghold Crusader II, you take leadership of forces fighting for supremacy in the Holy Land. Feel the heat of combat. This Firefly Studios-created follow-up to the renowned Stronghold Crusader offers additional units, better multiplayer features, and better graphics. It also expands upon the formula.

Stronghold Crusader II's difficult gameplay and evocative setting took me back to the Crusades. It was thrilling to lead legions of knights and siege engines against my enemies, and the added strategic element of building and fortifying my own castle made the experience even more engaging. Stronghold Crusader II captivated me, whether I was playing it alone or in online competition with pals.

Fans have praised Stronghold Crusader II's upgrades and expansions for fixing bugs and introducing new content, despite the game's initial mediocre reviews. It's evident that Stronghold Crusader II is still a highly regarded game in the series because there is a devoted player base that is still active today.

Platforms: Steam

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord

The much awaited follow-up to the beloved Mount & Blade series, Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, transports players to a world of swords and sieges. In this dynamic sandbox world full of chance and peril, you can carve out your own road to dominance in this medieval action-RPG, developed by TaleWorlds Entertainment.

I was impressed with Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord because of its expansive universe and flexible gameplay. The game gave me a degree of freedom not often found in games of this kind, whether I was commanding my soldiers in combat or negotiating with other factions. I will never soon forget the excitement of starting from zero and watching my own business grow.

Fans have praised Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord for its vast world and intricate gameplay mechanics, even if it is still in early access. The game has received excellent reviews overall, despite some criticism of its development, and users are looking forward to more updates and enhancements.

Platforms: Steam, Playstation Store

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is a remastered version of the well-loved RTS classic that allows you to relive the splendour of the Middle Ages. This definitive edition of Age of Empires II, created by Forgotten Empires and released by Xbox Game Studios, features amazing 4K graphics, improved audio, and an abundance of new content to bring the game's classic gameplay to contemporary audiences.

Being one of the first strategy games I ever played, Age of Empires II has a particular place in my heart. My expectations were far exceeded by the Definitive Edition, which added contemporary enhancements while keeping the allure and captivating gameplay of the original. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is still a mainstay in my game collection, whether I'm playing through old campaigns or taking on friends in multiplayer.

Both critics and players have lauded Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition for its accurate replication of the old game while adding contemporary features. It's evident that the Age of Empires fanbase is still as fervent as ever because of the game's extremely good rating on websites like Steam.

Platforms: Steam, Microsoft Store

Total War: Medieval II

In Creative Assembly's critically acclaimed strategy game, Total War: Medieval II, you can lead armies to victory and alter the course of history. In this expansive real-time strategy game set in the turbulent Middle Ages, players take control of well-known groups like France, England, and the Holy Roman Empire in their struggle for dominance over Europe, the Middle East, and beyond.

I was enthralled by Total War: Medieval II because of its strategic depth and epic scale. The game provided an immersion level that was unsurpassed by other games in the genre, from controlling economies and cities to planning large-scale wars involving thousands of warriors. Every choice seemed significant and important, whether it was to fight faraway empires or form agreements with nearby nations.

Both critics and players have lauded Total War: Medieval II for its rich gameplay mechanics, historical realism, and engrossing atmosphere. The game remains a popular classic among strategy fans, with a committed modding community producing new content and experiences.

Platforms: Steam, App Store, Google Play

Forge Your Destiny

The age of conquest awaits you when you have these top 5 greatest medieval strategy games at your disposal. For every couch general and aspiring monarch, this has plenty to offer, whether of whether they are more drawn to the grandeur of dynasty politics or the excitement of epic battles. So prepare to carve out your own position in history by marshalling your forces and resources. You have the task of taking over the medieval world!

My Own Dark Fantasy Realm

Hi there, fellow fans of dark fantasy! Thanks to your unflinching support, our blog—which is packed with tales and inspirations of dark fantasy—is making waves on TikTok, Pinterest, and YouTube. Even more thrilling is the fact that we're creating a captivating Trading Card Game to further engross you in Twilight Citadel's eerie mysteries. Explore the depths of the shadows with our website, where you can get eerie yet lovely phone wallpapers and posters. Furthermore, we've got you covered with free resources like desktop wallpapers and profile pictures to make sure your gadgets are brimming with eerie fantasy atmosphere. Come along with us on this surreal adventure, where fears come true and shadows dance. Are you prepared to welcome the gloom?

[eumppattv]

OOPS, IV’E FALLEN IN LOVE | enha ft. hybe game caterers

enhypen falling in love with you during hybe game caterers

pairing ot7 x idol!reader genre ᩍ fluff, love at first sight warnings ꕁ none ➜ masterlist enha permanent taglist here! a/n: requests are open :)

heeseung ☆ ⊹ ๑

you stepped up, handing heeseung the microphone. you had expressed how you admired him as a vocalist, and that was enough for him to join you in the duet. the goal was for you to get a perfect score in the karaoke machine, and he was determined to make it happen. he was so focused on his part, until he heard your voice. it was like a siren, pulling him in until he couldn’t remember where he was standing. after you finished your line, he just started at you. the mc said something about heeseung forgetting his line, but he was too focused on you to hear. he just wanted to hear your voice again.

jay ☆ ⊹ ๑

jay was totally messing up. he had a song blasting in his ears, and was desperately trying to concentrate on your lips. you were saying something, but he couldn’t decipher it. then it happened; you smiled at him. let’s just say he forgot about the game right then and there. you were laughing because no matter how much you slowed down you speech, he still could not guess the word. but now your laughing had him flustered, the tips of his ears turning red. he didn’t care how long the game would take because of his confusion- he just wanted to see you smile at him again.

jake ☆ ⊹ ๑

jake had never met anyone as competitive as him. you were on the field for the soccer portion of the day. you ran up on the field, cheering your team on. then you were called as team captain to walk up to enhypen captain, jake. now face to face, you were asked about your strategy for the game. you replied that there was no strategy because you were just that good. that made jake laugh, and he gave a cocky reply back. throughout the game, there was some banter between you two, until finally your team came out victorious. you stuck your tongue out at jake, and he laughed. he did not stop talking about you to the boys when they returned to their table.

sunghoon ☆ ⊹ ๑

we all know the moment in the last game caterers, where sunghoon forgot eunchae’s name and had to look at her name tag. so this year, they decided to make a game specifically for him: name that idol. there were 5 idols in line, with you being at the end. your name tags were off, the goal being for sunghoon to go down the line and name each one of you. of course he went down the line, giving them different names or just simply giving up on even giving them names. then he got to you, and to everyone surprise- he knew your name. truth is he had been watching you throughout the day, and had learned your name easily. you were definitely special in his eyes.

sunoo ☆ ⊹ ๑

sunoo was tired, and incredibly hungry. as he ran the last lap, he felt a breeze pass by- followed by high pitch cheering. you had won, which meant you would be getting all the food for your team, including the mint chocolate ice cream. he quietly made his way back to the members, sitting down in his chair. his stomach growled, as he put his head down on the table. suddenly he felt a tap on his shoulder, and he sprung up in surprise. there you were, with a plate of food and a sweet smile. and there he was, heart full, eating his food while staring at you from across the field.

jungwon ☆ ⊹ ๑

they wanted to do a martial arts segment in this years game caterers. of course jungwon was a part of the event, but little did he know he would go up another martial artist turned idol; you. at first he was a little hesitant, talking to the host about how he didn’t want to hurt you. well, one thing to to another, and here he was. flipped onto the ground, you on top of him with the biggest smirk playing on your face. he was shocked to say the least, but seeing you beat him sparked his interest in you. by the end of the day, he was head over heels. he liked that you were strong, and he was looking forward to seeing you around.

ni-ki ☆ ⊹ ๑

it was the last round of random play dance. only two idols remained, both being the main dancers in their groups. you and ni-ki stepped up, your bodies moving to the familiar beat. suddenly, ni-ki froze up, forgetting the next move. he glanced over to you, hoping you hadn’t made the same mistake. instead he found you dancing your heart out, as if the song belonged to your group. anyone could see the hearts in his eyes. he hadn’t paid much attention to you or anyone during the day, but now he couldn’t look away from you. he had never seen anyone move so elegantly, and look so beautiful.

🝮 taglist open!

@avocarua @kpoprhia @haechansbbg @yeehawnana @lilly-bubblelops @aishigrey @gweoriz @soul-is-a-strange-kid @dior-girlie @gigification

[csuitebitches]

Things I Have to do for My Sanity

1. Wake up at the first alarm - no snoozing and no going lying around in bed. Getting up straight away and head to the bathroom. It’s going to suck initially but you’ll get used to it in a few days.

2. Mental self care: 30 minute meditation, brain games mental math, reading, news. Knowledge is sexy and don’t deny yourself sexiness.

3. Daily review in my diary at the beginning and end of my day: what went well, what didn’t, what I need to accomplish to achieve my goals. This has tremendously helped my goals and keeping my motivation more consistent, especially at work. Analysing and correcting incremental changes creates long term success.

4. Cleaning up before bed - clothes, shoes, organising my bag, etc. I set a timer for 5 minutes and try to get as much done as possible.

5. Pick out my clothes the night before and steam iron them for the next day.

6. Face masks twice a week, a hair mask once a week, I scrub the soles of my feet with that foot scrubbing thingy once a week. Manicures every month because my nail beds are too sensitive to do it biweekly, iron supplements so that I’m not a moody bitch. Matching underwear to feel good about myself. Lavender spray on my pillow before sleeping so that I don’t get weird dreams.

7. Reading biographies and autobiographies. My mentor had suggested this to me and it’s amazing how literally I don’t have a single original experience - everything I’ve felt or mistakes I’ve made have already been done by someone else.

I’m going to curate a list of business books that I feel that have helped me the most recently.

8. I write a short essay everyday in the language I’m currently learning. I also end my day by talking about my day for at least 2 minutes in that language and I record it in voice memos to keep a track of my progress. I want to be fluent to a level where I can think in this language.

✨

I don’t generally share a lot about my personal life - none of you know my name or where I’m based and I feel comfortable doing that. But I do want to start giving out more insights to what I’m doing personally in my career - the good, the bad, the ugly.

Being self aware and honest to myself has helped me improve a lot. I know that shame is my Achilles heel, so now I’m reading books to combat that. I’ve caved in and decided to try therapy for a bit to see if what I’m doing is useful or not. My first session is tomorrow. Staying disciplined was my initial hurdle but the systems I’ve set (waking up early + habit stacking) have helped me slowly overcome that.

Work side, I’ve started establishing myself publicly more. I don’t want to reveal too much about what I do exactly but the good news is that our biggest competitor has noticed my progress (a former employee of that company came to us for an interview and directly asked our top management about me). It’s been 4 months that I’ve been working here but I know that next year I really have to swing the bat and hit a home run. I’ve decided to work on the field more and less in the office to really understand people’s needs and create unique solutions.

The daily/weekly/quarterly diary is definitely credited to my recent wins. That’s the biggest change I’ve made in my routine and i can already see that it’s working well. I’m going to continue refining and implementing that method.

Recent work methods I’ve decided to start working on (I’m not required to do these but I do it for my growth):

1. I’ve started studying popular companies’ business and revenue models in detail. Everything is adoptable and adaptable, you just have to figure out how to tweak something for your company’s clients and needs. Now I’ve decided that I want to keep a track of our competitors, their business models, their owners names, pricing strategy, their target audience etc etc on an excel sheet so that I’m aware with what’s happening in the market. 

2. I’ve started making client profiles. Every time I meet a client, I note down their name, the company name, what they were like, anything specific they seemed to like or want, how much they had paid us for a service, what their paying capacity could be, etc. 

[mysteryshoptls]

SSR Leona Kingscholar - Club Wear Voice Lines

Club Wear Leona does not have a vignette.

When Summoned: Do as I say and I'll give you your just reward: A little thing I know you all love called victory.

Summon Line: 'Kay then, let's get this match started already. Y'know, and be all "sportsmanship-like".

Groooovy!!: There's no such thing as a miraculous win. The strongest, smartest team comes out on top... That's all it is.

Home: Guess I'll go an make light work of 'em.

Home Idle 1: Ruggie's always finding ways to slack off during practice, but he actually does okay during matches. But that's 'cause he just really wants to win.

Home Idle 2: Booing? Wrong, that's just more cheering. It's great hearing all those noisy people shriek just 'cause they're scared by how strong we are.

Home Idle 3: Epel's got the drive and spirit. Sure, he's got potential, 'cept he's just not that good at remembering the more complicated strategies... Geez.

Home Idle - Login: There's a lot to learn even from losing a match...? What fanciful crud. Results are what matter. There's no point in not winning.

Home Idle - Groovy: You can watch if you want, but... I ain't gonna listen to any complaining if you get hit by a disc or some stray magic bolt.

Home Tap 1: Flying ain't hard at all. All 'cause some fussy hoity-toity chamberlain forced onto me everything he knew.

Home Tap 2: Magical Shift is a sport that requires a ton of strategic thinking. Sometimes tactics need to be switched up on the fly based on the current state of the game... And coming up with those maneuvers are what makes this fun.

Home Tap 3: Only the team captain wears this longer-style jacket. Makes it easier for everyone to know who the boss is, don't it?

Home Tap 4: My brother considers Magical Shift to just be a national pastime. Even though I think it'd make a great resource for tourism if we could put together an elite team for the world league.

Home Tap 5: Shouldn't I go watch the team practice? Listen, our regimen prizes each team member's initiative for self-improvement above all else. Yaaaaawn...

Home Tap - Groovy: Don't bother cheering during the game. It'd be better if you could just keep a tight hold on Grim. He's an eyesore, always jumping around.

Duo: [LEONA]: Epel, just do what I tell you. [EPEL]: Leave it all to me, Leona-san!

Requested by @farfalla049.

[tbaluver]

What Video Game/ Genre The Hashira's Play- Demon Slayer

a/n: just a silly idea bc my head is filled with gaming brainrot esp dress to impress

any likes and reblogs are always appreciated! enjoy! <3

genre: silly

⋆｡‧˚ʚ♡ɞ˚‧｡⋆

Giyu:

He's honestly a chill gamer and mostly just there to have fun and make friends. But never really chats with anybody unless someone talks to him first.

He duo's with Sabito a lot on games. Whatever games Sabito recommends to play, he'll play it. Sabito mostly carries him in FPS ( first person shooter ) games.

One time Sanemi and Obanai were on the enemy team and they won. He would be confused on why they would curse him out every time in the chat saying he was to 'easy' or that he sucks.

Sanemi:

Plays a lot of video games especially during his childhood. He would share his DS or Gameboy with Genya a lot during their childhood.

Mainly plays FPS games or any combat games. Literally anything competitive.

Mostly duo with Obanai in FPS games. He would curse Giyu out with Obanai anytime they would be on the opposing team.

Tries to play with Genya and he tries his best to not rage but eventually he does either at the game or at Genya. Ironically tells Genya not to play games like that anymore because people in the lobby can be toxic.

Would get in trouble a lot from yelling so much at the game at night.

Obanai:

Has played Overcooked with Mitsuri many times. He does not yell at her at all and is super patient when they do not get any stars on the hard levels. They would plan strategies together on how to defeat a level.

Sometimes plays FPS games but only when Sanemi asks him to get on. Will type mean things in chat with Sanemi whenever he sees Giyu on the opposite team.

Misturi:

Has so much fun playing overcooked with Obanai and they are so close to finishing the game. Would make comments about how if she were to drop food in her restaurant she would not serve it to her customers or how she would love to make a recipe like that in real life.

She would play cooking games like Cooking Mama or Good Pizza, Great Pizza. Would literally give a generous amount of toppings on Good Pizza, Great Pizza and would already have 5 stars in her restaurant.

Plays other games like Episode or The Sims or Just Dance. Would have the cutest family in the coziest home that she made on The Sims. She would also be really good on Just Dance.

She would also play Otome games because men irl suck and Obanai won't confess to her yet.

Tengen:

He would be really good in Osu! or any rhythm game. Has also played Fortnite Festival and has the top score in all his friends lists.

Duo with Rengoku often in FPS games. He would also have a big ego when playing any competitive match. "I'm a god in this game"

Rengoku:

Plays a couple FPS games and duos with Tengen.

Plays with his little brother and helps carry him in any game he needs. Usually just loves to spend time with his little brother and plays whatever game he wants.

Played with Sanemi and Obanai a couple times. Sanemi would yell in the mic and have his ears ringing so Rengoku wouldn't notice how loud he actually talks on the mic until Sanemi yells at him.

Shinobu:

Not the biggest fan of playing video games on her free time.

I don't know why but I think she could have fun playing horror games or likes playing chill games like Stardew Valley.

She tried to play an FPS game and played the role as a healer and never picked up the game ever again.

Muichiro:

Would have a hand me down of a DS or gameboy and have loved video games every since.

Have played a lot of video games and plays a lot of games that are trending.

Right now he plays a lot of Minecraft and Roblox.

Teaches the Kamaboko Squad on how to play. They would have a realm and try to beat the enderdragon together.

Gyomei:

He's blind but I feel like the kids would include him in an game they play. I feel like he would like playing story games where choices matter. He would carefully pick the choices and actions so he can save all the characters.

[alexiaput3llas]

Game of Love/ Alexia Putellas x Reader

Warnings: Nothing but fluff. Maybe one swear word

Author: So this is my first time writing, because I always wanted to try it and I have to say I´m a vey slow writer but it is a lot of fun. Also english is not my first language anyways enjoy (-;

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You barely get nervous, but here you are. You're about to head out to the pitch. It is the Champions League final 2024, and Barcelona is facing none other than the mighty Lyon. But this Barcelona is different from the ones that lost to Lyon before. This Barcelona is determined to win.

You get pulled out of your thoughts by a familiar hand on your shoulder. You recognize that touch among billions, and her scent will forever be your favorite. Alexia and you have been dating for four years.

You signed to Barcelona 6 Years ago and Alexia and you immediately clicked. You became friends with her on instant and after some time you started to devolve a small huge crush on her. What you didn’t realize that she felt the same, but after a night out with the team to celebrate your Copa de la Reina victory, where everyone, including Alexia, drank a bit too much, things between you and her got really heated and after some shameless flirting on both sides, grinding on each other on the dance floor and some more drinks, you found yourself the next morning in an unfamiliar hotel room with brown hair sprawled everywhere. You couldn´t help but admire her and hoped that also for her this was not only a one night stand. So after she woke up, you both got to talk and finally admitted your feelings for each other.

And here you are now, facing your lover, who only for you breaks her serious game face, which, in your opinion, is one of the most attractive things in the world, into an encouraging smile. "Are you ready, mi amor?" Alexia, of course, notices your nervous state. "You don't have to be nervous, okay? We are a different team now, and you have the season of your life." It is true; you have the season of your life and have already won the league. "Thanks, baby, I really needed that." She nods, gives you a quick kiss on the forehead, on your nose, your right cheek, your left cheek, and finally, your lips.

You can't help the butterflies that erupt in your stomach, and you smile into the kiss. "Break it up, lovebirds, will ya!" Mapi chuckles behind you. You break away from Alexia's soft lips, giggle, and hug your girlfriend. "I love you," you mumble in her neck. "And I love you more." She steps out of your embrace and kisses the top of your head. Just about when you wanted to protest that you love her more, she shuts you up with one final kiss to your lips and eventually takes her spot to lead out the team.

The game couldn't start any worse. In the third minute of the game, Ada Hegerberg scored a beauty, leaving Cata Coll no chance. In the 20th minute, it was 2:0 Lyon, thanks to Van de Donk. Only 5 minutes afterward, Ada Hegerberg scored her second goal of the evening, and it was 3:0. You immediately got flashbacks to Turin 2 years ago, but you had to shake these thoughts out of your head. Lyon presses high, and Barcelona was lucky not to concede any more goals. The ref blew the halftime whistle, and both teams headed to the changing rooms.

Everyone's heads hang low. I sit at my cubby talking with Aitana about strategies when I feel a presence next to me. It was Alexia, who immediately joined our conversation to outline the game. She placed one hand on my thigh and gave it a few encouraging squeezes. Jonathan came in: “Chicas, nothing is lost yet. We all know what we're capable of, and if anyone can turn the game around, it's Barca. Vamos!”. "VAMOS!" Everyone in the changing room knew that this game was not over, and with new hope and confidence, we headed out to the pitch to start the second half.

And with confidence, we played. We started the second half way better, and after only ten minutes, after an amazing pass from Alexia, Aitana could find the back of the net. And that was all we needed.

A corner kick, Mariona made it 3:2.

Alexia passed the ball to you, and you began to run down the field, suddenly having a lot of open space. Just as you were about to shoot, you felt some cleats colliding with your ankle, making you stumble to the ground in pain. Your ankle throbbed, and not long after, the medics arrived.

At the same time, Alexia shoved Ada, who made the tackle. "You could've hurt her. That has to be a fucking card!" Ada shoved Alexia back and growled, "I didn't fucking touch her. She fell to the ground because of nothing." Just as Alexia was about to respond, with what would have definitely been a hard push, Mapi grabbed her. "Ale, calm down. Let her go! Y/N needs you more. She isn't worth it." With one last angry glare at Ada, Alexia made its way to you. "Mi amor, are you okay?" "Peachy," you responded. "Is it bad?" Alexia mumbled to the physios. "No, it's alright. She's alright to continue to play."

The tackle was rewarded with a free kick, which Alexia easily slotted into the top left corner. You ran to her, and all gathered in a big hug. "Freaking yes, Baby. What a goal!" You gave her a secret kiss on her neck.

With now only 5 more minutes left on the clock, everything hurt. But you couldn't just give up. You sprinted to recover a ball and sent it to Patri, who dribbled around one Lyon Player and passed it back to you. And you did what you can do best. Shoot. You just took the shot. And…

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!" Everyone was screaming from the top of their lungs. Your shot probably won Barca the Champions League. With only a few minutes left, Barcelona did everything they could to defend their lead, and that was what you did. Throwing in every ball, running even though it hurt.

The whistle blew. Barcelona had done it. You are the champions of Europe once again. You sank to your knees, overwhelmed with emotions. You soon locked eyes with those sparkling hazel eyes, and a beaming smile made its way across your face, as does it with Alexia. You made your way over to her and pulled her into a tight hug. "I'm so proud of, Ale," you mumbled into her neck. "And I'm so unbelievably proud of you, mi amor. That goal was a beauty." You chuckled. "It still feels surreal. I mean, we won it now for the third time, but I never get tired of it." You looked up at her, and the desire to just kiss her grew inside of you. The way her eyes sparkled, her teeth-showing smile, and a look of adoration towards you only intensifies it.

Without hesitation, you fulfill your desire and press your lips against Alexia's. The taste of victory is sweeter than any championship, and in that moment, the world disappears around you. The cheers from the stadium, the flashing cameras, and the ecstatic teammates fade into the background, leaving only you and Alexia, lost in the celebration of your shared triumph.

Breaking the kiss, you rest your forehead against hers, breathing in sync as the magnitude of the moment sinks in. The elation, the relief, and the sheer joy are palpable, and you can't help but grin. "We did it," you whisper, more to yourself than to Alexia, as if saying it out loud would make the reality even more concrete.

"We did," she replies, her voice filled with a mix of happiness and disbelief. "I knew you'd make a difference, but that last goal..." She trails off, shaking her head in amazement.

The team gathers around, enveloping both of you in a collective embrace. Laughter, cheers, and the occasional tear of happiness mingle as you bask in the glory of the victory. Champagne bottles pop open, and the sparkling liquid showers everyone, marking the end of a long and challenging journey.

Amidst the jubilation, you steal a moment alone with Alexia. Hand in hand, you slip away from the chaos and find a quiet corner of the stadium. The echo of cheers becomes a distant hum as you lean against a railing, gazing out at the pitch where the triumph unfolded. She pushed you gently against the wall and kissed you softly, with so much love. After a few minutes, you broke apart and rested your foreheads together.

"It's incredible, isn't it?" Alexia murmurs, her eyes reflecting the shimmering lights of the stadium. "All those years of hard work, the setbacks, the victories, and now... this." She gestures to the field below, still alive with the energy of the recently concluded match.

You nod, a profound sense of accomplishment settling in your chest. "And to think it all started with that Copa de la Reina celebration."

Alexia chuckles, her hand finding yours. "A night we'll never forget."

And with that, you join your teammates again for the celebrations.

You knew that whatever will happen on the pitch, you would always have a safe place off the pitch.

Alexia

[theresattrpgforthat]

How To Find Cool Games: On DriveThruRPG!

So disclaimer upfront: I don’t use the DriveThruRPG website nearly as much as Itch.io. Some of those reasons are practical (there’s no tagging system, the catalogue is rather D&D saturated,), while others are more… well, shallow (the website isn’t as pretty).

However, DriveThruRPG is a very good tool to have in your toolbox when it comes to finding cool ttrpgs, for a number of reasons, the primary one being that it’s for TTRPGS and only TTRPGs! Let’s get started.

The Search Bar / Categories.

You can start by doing a basic search for a game that you already know about, or by searching for a keyword, like “pirates” or “zombies”. You’ll get titles sorted by “relevance”, so things that have the keyword in the name will show up first. One of the biggest downsides of this strategy is that everything kind of gets lumped in here: supplements, maps, expansions, adventures, character sheets… the list goes on. However, you can narrow down what you’re looking for by using the toggles at the top of the website. I personally usually narrow down search results by selecting “Product Type” and then “Core Rulebooks”.

One nice thing DriveThru has compared to Itch.io is that you can combine categories, so if I wanted to brows say, Gothic Horror Core Rulebooks priced under $20, well I can do that! My favourite categories are for genre, but another set of categories that you may find very useful once you’ve familiarized yourself with some games is the Rule System category. There are categories for systems like the Year Zero Engine, Forged in the Dark, BRP (Basic Roleplaying), OSR, and so much more. There’s also “other systems” and “any system” categories if you want to find something that’s unique or that can be used across games.

DriveThru also has a lot of games published in different languages, and you can narrow your results to see what’s been offered in your language. I think there are more options on this website than there are on Itch, although you might benefit by finding one or two publishers in your language on DriveThru, and then check the publisher’s website from there.

The Homepage

Another reason to check out DriveThru regularly is the sales and promotions. The top banner of the homepage will typically advertise a few things: the Deal of the Day, current themed sales, and special offers that DriveThru RPG wants you to know about. Their homepage also has Bestselling Titles, Most Popular Games Under $5, Newest Games, Featured Titles, and, if you scroll down enough, Personalized suggestions. Unlike Itch.io, DriveThru does a lot of work to show you what’s new, what’s hot, and what’s a really good deal right now, which can all be really helpful things!

When you land on a game, you’ll be able to see whether or not DriveThru sells physical copies, some basic information like book size, rule system, publisher & author, and a blurb describing the setting and other general information about the game. DriveThru has a side panel with “Customers also Bought”, which is great for showing you things that you might like, either because they surround the same theme, they work for the same game, or they are in a similar genre. (Another thing that Itch isn’t quite as good at.)

You’ll also be able to see (and leave) reviews for game, including the ratings left by other people who have picked it up. Occasionally I’ll find really useful information in the reviews, as reviewers might talk about mechanics they love or loathe, or recommend styles of play that they feel the game matches.

Finally, like Itch, DriveThru will let you know if you’ve already bought the game, and provide you with a download shortcut.

Publishing House Pages

Larger publishing houses typically have their ttrpg content sorted very nicely for you on their publisher pages, to help you find the things that you want. Modiphius is a great example, sorting Star Trek, Dune, Fallout, and their 2d20 games all in special categories.

Many publishers also have a Community Content section, which is great if you’re looking for assets, new adventures, hacks of a game system and some very reasonably priced (or even cheap) game additions. Similar to Itch, DriveThru has a Pay-What-You-Want feature for many games, although, unlike Itch, most PWYW titles require that you pay a non-zero amount.

Newsletters

When you create an account on DriveThruRPG, you can sign up for various different kinds of newsletters. Some come directly from DriveThru itself: this includes the Follow Your Favourites and Deal of the Day options, as well as weekly/monthly newsletters carrying information about new releases, special promotions, and (often) a free ttrpg product of the month.

However, on top of that, when you purchase a game or follow publishing pages, you can also get emails about new releases specific to those creators, as well as updates if a new version of a game you bought has been added. Often if it’s a game you already bought, this means you own the new version too - something that DriveThru has in common with Itch!

The Follow Your Favourites announcements will line up with whatever you’ve chosen to follow on the website. I’ve asked for updates about new Core Rulebooks, and I also get updates from the Onyx Path and a few other places where I found games I really liked. I also check the Deal of the Day offers fairly regularly; sometimes there are really really good deals offered and if it’s a game you know or like, then you don’t want to miss out on a sale!

Wishlists

DriveThru allows you to add games to wishlists to look at later, and even gives you the ability to sort your wishlists, although the process feels harder to look through than Itch does; I think it might be a UI issue.

However, because it acts like a wishlist, you can move games from the wishlist into your cart and vice versa, as well as move the games to another list. One really nice thing about the wishlist section is that DriveThru will alway show you when something you want is on sale, and how much it is normally - Itch does this too, but in this case, DriveThru is much easier to read!

I mostly sort my wishlists into Core Rulebooks and Supplements, because I don’t have nearly as many games bookmarked on DriveThru. If it exists on Itch, I store it on Itch - but there are plenty of other, “someday’ games, that I want to be able to find again in the future.

Your Library

DriveThruRPG has an app that you can download onto your computer or your phone, and it basically acts as a library that you can look through. In both the webpage and the app, you can sort your purchases alphabetically, from new to old, by publisher, by whether or not they were updated, and using similar categories as the search bar on the store front.

Free things can definitely be found here, even if they’re harder to look for. On DriveThru, most free products are things like character sheets, playtest games, or Quickstarts. However, some publishers do put up their stuff for free. Whenever I can get a Quickstart of something interesting, or if I find something being offered for free, I add it to my library. Free games are how I got started in ttrpgs, and QuickStarts are wonderful introductions to a system that usually give you a good idea of what the game is going to feel like.

Conclusion

Overall, DriveThruRPG is great for folks who like certain big publishing houses, and folks who like a good deal. I personally usually end up on the site because something in my emails caught my eye, which is the opposite of how I navigate Itch. DriveThru was my home base before I discovered Itch.io, so I still have a little fondness for the website, even if looking through it is a little bit of a slog.

One thing that might be a bit of an annoyance is that if you own something from a certain company, they might be able to send you a lot of emails for every sale and new product. If this becomes too much, you can choose to opt out from those publishers.

If you don’t want to have to actively engage with the website as much as say, Itch, DriveThru’s email system is also a big help. You can customize your subscriptions to match what you’re interested in, and then just check your emails once in a while to see what’s on offer. After a while you’ll also learn about yearly events, like the Summer Sale, which often provides big discounts on a lot of different games.

DriveThru is also a great place to start if you’re looking for print versions of games: I don’t know what shipping is like to places outside Canada, but I definitely appreciate that it’s an option, and sometimes all you need to do is find a game or publisher - once you know that it exists, you can google that publisher, check out their website, and figure out the best place to order from there.

[persevereforahappyending]

Maybe in Another Life |4|

Pairing: Clarisse La Rue x Hunter of Artemis!Reader

Summary: You are a Hunter of Artemis, but you start to question what you truly want when you meet Clarisse and get to know her.

Warnings: Slight Titans Curse Spoilers

Word Count: 2.6k+

Main Masterlist | Series Masterlist

ch. 1 | ch. 2 | ch. 3 | ch. 4 | ch. 5 | ch. 6 | ch. 7 | ch. 8 | ch. 9 | ch. 10 | ch. 11 | ch. 12 | ch. 13 | ch. 14 | ch. 15 | ch. 16 | ch. 17

“Just let me come,” you whisper yelled at Zoe. The sun had just started to come up and though all the Hunters were awake, the rest of the camp wasn’t.

“No,” Zoe whispered back harshly. “We went over this. You are needed here; you are in charge when Artemis and I aren’t around.”

“That was before Phoebe got sick,” you pointed to the bed where the other Hunters were taking care of Phoebe. The shirt the campers had gifted her had been laced with something making her sick and it was going to take to long for her to recover, the others needed to leave for the quest now.

“This doesn’t change anything. We’ll just do it with four.”

“The quest demands five.” You crossed your arms, daring Zoe to argue with you. The prophecy said five and though prophecies could be miss leading the one thing they tended to get right was the number of people involved. Trying to defy a prophecy tended to not work out.

“I need you here and I’m not taking anyone else. Now, we have to go.” Zoe nodded at Bianca who quickly grabbed her bag and went out the door to wait.

“Zoe-”

“My decision is final,” Zoe snapped. “Am I clear?” she stepped closer, looking up at you. You were taller, you were older, but that didn’t change the fact that Zoe was in charge.

“Understood,” you said.

With that Zoe swung her bag over her shoulder and marched out the door. You unclenched your jaw and slowly breathed out through your nose before following after her. You might not have been allowed to go on the quest but that didn’t mean you weren’t still going to see them off like you always did. You were silently hoping the dread you had been feeling ever since Artemis left on her mission was you just being paranoid and now with Zoe you wanted to write it off as being petty about not being able to go on the quest yourself.

As a daughter of Nike you desired victory, almost above all else, it was an issue many times. You had gotten better since joining the Hunters and Artemis helped show you victory wasn’t everything, though you still desired to win and be on top at the end of the day. Winning wasn’t the only thing being a child of Nike gave you though, you also could usually judge who would come out victorious in certain situations.

Whether it be watching a game, a sparing session, or watching two sides fight a war, Nike was always there. Nike could sense which side would come out on top. It’s one of the reasons, while Nike was seen with both Ares and Athena, she was usually more connected with being at Athena’s side. Ares loved a good fight and though he enjoyed winning, he didn’t really care one way or another, as long as the fight was good. Athena, however, was all about strategy and that usually led to her victory. Nike chose whose side to be at based on who was more likely guaranteed victory, she could sense it.

With this quest, a feeling had brewed inside you and had since stayed there. If you were to focus on it, you would find that you were sure that the quest would be a success. You could sense that the group would be victorious in their mission. However, you knew the victory, like most victories in time of war, would come at a great cost. Winning was usually everything, but there was something tugging at the back of your mind telling you that this time, despite the victory that loomed ahead, you’d rather take the lost, for you did not want to pay the price of this victory.

You followed Zoe and Bianca up to the entrance of Camp Half-Blood, seeing Thalia standing next to the tree she once was. “Reminiscing about old times?” you snarked unable to help yourself.

Thalia turned, taking her hand away from the tree it had been resting on. She only offered a glare before dismissing you and solely looking at Zoe. “Are we ready?” she asked, her arms crossed.

“Yes,” Zoe answered.

Zoe turned to you, ready to say something, but you were looking around at the group before you. “Aren’t you missing-”

“I’m here!” Grover yelled, running up to all of you as he struggled getting his bag over his shoulder. “I’m here,” he said again. He rested his hands on his hips as he began taking deep breaths after running all the way from wherever he had come from.

Zoe looked down at the wheezing satyr. You were starting to think maybe you were lucky for not going on the quest. “Let’s move,” Zoe said, turning on her heel and already marching off without the others.

“Zoe!” you called out. She turned, looking up at you from where she stood on the hill. You stared at her, trying to find the words you wanted to say. You ended up not needing to say anything, Zoe already knowing what you wanted to say gave you a nod.

You stood at the top of the hill, watching them set off until they disappeared from your line of sight once they hit the woods. You let out a sigh before turning and making your way back down the hill into camp. You didn’t bother going back to the cabin, you already knew you wouldn’t be any help to Phoebe so you might as well stay out of the way. Besides, you needed a distraction, your mind was already spiraling with what could potentially happen on the quest, what might happen to Zoe, and what Artemis must be going through.

You made your way to the training area, picking out a dummy on the far end. You unsheathed your sword and swung, nailing the dummy in the neck. You dealt blow after blow onto the poor training dummy, the wood was beginning to splinter.

“So, they left for the quest,” a voice interrupted your training dummy demolishing. You spun around, slashing the blade down onto the dummy’s neck causing a crack to echo throughout the still sleeping camp. With your sword still in hand you turned to see Percy standing there. He had wide eyes as he looked behind you at the nearly decapitated dummy. “Chiron won’t be happy.”

You rolled your eyes, the last thing you cared about was what Chiron thought. “It’s a training dummy, it’s literally what it’s meant for.” Percy didn’t say anything, he just stood there shifting from one foot to another. “What are you doing here? It’s barely morning.” You gestured around to the still dark sky; the sun was just beginning to peak up over the horizon.

“Look, I get you’re a Hunter,” he said defensively, waving his hands around, “and you hate all men.” You rested the hand still holding the sword on your hip as you raised an eyebrow at him. “But, you don’t even know me! We’ve never even had a real conversation. I don’t think it’s fair to judge me based on-”

“Have you ever considered,” you interrupted him. “That I don’t hate all men and me not liking you, is solely to do with you?”

Percy opened and closed his mouth a few times before settling on a frown. He looked up at you with wide eyes as he pouted. You rolled your eyes; it wasn’t like you were going to take it back or apologize. Percy was a tad annoying when you first met him and then the other day, he had the audacity to question your shooting skills, he might as well be an enemy for life after that.

“Not everyone likes you,” another voice interrupted the two of you. You looked up while Percy whipped around, nearly tripping over his own feet. “You should be used to that by now,” Clarisse looked Percy up and down as she approached you.

You looked at Percy as he just stood there staring at Clarisse, pouting. You raised an eyebrow wondering if he would get the hint, but you got the impression he was rather oblivious. Clarisse crossed her arms and continued to glare at him. “Why are you still here?” she snapped, causing Percy to jump from the sudden outburst. “Bye!” she gestured away with her hand which Percy took as his cue and ran off back towards the cabins.

It was still dark, the sun taking its time to rise. Percy never managed to answer you as to why he was wandering around so early. You didn’t really care; you wouldn’t be surprised if Percy had been intending to sneak off. He was bummed, he couldn’t go on the quest and the only thing on his mind seemed to be rescuing his friend.

Clarisse glanced over your shoulder at your mostly decapitated dummy. “Not bad,” she shrugged. “But a training dummy isn’t exactly a moving target.”

“Is that a challenge?” you questioned, your eyes lighting up with excitement. A fun and intense sparring session is exactly the kind of thing that could get you to stop thinking about Zoe and the quest.

She cocked her head to the side with a smirk. “Think you can keep up? This isn’t going to be some fun little,” she wiggled her hand, “bow and arrow trick.”

You chuckled, knowing she had no idea what she was getting herself into. “I thought you would have learned your lesson during capture the flag, guess not,” you sighed. “I’ll even give you an advantage,” you smirked. “You can choose the weapons.”

Clarisse clenched her jaw; you wouldn’t be surprised if she was grinding her teeth. You awaited her response with a smirk. “Swords,” she finally said through gritted teeth.

You silently laughed. “Okay.” You gestured for her to lead the way and you followed behind her. You were surprised she didn’t argue with you about you kicking her ass the day before. You were going to take it as her knowing you were right.

When you got to the sparring ring Clarisse walked to one side while you walked to the other. You watched as she pulled out her sword, examining it and twirling around in her hand. You looked down at your own sword, extending your arm as you played with the balance until Clarisse was ready. You turned to check on her to see she was turning to face you. You both stood across from each other at opposite ends before you each took a step into the ring at the same time.

You and Clarisse circled each other in the sparring ring. You twirled the sword in your hand as you watched her movements carefully. Just because it was sparring didn’t mean you’d let her win. A bow and arrow might have been the preferred weapon of Artemis and her Hunters but all of you were skilled in a variety of weapons. You might not have remembered much about your time before you became a Hunter, but you did remember the first weapon you ever picked up, the first weapon you ever killed a monster with was a sword. The bow and arrow was an extension of yourself now, a second arm, but picking up a sword was like greeting an old friend.

Your sword was one of the only things you carried from mortal life to your immortal one. You left everything behind, only taking the sword you now currently held in your hands. The sword was a relatively simple thing, well simple compared to something like Percy’s, yours didn’t turn into a pen at your convenience or reappear in your pocket no matter where you seemingly lost it. The blade was celestial bronze, like most demigod weapons, the hilt was steel, with a golden laurel wreath on each side of the pommel. You had it specially made from a blacksmith or maybe it was a child of Hephaestus, you couldn’t really remember, it had been a thousand years after all. Whoever forged it, you had them place laurel wreaths to represent your mother, to represent your impending victory.

You knew you wouldn’t have to wait long, children of Ares were impatient, as well as cocky and arrogant. Clarisse would make her first move and that would set your eventual victory into motion. As if on cue Clarisse swung her sword, you smirked as you brought your sword up, your blade meeting hers in a loud clash. You gripped your sword tightly before pushing back, forcing Clarisse to step back. She glared at you before making her next move.

Clarisse swung, you blocked. She swung at you, you blocked again. The two of you fell into a dance of slashing and blocking each other. You eventually gave in, swinging at her occasionally, you didn’t always play the defensive. You knew Clarisse was good in a fight, she had a powerful swing, but you were curious if she was just as good at defending herself. Being good in a fight was meaningless if you couldn’t protect yourself. You could be the best fighter in the world, but it didn’t matter if you couldn’t block a simple attack.

“How long have you guys been out here?” a feminine voice asked.

You and Clarisse just clashed swords, holding them against each other as both of you turned to see Silena approaching you. You and Clarisse each released your hold and turned to fully greet Silena. You and her had apparently been at it for a while, the sun had fully risen and there were other campers beginning to walk about around camp. You glanced at Clarisse to see she seemed just as shocked, neither of you had been aware of the passing time, the two of you were so engaged in your sparring match.

“It’s time for breakfast,” Silena said. “And you have to eat something,” she pointed an accusatory finger at Clarisse.

Clarisse rolled her eyes but nodded, nonetheless. She had her sword resting at her side as she tried to catch her breath. You didn’t realize how exhausted you were until the two of you stopped. You looked over at the daughter of Ares then down at yourself seeing that both of you were dripping in sweat.

“Uh oh, someone’s in trouble with the girlfriend,” you joked, not able to help but take another shot at her.

Clarisse flicked a glare at you. “She’s not my girlfriend.”

“You too!” Silena moved her accusatory finger towards you. “Breakfast important! And she is not my girlfriend,” she looked at Clarisse as if the idea of dating the girl horrified her.

“Yeah, cause she’s to busy being in love with Beckendorf,” Clarisse teased, smirking at her friend’s reddening face.

“I told you that in confidence,” Silena stepped forward, slapping Clarisse in the arm. There wasn’t enough force in the slap to hurt Clarisse, but she did stumble back, but not without laughing at Silena’s antics. “Let’s go,” she demanded. “And you’re joining us,” she pointed at you, narrowing her eyes so you knew there would be arguing or getting out of it.

You and Clarisse both shared a look, having the same thought about Silena. Regardless the two of you followed Silena to the dining pavilion. All of you gathered up breakfast on your plates, making your offering to the gods before taking a seat at one of the tables. It was still early enough that the pavilion wasn’t filled with campers. It almost felt weird how normal it felt sitting at a table other than the one designated for Hunters of Artemis. You had planned to sit quietly as Clarisse and Silena talked but Silena kept including you in the conversation until the three of you eased into a discussion, both of them asking about your travels with your goddess, the adventures you’d been on, and all the monsters you’ve slayed.

Taglist: @cxcilla

[passionesolja]

I need some of yall “BG3 is my first ever cRPG ever” mfs to understand that Owlcat games are way bigger than Larian games. Both Pathfinder games alone are about the length of 4 Baldur’s Gate 3 runs. These games have a level 20 cap, BG3 only has a level 12. People are talking down on Owlcat but haven’t even played a single game of their’s. I love Larian and BG3, but Owlcat games are way more complex and way more dense. These games have extremely accurate table top mechanics, city builder mechanics, and army management strategy game mechanics. Along with a shit ton of dialogue that’s partially voiced.

Pathfinder has over 120+ classes subclasses. It has 12 different mythic paths (stuff that alters the story and dialogue). And like 11-12 different races. These games have 5 dlcs and counting and some of them add new classes and subclasses. Regularly. WOTR just got new DLC a couple months ago

I’m sick and tired of mfs who haven’t even touched the genre outside of BG3 acting like Owlcat is making excuses. Mf, we let their games have rough starts bc we comprehend how huge they are. I’m not dissing Larian, I love Larian, but Owlcat deserves way more flowers for their work. Pathfinder isn’t even as big of an IP as Dnd is. They don’t have the dnd machine backing them. They make these games in Unity, dawg.

I’m not tryna pit two legendary studios against each other but I can’t stand these mfs who never even played a single cRPG other than bg3 talking shit about Owlcat. Mfs acting like Owlcat is making excuses or whatever when they’re able to make huge and expansive cRPGs with half the budget of Larian. I can’t imagine how incredible of a game they’d be able to make with Larian resources, bc they’re already a cut above Larian with half. Again, I love Larian but I’m not going to act like BG3 holds a candle to the Pathfinder games.

Mf you’re playing baby’s first cRPG but you wanna talk shit about a big dawg cRPG studio who makes big dawg games?

[ginnysgraffiti]

i didn't see any posts about art or patrick playing so i decided to write it myself :)

(forgive me if something's wrong, i haven't played tennis for a long time.)

this is just something random i've been keeping in my drafts, but don't worry i'll write some smut about art too.

also, tysm for all your requests, i swear i'm trying to keep up :,)

coach as reader, tennis obsessed art, determined art.

ART DONALDSON x yn.

that morning you were in a white tennis skirt and polo shirt, a cream-colored cardigan on top. a pair of new socks and a brand-new blindingly white pair of tennis shoes on your feet.

art was wearing his usual white uniqlo playing t-shirt with the blue collar, matching the sweat cuffs and shorts.

"okay baby, let's go over it again. patrick is taller, stronger, broad shoulders and definitely more confident. how will this affect your calculated and sharp strategy?" you asked, making sure he had perfectly locked his eyes into yours and was listening carefully.

"if he's stronger than me, i need to get him up to the net as much as i can, use perfect angles and always land properly. and he's probably feeling pretty confident, so i need to shake him, right at the beginning. if i can get patrick zweig worrying about whether his best friend is gonna beat him, then his best friend is gonna beat him."

"good answer." you smirked satisfied, resting your hands on your hips. you kissed him softly and caressed his cheek as he got ready and left the locker room.

when you walked towards the stands and took your seat, patrick won the toss and elected to serve first. you could visibly notice how tense your boyfriend was, but only an experienced coach could see how tense his muscles were.

art stood at the baseline and bounced the taut strings of his racket against his palm. he held the grip and turned it over in his hand.

patrick was standing across the court, in a black impatto branded sleeveless tennis t-shirt with red decorations on the right side and some checked grey shorts. as he stood up, you could see just how broad and tall she was, his cocky smirk playing on his lips as always as he searched for you in the crowd before turning around to art.

love serving love.

patrick tossed the ball up in the air and then cut across it with his racket. as art rushed for the ball, he calculated perfectly and thought that his best bet was to take it out of the air quick as you instructed him. but as he got in position, he saw his opponent approach the net. he was assuming art didn't have the power to hit a passing shot. and so, at the last minute, he hit a deep ground- stroke. zweig had to rush his return and hit it into the net.

the first point was art's.

love serving 15.

he looked at you as he made his way back to the baseline, and you smiled proudly.

your boyfriend crouched and waited for patrick's next serve. patrick's face was tight now. no more smirks.

suddenly, the ball came across the net, fast as a whip. art couldn't return it.

15-all.

serve after serve stunned both you and art, and you found yourself torturing the fabric of your skirt intensely.

30-15.

40-15.

and just like that, patrick zweig had won the first game.

art glanced over at your seat and saw your brows furrowed. tho, you couldn't tell what he was thinking.

now it was his serve. he landed each one exactly where he wanted it to go. he was setting up his shots a few strokes ahead. he kept him running all over the court. but every time, patrick returned it. their long rallies would inevitably end in patrick's favor.

art stayed alert. he met the ball each time, but regardless of how smooth and calculated his shots were, it just didn't matter. zweig took the first set 7-5.

you could tell art was exhausted already. during the break he wiped his sweat off with a towel, not even looking at you. you breathed in deeply. your boyfriend could not lose; it was not an option.

art thought that by getting that first point off him, he would have thrown him off. but he had actually awakened his opponent. art had given him a reason to play his fucking damn best.

art started to go for aces, each and every serve. it was risky; he knew he could double-fault and you had warned him about it, but it felt like his only shot. when the first one went well he looked at you, and you nodded with a serious look.

having your permission, he did it again.

his point.

his first serve was hard and bounced high. zweig dove for it and hit it out.

30-love.

your boyfriend glanced over at you as he went to pick up the ball, and you saw a smile creep over his face.

art hit another flat serve, whizzed past patrick.

40-love.

your boyfriend had him. just by looking at him from your seat, you could feel the tingle in the top of his head and down his back. you could feel the space in between his joints, the fluidity of hid muscles. you felt a hum in your bones.

art served the ball, low and fast. he returned it with spin that art understood innately, he knew where it would go, how it would bounce. art hit it back with the full force of his shoulder. pat's return went long and art went on to win the set. the score was now good for both, and it would come down to who won the next set.

zweig's first serve on the next game had art rallying back and forth for the point but ended in patrick hitting a low groundstroke that whizzed past him. you wanted to scream as you saw the ball bounce past art's racket. but you knew a coach like you wouldn't stand for that.

patrick zweig took control of the court. he broke art's serve, and he held him own. art showed up to the ball. he ran like hell. but it wasn't enough. when pat scored the last point, art fell to his knees. he held on to the ground for a moment and closed his eyes.

you stood up and focused your gaze on art as he approached patrick to shake his hand and pose for the photographers.

(...)

you and art made your way towards the locker room. as soon as he stepped in he immediately packed up his stuff and zipped his racket in its cover.

when he collapsed on the seat, you sat in front of him and looked at him closely.

"he said i played fucking amazing. amazing! he only said that because at the end i'm the one who fucking lost..." art said, his voice catching and breaking.

you shook your head. "you're wrong."

art raised his eyes and raised one eyebrow, annoyed.

"that was not the lesson you should take from this. try again." you continued.

"i hate tennis." he said, and then kicked his racket on the floor.

"no."

"i fucking hate patrick zweig." another kick.

"no."

at your word, he looked down at his worn out shoes. he was nervously playing with his fingers, and could not look at you.

that was the moment where he would think he had finally failed you, that he had proven himself unworthy of all the faith you had in him.

"are you done? -you said as he turned to look at you- with the hysterics?"

"i've never been prouder of being your girlfriend and your coach today than i have ever been in my life." you finished.

"how is that possible?" his lazy voice cracked before he could even finish.

"i know you're upset because you lost." you said, taking his racket so he wouldn't kick it again.

"i lost. which makes me a loser."

you shook your head with a smile on your face.

"i have been so focused on teaching you how to win that i have not taught you that everybody loses matches."

"i'm supposed to be the greatest, not everybody. art donaldson, the greatest player."

you nodded. "and you will be. today you proved that. you played the best you've ever played in your life today."

he looked up at you.

"have you ever hit that many groundstrokes that bounced just in front of the baseline?" you asked.

"no."

"have you ever served three aces in a row like you did today?"

he started tapping his foot as he listened to you. "no. but...m-my first serve was great today." he said, and it sounded more of a question than a fact.

"you were on fire, baby. you ran down the ball almost every shot."

"yeah, but then i hit it into the net half the time."

"because you are not yet who you will be one day."

he started tearing a bit, his guarded heart opening ever so slightly.

"every match you play, you are one match closer to becoming the greatest tennis player the world has ever seen. you were not born that person. you were born to become that fucking legend. and that is why you must best yourself every time you get on the court. not so that you beat the other person, or patrick, or-"

"but so that i become more myself." he finished.

"so...you're not gonna stop coaching me?" he breathed in a low whisper.

"never wonder again, baby. never."

"...we'll start again with training?" he asked shyly.

"we'll start again with training."

"and i'll beat patrick's ass?"

"and you'll beat patrick's fucking ass."

"...love you baby."

"love you too art."

"can we go for churros at the bar?"

"sure we can. the heart shaped ones."

[instaspacenoodles]

✧₊⊹𝐖𝐮𝐖𝐚 𝐄𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐔𝐧𝐨

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐨 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞 - Always makes sure the rules are crystal clear before everyone start playing. Will call you out if you try any unagreed bullshit like trying to stack +2s on top of +4s. The game’s guide is basically their Bible, they will not hesitate in wiping that page out just to triple check if something is allowed. Is sworn enemies with the Chaos Bringers. 

 Mortefi, Sanhua, Baizhi

𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐀𝐅 - Starts out calm but will absolutely get fired up once the game gets going. Will not hesitate to get revenge if you even try to +4 them. Definitely would argue with the Uno Policers because stacking should totally be allowed idgaf. Somehow has the worst luck out of everyone at the table, getting straight shitty hands. If they do win, they would definitely rub it in everyone’s faces yet lose horribly the next game. 

 Calcharo, Chixia, Jianxin, Camellya

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 - They are calm and collected the entire game, usually sitting there with a damn good poker face. It seems like they have all the good cards and will absolutely using them when someone is low on cards. I’m talking taking someone from 2 cards to 12 cards in a blink of an eye. Would make silent alliances with other conspirators just to fuck up everyone else. Always 5 steps ahead of the group, guaranteeing they win the majority of the time. 

 Yinlin, Jinhsi, Jiyan, Taoqi, Changli

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬 - The casual and more normal players. They don’t really care about who wins or loses, only that everyone has fun. Usually tries to calm down the Uno Policers or the Competitive AF players…well the best they can anyways. Second mostly likely to win and nobody can get upset with them. Just a good sport that’s happy to be here. 

 Verina, Yangyang, Lingyang, Yuanwu

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐨𝐬 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 - The no strategy player, would collects cards just for the fun of it then strike when least expected. The bane of everyone’s existence because, like the conspirators, it’s difficult to tell what’s going on in their head. Will they give someone the win just for the lols or make sure to prolong the game as long as possible? Nobody fucking knows. 

Aalto, Encore, Scar, Rover, Danjin

[tribbetherium]

The Early Rodentocene: 5 million years post-establishment

Hamster Hunter Rise: Squeasels of the Early Rodentocene

In the days of the Early Rodentocene, the hammibals reigned supreme as the planets' primary top predators. Conservative in form, they were anatomically simply larger hamsters, but with sharper teeth and claws, more forward-facing eyes, and an appetite for smaller hamster species--or even their own.

Yet, in the forests and grasslands of Nodera, Easaterra and Westerna, new challengers have emerged that in due time will spell an end to their monopoly of top predator niches. These bushy-tailed relatives of the arboreal peachpitters have, similarly, developed a taste for meat, and begun supplementing their diet first with scavenged carcasses and unattended pups left in nests, before slowly graduating to a more carnivorous diet, preying upon adults of other, smaller hamster species.

Known as the squeasels, these long-bodied hunters would slowly rise in prominence throughout the Early Temperocene, but not quite rivalling the hammibals just yet. However, by this point, they had begun evolving a unique trait that would ultimately give them the upper hand over the hammibals as of the Middle Rodentocene: a set of unique dentition, with sharp pointed incisors, forward-shifted first molars used for shearing off chunks of meat from carcasses, and a wider jaw gape that allowed them to deliver suffocating bites to the throats of prey. Despite their lack of canine teeth, as all rodents do, they modified their pre-existing teeth in order to perform a similar function in attacking, killing, and dismembering their quarry.

The grassland squoat (Sciurumustelamys brevipus) is a typical example of the squeasels, with short legs and a long flexible body that allow it to chase small burrowers down their tunnels and drag them back out to finish them off in the open. Fierce and tenacious hunters, they can even tackle the gouties from time to time, leaping onto the larger herbivores with the goal of inflicting a few deep wounds before retreating. Staying close by and tracking its prey, it strikes again briefly then runs off again each time its prey stops to rest and recover, playing the long game of patience until at last its victim falls from blood loss and exhaustion.

With a wide and varied diet, the squoat also sometimes takes on quarry closer on the family tree: its relatives the peachpitters. These arboreal frugivores are naive and complacent creatures, unfamiliar with predation and unchallenged in the trees, not even bothering to defend their numerous young once they have weaned. Eventually, some opportunistic squoats, seeing the abundance of peachpitters in the trees, eventually started climbing up trunks from time to time to seize an unwary youngster and haul it off to eat. Their close resemblance to the peachpitters also grant it an advantage, as it can sneak among them to hunt undeterred.

Deception as a hunting strategy would be of greater importance to another squeasel species, the long-tailed skab (Procanimus longicaudus). This species, preferring to lie in wait and allow its prey to come close to it instead, uses the twitching of the pale, conspicuous tip of its long, flexible tail as well as very convincing insect-like chirps to draw the attention of small insectivorous prey such as jermas and shrewbils. Baited into approaching within striking distance, the camouflaged skab then pounces, restrains its prey with grasping forepaws and delivers a choking bite to its prey's neck.

More efficient killers than the hammibals, which simply seized their victims and began gnawing away at the struggling and still-living prey, the squeasels would eventually gain the upper hand over their more crude and messy rivals, gradually usurping their monopoly as top predator in the grasslands. But the turning point would be the increasing size of the gouties' descendants, growing larger and larger both to better protect themselves from predators and more efficiently proccess plant matter, which eventually would give rise to the hamtelopes and the cavybaras: prey that were too large for the hammibals to tackle, but the squeasels were able to overpower, even at sizes greater than their own. In time, the squeasels too would become larger predators as well in an arms race with the gouties and its descendants, eventually diverging into multiple predator clades in the Middle Rodentocene. The hammibals would be left behind as small-scale mesopredators, but the squeasels would flourish, with the long-tailed skab giving rise to the scabbers, some of which in the Temperocene become large-scale predators convergent with the zingos, on the small island continent of Mesoterra. The squoat, on the other hand, would diverge into two lineages by the time of the Middle Rodentocene: the ground-dwelling ferrats and the arboreal bossums. From the ferrats would emerge the stocky-bodied, omnivorous badgebears, the feline-like carnohams, and the semi-aquatic searets, the latter of which would eventually become the large marine predators known as the leviahams. The bossums, meanwhile, would remain as arboreal predators, becoming the treegers, the tigerillas and, eventually, the knuckle-walking foldpaws: sworn enemy of the Temperocene's sophont species.

---------

[slowcatsworld]

Julian Loki acts like an older sibling. PART 1

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Small disclaimer, as far as I’m aware his family hasn’t been mentioned in canon in the manga or the egoist bible; therefore I’m basing this off of his interactions with other characters in the manga. Also bear with me, I wrote a lot of words.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Julian Loki’s introduction: good sportsmanship

Julian Loki already acts differently than the other World 5 players in their introduction in chapter 90, both physically and personality wise. Julian is the only player that is not an adult since he’s 17, and the only one that practiced good sportsmanship throughout the whole ‘World 5 game.’

This is seen when he tells Leonardo Luna to not disrespect Japanese soccer to the Blue Lock team (when Luna states, “Gambling your lives on a wish that will never come true..Japanese people really are the world’s top masochists!” and with his handshake/conversation with Isagi before the match started.

Despite being the youngest on his team, Julian shows the most maturity and respect towards his opponents (which is something taught to young players of every sport for them to carry this sportsmanship into the rest of their career) even though some of his teammates are a whole decade older than him and have been in the world of soccer longer.

(I love Isagi’s little profiles he makes of different characters, and how he notices Loki’s polite manners and confidence but I’ll get back to that later maybe hehe)

Julian Loki- Master Striker in the NEL: Maturity & Adaptability/Flexibility

Julian Loki was announced as the Master Striker for France’s team PXG in the Neo Egoist League, which is insane when you take into account he’s coaching players around the same age as him. (Love me a mature boy) In chapter 244/246 I think the reader is able to understand a lot about Julian’s flexibility as a coach even though it wasn’t that much explicitly stated.

PXG is beginning a match with Barca, and they start with Rin as their main attacker with Shidou off the field. Later we see Rin get swapped for Shidou, so the both of them get their turns as the star and to score goals. This makes the most sense since we, as a reader, know that Rin and Shidou so far have had no chemistry at all and the two of them do not work well together at all.

However, Julian didn’t know that prior to them joining PXG. He had to figure out a solution to this in order for PXG to perform well on the field during matches. The games are set in a round robin format with two games every 10 days (if I’m not mistaken) and PXG has played either 3 or 4 times. Plus, these aren’t 90 minute games, they’re just to 3 points. These games are relatively short, probably less than 30 minutes long (idk, I quit soccer a long time ago.) This means aside from scrimmages and training practice, Julian had a rather small amount of time to develop a play style that would suit both of these very different strikers that refuse to work together.

Julian Loki found something that worked too. Whether he experimented by placing one of the two (Shidou/Rin) in for the whole game or talked with them both about what to do, Julian made a strategy that everyone benefited from. (GUYS! Ik he stated in chap. 246 that he experimented with their play styles to create two factions on the PXG line up, but pick up what I’m putting down yk?? Adversity!)

This shows how adaptive Loki is able to be in unfavorable circumstances and create opportunities from it. Julian has been trying to create an environment that encourages Charles to grow as a player. Because of Julian’s thought process of using both Rin and Shidou at different times to help Charles, we’ve witnessed how adaptable he can be.

[riacte]

hope you don't mind me asking, but how do you write/characterise ren?

Hi, thanks for the ask!

For me, Ren has a very distinct character voice, so usually I put in a few words from the Rendog language post and it does like 70% of the work if it's nothing too serious. Hit the dialogue with the Rendogification beam! I know there's a post of people Rendogifying DSMP quotes and it's hilarious. Add a "my dude" before/ after his dialogue and it'll usually work. And maybe pepper in some "get in line"s. Or "outrageous!", "geez", "freakin'".

For HC Ren / Ren in general, I put him as like... a friendly, enthusiastic, charismatic guy who's very supportive of his friends and he's always eager to help. He is kind and sees the best in everyone. He's also very dramatic and unashamed of his dramatic tendencies (singing out loud, posing, twirling). And of course he flirts. He flirts with everything. He's probably flirted with someone's houseplant. He wants everyone to get in line for him. He makes a lot of inappropriate jokes (check my #the rd difference tag) which is greeted with complete silence.

But underneath that, I think he's a guy who tends to look down on himself / self deprecating and he is soooooo self sacrificial. He's gonna be good at something then go "I've never been good at anything 🥺". And he is genuinely so eager to sacrifice himself at all times; he'll probably throw himself in front of his friends to save them. And I think Ren is terrified of being lonely which is why he's clingy. If you leave him to his devices for too long he'll literally burn / blow up his base (Last Life, HC 7). Ren is fantastic with words, he's optimistic and naturally good at bringing people together, but he's also just a doggy who wants company.

Ren is quite talkative and he can ramble about random topics forever. But he also occasionally asks questions to his friends so they can contribute to the conversation. And I think he's fantastic as a storyteller because not only is he a master at "yes, and", he also likes including his friends and subtly inviting them to roleplay with him.

Ren is highly sentimental and remembers a lot of memories. He's not afraid to go sappy and sincere and vulnerable, but then again there's his fear of being a burden. Ren has a tendency to trail after competent, snarky, and mildly intimidating people (insert Ren's greens: Doc, Iskall, Martyn, False, etc) and enjoys being lovingly bullied and lovingly used as a punching bag. He lovesssss being a pathetic lil guy. He loves acting sad and soggy. And he kinda loves being beheaded and beheading his friends.

Ultimately, I think Ren greatly values company and loyalty, and always desires a tightknit group of people to belong to, maybe to even lead (Knights of the Square Table, Dogwarts, etc). And he wants to be useful and not be a burden, leading to his self sacrificial tendencies. He is so eager to serve and offer his services to the rest of the server— in HC, he likes selling / providing food in the early days (HC 4 he made a farm, HC 9 Gigapies) and then proceeds to build infrastructure for everyone to enjoy (HC 6 Hermit Railway Network), or come up with detailed "game" systems (HC 5 Hermitron (?) and HC 9 Hermit Quests). In that way, despite his theatrics, Ren is quite practical and down to earth. Give the man something to manage and he'll be happy.

I don't read a lot of HC fics nowadays but I don't think I've seen like, really severe mischaracterisation of Ren. Probably because Ren RPs a lot so he can RP as a lot of characters which decreases OOC-ness, maybe? Ren's a bit pathetic but he's not a coward, he will literally die for his friends. And while Ren might be a bit of a "derp", he has decent strategies (sometimes) which is mostly him accumulating resources + building a secure fortress (evident in Life series).

For Life series Ren, it's similar but more... guarded and cautious. Still desires a tight knit group of allies (usually his top priority). Still loves gathering his resources and building his defenses. Is kind and forgiving to the point he's taken advantage of (this behaviour decreases in latter series). And he loves his allies with all of his life and would die for them.

Oops, this got long lol. Hope this was helpful! :D