#werewolf zen

[nihilismtrcit]

meet the crew !

first day of school ready 🏫🍎✅

[jessethecreative15]

The Avengers | AU

[lithopsy]

trying to decide between sleep and writing more bad fanfiction

[hey-scully-itsme]

im just gonna keep vagueposting abt them for a while bc i havent even decided what decade most of their stories are set in but im very attached to my werewolf private eye OC and his artist boyfriend. they're very much one of those situations where you'd think the werewolf is the intimidating one but it's actually the little artist guy who's more likely to tear you limb from limb.

[sonicluxhedgeman]

I am currently OBSESSED with this pinball table

Literally found this table a couple months ago irl and had the most fun with it, and I'm so happy to find that table is just, available both on the switch and in mobile

I friggin love pinball, man

[rfaromance]

Fluffy ZenZen? 👀👀 (little sister here to be a pain ofcsofcs)

Every visit to Zen's place became a new story to unfold.

The first time you went to Zen's apartment, the butterflies swarming inside of your stomach were so agitated and fervent that you swore you could still feel them to this day. Back then, part of the issue had been convincing Zen to allow you to come over in the first place. You respected his efforts to be a gentleman, but also...

You couldn't help but chuckle at how flustered he had been, blabbering about a "beast" that would come out "under the full moon" and how you needed to be "safe." It was endearing, but as much as you adored Zen, you wished he could be more upfront about his feelings. You weren't a child! Why did he have to make himself sound like some hungry werewolf?

His warnings had instilled a sense of caution into you nonetheless. You wanted to see where he lived and try to get closer to him, but maybe he had his reasons for wanting to keep a bit of distance between the two of you. Maybe he had skeletons in the closet that he wasn't ready to unearth just yet.

Rather than any skeletons, the first time you finally visited Zen's abode, you found... a whole lot of nothing, actually.

"Zen! This place is so bare!" You could remember your protests at the sparse furniture. "Even your refrigerator is growing cobwebs!" Did he seriously live on salads, water, and beer?

"I'm not a flashy guy!"

"Liar!"

You both knew that wasn't the case. Zen was always eager to flirt and show off his body every opportunity he could. Why wouldn't his apartment be flashy too?

That was a major turning point in your relationship, when you began to see past his facade and realize he was actually more timid and humble than he wanted others to know. Zen put on an act of arrogance to conceal his insecurities, and his minimalist living space reflected who he was at his core: a simple person who was satisfied with just being appreciated and loved, not for his looks but for the comfort and kindness he could provide.

Each subsequent visit revealed a new side to him. Slowly, his apartment began to take on new life. You weren't sure where all his trinkets had appeared from, but the next visit you discovered an old costume hanging on a door, and the visit after that you found CDs from a variety of musical that he used to practice. (You teased him relentlessly for still using a Walkman to listen to those.)

"Zen? What's this?"

You stepped out of the restroom to see his closet door halfway open. While you didn't want to invade his privacy, your curiosity was too strong. A long, wooden handle was catching the faint light from his bedroom, and you couldn't help but wonder what it was.

"Handle" wasn't very accurate. As you drew closer to the closet, you saw strings running down the surface and knobs on the side.

"Y/N! Hey, hey, what are you doing, going through a man's personal stuff?"

You nearly jumped out of your skin as Zen's voice suddenly appeared behind you. You were so absorbed in the mystery in front of you that you hadn't noticed his approaching footsteps. "Zen, if you say things like that, I'm going to think you have weird secrets in your closet."

A deep blush spread across Zen's pale face like a rosebush in bloom. "That's... anyway, let's go back to the living room."

Swallowing the disappointment rising in your chest, you reluctantly nodded. "Okay." You didn't want to push him to do something that made him uncomfortable, after all.

You exited his bedroom and walked over to the couch, flopping down onto your favorite cushion. You expected Zen to drop down next to you, like always, but he was nowhere to be found. "Zen?"

A moment later, a shy pair of ruby eyes peeked at you from the doorway. "I'm rusty. Just know that, alright?"

Rusty? What was he talking about?

You had to fight to keep your jaw from dropping as Zen entered the living room with an old acoustic guitar in his hands. "But since you're so curious... I'll do my best to serenade you."

His hands trembled slightly as he sat down beside you, trying to place his fingers in the proper positions. "I'm lucky my parents didn't smash this girl when they found out," he mumbled, half to you and half to himself. "She carried me through a lot of tough times. I guess it's only fair to play her every now and again."

Clearly there was a story behind this guitar. A story that went beyond the guitar and to Zen's past, his story, his life. "Zen, you don't have to-"

"That should do it. Alright, love. You're very lucky to get a one-on-one show with me, you know? I wouldn't turn this down if I were you." The light returned to his eyes, and he turned to you with a beaming smile. "What'll it be, darling?"

"Hyun..." You could hardly choke out his name as tears began to prickle at your eyes and your throat. Hoping to brighten the mood, you decided to tease him a little. "Hm... how about a little Elvis?"

Zen's dumbstruck and slightly horrified look said more than a thousand words.

"... Anyway, here's Wonderwall."

[noyzinerd]

In order for Derek to have a teenaged son, he also had to have been the father of a toddler at one point.

This means when it's time to roll out to disband a rogue hunter ring, and they get into Derek's newest, badass muscle car with the tinted windows, and Derek dons his sunglasses and says gruffly "They don't know who they're dealing with", that the moment he turns on his car, the Paw Patrol soundtrack immediately blasts from the speakers at full volume.

Or that, once in a while, the pack will hear Derek mindlessly humming a song that's gotten stuck in his head from countless repetitions every single day (because "Again, 'gen, 'gen, Dada! P'ay 'gen!"). And at some point Stiles, being fluent in memes and internet culture, is the only one to recognize the tune and ask "Wait, are you humming Baby Shark?"

And if you think Derek's control was solid before, that's NOTHING compared to the zen master level of composure he has now. When the hunters manage to capture Derek and Stiles and attempt to make Derek turn, they don't realize that, yeah, those sticks with the sonic pinging sound are loud and annoying, but have you ever had to deal with the demonic bat screeches of a 2-year-old for 4 hours that first night after he's not allowed to sleep with his pacifier anymore?

And, sure, being electrocuted loosens a werewolf's grasp on the shift a little bit, but have you ever had to hold back a shift because your child is having a complete meltdown in the middle of a Costco because his sock feels a little funny, and even though you fixed the problem, the ordeal happening at all was traumatic enough for him that it required rolling around on the ground, an additional 7 minutes of screaming, and an attempt to throw eggs out of the cart?

And the "torture" is laughable. Okay, wolfsbane makes you weak and lethargic and makes your skin burn and makes it hard to breathe and makes you throw up black goo, BUT have you ever had a random little girl throw sand in your kid's face, making him cry, and then, after telling her "No! We don't throw sand!", have to deal with an indignant mother yelling in your face because "You do NOT tell my daughter what to do! She is NOT your child and should NOT have to grow up in a world where any man can demand things from her!"?

You want to talk about torture, do you have any idea what 2-Year Sleep Regression is? Do you have any idea what it's like to wake up at 3AM to shrieking and then deal with a cranky toddler that refuses to take a nap, all of this FOR 6 WEEKS STRAIGHT?

Or how about when your 3-year-old has a tantrum because he asked for strawberries and when you give him strawberries you find out he actually meant blueberries but when you get him the blueberries, he has an even bigger tantrum because how DARE you put away the strawberries he didn't want in the first place?

There is a visible moment in which the hunters question whether or not they've made a mistake and accidentally captured two humans.

And after the two of them manage to get out of that mess and back to relative safety, Derek notices a cut on Stiles arm.

Stiles has to bite back a laugh when Derek, without even realizing he's doing it, sticks a Lightning McQueen bandaid on Stiles' cut before kissing his boo-boo better.

[spooksdraws]

Himbo Werewolf Himbo Werewolf Himbo Were-

cameo of resident edgelord Zen by @lirio-corvo

[the-dust-jacket]

Hello. I've already read the Kingston Cycle, Half a Soul and I'm about to finish the Stariel books. Do you have more recommendations? Thank you in advance.

Oh absolutely!

A Matter of Magic, by Patricia C. Wrede (for cross-country Regency romps, rogues, magicians, spies, and Ladies of Quality)

A Marvellous Light, by Freya Marske (for murder and mystery and secret Edwardian wizardry, romance, grand old houses and creepy curses)

Spellbound, by Allie Therin (for forbidden love, found family, and frightening magic in 1920s New York)

Shades of Milk and Honey, by Mary Robinette Kowal (for frothy and impeccably evocative Regency magic)

Sorcerer to the Crown, by Zen Cho (for schemes both magical and mundane and the world of fairy crossing into the world of the tonne)

To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis (for laugh-out-loud time travel shenanigans and questionable Victorian aesthetic choices)

Soulless, by Gail Carriger (for vampire assassins, werewolf aristocrats, interrupted tea time, and other terrible inconveniences which may beset a young lady)

A little darker:

The Magpie Lord, by KJ Charles (for semi-secret magical society, creepy family estate, steamy romance all in an Extremely Victorian Gothic setting)

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke (clever and deeply atmospheric tour of a magical 19th century England, but definitely not romance)

Salt Magic, Skin Magic, by Lee Welch (for curses and magical bonds and frightening fairies)

Widdershins, by Jordan L Hawk (for Gilded Age mystery and romance featuring Lovecraftian horror and humor)

More fantasy:

Uprooted, by Naomi Novik (for fairytale magic and whimsy, adventure and romance and creepy trees)

Seducing the Sorcerer, by Lee Welch (for wizard fashion, romance and humor and whimsical magic)

Stardust, by Neil Gaiman (for wild romps in the fairyland next door, alternately humorous and haunting)

More historical:

The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting by KJ Charles (for saucy Regency romance and determined social scheming)

Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (for dry humor, wacky hijinx, and extended family shenanigans)

Hither Page or The Missing Page by Cat Sebastian (village and manor house mysteries respectively, featuring lots of queer romance and found family with a dash of jaded post-war espionage)

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (for yearning and laughs and first love and an eccentric family living in an increasingly run down castle)

A little farther from the brief, but might be worth checking out On Vibes:

The Left Handed Booksellers of London, by Garth Nix

The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, by Diana Wynne Jones

His Majesty's Dragon, by Naomi Novik (more Regency fantasy, but full on Age of Sail adventure rather than comedy of manners, romance, or secret magic)

Among Others, by Jo Walton

Arabella of Mars, by David D. Levine

A Natural History of Dragons, by Marie Brennan

It also sounds like a Georgette Heyer or Jeeves and Wooster binge would be really fun right now!

[jessethecreative15]

Top 2 The Avengers Crossover AU | Gacha Club

[pallweople]

Assigning Mythical Creatures To The Pall Weople

HI! ITS ME AGAIN!! Giving yall mythical creatures base off vibes and vibes alone <3 THANK YOU POTATOE FOR THE IDEAA!!

( @arsonisticscholar ) Arsonator -> Phoenix

( @astral-catastrophe )Astral/Jay -> Oni

( @miadancer24 ) Bailey -> Mermaid

( @cal-the-duende ) Cal -> Werewolf

( @hero-dualies-pog ) Campfire/Zen Anon -> Pegues

( @circusislife ) Circus -> Centaur

( @frostedshadow ) Frost -> Selkie

( @justsomeghostt ) Ghost -> Jackalope

( @hyperfixatezz ) Hyper/Riju -> Hydra

( @justanotherhighlycaffeinatednerd ) Katnip -> Banshee

( @ladye-zelda ) Ladye -> Fairy

( @linksarehere ) Link -> Gargoyle

( @misc-me0707 ) -> Kraken

( @mushr0oms-and-m0ss ) Mushroom -> Dryad

( @is-apotato ) Potato -> Vampire

( @somebody-random-lol ) Random -> Chalkydri

( @skyward-shade ) Shade -> Revenant

( @soupyboiiiii (aka. 6leafclover) Clover/SOOUP -> Griffin

( @xjgbhk ) -> Hippocampus

( @mossy-chai ) Z -> Will-o' -the-wisp

( @link-or-sherlock ) Sherlock -> Chamrosh

( @nancyheart11 ) Nancy -> Sphinx

[changingplumbob]

hey, 4-6, 28, 43, 44 questions for Reece 👀

resource

*does warm up arm stretches*

My boy Reece!

What is your sim’s ethnicity?

Reece is your basic average white person with no culture (I feel like I can say this as I'm also a basic average white person with no culture [also being white is not a culture and if someone says that they're probably a racist to some degree]). In my lore his family is from France way back when (obviously anyone who has strong ties to a European country is not a basic white person) but I haven't had much chance to do much with this fact. It'll probably come into play more when he and his siblings get around to having kids (because let's sing ALL the french nursery rhymes)

Does your sim have any nicknames?

Yes but also no. Samir has called him Blondie since way back when they first met (yes Samir likes blondes). Now he's a YA Samir has also started to call him Gorgeous, this is a good pg choice if they are around others. When they're alone and Samir is feeling romantic he calls Reece a good boy. When they woohoo he also calls him REDACTED and REDACTED because Reece does enjoy his kinks.

Outside of his relationship though he does not have any nicknames. His family have never shortened his name when talking to him, and all his friends call him Reece. Some people's names don't get the nickname treatment, like Devin or Adam.

Do they have a job? If so what is it?

He is applying for University at the moment. He may be a happy forest hippie but he is a genius. He will be doing a biology degree (just like his older sisters Charlie and Keira) and it looks like he'll be able to get into the distinguished degree.

I think his ideal job would be a forest ranger. Using his smarts to make sure the local flora and fauna is maintained you know. But this is not an option in game... If you know of a mod that adds this career though let me know! His second choice is to be a doctor (yeah he's so stupidly brainy the medical field is his second choice)

Does your sim like books? If so what’s their favourite one?

He wasn't always a fan of books, he's been an outdoor lover since childhood, but now that he's a geek he does like to read a bit. For non fiction he'd go with a book talking about plants. Fiction... he is a fan of werewolf romance novels. I do not read them so I can't tell you his favourite but it'll be whatever one has the most steamy parts.

Bonus: There is a 100% chance that Samir will lightly restrain Reece and read him the steamy bits with sporadic kisses until Reece is begging for woohoo. Maybe I should make this a scene in their next chapter? I don't know how the screenshots would go but it would be fun!

What is a wish your sim has?

General gameplay would have me believe he wants a kid. Plot wise he wishes that they can figure out what happened to Samir's parents so that Samir can heal (as much as you can heal with your parents having being butchered). He has already achieved the Inner Peace lifetime aspiration and is working on the Zen Guru one.

What is a flaw your sim has?

He gossips all the time, probably about things he shouldn't (but he's not telling anyone Samir is a werewolf unless Samir says it's okay). He is indecisive, he often thinks of many choices and options but will be slow to take action. This is where Samir's tendency to be rash can balance out their efforts.

That was fun, I love you really Reece!

[whimsicalmeerkat]

✨Fic Writing Review 2023✨

The ever-delightful @dear-massacre tagged me in this a couple weeks ago, but I decided to wait until the end of the year. I don’t feel like working today, so I figure it’s close enough!

Words

127,727 words posted on AO3

66 works posted or updated on AO3

Fandoms & Ships Represented:

Black Jewels - Anne Bishop (Daemon Sadi/Lucivar Yaslana: 5)

Demonic Disasters and Afterlife Adventures- Shannon Mae (Adam/Minos: 1)

Men’s Hockey RPF (1)

Original Work (2)

Perilous Courts - Tavia Lark (Julien Sandry/Whisper: 2, Bellamy Sandry/Rakos Tem: 1, Daromir Azri/Vana Dire: 1, Corin Marcel/Audric Sandry: 1)

Psy-Changeling - Nalini Singh (Aden Kai/Vasic Zen: 1, Kaleb Krychek/Judd Lauren: 1, Lucas Hunter/Hawke Snow: 1)

Radiance Series - Tavia Lark (Evain Marha/Leth ka Tariel: 3)

Teen Wolf (Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski: 27, Derek Hale/Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski: 1, Derek Hale/Peter Hale: 1, Derek Hale/Peter Hale/Stiles Stilinski: 7, Chris Argent/Derek Hale: 1)

The Authority - DC Comics (Apollo/Midnighter & Jenny Quantum: 1)

The Hollows - Kim Harrison (Trent Kalamack/Rachel Morgan: 7, Jenks/Matalina: 1)

Top Fics by Kudos

my heart was connected (Teen Wolf: Derek Hale/Peter Hale/Stiles Stilinski)

Trading Up (Teen Wolf: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski)

won’t you take me from this valley (Teen Wolf: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski)

devil don’t take a break (Teen Wolf: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski)

I think I know a secret (Teen Wolf: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski)

My Fandom Fic Events in 2023

30+ Fanfic (@thirty-plus-fanfic) 24-Hour Drabbles (drabbles)

sterekdrabbles (@sterekdrabbles)

The Sufficiently Advanced Exchange (so we remain the same: The Hollows, Trent Kalamack/Rachel Morgan)

Rare Male Slash Exchange (ah my love, remind me: Teen Wolf, Chris Argent/Derek Hale)

Battleship 2023 (15 works, multiple fandoms: series)

30+ Fanfic (@thirty-plus-fanfic) Third Serversary (Summer) Holiday Event (some glad morning: Teen Wolf, Derek Hale/Peter Hale/Stiles Stilinski)

Rare Pair Exchange (I’ll Always Know It's You: The Hollows, Trent Kalamack/Rachel Morgan)

Launch the Ship -⚓︎- Round 3 (We Were Helping!: Perilous Courts, Daromir Azri/Vana Dire, Vana Dire & Bellamy Sandry)

RelationShipping (take me to the edge so I can fall apart: Original Work, Werewolf Brother/Human Brother He Wants to Turn)

Sterek Prompt Meme (@sterekpromptmeme) (Trading Up: Teen Wolf, Derek Hale/Peter Hale)

Trick or Treat Exchange (Trick or Treat!: The Hollows, Trent Kalamack/Rachel Morgan)

SPE (@sterekposevents) Fall In Love with Sterek (I think I know a secret: Teen Wolf, Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski)

Wanksgiving (in the middle of the night: Teen Wolf: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski)

We Die Like Fen: We're Dark like Fen in a Storm at Night (then, now, and forever: Radiance Series, Evain Marha/Leth ka Tariel)

30+ Fanfic (@thirty-plus-fanfic) Holiday Bonanza and New Year's Shindig 2023 (Teen Wolf, multiple pairings: 2023 fics in series)

Upcoming 2024 Events & Projects

After making that last list my plan to do way fewer events in 2024 has been reinforced. I’m not going to list all of my projects. Most of what I plan to work on are my wips. Below are the events I plan to do:

Small Fandoms Big Bang

Sterek CollaBang (@sterekcollabang)

Battleship Exchange

RelationShipping Exchange

Various 30+ Fanfic Events (@thirty-plus-fanfic)

Rules & Tags

Honestly, do what you want to with this whether that’s putting in way too much effort like I did, ignoring it, or somewhere in between.

I’m not going to tag anyone, but if you see this and want to do it, consider yourself tagged!

[mmm-crackling]

The Green Creek pack meets New York’s Elite Pack

I just finished The Alpha’s Son by Penny Jessup and I had Thoughts. It hasn’t had great reviews, but I thought it was fun. Warning: possible spoilers?

Alpha Jericho of the Elite pack from New York sends his son and heir Jasper with a small delegation to Green Creek to meet with Ox and Joe, ostensibly on wolf business. To Jasper’s dismay, Alpha Jericho insisted that Max joins him as part of the Elite pack’s entourage.

When they arrive, Max is awed when he meets Ox. He’s heard so much about the Werewolf Jesus™ and he’s been nervous for the whole journey to Oregon knowing that he might get to meet him.

Max is super awkward when they arrive. He momentarily forgets how to address alphas so Max calls Ox “my lord” and “your majesty”, and curtsies to him awkwardly like Theresa May does.

Embarrassed and exasperated Jasper holds his face in his hands. The Bennett pack finds Max adorable but have to choke back their laughter.

Max loves all the Green Creek wolves and humans but immediately takes a shine to Robbie. Cubs and young wolves seem to have an affinity with Robbie, and Robbie always jumps at the opportunity to befriend a wolf from Back East. (I could never pin down the accent of audiobook Robbie - was that a Long Island accent?)

Gordo warns Robbie that Max isn’t a stray cub needing adoption—Max has his own alpha and pack, that Gordo is well past taking care of adolescent wolves, and doesn’t want to go through that again

Max and Jasper try to keep their being mated a secret (Jasper is still trying to push Max away—because he thinks Max will be safer if they’re not together) but of course the Green Creek wolves suss it out pretty quick. They notice the dreamy look Max always has on his face when he looks at Jasper or smells him in the room. Jasper tries to put on a steely calm and professional face because he’s on Official Wolf Business, but he can’t control his scent, and they can all smell it on him. They all simultaneously sniff their air, but the Bennett pack politely say nothing at first. Max goes beet red when realises what has just happened.

Robbie asks Max how Max and Jasper met and on hearing that the Blue Moon Festival had a big part in it, Joe snorts and calls it the ‘weird horny meat market thing’ the New York pack does. Everyone is like what? and then Joe tells them what he’s heard about it, about how its just a summer camp for unmated wolves and hooking up isn’t just encouraged but is the whole point of it. Joe: “have I got that right?” Max: “yeah pretty much”.  Kelly is horrified, “gross imagine how ripe that place would smell” Rico says he wishes he had been a New York wolf in his teens

Later, Carter pulls Max aside and says “I get it, right? I didn’t know I was into guys until a dude wolf happened to me too” Gavin: “Not dude. Stop calling me that” Carter: “Sorry dude” Gavin: “Stupid Carter”

Gavin cannot believe that Max never shuts up “Cub always talking. Never stops. Mouth moving but says nothing. All teenagers like this?” No, just twinks with two brain cells like Max.

But Gavin can’t help but ask Max what Jasper smells like to him: “mint and citrus and cherry blossom”

Ox puts on his Zen Alpha Bullshit™ and counsels Jasper about what it means to be alpha and that he doesn’t have to be like his father Alpha Jericho, he just needs to be true to himself, and Ox is all “my daddy said I’d get shit all my life” but the Bennett pack all roll their eyes

It turns out that the Official Wolf Business that Alpha Jericho has sent Jasper and Max on was pretty much a lie. The actual business was trivial and it could all have been done over Zoom. Jericho just wanted Jasper to meet and learn from Ox, and to see that an alpha and his male mate could work (Jericho thought that giving his blessing to Jasper and Max would fix everything but Jasper decided to be a martyr and push Max away—whats with these self-denying, self-sacrificing princeling wolves?). When Jasper realises this, he growls, mad. Ox says he didn’t know, but he can’t help his heart hitching.

They only stay a few days. Max begs Jasper to let them stay a little longer, but time’s up and they have to return to New York. Ox tells Jasper to give him a call if he ever needs anything.

Before they leave, the two packs run together in the forest, and Jasper brings Max the carcass of a recently hunted deer...

[thryth-gaming]

Sentinels of the Multiverse Definitive Edition: Spite

Okay…. so post-game report.

Spite in the prior edition is a fight I tend not to like running because it tends to be a long, drawn out slog. So I've held off on trying him in the new edition even though they've worked hard to clean up a lot of decks.

This was the team I took on this fight:

And I some what unwisely took them to Rook City

Anyway… this time, the game took me four rounds… but admittedly… I got lucky.

Spite got one round of damage off (because villains always take first turn) and then he was unable to deal damage for the next two rounds because Alpha kept him Hamstrung (darn pesky reporters turning out to be werewolves) and peeked at his plans (cards).

Expat went right into dealing the hurt out by power of gun (dang French-Canadian gun-enthusiasts)

Wraith used the clues Alpha dug up to cancel some of his plans and started digging into her utility belt right away for some throwing razors and targetting computers. (dang billionaire vigilantes)

Setback's bad luck kept feeding Expat ammo and guns, getting attention directed at him, and upseting some of Spite's ongoing set-up (dang supportive boyfriends who are probability vortices)

And that left Mr. Fixer to get all zen and martial arts up with his Hoist Chain. (dang old man martial artists mechanics)

Rook City tried a couple of smear campaigns, but we kept that under control, though Fixer had bop a racketeer upside the head just before we got the serial killer under control by power of werewolf, gun, throwing knives, luck, and martial arts.

Okay basic notes here.

The three biggest changes to Spite:

His enhancement drugs are no longer indestructible.

Bystanders are no longer sent to a safe haven.

His flip-side is no longer a permanent change.

So, let's talk about Bystanders first.

There are three varieties as shown above, two copies of each. Now, when they take damage, you can redirect that damage to a hero. But, as long as they remain in play, they also give the heroes a benefit. This can be healing, peeking ahead at a deck, or drawing a card.

Spite's end phase has him dealing damage to the Lowest HP target, meaning the Lost Child is generally going to be the one in the most danger at any given time. But this did immediately put me in a nervous mind because I foresaw soaking up a lot of damage to keep the bystanders protected.

The drugs now being destructible less extreme but significant. Spite's drug cards being indestructible was one of the most fun draining aspects of the old villain deck, along with how incredibly difficult it is to protect Bystanders from being turned into a bloody smear.

Now, it's still harrowing (well, my initial reaction was this, but you'll see why this particular game I didn't have much issue later) because you're draining your life to keep Bystanders alive when Spite is capable of dishing out a large amount of damage. But it feels a bit more like you being in a bad spot and having to make choices rather than just having the rug constantly pulled from under you.

But the drugs often just make it next to impossible to do anything... at all. You feel constantly paralyzed and unable to do anything about them.

The next thing is Spite's flip-side:

In the prior edition, once Spite flipped, that was it. He stopped playing cards. instead just dealing damage when he would otherwise do so. And there was no way to flip him back.

Now, he does increased damage, but there is a built in countdown based on how many tokens he built up on his other form. The minimum is 3 tokens, which is when he flips, but it's possible for him to play a card that adds tokens to him. In my game, he had 8 tokens when he flipped.

This has both gameplay and thematic benefits in that there is now a strategy to the idea of whether or not you want to keep Spite here or push him quicker back to his Slasher side and this also represents his body burning through the effects of his enhancement drugs.

Also note that the drugs themselves cause him to burn through his tokens faster, which feeds in again to the question of whether you want a brief bit of pain that you think you can weather or else a prolonged, but less dangerous period due to the choice of leaving the drugs in play or destroying them right away.

Now, let's move on to the team I chose.

In first position, I chose werewolf reporter Tabitha Taft, aka Alpha. I chose the reporter variant of the character specifically for her power. The base version of Alpha is more what you'd expect from a werewolf: dealing damage and getting more wolfy. (see below)

Instead, I wanted the ability to look at Spite's deck and see what he was going to do, and maybe determine some ordering. I didn't end up using this power for that as much as I wanted, either because of opportunity (you need to bury an Aspect to do it) or need, but I did still find it useful.

This was also a BIG risk, because when I chose this character, I did not understand how Bystanders worked... namely that they are now targets with low HP. And given how Tabitha's Aspects work, it was possible that she'd end up targeting the Bystanders herself and doing more damage to my team.

As you can see, as soon as Alpha has 3 Aspects in play, she starts targeting the lowest HP character on the field. Fortunately, by the time this happened, Spite was on 1 HP and thus WAS the target.

As it turns out, I drew Full Moon first round. As a Suddenly! card that immediately played whether I wanted it to or not. This brought Lupine Senses out giving her another tool to watch Spite's deck and control it. One that didn't require me to use either a power or card play.

So, Tabitha was doing the job I took her for, which was spying out Spite's plans so I could cut them off. However, it turns out the thing that really turned my luck in this game was the two copies of Hamstring I drew in her starting hand.

This allowed me to RUIN Spite for two whole rounds during which time I was able to set up and dealing damage.

He could not deal damage, so he could not even threaten Bystanders, much less damage my team.

This brings us to the next member of the team.

Expat is one of the decks that has seen a lot of redesign. In the prior edition, she is still one of my favorite characters, but her deck is a bit sluggish and prone to stalling. Not so much anymore. I've played her deck a couple of times now and she moves quite well. She also now has a lot of team-lead support card shenanigans going on.

Granted, I didn't use her for support in this game. I used her for gun, mostly shotgun, as it came into her hand by the end of the first round (more on that later). But I also used a bit of Assault Rifle since it now gives the ability to give someone else a card draw.

By the end of the game I did have all her guns in play. (Setback's doing) I didn't use Pride and Prejudice (if I had a global damage bonus to all heroes I would have as that global would have applied twice then) because in the situation it was doing the same as the shotgun. I didn't use the Modified SMG because it would have targeted the Bystanders and that was counter productive. I DID use the Assault Rifle because of the "up to 3 targets" language meaning I didn't have to chose more and it gave an ally a card draw.

I kept her in Ammo pretty constantly. This was both due to her own cards and (yes) Setback. (Supportive boyfriend is supportive)

She did the vast majority of my damage (as a note, I did early on forget base Spite had damage reduction, so at some point I healed him for 10 due to some of my people using irreducible damage.)

This brings us to the next team member.

I went with Detective Wraith. Basic Wraith would still be very useful for protecting Bystanders from plinking damage, but I specifically had a plan for using Alpha to look at Spite's upcoming card and then use Wraith to remove cards I didn't like.

As it turns out, once Lupine Senses came out, Alpha was able to handle both sides of that plan without even using her Power, but it was nice to have the option. Wraith has also gotten an update, but her function in this game played within the lines of her past edition's playstyle. Or rather, one of her playstyles.

Wraith is character who can serve many roles. In this case, I used her for a mix of deck control (she did get used that in the first round) and damage dealing since both her Razor Ordanance and Targeting Computer hit the game early.

Though I did benefit from three changed cards:

Utility Belt - has been improved from just granting an extra Power use to also giving a power to deck-dive or extra card play.

Grappling Hook - has been shifted from it's second half being "may draw a card" to "may draw 1 card or play 1 card". Some might note the first half now reads as "Destroy Environment or Ongoing" but Environment cards now have ongoing as a tag so it can still be used to remove troublesome environment cards, more on that later.

Smoke bombs - changed from a redirect damage to just blanket causing Heroes to take less damage while also improving Wraith's damage... but it now only lasts a single round.

Still, like Expat, she was mostly on dealing lots of damage since she got her big weapon and targeting computer out.

And that comes to the next character, Expat's beau, the golden retriever dude of this set:

Setback is a bit of an airhead with massively good intentions and a loveable personality. He has some moderately superhuman physicality, but his only innate power is the absurd effect he has on probability. His luck is never mild, it is either extremely bad or extremely good. And this is how he got his enhanced physique actually:

Loses job and has to pick up a janitor job in the meantime.

The janitor job is with an evil corp fronting for evil scientist person who sticks him in an experiment that has killed everyone so far.

He actually survives and gets properly enhanced.

Anyway, I'm going a bit into his premise and story because the game does his absurd luck very well. First note that his basic power is just play a card off the top of his deck... blind.

Allow me to show you the first card I played as a result of that.

And I absolutely pushed all three of those card plays resulting in this:

Among several other cards. And yes... I was absolutely using that to feed Expat ALL the guns and ammo. Flavor win go!

So the way his cards work is he has Unlucky and Lucky cards. The Unlucky cards have a downside and a good side. Mostly the downside keeps happening while the good side is only immediately useful. But then you can play a Lucky card which gives a benefit and then allows you to destroy up to 3 Unlucky cards for increased benefit.

I had some decent damage dealing in there, but honestly, I was mostly going with blind card plays. I even played Push Your Luck on its own deliberately once. So I didn't particularly have a plan for him. He was just feeding other people card plays and soaking up damage for them.

It was really useful and let me set up Expat very quickly as well as get things moving for other characters pretty fast.

And that brings us to the last member of this team.

Mr Fixer is another very powerful character from the original edition who can be hard to set up and can also stall or feel meh if your luck is bad. He's now been given some easier ways to search through his deck for Styles and Tools.

Depending on which Styles and Tools you set him up with, he can serve a number of roles. In my case, I was using the Hoist Chain and Alternating Tiger Claw. The Tiger Claw was just the first style I drew and never had another turn up. But the Hoist Chain was a deliberate choice and Harmony was something that Setback called up via his absurd luck.

Where as the first two rounds were about Alpha shutting Spite down entirely, round three was about Wraith and Mr. Fixer keeping his damage reduced to pretty much zero. In his last turn he got two attacks in applying a total of -2 to Spite's damage, with Wraith's smoke adding another -1 dealt to heroes for a total of -3.

He did this by a combination of his base power and the Charge one shot card.

And that's the villain and all the heroes so let's move on to the environment.

Rook City from the first edition has something of a reputation of being one of the harshest environment decks. It the past it only had two allies for the heroes and all the rest of the deck was varying degrees of nasty.

The deck now has three allies for the heroes (one of whom used to be a bystander in Spite's deck). In my game four cards came up.

Tony Taurus showed up first and helped me get rid of one of Spite's ongoings. I unfortunately lost access to him due to Setback's card plays destroying an environment card when he was the only target. Anti-Hero Sentiment then showed up after him but I was able to remove it early. Media Pressure was revealed and discarded via Lost Child's bystander benefit so never entered play and Ambitious Racketeer ended up getting backhanded by Mister Fixer when he showed up right at the end.

I've looked through Rook City's other cards a bit and yeah, it has a very bleak outlook in a lot of cases.

Overall.

Spite is no longer a slog, plays well, works thematically and gameplay.

Rook City is mostly the same with the Smear effects being a new wrinkle I only saw a hint of here.

Expat, Mister Fixer, and Setback's redesigns work very well.

Reporter Alpha digs through her deck so fast and I just got lucky with her. So extremely lucky.

Wraith still plays much the same though with some of her weaker cards tightened up.

[ciaossu-imagines]

Hi! I'd love to join to your event, but it's my first time, so I'm not sure if I'm doing this right 😭 anyway, here's my request! Who, out of Mystic Messenger characters, would likely ace and win the werewolf party game as the chosen werewolf? I've always wondered about this because all of them are smart and perceptive, so it'll be quite challenging to lie and fool them. Thank you very much! 💙

You are definitely doing it right! I actually love this request…and my wallet might be a little lighter and a new game to play might be on its way to me so I can work it into game nights instead of playing more of Grant Howitt’s  one-page rpg’s, which I highly recommend, by the way for anyone into that kind of stuff. I loved imagining this and I hope you’ll enjoy the headcanons, dear! Thanks for the request!

So, if it’s the game I found, just to explain it to everyone, you need seven players to have a game – one moderator, one seer, one doctor, and two werewolves with the rest of the players being villagers. The game cycles between day and night rounds. At night, the moderator makes everyone close their eyes and the players have to slap their knees or the table to cover up any noises of the night. The mod then tells the werewolves to open their eyes and choose someone to kill and the werewolves have to agree on someone by pointing and silent gestures. When a victim has been decided and the moderator knows who they picked, the werewolves close their eyes on mod orders and the mod awakens the doctor, who can heal either themselves or someone else. Whoever is healed is safe from being killed from the werewolves. The doctor is put back to sleep once they’ve chosen and the moderator tells the seer to open their eyes. The Seer then opens their eyes and points to another player, where the mod will then silently confirm whether or not that player is a werewolf via thumbs up or thumbs down and the Seer will learn the player’s game identity that way. The Seer then goes back to sleep and the moderator tells everyone to open their eyes because it is daytime, along with announcing any player who died or was saved during the night. If someone is killed, they’re out of the game and they can’t reveal their character. People then have to guess who the werewolf is. If a player is accused and the accusation is supported by a second player, the accused has 30 seconds to defend themselves and it’s then put up to a vote to decide their fate. If the majority votes for it, the player is killed off.

So now that everyone knows how the game works…since there needs to be seven players, I’m imagining this as Jumin, Zen, Yoosung, Jaehee, Saeyoung, Saeran, and Vanderwood playing.

Jumin is almost always chosen to be moderator. It’s to the point where, no matter what, even if someone else got that role, they just tell him they’re trading with him. He’s just so great for the role because he’s meticulous, well-organized, remembers everyone’s roles and what they did on their turn, and has such a good poker face that he never leads the players to knowing who is who by his expressions or by any careless words.

Zen would be so into any type of game like this because it’s just another chance to put his acting chops to work. Other than 707, he’s almost never found out as the werewolf, and he’ll lie so effortlessly in game that it’s really going to keep anyone from suspecting him much. He’s really fond of using the ‘Village Drunk’ role route, where he pretends that was the role he picked, while actually being the werewolf. He’s not a great Doctor and he usually ends up healing himself because he wants to keep playing the game. But it’s almost uncanny how well he picks when he is chosen as the Seer. Like, nine out of ten times, he’s choosing the right person as the Werewolf on the first go. He doesn’t hold onto the information though and he’s going to use what he learned to try to persuade everyone into voting for that player to be put to death, normally winning everyone over.

Yoosung is probably the worst one when he is chosen to become a Werewolf. He’s really not a good liar in the least and he’ll overcompensate by talking way too much and arguing just a bit too hard. He’s really transparent and the others normally get him within the first round or two. He really excels at his role when he’s playing the Doctor though. I think he normally plays as a tank or a healer in his video games, so he’s really good at protecting the other players without ever thinking of healing himself. And he’s pretty smart. He’ll notice any tensions or arguments that might have happened that, even if they were good-natured, might make someone petty enough to target the other person if either one became the werewolf and he’ll actively act to heal that person. He’s really rather awful as the Seer though because he doesn’t really ever know who to pick and just randomly points.

Saeyoung actually really loves being the werewolf and he’s the best one at it. He’s so used to lying, with his work for the Agency and all those years of pushing down his feelings and pretending to be a-okay that having to lie and pretend won’t bother him at all.  He’ll sometimes come right outright and say, ‘I’m the werewolf’, while laughing and making silly gestures or sounds, because everyone is so used to him joking and teasing and being a goofball that they sometimes forget to take him seriously, even though he’s given them lots of reasons to. Because of that persona of his and how easily he slips into it though, he’s able to get away pretty much unsuspected for quite a while, if not for the whole game. As a doctor, he’d be better if he didn’t just keep healing Saeran. Nobody else, no matter what, just Saeran. He's also a really good Seer too, and he’s able to pick up on clues pretty easy in what people say while voting, but he also has a nasty tendency of acting like he doesn’t know who the Werewolves are and arguing against them being them, just because he thinks it makes the game more interesting.

Saeran hasn’t really gotten many opportunities to play games like this and for the first time or two it’s played, he’s not great at it because he’s so busy trying to memorize the rules and the roles and everything. But he grows to be so good at it…except that, it turns out, he’s surprisingly really damn competitive against both his brother and Yoosung and he’ll target them incessantly as a Werewolf to the point where, unless the other Werewolf just goes along with him or is caught, picking the victim can be really hard and time-consuming. And when it comes time to vote on who to kill, he’s the first one to accuse one of the two until they are for sure out of the game, or he is. He’s really cut-throat that way, actually.

Vanderwood doesn’t know why the fuck he’s playing as everyone votes to have him killed first. It’s not that they don’t trust him at all; it’s that they don’t trust him as much as they do the others. He’s outright asked Jumin to be the moderator so he can actually make it all the way through a game for once, but Saeyoung never allows that to happen.

Jaehee actually does everything she can to be really obvious if she's the Werewolf and to do everything she can to get voted out early because she really isn't too interested in actually playing the game. She'd rather relax with a coffee and watch the drama that comes about (and Zen's acting in game, of course).