#whatever its posting time (power rangers theme starts playing)

[fisherrprince]

OUTTA THE WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ranger-report]

Thoughts On: Heretic

Earlier this year, just before the beginning of quarantine, I played a little game called AMID EVIL, something I would not have done were it not for the enchanting video skills of YouTuber Civvie 11. In his video, Civvie demonstrated the awesomeness of the retro shooter, both in graphics and gameplay, and since I was jonesing for something a little more dark fantasy than I was used to, I decided to give it a try. The game is a thrilling rush, and worthy of its own post here, but that game was a segue into me finally picking up and playing a game series that I had been intrigued by for nearly twenty some odd years: the Heretic and Hexen games.

AMID EVIL owes a lot to these games; in fact, it's not much of a leap to say that it owes everything to these games. It's even less of a leap to say that most first person shooters, whether dark fantasy or no, owe a lot to these games. Raven Software introduced a monster of a franchise when they dropped Heretic in December of 1994, working in collaboration with id Software as Raven was creating their games using the DOOM engine (or, as I think we're calling it now, “id tech 1”). John Romero helped in-house, giving advice on how to work with the engine, which was instrumental for Raven to push id tech 1 to its limits. They made changes to the engine which eventually became staples in other FPS games: an inventory system, translucent objects, pushable objects, the ability to look up and down, and the ability to fly. While the game itself was objectively a reskinned version of DOOM, it was stylish and engaging and reworked the most popular game engine at the time. In short, it won accolades in no small amount, and sealed itself in history as a high watermark for boomer shooters, hell, for PC gaming in general. So when we're looking backwards into the foggy past of our ancestors, is Heretic a game that we, in the Year of Our Lord Gaben 2020, should consider playing, either for the first time or as a throwback? Roll up your sleeves, party people, we've got a deep one to dive into today. Because we can't simply look at Heretic alone; oh, no. We're going to have to look at the whole franchise.

Heretic is not a complicated game per se, but it has a lot of tricks up its sleeve. We have the standard issue Run-Gun-Have-Some-Fun gameplay that Wolfenstein and DOOM brought to the table. There's three keys of different colors – yellow, green, and blue – there's a variety of weapons that almost line up point-for-point with DOOM's stack of damage inducers, and there's a horde of enemies that are around every corner waiting for you to come out magic blazing. But where DOOM has a mostly straightforward path from point A to point B, Heretic is a trickster which can and will give cause to tear one's hair out. Secret doors, invisible walls, fake walls, and hidden switches are everywhere, which means that nine times out of ten you'll either be consulting your map to figure out where the fake walls are, or you'll be pressing the space bar on every surface to see if it will open or activate something useful. Raven did a bit of a whammy on the game, setting up the simplistic stuff to lure you in, as though promising a hot night out with the kind of experience you think that you're used to, but then they strap you in for the kinky stuff that you always imagined you'd be into, but now that we're here you're not so sure. Make no mistake, I did consult a walkthrough at least once, maybe twice if I'm remembering right, during my playthrough. And the game is punishing the deeper you get: enemies lie in wait immediately behind doors, around corners, hidden out of sight or just above you since some of them can fly, and as your limited ammunition dwindles down into the red, you'll be forced into running risk-and-reward of melee weapons and inventory items to keep moving. Fortunately, each weapon has its own ammo stock, and some enemies are more susceptible to different weapon types. Adding to the bonus in the player's favor are inventory items that boost weapon damage, specifically the Tome of Power which magnifies the current weapon's attack power into a secondary fire that more often than not is absolutely brutal. But, unlike future entries in this series, the motto of the day is: Keep Moving, Keep Shooting, Don't Stop Moving, Don't Stop Shooting. It's Fun, Fast, and Furious in an entertaining way that only occasionally leaves you pondering why you even booted up the game this morning.

However you may feel about the gameplay itself, it can't be denied that the visual aesthetics and gamefeel are dripping with atmosphere. Everything from top to bottom feels like the best of cheesy 80's style fantasy art, from the front cover to final screen. Gloomy castles, underwater domes, craggy hellscapes. Weapons impress with over-the-top magical properties. The default staff acts like the DOOM pistol, lobbing nearly harmless yellow energy, while the Etheral Crossbow shoots multiple energy arrows at once, like a magic shotgun, easily the most versatile weapon in the game. Besides that one, my other favorite weapons are the Hellstaff (which blasts rapid-fire red energy, and causes acid rain to fall when Tomed up) and the Phoenix Rod (basically a magic rocket launcher that belches fire when overpowered). Depending on what you're facing, proper usage of these weapons (all finely drawn sprites, natch) can either chew through a mob with ease or leave you scrambling to get back. Stun lock Disciples with the Dragon Claw while obliterating Golems with the Crossbow; save the Phoenix Rod for big bads. And enemy creatures run the gamut from the simplistically annoying Gargoyles (red bat-winged creatures who also shoot fireballs) to the sturdy Golems (which come in a secondary variety which throw flaming skulls at you) to the Disciples of D'Sparil (faceless hooded monks who fly, chant, and shoot fireballs at you, on theme). Usually these damage sponges come at you in packs, rarely doing so in solo numbers because otherwise the game wouldn't be a DOOM clone. What really gets challenging is when boss creatures start popping up like regular enemies – in packs. Take the Iron Lich for example, a massive floating skull wearing a spiked helmet that throws walls of fire and tornadoes that do continual damage, they appear as a boss at the end of the final level of the first episode, then appear later on in groups. They take incredible amounts of damage and return fire constantly, which leads to a tense game of bobbing and weaving and staying as far away from them as possible. But the absolute worst is the Maulotaur. Basically, a minotaur that stands head and shoulders taller than the Iron Lich, carries a huge mace, and shoots waves of fire at you which can one-shot you if you're not paying attention. Staying away from them is key, but they can charge forward fast in order to close distance and take a few swings at you with the mace. These assholes also start as a final bosses, then appear as regular enemies surrounded by waves of other mobs. Maulotaurs are the dealbreakers of the game; they require ridiculous amounts of ammo to kill, and will force you through most of your inventory items if you're not already powered up. Thankfully, your inventory can hold quite a few helpful items, such as quartz flasks for health, the aforementioned Tomes of Power to boost weapon damage, invisibility spheres and wings of flight, and even motherfucking time bombs. But amongst all these, the most ridiculous and yet satisfying item is the Morph Ovum. Shaped like an egg, when used it gets thrown outward and whatever it hits is transformed into an easily killable chicken. Got a wave of monsters crowding too close and you need to thin the herd fast? Turn them into chickens, then turn them into fried chickens.

What gets me is that this game doesn't feel nearly as highly regarded as its indirect sequel, Hexen, and that's probably because for the most part this is a full-on DOOM clone. There were a lot of them back in the day, too many to count, and I think that if wasn't for the legacy of Raven and Hexen, this might have fallen through the cracks of history. Is it uninspired? No, not in the slightest. The quality of the spritework and animations are top notch, the production values are stellar, putting it just above the quality of the average obvious Doom clone. The amount of innovation, with the aforementioned inventory system and modifications to the engine, mesh well with the ambitious world/story crafted in the background of a single warrior trudging across worlds to defeat an evil tyrant who has taken over his people's lands. The current version on Steam is actually the second version released; initially, the game launched in 1994 with three episodes, the first one being the shareware version, and then later on in 1996 had a second physical release which added on two new episodes. It was like an expansion pack folded into the main game, and considering that Hexen was released in 1995, it makes sense that the two new episodes of Heretic feel so much more brutal in difficulty by comparison. And thematically it makes sense for them to have a higher base difficulty, since it’s about escaping the dark world you had to break into, and now you're crawling your way back out of it. Kind of a neat trick, having the hero beat the bad guy halfway through the story, then showing his journey to get back home. Hell, even the name of the main character is awesome. A later game in the series will reveal that his name is Corvus, but originally the character was simply referred to as The Heretic, and in a gaming landscape featuring such characters as Doomguy, the Quake Ranger, and the Doomslayer, the Heretic ought to stand right up there with the rest of them.

So is the game worth playing today? Absolutely. Any fan of boomer shooters or retro gaming in general should absolutely play this game. Utilizing DOSBOX (which the Steam release uses) is fine, but doesn't allow for the best playing experience currently. A quick download of GZDOOM to launch the game will give better controls, easier mouse compatibility, and smoother graphics. There's a method to tie GZDOOM into your Steam page so you can even track how long you've been playing it (for those who this is important for). And it's super cheap, meaning there's little to no excuse to not play it. So why then is this game sitting in the background, kind of like the little engine that could? You know, I'm doing my best to get into the meat and potatoes of this game, to be more descriptive of it and really entice you, the reader, into wanting to play this game. The powerups are fun, there are segments where you absolutely get to go apeshit on monsters and laugh hysterically while you do so, there are moments where the “AHA” is so enlighting that the relief is palpable. Some of the bosses are so memorable that to find them around the corner later in the game as minibosses – in multiple! – is downright frightening and adds to the risk/reward, since they're usually guarding something good that you want to pick up. Long story short, if you like DOOM, you'll like Heretic, which feels like selling the experience short. But the real reason I think Heretic is overlooked is because it is overshadowed by the more complex, more engaging, and more brutal Hexen.

If it hasn't become obvious yet, this is going to be a multi-part Thoughts On post. You've read Heretic, which is a fine game that does what it does and is memorable and fun and fine. But next, we're going to dive into the second course of this delicious fantasy meal, Hexen, and talk about how the second game in this series is the one that got everyone to sit up and take notice of what Raven Software was doing.

[ryqoshay]

How did u think of the username ryqoshay?

The tl;dr version is that I was tired of Ricochet typically being taken in the games I was playing years ago and decided to rework it into something a bit more unique. And she grew into something more.

The full story will be under the cut as my trips down nostalgia lane tend to run long.

Ricochet started off as a character I created for a story I was writing years ago based on games I played as a child. The games were not electronic, rather based around physical toys and the characters and events were made up on the spot by my friend and I.

While our games generally focused on battles and conflict between two established groups, the story I decided to write focused more on the characters of the protagonist group and their interactions. Worth mentioning here that the focus group was a crew of mercenaries as it will come into play later. I realized that the current cast was comprised mainly of front line fighters and wanted to flesh out the team with some back line and support members; medical, recon, intel, etc.

Enter Ricochet. I liked the idea of taking a stereotypical stoic and battle-hardened sniper character and turning it on its head by making a hyperactive, adorable little girl. A character whose slightly warped idea of cute included heavy weaponry and thus treated her gun like a teddy bear, even going so far as bringing it to bed with her.

The name itself had a dual meaning as it referred both to how she was always “bouncing off the walls” and an intentionally ironic reference to a typically undesirable outcome for a sniper. Her given name at the time was Rebecca; Becky is fine, but don’t call her Becca or Reba.

I don’t recall if I addressed her parents in this iteration, but Rico entered the team under the care of Tackleberry. Yes, that Tackleberry; he was my friend’s favorite character from Police Academy, though I believe what I’ve turned him into maintains only the name and obsession with weapons. I already had him as the former legal guardian of another character, so I figured giving him someone new to oversee would be fine.

Then I stopped writing that story. And it remains on indefinite hiatus to this day.

City of Heroes was released and a friend convinced me to join. I was drawing a blank in character development when I stumbled across the Assault Rifle/Devices build and Rico jumped up out of my memories. The name Ricochet was taken so I tacked on -chan to the end as I was quite addicted to anime by this point in my life. This also gave me the excuse to weeb out and insert random Japanese words into her speech patterns as her linage was now half Japanese and half U.S. born Caucasian.

I designed a diminutive, blonde girl sporting high twintails and a dark purple flak jacket  outfit with black accents. Her short backstory described a her as having two heroes for parents and wanting to live up to her family legacy. And as said parents were still around, Tack dropped out of the picture.

I liked Rico so much I started translating her over to other games as well as using her name in my overall online presence, as small as it was then. Ricochet itself was pretty much always taken, so I often had to modify the name in some way, be it by adding -chan or shortening it to Rico or whatever.

Then came the game changer; City of Villains. It came as no surprise that Ricochet was taken, but I was getting tired of using -chan and my other methods, so I decided to create something new. This would be the first time I used Ryqoshay, an intentional misspelling of Ricochet for a character.

Since CoV allowed a short backstory like its predecessor, I knew I had to come up with an in-universe reason for the name change; I also still fancied myself a writer, even though I hadn’t really written much in a while. I figured a villain might do well with a more tragic backstory than a hero, so I offed her parents. The character limit didn’t allow for specifics on the where, when, why and how, but I made sure to mention that she took the first letter of their names - Yuri and Quentin - to rename herself Ryqoshay.

It was at this point, Ryqo also finally received a family name, Bouteillevoix, and with it, a change in linage to half Japanese and half French. I don’t recall the specifics of how I settled on Bouteillevoix iteself, but I do remember liking the dissonance of an outspoken character bearing a name meaning “bottle voice” as if it were to be contained in some way.

For her aestetic design, I swapped out the black for white in her outfit to use the Dark Is Not Evil and Light Is Not Good tropes; dark purple remained, however. This also meant her hair went from blonde to black. And her twintails went from high to low in an attempt to appear a bit more mature, though she maintained her high energy personality.

Also, while not mentioned in her in-game bio, Tack was able to reenter the picture as a Commando, the highest level Summon of Ryqo’s Mastermind power set.

While I wasn’t actively writing stories about her, I was certainly fleshing her out as a character with notes and whatnot. Quentin and Yuri also got some attention as I ended up designing alternate dimension versions of them for me to play. And as the alt-oholic I am in MMORPGs, I also came up with some alternate dimension versions of Ryqo herself; Ryqoshot, a lonewolf gunslinger using the Corrupter’s Assault Rifle power set and Ryqoaraignée, an Arachnos Crab Spider build who was more closely aligned with Arachnos than her other versions.

With all of the alts I was creating, I decided to use the game’s guild mechanics to pass stuff among them. Thus, Ryqo’s Roughnecks was born, named after Rico’s Roughnecks of Starship Troopers fame. Joining members included L4t3ncy_0, a mechanical Mastermind; Recipere, -  Rx for short - a thug Mastermind who kept her crew alive with healing powers; Yozakura, a ninja Stalker serving as Ryqo’s bodyguard and Vivian Sexon, a dual-wielding Brute and villainous translation of a dual-wielding Scrapper from my CoH days.

Not long after, a friend invited me to join a game of D&D. The team needed a door kicker so I brought in Vivian as a brutish barbarian with a split personality, Sanguine, taking control when she raged. My intended two paragraph introduction quickly turned into two pages, which eventually turned into twenty and started translating over other Roughnecks; Ryqo included.

Ryqo dropped her sniper rifles in favor of a more theme appropriate bow and arrow. L4t3ncy_0′s call sign was changed to Nullsiver Luna and she became an artificer who struggled against the world’s tech limits. Recipere, not surprisingly, took on the role of a cleric. Yozakura kept her ninja trappings, but started playing by the Bodyguard Crush trope as I was deep into yuri shipping at that point thanks to the likes of Lucky Star and others.

Even after the game stalled out, I continued to work with the DM to build their world in which all of their games took place. The Roughnecks gained a permanent place in the timeline, extending both before and after Ryqo’s time as their leader, as well as a permanent base of operations, which eventually grows into a full fledged township later at the behest of Ryqo (spoilers should I ever get around to posting these stories.)

My online presence was growing and with it, Ryqo. She became my main when I returned to WoW, a Blood Elf Hunter running around with a giant Devilsaur as a pet; yes, she would think it was cute. (She was changed to Human when I followed by guild to another server that needed more Alliance players.) My Demon Hunter main in Diablo 3 was named Ryqoshay, as a surprise to absolutely none of my friends at the time.

Aion was a strange exception insofar as I wasn’t fond of the Ranger class for my primarily solo playstyle. I still made said ranger and of course named her Ryqoshay, but my main in that game was a Chanter known as Ameliorator, a more fanciful version of MedKit, the character for whom Tack was a legal guardian in the story mentioned above. However, I still played out the Ryqo persona on the forums because I enjoyed it and I’d long forgotten Med/Ame’s personality from that old story.

When Love Live started to take over my life and I found Sukutomo, I went with Ryqoshay as my screen name for reasons I don’t fully recall. I started this tumblr account as a way to post some “Idolsona” stuff where I translated Ryqo into a LL style idol, along with Yoza, Luna and a newer Roughneck, Flash Pyre. And when I started writing my fics, it was easy to use the account I already had here and then keep the name when I went over to AO3.

Hindsight being 20/20, I probably should have chosen Nico as my primary icon, as her appearance is closer to Ryqo’s than Maki’s, even if she wears her twintails high like Rico instead of Ryqo’s low tails. Neither Nico nor Maki have grey eyes as I’ve given Ryqo, so that wouldn’t fit, but none of the LL characters do thus far. That said, Maki prefers purple more than Nico and Ryqo isn’t much a fan of pink, so maybe that played into things? Perhaps someday I will commission one of my favorite artists to draw Ryqo as I envision her and start using her as my avatar, someday… maybe.

Also worth mentioning that NicoMaki has had a heavy influence on how I envision Ryqo and Yoza, and vice versa. Heck I’ve directly translated some NicoMaki doujin into scenes for my D&D story and sprinkled some RyqoYoza stuff into HtHaN. With HtHaM being a more D&D’ish setting, I may very well steal some stuff from my D&D story for it. Perhaps Luna or Vivian might make an appearance? I’ve already referenced Ryqo when Maki remembers hearing stories of an 11 year old girl taking over a mercenary guild. As always, I shall follow where my µ’s muse leads.

In conclusion, while Maki - with Nico very close behind - may hold a position as my favorite fictional character not created by me, Ryqo easily tops that position as my favorite overall; yes, the fact that I created her absolutely factors into this bias. There are reasons I don’t bring her up often - beyond using her as a screen name, posting through her persona on a few forums and the Idolsona thing - not the least of which include a fear of her being labeled a self-insert or Mary Sue or whatever, as I’ve seen some decidedly distasteful reactions to such characters online. But there is also the fact that the bulk of her development has been within a world not designed by me, but by one of my DMs, and I would want to ensure they would be fine with me posting stuff about said world; I’m sure they would be fine, but I haven’t gotten around to asking. Perhaps someday, I might post more about Ryqo. Perhaps writing more of HtHaM will inspire me to take my D&D story off hiatus, dust it off and have a talk with my DM about posting it. In the meantime, I will continue to use her namesake for my online and in-game presence because she is a character I hold very dear.

If you’ve read this far, thank you for joining me in my journey through nostalgia. And I hope this sufficiently addresses Anon’s question.

[tokuxsenshi]

Power rangers 2017 review

so the other day me and my friend watched the 2017 movie. I’m just gonna let this out right now I do not like it so if your just gonna read this to get mad I won’t waste your time. 

so I’ll start with the plot. it starts with Zordon and Rita fighting on earth which is stupid because what would you rather watch and epic space war with a moon witch conquering many planet or a scene on an earth so grey and drab it makes the post apocalypse cry. well Zordon tells Rita shes a shit power ranger and she kills him and goes into the ocean or something. we flash forward. 10,000 year ooo big surprise. And we go right to suggested  cow molestation! what an opener!  then Billy from stranger things gets hit by a car and should probably be dead and he just gets detention despite he later seen with an ankle monitor you don’t get those for braking into a school with a cow you get them for being on probation with the law and if hes on probation with the law THEY WOULDN’T LET HIM IN SCHOOL! Here where we go into what I call movie number 1 the breakfast club remake that was to short. we meet Other Billy and he gets beat up by who me and my friend like to call Canadian Ed Sheeran name Corn Wallace or just Bully even though there were bullies in MMPR named Bulk and Skull couldn’t even be Corn Bulkmire. then we meet my least favorite character Trimberly and just send nude pictures of a teenager without concent like a sexual predator maybe she should have the ankle monitor... Then she pulls sissors out of a wall that another girl shoved into the wall but how fucking strong are these damn teens then she used to give herself the most wild can I speak to the manger bob cut. After school Billy from Stranger things goes to Other Billy house and his mom kinda wild but still more personality then any other character. so Other Billy teaches up how to disabled an ankle monitor. Thanks Other Billy! Then they go to the one location close to actual power rangers ABANDON QUARRY! there we meet Kini and Zack their introductions aren’t to dramatic. So we switch over to Billy from stranger things watching Trimberly trying to kill herself but diving into dirty quarry water hoping either the water isn’t deep enough or the leeches would get her. Sadly doesn’t work. Then Other Billy blows up a mountain with probably illegal dynaminte. apparently everyone has a criminal record. In the mountain they find some geodes pretending to be Power coin. Then like the amazing role models are they run from the police in their wood panel 2016 model mini van.But remember kids if you out run police you go to hell before you die and get hit by a train. Then we switch over to the REAL power rangers hanging out with the family at the juice bar while the new shows a report of the others dying... I WISH! okay so they wake up and find out they have powers? Uh when did the power rangers ever have actual powers in MMPR I mean before they got the ninja powers in the later season but Ninjor wasn’t in this movie. Then Ed Sheeran tries to brake Other Billys hand and the way he tries to brake it makes me assume he also has powers and they go to  Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters so the rangers aint special. They go back to the mountains and all try to kill themselves jumping off a cliff and call into MORE QUARRY WATER!!! Then swim and find a.. A space ship??? where did this come from and in it we meet Micky from Bobs burgers pretending to be a robot alien and Hal from Malcolm in the middle with his head in a pin toy. Zordon shows them a weird sexual vision don’t worry this isn’t the last one. I think at this point they pull Rita out of the ocean and put her dead body on a pile of fish they expect people to eat. and Alpha brings them TO THE PIT! They train Rita pretend to be in Lord of the rings Generic pop music plays. Then Rita Kid naps them and kills other billy not to upset bout that and instead of maybe tellin his mother while playing genric sad music they throw him in the quarry and find a new Billy. Just kidding they go to the space ship an bring him back to life meaning this movie officially has no stakes. THHEN FINALLY THEY MORPH! And they all look like Master Chief from Halo. The MMPR movie version of the theme plays for 5 seconds their zords like shit then they fight putties that look like literal shit a fight happens.Then you think they send her to the moon setting up a squeal... nope she dies in space?? DESPITE BEING FROM SPACE!!! then the movie ends when the Megazord sexy dances and I kill my self by jumping into a dirty Quarry.Also they okay I got the power at the end just like MMPR the movie does it was very weird.

Okay now to talk about my least favorite part the characters. HAHAHAHAHA THEY HAVE NO CHARACTER! These are the most bland unoriginal uninspiring characters I ever seen in a movie they have so little personality Dr.K as a computer screen puts them to shame. Jason just the main guy character Trini and Kimberly are so interchangable I though they were played by the same actress Billy is okay hes fine I don’t really want to be offensive but did antone kinda catch after getting super powers he wasn’t autistic anymore. Zack probably the only character I like because hes the only one with character but I kinda wonder being hes Chinese and his mom only speaks Chinese why does she call him zack. 

Rita okay shes kinda the only reason to watch the ,movie she chews the scenery so much so eats it at some points

Alpha 5 and Zordon arent even worth meantioning their okay maybe Alpha could been less like a drug uncle but whatever. 

I’m not a big super hero fan and this movie kinda shows everything I hate about the heros journey plot its so generic and bland they couldn’t even Try making it even resemble the show maybe if these were oringal characters I’d be fine with it but their not its trying to make character who were built 24 years ago at the time into all new one but made them worse. maybe when hasbro makes the new one it’ll not be about MMPR or at least be more like the show or even the comics honest  I’d watch a shatter grid movie. Thats all I can really say can’t wait for the hate comments.Bye - Dr.K

[nutwit]

5, 14, and 32 for the dnd ask meme, please!

o shit another one ok!

in the words of the good red man, here a we go i think i said that last time actually oh well

5. Favorite NPC

Oh that’s a tough one.  I think it’s tied between Bernard Tripsocket, gnome conspiracy theorist, Julian Montressor, the dapper physicist pirate captain of the Stern played by Christopher Jackson, and Mzumiel (Zoomy), a three-city-block-long beta fish eel monster, demon lord of the fourth column, master of the ethereal and lover of model trains, the billion-eyed and long-mouthed, and owner of the most soothing telepathic southern accent this side of the underdark.

this next one’s a doozy so its under the cut

14.  Introduce the other parties you’ve played in / DMed

I’ve DMed for just one other party, and played in just one other party too.  And technically speaking, the party i DMed for was part of the same story as all the characters in the last answer?  Here let me explain.

There are three parties:  the CFRP, the Freelancers, and the Librarians.  The CFRP stands for Center for Firmament Research and Protection, and they’re the party I outlined last #asked and answered.

The Freelancers are a team of legendary heroes *snrk* who do adventures for hire.  They’re honestly a more traditional dnd party, but we play the freelancer campaign in dungeon world, so fuck you.

Helios Amastacia, high elf paladin.

Remember Venus Amastiacia from the last post?  Her older sibling has been out looking for their wayward sister for years.  Helios is built like a brick shit house and bares the power of Tyr, the one-armed god of tactics and war.  They’re by far the most level-headed of the bunch.  Strong parent vibes but also strong sibling vibes, and also just generally very strong.

Tex McCree, human fighter.

Jesus Fucking Christ this man.  He’s fucked his way across half the continent, at some point toppled some kind of feudal lineage, accidentally got a lordship, peaced out of that and found A Shotgun, somehow, sweet-talked his way into bed with the chairwoman of the Shatterpeak Council (Keegan’s mom), he’s a mess!  He’s a mess!  He got grossed out by touching a dead body like a week ago!

Mira the Blade, human thief.

She’s the best thief in the world.  No, really.  I’m not just saying that, it’s important for her character arc.  She’s even stolen from the Amastacia vaults, which she and Helios have laughs about sometimes.  She likes to push the limits of her abilities and wouldn’t be caught dead in a bathing suit for a number of unspecified reasons.  Very gay, extremely gay.  Has an as-of-yet unidentified link with Nikolai Hoobluff from the CFRP campaign.  :3c

Hollik Bannagammer Merrilin, gnome bard/barbarian.

Baby boy.  He just wants to write good songs about his heroes, Mira and Helios.  Him and Tex are very good chaotic friends who have never caused problems ever for the party in any circumstances.  One time he bought approximately 2000 dollars worth of fish from a butcher at 4 in the morning.  His catchphrase is, “Hello, new friends!”  Also if you hurt his friends he will kill you.

Sunbeam Talbot, halfling ranger.

So this one’s fun.  In the second arc of the Freelancer campaign, before Talbot joins up, they get hired by Hollik’s brother Bernard to steal his notes back from the museum he recently got fired from because his notes prove some big conspiracy or whatever.  Talbot happened to work at that museum, and Mira tried to steal his ID to get in, but Talbot clocked her before she got away.  So now that the museum’s been destroyed by ancient death roots from beyond time (don’t ask), he’s hunting her down to figure out what the fuck is going on.  Also, in the CFRP campaign, he’s the head of the CFRP. 

So, for those of you keeping track, the timeline is super convoluted and intriguing.  I have a lot of reveals I really really want to get to, so hopefully we’ll be able to start playing again once school lets out after next week.

So that’s the Freelancers.

The Librarians are a group of relic hunters brought together by a mysterious pair of brothers to recover a mirror from an ancient ruin that totally isn’t made of rebar and concrete for undisclosed reasons.  We haven’t played much with them because Katie’s been busy but I’m totally in love with her world.

Alys al’Damo, half-elf wizard.

Alys is off looking for the chosen one to guide them on their quest for something something.  She doesn’t really know who or what she’s looking for.  All she has to go on is vague prophecy and tarot-like character descriptions that she adheres to vehemently.  She also has a very good hawk familiar and specializes in fire magic.

Vix Sen, half-orc bard.

Vix is a very strong very sexy fashion designer.  She’s the Edna Mode of dungeoneering.  She’s designed turtlenecks for the king of all turtles probably.  Mostly she spends her time nowadays casting three thunderwaves in a minute jesus fuck Vix please I like having EARS.

Jedediah Brookes, human warlock.

Doctor Brookes is very dirty and greasy and very nice.  He has a secret doctor’s office in the seedy part of town where he stitches people up for free if they’re down on their luck, but in secret, like batman.  But surgery doesn’t explain his witch bolts.  Turns out his dad is a god of healing or something?  And Jed, being great, begrudgingly made a pact with him to be his emissary on earth.

Cederus Dur-Barundeaunt, dwarf cleric.

This boy is mine!  Cederus is a very old, very wise dwarf who’s spent most of his life in the clergy.  He’s that sort of old man style rascal where your pop pop would smuggle you a sweet when your mom said no sweets.  The most important part of his characterization though, and the reason I love playing him so much, is because of a bit of worldbuilding I did with Katie.  Dwarves in this world calcify as they get old.  Cederus is getting on in years, and two parts have already started to turn to limestone:  his upper leg, and his eyes.  He is totally blind and relies on his familiar to see.

I had to do some homebrewing with Katie to make Cederus work right because clerics aren’t supposed to have familiars and I had to start at level 2 for this campaign.  He’s got an extremely thick french accent.  I love him.

AND FINALLY

32.  Your favorite role to play (tank, healer, etc)

I haven’t played many roles actually (I’m the DM it’s my curse), but honestly, I don’t even think of characters like that at this point.  I’m not really very interested in playing any particular “role“ over the others, because I’m not really into that kind of play?  The numbers and the mechanics are a lot of fun, sure, but the reason I play DnD is to write a good story with my friends!  I’d much rather play a character with a motivation or theme that I’m really into than fill a party role, although roles can be useful in coming up with motivations!

THIS WAS SO BIG IM SO SORRY and also very late!  but if anyone is interested in more of this, let me know!

[ladyofmind]

October Wrap Up

Hey everyone! Sorry for the silence... been busier than even I can keep up with, and also found out that the last Music Monday I had a few weeks back- well it didn’t post so I was quieter than I intended to be...

But it is NaNoWriMo time now, so there should be time to settle in and post like mad to update you all, and write my 50k! After all, I have no plans to be anywhere this November. Fingers crossed nothing else goes crazy on me.

Without further chatter, game answers after the jump.

#CharactersHell

1- Rooms for rent above an active and lively bar, for as long as you like* (*Mgmt not responsible for any damage from the cat or other beings if you leave your door open/unlocked.)

2- Not in the expected way. Most of the monsters are the human Antags. The antags are motivated by jealousy and obsession. Other characters have their own personal demons, or else they aren’t really human...

3- Not real monsters, not really. The Antags are over the top in their issues, but they are rarer. Everybody has some kind of issue though.

4- Frost? That grumpy man is actually a bit of a softy inside… If not, Sly mixes up some ugly looking boozy milkshakes that are pretty tasty!

5- That would be the Antag. Tim is a sort of threat in waiting, one that slips around a bit like the snake he is. The incidents he is involved in are hard to figure out until after it happens...

6- My world is no different than our world. There is divinity in the form of God etc, but it really plays no part in my story.

7- Same world, same dire predictions. Only difference is, it’s a brothel, so one can assume they may already be in hell…

8- Most interesting job? That’s a toss up… It’s an interesting place to work in general, but I’m torn between Woods being in a band, or Tweety, the one in somewhat charge of all the other looney tunes….

9- Best Co-worker award goes to Malta. There is no one else likely to push, prod, and sometimes accidentally beat ya up to have a good time, while respecting limits. Unlike the constant party pusher Bebe, Malta can tell when you need the push, and when you just need a cuppa tea.

10- Most of the time, the networking person is Tweety, as everyone knows her and gets connected by her. But for this, I have to give it to the guys. Nira has a lot of connections from before bar life, music man Martin is always networking and improving his career, and Frost? Well the giant makes friends thru fights. Might not be a lot, but they are the best connections…

11- This is a little bit of everyone really. Malta, Frost, and others don’t do it intentionally, it’s more of a language barrier. Sly is the master of deflection to the point you still don’t know very much. That may be why Tweety sees him as an equal, as everyone assumes they know her, but they never know a thing. She doesn’t lie, just turns things around on ya.

12- Woods is about/has turned professional famous musician, depending on which book you read… Tweet is just really good at talking to people and getting everywhere from it.

13- Antags- Sofia has some fans yes. She’s a strange boss with a back story & has some loyal workers until she does things to mess that up (her MO). Tim on the other hand? Well, he’s liked for what his skills & the more unstable/broken sorts love him to obsession.

14- The Antags are good for backstabbing! Tim and Sophia work together for the mostly common goal, but in places there’s differences. For instance, a rigged auction is supposed to end in Tim’s favor. Doesn’t mean S can’t make more money off of him if he wants it that badly…

15- Tim gives me the creeps. There’s this thing he does that makes me feel violated too, so I know it will be good in the end… I just need recovery time after him.

16- Tweet isn’t monstrous… but it is a pain sometimes, writing for an always happy sort, even if you want to have her fight back against things.

17- Tim is as direct as a blunt log to the face can be. He’s more bull in the china shop. Sophia is the mastermind, making her puppets dance in that web way. You can 100% assume she’s behind something, but you’re hard pressed to prove it…

18- With Tim, smarts is the easy part. It’s Sophia you match wits with, if you have to at all…

19- Woods isn't really vicious… maybe some biting comments while holding a grudge. Tweet is always the “kill 'em with kindness” type

20- I think the side chars are very active in their own ways to push this story forward. Some are even pushy as hell!

21- Ok, so Frost isn't exactly wrathful towards the MC so much as ornery and wrathful at everyone… but he does blame Tweety for flaring his ulcer with her ideas.

22- Not all that hard for me, as I don’t force my characters into doing things they wouldn’t do anyway. I try to learn who they are first and go from there.

23- I don’t really use red herrings, not intentionally. There may be one or two accidentally...

24- So zen! I throw on some earphones blaring my playlist and forget that people exist. The absolute worst is when you’re writing so well, and then someone scares you by interrupting you!

25- I’m not really into the sweets. Once in a while, but mostly my writing runs off potato chips or pretzels. Crunchy and salty balances the romance writing well!

26- #FF #followfriday with interesting stories by: @nomdejillian @TGNeal @SkeptiCybrarian @marshawritesit

27- Halloween was fun when I was a kid. Now I enjoy making Halloween-y cookies and giving them out to people I like, since we never have trick or treaters where I live. One year per the Halloween cookie costume rules, I dressed in all grey with a bell on… Jingle bell rock ya’ll!

28- Not a prankster, so not very wrathful at all. Halloween isn’t a big deal near me.

29- Oh I think I did that already! False arrest of the sweet one anyone?

30- So this is a boost for our Co-Host @manual_arbanassi! His amazing, well rounded character work in #Tiogair is great. Plus he totally shares that character building with all of us with both this game and #CharactersTell!

31- After work where I have to avoid a kids book sale while having a bills closing day? Relax and maybe watch a Halloween-y movie. Really, I am more excited about #NaNoWriMo starting at midnight.

#SciFiNaNoPrep

1- Hi, Nicole here. I was fairly certain for #NaNo I would continue my #RedLetters #series, but this Mars idea won’t let go. It has an outline, so maybe this prep will help me change course?

2- For this Mars idea? 50K or whatever it takes to finish this idea. Definitely looking to start it.

3- It’s very similar in that it’s our Earth, and an exploration of the Mars planet we think we know.

4- The not so very distant future. My research says I need at least 4 years, so mid to late 2020’s

5- Planet Mars for about 90% of it. There’s a little Earth training time, and possibly other planet flash backs.

6- Both generally advanced Earth tech, and some stuff for Mars that feels like #spoilers (plus I need to sort that out –Note to self on more #prep!)

7- Haven’t quite named them… but I do know there’s some diversity and a female MC/narrator

8- That’s definitely a #spoiler! I can say that it’s a “greet the way you’re greeted” thing…

9- Oh, I’m showing my age here for sure… but like Sailor Mercury from Sailor Moon or the original Power Rangers Billy the blue ranger come to mind… for their smarts and calmness.

10- There are both Earth “children” and adults, plus some Martian life.

11- Earth customs, sure, all the standard ones. Martian customs fall into “show you, you decide what happens” things. Because the message/meanings are important sometimes.

12- #FF #followfriday with #scifi writers: @RagingCyclone @authorASMcGowan @mae_mckinnon and a bunch of people at #wipworldbuilders

13- I would say somewhere in between, as it largely depends on which side you see it from. Just because it’s Utopia to one may be dystopia to another. Similar to the grass being greener on the other side theory.

14- Earth politics are the same. Mars doesn’t have politics in the same way. They have more rule, order and understanding.

15- Mars is more science and study, so they are more guardians less lawyers in that sense. They have systems for everything, but mostly they do not have crime within their own ranks. Outsiders are a different story.

16- Oh lots! I am taking some of the known things about planets and life and tying it together to give credible conspiracy theory if you will. Might even include Nikola Telsa…

17- As Mars is a drier planet- with more wind storm, less water, the idea of hydro anything doesn’t work. Plus they have a better greenhouse process that makes planting in the ground useless.

18- There is really no focus on currency in this idea, as shooting for different themes, money being the root of trouble not one of them.

19- ATV type things above ground, underground tunnels with everything from walking to hovering transports.

20- I enjoy a reasonable time travel story. Not the type that appear there just to be there, or where the tech that travels person is hokey. More like Timeless, Krypton, or Doctor Who on good days.

21- On Mars there is advanced tech where medicine as we know it is obsolete. A little more nanites and lasers a lot less oral pills and rectal anythings.

22- Mars is a dry windy planet without water, in comparison to Earth’s visible habitats.

23- Mars grows things without name at the moment, but it is edible, like all things people make do with.

24- Standard Martian wear is something of a lab coat but resistant to its environmental elements.

25- Anything can be a weapon in untrained hands…

26- #FF upcoming writers

27- Earthlings go to school and are trained for space exploration. Martians learn by doing.

#RomanceNaNoPrep

1- Hi, Nicole here. Library worker by day/night/weekend, writer every other chance. Currently two and a half books into my #RedLetters series. So far all I’ve ever written falls into womens fiction category.

2- For Red Letters? 50K is just going to start it. They end up being easily 80-100K, even if its more like 200K words that have to be split into two different books...

3- Romance is my sub genre, as it reads more like womans fiction first. But the other books in the series cover more of the slice of life/journey stuff. This one would have a heavier romantic tone.

4- I love a good believable romance. Whether it starts off as a one night stand or getting to know each other first, the characters have to be real and well rounded. Funny is a plus but not cartoony or asks me to assume too much.

5- Depends on the mood. If I need a little escape, a sweet romance will do the trick. But if I need to be reminded of what it’s like to be human outside of working too much or need a serious escape, steamy tends to have a better grip on me.

6- #RedLetters started as an RP… don’t know where the 💜 of romance came from, but I’ve been writing about it as long as I can remember. Helps that hubs & I have been together 10+ yrs & we’re good friends first. Learned lots about relationships from that alone.

7- The main characters in #RedLetters has always been Naomi, better known as Tweety and the musician Woods. There is a whole host of other characters that are important, and Greg may become an MC… if he stays Greg of course.

8- Well, it’s not really a special meaning, so much as an inside joke. Tweety got her nickname from an outfit she wore, and a drunk-ish Cockney woman. The rest as they say is history…

9- Honestly? Kind of a fan of Emma Stone. Looks sweet and innocent, but can be sassy and a bit sexy too. All around package, inside and out I think.

10- I might have the Evil Other Woman cliche… At least on the surface. Hoping the history fleshes this out to be a full story not just a mad woman scorned thing...

11- Big fan of sassy heroines (aka no weak and fainty unrealistic women) and maybe a touch of the second chance at love thing…

12- #FF #followfriday  @MaeBaumWriter @klimov_author  have been #prepping with me since day one... plus I like the stuff @K_A_Grayson  does in her rockstar #romance...

13- When they first met, Tweety was about 21/22. Woods was 24/25. When they meet again about 5 years later, Woods is 30, Tweety will have a birthday in that book.

14- The characters are struggling 20's. Woods is higher in class while trying to do it himself. Tweety's poorer & finding herself. Inside the bar/club, social status doesn’t matter, & in some cases, makes you less important the more important you assume you are.

15- Woods sister approves, eventually. Tweety doesn’t talk to her parents, instead relying on Frost the manager to be her father figure. After a good bit of threatening during a chat with Woods, Frost approved too.

16- In this book? Friendly enemies. Tweety is not happy to see him, but she is never a rude sort, more the kill with kindness type. Woods is more eager to charm her into regretting her choices and occasionally bringing up the past, even if facts are distorted...

17- What brings Tweet and Woods together? A certain book… you know when you get that déjà vu feeling? Except you have proof from your side of the tale too. Trouble is that the truth has its own version…

18- What’s keeping them apart? Lots of hurt pride, broken hearts, completely different lifestyles… But even with all that past, the thing that made them unique is still there.

19- Remember yesterday, when I said different lifestyles? Yeah. West coast musician with a wildly successful touring band vs an East coast wildly famous bar/nightclub owner. One is always on the go, the other is happily rooted to one spot. Plus the same problems as last time- other people.

20- Woods can be a bit too thick headed or obtuse for Tweet’s liking. Woods isn’t exactly annoyed by her running off tendency, but it isn’t making his days any better either.

21- Well, this pair have been together before, and neither were all that innocent then. But since then… One has gone full on flavor of the month style, while the other is much more cautious about their reputation.

22- Woods & Tweet = the infamous Ghostbusters “don’t cross the streams” thing. It’s a peppy flirt who makes you question if she’s as naïve as she sounds vs a rogue with all the manners of that bad boy you need to leave with. Their game is holding out the longest & upping the stakes…

23- Their first kiss? Very steamy yet semi polite in front of the crowd… You see, it was Halloween, and there were sexy costumes… someone didn't speak, just acted, and the rest is... in the book!

24- In this series, I love that Tweet and Woods flirt at the level of chess moves sometimes. Tweety makes a man play on her level or the game is over. If you use tired lines or give the answer she expects when giving you enough rope to hang yourself… well she’s already over it.

29- Favorite quality about-

Tweety- She’s amazing at making people feel welcome and free to be themselves.

Woods- He’s got an awesome amount of patience and tolerance. The not being jealous adds to his charms.

30- Least favorite quality about-

Tweety- Always with the bright, happy side even if it hurts…

Woods- He picks up a ghost nickname for a reason you know.

31- This has been fun, and I’m totally ready for #NaNoWriMo! (Sits and waits for the clock to strike 12…)

#CharactersTell

1/10- “Oh, it’s my favorite month! Halloween weekend parties are our best buiness, and the most fun! Of course I have to come chat about #RedLetters with you all. You all know me as miss Tweety...”

2/10- Tweety- “Why i’m your hostess with the most-ess! I run the front of house at Soulful, in addition to being a co-owner.”

3/10- Tweety- “It’s only lonely in the sense of responsibility. Otherwise, I have a ton of staff and regulars around at any given time.”

4/10-Tweety- “I guess? I’m great with a lot of things, but Nira is best with the finances, so I leave that to him. Since I started being a waitress, I had him investing & asked for what I needed to buy clothes with. Best way to pay him back for the couch surfing.”

5/10- Tweety- “My time off is usually when I sleep. Now there is some help so I can leave before I start falling asleep, but other than writing, I wouldn’t know what to do with time off.”

6/10- Tweety- “Adventure happens all around the club. You never know what Bebe will do when bored, at least my job and the respect given to me, keeps the place from falling down around it all.”

7/10- Tweety- “Well, I would hope that my kindness keeps me in high esteem… Why else would we be so packed all the time? I know there are those against me, because I built a following from scratch.”

#CharactersTell

8/10- “I'm Greg, Gus’ grandson and recent college grad with a degree in business.”

9/10- Greg- “I had a few odds jobs, some for the experience more than the money, but yeah I work a lot.”

10/10- Greg- “I'm not nefarious. Just a regular guy with an inheritance that apparently affects others…”

11/10- Greg- “That's what I'm trying to decide! A piece of a prosperous club or a life on my own…”

12/10- Greg- “Trying not to do that with this choice. You know, this isn't really helping me decide, not when you're highlighting the downsides…”

13/10- Greg- “Progressive. Smart, firm when I have to be. Not overly nice, you will know I'm the boss.”

14/10- Greg- “If I decided to take the ownership, it's really like a slow raise. Or I sell it and make a windfall quick…”

#CharactersTell

15/10- Rolls in on those shoes with wheels inside “Duranta at your service, but everyone calls me Runta! Soul’s not so resident clothing designer and somewhat personal shopping friend to Tweet, if you must know.

16/10- Runta- laughs “Of course not! It takes money and patronage to become a designer who makes money. They wanted me to have a different sort of full time boring work.”

17/10- Runta- “I’ve made a few fashion week shows, and have some amazingly supportive fans who basically are fashion influencers in their own rights...” #spoilers

18/10- Runta- “Sure, I mean clothes and fashion is how you see a person, so of course people have stereotypes based on looks, but I don’t play that game.”

19/10- Runta- “Absolutely! Networking is a big part of what I do! Connections get me everywhere.”

20/10- Runta- “Total workaholic! A friend of mine says that if you love what you do, it’s not working, but living. And I am living for this life!”

21/10- Runta- “I learned a few things from the place I got my start. Hire people good at what they do, and that you can stand being around constantly. So yeah, the people who work for me become a family, since we’re together that much.”

[weebnihonja]

Google Drive with all the Photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B3rMzUOZXk9Bc0hqZzVlRDFxeEU?usp=sharing 

Side note: Sorry I haven't posted in so long, We've been very busy and to get a good internet connection, we need to go down the road to the Fujisan Club, and I've been exhausted in the evenings.  Also sorry about the text being so big, I had to write this in OneNote and copy-paste it.

Days 11-19

Day 11: MOVING DAY!

We woke up early in Tokyo to take a few trains then a bus to the Fuji area.  We attended a shugendo mountain opening ceremony.  It was super interesting to see the combination of Buddhist and Shinto traditions, for example, scaring away evil spirits (Buddhist) and Torii gates (Shinto). Another part was prayers back to back of both Shinto and Buddhist. The afternoon was spent traveling to the Lake Saiko area and setting up in our home for the next 2 weeks.  Its this cool little place with two floors, covered in Tatami mats. We managed to fit 7 people downstairs and 5 people upstairs. We ended the night by celebrating Kiora's birthday with Andy and Liz, who brought us champagne, which we had alongside some cake.  

Day 12: Fuji Galore

We spent the morning at the Fuji Museum, which had a really cool 3-D model of Fuji that lit up various colors to simulate eruptions and other major occurrences. They had a 6 minute version of the entire Fuji climb up the northern side from the base, which was cool to see what route we'll be taking.  The afternoon was spent at the conservancy center, where we explored for a bit then had a lecture from an active ranger.  I was still tired from the previous day, so I kinda dozed off during the lecture…Anyway we each received a packet of Fuji postcards with photos that the rangers had taken.

Day 13 and 14: Motosukōgen Research

We started the first day with doing research on each of the grasslands we would be sampling with an Wantanabe Sensei, an expert on the symbiotic relationship between butterflies and ants.  Turns out that the Nashigahara grassland is a military-owned testing area, open once a week to the public for whatever purpose, as well as it’s the only grassland that’s expanding in size.  The afternoon was spent scouting Motosukogen for testing sites as well as dividing ourselves into research groups.  I chose to be in the soil group, led by Liz, alongside Nick, Rachel, and Akari, our wonderful translator/lead chef.

The second day was spent collecting data from two sample plots.  The way soil collection works is digging into the ground with an auger to collect various soil depths to measure for bottom of layer, color, texture, and organic matter.  The morning dig went slow, as we were still figuring out how to collect the data.  The afternoon was a bit faster, and we discovered that Akari is great at removing large rocks from the holes we dig.  After the data collection, a bunch of us decided to go swim in lake Saiko, and I got some great diving photos.

Day 15: Work Day

We spent all day working on writing two 500 word posts, one of which was on a common theme we noticed for use of Fuji in Tokyo.  That post was complicated technically, as we had to isolate the data points we used in each of our individual posts into a map, as well as inserting a photo scroll wheel into posts.  The second post was a bit more freeform, as we could talk about anything we've learned so far during the trip.  Unfortunately I was up till 1:15 am finishing it because I take a long time to write.

Day 16: Fuji Geology/Volcanology

The morning was spent traveling half-way up Fuji, first by bus, then by hike on the midway circle trail.  The first bit was difficult because it was a lot of stairs, but the rest was slight up and down, but mostly flat.  We had lunch at the 5th station, where they keep a bunch of horses to haul to-tired-to-move hikers back down from the top.  The afternoon was spent talking to an old volcanologist about Fuji, then going through the tainai (womb caves) to be reborn, which was such a cool experience to crawl through l ava-tree mold caves.

Day 17 and 18: Nashigahara Research

We spent the first morning scouring Nashigahara grassland for good survey spots. Unfortunately, the cars we rented don’t have very good off-roading capabilities, we had to get out of the cars so the cars could go up a steep hill.  We lunched on a field next to the radar museum, which the building used to be on top of Fuji as a weather look out post before satellite technology.  We spent the afternoon sampling the dirt between two lava flows.  I volunteered to use the auger, which we managed to use to dig 140 centimeters into the ground!  Also I got sunburnt, but whatever, it was fun.

The next day we managed to gather data for 4 sample locations, but that was because we were on top of lava flows, meaning the dirt wasn't deep at all, fewer than 20cms. After all the sampling was done for the three groups, plants, butterflies, and dirt. Shawn(Shag) and I had an impromptu rap freestyle session, which was recorded…RIP me.  Once we got back, we went swimming yet again in lake Saiko.

Day 19: Hardhats and Fancy Dress

We were told to dress nicely today, so of course I went all out, slacks, button down shirt, fashion noose(tie) and death shoes(dress shoes).  The morning was spent first learning an overview of commonland and Iriai(common land and its system).  We then put on hard hats for safety reasons and toured the annex of Tokyo Univerity land, learning about the various uses of common land.  For the afternoon, we visited the office of the current commonland president, who is this really cool guy.  Him and some members of his staff told us about commonland and the history of it, as well as answered some great questions other people asked about it, predominantly about how the system works.  After the discussion, we talked some more, and the president pretended to body tackle Nick, in the way a football player would, since he used to play football in Nebraska, which was great to see someone in such high power be so playful.

 That’s all for today (finally!)

[wbwest]

New Post has been published on WilliamBruceWest.com

New Post has been published on http://www.williambrucewest.com/2017/06/09/west-week-ever-pop-culture-review-6917/

West Week Ever: Pop Culture In Review - 6/9/17

  In an interesting shake-up over at CBS, Erinn Hayes has been let go from her role as wife to Kevin James in Kevin Can Wait. They say that the show is going in a new direction, which necessitated the firing. But here’s where it gets interesting. Leah Remini, who played James’s wife on King of Queens, popped up in the season finale as James’ former cop partner. Well, just before announcing Hayes’s departure, CBS announced that Remini would be joining the show next season as a series regular. Now, if you’ve never seen Kevin Can Wait, Kevin James plays a former NYC cop who tries to figure out how to adjust to his recent retirement. Based on the season finale, though, it seems like James’s character might be coming out of retirement. It’s just a strange move, seeing as how the show ended the season as the #1 new comedy on network TV – hardly a situation that necessitated a retooling of the show. Part of what critics praised was Hayes’s portrayal of James’s wife of 20 years. How do you just gloss over that relationship? I mean, they’ve gotta kill her off, but unless you do a time jump, you’ve gotta slog through all the grief stuff, which doesn’t lend itself well to a multicam comedy. And if they’re gonna fast track a relationship between James and Remini, will the audience accept it? It really feels like they blew a sure thing and, if they wanted to recreate The King of Queens, thy should’ve just revived The King of Queens! I’ve said that online since Kevin was announced!

Speaking of Remini, I’m starting to think she’s a Scientology double agent. Bear with me here: Scientology is a well-connected organization in Hollywood that allegedly has the power to ruin your career with the information that they have on their members. If you ever leave the church, you’re pretty much done. Just look at the list of former Scientologists. On that list, Remini and Jeffrey Tambor are the one ones who even have a semblance of a steady career right now, and Tambor kinda skirted the issue by saying he never really joined the church. Remini, however, joined up as a child, and was a HUGE booster of the church. Then, in 2013, she turned on the church – not for its negative views on homosexuality (which is why Crash director Paul Haggis left) or its alleged illegal activities. No, she left because she got her feelings hurt after leadership clapped back at her. At Tom Cruise’s wedding to Katie Holmes, Remini asked why church leader David Miscavige’s wife wasn’t in attendance, and they basically told her she didn’t have clearance for that info (formal speak for “Nunyo Biznazz”). She didn’t trust that answer, and went further to file a missing persons report on Mrs. Miscavige. Then, she made it her mission to publicly discredit Miscavige, criticizing his leadership, citing reports of abuse in the Sea Org, and more. She went straight to the TOP with her blame game, yet NOTHING has happened to her. In fact, it’s probably rejuvenated her career. She got a successful show on A&E called Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, where she’s basically telling all their secrets. When the show debuted, the church issued a statement attacking her. Yet, she’s working more now than she was before. So, there’s two things happening here: either Scientology isn’t as powerful and litigious as we’ve been led to believe OR they’re in on it. It’s yin and yang. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. While Scientology has its critics, it never really had an enemy before. Why not create one where they could control the narrative? It’s like learning that Captain America has secretly been Hydra the whole time. Long story short, I’m not entirely convinced she’s left the church, especially over something as trivial as what’s reported to have started the whole thing. And she’s laughing all the way to the bank.

In other TV news, Tia and Tamera Mowry (yeah, they got married and have new hyphenated last names, but I ain’t got time for all that) are trying to get a Sister, Sister revival off the ground. And I don’t know anyone who wants this. If you were cool back in the 90s you probably never watched Sister, Sister, where a set of adopted twins didn’t realize they were twins until a chance meeting in a department store, a la The Parent Trap. Then they all move in together. It was the definition of “mediocre”, yet once ABC canceled it, it gained a new life over on The WB. The most memorable thing about it was that Marques “Batman” Houston, of the R&B group Immature/IMx, played their annoying neighbor Roger (kinda like a watered down Steve Urkel), and they’d constantly yell “Go home, Roger!” at him. Other than that, it was just a bunch of zany, mistaken identity twin shit – stuff that I’d hope adult Tia and Tamera had outgrown by now. What’s the story to tell? They both get divorced, and move in together with their kids? Sorry, Kate & Allie, Getting By, and the upcoming Raven’s Home have already covered that old chestnut. Are they single in the city, doing the same twin shit? Not interested. I don’t have a lot of faith in this one getting picked up, though, because they’re far behind where they need to be. Right now, they say they’re looking for a show runner to guide the project, but then they’d have to find a network. Sister, Sister was NO Full House, so I doubt Netflix would be interested. If anything, the only place I’d put it right now would probably be Freeform, even though the twins are slightly older than the target demo of that channel. Let this just be a lesson that not everything needs to be revived.

In other television news, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow has cast Tala Ashe as Muslim “hacktivist” Zari Adrianna Tomaz for season 3. She’s a computer whiz from 2030, so basically the team’s got their own Oracle/Felicity now – not that they really need it, with Gideon and all. Anyway, in comics Tomaz is actually an Egyptian who uses the Amulet of Isis to transform into the hero Isis. Before the New 52 reboot of the DC Universe, Isis was an important character in the weekly series 52, as she was in a relationship with Black Adam, and her brother, Osiris, was eaten by Sobek. Oh, and she had a cheesy TV show in the 70s. None of that’s gonna be in the Legends, I’m sure. Given the current political climate, and how loaded the name “Isis” is right now, I doubt they’ll actually ever call her that onscreen, either.

Song of the Week

Today I give you “Vampires”, by The Midnight. My pal and thrifting partner, “Special Forces”, and I decided that this is the official theme song for Thrift Justice should it ever become a real show. Synthwave AND saxophone?! I wanna direct Skinemax movies just so I can score them with this entire album. So sexy. Right now, Thrift Justice is a USA drama circa 1990, and I ain’t got no problems with that!

Things You Might Have Missed This Week

Modern Family‘s Sarah Hyland will guest star on Freeform’s Shadowhunters, which kinda sounds like a step back…

Speaking of Freeform, they’ve ordered a pilot for an American adaptation of UK hit Misfits. The network is a good home for something like this, but I’m still pissed over the American adaptation of Skins, so…

Rudy Huxtable herself, Keshia Knight Pulliam, escorted TV dad Bill Cosby to the first day of his rape trial. Whatever. Call me when Lisa Bonet shows up.

In next level pettiness, Taylor Swift put her entire catalog back on Spotify at midnight – at the very moment Katy Perry released her album “Witness”

According to Dan Aykroyd, Paul Feig blew his chance at a Ghostbusters sequel because he overran his budget on unnecessary reshoots. Sony refuted the figures Aykroyd presented, saying the estimates were off by about NINETY percent. Woo!

Jennifer Connelly will join Daveed Diggs in TNT’s Snowpiercer pilot, playing the person who makes the daily announcements on the train. Exciting!

Tom Cruise revealed that the title of the Top Gun sequel will be Top Gun: Maverick. I wonder if John McCain has any feelings about that. Coherent feelings, not ramblings about the Diamondbacks…

Speaking of Cruise, his The Mummy reboot opens today, and reviewers have called it “the worst Tom Cruise movie ever”. Wow.

Singer/actress/sister of Ray J Brandy was found unconscious on a Delta flight, and the doctor who came to her rescue was reportedly Kim Kardashian’s uncle! Considering Ray J put that family on the map, I figure it’s time the Kardashians did something to return the favor.

Gotham stars Morena Baccarin and Ben McKenzie got married. Knowing that show, it’ll probably revealed that they’re Bruce’s real parents or some shit. It’s not like it pays attention to any of the rest of the lore, so why not?

Fox canceled 24 Legacy after a low-rated single season, but they’re still committed to the 24 brand. They’re reportedly developing an anthology series to take the show back to its real-time roots

Like Peter denied Jesus, Jerry Seinfeld denied THREE requests for a hug from Kesha. I don’t blame him!

In one of the strangest deals I’ve ever heard of, Epix has inked a deal to stream its content directly to 2018 Honda Odyssey  minivans

Sony will begin selling clean versions of some of their hit movies. If you’ve ever accidentally bought a clean version of an album from Walmart, you can see why this decision might anger some folks

Hank Williams Jr is back singing the opening to Monday Night Football for the first time since 2011. I guess all his rowdy friends will be over after they finish burning a few more crosses…

George and Amal Clooney welcomed twins Ella and Alexander

Former Power Rangers director/producer/fight coordinator Koichi Sakamoto will direct the upcoming Ultraman Geed series, focusing on the son of the evil Ultraman Belial. Yeah, those words mean something to someone out there.

Newcomer Blu Hunt has been cast as Danielle Moonstar in the upcoming New Mutants spinoff of the X-Men films.

A live action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop is being developed, and my heart weeps. As one of the few anime series I’ve watched, and loved, I kinda hope this dies in development hell

Hackers released 8 stolen episodes of ABC’s upcoming game show, Funderdome, and nobody cared.

Donald Glover will be retiring her Childish Gambino hip hop persona after his next album.

We got our first poster for the Black Panther film.

Last week I gave my opinions and feelings on the movie. This week, I’m just gonna stick to the facts:

92% on Rotten Tomatoes

$103 million opening weekend domestic box office

$220 million opening weekend global box office

Third highest opening for a DC film

Most successful female-directed film

Mot expensive female-directed film, with a budget of $150 million

Most tweeted about movie of 2017, with 2.19 million tweets

Won Best In Show and Best Fantasy/Adventure at the Golden Trailer Awards

Last Saturday, Wonder Woman Day was celebrated at comic shops around the world

You’ve seen it by now, right? RIGHT?! Then, what are you waiting for? For these reasons, and more, Wonder Woman once again had the West Week Ever.

[echoesoffinalfantasyd6-blog]

Getting Started! - The GM (Game Master)!

Now armed with the most powerful tool necessary to play FFD6, the manual itself, the world(s) is your Mimic!

Let’s start out with some basic stuff you will need:

A Plot, Setting, and Determined Magic System for the World!

This is something that can be developed in time, or seeing as that you’re probably looking to get some FF flare, a concept you can pull directly from an already created FF game! To get some ideas about this, go ahead and check out pages 185-214 in the FFD6 Manual for worlds and systems that have already been made! This can also serve as excellent inspiration to create your own, unique story!

A minimum two d6 of your own so as you may act as monsters, NPC’s, or even the world itself! (And it never hurts to have extra to give to players, or have extra lest you have a monster rolling extra dice for damage!)

Several players willing to play as PC’s, Player Characters, in your Campaign, or the story you’ll be creating for characters to journey through. This may seem like a no brainer, but choosing a party that has good chemistry among player and the GM’s personalities is MUCH easier said than done. You can pretty much play with whoever is willing, but from personal experience and as many seasoned GM’s will tell you, we all have different approaches to RPG’s: Whether you’re the kind of DM to throw countless hair raising battles at your players, or the kind to focus more heavily on story telling, players can adore, despise, or feel disinterested in your approach. And that’s fine! I won’t spend much more time about this topic on this post, but Greens for thought!

Adequate Playing Space: Etro knows how many times I’ve had to vie for a playing space in my own Residence Hall so my party and I can play Tabletop Games. As GM, you know how much space you will need for your supplies and layout, and planning ahead really helps with this!

I was going to put this on the suggestion list, but honestly; you will definitely be spending too much time crunching numbers without a Calculator. The system of FFD6 is very intuitive with its numbers, but this can also mean a lot of quick equations, and you save a lot of play time by having a calculator handy!

Notes, notes, NOTES! On a computer, on Google Drive, small Chocobo-Themed Doodle Pad, whatever! Players will do things, or you may have ideas mid game, and you will need to write these down! Monster HP’s after getting blasted by the loudmouth Ranger, the super special secret item obtained; you will regret it if you do not take down notes!

And, as you can probably guess, the FFD6 PDF file. This is important, as it contains all core information of the game. I say this is a necessity NOT for the fact that you need to follow the rules to a ‘T’ (Etro knows I don’t), but more so, to have a sort of guidelines or reference for game situations.

This may seem like a lot, but the resourceful GM will know that most, if not all of these items can probably be purchased for less than $5 (unless you do not use U.S. currency, in then which case you do math because conversions and economics @.@).

Here are also a few things that can also be beneficial for GM’s in terms of atmosphere and utility:

Soundtracks! If you’ve got an ear for music or an itch to blast some tunes while your player’s slay monsters, it can really build up the scene!

Maps make keeping track of players, monsters, and the world a little bit easier. But make sure to take pictures if necessary!

A battle grid or place on the map to show player position’s can help PC’s visualize their situation in combat. That way you have one less thing you need to worry about when conjuring a hazardous battle!

Additional dice! If you are already a partaker of the tabletop world, you may already own items such as d4′s, d8′s, d10′s, etc. As mentioned in a previous post (May 2nd, 2017), these are not necessary, but I do like to use the following dice in my games:

d4′s are excellent for keeping track of Status Effect duration, and for chance (4 sides yield a 25% chance for status effect affliction)

d10′s and d100 or percentile dice I use for random events and percentage. Really useful for determining loot kinds at the end. There’s only so much Gil players can receive... 

Play in a room with windows: you can lose track of time, and as much as we all love divulging our fantasies, it is still important to remember your personal health is necessary to provide the best game you can for yourself and your players. So yeah. Sleep and nutrition is good. #WhiteMagePlug

A few words of advice before I end this post:

FFd6 will give you however much you put into it. With all of the numbers involved, as per usual with a tabletop, understand that it can be fairly demanding. Thankfully, many formulas exist in the Manual that can offer a hand in simplifying things, so don’t be afraid to check that!

I think it would be prudent to post a GM guide post some other time, but I think I’ll cut things off here; ‘cause in the end, you are the GM; your party of PC’s and you choose how to play FFD6, and however you all have the most fun is the correct way to do so!

Thank you all for your time! Have a good one! ~ Ryan

Credit to Qyzex From Game Skinny for the FF Over-World image!

[tophertv]

I’ve tagged it, but fair warning - this post is about death in dungeons and dragons.

Fantasy is primarily used for either escapism or a way to study human nature, and I like to use it for the former.

when I run dnd campaigns (pathfinder specifically) I like to let my players basically do.... whatever they want. I know they’re not going to ask me to narrate anything inhumane or terrible, and we all play the game to have a fun time anyway, so it usually works out fine. you wanna ride around on a giant wolf? you got it. Your character has a strange relationship with interdimensional space time? lets make a thing out of it. You wanna invent a new cooking recipe every night? let’s get ignis on the phone.

these things are structured, of course: players more often than not can acquire what they want through feats or level ups or rolling, so we use the built in system to explore the effects and give the players a sense of progression.

but the system has its.... flaws. sometimes these are flaws in design, like a game breaking combo (I’m looking at you, rage cycling) and sometimes these are flaws in theme, like with death.

death in dnd is not permanent - it’s just a temporary setback. and that seems a little incongruous to me. Like, in video games, a death is a loss of time - specifically, how much time you put into getting where you are from where you respawn. but dnd has two competing models for death, not just the one.

1) death is a setback where you have to stop playing until your allies fix you,

or

2) death is an opportunity to create a new character, and let your old one fade out.

and the designers have limited your ability to overcome death by making death cost something: usually either a material cost like in game loot (diamonds) or a statistical cost like a negative level. and players have to make it a certain distance into the game before they can acquire a resurrection. casting the spell requires the party to have either a higher level, or to find someone of a higher level to cast it, and earning their favor.

now these are fantastic limitations, and I am quite fond of them both, but as the game of dnd progresses further and further, the stakes are supposed to get higher. you’re no longer killing rats in the tavern’s basement for a place to stay the night. You’re now fighting the Lich King Big Bad Evil Guy to save the land from his tyrranical rule.

and this matters! if the players have no investment in the story, then it isn’t so much an epic tale of their power fantasies as it is a new episode of “how I met your mother (which is a good theme, just not the theme I’m going for). If I wanted to play HIMYM, we’d be playing munchkin, not pathfinder. I’m putting more work into this, and I want it to be serious.

but what’s interesting is that as the stakes get higher and higher for players facing more and more powerful foes, recovering from mistakes becomes easier and easier. the players get more HP making it harder to kill them, they get higher stats for better rolls and more chances at success, and they get access to more death defying spells like resurrection!

now, I want my players to feel more powerful the longer they play, but I want them to feel like what they’re doing matters and they have a substantial chance at failure. And I worried that resurrection level spells would dampen that severity, and wondered what whether I should step up the cost of death.

Critical Role DM Matthew Mercer has a similar concern, and he did just that: he changed the rules about death. casting resurrection in his campaign requires the material components to begin a ritual of sorts. but then the player who has died must roll to see if they can come back; and they might fail! the ritual becomes harder and harder each time the character dies, and players may make offerings to the ritual (ranging from a magical trinket to a pledge of love or service) to give the dead character a better chance to come back.

But I wasn’t sure that I wanted death to be that difficult, just more serious. And I was still grappling with this issue last night when we had a total party kill. Well, we didn’t really ave a TPK, but we got close.

the players in my “Rise of the Runelords” pathfinder campaign were tasked with finding the bones of a dead dwarf and returning them to the spirit of his deceased brother, as part of a deal where the ghosts would then lead them to the lair of the BBEG. So they ventured out into a snowstorm to scour the cliffs looking for a corpse, hoping to defeat it’s ghost and return its body.

players who are hoping to play “Rise of The Runelords” at some point should probably skip the next 3 paragraphs to avoid major spoilers.

the complication arose from the death of the dwarf from the hands of a wendigo (not a proper cultural wendigo, mind you, but a deer headed hunger spirit written for gaming purposes. I know the significance of the Wendigo to culture is still hotly debated and misunderstood, but I didn’t write this character into the story to appropriate culture, the adventure path authors wrote it in to make my players face starving in a snowstorm.)

the dwarf’s restless spirit manifested as a powerful ghost with the ability to dominate monsters of the cold subtype, which basically turned this level 15 encounter into a battle on a cliffside against a powerful cannibal ghost and an advanced frost worm. And his is when it gets interesting, because ghosts only take half damage from non-magical attacks, and frost worms.... explode, when they die. in fact, the errata for how this ghost behaves in combat literally included the statement “if the frost wom is getting close to death, the ghost kills it himself with a melee attack to trigger its death throes ability, knowing that he will only take half damage from the piercing effect of the attack, and none of the cold damage.”

Now, we’re a good portion of the way into this fight, and the worm is down to about 25 hp left of 200, and the ghost is down to 15 of 161, when the party gunslinger gets a critical hit on the worm and deals 45 damage to it, killing it almost instantly. I take a look at the death throes ability on the frost worm’s stat block to see what happens, and I am met with 12D6 cold damage and 8D6 piercing damage in a shockwave that hits everything in 100ft. for those of you not familiar with D&D terminology, that means I need to roll 20 dice that have 6 sides (your standard cubic dice) and add up the numbers: 12 of those will be of type cold damage (meaning iceblooded magical creatures might ignore some or all of it) and the other 8 dice will be stabbing damage from the shrapnel of the exploding worm. fortunately, the ghost (who only takes half of the 8d6 piercing damage) takes 15 damage and dies. but that’s not where it ends.

To those of you who skipped the spoilers, welcome back. After rolling out all the dice, we find that the party’s main healer (a witch), the healer’s familiar (a goat), and the ranger’s animal companion (a mountable wolf) are completely dead. the party’s tank, a dragon disciple, is at exactly 0 hp, and will start bleeding to death next turn, and the remaining party members are heavily injured. The rogue is down to 14 hp, the ranger is down to 9, and the gunslinger is the only one who succeeds on the reflex save to avoid the blast, and is left with 45 hp out of her starting 80.

this party isn’t even injured anymore - they’re just mostly dead. but the fight is over for the next 3 rounds, and the players have a moment to recuperate. of course, in a moment or so, the players will face the boss of this area (spoiler: It’s the wendigo who created the ghost that they just beat (also, just to reiterate, cultural appropriation is bad)). it’s about this time that 4 things dawn on me.

1) I’m a murderer

2) this is the perfect opportunity to explore death in pathfinder

3) if I drop the boss on them now, they won’t survive

4) oh my god I’m a murderer

now, the gunslinger multiclassed bard early on to get some healing spells and support abilities, and she casts her cure wounds spell on the party member that’s at 0. The dragon disciple wakes up a moment later, and realizes that the party is mostly dead or injured and trapped on a cliffside in a snowstorm. she uses her daily extraplanar portal ability to pull the party members out of danger, and send them all to their cleric, who is able to cast resurrection.

this cleric is a good friend of the party and owes them some favors, so he casts the spell for no charge. the players are fairly rich in gemstones, so trading out for diamonds is no issue. mechanically speaking, the players will get out of this situation and recover as if nothing was wrong, and I know this.

So I decide to do something a little... mean. I begin to narrate their deaths.

I describe to the ranger that his wolf is unmoving. I tell him how he runs is fingers through her fur and calls her name, but she does not answer.

I describe to the party how their witch friend is still. how her body is contorted from the blast, twisted into an uncomfortable position, and making no effort to right herself. I describe how the goat’s eyes hang open, unblinking, unseeing, staring without focus.

I describe to the witch what she sees when she reaches her afterlife. how she meets her patron, how her patron thanks her for the work she did, how her patron regrets that the journey ended so soon when there was so much left to do, how she welcomes her into an afterlife without her familiar and companion the goat.

and then I describe to the players how they find the cleric - playing with a small child in a moment of peace and education, to juxtapose the moment where the dead and dying meet the young and living. I tell a few jokes to make the players laugh, and then dive right back into the death, the stillness, the wrongness.

and then I describe the casting of the spell and the resurrection and the healing that he cleric provides, and I bring the party back to normal - fully healed, all their HP restored, all their wounds gone.

and in the end, the players recover from their encounter as if nothing was wrong. they managed to beat the monsters they were fighting and will get to fight more monsters in the future. but for a few brief moments, I drove home to the players how very close they had come to failure. how very sudden and silent and still death might be.

and I learned in that moment that death CAN be final, even in pathfinder/ Dungeons and Dragons. that if everyone in the party dies, the party dies. that there i no coming back from a TPK.

the campaign has been really easy up to this point, with a few hard moments in the middle. so this was the first time that the players really had to face the possibility of a hard loss. and I think I managed to create that moment with narration; a tension and a consequence and a feeling of importance - this matters. I don’t think I’ll have to do it again, either. not in this campaign. the players will forever know that even though they have safety nets, even though they have great power, there will always be a chance that they can fail. And that will lend meaning to the struggle towards the end, I hope.

But part of me worries that I’ve overdone it. Part of me worries that by trying to create a setting where story matters, I have sacrificed the escapism that the game lends. We’re close to the end of the campaign, and I look forward to running a new game in a new setting with these players, so I don’t want to drive them away. I hope it all works out.

anyway, death is an important part of dnd, and I wanted to write about it.

[newstfionline]

How To Increase Motivation: 4 Secrets From Research

By Eric Barker, Barking Up the Wrong Tree, July 1, 2017

You’re too tired to do it. Or you’re too wound up to do it. Or you’re too intimidated to do it. Or, plain and simple, you “just don’t feel like it.”

At times we all struggle with how to get motivated. (Hey, sometimes I don’t feel like writing this stuff.)

Well, Daniel McGinn, an editor at Harvard Business Review, reviewed the research on getting your engine going and put it all together in a new book: Psyched Up: How the Science of Mental Preparation Can Help You Succeed.

He addresses a number of reasons you may not feel up to a task and offers scientific solutions for how to get yourself going.

For instance, maybe you’re too nervous about what you have to do and so you procrastinate and that’s preventing you from getting started. You need to calm down, right?

Wrong...

Don’t Calm Down. Reappraise.

That nervous energy is useful. Studies show it can actually increase performance if you channel it right.

I know, I know--when you think about beginning that awful task your brain starts racing, you get goosebumps, maybe your hands are shaking...

Funny how the symptoms of nervousness are so similar to excitement. So you know what? Tell yourself what you’re feeling is excitement.

Might sound silly, but this process is called “reappraisal”--and it’s got some heavy duty brain research backing it up.

From Psyched Up: How the Science of Mental Preparation Can Help You Succeed:

The psychological term for the process Brooks’s work describes is “reappraisal,” and it describes how someone can reevaluate a potentially emotion-eliciting situation in a way that changes its emotional impact.

And crazy as it might sound, it works. In fact, people who told themselves those nerves were excitement performed better than people trying to calm down.

From Psyched Up: How the Science of Mental Preparation Can Help You Succeed:

In two follow-up experiments--one that required people to give a work-related speech, and another that required people to do difficult math problems--she again found that people who talked about being “excited” just before the task significantly outperformed people who talked about being nervous, or calm, or were told to try to remain calm.

But maybe you’re not lacking motivation because of nerves. Maybe you just don’t have the energy. For the solution to this challenge we need to look at the work of Professor Sylvester Stallone...

Listen To The “Rocky” Theme

Yes, literally.

From Psyched Up: How the Science of Mental Preparation Can Help You Succeed:

The Rocky theme songs are referenced repeatedly in research on motivational music. For instance, in one 1995 study, two researchers asked pairs of runners who’d posted equal speeds in the past to compete against each other in the 60-meter dash. Before the athletes ran, however, one group stood in silence. The other group listened to the theme from Rocky on headphones. Afterward, the Rocky listeners ran faster. Their heartbeats were quicker, their muscles were tenser, and their anxiety was lower. Listening to just one minute of the Rocky theme song gave them a significant and systematic physiological advantage.

Yes, it’s available on Spotify and iTunes. But maybe you’re not in the mood forit. Fine, fine. It’s not just the “Rocky” theme that can motivate you. Plenty of songs can.

The leading researcher on music and performance, Costas Karageorghis, says, “The key to a motivational track is that it physically energizes, stimulates, and activates...”

So pick any tune that gets your blood pumping. Even angry music can improve performance.

But maybe you’re not lacking motivation because of nerves or energy. Maybe you’re just not in the right headspace. You’re not “feeling it”. No problemo...

Have A Ritual

Athletes warm up. Pianists play scales. Coroners... well, I don’t know what coroners do, but you get the point. Many professionals have some sort of ritual they engage in to get themselves ready to work.

And research shows those rituals improve performance.

From Psyched Up: How the Science of Mental Preparation Can Help You Succeed:

Over the last thirty years, sports psychologists have conducted dozens of studies into what athletes do before they compete, and the studies generally show that people who use a well-conceived and consistent routine perform better than those who don’t.

Customize your ritual for you. When I spoke to Charles Duhigg, bestselling author of The Power of Habit and Smarter Faster Better: The Transformative Power of Real Productivity, he said a “personal starting ritual” is a very effective way to beat procrastination.

Here’s Charles: “One way to use habits to fight procrastination is to develop a habitualized response to starting. When people talk about procrastination, what they’re usually actually talking about is the first step. In general, if people can habitualize that first step, it makes it a lot easier.”

All right, but maybe your motivational problem isn’t you. Maybe you’re working on a team with some slackers or maybe a friend needs a pep talk. How do you motivate someone else?

How To Give A Special Ops Pep Talk

Stanley McChrystal is a retired four-star general who led JSOC--the group that oversees special operations units like Navy SEALs and Army Rangers.

He’s had to give a lot of motivational talks and he had to give them to people doing stuff a lot more intimidating than anything you and I will ever do. How does he do it?

All his talks follow a simple five-step formula. He says:

Here’s what I’m asking you to do.

Here’s why it’s important.

Here’s why I know you can do it.

Think about what you’ve done together before.

Now let’s go and do it.

I want you to finish this blog post. It’s important because it will help you be more productive. I know you can do it because you’ve read plenty of stuff longer than this. You and I have been here before; I wrote things and you finished them. So let’s keep going, shall we?

We’ve learned a lot. Let’s round it all up and learn the craziest--but very effective--way to build motivation...

Here’s how to increase motivation:

Don’t calm down. Reappraise: Don’t try to kill that nervous energy. Channel it.

Listen to the “Rocky” theme: That said, the effectiveness of running up museum steps and punching a side of beef have not yet been validated by research.

Use a routine or ritual: My ritual involves lots of whining... but do whatever works for you.

Use the Special Ops pep talk to motivate others: I’m not retyping the 5 steps. Play the “Rocky” theme and get yourself motivated enough to scroll up a few inches, lazybones.