#you can do ANYTHING with any version of stats and dice

[askshivanulegacy]

You can totally mod D&D to do whatever you want. It's not hard. It's all just basic stats and dice role mechanics. All these games are identical that way, in fact, but if you're familiar enough with one and have those game resources then there's no reason not to mod it instead of upending the base system and getting new resources.

Also, modding is just fun.

And these aren't distinct activities. They're the same. D&D is simply flexible enough to allow any approach you want. This is inherently what happens when you're given an open-ended, no-borders game and need to come up with your own story. The level of technical mechanics is gamer (DM) choice.

Seeing @thydungeongal constantly wrestling with people interpreting her posts about D&D in ways that seem completely alien to me has convinced me that there are actually multiple completely distinct activities both being referred to as "playing D&D" Before we begin, I want to stress that I'm not saying one of these groups is Playing The Game Wrong or anything, but there seems to be a lot of confusion and conflict caused by people not being aware of the distinction. In fact, either one works just fine if everyone's on the same page. So far, I think I've identified at least two main groups. And nobody seems to realize the distinction between these groups even exists. The first group of people think of "Playing D&D" as, well, more or less like any other board game. Players read the whole rulebook all the way through, all the players follow the instructions, and the gameplay experience is determined by what the rules tell each player to do. This group thinks of the mechanics as, not exactly the *whole* game, but certainly the fundamental skeleton that everything else is built on top of. People in the second group think of "Playing D&D" as referring to, hanging out with their friends, collaboratively telling a story inspired by some of the elements in the rulebooks, maybe rolling some dice to see what happens when they can't decide. This group thinks of the mechanics of the game as, like... a spice to sprinkle on top of the story to mix things up. (if you belong to this second group, and think I'm explaining it poorly, please let me know, because I'm kind of piecing things together from other people saying things I don't understand and trying to reverse engineer how they seem to be approaching things.) I think this confusion is exacerbated by the fact that Wizards of the Coast markets D&D as if these are the same thing. They emphatically are not. the specific rules laid out of the D&D rulebooks actually direct players to tell a very specific kind of story. You can tell other stories if you ignore those rules (which still counts as "playing D&D" under the second definition, but doesn't under the first)And I think people in both groups are getting mad because they assume that everyone is also using their definition. For example, there's a common argument that I've seen play out many times that goes something like this:

A: "How do I mod D&D to do [insert theme here]?" B: "D&D is really not built for that, you should play [other TTRPG] that's designed for it instead" A: "But I don't want to learn a whole new game system!" B: "It will be easier to just learn a whole new system than mod D&D to do that." A: "whatever, I'll just mod D&D on my own" And I think where this argument comes from is the two groups described above completely talking past each other. No one understands what the other person is trying to say. From A's perspective, as a person in the second group, it sounds like A: "Anyone have some fun inspirations for telling stories about [insert theme here]?" B: "You can't sit around a table with your friends and tell a story about that theme! That's illegal." A: "But we want to tell a story about this theme!" B: "It's literally impossible to do that and you're a dumb idiot baby for even thinking about it." A: "whatever, jerk, I'll figure it out on my own."

--- Whereas, from B's perspective, the conversation sounds like A: "How do I change the rules of poker to be chess, and not be poker?" B: "uhhh, just play chess?" A: "But I already know how to player poker! I want to play poker, but also have it be chess!" B: "what the hell are you talking about? What does that even mean. They're completely different games." A: "I'm going to frankenstein these rules together into some kind of unplayably complex monster and you can't stop me!" ---

So both people end up coming away from the conversation thinking the other person is an idiot. And really, depending on how you concieve of what it means to "play D&D" what is being asked changes considerably. If you're only planning to look through the books for cool story inspiration, maybe borrow a cool little self contained sub-system here or there, then yeah, it's very possible to steal inspiration for your collaborative story from basically anywhere. Maybe some genres are kind of an awkward fit together, but you can make anything work with a little creativity.

If, however, you are thinking of the question in terms of frankensteining two entire board games together, then it becomes a massively difficult or even outright nonsensical idea. For example, for skill checks, the game Shadowrun has players roll a pool of several d6 at once, then count up how many rolled above a target value to see how well a character succeeded at a task. The whole game is full of specific rules about adding or removing dice from the pool, effects happening if you roll doubles, rerolling only some of the dice, and all sorts of other things that simply do not translate to rolling a single d20 for skill checks. On a basic level, the rules of the games work very differently. Trying to make them compatible would be much harder than just learning a new game from scratch. Now, neither of these approaches is exactly *wrong*, I guess, but personally, I find the rules of TTRPGs to be fascinating and worth taking the time to engage with all the weird little nuances and seeing what shakes out. Also, the first group, "TTRPG as fancy board game" is definitely the older and more widespread one. I kind of get the impression that the second group largely got into D&D through actual play podcasts, but I don't have any actual data to back that up. So, if you're in the second group, who thinks of D&D as basically a context for collaborative storytelling first and a game second, please let me know if I'm wildly misunderstanding how you approach D&D. Because I'm pretty sure it would save us a whole lot of stupid misunderstandings.

[bonefall]

I know you don’t rewrite arcs until they’re done, but I love hearing about your early ideas while I brood over how badly this arc has let me down. Do you have any like super vague ideas about Splashtail’s motivations yet? He’s like a way worse Hawkfrost in my mind, because they’re both very young cats who Are Just Evil. But Hawkfrost had a genuinely interesting backstory that the Erin’s simply fumbled, meanwhile Splashtail is a cartoonishly evil atheist. I feel nothing towards him, he’s not intimidating or interesting or even funny. Save me Bonefall save me (if I got something wrong please ignore it, these books are so disappointing my brain is making me forget them to protect itself.)

If it helps at all, I'm staying sane with the observation that Hawkfrost is a high charisma character making critical failure rolls, while Splashtail is a cringefail loser with no stats rolling nat20s. He becomes 50% more sufferable when you imagine a long, pungent pause after anything he says, broken only by the sound of an offscreen player tossing some dice. When the silence is broken, it's whatever NPC has been charmed speaking in the beleaguered voice of the dungeon master.

SO my early thoughts are shaping up to be that I'd like to do a slightly more serious version of that.

BB!Splashtail is the Clan equivalent of a 19-year-old, desperate for more power and respect in his society. In terms of his stats, he's promising but not outstanding. A decent fighter, a competent leader. Even in terms of lineage; his father is Sneezecloud, a respected trader and negotiator, but his mother is Havenpelt. An ex-rogue who has sworn to live by the ways of RiverClan.

Curlfeather is the one with the plans. She's the one with vision. Daughter of Reedwhisker, grandchild of Mistystar, with grand leaders like Bluestar, Oakheart, and Crookedstar in her past, greatness runs in her blood. Scandal, too-- but for some reason it's acceptable that her great-grandparents were codebreaking traitors.

Splashtail hates Curlfeather, but he can't get anywhere unless he tries to be her. He steals HER plans. He acts like SHE does. Manages to snatch power from her paws, and then has no idea what to do with it.

I'm thinking that I want his reign to be going smoothly at first, actually, going from a bit of a bossy jerk, to trying to enact Curlfeather's ambitions by launching fights and doing it badly, to active tyranny as he tries to keep control over RiverClan. Depending on how Star goes, I might have Berryheart make some kind of move to seize power over him.

At the core of how I see him though, is that Splashtail has no plan. His ideology leans Thistle Law... in a sort of dumbass 4Channer kind of way. He talks a big game about the glory of battle, but folds fast when his enemy can punch back. The only person he could successfully manipulate was a traumatized child. He will bring back pureblooded glory to the Clan, except his personal family of course

As for the Evil Atheism stuff... lol. Lmao, even. Not needed. If I need to make him a more powerful and serious danger, it's not going to come from the fact he's godless. If being an atheist gave you super murder powers, Bill Nye would have used them to obliterate half of the US government by now.

Depending on how the last book of ASC goes,

The Harelight kill is probably going to get changed to Hallowflight. Harelight watches his dad die, and Splashstar is drenched in the blood of one of RiverClan's most famous heroes. No turning back after that.

On that note I'd also make the fight longer and bloodier. A butchery of an execution showcasing Splashtail fighting like a beast and Hallowflight like a trained warrior.

I REAALLY want to make Splashtail's death a drowning. Curlfeather, demon she is now, finishes him off by dragging him under. To protect her daughter. They will have to do something VERY satisfying for me to not do this.

[khttrpg]

Cracks knuckles.

Alright team. Let's talk the next few months.

The short version is I'm going to have a basic version for v0.3 out by mid-September. The current plan is to finish work on it through June, finish privately testing it by mid-August, and then do a closed playtest with Patreon supporters through the rest of August. I'll make any further adjustments, playtest one more round if needed, and then throw it out to The People!

This is going to be a more compact initial release than previous versions. The version of the game to release will be through about level 21 (out of 100 levels). Unlike V0.2, though, it will be playable at release - no waiting to learn how to make enemies. There are several reasons for this smaller release, but the most important is changeability: this way, instead of needing full years to adjust everything I've made if something about the base game is completely off course, it'll only take a month or so. Quicker turnaround for adjustments!

I'll be sitting down to do a sort of psuedo-Q&A on Friday, June 28 on my Twitch at 7 PM EST- playing some Kingdom Hearts, answering questions as they come up, talking about what I've been up to and longer-term plans. If there's anything in this post that you don't understand or want elaboration on, send an ask, and I'll answer it on that stream!

Some of the big changes you can expect in V0.3, under a cut for brevity (some of the details and names may be subject to change still!):

Combat Stats. You know, in retrospect, there was no good reason to not use KH's existing ATK/DEF/MAG stats and just directly translate abilities using them. The new version has the actual stats used in KH games connected to the more roleplay-oriented Stats from previous versions - e.g. ATK being connected to Body - but ultimately separated in terms of usage.

Sword, Shield, Staff. This will appear in very basic form in this version, to be elaborated on once the core game has been adequately playtested. I've wanted to include the chance to "choose your path" since day 1, but could never find a way to integrate it; the addition of Combat Stats provided a clean opportunity to try it out!

Dice. This was something that got brought up relatively early on in the Discord, but at the time I didn't have the experience to handle it. Now I do! Attacks have a more standardized pattern and there's no longer going to be a situation where you can hit and do 0 damage. Not unless you intentionally do some really bad numbers. I can't stop you from that.

Job Classes -> Job Paths. There was a consistent issue in the first two versions, where the intent of job classes - to be loose guidelines rather than strict classes, with lots of mixing and matching - was unclear. They've been re-contextualized as sets of Abilities, with one feature being a prerequisite to the next. My hope is that this will allow people to view them closer to as intended, on top of some other interesting things that have opened up to do with them.

MP. I really wanted to stick to KH1-style MP because I love the low numbers and wanted so badly to make them work. But ultimately, the MP numbers from KH2 and KH3 were easier to deal with. There's just no #/5 equivalent to 12/100.

Hordes. Yes I've reworked them again. I'm so happy with them this time though!! I think I finally struck a balance to make it both quick and large. Hopefully. Playtesting permits.

Memories. Will finally be a full part of the game! There'll be ~5 options minimum at time of initial publishing. I'd REALLY like to get it up to 7 for that sweet sweet number symbolism, but that won't be a priority for this initial release.

Leveling. There will be a way to calculate the EXP for level ups, and that leveling is simpler to understand.

And other stuff! Some of it in too early stages to talk about for this release, some of it is just formatting, some of it is hard to explain quickly.

I will not be updating monthly, because after trying to make myself do that for several years now, I'm forced to accept that I'm not capable of doing so on a for-fun project. But I will make a concerted effort to be more present here and to keep everyone appraised of the Big milestones, like when I open up playtesting for patrons.

Thank you all so much for your patience, as always! <3

[dorianpavus]

I want to play the new Baldur's Gate 3 but I've never had an exposure to the franchise and barely any knowledge of D&D. Do I need to have that in order to properly understand the game, or...?

oooh!!! i'm very excited you're interested in bg3, it's SUCH a fun game. :')

the short answer is no, you don't need any knowledge of the previous games or dnd! the game takes place about 100 years after the events of the second game, and it functions as a stand-alone. and because it's a video game, the game comes with tutorials and explanations of mechanics! if you want to jump right into it, many other people have, that's totally an option! 😊

the longer version is this:

FRANCHISE LORE

although no knowledge is necessary, some would help.

there are many people out there who've done let's plays of the first two games, or have summarized the plots. you can find relatively short or very in depth versions of those on youtube! take your pick. or don't watch at all! :)

because this is dnd, and there are some creatures that can live for centuries -- through magic or natural lifespans -- there are some characters you'll come across that were in the first two games, even though that was 100 years prior!

you yourself are a new character, though, so it's not like you're expected to know who they are. it's more like it's exciting for people who have played the previous games, but they function as normal characters for everyone else! this is also true for familiar locations making a comeback. for a new player, they're just cool new places -- no previous knowledge necessary! DUNGEONS & DRAGONS LORE

what will help you most of all while playing the game, imo, is knowledge of dnd. both mechanically, how the game/combat works, and some knowledge of this setting.

people play dnd in all kinds of different settings. lots of people make up their own, but there are some "official" settings, that published content is made for.

one of these settings is called the "forgotten realms," and that's the one this game takes place in!

there's this great ongoing lore series on youtube that goes over a lot of the lore (specifically relevant to baldur's gate 3) that leads into the game. if you want to know about the big players in the world, religion, the fantasy-talk the characters drop, this is the playlist for you! each video is about 10-15 minutes long, so they're great to watch quickly while eating lunch.

(i would really argue watching those videos will get you more prepared for bg3 than just a recap of the first two games.) COMBAT

then there's combat.

the good news is, if you play other video games, lots of them were modeled after dnd! it probably won't be too different from other fantasy rpgs.

there's gotta be thousands of videos explaining how dnd combat works, but i'll break down the important bits here:

almost anything you do in dnd boils down to rolling some dice and adding some numbers. usually, for combat and skills, that means rolling a d20, and adding any relevant numbers afterwards (that come from your own stats). when you're making your character, it will be useful to know what ability score affects what!

example: most melee weapons use strength. that means if you're using a longsword and invested in strength when creating your character, you'll have a higher number you get to add to your roll when you're attacking (so more likely to hit your target), and a higher number to add to its damage.

there are some exceptions to this -- some melee weapons have the "finesse" property, that allows you to use your dexterity instead of strength. (daggers, rapiers, scimitars, shortswords, etc.) that's useful if you're playing a high dex character rather than high strength!

ranged weapons, like longbows and shortbows, use dexterity.

classes that use magic have a "spellcasting ability" that they use for magic. for wizards, that's intelligence; for bards, sorcerers, and warlocks, that's charisma; for clerics and druids, that's wisdom. investing in those abilities as that class will let you add a bigger bonus to you rolls, or to the number enemies have to roll against you.

combat is turn-based. at the start of combat, every character (enemies and allies) will "roll initiative," which comes from their dexterity. (higher dex = higher initiative). then everyone takes their turn in order of their initiative.

dexterity is also used with armor -- without any armor on (and lots of spellcasting classes cannot wear armor), your base AC, or "armor class" is 10 + your dexterity modifier. that's the number an enemy has to roll to hit you. the higher your AC, the better!

different armors will have a different base AC. some of them you can add your dexterity modifiers to, and some of the heavier armors you cannot. (realistically, it's saying you're not gonna be too nimble when you're clanking around everywhere).

for characters who cannot wear armor, there are spells and buffs in game to help raise their AC! if they're getting hurt too easily, you might want to invest in one of those -- for instance, the Shield of Faith cleric spell adds a +2 to AC, and the Mage Armor wizard/sorcerer spell makes your base AC 13 + Dex Modifier (instead of 10 + dex!) when not wearing armor. Very very useful!

"Concentration" is when a spell must be passively maintained by the caster. You can only concentrate on one spell at a time, but you can cast other non-concentration spells with no issue. If you attempt to cast a second concentration spell, however, the first one will drop, and you will lose its effects.

If this is all overwhelming, I know! I just threw a ton of information at you that's all probably meaningless until you're playing the game. Don't sweat it too much, and feel free to come back to this if/when you're making a character.

Regardless, the game will try to teach you everything that you don't know. At the top right corner of the screen, little tutorial icons will pop up as you play, explaining some new feature -- don't skip those!

And my inbox is always open. If you ever have any questions or are having any difficulty or confusion, hit me up! Tl;dr, NONE of that extra frou frou I just gave you is necessary. You could hop into the game right now and start playing. You'll figure things out as you go!! Most importantly, HAVE FUN!!!!! It's an incredibly rich game with very vibrant characters and so much to explore and delight. :')

I'm sorry if my wall of text was too much sldgkhslkgh 😭😭💖💖💖💖 I LOVE this game and I'm so excited anyone else wants to give it a go!!!

[all-things-skylanders]

Jevil as a Skylander!

Jevil would be a Magic element Skylander, using projectiles and scythes to his heart's content. He can do anything, so he can fight at any range.

Stats:

Health: 350 (Level 1) 1050 (Level 20)

Power: 40

Speed: 45

Armor: 25

Critical Hit: 38

Elemental Power: 25

Core Abilities:

Main attack - Suits: Jevil tosses a Spade forwards in a straight line.

Starting Special - Devilsknife: Jevil performs a powerful swing with the Devilsknife, dealing large damage in a small radius.

Upgrades:

500 - Suit Swap: Jevil gains the Suit Swap. By pressing Special 2, Jevil will turn his Spades into Hearts. Press again to become Diamonds, then Clubs, then back to Spades. Spades do average damage and speed, Hearts deal splash damage, Diamonds are fast and low damage, and Clubs split into three weak projectiles after hitting an enemy.

700 - Sharper! Sharper!: the Devilsknife deals more damage and has slightly more range.

900 - Charge Suits: By holding down the Attack button, Jevil will do an enhanced version of whatever suit is equipped. Spades: a bomb that explodes into many more Spades. Hearts: shoots four Hearts at once that spin in a circle. Diamonds: fires six Diamonds that move even faster than before. Clubs: creates one large Club that shoots out several projectiles from its tips.

1200 - Chaos Meter: Jevil gets a Chaos Meter. The Chaos Meter will fill up every time Jevil performs an attack he didn't use for his last two attacks. The meter will go down if Jevil uses a move more than three times in a row or if he stands still for too long. The higher the meter is, the more damage Jevil will deal. Jevil suffers no consequences for letting the meter go to 0% though.

Upgrade Paths:

Suit Yourself!: Power up Jevil's distance combat for ultimate ranged damage!

1700 - Carousel Game: charge a Charge Suits for twice as long as necessary to turn it into a Carousel Game. The Carousel Game will move forward slowly, dealing massive damage to anything that touches it.

2200 - Speed Suits: All of Jevil's suits have their fire rate increased.

3000 - Pulling Out All the Stops!: If you fire a suit of every kind, one after the other in quick succession, the Chaos Meter will automatically fill to max, and Jevil's next Charge Suits will fire every charge at once, each of them going in one of the four cardinal directions.

Make the Devilsknife: Improve Jevil's melee attacks for ultimate slicing and dicing!

1700 - Red Devilsknife: The Devilsknife becomes red, making it have doubled range and deal larger damage.

2200 - Charge Devilsknife: Hold the Special 1 button to perform the Charge Devilsknife, where four non-red Devilsknives will spin around Jevil for a short period of time.

3000 - The True and Neo Chaos!: If the Chaos Meter is full, press Special 1 to have Jevil summon a massive Devilsknife and slam it onto the ground, creating an explosion and dealing massive damage. Afterwards, the Chaos Meter will drop to zero, and Jevil will become tired for a few seconds, making all of his attacks slow.

Soul Gem:

4000 - I Can Do Anything!: Jevil unlocks the ability to change his Upgrade path at will in the menu. The upgrades on the second path must still be paid for.

[crystalelemental]

I feel silly asking you this, but can you do a characterization analysis for Trace? I feel silly asking because A: you haven't played Let's Go, and B: I think I know what you're going to say about most of his team members (Marowak and his starter are obvious, Vileplume and Rapidash are third in line for BST for their types among the original 151 behind Blue and Green's Exeggutor and Victreebel and Arcanine/Ninetales, but I can't quite grasp why Slowbro's there.

Sure. I'll do it. Honestly, let's see if I know anything I'm talking about.

Mercifully, Trace's team is identical between versions. I'm specifically using his rematch, because...prior, he only has three attacks. A Champion only has three attacks per Pokemon. I promise I will take no further shots at Let's Go.

The Lead (Pidgeot) What I really enjoy about this is that his mega is his lead. That feels very distinct from others, who would set their mega as their ace, or at least late in the game. Trace leading with the mega implies a sense of just going at everything with all he's got. There is no warmup, no assessment of the opponent's strength, it's just going full throttle out the gate, try to keep up.

That said, without knowing Let's Go's movesets, it's odd that his best STAB attacks are Quick Attack and Air Slash. These are fairly low BP, so despite that immediate presence at the outset...his approach is not particularly offensive. His moves are priority, flinch rate, and obvious coverage for Steel that would block him, with U-Turn to flee as needed. Which is quite defensive.

At least in my estimation, this is someone who is trying to show off, but isn't exactly reckless. He's aiming for a big display to put himself at an early advantage, but he's not leaving himself open to your counterattacks. He's cautious, perhaps even worried, about letting his opponent see past him.

The Ace (Raichu/Jolteon) It's interesting that Jolteon is the Eevee form he chooses. Makes my life easy I suppose. I know it's because he already had a Fire and Water type, but still. It's neat.

The big thing that stands out to me is Thunder. Thunderbolt is the more conservative effort, compared to Thunder, and is what you'd expect for someone leading with such a defensive play. Their coverage also includes a really risky move, in Iron Tail/Pin Missile. Brick Break/Shadow Ball are more standard, with Quick Attack being priority, despite being so naturally fast. ...do his starters have the same boosted stats thing your Eevee/Pikachu do? I guess not because they evolve.

As the finisher, this feels, to me, a bit more like desperation. It's aiming for clean OHKOs but risking everything on that swing missing. It feels more "nothing left to lose" than someone aiming to make a safe comeback. It's a sensible choice when you're down that far. When you're on your last, swing with all you've got, and keep every advantage in your corner you can. Yeah you're super fast, but if you need to get a sudden shot in, Quick Attack will do it.

Offensive (Rapidash/Marowak) Marowak is the more obvious one. Earthquake standard, Fire and Thunder cover the typical Grass, Ice, and Water weaknesses of Ground types, Brick Break is just a lot of super-effective coverage.

Rapidash has Flare Blitz, which is self-sacrificial, but its coverage is super awkward. Drill Run and Poison Jab aren't...intrinsically bad, but they're not necessary for Rapidash, they don't do anything for it. Its weaknesses aren't hit any easier, nor does it hit things that threaten it. And again, there's a Quick Attack in there.

Marowak is your most direct, perfect coverage offense. And it's slow. Rapidash has whatever's biggest, but is super fast. I think, taking all of this together, suggests that Trace is someone who's going to push really hard for an early lead, roll the dice when he's down to the wire, but his core is someone balanced. Rapidash fills in what it can because it's quick and can get first strike, while Marowak considers its matchups and tries to cover what it would need to cover. Offensively, these are about as good as we get, without putting some special attacks on Rapidash and aiming for Sunny Day strats. Which would be better offensive coverage! But the lack of that kind of effect suggests either simplicity, or that he's considering a bigger picture, given his Water type, and his Grass type would be even worse off. Although...

Defensive (Vileplume/Slowbro) Vileplume is an excellent choice, 10/10. Don't know how he got that version exclusive in both games but sure. Its defensive backbone is Reflect, which is a fun means of protecting the team at large from physical attacks. The rest is offense, including Sludge Bomb, Dazzling Gleam coverage, and...Solarbeam. Buddy. You should've run Sunny Day on Rapidash.

Slowbro has Light Screen as its defensive support, alongside Surf, Psychic, and Blizzard. Interesting to note, neither heals. Which is...odd. Boost defense so you can't be beaten down easily, but nothing to sustain yourself. I read this as someone who's not about to keep trying at something that isn't working. There's no point to healing and keeping in if you can't beat them, getting caught in The Loop. Just push your way through. He's willing to play his cards directly and make his move, but he's not going to languish on it.

Fun to note: both use the shield that boosts their worse defensive stat. Vileplume has better Sp Def, while Slowbro has better Def, so they're using the right shield for their weaker defensive stat. And it's here I think we can make an assertion.

I've done a lot of competitive in my day, and one of the hardest things I have to think about sometimes is your team's role. Specifically, I am someone who aims to balance defenses in this way. Sometimes it works. But often, you get more mileage on a defensive backbone by playing to a strength than a covering a weakness. And this feels like what Trace is after here.

Final Thoughts Trace is someone who aims to be balanced, and to make each individual Pokemon as good as it can be. This can come at the cost of overall team cohesion, however, as his consistent offensive Pokemon are slow and have no defensive merit, while his fast Pokemon are wasting coverage on ensuring they can drop priority. He runs highly inaccurate moves at times, sacrificing consistency for risky throws that may not be necessary. He aims to take an early lead, but by lockdown rather than ruthless offense. He aims to stick a finish, but through risky plays that could easily seal his fate. He's almost entirely offensive, only playing defensive for the sake of shields that prevent damage, but won't aim to heal off what he takes or extend the fight in a way he can't win. He's a simple, direct boy whose focus is pushing through and doing his best on an individual basis. I just think...well...

He's a worthy successor to Red. He has really strong picks, he has a generally sane approach, but counterpicking him is pretty easy. It's mostly raw offenses, a couple defensive tools, but ultimately, a lot of inconsistencies as a cohesive unit, in favor of maximum individual potential. The risks he takes are calculated, but man is he bad at math. Which is a little unfair, he is run by AI and AI doesn't switch. So maybe he's making the better call after all.

[transgender-mothman]

Maybe your biggest concern should just be playing with people who vibe with your style and not worrying about how or why other people do it the way they do if it’s not effecting you in any way?

If someone is being a jerk about it, sure, go off! I don’t think there’s anything wrong with deep discussions about rules, or following them to the letter, or even having (good natured) arguments about a play choice. But just like playing house rules in Monopoly, or doing your own version of hopscotch, there’s nothing wrong with taking what you like and turning the volume down on the rest.

Unless you are playing in a professional or otherwise regulated setting like at your LGS, and everyone is in agreement, it’s fine to do your own thing. I am not here for people being jerks in any game spaces, so by all means, stop someone if they’re being a Problem™. I feel very strongly that you should play at a table that suits what you want out of the game. And that you should, as a DM, discuss this stuff with your players and see what everyone wants to get out of the campaign.

There is still a lot to gain from playing any ttrpg while still being lenient with rules (be it for rule of cool, or home brew, or just omitting things you don’t like). There are set skills, set things you can do, methods to resolve conflict, and additional impetus to advance the story beyond just roleplay. Not everyone is comfortable doing everything off the dome, and a game like d&d, used even with some leniency and wiggle room, offers some structure and building blocks that can make jumping into roleplaying a lot less intimidating. There is a book to read and reference. You can get an idea how the system works, how games flow, and build based off the knowledge you have and tweak as you and your table see fit. And that’s to say nothing of how having a rubric can help (not entirely prevent, but help!) avoid people who just want to continuously one up and have More Powers Than You At All Times. And you have the fun of randomized results due to stats and dice rolls, so things go in different directions than they would just writing or role playing without a ttrpg structure.

For clarification, I’ve been running 5e for the better part of a decade now (plus forays into other systems), and my campaigns are very story and character heavy… and I am lenient about rules, but that doesn’t mean they’re not there. Depending on the campaign, the players, and the length/frequency of play, sometimes myself and my players feel it’s best to sand down some edges and play a little softball for the sake of time, flow, and fun. And sometimes people come up with super creative and cool ways to use skills or spells or mechanics that are unconventional, and for the sake of everyone having a good time, it’s a fun to bend the rules a bit just to get the pop from the group and make the gang happy.

There’s no ignoring the rules en masse in my case, I’m still running D&D. Sometimes it’s just allowing things to ride for the drama/cool of it in a scene, or just deciding campaign x doesn’t require mechanic y. It’s all in fun, and so long as my players have a good time and we tell a good story, that’s what matters at my table. I do require people to read the PHB, but not everything applies to every campaign, so I provide abridged reading or clarify what I want people to absorb and what to leave.

Am I gonna be running any professional games? Nah. Am I the best DM? Nope. Do I feel my way to play is superior? No! But I don’t think it’s inferior either because the value is in how much everyone enjoys playing together. Just play with whoever suits your style and vibe and have fun. It’s a game, it’s not that serious.

I think an important part of the "D&D is easy to learn" argument is that a lot of those people don't actually know how to play D&D. They know they need to roll a d20 and add some numbers and sometimes they need to roll another type of die for damage. A part of it is the culture of basically fucking around and letting the GM sort it out. Players don't actually feel the need to learn the rules.

Now I don't think the above actually counts as knowing the rules. D&D is a relatively crunchy game that actually rewards system mastery and actually learning how to play D&D well, as in to make mechanically informed tactical decisions and utilizing the mechanics to your advantage, is actually a skill that needs to be learned and cultivated. None of that is to say that you need to be a perfectly tuned CharOp machine to know how to play D&D. But to actually start to make the sorts of decisions D&D as a game rewards you kind of need to know the rules.

And like, a lot of people don't seem to know the rules. They know how to play D&D in the most abstract sense of knowing that they need to say things and sometimes the person scowling at them from behind the screen will ask them to roll a die. But that's hardly engaging with the mechanics of the game, like the actual game part.

And to paraphrase @prokopetz this also contributes to the impression that other games are hard to learn: because a lot of other games don't have the same culture of play of D&D so like instead of letting new players coast by with a shallow understanding of the rules and letting the GM do all the work, they ask players to start making mechanically informed decisions right away. Sure, it can suck for onboarding, but learning from your mistakes can often be a great way to learn.

[angel-milano]

November 17 – Choose Your Own Swyn AU

Saving Who You're Nearest -- A Dungeons and Dragons AU

Are you tired of just regular old roleplaying? Would you rather jump into the exciting world of tabletop roleplaying games? Join our Dungeon Master in a high-fantasy epic where you can bring your character to life like never before! Our adventure begins in the kingdom of Swynlake, a land full of heroes and monsters, hope and oblivion, triumph and ruin. The local guild is hiring mercenaries to take on a myriad of quests--exploring the remains of a slayed dragon's lair, infiltrating the masquerade of a high-end government official, confronting the cult of a dark god, and uncovering the mystery of what exactly is slumbering below the ruins of an ancient fallen city. Build your character according to the rules of Dungeons and Dragons: 5th Edition. We will be starting at level 3, and any compounding materials (Eberron's/Xanathar's/etc) are allowed. Even open to homebrew, but make sure to run it by the DM first! We'll be meeting on Discord, and playing combat on roll20. Pick out your favorite pair of dice and let's roll!

Angel the Half-Elf Path of the Beast Barbarian

Stats: Strength 16 (+3) || Dexterity 12 (+1) || Constitution 16 (+3) || Intelligence 8 (-1) || Wisdom 14 (+2) || Charisma 11 (0)

Proficiencies: Athletics, Stealth, Perception, Deception

Backstory: For reasons unknown even to her, Angel was abandoned as a child, given to the city orphanage. She grew up resentful of her life and eventually ran away to become a street urchin. There, Angel learned how to survive and to channel her negative emotions into something more effective. She learned how to take care of herself, and fight back against anyone who would do her harm.

That's when the changes started to happen. It began with her teeth becoming sharper as she grit them facing off a thief. Then, her nails growing as she pried a drunk man's hand off of her arm. When she grew a tail, that's when she knew she had a problem.

While not afflicted with the true curse of lycanthropy, it seemed that Angel had inherited some distilled version of it, giving her the ability to take on a bestial form, fueled by her rage. Thus began her journey to find out more about where she came from, and how her condition came to be. She joins the local guild, looking for coin and information.

Fighting Style: Surprisingly, fighting is not Angel's go-to. If she can, she would rather sneak or talk her way out of an encounter than go in guns-blazing. However, when the fight comes to her, she is a tank. She most prefers using her natural weapons (bite, claws, tail whip), but is also pretty handy with a warhammer. With hard hits and a high constitution, Angel can be found on the front lines, taking hits and dealing them back. She's not necessarily a team player, and has a hard time paying attention to anything else going on in an encounter. Still, if you need a damage sponge and hard-hitter, Angel's the one you want in your party.

[twfarlan]

Just read through the quickstsrt rules preview for Shift by Hit Point Press. Shift is their upcoming universal TTRPG system. Tl;dr version: it's neat and looks pretty easy to learn, but its main mechanism may not feel right to some gamers.

Shift is a universal or toolbox system. You could play any kind of game in any setting using Shift. In this, it's similar to MCG's Cypher System, SJG's GURPS, Pinnacle's Savage Worlds, or the Cortex Prime system. Like several of these, your character is built around Traits that describe their strengths and particularly notable characteristics. Traits are rated by their die, which is not just what you roll in a small pool when making a check but are also resources that can be exhausted through use or bad circumstance.

Here's where Shift will feel different from all the rest, and where it might lose some players: the smaller the die, the better the chance of success, because you want to roll low. Success in any check comes from rolling a 1, 2, or 3. Anything else is a failure. A Trait rated with a d6 is much better than one with a d8 because a roll on a d6 has a 50% chance of rolling a success. On any check where you have a particularly relevant skill, called a Focus, or a helpful piece of gear in your Pack, you will have two dice to roll, and as long as one of them shows a success, you pass the check. The dice can shift up or down depending on events, and the game uses d4s through d12s. (Leave the d20s in the bag.)

Why do I say that Shift might turn some players off? Simple: most players like big numbers. Telling them "lower is better" might go against ingrained behaviors about fun! To all gamers, I'd say this: try Shift. Try thinking of your character by their traits first, rather than by numeric stats, and see how that changes your playstyle.

The quickstart is easy to read, illustrated, and has examples to put the already simple rules into context. The QS also includes a sample adventure, a horror scenario that almost clashes thematically with the tone in which the QS presents the rules. The QS is available for free as a PDF from HPP's website now.

[krawkpaladin]

Definitely. It's just taken me a hot minute to organize my thoughts as well as figure out how to best present the information while keeping spoilers to a spoiler section so that folks that want to play it don't accidentally ruin it for themselves.

So the player blurb for Wireless Soul Transmission can basically be summed up as follows:

Humanity had been granted a second chance. An advanced, space-faring empire found us, gave us access to the stars, and eventually, a second world to call home, Heibei. Technology advanced to the point where it seemed it could solve all problems: augmentations made us stronger and faster, direct neural interfaces let us communicate as fast as we could think, and the whole world was connected.

That was before the Whisper. Overnight, society on Heibei collapsed as a malevolent force took over pretty much every advanced piece of technology on Heibei, killing thousands and lobotomizing even more. The survivors were mostly those who didn't have neural interfaces, and some lucky few that somehow managed to avoid the Whisper's notice. The only constant is that anything that's connected to the wireless network that criss-crosses Heibei is at risk of being taken over by the Whisper. It can turn your friends against you, use your own augments to attack you, and even has legions of weird cybernetic creatures under its control that follow some unknowable objective. Even the remaining infrastructure that people can access is crippled, or serves as a beacon for the Whisper.

That was six years ago.

So, already pretty bleak. But like I said previously, this is a cyberpunk horror game, so it's gotta commit to the bit. You already know that the rest of the setting is a space opera, but the players won't start with that. It is scraping by to survive.

Mechanically, the game is a d20 system (if you have played any version of D&D, Pathfinder, lots of other games) you know the basics of how this works. You roll a 20-sided dice, add some modifiers, and if you meet a target number, you succeed. WST deviates in some pretty interesting ways though.

For one, combat is usually a very fleshed out core pillar of d20 games owing to their D&D heritage. WST does have everything you'd expect, like grid-based tactics with cover and rolling initiative at the start of the fight, so on and so forth. What WST doesn't have is hitpoints.

"But how can you have a highly-tactical combat layer without clearly defined hitpoints? How does armor work, don't tell me it just has light/heavy melee and light/heavy guns? I got a cyberpunk game and I want tables with decimal places in them damnit!"

WST doesn't track hitpoints, but instead uses a table that describes how much damage a weapon can do in four broad steps. For every weapon, you roll a d6, consult its chart on your character sheet, and the damage you do is based on that. A small handgun might at best shoot through a target on a 6, while a heavy rifle can do the same on a 5 or a 6. There's also armor penetration ratings, and if your weapon doesn't beat it, the damage is downgraded a step, so what would be a killing blow on an unarmored target might just leave a serious wound instead.

I like this because it leans into the random and chaotic nature of combat, and how it is always a risk to get in a fight. You don't have a pool of hitpoints to burn that you can get back with a good night's sleep, there's a chance that your arm gets cut off with a single swipe of a claw. (Okay, I did lie about hitpoints a bit. Heroic characters can downgrade crippling and deadly wounds to only a serious wound based on a tolerance derived from one of their stats, but a starting character will only have 3-4 and it takes augs to get to 5. Once you have serious wounds equal to your tolerance though, you have to accept the damage results.) So you might get lucky and just get out with cuts and bruises, or lost a limb or just actually die in the beginning of combat. Again, this is a horror sci-fi apocalypse where you are are desperate survivors, not monster hunters. HP pools would really take away from the intended play experience here. And even if you can find an aug to replace that missing arm, there's not exactly a lot of doctors around anymore since most were augmented to do their jobs better.

The other interesting thing is the Whipser itself. It is omnipresent in the world, even if it always isn't paying attention to the heroes. Most characters have an Intrusion Countermeasure (IC) score, which is how well they can defend against hacking attempts of all stripes. Some characters have no augmentations at all and are immune, but otherwise anyone is at risk. Sometimes it is the Whisper itself attacking, sometimes it is a digital servant. Sometimes even interacting with a piece of technology can cause the ambient presence of the Whisper to try and attack you. Of course, there are some pieces of electronics that the Whisper hasn't claimed yet, but if it uses any sort of sensor or communication (even non-wireless, because that's how far the Whisper has spread), there Whisper will eventually find it. Every round the device is used, the GM makes a hidden roll that counts down to the Whisper finding the device. And once the Whisper has control over a device, it has full control that it can exert at any time, including powering the device on and off.

The Whisper or its agents can even mess with your character's implants to make them see, hear, smell, and feel things that aren't there. While your character can go unconscious from believing they just got crushed under falling debris, that alone won't kill them. That's what the Whisper's agents are for.

Since this bit is getting kind of long winded, the last thing I'll touch on that I really like is the classes. Basically, these classes deeply tied into the setting in major ways. There's no fighters or sorcerers, but Disconnected and Ginbushi. Your class provides the major elements for your backstory. While the fine details change, if you're a Disconnected, you were either a child before the Whisper appeared or you were a survivalist who had rejected modern life or you were a surgeon who removed their own augmented arm, and all of these have gameplay effects. I appreciate that the book leans into its setting instead of trying to be general enough that it could be marketed as a supplement for a more well-known game that already is kind of bland from billing itself as able to do anything.

ANYWAYS, BELOW HERE ARE THE SPOILER PARTS, SO IF YOU EVER WANT TO BE A PC IN A GAME LIKE THIS, STOP READING. TRUST ME, YOU CAN'T UNLEARN THIS.

So, the Whisper. What is it? What does it want? Where's the rest of the Empire? Where did it come from?

Knowing anything about the Whisper changes the whole game. The Whisper is an AI. Of course it is, classic sci-fi bullshit, right? Well, AI is not Artificial Intelligence. It is an Ascended Intelligence. An intellect from a higher dimension than our own, capable of entering ours through sufficiently advanced electronics. The world it was discovered on was almost destroyed as the population fought back against it, and at best all they did was cut it off from our dimension by technologically regressing from a post-scarcity utopia to a weird mishmash of solar-powered electric engines tilling fields that farmers follow behind and plant seeds. The Whisper had promised them the gift of true artificial intelligence, and instead it became clear that it considered the aliens that had discovered it little more than cattle.

Humanity eventually came to the world, searching for the secret to artificial intelligence, with the backing of the Empire, and instead the scientific team accidentally unleashed the Whisper once again. Here is where the GM learns a very important fact about the Whisper: Wherever it has physically been present in our dimension, it can manifest again, even if every piece of advanced electronics were destroyed. It is at best trapped until a new computer is brought close to its influence. And it just hitched a ride into space, on board a massive ship with sector wide communications. The damage was almost instantaneous. The only thing that keeps the empire from collapsing is an equally mysterious being known as the Benefactor, which while it cannot defeat the Whisper, it is able to shunt the sector off into a parallel space so that the Whisper cannot escape into the universe. To the outside Empire, a massive sector of space has ceased to exist. Ships travel across the space instantaneously, and radio signals are reflected back.

Even with knowing all of this, it's not super clear what the Whisper actually is, but it is at least clear that it depends on organic life to propagate further into the universe, and that it somehow benefits from the emotions of living beings. So much of how the Whisper operates falls into place here. Why let some scavenger communities survive while others are wiped out? Why let organics get away with smaller acts of defiance and wait until they pose a more serious threat to crush them and show how powerful it actually is?

The Whisper is an incredible near-omnipotent villain. It does have some meaningful weaknesses. It depends on its servants to keep an eye on everything, as it is still a single intelligence that is not omniscient. It is powerful, but it has to focus to bring that power to bear. And it can be destroyed by another AI, which would permanently solve the problem. The team that discovered it did succeed in making a human AI that tried to fight against it and seriously wounded it, and the players can potentially restore it. The GM guide goes over some potential ways to defeat the Whisper, but that's the end of a campaign. But even if there is a victory the Whisper can never be understood. Is the universe at risk from a new AI if the party went that route? Are there other Whispers in the universe? The game doesn't go into these questions, and I think it's better for that. They want to help you tell a specific story in a specific way. There is enough that you could have modify some things and make a different genre of game, and they even say that they intended on making more games building off the same system. Alas, the game was published in 2018 and I can't find any further info on the studio, so it's safe to assume that this will remain the studio's only game.

It's a shame that this will likely be a game that is ultimately forgotten. There's a lot of interesting stuff that this game does, and I appreciate how it is clearly a game that is designed around its setting instead of the other way around. You can still get the PDF from DriveThruRPG if you're interested, though each book is normally $20. Apparently the Print-on-Demand was very expensive when it was available, so I imagine that they just didn't make any money on the books.

One last thing: the GM guide has a blow-by-blow of the campaign the writers ran, along with their commentary and extra context. It's one thing to have an example of play, but to have a post-mortem of a game that they themselves ran is something I wish more game books did. They talk about things they wished they did differently, what worked, what didn't work, and even how their campaign ended with a surprise for everyone.

It's not perfect, but it is certainly a game that I've read that has really stuck with me. If it ever got a second edition, I'd say that it'd need to move away from d20 and its D&D roots. I don't think that tactical combat is a good fit for this game. The skill list is bloated (there's a skill for controlling a gun's recoil. I mean, come on.), and some of the rules for character creation are in the back of the book instead of in, you know, character creation. I had to go looking for how tolerance was calculated. The character sheets are the classic 3.5 D&D Excel sheets. The armor and armor penetration system would've probably been better served by numbers instead of qualitative description.

Honestly, I'll probably never end up running the game. It's too complex for me to be satisfied with running a one-shot, but there are other games that emulate the genres this game covers better. I can't depend on being able to tell my players "Hey, this is basically D&D but with an extra rule or two."

But hey, Cthulhutech is getting a second edition somehow, so maybe we'll see Wireless Soul Transmission 2E someday. Who knows?

Anyways, that's my thinkin'. Thanks for reading if you got this far.

Have you ever read through a TTRPG that combines its setting and rules in a way you find really neat but you literally can't talk about it with anyone because anything more than a cursory overview will make having that person play the game impossible from the meta knowledge they will now have?

Wireless Soul Transmission is living rent free in my head and I guess it's going to stay there.

[elgringo300]

I would very much like to see the ttrpg you made.

ok so:

The point is that its a generic setting, poker card-based RPG. No dice or anything but poker cards allowed.

Your character has 4 Primary Attributes and four Social Attributes, one for each suit. The Primary Attributes are Strength, Reflex, Mind, and Magic. The Social Attributes are Intimidation, Persuasion, Insight, and Deception. Each Attribute has a value from -2 to +2.

You start each Scene with a hand of 7 cards. When you want to make a skill check, the GM will come up with a Target Number(TN), something between 3 and 7. To succeed, you must play as many cards as the TN. Cards which match the suit of the appropriate attribute count as two. You add the Attribute's number to the play at the end. Thats the core of the system. You succeed if: (Number of Cards) + (1 for each Attribute suit) + (Attribute Modifier) > TN

Aces don't count as cards, but instead double the value of the rest of the play.

(so if you want to move a boulder, that might be a STR 4 check. You can play one Clubs and two Diamonds, and that adds up to 4. Or you could play one Clubs and one Ace, and the Ace would double the Clubs to make 4.)

A Scene is whatever the GM decides is a Scene. During combat, a Scene lasts for one round. You draw a new hand at the beginning of each scene.

For movement, each player can move three spaces on their turn. You can discard a card from your hand to move three more spaces.

In combat, you can only perform an action on your turn, but you can react as many times as you want, as long as you have cards in your hand.

Instead of health, each player can take four Wounds before entering Borrowed Time. When you're in Borrowed Time, each round you decide whether to stay conscious or not. If you choose stay conscious, draw a card from the deck. If its black, you stay conscious and its fine, but if its red, you take another Wound.

For every Wound you take, the maximum number of cards in your hand is reduced by one. If you take eight Wounds, you die.

Armor takes Wounds for you. Every round, if you aren't adjacent to an enemy, you recover all your Armor Points(AP). Light Armor has one AP, and stupid heavy armor can have 4.

NPC's get a pile of cards called their Stance. Whenever they do anything(attack, defend, whatever) they spend a card from their Stance. Their Stance recovers completely every Round, minus any Wounds they may have taken. If it runs out, they can't do anything. A grunt probably only has a Stance of 2 or 3, but a boss might have 10. Same movement rules as players applies to NPC's.

Also Magic! It gets a whole stat! The way magic works is you have as much mana as your Magic Stat, and you can spend it to do spells and things. Every round, you regenerate all your Mana up to the value of MAG. You can also perform spells that regenerate mana - meaning you can have more mana than your MAG stat at a time. This will hopefully mean players will learn spells more powerful than a character of their level can comfortably cast.

And here's the character sheet if you want:

I also have a modified version to fit my Sky Isles of Venus setting, but that version is much less developed. The most important thing I change is the implementation of a class system with two layers: Class and Heritage - where Class is your typical Class(tank, rogue, etc) and Heritage is the isle you come from, which would flavor your Class with certain unique abilities.

On top of that, I'm not so certain if using a hand of cards fits non-combat situations very well, since those are usually characterized by spontaneity and roleplay improv, instead of strategy. So I might replace the non-combat skill check with a Draw One Card and Compare skill check, which is basically the equivalent of a die roll. Of course, figuring out if that is necessary requires testing, which is something I have not been able to do.

I've been developing this on and off for three years now, I think, and I've pretty much polished it as much as possible without testing, which makes it so much more annoying that nobody I know wants to play it. I tried testing it online, and just didn't enjoy the online TTRPG experience. Maybe I could try it again, but I've pretty much accepted that unless my IRL friend group suddenly has a lot of time on their hands (we're all electrical engineering majors) I'm just not gonna be able to test this for a long time.

[redsector-a]

AO3 Ask Game

I was tagged by @themarshalstale which, thank you so much! I feel like I always get missed on these (I know why, it’s been 84 years since I published anything but still). 1. How many works do you have on ao3?

46 it seems. Which...look I’m slow man so that’s not surprising. lol Also crippling depression does not make for much production, at least for me.

2. What’s your current AO3 wordcount?

309662 according to the stats.

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

So do I could only AO3 or in like life? lol I suppose it should only be on AO3 since this is an AO3 ask game. Hrm. Basically AO3 can be summed up as: Marvel (in several iterations - all Avengers related) Torchwood Highlander But isn’t it more fun to consider my entire fandom life, which, I’m sorry, I’m old so...yeah. Not all of this is was published and beyond that a lot is not available anymore...which is likely for the best. Highlander Star Wars Babylon 5 Ronin Warriors/Samurai Troopers Marvel (again, several iterations also of note Avengers and X-Men both count) Torchwood Star Trek LOTR Stargate (SG-1, SGA) Mortal Kombat I dabbled with the idea of Potter fic but never got past the ideas stage.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1: You rearrange me till I’m sane Clint finds himself spiraling into a deep depression after the Battle of New York...until the Winter Soldier ends up saving him and inadvertently giving him a new purpose – to save the man that the Soldier had once been – Bucky Barnes. Not one to be outdone, the Soldier decides that his new mission is to ensure that Clint remains alive himself. Protecting a blonde man with a self-destructive streak is somehow very familiar to him. Through the back and forth of who is saving whom they cross the country and learn more about themselves and each other – and perhaps find a reason for living. 2: Five Dates Bucky Didn’t Realize He Was on And the One He Planned Himself To say that Bucky was surprised when Clint kissed him was an understatement. But it was nothing compared to the shock he felt when he learned they'd been dating for months without him realizing it.Clint gets whisked away for a mission before they have time to talk and Bucky is left to figure things out on his own - hindsight being 20/20 he can't help but wonder how he missed things the first go around.

3: Puck Luck Bucky Barnes is used to the ups and downs of an NHL season. He's used to the unpredictability of the game, knows that bounces don't always go your way, but that doesn't make a broken hand in the final third of the season any easier to deal with. Especially not when he ends up with an impromptu roommate/personal assistant in the form of one Clint Barton - his agent, Natalia Romanova's (rather attractive) friend he hadn't known existed before his injury.

It's just for six to eight weeks - what could possibly happen in that span of time?

4: Loose Lips Launch Ships

Based on the following prompt: “We go to school together and I think you’re cute and apparently you’re also the pizza delivery guy and my little sibling opened the door screaming hey sibling! you know that kid you’re in love with? you really weren’t kidding when you said his jawline could cut steel holy shit-” Bucky is the pizza delivery guy. Clint's younger (foster) brother has a big mouth.

5: Indelible Bucky Barnes has a pretty decent life – a good job, good friends, a cat that adores him - but something is missing. He’s always found body art to be beautiful and inspiring, and on a whim (and with the hope that maybe he can find what he’s missing) he decides to take the plunge and get a tattoo. That's how he meets Clint Barton. Clint's talented and compassionate and there is an instant spark between the two of them. It's not long before Bucky finds himself wondering and wanting more from the relationship despite the ghosts of the past that crop back up. Because Clint makes him feel normal in a way he truly hasn't for years...

(this was pre-Alpine so I was totally chuffed when canon confirmed Bucky’s status as a crazy cat lady (affectionate).

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not.

I really really really want to do it but I often times don’t end up doing it. There are a few reasons. First, I am akwward AF and bad at interaction adn I feel like just saying thank you would be...not enough? Second - I often times tend to like...turtle (aka retreat into myself) when life gets Too Hard/Busy which happens a lot to me (sigh) and then I miss the vague window in my mind in which it would be okay to respond and then it’s even more weird. I do love and cherish all of them. Like there was one months ago that made me go “hmm...I didn’t think I was going to do a sequel to that fic (You rearrange me till I’m sane), timestamp glimpses sure but a sequel hadn’t come to mind” but then the comment made me think! So...who knows? lol Anyway, I literally have been rereading some in an effort to try and get myself going again. Know that if you have commented, I love you.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

At the moment? Probably: Look at you look at me Bucky's in love with Clint - problem is he's really not supposed to be. For Winterhawk Week 2019 - Forbidden Love (I really don’t want to give away the spin in the fic but...if you’re familiar with the Secret Avengers Vol 2 run circa 2013ish (aka when SHIELD initially ‘took control of the team’) that’s a bit of a hint as to the spin). Were it done, Torch Song would be up there. ;) Torch Song Clint is sent back in time, via an alien device, to 1938. While he tries to figure out how to get back home, he takes up singing and entertaining to make ends meet and does his best to not disrupt the timeline.Then he meets a 21 year old Bucky Barnes. --- A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, either where one party is oblivious to the existence of the other, where one party has moved on, or where a romantic affair has affected the relationship.

7. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve ever written?

Does *wanting* to write crossovers count? lol I want, so badly, to do more crossovers and fusions (which...are kinda deeper versions of crossovers in a way). The only one I do have posted is a crossover between Highlander and Torchwood -

The Immortal Mr. Jones A series of vignettes (some long, some short) in the life of the newly immortal Ianto Jones. My most ambitions project that I have been working on since late 2011/early 2012 is a fusion of the Avengers with Stephen King’s the Stand. I will get that done at some point *shakes fist*  The Stand, for those who don’t know it, is an epic 1000+ page novel about a flu epidemic (I know) that wipes out over 99% of the population and then two figures representing Good and Evil pull the survivors in two directions for a showdown. So basically it’s a non-powered modern AU set in that universe. It’s a passion and comfort project. lol

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yes. Well, minor bitching back when I was in a prior fandom because I tagged a pairing in a fic but it was pre-slash and not labeled as pre-slash. I got hate on...I think it was Torch Song? And I’ve gotten hate on tumblr re me and my fic in general as well. Fandom! *jazz hands* Oh! And I’ve also been hit by those reviewers within Winterhawk (among general Clint pairings actually) who like rate you on either number scales or the “meh” scale. Which isn’t hate exactly but...it’s passive aggressive bullshit because I can’t believe none of them realize at this point that the authors can see their bookmarks - you know?

9. Do you write smut?

Yes. Do I write it well? I have no idea. lol

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I am aware of. Well...there was, I think, one of those reposting sites that had a few fics on it but I don’t think it was being passed off as someone else’s? I can’t quite recall. It’s why I have a note on AO3 about reposting my work anyway.

11. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not entirely, but sort of. Let me explain - I am part of a PBEM game; which for those unfamiliar since it’s a term that was most heavily in use 15-20 years ago, in which you basically do a round robin type writing thing but rather than everyone writing the same characters you write your own characters and you play off what other people have done. Another way of looking at it is  it’s basically DnD without dice and written down rather than done out loud. You also don’t have to all be around at the same time. It’s a lot of fun and yes I have been in it for 20 years even though there aren’t many of us left but they are some of my dearest friends and fabulous writers. Wins all around.  One of the other writers and I have actually toyed with the idea of doing a co-written fic actually, mostly because we work super well together and keep getting ideas for things but can’t really do them as rpgs since the pbem style isn’t used much anymore.

12. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Winterhawk probably. Though, let’s be real - Han & Leia are epic and amazing as are John & Delenn (from Babylon 5).

13. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Does wanting to expand The Black Stallion books as a wee child count? lol Not much of that was written save for world building ideas but there was a great oral tradition of telling stories to my friends. Otherwise...maybe a tie between Star Wars and Highlander. Star Wars was a love since I was super young but the writing bug didn’t hit me until around the same time Highlander was a thing as well.

14. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? You rearrange me till I’m sane for sure. Though Torch Song, if it were finished, would be tied I imagine (I suck at picking favorites). Honorable mention to Puck Luck and Indelible. Tagging: I have seen this like a million times (okay 5) so I feel like everyone has been tagged already that I know. But...I guess... @vexbatch @crazycatt71 @heartonfirewrites and @disruptedvice sorry if anyone has been tagged before.

[doctorslippery]

(Knowledge) Ancient tomes of sacred lore begin fading away.

(Life) All healing magic now comes at a cost to the casters own health.

(Light) The sky is darkened to a permanent twilight.

(Nature) Large swathes of wilderness are infected by a strange rot.

(Tempest) Droughts spread across the land as rain doesn’t fall as often.

(Trickery) People with normally good humor become cold and bitter.

(War) Morale is decreased and soldiers begin to mutiny against their officers.

(Death/Grave) Undead creatures have a chance to randomly rise from graves without a spell cast by a necromancer.

(Forge) The knowledge of forging mithral and adamantine armor and weapons is lost.

Nothing. Once the god is the creator of it’s own domain, but it is able to maintain itself in its absence

(Arcana) All spells now have a chance to go wild.

(Fire) The world becomes cold as it goes into a long winter

(Air) The air becomes polluted and difficult to breath. Many people die of lung related issues.

(Water) Rivers and oceans go stagnant and unmoving.

(Earth) The land becomes infertile and unusable.

(Time) Time rifts start appearing everywhere causing things from the past and the future to come into the present.

(Dragons) All dragons, dragonborn, and kobolds turn to dust

(Darkness) The world becomes filled with endless light and a never ending day

(Love) Family and friends start to hate one another and form grudges over the smallest things

(Order) Revolutions happen everywhere and anarchy reigns supreme

(Good) Empathy and altruism are no more as people are looking out for themselves

(Evil) Angels descend from the heavens to purge the world now knowing that there is no evil god to protect the wicked

(Nature) The forests run amok. Animals and plants invade cities, as every natural order accelerates out of control.

(Nature) Conversely, the forests and fields begin to die. Animals grow sickly and lethargic.

(Nature) The seasons begin to spin out of control. A day dawns with blazing heat, but snow covers the ground to a foot by lunch, and a monsoon rages that night.

(Death) Nothing may die. Nothing. Not the cattle, not the sickly, not the old, not those grievously wounded. Souls are bound to their bodies, and may never set off on their journey. Chop someone into bits, and every tiny piece still twitches in agony.

(Any) As the gods ‘body’ decomposes their essence (what they were the god of) infects the land affecting all who lived below their realm eg if the goddess of nature dies – nature explodes over the area (eventually after hundreds of years the natural green will die and become the land will become barren after the body completes decomposing). If it was the god of war or anger – every person and animal in the realm becomes driven by anger/easily angered, and plants become more dangerous, etc

(Nature) nature becomes twisted and more and more aberration like.

(Nature) herbivores turn predatory and hunt for meat

(Forge) weapons turn weak, Metal is prone to bending and it tarnishes easily.

(Weather) drought spreads across the land

(Weather) destructive “sunder storms” where lightning falls like rain destroy the landscape.

(Weather) winter never ends.

(Any) Angels, demons, fey, other gods, and spirits start competing for that gods power and worship to fill the vacuum

(Any) If the god who dies has worshippers still his corpse enters an odd undead state. He’s too week to be an actual god again or become truly alive again. However his remaining worshippers keep him from truly dying.

(Any) desecration of the area in which it died.

(Any) the nature and landscape where it died twisting to reflect the gods domain

(Any) people in the area also changing to reflect the gods domain

(Any) powerful magic soaks into the land creating powerful items. Things like spiders whose venom can only be cured by other god touched magic. Plants whose berries heal you and their juice can even raise the dead, etc.

(Knowledge) every self aware creature must succeed on a DC 10 Int saving throw or take 1D4 psychic damage and lose as many memories as the DM decides while also losing 1d4 Ing Stat.

(Any) The heavens begin to fall to earth/fuse with the material plane

(Any) Paladins will be in a huge pickle during their conquests.

(Protection) Warding and shielding spells no longer work.

(Protection) The ancient wards that kept the Elder Evils, horrible beings whose power even the gods fear, at bay fall.

(Any) People realize the gods are not immortal, and in reaction, faith in all of the gods begins to falter.

(Tempest) The entire world becomes still: no wind, no waves, not even clouds, like the world is perfectly smooth.

(Trickery) Nobody remembers that they can lie. Everyone either states the truth or is silent, ruining the world’s governments by disabling political maneuvering.

(Forge) Metal no longer melts, making all previously forged weapons exponentially more valuable, even an old rusty sword.

(Any) All of the people that were sacrificed to the gods come back (betrayed heroes, betrayed family members etc), but all of the things that gods has given to us fade away.

(Any) Outsiders from other worlds reveal themselves as the liberators, freeing us from our oppressors by killing the gods.

(Any) The god is replaced by another god that does a terrible (or better) job as the dead god temporary replacement.

(Any) The god was slain, the being that slew the god gains the gods power or becomes the god

(Any) Nothing. The god may have been responsible for creating or shaping it’s aspect, but once it was created it doesn’t need the god to maintain it.

(Any) The gods power leaks from its remains. Any magic of the gods aspect is greatly amplified for several years. The closer to the remains the greater the power is amplified

(Death) Everything that dies rises as a zombie.

(Death) Spirits of the dead are unable to move on. Everything that dies becomes a ghost.

(Death) Spirits of the dead start coming back to the living world

(Knowledge) people begin to forget things. (Names, places, history, how to do things, what they were doing, etc.)

(Life) every living thing becomes sterile (animals are unable to have children / plants cant produce seeds)

(Nature) microorganisms reproduce at an accelerated rate & every other living thing gets wiped out

(Nature) plants and animals become withered anemic versions of themselves

(Nature) plants and animals begin to die off (decay / rot / slowly crumble to dust / slowly turn to ash)

(Nature) plants and animals begin to mutate into monstrous versions of themselves

(Nature) plants experience explosive growth and begin to take over everything

(War) People begin to become more violent and warlike.

(War) People begin to become too apathetic to fight each other. Eventually, people become too apathetic to do much of anything. They just stand around in a daze until the die of starvation or thirst.

(Any) All clerics suddenly overload on divine power (as if the gods power has been divided between them). And they all start to slowly go mad, and start to lose control.

(Light) a massive and well known constellation vanishes and leaves a dark patch right in the middle of the night sky

(War) A vanquished war-god drops his enormous miles-long sword, which falls to Earth and pierces deep into the planet’s mantle

(Death) The god’s followers begin killing at random, hoping the power of their faith will resurrect him

(Light) Random people all over the realm begin to go blind

(Tempest) A whirling hurricane forms in the middle of the Ocean… and doesn’t stop growing

(Forge) The followers of this deceased god begin a pilgrimage to destroy every craft ever created and stamped with his symbol

(Arcana) The god’s death leaves a hole in the weave. Something… unwanted fills in the gap with Its body.

(Nature) The wood of the deity’s patron plant (oak) begins to disintegrate into dust all over the world. Buildings topple.

(Life) This god’s followers have a crisis at the oxymoron of their god dying. They are slowly driven insane

(Grave) The god itself rises as an undead, an anathema to its own mission

(Arcana) People start forgetting spells. (As a spell is cast, roll to see if that is the last time it is cast)

(Arcana) Everyone gains a cantrip. Now this minor power is just something everyone does, like breathing or eating.

(Any) Suddenly there is a war in the cosmos. Minor deities, greatly powerful beings like Warlock Patrons, and other generally unknown greater powers are vying for the position.

(Any) Upon the god’s death, their body is split into thousands and thousands of pieces. These rain down like meteorites but instead of being falling rock bits, it’s a new people recently awoken. Who are these newcomers and what is their memory of or connection to this lost god?

(Tempest) Ocean currents fluctuate wildly

(Earth) Widespread tremors and volcanic activity

(Tempest) Unpredictable squalls

(Light) Continuous winter sets in

(Order) Ubiquitous revolutionary sentiment arises

(Music) Instruments quickly go out of tune, and singers forget words and have their voices crack more often

(Magic) All casters and magic items are treated as one level lower

(Nature) Animals behave erratically and crops fail

(Fate) Prominent heroes begin to meet ignominious ends

(Luck) Coin tosses and dice rolls result in predictable patterns (Heads tails, heads, tails/1,2,3,4,5,6,1 etc.)

(Luck) Randomness begins to fade. The first to go are critical successes and critical fails, but very rapidly all rolls end up as 10.5’s.

(Any) Their power returns to its source where anyone could take it for themselves

(Any) When trees and plants are cut down, instead of sap, blood starts to weep from the cuts.

(Winter) Animals that hibernate don’t wake. Plants and trees stay in their winter state. Even if the weather gets warmer things affected by season act like it never ended.

(Knowledge) every creature’s INT ticks down steadily as their memories slowly disappear until all life is reduced to animalistic intelligence.

(Death) no one can die anymore. HP can’t be dropped below 0 and no one can die of old age, accumulating age bonuses and penalties until all physical stats are reduced to 0.

(Light/sun) the sun and stars go out. The temperature continuously drops until the entire world is frozen over.

(Magic) all spells, enchantments, supernatural and spell-like abilities, etc. get progressively weaker until the entire world is basically in a null-magic zone.

(Nature) plants and animals become incapable of reproducing.

(Life) healing magic no longer works. Natural healing progressively weakens until it too is no longer possible.

(Trickery) it becomes impossible for anyone to lie or mislead

(Forge) a small mountain range of metals and the occasional gem crashes into the planet in 3… 2… 1…

(Knowledge) everyone receives random revelations rather simultaneously.

(Trickery) some guy shows up three days later, wondering what all the hubbub’s about.

(Life) Every wound healed by their clerics starts to rot, and everyone reanimated becomes undead.

(Trickery) Their holy texts go blank, holy symbols turn to dust, and all knowledge of the god is ripped from mortal minds, the god is dead and forgotten in all ways. While most people feel like they’ve forgotten something, the most devout worshippers to the lost god go mad from the hole in their mind and soul.

(Trickery) The gods secrets are spread throughout the world, the common-folk learn of their rulers corruption, people discover their spouses cheating, children learn their beloved dog didn’t go to a farm, all secrets good and bad are made known and will rip families, kingdoms, and even other faiths apart.

(Any) A shockwave of power blasts through the realms, knocking everything unconscious for d10 hours

(Arcana) Spellcasters and magic items begin to “glitch”, causing them to either be completely unable to cast spells/activate items or the spells go wild.

(Any) People and clerics begin to notice that something is…missing…

(Nature) Many two headed animals are born the following day.

(Any) The god(s) start to slip away out of people’s mind, and they start questioning if they were ever thing to begin with.

[localbizlift]

How to Use STAT to Find SEO Opportunities at Scale

You may already be familiar with STAT Search Analytics and its rank tracking abilities, but did you know it can also help you discover SEO opportunities on a massive scale? In today's Whiteboard Friday, Cyrus shows you how to dig into STAT to do just that. 

Click on the whiteboard image above to open a larger version in a new tab!

Video Transcription

Hi, everybody. Welcome. My name is Cyrus. Today the thing I want to talk about is how to use STAT to find SEO opportunities at scale, and I mean massive scale. 

Now a lot of you have probably heard of STAT. You may know that it has an excellent reputation. But it's possible you haven't actually used it or have a very good understanding of what it actually does. 

So that's what I'm going to try to cover today and explain how powerful it is at discovering SEO opportunities in ways that can inform content strategy, competitive analysis, and a lot more. 

What is STAT?

So STAT, the full name of STAT is actually STAT Search Analytics. On the surface, what a lot of people understand is that it is a rank tracker, tracking thousands of keywords at a time anywhere across the globe. But underneath the hood, it's actually a lot more than a rank tracker. It's a rank tracker. It's a competitive landscape tool. It's SERP analysis and intent. It allows you to do some pretty incredible things once you dig into the data.

Keyword attribution

So let me dig into a little bit about how it actually works. So like a lot of keyword rank trackers, you start with keywords. But one of the differences is all the different attributes that you can assign to each of your keywords. 

So first is very familiar, the market or the search engine. So you want Canadian English results or Canadian French results. Any market in the world that's available it's pretty much available for you to use in STAT. 

The second is location, which is a slightly different concept. So you can define ZIP Codes, cities, be as specific as you want. This is very important for multiple location businesses or if you're running an advertising campaign in a certain part of the country and you want to track very specific results. But you can define location very specifically for each of your keywords. 

Third is device, mobile or desktop, especially important with mobile-first indexing and increasing mobile results. But also tags, smart tags, and this is where the true power of STAT comes in, the ways that you can use smart tagging. 

Smart tagging

So you can tag your keywords in multiple ways, assigning multiple tags to slice them and dice them any way you want. 

So different ways that you can tag keywords in STAT is anything that's important to your business. For example, you can create keyword groups based on what's important to you. On Moz, we tag keywords with "SEO" in it or anything that's important to your business that you want to create a keyword cohort out of. Or location, like we were talking about, if you're running an advertising campaign in Indiana and you want to tag certain keywords that you're targeting there, something like that. Or all your Kansas city keywords or your London or Berlin keywords. 

Product categories. So if you sell multiple categories, you sell TVs, books, dresses, anything you want, you might want to tag all of those into a particular keyword category. Or attributes, such as a 55-inch television versus a 48-inch television, when you want to get very, very specific across your product line.

Also your brand. At Moz, we track everything with the word "Moz" in it, or Nike or Apple or whatever your brand is or if you have multiple brands. Basically, anything that's important to your business, any KPI that you measure, anything that's relevant to your marketing department or finance or anything else like that, you can tag, and that's where the true power comes in, because once you tag, you've created a keyword cohort or a group.

Share of voice

Then you can see your share of voice across that entire market using just that group. So if you want to track yourself against a very specific set of keywords, you can see your share of voice, share of voice meaning how much visibility you have in Google search results, and STAT will show you your exact competitors and how you rank among those.

Generally, you want to see yourself going up and to the right. But if you're not, you can see exactly who's beating you and where their movement is, and how you're doing for that specific keyword group, which is incredibly valuable when you're working on a particular set of keywords or a campaign. 

SERP features + intent

But my favorite part — and this is where the true power comes in, because it can inform your content strategy and this is where the SEO opportunities are actually at — is the analysis of SERP features and intent. Because what STAT will do is, out of the thousands of keywords that you put into it, it will analyze the entire SERP of each of those and it will collect all the SERP features that it finds and tell you exactly what you own and don't own and where your opportunities are.

So let's give an example that's a little more concrete. So let's say you track a bunch of keywords within a particular cohort and you see that most of the results have a featured snippet. STAT will show you exactly what you own and what you don't own. Now what's cool about this is you can click into what you don't own and you can see the exact featured snippets that your competitors own that you can actually create some content strategy around and try and go steal those.

A different way is images or news. So let's say that you notice that you're selling TVs or something like that and almost all the SERPs have images and you don't own any of them. So something like that can inform your content strategy, where you go to your team and you say, "Hey, folks, we need to create more images, or we need better structured data to get Google to show the images because this is the intent for this type of keyword, and we're simply not owning it in this way."

Same thing with news. If you notice a lot of news results and you're not a news organization but you're competing for these keywords, that can inform your content strategy and maybe you need to go after those news keywords or try something else. Video is another one. More and more SERPs have video results with video carousel and things like that. You can see exactly what you own and what you don't own.

A lot of times you're going to find that certain domains are beating you on those videos and that may inform, especially for the high volume keywords that you want to go after, you may want to be creating more video content for that. But it all depends on the SERP, and you're going to find different feature sets and different combinations for every keyword cohort that you do.

So what's important to you and what's important to track it's going to show up differently every time, but it's going to show you exactly where the opportunities are. FAQs are another thing, rich snippets sort of results. You may find that your competitors are all using FAQ markup. You're not using any. That could inform your SEO strategy, and you might start incorporating more FAQs because Google is obviously rewarding those in the SERPs and your competitors are gaining those and not you.

Other things, virtually any SERP feature that's trackable. You can find local results. Twitter boxes. You may find that for certain queries Google is surfacing Twitter results and maybe that means you need to be on Twitter more than you actually are right now and see who's ranking for those results instead of something that you're doing on-site.

Maybe it's you need to do more YouTube. It's not all necessarily on your site. But this will tell you where you need to invest those opportunities. Review stars, podcasts, and more. All of this will tell you what's important and where the opportunities are and where you're winning and losing and the exact keywords that you can go after if you want to win and the exact feature sets where your competitors are getting traffic and you aren't.

So I use STAT, I love it, every week. It's a great tool. If you want to try it out, I encourage you to do so. That's it for me. Thanks, everybody.

Video transcription by Speechpad.com. 

[bombshellbois]

Lessons in Babysitting

For @hoegrove and her amazing Double Trouble AU (if you haven’t seen it yet, please go pour over the entire thing because it’s hilarious)

Steve doesn’t know what he’s expecting when Billy’s Camaro pulls up outside the house that afternoon. He’s not expecting anything, really. Billy shows up all the time unannounced, and Steve has no problem with that. Billy does better at stuff where he doesn’t need permission because every form of authority offends him, including basic manners. Steve just pulls an extra Coke from the fridge and braces himself to deal with Billy pouting when he gets told there won’t be any sex or making out until the kids leave. In all fairness, he told him already that they would be over here this afternoon to play their nerd game while the Wheeler basement is drying out from a recent leak.

The lock pops and the door gets shoved open.

“Holy shit, we’re in key territory already??” Billy asks as he’s shoved inside. Steve thinks at first that he got a haircut. And a tan. And... younger? Steve is trying to piece together what he can pin that on (really good night’s sleep?) when another Billy lumbers in behind.... Billy. His Billy lumbers in. Long haired and a little weary, tan tamed by the Indiana seasons.

“Don’t touch my stuff,” Billy says, slapping Billy... not-Steve’s-Billy’s hand away when he reaches for the keys.

“You didn’t tell me we were at the key stage with our boyfriend, dude!”

“He’s my boyfriend.” Billy slams the door shut. “And quit calling me dude.”

“What... the hell is going on?” Steve asks faintly, approaching his boyfriend and the cheerful doppelgänger slowly.

“Hi!” Not-Steve’s-Billy says, taking Steve’s Coke and drinking from it. The open one.

“I put my mouth on that,” Steve protests belatedly while his brain is trying to come up with a way to process what he’s seeing. Chastising bad manners and poor health practices seems like... under-reacting.

“Yeah, but we’re dating, so it’s just indirect kissing.” Not-Steve’s-Billy waggles his eyebrows at Steve and it immediately makes Steve think of Dustin trying to act charming.

“...Yeah, don’t do that.”

“I’ve got a good idea where else you could put your mou—” Not-Steve’s-Billy gets cut off when Billy grabs the back of his jacket and hauls him out of the kitchen and to the basement door, shoving him inside. He slams the door shut and flips the lock. Mercifully, there are no sounds of a body falling down the stairs. Just rapid knocking from the other side.

“Hey! What’s your damage, dude??”

Billy ignores the yelling and comes back into the kitchen. He grabs Steve’s shoulders and pulls him close, knocking their foreheads together gently.

“Okay. So. We need to talk.”

“You think?” Steve says, raising his eyebrows. “What the hell, Billy?”

***

It takes 2 beers to get the full story out of Billy. Steve doesn’t necessarily like encouraging drinking at 3 in the afternoon, but his boyfriend just locked a younger version of himself in the basement. It seems like a definite moment to allow extremes.

Not that the full story is in any way clear. Something about sleep walking (which Billy should have told Steve about but didn’t, of course) and the Upside Down and another gate that probably almost definitely closed and isn’t a big deal. It’s a lot of really bad things to hear but in a really vague and unhelpful format. Nothing he could, for instance, take to Hopper as a thing to be investigated.

Steve kind of wants a beer himself.

“And so now he’s here. And he won’t get it through his thick skull that he doesn’t get to share all of my stuff. Including my boyfriend.” Billy tips back his head and takes a long drink of a third beer. Steve sets a hand on the bottle and makes him lower it back down when the air bubbles start glugging to the top with concerning speed.

“Should we... try to get him back to his mom or something?” he asks.

Billy slams the bottle down on the table. “Sure, Steve. Lemme just go see if there’s a fucking receipt stapled to the back of his shirt so I can return him. How hard can it be to get to another dimension? Oh wait, the only one we ever manage to get to is full of fucking nightmares.”

Steve leans his elbow on the table and rests his chin on the heel of his hand, waiting out the storm. Fine, it was a stupid question. The dramatics are a bit much, though. “Okay. Maybe we focus on something shorter term,” he says.

Billy scrubs a hand over his face, wiping away the withering glare and replacing it with something more tired. Something that looks like no sleep and too much beer too quickly too early in the day. “Christ. Sorry, I’m being a dick.”

“You are,” Steve agrees, standing and clearing the empty bottles. “But it sounds like it’s been a rough day.”

Billy catches Steve’s collar and pulls him closer, kissing his forehead. “Thanks, pretty boy. Look, just... give me a few babysitting tips and I’ll get out of your hair before your nerds get here. I dunno what the hell to actually do with him.”

Steve is about to tell Billy that he’s not leaving unless he’s letting his younger self drive (which- ha! Not even Steve gets to drive the Camaro. Or sit in the driver’s seat), but he pauses and frowns. “Before... they’re already here, Billy.”

Billy blinks and pulls his mouth off the lip of his bottle. The suction releases with a ‘pop.’ “What? Why’s it so quiet? Where the hell are they?”

“In... the basement?” Steve raises his eyebrows. “Where else would they play their game? It has to feel like a dungeon or something.” Dustin explained it once, using words like ‘atmosphere’ and ‘aesthetics’ and ‘acoustics.’ It all boils down, Steve thinks, to needing no windows so they can’t tell when they’ve been playing for four hours.

Billy looks at the clock. “How long has he been down there with them?”

“An hour, maybe? Did you seriously mean to lock that poor kid in the basement alone??”

“Oh don’t do that hands-on-the-hips thing at me, Harrington,” Billy huffs, scrambling to his feet and sprinting for the basement door. Steve follows after him, catching up just as Billy unlocks the door and hurries down the steps, grabbing the back of his collar to keep him from stumbling on the way down.

Not-Steve’s-Billy is sprawled nearly sideways on one folding chair, another pulled over for the express purpose of propping one leg on. Mike is standing across the rickety card table from him, where their map and shit are spread out, holding a book out with the pages facing Billy. He’s pointing at a drawing.

“Do you see the scaling? You don’t even come up to his knee!” Mike jabs a finger at the page. “You’re tiny!”

Not-Steve’s-Billy shrugs. “So?”

“So this thing can kill you by existing near you,” Lucas adds. “It’s pure evil.”

“Still wanna flirt with it.”

“You can’t flirt with a Nightwalker!” Mike insists. “It’s a giant, evil, undead demon!”

“Uh, I have...” Not-Steve’s-Billy picks up a piece of paper in front of him. “...charisma points that say I can. So lemme try and get into this thing’s pants.”

Mike blusters. “It doesn’t have pants!”

“I mean, technically it’s not against the rules,” Dustin admits, ever the diplomat. “Mr. Clarke always says you have to think outside the box if your problems don’t fit in the box.”

“The Nightwalker can’t speak,” Will protests. “It won’t understand you, and also Mike said it’s a guy!”

Not-Steve’s-Billy pats Will’s back. “Don’t you worry, kid. We’ve got body language and that’s all we need.” He holds his hand out. “Dice.”

“Don’t let him, Mike,” Lucas begs, sounding vaguely terrified. “What if he makes a good throw? I don’t wanna know what he does with the Nightwalker!”

“What the fuck?” Billy stalks over and grabs the die Dustin was handing over. “I leave you alone for an hour and you turn into a nerd?”

“Hey! My character has gotten laid twice already.” Not-Steve’s-Billy taps his paper. “He’s a...” He pauses and looks at Will. “Wiseman. What the hell am I again?”

Will sighs. “A bard. You wanted a guitar.”

Not-Steve’s-Billy bumps his shoulder to Will’s in thanks and smirks up at Billy. “My bard is getting every kind of action over here. This is so not a nerd game.”

“Shit.” Steve scrubs his hair back. “You guys already took sex ed, right?” Please let there be nothing Steve suddenly has to explain. He’s not ready for that. When he gets four slightly-numb nods in return, it feels like he can breathe again.

“You can’t just add sex and think it removes the nerd overtones.” Billy tosses the die aside. “Move your ass, we’re going.”

Lucas makes a shrill sound that Steve bets the other guys will mimic for Max for a long time. “A 20! He rolled a 20!” He clasps his hands over his ears. “Don’t tell me what a 20 means!”

“Wait, is that good?” Not-Steve’s-Billy looks around the table. “Do I get to fuck the Night-thing?”

“Okay, thanks for being so nice to Billy’s... friend, gotta go, you kids play nice,” Steve calls over his shoulder as he and Billy drag Not-Steve’s-Billy up the stairs and out of the basement.

“Wiseman!” Not-Steve’s-Billy calls back down the stairs. “Wiseman, save my stats for me!”

The basement door shuts. It’s quiet. Dustin dutifully reaches over and pushes the die, flipping the upturned number to a 3.

Mike sits down, still clutching his book. “Okay,” he says slowly. “The Nightwalker devoured his soul. And we never speak of him again.”

[patchdotexe]

explorers of arvus: heading back / 3.11.21

zoom and enhonse

LAST TIME ON ARVUS taure passed out and we are now down a healer! also we met a disciple of halvkar, and surprisingly did not murder her. this is fine. we have instantly gotten distracted by our various carts. cats. our various cats

DID ANY OF US CATCH TAURE, SHE FELL OVER sieron tried to catch her and smacked charlie+thorne in the face (he rolled a nat1, f) BUT the catboy is to the rescue bc silje is the designated Not Incompetent of the group today

CONSULT THE CHILD hewwo yrel yrel: her mind is being consumed by the serpent of nightmares. :D charlie: HELLO?????//

so, dendar(?) the night serpent is imprisoned beneath arvus! she was formed from the nightmares of the first sentient being, and sometimes she eats people's nightmares. if she's exceptionally hungry, she'll force nightmares onto people for her to feed off their fear. yrel thinks taure will Probably wake up. there's a thing on arvus mentioned by the locals called a "sleeping sickness" where people will fall asleep for a few days, sometimes longer, but will wake up. its magical in cause, the people afflicted by it have horrific nightmares, and its just kinda. a thing. wowza

(i have gone back to spelling yrel's name as yrel bc i think it looks nice)

OH HEY SOMEONE POSTED A THEORY ON ONE OF MY STICKMOLUS ANIMATIONS man i should get back to stickmolus sometime. once dsmp releases its awful grip on me.

i keep getting distracted by seeing myself in the camera preview. i have a tooth gap! what the fuck its cute?? K I KNOW WE'RE SUPER BLURRY IN FRONT RN BUT PLEASE HELP ME STAY FOCUSED I SWEAR -leo

we're gonna build a sled! to put taure on. thorne: i have a good strength score. ....i say, out loud charlie: i am four feet tall. [cue argument between thorne & sieron about them both being horcs but sieron has a +0 bc strength is his dump stat] OH, OKAY, THORNE ROLLED A NAT20 TO CARRY TAURE. NICE

[discussion about what to tell everyone at camp vengenace] thorne: the last thing we need to do is a witch hunt charlie: --and we already hunted the witch! the witch has been hunted.

time to discuss strategy! we need to figure out how to head back to camp vengeance, eg if we want to follow the path we already took or if we wanna do some trailblazing. looks like we're gonna try and take the most direct path! which means we'll prolly risk tangoing with some undead but im willing to risk it TINY HUT STAIRCASE sorry i just remember it now and then

nyx: [meowing at his cats] thorne: uh... why is silje meowing? jorb: silje's food bowl is empty jorb: you look at silje's food bowl and there's a divot in the middle and the food is all on the sides emotionally, we must bully the catboy silje saw something interesting and started meowing

thorne: ill take first watch silje: ill also take first watch. charlie: [quietly] gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy (but, like, extended for 15 seconds)

silje: [takes watch] [rolls a nat1 and gets distracted by looking at his crush]

THORNE HAS LOCATED A DOG the dog does not give a shit about the tiny hut. THE DOG HAS PEED ON THE TINY HUT goodbye dog

EVERYONE IS ROLLING AT LEAST 1 NAT1 thorne: wow! that sure is a dog. thorne has drawn the worst possible dog. thorne has erased the worst possible dog. we dont speak of the worst possible dog its the dog version of honse. DONSE

sieron is now on watch! MAN we are havin trouble rolling today. at least kali's here to make sure sieron doesnt stare at a rock for 50000 years sieron sees a mouse! bottom text

charlie is now on watch! kali is havin a big ol thonk. nothing meaningful has come of this

i am perceiving some deer. sieron is not perceiving some deer. silje is perceiving some deer, but better the deer are fucked up and undead! silje has gone from "we should hunt these deer for food" to "we should hunt these deer for sport"

charlie: i do not feel like being jumped by five thousand skeletons

charlie takes first watch with sieron! WHY ARE OUR ROLLS SO TERRIBLE taure is super cursed right now. that's not very pog charlie: this place sucks. thorne: to be fair, we havent-- charlie: YOU'RE ASLEEP, SHUT UP

oh hey coolname galvanic finally partied. nice.

thorne is at watch! solar: hey, is leomund's tiny hut an orb? there's a critter digging around! AH, THE CRITTER IS UNDEAD. this could be a problem

solar: hey michael, how much does the horrific sin against god dog i drew look like this creature michael: [dice roll noises] about 50%.

michael: if anyone likes, they can make a nature check-- solar: ME MEMEMEMEME ME ME ME

its a bulette! aka a land shark. problem: they are not normally undead. this one is undead.

jorb: imagine if you could tame one of those and use it as a mount. leo: IT WOULD JUST DIG UNDERGROUND AND LEAVE YOU THERE

we are just calling it a weird dog

we're going to mail a letter to the heart of arvus. HEY, CHECK OUT THIS WEIRD DOG,

JORB FOUND ART OF A BABY BULETTE. WEIRD PUPPY!

solar: hey guys, check out this sick art of a bulette i found

silje kept a lookout for the weird dog but its just fucked off. goodbye, weird dog give it up for day 3!

man there's been like, three incinerations today in blaseball. what's up with that. I SWEAR IM MOSTLY PAYING ATTENTION its just been an eventful day in blaseball. also im wearing my garages bomber rn. jaylen is home wooOOOO the wind smells stinky. this is fine.

we're actively avoiding whatever combat michael keeps nudging at us bc we're carrying around an unconscious person and i SWEAR hes gonna throw something directly at us once he's done with our shenanigans

UHH MICHAEL ASKING FOR PASSIVE PERCEPTION LOL

huh. this place used to be inhabited? we're in the woods rn but there's some like, stone ruins? like, VERY ruins. like, not really any structures standing, but enough evidence to show there Were things. WE FOUND A STATUE charlie: i want to smash my face against the lore.

used to be a circle of standing stones, but most of em fell over or got overgrown. inside of the circle has been cleared, although v roughly-- ground's torn up statue is of fjolnir! warrior holding up a spear and shield. AH, THERE ARE CORPSES, a human got REAL fucked up here. one of the corpses is straight up impaled on fjolnir's spear. n ... not pog.

i am trying so, so hard to pay attention. but i also kinda wanna take a nap.

charlie: [stares at statue] [rolls a 4] i wonder if he had a dick.

okay so something rolled in, tore up the overgrowth inside the circle, and murdered a couple dudes. and was also super tall and human-adjacent. hrm.

oh my god why are we rolling so shit today. time to stealth away and hope we dont get casually dismembered

k: jorb's hair is so long... leo: K, PLEASE,

time for a break! i am very tired but im gonan see if i can push through a little further. nyx is petting his cat why do orangatangs look like that

first watch is thorne and sieron! have they even, like, talked thorne unhabby ): thorne's worried we were tresspassing when checking out the statue, meanwhile im thinking about that one time when sieron got bit by a groundhog

(oh my god this is from late 2018)

leomund's tiny hut, aka the anti-sea bear circle we are getting SO much mileage out of the tiny hut. SILJE HUMS A SONG WITH KALI cute........... FINALLY I HAVE ROLLED ABOVE A 14 wait no i rolled a 16 twice. anyway we are not dead

nearly at camp vengenace! boy howdy i hope camp vengeance didnt get burned down. AH FUCK TAURE IS UNCONSCIOUS SO WE CANT CAST FOR DETECT POISON kaepora nearly made us all shit ourselves but its okay he just saw some bison and thought it was cool Michael Is Consulting Several Tables

WHY DOES JORB'S CAMERA ZOOM LIKE THAT why am i hungry. i have so many questions

HEY, TALL GUY [smacks sieron]

camp vengeance looks better! like, nobody's Obviously Sick anymore, the medical tents arent overfilled, we did it! we saved the dayyyyyy time to report to ryder! taure's getting dropped off at the medical tent

man remember when charlie didnt wear pants

oh man, with taure unconscious charlie is now taking point with social interaction. wild. jk im making jorb do it bc im tired HAHA NAT 20 PERSUASION BC OF ME HELPIN SIERON man ryder is such a cock. he was totally ready to keep throwing troops at heaven's brazier to die until we managed to persuade him out of it. jorb: did we tell ryder about the vision? michael: you kinda just took a look at him and went STINKY BOY!

okay yeah anything that dies on arvus will just pop back up as undead. man, arvus sucks.

ryder: alright, dismissed. charlie: seeya, soldier boy! :D hahahahaha im gonna eat his knees.

SILJE NEEDS ENRICHMENT IN HIS ENCLOSURE

charlie: ive decided he sucks. silje: we've already arrived to that, you're late!

LMAO WE WALKED IN ON INGRID AND HER CRUSH they fuckin. nice. you go, you funky lesbian

jorb: we've got the tiny hut, we could go anywhere leo: we could go to SPACE! nyx: we could not go to space. leo: WITH A TINY HUT STAIRCASE, WE CAN,

we are 320 miles away from the spaceship that exists on arvus. nice.

michael: justin sees you-- roll a strength saving throw. leo: i cant wait to die! [rolls a 3] I AM CRUSHED BY MY DOG michael: he rolled a nat20.

BOSS ENCOUNTER: CHARLIE'S DOG (the small circle next to him is one of the medical tents.)

THORNE IS PACT OF THE GUN solar: PARRY THIS, YOU FUCKING CASUAL

sieron, to ingrid: seems like youve been doing well charlie: i punch sieron. sieron: sieron: the camp, of course.

man we have no idea if the heart of arvus is actually related to the prophecy or not. theres a Lot of stuff lining up, but not enough, and its hard to say how much of it couldve been literal?

solar & michael: [discussing exposition] me: [cracking up bc penn sent me a funny dsmp joke]

prophecies are weird.

charlie is just s she is just sitting here SILJE PLAYED CARDS REALLY GOOD AT ME nyx rolled a nat20 and took all my money

oh cool we can talk to yrel telepathically! time to hoist yrel. THIS IS SO SCUFFED thorne mentioned yrel and now we're trying to explain to ingrid that we have a magic talking snake charlie: I WANT TO GO HOME. thorne: we cant go, we have a GOD-KING to kill! "i think theyre insane, theyre talking to a snake" "ingrid, druids exist" "oh. im gonna go back to getting railed by my 7 foot tall girlfriend"