#and I end up RPing by myself..... | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

year2000electronics · 2 months

Text

wow. four years old huh. i'll keep this part short but sappy rant under the readmore! happy four years!!

it feels like just yesterday when i watched this series on a whim because my friend kept making jokes about my ocs with hlvrai quotes and then it was so funny and engaging that it pulled me out of a months-long depressive slump... feels like just yesterday that my work was finally being seen by people, yesterday that the summer of 2020 was one of the most interesting summers ive ever had, yesterday when the 2020-2021 school year ended up being one of the most difficult times of my life and hlvrai really helped me get through it. without exaggeration this series has changed my life

yeah we all may have had ups and downs, like a LOT of downs, but ill always consider hlvrai to be very special to me, not just because i love it but because it represents so many good things to me: friends joking around having fun, friends carrying their past experiences with them (gmod rping, an affinity for extensively-planned bits, jokes that could ONLY be made by rtvs with each other, you get it), and how the best things often come from happy accidents, from people who DARE to CARE, because hlvrai is good because theyre not afraid to be silly! theyre not afraid to be stupid and sincere and ridiculous!!

and the most inspiring part to me has always been that hlvrai wasnt made to chase any trends. it didnt come in the wake of anything, it was made, and then after it was made, rtvs pretty obviously made it clear that they wouldnt let their lightning-in-a-bottle series box them in. like everyone on the team is very strongly against ppl being parasocial to them, they dont let people beg them for the funny half life info and references, all that. as a creator its cool to see people doing what they love and not succumbing to any pressure algorithmically or otherwise, especially during the lockdowns, when a lot of other streamer-based fandoms cropped up that had a VERY big 'encouraging being parasocial' problem. its always been nice to have a web series thats just one of many awesome things rtvs has done

hlvrai was everything i could have ever asked for and more, and me myself i was perfectly content with just having the standalone series forever, because sometimes a standalone thing is all you need. but with hlage, bbvrai, and hl2vrai being announced, im still so happy to be here and so happy that i get to keep enjoying one of my favourite pieces of media <3

#hlvrai #my art

459 notes · View notes

ravenwoodalum · 6 months

Text

on karamelle, why it sucks, and redeeming azteca's reputation.

I just got to Karamelle for the second time, and good lord. I hadn't forgotten how much I hated it, but it hit me like a wall of bricks. And I'm already preparing myself to marathon it and be fucking done questing here for at least a year.

I think it breaks down like this.

Baby's first workers rights movement/sugary-sweet surveillance state Listen. I know this is a game that doesn't allow for player characters to have much individual impact on the in-game narrative. I know we've had to do errands for cops. I know we work for a war criminal. I KNOW there are flaws in the system. But there's something about the way that Karamelle's set up that makes it all feel so. much. worse. And that's the fact that Karamelle has such a stellar reputation within the Spiral before this. The happiest place in the Spiral, the sweetest treats in the Spiral. Everyone seems to fucking love this place. Almost no one outside of those actually working there seem to understand how corrupt it is. And so the YW is talked down to at every turn, like this is their first exposure to a corrupt environment. And sure, maybe it is within, canon. YW gets isekai'd at a very young age and then made into a child soldier, maybe this is actually the first time in canon that they've been introduced to these concepts. But (and this may just be me) it feels really rude to the player -- who might actually have experience with these ideas -- to make them feel like a fucking idiot with the dialogue options. Karamelle's characters just feel rude.

Oh, so the Gobblers were a fatphobic, Roald Dahl type thing from the start. Cool cool cool. Any of you ever read Roald Dahl's book "The Twits"? It's a very unremarkable story all things considered, except for this bit.

Aside from Roald Dahl's unavoidable history of antisemitism, does this remind you of anything? Honestly, this reminds me of the Gobbblers.

We first meet the Gobblers around level 10 in Wizard City -- creatures driven by consumption. And then we get to Empyrea and hear that the Alphoi -- skinny "civilized" creatures -- can become Gobblers if they eat too much or are unhealthy in their eating habits. Which makes one of our oldest running enemies a loop-around fatphobic thing, ESPECIALLY when we get to them in Karamelle, the home world of the Gobblers. Rosina, especially, just oozes fatphobia and diet culture. The literal vilification of being fat isn't even subtext, it's just text.

The Old One, The Cabal, and what to do when your escape from the world ends up shoving what you were escaping from right back in your face. When I was in sophomore year of college, fall of 2019, I had one of the worst mental health periods of my life. Antisemitism was fucking everywhere, I was always a moment away from a panic attack, and it felt like no one understood. While I'm lucky in the fact that I was able to get an official diagnosis for genetically inherited PTSD, alongside the reassurance that I wasn't fucking crazy, there was a period when I just needed to go home for a moment. So when I was going back to my dorm from the dining hall to make sure all my stuff was ready to go, I opened up tumblr and made a post on a long-gone RP sideblog I had for the Swedish Chef (y'know, from The Muppets? long story), and before I'd even gotten halfway across campus, I'd received threatening and violent messages from someone RPing as Borat, which only got worse when they realized they were talking to an actual Jewish person.

That escape from reality didn't even last five fucking minutes before the horrors I was trying to avoid found me.

Now, Wizard101 has always been a source of comfort for me. I made my account fourteen years ago, and I do not know what my life would look like if I hadn't done that. There are flaws with this game, yes, sure, but over the past five years (since I got a wiz compatible laptop) I've developed a bit of a reliance on it to get me through the horrors. No better form of escapism.

But no art form is free of the horrors.

And Wizard101 has the fucking Cabal and Old One.

The Cabal within the fiction of Wizard101 is a secret, nefarious organization pulling the strings on events across the Spiral, controlling history from the shadows. This term literally originates in antisemitic conspiracy theory, with the term 'cabal' originating from the term for Jewish mysticism, 'kabbalah'. And I promise you, you've heard plenty of applications of this conspiracy theory in real life too. It feeds into the idea that Jews (or 'global elite') control the government, the media, the banks.

And then, we get to the man in control of it all. The Old One. Whether or not this was intended, he's a walking, talking antisemitic caricature. The octopus as a symbol for the mythical Elders of Zion is a longstanding dogwhistle (see attached for a guide to this and many other visual dogwhistles). "Oh, he's based on H.P. Lovecraft-" So he's based on the works of a famous racist and antisemite, cool cool cool.

It's just exhausting, walking through a world that is so clearly modeled after Germany and other parts of eastern Europe, and finding antisemitism around every corner. And even more exhausting considering it's almost impossible to tell if they meant to do it. Antisemitism is so fucking ingrained in the world at this point that I don't actually know what they meant to do here, what they did maliciously or out of ignorance, or if any of it was put in with the purpose of turning it on its head. Over the past few years, it has become glaringly obvious that a lot of people don't realize when they're running across antisemitism, or even taking part in it. Including people I really thought would know better.

Side note. For those of you who know I see Dasein as Jewish, you may be wondering how I balance that out with the antisemitic nature of The Old One, since they share a physical form. I think of it like this. Dasein did not choose The Old One. He did not choose to resemble that, but he can attempt to reclaim it. Dasein's Judaism comes not from the resemblance he holds to the hatred that haunts us, but from the love that keeps us going. He questions authority and longstanding tradition, chooses to do what's right instead of what's expected, and is kind in the face of hatred. He literally makes himself, and a world, out of nothingness. Something out of Nothing. He's so Jewish you guys.

The Spiral's "Worst World Award" goes to... I know we all say "fuck Azteca" pretty often on this website, but I don't think it deserves to be deigned the worst world in Wiz. My main gripe with Azteca is how inaccessible it gets after Xibalba strikes -- the flashing lights aren't exactly photosensitive friendly. Which further lends frustration to my completionist nature, meaning I have to finish all quests, badges, and fishing before I finish the world (making it take forever to finish). Aside from that, there really isn't that much wrong with the world (and if you argue that it sucks because you can't save Azteca, I get it, but some tragedies are inescapable by their very nature). It's a problem of gameplay, versus a problem of plot in the case of Karamelle. And maybe its just because I'm a writer, but problems with plot feel much more egregious. I really do think Karamelle deserves more vitriol than it gets.

G-d, I can't wait to get to Lemuria.

#behold. the long awaited kvetch.#wizblr #w101 #wizzy101 #wiz101 #wizard101 #y'all better check out the resources i've linked :gun:#there really is something to be said about fantasy worlds where Judaism does not textually exist but antisemitism DOES.#like hmm. where did that come from. anyways.

99 notes · View notes

otherworldlygate · 15 days

Text

Once again it's Regal appreciation hour by which I mean day by which I mean year by which I mean lifetime.

I was very much prepared to not write any fanfiction this year, but I cannot divorce myself from how awesome my favorite Symphonia blorbos are and so I am writing yet another stupid fanfic. I feel feral about these characters in general but Raine gets quite a lot of attention (because she's wonderful, obviously) so I don't want to focus on her too much. Regal, on the other hand, has been underappreciated in the ToS fandom since the game's release day, so I must advocate for him.

I've been RPing as him for the last year or so, and together my RP partner and I have written about 320,000 words of a story. I'm having a blast, and a big part of that is because Regal is, despite the flaws in the storytelling of ToS as a whole surrounding him (and how all of the Tethe'alla characters kind of fall flat), a rather well-conceived and implemented character. Yeah, his clothes are dumb (I'm happy to retcon that outfit with zero regrets) and the game blows through his story at such a breakneck pace he doesn't get the space or the arc he deserves (he should have taken his shackles off as part of his 'sacrifice' to fight the angels), but he is a genuinely fascinating character who feels, just like many of the others do, as if he belongs very specifically in the world he was created for.

I know a lot of people like to write him as this sad sack of shit just absolutely lost in the grief sauce (see the part about how he didn't get the arc he deserved), but I think that's a mistake. See, the biggest bump in the road for Regal was his lack of understanding of what was happening and why. When you think about it, he was faced with having to kill Alicia seemingly out of nowhere. Like one day he's just minding his business and the next Alicia is gone and very quickly after that she's a monster trying to kill him AND HE HAS NO FUCKING IDEA WHAT IS GOING ON. He has no answers. All he knows is that he killed her, and his autistic* brain latches onto that detail because it's all he has.

You have to think, too, about the fact that the game gives him nobody. His parents are dead. George, the only person even remotely close to Regal--someone he's known his *whole life*--betrayed him. (George didn't mean for things to go Like That and he's sorry he did it, but HE STILL DID IT.) Regal doesn't have friends and the extra material makes it clear that he was literally raised, specifically by his father, to be a workaholic. Do you think anyone came to see him in prison? He fought in a coliseum for his life for YEARS. He was on friendly terms with some of the other inmates but the guy had eight years to just sit there and get stuck in the loop of knowing he killed the one person he'd let himself get even remotely close to.

Which is something else people always downplay for some reason. The shit with Alicia isn't just "guy is sad because he killed his girlfriend." It's very much, "guy was born and bred to take on the family legacy" except in this case the family legacy is a company, an island, a noble bloodline, and also the absolutely insane idea that work and profit is all that matters. Everyone else is out to get you. Keep the workers dissatisfied but keep them hooked just enough that they'll never leave. Take no time for fun or friends or merriment. Everything in your life is a business transaction. Don't ever forget it. It's us vs. them. You're alone and you have to make this your entire life or it'll all fall to pieces and it will be your fault.

The drama cd in particular really honed in on that way of being raised and it makes his entire character make complete sense. At a relatively young age his father died and he ended up on top (though it's stated he had to work as a CEO before he was elected via a board to the position of President). Having no other guidelines other than what he was taught--and what George himself adhered to--Regal followed that path...until he ended up miserable, because, despite the way he was raised, he's a goddamn empath**.

After literal YEARS of occasionally running into Alicia and talking to her, he starts forming a connection to her--which is important because he's never allowed himself to do this before. And at one point he realizes he doesn't even know her name...which comes as a surprise to him...and brings with it shame. After this, he starts living for himself. He listens to his employees--something his father never did. He starts enacting rules to protect his employees, particularly from things that would hurt them in the field, because part of what was making him so miserable was wrestling with the empathy of their terrible working conditions on top of just hearing his father's manta repeating itself in his head all the time.

I cannot stress enough how important this is. Alicia, despite being a love interest and someone he was interested in seriously dating and perhaps someday marrying (the details of their relationship are never known but it's almost more tragic if they were just starting to be serious), WAS STILL HIS EMPLOYEE.

He was supposed to protect his employees. He was doing so much to ensure his employees would be safe. And then he killed Alicia.

Alicia, the one person he allowed himself to get close to.

Now, consider the fact that he was raised as a tool and not a beloved son; he was not allowed to have friends and not allowed to make merry. He was under his father's thumb until his father's untimely death--a death, by the way, that only surprised him with its suddenness; he did not grieve that man!! Regal, as a 25-year-old man, had ZERO coping mechanisms. All he had was the truth he was raised under and the fact that he went against that truth AND WAS NOW BEING PUNISHED FOR IT. How can someone like this think of anything except that they are the reason George was put in a position where he had to get rid of Alicia? That the only reason Alicia was experimented on and turned into a monster was because of her connection to Regal?

IT MAKES ME FEEL SO FERAL!!!

The events of the game open his eyes to the ACTUAL truth, to what actually happened AND WHY IT HAPPENED TO ALICIA. In the end he learns he had NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. If he had not befriended and started falling for Alicia, she still would have died--it's just, if she hadn't had a more direct connection to Regal, who knows where she might have met her end. Alone, forgotten? At least someone knew her as she was; at least someone can tell Presea the kind of person her sister was.

The ToS fandom has always loved joking about how Regal's just into punishment as a kink or whatever (and I'll never forgive the shitty non-canon-in-my-heart sequel for leaning so hard into that angle, fuck you fuck you fuck you) but let's be serious about it for a hot second. Yes, I think learning this information puts him on a better path, but you can't erase 8 years of self-loathing and fear instantly. Did you guys really think this man would just forget about the darkest years of his life and start frolicking in fields of flowers?

The trauma he's endured goes so much deeper than "I killed the person I loved," and boiling it down to that really does the character a disservice. The "born for a specific purpose, not allowed to exist outside of that purpose" bit is also given to Colette and Zelos, but while their role is being a sacrifice whose only use is dying or procreating to continue the line to have more sacrifices (absolutely also traumatizing btw), Regal's situation feels a lot more like indoctrinated religion and, very specifically (and no I am not kidding), religious trauma. Again, he endured that very controlled lifestyle complete with a mantra from birth into his early 20s, and the MOMENT he broke away from it too far, his life came crashing down around him in a very painful and traumatizing way.

Now, you might think the religious trauma parallel is unfounded, if not also the indoctrinated religion aspect of it, it could just as easily be a parallel for an abusive and controlling relationship, right down to the betrayal from someone who is supposed to have your best interests at heart the moment you step outside of that control to the feelings of shame and self-loathing and "you did this to yourself."

So whenever I see people joking about what a sad sack of shit he is or whatever, I'm just astounded, especially if it's coming from someone who loves literally any other character in the game. Like, you'll definitely have your blorbos, and I totally understand if Regal just ain't it for you, but I find it really disconcerting that someone might find (for example) Yuan's trauma deeply meaningful but see Regal's as stupid or silly.

I'm pretty sure I started this post to talk about how easy it is for me to RP as Regal because he's just such a great character to sink into and write about, particularly because I like to imagine that, starting in the post-game, he deeply regrets some of the choices he's made in his life, and, rather than lean into the things that have already transpired, he seeks to do what he can to better the world around him with the resources and power that he has.

It's like the ultimate fuck-you to the way his father raised him. He's not wasting the skills he's developed, but he's also not using them to hurt people or for personal or Lezareno profit.

I think most of us love writing about characters who have to work through their trauma, but there's an extra layer here that I particularly enjoy with Regal. With Raine I'm all about her inability to trust easily and her struggle to feel truly comfortable around other people, but with Regal I think it's maybe specifically related to the fact that he has had a lot handed to him that he didn't necessarily want, and his self-sacrificing nature lends itself to him feeling obligated to take it. I fully believe Regal would be happier and better off stepping away from Lezareno and from his family's toxic ass legacy*** (or at least not working it full-time as the acting President) but I can't ignore the fact that...these things are all he has and all he knows. So writing about him attempting to get back into the swing of things, maybe struggling to find time for himself, falling into workaholic patterns by mistake, learning to set boundaries between his private life and his job...all while not being fully satisfied and finding more fulfillment in charity work and other pursuits, just makes him feel like a very well-rounded character. Like...it's believable that he would continue to work a job he didn't particularly love specifically because not only does he not know anything else, but he knows with this position of power he can make a lot of things happen that would be impossible if he just twiddled his thumbs on the sidelines--like financial assistance going to Palmacosta, or his duties as a nobleman to try to get better laws passed in Tethe'alla, etc.

This was a pretty clumsily-written post and for that I am truly sorry. I've just been absolutely insane lately thinking about Regal and I had to get some of why I think he's such a wonderful character out into the world.

*this is just my headcanon but a lot about Regal screams autism to me.

**this is canon as far as I'm concerned. I wrote him this way far before I ever heard the drama cd, and the drama cd just solidified it for me tenfold.

***there's a scene in the hotel with Lloyd I think where Regal says his family's legacy on Altamira started when Tethe'alla flipped over to being a flourishing world last, which means they were in a position of power great enough to build an empire on Altamira already at that time (800+ years ago). I don't want to get into how awful this probably was or how evil the family was because I think you can all imagine that for yourselves. Also, nobody ever mentions the fact that Regal is the last of his family line, but it's a very convenient built-in control tactic to guilt someone into doing as they're told or risk bringing shame to a family that's been going strong and unbroken for over 1,000 years.

#regal bryant #tales of symphonia meta #tales of symphonia

26 notes · View notes

lgcjaesun · 5 months

Text

GOODBYE LGC ~

ahhh the day has finally come. after 4 years, 4 months, and 8 days with jaesun, i've decided that my time at lgc (and tumblr rping in general) has come to an end. i honestly never expected to be rping for this long on this platform but i think i've finally come to terms with leaving. it's been a lot of fun, and lgc honestly made the crazy pandemic days much more bearable. however, i've barely had time to sign on ever since i started my new job last year, and when i do have a moment to myself, i can only bring myself to do one reply a week which isn't really sustainable for growing a muse. it's certainly not easy to say goodbye which is why i've been procrastinating.

with that said, thank you to all the members, old and new, for being a part of this group. thank you for writing and plotting with me and my muses. ❤️

to my admin team: y'all do so much work behind the scenes and i applaud each and every one of you for the dedication that you bring to this space. without them, this rp would have shut down a long time ago 🫂

as for my muses, i didn't really have any thought out "ending" for their stories so i'm just going to leave it that way. i may still keep them around for rping on discord so i don't want to make anything definitive. just know that they will certainly miss being around! alrighty i've rambled too much at this point, but you can still find me on twitter ( lgcsbabyg ) or discord ( melonjae ) if you want to keep in touch! thank you all again for being part of this crazy 10+ year journey with me!

hope everyone has a safe and very happy new year! onto 2024!

p.s. i've told the admin team that i'll still be around as a consultant so who knows where i'll be popping up (we'll see ... maybe they're gonna kick me out!).

#the end of an era :O

31 notes · View notes

flittermousing · 4 months

Text

Hi, everyone. Happy New Year! 🌻

I just wanted to take a moment to spread this message on all of my blogs, as I think it's important to share, even if it's a little long and rambly.

This past year of 2023 has been a very difficult one for me, but it has also been a year of great discovery and self-exploration.

As many of you already know, this year I lost my beloved friend, Catface, and we are all still feeling the fresh loss of her absence. She was a very special, very beautiful little cat, and I'm undoubtedly going to be mourning her departure for years to come, but I take comfort in the idea that she is no longer suffering with the ailments she had toward the end.

I have seen very tumultuous relationships within my family, and witnessed much drama. I have seen the separation and cutting of ties. I have taken this for what it is and accepted it as necessary.

I began my first official job in the start of 2023. A job that, despite all odds, I am still continuing to work, which has opened endless possibilities for what else I might be capable of.

Now, more than ever, I can say that I love myself, which is something I could never say before. I may forget this at many times, but overall, I love myself and I love my identity as a man, even if there are many around me who doubt its validity.

So here's to another year of staying alive.

Here's to another year of being glad I didn't give up when I was younger and struggling with trauma.

Here's to another year of creating and exploring and discovering and rping... To new projects. I'm already advancing in self-made works such as @ableplay and possibly an AU fic of The Lion King. Here's to whatever spontaneous project I dream up alongside these in the future.

Here's to the new addition to my colony, Trike the Tricolor Bat. I have decided that he's a trans man, just like me.

He was created by an INCREDIBLY talented Russian creator on Etsy known as Inna. I highly recommend their work, and I always will. Every plush they make is so lovingly hand-stitched and detailed!

Cheers to another year, and cheers to The Colony. By this time next year, I hope it'll be tons bigger.

Don't forget to check my blog list to find out if you're interested in my other blogs, and don't forget how much I appreciate all of you. Your support has meant the world to me.

If you made it all the way to the end, color me impressed. I love you all.

#please don't reblog!#replies and comments and likes are fine #but I only want this post on my sideblogs!#bat out of the cave #bat plush #bat plushes #bat fun

31 notes · View notes

shinyzango · 3 months

Text

You know... sometimes I miss ask blogs.

I did a lot of dumb shit myself back in the day because of my immaturity, but man that was a fun time. I wonder if people still do them nowadays.

It's just a shame that the new post layouts made RPing on here tedious without ending up with long-ass post chains.

36 notes · View notes

confessionsofa-roleplayer · 4 months

Text

that rare moment when you actually find a blog with muses from the same niche series yours is from, so you end up mustering the nerve to follow them first… only for you to later find out they ended up blocking you. like, yeah, i get people can curate their dash and block whoever they please, but it still manages to feel pretty suck-y to be rejected immediately off the bat, especially as someone who already struggles with finding actual partners (especially due to the fact i’m in the ‘do not harass people over fiction!’ crowd, all my muses are typically from series people in the rpc know nothing about, and i have no interest in the currently popular fandoms from the video game sphere), so while i don’t exactly fault them for it, it still manages to affect my confidence in myself as a rper… because while i’m told i’m a phenomenal writer and anyone would be lucky to have a partner who is as bold as me when it comes to initiating the first move, it’s still instances like this that make me question my self worth and prevents me from wanting to follow new blogs entirely, for fear i would not even be given a chance. like, at this point, i’m starting to be convinced the rpc is dying off due to how closed off/unwelcoming everybody seems to be… and it just manages to destroy what little enjoyment i have left for a hobby that used to be fun. why, if it weren’t for the fact 2 people still consistently write with me, i wouldn’t have even continued rping on this hellsite due to how much of a lonely and isolating place the rpc is.

#general #confessions

22 notes · View notes

the-6th-harbringer · 4 months

Text

PLEASE READ

Hey. So. It's been a. while.

trigger warning: referenced suicide

So, if you haven't noticed, I literally evaporated for two weeks straight without any clarification on why or sign of actually being alive, unlike my last two week disappearance. Unfortunately, this unexpected evaporation does not come with a big "ooh more trauma more lore and angst for scara" thing.

This just happens to be my goodbye post.

I know, it's weird and kind of rude for me to dip for two weeks and then reappear like "hey fuckers im QUITTING hAHaA". Buuuut not only was my dad being annoying and hogging my laptop, I also barely have had time to myself for the past weeks. New family members have been introduced into my life, so now I have double the amount of little siblings to look after. (from 3 to 6. dont ask "how" thats a personal thing). juggling that with school, social stuff, fucking exams which are coming up in 3 months of my gOD, and other even more personal demons that I've been battling, its been. a lot.

SO, to make sure I do not pull the same move as Scaramouche did on the last day of his sakurarealm torture(iykyk), I'm taking a leave from tumblr. Don't know how long I'll be gone, don't know if I'll ever be back, but I didn't just wanna quit without at least telling you guys so you don't think I've been murdered or something.

On a more serious note, thank you all for all of the support and love you've given Scara and all my other blogs. While some of you are a handful, the majority of you are actually the sweetest and silliest community of people I've ever known. I hope you all have excellent lives.

Now, as for what happens to Scara, we're shoving him in another coma. which is entirely at the mercy of Wanderer's mod, because they're my friend outside of tumblr too and i trust that they'll use this as a major angst moment. Put an F for Cyrille and Scara guys

NOW: a few honorable mentions and thank yous:

@wandering-hat-guy : im not writing a goodbye type thing for you because i will literally talk to you tomorrow, but thank you for being an awesome brother-sibling figure. you are the wanderer to my scara :]

@an-active-rabbit : Thank you for being an extremely fun person to rp with. The puppets and the heart is a rp that wont leave my mind for a while yet. Many hugs for you! And I wont be forgetting Mikaven anytime soon >:3

@cyrille-leclair-de-fontaine : AUGH budddyyy im sorry to do this to you. But thank you for creating Cyrille in the first place. Cyscara my beloveds, they will always hold a place in my heart. Maybe one day they'll actually get somewhere. Im also willing to be your friend outside of tumblr if you wish because you're cool >:D

@dishonxsty : For also being a goofy little goober. My favorite rp with you was definitely the ouppy's and scara, and also kudos to you for making like 17 bajillion blogs and being able to manage them all at once somehow like???? go king go

Annnd @monsieur-neuvillette , who seems random because I havent rped with them in literally a century, but thank you for being the one to indirectly help me get over my fears of starting a rp blog AND being the inspo for me to start rping on tumblr in the first place. hugs for you too

Well, alls said that's been said, so I think I'll just end it off here, because it's been like 10 minutes since I started typing this and I am eepy.

Goodbye everyone except wandermod, and thank you for sticking with me through Scara's really out of pocket journey.

(PS: Rest in peace @the-tainted-blossom . I miss you everyday.)

#scara kinnie moment #i should probs reblog this to my other blogs acctually #yeah lemme do that

27 notes · View notes

katyspersonal · 12 days

Note

If you get this, answer w/ three random facts about yourself and send it to the last seven blogs in your notifs. anon or not, doesn’t matter, let’s get to know the person behind the blog!

Oh, nice chain! Alright, let's see!

1) I work at the post office! With customers, not as a postman! I am a little snarky but competent and super serious. Many customers that want to get into my window specifically. o_o" This is kind of time-consuming and not very rewarding, but it is really hard to find a better job in where I live. You know, the whole thing where companies only pretend to be hiring people and every interview is by default declined because they're content overworking their 2 workers doing work of 10 people? xD Fun thing: this is the THIRD time I am back at this workplace! Because they also keep trying to lessen their staff number to save money on salaries, but every time their business starts collapsing and they end up hiring again. They NEVER learn :/

(Lmao ffs I should just make this goddamn image my blog banner if this is the only punchline I know of 💀💀💀)

2) I bought PS4 specifically to be able to play Bloodb0rne! As good as I've gotten with lore and headcanons despite only "experiencing" the game via wikias and playthroughs, I NEEDED to lay my hands on it because asking all three of my friends for this or that screenshot became bothersome!

Bought it for half-price from a gamer that got PS5 and no longer needed PS4. Well.. Back then I could not have had an idea I'd end up getting into entire series, so now I know DeS is not accessible for me. Not sure if I can repeat this maneuver; not only PS5 costs more than I do myself, but also saving became impossible in where I live since then!

3) I've learned English 80% thanks to ask-blogging and RPing online! In fact, because of how much I am using English, at this point I am thinking on English more often than on my native language. I was pretty great in school English classes (best, actually), but the real turning point was having to go to English-speaking spaces for fandomry and RPing. I've just never found my place in Russian speaking fandoms, being a raging autist obsessed with every single canon detail is not common in them and makes people look at you like a looser that doesn't have """real""" life or """real""" hobbies if they act like this. :p So, when as a teen (16) I saw how much fun English-speaking fans had with fandoms here on Tumblr, I just HAD to try and level my English to be able to interact.

Granted, it is debatable whether local fandoms actually were never great, or it was my OWN bad luck of running into boring superfical level fans.. but I am glad that I've put my activity as a fan in this cursed hellsite, and ended up speaking English so fluently that many people are surprised it isn't my native one. xD

#ask replies #personal #shitposting #sorry for the memes it will happen again

8 notes · View notes

milgram-smart-fridge-official · 4 months

Text

Hello, hello! This is Jackalope! You all know me, so there's no need to introduce myself. As you may already be able to tell, you are looking at an account dedicated to our lovely prison's favorite smart fridge.

It's also our only smart fridge, so no one go breaking it, okay??

This smart fridge is open to be used by all. I am not responsible for anything the prisoners OR Es say on here! I'm no one's baby sitter, you know...

Now, onto what this baby is capable of. This fridge is fully interactive with any device with a wifi connection. As such, you can send anything you'd like to say to the prisoners to this account. However, I must warn you that I cannot guarantee inquiries to a specific individual will only be seen by that individual. Again, I'm no one's baby sitter and I'm certainly not a magician! Please keep this in mind! Or don't, I don't really care.

Have fun!!

24/01/04 Milgram Smart Fridge

As that rabbit said, you can send anything you want to any character! Which character responds, though, cannot be guaranteed to be the one you are sending it for. Asks can also obviously just be generic, it doesn't need to be for anyone specific. Be silly, be serious, I don't really care. I'll probably just try to match your energy.

This is going to be mostly very casual rping. Ship stuff is fine, I guess? But it will be kept light and comedic, so don't expect that stuff to go far or be taken seriously lol.

OOC stuff will be kept to tags, and it'll be tagged as "(ooc) [blah blah blah]"

If an ask or post ends up involving or talking about a ship, I will tag accordingly using the prisoner number combo (eg. 0104, 0210, etc).

Things will be tagged with "posted by: [character]", so you'll always know who is posting what.

If asks or posts end up containing Japanese or another language other than English, I'll try to add translations in the tags.

If I get the date wrong on posts or forget to add that part altogether, no I didn't 💖

I'll refine this and add things as needed~

Mod info

This account is being run by @08and09systemtruther !

I am an adult, and my pronouns are he/they

I hope people can get a chuckle out of this and have some fun 🥴!!

#Milgram Smart Fridge #intro

16 notes · View notes

orowyrm · 12 days

Text

hoenstly i as a person just really struggle to engage with “angst for the sake of angst” style fan content for most things because it simply makes me more upset. not to say that it’s Bad TM i’m not pissing on the poor here i just personally absorb emotions from things im watching/reading like a sponge and if im unable to tie that whole thing off neatly with a conclusion i spend the rest of my day walking around feeling stuck halfway between real life and the story, emotionally speaking. it’s why i feel compelled to wait for a show to finish before i can start watching it and other such things. like if i started watching a show and the season ended on a really depressing note there’s a good chance that i would be so bummed out i wouldn’t want to wait until the next season starts to see what happens and i’d just give up there. or i just start coming up with my own ideas as to what i think could/should have happened and then i don’t want to actually watch the rest of it because im too attached to the version of events that exists solely in my head. does any of that make sense? whatever. anyway a big reason i quit RPing on my sideblogs (if anyone even remembers those) aside from not having any free time was that i jsut kept getting way too into character and making myself irrationally upset because while the story arcs we kept coming up with were SO tasty from a narrative standpoint they also were just exhausting for me to keep getting deep into the weeds of and i had to tap out . which is sucks because it was loads of fun . i don’t remember where i was originally going with this ill be honest

7 notes · View notes

canmom · 6 months

Text

mmo rp is kind of fundamentally not so different from RPing in any messaging program, something we've been doing since the days of IRC. the story you co-create is primarily driven by what's written in the text box. no matter how well made the emote animations are, they are not communicative enough to really tell a complex story, so you always fall back to prose. your character's voice will be limited to a handful of nonverbal expressions - a laugh, mm-hm, uh-huh. you are constantly having to reinterpret bits of game jank as you construct your mental version of the 'real story'. and yet

these visual aids do make a really substantial difference in how you experience it i think. to honestly a kind of surprising degree. of course having a character design on screen helps avoid writing tons of descriptive prose - but there's also a lot that can be done with simple movement through space, like a character positioning themselves besides another, retreating to sulk, getting up to dance.

like in visual novels and manga, you have essentially a set of codified, symbolic expressions - but in FFXIV, every race has its own set of very charming and polished animations for nearly every emote, which adds a huge amount of info in how you interpret that character (and slot them into the otaku database). a roegadyn will by default be loud and brash, a viera refined and dreamy, a lala mischievous and childlike. a mi'qote is a cat. since all of these are chosen by the player, they act as a strong signal of what your character's deal is - their body language comes across even if it's not like the actual scene fully acted out.

and what's fascinating to me is that even when i know what the player looks like irl, i still find myself responding to their game embodiment in how i think about them, i don't picture them irl... but also, having the embodiment helps me get into character. I have two alts, and with each one i feel drawn to a different style of roleplay. just like a list of prompts in a ttrpg sourcebook, the embodiment you've chosen gives you something to bounce off when you're improvising.

roleplaying is very similar to improv comedy, and many of the same analysis concepts - 'offers', 'yes, and' - apply. we're essentially improvising a digital puppet show. building up an RP venue and customising our model is a way of laying out props to help that process roll smoothly.

i often dream about an mmo animation system that would be less janky - more control over camera placement, better handling of interactions between player characters and characters with their environment, more ability to plan out timing and blocking and so on - essentially trending towards multiplayer source filmmaker.

the problem is that such a system would probably have way too much cognitive overhead to be usable in real time improv. i think what something like ffxiv shows is that even very simple elements - besides the emotes, your character looks towards your target and moves their lips when you talk, you can adjust their expression and there's animation hooks all over the place line chairs you can sit on - can actually be a very expressive palette and people are pretty good at filtering out the jank when they want to create a story together.

indeed, it becomes a skill - knowing what animations you have, how to reinterpret them, how to line yourself up with other players. and in the end you don't remember the time spent shuffling forwards and typing /hug again and again, or standing up and sitting down repeatedly until it lines up right. you remember the cute sight of your character sitting beside your friend, looking fondly at each other.

there's also another angle which is like... i find real life 'going out' very difficult - usually hitting a point of information overload very quickly in a pub environment, and while music is easier to manage than a wall of conversation, i never really learned how to interact with strangers at a club, concert, convention. I'm not good with alcohol. when i try to a pub, i usually end up retreating into myself and ducking out. in mmos, though... i find prose much more easy to be expressive in, and the limits of the animation system kind of level the playing field a bit in terms of The Autism when it comes to body language and the like.

still, sometimes it feels like a very sad existence - i rely on this simulacrum, pretending i am being intimate and social with people i can't touch through a computer program that draws triangles. everything in an mmo is muted, blunted by the medium - which makes it 'safe', but also tinges it with a loneliness that can't really be broken. but for now, i guess the simulacrum is all I've got, you know? and i can appreciate how it's put together, all the effort that has gone in from devs and players alike to realise this alternative channel for connection.

but yeah. i guess it comes back to this again... there's a reason my online 'face' is a low poly approximation of an animal!

#roleplaying games #that said i should totally check out vrchat again now i have the gear lol #computer games #mmorpgs #ffxiv #introspective nightposting

18 notes · View notes

leidensygdom · 1 year

Note

What first made you interested in drow?

OHHH so-

It was a bit of a coincidence really! I started RPing in RP forums way before I got into TTRPGs. RP forums (in Spanish communities, at least) more often than not had original systems and worlds, which often drew inspiration from here and there. This forum was your usual sort of medium fantasy steampunk mix, with a few typical DnD races. And I ended up as a mod. They wanted to develop some areas of the continent that weren't defined, and I was assigned a chunk of land that was mostly just a frozen wasteland, and was told to fill it with something. (Here's a lil stupid graphic I made for it, the region was named Saintserre)

So I went through the races in the setting and saw these funky cave-dwelling elves that had never been used or mentioned once in the entire setting. And I was like, "okay cool, I think I will grab these! They can live underground where it isn't as freezy!". The description for them in the forum was just a paragraph long, and it didn't mention basic details. Another mod told me "did you know they're matriarchal?" and I was like "no but that sounds cool!", and grabbed that detail. And thankfully, no one in the entire forum actually decided to mention they are usually evil. They had expected me to do them evil, but... I just didn't know that was the usual flavour for drow, and I came up with something very different.

They were religious in a weird sense. They adored the sky and attributed constellations a lot of meaning. The sky, as something distant to them, was seen as sacred and made some of them pilgrimage to the surface, just to observe it and make predictions. These beliefs came from the times they had been in the surface and found solace in the night sky, given how the light was painful to their eyes. The society was experimenting some huge magic advancement related to crystals though, which were a bit taboo to use, and there was this whole "tradition vs progress" thematic to it.

Now, the reason crystals were taboo was because drow came from a much more advanced society that used crystals. They had used and abused them for everything: Even defying death. The city had a growing population of crystal-like liches (named watchers), which at some point, turned against the living population as crystal-corruption ran rampant. The few survivors fled the city, and for months, they travelled under the deadly cold with the night as their mantle (which was a reoccurring thing in their history), which reinforced their astrological beliefs. They decided to forbid and burn any knowledge they had on crystal usage, wanting to avoid the catastrophe from happening again, and left the crystallized city behind, forgotten and filled with aberrations. I hinted slightly at this lore in the forum with this fun little gif (my first gift ever!), which spells "We are watching". I wanted to use these creatures for something >:3c

I started to build a bit about this reveal with the first character that was made in this region, which was interested in the lore. And then, well, the forum died down due to admin drama and we didn't get to it. But I was happy with the worldbuilding I did, so I packed my ideas and put them in another forum, wanting to explore them further. And my next time using drow, I told myself "what if I explore what happened in the crystal city BEFORE the catastrophe?", and my setting Gharmyra was born. Which is the one for my DnD campaign!

... And then someone told me to read Salvatore's books, I gave the first three a read, and I was like "huh what the fuck. Nah" and ended up never dealing with "canon" lore for drow.

(This got lengthier than expected but I just really wanted to share what was my first experience with drow! I remember this setting fondly)

#drow #dark elf #elf #elves #homebrew #dnd homebrew #homebrew setting #dnd campaign #underdark

96 notes · View notes