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kidsomeday · 3 months

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I was going to ask for Magical Medieval Vashwood Thing for WIP Wednesday, but I definitely want to request you work on your original story, whatever it may be

You get so much extra writing this go around, because you get both! Thank you for the asks. Both stories apparently wanted to get lots of woods. Felt good to have words just sort of do their thing. -

Medieval Magic Vashwood Thing Wolfwood moved back over to the window for another cigarette, though judging by the way Roberto was waving his own around at the table it wasn’t a necessary courtesy. Still, it got him away from the group again, a chance to calm down after more socialization than he normally had in a month. And the night air smelled sweet coming in off the little garden and somewhere a night blooming flower was sharing itself with the world. Vash and Millie came back in, carrying a tray of sweet breads, butter, and jam. Tea was refreshed, and from somewhere Millie produced a glass of something hoppy smelling for Roberto. They provided a calm background to the passionate debate between the others- it had veered from Roberto’s card play to some archaic rule about animal husbandry- and Wolfwood was stuck with something that might have been nostalgia but wasn’t because he’d never been allowed this kind of life, never been close enough to another person to have their weirdness become rote, never known people so well they could hand out bread with the exact amount of butter and jam you like, never laughed at a joke so well worn a simple look was enough to cause another burst into laughter. He knew that longing well enough, the memory of being so cold and hungry and looking in to warmth, happiness, little families sitting around the table and smiling. The nuns did the best they could, but there were so many other children, and food was so often scarce, and their clothes more mended patches than original garment. But he had sat there at the table. He’d made Millie laugh and Roberto snort in surprise. He’d made Vash compete in a secret game. Meryl had even given him a compliment at one point. It made him feel strange and unsettled. Sitting away from everyone was better, for now.

Original Story Thing

Caleb was staring at him like they’d never met before, and Henry had to assume it was hard for him to process things before. It was quite the situation to have to be in. As troubling as the situation was for him it had to much, much worse for Caleb. It wasn’t either of their fault that he was that sick. It was his fault that he hadn’t told anyone and had been apparently willing to curl up in a corner and suffer through the weekend, but Henry had long since stopped trying to figure out why people did anything. “There shouldn’t be any permanent damage to the chaise lounge,” he added, thinking that may have been contributing to Caleb’s anxiety. “I ordered some of the best cleaning supplies I could find. Veronique will be pleased. She’s consistently on me to purchase, and I quote ‘the supplies our antiques deserve.’” By now Caleb was looking around, his face getting progressively whiter. He took in the IV in his arm, the blankets spread over his lower half, and the slew of supplies Henry had to started to gather. “I’m going to throw up,” Caleb said, then proceeded to do so.

#wip wednesday game #wip fanfiction #wip writing #wip wednesday #my fanfiction #my writing #wip original writing #wip vashwood fic #yay words words words!

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richietoaster · 5 years

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(1) The separation was a little bit terrifying, but it meant freedom. Eddie's friends at the office ribbed him a little about how 'freedom' included the freedom to hook up, get a little action. He doesn't remember getting drunk at an office party and admitting to never having slept with anyone but his wife, but apparently he had. He's not interested in that, though, in other women. He just wants to do things for himself, and do things his wife wouldn't necessarily approve of.

(2) Which is why he's at a show, a comedian he knows Myra hates, whose tour just happens to include a few nights in New York. And the show is... it's weird. It leaves him feeling conflicted and strange. Tozier himself, he's funny. He has great timing, delivery, goes in and out of voices, it's just the material itself. The way he tells a joke is fresh, but the jokes themselves are stale, and there's something a little rote about it all. He doesn't really know whether or not he likes it.

(3) And then, Eddie's in the bar, and it's Richie Tozier who approaches him, who sidles over with a beer in hand to greet him, a quick flash of a smile, a little 'hey', awkward in a way Eddie finds charming, he's not supposed to find men charming, he's not supposed to look at a man's mouth the way he looks at Tozier's when it wraps around the neck of his beer bottle, he's not supposed to feel any of the things he feels when he finds himself face to face with the man.

[[MORE]]

(4) "Sorry to bother you, man, I just-- Do we know each other from somewhere? I just... you looked familiar for a second, and I didn't want to blow you off if we, uh... if we've met before." Tozier continues, when Eddie doesn't manage anything more than a 'hey' in return. "Or possibly I'm just crazy. That's pretty likely, actually. I've got... exactly the kind of issues that make a man become a comedian, so. Yeah, sorry."

(5) "Don't be." Eddie's hand shoots out before he can stop himself, touching his arm. He feels electrified, he feels alive for the first time in memory-- not that 'in memory' is saying much. He'd tried to ignore this long enough, the real reason he had to leave his marriage, the reason it was never going to work. The reason he wasn't out looking for other women to hook up with now that they've split. "I mean, I don't... I don't think so, but... you can meet me now. Eddie."

(6) "Eddie. Richie." He smiles, and looks a little sick and a little terrified and a little excited himself, his gaze flickering down to where Eddie's hand still rests on his arm, back up to meet Eddie's eyes. He seems to steel himself, licking his lips. Lips Eddie shouldn't look at the way he's looking, but he just wants to be reckless for once in his life. He just wants to say yes to whatever Richie Tozier might want to do. "Can I buy you a drink, Eddie?

(7) "I'd like that." Eddie nods, his thumb caressing Richie's forearm once, before he takes his hand back. This is uncharted territory, and he doesn't know how you flirt with a man or what you do with one, but just being next to Richie makes him feel like he's brave enough to try. He'd been waiting to make his usual order, but he abandons that idea. He's going to be adventurous. "Why don't you order me what's good?"

(8) He drinks in the reaction, the way Richie's eyebrows lift, the twitch at the corner of his smile, before he nods and motions for the bartender. He makes a show of looking Eddie up and down before he orders, as if he could divine his tastes, and maybe he can-- the drink he places in front of Eddie tastes better than his usual cocktail order, kind of like apricot. Well, apricot and booze, but... nice.

(9) "So, did I do good?" Richie asks, his gaze lingering on Eddie's mouth-- and when Eddie licks his lips, Richie does the same, shifting towards him. He leans against the bar, twisting his bottle between his hands, and Eddie considers what it would be like to reach out. To wrap his hand around the neck of the bottle Richie is holding, hands brushing, to urge him closer still. How does he get him closer?

(10) "You did. Maybe I should ask interesting strangers to turn me onto new things more often." Eddie takes another sip, and dares a long slow look up and down Richie. He's tall, Eddie likes that. Likes to imagine what it would feel like to be in his arms, his head tucked under Richie's chin, feeling the breadth of his chest... "I don't think I've ever had an adventure before, I think it's time I started. My life's been... safe. Maybe it's been safe long enough."

(11) “You don’t think you’ve had any adventures?” Richie shifts closer again, and he very gently clinks the mouth of his bottle to the rim of Eddie’s glass. The way he smiles makes Eddie feel warm, tugs at something long-buried inside him and threatens to unravel him like a sweater with a loose end, and Eddie's never been so eager to be unraveled as he is when he looks into Richie's eyes. “What, you’re not sure?”

(12) “Crazy story, actually.” Eddie laughs. “I’m not. I, uh… I’ve got retrograde amnesia, my childhood’s a blank, man. But given what I know about me, it’s hard to imagine I ever had much adventure in my life.” And people normally look at him weird when he brings that one up, but no one’s ever looked at him the way Richie Tozier looks at him now. Not like he's crazy, not like he pities him, not like he wishes he never said something so weird, like... Eddie doesn't know.

(13) “Shit, for reals? Dude, swear you’re not, like, having me on right now. You don’t remember being a kid?” He sets down his drink, his hands shaking, and Eddie finds himself doing the same, before reaching out to take one trembling hand in his, and they’re both shaking, clammy with a sudden sweat, gripping onto each other, and he’s not sure what it means but it’s something. It's something he thinks he's been waiting a long time for.

(14) “Why would I make that up?” He asks, shakes his head. Richie’s hand is cold, but it’s strong, and he finds a weird comfort in it. He feels like everything in him is turning inside out, and he’s holding onto a stranger who feels like some kind of home, and if he didn't have Richie to hold onto he thinks he'd just... fall. “No-- no, it’s real. I don’t… I don’t remember anything, from when I was a kid.”

(15) “I don’t remember my childhood.” Richie says, and his hand is cold but still it feels like it burns somehow. His voice is so quiet, and yet Eddie hears it as if it’s the only sound in the room. Richie looks at him like he’s a miracle, and Eddie doesn’t know what to think about that. “Um-- look, I’ve… I’ve never… But if you… I don't do this, man, but-- I've never really met anyone else who got that, and I don't know if you wanna talk or if you wanna get out of here, but...”

(16) Eddie nods. He drains his drink, Richie does the same. The nerves nearly overtake them both by the time they get to Richie’s hotel room, and then he’s in his arms at last, and they’re… strong. Stronger than he’d have imagined, wrapped around him tight as they kiss. He wants those arms to pin him down to the bed, he wants to feel him. They tear at each other's clothes, they push and pull at each other until the bed is there, and Eddie has no idea what he's doing, just what he wants.

(17) Eddie's never felt this before-- passion, desire, lust for the person he's with. Never felt this animal heat. And it's only one night-- it can't be anything else, they both know it, but... but it isn't only the heat. It's the way Richie makes him laugh in bed, and the tenderness in the way he brushes his fingers over Eddie's hair after, and kisses him goodbye when he says he can't stay. Thanks him, like Eddie's done him a favor somehow. Maybe they've done each other one.

(18) He goes back to Myra, after his night with Richie Tozier. Panics a little and goes back to her, and hates himself for it. He can't deal with the way he'd felt, he can't deal with being so alive. Myra is safe. And she says she told him so, but she doesn't punish him for it. Smiles when he said he didn't look at any other women while they were apart and forgives him for trying to exercise his freedom. And things aren't good but things are normal, until Mike Hanlon calls him.

(19/19) When he gets to Derry, when he remembers, he doesn't know what to do with himself or how to feel. Richie Tozier, HIS Richie, his first love. That's who he'd gone crazy on in a hotel room, without giving his last name, that's who he... He wishes he'd stayed the whole night, or he wishes he'd never gone to his show at all, he doesn't know which. He just knows he can't handle the way Richie looks at him when he admits to being married.

OKAY ANON I NEED A WHOLE ASS FIC THANKS

#reddie

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moranmagic · 6 years

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GDS3 Trial 1 Post Script

I went into this challenge with a general strategy in answering the questions overall. I also had a plan in how to go about answering them in the time given. I will first tell you my plan for answering them, then the strategy I was working under to help guide my answers overall, and finally thoughts on the answers I have and how well I did on each question. I mostly won't provide my answers here yet (I will do that either after the contest ends or at least if I know I am no longer in the running).

My plan to answer them worked as follows. First I read each question and then noted them on my phone. I spent the next day just considering each question and talking to myself about it. That night I made notes of possible answers for each as well as a few bullet points of how I could defend those answers. The next day I recorded myself talking about my best potential answers (it was a point where I was stuck in my car for about an hour, so I channeled Drive to Work and talked about Magic). When I got home I listened to that stuff and took some more notes, then set to work writing essays.First draft done, I went to bed.

The next day I reread my answers and then reread the questions, and then reread my answers. Then I rewrote my essays from scratch after considering what about them should change. I was very happy with the second draft I had for each of the essays and I made more minor revisions and corrections on the next day before submitting them. I'm quite pleased with the overall answers.

My strategy in answering them was to showcase a wide range of abilities; I touched on design and development issues, the integration of creative, player reception, and the larger (standard) environment created that each set is a part of (barring supplemental products of course). Some questions naturally focused on individual mechanic and card design, while others allowed me to talk about bigger concerns with a design (for better or worse, and with one answer in particular I definitely dropped the ball in pursuing this strategy).

Question 1

I sought to emphasize my design skills though they are all currently “amateur.” I don't and have not had a career as a professional in any aspect of design, though my hobbies and passions all revolve around it. I also put great weight on my ability and desire to work with a team in collaborative processes. I'd love the opportunity to expand on these things during a face to face interview.

Question 2

I don't think any non-evergreen mechanic currently satisfies the demands of being made evergreen. Due to that, this was the hardest question of the ten from my perspective. I made the argument for skulk, shifted into green to act as evasion on green's smaller creatures where trample doesn't make sense. I'd make it primary in green and tertiary in black and blue, only to be used there when none of their other evasion makes sense somehow. This would hopefully allow the mechanic to see some good use despite its small design space.

Question 3

This felt like the easiest question to answer. Defender is strictly a downside mechanic, there are no issues with writing out the effect defender has since walls are never crowded with text, and mimicking Propaganda text on cards that lose defender actually saves space and simplifies cards that currently have defender. For example I'd drop defender from Hightide Hermit and write its rules text as “Hightide Hermit can't attack unless you pay EE.” Even in a world where defender remains evergreen, that's a good change to make to cards like that.

Question 4

I've taught a few people to play Magic so I feel really good about my answer with this. I even write it out as a bit of a story to help them see how that first game with a stranger would go. I defined the best possible outcome as the stranger wanting to play Magic after I taught them and that the best way to ensure they want that is for them to have fun. I'd grab two planeswalker decks and we'd start playing. First game open handed so I can look at their cards and advise them directly and they can ask questions without feeling like they're giving up information that should remain hidden. I explain just rules relevant at the time and stay away from any complicated stuff or technical terminology that might trip them up or overwhelm them. When we're done with that first game I ask if they want to play again and then we play a normal game with hands hidden. I haven't always taught players this way, but my methods for teaching the game improve each time I do it (one of the first people I taught was my fiancee and I regret that because I did not do a good job at all, but it gave me a better idea of how to teach Magic by making what not to do clearer).

Question 5

The answer to this question is fun, no doubt in my mind. People come to the game because it's fun and they stick with the game because it's fun. You have to make sure it remains fun. Making a fun experience isn't easy, but I also touched on how there are a lot of different players and each of them gets something different from Magic. So the real trick is learning about all the different ways people enjoy Magic and then making some aspect of the game for each of them. In other words, you aren't just designing for yourself.

Question 6

My answer to this question is complexity. I clarify that complexity isn't all bad; some of it is absolutely needed to make the game as enjoyable as it is. But too much complexity or complexity employed the wrong way, ruins the game. Complexity needs to be watched and it always needs to be in service to a fun experience. I think this answer is solid but it felt a bit rote to me as well. I've read and listened to a lot of Rosewater's stuff on design and I never set out to rehash his ideas here, but he has an incredible understanding of design philosophy and since I'd consider myself a student of his in many respects, that comes through in my answers anyway.

Question 7

I wanted so much more from Cipher. I think its shortcomings are that it was difficult to develop, confined mechanically (it couldn't be used on combat tricks and they chose not to use it on instants due to confusion), and it used weird terminology with encode. My solution is a mechanic I called Spellstrike which I believe has more tools to develop it fairly, works on instants and sorceries and as combat tricks, and used only existing and commonly used Magic terminology. That's all I'll say about it here as I hope to design some of these cards in a challenge later.

Question 8

This is where my strategy in answering really bit me. I've talked about specific card and mechanic design in previous questions so I thought this was a good space to expand to block and larger environment design, as well as creative. I answered that I loved Eldritch Moon but that its reception by the larger player base was soured because it followed Battle for Zendikar block. I didn't touch so much on design issues in the set itself here, nor on what I would change because it would have made the set better for me. Instead I focused on how design and creative failed to recognize that the general flavor of Eldrazi would cause fans to conflate Innistrad and Zendikar Eldrazi as being essentially the same thing even though the designs are literally worlds apart. Delaying Shadows Over Innistrad block I believe would have resulted in better reception of it. Still, my answer here is the biggest miss I had among these questions though I still believe it showcases an ability to learn from every aspect of a design.

Question 9

I considered Aether Revolt and Dragons of Tarkir for this. Dragons of Tarkir took away the best mechanic part of Khans of Tarkir, the clans, but introduced a lot of cool dragons. Ultimately I decided I had more to defend in talking about Aether Revolt instead and could better showcase an eye for design with a specific circumstance I'll mention below. Aether Revolt for me just didn't do much that Kaladesh wasn't already doing and better. I didn't include this in the question as I didn't think of it at the time, but now I wonder if that's because it suffered from the blob problem where decks could too easily just play good stuff so not as many cards had the chance to shine in constructed. In limited it just wasn't doing enough to change draft to make it more enticing to draft this than it was to draft triple Kaladesh. I'm not clear on what could have changed that.

But for the actual question, the aspect I think worked best, was the mechanic Revolt. I went on to discuss how it's not simply a Morbid clone and specifically that it forces you to reassess how you play something as simple as Evolving Wilds. Any mechanic that makes you rethink an aspect of the game that you usually take for granted is doing good work.

Question 10

This is the question I had the most potential answers for: use they/their instead of gendered pronouns in rules text, introduce “discard” to red in the form of “impulsing” cards out of opponent's hands, use draw as terminology to describe moving a card (not permanent) from any zone to a player's hand and discard to describe moving a card from any zone to a player's graveyard, getting rid of the legend rule, making enchantment creatures evergreen, and probably a few others I can't think of now.

I opted to defend removing the legend rule. It allows more fun and I believe it's the one design decision that you can most directly connect to a financial business decision because of the huge market evidenced for Commander players. Again, the answer here played into my goal to show a breadth of vision in my design abilities.

Overall I'm really happy with my answers despite the errors I see now. In the short time available to answer them I believe that I provided strong answers backed up with reasoned judgment and examples, even in the case that I didn't quite answer the question at hand in number eight. I also now feel that I should have worked an explanation for my strategy in answering the rest of the questions into my answer for question one. That would have better explained why 8 missed the mark a bit (though I would have answered differently if I thought at the time I wasn't really answering the question provided). I hope it's enough to get my foot in the door and afford me the opportunity to answer more questions or further elaborate on these as well as perhaps offer up other ideas. You could get a really good idea of what a designer is like just by finding out their reasoning for their answer and I want to be able to share a lot of what I said here with the folks at Wizards of the Coast if the opportunity arises.

#gds3 #mtg

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