#1984 alternate games

[milf-harrington]

the overwhelming feeling of being watched in the dark

steddie | 2.3K | read on ao3

---

There was something under Steve Harrington’s bed. 

It hadn’t always been there– once upon a time, there’d been nothing but empty space between the bed-frame and the dark blue carpet lining his bedroom floor. Once upon a time, he’d sleep sprawled across his bed like it was bigger than it was, arms and legs dangling over the sides carelessly, no thoughts spared towards monsters that could be watching through the gap in the closet door. 

No thoughts spared towards monsters at all.

Until three years ago, when he found out one had apparently been running around in the woods behind his house. Of course, he found out about that little tidbit of information after he’d fought the thing off with a baseball bat that Jonathan Byers had stuck nails in. 

Curiously, in November of 1983, Steve developed a troublesome fear of lights.

After the shitshow at the Byers house, he couldn’t stand the quiet buzzing of the bulbs or the way adrenaline gripped his throat every time too many appliances made the lights pulse. Lights flipped on, or off , without warning threw him into fight or flight mode, one hand reaching for a weapon that wasn’t there. 

So instead he kept the lights off as often as he could, relearning the shape of his house in the dark, right up until Halloween of 1984. 

1984 brought junkyards, traversing an underground maze while concussed, and the chittering screech of dogs-that-weren’t-dogs. His hallway at night became a winding tunnel with the potential to fill with writhing, faceless, bodies whose heads peeled open like some sort of fucked up banana, and suddenly lights didn’t seem so bad. 

And then, like the universe just couldn’t help itself, 1985 left him with blood in his eyes and drugs in his blood and the chilling understanding that some very bad people had some very sensitive information about him and his friends. 

By his 4th brush with death-by-alternate-dimension, his new fear of the dark had become a downright hassle. Embarrassing and impossible to logic his way out of.

Steve was frozen in the doorway of his bedroom, watching Eddie take his rings off. He did this thing where he'd poke his top lip with the tip of his tongue, concentrating hard on twisting each bit of jewellery off before reaching forward to drop it onto Steve's fancy writing desk. They clattered against the wood, ringing sharply when they skimmed each other, and Steve was trying very hard to focus on all of that and not the sight of Eddie’s ankles exposed to the underside of his bed. 

A grown man could fit under there and Steve knew that because sometimes he hid under his bed when the world was too much. 

Eddie looked over his shoulders, eyebrow cocked somewhat playfully. He was always some level of playful, like he didn't know how to exist in the world without turning it into a game. “You planning on standing there all night?”

Steve’s eyes dropped from his face to the space between the carpet and the bed-frame. A man could fit under there. Someone who knew his name and had his keys because his pockets had been emptied when he and Robin had been captured. 

He swallowed, trying to ignore it, and looked back to find that Eddie’s expression had softened into something else. Something concerned. “Stevie?”

There’s someone under the bed , he wanted to say. Even if the logic wasn’t foolproof, the connection had already been made in his head and there was no thinking his way out of it. Someone could fit under there, so someone had fit under there and now if Steve turned off the light they were both going to die. 

He glanced at the light switch, sitting innocently by his shoulder, and a cold panic coiled tight in his stomach. 

“You can keep the light on.” Eddie offered, gently, fiddling with his hair. “I’m not going to judge you man, I’ve needed the bathroom light on since I was a kid. And after the shit you’ve seen?” He blew air through his lips, cutting a hand through the air. 

And Steve knew that, had been there on some of those nights. The ones where Eddie kept his bedroom door open because sometimes the kid that still existed in his brain got scared of things that hadn’t happened in over a decade. 

But it didn’t work the same for Steve. After so many years of not being afraid, of having no reason to be, he still found it almost impossible to sleep without total darkness. Like the damaged part of his brain was ringing alarm bells, but the older bits still recognised the safety in the shadows.

“It’s not that.” Steve admitted, crossing his arms over his chest and feeling childish. There’s someone under the bed, he wanted to say. Could feel the words squeezing his throat like tails and vines and the hands trying to hurt. If I turn the lights off I don’t know what will happen.

God, his bat was under there– the one with the nails driven through it, crooked and rusted with old blood. Whoever was under there probably already had their hands wrapped around it, waiting for the cover of dark to use it.

There were lots of things under Steve’s bed. They weren’t always there at the same time, but the possibility of them was burned into the wooden slats holding his mattress up.

The Soviets had known his full name. 

There was a lot you could find out just by knowing something like that, especially with a name like Harrington in a town like Hawkins. And yeah, Starcourt had burned down, half the base blown up, but there had been survivors because some of them had dragged Hopper off to Russia. 

Which means there were still people out there who might know his name.

Most of Steve’s nightmares were set in that base. 

Eddie was looking more worried the longer Steve went without saying anything, just standing next to the light switch and not doing anything. He bit the inside of his cheek, cracking the knuckles on one hand to assure his friend that he wasn’t being Vecna’d or anything.

He should check.

He’d probably look like a fucking weirdo but there was something under the fucking bed and there would be until he could make sure there wasn’t. It was a reckless sort of certainty that burned through his stomach, tight and cold around his throat. 

---

read the rest on ao3 'cause i didn't wanna post the full thing on here

#steddie #steddie fic #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things #steddie fanfiction #steve harrington has ptsd #steve harrington has anxiety #eddie loves him #they hold hands about it #my writing

[mikasleaf]

YO CHALLENGE TO CELEBRATE THE TURTLES'S 40 YEARS! LETS HAVE A T-MAY-NT

Hi fellow shellheads! Since we have this special date coming upon us! This may 5th will be the 40th anniversary of the creation of our beloved turtles! So i wanted to make something special, an inktober but turtles themed! and I also don't think it needs to be only an art challenge,many of the prompts I shared could also be completed just sharing a picture or something! But the idea is to fill all kinds of platforms with our turtle boys! I already got a lot thought out but I know many of you may have great ideas that im missing, I'm gonna share the prompts on my art profile and stuff, but of course I'll credit you if with the username you choose if I include one of your prompts! Here's what I have so far, any suggestions on prompts or prompt orders will be welcomed of course!

Also like inktober I'm pointing to have a version of the challenge where you just draw 1 prompt a week and just answer the rest

Okay now, here they are:

1. Your Favorite turtle(-)

2.Favorite turtle merch/toy that you own

3.Favourite lesson

4.fav low ranking villain!

5.Favorite turtle curseword!

6. Favorite April!

7. Fav splinter

8. Favorite shredder

9.Favorite villain!

10. Favorite ally!

11. Favorite ship!

13. Baby turtles!

12. Favorite pizza toppings! And who'd like it the best?

13. Best leo (from all incarnations)

14. Best raph (from all incarnations)

15. Best Donnie (from all incarnations)

16. Best Mikey from all incarnations

17. FAV turtle Duo!(of 2)

19. Turtles in their 40's

18. Favorite episode (from any series)

19. Favorite movie

20. Favorite rivalry (Turtle+Villain Dynamic)

21. Favorite turtle + ally dynamic

22. Favorite opening or t

23.fav High ranking villain

24.Human turtles!(-)

25.favourite alternative outfit or design

26.Favorite turtle curse!

27. If you were a mutant! What would you be?

28. best gadget/vehicle

29. fave turtle video game

30. best Casey jones

31. best karai!

32.your turtle Sona!

33.Favorite opening or theme song

34.Human turtles!(-)

35.If you were another kind of mutant(not turtle) What would you be?

36.best gadget/vehicle

37.fave game

38.One of the three oldest versions of the turtles (1984, 1987 or 1991)

Which ones do you vote out? All feedback you can give will be welcome!

#tmnt fandom #raph tmnt #rotmnt #tmnt 2003 #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #ninja turtles #tmnt 2012 #tmnt2012 #rise of the tmnt #tmnt fanart #teenage mutant ninja turtles #mutant mayhem #tmnt mutant mayhem #tmnt multiverse #teenage mutant ninja turtles 2012 #teenage mutant ninja turtles fanart #tales of the tmnt #idw #tmnt idw #raphael #apritello #mona lisa #karai 2012 #artists on tumblr #art challenge #month challenge #mermay #challenge #tmnt #tmnt universe

[manawhims]

1984 New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures 📖 Functional/Readable Bible - Base Game Recolor + Inspired Buff [after reading long enough]

⚠️ Sims will read indefinitely. Remember to cancel the interaction! 🔎 Type, "manawhims" in the search bar to easily locate this object in-game! ✅ Make sure "bb.showHiddenObjects" is enabled.

For More Info + Download ⬇️ Patreon ~ Always Free

Alternative Download⬇️ SFS (SimFileShare)

｡ﾟ･ ❀ simtube ˚ simtreon

#my cc #the sims 4 cc #the sims 4 custom content #ts4 cc #ts4cc #ts4 custom content #ts4 cc download #the sims 4 #the sims 4 simblr #ts4 #ts4 simblr #simblr #manawhims

[xtcz]

hi, new ish xtc fan here .. was wondering if you know thr best places to find like the most niche info about them? if that makes sense LOL theyve just been scratching the brain so good and ive read song stories but i want More .. hope its not weird to ask you this :[

it’s never weird to learn about xtc…….

erm for some photos and song notes and interview transcripts chalkhills.org is my best best friend. they’re an old style fansite with tons of archived stuff, they also have tons of xtc guitar tabs 😁😁 optimismsflames.com is another old fansite i look for stuff on, they’re a little harder to navigate but still have a boatload of stuff up. those are places i go when i have a specific thing in mind mainly; a specific image i’m searching for or someone’s thoughts on a particular song. but they’re good to just browse too i’ve spent many an hour that way

they only have one traditional biography, chalkhills and children, written by chris twomey. it’s kind of surface level but also a really fun read for weird little stories & quotes. this book is a really good example of how xtc were not the average rock band in terms of drinking sex drugs etc but what they had going on was Considerably More Insane for other reasons mainly they are collectively 5 of the little fucked up freaks of all time

complicated game is another song book which you may not get much out of if you’ve already read song stories, but i think it’s a little more complete. i’ve heard a couple fans say that out of all the xtc books, complicated game is the best & has great insight into the music, specifically for musicians but for anyone 😁

gonna also link some documentaries and specials i loveee all free on youtube:

this is pop— documentary that came out in 2017. the only documentary ever made about xtc. corny and very low budget but soo lovingly made and genuinely so good if you love them. fits the tone of the band well. i’ve seen it so many times

xtc at the manor— tv special filmed while xtc were at the manor studios for single work for black sea, following the recording and mixing of an alternate for the generals and majors single. they all talk about their instruments and how they chose music as a pursuit, also day to day footage in and around the studio. this one is my utter beloved

xtc play at home— (in three parts, 1 2 3) a special from 1984, xtc talk about their music as well as their hobbies. there are also some very low budget and hard to find music videos for some of the songs off mummer. dave talks about his guitars. andy talks about his board games. colin talks about Fishing. i love this one

recording nonsuch at chipping norton studios— this is a 50 minute home movie type special following the rehearsal and recording of nonsuch. i’ve seen this one through less times than the other two i linked because nonsuch is erm. my least favourite of their discs sorryyyy but it’s still a really good watch and i know a lot of folks love nonsuch

dm me if you want interview links too or anything, i tried to keep this list to longer video stuff but they have so many good interviews too

ultimately i don’t know if any of this stuff is niche. it’s all out there free online. the path you take with your poking around and research is yours :^) but i do think there’s great stuff in everything here and hopefully you’ll find something that suits your fancy

#xtc band #word okay. really nothing is niche everything is a matter of do you care enough to put time into reading/watching it tbh #i love that someone cares :’) the world is so beautiful

[hbyrde36]

My Steddie Fics💜

Updated 04/25/2024

*Works In Progress*

I Don't Think We're In Hawkins Anymore, Big Boy

Ch 1

Ao3

After being run off the road in a freak accident during a terrible storm, Steve and Eddie find that not only have they committed vehicular manslaughter, but they’ve also somehow been whisked away to a strange land. The journey is rough and they are being hunted for revenge, but through it all Steve and Eddie grow closer than ever as they try and find their way home with the help of some new friends with familiar faces. -Or- A Steddie Wizard of Oz AU

Times Like These (The Anniversary Edition)

CH 1 CH 2 CH 3 CH 4 CH 5 Ch 6 Ch 7

Ch 8 Ch 9 Ch 10 Ch 11 Ch 12

AO3 Link

When Eddie finds himself back in his living room, staring down a very alive Chrissy Cunningham, after just having bled to death himself in the middle of a nightmare world, he was rightfully very, very fucking confused. -Or- What happens when the new guy, who only just got inducted into the fucked up world of monsters and mayhem, gets stuck in a time loop and finds himself responsible for saving everyone?

No Vacancy

Ch 1 Ch 2 Ch 3 Ch 4 Ch 5 Ch 6 Ch 7 Ch 8 Ch 9

Ao3 Link

When Eddie Munson arrives at the Buckingham Beach Motel to spend the summer with his BFF Chrissy and her business partner Robin, the last person he expects to see waiting in the lobby is former king of Hawkins High and asshole extraordinaire, Steve fucking Harrington.

Steddie/Buckingham, 90's, post-college, no upside-down au, everyone is in their mid 20's, slow burn, pining, light angst with a happy ending, misunderstandings, coming out, eddie is a little shit, and kind of a slut tbh, alternating pov, lifeguard steve, bartender eddie, meddling lesbians, idiots in love

*Completed Works*

Hellfire Ink

Written for the Stranger Things Reverse Big Bang 2023/2024

Chapter 1 Chapter 2

🎲Life is a Game (and True Love is a Trophy)

Ch 1 Ch 2 Ch 3 Ch 4 Ch 5 Ch 6 Ch 7 Ch 8

Ch 9 Ch 10 Ch 11 Ch 12 Ch 13 Ch 14 Ch 15 ao3 link

Ao3 link

For years Eddie has been playing D&D with his cousin Dustin and his friends. It’s a crazy home brew campaign of his own design that plays fast and loose with the lore, weaving in heavily embellished events from their real lives. They play themselves, filling out a full cast of NPC’s with the likenesses of friends, family, and strangers. It’s been a wild ride. The game is set in Hawkins, but not quite their Hawkins. This manifestation of their hometown is full of dark secrets, including a shady government agency, evil scientists, and another dimension full of dangerous creatures hiding on the other side of reality. They’ve just wrapped their most recent session before spring break 1986. It was a bittersweet end to an epic part of the story. A blast to play through, but they didn’t beat the bad guy, and the party has been left in ruins. Eddie’s character is dead, one of their favorite NPC’s is in a coma, and the world has literally split apart at the seams. Honestly, Eddie’s not sure how they come back from this. - In 1983 Steve Harrington joined the search for a missing boy and found something he never bargained for. In 1984 Steve Harrington disappeared.

Canon was a game of D&D - AU, mystery, secrets, found family, slow burn, friends to lovers, pining, angst with a happy ending, alternating pov, Eddie Munson and Dustin Henderson are cousins, Steve Harrington and Eleven have a sibling relationship

Honey, You're Familiar (Tumblr link)

AO3 link

Written for the Stranger Things Writer's Guild Hozier Project, a collection of one-shots inspired by songs from Hozier's self titled album. The word count limit was 3,000 and I chose the song From Eden

Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Mutual Pining, giving up everything for a chance at happiness, Pre-Relationship, Feelings Realization, Memory Loss, Angst with a Happy Ending

🖤The Crawl

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 (Final)

Ao3 link

Inspired by the VERY little information we have about the Stranger Things writer's plans for season 5 Time travel stories love to play with the idea that one small act can have an incredible impact on the future. What if, in a crazy twist of fate, Will Byers was rescued from the Upside Down a day early and with just a little knowledge of what was to come. Would it be enough to change everything?

POV Will Byers, POV Eddie Munson, POV Steve Harrington, time shenanigans, fix-it of sorts, angst with a happy ending, friends to lovers, falling in love, confessions, first kiss, character death, HAPPY ENDING

🩸Steve Harrington: Vampire Hunter

Ao3 link Art Link (art by Penny00Dreadful)

Ch 1 Ch 2 Ch 3 Ch 4 Ch 5 Ch 6 Ch 7 Ch 8 Ch 9

Ch 10 Ch 11 Ch 12 Ch 13 Ch 14 Ch 15 Ch 16 Ch 17(final)

Steve Harrington is an animator. It’s a job that involves raising the dead; sometimes as a service for mourning relatives looking for closure, often as a tool for the courts to settle disputes. Steve Harrington is also a licensed vampire hunter. Two years ago, vampirism became legal in the United States, granting its undead population citizenship. With this new legal status comes a complication for Steve, as he finds himself tasked with helping the very creatures he is accustomed to killing. Speaking of complications, Steve struggles in more ways than one when he finds himself working closely with none other than Eddie Munson, an undeniably sexy several-hundred-years old master vampire. Or, The Anita Blake/Steddie mashup that nobody asked for but I’m having far too much fun with.

Modern AU, Vampire AU (Anita Blake AU/mashup),  aged up characters, enemies to lovers, slow burn, eventual smut, dream sex, vampires, wereanimals, zombies, other supernatural things eventually

🌊Caught in the Undertow

Pt 1 P 2 Pt3 Pt 4 Pt 5 Pt 6 Pt 7 Pt 8 Pt 9 Pt 10(final)

AO3

Steve saved Eddie from certain death. Eddie doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to forgive him for it.

Post season 4, angst with happy ending, slow burn, “enemies” to friends to lovers, suicidal thoughts, POV alternating, the best uncle Wayne Munson

⛈️Shelter in Place

Part 1 Part 2(final) AO3

Written for Lex’s Spicy Six Summer Challenge! My prompt was : Hurricane When a major Hurricane is projected to hit Hawkins (technically it’s more like the remnants of a hurricane, but the residents of Hawkins don’t really know the difference or care), Dustin is worried about his new friend and DM, Eddie Munson, who lives in a trailer, a structure not known for its resilience against severe weather. He invites the older boy to ride the storm out with him and his mom at home, unaware that she has made arrangements for them to stay with family that live far away from the storm's trajectory. Dustin doesn’t want to leave his friend high and dry, enter everyone’s favorite babysitter: Steve Harrington.

#steddie #steddie fanfic #steve x eddie #eddie munson #steve harrington #steve harrington/eddie munson #stranger things #ao3 link #ao3 #fanfic #my fics <3 #my writing

[antialiasis]

Chess (the musical)

So Chess is a 1984 concept album and subsequent stage musical with story and lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus from ABBA. On the surface, it is called Chess because it is about some chess grandmasters vying for the chess world championship and the woman who leaves one’s employ and enters a relationship with the other. Under the surface, the real reason it’s called Chess is that the real game of chess is the one played between the US and USSR throughout the Cold War (when it was written and set), in which the characters are all pawns being played against each other to serve the interests of the warring states.

That’s a cool concept! Definitely the sort of concept you’d come up with and think, I have to make something about this, and then you try to come up with the details. Tim Rice, apparently, has tried a whole lot of times to come up with the right details: apparently every other production of this musical tries to rewrite the plot, to the point Wikipedia has a comparison table of plot points between different productions. That’s not as in just changing little details around or cutting or adding a song here and there, like you get with many other musicals; it includes stuff like turning a plot involving two chess tournaments against two different opponents a year apart into one with just a single tournament against one opponent, flipping pivotal character decisions and motivations around completely, making the ending the exact opposite of what it was, etc. etc.

For the purposes of this post, the production we actually watched was Chess in Concert from 2008, with Adam Pascal, Josh Groban and Idina Menzel, which is heavily based on the original West End production from 1986 but with some modifications. I will be doing some character analysis rambling, but be aware that with respect to other productions half of what I have to say may just be blatantly wrong. Man, it must be a trip to be in the Chess fandom. (Hello if you’re here from the tag.)

All in all, I have extremely mixed feelings about Chess. On the one hand, I have two big, major writing problems with it that made me just not enjoy watching the full production very much. On the other hand, it has some genuinely really good interesting bits that I like a whole lot, and also there are some real banger songs. Going to be my work soundtrack for a little while, probably.  Summary and lengthy complaining and rambling below.

In an alternate 1979, the chess world championships are being held in the town of Merano, Italy. American reigning champion Freddie Trumper, loosely inspired by Bobby Fischer, is widely considered the wild boy of chess for his unpredictable behaviour and aggressive personality, which he plays up for the press because there’s no such thing as bad publicity. He has a lucrative deal with a company called Global Television that broadcasts the tournament, and his contact with them, Walter, is secretly some kind of undercover CIA agent. The challenger is Anatoly Sergievsky, a mild-mannered Russian who feels increasingly trapped despite his successes, kept on a tight leash by his handlers from the government, particularly scheming political operative Molokov.

Freddie’s second (sort of a chess personal assistant) is Hungarian-born Florence Vassy, who was sent from Budapest to the UK when the Soviets invaded in 1956, when she was five years old. She has grown weary of his antics over the years and tries to persuade him to please stop making remarks like “All Soviets deserve abuse” and assaulting reporters at press conferences, but to no avail. During the tournament’s first game (the actual chess games are staged as symbolic ballet between dancers dressed in black and white and it’s pretty neat), Freddie flips the board over and walks away. (That’s what appears to be happening in the staging, at any rate, though Global Television goes on to describe it as if who flipped the board was ambiguous; hard to tell if they’re meant to be describing it in a “Who can say!” way because they’re American, or if the situation is actually meant to be more ambiguous than it looked in the staging.)

Florence arranges a meeting between the two players to talk it out, prompting Freddie to lash out about whether she’s even on his side or the side of the Soviets who invaded her country, and how her father would be ashamed of her if he were alive. By the time Florence gets to the proposed meeting, Freddie isn’t there, leaving her awkwardly alone with Anatoly, who briefly wonders if she’s working for them – I mean us (he doesn’t think of the Soviet political machine as his own side). They vent their frustrations, find each other pretty, and start to connect. Freddie finally arrives, revealing he was late because he was working out a new deal with Global Television to get them even more money for participating, and now that they’ve got that he’s perfectly happy to continue the match.

Anatoly plays masterfully and soon leads five games to one. Freddie channels his agitation at being near-beaten and jealousy at the connection he saw between Florence and Anatoly into a paranoid, misogynistic rant at her about how this is what she wanted all along and it’s all because she’s a woman. She’s disgusted and quits; Freddie calls her a parasite. After a moment of angry self-pity, Freddie concedes the match altogether, leaving Anatoly the new world champion. Anatoly immediately sets out with Florence, who he has entered into a romantic relationship with, to defect to the UK to escape Soviet scrutiny.

Act II takes place a year later, at the next world championships in Bangkok, where Anatoly will be defending his title against the next Soviet challenger, a loyal Russian ‘chess-playing machine’ named Viigand. Freddie is there to commentate on the match for Global Television.

Molokov arranges to have Anatoly’s wife Svetlana, whom he left behind with their two children when he defected with Florence, sent to Bangkok to stress him out. He also secretly coordinates with Walter to get Freddie to do a barbed interview with Anatoly where he shows him video of his wife, until Anatoly storms out. Later, Walter and Molokov launch a multi-pronged plan to pressure Anatoly to just plain throw the match and return to the Soviet Union, in exchange for the USSR releasing some political prisoners. Molokov successfully threatens Svetlana into imploring him to come back, while Walter tells Florence that her father is alive in prison in Russia (something Molokov had told him) and they’ll be able to put him at the top of the list for prisoners to be returned if she persuades Anatoly to lose. Florence refuses the deal but is deeply upset, unable to let go of the thought of being able to see her father again. Walter then orders Freddie to approach Anatoly about it with a veiled threat to his employment; he does, acting all friendly, but Anatoly’s not buying it for a second. Freddie then goes to Florence instead, also apparently on their orders but trying to appeal to her based on their previous rapport instead, telling her they can work things out and imploring her to come back to him, but Florence and Anatoly are both as disgusted with him as ever, refusing his pleas.

After a dark moment of reflection about his issues, Freddie approaches Anatoly again — to help him. He’s noticed a flaw in Viigand’s strategy and implores Anatoly to win the match, for the integrity of the game and so that Walter and Molokov won’t get what they want.

Anatoly and Viigand play their final game, and in the end, Anatoly follows Freddie’s advice and wins the match like he was always capable of, in spite of how it alienates both Svetlana and Florence, because it’s the only way he can remain true to himself and retain a shred of symbolic freedom - but he decides to return to the Soviet Union anyway afterwards, to give himself up in exchange for Florence’s father. Anatoly and Florence regretfully reaffirm their love and say goodbye to each other before he leaves. Florence is left alone with Walter, who tells her they’ll get her father, if he’s still alive - oh yeah, they don’t actually know anything about that, who knows, but then again she already never knew if he was actually dead. No change there! Goodbye! (I don’t think we know whether Walter just distrusts Molokov’s information, which would be reasonable, or whether Walter is just telling her they don’t know to cover for not actually planning to bargain for her father at all.) In short, politics screwed everyone over and everything is terrible, but at least Anatoly managed to stay true enough to himself to refuse to let them fix the tournament.

My biggest problem with Chess, at least this production, is that it feels very padded; the pacing is atrocious. Based on my plot summary, do you want to take a guess at how many songs it takes for us to get to the very first chess match, the one I talked about in my second paragraph? Did you guess “Chess Game #1” being song number thirteen?

We have an entire seven-minute song about the town of Merano, Italy where the first act is set (minus a one-and-a-half-minute interlude where Freddie and Florence are introduced), sung by its anonymous inhabitants. Which would be fine, except the town of Merano and its inhabitants have no role whatsoever in the actual narrative, as evidenced by how half of the productions of this thing just casually move it to take place somewhere else entirely. The Arbiter, the tournament’s referee, gets a two-part “I am” song, despite not being a character - he narrates some things and makes a couple of brief inconsequential comments, but at no point is he as a person or his arbiter role actually relevant to anything (he doesn’t even actually arbitrate in the actual dispute that comes up), so why do we need to spend a song on that? We have a full song devoted to all the merchandise for the tournament, which I guess makes a point about the marketing of the whole thing but that point is already made heavily elsewhere and we certainly don’t need an entire song to do it. We have a choir singing a hymn to the game of chess, which is nice and all but please, Tim Rice, just get to the actual story you’re trying to tell, I am begging you. A musical can get away with a song or two that’s not super meaningful but just good fun, but you can’t just write a whole array of inconsequential fluff songs and stuff them all in there before the first significant event of the plot even happens!

(Which is to say, of course nothing will stop you doing this, and this musical is successful despite it, and I feel like the sort of base cultural stereotype of a musical consists of exactly that sort of thing, where sometimes the story stops so we can have a fun musical number. But as that one musical fan whose passion for musicals is driven entirely by appreciation for their potential to tell compelling stories in an especially hard-hitting way and not at all by desire to just see some fun singing and dancing, I hate it, please stop.)

Some of these songs are fun on their own – as I mentioned, I like the soundtrack, though it took me a couple listens; the ABBA guys are good at composing catchy bits and nailing a vibe – but within this narrative, they’re simply filler. All in all I honestly found Chess just tedious to sit through at times, with the general sense that nothing was happening a lot of the time and that the story progression was glacially slow – the show is two and a half hours but could easily have told the same story equally effectively in much less time. It gets better once it gets going, but like, it still finds time to have a substantial choral piece slowly singing the names of all the real-life previous world champions before the final match (“Endgame #1”), which sets a nice mood but goes on way longer than it needs to to do that, only for the song directly following it, “Endgame #2”, to also feature a choir singing the names of all the previous world champions in the background anyway but better. (Did they make two versions of this concept and end up including both of them in full for some reason? Surely they could have started with just a few champions to set the mood and saved the full list of champions for “Endgame #2”? I just do not understand the choices being made here.)

I was earnestly surprised by this because Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita are all good at not doing this. Evita has a song about Buenos Aires, but it’s not just there so we can have a song about Buenos Aires; it’s there to show us Eva’s attitude as she arrives in the city and her determination to rise to the top. I had figured Tim Rice seemed to have pretty good instincts on making sure each song is playing a legitimate part in telling the story. But that’s eminently not the case in Chess - so maybe it’s Andrew Lloyd Webber who brought that sensibility to their partnership (I mean, he did write Cats, but that’s also decidedly not meant to have a central narrative other than, “Here are some cats as described in T.S. Eliot’s poetry,” so that’s probably understandable either way), or maybe the ABBA guys wrote songs he liked that tempted him to include them even when they didn’t really belong, or maybe it’s just that adapting other material gave him lots of ideas for meaningful songs to drive the story forward, while now that he was doing an original story he had a harder time thinking up enough meaningful material, or simply wasn’t sure enough what material was going to be meaningful (I can easily picture the Arbiter having been intended for a more significant role at some stage, for instance – I was kind of surprised when he wound up completely irrelevant), and then never quite managed to decisively distill it down to what mattered.

Aside: I like “The Story of Chess”, the opening song going over the history of chess. But one of the things I liked about it was that it felt like intriguing symbolic foreshadowing for the overall shape of the story, talking about a queen whose sons fought over the throne until one killed the other, leading to the grief-stricken queen telling the remaining son she can’t forgive him for this, while he invents chess to try to demonstrate to her that it was all the dead brother’s fault. I’d heard vaguely that the story was a love triangle, and it seemed to check out that this could symbolize where the story would be going – woman loves both of these chess players, one of them destroys the other in a literal or figurative sense in the course of their competition for the title and perhaps her attentions, she’s devastated and ends up cutting ties with the one who won, who nonetheless can’t accept fault. Only then… that’s not at all what the overall shape of the story is? Sure, Freddie’s aggression about Anatoly drives Florence away from him while he staunchly insists he was in the right. But that’s just some stuff that happens in Act I, and meanwhile Anatoly wins the tournament, and Florence and Anatoly only really start to care about each other after this, and the whole main thrust is entirely unrelated? “The Story of Chess” feels like the ghost of some very early draft of the story, still there despite the plot having evolved into something completely different. It feels really strange to me - this whole narrative about the queen and her sons is kind of odd and pointless if it’s not foreshadowing!

(Another aside: I would kind of object to the notion this musical is ‘about a love triangle’. In this production it’s not explicit exactly what the nature of Freddie and Florence’s relationship was in the first place, but even if it was romantic (which I do think is a sensible reading of how it plays out, don’t get me wrong), Florence leaves him early and there isn’t the slightest hint she has a shred of romantic feelings left for him after that. Freddie may have lingering one-sided feelings for her, but at no point is there tension regarding who Florence loves or whether she might go back to Freddie, and even if you could call it a triangle with the one-sided Freddie-Florence, that side is basically a minor aside and not at alllll the main point of any of this.)

This brings us to my other main problem with Chess, which is that I don’t care about the romance, at all. The musical never properly makes me believe or get invested in Florence and Anatoly’s relationship, and then a whole lot of it is about that, and I just don’t care if they end up together or if Anatoly goes back to Svetlana or whatever. I care about Anatoly feeling suffocated by the endless political games and machinations going on around him, and about Florence’s trauma from the Budapest invasion that gives her trust issues and makes her lash out at Molokov for trying to reach out to her as a “fellow Eastern European”. I even care about her relationship with Freddie – in the sense that he is hair-raisingly toxic and manipulative towards her and I’m glad she gets the hell away when she does, but at least I care. But Florence and Anatoly, half of the musical is devoted to this relationship and I just don’t feel any kind of way about it. Let’s try to dissect how it’s portrayed a bit and muse a bit on romance writing in the process.

Early in the show, we see brief off-hand lines showing Florence and Anatoly are aware of each other and sort of view each other as the “good ones” on the other side - Florence thinks Anatoly seems like a nice guy, objects to Freddie abusing him, and assumes that the fidgeting that apparently annoyed Freddie was something he was ordered to do by his handlers, while Anatoly thinks someone as civilized and nice as Florence has no business running with someone like Freddie.

In “Mountain Duet”, which is the most convincing the romance ever gets to me, Florence and Anatoly are alone together for the meeting Freddie’s late for, and it’s awkward, and they share a bit of a moment of frustration with Freddie and wonderment at each other being basically pleasant company and why they aren’t getting out of their respective cages. There’s a little bit of vague flirting – “So I am not dangerous, then? What a shame” – and then they’re straight to I don’t know why I can’t think of anything I would rather do than be wasting my time on mountains with you, before being interrupted by Freddie’s arrival. Bit quick for the grand declarations that there’s nothing they’d rather do, but okay, that’s a start, I can see how this might develop from here…

…only the next thing that happens with them is simply that we’re told as part of a Global Television news report that she’s helping him defect to the UK. They stand beside each other as he’s questioned at the embassy, including about his wife and kids and how they’re not coming with him. At this point I was squinting a bit like hmm, so are they meant to be in a relationship now? Did that just happen offscreen?

Then Florence sings “Heaven Help My Heart”. It’s… a pretty generic love song about how the feelings she’s feeling have no reasonable explanation and she worries before long he’ll sort of know everything there is to know about her and maybe then he’ll get bored of her. It’s the sort of #relatable love song that you could copy and paste to have any number of different characters sing about each other. Maybe it wouldn’t work for every conceivable couple, sure – but nonetheless, none of this is in any way specific to Florence and Anatoly. So she’s there telling me about how much she loves him, but I can’t tell why she’s feeling all this about this particular guy at all. Even if her worries were just contextualized in a way where something about him makes her think that, that would make it easier to actually connect it to these characters and their relationship. Does Anatoly act like the only reason he likes her is the idea of her having secrets he doesn’t know? I have absolutely no idea, because we’re not shown anything like that.

Anatoly gets hounded by the press about the whole leaving his wife behind thing, and then sings about his lingering love for his home country as something that transcends politics and conflict, but still nothing on his end on why Florence. The first time we see Florence and Anatoly actually interact since getting together, it’s in the very functional “One More Opponent”, where they’re basically just talking about the plot, followed by “You and I”, where they reflect on Svetlana’s upcoming arrival and how This is an all-too-familiar scene / Life imperceptibly coming between / Those whose love is as strong as it could or should be. Okay, your love is very strong, cool, but I still don’t know what the two of you even like about each other! In “The Interview”, as Freddie digs into Anatoly about Florence and her motivations, he defends her with Chess is her passion! – is chess her passion? Does he like that about her? We’ve certainly never seen her play any chess, or him talk to her about chess. No idea.

Florence and Svetlana then get a distant duet, “I Know Him So Well”, where they’re both simultaneously accepting that probably Anatoly belongs with the other one and that on some level they knew this all along, Florence figuring he needs more security, Svetlana that he needs fantasy and freedom. I like that fine in principle, it’s a nice duet with a good melody and pretty harmonies, but once again I just don’t think the setup has made this hit well enough, not when I don’t have any visceral sense of Florence’s feelings for him or why she doesn’t want to lose him, just kind of a series of declarations that she loves him, super loves him, their love is so strong.

During “Endgame #2”, despite Florence’s own refusal of the deal, and as far as we could see not having encouraged Anatoly to accept it at any point, she sings about how everyone will fall to fame and possessions in the end while “1956 - Budapest Is Rising” plays in the background, implying that she wishes Anatoly would deliberately lose to help her reunite with her father, but worries instead he’ll just fall to fame, which I think is a bit of a stretch with regards to his possible motivations for not doing that but okay. “Endgame #3/Chess Game #3” features presumably imaginary versions of Florence and Svetlana berating Anatoly as he contemplates what to do during the final game (at least I assume he didn’t literally stand up from the chessboard in the middle of the game to loudly argue with his wife and lover about whether he should win the game or throw it). He hates the thought that right now everyone sees him as a man who they think has just lost his touch, or who can’t focus because of personal baggage, and he hates the thought of giving in to these demands and having to live with that and being perceived that way. His imaginary Florence is vicious:

Since you seem to have shut out The world at large Then maybe I should cut out Your tiny inessential World-- inconsequential In the kind of game you're playing How do you do it? I tried to be that cynical but blew it I only changed your life You left your home, your wife I'm not surprised I slipped your mind

We don’t know if this is something the real Florence said to him or something his mind is just imagining she might say to him, but either way Anatoly’s agitated conclusion to this mental debate in the moment is that Florence and Svetlana both hated his success, never understood him, just want to steal his work and success and freedom, and his only obligation is to himself. I think this is the most interesting moment of their relationship – supposing imaginary Florence here really is representative of what the real Florence had been saying or thinking, then they’re both having minor breakdowns under the pressure of Walter and Molokov’s manipulation, her feeling as if Anatoly not playing along means she doesn’t really matter to him at all, and Anatoly feeling like she’s just one of everyone around him continually playing politics with him and suffocating his own passions and freedom, when both are really brainworm outbursts in the heat of the moment (in reality, again, Anatoly is about to choose to return to the Soviet Union for the sake of Florence getting her father back anyway, and they sing a concluding reprise of “You and I” where they reassert their love for each other and desire to meet again in spite of everything).

But imagine how much stronger this moment might have been if we’d spent less of our time up to this point just sort of generically asserting how much they love each other and more on building better up to their respective issues as they come out here. Imagine if their songs prior had involved, say, Anatoly’s feelings about Florence being significantly tied to the idea that with her he’s free – after all, she’s the one who helps him defect from the Soviet Union – and then when he feels as if Florence just wants to suffocate and play politics with him too it breaks him. Imagine if Anatoly had repeatedly reassured her specifically that he would always be on her side, and she’d always been wary of believing that thanks to her trust issues but it gave her real hope to try to believe it, and then the feeling that he’s breaking that promise after all cracks her. Or even just some kind of real sense that they actually enjoy each other’s company beyond the tiny taste in “Mountain Duet”! A sense that they trust each other! It would have been cool to have a song where they play chess and just have a good time doing it, or a song where Anatoly confesses to her why he wants to defect. Any of the many other kinds of ways you could play this that’d establish meaningfully what their relationship actually means to these specific characters, in this story, in a way that would get us invested and lend punch to the drama, instead of generic empty declarations of love where we just have to take the lyrics’ word for it.

Character relationships become real and impactful when there’s something unique and specific about them that hits home. Individual moments of them having fun together, of them caring about each other, of them knowing each other and interacting in a way only those two characters would. If you just keep telling me that they love each other, with the exact same words you could apply to a million different couples, and don’t actually show it, I’m not really going to believe it, and ultimately I’m just not going to care one way or another if they have to break up, or feel any feelings at their parting.

In my rambling on Evita, I grumped about how an Icelandic production seemed to think the core of the story was a romance, which it isn’t. But Eva and Juan’s relationship isn’t not a romance, despite starting as a mutually beneficial political arrangement. He genuinely falls for her drive and passion over time (at one point he suggests they just retire from politics and live in comfort together and she adamantly persuades him otherwise) – and in “You Must Love Me”, the late song added in the movie, Eva notices in wonder after collapsing from cancer that Juan is still by her side, worrying about her, even though in her current state she can’t benefit him at all, and feels emotions she never names about that. “You Must Love Me” is simultaneously a realization – he must love her for real after all – and a wish – she needs that to be true right now, in a moment of unusual vulnerability. All of how their relationship plays out is weird and messed-up and kind of fascinating and does not involve a single “I love you”, but because it’s weird and unusual and specific to the odd, complicated relationship that these two people have, I find myself feeling a lot more feelings about this obsessive problematic determinator woman realizing her literal dictator husband genuinely loves her than I ever managed to feel about Florence and Anatoly.

I do like “Endgame #3/Chess Game #3” a lot; it’s legitimately interesting, good character-driven drama and the music is great and intense and makes for a gripping climax. I like the core of Anatoly and Florence’s characters individually, even though they end up spending a whole lot of their time on their romance that I feel absolutely nothing about. But… confession time, my favorite character in Chess is Freddie. Or, at least, my favorite character in Chess in Concert is Freddie.

Freddie is terrible. But I think he’s coherently, interestingly terrible, and winds up having an arc that I actually like a lot. For the whole of Act I, he acts mostly concerned about money and publicity, and is viciously mean-spirited and manipulative with Florence when he feels like she’s taking Anatoly’s side instead of his. In Act II, Walter has a tight grip on him, using him against Anatoly - but we can see he’s not happy about it. He does the whole cruel interview, and makes it personally nasty, but afterwards, as Walter compliments him on it, he just walks away without a word. While subtly threatening him into pushing Anatoly to lose the game and go back to Russia, Walter says, “You’d like that, wouldn’t you, huh?”, trying to play on his personal jealousy and spite, but Freddie doesn’t respond to that. He plays his part, says the lines, all while Anatoly insults him and asks who put him up to it; afterward he makes the desperate bid for Florence only to get roundly rejected and treated with disgust again. And then…

The moment of reflection that I mentioned Freddie has here is the song “Pity the Child #2”. It’s relatively straightforward tragic backstory exposition about his childhood: he was neglected by his constantly arguing parents and learned to just shut himself up in his room and to survive by not caring, practicing his chess, and simply not asking if they were arguing because of him, just in case they said yes. When he was twelve his father (who’d called him a fool and probably queer) moved out, and he hoped that’d bring him and his mom closer together, but instead she just kept on neglecting him and having a string of relationships with other equally abusive men. He sank himself deeper into chess to cope. Then:

Pity the child, but not forever Not if he stays that way He can get all he ever wanted If he's prepared to pay Pity instead the careless mother What she missed, what she lost When she let me go I wonder, does she know? I wouldn't call, a crazy thing to do Just in case she said, "Who?"

He’s fine! He’s successful and has lots of money now so he can get whatever he wants. No reason to pity him anymore, he is fine. You should really pity his mother for what she missed, losing out on him! He’s not sure if she even knows her son became world chess champion. But he’s not going to call and tell her, because she might answer the phone and not even know who he is, and he can’t face that possibility any more than he could face the possibility his parents’ fighting was his fault, so he just doesn’t. Ouch.

(I enjoy the inconsistent use of third person in this song, adding distance to some of it. I had my game to play, but pity the child with no such weapons, no defense, no escape from the ties that bind. You should pity this other hypothetical child with no coping strategies who’d have no escape from it, definitely not him, because he had chess to play so he was FINE.)

And sure, tragic childhood neglect backstory™, but this really does pretty specifically explain everything about why Freddie is Like That. He’s obsessed with money and infamy because as an adult he convinced himself that having money means he can get whatever he wants now so none of it matters anymore, and his mom’s the one who’s missing out on him, and he wants her to know how successful he is but can’t bring himself to actually contact her so all he can do is be prominently featured in the media and hope somewhere she’s watching. His burst of vicious misogyny triggered by the feeling Florence was betraying him in favor of some other man whose company she prefers is presumably rooted in his mom constantly neglecting him in favor of seeking out ill-fated relationships with random abusive men. And he would respond to his feelings of rejection and neglect by turning inward, to his coping mechanism and singular passion: chess.

Which is what he does now. He hated doing whatever Walter told him to sabotage a chess tournament. He hated being used like a puppet, and the sting of rejection and humiliation, but also, Viigand is just a mediocre chess player. And hence, in his own little final act of rebellion, he defies Walter and approaches Anatoly to tell him that you see, Viigand’s King’s Indian Defense – and when Anatoly says I don’t understand why you’re helping me, Freddie responds:

Because I love chess! Does nobody else? Jesus, sometimes I think I’m the only one! How can you let mediocrity win?

These lines right here, and the song “Talking Chess” in general, were one way or another my favorite bit in this whole musical. After the whole thing has been a tangle of political drama behind the chess tournaments controlled by the bigger players where Freddie and Anatoly were constantly at odds, Freddie wriggles out from under Walter’s thumb and manages to get over himself enough to just come to Anatoly and tell him no, actually, fuck it, win this thing, you can win, because you’re a better player than Viigand and you shouldn’t give any of these manipulative chucklefucks what they want. This competition is supposed to be about chess.

This is Freddie’s final scene here. The progression from “The Deal (No Deal)”, where Freddie is repeatedly scorned and rejected in the process of going along with Walter and Molokov’s schemes, to the raw lowest point of “Pity the Child #2” that makes his character make sense, to this little act of blazing defiance in reaching across the aisle (which also implicitly means he’s finally willing to swallow his pride about Anatoly and admit that he fully deserved to be world champion and Freddie always knew that) for the sake of the integrity of the game that he grew up with as his only passion and companion, is just really good and cathartic to me. I feel like it makes Anatoly’s decision to go for the win feel more satisfying, too – makes it implicitly represent more, a rebellious act of both players against the political operatives playing them. I just enjoy it a lot.

And… this song/scene apparently only exists in specifically the 1986 London West End production and its particular derivatives. All other versions, Freddie doesn’t do this and “Pity the Child #2” is just a bit of expository self-pity that doesn’t lead to anything and also may be placed way earlier in the show. The liner notes on the original concept album apparently explained that by the end Freddie has completely stopped caring about chess and only cares about politics and Florence rejecting him. I am appalled! This is the best bit and it’s what makes Freddie’s whole character worth it! Freddie caring about chess most important part of Chess the musical 2k23.

(At least presumably in every version Freddie still spends “One Night in Bangkok” explaining to a bunch of sex workers that he’s just here for the chess, thank you very much. You’re talking to a tourist / Whose every move’s among the purest / I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine […] I don’t see you guys rating / the kind of mate I’m contemplating / I’d let you watch, I would invite you / but the queens we use would not excite you. In the Chess in Concert choreography he definitely seems to be enjoying the physical attention during the instrumental break, and you can definitely validly interpret these lines with a certain sense of irony, but honestly is it just me or do the lyrics as written make him sound super ace. I am very here for Freddie just legitimately thinking chess is better than sex. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had issues with sex regardless based on his whole being neglected while his mother brought random guys into bed thing.)

So, I think this is a distinctly flawed show, I have some notes, but one way or another the bits I do like have stuck pretty firmly in my head, and somehow I have now spent a couple of days banging out 6000 words about it. All in all Tim Rice appears to be quite up and down for me but when he hits he really hits, bless him. Interesting characters and character dynamics really are my one true weakness.

Also the ABBA guys are good at this. I’m trying to convince myself not to make a musical motif chart for this too.

#musicals #chess musical #chess the musical #chess in concert #ramble #review

[marinareads25]

GIFT GUIDE FOR BOOKISH PEOPLE

Hey Homies! Thought I would drop all the cool bookish shops and stuff I found when looking for christmas gifts. Take a shot every time I say “cute.”

Bookish Jewelry

- Le Petite Sprout has super cute bookworm jewelry like this necklace or this one. (also has super cute harry themed jewelry if you’re also obsessed with that mf like me LMAO)

- Estori Collective has the cutest book themed jewelry. They have ACOTAR, Six Of Crows and The Cruel Prince pieces (+ many others) so check them out!

- Halo Fiction ALSO has cute book themed jewelry including Percy Jackson, ACOTAR, and Harry Potter!!

- HerBookishJewelry has cute necklaces like THIS Jacks themed one like omg the apple and THIS Eva themed one with the little fox im screaming. They also have SJM Universe, The Cruel Prince and Fourth Wing stuff!!

- Gadget4Entertainment has the sickest jewelry. If you like ASOIAF universe, check out their Westeros collection (they have all the crowns and Rhaenyra jewelry love love love). They also have a Bookish collection, I am particularly obsessed with this Andarna ring. AND they also have the coolest marvel jewelry?!? (comics are books!)

- Avery Faye also has some vintage bookish jewelry for Anna Karenina, Grishaverse, Little Women, etc.

Maps

- Fantasy Scrolls has literally so many fantasy book maps in scroll form, I am fangirling so hard. The Ice Court Map??! Absolutely Sickening. The Magnificient North Map!? Beautiful. The Caraval Map?! Insane.

Prints

- rosiethorns88 has the cutest fanart prints!! ( I have the EvaJacks print and I cry every time I see it)

- Mellendraws also has adorable prints for so many books (shatter me, evajacks, the cruel prince and more +)

- Artsiidaisy HAS SO MANY CUTE PRINTS TOO😭 like are you joking?!? Signa and Death?✅. Iris and Roman? ✅. Evajacks? ✅. TellaLegend? ✅. ScarlettJulian? ✅. Cardan and Jude? ✅.

Pretty Books

(some of these are lowkey expensive AF but I guess if you’re looking for a fancy gift they would be a good option)

- The Folio Society has the prettiest hardcover versions of every classic you could think of! (they also have non-classics). This 1984 Illustrated Copy is crazy!??? AND this The Handmaid’s Tale Copy is terrifying.

- The Juniper Books has the coolest book sets. Like look at Game Of Thrones Set it’s so beautiful?!?

- You can also find so many pretty hardcover versions of your favorite books on Amazon, Ebay (fuck resellers tho), and others! Just make sure you add “collector’s edition” or “limited edition” after the title. Like look at this Six Of Crows Set!! Or this Dance Of Thieves version with gold edges AHHH! OR this The Cruel Prince Collector’s Edition!!! Caraval Collector’s edition!!!! This Game Of Thrones edition!!!

- Lilac Librarys has some cuteeeee ass alternate dust jackets to LEVEL UP your books!! Also has other cute merch. ( I have the OUABH dust jackets and they are fucking gorgeous in person)

- Reading Portal has beautiful page overlays for your books!!!! They also have art prints!!

Merch

- WellReadBabes has sick apparel, wall art and stickers!! This No Mourners No Funerals Crewneckkkkk so cute omg!!

- The Library Closet also has… guess what… CUTE stuff LMAO.

Pins

- Iridiscent Fairytale has SJM, Fourth Wing and OUABH Pins!!!

- Craft My Fandom has more bookish pins!!!!

Bookmarks

- These personalized embroidered bookmarks are such a cute gift!!

- This dragon bookmark is such a slay!! or this one!!!

__________________________________________

ANYWAYS, hope you all get some…. CUTE😉 stuff for your bookish besties or for yourself!!!💗

#gift guide #gift ideas #bookish #bookish gifts #book merch #bookworm #books #book gift #unique gifts

[madaboutmunson]

Fanfic Masterlist Stranger Things Reverse Big Bang 2023/2024 Fic Hell Hound

Steddie BigBang 2023 Fic Are You Experienced?AO3 Link

AO3 Profile Link

I Think I Could Have Been Someone - New Fic 8/? parts Sweet Home Chicago AU for Eddie Month

Steddie Fics

Requests

Requests are closed for now (I'm currently working on 3 WIP stories) see here for info

Dad!Eddie Munson - Where there is no babysitter and Eddie has to juggle a toddler and get to his daughter's recital

EddieMunsonxReader - A case of mistaken Wayne-entity. Where reader moves to the trailer park, falls for Eddie but thinks Wayne is just another townie judging Eddie harshly

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Series/Multichapter

Creep (12 parts)

Pairing: Reader x Eddie Munson

Summary: You meet Eddie Munson under the trying circumstances of high school, an event you can't fully recall, and the fallout of being the only one who can piece things back together.

Warnings: Violence, death, fluff, amnesia, implied sexual intimacy, bullying, angst

Author Notes: First ever fanfic I've written (feedback welcome)

Thanks to everyone who read, liked reblogged and let me know how the story made them feel.

I am beyond thrilled that even 1 other person read and enjoyed this. What a wonderful community, thank you 💚💚

Born to Run (WIP 2/? Parts)

Sequel to Creep

Part 1 - Perfect Strangers

Part 2 - Angel Witch

Part 3 - Keep Yourself Alive

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Fire (17 Parts)

A story about falling in love against the odds, in the weird world of Hawkins.

This is mostly a fun, fluff type story, even your parents like Eddie, but there are some instances of threat and gore towards the end.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Eddie Munson Tape Dates (with Sunbeam and Moonbeam universe from Fire)

In the fanfic Fire (above) Eddie has a box of tapes and each one is a date he's planned out for you. I decided to write a few up. In the end all of them. The first of which is directly from Fire

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Let Me Call You Sweetheart (2 parts)

Let Me Call You Sweetheart Part 1 (11 Chapters)

Synopsis: You and the rest of Unholy Angel, set your sights on winning the upcoming Battle of the Bands, but first Mr Harrington (your Boss) has pulled some strings so that you get to be some of the first to ride a promotional simulator for Dustin Henderson's Epic Game series The Curse of Hawkins. Your home life isn't great, your friends are your everything, but seeing a beautiful guitar in a second hand store, pulls on the thread causing your unravelling.

Warnings for the entire story: Darkfic, out of character Eddie Munson, alternative universe, present day, Death, abuse (emotional, mental and physical, harassment, violence, torture, imprisonment, coersion, unrequited love, drugs, alcohol, illness, blood, gore, food disorder, mental illness, vampirism, hypnotism, weirdness, the upside down, bats, monsters

Let Me Call You Sweetheart Part 2 - Everlong (8 Chapters)

Summary: Second part of Let Me Call You Sweetheart Series

After the infamous carnage that happened at battle of the bands you are forced to rehabilitate, but it's not just your mind set that is changing, so are your feelings towards one Vampiric Eddie Munson

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Reflex

Little Romance/fun/angst series set in 1984 Hawkins

Characters: Original Character, Robin Buckley, Eddie Munson

Warnings: Fluff, swearing, mild bullying, frog dissection (not detailed or gory) , dancing, music, romance, kissing, angst

Notes: This Fic has two different endings...readers choice 💚

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Don't Stand So Close To Me

Pairings: OC x Eddie Munson

Warnings: Please see per chapter

Summary: Lyra has only been a student at Hawkins High for 6 months due to being expelled from her private school, due to an affair with the headteacher's son.

Lyra had hoped to escape her past, but unfortunately that was not to be.

Lyra who had developed a thing for instructors finds herself feeling more than a the usual amount of flustered when the same guy has to help them several times in one week.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Drive-In

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Eddie Munson (Steddie)

Summary: Steve Harrington is on another potentially failed date, when a case of mistaken identity might lead to something more?

Warnings: Recreational drug use and drinking.

Author Notes: The parts are around 2K and under, but I usually post a few at a time.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ouija Geebies

Summary: How Eddie discovers Heavy Metal. A 13-year-old Eddie Munson at the beginning of his stay with his Uncle Wayne. Struggling to fit in with the new locals, he takes solace in one of the things he smuggled from home, his parent's Ouija board.

Warnings: references but not the detail of abuse, swearing, ouija board, spirits, bullying references, being the new kid, separation from a loved one.

Word Count: 10.5K

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Link to Mini fics/One-shots list

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Other stuff

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

100 Reasons Why Eddie Munson is Spouse Material (not a story just a fun gif series all under #eddiemunsonspousematerial)

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

#stranger things #eddie munson #eddie stranger things #eddiemunson #eddie the freak munson #eddie x reader #stranger things fanfiction #fanfiction #mystery #fanfic #romance #eddiemunsonxreader #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson x reader #madaboutmunson #eddie munson blurb #eddie munson x steve harrington #eddie munson x you #eddie munson drabble #eddie my beloved #eddie munson / reader #eddiemunsonfanfiction #eddiemunsonspousematerial #theeddiemunsontapedates #fire_au #eddie munson fanfic #steveharrington #steve harrington #steddie

[elvenking42]

100 New Things I Checked Out in 2023

It's the end of the year and I wanna make a list of media I checked out. Movies, shows, books, songs, etc. I like getting to talk about all this stuff! If you wanna know what something made the list, just ask! I'd love to talk more about it!

Tyrellosolo New Years art

Wingspan (2019) 

INU-OH (2021)

Two Earthlings - John Brosio 

Zip Gun Bop - Royal Crown Revue

Super Mario Brothers: Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach (1986)

Forest (2017) 

Fantastic Planet (1973)

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967) 

Bei Mir Bist du schon - Ella Fitzgerald

Connordraws I Sing to my Cat

Contact (1978)

Donks (2023)

Dynasty AMV

Eddie burback- The Deceptive World of Ghost Kitchens

Ice Merchants (2022)

 Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2021) 

Womanizer - Britney spears

The Super Mario Bros Movie (2023) 

MilleBourne (1954) 

The Birds (1963)

RRR (2022)

 Pigdemonart - Bowuigi Comics

Everydaylouie 's 3d blender work

Guide to Heraldry - Ottfried Neubecker (1980)

Buss Down Wig - Baddie Brooks

Genius Party Anthology (2007)

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (2023)

Pretty fly (for a white guy) - The Offspring

Millennium Actress (2001)

God's Alternative Medicine - Knowing Better

On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes - Alexandra Horowitz (2013)

Blackberry (2023)

The Flintstones (DC Comic) (2016)

Maintenance Phase Podcast

The Bus - Paul Kirchner (1987)

Nimona (2023)

Black book of hours

Nintendo World Universal

Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind (1984)

Daydream - Timeshare 94

Jerma House Flipper invitational

Pokemon Sleep (2023)

Atlantic Oscillations (disco dub) - Quantic

Barbie (2023)

Don't You Want My Love - Moodymann

Good Omens S2 (2023)

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (2007) 

Even Flow - Pearl Jam

Host Club 'Ai Honten' - Tokyo, Japan (1971-2020)

TMNT Mutant Mayhem (2023)

No Diggity - Black Street

Expansions 12" Mix - Scott Grooves

Planet of the Bass - DJ Crazy Times

I Love Hue (year)

Canisalbus: body heat

Horny '98 Radio Edit) - Mousse T

We Love Katamari + Royal Reverie (2023) 

Music theory and White Supremacy - Adam Neely

Rope (1948) 

 Sanctus-ingenium: who are you loyal to, who are you lying to? 

Rhythm Nation - Janet Jackson

Joseph Melhuish - "Some Dogs"

Jacob Geller- How Can We Bear To Throw Anything Away?

Novov - Interactive Art Museum

Thefaiao - Ganondorf practicing piano commission

Russian picture book illustrations by E.Bulatov and O.Vasilev

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time (1998) 

Bacardi Raising Spirits ad

Curse of Strahd (2016)

Black Magic Woman - Santana

OFMD S2 (2023)

Dynasty AMV

The Owl and the Pussycat - Scott Gustafson

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Soylent Green (1973)

Christian Riese Lassen's digital gallery

Oye Como Va - Santana

Guardian deity, Thunder God, Wind god - Mori Yoshitoshi

Phantom of the Paradise (1974) 

 Scavengers Reign (2023)

 WRTV Sonic Forum Simulator

A Little Night Music

Monkey Gone to Heaven - Pixies

Mike's Mic - Scooby Doo 2002

Wasteland Weekend - People Make Games

Lethal Company (2023)

Closer to Fine - Indigo Girls

Don't Speak - No Doubt

George Sherwood Hunter "Jubilee Procession in a Cornish Village"

Plagiarism and You(Tube) - Hbomberguy

Rainbow War (1985) 

Ezlo-x’s Lost Family LoZ Fancomic 

Ocarina of Time manga (2012)

Suolaxier's fursuits

Doctor who: Wild Blue Yonder (2023)

How Do You Smoke a Weed? - Owlin (year)

Mario Wonder (2023)

A Tiger in the Land of Dreams - Tiger Tateishi (1984)

#personal

[doriandrifting]

The Nina Project—“Americantendo is America’s answer to Nintendo.”

AKA Mike’s response to Will’s confession about wanting to play Nintendo for the rest of their lives...They've told us “the secret location”.

I realized that Hopper and Joyce’s plot contains a lot of metaphors and foreshadowing for Byler. Joyce receives a coded message from Hopper disguised as a message "from Enzo". "Who sent this? A friend?" Murrary asks. (It parallels Will giving Mike a coded painting from someone else and Mike saying that they're "friends.") Every time Dmitri hears from Joyce, he says that he "has word from America."

Mike, as the recipient of a coded painting, is "America".

Erica tells us something about Mike and Will this season.

Before Erica answers the door for Jason, she’s painting a model dragon scene, and its foreshadowing Will's painting. Of course, it's interrupted and in hindsight, we can see that the scene is a joke about that.

She's been covering for two days.

And looky there, we're missing two days of time after Mike's love confession that was built off of Will calling him “the heart" in reference to the painting he lied about. We know virtually nothing about the drive back to Hawkins, besides the fact that El has not talked to Will and only talked to Mike a little.

It costs 10 bucks per day. Mike and Will are two 10s according to their shoes at Rink o Mania.

“Another week” has two interpretations—either because Mike/Will spent the week of Spring Break hiding the truth (Mike about loving El and his sexuality and Will about the painting and his feelings), the jig is up for someone at the beginning of S5, or we're gonna spend one more week with them still hiding the truth, and the response to “Nintendo Forever” will come at the end of that.

Erica also gives us our Nintendo reference. She wants it with Duck Hunt.

"Duck Hunt is a shooter game in which the objective is to shoot moving targets on the screen in mid-flight. It was released as an arcade game in the Nintendo VS. series in April 1984 and was later included in the PlayChoice-10 arcade console. The console supports two light guns, allowing two players at once."

Okay, so whatever happens to them, it's going to happen at the same time..I’m pretty sure this is a reference to them “finding the light” to fight Vecna (and maybe his cult 🤨).

Now, let's jump ahead a little to the story of "Nina, or Madly in Love" an alternative version of the one referenced by Dr. Brenner at the Nina Project, because the music they play is actually from the opera version.

"As the opera opens, Nina, the Count’s daughter, has gone mad due to a broken heart. We learn that she was to marry Lindoro, with her father’s approval, but on their wedding day a richer and more powerful suitor turned up, and the her father broke his word. Lindoro challenged his rival to a duel, and was killed.

Nina goes to the crossroads at the same hour every day to wait for her lover. The villagers come to comfort her, and sing her favourite song. Nina sings in anticipation of meeting Lindoro, but when he fails to appear, Nina leaves flowers at the waiting place and returns to the village.

The Count's valet appears with good news: it turns out Lindoro is still alive. Giorgio tells the Count that Lindor is at the castle gates hoping to see his darling. The Count greets Lindoro with tears of joy. Lindoro tells him that he was seriously wounded and nursed back to health by a friend. He has stayed away until now, believing Nina married his rival. He is aghast to hear that his beloved has lost her mind.

The lovers are reunited, and Nina is restored to sanity."

This parallels a lot of Mike's experience in S1. Believing Will to be dead, but him being found at the crossroads of the gates (the library). Mike finding a "more powerful suitor" while Will was gone. Mike regretting that day on the hill with all the flowers. El finding Will at Castle Byers. "Lost her mind" = Love making Mike crazy. Argyle also asks Mike what makes him think Nina is a small woman, which is a joke because Mike's favorite song is "Smalltown Boy" on his spotify playlist. This could be another point to the theory about him getting Vecna'd since it might require the group on the hill with the flowers to sing his favorite song. Argyle also says, “It would take a big tree to hide a small woman….”

Since the Nina Project is about recovering a memory, Mike is going to unrepress his memories of the day he thought Will died--likely including that unreleased bike scene of Mike crying. Mike and Will are going to be lovers reuniting at Castle Byers together, either in a shared memory if they're being Vecna'd, or later in the Upside Down after fighting him. There, Mike is going to give us "America’s answer to Nintendo.”

And what do you know--an American flag.

All “friends” welcome.

#byler #stranger things #mike wheeler #i know what you are #will byers #fan theory

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

Pitch for a reimagining of Danganronpa (think “Silent Hill - Shattered Memories”):

REIMAGINED PLOT

In an alternate present, the world is ruled by the fascist regime known as Monokuma. Similar to the world of “1984”, all aspects of life are controlled and under 24/7 observation, namely the entertainment industry. And one of the most popular television programs aired by the state-run networks is “Danganronpa”.

“Danganronpa” is a Terrace House/Big Brother/The Mole type TV show that stars people who have been accused of rebelling against the regime. The premise of the show is simple; 16 people are forced to live with each other and the only way out is to get away with killing one of their housemates. The longer they stay on the show, the more they have to deal with the Monokuma regime’s humiliating treatment, such as exposing their darkest secrets on television and threatening to kill their loved ones. The TV show exists to discourage rebellion, as well as desensitize the public to extreme acts of violence.

(In general, the show is a commentary on trashy TV since it’s not just the killing that drives the “ratings”. You have the sexualization of the main cast, the personal drama, the intense game show aspect, and so on)

Our main protagonist is Kyoko Kirigiri, a Tokyo detective who was trying to solve the murder of her father. Just before she could crack the case, she’s kidnapped and forced to be a contestant in the newest season of “Danganronpa”, which is set in Japan (like “Survivor”, each season of “Danganronpa” takes place in a different country).

OTHER PLOT DETAILS

1) Kyoko is the main protagonist so that the investigation aspect of the game could feel more natural and less convoluted. Instead of Kyoko asking Makoto to say what she had already figured out, it’s Kyoko just announcing her discoveries (you know, like a normal person would).

2) As a major change from the original game, Makoto Naegi is the hidden main antagonist. He’s introduced as an innocent victim who has no idea why he was chosen, only for it to be revealed that he’s an actor working for the Monokuma regime. The real reason why he’s in the game is to “spice” the game up and move the “plot” along.

3) The new survivors: Kyoko, Sakura, Mukuro, Mondo, Leon, Hifumi

4) It is mentioned throughout the game that there is a resistance group known as the Future Foundation that is hell bent on taking the Monokuma regime down. They make their first appearance at the end when they invade the “Danganronpa” set in order to rescue the survivors.

5) Unlike the original, the cast is aged up (around theirs 20s and 30s) to reflect how the contestants are chosen by their rebellion against the state. It wouldn’t make sense if the ONLY people rebelling against the state are high schoolers.

6) The ultimate talents are changed so that they reflect the contestant’s “role/background” in the show to help the audience remember who they are. For example, Mondo is no longer the Ultimate Biker Gang Leader, he is now just “The Biker”. Kyoko is “The Detective”, Leon is “The Baseball Player”, and so on.

7) Kyoko’s father, Jin, was a leading member of the Future Foundation, hence why she was forced into “Danganronpa” by the Monokuma regime.

8) Another major character change is that Junko and Mukuro are now just regular contestants, especially since Makoto is the new main villain.

9) The victims/killers (separated by chapters):

* Yasuhiro Hagakure killed Byakuya Togami after learning that the Monokuma regime kidnapped his little brother

* Aoi Asahina killed Toko Fukawa when Toko discovered Asahina’s secret. Her secret was that she got rid of her swimming competition by getting them arrested by the Monokuma regime through falsely accusing them of sedition.

* Chihiro Fujisaki and Sayaka Maizono form a plan to escape the TV show together, with the hope to split the fortune that the Monokuma regime offered as the 3rd week’s motivation. However, Junko Enoshima discovered their plans and tried to inform the group. This led to a fight which ended with Sayaka’s accidental death. Knowing that a class trial was inevitable, Junko then proceeded to kill Chihiro to cover her tracks.

* Mondo Owada forms a plan to kill Celestia Ludenberg after it’s revealed that she was the Monokuma regime’s mole. Sensing that Mondo wouldn’t be able to win a class trial, Kiyotaka killed Celestia to spare him. Although Kiyotaka does defend himself during the class trial, he also admits that he would’ve surrendered if the group couldn’t figure out he was the killer.

* Makoto Naegi is mysteriously found dead. Somehow, Kyoko Kirigiri is declared guilty of his murder, although it’s later revealed that Makoto faked his death in order to get off the show since the season was coming to an end.

* Chapter 6 doesn’t have a victim or a killer. Instead, it’s centered on Kyoko and the others putting their plan of escaping the show into action. Makoto does make his return, but he ends up getting killed when the Future Foundation arrives and rescues the survivors.

#danganronpa #makoto naegi #kyoko kirigiri #toko fukawa #byakuya togami #yasuhiro hagakure #aoi asahina #junko enoshima #mukuro ikusaba #sakura ogami #celestia ludenberg #kiyotaka ishimaru #hifumi yamada #mondo owada #chihiro fujisaki #leon kuwata #sayaka maizono #monokuma #danganronpa trigger happy havoc #trigger happy havoc #danganronpa thh #jin kirigiri #reimagined

[dndhistory]

219. Linda Lowery - Endless Quest #11: Spell of the Winter Wizard (1983)

The first of the D&D Endless Quest books not written by Rose Estes (don't worry, she'll be back, for #13, and later on in this project for 6 full Greyhawk novels!), this one was brought to us by Linda Lowery, who would write another Endless Quest book and a couple of the HeartQuest books coming up. 

It's interesting to see, for a hobby which was really male oriented at the time, how much of the fiction about the game was actually written by women writers. From the first D&D novel, Quag Keep by André Norton (pen name of Alice Norton) to the Endless Quest books by Rose Estes and now Linda Lowery, only in 1984, 10 years after the release of the game will we get a volume of D&D fiction authored by a man. Even then, women remain an important part of the shaping of the lore, lest we forget Laura Hickman's contributions to making adventures more lore heavy or Margaret Weis' part in the development of Dragonlance and the writing of the extremely successful novels.

Back to the subject at hand, in this Endless Quest we are the stepchild (our gender is never specified, interestingly, first nonbinary protagonist in the series) of the Wizard of Eternal Spring who gets cursed by the Winter Wizard and we have to go off and find a cure. As usual there are several possible paths, and even if this adventure is a bit wordier and has less of a flowing narrative than those written by Estes, it's still an entertaining couple of hours worth of reading as you explore alternate paths to a successful conclusion. 

#adnd #dnd #ttrpg #ad&d #d&d #dnd art #dungeons & dragons #dungeons and dragons #endless quest #gamebook #linda lowery

[thydungeongal]

So okay, chances are really slim that anyone who's actually read my Rolemaster-posting has suddenly gone "dang Rolemaster sounds like it owns I wanna try it" but on the off chance someone is like "wow I do think RPGs should have more weirdly specific rules and fun tables for me to roll on," here's some recommendations from yours truly:

Sadly, at the moment every version of Rolemaster is out of print. The license holder, ICE, is working on a new edition, called Rolemaster Unified, which has been in public beta testing for what feels like an eternity now. You can get the beta test files for free by registering on ICE's forums.

DriveThruRPG has pdfs for both currently existing versions of Rolemaster as well as HARP, which is basically simplified and streamlined Rolemaster. The two currently existing versions of Rolemaster are Rolemaster Classic (based on 2e originally released in 1984 but cleaned up and reformatted) and Rolemaster Fantasy Role Playing (based on Rolemaster Standard System from the 90s).

Of the two above systems, Rolemaster Classic is by far simpler but requires more of an investment in terms of books (Character Law, Spell Law, Arms Law at the very least). Rolemaster Fantasy Role Playing is in my experience clearer with the intent and application of the rules but at the cost of being more complicated and mathy, but all you really need to start with the game is the core book which has everything you need to play the game, and you can supplement the game with all the various "Laws" as needed. (Do note that while the two systems are somewhat similar and the "Laws" are similarly named, Rolemaster Classic Arms Law is not the same as Rolemaster Fantasy Role Playing Arms Law)

Having said all of that, HARP has been highly praised and even though some of its simplifications of the Rolemaster formula are unwelcome to me personally (I want more weirdly specific tables, not one big table!) I have heard that it still retains the core Rolemaster feel while simplifying it.

But the sad thing about all of the above games is that they're effectively dead, except for Rolemaster Unified (and given its long development I'm not 100% confident it's ever going to see the light of day). If the idea of a gritty RPG with big tables appeals to you there are a few off-brand alternatives:

Against the Darkmaster. This one requires a bit of explanation: in the eighties and nineties ICE held the license to produce RPGs in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth and the resulting game, Middle-earth Role Playing (or MERP) was basically a simplified version of Rolemaster. Against the Darkmaster (usually shortened VsD) is a MERP clone with the specific brand identity stripped out and the rules presented in such a way that they're not a 100% simulacrum or MERP's rules, but maintaining the feel of MERP's rules. I would argue that VsD also improves heavily on MERP in terms of theme, because MERP was basically a dungeon-crawling RPG set in Tolkien's world and didn't exactly feel like it would support adventures in the style of his books, whereas VsD definitely leans more heavily on genre emulation. VsD also has a free quickstart version if you want to check it out before putting any money down.

If you want to experience something that is kind of like Rolemaster but don't mind the lack of d100 and don't want to spend any money up front, and which is also incidentally probably my favorite Rolemaster-inspired game currently available, there's nothing I can recommend more than Gurbintroll Games' Lightmaster (divided into two volumes: Core Rules and Book of Tables, both available as PDF and PoD but with the PDFs available for theoretically free). Lightmaster is an interesting Rolemaster/d20 hybrid: it is based on Rolemaster 2e but heavily simplified (character creations is streamlined, there isn't a whole subsystem for martial arts, magic item creation and healing rules have been streamlined and unlike in Rolemaster 2e they're actually consistent across the board), and besides the switch from 1d100 to 1d20 there have been some changes to the various Classes/Professions. The game also comes with an implied setting which is a weird science fantasy/planetary romance setting, but one could easily run it in a generic fantasy setting if one were so inclined. My only complaint with Lightmaster is that I miss the Astrologer, the original Channeling/Mentalism hybrid class from Rolemaster 2e, which didn't make the cut. 😞

There's also Blood, Guts & Glory from the same company which is their earlier attempt at a d20-based Rolemaster clone. BG&G is a more accurate clone of Rolemaster 2e, seeking to emulate 2e's more arcane rules. It's more accurate to Rolemaster 2e but in the worst ways (I don't actually enjoy RM 2e's extremely detailed character creation, I want character creation to be quick and streamlined like in Lightmaster so I can get to rolling on those fun tables already). I recommend Lightmaster above it, but BG&G is mostly compatible with Lightmaster so it might be good to have around as a supplement to Lightmaster?

#long post

[encom1]

About muse [updated]—

Both young and old Lora are available for threads and questions. Both are open to interact with AUs, alternate timelines, doubles etc.

I’m using 1.0 and 2.0 as markers to distinguish the two, this has nothing to do with the video game timeline.

*Both versions of lora have no knowledge of the ENCOM system or of the grid, this is subject to change as plot lines progress and asks get submitted. Don’t take it out on her If she does not immediately believe you or recognize a character.

1.0-

The current year for her is 1984 (asks wise)

Lora is 28 years old and is still working on the laser team with Walter Gibbs who she sees as a father figure. She is well respected in her field and with those she meets.

She is in a committed four year relationship with Alan Bradley [[ just mentioned unless a partner is found/au etc]]

Appearance:

She is of an average height and build with yellowish blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She has large glasses and likes to dress in business casual attire, emphasis on the casual as she prefers jeans over of dress pants.

2.0-

The current year is 2011 (ask wise)

Lora is 55 years old and has been back at ENCOM for eight years now and is largely responsible for saving the companies face after “Flynn lives”. She’s been bounced around since then between marketing and development.

She has been married to Alan Bradley for 24 years.

While having had no children, they’ve had the occasional pet over the years. [[Jet would be an au and potentially angsty plot- son she never had and mother he has lost. But be warned I don’t know much about 2.0]]

Appearance:

Lora’s hair remains a stark blonde as she ages (with the occasional dye) and she wears contacts. She dresses much more formally than she had when she was younger. She wears an older style power suit with 2010s statement jewelry or when off hours you could find her in a blouse and jeans. She dresses in much darker colors than she had when she was younger.

#// #rp blog #tron rp #ask blog #rp threads #blog update #lora baines #lora 1.0 #Lora 2.0 #my muse #muse bio

[oldschoolfrp]

Old time religion -- Druaga, ruler of the devil world, lesser god of the AD&D Babylonian mythos, is a shape changer whose terrifying true form has 8 arms with talons and 4 legs ending in snaky masses, a ruby red scaly hide and the face of a beautiful boy.  “His mace does 35 points of damage every time it hits and turns all beings it hits into devils (random type) under his command if they do not make their magic saving throw.”  He occasionally sends devils to aid worshippers who make a virgin sacrifice, making him a good lesser-known alternative archvillain for a campaign.  (Diesel / David S LaForce illustration, AD&D Deities & Demigods, TSR, 1980)

Druaga seems to have been invented for AD&D with no clear historical Babylonian source, and the name likely comes from “Drauga” (“Falsehood”), equated with Ahriman in Zoroastrianism.  An altered version of AD&D’s Druaga appears in the 1984 Namco video game and 2008-09 anime The Tower of Druaga, and all later pop culture references to a Babylonian Druaga apparently derive from these origins.

#D&D #Dungeons & Dragons #Diesel #David S LaForce #Deities & Demigods #Druaga #AD&D #The Tower of Druaga #devil #god #deity #Babylonian Mythos

[dear-indies]

hi!! hopefully this isn’t too difficult or strange of a request, but i’m trying to find alternative faceclaims for val kilmer (specifically his look in the movie “heat”) that also have a lot of cowboy/western resources! long hair (doesn’t matter what color) is a must, but otherwise everything else is fair game :) thank you so much! -🐂 (bull anon)

Benjamin Bratt (1963) Peruvian [Quechua] / German, English, Sudeten German - hasn't got long hair but his vibes in DMZ.

Zahn McClarnon (1966) Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux and Irish - Timeless, Queen of the South.

Marcus LaVoi (1968) Ojibwe.

Timothy Olyphant (1968) one eighth Ashkenazi Jewish - didn't have long hair in Justified but the vibe is too good not to mention.

Josh Holloway (1969) - Yellowstone.

Andrew Lincoln (1973) - The Walking Dead.

Rodrigo Santoro (1975) Brazilian [Portuguese, including Azorean, possibly other] / Italian - Westworld.

Cole Hauser (1975) Ashkenazi Jewish / German, Irish, Walloon Belgian, French, Scottish - didn't have long hair in Yellowstone but the vibe is too good not to mention.

Tim Rozon (1976) - Wynonna Earp.

Wagner Moura (1976) Brazilian [Portuguese, distant African, possibly other] - O Caminho das Nuvens.

Gabriel Luna (1982) Mexican, including Lipan Apache - Last of Us.

Khary Payton (1982) African-American - The Walking Dead.

Garrett Hedlund (1984)

Richard Cabral (1984) Mexican - Mayans M.C.

Alex Meraz (1984) Mexican [Purepecha] - The Walking Dead.

Cooper Andrews (1985) Samoan / Ashkenazi Jewish - The Walking Dead.

Martin Sensmeier (1985) Tlingit, Eyak, Koyukon, German, Irish - kinda has long hair in Alaska Daily.

Amar Chadha-Patel (1986) Gujarati Indian.

Kiowa Gordon (1990) Hualapai, English, Scottish, Danish, Manx - Reservation Dogs.

Lucas Till (1990) - had longer hair in MacGyver at some point.

Brock O'Hurn (1991) - Close To Home.

Danny Ramirez (1992) Colombian / Mexican - The Walking Dead, Black Mirror.

Justin Johnson Cortez (?) Yaqui.

Here you go!

#fc help #rph #rpc