#I love when any undead related media is more original with what they make and specially when they elaborate the whole story so so well

[skeleticals]

just wanted to say how cool this is cuz I genuinely didn't expect to get as engaged as I am. I really love how well elaborated the whole virus thing is as a big fan of anything undead related

#opq #chatter #I love when any undead related media is more original with what they make and specially when they elaborate the whole story so so well #like im so so engaged w opq. the whole thing of the creatures being somewhat related to electronics and the whole “low temps keep them from- #getting infected“ and I specially love how theyre able to get merged together and become this huge nightmareish creature.

[hatchetfieldtheories]

Return to Hatchetfield-Town – The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals Part 1

Alright settle down kiddos. Get comfy, find a warm blanket and hug your favourite fwendy-wend as we start our Return to Hatchetfield-Town series.

I’ll be rewatching all the Hatchetfield scripted content (i.e. not livestreams or interviews) and jotting down what happens, explaining some concepts and delving into some of the key theories in the series (and using the word “implications” that often it will cease to have meaning).

Even though I’ll be doing the rewatch by show in order they came out, there will be spoilers for all Hatchetfield content that is available as of the rewatch.  

I’ve also linked to a number of other blog’s theories here because they are amazing, but if you aren’t happy with your theory being included I will be more than happy to remove it!  Just let me know.

[Part 2]

The Guy Who Really Hated Brigadoon

TGWDLM starts off with the greatest song ever to feature dancing zombies… at least I can’t think of any other notable ones.

In the title song, the cast of singing and dancing zombies explain to us that all great stories have to have a hero, someone who knows right and wrong and that the best way to do this is through singing and dancing in musicals.  This with the later line of “they evoke the philosophical” make me think that Pokey took a class in Campbell’s Hero Myth in College and became that guy.

Hatchetfield Challenge: try not to shrug your shoulders along with the music at the chorus. Its impossible. No wonder the Hive spread so quickly.  Literally killer dance moves.

So then they introduce us to an awful Grinch named Paul and we hit the first point in the show where I laugh out loud every single time I watch.

I know TGWDLM was not originally intended to be the first Hatchetfield show but starting this series with a song which sets up the story so well is truly spectacular.   And is there anything more Starkid than introducing your main character by having other characters sing about how awful they are?

One thing I have noticed while writing, reading and collating Hatchetfield theories is that while most Black Friday and Nightmare Time theories are usually about the overall Hatchetfield lore, most TGWDLM theories are usually quite self-contained and focused on this one show.  TGWDLM – while so fully within the Hatchetfield extended universe, is definitely the show that can best stand-alone without the others.

It’s the end of the world, Paul

If you don’t sing

This is the bridge, Paul

Where we globalize everything

And the words will come to you

We swear we will teach you

What it means to love

What it means to obey, Paul!

On a first watch this is very funny.  On your 10th watch this is terrifying.

CCRP Technical: No-one here knows how to use their printer

Following the absolute bop of a title song we find ourselves in CCRP Technical and all feels very… normal. It’s very weird following all the revelations in subsequent Hatchetfield media, to be watching a show where there was genuinely nothing obviously fishy about CCRP.  We’ll obviously discuss CCRP more when we get to Nightmare Time, but for now all we know is that Paul works in the technical department of CCRP – an unknown corporation, with some key characters, Charlotte, Bill and Ted.

We also find out more about Grinch Paul’s personality and honestly, Paul is me pre-pandemic just outright avoiding social interactions and suddenly going for coffee in the middle of the work day. (I have become a changed woman in lockdown – someone please invite me somewhere… anywhere!)

For all the dark humour and death in the Hatchetfield series, Starkid do know how to bring the joy – I love how excited the town of Hatchetfield are for a touring production of Mamma Mia.  

Fake Fact: TGWDLM is actually an allegory for Europe in the 1970s, when we all became mind-controlled by Abba’s Waterloo.  (Find me a better explanation for Eurovision, I dare you!  The sequins were just too shiny!)

“The idea of sitting there… trapped in a musical.  That is my own personal hell.”

Two words: Emma Perkins – need I explain any more?  

Ah Hot Chocolate Boy.  I really look forward to finding out more about him.  Where does he come from?  He just appears out of the ether. What’s his story?  How old is he? How many hot chocolates does he have per day? I know we have since had some confirmation on who he is, but they raise more questions than answers. For now I will just point you to a gorgeous Mood Board by @hatchetfieldmoodboards which features a bit of a spoiler. 

For real though – is it just me who would love a full version of “I’ve been brewing up your coffee”?

Hatchetfield Challenge: Try not to sing “Shut the f*ck up” along with Emma.

“Watching people sing and dance makes me very uncomfortable”- oh boy Paul… you’re not going to enjoy the next hour and 40 minutes.  Also, Paul, you’re making me uncomfortable watching you throw your brand new coffee around as if you’ve just been given an empty cup.  There’s imaginary coffee everywhere.  Hopefully, HCB won’t slip on it before it’s cleaned up… he’s already having a bad day.

“Thunder and Lightning… very very frightening.  But a big rock hurtling through the clouds is no biggie.” – all the residents of Hatchetfield apparently.

The next sequence happens so fast and we get introduced to a lot of characters.  Notably Greenpeace Girl, Alice and Deb, Sam, and Hidgens (though we don’t find out his name until much later). This scene impresses me because they do such a great job of very quickly bringing out so many characters who nonetheless are memorable when they return later in the show.

Peanuts the Hatchetfield Pocket Squirrel is an Eldritch Being. I won’t go into Peanuts theories here as that could be a whole post in itself – and many a person more brilliant than I have written some fantastic theories on this. You can learn all about how a Squirrel took over the fandom in the following posts:

@dahlialupine : x

@frombothofmyhearts​: x

@abiimaryy​: x

And finally mine which is definitely a serious theory: x

It’s… A… Musical!

Now to remember we are actually watching a musical.  La Dee Da Da Day is such a happy joyful song performed spectacularly by a throng of the undead.

The song is about the Hive singing about how much of a great time they are having now they are tap-dancing zombies, and trying to find ways to convince Paul he should join them too. So the grins on all their faces are not at all terrifying.

 It’s worth noting also that according to the laws of the TGWDLM world, only those infected by the Hive can hear the music in the background.  This becomes important later when it becomes clear some characters have started being infected before they are fully turned into zombies, but for now it just paints quite a funny picture of what Paul must be witnessing. I definitely think for him, this whole scene just sounds like this clip of Greased Lightning without the music: x

The important thing here however, besides Mariah’s singing, is that the Hive leave Paul alone.  They don’t actually attempt to turn him at this point.  I have a theory on the implications of this, but note this has big spoilers for the end of the show and Black Friday.  It was written before we knew that the Hive (Pokey) was related to Wiggly but the content still stands: x

Charlotte, Honey, you don’t need that much sugar – you’re sweet enough

For reference:

@melchron​  noted that the lyrics for La Dee Dah sound very similar to the incantation for soul transferal read out in Jane’s a Car, which leads me to two possible implications.

The Freaky Furbies have a language other than English that they use for their incantations so this is why they sound similar.

There is soul transference happening to the souls of the bodies the Hive take over.

Or it’s just Starkid using similar sounding words for their content…. Three! There are three possible implications…

Paul – just print off another copy of the report

From this point on the musical numbers really do come thick and fast.  We move on to the first instance of Jeff Blim encouraging Paul to talk about his feelings, which I am sure is not important and isn’t worth discussing.  Paul goes through a musical rendition of a promotion interview, which is actually the Hive attempting to find out if he will be the “hero” of their story.  They picked out Paul for the role from the start. That he was chosen was inevitable.

What do you see for this company? I'm looking for someone with strong ambition Someone to sell their specific vision Someone to share with precise precision their thoughts 'Cause I want you to want…To want

So it turns out these will be looooong, so I will end here and see you in part 2!  I’m not sure yet what the upload frequency will be.  It takes quite a while to go through the show like this but it is a lot of fun!

Hatchetfield High Homework:

Where do you stand on the Peanuts the Hatchetfield Pocket Squirrel debate?

Why do you think that the Soul Transference Spell and La Dee Dah sound so similar?

Go follow all the lovely people mentioned in this post!

Bonus points if you know the reference in the post title.

[Part 2]

#the guy who didn't like musicals #tgwdlm #return to hatchetfield town #starkid #team starkid

[jokerfan99]

My Top 10 Favorite Anime Heroines by DarkChild316

Being a hero isn’t easy, but someone’s gotta do it! And these ladies have shown to be just as capable as their male counterparts. Now I’ve already done a list showing everyone “My Top 10 Anime Villainesses”, but I figured: “Hey the good girls deserve some love too,” so I decided to give you guys my list of my Favorite Anime Heroines as well. So, with that in mind, here’s my list:

#10. Saeko Busujima (Highschool of the Dead): This is an anime that will give you plenty of two things in abundance…boobs and zombies! While it may seem like your run-of-the-mill apocalyptic fanservice anime, among the well-proportioned ladies is this kendo warrior who’s more than capable of holding her own against any foe and would fit right in with even the most old-school samurai-themed anime. When the dead start to walking most of the cast usually reach for a form of firearms, not this lady who prefers to slice apart the undead with the greatest of discipline and precision, whether it be with her signature bokken or her deadly Murata-tou sword. There’s no denying that Saeko’s the ideal companion we’d want on our side for a zombie apocalypse.

#9. Touka Kirishima (Tokyo Ghoul): Living as a ghoul isn’t easy, especially when you’re trying your damnest to retain what little remains of your humanity. Starting off as a cold, yet collected individual, Touka found shelter in both the horrors of her dark past and her constant hunger for flesh in her day job at a café as a waitress which serves other ghouls and as a hangout stop for ghouls. While she grew warmer as her relationship with one Ken Kaneki grew, she’s not without her bestial side, possessing an abject hatred for the CCG after they killed her parents. In a series where everyone seems to be on the edge of insanity and turning into a rampaging, bloodthirsty monster, Touka is one of the few characters genuinely fighting for a chance at a peaceful life.

#8. Riza Hawkeye (Fullmetal Alchemist): Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye is undoubtedly one of the best female anime characters of all time and for good reason, she is truly the perfect soldier. As both an Amestrian State Military’s officer as well as Colonel Roy Mustang’s bodyguard, Riza Hawkeye is a dangerous sharpshooter and firearms specialist. From the outside she can seem strict and even a little cold, but those close to her know that there’s much more to her than her strict no-nonsense attitude, including a courteous nature in the presence of her allies and a desire to protect those she holds dear. Beneath the strict persona is a kind soul who understands the difficulty of carrying a heavy burden and let’s not forget…she’s a true badass in every sense o the word!

#7. Erza Scarlett (Fairy Tail): She went from child slave to arguably one of the strongest mages in all of Fiore. All while battling against S-Class mages, terrifying demons, and even her own psychotic mother, now that’s dedication folks! Forced by her possessed childhood friend to build the Tower of Heaven, she manages to escape her captivity and make her way to Fairy Tail, where she would soon rise to become one of Fairy Tail’s youngest S-Class mages and one of the most truly badass fighters in Fairy Tail’s ranks. With her magical ability known as Re-Quip, she has an unlimited number of weapons and armors at her disposal, each possessing their own devastating abilities. She’s a stoic warrior with a soft heat and a dark past, and you can bet your ass that she’ll fight to defend her Nakama to the bitter end.

#6. Ryuko Matoi (Kill la Kill): Her choice of armor may be a bit on the revealing side but going against this rebel isn’t the smartest idea if you value your life. You’re not likely to find a more stubborn soul in this absolutely whacky series and trust me…NONE of these characters are on the subtle side of things. In search of her father’s killer, Ryuko takes up the sentient life-fiber uniform Senketsu, and openly battles the dictatorship that is the Student Council. Stubborn as hell, Ryuko will always stand up to anyone who gets in her way, no matter how badly the odds are stacked against her. How can you not love someone with that kind of drive!

#5. Saber (Fate/stay night): Before she became a hero in the endless Holy Grail Wars, Saber was actually Artoria Pendragon, known throughout history as King Arthur, the mythical King who united Britain. As the Saber-class servant, Artoria generally tries to hide her identity in battle by using an invisible sword. When pushed, she can brandish Excalibur instead though, a sword she wields with unmatched skill and can do long-range attacks as easily as close-range. With her holy sword, and her “Mana Burst” ability, she is one of the most powerful Servants. Saber is loved by fans worldwide for good reason: she is kind, valiant, and fierce, all traits that make for one divine heroine. None would mind putting the fate of the world in this blonde beauty's hands.

#4. Mikasa Ackerman (Attack on Titan): Attack on Titan's Mikasa is one of those reserved, stoic characters who doesn't speak very often and seems to be stuck in her own head. After all the trauma she’s experienced living under the looming terror of Titans and the carnage she witnessed while part of the Survey Corps, not to mention the brutal murder of her biological parents by criminals, it would be difficult to come out unscathed. Perhaps it’s endurance that is one of Mikasa’s most relatable traits. Despite her often-cynical comments about the world around her, she manages to retain her humanity. Mikasa herself said, “This world is cruel. And yet... so beautiful.” The stereotypical boy-saves-girl gender roles that play out in media are also very much reversed when it comes to her relationship with Eren, which is a refreshing and welcome change of pace to see, though her protectiveness of him seems a little unhealthy at times. On top of everything mentioned, she’s also totally ripped.

#3. Asuka Langley Soryu (Neon Genesis Evangelion): I just couldn’t leave out Neon Genesis Evangelion’s Asuka Langey Soryu from this list of awesome female protagonists. Asuka is a classic anime heroine and remains beloved by fans of the show to this day. Asuka is an American teenage girl who serves as an Eva pilot for the Evangelion Project and pilots the Evangelion Unit-02. Asuka was raised in Germany and often swears in German. She was a child prodigy with a college degree at only fourteen years old, but definitely has her human flaws. She has a temper and is obsessed with being the best at everything she does. Despite these flaws, Asuka is hilarious in her own way and has the kind of confidence and pride you rarely see in a young girl. She knows she can do her job well and isn't afraid to tell you about it. Asuka is relatable in that she is stubborn and often has a hard time properly expressing her feelings and vulnerability to others. Her eventual nervous breakdown shines a light on her humanity-- she is not a perfect person and she is still a child forced to do a job that no child should be forced to do.

#2. Motoko Kusanagi (Ghost in the Shell): Major Motoko Kusanagi is one of the primary protagonists of the popular Ghost in the Shell franchise of manga, films, and animated series. Motoko is a cyborg who works as a field commander for Public Security Section 9 on the Japanese National Public Safety Commission. Motoko is a very physically strong and incredibly intellectual who that is quick-witted and an excellent hacker. But put a firearm in her hand, and she’s especially deadly. As a child, Motoko was comatose following an airplane accident. After her health began to steadily decline, her consciousness was put into a  "full-body prosthesis,” an augmented-cybernetic human body. Motoko causes us to question exactly what makes us human. She is an emotional, stoic, strong woman who fights for the citizens she protects, yet she lives inside an artificial body. But her greatest use is as a platform to speak on the nature of humanity in a technological age. She's a human mind that has been stuck in an artificial body since childhood, and her life and trials bring up the age-old question, "What does it mean to be human?"

#1. Usagi Tsukino (Sailor Moon): You really can’t have a list of awesome female protagonists without including everyone’s favorite schoolgirl superhero: Usagi Tsukino from Sailor Moon. Usagi is the embodiment of an empowering female in anime in her fearless display of conventional femininity without any implied weakness. Usagi is your typical teenage girl who is all about her friends, food, and cute things, while simultaneously being a badass heroine who cleanses the streets of evil. In the original manga and anime, Usagi was portrayed as reluctant to be a superhero and would often run away from fights and be a crybaby. However, through her careful character development, Usagi becomes a brave, reliable, and confident person who cares deeply for her friends. She becomes a better version of herself without stereotypically “shedding” her girliness. Instead, her femininity becomes a defining feature of hers, deconstructing the idea that being girly makes you weak. On the contrary, Usagi’s girliness makes her funny, relatable, and a good role model for young girls. Usagi set the template for a generation of female heroines for generations to come, and it’s for that reason why she’s well-deserving of my #1 ranking on my list.

So that's my updated list, what did you guys think about it? Love it, hated it? Go on and tell me what you think and let me know who your favorite anime heroines are. See you soon!

Deviantart: https://www.deviantart.com/darkchild316

#saeko busujima #highschool of the dead #touka kirishima #tokyo ghoul #riza hawkeye #Fullmetal Alchemist #erza scarlet #fairy tail #ryuko matoi #kill la kill #saber fate #fate stay night #mikasa ackerman #attack on titan #asuka langley soryu #neon genesis evangelion #motoko kusanagi #Ghost In The Shell #usagi tsukino #sailor moon

[kolbisneat]

MONTHLY MEDIA: July 2020

……….FILM……….

Palm Springs (2020) I feel like there was a big marketing push for this movie at the start of the month and it totally worked. All the good buzz and fun artwork I saw relating to this was perfect and it was a fun time at the movies...at home.

Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) It’s been yeeeeears since I last watched this and it turns out I remembered next to nothing. The worldbuilding was fantastic and while I still can’t piece together how the aging/curse on Sophie, it just feels that much more magical. Absolutely going to pick up the book to see if I can get a more in-depth narrative.

……….TELEVISION……….

What We Do In The Shadows (Episode 2.01 to 2.04) Hot dang this is continues to be a great series! I really hope Nadja’s doll sticks around for the whole season (or the rest of time) and it’s all just so fun!

Mad Men (Episode 4.07 to 4.11) Knowing there are 7 seasons really makes me feel like we’re in the middle of act 2. Things are getting real low for Don and I’m still baffled at the idea that anyone sees him as a role model/inspiration. It’s feeling bleak and I hope season 5 starts to point upwards again (not for Don but for everyone else).

Dear White People (Episode 1.01 to 2.10) So good! I don’t want to give too much away but what’s started out as a drama/comedy seems to be evolving into something else and I ready for it! I hope season 3 and 4 expand on what I hope it’s building.

……….READING……….

Forever and a Day by Anthony Hororwitz (Complete) A really fun Bond prequel and I think this is going to start me off on reading the original Fleming novels! Filled with all the best tropes from the movies (and maybe the books? Time will tell) and it was such a light and fun read. It was the perfect birthday gift as I needed a beach read.

Dracula by Bram Stoker (Complete) The pacing of this book is a good example of why I tend to prefer modern takes instead of the classics themselves. I appreciate what this book contributed to our collective consciousness, but the back drastically reduces the amount of vampire content in favour of Mina’s deteriorating health, the hunting party discussing their plans, and recounting an extensive travelogue. 

The Haunted Mansion: Imagineering a Classic by Jason Surrell (Complete) I’ve always loved this ride so I was hoping to learn more about what’s happening with each illusion and effect. While I got sooooome of that, they clearly held back a bunch of secrets and I suppose I understand why. With that said, the history of the original ride’s development was super interesting! Same goes for how the attraction has evolved over the years and when moving to other parks.

Delicious In Dungeon Vol. 8 by Ryoko Kui (Complete) Everything about this series, from the world to the characters, strikes a perfect balance (for me) between familiar and new. The monsters are typically based off of well-established mythology, but there’s usually enough of a twist that it feels more unique to this world. It’s excellent. And the same goes for the characters; at first glance they may look like simple tropes but the series consistently breaks them down or adds depth to inform why a character acts a certain way. Please go read this series.

Fun With Milk and Cheese by Evan Dorkin (Complete) This has the sort of confidence and frantic energy that it could only come out of the late nineties. Some of the stories work better than others, but I think that’s just my own taste.

Dragonball 3-in-1 Volume 1 by Akira Toriyama (Complete) Decided to return and reread this series and I always forget how jarring some of the early stuff is (mostly around gender and Bulma)...I know it’s likely cultural or a product of being over 30 years old, so I won’t fault it too much.

The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack by Nicholas Gurwitch (Complete) It’d been years since I’d read through most (if not all) of the PBF comics and I appreciate the variety of style even more now. Despite each comic being illustrated in a way that suits the narrative/joke/premise, it all still feels cohesive. It’s something I need to remind myself as I question if any of my own work is unified by anything. Also the insight into the abandoned and forgotten comics at the back of the book were so interesting to read! I love seeing how other creatives think.

The Mushroom Fan Club by Elise Gravel (Complete) Very cute all-ages introduction to mushrooms! Illustrations are so fun and personable and it really encourages outdoor adventuring and wandering around in the woods (safely), so that gets an A+ from me.

Death Wins a Goldfish by Brian Rea (Complete) A wonderfully charming book about Death on vacation. The art is breezy and the light text was surprisingly funny. It was a good reminder to kinda just take a break and recharge, you know?

……….AUDIO……….

Cuz I Love You by Lizzo (2019) After hearing Juice on a friend’s birthday playlist, I couldn’t NOT check this album out. It took me about three listens to really get into and it’s all great.

Bastionland Podcast - Tabletop Roleplaying Game Design (Podcast) If you’re interested in what goes on behind the curtain of game design (specifically tabletop role-playing games, but I think the principles and takeaways are fairly universal) then check this out.

……….GAMING……….

Neverland: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) The party has recovered a Mermaid’s prize coat and have a few other goals on the go, but most pressing is the weapon (an umbrella) of a Lich that they need to destroy in the lava flow of Neverland’s mountains (very Lord of the Rings). Also I’ve been doing more detailed write-ups on Reddit, if you’re into that sort of thing.

D&D Homebrew Adventure (Menace of Merlin) The group spent a session saying farewell to their undead minion (a yeti named Norm); role-playing games are fun.

And that’s it! As always, please feel free to send any recommendations my way and happy Friday!

#Monthly Media #Kolbisneat #Andrew Kolb

[werehamburglar]

TAZ: Graduation Episode 25 Thoughts

I’m here with my list of criticisms for Episode 25. (There aren’t as many as you would think, lol.) Once again, it’ll be under the cut. 

This episode was a lot better than the last one. I’ll admit it. I had more fun listening to it than I did with ep. 24. 

You know, I really don’t want Rainier to be related to Lup and Barry (or Taako and Kravitz). To me, that feels like some meaningless fanservice, rather than the kind that makes the world more vibrant. I won’t object if it happens (because, you know, its not my narrative), but it’s still not what I, as a fan, would like to see. It also feels like that would be a bit of a cop-out. 

I was glad that there wasn’t an awkward “So you want to date my daughter” conversation. I would have died and then stopped listening forever. 

I’m getting really annoyed with Travis’s NPCs. Gordy, in particular, drove that stake closer to my heart. (Side note: I’m not sure how to spell the new NPCs’ names yet, but I’m sure I will soon.) As great as it is to have nice characters that subvert expectations, it gets muddy when 

I’m going to post a comment I left on the Reddit thread that was along this same vein: 

“It's okay to have characters who aren't so wholesome and characters who don't get along just like it's okay to have characters who do the opposite. When all your characters have personalities that feel the way Pixie Sticks taste, it gets old quickly. Storywise, it can make your character development bland and it takes away any sense of interpersonal conflict. My point is, it's okay to have characters who aren't nice and who don't like each other. It's okay to have a genuine antagonist. Unearned feels and wholesomeness make everything feel like the way sugared cardboard tastes.” 

It feels really insensitive and kind of mean-spirited when you begin the episode by saying, “Argo is doing his best” and then have him say approximately three lines during the entire thing. 

This is a general thing, but I feel like the PCs’ backgrounds aren’t being fleshed out in the way they were originally going to be? Don’t get me wrong, I liked the confrontation/tribunal with the Commodore and the scene where the Firbolg returned to his clan for his father’s death made me feel actual emotion, but there is something to be said about the way that these things are introduced. It might just be me, but it feels like wet cardboard. It doesn’t taste good at all. 

(Obligatory “Not A Criticism”) For anyone who was confused, your dimples are not in your bones. 

Also in general: the interpersonal conflict is always so low-stakes. I love found family as much as the next gal, but sometimes said found family-- and it is especially prevalent in Graduation-- is not found so much as lumped together without any real bonding. 

To further my point, I’ll pull on some examples from other media. 

Even the Golden Trio (as in, Harry Potter) had moments of interpersonal conflict. Ron and Hermione argued way before they thought about getting together; it was the same with everyone in the group. Hell, Hermione stupefied Neville and they still ended up having the sort of dynamic that implied their closeness. 

In TAZ: Amnesty, there was a sense of secrecy and conflict because of everything surrounding Aubrey and Ned and they still had that complicated found family dynamic. When everything around Duck is added to that, it becomes French onion soup, baby! That has flavor! 

Most of what I have to criticize comes down to that same point: where’s the flavor????? 

This is almost nothing, but why didn’t Rainier just talk at the beginning of the episode? She can yell through the door. She has hands. She has control over the undead, for crying out loud! She doesn’t have to slam her goddamn body and/or chair into it. 

I hate (I know hate is a strong word, I know) that Travis has such a stranglehold on the storytelling. I hate it. The sense of railroading is immense. 

There were also a lot of things that I did like! (I just can’t list them off as easily.) There’s the aforementioned Firbolg scene (I almost cried), plus the entire exchange between Gherkin, Tibia, and Fitz. 

In fact, a lot of the things Fitz did this episode, I really liked. Apparently he has a shit-ton of allergies, including cranberries, chocolate, and fish. Who knew? I thought it was funny. 

I also liked how he sidestepped the chain puzzle by using magic to get over the chasm. 

Gherkin is probably my new favorite (N)PC ever. A skeleton wearing a pubic wig? Classic. 

Like I said before, I really appreciated the fact that the conversation between Fitz and Gordy didn’t turn into a what are your intentions sort of thing. I can’t stress that enough. 

I’m glad that something had consequences! It’s infuriating that Fitz had no control over the situation, but Grey is following through on a threat in a way that gives him some actual fucking personality. 

#taz grad #the adventure zone graduation #spoilers #they're under the cut #don't worry about it

[theonyxpath]

Tomorrow, Tuesday the 5th, at 2pm EST, we start the Kickstarter campaign for Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition! This is significant, at least to me, because Mummy: The Curse was the first Chronicles of Darkness (still New World of Darkness, then) new line we Kickstarted. We had a blast doing that back in the wild and woolly days that seem pretty long ago, and it is so amazing to be able to now present to everyone the 2nd Edition.

In fact, Mummy: The Curse was already being worked on before Onyx Path was formed, during the time that Eddy and I were creating more TTRPG projects for CCP after the success of Vampire 20th. So we’ve got a long association with the line and the concepts presented within it.

Certainly, a lot has changed with Onyx Path, the way we do Kickstarters, and with how the 2nd Editions have tightened up all of the CofD game lines. Both the systems and the setting have benefited from the years of play and thought that came after their initial releases.

M20 Book of the Fallen art by Sam Denmark

So, is this your Mummy? A fair question if your a fan of 1st Edition, and also if you weren’t sold on Mummy: The Curse the first time around. Here are a whole collection of answers to that very question by Impish Ian Watson and Matthew “The Gentleman Gamer” Dawkins, the game’s developer:

– There was a pre-Egyptian culture that spanned a large part of the world (just how big isn’t mentioned, but I think of it like Alexander the Great’s territory, or perhaps the Roman Empire). It was the first such empire in human history. It had no name, and thus is called the Nameless Empire. The center of the Empire, its Rome, was the City of Irem. – Irem was run by a collection of sorcerer-priests who wanted to turn themselves into gods of the underworld, and so they chose a number of servants to convert into Arisen in order to serve them. The gods need Sekhem, their particular flavour of spiritual juice, and they need you to provide it — mostly by retrieving Iremite artifacts and bringing them back to the underworld. – Mummies could have come from anywhere in the Empire, and their cults may have moved them from place-to-place for security or to follow an Iremite artifact. The Arisen quickly adapt to new cultures and languages when they wake up, so it’s possible to be “from” practically anywhere, even if the origin of their undead state is Irem. – Mummies are sort of anti-vampires: where vampires spend most of their time awake with shorter periods of torpor, mummies spend most of their time dead with brief periods of wakefulness. Where vampires start off weak and get stronger over time, mummies wake up at the peak of their power and slowly dwindle as their period of activity comes to an end. – If you’ve seen the Brendan Frasier Mummy movies, it’s something like that: you wake up, practically a corpse, running on instinct, but immensely powerful. As time goes on, your memory returns, life returns to your body until you appear human, and your power dwindles. – You typically wake up for one of three reasons: your cult wakes you up for a specific purpose (say, to choose a new leader from a list of candidates), because you sense the Sekhem in a nearby artifact, or because a Sothic Turn has passed since your creation. A Sothic Turn is a 1,461-year period of the star Sothis (Sirius). In the former two cases, you typically “die” again as soon as your task is finished. In the latter case, you may be up and active for years at a time. – Interestingly, you experience your periods of activity non-linearly. You might wake up in 2012, and then later wake up in 910 BCE, lamenting the lack of effective modern transport or communications.

– If you enjoyed the immortals from World of Darkness: Immortals, you’ll be happy to find yourself reunited with Blood Bathers, Body Thieves, Eternals, and more, in Mummy 2e, as they act both as antagonists and as potential allies and cultists. – There are essentially three tiers to your character’s creation, allowing for a lot of character variety: your guild, your decree, and your Judge (being like an alien deific entity). – In this edition, we provide tools for your journey and trials through Duat, the Land of the Dead, so the game doesn’t end when you sleep. You can even bring others with you on your journey. – Sekhem Sorcerers are presented in this book, expanding on how they appeared in Dark Eras Companion. Again, they might act as antagonists or followers, depending on the group of sorcerers. – Mummies are not bound to a set appearance or body, and are able to plant their “pillars” in cultists, only to take over their body as their own one receives harm. Therefore, your mummy can theoretically demonstrate any ethnic, cultural, and biological background. – I’d describe Mummy as the Chronicles of Darkness game best-suited to Dark Eras play, due to its non-linear setup. Even if you don’t want to use the characters or splats presented in a given era from Dark Eras, Dark Eras Companion, or Dark Eras 2, each book presents a host of settings and events with which your mummies can interact.

There you have it, from some fellas that know the material!

Trinity Continuum: Aeon Ready Made Characters art by Aaron Riley

A couple more notes about the Mummy: The Curse 2e Kickstarter itself: First, like most of our KSs, this is just a reminder that if you want to see for yourself how 2nd Edition has come together, backers will be getting sneak previews of the completed text all throughout the KS campaign. So you’ll be able to judge if it’s working for you before we hit the end – unlike during the 1st Edition Mummy KS.

Second, another reminder that the Mummy 2nd KS is going to be run on our Onyx Path Kickstarter account, not the RichT account that 1st Edition was run on. So keep an eye out for that, and see you at the Kickstarter!

Now, onto a different topic for a second. Last weekend, a whole bunch of Onyx Path creators descended onto Game Hole Con in Madison, Wisconsin. Unfortunately, their fearless leader, Mighty Matt McElroy was laid low by a bug right before the con – yet Monica Valentinelli, Bill Bodden, Crystal Mazur, Travis Legge, and a bunch of other folks, helped out and pitched in to cover booth time and demo-games.

A huge thank you to all you folks for coming to the aid of Matt and Onyx Path!

They Came From Beneath the Sea! art by Brian LeBlanc

They had six games of Realms of Pugmire games, as well as six Scarred Lands games, scheduled at the con, and also a bunch of pick-up games were also played. In fact, some of the adventures that were played there were actually play-tests of projects that are soon to show up on both game lines’ respective community content sites.

To be fair, non-stealth play-tests were also played. Specifically for Legendlore, our next upcoming 5e fantasy game, and all reports sound like the players had a fantastic time. Sounds like everybody really loved the main idea of playing yourself transported to the world of the Realm, and that’s just what we want to hear!

The Legendlore players also had tons of questions about the world and the rules, which we really appreciated hearing. Not only is that a great sign when folks want to hear more, but just scanning through the questions it seemed to me that most were actually already answered in the full text of the book (which the play-testers didn’t have). Which is a gratifying nod for developer Steffie de Vaan and her team, and how they set up the info in the book.

You never know if you’re not only playing a great game session, but also helping one of our creators, when you sit down to play one of our games at a con. You never know when you’ll be one of the folks giving early feedback so we can create our:

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

Kickstarter!

The Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition Kickstarter arises tomorrow, Tuesday, Nov 5th, at 2pm Eastern US time. Be there to witness the majesty and terror of this new version of Mummy: The Curse!

Onyx Path Media!

This Friday’s Onyx Pathcast features the return of Meghan Fitzgerald in a no-holds-barred, drag-out, steel-cage match interview with one of our busiest writer/developers!

It’s a Mummy: The Curse themed week!

To start, we have an interview with Matthew Dawkins by the Story Told Podcast, where you’re likely to discover lots of revelations relating to Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition: http://thestorytold.libsyn.com/website/mummy-2nd-edition-with-matthew-dawkins

Excitingly, we also have the first episode of Red Moon Roleplaying‘s actual play of Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition right here! Please check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJiyP2UzLSc

As ever, we have a ton of excellent content on our Twitch channel, including games of Changeling, Aberrant, Scarred Lands, Vampire, Pugmire, and more! Please give us a look and a follow over on www.twitch.tv/theonyxpath

It really helps us to have subscribers on our Twitch channel, and you can do so for free and catch premieres as they go up if you have an Amazon Prime account. Just type Twitch Amazon Prime into Google and you’ll be shown how to subscribe for free.

Do you follow us on YouTube? Well, if you haven’t subscribed to us on Twitch, do not despair, as a couple of weeks after each episode on Twitch we transfer the videos over to YouTube right here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzN5jRB35OvnC-6gxnRY4gQ We already have episodes of Aberrant and Changeling up, with more to come!

Meanwhile, our fans keep creating excellent content, not limited to:

We’re not going to forget the ever-popular Occultists Anonymous Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition series, which continues right here:

Episode 56: Bad To The Bone Songbird has called Celestial Fire to burn the body of Supay, just as Atratus felt like she was making in-roads with the Judge! Wyrd the Seer has slowed down Supay, but is it enough? https://youtu.be/inPtPBPaNCA

Episode 57: Now & Again Atratus takes a dive into dark uncharted waters, metaphorically and metaphysically speaking. Songbird contemplates terrible things, while Wyrd stands guard… https://youtu.be/RBurUUf1kj4

Drop Matthew a message via the contact button on matthewdawkins.com if you have actual plays, reviews, or game overviews you want us to profile on the blog!

Please check any of these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games!

Electronic Gaming!

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)

On Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these latest fiction books:

Our Sales Partners!

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scarred Lands (Pathfinder) books are also on sale at Studio2, and they have the 5e version, supplements, and dice as well!: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/scarred-lands

Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And NOW Scion Origin and Scion Hero are available to order!

As always, you can find most of Onyx Path’s titles at DriveThruRPG.com!

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, the W20 Art of Werewolf: The Apocalypse PDF and physical book PoD versions will go live on DTRPG!

In addition, for the first time, we will be activating a PoD version of a Community Content book! In this case, it is Pugmire‘s Canis Minor project: Morty Corgi’s Scroll of Mysteries!

Conventions!

PAX Unplugged: December 6th – 8th, in Philadelphia, PA. 2020: Midwinter: January 9th – 12th, in Milwaukee, WI.

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)

N!ternational Wrestling Entertainment (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Creating in the Realms of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

Contagion Chronicle Ready-Made Characters (Chronicles of Darkness)

Trinity Continuum: Adventure! core (Trinity Continuum: Adventure!)

Redlines

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Contagion Chronicle Jumpstart (Chronicles of Darkness)

Second Draft

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Wraith20 Fiction Anthology (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)

Player’s Guide to the Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Development

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

TC: Aberrant Reference Screen (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Titanomachy (Scion 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)

Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Manuscript Approval

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

Post-Approval Development

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Scion LARP Rules (Scion)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Editing

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Hunter: The Vigil 2e core (Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition)

Let the Streets Run Red (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Geist 2e Fiction Anthology (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Mythical Denizens (Creatures of the World Bestiary) (Scion 2nd Edition)

Vigil Watch (Scarred Lands)

Pirates of Pugmire KS-Added Adventure (Realms of Pugmire)

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad (Scarred Lands)

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Post-Editing Development

Chicago Folio/Dossier (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

TC: Aeon Ready-Made Characters (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

Oak, Ash, and Thorn: Changeling: The Lost 2nd Companion (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)

W20 Shattered Dreams Gift Cards (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

TC: Aeon Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Indexing

ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!

In Art Direction

Contagion Chronicle – Sent out contracts.

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant

Hunter: The Vigil 2e

Ex3 Lunars – Contracted.

TCfBtS!: Heroic Land Dwellers

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

Cults of the Blood God (KS)

Chicago Folio – Finals rolling in.

Mummy 2 (KS) – Ready to roll.

City of the Towered Tombs – Contracted.

Let the Streets Run Red – Figuring out probable page count.

CtL Oak Ash and Thorn – Awaiting artnotes.

Scion Mythical Denizens – Contracted.

Deviant

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad

Vigil Watch

In Layout

They Came from Beneath the Sea! – Knocking through chapters.

Trinity Continuum Aeon: Distant Worlds

VtR Spilled Blood

Pirates of Pugmire

Proofing

Memento Mori

Dark Eras 2 – Adding my comments to first dev pass.

Trinity Continuum Aeon Jumpstart

Trinity RMCs

Geist 2e Screen – At WW for final approval.

At Press

Trinity: In Media Res – PoD proofs coming.

V5: Chicago – Printing.

Aeon Aexpansion – PoD proofs ordered.

W20 Art Book – On sale Wednesday on DTRPG.com.

W20 Auspice Gift Cards deck – PoD proofs ordered.

Geist 2e (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition) – Getting print files ready.

DR:E – Getting print files ready.

DRE Screen – Getting print files prepped.

C20 Cup of Dreams – Proof PoD ordered.

DR:E Threat Guide – Helnau’s Guide to Wasteland Beasties – errata gathering.

M20 Book of the Fallen – Backer PDF going out this week.

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

Yesterday was the birthday of Jeremy Brett, born Peter Jeremy William Huggins, and he would have been 86 years old this year. And while I am no expert on the character, like my friend Eddy Webb is, Brett was, in my opinion, the greatest portrayer of Sherlock Holmes ever. From his bio: “Brett was obsessed with bringing more passion to the role of Holmes. He introduced Holmes’ rather eccentric hand gestures and short violent laughter. He would hurl himself on the ground just to look for a footprint, he would leap over the furniture or jump onto the parapet of a bridge with no regard for his personal safety.” I can’t to this day read the stories without hearing his voice as the voice of Holmes.

#Onyx Path Publishing

[natsunoomoi]

Changed

And yup, I went ahead and implemented the changes. The new icon is basically more like me. I didn’t draw it though. It’s from a new kisekae website called Picrew.me, but it’s a quick and dirty representation close to what I look like now although the skin options were less than to be desired with options and I couldn’t find one that fit exactly for this kisekae. Meh.

The name change is two-fold. It means “memories of summer” or “Natsu’s memories”. Because my birthday is in the summer one of the names I went by when I was in uni was summer related, but I couldn’t really decide on which one I wanted. Like I thought Natsumi was too boring. Natsuko was too, but I kind of liked Natsuko? I kind of more or less settled on Natsue. I used them for my in-my-head explorations of the worlds I enjoyed watching in media, so my self-insert character was some variation of Natsu at any given time so I would just think everyone would *just* call me Natsu. I used it a lot for games and character creation too.

It wasn’t something worth writing down or anything and a lot of those kinds of fics are notoriously bad. The ones I did write when I was a child were definitely bad. I found one when I went home for Christmas and New Years when I was sorting stuff, but it was a group one I made with my sister and our friends in middle school and that was so facepalm worthy. I don’t remember writing any of it and my sister told me to set it on fire. I just threw it away along with all of our character profiles, but photos exist. That I shared with my sister, but of only our profiles. I didn’t take photos of the fic because it was a giant terrible clusterfuck anyway.

But anyway, that’s where that comes from and it’s more personal to like my inner thoughts and everything, which is more what this blog has become. The actual Japanese name I go by more often is Reika actually because it’s based on my Chinese name, which my grandma who chose it decided it was better to give me a Chinese name closer to my English name. My English name is Elizabeth, which is often written as  伊莉莎白 in Chinese. My Chinese name is  伊莉, so it’s basically like calling me Ellie or something. I probably could have a Japanese name that’s just “Eri” too, but that was too on the nose thank God. But I mean, technically it wouldn’t be wrong either if people called me that. My Chinese name in Cantonese is read as “Yilei” and in Madarin “Ili”. I never much cared for the Mandarin reading. In Japanese it uses the second character in my Chinese name as the first is basically meaningless. The second means “jasmine” and to kind of make my Chinese name more Japanese and sound nice, I have Reika written as  莉花 so that the meaning didn’t change much and using more of the Cantonese pronunciation. More commonly in Japanese it’s read as Rika, but like names are weird and you can use whatever reading you want. So yeah, that’s why my Japan blog uses Reika and this one I use Natsu.

Although I just remembered my Ragnarok Online assassin character I made...That one was a combination of using Eri and using “Natsu” and also combining it with my lifelong obsession with Hiei. My RO sin’s name was Natsukage no Eriko. I still love my character, but thinking about how I came up with that name is just....sigh. Ah, youth. I have a kind of obsession with flower names though because my name is a flower name and my main RO character was a turn undead priestess called Xiao Hua, and I usually use Xiaohua (purposely with no space now) as a character name for support classes even now as it’s a trend. I chose it initially because it was flower themed and this guy I liked at the time when I originally made that character had that for his Chinese name which I thought was different for him, but it stood out and stuck in my head and I needed a name for RO that wasn’t taken already by the other people playing. I even started during the 2nd Closed Beta and names being taken was still an issue. I have a full support priestess too that I actually use “Yi Lei” for though.

The header photo I use probably more represents me now as well as that’s a park that’s near my home. It’s from Ritsurin Kouen during hanami season almost two years ago. I went with my co-workers and it’s kind of impressive. They have the sakura blooming calculations up like a month in advance and posted in places like *Starbucks* so you can like plan your parties. Like damn, that’s serious business. It’s also one of those things where you don’t understand *how* serious it is until you’re here and then you realize how much thought and care they put into this ONE thing.

The side-bar thing has simple stuff about me. The middle thing is like alignment, horoscope, and other stuff like that. The last one is a charanavi alignment, which is hard to explain because it’s like a horoscope analysis thing that hasn’t really left Japan.

The Japanese in the footer is a quote from the Hojoki by Kamo no Choumei. It’s basically a quote that is a metaphor for time and how it keeps going and changing. Just like my life.

#changes #name #layout #photo talk

[concerningwolves]

Hello! I had a question about Vampires. I am currently in the works of making my own vampires, with their own set of rules and lore, but it’s heavily based on the origins. So my question is: what are your thoughts on the different kinds of vampires throughout media? Should people reinvent them, or try to stick to a more traditional sense? Thank you!

Hey Nonny! Mate, I have so much I can say on the matter of vampires. I promise to try my best not to turn this into another werewolf answer, but, well, vampires. Like werewolves, the vampire mythos is so fascinating.

On Re-Inventing A Popular Mythos

For starters, there is no one traditional vampire, although the oldest record of a vampire-like creature goes back to first Greek and then Slavic roots. As with the idea of a man having a beast inside, the idea of a human-like creature living in the darkness and feeding off fellow people was very popular.

Both vampires and werewolves are based on fears around darkness, animals and the human condition. Personally, I think that so long as you stick with those core ideals, you can re-invent the mythos however you like within reason.

Twilight pushes the boundaries of reason, and not necessarily because of the vampire-romance-age-creepy factor. My main issue is the Meyer Vampire itself, as I have no problem with vampire romances so long as they are done well and without the huge age gaps or the idea of one human’s blood being particularly alluring. That being said, I respect Meyer’s attempt to re-invent the vampires, I just feel as if she didn’t do enough research beyond the Western take and abandoned the core ideals. Here are some of the mistakes I feel she made:

Sparkle sparkle

This one is probably a shared peeve by many who read Twilight, for a whole lot of different reasons. For me, it’s because I can’t see any reason for the sparkle part beyond making Edward more attractive to Bella. In the mythos, a vampire’s relation to sunlight ranged anywhere from irritation to instant dustification on contact. This isn’t to say that I don’t think you can play with the sunlight reaction, but I found sparkles too far-fetched and without any mythological or cultural beliefs to back it up.

Italian Connection

The vampire Meyer went with for the base was the more modern, middle-ages take. That in itself isn’t really a problem, but why do that if you’re going to remove the religious components? I have a very strong view that if you’re going to re-invent a mythos, do your best to draw on one cultural source. This is because cultural history ought to be respected and given fair representation. To do that, I think that Meyer ought to have either said “these vampires are harmed by religious affects and so the volturi live in Italy” or “these vampires aren’t harmed by religious affects so I should draw on the Hellenestic or Slavic roots and base them in Greece/Eastern Europe”.

It’s worth mentioning here that the sparkle-skin thing could have been spun if, say, Meyer went with the Hellenistic vampire as a base. The story goes that Apollo cursed this poor guy to be hyper-sensitive to/irritated by sunlight; therefore, one option could have been to use the idea of that curse and say “the sheen on their skin in sunlight is so that they can’t hide and everyone must know them for what they are”.

Blood Delecacies

I’ve already mentioned disliking the whole “your blood is particularly alluring so I’m going to become obsessed with you” trope - not least because that’s a terribly unhealthy central component in a romance, but also because blood is blood. This one is more of a personal pet peeve though, and not really a bad representation or anything of the like, so feel free to overlook it. (But seriously, if you include the trope, keep it away from romance)

Vampires Unboxed

There are a lot of parallels between vampires and werewolves, and that’s mainly because the Slavic take of the vampire was originally a werewolf. That alone leaves you with a lot to use and mould, but another parallel is the “vampire tree”.

I talked about shapeshifters and man-beasts being a tree, of which the werewolf was an offshoot, and to continue that metaphor, vampirism is like a vine or some sort of climbing plant wrapped around the Shapeshifting Tree. You’ve got your standard vampire-vampire, which is what most vampire takes are based off of, but you’ve also got the vampirelike creatures: parasitic, evil spirits; creatures that feast off human energy; lamia... some research into vampiric beings and creatures will provide you with a goldmine of useable lore. Why stick with the traditional vampiric humanoid when there’s so much more you can run with?

 Nothing makes me happier than perusing a fresh take on the vampire. As the human condition and our perspective on it grows, there is no reason why you can’t be creative with the mythos, so long as you’re respectful and steer clear of harmful tropes.  One of my own back-burner works has a race of Greek-inspires vampires that I’m building, and it’s great fun.

I’m rooting for you, Nonny: break the box apart and rebuild it from the slats and nails!Good luck and enjoy making your vampires x

Media Favourites

Bad vampire re-inventions aside, there are plenty that I adore and make me super happy, from classics to contemporary. This last bit is going under the cut because it’s really just a list of examples with some commentary.

Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu pre-dates Dracula and follows a female vampire, Eastern European and Middle-Ages influences. Yet to read all the way through, but what I know already has it pegged on my immediate TBR list.

Dracula by Bram Stoker; considered to be the birth of the classical-modern vampire, I first read this when I was ten and then again last year, seeing it performed as a play in between. Safe to say, the Stoker Vampire is one of my favourites. Slavic-Christian influences.

Salem’s Lot by Stephen King; I’m yet to read this, but I’ve been a little put-off because Father Callaghan appears in the Dark Tower series, and in short: King spoiled his own vampire novel for me. Spoiled as in the “spoilers” sense, that is. The themes of faith, good, evil and human nature are combined brilliantly to make his vampires, and I’ll read it one day without a doubt.

What We Do in the Shadows; This film exists only in screenshots and clips for me, but damn it’s such a good take, particularly if you look at the relationship between vampires and the human condition through a more modern lense.

Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough; I read this novel no less than four times, and just thinking about it has made me get anxious and look around the kitchen. Although not classified as vampire fiction by popular modern standards, this young adult horror draws on loads of the original Slavic beliefs around vampiric spirits and the diseased undead. I would highly reccomend this one as inspiration for a unique take on vampires.

The Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith; I think I got like, four books in?Stefan had just been turned human by some flowers... I don’t know, it was years ago. But anyway, romance and love triangles aside, the vampires in this series stuck with me, even though I got bored with the rest of it. The shape-shifting and predatory ways were all consistent with the Slavic lore and I really enjoyed that one aspect.

Young Dracula; British children’s comedy series following the son of Dracula, who doesn’t really want to be a vampire and has a human friend. There was all sorts in there that I loved, but my two favourites aspects were: bottling blood and acting like it was wine, with a pallet and distinct aromas, and the bat shapeshifting. Dracula was also a massive drama queen and his son was Constantly Embarassed. A lot of tropes such as the Tortured Recluse and the Vampire Victim were dissolved too, which made it all the more attractive to me. I remember the show getting progressively darker and intense, and then either I lost track of it or it went off-air. Either way, it’s still on my mind a few times a month nine years later.

My Babysitter’s a Vampire; and here it is, my guilty favourite from my late pre-teens. I was a fan of both the film and the successive TV series, because at the time I liked the fresh take on the sun theme, and enjoyed the use of flying ability. I wasn’t such a fan of the idea that being a vampire could beautify someone, but the rest of it secured my love.

#writing advice #folklore #myths #vampires #writing vampires #writeblr #writer advice #writers on writing #writers on tumblr

[syrupwit]

Letter for Trick or Treat Exchange 2021

-

Hello there, and welcome to my letter for Trick or Treat Exchange 2021! I appreciate that you’ve taken the time to read this letter. I hope that it will provide you with clarification, inspiration, or whatever else you may happen to be seeking from it.

Although I’ve written more for some sections and less for others, rest assured I would be thrilled to receive a gift for any of the requested fandoms, characters, or fanwork types. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out through the mods.

I have requested Fic Only, Tricks and Treats for all canons.

Please see the table of contents below:

Likes

Do Not Want (DNW)

Fandom - Dishonored

Fandom - Fallout: New Vegas

Fandom - The Magnus Archives

Fandom - Stellar Firma

Fandom - What We Do In The Shadows (TV)

-

LIKES

I have a very long list of likes here.

For Treats, some general things I like are:

Absurd, silly, or situation-based humor

Surreality, weirdness, crack treated seriously

Lore and worldbuilding

Unusual team-ups

Dramatic rescues

Get togethers and first times

Halloween tropes and trappings that tend more towards the fun or cheesy (pumpkins, candy, trick-or-treating, costume parties, bad horror movies, haunted houses, autumn weather, friendly supernatural creatures, black cats having a good time)

For Tricks, some general things I like are:

Dark comedy, gallows humor, horror-comedy

Psychological, paranormal, gothic, and cosmic horror

Creepy lore and worldbuilding

Unreliable narrators

Corruption

Hurt no comfort (esp. emotionally)

Supernatural creatures and goings-on of all kinds

-

DO NOT WANT (DNW)

Characters depicted as under age 18 involved in sexual situations

Characters having sex without mutual sexual attraction

Hate speech or hate crimes (discussions/mentions of bigotry are fine)

Harm to pet animals (the existence of ghost pets is OK, and it’s fine to mention pet animals that have canonically died, but I don’t want to hear about injury, abuse, or noncanonical death of pet animals)

Bestiality

Scat

Necrophilia (sexual activity involving ghosts or sentient skeletons/undead is OK, just not inanimate corpses or remains)

Sexual activity involving worms / spiders / insects

-

FANDOM - DISHONORED

Ivan Jacobi's Grandfather

This character is so inconsequential that he only shows up for a few sentences in an in-universe memoir in Death of the Outsider, but the little glimpse we get is fascinating. Tell me more about this stubborn old man who moved into the family crypt and let his impressionable grandson sleep over among the skeletons. I want to hear his ancestor stories, the creepier the better.

Kirin Jindosh

My favorite antagonist from DH2! I'd love to hear more about his abominable creations, his alliance with Delilah, and what he got up in his brief studies at the Academy of Natural Philosophy. I ship him pretty hard with Emily, but I'm open to any pairing. (Note: I'm fine with mentioning or exploring his canon nonlethal fate, though I'd prefer it not be played for comedy.)

Billie Lurk

Of the Dishonored protagonists, Billie is my favorite. Someone, I can't find the source, once described her character arc as "atonement without redemption" -- I really like that. Death of the Outsider highlighted a intriguingly cocky streak of hers I hadn't noticed before, also (the things she says about the bank job!!).

I'd love to hear more about her years as a ship captain, the connections she built across the isles; her early years with Daud and the Whalers, how those relationships changed; and anything post-canon. Gen-wise, I really enjoy her interactions with Daud, Sokolov, and the Outsider, and I'd like to see how she didn't get along with Galia Fleet.

Ship-wise, I like her with Daud or any female character. Seriously -- Billie/Teresia Cienfuegos! Billie/Thalia Timsh! Billie/the surviving witch in the basement jail in that one mission of Death of the Outsider! Ooh, what about Billie/ghost!Deirdre? I am, as they say, just spitballing here. I also like Emily/Billie, Delilah/Billie, and Billie/Lizzy, for some less rare pairings. :-)

-

FANDOM - FALLOUT: NEW VEGAS

Dean Domino

Vengeful petty bastard. He was my favorite of the three companions in Dead Money, and the reveal at the end blindsided me. I really liked the atmosphere and story in Dead Money -- I'd love more about Dean Domino's pre-ghoul days, how he survived, and what it takes to sustain a grudge for centuries.

Mr. House

Everything about Mr. House and the Lucky 38 is fascinating to me. I'd love something about the years he spent waiting and planning, or the dynamic between him and a more evil or chaotic Courier.

Doctor Mobius

Old World Blues is my favorite DLC for this game, and I loved the showdown/reveal with Doctor Mobius! More roboscorpions, more ridiculous schemes, or interactions with the Courier and the other Big MT scientists and denizens would be great.

Stealth Suit Mk II

Why is the suit cute, and why won't she/it stop trying to give me Med-X? I'd love to hear more about this adorable sneaky suit and her/its relationship to her/its wearer. If you want to go to a shippy place there, please feel more than free.

Ulysses

So dramatic, so tragic, so vague at times. I really, really like his relationship with the Courier and the way it develops in Lonesome Road -- I ship them romantically, one-sided on Ulysses's part and reciprocated, but I also like their many possible dynamics as gen. (I have no preference on gender or alignment for the Courier -- feel free to write the character however you prefer.)

Ulysses strikes me as very lonely, and he seems to be finally feeling grief that he suppressed. I'd love something where the Courier rescues or comforts him, or where the possibility of being rescued/comforted occurs to him but is never actualized (PAIN). Alternately, interactions between Ulysses and any random character, the more unexpected the better, would be great, as would Ulysses solo gen about what he gets up to post-DLC.

Yes Man

My favorite amoral AI! His passive-aggression is hilarious, but I love that he's also genuinely scary. I'd enjoy hearing more about his origins and development, his dynamic with Benny, and his relationship with the Courier and anyone else he might encounter.

-

FANDOM - THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES

Adelard Dekker

Dekker is cool! I like that he's pragmatic and competent, not without a sense of humor, and somehow genuinely religious even in the world of TMA. I ship him with Gertrude, but I also enjoy them as friends. I'd love anything about his pre-canon adventures, origins, relationship with the Web, or interactions with unexpected characters.

Harriet Fairchild

An incredibly minor character (she shows up for a few lines in MAG 21, "Freefall"), but I'm so curious about her. What is her relationship to Simon Fairchild, and how did she become associated with the Vast?

Neil Lagorio

In-universe fictional media is one of my very favorite things, and I loved the episodes with Neil Lagorio. I'd enjoy hearing more about his filmography, strange experiences on his sets, criticism of his films, popular reception, or anything along those lines.

Peter Lukas

An unrepentant monster, and a terrible boss, but awkward and petty in enjoyably human ways. I would love to see how he interacts in a fish-out-of-water scenario, a meeting with other avatars, or a situation where he feels threatened. Seeing him interact with Gertrude would be fantastic. I ship him romantically with Martin, one-sided on Peter's part or grudgingly reciprocated, but I also really enjoy their gen interactions.

Original Statement Giver(s)

I'm always down for original statement fic, whether it's about an encounter with a specific entity or something more ambiguous. <3

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FANDOM - STELLAR FIRMA

Bathin

We've heard so much about Bathin, but what is he really like, outside that one recording? I ship him with David and/or Trexel, but I'd also like to just hear about him.

Enola

Post-canon, what do they get up to aboard The Terpsichore's Vaunt? Vent gremlin to captain of a Star Puncher Class vessel must be a bit of a leap.

David 7

Poor David has been through so much. I'd love something about them post-canon, figuring out the wider universe beyond Stellar Firma, or a canon divergence AU from any point. Additionally, I think it could be fun to explore common fic tropes with them -- coffeeshop AU part 2, fake dating (which is also their first time doing anything dating-like?), arranged marriage because *handwave*, time travel or time loops.

I ship David with Bathin and/or Trexel, and with Trexel and Hartro in a triad, although I'm open to other pairings. Platonically, I like them with I.M.O.G.E.N., or meeting anyone outside the station.

With regard to David's gender and pronouns, I don't have a strong preference or headcanon -- please feel free to go with your favored interpretation.

Trexel Geistman

Trexel is my favorite. I enjoy the childish, silly side of his terrible self, but I also love it when canon decides to take his issues seriously. Please let him bumble around like a jackass making poor decisions, projecting onto those around him, and occasionally providing his own brand of "help" or insight.

I ship Trexel with just about everyone, but particularly David 7, Hartro, and/or Bathin. I really enjoy him as the pining party in a ship, whether his pining is one-sided or reciprocated. In general, though, I just really like Trexel.

For Halloween-related prompts, I'd love something with him as a horror host a la the Cryptkeeper, or maybe something with him encountering the ghosts of the Board or one of his more illustrious ancestors. Less Halloween-related, a Groundhog Day time loop AU with Trexel as the POV character could also be fun.

Hartro Piltz

Hartro is also my favorite. She's... god, she's ridiculous. I love her interest in the arts and her taste for Drama. I was really pleased with her transition from antagonist, to semi-frenemy, to antagonist again, and finally to tentative ally.

Ship-wise: I ship her super hard with Trexel and David as a triad and Trexel as a pairing, although I also love the three of them as a gen group. We haven't seen Hartro interact with a lot of other characters in canon; there are no other canon dynamics that ping me as particularly shippy, that "yum" from IMOGEN and the bit of flirting with Sigmund Shankeray notwithstanding. However, I am open to any pairing or gen interaction for her, including OCs. Seriously, please go for it! I just really like Hartro.

Promptwise: The last bit of bonus content, "No Love For Spies," involved impromptu scripted roleplay with Hartro, David, and Trexel. I'd love a scenario like that, but maybe shippy or awkwardly sexy (well, more awkwardly sexy than it already is, with evening-gown!Hartro lounging around on tables). I'd also enjoy something set pre-canon, something about her life outside of work during canon, or post-canon exploring how she gets along in a post-Stellar Firma universe.

Also, I realized I forgot to say so, but I opt into the foot thing. Lol.

-

FANDOM - WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS (TV)

Guillermo de la Cruz

I recently watched this series for the first time, and Guillermo is far and away my favorite. The way he compartmentalizes what he's been doing for the vampires, the repression, the hints of manipulativeness, and then the fact that he's just really cute -- he's great. I'm enjoying the slayer!Guillermo storyline and the sort of power reversal, or power redistribution, that's come about because of it.

I ship Guillermo/Nandor pretty hard, one-sided and reciprocated, but I'd also love Guillermo solo gen, friendship fic, or ensemble fic. For a Treat, canon-typical slice of life would be great, or something about what he gets up to on Halloween. For a Trick, perhaps he encounters a hostile vampire or other creature, defends or rescues the others, or himself needs to be rescued? Guillermo gets yanked around and disappointed so much in canon; I'd love something where, no matter what trials he is subjected to, the vampires come through for him in the end.

#optional detailed letters for exchanges tag #this signup is no longer in progress!

[lichlairs]

Checkout our new post over at https://lichlair.com/daily-monster-45-drowner-witcher-week

Daily Monster #45: Drowner (Witcher Week)

Surprise! We’ve been working on this one for a little while now. Here’s the thing, in view of the TV show and with half of our writers taking to replaying the video games, some of us looked at each other and went “you know what would be cool? Witcher week” and so here we are. Expect more Witcher related articles for the rest of this week! But for now, let us begin the departure from our regular dndbeyond schedule with the…

Drowner

That’s right! For our first Witcher Week bestiary entry we have none other than the biggest pest in the game! Humble beginnings and all, am I right?

As a bit of a disclaimer, this week’s monsters are not part of the Dungeons and Dragons world and as such have no official stats. I’ll be using Regerem’s Book of Beautiful Horrors which you can find over here.

The basics

Now that that’s out of the way, these are the two sets of stats presented for us:

That’s right! I can actually give you pictures of these ones rather than rambling about numbers like I usually do!

As you can see, we have two versions of this creature just like in the games. Speaking of “in the game”, these monsters originally fall under the necrophage category hence their ending up as undead.

Part of me wanted to question just how stealthy these statblocks make them but then I remembered my experience playing the games and… yeah, that checks out; call me a wuss but, even though they’re pretty easy to handle even on Death March (highest game difficulty setting) I’ve still gotten a couple of jump scares.

I think Regerem did some great work with this book and translating the creatures into Dungeons and Dragons statblocks, but I still have to point out that 22 hit points for a CR 1/2 creature that is known to show up in sizable groups might just be a little too much. I’d definitely consider lowering their hit points just a bit unless your party has some good sources of radiant or fire damage.

Let’s talk about features; the regular old Drowners get Pack Tactics, which, again, can be pretty scary for low level adventuring parties but that’s their one and only passive ability. As for the Drowned Dead or stronger variant of today’s monster, they don’t get Pack Tactics but a nasty Blood Frenzy feature that grants them advantage on damaged targets. We also get this bit:

You know? I’ve never had one of my characters straight up drown but now I’m kind of worried.

My only qualm with this is that I think it’s a little too similar to the regular Drowner’s Drag Under attack and makes it kind of moot, but hey, at least it’s still kind of thematic and it does free them up to simply dish out some damage with their Claw attack instead and I suppose it’s a passive ability.

On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, I think my favorite thing about these statblocks is the fact that the Drowned Dead have a reaction for Uncanny Dodge! I’m a firm supporter for monsters having more things in their arsenal.

If you want to check out their full stat blocks I definitely recommend taking a look at the Book of Beautiful Horrors.

The lore

One of the things I’ve always loved about this series is the heaps and heaps of lore that we get for even the weakest, least important of things. It is no different for today’s monster. In fact, I can tell you that there are plenty monsters from official D&D content that don’t get nearly as good a treatment in any of the various editions. Take note, D&D!

Why don’t we start with a bit of mythology? Drowners take inspiration from Slavic stories of vodnik: water spirits described as frog-like humanoids with green beards and black fish scales, and while this doesn’t quite match their video game counter part, the next part certainly does; when angered, vodniks are notorious for breaking dams, drowning the local townsfolk, and even taking their victims as slaves.

If we are to believe the various entries in the video game’s lore sections, Drowners are the result of those who drown or have their bodies tossed into lakes, rives, and such. Depending on whether you were a simple peasant back when you were alive or a notorious criminal you might end up as a Drowned Dead instead; a particularly strong and dangerous variants of the same monster.

These creatures inhabit all kinds of bodies of water, from the ocean and swamps to the towns abandoned well, and are specially active during storms or rainy seasons. They feast on any scraps or carcasses that they come upon but won’t hesitate to ambush any travelers or passersby who walk close enough to their watery lairs.

Although a single Drowner is no threat for most people able to handle a weapon, these monsters are known to work in packs upwards of three of them and prove surprisingly difficult to hit with their fast movements and slippery hides.

It’s important to note that, as reflected in their low intelligence, these creatures cannot speak any languages and don’t seem share any sort of society among them except for perhaps following the command of the stronger Drowned Dead.

The execution

First, for the sake of my sanity, I just have to point out that these things are a goddamned pest in the games; they’re absolutely everywhere so unless you want to make your players quit the campaign after rolling for encounters with these guys three times a day I would definitely consider making them just a tad more uncommon in your game. That said, one of my main goals for Witcher Week is to try to capture that special flavor, that je ne sais quoi that makes the world of the Witcher series so special. Here’s my idea: an escort mission.

As your players reach the nearby swamp area, they come across a bit of a sight: a caravan of merchants (or nobles, your pick) that has stopped in the middle of the road and a handful of NPCs arguing amongst themselves next to it. Our valiant heroes learn that, although crossing the swamp is the only way to reach the next city, the caravan’s drivers are more than a little on edge about doing so, what with the recent news of people going missing in the area. Upon seeing our heroes approach and noticing their weapons and armor, they offer payment in exchange for being safely escorted across the swamp.

I would definitely make sure to set up a few noncombat hints of what’s about to come as the players start treading into the swamp; maybe have them find an empty campsite with drag marks towards the murk or a few decomposing bodies here and there, but our main encounter would come in a bit later.

To make for some interesting terrain, I think I would have my Drowners ambush the party as they are halfway through crossing a low bridge but you could technically set up this encounter along the road if you prefer. You should do your best to make the players understand that the key here is that their characters must defend caravan. This way you could have a few Drowners whose sole focus is dragging down the NPCs rather than attacking our adventurers. Will your players defend their charges or will they focus on themselves? Choices one of the things that makes playing Dungeons and Dragons so unique.

Depending on your party level or how mean you’re feeling that session you could also add in a couple of Drowned Dead, just keep in mind that this might mean rolling for your NPCs as well.

Did you enjoy our first article for Witcher Week? Are you excited to see what else we have in stores for this week? Why not head over to our social media and make sure you’re following us there? We post new content every week and would love to hear your thoughts on it.

#Behind the Screen #Daily Monster #dnd #dnd5e #Drowner #dungeons and dragons #homebrew #The Witcher #Witcher Week #Theme Weeks

[aion-rsa]

How Hideo Kojima and Junji Ito Could Finish What Silent Hills Started

https://ift.tt/2EpTlgx

The collaboration survival horror fans have been waiting for may finally be happening, according to famed mangaka Junji Ito, who confirmed that he’s been talking to video game auteur Hideo Kojima about working together on a new horror project, which has been the subject of much speculation since the release of Death Stranding last year.

Ito shared this tidbit while talking to Viz Media during this weekend’s Comic-Con@Home event (via IGN), where he was asked whether he was currently working on any video game projects.

“So, the simple answer is no,” Ito’s translator Junko Goda told Viz Media. “However, I do know director Kojima and we have been in conversation that he might have a horror-based game that he may be doing, and so he has invited me to work on that, but there are no details on it yet.”

Those who have been following Kojima’s attempts to make a horror game over the years likely know that Ito was previously set to collaborate with the video game auteur and filmmaker Guillermo del Toro on Silent Hills, a new take on the beloved survival horror series starring The Walking Dead and Death Stranding actor Norman Reedus. But the collaboration never got past a few initial meetings and a karaoke session.

“Once the Silent Hills meeting was over, we went to karaoke,” Ito said while speaking at the Toronto Comics Art Festival (via Game Informer) in 2019. “I didn’t hear anything after that. I heard that the plan got scrapped through outside sources. I have seen Kojima and Del Toro since. I never started designing monsters. Nothing exists. There are no roughs or sketches.”

In an interview with IGN about approaching Ito to work on Silent Hills, del Toro called the mangaka “completely one of the masters,” saying that he loved how Ito seemed to “get high on his own supply” while imagining the grotesque monsters, body horror, and extreme violence that are trademarks of the mangaka’s work.

“In the way that you feel Dario Argento in the early movies was getting off on each murder or you feel David Cronenberg was secretly aroused by body horror – in the same way, you feel Junji Ito being titillated at a very basic disturbing level by his stuff,” del Toro said of Ito.

However Silent Hills would have turned out, it does sound like the trio had some interesting new ideas about how to push the survival horror genre forward.

“We had a few working sessions where we were talking about using the console, the next-generation console in a way that would surprise people. Let’s really freak out people. Let’s really cause a panic with Silent Hill. Let’s go for it. Let’s go for full-blown social madness,” del Toro told IGN. “We were planning this stuff. Ito was mainly being nice, making notes. He didn’t sing either. He was a very serious man.”

Unfortunately, when Kojima and publisher Konami had a falling out during the development of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, the game director left the company and Silent Hills was quickly canceled. Konami has done little with the series since (besides making Silent Hill-themed pachinko gambling machines).

It’s a shame this all happened before Ito could even put pencil to paper. I personally would have loved to see what monstrosities Ito’s chats with Kojima and del Toro might have inspired. Fortunately, Kojima and del Toro’s P.T. demo was a stunning proof of concept for what Silent Hills might have looked like. It was also its own experiment in “social madness.”

When P.T. was mysteriously released at Gamescom 2014 by a fake studio, many gamers quickly became obsessed with solving the confounding (and terrifying) demo’s seemingly nonsensical puzzles. Within hours, P.T. had become a viral marketing phenomenon, the subject of countless reaction videos, forum threads, walkthroughs, live streams, and social media posts. Of course, beating the demo revealed P.T.‘s biggest mystery of all: that it was, in fact, a “playable teaser” for Kojima and del Toro’s Silent Hills. Yet, by the time the truth had come out, P.T. itself had morphed into its own unique experience destined to outlive the game it was created to promote.

Much has been written about the making of P.T. and its influence on the horror genre in the years since its release. You can also find plenty of videos dissecting different aspects of the demo, including videos of players, dataminers, and modders trying to figure out how the demo works. Siux years later, certain things about the demo remain a secret, including the meaning of its cyclical narrative.

The demo is a notable example of a game going viral, as players worked together on the internet to solve the puzzles, while word of mouth on social media got others to try the demo. While Kojima explored this idea further in Death Stranding, which has its own social mechanics, del Toro and Kojima originally planned to take all of this one step further with Silent Hills, using “every aspect” of the PS4 to “create a state of widespread social panic,” according to IGN. While I’d stop short of saying it caused widespread panic, P.T. itself did spread like wildfire through internet gaming communities in 2014 like some sort of interactive urban myth or creepypasta. Or a meme.

Fans of the Metal Gear series know Kojima loves to insert metafiction and other metaphysical elements into his work, such as with the Psycho Mantis boss fight in Metal Gear Solid and the final twist in Metal Gear Solid 2, which some believe predicted the pervasive nature of meme culture on the internet as well as how technology could be used for social engineering. Many of Kojima’s games specifically tackle how technology can distort and corrupt reality.

P.T. has its own distortive qualities and can even be considered a major turning point in Kojima’s work undoubtedly influenced by del Toro’s own directorial sense. Some critics have said the demo’s endlessly looping hallway, which players must keep walking through to solve P.T.‘s many puzzles, “practically hypnotizes you into a state of vulnerability.” That sense of vulnerability also comes in part from the hostile ghost that follows closely behind you throughout the experience as well as the disorienting nature of the puzzles that work on a sort of dream logic that’s never explained within the actual game. (There are no tutorials or in-game prompts to be found in P.T.)

Read more

Games

Death Stranding and Metal Gear Solid Artist Yoji Shinkawa on Creating Iconic Video Game Art

By Bernard Boo

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Death Stranding’s Norman Reedus Teases New Project with Hideo Kojima

By Matthew Byrd

Kojima told The Japan Times in 2014 that with P.T. he wanted to explore “a more genuine, thoughtful and permeating type of fear” than the violence and gore usually found in AAA survival horror games.

“There are horror action games with zombies and grotesque things and so forth. The real fear isn’t from those things. It’s from standing in an empty place, where just to step forward or to turn around is scary,” Kojima said, explaining that the demo is scary because “there’s no information.”

“Nowadays, when people don’t know something, they Google it. They ask on Twitter or Facebook and they get the answer right away. We live in an age of information. When that suddenly disappears, that’s the scariest thing,” Kojima explained. “That’s why there was no information about who made P.T. There was no purpose or background and no explanation about the story, and that’s frightening. I did this on purpose. That’s why I hid my name and title and just let them play.”

While Kojima has said many times since the release of P.T. that the demo wasn’t actually related to Silent Hills in terms of gameplay or story, it’s impossible not to wonder how the success of the interactive teaser would have influenced Kojima and del Toro’s final product, and how Ito’s own work would have added to the experience.

After all, Ito was a perfect fit for the “social madness” Kojima and del Toro were going for with Silent Hills. In his seminal horror manga books Gyo and Uzumaki in particular, Ito deals with extreme levels of social anxiety and the unbridled chaos that follows.

In Gyo, Japan is plagued by undead fish who crawl out of the sea using spider-like metal legs powered by a “death stench.” Images of bloated victims assimilated into the killer fish army pervade the pages of the book as do images of mass hysteria.

If Gyo is Ito’s own take on the zombie genre, Uzumaki is something far more experimental and disturbing. In Uzumaki, a small Japanese town finds itself under attack by a supernatural curse involving spirals. The book is infused with a heightened sense of paranoia, as characters try to navigate the horrific dream logic that’s not unlike the one found in P.T.

Interestingly enough, Ito was inspired to create Uzumaki in part due to his desire to understand spirals as symbols, as well as an interest in depicting spirals in an unexpected way that would scare Japanese audiences, an approach that sounds like Kojima’s own distortion of gameplay mechanics players normally take for granted.

“The ‘spiral pattern’ is not normally associated with horror fiction. Usually spiral patterns mark character’s cheeks in Japanese comedy cartoons, representing an effect of warmth. However, I thought it could be used in horror if I drew it a different way,” Ito said in an interview with 78 magazine in 2006. “Spirals are one of the popular Japanese patterns from long ago, but I don’t know what the symbol represents. I think spirals might be symbolic of infinity.”

While Ito’s work is full of the violence and gore that Kojima wanted to move away from with P.T., it’s clear that the two creators share similar sensibilities when it comes to finding more primal ways of scaring their audiences. Like Kojima and his use of the suburban hallway, Ito often uses images of things that aren’t traditionally considered scary — like spirals — in order to terrify. Another example is hair.

“Historically, long black hair has been symbolic of Japanese women, and most women value this image. The long hair of a woman is common in Japanese horror because it conveys an enveloping feeling of movement. I think it conjures up fear in people unconsciously,” Ito told 78. It’s in this space between what we know to be scary and what people don’t even know they’re scared of yet that both Ito and Kojima excel. With Kojima now running his own Kojima Productions indie studio where he can decide what he wants to work on and with whom he wants to work with next, his collaboration with Ito might finally come into fruition on their own terms. And their past work certainly points to a match made in hell. If Kojima and Ito do decide to collaborate on a new horror game, one would have to wonder how del Toro might fit into the project. After Silent Hills was canceled and a previous video game project called Insane also fell through, del Toro vowed to never work on a game again during an interview with Playboy (via IGN). That said, del Toro did allow Kojima to use his likeness for a major supporting character in Death Stranding, so perhaps there’s hope the Silent Hills trio could be reunited one day. Until then, our hopes of seeing something akin to what was planned for Silent Hills rest with Kojima and Ito. Perhaps Kojima could even teach Ito a thing or two about video games along the way: “I don’t know anything about games. I don’t play them. I am afraid if I get into them I’ll miss deadlines. I have never played Silent Hill,” Ito revealed at the Toronto Comics Art Festival while ruminating on his relationship with Kojima. “I have known Hideo Kojima for 20 years. He is a nice older brother type.”

The post How Hideo Kojima and Junji Ito Could Finish What Silent Hills Started appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3jNP9Ht

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

[crookedtalks]

Bookish Thoughts: Absolute Power: Tales of Queer Villainy

Book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33789743-absolute-power

Goodreads synopsis:  DANGEROUS WOMEN: TALES OF QUEER VILLAINY—edited and with an introduction by lesbian comics tastemaker Erica Friedman—brings you thirteen short stories of power, destruction and chaos by women who love other women almost as much as they love taking over the world! These 238 pages of deliciously dastardly stories of super-powered villainy are contained in a wraparound cover by artist Agnes Czaja (Anything That Loves) and contain contributions from a group of visionary writers.

Well, this book took me a lot longer than I thought to finish reading. ^^; This is the second anthology I’m reviewing on this blog, and I must say I enjoyed this anthology more than the previous one. I would give this anthology a 3.75 stars out of 4, but it’s not quite a 4 star read - so only a 3 star on goodreads (why no half-star system goodreads??).

I got this ebook from the kickstarter campaign and I was very excited to read it, and to support it, not only because it features queer characters (as main characters) and queer romance, but it is also written by queer authors, which is even rarer, and I feel that it is important (personally) that these books get read and reviewed too. I feel like book reviewers whether on social media platforms like youtube, or book bloggers can do a bigger part to lend their voice to these more neglected books, and I want to do that more on this blog, starting with this book.

I really loved that the queerness of the characters wasn’t the whole/sole plot point for the stories (as if that’s the only reason why queer characters are protagonists) and that the queer characters in this anthology are all spread across a spectrum of moralities (the villains and the heroes). The stories were also very different from each other, with each of the stories having their own colourful worlds and and uniquely powerful voices. Overall, it was a fun ride, much like a rollercoaster at a theme park. I’ll definitely me checking out more releases by North West Press in the future. In bold are the stories that I particularly liked (keep in mind that I have a preference for more serious stories), with a small comment on each of the stories in the collection. 

1. Final Grades by Erica Friedman

This story had a really interesting setting of a supervillain school, which I thought gave the reader a very interesting “frame” going into the story. There’s a plot twist at the end which was not completely unpredictable though, since it was already revealed at the start of the story that only a single person has ever graduated from the supervillain school. 

2. Date Night by Tristan J. Tarwater

Another classic supervillain story, where the supervillain goes on a date which gets interrupted by her sidekick. Her date though turns out to be someone unexpected. A fun, fast paced short read with some somewhat predictable twists (which kept the story moving and interesting) and flashy action near the end.

3. Eden’s Revenge by Missouri Vaun

Unlike the previous two stories, this is not a supervillain story but more of a vengeance story where our protagonist/villain is seeking revenge against the man who caused her sister’s suicide. It was all right, I didn’t really gel with this story as well though for some reason. Part of it could be because I didn’t really care for the protagonist - again, most likely a personal preference thing. Not sure about how I feel about the protagonist’s revenge plan being explained as “insanity” at the end of the story though...

4. Gentleman Jack by Barbara Ann Wright

Our protagonist/villain, a smug cross-dressing robber with charm abilities, meets her match in a stubborn, slightly uptight law women armed with science. This has potential to be a satisfying rom-com plot. I kind of wished that the story was a teeny bit longer just to see their cat-and-mouse relationship develop, but at the same time it ended at a place where it felt right. Great character chemistry.

5. Fallen by Audrey Chase

A much more serious story than the previous ones (which were all pretty light-hearted), which also has the gore factor turned up significantly higher. The grittiness and violence in this story was a refreshing change, and showed how terrifying and devastating a villain’s actions can be. This story, I feel, has one of the more interesting “grey” villains, with less clear-cut motives and “evilness”, which I really liked, but may not be for everyone. I would say this is the first story in the collection that I would peg as a tragedy.

6. The Devil Inside by JD Glass

A reporter visits hell to interview the devil herself, then gets interrupted by a mutiny. It was a fun read at first, with the little quips and jokes (eg. hell monsters needing moisturizers for their dry non-human skin), but it soon got on my nerves when the jokes started to get a bit too repetitive/play too much into stereotypes/too random and irrelevant to the plot, only present to provide some cheap humour, and it felt like the writer is a bit too confident of how funny they are and is smugly rubbing it in your face; however, humour is a very subjective thing and it might just be that it didn’t hit the right buttons in me. I felt like the “twist” at the end was confusing and didn’t make any sense/fit into the plot too. 

7. Glitter Bomb by Emily Kay Singer

A fun, nonsensical read that relishes in just how absurd its own plot is. Obviously, this is not a story you read for a “deep” plot, or even a plot that makes sense, which is fine because the author is obviously aware of that, and plays around with the common “superhero story” tropes, which makes it even more entertaining. It ends with a tidy, sweet and romantic ending (for people who like happy endings).  

8. For Want of a Heart by A. Merc Rustad

Oh man, this story made me cry a few tears. Maybe because for a moment I really clicked with the protagonist and identified with what she was going through in the story. Not a happy ending (no spoilers though!), but I really loved the use of language, in this story for some reason. I feel like this is a bud that could have been expanded into a much longer, more elaborate complex story, with more fleshed out characters and more complex motivations, which in some ways is a shame. Personally, probably up there as one of my favourites in this anthology, although I felt that the ending was a bit rushed which made the reveal at the end less impactful.

9. Absolution by Claire Monserrat Jackson

You can tell that the author has really put some thought in terms of world building - the history that was briefly mentioned, the magic system etc. This story takes place in a futuristic post-apocalyptic world where the Fae (fairy-land) has sort of burst through into the human world and caused all sorts of problems, and our protagonist in this story is a spunky (presumably powerful) for-hire problem-solver with magic powers, who has a undead “Afterlife” chain-smoking sidekick. I really liked the characters and the world-building, and there seems to be an entire novella the author has written based on this world, which I will definitely be checking out.

10. So Many Things Seem Filled With the Intent by Jude McLaughlin

Our main protagonist visits the lab of an evil mad scientist with her girlfriend, which is great because all the previous stories have yet to feature an evil mad scientist. This story felt like an small exploration of the “mad scientist” trope, featuring both a “good” mad scientist (our protagonist’s girlfriend) and an “evil” one, but at the same time, the scientist characters felt distinct from each other and developed enough. I liked the sense of rivalry between the scientist characters, and personally I liked the main protagonist quite a bit. 

11. The Prado By Chance by Leia Weathington

Our main protagonist is an underpaid, underappreciated, and unabashedly corrupt FBI agent who one day gets a little surprise on one of her under-the-table “missions”. I like how our protagonist needs to rely mainly on her cunning to manipulate and carry out her plans and not any kind of super power or ability like the other stories; it makes the protagonist feel immediately a few degrees more human and closer to home, especially since greed and corruption are very human in nature. 

12. Jaguar Light by Susan Smith

Our protagonist, a petty criminal who lives in accordance with her desires and fancies, teams up with her nemesis when another villain gains power that gets out of control. I really liked the incorporation of Aztec mythology as the source of power for our protagonist in the story; I also thought that the main villain was pretty lame (and I’m not just referring to her name), because there I didn’t feel any real punch behind her desire for power. She’s pretty flat as a character, and with such weak motivations that I didn’t feel that threatened at any point in the story at all. Her connection to the protagonist was also kind of explained in a one-liner which feels a little too casual. However, I liked the dynamics and contrasts between the protagonist and her nemesis.

13. Chrome Crash by Mari Kurisato

This story is a little messy and hard to describe but I’ll try my best: the story splits into two at the beginning, following the history of two girls with powers who seem to be unrelated at first, but we discover their connection to each other as the story progresses. It sounds vague I know, but I had the feeling of looking into murky water when I was reading this story. One thing that confused me the most was that at the beginning of the story we got a whole chunk of a part of one of the girls’ pasts, which I thought was her origin story at first in relation to the rest of the story, but upon nearing the end I realized that it had no bearing on the original plot of the story at all - it was not an origin story, nor explained any of the character’s personality, traits, trauma, etc, etc, and that whole chunk could have been taken out with no change to the original story. Also, regarding the connection between the two girls as mentioned earlier: the whole time when I was reading the story, I was asking why? What is the purpose of their connection? What I feel, is that this story is some sort of chopped up lite version of another story where important bits that make the story coherent are missing, which is such as shame because I really like the villain characters, small traces of the what is good and what is evil debate, the exploration of the involvement of politics and the military in superpowers etc. It had such great potential.

This review is a lot longer than my usual review and took much much longer than I thought it would to write. I may be slightly harsh in my comments on certain stories, and I’m certainly biased towards some stories than others, so I’ll say again here that I enjoyed this anthology and would encourage anybody who would like to read short stories about lesbian villains to pick this up. 

#book review #Book Recommendations #Bookish Thoughts #Absolute Power: Tales of Queer Villainy #erica friedman #Tristen Tarwater #Missouri Vaun #Barbara Ann Wright #Audrey Chase #JD Glass #Emily Kay Singer #A. Merc Rustad #Claire Monserrat Jackson #Jude McLaughlin #Leia Weathington #Susan Smith #Mari Kurisato #wlw #own voices #north west press

[abroxus-blog]

Coco & Olaf’s Frozen Adventure Review (2017)

           Pixar Animation has produced a stunning series of hits throughout its tenure, from the game-changing Toy Story trilogy to the more recent Inside Out, which has provided families with an entirely new vocabulary to help kids understand their own emotions. Lately, the company’s early and uncontestable critical and commercial success has led to an endless series of think-pieces that Pixar might be going downhill, particularly after the messy Good Dinosaur, middling Brave and Pixar’s only bad movie, Cars 2. These takes have always struck me as a cynical exercise in clickbait. A few near-misses amongst a canon of over a dozen other works that range from very good to amongst the best films of any given year is nothing to scoff at. 

           I’ve been excited by Coco for many years, in large part since I have a deep affection for Day of the Dead iconography. As a child, one of my favorite videogames was Tim Schafer’s Grim Fandango, in which you solved puzzles and unwove a tale of corruption within the Land of the Dead. Pixar melding that aesthetic with their own storytelling tendencies seemed a winning match. And in many ways, in a political climate in which there is so much hostility towards Hispanic families and so much racially-tinged propaganda against them, it felt surprisingly transgressive to make the stars of your tent-pole animated film a young Mexican boy and his family.

           So, I’m happy to say that Coco not only met my heightened expectations, it managed to exceed them. This film is Pixar at its very best. It’s a deeply moving experience with some of the studio’s best animation, an imaginative and well-constructed version of the Land of the Dead, some incredibly catchy music and deeply memorable characters. Coco not only stands confidently within the Pixar ranks, I think it fits comfortably besides Up and Toy Story 3 as the best works the studio has produced.

           So much of the film’s success comes down to how well it represents the main family. Miguel is likeable as the twelve-year-old protagonist who dreams of becoming a musician, like his hero Ernesto de la Cruz, against the wishes of his family. His family, both on the living and dead side, are all equally well-characterized. The titular Coco, his great grand-mother, has the single best face in computer animation history. Her daughter, Abuelita, is a study in contrasts, both serving as one of the film’s antagonists through her squashing of Miguel’s dreams, while also coming across as a Matriarch who deeply loves her family, and her grand-son, and genuinely believes she’s doing the best for them. Her quick temper, use of shoes as deadly implements and moments of tenderness create a compassionate, yet complicated, portrait. By the end of the film, I loved these people, and their undead familial counterparts, and I was reminded of so many families I knew. The fact is that these are people who don’t exist within traditional White American media. They are a product of a culture where families live much more closely together, and where understanding the role your great grandmother played in who you are today is considered more important. In my theatrical crowd, which was filled with diverse faces, I heard people whispering to each other about how much one character or another reminded them of their own family, or chuckling delightedly at small character beats.

           The plot revolves around Miguel’s struggle between his dreams and his love for his family. His quest to assert himself takes him deep into the land of the dead, in search of his musical hero, Ernesto De La Cruz. This journey leads him to meet long-deceased members of his family as well as an exploration of Mexican music culture within a gorgeously realized Land of the Dead. That world, from the flower bridge that leads to it, to the colorful spirits which serve as the protectors of the deceased, to the sadness of those who are fading as their living relatives slowly forget them, is perfectly realized. While Coco is a complete adventure, I wish I could have spent even more time in that world.

           There are some twists and turns (most of which are, in my only criticism, predictable and a tad melodramatic), some incredible humor (I still chuckle over the Frida Kahlo gags) and some terrific music. Most importantly, Coco is deeply emotional. I am not ashamed to admit that I had tears in my eyes multiple times in the theatre, including during its moving finale.

Thankfully, the film also serves as a loving tribute to Mexican culture and myths, exploring these mythical concepts with a tenderness that more gag-filled comic adventures struggle to manage. Like the best of Pixar movies, while kids will enjoy the experience for it’s delightful dog character, Miguel’s relatable quest to find himself and the sense of adventure that permeates the world; Adults will find even more to love through it’s contemplation of death and the importance of family and how it shapes us. I can’t recommend it enough.

10/10

Olaf’s Frozen Adventure.

           Coco opens with Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, a 22-minute feature. It’s been highly contentious with audiences, and a quick Google search for Coco will find many articles filled with people complaining about it. Is it really that bad?

           In Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, the holidays have come to Arendelle, and as the villagers go off to enjoy their regular traditions, Anna and Elsa realize they don’t have any of their own. This leads Olaf on a well-intentioned quest to help them find one. Cue an extended, adorable sequence in which Olaf goes door to door, learns about various religious traditions, has a short adventure, and sings a few songs before learning the true meaning of the holidays.

           If this all sounds a lot like those old straight-to-DVD sequels to Disney films that came out in the late 90s and early 2000s, you’re not wrong. It should come as no surprise then that this “short” was originally intended to be an ABC Christmas Special.

           When you compare it to those old sequels though, the short stands up well. While Olaf’s Frozen Adventure isn’t as funny or well-written as the original film (nor are its songs anywhere near as catchy), it’s adorable, has a few good laughs, and some moments of stunning animation. I found it quite charming.

As a TV special, I think it would have been released to positive reviews, much like the Toy Story TV specials were received a few years back. It’s unfortunate then that the decision was made to stick this in front of Coco. At 22 minutes, the short feels intolerably long when you’re waiting for a film you’ve heard is a masterpiece. More than that, the audience who loves Coco isn’t necessarily the same audience as that who would adore Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, which is clearly intended for younger children. Additionally, there is something a little off about tempering your bravely multi-cultural release by pairing it with a short about a bunch of white people singing about Christmas. It can feel a bit like a corporate attempt to lure in families who might be turned off by a film focusing on another culture.

           If placing the short in front of the film isn’t fair to Coco, I don’t think it’s fair to the Frozen short either. I think it’s unfortunate that the short is likely to be castigated as awful by the critical community and many adult film-goers when, for what it was intended to be, it’s a pleasant surprise. The backlash isn’t going to hurt Frozen 2 (hearing thousands of kids joyously scream at Disney World every time they saw Elsa or Olaf is a pretty clear indicator that the weird online backlash against those films is out-of-touch navel-gazing), but it’s unfortunate that Disney didn’t go ahead with their original release plan.

As a Stand-Alone Christmas Special – 7/10

As a short subject prior to Coco – 3/10