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victorluvsalice · 2 years

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Thoughts On A Sims 4 Occults Refresh

Because, as per the Chill Save update earlier, I have recently picked up The Sims 4: Werewolves after watching quite a few videos on it from the YouTube Simmers I follow (namely James Turner, who built all the lots for the pack and is rightfully proud of it, and Plumbella, who did an early-access LP of it), and seeing how much care and attention was lavished on the werewolves and their lore really makes me want some sort of refresh for most of the other occults in the game. And since Smiler only got a one-post update today, I figured I could take the time to make a post about what I’d like to see! It boils down to a few key points:

1. Give aliens and mermaids proper power/perk trees -- Yeah, of the occults we have in Sims 4, I think we can all agree that aliens and mermaids got the short end of the stick -- possibly because they’re both occults that came as part of an expansion instead of getting a dedicated game pack like the Big Three of vampires, spellcasters, and werewolves. (Probably doesn’t help that aliens were one of the first occults added to the game in Get To Work. . .) They both desperately need updates to keep them relevant and make them more fun to play without requiring the use of mods. And the best way to do that would be to give them a set of powers/perks you can buy for XP points, like said Big Three. Mermaids already work a bit like vampires thanks to their “Hydration” need powering their innate special songs and whatnot -- why not go whole hog? Have them earn things like the ability to find unique treasures in the deepest parts of the ocean! New songs that affect Sim moods in different ways, or maybe adjust skill-building speeds! Or maybe one to pull water from nearby sources to hydrate themselves if they get too low? Aliens could get their own version of controlling Sim minds (rather than just erasing memories -- oh, and THAT should be an unlockable power THEY CAN’T USE AUTONOMOUSLY -- yes, I AM still bitter about one of my Sims having their relationship with their alien fiance RANDOMLY ERASED BY SAID ALIEN FOR NO REASON) and maybe unlock some sort of special power that allows them to go to space without a rocket? Just -- something more interesting than the handful of powers that we’ve got for either!

(And for what it’s worth, I’d rather like to see the Needs panel UI for them, vampires, spellcasters, and werewolves be standardized, though I’m not sure how the orb would work for vampires and mermaids, who drain a need bar to fuel their powers rather than build up something that needs to be periodically lowered. Maybe have the orb be “upside-down” when compared to spellcasters and werewolves? Aliens could work either way -- drawing on some sort of special alien need to fuel their powers, or building up an alien charge that must be periodically vented, otherwise something weird and potentially dangerous happens.)

2. Give all the occults fun books we can read for lore, special bonuses, or just amusing fluff text -- The pop-ups you get for the werewolf books? They are the best. I love the lore that you can get from reading the history of Moonwood Mill (both the “standard” version and the special werewolf-writings version), I love how you can unlock a secret recipe for the new fish type if you’re lucky, and I even love when it’s just “fluff text” showing an excerpt of the book itself. And now that we have all that, I want more. I know Realm of Magic added a few non-tome books for Sims to read, but I don’t know if any of them have the fun pop-ups or any other special interactions, and I’m pretty certain that Vampires only added the vampire encyclopedias, which do have a couple of pop-ups but nothing along the lines of Werewolves and its books. And we need them! We especially need them now that we have an extremely-complicated history of how vampires and werewolves came to be! I want a secret vampire history of Forgotten Hollow! I want vampire romances! I want a book on blood types that can unlock the ability for vampires to sense who in a nearby area would give them a Divine Drink! I want the book on familiars to unlock new interactions for spellcasters to use with their familiars! (Well, actually, I just want to interact with familiars period -- let me hug and play with them -- but we could also have more interactions you unlock too.) I want the history of Glimmerbrook and the Magic Realm! I want a spellcaster children’s series like Peter Barker! Just -- I want the books to be so much more fun than they are right now! Give me the funny pop-ups to read, darn it!

3. Give us more cross-pack occult interactions, both nasty and friendly -- Werewolves gives us some really great stuff with how werewolves interact with vampires in particular, but -- well, to get the full experience, I think you gotta play as a werewolf. What if I want to do some of those interactions from the other side? And what about different occults interacting with each other? We need stuff like:

-->Vampires get a special angry moodlet from feeding on werewolf plasma -- they now need moodlets for feeding on spellcaster, mermaid, and alien plasma too. (I’m pretty sure this is only a thing in mods!)

-->Those interactions where werewolves can compare themselves favorably or unfavorably to vampires? They should also be available on the vampire side (I couldn’t find them when I had Smiler talk to a werewolf, anyway!). There should also be special interactions for spellcasters and vampires, where they compare themselves favorably or unfavorably, or talk about the origins of vampires.

-->Get mermaids and aliens in the act by giving them special interactions with other occults too -- talking about how mermaid and vampire powers work similarly, or aliens and werewolves sharing stories about the moon.

-->Have a friendly “sparring” version of the Supernatural Smackdown, for those occults who want to brawl without despising the other person afterward. Include mermaids transforming briefly to hit their opponents with their tail XD

-->All occults should be able to ask for sympathy for their occult type, and Sims should be able to feel sympathetic toward multiple occults and be their allies. (How else are you going to have your forbidden romances?)

Stuff like that! Just make the interactions between the various occults a bit more rich, and give them all a good mix of friendly and mean options so those of us who like to do occults getting along AND those who like to do out-and-out supernatural wars can have their cakes and eat them too. :p

4. No, I don’t know what to do about ghosts, Servos, and plantsims -- I’ve never played with any of those life states, so I don’t have enough ideas on how perk or power trees would work with them (particularly Servos, as they’re robots and thus a very unique type of Sim -- don’t they already have specific upgrade paths they can do for themselves?). Though I will say that ghosts should not have normal Sim needs -- I think their needs should be frozen in a way that makes sense for how they died instead (like a Sim who starved is always hungry, one who was eaten by the Mother Plant is always stinky from alien goo, one who drowned always has low energy, etc). I leave it up to you guys to think of good ways to fix them!

So yeah -- standardized UIs and power/perk trees for all; books with fun lore, fluff, and the occasional special bonus; and more options for each different occult type to interact with each other. Sounds good, right? Let me know what you think!

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oblivionsdream · 9 months

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What is the best book y'all have read this year? I desperately need one that will hold my attention.

#im just looking for recs #there are books i want to read but am just not in the mood for those particularly stories at the moment

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chiropteracupola · 11 months

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took the chance to scribble up a plague pigeon for @quezify's dtiys...

#em draws stuff #juneeuthanasia #fun was had!!!#I wanted to make this look like a stained old print and I'm particularly pleased with the moldering-bleeding-ink effect #as well as getting that gold to look like a thicker layer over the imaginary paper!#have been Studying quezify's meat artwork for Some Time so had to grab the excuse to be drawing their character #and I was looking up pictures of lancets for other reasons but thought that one of those might suit them nicely #...also proceeded through Several more animorphs books while merrily crosshatching along and it turned out to be not at all a bad combo.

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thedreadvampy · 1 year

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sorry I'm on one now. Narnia is one of my Big Rant triggers.

but like. I would be lying if I said I didn't love Narnia

(everything except the Horse and His Boy, which a) even as a tiny kid made me uncomfortable with how fucking racist it is (literally there is ONE. ONE. character of colour who isn't evil, selfish, greedy and violent. even when you're 5 and white and don't really understand racism it's like. sorry there are just no nice people in this whole country? and every Narnian is lovely?) and b) is just fucking DULL partly bc of the 2 dimensional racist caricatures populating the world)

but I can't pretend for a second that it isn't specifically built around a Christian theology that's explicitly racist, hierarchical, supremacist, colonialist and The Bits I Like Least Of Anglicanism

and my FAVOURITE books in the series (except the Silver Chair which tbh is WAY less theological and way more mythology-nerd) are the first and last, which are by far the most explicitly Christian. even more so than TLTWATW.

and I can just about stand by the Magician's Nephew bc it's mostly just a mix of Christian creation myth and CS Lewis's sci fi interests in the esoteric and multiverses and it honestly feels fine. but my all time favourite most iconic Narnia book is The Last Battle and I just. cannot. justify it for a second from a political or philosophical standpoint.

it's got it all bc it's the book where Lewis is like ok hold up let me lay out explicitly what my theology is. and what he thinks it's important to say is:

Almost all Muslims are bad and evil

They worship Satan by doing Bad Evil Deeds to please him

There are a couple of Good Muslims who do good deeds. they need to be brought to the light, understand that the voice calling them to do good deeds is the Christian god, and they too can achieve the kingdom of heaven

Some people will use Christianity as a mask for exploitation and mistreatment. They are bad and their faith is false (ok fine)

...and they're doing that because they're CONSPIRING WITH THE EVIL MUSLIMS TO OPPRESS GOOD CHRISTIANS

...and THAT'S THE ONLY REASON ANYONE WOULD TELL YOU THAT GOD AND ALLAH ARE DIFFERENT NAMES FOR THE SAME GOD. because they're either conning you or because they've been misled and can't really think for themselves.

DID I MENTION. THAT MUSLIMS ARE EVIL AND TRYING TO BRING DOWN CHRISTIANS.

and other than the GOD AREN'T MUSLIMS JUST THE WORST of it all, he also goes back over to more fully explain several points he's made throughout the series, such as:

white Christian public school kids are the god ordained leaders of the world and attempts to think otherwise are heretical

god places people where they need to be to serve his purpose

free will is largely an illusion - your only choice is faith or chaos, and as a godly person your actions are preordained

the problem is though. he's kind of a really good character writer? and in The Last Battle he pulls out most of his best classics (hi Reepicheep! hi Frank! hi Jill!) and gives us a whole wealth of really fun new characters (Tirian and Jewel, Emeth, Puzzle, Shift, Griffle and Ginger are all just SO FUN) and it's such a solid adventure. for me it's hands down the most FUN Narnia to read and an effective and affecting end to the series.

but like. god its unjustifiably fucked philosophy is baked into every single character and event. it's so hard to ignore. it's my favourite book in the series. it's the book that makes me angriest. it's everything right with Narnia and everything wrong with Narnia. I like it cause it asks me to engage critically with Lewis' philosophy and I hate it cause it requires me to engage critically with Lewis' philosophy.

in conclusion, Narnia is a land of contrasts. also occasionally brownface.

#red said #i love these books. i love the last battle especially.#fuck me they're awful philosophically though #they were probably the first chapter books i read when i was 3 or 4. they are such a big part of my life.#and I've always loved them and i still do. I'm so fond of them.#and part of that is inextricable from the Christianity of them. i think there's something really fun and interesting in the fusion of #christian myth and celtic paganism and classical myth and arthuriana and new age mysticism and sci fi multiverse stuff #like it's not. new to blend those things. but lewis is such a nerd about all of them and he blends them up in a really flavourful way #and also i think like as a kid. the utter claroty with which These Are Metaphors About Theology And Philosophy #really worked for me even though I disagreed with most of it. because it kind of wants to engage with you directly as a child #it is. to me. pretty honest about its intentions. and it digs into some moderately complex ideas for a young audience.#like they're parables not morality plays. the Goddier ones are inviting you to think and engage in a conversation about the ideas #which tbh. not a lot of kid's books did at the time and age i was reading them?#they wanted me to be thinking about the whys and hows of morality. like obviously Lewis SUPER has an opinion on the Right Answers #(i would usually. say we're diametrically opposed on most conclusions but then i was rooting for Jadis' army in LWW)#but idk Lewis's theology is interesting. he's very much pro faith and determinism but he ALSO thinks you should question stuff i think #like. it's often kind of self-contradictory but the books are pretty pro asking questions pushing back straying from the path #as long as you come back #and the last battle particularly is really clear that you're not doing a good job of engaging with faith if you don't think about it #like other than MUSLIMS ARE EVIL AND BAD the main message of the last battle is.#if you don't think critically about faith then someone else will think for you and fuck you over #tirian is our hero bc he has a personal and often uncertain relationship with faith that means he refuses to get swept up in the crowd #puzzle is painted as someone who is too scared of conflict to voice his concerns #he's prepared to believe he's too stupid to have his own questions or relationship with faith and so he becomes a tool of the powerful #because he is told to trust the teachings of the church not his own heart #now. do i think this is philosophically good? generally yes but it also props up the I'M A BOLD TRUTHTELLER AGAINST THE ESTABLISHMENT #reactionary tendency. and it's written by a guy whose Unpopular Truthtelling is partly 'Allah is Satan' so. grains of salt.#buuuuut. it's probably why it resonates a lot with people like me or my mum who as kids often felt constrained or patronised #by the way adults approach obedience and blind faith #like. Lewis is advocating for FAITH. he DOESN'T think that faith should be uncritical or without discomfort

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stories-by-rie · 1 year

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time for sort-of ✨news✨

hello and welcome to me giving up my pseudoanonymity. in other news, i have started being active on instagram, because as i try to get closer to actually publishing something (the five senses), it is a pain i have to bear. let's share! if you're on instagram and interested in my attempt to sell my authorsona, you can find me at henriette.c.rigel <- my pen-name

i largely offer the same thing as i do on here, which is my obsession with critters and green things, and also my cat (lorge critter).

the only deal-breaker is that it's instagram and also the way-too-long captions are in german but who cares if you get to see pictures of one snail and multiple mushrooms? exactly. (also there's a translation button at the bottom. it doesn't work that well.)

at the moment i don't have many people to follow yet, so let's make it even and tell me your handles as well i am so bored there :3

#writeblr #instagram #because i'm a professionaaaaaal #jk #also heads up imma change my pfp soon don't be scared #gonna reblob with the official stuff taglist and also the link #i don't want to follow all those shiny instagram book people where's the chaos group at #tell me #will i regret this? who knows. time will tell.#i've thought about this for half a year now #but today i feel particularly daring

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bluesadansey · 11 months

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#listen I think I have a right to experience A Lot of annoyance over all this because I had to see ‘criticisms’ like that so often #this is a particularly hilarious one the same level as the people complaining about Daisy and Billy being the only ones on the Aurora cover #(there are changes with the shoot but them being the only two on the cover is the same as in the book lmao ya’ll can not read apparently #‘it’s an insult to the message of the book because it’s supposed to be the whole band on the cover and not just the Billy and Daisy show uw #you are talking about the scene in the book where the entire band in interview is mad/bitter about how they ended up going with only DB #on the cover even years later while Daisy and Billy in their interviews gush over how gorgeous and iconic the cover featuring just them is #like … ya’ll are conflating a general sentiment those chars were allowed to express with what the actual scene was grrr #it’s one of the best funniest parts of the book too like I love that part…#and if the complaint was ‘I’m sad the other interviews weren’t as extensive at that part in the show’ totally would be valid crit to me #I would have liked them to show everyone reacting in interviews too (they did show them esp Eddie be unhappy about it but #your right there wasn’t as much specific exploration in the show of how the side chars were effected. But they’re still side chars with sid #plots in the book lol #also only Karen actually deserves to be explored as a char the rest I’m more than fine with getting less and then instead investing far mor #in developing Simone’s plot and arc.)#there’s stuff with Graham I do think could have been useful/worth while thematically if they’d had the 13eps and could do it all (and I’m a #Graham hater xd) but I certainly wouldn’t prioritize it over the things the show did focus on #and it’s not remotely high on my list of things they didn’t focus on as much as I wanted. ofc #in fact like I said… I thought it was so funny they did not gaf about the Dunne brothers relationship 😭#like it is an interesting dynamic in the book there are good scenes. but I’m obsessed with their choice to not give anything to any of #Billy’s dynamics that aren’t the love triangle points and Teddy. respectable af #vs Daisy and to a lesser extent Camila both have way more developed dynamics outside of him incred #(another reason ‘they made Daisy and Camila center around Billy’ crit makes me roll my eyes #like in the sense that the love triangle is elevated in terms of focus sure. and people are free to have qualms about that choice #basically saying the show prioritized the romance for the characters and char work is accurate. saying they did that more for the girls and #less for Billy idk what show you were watching

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someone-always-cares · 11 months

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chapter 5, page 41

first - previous - next

[image description: an sac webcomic page. “i was literally mid-sentance, what was that for- and they’re gone. great” jade says, turns around to face where split was, angrily. “...woah” says lewis, looking back. “Well that's the second time we've been booted out of a place by a friend with some weird eye thing going on, and hopefully that's not a sign.” jade says, turned back over to lewis. “was that, uh, fast travel?” lewis asks, holding the not bloody corner of the business card in his mouth to sign. “no, she can’t teleport, he just pauses time. lucky bastard. what was faer deal anyway? we don’t have time for this shit!” she continues. “actually i... i got the address” lewis responds, handing over the business card. “the creepy guy in the back gave it to me after i bit him”. he continues. “that’s great! no time to waste, let’s- i’m sorry, you bit him??” end id]

I so badly want to print this comic but there’s so many things i need to do first and the start of that list is “figure out what things i need to do”.

also looking into making washi tape, pins, and keychains which are much simpler to make but still kinda pricy.

#sac #someone always cares #if you ever see me having an actual phone number thats because its not real and one of the numbers thats reserved for #tv shows and shit that arent real numbers #however i am trusting wikipedia on that i am not fact checking #email.com is apparently a real email place though?#also the things i need to do include spell checking all the previous pages because im bad at spelling and idk where i can pay someone else #to do that because i probably wont be able to do that myself #the other things include: making sure i can even use the pages for print comics #checking all the pages to make sure all the dark scenes are legible and the colours work well in the conversion from rgb to cmyk #and fixing the ones that dont #adding page numbers and bonus pages and little details #need to go back and tweak a few things also i have a list for that #also figure out how kickstarter works #hopefully by then i will also figure out how overseas shipping works #thinking of starting book 1 with chapters 1/2/3 because that feels best to me #also mayyybeee redoing the prologue. i dont want to remake any pages but those ones are. particularly bad

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mejomonster · 2 years

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THE CATHOLIC HORROR OF IT ALL

NOW THIS IS WHAT I WANT OF A FUCKING VAMPIRE STORY

The blood the horror the god the devil the unknown the romance the sensuality

And dear fuck I unfortunately get it Louis. "To be your beautiful self, for all eternity" Oh to be promised the freedom to embrace who you are and be Seen for who you are when you feel trapped and that yourself is your torment and that your life has been wearing masks for other people and desperately trying to please them all only to fail in tje worst of ways to the point you hate yourself, reject yourself, don't even dare to face yourself and acknowledge it

Alright alright ALRIGHT

#lb #amc iwtv #GREAT anyway thats my review #so. so many vamp shows of the last 20 years took out the HORROR aspect of vampire romance #like excepr Jennifers Body. Hannibal. Killing Eve. THOSE had the horror u want in vampiric romance #like Strangers from Hell. god yes #and then also??? just peak catholic horror jesus fuck #im not catholic but dad was raised catholic as was that whole side of family #and i certainly know the repression and duty and quiet hold tightness i held #and how much worse it was for the gwneration above me #and these scenes SCREAMED thw vampirw chroniclws are influenced by particularly catholic adjacent experience #and thats very true of the books and likewise felt here #very The Guest in how it nails that catholic experience to slight degrees #and again. this is Not a faithful adaptation of course not.#but it is an AU and it is q vampire story hitting the queerness overtly i want of my vampires.#hitting thw freedom and horror and romance and unknown #hitting the balance of monstrosity and able to do Anything #the immortal horror of the freedom to Have what you want and Be who you are and the terror of facing it for reality #oh and god. the way Lestat is perfect #so on point him and Louis. Lestat is The vampire bad boy seductress who loves and kills #that spike was surely influenced by but was Not. that MANY a vampire in modern tv #was influenced by but never was #anyway Loved the premeire

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iamthepulta · 6 months

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It's funny, when I edit, the most numerous changes I make are shifting statements of fact before reasonings: "Westlie's stomach churned. She knew his tolerance mask, otherwise she would've called the look fond." vs "Westlie knew his tolerance mask, otherwise she would've called the look fond. Her stomach churned."

I'm not sure if there's a 'rule' for it in creative writing, or if Facts before Reasonings are the best way to handle those sentences, but that's the order my brain prefers reading this; although clearly when I'm writing, my brain prefers the second. Just something I've noticed when I go back. Maybe I'll look up alternatives and suggestions later.

#reference #writing #ptxt #One of those things when I read books I want to focus on particularly and see how different authors handle it.

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amani-outrider · 1 year

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I’m struggling to find a character this expansion that I’ll go apeshit over and create 5000 pieces of art/writing for

#perhaps it is mostly because I have not particularly followed dragon lore that much??#idk I was never super into them in general besides ooo cool dragons with powers stuff #the worst is that I want to turn the obsidian outcasts into Something because they're based on my beloved book series #but that's about it??? and it's not even a strong desire to do that :(#i wish I could get more into it all #i just wanna stay in the shadowlands with all those characters and stories and dynamics that NEVER GOT TOUCHED AGIAN DGOSDIJASFA #amani chattering

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lenievi · 1 year

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I think the problem with TOS and me is that I need everything to follow a certain formula which includes McCoy being the one dealing with Kirk’s moods. If Kirk feels down or has a problem, I need it to be McCoy he talks to. I need it to be McCoy who gives him an advice. Spock can give him an advice too, but McCoy’s advice either needs to follow or precede (but usually follow) – because that’s the formula the show follows.

I know other people probably want more variety, but I’m very simple and want the same thing again and again, even if it only reduces McCoy to a character who’s written around Kirk. Because he is. He’s written around Kirk and Spock because he is a tool to express their emotions when neither of them can express them.

And I feel like when the show’s traditional trio roles are broken, it never works for me. Neither Kirk nor Spock can work without McCoy. I’m not saying it because I like McCoy, it’s just that you literally can’t take him out because then you even lose the kind of relationship Spock and Kirk have in the show imho

And that’s why I think a lot of novels just won’t ever work for me perfectly because a lot of authors 1. don’t know how to write McCoy 2. don’t know what role to give him because they refuse to give him his role in the show - i.e. be Kirk’s confidant. Some authors know what to do with him, but it’s rare.

#i wrote this yesterday because of something in ex machina and then didn't want to publish it but i guess i can just do it as a follow up #to the reblogged post #where i had the kirk-mccoy be less (since at that point i was very sp0nes-y oriented #which showed)#tos nonsense #leni reads trek books #this isn't particularly about ex machina though. it was just 'ah' moment for me #the book is relatively good even though i complain lol #but i don't think it's a good book for mccoy's fans but then again there are different kinds of mccoy's fans #so some might actually read it and consider it in character #i'm just not one of them #and i was glad to see some reviews agree with me when i was looking around yesterday #but there were also a lot of those who didn't see any problems with mccoy's characterization so...#to each their own #and no the problem isn't because kirk doesn't confide in him lol #i was just thinking how that part's really important to me #instead i got mccoy being drunk because of 'reasons'

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