#OUR WORDS ARE PURE INSPIRATION YEARS OF CREATION CHANGING THE NATION

[evertomorrowart]

Best of YouTube 2023

Yes, I did spend the first week and change of January on this. I wish I could have had it done for New Years, but too many people came out with incredible work in December, so waiting turned out for the best.

What these creators do are a huge influence on my life, I would honestly have difficulty doing what I do without them. That isn't to say that my favorites of the year are *only* on this image--It was almost impossible to narrow down my favorites. Many creators I wanted to include couldn't fit on a single page, and too many of them made more than one video I wished I could draw too!

But, to all of you, thank you for what you do. You're an inspiration.

For those who don't know, further is an explanation.

At the bottom center is an artistic masterpiece by Defunctland: "Journey to EPCOT Center: A Symphonic History." Over the last several years, Defunctland has risen from delightfully-entertaining commentary on decommissioned theme park attractions to occasionally dropping profound statements on the creation of art itself. "Journey to EPCOT Center: A Symphonic History" is worth treating like the cinematic experience it is: No second screen, you sit your ass down in front of a TV, set down the phone, and then you *watch it.* Any Disney, theme park, or independent film fan needs to pay attention to this one.

Bottom left is Caelan Conrad with their piece "Drop the T - The Deadly Consequences of Gay Respectability Politics." While I do think they've done more visually or artistically-daring pieces before, "Drop the T" is one of the most important videos released on YouTube in today's current climate of hate. We as queer folk (and our allies) need to understand how integral every identity of the queer experience has been since the start of the Civil Rights movement (and before!). While we are not identical, we *are* inseparable, and we deserve having our real history easily accessible.

TERFs and other conservative mouthpieces need not reply. Your opinions are trash. 😘

I cannot stop watching and rewatching this video by @patricia-taxxon, "On the Ethics of Boinking Animal People." It's not just a defense of furry fandom and its eccentricities, it's a thoughtful and passionate analysis of what the artform achieves that purely human representation can't. Patricia goes outside of her usual essay format to directly speak to the viewer about the elements that define furry media (the most succinct definition I've ever heard) and just how *human* an act loving animal cartoons really is.

As an artist who can draw furry characters, but never really got into erotic furry art, this video is a treasure. Why did I choose to have her drawn as a Ghibli character, hanging out with one of the tanukis from "Pom Poko?" Guess you'll have to watch, bruh.

Philosophy Tube continuously puts out videos that I would put on this list--I'm not even sure that "A Man Plagiarised my Work: Women, Money, and the Nation" is the best work she released in 2023. However, this video got many conversations going between myself and my partner, and the twist on the tail end of the video shocked us both to such a degree that I had no choice.

At the very tail end of the year, Big Joel released "Fear of Death." On his Little Joel channel, he described it as the singularly best video he's ever done, and I'm inclined to agree. However, for this illustration, I ended up repeatedly going back to a mini-series he did earlier in the year: "Three Stories at the End of the World." All three videos are deeply moving and haunting, and I was brought to tears by "We Must Destroy What the Bomb Cannot." While it may be relatively-common knowledge that the original Gojira (Godzilla) film is horror grappling with the devastation America's rush to atomic dominance inflicted on Japan, Big Joel still manages to bring new words to the discussion. Please watch all three of the videos, but if, for some reason, you must have only one, let it be "We Must Destroy What the Bomb Cannot."

Y'all. Let me confess something. I hate football. I hate watching it, I associate seeing it from the stadiums with some of my worst childhood experiences, I despise collegiate and professional football (as institutions that destroy bodies and offer up children at the feet of its alter as a pillar of American culture)--

I. L o a t h e. Football.

But.

F.D. Signifier could get me to watch an entire hour-plus essay on why I should at least give a passing care. AND HE DID IT. I might think "F*ck the Police," the two-parter on Black conservatism, or his essay on Black men's connection to anime might be "better" videos, but this writer did the impossible and held my limited attention span towards football long enough to make a sincere case for NFL players--and reminds us that millionaires can *in fact* be workers. That alone is testament to his skill.

Sit down and watch "The REAL Reason NFL Running Backs Aren't Getting Paid." Any good anti-capitalist owes it to themselves.

CJ the X continuously puts out stunning, emotional videos, and can do it with the most seemingly-inconsequential starting points. A 30 second song? An incestuous commercial? Five minutes of Tangled? Sure, why not. Go destroy yourself emotionally by watching them. I'm serious. Do it.

Their video Stranger Things and the Meaning of Life manages to to remind us all why the way we react to media does, in fact, matter. Yes, even nostalgia-driven, mass-media schlock. Yes, how we interact with media matters, what it says about us matters, and we all deserve to seek out the whys.

Folding Ideas has spent the last few years articulating exactly why so much of our modern world feels broken, and because of that his voice continuously lives rent-free in my brain. While the tricks that scam artists and grifters use to try to swindle us are never new, the advancement of technology changes the aesthetics of their performances. Portions of Folding Ideas' explanations might seem dry when going into detail of how stocks work in This is Financial Advice, but every bit of it is necessary to peel back the layers of techno-babble and jargon and make sense of the results of "Meme Stocks."

Jessie Gender puts out nothing but bangers, her absolute unit of a video about Star Wars might be my new favorite thing ever, but none of her work hit so profoundly in 2023 than the two-parter "The Myth of 'Male Socialization'" and "The Trauma of Masculinity." There's so much about modern life that isolates and traumatizes us, and so much of it is just shrugged off as "normal." We owe it to ourselves to see the world in more vivid a color palette than we're initially given.

Panels drawn after Kate Beaton and "Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands."

"This is Not a Video Essay" is one of the most intense and beautiful pieces of art I've ever put into my eyeballs. Why do we create? What drives us to connect?

I don't even know what else to say about the Leftist Cooks' work, it repeatedly transcends the medium and platform. Watch every single one of their videos, but especially this one.

The likelihood you are terminally online and yet haven't heard of Hbomberguy's yearly forrays into destroying the careers of awful people is pretty slim. Just because it has millions of views doesn't mean that Hbomberguy's "Plagiarism and You(Tube)" isn't worth the hype. Too long? Shut up, it has chapters and YouTube holds your place, anyway. You think a deep dive into a handful of creators is only meaningless drama? Well, you're wrong, you wrong-opinion-haver. Plagiarism is an *everyone* problem because of the actual harm it creates--the history it erases, the labor it devalues, the art it marginalizes--which you would know if you watched "Plagiarism and You(Tube)".

Watch. The damn. Video.

In fact, watch all of them!

Thanks for reading this if you did.

#fanart #digital art #caricature #kate beaton #ducks #stranger things #apes #youtube #2023 #best of 2023 #video essay #hbomberguy #leftist cooks #cj the x #big joel #jessie gender #folding ideas #dan olson #jessie earl #neil and sarah #fd signifier #f.d. signifier #little joel #gojira #godzilla #philosophy tube #abigail thorn #caelan conrad #patricia taxxon #defunctland

[chansaw]

hey guys friendly reminder that uhhhh we are the soul of the school the pride in the name the heart and the flame. our words are pure inspiration years of creation changing the nation. if you even care

#we are the tigers

[1-800-vampires]

we are the soul of the school the pride in the name the heart and the flame our words are pure inspiration years of creation changing the nation:

#we are the tigers #watt #i saw sydney? i think doing this in a video at the reunion

[dfroza]

it seems the whole world can be valued in dollars

and we do need a method of exchange, for work done and for goods & services, for gifts and inheritances.

yet the value of paper currency falls over time decreasing purchasing power, and the value of work doesn’t always keep up with the inflation.

long ago people weighed out gold & silver as money for exchange, which is honest (if the scales were honest) since the weight of authentic gold and silver doesn’t change. gravity holds it in place. but it is quite heavy to move around. yet, nations have been born and fallen according to their wealth and many wars have been fought over gold. and then there’s oil where we’ve seen much of the same. this world is a power struggle, in the natural and spiritually.

earth contains many natural resources that have been mined, and it all actually belongs to our Creator. the economic world ruled by men and governments has been far from a perfect method, and eventually it will become a force of control over the whole world. yet, it is destined to fall as well. this world we now see and live in, along with its vast technological developments is all a temporal state of being. eventually the eternal King will return from Heaven to restore the True nature of things. the very planet we now see is destined to be removed at some point, with its long and tragic History of sin and death, to be burned by fire. God will make A new earth where Justice and peace is secure. it will be pure.

A reprise of Today’s closing chapter of the ancient letter of 2nd Peter:

This is now, my dear friends, my second letter to you. In both of them, I have tried to inspire you to a sincere and pure way of thinking by reminding you of what you already know. Remember the words spoken earlier by God’s holy prophets and the commandment that our Lord and Savior gave to you through your emissaries. Above all, be sure to remember that in the last days mockers will come, following their own desires and taunting you, saying, “So what happened to the promised second coming of Jesus? For everything keeps going just the way it has since our ancestors fell asleep in death; since the beginning of creation, nothing’s changed.”

When they make fun of you, it’s as if the scoffers are deliberately forgetting that long ago when God spoke the word, the heavens came into existence and the earth formed from water and by water. The waters later flooded and destroyed that world. By that same word, the heavens and earth we see now are being reserved for destruction by fire, preserved until the time comes for the godless on the day of judgment.

Don’t imagine, dear friends, that God’s timetable is the same as ours; as the psalm says, for with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day.

Now the Lord is not slow about enacting His promise—slow is how some people want to characterize it—no, He is not slow but patient and merciful to you, not wanting anyone to be destroyed, but wanting everyone to turn away from following his own path and to turn toward God’s.

The day of the Lord will come unexpectedly like a thief in the night; and on that day, the sky will vanish with a roar, the elements will melt with intense heat, and the earth and all the works done on it will be seen as they truly are. Knowing that one day all this will come to pass, think what sort of people you ought to be—how you should be living faithful and godly lives, waiting hopefully for and hastening the coming of God’s day when the heavens will vanish in flames and the elements melt away with intense heat. What will happen next, and what we hope for, is what God promised: a new heaven and a new earth where justice reigns.

So, my friends, while we wait for the day of the Lord, work hard to live in peace, without flaw or blemish; and look at the patience of the Lord as your salvation. Our dearly loved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, has written about this. He says essentially the same in all of his letters, although uneducated and unstable readers misinterpret the difficult passages, just as they always misread Scripture, to their spiritual ruin.

So hear my final words, my friends. Now that I have warned you about what’s ahead, keep up your guard and don’t let unprincipled people pull you away from the sure ground of the truth with their lies and misunderstandings. Instead, grow in grace and in the true knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Anointed, to whom be glory, now and until the coming of the new age. Amen.

The Letter of 2nd Peter, Chapter 3 (The Voice)

[thewhizzyhead]

are we the tigers?

not only are we the tigers, we are the mighty mighty tigers ey

#we are also tHE SOUL OF THE SCHOOL THE PRIDE IN THE NAME THE HEART AND THE FLAAAME #OUR WORDS ARE PURE INSPIRATION YEARS OF CREATION CHANGING THE NATION #also HEYO SILV hope ur day's going well so far yayay #silverpetals97 (silv!) #ask me stuff

[sapph0sfriend]

Fuck dude we sure are the soul of the school the pride in the name the heart and the flame our words sure are pure inspiration years of creation changing the nation

#We are the tigers #watt

[murdercheerleadersincorrect]

Cairo: Last night I found out Riley is a sleep-talker.

Reese: Really?

Cairo: Yep. “We are the soul of the school, the pride in the name, the heart and the flame. Our words are pure inspiration, years of creation, changing the nation. We’ll give you something to hold onto when you think your time is up. We’ll give you just the song you want to hear when you’re out of luck” right. In. My. Ear. At. 3. AM.

#we are the tigers #incorrect quotes #cairo watt #riley williams #reese watt #cheer wives

[pieceofcrap-withapen]

Hey not to be dramatic but we are the soul of the school the pride in the name the heart and the flame, our words are pure inspiration years of creation changing the nation

#we are the tigers #watt

[colony22graphics]

Welcome to Colony 22′s Holiday AU Bingo Challenge!

Since the last AU Bingo board was such a hit, we decided now would be the perfect time for volume 2—holiday style! It’s our hope that this little (totally optional) game will help give you fun bursts of muse during a quieter season on the dash, and lots of engaging things to explore, whether you’re interested in canon self-paras or headcanons, non-canon AU threads, or playful graphics, for yourself or for others!

Of course as it is not actually December in the RP verse, the ‘holiday’ theme is mostly for us muns, but is also intentionally vague—you may explore any holiday, family gathering, religious or non-religious tradition that strikes your fancy or that inspires you based on the tiles above! (i.e. in the RP verse, it’s actually around Passover time, so you may prefer to explore something along those themes, or any other holiday your character(s) would have participated in—or even decidedly not participated in). I also know snow and winter and some of the traditions references don’t apply to everyone for the December holidays, but feel free to get creative and explore them in whatever way you like!

How it Works

Each square on the board has a theme that you can incorporate into any kind of creative work you wish! The WHITE tiles (trope themes) are specifically AU, and are intended for any written or other creative works that involve other characters from the RP but are intentionally an Alternate Universe and therefore non-canon. (Of course, mentions/inclusions of characters other than your own in self-paras etc will require the consent of other muns!) The BLUE tiles, however, are WORD PROMPTS and can also be used to explore canon things, including flashbacks/self-paras, moodboards, headcanons, etc. (If you choose to do any of these blue tile word prompts as AUs instead, then be sure it’s clearly labelled as such!)

Additionally, for the AU Themes, if you are interested in writing threads with other players, you are certainly welcome to do them as paras (might be a great opportunity if you need to up your para counts) but you are also welcome to explore chat threads—and here’s a fun kicker: if you wish, you may choose alternate faceclaims for the threads, if the AU involves any age changes (your character as a kid or teenager, or perhaps your character older and married or so on and so forth!) But of course, this is totally optional!

Non-Written Creations

As all media rules still apply, the following submissions should be submitted to the Graphics Blog:

gif sets

graphics

visual artwork (i.e. sketches, drawings, paintings etc etc)

video edits

playlists (with cover art)

[ As always, you will be properly credited for all your work, and you are always welcome to add your own credit text in the description of your submission and format it any way you like! ]

[ submit here ]

Written Work

Written work (self-paras, para or chat threads, poetry, miscellaneous ~experimental~ wordy things) can be posted on your own character account as long as it is clearly marked in the title to indicate that it’s an AU bingo activity or canon flashback/word prompt/headcanon etc and everything should be tagged with #col22bingo, so that the mods can easily locate it and there is no confusion. Feel free also to track the tag!

Please also note in the TITLE (and separately in tags if you wish) which square the submission/creation is for. Some of them are going to be super obvious, but some may not be, and it’ll make things a lot easier for the mods to track if you title and tag them appropriately!

Some Theme Examples

As you can see, most of the categories are pretty self explanatory, but we thought a couple of them would benefit from a bit of clarification, so:

National Lampoon AU: Inspired by the classic Christmas film “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” this tile is basically looking for anything involving family gatherings and the chaos/absurdity/disaster that often comes with it. First holiday shared with the crazy in-laws? Family members or exes who absolutely can’t be in the same room but are in the same room? Over crowded homes with cousins and uncles sleeping on couches and air-mattresses? Disastrous cooking or decorating or gathering fiascos? Basically, you name it, and we’ll be here for it—with popcorn. 

Home Alone AU: A Macaulay Culkin style adventure—feel free to explore the ‘getting left behind at the airport’ element, the ‘going ham on home intruders’ element, any creative variation of such scenarios, or all of the above! This might be an example of one that works well as a crossover idea!

Holiday “Spirits” AU: Get into the Holiday Spirit by breaking out those Holiday Spirits!! As in, any scenario involving getting tipsy (or downright sloshed) on eggnog or liqueur or wine (the list goes on and on.) This doesn’t have to be your character, of course, it can be any combination of scenarios, just something about celebratory drinks (or lack there of!) Reminder to please tag any triggers where it might be appropriate! 

Pantomime AU: A very British Christmas tradition of comedic, fantastical stage performances often based on well known children’s stories, with encouraged (and silly) interactions from the audience. If you’re not British, but you’ve ever been to a Rocky Horror performance, it might be a little bit like that. Read about this fabulous and fun tradition here. 

"The tree” AU: This one is a bit more Christmas specific, but any scenario involving getting a tree—whether it be buying a real one from a market, fetching one from the woods and bringing it home, putting up a fake one, decorating, arguing... and of course, if you’re looking for chaos, any fiascos that may come with any of these scenarios!

Closing Details

Just like last time, this is purely for fun and there is zero pressure to participate if it doesn’t tickle your fancy, but if you do want to, you can track your progress on the board located on the graphics blog here. (We will update as frequently as we can, but it may take up to a day or two for your results to appear!)

During the course of this challenge, we will post updates whenever someone achieves a line, (or if by some miracle, someone goes for a blackout!) There are no prizes, but there are definitely bragging rights. For the time being, the end date of this challenge is TBD, but it will likely last through January. It doesn’t feel particularly necessary to close these things super quickly, but we may at some point stop tracking the results, and we’ll let you know when that happens!

As always, if you have any questions at all about the game, submission types or any of the AU themes or prompts, please hit us up on the main blog ask and we’ll be glad to help! We will tag all posts and answers regarding this challenge with col22bingo so you can easily find it in the tags or on the main blog!

And finally, to every member of this little star RP fam, new and old and everything in between, thank you for an amazing year. Though 2020 was rough on all accounts and for everyone, this community and you fabulous people helped to provide an oasis of safety and imagination to escape to when things on the outside got bad. I know I speak for just about every last one of us when I say I seriously don’t know where I would have been all year without you guys. All the mods and I are so, so grateful for your continued, absolutely staggering loyalty and commitment. So here’s to another incredible year at Colony 22! Let’s finish off our 7th year right!

Lots of love, and have fun!!

Col22!Mods

#col22bingo #literate rp #original rp #mature rp #bio rp

[acevity]

Our words are pure inspiration Years of creation Changing the nation

ive literally not stopped listening to Defense for like the past three days,,

#miaou #artcrylic #dune #dubia #lyre #hook #lime #aka 'The Manticore sibs (and One Gargoyle Gf) beat the shit out of grom with cheerleading' #i only own lyre and dune (pure purple and pure orange) the rest are owned by azyyy (caramelbites) #fucking HYPED. this song gets me so hyped with the build up i LOVE build up in songss

[lesducks]

pop quiz!

are we:

a. the soul of the school

b. the pride

c. the name

d. the heart

e. the flame

are our words:

a. pure inspiration

b. years of creation

c. changing the nation

Yes 😌

#silvrware

[azure-firecracker]

WE ARE THE SOUL OF THE SCHOOL, THE PRIDE AND THE NAME, THE HEART AND THE FLAME!

OUR WORDS ARE PURE INSPIRATION, YEARS OF CREATION, CHANGING THE NATION.

WE’LL GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO HOLD ONTO, WHEN YOU THINK YOUR TIME IS UP.

WE’LL GIVE YOU JUST THE SONG YOU WANT TO HEAR WHEN YOU’RE OUT OF LUCK.

#we are the tigers #watt #riley williams #look i still exist!

[chansaw]

we are the soul of the school the pride in the name the heart and the flame!!! our words are pure inspiration years of creation changing the nation!!! WE'LL GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO HOLD ONTO WHEN YOU THINK YOUR TIME IS UP! WE'LL GIVE YOU JUST THE SONG YOU WANT TO HEAR WHEN YOU'RE OUT OF LUCK!!!!!!!!!!

[schuylersthelimit]

Now, if you're all done yelling at each other, can we please finally get some work done? We have a bright future here, can't we just put the past behind us and move on?

We are the soul of the school

The pride in the name

The heart and the fl-a-a-me

Our words are pure inspiration

Years of creation

Changing the nation

Riley, maybe we should skip the pep rally-

Why? I'm the best I've ever been. This was the only thing I - we - wanted

D-E-F-E-N-S-E

Tigers go for victory

Stomp, stomp, clap, spin

Tigers fight and Tigers win!

Regionals is almost here

So sTOP CompLaINING

DO THE CHEER

We're not complaining. We're dealing with the death of our friends

No more time gets wasted

If you're gonna have a dream, you have to chase it

Or just as you lose steam, they go and take it

R.I.P. the 'worst team ever'

Riley—

Do you want to settle

Do you want to sit back

And watch life go by-y

Do you want to settle

Or do you want to fly!

This time! I will be stronger

This time! I last longer

This time! I won't waste it

Iwon'twasteit. Iwon'twasteit. Captainoftheteam,wouldyoupleasecometoourparty?Oh my god yourhairlooksgreat

You turned out so w e l l

Riley, can I have the key?

No, Cai.

You can’t.

We all want to go to Regionals, just give me the key-

Who stayed on track when the world was on attack

And when girls don't have your back

You have to c-c-c-c-cut 'em

It was me who decided

We could be so much more

Than they could see

If I didn't do it

What, what, what, what, what would we have DO-O-NE?

We would be NO-O O-NE

Please forgive me for doing what's best for you

Riley is a wallflower

Make this easier

#found this within my 330 drafts- #thought id share #because WHY NOT #we are the tigers musical #watt #the breakdown #watt spoilers #we are the tigers spoilers

[rpgsandbox]

One moment sets the course of destiny.

But what if that one moment was changed in the smallest of ways?

What if one madman's plan actually were to succeed beyond our known history?

Darker Hue Studios presents its second project:

Haunted West, A Historical-Fiction, Weird-Western, Spaghetti-Action Game.

This is a game about hope through struggle. It is a game that pieces together the stories of the largely forgotten people of the Old West, the people who have been whitewashed by history. Discover the American experience in the Weird West.

Grab your rifle, jet pack, and spurs to battle traitorous rebels in the defense of freedom, join the fight against temporally displaced dinosaurs, rustle cattle to make ends meet, and hijack a train full of illicit Confederate gold!

I hope you’ve got the grit and gumption to see this through.

Head 'em up. Move 'em out.

                                               The Train Heist

The Old West—The Wild West, The American Frontier—is one of the world’s most familiar modern myths. The time was draped in ruggedness; there was an idealized dream of freedom, and a notion that just one person could shape the world. That myth belongs to all of us. Yet so many stories of truth, justice, and the American Way have been stolen, erased, and never recorded. Haunted West aims to tell many of those stories, to shine a light on the proud people who shaped America and fought for her just as much as those people whose stories are central to widely-known American folklore.

Haunted West honors the many forgotten voices of the American Frontier, tips its hat to the Weird West genre, rides the trails with the Spaghetti and Hollywood Westerns, and drinks at the saloon with historical truths. It’s a game about our real-world history that does not whitewash it, but instead amplifies the voices that shaped the West, and thereby America, helping define the world. We’ve taken an entirely new approach to the Weird West genre in gaming, with a system built from the ground up to enable you to tell the kind of stories you want, and accurately represent the history of the Old West while running games as gritty or as pulpy as you want.

Haunted West approaches the Weird West in a unique way, riding the rails toward something new. This is fertile ground for all. Haunted West explores the true history of the American Frontier with a focus on the tales of the forgotten, unknown, and overlooked, and all through Weird-West-goggles.

When I was young, growing up in the deep South of Alabama, I would watch Westerns with my grandmother on our one television in the house. Though we weren't always close, we huddled around that TV and explored the great Old West together, and that's how my love for the genre began. The only problem? No one looked like me unless they were cast as the villain or, sometimes, the butt of the joke. Haunted West aims to change that.

In Haunted West you'll battle the Weird, take side jobs to get by, and help shape a nation one step at a time. Experience adventures in the vein of Deadwood, High Noon, Gallowwalkers, Hell on Wheels, The Magnificent Seven, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., and more.

This is a role-playing game inspired by real-life icons such as Bass Reeves, Belle Star, Cathay Williams, Tom Threepersons, Ah Toy, Nat Love, Kate Warne, Jerome Crow Dog, Joaquín Murieta, John Henry Holliday, Lucy Eldine Gonzalez Parsons, Jackson Sundown, Mary Fields, and Fee Lee Wong.

Haunted West hears the voices of the past and amplifies them for all to hear.

"We need to haunt the house of history and listen anew to the ancestors' wisdom." - Maya Angelou

The world of Haunted West: Reconstruction begins close to our known history, but branches off a few years into the Reconstruction era following the Civil War, dropping you in the middle of an evolving historical timeline. The War’s aftermath burns bright in people's minds, no matter if they or their kin fought with the victorious North or the traitorous South.

In our known history, John Wilkes Booth assassinates Abraham Lincoln, which accidentally elevates Andrew Johnson, a Southern former slave owner, into the presidency. He goes on to fight against every change the people, their country, and fallen soldiers had earned.

Haunted West: Reconstruction creates a timeline in which, in addition to killing Lincoln, Booth's assassination plot also kills Johnson as he had originally intended. Lafayette Foster becomes President, and without presidential opposition, the Southern confederates are not allowed back in congress. The land is divided and given to the enslaved people as was actually planned in our known history, changing the power dynamic of America, with black landowners battling against traitors who are terrorizing them and trying to steal their legally-owned land.

We've worked with historians to help us imagine how that new dynamic plays out in our alternate timeline.

We think you'll love exploring the alternate timeline. As a gamer, I love world meta plots but I also like having the ability to run my own game. So in Haunted West we give you options. The game is layered, empowering you to run a purely historical game including many of the forgotten voices of the Old West, where you're more likely to die of dysentery than a bullet; or you may choose to take a turn toward the Spaghetti and Pulp Western; or, my hope is you'll want to take the ride into the alternate timeline which can be played in either gritty or pulp style—your choice.

That’s right, this is an entirely new system specifically designed with the Narrator's and players' enjoyment in mind. The system’s core mechanic is a 1d100 based system with some new twists. It’ll feel familiar and easy while having a level of complexity to appeal to old school gamers.

The rules themselves layer on top of each other for ease of use and can be applied in many ways.

Why a New System?: We created a new system to provide exciting versatility of play styles, a system that is tailored to create iconic stories of the West, and a consistent way for you to tell your stories. For me, it was important to have something fresh to empower the player and Narrator alike. The system is easy to pick up for new gamers and has levels of complexity for old school gamers looking for that. But at the heart of it, it’s built to aid in telling stories.

The Essential Mechanics: The ‘Ouroboros System’ is unique in its approach to modular play and has a number of easy-to-apply rules. The core mechanic is a 1D100 roll under system with degrees of success and failure that have different impacts. Skilled Paragons are able to invest a portion of their successes into ‘The River’ and use that portion for a later challenge when the chips are down. Each skill is associated with 1 of 7 different attributes that confer a starting percentage in the skill.

Paragons:  Paragons are our system's player characters. We chose the term 'Paragon' because they are iconic, modeling an aspect of the Old West and larger than life.

                                     Mock Up of Character Sheet

Skinwalkers, vampires, werewolves, aliens, clockworks, monstrosities, magic, and more await you here!

The Weird populates Haunted West on the fringes. People may know about it but rarely discuss it; it's not proper, and if you name it, you give it power. The Weird is rarely in plain sight and anyone that has a touched it is forever changed by it. These folks have seen beyond the horizon and understand the world is more, more dangerous, and more wonderous than anyone imagined. But unlike a Mythos protagonists, the people of the West are made of stern stuff. They don't faint or break easily.

Haunted West builds its Weird from myths, stories passed down from generations, real-world sightings, and from the recesses of our minds. We've got supernatural horrors, science fiction aliens with technology to astound, and more. Stepping out of your door into the world isn't for the faint of heart.  

                                         Artwork: Battling the Weird

Haunted West is a core book containing everything a Narrator needs to run scenarios in the Weird and Wild West. The book itself is an exquisitely designed hardcover 8.5” x 11” book clocking in at well over 130,000 words. Haunted West will be printed in two editions. The first will be available via offset printing for our US customers and the second will be available through DrivethruRPG for our overseas fans which will help to minimize the cost of shipping. Both versions of the book will be FULL COLOR! Our goal is to deliver the book to you Summer 2020.

                            Mock-up cover. Final design is pending.

This hefty tome would give any cowpoke pause from its hidden secret and arcane lore of the past. If you’ve got the resolve, I’ll tell you a bit about it and hold back a few prizes for a surprise when you open the book. Rest assured it’s not a snake in your boot.

A brief, “Howdy, partner!” We’ll chat around the campfire about history, how to apply the Weird, the horrors and wonders of the West, and the new system.

Then we sit a spell at the trading post to make some characters, what we're calling Paragons, and you'll have your choice of 10 distinctive archetypes that cover a lot of ground, enabling players to make any character they can think of. The creative posse has built a detailed Life Path system to guide character creation from your lineage, to your crew, to a few antagonists that don’t fancy your face.

Each Paragon has a couple of aptitudes making them more than a run-of-the-mill town person. Maybe they can shoot a little straighter, train horses a little faster, or rumor has it that some sawbones can bring the dead back to life.

Skills are the salt-of-the-Earth of what a Paragon can do. Qualities are those small traits that make you stand out. It could be something like striking looks, a 500-dollar bounty, or an intimidating gaze that forces any law officer to keep walking.

You can’t have the weird without a little magick. We start the ball rolling with four historically-based Western theme magicks of the time. They've been researched and gamified for those looking to meet at the crossroads to barter with a demon.

                                                     Book excerpt

We'll delve into an engaging narrative about the true West from before time until the early 1900s. Our story is sprawling with unknown visages and we touch on a lot of them, like an old friend buying the first round at the saloon. We’re storytellers crafting a tale that has never been told.

Haunted West takes the reigns and gives you all of the West, above and below to explore. Paragons may be dueling clockwork gunslingers in Deadwood, trading for supplies with the Lakota, holding the line with Texas Rangers against an unknown army, debating Southern politicians in halls of power on the East Coast, or stealing aboard steam-powered cities in the heavens. We are boundless.

The book comes primed with over 50 historical folks for the Paragons to meet, call out, run from, or with whom to posse up. These are real-life icons pulled from history, and their voices are waiting for your breath to make them live again.

See 'Methods of Play' for all the gunslinger goodness.

What kind of no-good scallywag would I be without offering a Narrator a helping hand for running games, discussing the careful economic and racial divides you’ll need to navigate? I am not alone; I've got a crew of diverse voices to help tell the tales.

Haunted West: Reconstruction is the world setting. The entire book up until now has been a historical game plus how to apply the Weird, and this section gives you over 10,000 words dedicated to the alternate timeline. In this timeline, in addition to killing Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth's assassination plot also kills Johnson as he had originally intended. The alternate timeline imagines how this new reality plays out.

The world of Haunted West is a grim place of untold horror, the supernatural, sights that shatter even the toughest gunslinger, with wonders beyond description. It is the Old West—the frontier of America—with her people arriving from every corner of the globe, seeking fortune, fame, and a moment in the sun.

The Paragons encounter rumors of some flying machine beyond description that's leaving mutilated cattle in its wake. They need the thing stopped before they go bust. But a deeper horror awaits those who follow the Aerostat.

We present over 40 creatures pulled from folklore and myths, both supernatural as well as alien, to baffle and combat your players' Paragons.

We’ll have a foldout train map of the United States, a reusable town map, and an old west hex map for miniature combat.  

                                            Artwork: Ghost Town

Kickstarter campaign ends: Fri, November 1 2019 3:00 PM UTC +00:00

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