#The Vampire Players Guide

[st-guliks-fnord]

People who don’t straight up read the sourcebooks are missing out on some banger lines. “A goddammit of Tremere” is fucking hilarious

#vampire the masquerade #vtm #vtm player’s guide #also a big fan of ‘there’s no ethical consumption under vampirism’ from the wta v5 core book #world of darkness

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Vampire: the Masquerade - Player's Guide Cover Art by Clyde Caldwell

#Vampire: The Masquerade #Fantasy #Art #Player's Guide #Covers #Cover Art #Clyde Caldwell

[freckles-and-books]

September TBR

Bring on the gothic, dark academia, mystery, and vampires! Starting with The Cartographers 😊

#books #september tbr #the path of thorns #white is for witching #gentleman and players #the cartographers #the cherry robbers #the southern book club's guide to slaying vampires

[badass-at-fandoming]

New World of Darkness Tabletop Books!

On June 9, 2023, Renegade Con hosted a "Stream of Darkness" as part of Renegade Con: Summer Special Edition. Jason Carl interviewed producer Kevin Schluter about upcoming World of Darkness books. Please everyone join me in the internal screaming.

The whole stream was uploaded to Youtube here.

The tl:dr: Vampire Player's Guide has soft updates, Thin-Blood Alchemy and Blood Sorcery grimoire (!!!!), Tabletop supplement on how to incorporate romance into Vampire (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), Hunters Dark Academia supplement (???), Official Werewolf Dice

Vampire: the Masquerade - Player's Guide

Includes all Clan info and mechanics in one book

Revamps (lol) some Disciplines like Presence and Animalism

Provides alternate Clan Banes

Order here

Vampire: the Masquerade - Blood Sigils

Provides new Blood Sorcery and Thin-Blood Alchemy Powers and Rituals

Provides story hooks to center magic in the chronicle

Pre-order here; should be available in Q4

Hunter: the Reckoning - Lines Drawn in Blood

Four new Story Hooks

They can be linked into one chronicle or played as separate scenarios

Previously mentioned in Renegade Con in March 2023 here

Order here

Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodstained Love

For Players and Storytellers to add, escalate, deescalate, and/or turn tragic romance in Vampire

Provides 6 romancable Storyteller Characters with a variety of genders. Schluter mentioned the cast has she/her, he/him, they/them (singular), and they/them (plural) pronouns

Lots of emphasis put on consent, safety, respect, and comfort of players and Storyteller

Adds new Merits and Flaws, like "Up All Night" which temporarily raises a character's Humanity (dunno how I feel about that)

Adds New Discipline Powers, like "Wingman," which temporarily projects Presence powers to another person

Adds new romantic Blood Sorcery Ritual and Oblivion Ceremony (???)

Suggests off-table play techniques like writing love letters

Pre-order here; expected Q4 release

Hunter: the Reckoning - Alma Maters

Provides 4 large stories hooks set in academic situations around the world. Not necessarily a university! Trade schools, online etc too

Includes research resources and Antagonists. There's an emphasis on investigation, not violence

New player options that lean into an academic background

Ivy League of Darkness lol

Pre-order here; expected Q4 release

Werewolf: the Apocalypse Official Dice Set

Dice make brain go brrrr

Order here

Werewolf: the Apocalypse, Fifth Edition - Core Rulebook is coming! You can pre-order and download a PDF of free sneak peeks here. Carol and Schluter talked about Pack roles and filled out a character sheet during the stream.

Anyway,

#vampire the masquerade #hunter the reckoning #werewolf the apocalypse #vtm #htr #wta #world of darkness #wod #v5 #vtm player's guide #vtm blood sigils #htr lines drawn in blood #vtm bloodstained love #htr alma maters #dice #text post

[vorestarr]

ascended astarion and vampire spouses

so I've been reading the dnd 2e manual "Van Richten's Guide to Vampires" for fic/game inspiration, and there's this really interesting chapter on vampire brides and grooms. after reading it, it's very clear to me that Astarion didn't turn Tav into a typical spawn, but into a vampire spouse, which are two very different rituals with very different outcomes.

the typical vampire spawn creation process is exactly what Astarion describes happening to him: a painful death, a painful rebirth into undeath, fighting his way out of his own coffin, and Cazador's complete control over him. this is described pretty clearly in the guide to vampires:

According to most related tales, a vampire can create another simply by killing a mortal either with its life-energy draining power (draining all the character's experience leveIs) or by exhausting the mortal of his or her blood supply. If the victim's body is not properly destroyed, it arises as a vampire, under the control of the creature who killed it, on the second night following the burial. [...] Most vampires remember the instant of their death and the nature of their killer, and understand immediately their new nature. Certainly their new hunger gives them a good idea of what they have become. They must immediately free themselves from their grave. either by breaking it open from within or by assuming gaseous form and diffusing out.

so that's definitely what happened to Astarion, but that's not what happens to Tav. after ascended Astarion turns Tav into a vampire, they can ask him what happened, and he describes the following:

Astarion: You are so beautiful... And you will be beautiful forever. Thank you for trusting me. Player: What exactly happened? Astarion: You were drained dry, and at the height of your delirium, I granted you one drop of my own blood. Things will be a touch different for you than they were for me when I was a spawn. I'm imbibed with unfathomable new talents. I am fairly certain I can extend Mephistopheles' blessings unto you. Player: Does that mean I need not fear the sun? Astarion: You need not fear anything. You will be stronger, swifter, sharper, but you won't be different. You were already perfect before. It's hard to improve.

for reference, this is how the guide to vampires describes the ritual for vampire spouses:

To actually create the bride, the vampire bestows what is known as the "Dark Kiss". lt samples the blood of its mortal paramour—once, twice, thrice—draining her almost to the point of death. This process causes the subject no pain; in fact, it has been described as the most euphoric, ecstatic experience, in comparison to which all ether pleasures fade into insignificance. Just as the subject is about to slip into the terminal coma from which there is no awakening, the vampire opens a gash in its own flesh—often in its throat—and holds the subject's mouth to the wound, As the burning draught that is the vampire’s blood gushes into the subject's mouth, the primitive feeding instinct is triggered, and she sucks hungrily at the wound, enraptured. With the first taste of the blood, the subject is possessed of great and frenzied strength (Str 18, if the character’s Str isn't already higher), and will use it to prevent the vampire from separating her from the fountain of wonder that is its bleeding wound. lt is at this point that the creator-vampire's strength is most sorely tested. He is weakened by his own blood loss, and also by his own rapture as the "victim" of a dark kiss. Overcoming the sudden loss of strength and the inclinations of lust, the vampire must pull her away from its own throat, hopefully without harming her, before she has overfed. Should the subject be allowed to feed for too long (more than 2 rounds), she is driven totally and incurably insane, and will die in agony within 24 hours. Once the subject has stopped feeding, she falls into a coma that lasts minutes or hours (2dl2 turns), at the end of which time she dies. Several (1 d3) hours later, she arises as a Fledgling vampire—and her creator's bride.

this to me sounds like what Astarion describes. he drains Tav almost dry, and at the very last moment, gives them a single drop of his blood. (also interesting reading this guide, the single drop avoids the problem of the vampire spouse being driven ravenous with hunger for the vampire creator's blood and attacking them. did Astarion know this and give them one drop on purpose to avoid that and Tav potentially being driven mad by it? or was he being selfish and this is just a nice but unanticipated outcome?)

i kept reading and there's a lot more interesting information about vampire spouses, but the most interesting thing I found related to the game was this:

Although there are some folk tales that describe the bride of a vampire as its slave, in much the same way that offspring are slaves, a bride is free-willed from the moment of her creation. The creator vampire does have great influence over the bride. however although this control is totally nonmagical. When a vampire is created in the traditional manner—that is, when a victim's life energy is completely drained away—the new fledgling instinctively understands much about the vampiric way of unlife, and about its own strengths, weaknesses* and needs. Not so the bride.

so basically, the vampire spouse is not tied to the vampire creator in the same way as a spawn (i.e., not able to be fully controlled) but is still extremely reliant on the vampire creator to teach them how to live as a vampire. the guide goes on to describe that some vampire creators may lie to their vampire spouse about the control or powers they have, in order to exert more control over them.

interestingly, if you ask Astarion if he can compel you the way Cazador compelled him, he doesn't give a straight answer, he just says this:

Player: Cazador could compel you - can you compel me? Astarion: Why would I need to? You're going to be wonderfully obedient.

to me, all of this says that Astarion was telling the truth when he told Tav that they would be different from him as a spawn, and also in emphasizing that they are not a spawn but a consort. he didn't create a spawn, he created a vampire spouse. he married Tav, and because of this Tav also retains their free will.

of course, Astarion doesn't say this. if he knows, he withholds this information in much the way that this guide describes, as a way for the creator to maintain more control over their spouse. but still, extremely interesting implications for the ascended Astarion romance, imo.

other interesting facts about vampire spouses from the guide to vampires:

the married couple has telepathic communication that can span miles -- so Tav and Astarion can potentially have a telepathic bond even after the tadpoles are gone. (another note, this communication has to be consensual both ways for it to work, so you can't just dig around someone's mind if they don't want it.)

the vampire creator is extremely jealous and possessive. (yeah lol)

their life forces are linked, so one suffering a great deal is felt by the other.

the bond can be broken, but the ritual to do so has to be initiated by the creator. to break it, they both spill their blood on the ground and allow it to mix. this dissolves all aspects of the bond (i.e., telepathy and linked life forces), but the spouse stays a vampire.

#forgive me if this is already posted somewhere #i went looking for a post like this but tumblr's search system is so abysmal i couldn't find anything #so i'm just posting for my own reference and then tagging it for others in case :) #astarion #ascended astarion #astarion ancunin #astarion romance #for reference #meta #baldur's gate 3

[canyourfavesurvivecastledracula]

Grifter

@would-we-be-friends-if-i asked:

Sophie Devereux (highly capable grifter/pick pocket, is the Dutchess of Hanover)

@pomrania writes:

I've no doubt that the OG Leverage crew (no diss to the new stuff, I'm just not as familiar with it) all together would not only survive, but they'd come out of the whole thing somehow the rightful owners of the castle, and kick the vampires out. Individually... Sophie's skill at social manipulation borders on the supernatural, so I think she'd be fine because nobody would register her as someone they could and/or should act against; she'd be given a ride back to civilization when she wanted it.

@r0sequarks writes:

Sophie is here to steal art, probably. She would not take the crucifix but also probably wouldn’t be shaving, so less of an issue. She is primed to keep Dracula’s attention, and isn’t going to be writing any letters, but is also good enough at reading people to tell something is wrong and go snooping. I’m really torn on how Dracula would react to her trying to con him - bemused, annoyed? - and could see him deliberately turning her, or letting her leave, or killing her, or her escaping.

@darthlordcommie writes:

Sophie: Charms people for survival. Her entire thing would be to be as good of a guest for Dracula as possible, trying to convince him that she'd actually be really useful as a guide in England. Even odds, made better by the fact that she'd take the crucifix.

---------------------------------------------------

I decided to do these in title sequence order, which was a mistake because that means starting with Sophie, and she's a tricky one...

I think...her amazing prowess at social engineering will work against Dracula defensively but not offensively. She's very very good at what she does but I can't see her getting Dracula to give her a ride back to the station, for instance. And while I do think she could convince him that she would be really useful as a guide in England, I don't think she could successfully convince him that she'd need to be alive to fulfill that role. (As an aside, check out a fic called A Tale of Two Counts wherein Jonathan Harker makes a similar mistake). Dracula already knows their relationship is prima facie adversarial - I don't think that even the remarkable Sophie Devereaux can convince a vampire that she's friend not food (Dracula has no compunctions about eating his friends).

For the rest though, she's golden. She is absolutely primed to keep Dracula's attention. I agree that Dracula will not react well to discovering that he's being conned, and they say you can't play a player, but I don't think there's any danger of that. Sophie is just better than he is at this. Dracula's fatal flaw is arrogance, and underestimating his opponents. It won't occur to him that anyone would try such a deception, or try it skillfully - Sophie unarguably can figure him out faster than he can figure her out. And once she does - Scheherezade is the roll she was born to play. She can charm him indefinitely, and more importantly, she can pivot faster than he can.

You seem sure Sophie wouldn't take the crucifix - I am less so. It depends, I suppose, on the type of character she has built going in. And since she's a charmer, I think she's more likely to be playing a character who graciously accepts gifts than one who doesn't. There's the secondary question of whether she keeps it - Jonathan forgets about it entirely, but I doubt Sophie would. She's very concerned about the appearance she's putting forth. If it's not in her character to be wearing such a decoration then yeah she'll take it right off again as soon as she's around the corner. In many ways her fatal flaw is arrogance as well - she's unlikely to be unsettled or deterred by the warnings she receives once she has a goal in mind. But yeah, she's not going to cut her chin shaving so it's a bit moot. If she keeps it, she won't take it off to protect her dreams either I think, so she'd still be wearing it while snooping. But again that may be moot because she's too careful a snooper to pass out on the couch of a room she's been explicitly forbidden to enter. She's going to want to stay close to Dracula. She can't work her charms by avoiding the Mark.

Art theft is a nonstarter here in the Castle, and she is very disappointed about it. She tries to draw Dracula into a conversation about his family history to figure out why tf there are no portraits here and it's very fruitful and I'm sure will be very useful information to have if she ever gets out.

If there were even one other human in the Castle serving Dracula she could turn them. But there aren't, which leaves her kind of stuck in an indefinite holding pattern.

Sophie I would believe speaks Romanian, so she may well enter the Castle with some idea of what she's up against - if she believes what she hears. It will be very important for her not to reveal that she does though. If Dracula figures out that she can communicate with other people, he might clock her as a threat and kill her.

Actually... she may also be able to speak or understand Romani or Slovak, which means there are other humans she might be able to get help from: Dracula's movers. Jonathan was unable to win their allegiance, but Jonathan isn't Sophie Devereaux. If she can get access to them ever. I don't think shouting down at them from her window is going to work, and I don't think she's foolish enough to try and risk getting made. Though possibly some degree of nonverbal flirting might lay the groundwork. If she can establish a rapport with one of them she can probably get him to come upstairs to meet with her on Moving Day (June 30th) and that's her exit strategy. It could work - so long as Dracula doesn't catch her at it.

So yes, Sophie Devereaux can surive Castle Dracula. But I don't think she ever gets a glimpse at the Hoard, which is a great disappointment to her.

#leverage #leverage: redemption #sophie devereaux #crooks #actors #leverage week #aristocrats

[stardustloserdoll]

I would love a vampire bill but we don’t know he’s a vampire til towards the middle when he kisses us can you make that, it’s okay if not!

bloody kisses

the rainy weather was perfect for a scary movie. bill and i decided to hangout tonight to watch one.

“bill you made it!” i jumped pulling him inside my apartment. “yeah! we finished band rehearsal early. i came as fast as i could. i missed you!” bill said kissing my cheek pulling me into a hug. “i also.. brought more snacks.” bill smiled lifting up the bag.

we walked over to the couch and sat down. “oh, lemme put the movie on.” setting down the treats, i walked over to the dvd player and inserted the disc. running back, i cuddled into bills side, pressing the play button on the remote.

“ugh how dumb can you be..” bill shook his head and rolled his eyes as the girl got stabbed by the killer. i chuckled and turned my head to look at him as he watched the movie with a concentrated look on his face.

bill turned his head and smiled, glancing down at my lips, examining my features. “you’re so beautiful.” bill whispered. shaking my head i looked down at my lap. “i’m not.. you are..”

bill lifted my face up and pressed his lips to mine. his lips were soft but cold. as i placing my hands on his shoulders, i felt his cold hands resting on my hips. guiding me on his lap. i then moved one of my hands to hold onto his cheek, tilting my head to deepen the kiss.

as our kiss deepened, i felt a slightly painful nip on my bottom lip. “ow..” i pulled back and touched my lower lip, looking at my finger seeing blood.

“i’m sorry..”bill mumbled as he wiped the slight blood from his lips. as i looked up i noticed he kept his eyes on my bleeding lip and bloody finger.

“bill.” i whispered, noticing his teeth had turned into fangs. “i’m sorry i never told you…i was a vampire i-” “it’s okay.. really. it’s kinda hot” i laughed, hearing him sigh in relief.

when he looked up, i noticed the color of his iris’ had turned a blood red. his black hair framing his face perfectly.

i lifted up my finger to him, feeling his lips meet my finger, cleaning it up. “thanks.” i mumbled, shyly looking up at him.

i noticed a red tint on his lips from the blood, his fangs threatening to seep out. i brought my fingers up to his fangs and glided my fingers against them, feeling the sharpness.

i didn’t care.

i pressed my lips onto his again, feeling him relax into the kiss. the metallic taste in my mouth but ignoring it.

my boyfriends a vampire.

thank you so much for sending in a request! i hope you liked it <3 i tried my best

based on the poll i will be writing smuts so stay tuneddddd 😜

#bill kaulitz #bill kaulitz x reader #bill kaulitz x y/n #bill kaulitz x you #tokio hotel x reader #tokio hotel x you

[rpgsandbox]

Welcome to Yeld! If this is your first time visiting the Magical Land, you're about to discover a hidden world full of adventures and danger! If you've discovered Yeld before, get ready to continue your adventures with a brand new book full of exciting new options and improvements!

The Magical Land of Yeld: 2nd Edition is an all-ages tabletop RPG with a focus on teamwork, exploration and shared storytelling. Our new edition refines and polishes the easy to learn Yeld ruleset and offers new Jobs, new art and lore, new monsters and plenty of quality of life improvements! Check out our Patch Notes to see what's new in Yeld: 2nd Edition!

Backwards compatible! Yeld: 2nd Edition is fully compatible with all of our previously published expansions. No need to re-buy any of those Job Guides! We appreciate your investment and assure you that you'll be able to continue to use your collection of Yeld expansions!

In The Magical Land of Yeld you'll take on the roll of children from our world (called Friends) who discover a land of magic and adventure hidden on the other side of a secret door! Take on heroic Jobs like Shepherd and Witch and set out on a quest across the Magical Land to challenge the infamous Hunters of Yeld and win their keys so you can unlock the door and return home! 

But hurry! If you turn 13 while in Yeld you'll become a monster, and you'll never be able to go home again!

In each Yeld adventure the Game Master leads players through a story full of challenges and monsters, to a final confrontation with a Boss Monster! If the players can defeat the Boss Monster they'll collect treasure and Reward Dice that they can use to customize their Friends!

As players continue their adventures they'll be able to take on the Hunters of Yeld. Each Hunter is a powerful Boss Monster with their own unique story, adventure and treasure. Defeating the Hunters awards the players with their Key, and advanced the players to the next Rank. where they can equip their Friends with more powerful equipment and unlock new Advanced Jobs and benefits!

Once the player defeat all 7 Hunters, collect their keys and advance to Rank 4 they can unlock the magic door and return home! Or they can choose to confront the sinister Vampire Prince Dragul and continue their adventures in Yeld!

New to Yeld? Download the full 1st Edition Rulebook for free! We're proud of our game and we think the best way to learn about Yeld is to get your hands on it! That's why we're offering the original Yeld 1st Edition rulebook for free! Download it and see what our game is all about!  Building Adventures: Adventures in Yeld are a story that you create and tell together. In each game of Yeld the Game Master will guide players through a story. But once the game ends the role of GM will pass to a new player. You'll tell the new GM what you’d like to see in your next game (More sword fights! Explore the Ogre Caves! Learn to cook Snake Cakes!) and the new GM will build a new adventure for you to play, using your suggestions to continue the story where the last GM left off. You’ll take turns as Game Master, making sure each player gets a chance to shape the story. We think you’ll discover that your adventures are more fun because they’re stories we’ve created together!

Fights: Fights in Yeld take place on an 8x8 grid called the Action Board and are similar to video games like Final Fantasy Tactics or Fire Emblem. We've taken inspiration from classic fantasy video games to provide deep turn based, team based action! In Yeld you’ll win fights with teamwork, combo building and improvisation, and every Friend will get a chance to shine! Here's the basics rules for fights:

Travel and time: Time and distance are important in Yeld. As you travel you’ll create a map that will show you where you’ve been and help you keep track of every town, cave and castle you discover. Traveling takes time, so you’ll mark off each day on your calendar. Yeld is full of special Holidays like the Blue Wind Kite Flying Festival and Black Opera Tournament, and if you arrive in the right town in time for these holidays you can participate in special events to gain unique rewards!

You may have arrived in Yeld as children, but each day you'll get older, and if you turn 13 while you’re still in Yeld you’ll become a monster! You’ll take on a Monster Job (like Vampire or Deep Mage) and be stuck in Yeld forever! Your time in Yeld is a race against the clock to see if you can unlock the door home before you become monsters! 

Speaking of Monsters... Yeld is full of strange and creepy creatures. Not everything you meet in Yeld wants to eat you, but Vampires, Fairy Soldiers, Mermaid Raiders, Toothfacer Bandits, Tunnel Mummies, Serpent Oracles, Scuba Snakes and all kinds of horrible creatures are lurking around every corner and in every cave, and their favorite prey is young heroes! We’ll be providing a whole bunch of neat monsters for you to choose from, so you’ll be able to fill your fights with all kinds of fun challenges. But our game will also come with a revised Monster Formula, allowing you to easily create custom creatures for your Friends to face!

Lots of comics! We like to present our rules visually. While Yeld features a full comprehensive game text it also has lots of instructional comics to help make learning the rules simple and easy! Plus, comics are fun! Here's a comic about using magic:

Creating characters in Yeld is an ongoing process that continues even after your adventure starts! Your characters, called Friends, start as normal children from our world. Each Friend is between the age of 7 and 12, and each Friend Type (like Liar, Big Sister or Brat) has a different set of Core dice, Special dice and personality traits. You'll choose your Friend Type and age before your first game.

Once you step through the magic door and start to explore Yeld you’ll get to take on a heroic Job like Witch, Black Mage or Oathbreaker. These Jobs will give you powerful abilities that allow you to face down dangerous monsters and take on difficult adventures. They'll also allow you to customize your Friend with new Core dice and Special dice and new weapons.

As you set out on your quest and explore Yeld you'll have even more chances to customize your Friend. You may decide to switch Jobs, taking some of what you learned from your last Job to a new one. You'll collect Special dice and win Good or Evil dice through heroic deeds or cunning and underhanded acts. You'll discover treasure and trade for loot. You may even go on special quests to learn powerful Advanced Jobs like Vampire Hunter and Drudge Angel! In each adventure you'll have an opportunity to continue to customize and build your Friend!

If you can't escape Yeld before you turn 13 you'll take a Monster Job like Deep Mage and Serpent Oracle. Monster Jobs represent a change in your body and mind as your Friend grows older and becomes more accustomed to Yeld. Being a monster can be scary, but it can also be exciting! Some Friends discover that they love the power that comes with being a monster. And just because you've become a monster doesn't mean you're a bad person. You'll continue to travel with your Friends and help the people of Yeld. Being a monster will just make your adventures more... interesting!

Here's an example: Kiandra starts her adventures as a Big Sister. When she first comes to Yeld she chooses the Oathbreaker Job. She focuses on heavy armor and strong attacks to protect her Friends. Later, she goes on a  quest to unlock the Boulder Knight Advanced Job, offering a nearly impenetrable defense to her Friends! When Kiandra turns 13 she chooses the Werewolf Monster Job. Being a Werewolf is a big change for Kiandra. She still wants to protect her Friends, but now when she loses control she can be a danger to them. Thankfully her supernatural strength and furry fury makes the challenges of being a Werewolf worthwhile. And the Special dice she collected as an Oathbreaker and Boulder Knight still help her protect her Friends as a Werewolf!

Yeld is a vast and mysterious land, built on the back of the slumbering Serpent God and harboring ancient secrets. No one knows how old the Magical Land is, and no one has ever seen its edges. The Fairies claim to be the oldest of Yeld’s people, and even they have barely explored Yeld’s secrets. Much of the Magical Land is dangerous wilderness, wildlands where Monsters roam and magic runs free. The people of Yeld make their homes in areas of relative safety, where magical disasters are rarer and Monsters less likely to hunt. Even these territories can be dangerous, and Yeld is littered with the ruins of crumbled cities and lost civilizations. Few kingdoms last long in the Magical Land.

he lands and climates of Yeld are varied. Harsh mountains give way to rainy foothills and plains. Rivers crisscross the lands, intersecting in swampy marshes. Deep forests stretch from coast to coast, and great oceans divide distant land masses. Burning desserts, frozen tundra and even stranger lands can be found in Yeld’s most remote regions. Yeld has always been a place of magic. The Fairies are the oldest inhabitants of Yeld, and they say that when they made their home there they found magic buried deep in the darkest forests and caverns. Some scholars suspect Black Magic is a gift of forgotten gods, all that is left after their magic destroyed them. Others think that all magic comes from the same source, the sacred and unknowable well of power that spawned the great ancient Witches and other monstrous god creatures.

Yeld is the name of the vast Magical Land, but also the name of a Kingdom that lies at the heart of that land. King's People. However, the King’s People are not the only ones who make the Kingdom their home. Fairies, Goblins, Mermaids, Vampires, Squidfolk, Toothfacers, Pi-Rats and the Animal Tribes all live within the territories of the Kingdom, as do other stranger creatures. 

The Kingdom is ruled over by its regent, the Vampire Prince Dragul, and a council of nobles, knights, advisors and generals. The Prince and many members of this council are immortal Vampires, and have been alive and in power for over 1000 years since the Prince stole the kingdom from the rightful Princess after the death of the Old King. The Prince’s chief lieutenant’s are the notorious Hunters of Yeld, powerful warlords and monsters who bend their knee only to Dragul. As a reward for loyalty the Prince has given each Hunter control over one of the Kingdom’s territories. Some Hunters have interest in governing, or at least maintaining, their territories. Others have left the lands in their charge to ruin, in favor of waging war or running criminal enterprises such as the notorious Crimson Ministry.

=============================

Kickstarter campaign ends: Sun, February 11 2024 6:00 AM UTC +00:00

Website: [Yeld Stuff] [facebook] [twitter] [instagram]

#RPG #kickstarter #The Magical Land of Yeld #all ages game

[theresattrpgforthat]

Heya! I was wondering if you had any recommendations for ttrpgs that are easy to teach the basic rules of in ~10 mins and good for running one offs!

I work with an organization that runs dnd games at conventions and breweries and we've been trying to branch out from DnD lately, but unfortunately since so many people know how to play 5e already it's the easiest to just keep using that.

THEME: Easy To Teach

Hello there, I totally sympathize with you on this! I’m first going to direct you to my First-Time GMs post just to take a look at some of the games I’ve listed there. I definitely recommend Pugmire and Visigoths vs. Mall Goths as the top two from that list. I’m also going to stick to games I’ve personally played before. I'm also going to @gayandtrashy because they asked a very similar question.

Enjoy!

The Vampire Next Door, by Cat Elm.

It's the late 2000s, school's out for summer, and you're headed out of town to stay with your grandparents in the idyllic Yorkshire village of Wymton-on-Tee. Your summer plans include exploring the countryside, and most importantly enjoying Grampy's famous chocolate chip cookies…. except that you're pretty sure that Vladimir Alucard, Grommy and Grampy's new neighbour is an evil bloodsucking vampire.

And none of the adults will believe you.

The Vampire Next Door is a roleplaying game for 3-7 players, intended for single-session or short form play. It's an homage to classic shows like Scooby Doo, Mona the Vampire, and Gravity Falls, where it's down to the kids to be smarter than the adults and save the day.

I’ve played this game with a first-time GM, and it was fantastic. The GM had an outline of the village that she could use to reference when the players wanted to go somewhere new, and the rules were very easy to understand - 4 stats, 4 dice attached to them, and 3 levels of difficulty. The goal is to acquire 4 pieces of evidence indicating that Vlad is a vampire, so once your kids have the evidence, it’s just a quick ending narration scene and you’re done! (If you want a shorter game though, I’d recommend reducing the evidence required to 3 pieces instead.)

Kids on Bikes, by Hunters Entertaiment.

Kids on Bikes is a Collaborative World Building RPG set in small towns with big mysteries. It is a rules-light storytelling system that gets players into the action fast. Kids on Bikes takes place in a more mysterious time, where anything and everything could happen. 

I’ve run a hack of Kids on Bikes for friends before, most of which hadn’t played much outside of D&D prior to playing. The tropes that are present in Kids on Bikes streamline character creation, because each trope presents you with dice already assigned to stats, and recommendations for strengths and flaws. Worldbuilding can be done by the GM or collaboratively depending on what the group is more comfortable with. The GM is presented with a a Difficulty chart that they can reference to determine how difficult its is to do something. If you have a larger dice, you’re more likely to succeed, but players also have resources such as adversity tokens, which can be spent to add bonuses, ignore the effects of fear, or activate special abilities attached to each character.

The best thing about Kids on Bikes is that once you’re comfortable with the system, you can branch out into the other games that use the same rules! This includes games such as Teens in Space, a game about science-fantasy exploration, or Kids on Brooms, a game about magic schools.

Cats of Catthulu, by Joel Sparks.

In Cats of Catthulhu, players take on the roles of a variety of ordinary-seeming cats fighting conspiracies of cosmic chaos. Mighty spirits such as Snarlyathotep, slimy Phatphroggua, and Hastpurr of the Yellow Eye inspire their cultists to destroy civilization-but that’s where all the comfy furniture is! One person acts as the Cat Herder, arranging the secret plots, challenges, and rewards and guiding the others through the process of making an adventure. Rules are light and quick, emphasizing player cleverness and the fun of being feline. There’s plenty of darkness and chaos in the world, but our fuzzy heroes can handle it!… Usually.

This is another game I’ve run for new players before! The game mentions special d6’s with cat dice on them, but you can honestly use any old d6. There is a short, defined list of character options with helpful charts to give your players some inspiration. To do something, you’ll roll 2d6. You’ll want to get at least one Success on your dice, although in some situations you might need 2 successes to get what you want. If you are the Right Cat for the Job, then the task is easier for you, and if you have a Treat that you can spend, you might even get to re-roll!

This game is cute, humorous, and excellent for short games, although there’s definitely room for longer stories if there’s interest.

Spectaculars, by Scratchpad Publishing.

Spectaculars is a tabletop roleplaying game where players create their own comic book universe, craft heroes and villains to populate that universe, and then play through full-length campaigns to tell incredible stories of heroism and villainy in a world of their own creation. This box set game gives a gaming group everything they need to play the game, and to create their own consistent campaign that spans multiple comic book genres.

Through play, each copy of Spectaculars evolves into its own unique comic book universe; in essence, the players create, through play, a rich backdrop against which their heroes and villains clash. The nature of the setting is determined by the players. Spectaculars makes it easy to create a fully fleshed-out setting, guiding you the process of creating the setting’s major elements at the time they come into play.

This is another game that I’ve seen a new GM pick up with excitement - and continue to run! This is a superhero game that takes a lot of inspiration from recognized superhero media, so it’s great for folks who are looking to emulate what they’ve seen on television. This is a really big game, with a lot of tools to help the GM run the game - including adventures with plenty of places to slot in thematically relevant villains and obstacles. There’s also plenty of collaborative world-building, giving the players a say in what they want to see, while also taking the burden off of the GM.

The physical copy is also really good at making you excited to play. It comes with tokens, dice, character pads, and plenty of GM tools and toys!

If you’re interested in a similar game that uses the same system but takes place in a fantasy city of crime, then check out Dusk City Outlaws, which is by same publisher!

External Containment Bureau, by Mythic Gazetteer.

External Containment Bureau is a game of paranormal investigation and bureaucracy using a lightweight, hackable version of the Forged in the Dark design framework. You play as trained agents of the External Containment Bureau, an organization tasked with the study, identification, and containment of paranormal phenomena. The Bureau authorizes agents to make use of these phenomena to give yourself incredible powers (so long as the proper forms are in order). But take care: using paranormal energies inches you ever closer to joining the ranks of the paranormal yourself. Will you transcend humanity in the line of duty? Play to find out.

External Contaiment Bureau is great for fans of SCP or Control, and is also a sleek, simple introduction to the world of Forged in the Dark games. Your players will add dice to their pool from a list of resources on their sheet, whether that be from their background as paranormal academic, or their special weapon commissioned from R&D. It simplifies the Controlled, Risky, Desperate pool from Blades in the Dark, and also imports the Mystery Clock from games like Brindlewood Bay and The Between, which also have a good reputation for being beginner-friendly. There are also a number of adventures available for new GMs to run, such as the Sidhe Conservancy of Portland, which pits you against the Fae, or Checking Out, which places you in a hotel that slowly erases your memory.

Other Posts to Check Out

Top 5 TTRPGs for Beginners

Introductory Games

First Time GMs (repeat of the first link at the top)

Some Final Advice

If you have any regular GM’s who you’re hoping to introduce to new games, find out what pieces of media they really like. Then go hunting for games that fit that description. When it comes to picking up a new game, nothing is more motivating then finding out there’s a story you want to tell, regardless of whether or not it means learning a new system.

One of my friends started running a Pokemon campaign because he loves the games so dang much - and he’s got a dedicated party of players! Another friend found Mausritter and got really excited because he just loved the idea of playing tiny mice on adventures. A third friend is starting to determine if she wants to hack the Cypher System to make it work for Horizon Zero Dawn. If I can compare popular pieces of media to the games that I want to run, I get folks signing up in droves - I’ve advertised Studio Ghibli, Star Wars, Really Gay Teenagers, and Bloodborne to great effect.

#tabletop games #indie ttrpgs #dnd #game recommendations #asks #games for beginners

[vintagerpg]

This week is my annual Ravenloft week, which is getting harder and harder as I have less and less Ravenloft material unposted. This time around I am checking out the Children of the Night series of supplements that came out in the later days of the line. I had always ignored these, as I thought they were re-hashes of the older Van Richten’s Guides, but nope, totally wrong about that. This one is Children of the Night: Vampires (1996).

First off, I love this cover. The credits tell me this is Daniel Horne, but I don’t quite believe that — it looks like a Robh Ruppel to me. Whoever painted it doesn’t really matter though, those vampire hunters are fuuuuuucked.

Inside, not a treatise on vampires at all. This is an NPC book! A baker’s dozen of highly detailed vampires to use in your campaign. There are some surprisingly familiar faces, too — Jander Sunstar from the first Ravenloft novel is here, as is Lyssa von Zarovich, from Thoughts of Darkness. The rest are new, to my knowledge. Most of the rest are solidly interesting (if unremarkable), with strong groundings in the campaign setting. Each has a short adventure in which the vampire can cross paths with the players — they mostly function as prompts for the GM to run with in a larger campaign.

What I find particularly interesting, and this is true of all the books, is the couple vampires that are extremely unusual — a dwarf, a penanggalan, an ixitxachitl (!), even the couple good aligned vamps. To me, these sorts of unexpected combinations are really a feature of 3E, so it is neat to see them start to surface in the late ‘90s.

#roleplaying game #tabletop rpg #dungeons & dragons #rpg #d&d #ttrpg #Ravenloft #Children of the Night #Vampires

[felassan]

Article: 'If Anthem is the "anti-BioWare game", then James Ohlen is correcting the balance'

Text [quote]:

"The hugely influential design director talks Baldur’s Gate, his next RPG, and the abandonment of the BioWare model.

“Baldur’s Gate II set the model, and I obviously loved that model,” says James Ohlen. “But there were a ton of people at BioWare who didn’t like it.” During leadership meetings over the course of the Canadian designer’s 22 years at the RPG studio, he’d sometimes feel totally outnumbered when talking about the importance of story. “Game developers don’t get into the industry to create stories, they get into the industry to create games,” he says. “And so there’s this conflict between game developers and story - my entire career it's been a constant fight.”

Ohlen picked his side early. He was telling BioWare stories even before he joined the company. The meeting of Minsc and Boo, one of the most enduring partnerships in PC gaming, came about in a tabletop Dungeons & Dragons game he ran as a teenager. Then a comic book store manager, he took advantage of his premises to guide no fewer than three concurrent D&D groups through their campaigns. “I didn’t really have much of a life outside of Dungeons & Dragons,” he says.

BioWare programmer Cam Tofer played Minsc in one of those campaigns, “as a guy who’s basically been knocked on the head too many times in fights”. A merchant NPC of Ohlen’s invention sold him Boo, the miniature giant space hamster, in an apparent scam. Tofer ran with it, declaring that Boo would be Minsc’s animal companion, and holding one-sided conversations with the confidant that lived in his pocket. “In my campaign he was just a hamster,” Ohlen says. “I always thought of him as just a hamster.”

Back then, in the early 90s, there were no game design degrees, but Ohlen had dedicated himself to the next best thing. DMing proved to be an intensive training course in giving players agency and immersing them in another world - and his local reputation as a story wrangler landed him a job working on Baldur’s Gate. It’s a similar origin story to that of David Gaider, another D&D head who was plucked from the hotel industry to tell tales about vampires and druid groves.

“Have you ever read Malcolm Gladwell on the 10,000 hour rule? I think by the time I got hired by BioWare, I had done 20,000 hours of dungeon mastering,” Ohlen says. “It was ridiculous. I owe a lot to D&D. My friendships, my career, my mental stability.”

BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka encouraged Ohlen to dig into the huge binders that contained the details of all the player characters and NPCs in his campaigns, and to let them spill out into the world of Baldur’s Gate. “I hadn’t intended to do that,” Ohlen says. “It seemed narcissistic. But he was right. Once I started using them, I started getting things done real fast. All the characters had personalities that I already knew.”

Those tabletop campaigns turned out to be accidental writers’ rooms - producing distinct personalities that reflected the voices of their individual players. From the binders came some of Baldur’s Gate’s most beloved companions, like Minsc and the egotistical conjurer Edwin, as well as its villains - leading all the way up to the sequel’s Hannibal Lector-esque antagonist, Jon Irenicus.

That said, inspiration for Baldur’s Gate II’s much deeper companion stories came from an unlikely source. During a freezing winter smoke break in Edmonton, an Interplay producer named Dermot Clarke mentioned that Baldur’s Gate’s characters weren���t nearly as developed as those in Final Fantasy VII.

“I’m very competitive,” Ohlen says. “I went and played Final Fantasy VII and was like, ‘Oh my good god, these characters make ours look like a bunch of cardboard cutouts. This is terrible.’” The disparity convinced BioWare to up their game, leading to the complex journeys of companions like Jaheira - the grieving wife and activist, whose sense of duty has been shaken by so much loss. Despite Ohlen’s distaste for the way SquareSoft’s RPGs played, he continued to be influenced by their character work - all the way up to Knights Of The Old Republic, which was partly inspired by the twist-laden Chrono Cross. That and Star Wars, of course.

“I actually totally, entirely ripped off The Empire Strikes Back in such blatant fashion,” Ohlen says. “You basically go to face the dark lord by yourself, and then you get into a lightsaber fight with him, and he kicks your ass. And then, after kicking your ass, he does the big twist. Then you don’t die because you’re rescued by your friends on the Millennium Falcon - I mean, the Ebon Hawk. It’s beat by beat the same thing.”

Of course, KOTOR’s plot twist didn’t feel familiar to players because it impacted not Luke Skywalker but them personally. For those who don’t know - and spoiler warning, if so - it revealed that your character was in fact a former Sith Lord, their memory wiped by the Jedi Council. In an RPG genre rooted by knowing your avatar down to their last stat, having your identity ripped out from under you felt genuinely radical. BioWare had succeeded in making its biggest setpiece not a battle, but a revelation. And in the process, it proved that BioWare storytelling was packed with the kind of explosive potential a publisher could bank on.

After the sale of the company to EA in 2007, Ohlen was put in charge of creative development on a Star Wars MMO, The Old Republic. It was BioWare’s next great hope, and an enormous undertaking - involving the founding of a brand new studio in Austin, Texas. At launch, it featured eight story campaigns which unfolded across 19 planets. In 2011, executive producer Rich Vogel told Fast Company that The Old Republic hosted “the most content in a video game ever”. Looking back, Ohlen views that as a fundamental problem.

“If open-world is the enemy of storytelling, multiplayer is the arch-villain,” Ohlen says. “If I was to go back in time to give my 2006 self some advice it would be, ‘Don’t try to make the game so long that you can fill up 200 hours. Instead, keep it shorter.’” With less ground to cover, the Austin team could have committed more resources to its Flashpoints - story-heavy missions which forefronted the difficult decision-making and tight encounter design that had elevated previous BioWare games. “Everyone wanted Knights of the Old Republic Online, and it felt more like World Of Warcraft with Star Wars spray-painted on it and some BioWare juice thrown in,” Ohlen says. “Even though the Metacritic was pretty good, it wasn’t new enough to really take off.”

At this point, a Knights Of The Old Republic 3 directed by Ohlen would be “not great”, he says. “Because I’m all Star Wars’d out. I have nothing else to say about Star Wars. But if a whole new studio does KOTOR 3 that loved KOTOR, that could be an amazing game. So hopefully Disney makes that happen. But probably not, because executives around there are all probably going, ‘It’s too hardcore.’” Ohlen still remembers the efforts he made to convince EA boss John Riccitiello that fantasy was a genre that could sell. “I had this whole PowerPoint presentation,” he says. “We have Lord Of The Rings! We have World Of Warcraft! We have Diablo!”

The year after The Old Republic’s launch, with the arch-villain of multiplayer still undefeated, development of Anthem began - and BioWare fought that increasingly costly battle for the better part of a decade. Those at the studio tired of the Baldur’s Gate model had the backing of EA, since a live service looter-shooter in the mode of Destiny could unlock years of long-term revenue beyond the reach of a single-player RPG. Or so the theory went. “It was always chasing the gigantic successes instead of leaning into what BioWare was good at,” Ohlen says. “It wasn’t just EA leaning on BioWare - there were lots of people in BioWare who wanted to do something different.”

Ohlen understood why others at the company would want to get away from a formula that empowered old hands like him and Gaider, and embrace one that empowered them instead. And he knew first-hand that freedom to experiment was what had set BioWare on the path to success decades before. Yet this new direction felt like an abandonment of the studio’s strengths. “Anthem was the ultimate expression of that,” Ohlen says. “It got away from everything. It’s kind of like the anti-BioWare game.”

Ohlen left in 2018, intending to retire from videogames altogether. “The big games have a formula and they don’t adjust it too much,” he says. “It’s very production driven, and I was like, ‘I’m not gonna get to make a game that I want to make at EA.’” He returned to the tabletop, putting together a new Baldur’s Gate adventure book featuring Minsc and the gang. But then Wizards Of The Coast called and flew him up to Seattle to discuss starting a new studio. Ohlen didn’t need or necessarily want a videogame development team under his wing - and that proved to be a perfect negotiating position.

“My demands were, ‘I only do this if I get to start my own studio in Austin, I get to choose who I hire, I get to choose exactly the kind of IP I want to make, no one’s gonna tell me anything about how to make the game.” At this point, Ohlen adopts a megalomaniacal tone, as if he were Baldur’s Gate baddy Sarevok, ascending to the throne of the dead god Bhaal. “I want control over absolutely everything! I want all the power!”

To his surprise, Wizards said yes, and Ohlen has been happily presiding over Archetype Entertainment ever since, building a new sci-fi RPG world without interference. “If you’ve seen the games I like to build, it’s that style of game,” he says. “But then it leans into the people and technology that I have available.” Ohlen won’t elaborate on what’s in his toybox, for fear of spilling secrets - but it’s worth noting that Mass Effect legend Drew Karpyshyn joined Archetype in 2020 as lead writer. “The feel in the studio reminds me of my early days at BioWare,” wrote Karpyshyn on his blog at the time. “I can feel the magic in the air.”

Magic and Wizards and science fiction - it’s the kind of atmosphere in which you could believe a hamster isn’t just a hamster, but something altogether sillier and more exciting. An act of collective imagination is happening, the binders are filled to bursting, and all we have to do is wait."

[source]

#bioware #sw:tor #long post #longpost #anthem #mass effect #smoking mention

[fanficaubracket]

Bracket to decide the favorite type of fic au!

Here is the link for submissions

Submissions will close 2/15 and then the bracket will start

This post will be edited with the list of submitted types of AUs

List of Submissions I list when there is no propaganda so if someone else wants to write in some propaganda for it they can. ** are ones that are only loosely fitting the definition of AUs (they are more genres or clarifiers) and I will have to make a decision about their inclusion

College AU BDSM AU Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies Time Travel AU - (no prop. submitted) Fae AU - (no prop. submitted) Pacific Rim AU (x2) Omegaverse (x2) Historically Accurate Homophobia ** Infinite Timeloop (x2) Celibacy AU Arranged Marriage - (no prop. submitted) Bodyguard - (no prop. submitted) Werewolf AU - (no prop. submitted) POV outsider ** Crack Treated Seriously ** Zombie Apocalypse AU Time Travel Fix- It Sci-FI AU Bad End AU Accidental Baby Acquisition ** Alternate Universe- Canon Divergence Western AU Gladiator AU Star Wars AU Avian AU/ wing au (x2) Vampire AU Hockey Player/Figure Skater AU Regency AU - (no propaganda submitted) Modern with Magic - (no prop. submitted) Soulmate AU - (no prop. submitted) Guide/Sentinel AU - (no prop. submitted)

#tumblr polls #poll #fandom #fanfic

[nevertrustanoracle]

So the new V5 Players Guide includes a Predator Type called “Trapdoor” where the idea is that the vampire lures prey to their haven.

Here’s the description:

I was thinking about it today and got three character ideas!

1. An elder who’s managed to keep a hold of their family estate and runs “historical house tours” through it.

2. A Hecata with a legitimately haunted house who feeds on ghost hunters. “Real supernatural experiences guaranteed!” (Just not necessarily the kind they were expecting.)

3. Oh horrors of horrors: AirBnB host

#vtm #hecata

[netherese-blorb]

Troubling Thoughts on Wyllstarion from my Wyll Origin Playthrough

I started a new run to fulfill my Wyllstarion fantasies of princely good boy Wyll learning to let loose while teaching manic-pixie-dream-pire Astarion about true love. But I'm near the end of act 1 and as I'm gaining a better understanding of these boys, it's pretty clear that this relationship is going to be bleak.

Putting Wyll in the position of the player character, where he narratively has total agency, but also no pre-determined stances on the events of the story, is oddly perfect for him. My initial read on Wyll was that he's an idealist with a rigidly lawful-good alignment that makes him an easy mark for hucksters. But now I get the sense that, rather than having too strict a moral code, his gullibility ultimately stems from being too weak-willed (no pun intended).

He wants to do the right thing, but other than "self-sacrifice = hero = good", he doesn't have a strong idea of what that means. He doesn't have a clear ideology or divine mandate to guide him like a lot of the other companions do, but he also doesn't have any newfound freedom to embrace like Astarion and Karlach. All he has are fairy tales and an adolescent understanding of his father's politics. His confident bravado thrives when there are innocents to protect and/or villains to slay, but the moment a situation becomes more morally complicated than that, he's totally lost.

It's why Wyll the monster hunter still has dialogue options to immediately offer himself up to Astarion the undead vampire without any real convincing. It's why the drama around Mizora is more about her being an abusive boss he personally has to bear, rather than any larger ethical concern about his work aiding an objectively evil demon's agenda - but also why he's so easily convinced to disobey Mizora and accept Karlach. (Also-also, and this may be a cope on my part, I think it explains why tav/durge has to make the decision for him about selling his soul again in act 3. He truly can't handle it.) There's no need to manipulate a man who's already so desperate to martyr himself, or better yet, to have someone just tell him the right thing to do.

To bring it back to the point, Astarion's seduction is designed to ensnare insecure romantics like Wyll. On top of that, his tortured backstory hits all of Wyll's pain points. The fact that Cazador was operating right under his nose, in his city, while he was off dancing at balls (maybe even with representatives of the Szar family) would send him into a spiral. Did the other nobles know? Did his father know? What more could have been done? It chips away at his reality, and he looks to absolute pinnacle of mental health and stability, Astarion Ancunin, to fill in the gaps.

Even if both of them come into the relationship with the best of intentions, neither are emotionally equipped to move past a victim/savior dynamic. Astarion makes Wyll feel like a hero and Wyll makes Astarion feel safe. No one pushes the other to learn or grow. In act 3, Wyll helps Astarion ascend as a kind of reparation for his suffering, Astarion convinces Wyll to put himself first for once and keep his soul. Even if they rescue Ulder in time, eventually the title will pass down. I don't see this going any other way than ascended!Astarion using his spawn Duke Wyll Ravengard to rule over Baldur's Gate with an iron fist for time eternal.

If my feelings change as I continue the playthrough, I might add some updates, but I'm also interested to hear other's thoughts about this, so feel free to add on!

#wyllstarion #astarion/wyll #astarion x wyll #wyll/astarion #wyll x astarion #wyll ravengard #astarion #wyll #me #discussion #headcannons #bg3 spoilers #bg3 headcanons #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #I'm in deep lads #this playthrough was supposed to be a fun romp bc act 3 on my tav run was stressing me out so much #and yet here i am

[oftenwantedafton]

Craving - Vampire Dave Miller/William Afton/Springtrap x Female Urban Explorer Reader

Chapter 3

Rating - Mature

Warnings for violence, blood and mild gore

Also available on AO3

taglist @yellowbunnydreams

The healing punctures on your wrist itch, reminding you of your promise to return.

It’s pouring the day you finally gather enough courage to venture back into the abandoned shopping mall, the rain soaking you before you’ve managed to sneak back in through the loose boards covering a vacant department store window, the glass panes and clothing display long gone, leaving only a headless mannequin.

You’re better prepared this time, carrying a backpack with a flashlight and extra batteries, bandaids, a snack and a couple of bottles of water, a cd player and headphones when the darkness and quiet become too much to bear. You’re not sure how long you’ll have to stay this time. You wonder what will happen if he can’t stop himself and keeps sucking the lifeforce from you until you’re nothing left but a withered husk, doomed to spend eternity with the vampiric creature.

The rain drums loudly on the skylights above, an arc of lightning briefly illuminating a section of empty kiosks and a dry fountain. You adjust the straps of your backpack, settling it more squarely on your shoulders before continuing on. Your entire arm aches now, and you feel yourself pulled back towards the entrance to the pizzeria like a magnet drawing iron. Your footsteps slow as you finally gain sight of the restaurant.

The power has been restored.

Neon lights guide you forward until your foot finds broken glass, bringing you to a halt, your bag sliding to the floor from nerveless fingers.

The front doors are shattered.

Shards of glass litter the entryway, refracting colored light like pieces from a smashed kaleidoscope. Chairs are scattered around the dining room. The row of pinball machines and the prize counter has been decimated, adding to the piles of glass. Change machines are gutted, spilling their metal contents onto the floor. Some of the orbs from the ball pit have escaped their divoted enclosure, rolling until they’re forced to a stop by a piece of furniture or fragment of destruction.

Then there is the dark smear that leads from the frenzy up to the center stage.

The curtains have been pulled wide open, parting in a grim smile to reveal the animatronics, blood staining teeth and paws. There are pieces of something, you refuse to think of what else it might be, lying in saturated piles at their feet.

“Admiring your handiwork?”

The yellow rabbit’s voice startles you.

“I don't understand. What happened?” you whisper in horror.

“You led them here.”

“Who?”

The costumed figure strides forward, the tall, imposing frame making short work of the distance from the hallway to the dining room. His metal fingers close around your throat as he simultaneously lifts and thrusts you against the side of a nearby crane machine, where your shoulders strike the glass encasement, the jumble of soft plush prizes inside rocking with the movement.

“Some scum that thought they were going to rob me. They followed you. You showed them how to get inside.”

He squeezes and you strain to draw breath to speak. “I didn’t know. I’m sorry,” you gasp.

“I’m not interested in your apologies.” He releases your throat and you collapse to the floor, panting, desperate for lungfuls of the stale air. “You’re going to clean this mess up,” he sneers with contempt.

“Where are…the people…that broke in?” You struggle to speak, massaging bruised vocal cords.

“I let the children play with them. Their blood was too tainted by years of drug use for my taste.”

“The children?” You follow his pointing finger to the stage. “You mean the animatronics? They’re…alive? Like you?”

“No. Nothing like me. They’ve been dead for a long time. Only their spirits remain now, sleeping until I decide to wake them.” He pauses, looking down at your collapsed figure. “You can find what you need in the custodial closet.”

You look at the dark stains again and the severed pieces of what had once been human beings and a wave of nausea rolls though you. You never wanted to bring anyone here. Criminal or not, it made no difference; people were dead now because of you.

“I didn’t want this,” you murmur out loud.

“Then you had better make sure it doesn’t happen again.” The rabbit turns away, leaving you to retrieve a mop and broom and trash bins. You certainly can’t be expected to lift the heavy machines that have been displaced, but you do your best to right the scattered pieces of furniture and collect what seems like an endless pile of debris.

You save the stage for last, climbing up onto the wooden platform and eyeing the mechanical trio warily. The dark lumps of flesh turn your stomach once again and you dry heave, turning away. “I can’t do it. I can’t touch…that.”

“Enough. Come here.” The rabbit seems satisfied with your penance.

You obey, sliding down from the raised platform. You feel absolutely disgusting, your damp clothing now caked in dust and blood. You’re surprised when he guides you towards the restroom, bidding you to get cleaned up. The water runs discolored from the tap, contaminated by corroding pipes long neglected before shifting back to something resembling a clear fluid. You scrub your stained clothes then your hands and forearms, rubbing until the skin is red and raw, the scars throbbing. You want to erase it, want every trace of this evil place off of you. You’re openly weeping, a cascade of tears that you fear will never end. You shove at the faucet to turn it off and grab at the paper towel dispenser, finding it empty.

Sliding down the wall, you bring your knees up to your chest and bury your face, sobbing.

***

The restroom door creaks open, revealing the yellow rabbit.

He’s so tall he has to duck to enter the white tiled space, the tip of his undamaged ear brushing the frame.

He offers you a hand and you sniffle, dragging your sleeve over your face before you accept, allowing him to pull you to your feet.

“You're soaked,” he observes, his voice quiet as he leads you back into the hallway.

“It’s pouring outside. And you’re out of paper towels,” you grumble. You don’t want to make small talk. You just want this nightmare to end.

“You didn’t think to bring a change of clothes in that bag of yours?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“That’s a shame,” the rabbit murmurs, his voice devoid of any sincere sympathy. “There might be something in one of the employee lockers to dry off with.”

You don’t trust the suited figure’s sudden generosity. “Can we just get this over with?”

He halts, tugging until you’ve been brought flush with the bulky rounded chest piece, the tattered purple bow brushing your cheek.

“I think you’re forgetting who’s in charge here. You don’t dictate what happens,” he growls, metal digits tightening on your scarred appendage. The ceiling lights flicker, the fluorescent tubes sizzling and snapping in their mounted casings, threatening to extinguish once again.

“You’re injured.” The realization strikes you suddenly as he pushes you against the wall, the raised arm now revealing a fresh gash leaking not wires and metal, but blood.

“I’ve dealt with much worse,” he says dismissively.

So the burglars had caused this, then. Not directly through force against the costumed figure, but by vandalizing the property. They truly were bound together.

And now you are a part of it too; a contract inked in your own blood.

The rabbit looks down at you with his cold, expressionless eyes, and you wonder about the visage behind that mask. What does he look like, this man that has been imprisoned inside of the costume for so long, until it seems the two have coalesced into one?

“You’re hungry,” you say, hearing it in the restless rustle of the body occupying the suit, as if it is struggling to break free of its encasement.

“Yes.”

“I’m ready.” You’re not, you never will be, but you have no choice and you’d just as soon let him feed to stifle the building dread and fear.

The suited figure’s breath quickens in anticipation as it pulls your forearm towards the opening of the costume’s headpiece, drinking in that trepidation, exhalting in its dominion over you. Your pulse fires more rapidly in response to the adrenaline secreted into your bloodstream. Your mind screams at you to run but your body surrenders willingly, your arm limp in the yellow rabbit’s grasp.

His lips graze your damaged wrist and it feels alarmingly good, your mouth parting in surprise. Fangs reopen the skin and you gasp at the sensation. He suckles at the injury he’s inflicted and the familiar lightheaded feeling returns. A hand braces the back of your neck, supporting you to remain upright. The pain blurs into pleasure and you moan softly, squirming in his grasp, your body further betraying you by attempting to press you closer to your attacker. He echoes the sound, the vibration dancing along your skin and you see spots dancing in front of your eyes. He’s taking too much, he can’t stop…

His mouth abandons your flesh abruptly. “Enough!” One palm clamps over the wounds, exerting pressure to slow the flow of blood, his breathing harsh as air saws in and out of encased lungs. You can feel his anger at the loss of control seeping from the depths of the suit. “Don’t ever do that again,” he warns, his arms enveloping you as you surrender consciousness, sagging limply into the yellow rabbit’s embrace.

***

Your eyelids open to discover a void surrounding you.

The power has failed.

You are by now familiar with the feel of the thin mattress tucked against the wall of the manager’s office beneath you. The pain in your forearm is more intense than ever and you cradle it as you sit upright.

You can feel the yellow rabbit’s eyes watching you in the darkness, even though the normally glowing sockets are oddly snuffed out.

“What happened to the lights? Was it…was my blood not enough?” You inquire, licking chapped lips. You wonder how long you have slept this time.

“On the contrary. It was enough to allow me to do something much more important than keep the electricity flowing.”

“Did you heal yourself?”

“Oh yes. Yes, you could say that.”

You hear the creak as weight is lifted off of the office chair and the click of shoes against linoleum before he reaches you. There is the sound of clothes rustling as the tall frame folds, kneeling at your feet.

You realize then that the man is no longer trapped within the yellow rabbit costume.

#william afton x reader #william afton x you #dave miller x reader #dave miller x you #springtrap x you #springtrap x reader

[demonic0angel]

Chapter 6 of Ghost Games is out!

(Please start subscribing, I'll stop posting chapters on tumblr after the first arc)

"This... is Marina?" Nightingale asked again, just to confirm.

The man nodded. "We have asked the teacher."

Sparrow muttered to himself, "I knew something wasn't right."

The man tilted his head towards him but didn't ask. "Will this be enough to guarantee your completion of the scenario?"

Robin asked, "Why are you helping us and not others? What if they're closer to completion than us?"

The man laughed lowly. Another one of his companions said, "Newcomers are often the most brave. Us old players won't take risks. If we help you, we can escape faster. Also, you look like you know what you're doing. Didja used to have a life solving crimes, boy?"

"... a life solving... crimes?" Robin looked frozen stiff.

The companion, who looked like an octopus man, chuckled wetly. "We all have little memories of a past life. Some recover memories, others will never remember. Your wish is a memory of your past life."

Robin trembled in place. Sensing chaos in the next second, Nightingale immediately said, "Thank you for your help. Give us 2 days, we'll complete the scenario by then."

The vampire chuckled. "You, little girl, are one of the better humans I've seen. We won't disturb you now."

Then that was when they left.

Nightingale hadn't even asked them their name. She hesitated to call after them, before she realized that perhaps they had a reason. They were kind enough to help them, but they weren't selfless. They just wanted to survive and although they put their cards on the table to help the three, it didn't mean friendship or trust.

They probably didn't dare hope that they would survive, so they didn't want to know their names.

Nightingale uneasily turned back to Robin and Sparrow. Both she and Sparrow stared at Robin, who's expression was completely blank. His mask hid all of the emotions in his eyes, so Nightingale couldn't figure out what he was thinking.

"... Robin?" She asked softly.

Robin had been the backbone of their team since the day they met. Although Nightingale and Sparrow had an innate connection that they didn't share with Robin, Robin alone had been the one leading them and guiding them.

He was silent for a moment before he then said, "We know that the ghost isn't Marina now. So that means that the girl who hung herself was Marina, so by letting her down, we can assume that it'll move along the scenario. We should first look for the supply closet."

Sparrow hesitated only for a moment before nodding decisively and he said, "That's fine, we should go now before class starts and teachers start pulling kids into class."

Nightingale stared worriedly at Robin, not speaking.

He noticed her gaze, and turned with a light smile. "It's fine. We should go."

Since he was unwilling to speak, Nightingale didn't make it hard for him. She nodded and after they put away their food trays, she lead them to the supply closet. But when she finally entered the hall, there was no door to be found.

"Are you sure it's here?" Sparrow asked doubtfully. He tilted his head and moved around the wall.

Last night, Nightingale had distinctly remembered running away and entering the hall here. She had observed how there seemed to be no one around before she had ran forward for somewhere to hide and hopefully recollect herself to find Sparrow and Robin again. She had recalled the scream she heard and the possible smashing noises of bodies from the hallway monitor before seeing a secure looking door and then entering it.

Then she had found Marina.

Nightingale told them that and Robin hummed. He still seemed a little distracted since earlier, but he looked less upset now.

"Maybe it's something that can only be found at certain times. At least we know now that it's definitely important if it's hidden."

Sparrow sighed and shoved his pockets in his hands. "What now?"

Robin shrugged. "Maybe we should go and talk to more students. At the very least, we still have a bit of time before school ends and it's time for curfew."

Nightingale said, "Maybe we should look into the principal."

"I'm not gonna lie," Sparrow said, "I feel like if this was a movie, we should look into Brittany. The principal hasn't been mentioned at all. At most, she just looks around and doesn't do anything."

"But wasn't she there at the library? What if she's hiding something?"

Robin put a stop to their arguing. "Let's split up. I'll go to the principal's office and see what's up. Nightingale, you and Sparrow will find what you can about Brittany. We'll meet back in front of the closet before school ends at 2:50."

Sparrow frowned. "Where do we start?"

"Find a phone or computer, talk to people, ask around." Robin listed their options calmly and then walked off without a word.

Tacitly, both Sparrow and Nightingale said nothing, knowing that his mind was in turmoil. Sparrow looked at Nightingale and said, "I'm going to look at the computers and you look around, you go talk to people."

Nightingale kind of felt like the two teammates she had were extremely antisocial.

She raised an eyebrow but didn't disagree. She didn't mind talking to people because she knew she was good at it. "Okay. We'll meet back here an hour before Robin, okay?"

"Got it. You be safe." He stared at her meaningfully and then left.

Nightingale bit her lip and then moved to the stairs to go downstairs and leave the school for the other buildings.

There were probably kids skipping class, right?

————

Nightingale found them.

She waved her hand and asked, "Excuse me, but can you tell me about a girl from the 2-B class?"

"Want one?" A girl offered a rolled up stick, smoke puffing out of her nose.

Nightingale's lips twitched but she shook her head gently. "No, but thank you."

"What did you need?" Another girl asked.

"Can you tell me about Brittany from 2-B?"

A girl with braids laughed lowly, "We're seniors, girlie. But I can tell you something, that girl was a total bitch."

The boy sitting against the building said, "Totally hot. But a bitch."

The first girl who spoke nodded. "She was rich and she was pretty, so she shoved her nose in everyone's business. Bullied a whole bunch of kids but nobody could stop her because her dad was one of the people on the council."

"Yeah, but he can't do anything now!" A girl chortled. "She's dead, but serves her right! Rumors say that after she killed some kids, they took revenge and tore her apart."

Nightingale paused and then asked, "Some kids? I thought she only killed one."

"I have no idea, but there's at least 2."

Two kids... Brittany had killed two kids.

That surely meant that the shadow was the other child!

Overjoyed, Nightingale thanked the four smoking kids and then left. She had spent a long time searching for any student stragglers and had to dodge a hallway monitor to get outside behind the school, so by the time she arrived back in front of the closet, she was only a little bit early.

Nightingale sat there on the ground, quietly waiting for Robin and Sparrow to come. Sure enough, they arrived, one after another.

"Did you find anything?"

"Yes!" She said, eager to please. "I found out that Brittany has rumors about her of her killing people. At the very least, there's two deaths that happened because of her, so we can guess that the shadow is the other person!"

Robin nodded and smiled lightly. "Very good." Butterflies immediately erupted in Nightingale's stomach but she just tamped down her smile and didn't say anything. "I found out that the principal helped Brittany hide something. Now that you've told me that, it's probably what the principal helped hide from the media."

Sparrow frowned. "How did you find out that about the principal?"

"She was muttering and ranting in her office," Robin said leisurely. "I snuck in through the window and heard her. She's scared that she'll be next to be murdered."

"Serves her right," Sparrow scoffed. "Trying to hide murder? I'm not surprised the ghosts took revenge."

Robin just smiled and turned to Nightingale, "Did you ask the students what the name of the other victim was?"

Nightingale blinked and then smacked her hand against her forehead. "I forgot! Ancients, I can't believe I just left like that!"

Robin laughed. "It's fine. We all know what happens when you ask too many questions. At least we know a little bit more about the ghost. Everything will make sense soon after we get Marina down."

Nightingale nodded, "So the scenario will probably end when the principal dies. That means we have to get Marina down before then." She paused. "Are... are we sure that she's the key to us winning?"

"I trust you," Robin said earnestly.

Nightingale immediately backtracked. "Never mind then."

Sparrow gave her a hard stare but he mostly looked amused. Seeing how someone as oblivious and dense as he was staring at her, she only felt a little embarrassed before she wondered to herself why she knew that and why she even cared.

Robin beckoned them all forward, not seeming to notice the other two's strangeness.

"I have a plan."

————

Night fell once more. All three of them waited in the hallway near the supply closet.

Another day had passed. Last night, they had waited in the same spot and had seen the door appear, but a black shadow mass had also materialized alongside it, and guarded it zealously the entire night. While Sparrow had gone off to watch the principal, both Robin and Nightingale had waited for the shadow to appear.

That night was spent watching the shadow restlessly pace around the entrance of the supply closet.

And this day, they were about to attempt the stakeout again.

"Should I go and watch the principal again?" Sparrow asked.

He had been the one to leave because he had been too antsy and jittery to sit still and watch. Nightingale had only been reassured by Robin's words that Sparrow was quick and wily before she had let him go.

Nightingale frowned and Robin reached out to pat Sparrow's head. "Patience. You can leave in a bit, but I have a feeling that the ghost is getting impatient. I think they'll move out tonight. Remember the plan?"

Both Nightingale and Sparrow dutifully nodded. Sparrow recited it, "Nightingale will stay here and go inside the closet, me and you will distract the ghost. You'll fight the ghost while I protect the principal if it comes down to it."

He rolled his eyes at the last part.

Robin stared at him sternly. "I know you want to fight, but I don't feel reassured about it."

"Why not?! How do you know that you can fight?"

"I dunno, I just feel it!"

"I call cap!"

"Cap my butt!" Robin finally lost his temper and the two of them began to argue vehemently.

Nightingale numbly stared at the wall where the supply closet would appear and tried to ignore them.

She suddenly slapped Robin's arm and they immediately shut up. "Shh!" She shushed them. "It's here."

The door warped into place and the shadow leaked out from underneath the door, forming a barely tangible body. It stretched itself and then stalked off quickly. Nightingale hesitantly brought out her head and saw it dart off into the distance.

She breathed a sigh of relief. "It's gone."

"Alright, we'll go straight to the principal!" Robin said firmly. "We have to make sure she doesn't move from her office! Good luck, Nightingale, be safe." He said the last part firmly as he reached out to comfortingly hold her hand before leaving. Sparrow followed after him with only a little wave before the two of them were gone.

She was now alone.

Nightingale flushed and clutched her fingers, still feeling a little bit of his warmth.

She focused back on the supply closet, but in that moment, there was the sound of feet running against the ground and then a student wearing a male uniform ran across her vision. Nightingale startled back and pressed into her hiding spot as she heard the enraged shout, "Students! Students out of bed!"

Nightingale's eyes widened again.

Had this student gotten caught by a hallway monitor?

But as she strained her head to catch a glimpse of the student, wondering if she should move out and help, she saw the student stand at the end of the hall in silence and then melt away.

She clapped a hand over her mouth to hold back her gasp.

Had that been the shadow?!

The hallway monitor snarled in rage but didn't move away. Instead, he seemed to move around the hallway, lumbering this way and that. He dragged his bat behind him and it made wet noises as the nails dragged against the blood it left behind.

He was now protecting the hallway. That student had lead him here deliberately?!

Nightingale wanted to curse.

She was some distance away from the closet so she and the others wouldn't be detected by the shadow, but now it was hindering her as the hallway monitor watched over the room.

She could jump over him like last time, but there was no space for her to maneuver herself and she also had to open the door and slip inside. If she was slow, she would be hit by the bat and directly crushed to bits.

Nightingale really hoped that the others were doing better.

What was she going to do now?

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Uh oh, Jazz is in a pickle!

Updates will be a little slower after the first arc 🫡

Thank you to everyone who's supported me and this fic so far!

#dc x dp #dp x dc #jazz fenton #danny phantom x dc #danny fenton #dp x dc crossover #dpxdc #dcxdp #jason todd #ghost game au