#castles in the air

[nerdyrevelries]

Castles in the Air

I'm extremely excited to announce that the game I've been working on for the past 4 years is coming to Kickstarter! Castles in the Air (CitA) is a tabletop RPG inspired by the novels of Louisa May Alcott and L.M. Montgomery. Players start as children with boundless dreams who will change over the years based on the relationships they form and choices they make. I think it's a really special game, and I'm looking forward to being able to share it with everyone.

For more information or to sign up to be notified when the Kickstarter launches on May 14th, please check out the game's page on the Storybrewers Roleplaying website. If that name sounds familiar, Storybrewers is the company that created Good Society: A Jane Austen RPG. I feel very honored that they reached out to me about publishing Castles in the Air. While Castles in the Air is a standalone game, its mechanics are inspired by Good Society, and if you like Good Society, I think you'll like CitA too as it allows you to tell similarly compelling stories.

I will be creating some blog posts talking about the literary inspirations for different parts of the game in the weeks leading up to the Kickstarter and during its run. I will be using this as a master post to keep track of all of them, so make sure to check back here or follow my blog if you are interested.

Blog Posts

Meg March: The Nurturer

#Louisa May Alcott #L.M. Montgomery #Castles in the Air #Good Society #Storybrewers Roleplaying #Little Women #Anne of Green Gables #Little Men #Jo's Boys #Eight Cousins #Rose in Bloom #Under the Lilacs #An Old-fashioned Girl #Jack and Jill #Anne of Avonlea #Anne of the Island #Anne of Windy Poplars #Anne's House of Dreams #Anne of Ingleside #Rainbow Valley #Rilla of Ingleside #Emily of New Moon #Emily Climbs #Emily's Quest #Pat of Silver Bush #Mistress Pat #The Story Girl #The Golden Road #Magic for Marigold #Jane of Lantern Hill

[auntieblues]

“I am longing to be with you, and by the sea, where we can talk together freely and build our castles in the air.” ― Bram Stoker, Dracula

original auntieblues

#bram stoker #dracula #castles in the air #sea #ai artwork #auntieblues #landscape #nature #sunset #reading #books & libraries

[sparklygraves]

#i vibe with all 3 options honestly lol #home #ideal #where to live #castles in the air

[lyndentree63]

That "whoops I made a TTRPG character that has some fun personality things wait we unearthed some Stuff I didn't even know was there" feeling.

#ttrpgs #ttrpg #ttrpg character #ttrpg character creation #good society #castles in the air #storybrewers #life imitates art

[fairwellersmustache]

🚨🚨🚨Storybrewers is making a Little Women/Anne of Green Gables inspired game! I repeat, Storybrewers is making a Little Women/Anne of Green Gables inspired game!🚨🚨🚨

#castles in the air #I cannot wait #this is going to be so my shit it’s not even funny #good society is great #but this feels more in my element

[words-and-coffee]

Tell me, do you sometimes find yourself unaccountably sad on some days?

Diana Wynne Jones, Castles in the Air

#Castles in the Air #Diana Wynne Jones #quote #quotes #sadness

[madame-ellunas-moonlit-readings]

May 9 - Castles In The Air

Re Dracula/Dracula Daily

This one was short and sweet. If the others are like this I'll be caught up in no time.

This chapter was a pleasant surprise. Not only do we get to hear from Jonathon's dear Mina (Murray), but we also get introduced to another character, Miss Lucy Westenra. There's also been a change of format from a journal entry to a personal letter.

I'm curious as to who Lucy is to Mina. The letter is very sweet, they seem very close. Their names show they're not sisters. Childhood friends perhaps?

Seems we'll also be learning more about Miss Mina herself and her relationship with Jonathon from her perspective, with whom she seems to be just as sweet to as he is to her. It's adorable. In order to better help him with his work, while she's busy with her own work as an assistant schoolmistress (teacher) she's also practising shorthand and learning to use a stenograph, a shorthand typewriter.

I like how they're both writing their letters to each other in shorthand while practising. It feels domestic. I think Mina agrees considering how quick she is to add "When we are married". I wonder if they're engaged? Her idea of continuing this practise with her journal is interesting. It seems we'll be getting that format back soon.

I wonder how similar hers will be to his? While Mina's comparing it to Jonathon's stenograph, she's also comparing it to what she sees other women do, mentioning interviews, conversations and descriptions. Think she'll be interviewing anyone? That there'll be interesting conversations for her to remember?

Apparently Jonathon is due back in about a week (the 16th then, give or take), best of luck to him. Wonder how he got that letter out? Dracula has kept him well isolated. Did the madman take it to the postie himself? She mentioned there were a few hurried lines in his letter. Poor thing must be up to his ears in stress. We've seen how profusely he writes naturally. It's sweet seeing Mina thinking of travelling with him to strange nations. If only she knew.

I'm guessing this tall, handsome, curly haired man is a reoccurring character. Wonder who he'll be. Love Mina taking the time to tease Lucy over him.

#madame ellunas moonlit readings #re dracula #dracula daily #may 9 #castles in the air #read along #reactions #spotify #podcast #Spotify

[heartbuttercup]

RIP, Terry Hall.

I really wanted for her to touch her knees I really wanted to share forgotten dreams Go through the motions of loving from a far And feel as if i'm reaching for the stars But each drop of hopelessness amounts To what could be a raging sea It could be spring time i'd meet her at the gates If beauty ever comes to those who wait

Castles in the air If only they were there Just like a beatnik love affair Those castles in the air

So let me look into the windows of your soul Let me make the most of what i'll never know We'll eat forbidden fruits and sing our favourite songs And never tell each other we're wrong Each drop of tenderness you give Would be another reason why i'd want to live Would be another chance to sit beneath the stars And whisper to each other in the dark

Castles in the air If only they were there We'd be so free and unaware Watching castles in the air

Why should a lonely person care What could a lonely person share A broken heart is much too hard to remend Cause beauty never comes to those who wait Romance is a word That should be seen but never heard I don't even know your name

But castles in the air We were almost there We almost shared Castles in the air

Songwriters: Hall / Lyons

#terry hall #the colourfield #80 #80s music #castles in the air

[amjustagirl]

okay but why is castles in the air turning me into a shion simp mans was only there for like 10 seconds 😩

bcos shion is a good man, and heaven knows there aren't many of them, even if he doesn't want a relationship (yet).

#Nikki chats! #inunaki shion #castles in the air

[ghostpoetics]

Aesthetic for my Lucy Westenra story.

It is almost autumn, and after my heart stops, I dream.

I'm in an expanse of brilliant green water, the swollen moon hanging low, its honey turning the ocean silver.

I look up at the high cliff, searching for Mina's face. The beautiful tangle of black hair disturbed by sleep and the salty wind. Those solemn but warm brown eyes.

#dracula #dracula daily #lucy westenra #castles in the air #my writing #wip #my edit

[nerdyrevelries]

Meg March: The Nurturer

Every time I reread Little Women, I find Meg March more relatable. This isn't because I am a wife or have kids but because I think Meg represents issues all women face and her story has only gotten more relevant since the book was released. 

Meg gets three chapters focusing on her struggles: “Meg Goes to Vanity Fair” in Part I and “Domestic Experiences” and “On the Shelf” in Part II. “Meg Goes to Vanity Fair” appears in most adaptations and involves Meg going to visit rich friends for a fortnight and getting her head turned by luxuries the Marches can't afford. The other most commonly adapted scene is one from “Domestic Experiences” where Meg buys $50 of silk that she and her husband can't afford. 

Even in the novel, I’m not fond of this scene because it doesn't do anything to give us any new insights into Meg that we didn't already get in “Meg Goes to Vanity Fair.” Going off these two scenes, it seems like her main struggle is that she hates being poor, but I think a fuller picture starts to form when you look at all the Meg-focused chapters together. 

“Domestic Experiences” starts with the lines, “Like most other young matrons, Meg began her married life with the determination to be a model housekeeper. John should find home a paradise; he should always see a smiling face, should fare sumptuously every day, and never know the loss of a button.” It's clear that Meg has some decided ideas on what a proper wife should be, and those ideas leave very little wiggle room for the mistakes and accidents that are part of everyone's life. Meg even tells John he should feel free to bring a guest home for dinner without sending word home to her first! 

One day, Meg is trying to outfit her house with homemade preserves. Try as she might, the jelly won't jell. She and John have promised not to go home to ask advice for every small trouble, so Meg goes it alone until she is so frustrated that she sits right down on the kitchen floor and starts sobbing. 

To make matters worse, John forgets that today is the day Meg is working on the jelly and invites a friend over for dinner. He is not met, as usual, by a smiling wife but instead finds a house devoid of life until he finds Meg still crying in the kitchen. John is so worried that she has been seriously injured or received terrible news that when Meg tells him what really happened, he laughs with relief, tells her not to worry about the jelly, and that he and his friend don't need a fancy dinner, just some cold meat, bread, and cheese will do. 

Alas, in the 1860s, the charcuterie did not have the same air of sophistication it enjoys today! Meg is horrified at the idea of treating a guest in her home to a meal like that and hurt by how lightly John seems to be treating the matter. She lashes out, which leads to the couple’s first fight. Eventually they are able to reconcile and their marriage is made stronger in the mending. 

The scene from “On the Shelf” features some very similar circumstances, this time pertaining to motherhood. When Meg gives birth to twins Demi and Daisy, she becomes completely absorbed in motherhood, spending all her time with her children and thinking about little else. She even refuses to let John in the nursery and tries to do everything on her own. 

As a result, John begins to feel like an interloper in his own home and starts spending more time away from it. Meg is extremely worn out and feels neglected, imagining that the changes in her household are a result of her becoming unattractive and John losing interest in her. 

Fortunately, Meg gets some excellent advice from Marmee: Practice self-care, give the kids to a sitter sometimes so she and John can go on dates and have adult conversations and interests, and let John help out with the babies. The advice works and peace is once again restored.  

When viewed together, we see Meg’s trouble isn't so much a love of luxury as it is perfectionism and a tendency to put too much stock in the voices telling her what it means to be a good woman, a good wife, and a good mother. Now, isn't that relatable? What woman hasn't felt like they were simultaneously too much and not enough? Who hasn't compared the shiny pictures of our friends’ lives that we see on social media to the less than perfect parts of our life that don't get posted on Instagram? 

If Meg was alive today, I think she would get really into mommy blogs telling her that she needs to make her own baby food from scratch if she wants to give her children the best life possible. She would watch Marie Kondo videos on YouTube and cry because her living room often looks like a disaster zone after her two toddlers are done with it. 

This was what I tried to bring to the adulthood character role I based on Meg, the Nurturer. I didn't want a role that implied that becoming a homemaker is settling because I think that Meg legitimately loves her life and being a stay-at-home spouse or parent is just as valid a choice as becoming celebrated for a career. 

Instead, what I tried to do was take the cares and the joys of Meg March and turn them into something that would be fun and compelling to play. The main points I wanted to focus on were the amount of unsolicited advice that homemakers commonly get and the perfectionism and fear of failure that often lead to burnout. 

The positive conditions for the Nurturer involve receiving love and support from your family and being seen as a model for perfect home management. The negative conditions are about being completely worn out and being the subject of your neighbor’s criticisms. I'm very proud of the role I was able to create, and I think it's a good example of a type of character you can play that will feel very different from one you might make in Good Society. I hope that you will enjoy playing as the Nurturer, too.

This is part of a series on the literary inspirations behind game elements for my upcoming tabletop RPG based on the novels of Louisa May Alcott and L.M. Montgomery, Castles in the Air. To see a complete list of the posts I've written thus far, check out the master post. If you would like more information, visit the game's website!

#Little Women #Louisa May Alcott #Meg March #Meg Brooke #Castles in the Air

[6rezite6]

love my bf he is crystals castles stan

#indie music #music #crystals #castles in the air #crystal castles

[wentzuponadream]

#Dracula #dracula daily #mina harker #quote #friendship #long distance friendship #castles in the air

[lyndentree63]

Castles in the Air has my heart, but Costume Fairy Adventures is my soul.

#tabletop rpgs #tabletop roleplaying #ttrpg system #ttrpgs #castles in the air #penned to good society #Costume Fairy Adventures

[hitchell-mope]

Oh that’s gonna cost her.

#vera #vera stanhope #castles in the air

[sincericida]

So there’s a new “development” regarding Olivia. The fandom is buzzing because on her latest IG story she posted a picture of an airplane propeller. The text says “I’ve been on an airplane every week this month”. Of course we don’t know where she’s been going, but of course people are guessing London 🙄 Never a dull moment in this fandom 😂

Dear, a good part of AG’s fandom loves building castles in clouds. I refuse that. To me, it means her week was hectic, only that, because that’s how these celebrities live. And I also do not rule out the possibility that she is playing with all this buzz. Fact, with this fandom, from boredom we do not die. 🤭

#ask box #andrew garfield #olivia brower #girlfriend? #i'm no longer feeling firm in this #ag's fandom #castles in the air #my thoughts #ask anon #ask response