#i found a way to make someone half table in dnd

[blue-blue-blooms]

A Little Crush   

Eddie Munson x Henderson!Reader

Part 1

Summary: In which Eddie develops a crush on the Henderson sister.

You weren't sure exactly when your life had gone to absolute shit. Was it when you found a strange, superpowered adolescent girl living in Mike Wheeler's basement? Was it when you walked in on a baby demogorgan eating your cat? Or was it when you were drugged by evil Russians operating under Starcourt Mall? You couldn't even remember a time when life was normal. If someone had told you that you would become best friends with Steve 'The Hair' Harrington and fight literal monsters from an alternate universe alongside Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan 'The Creep' Byers a few years ago, you would've laughed in their face. Now? You'd survived the most traumatising events of your life alongside these people. You were bonded for life.

The last few years had also made you closer with Dustin. You loved your baby brother and his weird friends, especially since you'd spent so much time babysitting them. But no amount of love could make you say yes to what they were asking of you.

"Please?" Dustin begged, following you down the hallway as you made your way to Ms. O'Connell's class.

"No! I have, like, three essays due this week, Dustin. I don't have the time to sub." You respond.

"It's only for tonight! Lucas can't make it and we really need a sub. We're nearly done with the campaign and Eddie will kill us if we make him reschedule!" Dustin pleads.

You were really happy that Dustin and Mike had found a safe space in high school. Lord knows those two idiots needed it. Freshmen year is probably the toughest of them all. You're new, scared, and lonely. You were really glad that they'd found friends, a place where they could be their nerdy selves and feel accepted. Hell, even you'd dabbled in their interests when you'd babysat them. DnD wasn't half bad, and not nearly as hard to undertand as you once thought. You'd spent many nights in Mike's basement playing with them. The first few times, you'd get your character killed in the first fifteen minutes. But after a while, you started making progress (even though you're convinced that the party was exceptionally lenient with you after you once burst into tears over getting killed off).

"I'll do your half of the chores for a week!" Dustin exclaims.

That makes you stop.

"A week?" You turn around to look at him, "Make it two weeks and I'll sub."

"Two? Are you insane!?" Dustin yells, making a few people lingering in the hallway turn and look at you both.

"Two or no deal, Dusty Buns," You tease, "And be quick, I'm late for my class."

"Fine!" Dustin says, "And stop calling me 'Dusty Buns'"

"Why? Is that nickname just for Suzy Poo?" You tease.

Dustin glowers at you as you walk off.

♡♡♡

"So, who's the DM?" You ask as you walk alongside Dustin and Mike.

"It's Eddie, Eddie Munson. He's a senior. Long hair, wears a hellfire T-Shirt, I talk about him constantly. God, do you ever listen to me?" Dustin claims exasperatedly.

"Oh! Eddie as in your new favorite older male best friend who Steve's weirdly jealous of?" You ask, "I've seen him around. Is he the one who jumps on lunch tables and yells a lot?"

"Yup." Mike responded, "He's a bit scary when he's revved up. Just warning you beforehand in case he comes off...a bit intimidating."

You nod.

"Hasn't he been held back, like, three times?" You ask.

Before either of the boys could answer, you reach the room. The first thing you see is the table where the game is set. There are three boys sat around, all with Hellfire T-Shirts on. Your eyes fleet from one to the other until finally landing on Eddie. You recognise him immediately from the amount of times you've seen him yelling in the cafeteria.

Dustin and Mike failed to mention how cute he was, you think.

His hair was long and wavy. He was wearing multiple rings. And he was covered in tattoos. You're pretty sure you saw a few bats peeking from under his sleeve.

"Who's this?" One of the guys asks, making all three turn around and look at you.

"This is Y/N! She's subbing for Lucas!" Mike says, the words spilling out fast and nervously.

Why the hell are they so jittery?

"Yeah, she's my sister! The one I mentioned a couple days ago." Dustin adds.

"Does she even know how to play DnD?" The other boy asks.

"Okay, excuse me, I wouldn't have come if I didn't know how to play," You finally speak, waving your hand a little to get their attention.

"So, this is your infamous sister?" Eddie finally speaks, his eyes landing on you, "You know, I thought he made you up. What's your class and level? Level One Elf?"

Elf? Is he mocking me?

"Are you mocking me?" You ask incredously.

"Is he mocking me?" you turn towards Dustin and Mike who immediately start gesticulating, probably asking you to shut up.

"My name is Aeren Sirenfall and I'm a level 14 chaotic good half-elf rogue. I will sneak behind any monster you throw my way and stab them in the back with my poison-soaked kukri. And I'll smile as I watch them die a slow...agonising...death." You say, your voice slow and hard as you glare at Eddie, "So, are we gonna play this stupid game or not?"

You're pretty sure you hear one of the boys mutter a 'she's terrifying' to Dustin.

You watch as Eddie's eyes slowly soften and a grin emerges on his face, "Welcome to Hellfire Club."

#eddie munson #stranger things fic #corroded coffin #stranger things 4 #stranger things #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x female reader #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson fic #eddie munson fluff

[emblazons]

"I think it would be easier if we were a team."

Day Five of @bylerweek2023 - Secret Identities aka - the Modern!Byler + DnD AU no one asked for

The details for their character sheets came from here + here, though only Mike's is confirmed secondary media. The details + story behind these versions of byler under the cut!

The Secret

The Cleric (Will) & The Paladin (Mike) have been playing digital campaigns together for nearly five years now, after Mike‘s then-newfound investment in Critical Role inspired him to hunt for an online DnD game to play for himself.

Inseparable on the pixelated battlefield, their half a decade of campaigning together has slowly turned them into the best of (digital) friends, as they’ve shared their deepest secrets in the anonymous-but-meaningful way you can only online. From Will admitting that his main concern even outside being ridiculed for his sexuality is healing from childhood PTSD to Mike admitting that his picture-perfect family hates his interests and would never accept that he likes guys, both of them have learned to defer to each other in and out of campaigns—they have grown deeply fond of each other through their characters’ adventures…and chats that mean more to both of them than they would dare admit aloud.

Even so, all the Cleric and the Paladin really know about each other on a practical level is that they’re both 20 this year, are both in college now, and that they both come from the Midwest—though they do hope to meet one day if it ever makes sense.

There really is nothing like a friend who gets to see the sides of you you’re not allowed to show in any other space—and neither of them wants to live their entire lives without someone who treats them as well as their longtime D&D companion.

The Identities

Mike Wheeler and Will Byers have been in each other’s orbit since elementary school in Hawkins, though Will’s been pretty distant about keeping tabs on Mike since he dated (and subsequently broke up) with his sister El during freshman year. Mike always enjoyed the time he spent with Will and could tell that Will felt the same, though Mike knew from the second he broke up with El that Will’s love for his family was going to take precedence over their mutual interest in the same (nerdy) things—the same way it did for his sister Nancy when she broke up with Will’s brother, Jonathan, when they went to college.

It’s been years since that happened now, though—and the last time Mike spoke to Will was when they gave each other a friendly hug goodbye the day of high school graduation. Now well into his 3rd year of college, Mike only knows that Will goes to IU just like he does…but on a campus of over 30,000 people and as an English major to Will’s Visual Arts, it’s not like they see each other.

Even so, time away from his exacting family has made Mike more comfortable, and he has slowly realized that it’s time to branch out of his solely hypothetical “rebellious” spaces and into meeting real people who share his interests—to fully embrace is love of DnD in real life to learn the fine art of figurine painting, soak up all the wisdom to be found in classic printed dungeon master guides, and experience the ruckus of a well-strategized in-person campaign. That’s why, on one rainy Friday night in March, he wanders into the Hellfire Club—the on-campus DnD group he’s heard of but never been brave enough to join.

Given his knowledge of Will from all those years ago, seeing the guy he grew up with sitting next to him for Eddie Munson’s grungy basement campaign wasn’t all that much of a surprise, actually. What was a surprise was what happened when he looked down at the table in front of the boy next to him….only to see “Will the Wise” at the top of Will Byers character sheet, plain as day.

tl;dr - you're 20, and your long-time online crush bestie who knows all your secrets turns out to be the brother of the girl you dated for five seconds at 14. Chaos ensues.

#bylerweek2023 #byler #mike wheeler #will byers #tbh it this was the most confusing prompt for me in this whole week… I didn’t know what I was going to do. And THIS happened #design forward #SO THIS IS NOTHING LIKE MY USUAL STUFF #these gifs are literally my first ever attempt at blending images? #the clips for the dnd characters deadass came from the baulders gate character builder omg #and the clips of the boys are from GQ interviews #it’s def not my usual gif style or process BUT #but I enjoyed it! and thanks to Bre (as always) for hearing me talk this whole idea out lmaooo #as for the whole plot that went along with me thinking out 'secret identities' #...I have no reasoning other than it got away from me lol #I don't write fic but HELL if I will not write out a whole story like a summary or script treatment LMAO #I might try my hand on expanding it one day #but for now its just this. lol #stranger things #the me tag #my gifs #st writing #byleredit #tuserrae

[mermaidchan05]

Vesuvia Weekly: Animal Shenanigans

(for @vesuviaweekly 's "How things went wrong, featuring the familiars" prompt. Also featuring very sketchy doodles I did while playing DnD)

Chandra and Skye

(Nadia and Chimalus' familiars)

There aren't too many shenanigans as far as those two are concerned.

Chandra took sort of a motherly role to Skye.

And Skye is a very sweet little bluebird... most of the time.

Chandra tries. She really does. But she can't completely keep Skye out of trouble.

When not doing her self-proclaimed duties keeping Chimalus company and sometimes acting as a seeing-eye bird (the scar over Chimalus' eye left them half-blind) Skye loves going Places where Small Birds Should Not Be.

She particularly likes to hide inside teapots. 

Especially when said teapot is on the tea tray of anyone unlucky enough to annoy Chimalus. 

Chandra will sit by whatever table or shelf said tea set is on and hoot incessantly until someone finds Skye and coaxes her out. 

Skye is mildly annoyed by this. But she forgives Chandra every time. 

(Now if only Chandra could get it through her head that small birds do not need to eat anything like mice...) 

Malak and Oswald

(Julian and Damian's familiars)

Oswald is a little fruit bat, a rescue from the Red Market.

He's very smart and dedicated, a Firm Supporter of everything Damian does.

Malak is... well, Malak. He's the worrywart. But he's doing his best.

Oswald helps Damian with his potions and alchemy projects whenever he can, and it’s adorable and Oswald is very good at it. 

Malak has occasionally tried to fetch things for Julian in the same way, but this is a bird who refuses to wash his claws, so Julian won’t have it. It’s unsanitary. (And thank you Brainrot for that amazing headcanon!)

Which inevitably leads to Malak trying to help Damian, which in turn leads to disaster.

Malak does not know what he is doing or what he is grabbing. 

And Malak, by nature, is both very suspicious of strange mysterious liquids and distracted by both shiny things and things that smell nice.

Both of which are abundant in Damian’s alchemy work. 

So not only does he always fail to grab the wrong thing, but he also drops stuff so he can go inspect The Latest Shiny. 

Damian is endlessly patient with him. Oswald is not.

(Malak don't do it don't drop the berries into the potion--)

Julian has needed to clean up after Malak's "help" on more than one occasion.

The most infamous one turned what was supposed to be a burn salve into a pile of stinky orange goo.  

It took a while to clean that up. And even longer to cheer up the very remorseful Malak.

Faust and Forge

(Asra and Meleia's familiars)

Forge is an adorable little fennec fox that Meleia rescued during one of her travels with Asra.

He's a shy little guy, and an absolute sweetheart. He doesn't usually get into trouble.

But he does have a "burrow" under Asra and Meleia's bed.

And he loves to hoard blankets to make his burrow more cozy 

Faust wholeheartedly encourages this. ("Crimes!") 

There was one day when Asra and Meleia found a very fancy blanket in Forge’s nest

Far fancier than anything they owned. 

Asra and Meleia had to use magic to find where it actually belonged. 

Thankfully the blanket was just from the palace, so they could easily return it 

Nadia and Portia ended up gifting the blanket to Forge anyway. 

Faust was rather smug about that. The whole mess was her fault and she is very pleased with the outcome. 

(No one knows how she managed to steal an entire blanket from the palace in the first place) 

Faust: "Teehee!" 

#vesuvia weekly #familiars screwed up #the arcana #the arcana game #the arcana familiars #forge the fox #oswald the bat #skye the bluebird #arcana fan apprentice #oc info dump #my art #sketches

[lilith-vodkaaunt-of-demons]

The most hilarious thing happened in one of my Dungeons and Dragons games the other day, and I wanna share it.

So, I play an Apothecary Wizard in one of my dnd games. She makes and sells potions, medicines, alcohol, and the occasional Geneva Convention violation called Alchemist's Fire. Anyway, one of the things I always ask my DMs when making a character is if I can get a free Musical Instrument proficiency since I like the idea of it, probably because I want to learn how to play someday.

So anyway, my Wizard knows how to play the lute, and since she's a saleswoman, she has the Charisma to back it up...except for this instance. I hadn't started with a lute, but over the course of several session found myself in possession of an incredibly out of tune lute that a cultist had just happened to have. So she picks up the lute and plucks a few strings and learns that this bandit must have just had this lute for show or something, because it's TERRIBLY out of tune. So the DM has me roll to tune it... Natural 1. For the next 30 minutes OOC and several hours in game, I cannot. For the life of me. Tune. This. Lute. I legitimately make like, 10 rolls and never roll above a 5. This is an INTELLIGENCE Performance Check, since it's technical, I am a WIZARD, with a 20 intelligence, and proficiency. I have a +8 to this roll, and the DC is

14.

Eventually I have to stop trying because we get into combat with more crazy cultists, but OOC I am gobsmacked, and IC my Wizard is absolutely INCENSED at this friggin' untunable lute.

Anyway, some fighting happens, and eventually I'm cornered by a Fire Genasi Cultist who is hopped up on energy from the Plane of Fire, so is currently immune to Fire Damage, the one damage type I have as a cantrip, and I'm trying to not use my spell slots on the little guys because we all know there's a boss battle at the end of this cave.

So I'm stuck. Embers McHotPants is in melee range, so my Firebolt, on top of not actually doing any damage to him, would be at disadvantage, even if I tried to hit someone not currently immune to fire. I'm a squishy wizard with not so great AC, so running away and possibly getting hit with an AOO is not attractive. Could I have disengaged? Maybe if I hadn't had an amazing idea first.

Me: I hit him with the lute.

DM: What?

Me: The Lute. The infernal instrument cursed to never be in tune. I hit him with the lute.

DM: Riiight, okay. Roll improvised weapon attack.

(For clarity, my Wizard has an 8 strength, and is not proficient with improvised weapons.)

Me: *rolls d20, then starts laughing*

DM: Did you roll another Nat1?

Me: *still laughing* No!

At this point the entire table is laughing but the DM.

DM: You didn't.

Me: *unable to speak, I just nod*

I had rolled a nat20, (19 total) to hit the guy with the lute.

At first the DM looked just plain flabbergasted, but then he got this look on his face, a kind of half smile, and started describing what happened.

DM: Alright, so you find yourself cornered. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and this cultist is utterly immune to your attacks. It's just so...frustrating. Frustrating like that damn lute that you just couldn't tune. You feel your frustration boil over, and you just grab the lute by the neck and swing it! You hear a discordant BWANGGGG! as you smack the cultist upside the head with the head with the lute. And maybe he was more hurt than you thought, or maybe he just had a glass jaw, but he goes down. As the cultist falls, you relax a bit, lowering the lute, which somehow isn't broken, and you pluck a few strings absent-mindedly, and...you can't believe your ears. The lute is perfectly in tune. You've heard professionally tuned instruments that aren't as perfectly tuned as this instrument.

The table EXPLODED. It was pandemonium. My PC had hit the cultist in such a way that it tuned the untunable lute. There was laughter, tears, and celebration. It was amazing. I was laughing so hard I cried and gave myself hiccups.

#dungeons and dragons #dnd #dnd stories #ttrpg

[sevilemar]

Do you remember my first post as a not-quite-yet GM? Someone recently gifted me a like on that post, and as I was reading it over again, I found myself smiling quite a bit. We are about a year and a half into our campaign now, so let me give you an update:

- The players will do what they like, but they actually need a bit of trust to get there.

At the beginning, they were all very respectful of what they thought was 'The GM's plot'. The thing is, I didn't really had a plot back then, still mostly don't, so there were a few situations where I just had to pretend I did, and yes, it was exactly what you thought it was, how did you guess?

These days, my players feel a lot more comfortable to just go where the story takes them, and sometimes make their own story. I want them to do even more of it, so my work here is not done yet.

In the meantime, I work out plot points from session to session. I have a general direction, but no idea how we'll get there. It stresses me out a lot, because I have to figure out a way to progress after every session, and I really am not good at that (or if I am, it takes a lot of work).

- Session zero is still important, as is regular feedback. The most important though is dealing with any conflicts that may arise openly, and before a session, not after.

- Building encounters got easier over time, both because my PCs are now level 4, and because I have more experience now. PC death is still scary as fuck to me (we had one to this day), and I have learned that it is best to leave it up to the player if they want to roll up a new character, or if we need to find a way of resurrecting their old one.

I still think I handled the death too leniently; there should have been more consequences than just a block on their abilities and spells for a few hours.

- The funny thing about not letting Forever-GMs taking over your game is that sometimes, you need to let Forever-GMs take over your game^^

I collaborated with two of my players to date, one taking over GMing for a side quest, and one with whom I co-GMed for a bit. It is fun, makes the players more invested, and it also takes some stress away from me.

- My track record with safety tools is not good, tbh. I did lines and veils at the beginning, and introduced the x card and signs, but nobody has used them yet. I also find myself straying very, very close to one of the players fears a few time, and I couldn't find a way around it. Still need to get better with safety tools.

- Since we started our campaign, I got involved in four more campaigns or extended oneshots, two of them as a direct result of the people at my table. I have played a few oneshots in DnD and other systems, and made characters for a few more. Suffice it to say, no DnD class is completely foreign to me anymore, and most of them I have played or planned already.

- Eberron is still a lot of work. So much so that any oneshot I run also takes place there, because I am not a world building person, and learning one world is quite enough for me. I still discover new things every session, and I am fortunate that one of my other campaigns where I am a player also takes place in Eberron. This way, I'm learning about the world without having to learn the world.

- I found good ressources, kobold fight club for encounters, wikidot, etc. If you are interested, PM me and I give you links privately.

- I have gone with drawing over printing, mostly because I do not own a printer, and the print shops are not open at 1 am at night, when I get my craziest ideas for the session tomorrow.

- We started out with paper minis, but as you know, I got into painting minis, and so I find myself increasingly either making encounters for specific minis, or reskinning monster stats to fit the minis I just finished. It's a lot of fun.

- I still don't have a list of names. I should really do something about that.

#dungeons & dragons #dungeons and dragons #dnd #dungeon master #game master #first time dm #first time gm

[cielcreations]

Husband From Another World (Rancher Duo DND AU)

Credit to @rainbowchaox​ and their Roll Initiative AU! It's also a DND AU and I just want to give them credit as their story is really nice so make sure to check them out! I'm well aware of their story and we have similar ideas but theirs was first, so SHOUT OUT TO THEM!

This wasn't suppose to happen and he wasn't sure how it happened.

Jimmy Moon, youngest of the Moon siblings, was Grian's little brother. The two went to the same college (the same college their sister, Pearl, went to as well) and shared a dorm room together. They had a living room, a mini kitchen, and they each got their own mini room. This was good, because Grian was a DM for a DND campaign and Jimmy wasn't a fan of the game. So, he got to spent time studying in peace in his room as Grian and their friends played in the living room, and later get free pizza for dinner (Grian and Jimmy took turns cooking/buying dinner)!

However, one day, Grian had come into his room, laid on his back, and began his pesky bird antics (an inside joke between them).

"Jimmmmmmmmmy! One of our players bailed last minute and everyone is going to be here in like 20 minutes and we neeeeeed a new player!" Grian whined.

Jimmy sighed, "G, you know I don't really like DND!"

"I knooooooow but pllllleeeeeeease? Just, like, ONE session! Just try out one? Please?"

"Gri-"

"I'll make dinner for the next three days! And I'll do dishes!"

Jimmy hesitated. That sounded like a good deal, "...And I only have to do one session?"

"Try out one session and, if you like it, stay!"

"...Okay, fine! I will try it out!"

"YES! THANK YOU, THANK YOU!" Grian hugged him tightly, "YOU'RE THE BEST LITTLE BOTHER IN THE WOOOOOORLD!"

Jimmy groaned as the other pinched and pulled his cheeks, "G-GRIIIIII!"

Grian let go and left, calling out for him to follow. Jimmy got dressed and made himself look somewhat presentable. Grian helped him make his character. He made a human rouge, thinking it would be the easiest to play. However, he begged Grian to have canary wings, just for aesthetics.

Grian hummed, "...I will give you them, but you can't fly and you have to roll at a disadvantage for stealth because those things are gonna get in the way."

"That's fine!" 

Grian smiled, I'll give him an advantage in acrobatics.

Someone knocked on the door, Grian going to answer it. In walked Joel, Ren, and Scott, all waving at Jimmy as Grian explained the situation. They sat down and got set up and the game started. Grian began the story, introducing the characters. Solidarity, an Avian, a nearly extinct race (in the game universe), rouge whose family were all killed by human hunters, who had become a mercenary out of necessity, not because he wanted to. SmallishBeans (Joel), a Half-Orc Warrior who was employed by the king to take care of the BBEG. Smajor (Scott), an Elf Cleric who had found Solidarity and, after realizing how unlucky and hurt (and somewhat desperate) he was, became his friend and became partners to earn more money. Finally, Rendog, a Changeling Druid, who came to the kingdom to help them fight the BBEG. Both SmallishBeans and Rendog teamed together and eventually found and paired up with Smajor and Solidarity when the two fought and killed some monsters outside of the kingdom.

The game continued and, after about 2 hours, they ended the first session. Grian got pizza, the group laughed, talked, watched some TV, and eventually the others left.

"Sooooo?" Grian asked, sitting beside him, "Wanna join next session or am I making Solidarity an NPC?"

Jimmy hesitated, "Well... I don't mind playing another session..."

Grian cheered.

Jimmy continued joining in on the sessions, enjoying the game, having fun with the group. Jimmy tended to play Solidarity as someone who started off trying to first talk things out rather than immediately fighting. He wanted to help people and you didn't need to always fight to solve a problem. It worked about 10% of the time, but no one at the table seemed to mind. Especially since Joel had roleplayed flirting and getting intimate with three different nymphs (they all had a fade to black moment to not make anyone uncomfortable).

As the game progressed, Jimmy learned more about the BBEG. Tango, the demon king who had a base in a volcano. He had opened up the world to release all the monsters/demons that were attacking the party and everything else. Jimmy had seen the art Grian commissioned and he couldn't help but stare. Tango was hot, really, really, really hot (no pun intended). His hair was as bright as the sun, able to turn into actual flames when he got angry, his eyes a blood red. He was super confident, sassy, snarky, and completely adorable. Jimmy loved him. Especially when he learned about Tango's backstory.

Grew up alone, his parents died when he was young and he had to become king. He had to grow up quickly. He tried to form a peace treaty between the humans, but they nearly killed the young king. That's why he despised humans, thinking they were nothing but savage killers with nor remorse who banished "monsters", simply because they didn't like/couldn't understand something that was different from them.

"Jim." Grian said one night after one of their games.

"Yeah?"

"You like Tango, dontcha?"

The dirty blonde nearly spit out his drink, blushing darkly, "HUH?!"

Grian laughed, "Well, in game? Your character is the only one who knows about Tango, his backstory, and his motives. Also, I've definitely seen you staring at the commissioned artwork of Tango. I can give you the artist's at so you can request a comm~"

Jimmy blushed at the other's teasing before shaking his head, "I-It's not like that... Just... shut up."

Grian laughed but dropped it.

The game went on for a few months before they got to the very end. The final battle where the party had to confront the BBEG. Everyone rolled for initiative and Jimmy rolled the highest with a 17.

"Okay, Jim, what do you do?" Grian asked.

Jimmy hesitated and looked at the others. He then looked back at Grian, "Um, can I try to talk to him?"

"Do you want to talk or flirt?" Ren teased, making Jimmy blushed.

"...Flirt."

"JIMMY!" Grian teased as everyone laughed.

"JOEL SLEPT WITH THREE NYMPHS, I SHOULD BE ABLE TO FLIRT WITH THE BBEG!"

"Joel is the reason we can't have nice things!" Scott yelled, "I've been trying to go on ONE date with Owen and couldn't because I would roll a 15!"

"Not my fault I rolled a Nat20 with the nymphs!" Joel exclaimed.

"IT IS YOUR FAULT!"

Grian just laughed, "GUYS!" Everyone calmed down, chuckling. He hummed before he shrugged, "Honestly, you've been rolling kind of low, so I'll let you try. Roll for persuasion."

Jimmy nodded and rolled it. He jumped up, screaming, "NAT20!"

Everyone burst out laughing as Jimmy cheered, Grian groaning and yelling, "HOW CAN YOU FLIRT WITH THE BBEG AND SCOTT CAN'T GET ONE DATE WITH A RANDOM NPC SHOPKEEPER?!"

Jimmy sat down, smiling brightly. Grian rolled his eyes, chuckling, "Okay, Timmy, you managed to roll a Nat20. What do you say?"

The dirty blonde blushed, "Okay, so I step forward and tell Tango that we're not here to fight. I tell him that I've read and learned a lot about him and his history. I know about his loneliness, how he had no one basically his whole life, but it's okay now! I'd like to be his friend-"

"Boyfriend!"

"Shut up, Ren! B-But, yeah..." Jimmy blushed, "U-Um, I also say that a cute demon shouldn't be alone and that I really want to help him..."

Grian rolled his eyes, "You are awful at flirting." He then cleared his throat, "Anyways, Tango blushes and looked away, embarrassed by your words. He says 'No one has ever spoken to me like that before. People usually just want to kill me. I'm just a disgusting demon.'"

"Noooo, he's not disgusting-"

"ROLEPLAY DUMMY!" Scott teased.

"O-Oh, right! Uh, I say 'No, you're not disgusting, just misunderstood! I can help show you how amazing you are!'"

"Tango blushes more and goes, 'You're quite... strange. But also really nice... and handsome. Um, what's your name?'"

"Solidarity!"

"'Solidarity... It's nice to meet you. You're... very bold, aren't you?'"

"Only when it comes to handsome demons!"

Grian gagged playfully before he hummed. He was silent for a moment before he smiled, continuing his narration, "Tango laughs shyly and faces Solidarity with a smile, 'You say you want to help me? You want to show me I'm amazing? Then... Solidarity, will you marry me?'"

Jimmy gasped, "WAIT REALLY?!"

Grian shrugged, "You rolled a Nat20 and, honestly, I think it's fitting that the campaign that has Joel sleeping with 3 nymphs, Ren marrying a fae, and Scott constantly trying to get one date with one guy, ends with the BBEG getting married to a party member. So, do you accept?"

"YES!" Jimmy nodded, everyone else laughing.

Grian rolled his eyes playfully, "Okay, so Solidarity and Tango get engaged and Tango undoes everything, putting the world back in order. SmallishBeans goes back to the forest to live with Lizzie, Sausage, and Etho. No, I don't care what headcannon you make up, Joel, I'm not roleplaying another flirting session. Anyways, Rendog goes back to his tribe and, of course, his husband Bdubs comes with him and they live happily ever after. And finally, Smajor goes back to town to continue flirting with Owen and, this time, he actually does get a date because I am merciful, thank you very much."

Everyone laughed and helped packed everything up. Jimmy offers to buy dinner tonight, even though it's Grian's turn, ordering some pizza. They ate dinner, played a small drinking game (small as in they did do shots, but didn't get super drunk), and watched TV. It ended up becoming a sleepover, simply because no one wanted to drive home. Scott got one of the couches, Joel and Ren shared the other couch, Grian went into his room, and Jimmy simply laid on the floor after falling asleep during the movie they chose to watch.

***

Jimmy woke up with a small gasp. He blinked, rubbing his eyes, confused, why did he suddenly wake up? He wasn't hungry, he didn't have to use the restroom, he doesn't ever just wake up randomly. He sat up, rubbing his eyes more before hearing a weird noise. It sounded like a crackle of flames, making him confused. He looked around, his head turning towards the DND table. He blinked, seeing it glowing, making him confused. Was he seeing things? He rubbed his eyes, as if trying to wake up more.

Nope, the table was still glowing.

He stood up and walked towards it, entranced by the way the table simply glowed. It was so weird but so amazing, it was surreal. He stood over it, confused yet intrigued, reaching out and touching the glowing table.

At first, nothing happened.

However, suddenly, a hand seemed to grab him, making him scream. He pulled back, but the hand holding him was stronger. He screamed again as he was pulled towards the table.

"JIMMY!"

His brother's scream made him falter and he was yanked towards the table, his vision going black.

The next time he woke up, everything was sore. His eyes fluttered open, groaning as he looked around. He slowly noticed how he was in a different room. Above him was a chandelier, the place decorated with a crimson and black wood interior. Lit candles illuminated the giant room, tons of fancy gold trimmings everywhere, making him extremely confused. He wasn't in his living room anymore, he was in some sort of mansion. Nothing he could ever hope to afford, especially as some young college student.

"Are you okay?"

He turned his head and widened his eyes, being face to face with... Tango.

The demon king smiled, "Oh good, you're okay!" He gently cupped the other's cheek, "The gods weren't lying. You are way more attractive in person! Welcome home, Solidarity!"

The dirty blonde blinked and sat up, about to say something until he got a glance of himself in the mirror. He wore a white button up shirt with a brown cardigan, blue skinny jeans, and brown boots. Two big golden yellow canary wings rested on his back as well, fluttering a bit as he stared at his now light blue eyes. The dirty blonde blinked before looking back at Tango, his face turning red as he did so.

He's so much hotter in person! He thought.

"Are you okay...?" Tango gently put his hand on his forehead, concerned, "You didn't hit your head, did you?"

"You're pretty." He blurted.

Tango blushed before he chuckled, smiling, "Charmer, aren't you~?" He winked, making the dirty blonde blush more. He giggled, "Come on, let's get up. After all, we have a wedding to plan!"

Ji- Solidarity nodded. He took Tango's offered hand and stood, noticing he was a few inches taller than the demon king.

Tango smiled, "Let me give you a tour of your new home." He wrapped himself around Solidarity's arm, "I'm sure you'll love it."

Solidarity simply nodded. He was really confused, but he went along with the weirdness. He could figure this out later. Preferably after the wedding.

AN: There will be more chapters but they will only be posted on my AO3, as they will have more mature/explicit scenes and Tumblr don’t like that too much sooooo ye. Anyways, hope you liked it! :D

#jimmy solidarity #empires jimmy #Solidarity Gaming #solidaritygaming #empires solidarity #tango #tangotek #hermitcraft tango #dnd #dnd au #demon king tangotek #canary jimmy #canary solidarity #awkward flirting #cute #fluff #tooth rotting fluff

[applcrumbl]

MotorMouth

Chapter One:Dealing out D20s

Pairings:  Eddie Munson X OC (Valerie Lipton) Warnings: Canon Divergence, Drug Dealing, Adult Language, Marijuana, Ketamine, Character Death, Depictions of Death Author's Note:  Hi! here's the first chapter of my newest fic; Motor Mouth! It is also uploaded on my AO3 and my Wattpad if you'd prefer to read it there. Both can be found under the user @applcrumbl. I hope you enjoy it, any feedback, comments, reblogs etc. are greatly appreciated. Happy Reading!

Summary: Valerie and Eddie are like two peas in a pod. If one pea always had to be right, and the other just witnessed a murder.

3.8k

The racket of bickering and general chatter interrupted Valerie’s walkman.

‘Great King Rat’ by Queen drained from her ears as she ate her lunch at the cafeteria table. Her friends; a group of boys ranging from age 15 to 20; listen in practical disgust as the eldest of the bunch, and therefore dubbed ‘the leader’ reads aloud from a copy of Newsweek Showdown.

Eddie Munson rants poetically, in a deep voice;

“Dungeons and Dragons; at first regarded as a harmless game of make-believe, now has both parents and psychologists concerned.” He quotes, "Studies have linked violent behaviour to the game, saying it promotes satanic worship, ritual sacrifice, sodomy, suicide, and even… Murder."

A loud, almost demonic, cackle from the boys beside her as Eddie leans back in his chair, bumping into someone as they walk behind him. “Watch it, Freak” the boy states, continuing his journey down the cafeteria. Eddie goes to retaliate, but a sharp look from Valerie keeps him in his chair.

Eddie Munson may be the leader of ‘The Hellfire Club’. He may be the most influential in his small group of friends. but at the end of the day, whether he could admit it or not, Valerie Lipton was the one in charge.

“Society has to blame something.” Says Ricky, a large boy who sits at the table's edge “We're an easy target.”

“Exactly.” Eddie agrees, arms folded and with a pissed-off stare. Valerie can almost sense what's to come next. “We're the freaks because we like to play a fantasy game.”

In one fell swoop, Eddie is on the table, storming it down like he owned the place. Valerie moves her tray away from the landing of Eddie’s feet. It happened often enough that she grew used to it. The typical ‘fuck the patriarchy’ speech of her best friend rang through the large hall.

“But as long as you're into band or science,” Eddie sneers, “or parties, or a game where you toss balls into laundry baskets!”

His calls are interrupted as Valerie pulls on Eddie’s jean leg. A silent plea for him to sit back down as a reply is yelled. Jason Carver, the renowned golden boy of Hawkins High calls over, “ You want something, freak?” And naturally, Eddie replies; tongue far out past his teeth, and hands up the side of his head like horns. Very classy, Valerie thought, returning to her cold potatoes.

Eddie struts his way back up the table and to his original seat, ”It's forced conforming. That's what's killing the kids!” He shouts, leaning into the face of a random bystander. Valerie finds herself almost apologising for his behaviour. “That's the real monster.”

She never particularly felt bothered by Eddie’s flamboyant personality before, In fact, she wasn't even really bothered by it now. But, just sometimes, she wished for a nice quiet lunch with her friends. One where she didn’t feel like an outcast from the outcast group because she didn't sport one of their matching club shirts.

Valerie was not a DnD player, and she never would be. She was simply a colleague of Eddie’s. A friend of Eddie’s, who just wanted to sell her drugs and eat her lunch in peace. A snowball’s chance in hell of that happening, however, as one half of The Hellfire Club's newest duo speaks.

“So, uh, speaking of monsters, uh, Lucas has to do his, uh, balls-in-laundry-baskets game. So,” Dustin chuckles, a scared tone to his words, “He's not gonna be able to make it to Hellfire tonight. And I know there's no way we can beat your sadistic campaign without him.”

Valerie’s ears perk up, this won’t be good, she thinks.

“So, me and Mike, we were talking, shooting the shit, and we were thinking that maybe we might…” He trails,

“Postpone.” Mike finishes.

She was right.

“Postpone?” The group yells, a chorus of “You can't just drop this on us!” and “Over my dead body.” as they spoke over each other in protest.

“Shut up!” Eddie yells, thinking.

The boys fall silent, Gareth scrunching his face up in anger. Valerie talks before anyone else has the chance.

“Can't you just find a sub?”

The heads of the table snap to her, each displaying different emotions. Eddie’s brown eyes bore deepest of all. “I don’t see what the problem is?” She shrugs.

“The problem?” Eddie says, calmly, “You-you're joking right?”

“Are you?”

Her question is left unanswered as Eddie continues, addressing the two youngest boys “Can I level with you? Jeff graduates this year. Gareth's got, what? A year and a half?” He starts, “Me, I am army-crawling my way toward a D in Ms. O'Donnell's. If I don't blow her final, I'm gonna walk that stage next month, I'm gonna look Principal Higgins dead in the eye, I'm gonna flip him the bird, I'm gonna snatch that diploma. I'm gonna run like hell outta here.”

"Didn't you say that last year?” Gareth asks,

“And the year before?” Jeff replies,

“Yeah, he did, and he was full of shit” Valerie finishes, “My bet is that next year, they might consider just letting him go.”

The boys laugh, as Eddie stands behind Valerie. His hands were heavy on her shoulders, “This year's different.”

Valerie rolls her eyes, She’d heard it all of her life. How that year was going to be Eddie’s year until he failed 3 semesters in a row and remained a Senior at Hawkins High for the third year. “This year is my year. I can feel it. '86, baby.”

“Can you get to your point, Eddie? Or are you gonna answer my question?” Valerie interjects.

“I don't even care to remember what your question was”

“Why can’t they just find someone to sub for Sinclair?”

“This is the cult of Vecna, Val.” He deadpans, acting as if that meant something to her.

“Yeah, Okay?” She questions, “you need 6 players to defeat this Vecnan guy, so just find a 6th player?”

The boy scoffs, the rest of the group growing silent. “It’s Vecna” Eddie states, sliding into the empty seat next to her. Full body faced into hers, he splays the fingers of his right hand onto the table. “We can't just find another player.” He stresses.

“Why not Ed? Seems to me like your options are to postpone, or to find a sub?”

It's a completely valid point, the rest of the boys all know that. And Dustin and Mike are already considering asking Valerie to be their 6th member. At this point, she may even have said yes. Gave it a go, and learnt on the job. But Eddie is an extremely hotheaded guy, and Valerie, as stubborn as a mule.

“Do you know nothing?” Eddie spits, hands flying in the air, “Just fucking stay out of this, you don't even play DnD”

It's condescending. It hurts her feelings. It’s almost designed to.

She stands quickly, despite the protests of Jeff next to her. “Look he didn’t mean it”

“No, Jeff, I think he did. So I will,” Valerie spits back, “Enjoy your game.”

Leaning to the floor she grabs her bookbag, swinging it around her back as she resumes the song on her walkman. She gives Eddie no time to say a word before she’s out of the cafeteria.

“Dude,” Gareth scolds, as Eddie sits back down. “It’s actually a pretty good idea,”

“Yeah I know,” Eddie admits, Picking at the cuffs of his leather jacket. “What do you guys think?”

The boys nod in agreement with Gareth, and Eddie kisses his own teeth. “And this is why you guys are the future of Hellfire.” He huffs, “Henderson, Wheeler, go and hunt down some wandering souls”

⋆·˚ ༘ *

Eddie wanders from the cafeteria and to his locker. The same locker that he’d had since 1980. It was amongst a bunch of sophomores, His original graduating class had come and gone a long time ago. Eddie didn’t mind however, It was more time able to be spent with Valerie. Even if he wasn’t the type to admit it.

Inputting the combination a note falls to his feet. He recognises the loopy handwriting almost immediately.

He stuffs the note into his pocket, not careful to hide the annoyance he felt. They were supposed to be a team, why was she pinning all of the work on him? And over a stupid argument, Eddie slams his locker door shut, picking up his metal lunchbox from its place beside his feet. He kicks open the fire exit door and makes his way across the field to the woods.

Valerie and Eddie made drug deals wherever, It was no secret that they did so. Baggies of white substances slipped into palms, but never before the cash was counted. Hallways, locker rooms, even once in the queue for confession. The usual spot was a rotted picnic bench on the outskirts of the forest beside Hawkins High. It was secluded enough that nobody would bother you but easy enough to find when stoned out your mind.

Chrissy Cunningham, Reigning Queen of Hawkins High and girlfriend to the aforementioned Jason Carver, was the last person you’d expect to be at that spot. Her hands bunched into her sleeves. She was short anyhow, but her current unsettled stature made her look smaller than usual. She practically jumped out of her skin when Eddie arrived.

“Whoa, hey, hey, hey. Sorry,” He chuckles, holding his hands up in defence “Didn't mean to scare you. You okay?”

Chrissy catches her breath as Eddie places his box on the table, it clatters loudly and she flinches. “Where’s Val?” She asks, “I was supposed to meet her?”

“Uh yeah, she couldn’t make it” Eddie raises his eyebrows, taking in Chrissy’s demeanour, “There's nothing to worry about. Okay? Val and I are partners, she left a note”

Eddie fishes the loose leaf of paper from his pocket, It is significantly more crumpled than it began, he slides it over to Chrissy as he sits across from her. “No one ever comes out here. We're safe. I promise.”

“So, how does this work exactly?” The blonde cheerleader asks, reading the note in Valerie’s handwriting.

“Oh, just like any other old sale, except, uh, cash only, and, uh, for obvious reasons, no receipts.” He smiles, “I'll do you a half ounce for, uh... 20. What do you say? Plenty of bang for your buck. Should last a while.”

Chrissy gasps, head snapping to the sound of scurrying. A squirrel runs of a nearby tree. Eddie has seen paranoia in all forms, He’s probably felt it too, but he’s never seen an edge like Chrissy teetered on right now. “Hey, we don’t need to do this. You can make another deal with Val later, or Just give me the word and I’ll walk.” He offers, removing the lunchbox from the table. He places it beside him, the large gap between his hips and the edge of the bench. Valerie’s usual spot.

“No, it’s fine.” Chrissy interjects, “I just thought I could talk to Val about something. People say she’s understanding of stuff”

“You can talk to me? I mean only if you want to?” Eddie offers, “Val talks to me about her problems all the time, I think I'm actually quite helpful-”

“It's just” She begins, Big blue-lidded eyes trained on the wood of the table, “Do you ever feel like you're losing your mind?”

He takes a second to understand her hushed words, before breathing out an answer.

“Um, you know, just... on a daily basis.” Eddie chuckles, “I feel like I'm losing my mind right now doing a drսg deal with Chrissy Cunningham, the queen of Hawkins High.”

He was also losing his mind over the fact that for the first time, Valerie wasn’t right beside him as he did so.

“Really?” she asks, Valerie’s note in hand as she fiddled with the edges of the paper. A nervous habit, “Honestly I never thought I’d be at a drug deal with Eddie ‘The Freak’ Munson”

It stung a little, but Eddie knew she didn’t mean it in that way. She didn’t seem the type. “Sorry, I don’t mean it like I think you're a freak” She clarifies, “You’re just not what I thought you’d be”

“Mean and Scary?” Eddie guesses, “Yeah, well, I actually kinda thought you'd be kinda mean and scary too.”

“I get that a lot actually,” Chrissy giggles, “but there are a lot of things that people don’t know about me,”

“Yeah? Like what?”

The paper in Chrissy’s hand rips before she can answer. She apologises profusely, to which Eddie only shrugs, “It’s a piece of paper, you’re fine.”

She unfurls the curled edge, reading its words again. “What’s your campaign?” She asks

“Oh, just something that Hellfire Club are doing tonight. I’d invite you, but it's during the big game.”

“Is it shitty?” Chrissy questions, referring to the words on Valerie’s note, Eddie shakes his head no.

“She’s just mad at me right now,” He smirks, “Really likes to rub it in when she is”

Chrissy nods, a knowing expression on her face. She looks up at Eddie with her eyes, “I’m sure it’s great. She’ll be missing out”

Eddie smiles at her, taking his lunchbox from the seat and opening it back up on the table. “Uh, so, in good news for you, flattery works with me,” He begins, “Twenty-five percent discount for the half. Fifteen bucks”

The girl looks from the bag of green buds to the tin box, and then finally up to Eddie. She contemplates silently

“You're robbing me blind here,” He adds, shaking the bag in her face slightly

“Do you have anything maybe stronger?” Chrissy asks, eyes pleading, and filled with an emotion that Eddie recognised all too well. Fear.

⋆·˚ ༘ *

Valerie had skipped her last 2 classes of the day, electing to go home immediately after lunch instead of attending Art and History. Arguably her two favourite subjects. She was pissed and wanted to let Eddie know it.

Arguments and bickering were not unheard of between them, they happened on the regular. Eddie would say something dumb, Valerie would react - usually accordingly - and they would have forgotten the matter by the next day. A movie and a Pizza at Eddie’s trailer act as a catalyst to the rekindling of their friendship each time. But, this time was different, Eddie had actually hurt Val’s feelings.

A strong believer in an 'it's not what you say, it's how you say it’ attitude, Valerie could forget what Eddie said, but she could not forgive the way it was meant. Mean to hurt her. She sat alone at home, watching reruns of ‘I Love Lucy’ on her dad’s beat-up old VCR. A ceramic bowl of popcorn lay on the sofa next to her, and hoards of unpopped kernels litter the cushioned suite. Valerie’s head rests on her clenched fist as she impassively eyeballs the television.

The phone on the side table rings loudly, rattling in its plastic brown hold. Valerie didn’t even attempt to answer it, she knew exactly who was calling.

Eddie stood at the school’s public phone box. Ringing the same number down to the last quarter in his pocket. Valerie refusing to answer. He left a voice message instead.

“Hey Val, It’s Eddie. I know you’re home”

Valerie rolled her eyes, shovelling more popcorn into her mouth.

“Has Rick got any K around? Not for me, I’ve got a deal after the game. Are you still coming to that? I hope you still come to that. Uh- Anyways, you can just bring it over to mine whenever. 2 Grams should do it, she never actually said how much she wanted-”

Eddie’s voice is interrupted by the beeping of the payphone, a shrill voice asking him to insert more money into the slot.

“Shit, I got no more money V, but I’ll see you tonight. At Hellfire? And please remember the Special K-”

The dial tone beeps as the phone hangs up. Valerie still remains in her position. Hitting play on the DVR once again.

Eddie throws the receiver against the plastic wall of the phonebooth. The girl in the booth next to him flinches, and Eddie mumbles an unenthusiastic ‘sorry’ before entering the school again. He makes his way to the drama classroom, preparing the table for the finale of his campaign. “The Cult of Vecna awaits” he muses as Gareth, Ricky and Jeff enter.

⋆·˚ ༘ *

“Absolutely not.” Eddie protests, staring down at Dustin and Mike. He shakes his head in disagreement.

"You asked for a sub. We delivered.” Dustin claims, “We would’ve asked Valerie but someone pissed her off”

Eddie ignores Dustin’s remark, “This is Hellfire Club. Not Babysitting Club.”

The sub in question? 11-year-old, Erica Sinclair. Tiny in stature but absolutely not in might.

"So this is Sinclair's infamous sister.” Eddie chuckles to himself.

“He's sharp.” Erica bites back, she reminds him of Valerie as Gareth and Jeff laugh beside him. The chucking ceases with a sharp look from Eddie. “Must get all the ladies”

Eddie licks his teeth, holding back defensive words about how Hellfire Club gets ‘plenty of girls’. It isn’t exactly true in the first place but the lack of Valerie’s appearance that night fueled his steadfast refusal to even try not to argue.

“What's your class and level?” He demands, “Level one dwarf?”

It’s a sight that Valerie would have loved witnessing, her big-headed best friend having his ass handed to him by a sassy pre-teen. “My name is Lady Applejack. And I'm a chaotic good half-elf rogue, level 14.” Erica explains, “I will sneak behind any monster you throw my way and stab them in the back with my poison-soaked kukri. And I'll smile as I watch them die a slow, agonizing death.”

She pauses a moment, almost granting them the space to try and talk back. Nobody takes it, and so she continues; “So, we gonna do this, or we gonna keep chitchatting like this is your mommy's book club?”

The boys look at their dungeon master expectantly, and Eddie smiles at the young girl.

“Welcome to Hellfire.”

⋆·˚ ༘ *

The newest member and now asset to their small DnD team rolls her final dice. It tumbles down the board and stops near Eddie. It’s all very cinematic to the boys and Erica, though if Valerie were there she wouldn’t be the least bit impressed. The twenty-sided dice lands with its largest number facing up. ​

”Crit Hit!” Erica shouts as the group celebrates around her. Eddie jumps from his seat in shock and admiration. The sheer odds of the group coming close to winning were low, let alone destroying Vecna in his midst with one roll. The boys jump excitedly, cheering and screaming with one another.

Eddie turns to his left, prepared to celebrate with his best friend but is interrupted by the gruelling fact that she didn’t show up. He swallows the bad taste in his throat and turns his attention to the group. Eddie bows, arms sweeping across the board as he submits his loss to the players. Quickly gathering his things and exiting through the back door of the drama studio.

Chrissy meets him at his van 10 minutes later, cheer uniform and high pony still intact. She asks again where Valerie is, and Eddie does not answer.

⋆·˚ ༘ *

When he arrives at his trailer, the front porch is empty and the interior lights are off. Valerie isn’t there. He laughs to himself in almost disbelief, before leading Chrissy inside his small home.

“This is my castle,” Eddie introduces, jokingly “Sorry for the mess. Uh, the maid took the week off.”

Chrissy just smiles in response, clearly still on edge about something.. “I uh, I asked Val to be here but obviously she hasn’t shown.” He coughs, scratching an itch on his temples “which is weird, But I’m sure she’ll have left some Vitamin K somewhere”

Eddie drops to his knees, rifling through a cabinet. He pulls out a tin of Altoids. Empty. “Shit” he whispers.

“You’re sure you have it?” Chrissy says, unconvinced.

“Yeah, Val is always leaving shit here.” He promises, “it’s quite annoying actually. Uh- take a seat, I’ll check in the back”

Eddie continues his search through his trailer. Wandering up to his bedroom, he swings through the doorframe.

“Sorry I’m late, sweetheart” he jokes to his guitar, caressing its strings softly as it hangs, pride of place, in the centre of his mirror.

He crosses to the dresser beside his bed, digging through the top left drawer. Valerie’s drawer. Full of miscellaneous rolling papers, a lighter, and spare underwear, Eddie wondered when the fuck she moved in. Not that he minded in the slightest. Digging through the items of lace and cotton, he tried his hardest not to pay any mind. Instead focusing his attention on retrieving the small, teal, plastic box at the back of the drawer.

It was very obviously not his, contrasting the dark and grungy interior of Eddie’s room. He opened the sparkly receptacle and retrieved the small powdered baggie from inside. Eddie kissed it enthusiastically, “Thank you Valerie, and your drug supplier dad.” he whispers to himself, before tucking everything back into the drawer.

“Found it,” Eddie calls through to Chrissy, “peaceful bliss, just moments away”

Ironic, however, as when he reentered the main living space, he found Chrissy. As still as a rock, eyes blinking rapidly and unresponsive. He called her name, waving his hands in front of her face. What the fuck? He thought.

“Hey, Chrissy, wake up.” He quivered, “Hey. Hello? Chrissy. Hello?”

When he received no answer, he began shaking her, desperately. Barely even noticed the surging pulse of every light in his trailer going haywire.

He had his hands on her shoulder when she began to rise. Higher and higher until she hovered in the middle of the air. A foot and a half off of the ground. Suddenly, she was shot into the roof of the trailer, arms and legs spread wide against the ceiling.

Eddie fell back in shock and fear. Wide eyes unbelieving of what was happening in front of him. Eyes unwanting to believe what was happening in front of him. Chrissy’s body tensed, as she vibrated in the air. Energy pulsing through the living room.

Her arms snap, and her legs. Breaking in places Eddie didn’t even realise could break. Her jaw clicked violently to the side, mouth wide open as it broke. Blood seeps from her eyes and ears. Eddie screamed as Chrissy’s milky white eyes burst.

In a panic Eddie pushes himself from the floor, grabbing the keys to his van he scampers to it quickly. Unable to catch his breath as he sped from the scene. He had no clue what was going on, not even a general grasp of the situation. Any inkling of an understanding was out of the picture as he barrelled down the road like a hot rod, ignoring every red light and stop sign. Eddie didn’t know much about his current indictment, but he did know that he needed to get to Valerie’s House, and fast.

⋆·˚ ༘ *

#writing #motormouth #eddie munson #eddie munson angst #eddie munson smut #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson x reader #joseph quinn

[howlingheartdemigod]

exactly two people wanted to see my blasphemous fan fic about my dnd chatacter. Imma tag them in the reblog. I will be providing no context about the plot of this game. have just so much fun. 

common tongue

After a reasonable amount of time, Blaine breaks away. "Oh shit, I forgot your doughnut!"

"You might want to waistband your cock. Would hate for you to poke someone's eyes out." Tam replies with a smile.

Blaine laughs, nervous. "Fuck, uh, yeah. That's... Yeah." Blaine shifts, moving a hand to tug at his dick. "Sorry 'bout that."

“Oh, please don’t apologize.”

Blaine laughs, "Right, okay, yeah." He takes a moment to collect himself, "you still wanna go out tonight, right?"

“I mean, there is no canceling that reservation anymore. Are you trying to cancel on me Blaine Ferraro?” 

"God, no. Not remotely. I just... If the goal was hooking up with me, if this is..." He scrubs at his face, putting a bravado back on. "Just wanted to be sure."

Their eyebrows raise and they grin, “You care to finish those thoughts?”

Blaine shakes his head, lifting his eyes. "I've just had a weird morning. Making me... Off I guess."

They point down, “That’s off?”

"No, that's... Very on, uh- We can... I'm good. We can... Just move past this little... Distraction."

Tam seems to think for a second, then shrugs. “Do you want a hand with that?”

Blaine blushes, redder than before, eyes darting around. "We're in the middle of a hallway."

“That can change… Quickly.” 

Blaine swallows, "I... I think... I haven't..."

Tam pushes Blaine into the conference room adjacent to the lectueroom, “Don’t worry, just close your eyes.”

For a brief second as the door latches, Blaine thinks that this was how he ends up in hell. This will be the moment that they put on a fancy projector at the pearly gates for his ancestors and friends who made it in to see to know why he’s not allowed. As his hips hit the table, Tam shoving him back, he decides it’s worth it. 

“You with me, Ferrero?” Tam’s voice pulls him from the light in his eyes and fires on his back. They smile, all confidence and calm.

Blaine nods, a hand lifting without thought to the back of Tam’s neck, pulling them back deeply to the kiss. Tam smiles into it, their hands unbuttoning Blaine’s pants, helping Blaine tug them down. Tam bites at Blaine’s lip softly, then moves their lips to Blaine’s neck, starting a painting in blue and purple. Their hands pushing past elastic and teasing touch to his already hard dick pulled the name of Christ to Blaine’s lips. 

“It’s Tam, actually.” They mutter into his skin. 

“Fuck you,” Blaine says through a smile. 

“Thank you, you mean.” Tam corrects, pulling back, eyes cutting. Blaine opens his lips instinctively, almost to argue, but the words turn to a choked cry as Tam takes his cock and runs along the full length. Tam pulls Blaine to kiss him, smothering the sound. “What do you have to say?” They ask, breaking away. 

“Thank you.” Blaine manages, voice strained. 

Tam smirks at him, moving their mouth back to his neck, hand gathering the slick that leaked from the tip and smoothing it along. “Good boy.” 

Blaine laughs, a choke of a sound, as Tam drops to a knee, tugging fabric aside. They made no preamble to taking his cock in their mouth, curling their tongue around him. They dipped their head forward, about half way down the length of him, and Blaine’s jaw dropped in a silent cry. He saw the light of heaven for a moment, and just as he gripped the table behind him, thinking he had found equal footing, Tam reached the end of their stroke, stopping to hollow their cheeks on the head of his cock, and his head spun again. He found himself looking up at the ceiling, blinking stars away. 

He looks back down, watching Tam work their hands over him, head moving back and forth. “Fuck me.” Blaine whines. Tam smiles, and Blaine can hear the joke despite himself. “Yeah, that’s the idea, I know- ah fuck,” He barely gets through the reply before Tam leans forward, swallowing Blaine’s cock to the base. 

Blaine sees God for a moment, air in his lungs too thin. If heaven forbids this, this clarity, this peace, he doesn’t want it. He’ll take hell, any day.  Tam moves again, and one of Blaine’s hands moves to curl into Tam’s hair, gently, twisting the soft curls, a show of gratitude. Tam looks up at them, a plea in their eyes as they work him over. 

As they move again to take his cock down their throat Blaine whimpers. His mind swirls, eyes drifting shut, and without thinking, he mutters to himself. “Grant us the spirit of fortitude…” his hips tip forward as Tam moves in, and he nearly laughs as they make the funniest little noise. “So… so that guided by the example of…” Blaine realizes he’s speaking as Tam’s tongue slicks along a vein on the underside of his dick. 

Tam looks up at Blaine, speeding up, a hand moving to hold Blaine against the table he’s leaning on, not letting him move. They hollow their cheeks, pulling from the base all the way back to the tip, swirling their tongue as they stop, looking up, waiting. 

“Fuck,” Blaine manages. “Guided by the example of the martyr St. Sebastian,” Tam picks up the pace again, drawing a groan from Blaine. They stop, at the base of his cock, throat tensing around him, tongue stroking at him as their nose bumps his stomach. Blaine feels their throat tense and spasm, a cough escaping around as they look up at him, eyes watering. 

“we may learn to bear witness to…” Tam sucks along Blaine's length again, before rhythmically bouncing their head up and down. “Witness to the christian Faith, fuck this is blasphemy isn’t it, uh… and patiently support…” Blaine’s vision swirls, trying to remember where he is. Tam’s hand on his abdomen tapped gently as they kept up the pace, Blaine would swear they were pulling out all the stops, trying to make him loud, trying to get them caught. “Support the sufferings of life…” Blaine’s head tilted back, awash in sensation. The tightness pulled and twitched, barely hanging on. “Through Our Lord- Fuck, Tam!” Seeming to feel him tense, Tam dipped their head, swallowing Blaine’s cock, and the hot load as he clamped a hand over his mouth to keep his voice in, seeing white. It’s more peaceful, more blank, more full, than anything before, more than sleep, more than the metaverse, more than prayer. 

As Blaine comes back to, blinking stars out of his eyes, he feels Tam gently pulling away, as Blaine catches his breath again. 

Tam stands up, wipes the corner of their mouth with their thumb, and boops Blaine on the nose with their index finger, “Now I’ll take that donut.”

Blaine grabs them and pulls them in to kiss them before they can move away. "Dick."

They keep out of reach, a teasing smile on their lips. “You’re right, that was just in my throat.”

"Fuck." Blaine pleads. "Come on, man."

They relent, giving him a kiss, and bite on his bottom lip while pulling away, “There you go.”

Blaine smiles, "Thank you." He replies, moving to fix himself up a bit. "I'll go get you your fucking doughnut."

#fanfiction #dnd #blaine and tam #there's no context i can provide for this #that makes it any more than it is #i guess i could tag it #persona 5 #and not provide any context about that #oh also #smut #plot what plot #pwp #if you want to know anything about my dnd chatacter feel free and ask #blaine and tam aren't dating anymore lol #to put it mildly

[totallyrhettro]

So, I’m off to play dnd today. (aka D&D, aka Dungeons and Dragons). It’s not your usual game, I think. I’m playing a tauric, half rock monster, have human, half dragon, half golem, (bc in dnd you can be many halfs) aberrant-limbed, monster of legend shadow creature. That means he is an eight-legged centaur-ish beast with dragon wings that looks like he is always made of shadow and clay. 

Not your usual dnd character.

Sounds complicated, I know, but this is my favorite character I have ever created. Technically he is an adult, but he was ‘created’ using magic (evil wizard!) only three years ago to be the perfect gladiator. While he has killed many, he hates no one. He doesn’t even want to kill, as long as his opponent is willing to surrender. He is an androgynous cleric (literally half male, half female) who identifies as male and likes hugs.

His name is Boulder. I love him. 

#not rhink #D&D #thought I'd share #in case any of my followers like the dnd #might delete later #i will still try to post a chapter today #if anyone cares #also #i found a way to make someone half table in dnd #well #half animated table #because 3.0e dnd is supremely broken #or half chair #any piece of furniture that has four or more 'legs'

[ace-beef]

The Gang Plays Dungeons and Dragons

so my silly little brain loves to just take a group of characters and go “what if they played DnD together?” and that is exactly what I’ve done here with the characters from Always Sunny. Might turn this into a fic but idk yet 

Charlie  - was the one who suggested playing it because he happened to discover it one day and as the funky lil creative he is, he's prepared a homebrew campaign that is absolutely nuts and doesn't always make sense - as he can barely read he hasn't exactly got the best grasp on the rules. He might go and find some videos to explain it better to him but he also does have a shit attention span so he probably gets a little bit bored - basically he found out about a game for adults where you can acceptably play make believe like a kid and really liked the idea of it - a somewhat fair DM but gets frustrated when the others inevitably deviate from the plot a lot, like I feel like he also threatens to kill people's characters if they continue to completely ruin stuff - really works hard on doing different character voices and describing different characters and places, even down to having props, costume parts, maps etc - draws everyone’s characters 

Mac  - starts out complaining that he "doesn't want to play some shitty nerd game" but then gets shown the barbarian class and all the weapons his character could use and then he gets fully into it - briefly thinks about being a monk instead but gets very put off when reading about Ki and just doesn't understand it at all - builds a Dragonborn or Half Orc barbarian beefcake, his highest stats are strength and dexterity, and he has weapons that use a d10 or a d12 for damage - he never really gets into the roleplay aspect and gets kinda bored when there hasn't been any combat for a while which means that he often starts combat himself, like they're all yelling at him not to and he just attacks anyway and rolls his dice and then Charlie just yells like "OKAY FINE ROLL INITIATIVE" - constantly tries to do cool stunts (you know he’s physically demonstrating them too the best he can) and gets very mad when his dice roll low, and so he probably flips the table at least once every session - doesn't ask to roll for intimidation (or any other skill but he uses intimidation way more than the others) he just does it anyway and announces it - Mac: I rolled a 12 so I intimidate the guard with my big muscles and he cowers before me Charlie: nO dude that’s not how it works, I decide whether he’s intimidated by you aaand *rolls dice* he’s not  Mac: WHAT??? That’s bullshit Charlie you KNOW how big my character’s muscles are! *proceeds to flex irl* 

Dennis  - also "doesn't want to play some shitty nerd game" and takes more convincing than Mac, but eventually what sways him over is the fact that his character can seduce as many people as he wants, and he probably sees some raunchy artwork of a tiefling woman and decides that he'll play - Aasimar Bard that has a very high charisma stat and is quite possibly the horniest bard you have ever seen, although he's not seducing dragons and monsters because he "has standards" - uses 'vicious mockery' constantly and comes up with the most incredible insults, and often threatens to use it on his party members  - never gives inspiration dice to the others (except maybe to Mac on occasion) - probably a bit of a rules lawyer but only when it benefits him or ruins someone else - surprises himself a little bit and the others when he ends up getting very into the roleplay part of the game, oftentimes completely forgetting that he's just effectively flirting with Charlie in a wig - therefore gets Very into character and ends up becoming weirdly attached to and protective of his character so gets genuinely upset when his character is near death “heal ME! I’m clearly the best member of the party!” - very detailed and descriptive roleplay, sometimes too descriptive 

Dee  - also also "doesn't want to play some shitty nerd game" but particularly when Mac and Dennis get roped into it she doesn't want to get left out and joins anyway, plus she very quickly realises that it's a perfect opportunity to demonstrate her acting skills - therefore very much enjoys the roleplay aspect and often gets very intense which the others (except Dennis) aren't quite sure what to do with since they're just goofing around for the most part - would argue with Dennis about being a bard but eventually she gets bullied into settles on being a Tiefling Sorcerer because it "seems pretty cool" - the others joke about how she should be playing an Aarakocra though, "oh wow Dee look! They based an entire race on you!" - argues with Charlie A Lot about various different things that she supposedly can and can't do (tbf they all do but she is The Worst) - has an incredibly long and fleshed out backstory written down for her character and she keeps asking Charlie when he’s going to bring it up and use it in the plot of the campaign  - not so interested in combat since she can never quite get her head around the magic system but she does laugh at and berate the others about not being able to solve 'simple' puzzles

Frank  - has absolutely no idea what DnD is or what he's doing but he's playing just for Charlie and because Charlie was so enthusiastic about it - when making a character he probably asks stuff like "so which class has the most sex appeal?" / "Which one of these will get me to bang the most fantasy broads?", which inevitably means he gets involved in the ‘Who Gets To Be The Bard’ argument with Dennis and Dee but backs out very quickly because honestly, he's not That invested - I would say he gets 'lumped with the healer role' because of this but you just KNOW that the gang has absolutely no idea how to build a good, co-operative party and therefore has the most chaotic and messy party you've ever seen - ends up being a High Elf (so he can be "tall and sexy") Rogue so he can be crafty and steal a bunch of money from people, which also includes his fellow players and they get very mad about it - Mac: hey you can't steal from me! I attack him with my greataxe *rolls dice* Charlie: no Mac he rolled a 15 whereas you rolled a 2 your character didn't notice him steal from you Mac: but I just watched him say he stole from me! Charlie: YOU did but your character DIDN'T! Dennis: Mac buddy he's right you just didn't roll well enough! Frank: *cackling* I just stole all of your money! DEAL WITH IT! Mac: *standing up* WELL I ROLLED WELL ENOUGH TO HIT HIM! I GOT A 19! Charlie: *overlapping* YOU DON’T HIT SHIT! Dennis: *overlapping* METAGAMING! THAT'S METAGAMING YOU CAN'T DO THAT!

#this took way too long and I should not have put this much thought into this #but oh well here we are lmao #I feel like I have a decent enough grasp on all of their characters #although for some reason I still don't feel confident enough to write fics with them #oh well #always sunny #it's always sunny in philadelphia #iasip #charlie kelly #dennis reynolds #dee reynolds #frank reynolds #mac macdonald #dnd #beef speaks

[cerise-noire1]

Tips For Shy Roleplayers

I’m a really shy person, to the point where I almost quit DnD a few months ago because I was finding roleplay to be too difficult. While I’m still working on my shyness in the real world, I’ve found some tips that really worked for me with roleplaying and I’m having a lot of fun now. I thought I’d share them and I hope some work for other shy people :)

Come Up With a Character Voice - I know, not everyone in the DnD community is a voice actor. I’m not either but putting some practice into  a certain voice and certain mannerisms works wonders. This helps seperate your character from you and helps you appear more in character to your party. You can even try to find a voice from a pre-existing character and yoink it. The best part is bad accents are totally excuseable, England isn’t even real so why worry? What’s an English acccent? That’s just the way Jeremiah the half-orc talks. 

Talk to Yourself - This helps to practice your character voice. Think of how your character introduces themself and practice it a few times. Talk to yourself a few times throughout the day as your character. Your family will have a lot of questions, but it’ll be worth it.

Make a Character Who Acts Differently Than You - What’s the point of roleplaying if you’re just going to act like yourself? Try out traits you don’t normally show, heck, maybe even traits you wish you had. There’s always one person at the table who uses their character to work through identity issues, why not be that person?

Have a Relationship With Another Character - Find a character who your character would get along with (or really dislike). Form banter with them. It can feel intimidating to talk to an entire party, but this trick makes it feel like you’re only talking to one person or having a one-on-one conversation. This can work even better if it’s someone you’re comfortable talking with in real life. You could even talk with them out of session about how your character and their character interact.

Don’t Fill in Your Character Sheet - Rather finish writing your personality rubric and bio after you've roleplayed a little. Get a better sense of how your character should be and then fill it out.

In the end, you should be fine as long as you try to get out of your comfort zone and your character wasn't raised by wolves. Try to have fun because that's what it's all about :)

- Fae

#dnd #dnd tips #roleplay #roleplaying #roleplaying tips #table top role playing game #introvert

[ponyponypuddingandpie]

Life sucks.

//Feels like I'm using the blog less and less for asking and roleplay reasons, and more and more to just stare at a screen all day and do nothing whilst my back throbs in pain. Figures, right?

I'm not happy. I haven't been for a while. And everytime something seems to be going well, everything goes to hell in a handbasket. It just falls all to pieces. Court cases, community service with a munted spine, restitution payments... I finally paid off my debts, only to be slapped with my housemate coming home early from work the other day and telling me, and I'm not joking, that he heard god's voice in his head telling him to leave the country and spread the good word. Followed with a casual 'I don't know what you're going to do with this place', because he knows I rely on him to actually live here proper.

So, shellshocked a bit, I went to a friend's place for a while. Had to come back the next day for a fridge delivery that was arbitrarily thrust on me, only to find a hole in the wall and housemate won't tell me how it got there.

Then the fridge came, put it in place, waited a half hour, my housemate left, and when the half hour was up I turned the fridge on. Woohoo right? Left to go back up to friend's place, a 45 minute drive btw.

Got a facebook message later from my housemate's friend saying he locked himself out. And since I didn't plan on going home for several days, meant he'd be locked out for several days. He'd left his phone at home. And hadn't taken his housekeys. Why? Turns out, after driving home again to let him in? He only then told me he'd lost his keys.

Lost. The keys. He had three house keys. Same as me.

It got worse. He'd been stuck outside for hours. But, instead of asking to borrow someone's phone to contact me, he tried to break into our unit with a paint scraper and a tire iron. Another 45 minute drive, another 5 dollar toll, and now I've spent way too much on fuel in two days that he won't pay for. Had a shit time at friend's place, nobody felt well tbh. Various chronic reasons, not the virus. Not their fault either, it just was a bad time. Came home, and he told me he was going to throw out my kettle and buy a new one. Why? There were ants in it. And he thought it was his kettle.

He doesn't own any kitchen appliances, and it matches the toaster. The toaster he forgot I had.

Now he's got no job, and I only found out because I saw the separation certificate on a table instead of him telling me straight up so I could plan around it. I had already spent the last of the money I had after paying the rent.

Why? Why does this shit keep happening to me? Am I just that fucking disgusting? Am I really that hated by whatever controls life? I can't... I cannot fucking...

No food for two weeks basically. I only had enough to buy food for the weekend after prepaying some bills we haven't gotten yet, because I thought that was the smart thing to do. So...

Fuck me, right? Just... fuck me. No fuel, no food, no anything. Can't even go to Saturday's dnd session due to no fuel. Which ruins it for everyone, because I'm the DM, which makes me feel even worse because it makes me feel like a shit dm. Just... someone shoot me. Please? I'm just so fucking done with all of this bullshit.

#mod #don't read this #venting #depressed ranting #not worth reading #or your time

[kindofwriter]

Hey there! My group of friends have been hardcore considering turning a passion project of ours into a real podcast, and I was wondering if you had any advice for newbies putting together a show. We’re a small, young team, but we have a lot of passion for our concept and some writing/sound experience under our belts. Do you have any tips regarding finding actors, the process of plotting, sensitivity readers, or anything else you’ve had experience with in your projects? Thanks for reading!

Ok, finally ready with this! Thank you so much for the question, I will try to share my ~wisdom~ in the following post, but feel free to ask any further questions!

How to start a podcast: 1. when you’re new and/or 2. when you have money!

1. It’s easier than you think! My first advice is to just go for it! Even if it doesn’t quite go as planned you’ll have fun, and it’ll give you great experience for whatever you want to work on next!

Casting:

I’m going to assume this is an unpaid project (hence the former part of this advice being for free podcasting!) but if that’s not the case please skip to section two!

When I can’t offer any form of payment for a project I like to use friends as a cast. Not because my friends deserve any less payment! But because I can pay them in free chips and credentials for their portfolios, and it makes me feel slightly less bad!

Ways to go about deciding which friends to cast: I was lucky enough to do a lot of theatre work in my first year of uni, so I already knew a lot of people who were interested in both acting and production work. You’ll probably come across several actors who think voice acting is beneath them, but who wants to be friends with those people? What I’m trying to say is: if you have friends who are interested in theatre they’ll probably be interested in this! Especially given the past year.

I also poached people from my DnD group, because I could already gauge their acting specialities from that, and I knew what kinds of things they were interested in based on which DnD campaigns they enjoyed best.

If you know anyone who is interested in public speaking, whatever you all those reading awards where you read aloud dramatically, or something like radio and TV presenting then they’ll probably also be interested and do a great job! The great thing about podcasts is that all you really need is someone with a good voice - they’re free to do whatever they like with the rest of their face as long as they’re reading the lines!

You can, of course, also put out a casting call. It’s very important that you make it clear that it would be unpaid work. Even if you plan to set up a kofi, patreon, or kickstarter (info in the money section!), if you don’t have the money to begin with you shouldn’t promise it to people.

There are up and downsides to both. Casting people you know means you’re more likely to be comfortable working with them, there’s less pressure to offer payment, and your cast are more likely to have free time specifically for this project. However, you won’t have the draw of casting known industry voices, and (like I found!) your cast may not have any social media engagement whatsoever!

If you put out a casting call you’re more likely to get a pool of diverse voices, it will likely be people invested (even if not plugged in) to the industry, and you can request that they have their own equipment! However, you then have to work with people you don’t know, a level of professionalism that isn’t usually present on first time projects may be expected, and unpaid casting calls are not wildly well received.

Personally, for your first show, I’d try to use as many friends, or even friends-of-friends as possible. That being said, if you want advice on putting together an audition pack let me know!

Plotting:

It depends on what kind of show you’re aiming to write, but in general plotting a podcast is kind of like plotting a TV show. First of all you should plot out what’s going to happen in a season. Then plot out what’s going to happen in each episode. Ideally each episode will have its own arc, but things don’t always work out like that.

I like to plan things out in a fair amount of detail beforehand (this is especially helpful if you’re writing collaboratively.) Start with what’s going to happen in each episode. Once I know that, I then like to write how it starts and finishes, then the content in bullet points. If you ever can’t think of anything then don’t worry! A lot of things really come together when you’re actually writing.

The most important thing is to not worry at all about the first draft. Just get it down, editing is much easier and more fun once you have something to work with!

There are definitely much more qualified people than me out there giving advice about writing and plotting though; even if it’s directed at prose and script writers it’s still more than applicable!

Sensitivity readers:

If you have the option of sensitivity readers they’re always a great idea! But asking someone to read your work (usually for free) is both time consuming and potentially risky if you don’t know and trust them.

Tumblr, the writeblr community specifically, is a good place to find a sensitivity reader. A lot of people want the practise and are willing to do it for free if you put a call out.

One of the best ways to get feedback on your work is to cast/find people who are appropriate for the roles and then ask for feedback. Obviously they don’t have to, but you’ll find that usually they want to. You can aid in this by giving them some way to give feedback anonymously - maybe a google form - as no matter how chill and friendly you are as the prod team you will always be seen as In Charge.

If you don’t feel right asking someone, especially from a marginalised group, to read and comment on your work for free, you can always just ask general questions in forums or on social media. This isn’t as reliable, as people can lie online, but if you find the right communities and explain you just want to portray characters as accurately as possible there will always be people willing to offer some help. Reddit, for all its flaws, builds great communities, though remember to check the rules to make sure people outside of whatever group they’re aiming to support are allowed to post.

Of course, the first step to writing anything outside of your own experience is a tonne of research. The sensitivity reader should be picking up on small things, not telling you the basics of their experiences. And everyone’s experiences are different, which makes this even tougher! You can get things so spot on for a handful of people whilst inadvertently offending others. Be prepared to be adaptable and take on criticism, but also remember that you don’t have to bend to everyone’s whim; one person saying ‘but this wasn’t my experience!!’ doesn’t mean you’ve done a bad job.

Equipment:

I know you didn’t ask, but this was what I found scariest when I was Brand New.

If you have the money and you’re very serious about this I haven’t encountered a single person who wouldn’t recommend a Blue Yeti mic. However when you’re just starting out, and especially if you’re not planning to have all of your cast together record together/separately but with the same mic, blowing over $100 on a mic is huge, scary, and not always feasible.

I have three small desk mics that I loan out to my cast when needed. They cost ~£30 ($40) from (ew, I know) Amazon. You don’t need a mic for each cast member - you don’t even need a mic for the max number of character speaking in a scene at once. You could probably do it all with one mic, but the time that would take and the affect it would have on scenes may be worth the extra cost! These obviously don’t produce the crisp quality a professional recording mic would, but they have a pop filter and a windscreen and seem to do a good job at reducing background static.

Further noise reduction: Mr Alexander Jalexander Newall, when starting his podcast empire half a decade ago, got it in one: blanket forts.

If you can build a little fabric den for your cast to record in: perfect! If not, tell them just to stick a duvet over their head. This increases the risk of moving duvet sounds, but reduces everything else! And if they shift under the blanket you can always ask them to get comfortable then read the lines again.

And, info courtesy of the McElroys: you can also record in a wardrobe or a room with plenty of bookshelves if you don’t want to build the world’s most bangin’ blanket fort.

The most important advice you will ever receive:

Don’t be scared to ask for help! Join Facebook groups and ask questions! Join discord servers! Message people on Twitter and ask for advice (certain ppl are much more amenable to this than others, but this is pretty clear from their Vibe)! Heck, you can message me on Twitter (or here. Or send another anon. And if I don’t know the answer I’ll ask someone who does!) Everyone just wants to help everyone else, and if they don’t they’re probably not the kind of people you want to associate with. Good luck! And let me know once you socials are up, so I can follow and get excited!

Now, onto 2. Money stuff!

A lot of the info stays the same, but money kind of raises the stakes. Once money’s involved, especially once money and people you don’t know so well are involved, suddenly you have to operate like a business.

Casting:

If you’re planning to pay actors proper wages from the get-go you probably want to put out a casting call. Paid work will attract professionals, and professionals will not only do a great job, but will also help you gain an audience (and have their own equipment!)

You get to decide what the hourly rate is, but usually, depending on where you’re from, there is an average hourly rate voice actors get paid, and if you’re nowhere close to that people will be put off.

You should also make clear what the hourly rate includes: whether it is just recorded audio hours, or includes table reads and directorial time. A lot of people just have every actor record their lines separately, sometimes without direction, then edit them all together. This certainly saves on cost, and makes for a quick turnaround, but it’s no fun, and sometimes makes the show kind of soulless.

Kickstarters:

You can run a kickstarter on an unpaid project, in the hopes of eventually paying the cast and maybe funding future seasons. But I’m going to assume this is advice for ‘I can pay the cast, but what is a kickstarter for?’

Well, that’s up to you! It can be for equipment, for better editing, for podcast music, for podcast art, for a pay rise for the team, for bonus content. Depending on how many stretch goals you have, it can be for all of these things!

In short: backers give money, and get things in return, for example $5 might get you a pin badge, while $100 might get you a signed poster. When the kickstarter reaches a certain goal, maybe $5,000, then the team may then have enough money to produce a holiday special, for example. At $10,000 everyone on the team may get a 10% pay rise.

This is a great way to get people invested in the show, and a great way to make money! But if you want a really great kickstarter you’ll probably want to hire someone with experience in this area.

Contracts:

Money means contracts! Usually two will suffice, they just need edited for each individual team member:

An NDA, to prevent people from discussing the show in any inappropriate situations.

And a literal workplace contract.

You’ll be able to search how to draft these online, but it’s useful to have the help of a lawyer. There are people who do this specifically for podcasts who’ll be able to help you out, but again: you have to pay them!

Equipment:

As I said, actors will probably have their own equipment, but if you want them all recording together: you can rent a studio! They’ll already have all the equipment for you, which is The Dream!

Or you can convert a room into your own studio! Get some soundproof panelling on the walls and invest in a good mixer. I’m afraid I don’t have much advice on this, as I cannot afford anything close to a good mixer! But there are plenty of articles online with helpful information.

I wouldn’t recommend making a paid podcast as your first project, as it’s a lot of pressure, and would almost definitely mean bringing new people onto even the production side of things. There’s always the option to work on another project first, something smaller-scale, to work out any roadblocks you may run into during the paid show. But I’m not telling anyone what to do: if you’re ready, go for it!

Anyway, this was very long and quite rambly, and is probably filled with things you don't actually need to know! But I hope at least some of it was useful! Please feel free to ask any other questions - now or in future, PM or anon - and again: best of luck! I'm so excited for you!

#audio drama #writing advice #writeblr #podcast #anon

[sevilemar]

Hey,

anon beginner to dnd from before, with many additional and build-on questions. Thanks for answering these!

What's some ways to find a dnd or rp group? What if I'm bad at acting or get really nervous and closed-off with people I don't know? How can I make the time for this? What materials would I need to bring?

What are good strategies to start a dnd or rp group? Do you have to be dm, as founder? Is it from scratch and from the ground up? What materials would be needed to start off? What if there are people you know and think might be interested? And what if there's no one you know that may be interested in such a group?

You rock!!!!

I'm glad to share what I know, since I believe ttrpg is just awesome! 😍

- My first table was just me and my friends trying something new. But not everyone's friends are interested, so for my second group, I googled if there was a local ttrpg, roleplay, or DnD forum. I found a national one, with sections for each region, so I answered someone's post there. I would have asked in my local comic book stores next, or in other stores that sell nerdy stuff. Maybe you already have a coworker or acquaintance who is playing and can hook you up with some people, or at least with some links?

If you don't find anything locally, you also can opt for online groups. I don't have any good starting spots, but you should be able to google it pretty easily. Look for people who are roughly in the same time zone than you, it makes scheduling easier^^

- You do not have to be GM to look for or found a group. It's very common to look for groups as a player, though it might take you longer to find one. People who want to GM are rarer, and usually a GM has an easier time finding players than the other way around. If a group cannot find a GM, people who wanted to be a player sometimes take up the mantle so that they can play.

- Most groups who find each other start from scratch, but it is possible to enter an already established group as a new player. Both have their own challenges and advantages.

- If there are people you think might be interested, just ask them. Role play is all about communication and relating to people, and this is a good start. If there's no one in your vicinity, find a new group. It's very interesting how easily strangers become friends when you regularly slay monsters together 😉.

- I find that a regular playing schedule works best for everyone when it comes to sessions. My two online groups play regulary every other Monday and Wednesday for 2-3 hours, and my local table meets roughly once a month on the weekend for longer sessions. When our GM didn't have the time to prepare, he tells us so, and we just drop the session. That gives him two more weeks of preparation.

GMing is a lot of work for me. I find myself thinking about campaign stuff while doing mundane tasks, or while crafting. I also spent hours as needed writing notes, or drawing maps, etc., mpstly a day or two before the next session. I find session logs are best written down the next day, so I tried to give myself half an hour for that the day after a session.

- The only materials you need as a player are your character sheet (physical or digital), some way to take notes, and either a set of dice or a digital dice roller. As a GM, you also need monster stat blocks, your campaign notes, and whatever rule set you're using for references. That's all you need to get started, really.

It is helpful as a GM to use some kind of grid for encounters, and something that represents PCs and monsters. In a physical space, easel paper works well, or a grid-based map. You can draw a battlefield or locaton on it in preparation, but it's not necessary. In our first campaign, we just used whatever pens where at the table to make a battlefield, and we used dice or random snacks as PCs and monsters. White Othello or Backgammon pieces are nice, because you can write names on it, or whatever damage your monster has taken with a removable marker. In a digital space, you can use tools like map tool or roll 20 to upload maps and PC tokens on to it, but don't bother if it's too much hassle.

- A good strategy to start a new group is talking to each member individually while recruiting them, making a group chat for orga stuff, and having one or multiple session zeros where you get to know each other and can talk about what kind of game you would like to play, and create characters together. Recruitment and orga can be done by anyone in the group, session zero(es) is (are) usually lead more or less loosely by the GM once they know more about their world and the kind of story you all want to play.

- Every person in the group will be nervous when you meet for the first time, especially when you play with strangers. That helped me a bit when I met my group for the first time. It also helps that ttrpg is something that takes a lot of love and passion for something that's still a bit weird to most people. It's still very much the domain of nerds and theatre kids, so chances are high that you are one of those types, and you will have both types in your group. I meet more nerds in DnD, and more theatre kids in larp, but thats highly subjective.

- There are things you can do to help you with role playing, either as GM or as player. It's too much to list it all, so let me give you a few online ressources I found helpful:

Ginny Di's role playing tips

Matthew Coleville's thoughts

#dungeons and dragons #dnd #ttrpg #role play #ask answers #first time dm #first time player

[denndrawings]

Hi and welcome to Misha Mixes Unrelated Things. Todays episode is called: The Grishaverse Is A DnD Campaign That Got (VERY) Out Of Hand And Here’s Why

(There are going to be spoilers of. Pretty much everything. Except for King of Scars because I’m only like 3 chapters in so. No spoilers from KoS)

Let’s begin with the SOC duology because that’s the first thing I read and also I feel like it has a more “conventional” dnd-esque narrative (probably because of the multiple POVs and stuff idk).

So, first things first: characters. While I think all of the crows are equally important to the plot of the book I also think that not all of them are players’ characters. I don’t think Kaz is, for instance, and probably Wylan isn’t either. But let me explain the rest first and then I’ll elaborate on this.

Inej is a classic rogue with her amazing skills and tragic backstory and everything. I think the person that plays her would probably be a beginner because Inej’s backstory is so intertwined with the plot and so well fitted to the city where the story begins and she has such a clear role and stuff that it can only be because the DM had a say on this. From my experience at least and I’ve been DMing for like 5 years now so maybe I know a thing or two. I may be wrong tho.

Matthias is an oathbreaker paladin. The drüskelle sounds like the kind of half military/half religious organization able to provide paladins in a dnd game. They would be Oath of Devotion paladins. Or like a twisted version of those but yes. Oath of Devotion to Djel or whatever I don’t really like fjerdans let me be. I also think Matthias’ player and Nina’s knew each other/had player with each other before and that’s why they made a backstory together and made sure their characters were… a thing from the beginning. I think they wouldn’t be as committed to the DM as Inej’s character so they probably chose a far off place to set their backstory so they didn’t have to learn all of the kerch politics and stuff and join gangs and shit (even thought Nina’s player kind of ended up doing it but I think I remember it was Kaz who found her and not the other way around so).

Nina is a cleric but like. Either a Death or a War Domain cleric. Not a cleric suited for healing but for killing. Cool shit, I personally love clerics. I think the player would have the curse of being the only “““healer””” of the group without even being a real healer. It happens to the best of us ;_; (not to me tho I never play I’m a forever DM XDD)

I think Jesper is a fighter. I have considered making him an artificer but yeah, no because he didn’t build his guns or anything he’s just really fucking good at shooting stuff. That’s a fighter to me. And he later double-classes and stuff when they arrive to the Ice Court to be able to do his thing. I think this player is this type of player the DM invites to the table because they have played together before and they are fun as shit and they kinda help them direct the party where they need to go. I personally love that kind of player but I mean, who wouldn’t?

So yes, now on why Kaz and Wylan aren’t players’ characters. Maybe this is gut feeling of mine and I’m wrong but they are like. Too well intertwined with the plot like. Wylan is definitely this npc the DM brought randomly to like maybe kill him at some point and make Loving Father Van Eck want to mess with the Crows and then the party just fell in love with him and so the DM couldn’t kill him and made an incredibly tragic backstory for him instead where Bad Guy Van Eck became the man we know and he just was a terrible man stupid enough to mess with them.

And Kaz… he is just /too/ in control to not be an npc. Literally nobody but the DM would know so much about the city and the npcs and everything. That’s just Not A Thing. It would almost be meta-rol. For me it makes sense that at the beginning Kaz was only going to be like the Crows’ hirer like, the contact between Van Eck and the players’ characters. And this time I don’t think it was the players’ idea that he stayed, it was probably the DM’s. Having a character that knows pretty much everything is just So Useful to a DM. And then the DM fell in love with him, gave him an amazing backstory and issues and everything. And the final miracle of bringing Inej’s parents to Ketterdam is something only a DM can do like. The man is a disaster but I think he totally has the signature of the DM of a chaotic AF party that realized that their party needed a compass to remind them all the time what their mission was.

About the plot per se…man I don’t know what to say. That looks like the DM pitching a simple robbery and everybody getting nat20s in super weird situations and getting away with stuff. But I mean, that’s DnD in a nutshell so.

My headcanon for Matthias’ ending is that the player had to leave the group for some reason. They probably had this super cool redemption arc planned for him that he totally deserved (listen I Don’t Like Matthias like. At all. But the man worked for it ok? I think I could have get to maybe like him if he had a little more time to grow but whatever) but then they had to leave and the group didn’t want to like get rid of him right away or for him to become an npc so the DM and Nina’s player took turns playing him until well. The thing. You know. It was kind of a sudden death like, players’ characters usually have death saves and stuff and they don’t get killed that easily and that’s why I think Matthias wasn’t a player character anymore even though he began the campaign as one.

And because y’all have been good and have read my bullshit until this point, here you have my headcanon for the trilogy:

The Grisha trilogy is an overly complicated off-roading some of the players made up during the campaign like imagine the discord server where they usually play. Well in most DnD discord servers there is a channel where you can roleplay through text as your character. I think the Grisha trilogy was born there from the DM telling kind of the backstory of the world and Sankta Alina and the war and stuff and the players made up characters or maybe just took side characters from that story and made them into Proper Characters to roleplay following that but also kind of ended up developing more aspects about it (I imagine the DM probably had a few details on that, like an outline or something and the players just kinda took it to a whole new level. Players often do that kind of magic). And they were all hyped AF when their DnD characters met their Other Dnd Characters, obviously.

I don’t know which player would play each character, though. Maybe Jesper’s was Nikolai just because they both are /like that/ and Nina’s was Zoya and maybe Inej’s was Genya. Or the other way around, idk. I feel like the whole monologue Nina has at some point of Zoya Is To The Drüskelle Like Jarl Brun Is To The Grisha sounds like Nina’s player is also Zoya’s player but idk.

So yes I can probably elaborate on everything if someone’s interested but this is what I have so far.

#grishaverse #soc #six of crows #hc #headcanon #dnd #dnd au #martin blackwood #the grisha triumvirate #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #jesper fahey #wylan van eck #nina zenik #matthias helvar #nikolai lantsov #zoya nazyalensky #genya safin #ive been thinking about this for a while so #dungeons and dragons

[metanoiamorii]

❛When I was young, I'd read stories about great heroes doing great deeds. The truth is, real heroes don't look at all like I pictured. They're far from perfect. They're bull-headed, stubborn, reckless. And also recklessly brave. They charge in without a thought to themselves. Not without fear or doubt, but in spite of it. We are all scared. But we are going to fight and die anyway, to give everyone else a chance at a better future. Because the future matters.❜

♧ Title: The Legacy of Vires Ius [TSOVI]

♧ Status: World-Building & Drafting

♧ Point of View: Third, I haven't decided if it's limited or multiple quite yet.

♧ Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Action

♧ Warnings: Deaths, violence, nudity, cults, classism, a touch of racism, some homophobia, some transphobia, war, torture, a bit of an apocalyptic vibe, gore, eldritch beings, a very long story; I'm sure I'm missing a few more

♧ Featuring: Well for all of you out there who love the found family trope, I got big news for you! On top of, a diverse LGBTQ+ cast of characters, complex and complicated characters, morally grey characters, complex world building, plenty of symbolism, fantasy religions, unique character arcs, if a dnd campaign got written as a story, not necessarily 'the chosen' one but they definitely take up the challenge as if they're meant to; I'm sure I'm missing some, but you get the point!

♧ Setting: Okay so like... You'll get to explore the ENTIRE world in this one. From the Western European inspired countries, to the Ancient Roman inspired Societies, to a Napoleonic France inspired nation, to indigenous islands, to.... Yeah, no, you're getting a whole look at the world in this one.

♧ Synopsis:

It starts with saving the life of an emperor....— scratch that, it starts sooner than that. It starts with a runaway noblelady, a woman who wants to change her life, an eldritch being that takes the form of a weasel, a wanted bastardized nobleman, and an assassin. Together they all take up a misfit job, never telling the truth to one another, aiming to use each other for their own gain.... They come out if it friends, forgetting the original plan.

So, they become an adventuring group together for some years, until an old friend calls in a favor. That's when it starts, saving the life of an emperor. They're rewarded a keep, a paycheck, and newfound nobility. Sure, it wasn't what they all intended, but it happened. Life looks good for them.

They adopt a child of mischief and care for him as if he was there own. And some years later, the child's mother comes looking for him... She joins the family too, with her own mischief group of trouble.

The family grows bigger.

No, none of them mind, not in truth. The keep is large and quiet, really. They prefer the noise and company. They're a happy family together, until...

You probably guessed it by now. Remember the runaway noblelady? Her cousin winds up in town, with a few friends, all hiding from their past, and the law. You guessed it. They stay at the keep and... Well, they never leave. They become family too.

So what happens when you have three different adventuring groups living together?

Well, it certainly isn't a peaceful, quiet life. Mischief is around every corner, and they celebrate life every day— because hey, you don't always survive slaying a manticore, or stopping a nation from going to war, or even protecting your friends from their past....

But you know what doesn't happen to every adventuring group? Not all of them have to fight a war bigger than themselves. Not all of them take up championships from the gods to fight a field bigger than themselves.

The group originally thought the worst foe they would have to deal with is... Well, they collectively decided his new name is Dickzini. He's a fool, and easy to handle. But, they never knew someone else pulled his strings.

And that person?

That person, who's older than even Khaalida herself, wants to burn the world to the ground as they know it.

So, no more keep. No more politics. No more partying every night. No more misfit jobs. It's time to wield a weapon and prepare for war. Not to protect the world, but to protect each other. It's not a problem if they will do it... But even if they never voice it to one another, they fear if they'll all make it out alive.

♧ Excerpt:

[I want to go on record, I went through at least twenty different excerpts trying to depict which would be best, and this is the one you get.]

"So?"

"So what?"

Rihtyxr faltered where he stood when the nonchalant response was given. The bastard didn't even look up from his dinner plate... He had to stop himself from scrunching his face and showing his annoyace.

He took in a breath, his tail flicking behind him. "What do you think?"

"About?"

Rihtyxr had to bite his bottom lip and tap his fingers against his legs to stop himself from doing something rash. "... The kid— my kid— I was introducing you to..."

"Oh." The knife stopped scraping against the plate. A napkin was picked up, used to dab away the ichor, before dropped onto the plate. Hands neatly folded, Rons'ta lifted his head to stared forward. "I don't like it."

Again, Rihtyxr faltered. "What do you mean—"

"You're playing with something dangerous, Rîxie." Purposely, he used that nickname to infuriate the trickster. "It'll either cost you your crown, if not your life... If we are lucky."

The trickster scoffed. "You're simply paranoid, like always, you bastard. My own flesh and blood would never do me harm!"

Rons'ta was quick to scowl. As it was a rare occasion, he allowed himself to slam a fist against the table and raise his voice at his compatriot. "You should have smothered it in its crib, you arrogant fool!" In he breathed. Out he exhaled. He raised his glass to his lips and looked away, muttering against the rim of the cup. "... You've birthed the end of all things, Nameless Ones help us all when he realizes his power.... Khaalida take pity on the fools to stand in his way..."

♧ Characters:

Here is your cast of characters, since there is a lot, I'll be supplying minimal information until their character intros. I'll be supplying the main ones, but gods are there many in this story.

Vires Ius: 'The Heroes'

━━━━━━━━━━━

♧ Kalimali Sayegh

Male • He/Him • Pansexual • Demiromantic • Half Elf • The Exiled Magister

♧ Blythe Vidya

Transfem • She/Her • Pansexual • Demiromantic • Half-Minx • The Lady of The Voice

♧ Helene Laverna

Nonbinary • She/They • Asexual • Demiromantic • Human • The Runaway Priestess

♧ Raz Gacheru

Transmasc • He/They • Bisexual • Demiromantic • Half-Witch • The Ex-Assassin

♧ Robyn Trikfoot

Male • He/Him • Out of my house asking about a child's sexuality • Halfling • The Champion of Redemption

♧ Biscuits

He/Him • Weasel • ???? • The Mascot

The Misfits: 'The Troublemakers'

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

♧ Vrykolas

Transmasc • He/Him • Demisexual • Demiromantic • Nephalem • The Trophy Son

♧ Diablos

Demiboy • He/They • Asexual • Aromantic • Arc'yni • The Scavenger

♧ Alacèto Qystione

Genderfluid • He/They • Pansexual • Aromantic • Half-Elf, Half Succubus • The Bard

♧ Eithirna

Female • She/Her • Demisexual • Aromantic • Witch • The Wolf Blood Witch

♧ Amidir Naberius Qystinoe Scathaghe

Agender • He/They • Demisexual • Demiromantic • Half Light Elf, Half Dark Elf • The Raven's Champion

The Shifty Bunch: 'The Riffraffs'

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

♧ Chayliel

Agender • He/Him • Grey-Asexual • Demiromantic • Nephilim • The Rebellious Soldier

♧ Niky 'Noé' Orlan Von Brandt

Nonbinary • He/They • Grey-Asexual • Aromantic • Witch • The Horned Witch

♧ Caiomhe

Transmasc • He/They • Asexual • Demiromantic • Fairy-Human-Elf hybrid • The Reckless & Selfless

The Angels of Darkness: 'The Cult'

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

♧ Damocles 'Dámianus' Aliah Teivel

Agender • He/They • Grey-Asexual • Aromantic • Great Old One • The Mad One of The Void

♧ Miriam 'Misam' Heyoka-Teivel

Nonbinary • They/She • All that matters is she is attracted to power • Witch • The Angel Of Darkness

♧ Gaylon 'Gazini' Mavolio

Agender • They/He • Asexual • Aromantic • Great Old One • The Thing That Shouldn't Be

♧ Karayan 'Ianira' Than Blackthorn

Genderfluid • They/He • Homosexual • Aromantic • Feytouched • The Dark Devourer

♧ Malachi 'Jinx' Puck Melodie

Genderfluid • She/They • Homosexual • Aromantic • Feytouched • The Laughing Mistress

Taglist:

If you would like to be added, feel free to leave it in the tags, drop a comment, send in an ask, or shoot me a dm!

#Wip intro #Wip introduction #writeblr #My writing #writers of tumblr #Writers on tumblr #Morri's Collection #Wip: TSOVI #TSOVI #Wip: The Legacy of Vires Ius #The Legacy of Vires Ius #Original works #Original setting #Fantasy #Heroes #Found family #Fantasy religions #Fishtank