#in any bb game frankly

[arundolyn]

this isn’t apropos of anything but i’m experiencing blazblue again on a whim and i am once again reminded that i want to beat up mori with hammers for nu’s existence

god right. i keep going "ooh i should replay ct i love ct maybe with my boyfriend too" and then i Remember

#cawing #at age 6 i was born without a face #and also in general i knoooowwww theres gonna be some wack jokes i forgot about and will be highly irritated to be reminded of #in any bb game frankly #and having someone New experiencing them. ugh. #like i mean im well aware Why shes like that and whatever. doesnt mean i have to like her #yeah that sucks that happened but you get on my real life fucking nerves so #idgaf. i love lambda truly but they both kinda shoulda stayed dead but thats my 2 cents #eternally annoyed by how ragna sympathizes with her after in cp after she starts telling MU'S story. dont get me STARTED. #it just straight up Does Not Make Sense It Does Not Track. like okay????? WHAT.

[sl-walker]

Today in Lines I Loved Writing

From the second chapter of Stardust:

“Heads up!” Ted shouted, cheerily, swinging off of a catwalk like some kind of acrobat, only to smack Random Henchman #3 -- on a shelf below him beside an open crate -- in the middle of his back with both boots, which--

--sent him flying down right into Booster’s outstretched arm, who clotheslined him neatly, saving him from a potentially bone-crunching meeting with the floor. “And down!”  The henchman dropped in a heap with a grunt and wheeze.  Booster winced, looking down at the guy.  “Oooh, might wanna watch the face, those ski-masks aren’t really much protection.”

Random Henchman #5 was running for the doors after #4 tripped and tumbled, because it had frankly only taken three minutes of chasing them around the warehouse to take most of them down.  “Grab him?” Ted asked, sounded surprisingly winded, and Booster glanced down at the guy he’d just dropped before taking off after the one running.

It was a quick collar -- literally! -- and just so he wouldn’t have to babysit, Booster hoisted and hung that guy off of a pulley by the leather belt he was wearing before flying back to make sure #3 and #4 were still subdued along with the others.

In the meantime, the Blue Beetle wasn’t looking so good even in the dim light; he was still hanging from the catwalk and something about his pallor was alarming.  “Hey, what’s wrong?” Booster asked, wasting no time flying over there.

Ted’s skin was sweaty where it was exposed, and up close, he was clearly having an incredibly hard time holding himself up. “Heart.  Ride down?” he panted, and sagged with a grateful sounding sigh when Booster took his weight and he could let go of the catwalk. “I’ll be okay,” he said, shivering. “Just need to lay down.”

Booster was less convinced, but he landed them soft and didn’t let his alarm show when Ted literally stretched out on the floor of the warehouse, thumping against his chest with the side of his fist.

“--should I tie them up?” Booster asked, even as he hit his wrist-comm. “Skeets, call the police, send ‘em to our position?  Then hone in on my position and get here.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Yeah, please,” Ted said, though he had picked up his head and was watching; he beamed despite looking like hell. “Do I get to meet your robot?!”

Booster smiled, shaking his head, and went to go figure out how to secure their random henchpeople.  “Your lucky night.  Hey, do you have anything I can use as handcuffs?”

Ted fished something out of that thigh holster, then held up a handful of zip ties that were sticking out of his fist like porcupine quills. “These work?”

“You came to a bust with zip ties?  And while I’m at it, do you actually keep a gun in there, or is it just like your all-purpose junk drawer?”

“Actually, I do have a gun!  It’s called the BB gun, because I’m clever like that.”  Ted let his head rest back on the floor and took a slower, more even-sounding breath.  “But yeah, I also stick random stuff in there because I don’t have pockets.  It’s got pouches in its pouch,” he added, with a snicker. “Like a Liefeld comic.”

Booster didn’t get the reference, but he did happen to think the word pouch was funny, which was why he was giggling like a twelve-year-old as he zip-tied their disgruntled henchfolk.  “And don’t want any civilian games of guess that lump?”

“Give the man a cookie!”

“I’ll settle for some all-night diner pancakes, but if a cookie’s all I’m getting for saving your butt--”

“It’ll be one of those really big cookies.”

“They do make some impressively sized baked goods in this era,” Skeets said, zipping through the half-open man door. “Also, the police will be here in approximately forty-five seconds.”

“Skeets!”  Booster grinned, then nodded back towards where Ted was sitting up gingerly. “Your new biggest fan ever wants to meet you.”

Skeets paused for a moment mid-air, a barely noticeable hesitation, then flew over to hover in front of Ted, offering a cordial, “A pleasure to meet you, Mister Blue Beetle.”

Ted made a noise that Booster might’ve ascribed to an overly excited young dog being shown a new toy.  Like-- maybe a verbal flail of excitement, if that was a thing.  Then he said, “You are so cool.  Booster!  I’ll buy the pancakes if the ‘bot comes with us!”

Booster sat back on his heels and watched, even as the sound of vehicles roaring up outside filtered in; something about the scene -- Ted sitting there in wide-eyed wonder and Skeets hovering at eye level -- grabbed him by the heart.  Good, mixed.  “Blueberry pancakes?” he asked, rising to his feet so he could go lead the cops in.

“Pal, I’ll get you the whole damn blueberry bush.”

“Deal!”

--

Why I loved writing them: OMG, the dialogue. I've had the fortune of occasionally having pairs of characters who, if you give them even the barest kind of space, will take a scene and run away with it. And writing Booster and Beetle is just like that; one of them starts, the other builds on it, and then they just keep going, rolling it along and chasing it down the road.

So, I had fun having Ted taking a potshot at Rob Liefeld because I cut my teeth on comics in the 90s and don't even get me started. For all those fans out there who might be unfamiliar, Liefeld's not like-- the only reason 90s comics are just Like That, but he was a big contributor of it. Like, I really can draw a very clear, unambiguous line between Cable's design and Booster's look post-Overmaster arc. It's not even subtle. So, everyone who ever squinted at that really godawful run of really bad design, you almost have to blame it on Liefeld.

Ahem. Anyway. The other part is the whole bit--

“Give the man a cookie!”

“I’ll settle for some all-night diner pancakes, but if a cookie’s all I’m getting for saving your butt--”

“It’ll be one of those really big cookies.”

--starting with that. It's not the first example of those two kind of 'yes, and'ing' each other in the story, their introduction to each other was the first, but it serves as a good illustration of their easy patter and ability to build on one another. And there's something super charming about them basically turning a joking bit of banter into a decision to go out to eat together, which leads to them spending almost the whole day together, which--

I've also had friendships like that, albeit without the unresolved romantic tension. But where you just enjoy the other person's company so much that you don't want to let them go. LOL! @b-radley66 can attest. @shadowmaat can, too. And many, many other people over the years.

And finally, I just also really love the mental image of Ted and Skeets meeting, just as much as I love Booster's reaction to it.

#booster gold #blue beetle #skeets #michael carter #ted kord #stardust

[rikuzdreameater]

Vanitas HAS to be in KH4.

So I watched a couple of Vanitas scenes and now my brainrot is back in FULL force so im gonna be annoying for a bit.

I genuinely think Vanitas is one of the best characters that Nomura can put into KH4 thematically.

This is the game where:

1) Sora will be struggling with his own darkness, especially after his breakdown in KH3. Someone on here had a brilliant theory on how light represents selflessness and darkness selfishness, ill link it below since Tumblr won't let me tag them @andrewwtca

Anyways, Sora as we all now is a very selfless, downright self sacrificial person which what can be theorized is what happens when there is "too much light".

(Need I call back to the the stronger your light the stronger your shadow grows opening from KH1)

No doubt Rage form and Anti-form will be explained or at least the game will lay the groundwork for the explanation in the future, my point is, what better way to add weight to Sora's arc than bringing up Vanitas someone hes met that is "pure darkness".

2) The start of the foretellers arc which would be a great opportunity to tie in the Darkness and Vanitas content we got from Dark Road and KHUX, especially with Strelitzia being a secondary character in the game.

(I also suspect that Ventus is going to be a major player in the arc to come with the addition of that Chriithy and Ven interaction at the end of KH3)

Because as much as everyone says otherwise...we don't really have confirmation on w h a t exactly Vanitas is, sure characters and Vanitas himself guess and speculate but we haven't got confirmation and I think thats important.

Kingdom hearts is a series which allows its characters to be wrong, we've seen this time and time again (nobodies can't grow hearts for example) which is why I find it kinda hard to believe that Vanitas is and will stay some "ancient evil pure darkness".

Especially when, regardless of whether you think the novels are canon, Vanitas is an abuse victim in the BBS novel, he comes off more as a scared child than an ancient evil. Its plain as day you can't interpret it any other way

(also canon or not Nomura had to approve them pre release)

Add to that the subtle changes in expressions and voice acting during the end of BBS, the KH3 Monsters Inc world and his theme being in the Heroes section of an orchestra.

Idk gang some of yall have way too little faith in Nomura and the team behind these games.

I was dissapointed with Vanitas' handling in KH3 at first too but if you look at it from a deeper lens (as we should always its KH after all) the Two Vanitas theory, especìally @embraceyourdestiny 's explanation which I think is fantastic btw, works.

Or at the very least, him starting a redemption arc in KH4 is more thematically cohesive with that game rather than KH3, frankly I think it would have been too rushed to add into KH3 with everything else going on.

"But he said he fully accepted his darkness" Yeah and Xigbar is Luxu, characters can hide their feelings or lie yall.

Even if he DOES truly believe that, don't you think its a touching story for a character who's hit rock bottom and has 0 faith in themselves to start their road to redemption? KH has always been sappy it would be a hard oppurtunity to miss.

#kingdom hearts #kh4 #kh4 speculation #vanitas kh #vanitas #vanitas kingdom hearts #Anyways I have a massive Vanitas problem I love him so so so much guys #I have a pinterest board dedicated to him my old phone had an archive of saved art n fanfic of him #On an informal note if I don't see him in KH4 ill cry :(

[vapolis]

honestly w/ how orla and jax sort of keep the merc at arms length........it makes me even MORE excited for their poly route. what happens when you catch feelings for the dog you trained to guard you? guard you house? what happens when you watch them conflate trained loyalty with love and you can't help but hope that the love stays? what happens when they start to care about you? so much so that it stops you doing the job youre MEANT to do for them? what happens when a guard dog turns into someone you love? and to top it all off, putting them in a city where its eat or be eaten, and how their seats at the top could be snatched from under them at any second, especially if they have someone they care about that much, so they cant protect the merc anymore? oh that dynamic is gonna be GOOD. Wanting to stay at arms length but falling face first into the merc. They are gonna be putting on that clown wig at the end of it all and I will CACKLE like a fucking WITCH when they do cause not only is it a tragedy but its FUNNY!!! and honestly? they did that 2 themselves by taking in the very hot sexy murderer and making them work for orla! karma got its kiss 4 yall in the most painful way possible, even if u come outta it w/ a lover who would kill 4 u without the promise of payment LORD i got rambley, my bad lmao! this is all just inferring about things uve said n shit so i could be DEAD wrong so take my shit w/ a pile of salt lol u know who I dont see anyone talking about? Echo. oh my g-d ECHO!!! UR TELLING ME MERC HAS THIS HOT SEXY WEAPONSMITH THEY GO TOO ALL THE TIME AND THE MERC FUMBLES THE BAG WITH A GRENADE??? merc.....honey.....ur rizz.......its only there when ur pathetic or unhinged bb girl.....but like entirely not the point, I love Echo! they seem so interesting, I hope the merc can do more jobs for them past the ones we already did/will do! merc kinda needs more work outside of orla if they plan 2 be even more messy than usual and get all up in ppls business lmao! Id luv some fun facts about Echo! Especially about what kinda weapons they like 2 make

reading all that... u GET me !!!! 🫂🫂

and this part especially: what happens when a guard dog turns into someone you love? and to top it all off, putting them in a city where its eat or be eaten, and how their seats at the top could be snatched from under them at any second, especially if they have someone they care about that much, so they cant protect the merc anymore?

LET ME !!! LOOK INTO YOUR HEAD!!!

as for echo... yeah frankly I'm disturbed that it's CRICKETS on that front from everyone 😔 they called you sweetheart!! and merc has 0 game!!

you will however see them around some more, since they're the only person merc can trust w some things to do w the jobs and the entire sword business.

as for some facts... they have cats, 3 of them, and they treat them like royalty. they ride a motorcycle, and they don't really respect jax and orla for... reasons.

their fave weapons to make are swords/katanas, but they're also a big fan of turning random objects like pens or shoes or even a lipstick into weapons. it's very fun to pull those out in a fight

#asks #c: echo #to rmr #kisses to the sky for this anons big brain

[benevolentcalamity]

Baldur's Gate 3 Companions: An updated perspective.

Gale: Could also get away with being called Brian. Mans has the most red flags in the entire game. And why do I say that? WELL, would you want a guy that talks about his ex all the time and would explode if you didn't romance him? Not sure what the deal is there but I dunno if I have what I need to handle all that. His sorcery is cool though, I'd fuck him for lessons.

Karlach: Literally the biggest golden retriever energy in literally any game I've seen these past few years. Seriously, you could tell her "Well... I could go with you, cause I have nothing better to do" and she'd be like "Not because you want to?" With these massive puppy eyes. Wish they did more with her character, because a purehearted person of her race? GOOD LORD I EAT UP THAT SHIT. Karlach, please marry me

Astarion: More red flags. But here's the thing, he's honest and upfront that he's toxic and full of absolute crap. Arguably though he has the most well-done story of, again, any game I've played these past few years. From how he's slowly unlearning the toxicity of 200 years of PURE SHIT, to managing to open his heart up to Tav, to the agonized, broken cries upon killing Cazador if you choose the Spawn ending. Legitimately, this is when 'I can fix him' comes true - mans is wonderful... After all the other stuff. (Please do not drop the building on him or kick him in the balls.)

Shadowheart: Imma be upfront, I hated her guts in Early Access. She's the kind of person I'd hatefuck and move on, cause ain't no way I'm associating with followers of Shar. HOWEVER, they did good giving her a redemption arc. She's still annoying and quite frankly not the greatest traveling buddy, but I can stomach her way more. (So maybe we'd be doing it.)

Lae'zel: I loved you in early access bb, and I still do. Literally, the Githyanki are savage and coldhearted by nature and their culture, so you can't exactly blame Lae'zel for just echoing what she knows. On the other side of the coin everything she's done and said was out of the kindness of her heart. She wants you cured in the only way she knows, and she wants what's best. So, if you dare bring your hatred for her in my askbox, be prepared to catch these hands. THOU DOTH NOT WANT THESE HANDS.

Minthara: Respectfully, ma'am, I don't vibe. Drow elves are sexy. What's not sexy is trying to kill me in my sleep, trying to get me to give in to the evil force inside me, etc etc etc. Also, what happened to your fluffy hair in early access? Girl that's your one redeeming quality. Can understand trust issues though, that I'd be willing to get you help with if you'd stop trying to murder me. Seriously, I love a woman that will actually just kill me, but some of us don't wanna meet our dads yet. (Ha... ha... ha...)

Halsin: ... Oh, so THIS is the bear man... Ngl man, I'm digging it. Man is big so he definitely gives wonderful hugs. Probably cuddly as a big bear, too! Would fuck Halsin, would not fuck him as the bear. Some of you might call me a coward, but MONSTERS are my jam, not actual animals. Y'all can do as you please, though. But generally, this man is probably the sweetest big man. Huge arms? Check. Gentle personality? Check. Would kill a person for killing a child? Check and mate.

Wyll: Still don't know your deal, man, and quite frankly I'm too afraid to ask.

Emperor: ... Aren't mindflayers cold, heartless beings that reproduce by putting tadpoles in your brain? They don't have dicks, right? Does someone wanna fill me in? ... I don't know what the deal is here.

#bg3 spoilers #bg3 #baldur’s gate #bg3 astarion #bg3 halsin #bg3 karlach #bg3 wyll #bg3 shadowheart #bg3 gale #bg3 minthara #baldurs gate 3

[aheathen-conceivably]

Hey Alexis. I have to say your Darlington legacy is amazing and Zelda is the cutest and I love her story, and omg don't get me started on Antoine. I want to start the decades challenge myself, I’ve tried and failed before, but reading your story is making me want to do it. BUT, how? I’m not asking for a long detailed explanation, but more like your top 5 ways or something, you used to start it? Mods, cas-blogs, etc? And only if you got the time and of course want to share it with us/me?<3

Hello, there! Thank you so much for the kind words! And I’m incredibly glad to help. The Decades Challenge is a bit of a beast compared to other sims gameplay. It takes a little more research, effort, and organization to make it really enjoyable. So if I can push a few people deeper into historical sims life I’m happy to do so 😉

A key point before we get in resources below the cut (because prepare for paragraphs babes), how do you want to play the decades challenge? Do you want to stick to the original challenge? Do a version with more realistic aging? Just play casually for the gameplay? Have a meticulous storyline planned out (ahem 👀)?

In case it isn’t super clear, I’m not playing the decades challenge anymore. I have used it as a jumping off point for storytelling. Truly, I play the game very little. Usually I try to recreate the story posts in gameplay for myself but I do not try to achieve any of the challenge goals or gameplay rules (although I do have my own rules).

For this reason, I am not the best resource on gameplay mods. There are some mods that I’m dimly aware of that make the challenge more fun, like those by @janesimsten and this mod which I used a lot in the 1900s.

That being said, there is a lot of freedom in the the historical simblr community to craft the experience that you want. You can always try one idea and change it as you go. When I started the Darlingtons it was meant to be about 50/50 gameplay/storytelling with randomized death rolls and challenge goals. Then, I realized what I enjoyed and leaned further into that. I think this is the key to sticking with the challenge, because otherwise it’ll just feel like checking off boxes and you’ll give up sometime around 1900.

So without further ado, let’s get on down below the cut:

First and foremost, and I cannot stress this enough, start a mod organization system from day one. Playing historically requires a good deal of CC and if you don’t organize at the beginning, it gets very very difficult to sort stuff out later. This can easily make historical simming overwhelming and frankly, unenjoyable. I personally would start with a clean mods folder. Keep this separate from your regular (modern) mods as well. I have three mods folders, one for regular (modern) gameplay, one for building vanilla, and one for the Darlingtons.

For the Darlingtons, I have everything organized by mods, CAS, and then BB. Within these folders I organize by decade. That way when I enter a new decade it is easier to pull things in or out. I also have a folder on my desktop for subsequent decades CC, so if I ever find anything that isn’t easy to save on my Pinterest (more on that later), I download it then and there, and put it into the appropriate folder. Then when I hit a new decade I already have a bit of a CC collection going.

Now for finding CC, I am really not the best resource on BB stuff. I just don’t download a lot of it, and what I do is usually super specific or things that I see others using regularly. There are a couple of pieces of mainstay BB CC that I use consistently, and I’ll be glad to point you in the direction of those if you see something you’re interested in. However I don’t really have a central resource on BB they way that I do for CAS. So without further ado (because CAS is really why we’re here for historical simming, isn’t it?)….

Lookbooks, lookbooks, lookbooks. Seriously. Pixelnrd’s lookbooks we’re one of my first references, and I find them so helpful that they’re the reason I started to make my own. Just looking at a couple lookbooks can be much quicker and easier than scrolling through pages and pages of CC. But if you’re willing to go a little deeper down the rabbit hole, @twentiethcenturysims has truly made the resource to end all recourses. Their CC is categorized by decade for easy scrolling, and they also have a lookbook tag if you prefer to get your CC that way.

Now, and this is a personal one, I have used Pinterest SO much for this legacy I cannot even stress it enough. I have two boards: one for poses and one for CC. The poses one is a whole different beast, so if you ever want an answer for poses and storytelling please send one. But I’ll refrain from diving down that rabbit hole right now too.

My Pinterest CC board is organized like my mods folder, by decades. I also have a board for BB, general mod finds, hair, and (this one helps me a lot) CC that I have already downloaded so when I do lookbooks or get a WCIF, the link is already there for me.

These boards serve two purposes. Whenever I find a piece of CC that I like, I do not have to download it immediately. I save it to the appropriate decades board and it’s there, waiting for me, whenever I reach that era. This makes the hunt way easier, and also makes me SUPER excited to get to the next decade because I already have CC that I can see the characters in.

Secondly, Pinterest is an amazing resource in and of itself. Once it “learns” what you’re looking for, Pinterest will pull CC from all over the internet, including stuff that I’ve never seen in people’s lookbooks or the resources listed above. Then it’s an easy click to save this link for myself for later.

So scrolling through Pinterest then turns into a sort of inspiration board as well. This is a broader point regarding the tendency of people to quit the decades challenge: find what inspires you to do it and what makes you excited for the next decades.

For me, part of this is the storyline and seeing my characters reach the next plot that I’ve written for them. But much simpler, it’s the clothes! I’ve always been into fashion history and historical CC is actually how I found this community in the first place. So often if I’m tired out with writing or editing I’ll just go look through Pinterest for new stuff or scroll through my historical inspiration blog (which is linked in my pinned post if you’d like to check it out).

But above all, honestly, just don’t take it too seriously. Sometimes I see rather stringent calls for fashion accuracy or anachronisms but like…it’s your game. Start whenever you’d like, play however you’d like, for as long as you’d like. Hopefully this just gives you a bit of a framework for making that happen ❤️

#ask #answered #probably about 4x the answer that was necessary 😅 #but y’all know me #why use two words when 10 will also work? #WCIF #resources

[tisiphonewolfe]

Author Ask Tag Game

My thanks to @doublegoblin for tagging me here!

This is going to mostly be in the context of The Tectomancy Saga -

(1) What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it?

I don't know if I can say there's a singular main lesson or message that the story is meant to provide. Different characters will learn different things. I want Releine to realise that she has inherent value and isn't only defined by what she can do for other people; I want Almyra to learn that even smaller goals are victories; I want Jessa to learn that you don't have to be who other people expect you to be; I want Tenacity to learn that your goals, however noble, can't come before the people you care about. And I just want Ellimane to get her shit together quite frankly. I don't know that I chose them so much as that that's where those character arcs seem to want to go. I guess they're things I've had to learn to some extent in life.

(2) What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)?

I honestly find that very hard to pin down! I guess I owe a lot to certain authors in terms of the kind of things I find fun to think about and write ideas from. I guess they would be: Terry Pratchett, Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell, Garth Nix, and Tamsyn Muir. Worlds full of weird creatures, worlds that are weird shapes, worlds that have an edge you can fall off, worlds that are full of cryptic magic. I think I have at least that group of people to thank for getting my brain going. And of course, I have to pay mention to fairy tales and their long history of putting Princesses in towers and guarding them with dragons - that was the whole thing that made me think "and what if the Princess loves the dragon?" in the first place.

(3) What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person?

Mostly I think I just want others to love them as much as I do. That's a lot of the fun of reading to me, at least - get attached to someone funky and fucked-up and see where they go. Adore them for their wits and weird quirks, and the things they turn to in themselves when the situation is dire. I want readers to worry for them, post their favourite quotes on tumblr, think about them when they're cooking and cleaning! That's what I do when I love a character.

(4) How many chapters is your story going to have?

Well, MWC&C ended with 47 chapters, and BBS&B is currently on chapter 40 and will probably run longer than its predecessor. There are two more books I can think of in the main sequence, so I'd guess roughly 200+. There are a couple of prequel novels I could write, and I had an idea for a sequel trilogy, but I guess whether I invest in that depends on if I can get anyone reading the original books!

(5) Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

It's original content all the way. I'm hoping to get a chance to publish it (agents, please call me), but if all else fails, I guess I'll try and self-publish somehow. Marketing is not one of my great skills though, so it'll be a challenge.

(6) When and why did you start writing?

November 2021. I've talked about this before, but I lost my love of reading for a number of years, mostly because I was depressed and also trying to read the wrong kind of books for me just because I thought that they were the kinds of things that people should read. In 2021 I finally had to know who the spooky bone lesbians on my dash were and read Gideon the Ninth. Then that year I inhaled a dozen more sapphic books and remembered that as well as liking reading, I loved to write once upon a time (har har) and thought I'd give that another go.

(7) Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers of Tumblr do you follow?

What are words of engagement?! Are we courting, or is it pistols at dawn?! I guess I would say - assuming we're talking about interacting with other writers - don't be afraid to just come and chat with me about stuff. If I say something that reminds you of one of your characters, or something about your world, then please tell me, because I'll probably like that too. We can show stuff off to one another and play with our characters like dolls. If you mean words of encouragement, I'd say this: Even a little bit of writing is still writing. Don't beat yourself up if you don't have the energy to bash out thousands of words in a sitting. Do a few hundred; a paragraph; a sentence. You'll get there eventually. And don't bum yourself out waiting for inspiration - sometimes the best inspiration is just typing a horrifically bad sentence. Doing that makes me want to write the next one better.

I follow too many writers to list, but I'm going to tag some for this game (very, very gently), so - @sam-glade @indy-gray @aalinaaaaaa @comicgoblinart

#writeblr #writeblr tag games #The Tectomancy Saga #made with crown and claw #mwc&c #bbs&b #bound by stone and blood

[theskylarkin]

KH4 Challenge Day 5

Day 5: A wish/a want

More than any one specific plot development, my greatest wish for KH4 is better writing - specifically, how female characters and characters of color are portrayed.

Mild series criticisms and spoilers under the cut

With some exceptions like Disco Elysium and Pathologic, the writing in video games - especially when it comes to the portrayal of a character who isn't a cishet white or Japanese man - typically isn't that great. However, the industry at large has made some improvements in these areas. So aspects of the Kingdom Hearts series such as Melody of Memory refusing to let Kairi fight her memory of Master Xehanort without Sora turning up (urgh) and how Darkness literally turns people's skin darker (yikes!) NEED to be fixed as this series keeps going.

First of all, KH4 should have solid character development for the original female characters coughKairicough that don’t revolve around men/a man (for example, don’t have Strelitzia’s main goal just be finding Lauriam FFS…). The writers are clearly capable of this, as seen with Aqua in BBS 0.2 and Vor in Dark Road where their actions might've been influenced by male characters but they had motivations outside of that and the agency to make their own decisions. But then you have Aqua in KH3 and Kairi in (base game) KH3/KH MoM who have to be saved by male characters despite the narrative talking up how strong they are/how much training they've undergone...

Also, Kingdom Hearts needs more original characters aligned with the Light who aren’t pale-skinned. Frankly, it’s embarrassing that it took twelve-ish games to get a new series original character with dark skin (Vidar my beloved!) without ties to the darkness.

I have a lot of wishes for 4’s narrative direction that I could go on about for several posts. Above all else, however, I’d like the series to work on its issues with colorism and writing three dimensional female characters. I'm not embarrassed to be a KH fan because of the weird premise or the cheesy moments, but I am loathed to call the series my favorite due to its issues with representation.

#SkyLarkin yells at Kingdom Hearts #KH4Challenge #KH Criticism #KH Salt

[fereldanwench]

Writing Tropes Tag Game

Tagged by the wonderful @wanderingaldecaldo--Thank you, bb! 💙

Rules: Choose one, both or none of the following tropes!

Key:

Bold - yay

Strikethrough - nay

plain - ambivalent

italic - there is a caveat upon which I will elaborate

slow burn or love at first sight // fake dating or secret dating // enemies to lovers or best friends to lovers // oh no there’s only one bed or long-distance correspondence // hurt-comfort or amnesia // fantasy au or modern au // mutual pining or domestic bliss // canon-compliant or fix-it // reincarnation or character death // one-shot or multi-chapter // kid fic or road trip fic // arranged marriage or accidental marriage // high school romance or middle-aged romance // time travel or isolated together // neighbors or roommates // sci-fi au or magic au // body swap or gender bend // angst or crack // apocalyptic or mundane

Caveats:

All the AUs: I've actually never been interested in AUs until Goro and Valerie. Typically, I enjoy creating with characters in the world in which they were intended to exist and pulling them totally out of that world loses something for me. And even with the little dabbling I've done for them in Dragon Age, for instance, I get very fixated on finding parallels between Thedas and Night City. So, I guess I am as equally interested as I am disinterested in the possibilities of any kind of alternate universe.

Domestic Bliss: I absolutely love soft, quiet home moments between characters, especially giving people who've had hard, dangerous lives some peace, but anything with getting pregnant or having children being a part of that narrative/scenario is frankly very distressing to me and would only be treated as such if I ever wrote it, which I probably wouldn't. (And I realize that probably sounds really melodramatic, but I'm probably underselling it, honestly. Even just thinking about it to write this is lowkey making me want to crawl out of my skin. ANYWAY)

Canon-compliant/Fix-it: I also like working within the constraints of canon, but I am not a canon purist by any means. I think how I decided the whole Mikoshi thing goes down for Valerie probably a great example of how I navigate canon: Like, okay, fine, she couldn't be totally fixed after the Relic was removed, but she will absolutely still be getting a new body and have her second chance at life (with Goro).

Arranged marriage: This is one I enjoy more as a reader than as a writer, but I wouldn't be opposed to exploring it under the right circumstances.

Angst: I don't like pure angst, especially if it's unresolved. I need that angst/fluff or hurt/comfort balance.

Crack: Another one I like more as a reader than a writer.

Tagging: @theharlotofferelden, @halsin, @morganlefaye79, @corphoe, @gloryride, and @sarahawke 💙

Clean template under the cut:

slow burn or love at first sight // fake dating or secret dating // enemies to lovers or best friends to lovers // oh no there’s only one bed or long-distance correspondence // hurt-comfort or amnesia // fantasy au or modern au // mutual pining or domestic bliss // canon-compliant or fix-it // reincarnation or character death // one-shot or multi-chapter // kid fic or road trip fic // arranged marriage or accidental marriage // high school romance or middle-aged romance // time travel or isolated together // neighbors or roommates // sci-fi au or magic au // body swap or gender bend // angst or crack // apocalyptic or mundane

#t: wench.txt #tumblr: dash games

[rharyx]

As a court licensed Kingdom Hearts Hater™, I will always complain about Nomura's decision to exclude Final Fantasy characters on the premise that there "isn't any room for them since there are so many original characters in the main story already."

This new interview (6/14/2022) has Nomura repeating the same thing, but what makes it harder to swallow is that in the same interview he also says characters from the previous side-games, like RAX and TAV, might not be super involved in KH4 since their arcs are done.

So it's like...

If the issue is that there isn't room for FF characters since there are so many original characters...yet you're also sidelining a bunch of those original characters...how is there still not enough room for Squall or somebody to show up and say hi?

If you have room in the plot to introduce a dozen more black coat-wearing dudes with stupid names, then there's enough room for Leon to link up with Rinoa, or Tataru to open a shop in Twilight Town.

Furthermore, side quests are a thing. If there isn't space for FF characters to help out in the main story, you can just relegate them to background stuff like synthesis tasks or minigames to fill up the journal. (This can also be applied to characters like Dilan or Aeleus, who have said a total of 0 words since 2012.) There are going to be NPCs anyway, so just make some of them based on FF characters and give them a few voiced lines. Or have them cameo in Disney worlds like Auron and Zack once did, since a lot of the Disney worlds don't have major "main plot integration" in the first place -- it's just fun side stories where Sora gets to goof off.

If the concern is that there's no room for them in the main story, put them someplace where the main story is taking a break. Pooh Bear or Jack Sparrow have nothing to do with the main story, but they still show up and get to fuck around with Sora for a little bit.

Part of the interview has him saying that he doesn't feel like he agrees with fans when they refer to Kingdom Hearts as a "Disney x FF crossover," and it's like...okay, it's your series, if that's how you feel that's how you feel -- but at the same time, if you understand that a *large* part of the fanbase DOES view the series like that, then what you think doesn't super matter.

Like,

the first game is predicated on the concept of Sora interacting with FF characters. You wake up on a beach with Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie, then get blasted to another world where you meet Squall, Aerith, Yuffie, and Cid. You fight Cloud in Olympus, and you even encounter Sephiroth as a superboss. KH2 and BbS ups the ante by adding more. So even if you don't view the game being a collaboration between FF, you can't blame a fan for thinking otherwise when the original games were scripted the way they were.

You're the one who made the games that way. I get it was done to boost popularity by drawing in a bigger audience by showing off well-known characters, and that's not something that necessarily needs to be done these day. But that's what a lot of people know the series for -- for being "that Disney game with FF characters."

It honestly feels like a bait-and-switch to hear Nomura say things like "this isn't a collaboration between Disney and Final Fantasy characters," when it quite frankly 100% was.

By this point, the FF cast are established characters and should honestly be treated the same way as character like Hayner, Pence, and Olette.

I personally didn't even know what FF was when I played KH1, so Leon and them were original characters from my point of view (they still kinda are anyway, as they're not actually the same people they're paying homage to, besides maybe Auron), so them being missing in KH3 was pretty sad. Cuz for the most part, they're not just cameos. They have their own lore here. Leon isn't Squall from FF8 -- he's a resident of Radiant Garden, for example.

I don't think anyone's saying the series *needs* FF characters, but I think a good portion of the fanbase would say they would still very much like them to be around. No one thinks the series won't be able to thrive without Final Fantasy characters or something ridiculous (that's just a real off-the-mark bad faith take) -- we just want them because they're fun.

Same as wanting the Disney cameos.

This is a fanservicey, crossover franchise from the ground up. Half the fun of the series is seeing who you're going to bump into along the journey. And the FF cameos are one of the pillars of what initially made the franchise iconic and memorable, and it's part of its identity and character. It's charm. It just feels disingenuous to remove them completely, especially if the excuse is something feeble like the ones Nomura gives in interviews.

At the end of the day, Kingdom Hearts is a video game. There's an infinite amount of space for characters (well, within data limitations or whatever), since you aren't confined to some arbitrary runtime like a movie or TV show. You can have side quests, you can have minigames. You can even have branching story arcs with less important characters. I will just never believe there's "no room" for FF characters when a lot of games have just as many characters as Kingdom Hearts and still make room for all of them.

And personally, I think KH is at its best when you have FF characters interacting with Disney characters. Seeing Leon's group help take out the MCP and save Space Paranoids is fantastic. Zack and Hercules training together? Super fun. Kingdom Hearts needs fun wacky moments like this to counterbalance all the main story depression. I can't think of a single positive from removing them.

As a side-note before wrapping up, I don't like seeing the sort of "revisionist history" approach some people take to this whole topic, saying that it's fine the FF characters are being removed because they were "never important anyway." It's like...my brother in christ, did you not play KH1? Because if nowhere else, they sure as hell were important there -- they were Sora's main lifeline and the only recurring characters beyond the original cast and Donald, Goofy, and Maleficent. Sora wouldn't have even been able to keep traveling worlds without Cid upgrading the Gummi Ship. Ansem and Maleficent were introduced via Aerith and Leon. And then they go on to fix up Radiant Garden to its former glory (something which they get no credit for since they were not involved in KH3 and the apprentices reclaimed the castle).

It's an argument that only spawned because people saw those that were upset about the absence of FF characters in KH3 and they wanted to write off their [completely valid] disappointment by acting like schmucks about it (possibly just out of an extension of KH fans being super defensive about criticism in general). If FF characters *had* been in KH3, everyone would've been fine with it, even those saying they were never important. It's just a super weird stance to me, one that feels like people are gaslighting themselves, and I don't get where it comes from because FF characters were obviously integral once upon a time.

Sadly now, thanks to Nomura putting in his two cents with this interview, I'm already seeing people acquiring this false sense of entitlement from being "right all along about FF cameos" and using it to dismiss a very reasonable complaint about the evolution of the franchise. Which is super frustrating. "Hah, you're wrong about FF characters. Even the creator agrees with me! If you liked them, too bad, so sad~! If you want FF characters, go play FF!"

Anyway, this is way longer than I though it was going to be when I started typing, so I'll sign off now.

In any event, I do hope some Final Fantasy characters show up in KH4. I mean, we're traveling to a city literally named "Square" that features a 104 building and a Noctis knockoff. If there aren't any cameos from other Square Enix properties, I feel like they just aren't taking advantage of the playground of an idea that they've created to its fullest potential. I'd be pretty disappointed.

#kingdom hearts #final fantasy #kh4 #tetsuya nomura #squall leonhart #cloud strife #kh1 #kh2 #kh3 #aerith gainsborough

[thornescratch]

this boy wants the stick and loves to puck - i need more details stat

So there's these novelty shirts with the "this girl wants the stick and loves to puck" text and usually a team logo on it, and they're not to my taste but no judgement if they're yours. Ovi's stick collection is well known by now (here, here, and here if you like) and I always thought it would be kind of hilarious to see stick swapping as, like, a feature of trying to find your soulmate/soulbond, because any time you can mess around with the weird OCD sports rituals as a function of something else, you gotta.

It actually started as a casual porn thing, which was just bb!Ovi being told by one of his teammates as a joke that stick swapping requires sex. And bb!Ovi being, "OKAY.” :D :D :D And then cheerfully banging his way through the NHL in a variety of ways for sticks. He figures it out, of course, by the end of his rookie year. But Ovi frankly likes sex, is good at sex, doesn't mind having sex with most people, and is more than happy to take advantage of using a stick swap request as a pick up line as well, so why not.

Then, ugh, it grew plot and worldbuilding. So, it's sorta all about stickswapping as a way to find your soulmate, and Alex Ovechkin cheerfully collecting sticks and giving the hockey world conniptions over whether or not he's got a soulmate, and putting pictures of his stick collection on instagram, and Don Cherry having mouth-frothing sessions about how GOOD CANADIAN BOYS DON'T JUST SHOW OFF THEIR STICK COLLECTIONS LIKE THAT WHAT IS HE SOME KIND OF STICK SLUT. HE NEEDS TO SETTLE DOWN.

Occasionally Ovi gets snide rumors about him sleeping around with swapping. "Dude is so desperate for a Cup, he's doing anything to find a soulbond." (There are Ovi and Crosby truthers, who insist they're soulmates but that they're hiding it for some reason, since they totally swapped sticks and even jerseys. Crosby ignores it, and Ovi actively trolls it.) There are different cultural things around soulbonds and stick-swapping, European vs. North American traditions, what it means if you swap sticks across positions, if you ask on or off the ice, if it happens at an All Star Game...

As with everything I write, it’s a big ol’ pile of self indulgence.

"Maybe it's a goalie," Willy suggests a few days after the SportsCenter segment airs and the mood in the room has stopped cautiously tiptoeing around the elephant in the corner.

"It's not a goalie," Alex says.

"Maybe it's Lundqvist," Burky adds on, his eyes big and round.

"It's not Lundqvist," Alex says a little more irritably. "Anyway, I have his stick already, you know that. It's not him. We say so, if yes. We not."

He doesn’t bother to point out that with the number of times they’ve matched with New York in the playoffs, of course he would have fucking said something by now if it was true. He would also have taken out ads in all the New York papers and possibly hired a plane to fly a banner over their hockey arena just to be really obnoxious about it.

“Shouldn’t you be on the ice already,” Nicky says to the kids, and they scramble out with the appropriate amount of urgency.

Alex snorts when they’re the only ones left in the locker room. He tosses a tape ball in Nicky’s direction. “You don’t need to.”

“I like to,” Nicky says. “Shouldn’t you be on the ice?”

“You know me, I gonna touch all sticks while everyone not here,” Alex says. “Like pervert. You know.”

“Maybe lick them too,” Nicky says with a completely straight face, and then he smiles and it breaks up the last of the sharp edges that have been rubbing inside his chest ever since the stupid fucking segment aired, and Alex smiles back.

#meme #writing #fanfiction #hockey RPF #Washington Capitals #Alexander Ovechkin #Nicklas Backstrom

[junsongs]

Tbh i think whether you like the move or not from a personal level it is absolutely smart for Britney and Michael to eventually turn on the leftovers and maybe pull a couple others with them. Frankly, based on house dynamics atm, I dont think those two have a chance to win if theyre sitting next to any of the four boys in that guys alliance and it is a good move to see.

Also considering we’ve been begging for actual gameplay, that doesnt follow the groupthink of a single alliance that only serves to benefit one kind of lead person, for years in the modern bb era, I think this is actually a tremendous breath of fresh air.

Also i think, the boys alliance definitely gives a less put together version of the brigade from bb12 and thats definitely something becoming more obvious, and if youre trying to play the game to win should be nipped in the bud pretty soon.

As of right now, i think this type of selfish gameplay leads to more variable house dynamics which is good! and entertaining! It gives you something to root for and root against instead of the boring modern bb we’ve dealt with for years now! Also come jury this definitely suggests a big shift in gameplay for many people and at least imo thats exciting!

#bb24 #whether you like the game moves or not or it benefits yoy favs or not bb is meant to be played selfishly #only one person can win after all #like i dont understand the hatred for them wanting to turn eventually #like evennif you dont personally like that move because it puts your fav at jeopardy it is objectively a good move for them lol

[pinkiepiebones]

So what is your favorite and least favorite Zsasz comics? (Barring his first appearance because of course he’s aces in that~) And bonus round, are there any of his movie/show appearances that you care for? :3c

The Arkham Games Zsasz is best Zsasz... maybe not, like, image-wise (every dude in those games is fucking chiseled; Zsasz is supposed to be lithe and lanky), but his voice is what 10000000% sold me on him as a character and the tiny writing details that established how he'll stalk people to gauge if they are "worthy" of "salvation" is just chef kiss emoji. I will always credit/blame Danny Jacobs for making Zsasz into a living, breathing, multi-faceted character. His performance wavers between "flirtatious, breathy madman," "grieving child giving in to delusions," and "broken man all too aware of the bullshit justifications he's constructed," with all of this nuance one would just not anticipate from a character who's shtick is "kill and then cut self." I love Danny Jacobs' Zsasz.

I would also love to put Tim Booth's Zsasz from "Batman Begins" on some kinda list if only because, waaaaaaay back there, I talked to Booth several times on Twitter about his Zsasz and he seemed to genuinely like the character and was really sad that his big fight scene with Christian Bale that he trained with the choreographers for went unfilmed. He also provided Zsasz voicework for the BB tie-in game, audio of which took me 700 years to find. Booth imbues his Zsasz with more of a coy, calculating creepiness, very quiet, like someone trying to coax a frightened animal out of hiding. Booth's music is also really cool, so yeah.

Worst comic Zsasz appearance is a LOT of them actually. Any story where Zsasz is dressed like a fucking skinhead or collects physical trophies (like driver's licenses) or works with other villains or demonstrates a henchman-level intelligence or uses guns or demonstrates a pattern is woefully misunderstanding who/what Zsasz is. Here, I'll break it down:

-the skinhead outfit bullshit: Zsasz kills without any hatred towards any people group. A guy with a shaved head =/= n**i. qed. I swear somewhere I have a comic where, in the background, you can see Zsasz vehemently turning down an invitation to join some prison skinheads.

-physical trophies. THAT'S WHAT HIS TALLY MARKS ARE FOR. Why the fuck would he need to swipe a zombie's paraphernalia when he'll always carry a momento of them on his body?

-working with others... I just. Other than using the unnamed "friend" in Arkham City to rig up the phone signal bouncer, there's no- Zsasz sees everyone as a potential tally mark, you know? And frankly, no other rogue should be willing to work with him (with the exceptions of Ivy and Croc; due to Zsasz's self-imposed "zombie vision" I can see and like to imagine scenarios where he doesn't regard those two as "zombies" in need of "salvation"). This is also why I detest the Zsasz in the Gotham series and vehemently LOATHE Streets of Gotham.* Any media that paints Zsasz as a knife- or, let's face it, gun- for hire should just fucking create a new character.

-henchmen intelligence. Zsasz was created to be Gotham City's answer to Hannibal Lecter. He's a constantly calculating, philosophical, sometimes verbose, dramatic son of a bitch. There was one comic some years back, during that whole "court of owls" shit, where Zsasz was reduced to calling Penguin "little bird man" and yes I'm still mad about it; it wasn't him being sardonic or disdainful, in that comic Zsasz was literally a drooling stereotype of "crazy guy." I bought that shit because I was promised "holy fuck Zsasz got infected with the Man-Bat serum BAT ZSASZ!" and that was, like, two pages. Garbage.

-guns. In his DEBUT ISSUE Zsasz notes how much he hates using guns due to the noise and smell and will ONLY use them if no other weapon is immediately available. For Zsasz a gun is and should be written as an absolute last resort. This is the same fucker who can choke someone to death with one hand; there's no reason he should be just another gun-toting mook.

-pattern. He literally has no pattern. We are all potential targets of his "salvation." That's a nitpick I have with the first game wherein the first doctor in the patient interview tapes states Zsasz "killed over twenty young women," implying that that is a target demographic. Again, debut issue counters that. And g-d I fucking hate Streets of Gotham so much for making Zsasz go full "I hired men to kidnap children, specifically children, to fight to the death for gamblers, and I get to fight the champion child" or whatever the fuck that stupid story was I tried to purge it from my mind.

*The only, ONLY positive feedback I will give to Streets of Gotham is 1) Dustin Nguyen's watercolour covers are really pretty and 2) the three or four panels of "zombie vision" that show the reader how Zsasz sees the world but man I'm thinking about it and just remembered the page where Zsasz talks to Penguin like it's no big deal and a panel where Zsasz says "I like to hurt people" just fucking create a different chatacter bruce timm that is not Zsasz you are bad at writing Zsasz!!!

... Anyway. Also BoP Zsasz wasn't perfect by a fucking long mile- stop making Zsasz a henchman!!!- but I really liked the tiny inclusion of the metal teeth placed exactly where Zsasz lost teeth after being brained by Batman in his debut run so.

#zsasz #victor zsasz #mister zsasz #mr. zsasz #this is a gotham hate blog

[icecoldwilliams]

absolutely hit us with the spicy headcanons ~

|| Spicy tips Sinday Monday almost Tuesday for you and all the lovelies coming right up bb~ 💜

❄️| First & foremost: Don't judge a book by it's cover. Nina is incredibly sensual once you get past that sheet of ice she surrounds herself in. She's very confident & comfortable with her own sexuality, and typically views her libido in a rationalized light, seeing it simply both as a natural human itch that needs to occasionally be scratched, and a powerful tool should a mission require a little... gain of trust 💅

❄️| If there's anywhere Nina's borderline narcissistic tendencies show themselves the most, it's lowkey in the bedroom. — Oh she already knows her own allure, while nice, she needs no reminders there. But on the other hand should the sweet nothings you whisper in her ear or against her skin contain any praise of say.. how fatal, cunning, or strong she is etc... 👀💜 — She's definitely attracted to power, and similarly so she adores being recognized as powerful herself. Use this as you will 💜

❄️| While she's definitely more so of a dom who loves being revered however, unlike what T5 seems to suggest of her sisters tastes um 😬 Nina is frankly disgusted by that level of masochistic behavior. Which is probably a big part of why she'd gladly trade 90% of her fanbase for a Klondike bar.

❄️| Richard was a very traditional man when it came to the Williams Irish roots. He made sure Nina & Anna were taught to speak fluent Gaeilge and thanks to it's declining in global usage, Nina herself typically speaks it to this day in any situation when she wants to shroud the meaning of her words. — One instance being the affectionate nicknames she might give you, another situation being when she doesn't want you to know how much you're getting to her when things reach a certain... climactic point. In that case you can expect the Gaeilge & English dictionaries in her brain to sometimes ahem.. blur and mix a lil bit.

❄️| Rest assured unless you're a target, Nina does not convolute any tools related to her job with pleasure. Knife and blood play are not among her list of kinks, all guns & knives will be kept out of bed. — However she is not against the use of blindfolds and handcuffs. (Just don't do the whole cops & criminals thing w her.. not unless you want to find out how quickly she can get out of those and walk out that door.)

❄️| She is also not against threesomes, the assassin has participated in a few in the past and admits with the right people it can be rather.. thrilling. Making it even more so a pity she had to kill the other participants afterwards 😔. (No I am not talking about that which we will not speak of, get that movie out of your brain and into the depths of hell where it belongs thank you)

❄️| Other than it simply just being a huge turn on for her, Nina loves dirty talk in bed bc 1) it usually lets her know how much she's gotten under your skin and 2) she's found heat of the moment confessions can be very telling in regards to ones true motives. 🤭

❄️| Another huge turn on for her is body worship. This woman has been made to feel like nothing more than a cold walking weapon for most of her life ; a tool for others to use and nothing more. So a little body worship here and there can be the perfect reminder that you don't see her in that light ; that you see & admire her for what she really is. — And yes, she will return the favor 💜

❄️| With how much she travels, you can more than expect the occasional risqué phone call. Ones that leave you in a contradictory state of satisfaction and longing for her return even more, and her relishing in the fact that she could get you to come undone with her voice alone. 💜

❄️| And finally, let it be known that this assassin loves the occasional game. Bets over who will finish first, who can make who moan first. What happens if she pushes this button of yours, pulls at this string to make you come undone etc. etc. — Bottom line, that little talent she has of finding every way to get under someone's skin in an interrogation room, doesn't go anywhere in intimate situations. And you can bet her own sadistic curiosity won't let her stop until she finds each and every way to make you come undone in the best of ways 😉

#⁺˚*𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝓂𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝒷𝑒 𝒿𝑜𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔.*˚⁺ - Headcanons #⁺˚*𝒩𝑜𝓌 𝐼 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒾𝓃𝒻𝑜 𝐼 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹.*˚⁺ - Answers #⁺˚*𝒞𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝓃 𝒷𝒶𝒷𝓎 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓌 𝓂𝑒 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓋𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝓉*˚⁺ - ℕ𝕊/𝔽/𝕋 #|| I warned you it was lonng 😭 #|| 4 maybe 5 years idek anymore of not posting spicy spice & this what happens lmao #long post tw

[aheathen-conceivably]

Hi! Amazing blog, I sometimes go back and read it all over again, that's how good it is! But, what would you say are the best packs to have when playing historical gameplay in the sims?

….oh my goodness, do you really? 🥹

That may be the nicest thing anyone has ever said omg thank you! 😭

But then of course you gotta follow it up with a difficult question! Lol and you know me, that means you ain’t getting a quick answer, so under the cut we go!

Expansion Packs:

Cottage Living: My top pick for expansion packs is probably my top pick of all the DLC. I wish that we had more mod-free gameplay for historical simming, but frankly farming is often our only option (especially pre-WWI). Plus being able to have animals, cross stitching, the grocery stall, and the world just make this a staple for me.

Runners-up: This is probably a three way tie between Seasons, Cats and Dogs, and Get Together. Seasons is just a staple for gameplay overall, and the addition of cold and hot weather will make any type of game better. Then I would say Cats and Dogs because people really underestimate how much historical peoples loved their pets; plus the world is useful for most eras and the BB can be very versatile too. Third is Get Together, almost exclusively for the world; although with some creativity the club system is always useful. For instance, it’s how I made Virginia “part” of the suffragettes.

Game packs:

Since almost every one of these packs is going to be useful just for BB and the world, I wanted to pick my top one as something that I think is marginally useful for historical gameplay. This may not be most people’s top choice but:

Outdoor Retreat: In addition to some BB objects that can be useful if you’re playing a more rustic, logging historical save, you also get a pretty decent world and what, in my opinion, is nice historical gameplay. This game pack comes with more woodworking designs, stargazing, campfire recipes, and telling stories around the fire, all things that I’ve used regularly. You also get the herbalism skill, which is (in my opinion) is too tied to the collectibles in Granite Falls, but with a mod is much more usable and fits into history gameplay wonderfully.

Runner-ups: Top choice is My Wedding Stories, which doesn’t always run smoothly but adds some variety and possible historical accuracy to your weddings. I also use some of the CAS for men and love the world, which can make an excellent starting point for a different type of gameplay or a vacation world (like with Rosella). Then I would chose Strangerville, Realm of Magic, and Vampires, mostly for the BB (RoM is the basis for Antoine and Zelda’s apartment) but also because you can make great use of those worlds too.

Stuff Packs:

Laundry Day & Nifty Knitting: These are just some of the best value for your money stuff packs, and they actually have gameplay that I use consistently. Laundry Day in particular, because I love the added challenge of off the grid laundry. Nifty Knitting a bit less so, because the objects created are so modern, but I still love having the knitting skill alongside cross-stitching.

Runners-up: Top choice here is probably Paranormal, because I have also used the BB quite a lot and will probably use the CAS going forward too. But more than that, so many people have brought up the seance tables as great for 1900s gameplay. I myself didn’t do it, but I love the idea. Second is Vintage Glamour because both the BB and CAS is useful, plus the added gameplay of butler can come in handy.

Kits:

I will pick one kit and one alone, and that is Bust the Dust. The sole reason that I’m including it is because of this mod, which I absolutely love. As I said I like having chores to do to make the game harder and feel more mundane so together with Laundry Day I do use this one constantly.

Thanks for sitting through the whole spiel. Hope it could help a little! 😄

#ask #answered #gif warning #keeping to the promise that nice anon asks get a cat gif #and this one kills me when he looks up and his little ear pops out 😭 #I’m a cat lady sorry y’all 😅 #resources

[sk-lumen]

Hello, hope you are doing well. Sorry if this is a mess but it has been a long time since I’ve been feeling this and I have no one to talk to. I actually started my biz in 2019. But have always treat it like a hobby. I didn’t have experience and never been the leader type. I enjoyed being told what to do and when to do it. I got my first client and then started to panic and research things. Last March I reached my income goal with just luck. I really don’t know how those people found me and why they wanted to work with me. I don’t know how to market. I don’t have a good foundation and the niche I am working with isn’t that demanding. So I always keep thinking what will I do when I lose a client. What if they don’t like my work. Am I doing enough for them? How to look for another client. I don’t want to go under my current income. How much should I save so I won’t go broke when I lose all of my clients. I enjoy my biz so much but I am always afraid of losing money. I hate that it is not permanent and I consistently need to make a lot of effort on something I have no idea how to do even though I have a lot of shit in my head but I have always been bad in putting it into practice. Do you have any tips on how to improve my life? TIA

Hi Tia,

From your words it sounds like you have found your calling in this business, and for that I congratulate you! I’m no expert (yet) at business although I’m passionate about this subject, but I know enough to tell that at this point, you require solid advice and a solid framework, not just quick how to tips.

For that, I would heartily recommend the infamous BossBabe platform. I’m a great fan of it myself, it made all the difference when I started out. It’s essentially a community of female entrepreneurs with a knowledgebase that is frankly a goldmine, you won’t find that amount of inside info at the same price anywhere else (subscription is around 30$ per month I think?). Even if you dabble with it for 1-2 months and then cancel, it’s still one of the best investments you can make for your business. Compare that with paying 1k$+ for a master training on business, hence why I was all in for BB. It covers everything from finding your how, your why, your audience, marketing, finances, legal aspects, setting goals, networking, whatever you need you’ll find it there.

Hopefully this helps, I truly can’t think of guiding you in a better direction than BB, they are the best in the game for good reason. If you’re undecided, you can always have a listen to their podcast to get a feel of their energy and approach and go from there. They're definitely inspiring.

Much luck in your business endeavours! 🥂 You've got the fire, you just need to figure out a solid strategy.

-Lumen

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