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MOON TALES - Design notebook #4

[ Version française cliquez ici ]

The Moon Tales* design notebooks invite you to discover a making-off of this project. They will present you its history, its development, as well as our desires, choices and questions. They also reveal a little more about this new universe, through its characters, places, etc.

* If you don't know Moon Tales, more info at this link.

You will find at the end of this English version of the notebook a list (and links) of all the notebooks already written. You will also be able to read the reasons for the existence of these notebooks.

Since always, men stimulate their imagination to tell stories. They imagine how the world is supposed to work, create fictitious friends and enemies, impart wisdom and morality, and simply pass the time. The most beautiful legends have crossed the centuries and have been taken up by many civilizations. We even find their archetypes, their struggles in the current media.

The story of Moon Tales borrows from a whole collective imagination, from a part of these legends and archetypes. From these, we will humbly attempt to build our own world, a new narrative that will hopefully be worthwhile. This new notebook is an opportunity for Pierre to tell you more about the subject !

A NEW GOLDEN AGE OF STORYTELLING

In my opinion, ours is a wonderful time for the imagination. Fantasy and its variations have become mainstream. You can't take the subway without running into people reading A song of ice and fire, Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children or even Harry Potter. The shelves of bookstores, both real and virtual, are full of references and authors and I feel like everyone - even me - has tried writing a fantasy novel in their spare time.

And what about tv shows ? Game of Thrones has been an incredible success (which I think is deserved), and has paved the way for all adaptations and original creations. Streaming video platforms compete to adapt the most famous novels, often with many freedoms.

Not all - book, games, shows… - series work, however. I have many discussions with my friends, also avid readers, about the merits and pitfalls of this or that author. We often come back to the same point. What makes a good novel, a good episode, a good video game. For me, it revolves around one question : what makes a good story ?

RECIPE FOR A SUCCESSFUL STORY

It seems to me that a captivating narrative lies in its actors. They are heroes to whom we get attached. We must feel empathy for them, identify with them, suffer or rejoice with them. They must be human, resonate with us. I am talking about hero(in)es here, but this rule can also apply to their enemies. A good villain is best when his or her motives are understandable and he or she is ambiguous - although we all have certain enemies we love to adore because they are so deliciously malevolent.

In Moon Tales, Akhiles is an example of a character that grew in size as we conceptualized the story. When Boris introduced me to his first ideas - a geeky, fashion-addicted man - I wondered what I was going to do with him. Now it's hard to imagine what the story of Moon Tales would be like without him.

Once the protagonists are defined, a general plot is needed – I put this criterion second because good characters can, in my opinion, create and maintain their own story, in relation to intimate objectives linked to their aspirations, their relationships... I'm talking about a main plot as opposed to the character-specific drama mentioned, because it will guide the narrative - without it the story is just a soap opera.

Finally, you need a setting.

The ideal case is when the author can afford to add a moral to his story, which makes it an educational lesson. G.K Chesterton said : « Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed. » There is no need to say anything else, no one ever said anything better than this quote.

I've used this approach many times in various pieces of writing – I'm not saying it's the best, just that it's my vision.

For Moon Tales I had to throw everything away. Because of (or thanks to...) Boris.

FREEDOM WITHIN CONSTRAINT

I already had ideas, and I have a rather free approach to creation where I throw out, ask myself what the characters would do and then let the world expand around them, adding other protagonists, to serve the needs of my plot. So happy was I.

Boris had a vision.

He wanted some characters. They were already well detailed, with appearances, behaviors, staging already prepared (sometimes storyboarded).

He had very precise ideas of the scenes he wanted to draw, the number of hero(in)es he had to create (to make his character design...). Worse for me, he wanted to make a precise map of the city in which their adventures would mainly take place, so that his settings would be coherent.

IDEAS THAT INTERWINE

[Boris] I'm hacking this notebook for the time of an insert to underline a little more the advantages of working together that Pierre evokes - certainly by making me look like the one who imposes a lot of things, but in reality, it's a little more nuanced and shared than that ^^

Whether it is for the creation and development of the characters, the world or even the story, everything is discussed. When one of us comes up with an idea, it will usually be accepted, but it will also be an opportunity to give new ideas to the other, to build on or refine the idea in question. Or to extrapolate new things and thus enrich the whole. Sometimes the ideas clash and a choice has to be made, or the two ideas have to be modified slightly to merge them. It is even possible that an inconsistency or an error is used to our advantage ! The stories, characters and world are not yet all developed in detail, which allows us real freedom and flexibility to regularly add new elements and discuss their interest.

For example, regarding Tamara, the first ideas about her past date from long before the writing of her introduction episode*. In the latter, Pierre raised new questions about this past and provided new details. So we discussed it to make it coherent and develop it a little more.

Another example where the creation of a visual can also serve the development of the world and the story** : Pierre introduces a line of kings, I make a visual of them by drawing a bit special crown, which then triggers the writing of new articles about it, enriching the world and its magic. Discussion after discussion, these new elements are linked to other details of the world developed long before, which leads to new visual ideas... Etc., etc.

In the end, all these developments "by bouncing off" are certainly part of the most exciting aspects of such a collaboration !

* : yes, each character will have an introduction episode, it's even the first seven chapters of Moon Tales !

** : a drawing can carry as much creativity and information as a text, and is therefore not a simple visual support for the latter. This is particularly true in creative fields that require the development of an imaginary world (role-playing games, for example), in which visual artists could be just as much a source of "creative material" (background, lore, fluff..., for those who know these words) and be qualified as authors in the same way as the people who write the texts... as long as the visual and written design are done in parallel and not one before the other.

I suddenly found myself creating a plot that had to go through specific steps, with situations that I honestly never would have thought of (I discovered things...). I admit that I was scared. Once I got over my stress, I started to work and I discovered a real freedom in these constraints. The latter forced me to structure my narrative, to pace it. These unexpected situations took me in directions I wouldn't have gone and made the story much fresher to me.

Some examples among others :

- Boris had the idea of a weekly publication, scheduled all over the year. This meant giving a rhythm to the text, but also thinking of Christmas or summer episodes... And so at Christmas time in our country, it had to snow in the webcomic. Same for the summer, we needed a sunny place, a beach...

- A cartoonist is a lazy person***, especially when he has to draw large amounts of panels. So I had to discipline myself and limit the number of characters per scene, avoid chaining new places or creating too complicated settings. Of course sometimes I couldn't resist it. But Boris went along for the ride and I hope you'll see in our opening vignettes that it was worth it.

- The publication format and its periodicity directly influence the style of the webcomic. The episodes must be short, some are only small interludes, others are a little longer, generally follow each other but are still thought to be a minimum of stand-alone. If it gave us ideas that might not have been attempted otherwise, it had a direct effect on my writing.

*** Note from Boris : please send your letters of protest and insults directly to Mr. Coppet, on his facebook page or any other address you may find. I will not relay (unless the message is on the comments pages of this notebook, see links below). Anyway, I've already taken care of breaking his kneecaps. Because as long as the arms and hands are working, the Moon Tales show can go on and that's the most important thing, isn't it ?

BUT WHAT IS MOON TALES REALLY ABOUT ?

Moon Tales is an encounter between two people from two different worlds. She is a girl from our Earth, he comes from a magical city on the other side of the mirror. But it's not that simple. She's probably wackier than he is. And they are accompanied by equally important individuals : a flamboyant hidalgo, an adventuress who hardly hides her weaknesses, a witch who wants to be a fairy, a sad oracle and a funny player. This constellation of personalities will illuminate a city of wonders plunged into darkness both literally and figuratively.

But before the beginning of our story, 37 years ago to be exact, you should know that a great war took place which strongly changed the life of its inhabitants. Once ruled by a hereditary dynasty of kings, the city in which these tragic events ended passed into the hands of an emergency revolutionary government, the time for Duana - the goddess of the night, equated with the moon and destiny - to appoint a new leader. The Sinister - the administration - thus took the reins of the city, pretending to be the executors of the Dexter, the council of the great families, of which the ancient kings were the leaders.

Today, the city bends under the yoke of the Sinister, but remains a magical place, with an enchanting, gothic and halloweenian atmosphere.

These axis will thus impregnate our story and the global atmosphere of our world, by mixing with several narrative genres. Small overview :

Halloween and Gothic : The world of Moon Tales is, among other things, a mixture of The Nightmare before Christmas and Tim Burton's Batman. One lives there in the shade of old manors and vertiginous skyscrapers. The urban wildlife probably has more owls and bats than rats and pumpkins are probably the national vegetable. If there are no scarecrows in the streets, it is likely that they are a people like any other with their own festival once a year. Since the fall of the monarchy, the great city has been plunged into an endless night that facilitates the apparitions of ghosts, witches and other nocturnal peoples.

Faerie : Moon Tales is not a horrific universe... most of the time ! The peoples of the night live in more or less good harmony under the yoke of the Sinister. Very few horrific crimes here. Haunting, cursing and enchanting are honorable professions. As for the fairies and the forces of light, they are all equally present as our heroes prove.

Urban fantasy : the introduction of our adventure is a classic urban fantasy - the discovery of Wonderland. It is with Follet, human of the Faded world, that we discover this other modern world full of magic as well as its shining city. The latter, a character in its own right, is a typical contemporary urban metropolis, even if often much more extravagant than those on our Earth, with its mysterious nooks and crannies and its sometimes strange inhabitants.

Soap : from the beginning we wanted a story centered on our characters, their relationships, their evolution, their friendships and their loves. I call it dramaturgy. Boris, who has little culture but loves cleanliness, talks about Soap. Bof.

Pulp adventure : friends of nature and cows, Moon Tales will not be limited to a darkened city. Beyond this, we give ourselves the opportunity to explore adventurous lands scattered with ruins, to make our characters discover the secrets or wonders of these places.

In the end, Moon Tales is an opportunity to mix comics, role-playing games and influences that we like in our witch's cauldron, to stir it all up well and, we hope, to please ourselves - and you.

But in the end, will our webcomic offer a good story ? It's hard for me to say. I am generally a good audience – I only ask a movie or a book to entertain me and I have so many guilty pleasures in terms of a simple or even failed plot that I love it all the same... Only our readers will be able to decide if they like our characters and their stories. We have already planned several years of adventures for them.

A DIFFERENCE IN MEDIUM

You don't write for a game the same way you write for a novel or a comic book. It sounds obvious when you say it like that, but I foolishly thought at first that narrating would be easier than proposing a storyline. Fatal error.

In role-playing game, you must first define a setting, a world, a situation and a motivation. From there, we think about the solutions that the players will think of, knowing that in the end they will do what we didn't plan. The rule is always, in my opinion, to propose things and not to close the doors.

In a novel, you have to think about continuity. A character comes with motivations, reasons and a personality. Not all choices are logical, and sometimes the logical choices for a protagonist are not those of the author. You have to put yourself in someone else's shoes. At the same time, the author must remember that the character does not know what he knows, they must find reasons to make them go from one scene to another, provide them with the keys that will allow them to solve the plot. In a sequential medium like Moon Tales, this means planning well in advance what to introduce. The universe, on the other hand, may be more fluid, less framed and less detailed, as it must serve the narrative (with one caveat, the Boris clause, see above).

These are therefore two fundamentally opposed approaches. The Yin and Yang of the written creation in a certain way :)

PIERRE’S MOOD NOTE

Today, as I write these lines in March 2022, the sirocco lifts the sand of the Sahara and brings it to us several hundred kilometers away. The sky has a strange color, yellow-orange. Sand is falling on our roofs. It is soothing.

In Ukraine, rainfall is deadly. No peace for men, women and children.

Moon Tales is about two overlapping realities, but there is no need to use magic for that. The real world reminds us of this every day.

Moon Tales' design notebooks exist first of all to keep track of the development of the project. They are written as much for us as for those who may be interested - now or in the future - in the underside of its development. Putting all these steps in writing gives us food for thought about our practices and our choices, so that we can draw out possible avenues for improvement. Finally, these notebooks make it possible to bring the project to life, before its "real" existence, and to show that it is moving forward.

NOTEBOOKS INDEX : #1 : Origins #2 : Characters (1) #3 : Drawing #4 : Story #5 : The City (2024)

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French version below

MOON TALES - Carnet de conception #4

Les carnets de conception de Moon Tales* vous proposent de découvrir un making-off de ce projet. Ils vous en présenteront l’histoire, son développement, ainsi que nos envies, nos choix et interrogations. Ils dévoilent également un peu plus ce nouvel univers, à travers ses personnages, ses lieux, etc.

* Si vous ne connaissez pas Moon Tales, plus d’infos à ce lien.

Vous trouverez plus loin, à la fin de la page, une liste (et les liens) de tous les carnets déjà écrits. Vous pourrez aussi y lire les raisons d’exister de ces carnets.

Depuis toujours, les hommes titillent leur imaginaire pour se raconter des histoires. Ils imaginent un fonctionnement à l’univers, se créent des amis et des ennemis fictifs, transmettent une sagesse, une moralité, et simplement passent le temps. Les plus belles légendes ont traversé les siècles et ont été reprises par de nombreuses civilisations. On retrouve même leurs archétypes, leurs déchirements dans les médias actuels.

L’histoire de Moon Tales emprunte à tout un imaginaire collectif, à une part de ces légendes et de ces archétypes. À partir de celles-ci, nous tenterons humblement de construire notre univers, un nouveau récit qui, espérons-le, sera digne d’intérêt. Ce nouveau carnet est ainsi l’occasion pour Pierre de vous en dire plus sur le sujet !

UN NOUVEL ÂGE D'OR DE LA NARRATION

Nous vivons une époque merveilleuse pour l’imaginaire selon moi. La Fantasy et ses déclinaisons sont devenues mainstream. On ne peut plus prendre le métro sans croiser des personnes en train de lire un tome du Trône de Fer, les Enfants Particuliers de Miss Peregrine ou même encore Harry Potter. Les rayons des librairies, réelles comme virtuelles, regorgent de références et d’auteurs et j’ai l’impression que tout le monde – même moi – s’est essayé à écrire un roman de Fantasy à ses heures perdues.

Et que dire des séries ? Game of Thrones a fait un succès incroyable (que je trouve mérité) et a ouvert la porte à toutes les adaptations et aux créations originelles. Les plates-formes de streaming vidéo rivalisent pour adapter les romans les plus connus avec souvent beaucoup de libertés.

Toutes les séries ne fonctionnent pas cependant. J’ai de nombreuses discussions avec mes amis, eux aussi grands lecteurs, sur les mérites et les écueils de tel ou tel auteur. Et on en revient souvent au même point. Qu’est ce qui fait un bon roman, un bon épisode, un bon jeu vidéo. Pour moi, cela tourne autour du même point : qu’est ce qui fait une bonne histoire ?

RECETTE POUR UNE HISTOIRE RÉUSSIE

Il me semble qu’un récit captivant tient dans ses acteurs. Ce sont des héros auxquels on s’attache. On doit ressentir de l’empathie pour eux, se retrouver en eux, souffrir ou se réjouir avec eux. Ils doivent être humains, résonner en nous. Je parle ici des héro(ine)s, mais cette règle peut également s’appliquer à leurs ennemis. Un bon méchant est d’autant meilleur que ses motivations sont compréhensibles et qu’il est ambigu – bien qu’on ait tous certains ennemis qu’on adore adorer tant ils sont délicieusement malveillants.

Akiles est un exemple de personnage qui a pris de la dimension alors que nous conceptualisions l’histoire. Lorsque Boris m’a présenté ses premières idées - un homme geek et accro à la mode - ,je me suis demandé ce que j’allais en faire. Désormais, il est difficile d’imaginer ce que serait l’histoire de Moon Tales sans lui.

Une fois les protagonistes définis, il faut une intrigue générale – je mets ce critère en second car de bons personnages peuvent, selon moi, faire naitre et entretenir leur propre histoire, en rapport avec des objectifs intimes liés à leurs aspirations, leurs relations... Je parle ici d’une intrigue principale par opposition au drama propre aux personnages évoqué, car elle va canaliser la narration – sans elle l’histoire n’est plus qu’un simple soap opera.

Enfin il faut un décor.

Le nec plus ultra est le cas où l’auteur peut se permettre de rajouter à son histoire une moralité, qui fait d’elle une leçon éducative. G.K Chesterton disait : « Les contes de fées n’enseignent pas aux enfants que les dragons existent. Les enfants le savent déjà. Ils leurs enseignent que les dragons peuvent être vaincus. » (« Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed. »). Il n’y a pas à dire, c’est la classe.

J’ai utilisé cette approche plusieurs fois dans divers travaux d’écriture – je ne dis pas qu’elle est la meilleure mais simplement que c’est ma vision.

Pour Moon Tales j’ai dû tout jeter en l’air. À cause de (ou grâce à…) Boris.

LA LIBERTÉ DANS LA CONTRAINTE

J’avais déjà des idées, et j’ai une approche de la création assez libre où je lance des pistes, me demande ce que feraient les personnages puis laisse le monde pousser autour, d’autres protagonistes se rajouter, pour servir aux besoins de mon intrigue. Bienheureux que j’étais.

Boris avait une vision.

Il voulait des personnages. Ils étaient déjà bien détaillés, avec des apparences, des comportements, des mises en scène déjà préparées (voire storyboardées).

Il avait des idées très précises de scènes qu’il voulait dessiner, du nombre de héro(ine)s qu’il devait créer (pour faire son character design…). Pire pour moi, il voulait faire une carte précise de la cité dans laquelle se déroulerait principalement leurs aventures, afin que ses décors soient cohérents.

DES IDÉES QUI S'ENTREMÊLENT

[Boris] Je pirate ce carnet le temps d’un encart pour souligner un peu plus les avantages du travail commun qu’évoque Pierre - certes en me faisant passer pour celui qui impose beaucoup de choses, mais en réalité, c’est un peu plus nuancé et partagé que ça ^^

Que ce soit pour la création et le développement des personnages, ceux du monde ou même de l’histoire, tout se discute. Quand l’un de nous vient avec une idée, celle-ci sera généralement acceptée mais elle sera aussi l’occasion de donner de nouvelles idées à l’autre, de rebondir dessus afin de développer ou d’affiner l’idée en question. Ou d’extrapoler de nouvelles choses et ainsi d’enrichir l’ensemble. Parfois, les idées se confrontent et il faut faire un choix, ou bien modifier légèrement les deux idées pour les fusionner. Il est même possible qu’une incohérence ou une erreur soit utilisée à notre avantage ! Les histoires, les personnages et le monde ne sont pas encore tous développés en détails, ce qui nous permet une vraie liberté et une grande souplesse pour intégrer régulièrement de nouveaux éléments et débattre de leur intérêt.

Par exemple, concernant Tamara, les premières idées à propos de son passé datent de bien avant l’écriture de son épisode de présentation*. Dans ce dernier, Pierre a soulevé de nouvelles interrogations quant à ce passé et a apporté de nouveaux détails. On en a donc discuté pour rendre le tout cohérent et le développer encore un peu plus.

Autre exemple où la création d’un visuel peut aussi servir au développement du monde et de l’histoire** : Pierre introduit une lignée de rois, j’en réalise un visuel en leur dessinant une couronne un peu spéciale, ce qui déclenche ensuite l'écriture de nouveaux articles à ce sujet, enrichissant ainsi le monde et sa magie. Discussions après discussions, on relie ces nouveaux aspects à d’autres détails du monde développés bien avant, ce qui entraîne de nouvelles idées visuelles… Etc., etc.

Au final, tous ces développements “par rebonds” font certainement partie des aspects les plus passionnant d’une telle collaboration !

* : oui chaque personnage aura un épisode de présentation, il s'agit même des sept premiers chapitres de Moon Tales !

** : un dessin peut porter tout autant de créativité et d’informations qu’un texte, et n’est donc pas qu’un simple support formel à ce dernier. C’est particulièrement vrai dans les domaines créatifs qui nécessitent de développer un monde imaginaire (le jeu de rôle par exemple), dans lesquels les illustrateurs pourraient tout autant être source de “matériel créatif” (de background, de lore, de fluff..., pour ceux qui connaissent ces mots) et être qualifiés d’auteurs au même titre que les personnes qui en écrivent les textes... pour peu que la création visuelle et écrite se fasse en parallèle et non l’une avant l’autre.

Je me retrouvais soudain à créer une intrigue qui devait passer par des étapes précises, avec des situations auxquelles honnêtement je n’aurai jamais pensé (j’ai découvert des choses…). J’avoue que j’ai eu peur. Mon coup de stress passé, je me suis mis au travail et j’ai découvert une vraie liberté dans ces contraintes. Ces dernières m’ont obligé à structurer ma narration, à la rythmer. Ces situations inattendues m’ont emmené vers des directions où je ne serais pas allé et rendent le récit bien plus frais à mes yeux.

Quelques exemples parmi d’autres :

- Boris avait l’idée d’une diffusion hebdomadaire, planifiée dans le temps. Cela signifiait rythmer le texte, mais également penser à des épisodes de noël, estivaux… Et donc qu’au moment de noël chez nous, il fallait qu’il neige dans la bd. Pareil pour l’été, il nous fallait un lieu ensoleillé, une plage…

- Un dessinateur c’est feignant***, surtout quand il doit dessiner des cases en grandes quantités. Donc j’ai dû me discipliner et limiter le nombre de personnages par scènes, éviter d’enchainer les nouveaux lieux ou de créer des décors trop compliqués. Bien sûr parfois je n’ai pas su m’en empêcher. Mais Boris a joué le jeu et j’espère que vous verrez dans nos vignettes de début que ça en valait la peine.

- Le format de publication et sa périodicité influent directement sur le style de la bande dessinée. Les épisodes doivent être courts, certains sont seulement des petits interludes, d’autres sont un peu plus longs, se suivent généralement mais sont tout de même pensés pour être un minimum autonomes. Si cela nous a donné des idées qui n’auraient peut-être pas été tentées autrement, il y a eu un effet direct sur ma façon d’écrire.

*** Note de Boris : merci d'envoyer vos lettres de protestations et d'insultes directement à monsieur Coppet, sur sa page facebook ou toute autre adresse que vous trouveriez. Je ne ferai pas le relais (sauf si le mot a lieu sur les pages de commentaires de ce carnet, cf. lien plus bas). De toute façon je me suis déjà chargé de lui casser les rotules. Car tant que les bras et les mains fonctionnent, l’histoire de Moon Tales peut continuer et c’est bien là l’essentiel, n’est-ce pas ?

MAIS EN FAIT MOON TALES ÇA PARLE DE QUOI ?

Moon Tales est une rencontre, entre deux individus de deux mondes différents. Elle est la fille de notre Terre, il vient d’une cité magique de l’autre côté du miroir. Mais ça n’est pas si simple. Elle est sans doute plus farfelue que lui. Et ils sont accompagnés d’individus tout aussi importants : un hidalgo flamboyant, une aventurière qui cache difficilement ses faiblesses, une sorcière qui se veut fée, une oracle triste et un drôle de joueur. Cette constellation de personnalités va illuminer une ville de merveilles plongée dans l’ obscurité au sens propre autant que figuré.

Mais avant le début de notre histoire, 37 ans auparavant pour être exact, sachez qu’une grande guerre eut lieu qui changea fortement la vie de ses habitants. Autrefois gouvernée par une dynastie héréditaire de rois, la cité dans laquelle ces tragiques événements prirent fin passa en effet aux mains d’un gouvernement révolutionnaire d’urgence, le temps pour Duana – la déesse de la nuit, assimilée à la lune et au destin – de désigner un nouveau chef. La Senestre – l’administration – prit ainsi les rênes de la ville, en se faisant passer pour les exécutants de la Dextre, le conseil des grandes familles, dont les anciens rois étaient les dirigeants.

Aujourd’hui, la cité plie sous le joug de la Senestre, mais reste un lieu magique, à l’atmosphère enchanteresse, gothique et halloweenienne.

Ces grands axes vont ainsi imprégner notre récit et l’ambiance globale de notre univers, en se mélangeant à plusieurs genres narratifs. Petit panorama :

Halloween et le gothique : le monde de Moon Tales est, entres autres, un mélange de l’Etrange Noël de Monsieur Jack mais aussi du Batman de Tim Burton. On y vit à l’ombre de manoirs anciens et de gratte ciels vertigineux. La faune urbaine comporte sans doute plus de hiboux et de chauves-souris que de rats et les citrouilles sont probablement le légume national. S’il n’y a pas d’épouvantails dans les rues, il est vraisemblable que ce soit un peuple comme les autres avec leur propre festival une fois par an. Depuis la chute de la monarchie, la grande cité est plongée dans une nuit sans fin qui facilite les apparitions de fantômes, de sorcières et des autres peuples nocturnes.

Féerie : Moon Tales n’est pas un univers horrifique… la plupart du temps ! Les peuples de la nuit vivent en plus ou moins bonne entente sous le joug de la Senestre. Très peu de crimes horribles ici. La hantise, le maléfice et l’enchantement sont des professions honorables. Quant aux fées et aux forces de la lumière, elles sont toutes aussi présentes comme le prouvent nos héros.

Urban fantasy : l'introduction de notre aventure est un classique de l’urban fantasy – la découverte du pays des merveilles. C’est au travers de Follet, humaine du Monde éteint, que nous découvrons cet autre monde moderne plein de magie ainsi que son étincelante cité. Cette dernière, un personnage à part entière, est une métropole urbaine contemporaine typique, même si souvent bien plus extravagante que celles de notre Terre, avec ses recoins mystérieux et ses habitants parfois étranges.

Soap : dès le début nous avons voulu une histoire centrée sur nos personnages, leurs relations, leur évolution, leurs amitiés et leurs amours. J’appelle ça de la dramaturgie. Boris, qui a peu de culture mais qui aime la propreté parle de Soap. Bof.

Aventure pulp : ami(e)s de la nature et des vaches, Moon Tales ne se limitera pas à une ville enténébrée. Au-delà de celle-ci, nous nous donnons la possibilité d’explorer des terres d'aventures parsemées de ruines, de faire découvrir à nos personnages les secrets ou merveilles de ces lieux.

Au final, Moon Tales, c’est l’occasion de mélanger bande dessinée, jeu de rôle et des influences qui nous plaisent dans notre chaudron de sorcière, de bien touiller tout cela et, nous espérons, de nous – et de vous – faire plaisir.

Mais en fin de compte, notre webcomic proposera-t-il une bonne histoire ? Difficile pour moi de le dire. Je suis en général plutôt bon public – je ne demande à un film ou à un livre qu’à me distraire et j’ai tellement de plaisirs coupables en terme d’intrigue simple voire ratée que j’adore tout de même… Nos lecteurs seuls seront à même de décider s’ils aiment nos personnages et leurs histoires. Nous leur avons déjà prévu plusieurs années d’aventures.

UNE DIFFÉRENCE DE MEDIUM

On n’écrit pas pour du jeu comme on écrit pour un roman ou une bande-dessinée. Ça a l’air évident dit comme ça, mais j’ai bêtement cru au début que narrer serait plus facile que de proposer une trame. Fatale erreur.

En jeu de rôle, on doit d’abord définir un cadre, un univers, une situation et une motivation. De là, on réfléchit aux solutions auxquelles vont penser les joueurs tout en sachant qu’en fin de compte ils feront ce que l’on n’avait pas prévu. La règle est toujours, selon moi, de proposer des choses et de ne pas fermer les portes.

Dans un roman, il faut penser à la continuité. Un personnage vient avec des motivations, des raisons et une personnalité. Tous les choix ne sont pas logiques et, parfois, les choix logiques pour un protagoniste ne sont pas ceux de l’auteur. Il faut se mettre dans la peau d‘un autre. En même temps, l’auteur doit se souvenir que son personnage ne sait pas ce qu’il sait lui, il doit trouver des raisons de le faire aller d’une scène à l’autre, lui fournir les clés qui lui permettront de résoudre l’intrigue. Dans un support séquencé comme Moon Tales, cela signifie de prévoir bien à l’avance ce qu’il faudra introduire. L’univers, par contre, peut-être plus fluide, moins cadré et moins détaillé, car il doit servir l’intrigue (avec un bémol, la clause Boris, cf. supra).

Ce sont donc deux approches fondamentalement opposées. Le Yin et le Yang de la création écrite d’une certaine façon :)

LE BILLET D'HUMEUR DE PIERRE

Aujourd’hui, alors que j’écris ces lignes en mars 2022, le sirocco soulève le sable du Sahara et le porte jusqu’à nous à plusieurs centaines de kilomètres. Le ciel a une couleur étrange, jaune-orangée. Il tombe du sable sur nos toits. C’est apaisant.

En Ukraine, les précipitations sont meurtrières. Pas de paix pour les hommes, les femmes et les enfants.

Moon Tales parle de deux réalités qui se chevauchent mais il n’est pas nécessaire de faire appel à la magie pour cela. Le monde réel nous le rappelle chaque jour.

Les carnets de conception de Moon Tales existent d’abord afin de garder une trace de l'élaboration du projet. Ils sont écrits autant pour nous que pour les personnes susceptibles d'être intéressées - dès à présent ou dans le futur - par les dessous de son développement. Poser par écrit toutes ces étapes nous donne matière à réfléchir sur nos pratiques ainsi que nos choix, pour en tirer éventuellement des pistes d’amélioration. Enfin, ces carnets permettent de faire vivre le projet, avant sa “vraie” existence, et de montrer qu’il avance.

INDEX DES CARNETS : #1 : Origines #2 : Personnages (1) #3 : Dessin #4 : Histoire #5 : La Cité (2024)

[ Note : vous pouvez commenter ce billet sur mon Facebook, Twitter ou Instagram ]

#2022 #moon tales #moon tales notebooks #moon tales webcomic #moon tales characters #tamara #malys #akiles #akhiles #moon tales world #projects #moon tales rpg #ttrpg #webcomic #storytelling #story writing

[dial-p-for-placey]

#Fon Master Ion #Ion #Anise Tatlin #Tales of the Abyss #Usagi Tsukino #Ami Mizuno #Sailor Mercury #Makoto Kino #Sailor Jupiter #Sailor Moon #Mieu #anime #90s anime #video games #jrpg #rpg #crafts #snow globes

[hikayeplays]

Steam Next Fest October 2023

Alright let's see as many Demos as possible!

1. Ocelot Sunrise

A nice roguelite bullet hell with various levels (only one playable in the demo) and a sci fi scavengers story and a comics/borderlandesque aesthetic that makes the cutscenes very nice to look at. The background music is a bop too. Alas the controller controls are not completely implemented yet and quite clunky to use in a mixed way, however the power ups and the weapons seems really fun to play with.

7.5/10

Wishlisted

2. ASTRA: Knights of Veda

On first impact a bread and butter jrpg with all the pros and cons of the genre like huge bazongas! Regardless of which category you consider them in. The artstyle in game and in battle is expecially nice with this sort of "dress-up paper doll" look that sets it somewhat apart and the cutscene style for the evil faction and the dream realm is quite good. The controls are nice and intuitive enough although it needs a mouse to click on certain things like equipment. The voice acting is good enough? I'd say but the audio levels mixing leaves to be desired in some parts. Now the cons: it required to make an account even to play the demo and it has an obligatory post download 8 gb of additional content, there are "daily reward" and buyable cosmetics but most aggravating of all (for me) there are minutes of cutscenes every 5 minutes or so of gameplay.

5/10

Not for me

3. Estate Agent Simulator

The first bugged demo. The second prompt for the italian tutorial popped up with this half baked and definitely not italian way and had to restart the game in english

The gameplay itself is fine? For a game like this? Certainly not particularly nice nor particularly bad but the camera bobbing is atrocious, it gave me nausea after I cleaned the first house, the game was also completely silent. I'll add a +1 for the promise of a pettable dog

4/10

4. Lose CTRL

A surreal satirical you rage you lose puzzle game in which you play as Billy as he tries to climb the corporate ladder to reach a segway. The game mess with your controls and your mind in a mix between Get Over It and Brazil (1985). The split screen capabilities intrigue me although I wonder how it could work with keyboard and mouse controls. The general style is charming and distinctive but also amateurish and rough around the edges. To try, at least once.

7/10

Wishlisted

5. Leila

Leila is a chill and relaxing kinda lofi click and drag puzzle game that goes back the memory lane in a coming of age(?) Tale for a middle aged woman, the titular Leila. The puzzles shown have a nice variety between styles and difficulties, and they are certainly meant for someone looking to lubricate those neurons. The art and the background music are pretty nice and the voice acting is quite good too. If you like click and drag puzzles I feel that wishlisting this one (and always trying the demo before) maybe one of your best bets so far.

8/10

6. Tales from the Dancing Moon

An old-school-ish rpg inspired by runescape in which you run around doing errands for the townsfolk and at the same time try to unravel the mistery of your memory loss, the presence of a smartphone that you can use to take photos in game gives it a mild isekai flavour but not too strong based on what I've seen. The controls appear fluid enough and the sound design while not spectacular does it's job. The character creation menu is surprisingly in-depth for this kind of games.

6.5/10

Runescape wannabe

7. There's Always a Madman: Fight or Flight

A text based spy adventure in which you play as this super special agent and have to choose between different options both in action and dialogue. While the story itself seems nice the absence of any voice action or any background image besides some solid background color makes the experience hoverwelmingly boring as you are left to click repeatedly thru text.

3/10

I yawned

8. Rocket!

A mix between a shoot them up and a roguelite bullet hell heavily inspired by galaga and the classics. While the concept is nice and seems intriguing enough and I don't doubt it may end up garnering quite the cult following like many other niche games the controls are exceedingly hard and finicky, the spaceship appear to drift incontrollably with no apparent rhyme or reason.

4/10

9. Aureole: Wings of Hope

An incredibly fun and novelty platformer/dasher game where you follow the tale of two angels while you speed and dash and jump at full force thru obstacles in the shape of a bouncy halo. The mechanics are surprisingly simple and incredibly flexible at the same time, creating a gameplay that can be adjusted to your own needs, I appreciated particularly the ability to "freeze" while you charge a jump or a dash. Despite not being a platformer lover I absolutely adored this little demo to bits, so far the only that has left me truly wanting more.

9/10

Wishlisted

#steam next fest #ocelot sunrise #ASTRA: knights of Veda #indie games #jrpg #roguelite #bullet hell #estate agent simulator #sim games #lose CTRL #indie puzzle game #leila #click and drag #rpg #old school rpg #tales from the dancing moon #there's always a madman: fight or flight #text based game #rocket! #shmup #aureole: wings of hope #platformer #metroidvania

[felikatze]

ISAT and Ludonarrative Harmony: Combat is a Storytelling Tool

Or: How Siffrin is stuck in the endgame grind, forever

Please Note: This is primarily aimed at an audience that already played In Stars and Time, because I am bad at explaining things, and it's good to already know what the fuck I'm talking about. I tend to only bring up game elements as I want to talk about them.

Spoilers for.... all of ISAT! Especially Act 5!

(image to show how i feel posting this and as an attention grabber over my wall of text)

To pull a definition of ludonarrative harmony out of a hat, game writer Lauryn Ash defines it as follows:

Ludonarrative harmony is when gameplay and story work together to create a meaningful and immersive experience. From a design implementation perspective, it is the synchronized interactions between in-game actions (mechanics) and in-world context (story).

It is, generally speaking, how well game mechanics work hand in hand with the story. I, personally, think ISAT is an absolute masterclass of it, so I want to take a look at how ISAT specifically uses its battle system to emphasize Siffrin's character arc and create organic story moments. I want you to keep this in mind when I talk here.

So, skills, right? If you've played any turn-based RPG, you know your Fire spells, your "BACKSLASH! AIRSLASH! BACKSLASH!" and the many ways to style those.

Well, what does casting "Fire" say about your character? Not all that much, does it? Perhaps you'll have typical divisions. The smart one is the mage, the big brawny one is your tank, the petite one's the healer. And that's the barebones of ISAT's main party, but it's much more than that.

Every character's style of combat tells you something about them. Odile, the Researcher, is the most well-travelled and knowledgable of the bunch. She's the one with the expertise to keep a cool head and analyze the enemy, yet also able to use all three of the Rock-Paper-Scissors craft types.

To reflect her analytical view of things, all her skill names are just descriptive, the closest to your most bog-standard RPG. "Slow IV" or "Paper III" serve well to describe their purpose. The high number of the skills gives the impression there were three other Slow skills beforehand - fitting, considering the party starts at level 45, about to head into the final dungeon. She's also the oldest, so she's the slowest of the bunch.

Isabea, the Fighter, has all his skills in exclamation points. "YOUR TURN!!!" "SO WEAK!!!" "SMASH!!!" they're straightforward, but excited. He's a purposefully cheerfull guy, so his skills revolve around cheering on his allies. He's absolutely pumped to be here, and you see that from his skill names alone.

Mirabelle, the Housemaiden, is an interesting case. She's by all means the true protagonist of this tale - She's the one "Chosen by the Change God," the only one who survived the King's first attack, the only one immune to his ability to freeze time, the only dual-craft type of the game - just a lot of things. And her skill names reflect that facade she puts on herself - she can do this, she can win! She has to believe it, or else she starts doubting. This is how you get "Jolly Round Rondo" and "Mega Sparkle Heal" or "Adorable Moving Cure." She's styled every bit a sailor scout shojo heroine, and her moveset replicates the naming conventions of "In the name of the moon, I'll punish you!"

Even Bonnie, the Kid, who can't be controlled in combat, has named craft skills. And they very much reflect that Bonnie is, well, a kid. "Wolf Speed Technique" or "Thousand Blows Technique" are very much the phrasings of a child who learned one complicated word and now wants to use it in everything to seem cooler than they are, which is none, because they're twelve.

Siffrin's skills are all puns.

You have an IMMEDIATE feel for personality here. Between "Knife to Meet You!" and "Too Cleaver by Half," you know Siffrin's the type to always crack a joke no matter the situation, slinging witticisms around to put Sonic the Hedgehog to shame. It's just such a clever way to establish character using a game mechanic as old as the entire history of RPGs.

This is only the baseline of the way the combat system feeds into the story, though.

The timeloop, of course, feeds into it. Siffrin is the only character who retains experience upon looping, whereas all other characters are reset to their base level and skills. And it sucks (affectionate).

You're extremely likely to battle more often the earlier in the game you are - after all, you need the experience (for now.) Every party member contributes, and Siffrin isn't all that strong on their own, since they focus on raw scissor type damage with the addition of one speed buff. (Of course it's a speed buff. They're a speedy fucker. Just look at him).

At first, the difference in level between Siffrin and the rest of the group is rather negligible. Just a level or two. Just a bit more speed and attack. And then Siffrin grows further and further apart. Siffrin keeps learning new skills. He gets a healing skill that doubles as an attack boost, taking away from both Mirabelle's and Isabeau's usefullness. He gets Craft skills of every type that even give you two jackpot points instead of one - thus obliterating Odile's niche. Siffrin turns into a one-person army capable of clearing most encounters all on their own.

Siffrin's combat progression is an exact mirror of story progression - as their experience inside the loops grows, they also grow further and further away from their party. The party seems... weaker, slower, clumsier. Always back at their starting point, just as all of their character arcs are reset each loop. Never advancing, always stagnant. And you have Siffrin as the comparison post right next to them.

I also want to point out here a change from Act 2 to Act 3 - Siffrin's battle portrait. He stops smiling.

Battles keep getting easier. This is true both for the reason that Siffrin keeps growing stronger even when all enemies stay the same, but also for the reason that you, the player, learn more about the battle system and the various encounters, until you've learned perfect boss clear strategies just from repetition. Have you ever watched a speedrunner play Pokemon? They've played this game so many times, they could do it blindfolded and sleeping. Your own knowledge and Siffrin's new strength work in tandem to trivialize the game's entire combat system as the game progresses.

(Is it still fun? Playing it over, and over, and over again? Is it?)

You and Siffrin are in sync, your experience making everything trivial.

As time goes on, Siffrin grows to care less and less about performing right for their party and more and more about going fast. A huge moment in his character is marked by the end of Act 3; because of story events I won't delve too deeply into, Siffrin has grown afraid of trying something new. And his options of escape are closing in. They need an answer, and they need it fast. He doesn't have the time or patience to dumb himself down, so you unlock one new skill.

It doesn't occur with level up, or with a quest, or anything at all. At the start of Act 4, it simply appears in Siffrin's Craft skills.

(Just attack.)

No pun. No joke. Just attack. Once you notice, the effect is immediate - here you have it, a clear sign of how jaded Siffrin has become, right at every encounter. And it's a damn good attack, too! The only available attack in the game that deals "massive" damage against all enemies. Because it doesn't add any jackpot points (at least, it's not supposed to), you set up a combo with everybody else, but Siffrin simply tears away at the enemy with wild abandon. Seperated from the rest of the party by the virtue of no longer needing to contribute to team attacks (most of the time. It's still useful if they do, though).

Once again, an aspect of the battle system enhances the degree of separation between Siffrin and the static characters of his play. You're incentivized to separate him, even.

Additionally, there are two more skills to learn. They're the only skills that replace previous skills. You only get them at extremely high levels, the latter of which I didn't even reach on both of my playthroughs.

The first, somewhere in the level 70 range, Rose Printed Glasses, a paper type craft skill, is replaced by Tear You Apart. It's still a pun about paper, but remarkedly more vicious.

The second is even more on the nose. At level 80, In A While, Rockodile!, a rock type craft skill, is replaced by the more powerful Rock Bottom.

I didn't get to level 80. If you do, you pretty much have to do it on purpose. You have to keep going much longer than necessary, as Siffrin is just done. And the last skill he learns is literally called Rock Bottom.

What do I even need to say, really.

Your party doesn't stay static forever, though.

By doing their hangout quests, side quests throughout the loops that result in Siffrin and the character having a heart to heart, all of them unlock what I'd call an "ultimate" skill. You know the type - the character achieved self-fulfillment, hit rank 10 on their confidant, maxed out their skill tree, and received a reward for their trouble.

These skills are massively useful. My favorite is Odile's - it makes one enemy weak to all Craft types for several turns, which basically allows you to invalidate the first and third boss, as well as just clown on the King, especially once Siffrin starts racking up damage.

But the thing is. In Act 3, when you first get them, yeah, they're useful. But... do you need them? After all, they're such a hassle to get. You need to do the whole character quest again, you can't loop forward in the House or you'll lose them. If you want to take these skills to the King, you need to commit. Go the full nine-yards and be nice to your friends and not die and not skip forward or skip back. Which is annoying, right?

Well, I sure did think so during Act 4. After all, a base level party can still defeat the King, just with a few more tricky pieces involved. Siffrin can oneshot almost all basic enemies by the time of Act 4. It's this exact evalutation that you, the player, go through everytime you return to Dormont. Do I want this skill, still? Would it not be faster to go on without it? I'm repeating myself, but that's the thing! That's what Siffrin is thinking, too!

I also want to take a quick moment to note, here - all skills gained from hangouts have art associated with them, which no other skills do. This feature, the nifty art, hammers home these as "special" skills, besides just how they're unlocked.

Siffrin also has one skill with associated art.

Yeah, you guessed it, it's (Just attack.)

At first, helping the characters is tied to a hefty in-game reward, but that reward loses its value, and in return devalues helping Siffrin's friends every loop. It's too tedious for a skill that'll make a boss go by one turn faster. You, the player, grow jaded with the battle system. Grinding experience isn't worth it, everybody's highest levels are already recorded. Fighting bosses isn't worth it, it's much faster to loop forward.

Isn't this what all endgame in video games looks like? You already beat the final boss, and now... what challenge is left? Is there a point to keep playing? Most games will have some post-game content. A superboss to test your skills against, but ISAT doesn't have any of that. You're forever left chasing to the post-game. That's the whole point - to escape the game.

As most games get more difficult as time passes, ISAT only gets easier. The game becomes disinterested in expanding its own mechanics just as I ran out of new things to fight after 100%-ing Kingdom Hearts 3. Every encounter becomes a simple game of "press button to win."

The final boss just takes that one up a notch.

Spoilers for Act 5 ahead boys!

In Act 5, Siffrin utterly loses it. His last possible hope for escape failed him, told him there's nothing she can do, and Siffrin is trapped for eternity. So of course, they go insane and run up the entire House without their party.

This just proves what you already knew - you dont need the party to proceed. Siffrin alone is strong enough. And here, Siffrin has entirely shed the facade of the jokester they used to be. Every single skill now follows the (Just attack.) naming conventions. Your skills are: (Paper.) (Rock.) (Scissors.) (Breathe.)

To the point. Not a moment wasted, because Siffrin can't take a moment longer of any of this. Additionally, his level is set to 99 and his equipment becomes fixed. You can't even pick up items anymore! Not that you needed them at this point anyway, right? Honestly, I never used any items besides the Salty Broth since Act 2, so I stopped picking items up a long time ago. Now you just literally can't.

Something I've not talked about until now - one of the main equipment types in this game are Memories, gained for completing subquests or specific interactions and events. They all by and large have little effects - make Odile's tonics heal more, or have Mirabelle cast a shield at the start of combat. For the hangout events, you also gain an associated memory that boosts the characters' stats by 30. It lets them keep up with Siffrin again! A fresh wind! Finally, your party members feel on par with you again!

...For a time. And just like that, they're irrelevant again, just as helping them gave Siffrin a brief moment of hope that the power of friendship could fix everything.

In Act 5, your memory is set to "Memory of Emptiness." It allows you to loop back in the middle of combat. You literally can't die anymore. Not that Siffrin could've died by this point in the first place, unless you forgot about the King's instant-kill attack. This one memory takes away the false pretense that combat ever had any stakes. Siffrin's level being set to 99 means even the scant exp you get is completely wasted on them. All stakes and benefits from combat have been removed. It has become utterly pointless.

Frustrating, right? It's an artistic frustration, though. It traps you right here in Siffrin's shoes, because he hates that all these blinding Sadnesses are still walking around just as much. It all inspires just a tiny fraction of that deep rolling anger Siffrin experiences here in the player.

And listen, it was cathartic, that one time Siffrin snapped and stabbed the tutorial Sadness, wasn't it? Because who enjoys sitting through the tutorial that often? Siffrin doesn't. I don't, either.

So, since combat is an useless obstacle now meant to inspire frustration, what do you do for a boss? You can't well make it a gameplay challenge now, no. The bosses of Act 5 are an emotional challenge: a painful wait.

First, Siffrin fights the King, alone. This is already nervewracking because of one factor - in every other run, you need Mirabelle's shield skill, or else you're scripted to die. You're actually forced to fight the King multiple times in Act 3, and have to do it at least once in Act 4, though you'll likely do it more. Point is: you know how this fight works.

You know Siffrin's fight is doomed from the outset, but all you can do is keep slinging attacks. Siffrin is enough of a powerhouse to take the King's HP down, what with the healing and buff skills they have now, not to even mention you can just go all in on damage and then loop back.

(And no matter which way you play it, whether you just loop or use strategically, it reflects on Siffrin, too. Has he grown callous enough not even death will stop their mission? Or does he still avoid pain, as much as he can?)

This fight still allows you the artifice of even that much choice, not that it matters. The other shoe drops eventually - Siffrin becomes slower, and slower. Unsettling, considering this game works on an Action Gauge system. You barely get turns anymore. The screen gets darker, and darker. Until Siffrin is frozen in time, just as you knew he had to be, because you know how this encounter works, know it can't be cleared without Mirabelle.

And, then, a void.

Siffrin awakens to nothingness. The only way to tell you've hit a wall is if Siffrin has no walking animation to match your button inputs. You walk, and walk, until you're approached by.... you. The next enemy encounter of the game, and Siffrin's absolute lowest point: Mal Du Pays.

Or, "Homesickness," in english. If you know the game, you know why it's named this, but that's not the point at the moment.

Thing is, where you could damage the King and are damaged in turn, giving you at least a proper combat experience, even if its doomed to fail, Mal Du Pays has no such thing.

You can attack. You can defend. But it is immune to all attacks. And in return, it does nothing. It's common, at least, for undefeatable enemies to be a "survive" challenge, but nope. The entire fight is "press button and wait." Except, remember the previous fight against the King? The entire time, you were waiting for the big instant death attack to drop. That feeling, at least for me, carried forward. I was incredibly on edge just waiting for the other shoe to drop. And, as is a pattern, Siffrin is, too. As Siffrin's attacks fail to connect, they start talking to Mal Du Pays.

But he gets no response, as you get no attacks to strategize around. The wait for anything to happen is utterly agonizing. You and Siffrin are both waiting for something to happen. This isn't a fight. It just pretends to be. It's an utter rugpull, because Siffrin was so undefeatable for most of Act 4 and all of Act 5 so far. It's kind of terrifying!

and it does. It finally does something. Ma Du Pays speaks, in the voice of Siffrin's friends, listing out their deepest fears. I think it's honestly fantastic. You're forced to just sit here and listen to Siffrin's deepest doubts, things you know the characters could not say because it references the timeloops they're all utterly unaware of. This is all Siffrin, talking to himself. And all you, all Siffrin, can do, is keep wailing away on the enemy to no effect whatsoever.

So of course this ends with Siffrin giving up. What else can you do?

And then Siffrin's friends show up and unfreeze them and it's all very cool yay. The pure narrative scenes aren't really the main focus but I want to point out here:

A) Mirabelle is in the first party slot here, referencing how she's the de facto protagonist, and Bonnie fills in the fourth slot left empty, which shows all characters uniting to save Siffrin

B) this is the only instance of the other party members having act specific battle icons: they're all smiling brightly, further pushed by the upbeat music

C) the reflecting shield Mirabelle uses to freeze the King uses a variation of her hangout skill cut in, marking it as her true "final" skill and giving the whole fight a more climatic feeling.

It's also a short gameplay sequence with Siffrin utterly uninvolved in the battle. You can't even see them onscreen. But... it feels warm, doesn't it? Everybody coming together. Siffrin doesn't have to fight anymore.

At last, the King is defeated. Siffrin and co. make for the Head Housemaiden, to have her look at Siffrin's sudden illness. Siffrin is utterly exhausted, famished, running a fever. And this isn't unexpected - after all, their skills in Act 5 had no cooldown. For context, instead of featuring any sort of MP system, all skills work on a cooldown basis, where a character can't use it for a certain number of turns. The lowest cooldown is actually Siffrin's Knife to Meet You, which has a cooldown of 1. In universe, this is reasoned as the characters needing a break from spamming craft in order to not exhaust themselves.

Siffrin's skills in Act 5 having no cooldown/being infinitely spammable isn't a sign of their strength - it's a sign that he refuses to let himself rest in order to rush through as fast as possible.

Moving on, Siffrin panics when seeing the Head Housemaiden, because seeing her means one thing: the end. Prior to this in the game, every single time you beat the King, the loop ends when you talk to the Head Housemaiden.

Reality breaks down, the whole shebang. It's here that Siffrin realizes - they don't want the loops to end, because the end of their journey means their family will leave, and he'll be alone again. The happiest time of his life will be over.

Siffrin goes totally ballistic, to say the least.

As it turns out (and was heavily foreshadowed narratively), Siffrin has been using Wish Craft to subconciously cause the timeloop because of their abandonment issues. It's rather predictable if you paid attention to literally anything, but it's extremely notable how heavily Siffrin is paralleled to the King, the antagonist they swore to kill by themself at the start of Act 5. The King wants to freeze Vaugarde in time because it is, in his mind, "perfect," for accepting him after he lost his home - a backstory he shares with Siffrin.

Siffrin has become the exact antagonist he swore to kill, and it's shown by how the next fight utterly flips everything on its head.

Siffrin is the final boss.

In a towering form made of stars, Siffrin looks down at their friends. His face is terrified, because of his internal conflict; he can't hurt his friends, but he can't let them go, either. The combat prompt is simply changed to "END IT!"

This fight is similar to the previous, in that you just need to wait a certain number of turns until its over. However, this time, it's not dreadful suspense. It's... confusion, and hesitance.

You have two options for combat: Attack your friends, or attack yourself.

And... you don't really want to do either, I think. I certainly don't. But what else can you do? It's Siffrin's desires clashing in full force. Attack your friends, and force them to stay? Or attack yourself, and let them go safely without you?

Worth noting, here - when you attack Siffrin's friends, you can't harm them. Isabeau will shield all attacks. And when you attack yourself, Mirabelle will heal you back to full. And the friends don't... do anything, either. How could they? Occasionally, Mirabelle heals you and Isabeau shouts words of motivation, but the main thing is...

(Your friends don't know what to do.)

None of them want to harm Siffrin. Both sides simply stare at each other, resolute in their conviction but unwilling to end it with violence. It's of note that this loop, the last one, is the only loop where the King isn't killed. Just frozen. And now here is Siffrin, clamoring for the same eternity the King was. Of course everything ends in a tearfilled conversation as Siffrin sees their friends won't leave him, even after the journey ends, but I still have to appreciate this moment.

Siffrin is directly put in the position with their friends as his enemies, forced to physically reckon that keeping them in this loop is an act of violence, against both their friends, and against himself.

It's a happy ending. But... what does it mean?

Of course, ISAT is obviously about the fear of change. Siffrin is afraid of the journey ending, and of being alone. However, ISAT is also a game about games. Siffrin is playing the same game, over and over, because it's comforting. It's familiar. It's nice, to know exactly what happens next. These characters might just be predictable lines of dialogue, but... they feel like friends. Have you ever played a game, loved it, put countless hours into it, but you never finished it? Because you just couldn't bear to see it end? For the characters to leave your life, for there to be a void in your heart where the game used to be?

After all, maybe it became part of your routine! You play the game every day, slowly chipping away at it for weeks at a time. For me, I beat ISAT in four days. It utterly consumed me during this time. I had 36 hours of playtime by the end. Yeah, in that week, I did not do much more than play ISAT.

And once i beat it, i beat it, again. I restarted the game to see the few scenes I missed, most specifically the secret boss I won't talk about here. I... couldn't let go of the game yet. I wanted to see every scrap I could. I still do. I'm writing this, in part because I still do. It's scary to let go.

Ever heard the joke term of "Postgame Depression?" It's when you just beat a game, and you're suddenly sad. Maybe because the ending affected you emotionally and you need to process the feelings it invoked, or you search for something that can now fill your time with it gone.

The game ends, for real this time, the last time you talk to the Head Housemaiden. But Siffrin gets... scared. What if everything loops back again? And so, his family offers to hold his hand. They face the end, together.

For all loops, including the ending, you never see what happens after. After they leave the loop for good. Because the loop is the game itself. It's asking you to trust that life goes on for these characters, and it holds your hand as it asks you to let go. There's a reason for Siffrin's theater metaphors. He is the actor, and the director, asking everyone to do it over one more time. He's a character within the game, and its player.

There's a reason I talked about endgame content. This, the way it all repeats, there's nothing new, difficulty and stakes bleed away as you snap the game over your knee - it's my copy of White 2 with two hundred hours in it. It's me playing Fire Emblem Awakening in under 3 hours while skipping every cutscene. Are you playing for the sake of play, for the sake of indulging in your memories, because you're afraid of the hole it'll leave when you stop?

Of note: the narrative never condemns Siffrin for unwittingly causing their own suffering. He's a victim of circumstance. It's seen as endearing, even, that Siffrin loves their friends to the point of rather seeing the world destroyed than them gone. But Siffrin is also told: we'll stay with you for now, but we'll part ways eventually. And one day, you'll have to be okay with it.

Stop draining the things you love of every ounce of enjoyment just because you're afraid of what happens next. I'm not saying to never play your favorite games again. Playing ISAT a second time, I still had a lot of fun! I saw so many new things I didn't before, and I enjoyed myself immensely, reading the same dialogue over and over. But... it makes me look at other games I love and still play, and makes me ask... is this still fun? Do I still need to play this game to enjoy it? Even writing this is an afterimage of my enjoyment, but it's a new way to interact with the game, to analyze it through this lens. Fuck, man, I write fanfiction. Look at me.

All of this, fanart, fanfic, analysis, is a way to prolong that enjoyment without making yourself suffer for it. Without just going through the motions of enjoyment without actually experiencing any. But one day, the thing you love won't be fun to talk and write and draw about. And it's okay. You'll have new things to love. I promise.

In the end.... I'm certain I'll replay ISAT one day. Between great writing, art, puzzles and unresolved mysteries, it's my shoe-in for game of the year.

But I won't replay it for quite some time. I've had enough, for now, so I let my love take other forms.

Siffrin is never condemned, because love is no evil. Be it love for another person, or for a game. And please, if you're overempathetic - it's still a game, at the end of the day. The great thing about games is that you can always boot them up again, no matter how long its been.

A circle within a circle indeed.

To summarize:

The repetitiveness of ISAT's combat, lack of new enemies, and Siffrin's ever increasing strength eventually allows you to snap the combat over your knee, rendering it irrelevant and boring. Though this may seem counterproductive at first, it perfectly mirrors how Siffrin has also grown bored with these repeated encounters and views them only as an obstacle to get past. The reflection of Siffrin's own tiredness with the player's annoyance increases the compassion the player has for Siffrin as a character.

Additionally, the endgame state of the combat system serves as commentary on the state of a favorite game played too often, much like how Siffrin has unwittingly trapped themself in the loop. Despite the game having no more challenge or content left to over, a player might return to their favorite game anyway, solely to try and recreate the early experience of actually having fun with it. This ties into ISAT's metanarrative about the fear of change and refusal to let go of comfort even when the object (here, your favorite video game) offering that comfort has become utterly bereft of any substance to actually engage with. Playing for the sake of playing, with no actual investment to keep going besides your own memories.

Later on, stripping away even the pretense of strategy for a "press button and wait" format of final bosses highlights the lack of options at Siffrin's disposal and truly forces the player into their shoes. Truly, the only way to win is to stop playing.

#feli speaks #in stars and time #isat #isat spoilers #lays down on floor. it's done. it's done #i actually narrowed down in scope to just focus on the combat by the way. and this is like. several thousand words

[readingcomics-sometimeshiatus]

Sapphic Webtoon Masterlist

One day I thought that maybe it should exist a list with all the sapphic stories of webtoon since is so hard to find.

today I decided to make this list

you can also comment stories that are not listed here!

Sapphic = woman loving woman. although this name means any queer woman (e.g. lesbians, pansexuals, etc.), in this list will only have the ones where the main couple are two woman (or one is not a man).

Last updated: January 23th, 2024

please check up the reblogs to see when the last time was updated if you see this on a reblog!

Originals

Not So Shoujo Love Story (comedy, in progress)

Romance-super-fan Rei Chan is ready for her first boyfriend and she knows just who it'll be: the most handsome boy in school, Hansum Ochinchin. But her plans for the perfect love story are derailed when the most popular girl in class declares herself a rival….for Rei's heart?! This is the year her not so shoujo love story begins!

Nevermore (supernatural, in progress);

There is nothing definitive about life after death, except the involuntary enrollment at the mysterious Nevermore Academy. Now Lenore and Annabel Lee must begin their curriculum to recover the memories of their tragic demise. Between the Dean's macabre demeanor and the tell-tale dangers of Final Exams, both girls must learn to rely on one another and their newly acquired ghost forms, or Spectres, to not only graduate from the academy… but to earn a second chance at life.

Night Owls & Summer Skies (romance, completed);

Despite her tough exterior, seventeen year-old Emma Lane has never been the outdoorsy type. So when her mother unceremoniously dumps her at Camp Mapplewood for the summer, she’s determined to get kicked out fast. However, when she draws the attention of Vivian Black, a mysterious and gorgeous assistant counselor, she discovers that there may be more to this camp than mean girls and mosquitos. There might even be love.

Realta (fantasy, in progress);

When the world was new, the twelve star signs descended to bless humanity with magic according to their date of birth. Fourteen worthy people, called the “Realta,” were given a star from each Sign that allowed them to receive prophecies of the future called “horoscopes” and summon great power to defeat the Fae: beings that tormented humanity. However, much has changed since Elowen was a child. Magic is illegal, the Fae are getting stronger, and the Realta have been forgotten…until our Virgo meets a certain Capricorn.

Muted (supernatural, completed);

On the full moon of her 21st year, the young witch, Camille Severin, is expected to perform the traditional ritual to summon forth a winged demon for her families success and prosperity. But when the ritual goes wrong, it reveals the terrifying truths about herself and the secrets that threaten to tear her family apart.

Mage & Demon Queen (comedy, completed;

Adventurers seek to take the demon queen’s head, but a love-struck young female mage wishes to take her hand. Join us won’t you, for this bawdy tale of love and persistence set inside a real-life RPG.

REVEAL OUT! (romance, will return);

Eeden thought she'd missed out on life: her art career is a disaster, her landlord kicked her out, and worst of all, she's never even had a girlfriend! But life takes a turn when a chance encounter with an old crush sends her back in time. Now she's 18 again and starting college, with a chance to get everything right. Armed with a plan and a crush, Eeden knows exactly how to create the life full of joy she deserves: make it bold, make it beautiful, and most of all, make it gay!!

High Class Homos (comedy, in progress);

Princess Sapphia of Mytilene is not into princes. So, when her parents start putting the heat on her to get hitched, she enlists the help of her equally gay best friend, Prince August of Phthia. But will these two royals be able to pull off a convincing sham marriage? More importantly, will Sapphia ever land a date with the castle maids? Follow these high class homos as they navigate life, love, and (occasionally) their actual jobs.

Finding Wonderland (fantasy, completed);

In Wonderland, Alex is the Ace. When tasked with hunting down the nefarious Black Knave and his scourge of Nightmares, Alex begins to have visions of another world beyond: our world. In reality, Alex is a normal teen who has been placed in a dangerous simulation to draw out a scientist’s lost son. And time is quickly running out.

Aerial Magic (fantasy, completed);

The daily life of an apprentice witch.

Always Human (romance, completed);

This is a story about nanobots, genetic engineering, and two girls falling in love. No matter how technology changes us, we'll always be human.

Savior (fantasy, completed);

Wohn Ku is a vampire that needs human blood to survive. As a tenderhearted child, she led a tortured existence until a girl named Seyeon willingly became her steady blood source. Seyeon stood by Wohn throughout their school years, defending her from bullies. Fast forward to the present where they move in together ahead of their freshman year of college. Seyeon remains fiercely protective of her friend, but Wohn is ready for a fresh start. When a devoutly religious sophomore girl named Juyi showers her with kindness, Wohn emerges from her shell only to realize that Juyi had once been her father’s kidnapping victim, a potential blood source she had refused to bite. Juyi grows closer to Wohn without remembering the incident, fueling jealousy in Seyeon. Will Juyi prove to be a savior washing away Wohn’s guilt, or will she ruin a vampire’s dream of redemption?

CANVAS

My Dragon Girlfriend (romance/slice of life, in progress);

Christy is saved from a bad date by a dragon girl and introduced to world of magical creatures while falling in love with her savior.

Susuhara Is A Demon (slice of life/romance, in progress);

After a perfect girl encounters an infamous delinquent, her life is thrusted into a whirlwind of chaos! Strap in for a ride jam-packed with terribly embarrassing flirting techniques, kick-ass delinquents and existential dread by the buttload! Nothing could possibly go wrong in this perfectly imperfect love story.

Fatal Kiss (romance/supernatural, in progress);

What would you do if your crush was a monster?

The Pirate and The Princess (romance/historic, in progress);

Princess Kirianna has been raised for two purposes; marriage and succession. As a dutiful, intelligent, and optimistic girl, she came to terms with her fate long ago, and simply longs to be content. The last thing she expected was to be pulled into a life of piracy, by a woman in disguise who has a strange grudge against Kirianna's father, and a secret of her own to hide…. Captain is given male pronouns by me until her name drop in Chapter 10!

Eldritch Darling (supernatural/comedy, in progress);

What if we kissed and we were both girls? And one of us was an oblivious human and the other was a dark eldritch abomination creature from beyond the stars??

Deep Sea (romance/fantasy, in progress);

Atarah is convinced : she is not cut out to be a princess. And when her father tells her that the time has come for her to get married, the world of the young princess crumbles: her heart dreams of adventure, and not of an arranged marriage! It is therefore at the worst of times that Atarah meets Robin, a pirate with questionable morals and a tumultuous past. But where will this crazy encounter lead her heart?

The Siren's Light (romance/fantasy, in progress);

I was sinking, the darkness was slowly surrounding me. The depth of the sea was pulling me lower and lower, I could no longer see the moonlight that glowed from above. But, Who was this silver-haired beautiful creature with an alluring voice swimming towards me? "You are a beautiful one." Her voice was so clear and soothing. And before I knew it, She kissed me. Who was this creature you asked? A siren. A flirtatious, annoying siren that changed my life forever. Author: @roseyluv143 (wattpad)

In My Heart (romance/drama, in progress);

Sasaki Mari is a typical delinquent troublemaker whose only goal is to get a boyfriend, but due to her reputation as bully and low grades, all the boys reject her. Then she decides to change her style, and asks for help from the student with the best grades in the class.

My Devotion to You (romance/drama, in progress);

For the past five years, Catalina has spent all-nighters studying and acing exams to become number the one student and prove her place in the academy. Unfortunately, no matter how much she tried…she has been stuck as number two…all because of Valeria Graham. Valerie is tired and does not expect this year to be much different. She will maintain her Top Student title just like her family expects her to. It would be like any other year…right? And so, their final year begins.

My Cat is a Wizard (fantasy/romance, in progress);

Caitlyn is a just an ordinary, struggling student in her final year of university… Or so she thinks. After having her heart broken yet again, her cat suddenly becomes human. She must now juggle the difficulties of school, work, and all the twists and turns life keeps throwing at her: like her cat/roommate being a wizard. Can Cait still fall in love while magic slowly takes over her world?

Honey and Venom (romance/heartwarming; in progress);

An ancient Roman goddess is reunited with her priestess 2000 in the future, but she doesn't remember her! The closer they grow, the more secrets their shared past reveals, all while an ancient adversary lurks in the shadows.

Greta the Red Wolf (supernatural/action, in progress);

An injured wolf pup and an abandoned baby appear at the doorstep of a couple’s home near the woods. The couple decides to take them in, but little did they know that the wolf was actually a werewolf, and the baby a vampire! Despite their shocked human parents, Greta the werewolf and Vincent the vampire had a blissful upbringing. However, as Greta and Vincent grow older, their quiet, peaceful lives are threatened as they discover the secret world of witches, vampires, and werewolves.

RAINBOW! (slice of life/romance, in progress);

Overly imaginative teenager Boo Meadows has always escaped her daily grind by living with her head in the clouds-- for better or worse. But when she meets the girl of her daydreams, it may finally be time to face reality.

Winter Before Spring (drama/romance, in progress);

Hana has recently just fallen in love with her best friend, who just happens to be a girl. After a confrontation with her best friend, Hana accidentally blurts out and confesses her true feelings. Fearing that she would be rejected, her friend accepts her feelings graciously and they start dating. Is this a dream? Hana, overwhelmed with happiness as her wish came true- is suddenly struck down, her world crashing down as she finds out the nasty truth about her best friend.

The Hideout (romance/drama, hiatus);

Nadia is a 18 year old teenage girl that’s finishing high school and working part-time on her aunts coffee shop named “The Hideout” Nadia also happens to not be very lucky when it comes to the love department and that, mixed with overworking herself, has taken a toll on her quite heavily recently. Reading direction is left to right

The Grand Priestess (fantasy/action, hiatus);

Verashana, a powerful sorceress, delves into the past after an incident separates her from her lover, hoping to learn more about the tragedy that occurred. Her hidden memories resurface, and she unlocks a world that she didn't know she was a part of. Now, she must find out where it all started, and where it all went wrong.

Love, Lila (romance/drama, hiatus);

A one-sided love & rivalry between an aspiring ballerina and an artist. Irene comes from a strict and close-minded household which is against her pursuing a career in arts, as a result of her upbringing she became cold, insecure, and distrustful. Then she met Lila, a perfect girl who has everything and is everything Irene wishes to become. But as she gets to know Lila better, she discovers that her privileged upbringing actually hides a traumatic family secret.

Facing the Sun (sci-fi/drama, in progress);

Fear. Grief. Trauma. Guilt. Love, all seen through the eyes of a dysfunctional android prototype well past her estimated lifespan.

I LIKE MY BEST-FRIEND (drama, ongoing);

(since I'm on phone, I'm gonna put this one later)

Unleashed (romance, ongoing);

(since I'm on phone, I'm gonna put this one later)

Pick Me!! (romance, ongoing);

wip

Lotus and the Dandelion (fantasy, ongoing);

wip

The Greenhouse (drama, ongoing);

wip

I want to be your wife! (drama, completed);

wip

Warm Spring Rain (romance; ongoing);

wip

What's A Soulmate (heart-warming; ongoing);

wip

5 More Minutes (romance, ongoing);

wip

Slice of Life (heart-warming, ongoing);

wip

Our Secret (drama, ongoing);

wip

Don't Look at the Sky (fantasy, ongoing);

wip

Somebody to you (romance, ongoing);

wip

#masterlist #wlw #nblw #gl #gl comic #webtoon #sapphic #bisexual #lesbian #pansexual #webtoon originals #webtoon canvas #not so shoujo love story #nevermore #night owls & summer skies #realta #muted #my dragon girlfriend #susuhara is a demon #fatal kiss #eldritch darling #the pirate and the princess #deep sea #in my heart #the siren's light #my devotion to you #my cat is a wizard #honey and venom #greta the red wolf #rainbow!

[aaronsrpgs]

"Ancient World Fantasy" Reading List

(A little context to start. If you just want book recs, scroll on down to the first image.)

As I’ve been getting into RuneQuest (Wikipedia link), one striking component of the culture and community surrounding the game is that they’re very into the lore of its fictional world, Glorantha. I’m saying this as a comparison to a game like D&D, where the game is spread across tons of settings with no real sense of obligation to keep things in line with earlier editions.

Glorantha’s canon and worldbuilding has been going on since it was published in 1978 without, as far as I can tell, any big reboots. Which means that, unlike D&D, where people are bringing in all kinds of influences and doing direct adaptions of Jane Austen books and whatever, the RuneQuest game remains pretty tightly tied to the original setting. (There have been some exceptions. But not many!)

But since I run games for people who have ADHD or aren’t interested in studying up, I’ve been looking at all kinds of inspiration to drop into the game. Here are 20 novels that are roughly “ancient world” or “Bronze Age” like RuneQuest and deal with people interacting with strange gods, tight communities, and a world without fast overland travel or transferal of information.

I’m presenting them alphabetically by author’s last name.

The Brazen Gambit, Cinnabar Shadows, The Rise and Fall of a Dragon King by Lynn Abbey

I'm sorry for starting this post off with licensed RPG novels, but these are good! And I don't mean "good for licensed RPG novels." I've read tons of them, and most are so bad! But these are actually fun. Good character development in a sword-and-sorcery world. It's also an ecological apocalypse world, with godlike beings oppressing common folks, leading to a lack of technological advancement and knowledge of the past.

The Long Ships by Frans G. Bentsson

Written in the 1940s as a series of novellas, these stories take you on a tour of the Viking-era world, from Europe to the Middle East and beyond. Like a bunch of books on this list, this places them post-Bronze Age, so they're not officially "ancient world." But it gives a big spread of cultures, from the more clan-based Vikings to the bustling metropolises of Turkey. And it doesn't place any of them on any kind of linear advancement scale or whatever other gross way people "rate" cultures.

Tales of Nevèrÿon and Neveryóna by Samuel R. Delany

The master of weird sci-fi and gay historical novels, Chip Delany also wrote a fantasy epic. And it rules! Set on pre-historical(ish) Earth, these books describe the stories that maybe inform the myths we tell today? Dragons and slave revolts! A sort of "What if Game of Thrones was good?" series. Lots of good stuff about how people learn and how understanding expands.

I'm not listing the third book only because it's also a historical look at New York during the AIDS epidemic. It's an amazing book! But it strays from the "ancient world" aesthetic.

Baudolino by Umberto Eco

Another novel expressly set after the Bronze Age (this one starts in the 12th century). BUT it's about Medieval people's interaction with the knowledge they inherited from the past, specifically the myth of Prester John and the works of Herodotus.

I think I keep putting books like this on the list because roleplaying in a fantastical ancient world is not too far off from how Medieval people might have worshipped and referenced works from ancient Rome and non-European places.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf and Moon Witch, Spider King by Marlon James

One of our best living writers! These are fantasy novels expressly set in a fantastical version of ancient/Medieval Africa. The books explore the same events from multiple points of view and are full of cool magic, awesome spirit combat, and a vast number of places and cultures that actively deconstructs most games's portrayal of fantasy Africa as a homogeneous place.

The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth

I think Kingsnorth has been outted as a sort of eco-fascist? I totally believe it, so feel free to skip this one. It's a historical novel set in England in 1066, as the Normans invade from France. It's written in a faux Middle English language and focuses on the lower classes and how they try to resist the invasion. A good reminder that "Medieval culture" (and especially the Renaissance as a time that "culture advanced") is often based on certain classes of society, such as rich people and/or men.

Iceland's Bell by Halldór Laxness

Speaking of how class intersects with technological advancement, this book is set in the 18th century, but it focuses on Iceland at a time when it was ruled by Denmark, and the lower classes there were under an enforced poverty. It's a book about how a rich Icelander was trying to recover the stories of his people in order to create a sense of national identity and resistance. But it's also a story about how a destitute man acts like a total weirdo when he's not allowed to fish in his own waters and is cut off from understanding his place in history.

The Raven Tower by Anne Leckie

A big part of RuneQuest is people interacting with and enacting their gods. That's what this book is about! And it's about the strange vertigo that comes to people when they try to interact with the impossible timelines that gods exist on. Very good stuff.

Night's Master and Death's Master by Tanith Lee

Ostensibly set on Earth back when it was flat and demons roamed the world, which is basically RuneQuest. Sort of like a series of hornier, gay bibles? With lots of gender fuckery, fun sex, and cool monsters.

Circe by Madeline Miller

The story of the witch from The Odyssey, told from her point of view. Beautiful prose, tragic and beautiful characters, and a great share of mythical strangeness. Perfect if you want to learn how to run NPCs that are adversaries without being shallowly evil.

Ronia, the Robber's Daughter by Astrid Lindgren

Semi-Medieval again, but low class and vague enough that it could exist throughout ancient history. The daughter of a robber grows up in a tower full of robbers and generally has a wonderful time. Lots of weird monsters live in the woods, and there's a great starcrossed romance with someone from a rival robber gang. Perfect inspiration if you're running some cattle-raiding runs in RuneQuest; this is how to make robbers fun and sympathetic.

Read the book, watch the 1984 Swedish movie (which includes a great comedic scene of full-frontal dudity), and then watch the Studio Ghibli series.

A Stranger in Olondria and The Winged Histories by Sofia Samatar

Set in a world of pepper farmers and religious fanatics who worship a mysterious inscribed stone, these books do a great job of showing how people might interact with religion, rival cults, and mystery rites. It also portrays literacy and learning to read in places where it's gated behind social gatekeeping. And once again, the prose is beautiful.

The Palm-Wine Drinkard by Amos Tutuola

The first African novel published in English outside of Africa, The Palm-Wine Drinkard is a funny, hallucinogenic story about getting drunk, stumbling through weird landscapes, and encountering fantastical spirits and people.

Tutuola also wrote My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, the inspiration for the famous(?) David Byrne/Brian Eno album. I haven't read it yet, but I'm keeping an eye out!

The Green Pearl by Jack Vance

This is a sequel to Lyonesse, which I haven't read because I love staring in the middle of things. Set around a mythical British Isles when Atlantis was still above the sea and part of the group of islands. Some great wizard shit, warring clans, romance, and a wizard whose name is fucking Shimrod (in case you need more convincing).

Those are my 20 novel recommendations! I'm gonna come back to add some nonfiction, comics, and myth resources for running games in fantastical ancient worlds. You can read SpeedRune, my ancient fantasy game, here.

#runequest #books #fiction #fantasy

[makapatag]

Gubat Banwa: THE SULTANATE OF AKAI

LUNAR KNIGHTS. CHIVALROUS POETS. FAITHFUL PANDITA. One of the most powerful mahamandalas in Gubat Banwa, conquering in their Divine Striving for Goddess, is inspired by the various Sultanates of Southeast Asia! STRIVE EVERMORE FOR GODDESS: AKAI!

While Akai is host to a huge number of religions, their culture and allied polities are skewered through with belief and utmost reverence for The Most High Baginda, BAGINDA SUMONGSUKLAY, which is not her name but a descriptor as the Crescent Moon.

Akai reverses the use of God and uses "Goddess" instead. They are a primarily matriarchical culture, and they believe that Goddess lives on the Moon. The Moon is the most important thing in the universe: it is the hole that leads into the True Space of Goddess.

Akai is intensely researched and inspired by popular Postclassical Southeast Asian societies: Malacca, Johore, Maguindanao, Sulu and more. They are raiders far and wide, and fight so that all of Gubat Banwa will know of the providence of Goddess.

Their faith, AGMA DAMLAG, is inspired by Southeast Asian Islam, which is skewered through with mixtures of local folklores and legends, making it different from "pure" Islam. It is filled with mysticism, jinns, and devil dancers.

Their Disciplines are focused on overwhelming and protecting, on defense. They are the unbreakable ones, after all! They are also inspired by Islamic Chivalry notes: it is the Sultanates that house the most court romance, poetry, and chivalry.

BEAST HUNTERS are those that turned the common profession of hunting in the Isles into an actual martial art. Out of necessity: Beast Hunters are quick and debilitating. According to their Faith, they cannot allow their dogs to bleed the prey before they do.

the MARTYRS are warriors that go into battle in a fierce death battle trance, always ready to die for their convictions. they get stronger as the fight goes, and their techniques let them strengthen their attacks, throw their giant weapons, go into holy rage, and wield juru pakal

SARIMANOK KNIGHTS are true chevaliers who wield the strength of the sarimanok--a revered omen bird that is integral to many cultures of the sword isles--to punish and smite those that would force them to kneel! they can fly upon sarimanok, or be imbued with the holiness of one

STRIFESINGERS sing the grand dirge of Gubat Banwa, as it revels in violence. they are constantly singing: they have a burst 2 aura that constantly heals and gives buffs, and they can put down grand songs that manipulate allies and the battlefield!

warriors that summon the knights of the sea: churning the waters with swordfishes and sharks are a common element in seasian folk tales. the swordfish cavalier is the purest representation of that, allowing them to manipulate water, turn into water, or summon the moon

All of these and more in our KS. Back us now and help us get more art and writing for this grand mahamandala!

Just as important: in solidarity with our colonized and oppressed peoples in Palestine! From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free! Check out this ongoing fundraiser that has over 250+ games for Gaza!

#gubat banwa #filipino #writing #gamedev #rpg #ttrpg #dnd #web serial #southeast asia #fantasy

[capacle]

20 Brazilian TTRPGs I wish also existed in English

Today I offer you:

20 Brazilian TTRPGs I wish also existed in English (because I want the world to know about them)

Buckle up, because you won't BELIEVE the diversity of our indie scene.

[presented in no particular order, and only one per author]

1. Meu Brinquedo Preferido ('My favorite toy'), by Eduardo Caetano

A metaphor about a child's growing process by deconstructing their fears through playful situations.

2. SeanchaS, by Jorge Valpaços and Jefferson Neves

A game about myths, construction of identity and narrative around bonfires, about the time of ancient stories and the present time.

3. Gatunos, by Tiago Junges

A GMless/Solo game in which you play as cat thieves and mercenaries doing the dirty work of the five big factions that run the city.

4. Nômades (Nomads), by Marcelo Collar

A card-based RPG in which you play as beings who have the ability to find and pass through the cracks in the veil that separates the universes.

5. Infaernum, by Caio Romero

Create your own apocalypse while playing the game, and interpret characters who experience the last days of all things.

6. Áureos, Os Dançarinos da Lua ('The Moon Dancers'), by Rey Ooze

A game of fight and freedom where dice play capoeira. You play as an 'Áureo', a former slave who, in a fantastic colonial Brazil, receives the blessings of his Orisha to free his people from slavery.

7. Veridiana, by Alan Silva

You play as creatures that live in a large tree, embarking on a deeply sentimental journey in search of a cure.

8. Karyu Densetsu, by Thiago Rosa and Nina Bichara

A game inspired by action anime and manga, with tactical combat, philosophical conversation, and passionate ideals.

9. Imperia, by Jonny Garcia

A game of politics and intrigue in a medieval court, inspired by Game of Thrones. Create a kingdom collaboratively and assume the role of the most influential people in it.

10. Goddess save the Queen, by Carol Neves and Julio Matos

A pulp adventure game in which you play as secret agents of the British Crown during the interwar period, with their own agenda connected in some way with their home nation.

11. Abismo Infinito ('Infinite Abyss'), by John Bogéa

A narrative game of psychological horror in which the protagonists are astronauts, far away in space, involved in a web of lucid nightmares and manifestations of their own fears.

12. Mojubá, by Lucas Conti and Lucas Sampaio

An Afrofuturistic urban fantasy game inspired by Yoruba and Afro-Brazilian mythologies. Play as a person with fantastic powers who descends from the Orixás, fights evil spirits, and occasionally gets into a rap battle.

13. Chopstick, by Igor Moreno

A game inspired by action movies of oriental martial arts, gang fights and crime, with a twist on Fate Accelerated.

14. Contos do Galeão ('Tales of the Galleon'), by Encho Chagas

Create together the legend of a vessel that would have existed during the Golden Age of Piracy. Players will create the ship, its pirates, as well as its enemies, challenges, and rewards.

15. O Cordel do Reino do Sol Encantado ('The Cordel of the Kingdom of the Enchanted Sun'), by Pedro Borges

A narrative game set in the northeastern 'cangaço' region at the beginning of the 20th century.

16. Através das Trevas ('Through the Darkness'), by Ramon Mineiro

A post-apocalyptic fantasy game inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Witcher and Diablo.

17. Nihilo, by Andre Osna and Gustavo Rolanski

A world very much like our own—yet bigger, deeper, and stranger. Secret banks are run by Urban Dragons, Infernal mafias terrorize slums, interdimensional portals open in the basements of abandoned pizzerias.

18. Caçada ao Colosso ('Hunt for the Colossus'), by Jairo Borges Filho

Reenact stories such as Siegfried and the dragon Fafnir, the Greek Odyssey or legends centered on the opposition of two primary forces of humanity.

19. Perdidos ('Lost'), by Marcelo Paschoalin

Inspired by Bloodborne and Dark Souls, a world in ruins, fragmented to the point where only memories remain. You'll find relics of yesteryear, monstrous beasts, beings that have forgotten their purpose, and devious paths to tread.

20. Hitodama - A jornada das almas ('The Journey of the Souls'), by Alexsander Araujo

You are Shinigamis: creatures half divinity, half Yokai, who must carry out missions through different worlds, fighting formidable enemies and saving lost souls.

#indie ttrpg #ttrpg #ttrpg design #brazil #global south

[satoshi-mochida]

Little Goody Two Shoes launches October 31

Gematsu Source

Horror RPG Little Goody Two Shoes will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, Switch, and PC via Steam on October 31, publisher Square Enix Collective and developer AstralShift announced. A demo is available now for PC as part of Steam Next Fest: Fall 2023.

Here is an overview of the game, via its Steam page:

Dive into the Fairytale

There once was Elise , a vibrant and ambitious young lass with a big dream—becoming filthy rich. In spite of this, the stars didn’t seem to have reserved our protagonist much fortune in life. Elise, who came from humble beginnings, had no choice but to spend her days away assisting her fellow neighbors with menial tasks to make a living. One day, Elise discovers a pair of beautiful shiny red shoes buried in her backyard—what a surprise! Bewitched, Elise embarks on a fearful journey that pulls her closer and closer into the heart of the mysterious Woods! Will Elise risk it all for the sake of a dream come true, or settle for her humble day-to-day life? The ending of this tale is yours to write…

Venture into the Woods

Little Goody Two Shoes is a horror narrative adventure game, set in a hand-painted fairy tale environment. There are 10 But there’s more than meets the eye here, as you must also manage multiple aspects of Elise’s life in the village to stay alive. Remember, all decisions matter in this story! During the day, you will need to strengthen Elise’s bonds with her fellow villagers and work to make a living by playing fun minigames. But once the moon rises, make sure to keep Elise fed, healthy and sane in the multiple encounters with deadly foes as she makes her way further into the Woods.

Key Features

Kieferberg is a small and devout village, which means Elise will need to carefully navigate her relationships with the villagers to avoid arousing suspicion of witchcraft and be left to die in the Woods as punishment.

At night, Elise can roam around the Woodlands, a mystical and phantasmagorical realm where enigmas and deadly enemies await as she tries to uncover its secrets.

Through a limited day and night cycle Elise will need to carefully manage her needs if she wants to stay alive to finish her tale.

Get struck by Cupid’s arrow and fall in love with the charming bachelorettes of Kieferberg. In this all-female cast of romanceable characters, unlock dreamy date scenes and storylines for each of them.

Watch a new trailer below.

Release Date Trailer

#Little Goody Two Shoes #AstralShift #Square Enix Collective #RPG Horror #RPG #Horror Game #Gematsu #Youtube

[obscurecharactershowdown]

Obscure Character Showdown FINALE

[image ID: the first image is of image is of No Significant Harassment, a shadowy figure standing behind a sleeping pink-red, fox-like creature. their green hands seem to be holding up the floating creature. the second image is of Granger, a girl with green eyes and short, wavy or curly black hair. in her hair is a red hat or ribbon. she's wearing a black turtleneck sweater, blue overalls, and a green coat. end ID]

No Significant Harassment

[NSH has beaten Akama (The Idiot (1951)), Libby Day (Dark Places), Sally Swing (Betty Boop), Shrimp (The Upturned), Oopsy Bear (Care Bears (2007 series)), Hikaru (Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu), and Diggory Graves (Hello from the Hallowoods)] They're just a silly little guy. A jokester. Significant harassment if you will. Anyway, a more in depth run down: They're a city sized supercomputer built by a Buddhist adjacent society to figure out how to transcend the 'Great Cycle' (semi-metaphorical cycle of death and rebirth) in a safer way than the previous method (submerging oneself in the 'void sea' which is a mysterious golden liquid that dissolves whatever it touches). Despite being built for this express purpose NSH never really shows a pressing interest in ascension, even cracking jokes about those who are still looking for a solution. Whether this is due to indifference, dislike of, or humor to cope with being unable to ascend is not clear and really up to interpretation. Example: NSH: I wish them super good luck in that endeavor. How is it going to happen? Have the overseers gnaw through bedrock until their entire can crashes down in the void sea? BSM: Please be respectful when speaking of the Void Sea. Grey Wind, where did you hear this? CW: I really shouldn't say. He's going to attempt some sort of breeding program. Thought you might want to know. NSH: Haha with the slimers, lizards and etceteras? Surely the answer was in a lizard skull all along! He's very flippant, but does care very intensely for those close to him. NSH: Moon? It's me again. NSH: I do not know if you are receiving these. Please signal in any way you can. NSH: I need to talk to you. I need to know you're okay. NSH: … NSH: Its difficult for us to assist you over this distance. NSH: Even more difficult for us to do anything in the midst of these tantrums. NSH: Were going to try everything that we can. NSH: Just hold on a little longer. (Context for previous convo: They genetically engineered a super organism of a slugcat (the species you play as in Rain World) to help reset his coworker/sibling after her collapse and restart her systems. He was so desperate to fix her that he accidentally messed up the slugcat's (Hunter) genetic code and as a result it became riddle with the Rot (relatively similar to aggressive cancer) :( which parallels his other coworker/siblings condition who also has the rot. ) He canonically uses he/they pronouns too! Nonbinary swag! NSH has major internet troll vibes. He has sent a data pearl of "something distasteful" to his neighbors on several(?) occasions and causes chaos. If he had access to the wider internet he'd probably be an influencer So…yeah! Vote NSH this website likes the allure of heavy machinery and stuff like that so… there you go. Kind of a blorbo. End post.

Granger

[Granger has beaten Chopfyt (Oz), Wolfman (Darkwood), Gaap Goemon (Mairimashita! Iruma-kun), Forest Friend (Gris), Turnip (Chicory: A Colorful Tale), Gary (Faith the Unholy Trinity), and Stag Malinay (Krystar First Fragment)] so granger is the main character of the indie game "NeverHome" Chapter one, which is only $1 on Steam, is called NeverHome: Hall of Apathy. if ur a fan of young protags being put in RPG maker horror games, then this is the game for you!! so granger is just that… she wakes up to find herself in a strange, hostile world. she, along with the friends she makes, must solve the various puzzles before them while creatures are out to kill them… and along the way they can uncover the secrets of these never ending halls… her dynamics with the cast is also super fun… each character gets their moment or moments with granger. and what's so cute is that there's unique art for each pair that highlights the fact you cant get through these halls alone!! she also has her own theme song!! here!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_vwtmIj5cw it's called cyclical tragedy AND HERE IS AN ANALYSIS OF THE THEME!! MUSIC THEORY!!! written by my good friend @HIEMIOLA "cyclical tragedy" embodies the protagonist, granger, through the music theory behind the track and ties itself back into the main track as well. to begin with an overview of the track, the key is D minor and hte time signature is 3/4. the piece begins with a broken minor third starting from the tonic. that is, it begins on the main note and moves along the main chord, D to F. the next set of notes are C to E, which is shifted down a step. the phrase repeats again, this time D to F, then G to E, which is an inverse movement from the original sequence. even in this first part, we could tell that the protagonist begins from square 1 with a simple pattern, then tries it again when it works. however, the inverse breaks that expectation of repetition, thus showing the diverse variations of solutions she comes up with using just the tools she has (the two notes moving in thirds). just like the game, she is given a handful of objects as well as a knife to defend herself and solve the mysteries of the world she exists in. with her creative uses of the items given to her, she continues on her way through the plot. we will keep moving. the melody begins. true to the title of the track, the melody cycles around the same beginning note, D, that she always returns to at her square 1. this is a nod to the save states she is allowed to keep to make sure that we the players don't lose the game, but it also references the health bar that appears as a circle around her avatar. the melody, mapped out, is also moving in an up-down wave movement across the sheet music. granger is creative with the knife she has and the quest items she obtains throughout the story, but she is not entirely reckless. rather, she knows when it is time to return to the safe rooms to rest. to time her returns requires skill because she must run to cover without being caught by varying her path so the enemies don't corner her as she tries to return to the room. most of the time, she is successful, shown through the consistent return to the beginning note. let's keep going. i would like to turn your attention to the main theme briefly. in the bass notes, you can hear arpeggios and outlined chords. this makes up the bulk of the accompaniment in the main game theme. [mod note: the rest of the essay, and some more propaganda, is continued under a cut because tumblr will not process more text than this in an indent. sorry to split it up, please continue below for the rest of the essay and additional propaganda (including art) !]

the third variation of granger's theme also has arpeggiated chords in the accompaniment while the melody features broken chords. at this stage, the pattern switches to eigth notes instead of the quarter notes at first. with greater movement and heightened senses, she runs throughout world and befriends other people, thus interacting further with the environment. while she isn't exactly someone we would call open, she is respectful to the people she first meets and has no problems with asking them for help when she needs it. because of her openness to working together, she speeds up her progress by asking for aid at obstacles that would be too difficult for her to overcome on her own, such as asking a teammate to break things, move things, or reach into smaller holes. fusing the main theme elements with her own theme marks this step as the inciting incident that sets her on the path to escape from this world. we'll continue.

continuing the same part, we hear some secondary fifths. i'm not entirely sure if this is what you call it, but it is a nod to the parallel key, D major. depending on what theory class you take, this could also be considered the other half of the key. i dont know how else to describe it, but i digress. these are glimpses to different dialogue options she could take, glimpses to a different key or a different ending. because this game only has one chapter ending so far, we are unsure of what other paths granger will end up in; we only know that there are certainly other endings she will experience, only to begin the cycle again when the save state is loaded for players to reach another ending. both A major and G major are chords that signify different choices that may lead her elsewhere only for her to return back to the tonic or main note, D. despite this, she keeps going, as will we.

at the midpoint of the track, we see a quick shift in patterns. instead of upward leaps in the notes, the melody falls in stepwise motion. true to the plot, this is another turning point of the game when she is forced to make a choice: continue or stop. after facing the spoiler event, her once determined personality is challenged as she struggles to keep herself and her team together. despite being the headstrong protagonist who spearheaded solutions, even now she finds herself doubting and taking smaller steps, smaller risks.

even after all of this, she rises to the challenge as the melody returns to its beginning sequence. true to a protagonist she gets up again despite the events that transpired and keeps her team moving in their lowest points. the thirds return as she finds more objects to solve more puzzles to open more rooms to save more friends. this repeating part of the track only solidifies her resolve as the piece ends with a broken chord in the main key, her key, of D minor. despite everything that transpired, she stayed true to herself."

the game is also so, so charming with the art, music, and story made by the same person… its so clearly loved and full of passion!! i love listening to the game's ost on occassion!! since it's all on youtube!

ok one last thing thing!! on may 8th, the game hit 100 downloads (on both steam and itch.io). you can see the creator of the game celebrate that with this lovely drawing of granger: https://twitter.com/NeverHome_Game/status/1655761270694633472

so at most, only a bit over 100 people have played the game… id like to say that makes it obscure!!

anyways granger and neverhome!! we love to see our protagonists put in horrific situations and isn't she super cute with a lil bow on her head? she is my daughter…

[additional propaganda 1] [additional propaganda 2]

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#obscurecharactershowdown #obscure poll #finale #no significant harassment #rain world #granger neverhome #neverhome #long post

[englishotomegames]

Little Goody Two Shoes

Release date (Steam, Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X/S) English: October 31st, 2023

"There once was Elise , a vibrant and ambitious young lass with a big dream – becoming filthy rich. In spite of this, the stars didn’t seem to have reserved our protagonist much fortune in life. Elise, who came from humble beginnings, had no choice but to spend her days away assisting her fellow neighbours with menial tasks to make a living. One day, Elise discovers a pair of beautiful shiny red shoes buried in her backyard – what a surprise! Bewitched, Elise embarks on a fearful journey that pulls her closer and closer into the heart of the mysterious Woods! Will Elise risk it all for the sake of a dream come true, or settle for her humble day-to-day life? The ending of this tale is yours to write... Little Goody Two Shoes is a horror narrative adventure game, set in a hand-painted fairy tale environment. There are 10 possible endings to fit your choices and actions in the game.

But there’s more than meets the eye here, as you must also manage multiple aspects of Elise’s life in the village to stay alive. Remember, all decisions matter in this story!

During the day, you will need to strengthen Elise’s bonds with her fellow villagers and work to make a living by playing fun minigames.

But once the moon rises, make sure to keep Elise fed, healthy and sane in the multiple encounters with deadly foes as she makes her way further into the Woods."

This is a commercial joseimuke game by AstralShift with female love interests only! It is stylistically based on 1990's shoujo anime. It is a horror rpg with puzzle, time management, visual novel and dating sim elements.

You can buy it from Steam here, for Nintendo Switch here, for PS5 here, or for Xbox Series X | S here!

#little goody two shoes #joseimuke #yuri #astralshift #square enix #gxg #lesbian #horror #rpg #puzzle #dating sim #steam #commercial #xbox series xs #nintendo switch #ps5 #voice acting

[theamazingian]

Alright, I beat Super Mario RPG (yes I did get choked up) and did everything I wanted to with the post game (earned a Crystal Shard for those in the know!).

Now I get why people would ring the bell about this game for so long; why so many people wanted Geno in Smash! Super Mario RPG is a masterpiece!! A tightly crafted fairy tale I’m over the moon to have experienced. I completely, COMPLETELY recommend it at full price!

#I’m genuinely sad it’s over #for Christmas this year #everyone ask for a copy of super mario wonder #and super mario rpg #words

[disneytva]

Molly Knox Ostertag Developing Serialized Animated Comedy For Disney Television Animation Under Disney+.

The Owl House is coming to an end in two weeks however fans of shows like this can look forward to a potential new serialized animated comedy world this time coming to Disney+.

Recently on Esmerald City Comic-Con, The Owl House/Nimona/The Witch Boy fans asked the cartoonist if she had something on development at Disney with TOH now wrapped up with Ostertag’s awnser being: “Yes there are exciting things in the future“.

Ostertag’s animation venture has been on groundbreaking LGTBQ+ animated series like Star Vs The Forces Of Evil, The Owl House and  Thundercats Roar, in terms on graphic novels are The Witch Boy,Tales of the Night Watchman and a untitled RPG graphic novel who the first one being adapted as a animated musical feature film at Netflix Animation.

Ostertag also serves wife to Nimona and Lumberjanes creator N.D Stevenson who served as showrunner of She-Ra And The Princess Of Power at Dreamworks Animation.

If greenlight Ostertag will be the 18th female creator at Disney Television Animation joining the ranks of Sue Rose with Pepper Ann,Daron Nefcy with Star Vs The Forces Of Evil, Aliki Theofilopoulos with Descendants: Wicked World & Zombies The Re-Animated Series,Krista Tucker with Fancy Nancy,Dana Terrace with The Owl House, Latoya Raveneau with Rise Up Sing Out! and Untitled Disney Channel Series, Chelsea Beyl with Alice’s Wonderland Bakery, Sabrina Alberghetti with The Chibiverse,Helen Sugland with Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur & Cookies And Milk,Kate Kondell with Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur, Lucy Heavens with Kiff and Untitled Disney Channel Series,Natasha Kline with Primos,Reese Witherspoon with Tiny Trailblazers,Emily Kapnek with Rhona Who Lives By The River, Pamela Ribon with InterCats, Monica Ray with Untitled Disney Channel Animated Series and Amy Hudkins with Untitled Disney Channel Animated Series.

#Molly Knox Ostertag #Disney TVA #Disney Television Animation #Disney TV Animation #Disney TVA Pilots #Disney+ #Disney Plus #Disney+ Originals #Disney Plus Originals #Disney+ Original Series #Disney Plus Original Series #Disney+ Original Animated Series #Disney Plus Original Animated Series #The Witch Boy #Tales of the Night Watchman #Star Vs The Forces Of Evil #Star Vs. The Forces Of Evil #The Owl House #Owl House #Thundercats Roar

[downwithpeople]

Big fan of your rpg actual play opinions :) do you have any favorite series you'd recommend?

i've listened to a bunch of these now and tbh i'm not the biggest fan of the format. they always feel like they're caught on an awkward place between let's play and radio drama. ultimately most of the big ones have gone all in on the latter but i actually enjoy seeing mechanics play out because i think games are interesting and they create interesting stimuli for the players. here's the ones i've listened to and enjoyed:

adventure zone: self explanatory. first two seasons only.

dimension 20: pretty good despite my griping. starstruck odyssey was the best season. fantasy high s1 is probably a must-listen for anyone who remotely enjoys dnd actual plays.

neoscum: stopped listening around the patrick rothfuss ep. constantly caught between maudlin melodrama, puerile improv and the kind of comically bad pacing that was previously seen only in shonen manga. surprisingly dogged focus on the mechanics of the hilariously bad shadowrun 5e system. worth checking out because when it's funny it's extremely funny. patreon eps are well worth the money if you enjoy the main campaign even remotely

rude tales of magic: stopped listening around ruleshaven. branson reese is a comic genius and everyone in the cast is extremely funny. it has the same issues with focus and pacing that neoscum has. it may as well be completely freeform for how often the mechanics are invoked by either the players or the GM. it's also worth a listen.

RPPR delta green eps specifically: these are guys playing the game, like playing playing the game. ross payton's scenarios are good enough that they're getting the official publication treatment; he has a few too many latino gangsters springing out of hedgerows for my taste but the god's teeth episodes aren't bad at all.

red moon roleplaying unknown armies eps specifically: great introduction to what unknown armies is all about. you get to hear greg stole's remarkably sleazy voice and the funniest NPC reaction to they/them pronouns i've ever heard.

mage: the awakening - broken diamond: dave brookshaw became line developer for mage partially off the strength of his actual plays. broken diamond is your one-stop shop for learning what mage is all about and how it looks in play. soul cage is probably even better but i never finished reading it.

unknown armies - DO WHAT YOU WANT 'CAUSE A PIRATE IS FREE: mellonbread writes extremely good scenarios. it is unsurprising that his unknown armies campaign is also extremely good. this is an actual play about a gang of magical food truck operators in a setting where wizards have infiltrated and control the largest fast food chains for their own nefarious purposes. it's twelve posts on blogspot. go read now.

[efangamez]

New Prices on my Stores!!!

Hey y'all!

With the announcement of limited community copies, I have altered some prices for games, lowering many of them!

Here are some of the AWESOME games I'm offering for just $9.99!

MOURN: A Retro FPS Styled TTRPG

Darkness, death, and despair. Three things this world has known for far too long.

On the moon of Delta 4, far beyond the soiled Earth humanity left behind hundreds of years ago, there was an age of unbridled peace for generations. Wars were viewed as unnecessary, famine became a dark tale told by fathers to troublesome children, and the many plagues that haunted humans since their birth had all but become a distant memory.

This peace was deep and cherished, giving humanity a golden age unknown on their previous home planet.

That was, until the Qyu appeared.

The Qyu, a warrior people from a planet farther than one can fathom, that contains thousands of species of conquered species, set fire to Delta 4, reducing many cities that once shone with bright towers now to piles of ash and cinders. The people-led government, the communal systems, and the vibrant cultures of the once great moon fell under the iron fist of tyranny and dictatorship. Kindness turned to capital, freedom turned to fear, and knowledge turned to nepotism.

Now, only some factions of humanity remains on Delta 4, barely clinging to the formerly illustrious society they once cherished. All seemed lost, for surely no one could stand up to the might of the Qyu.

That was, until you arrived.

GAMEPLAY

MOURN is a fast, lethal, and easy-to-learn game just as the games this game is inspired from (DOOM, DUSK, Blood, Amid Evil). Rip and tear through hordes of enemies with your allies using only coin flips to decide your fates.

This game includes…

-DEVASTATING weaponry that adds a layer of strategy to every encounter

-INNOVATIVE use of mathematics in its multiples-of-5 system and coin flip skill checks

-IMMERSIVE lore that can make your world as interesting as possible

-HUNDREDS of ways you can customize your character through a simple, yet masterful, character creation process

This game will surely satisfy anyone looking to crave the itch of playing a retro FPS styled game in a tabletop format.

Neon Nights 1st Edition

In Jeriko City, everybody wants to be somebody. Who do you wanna be?

Neon Nights is a cyberpunk/dystopian tabletop RPG set on Earth after a nuclear war devastated the entire planet. After hundreds of years of thousands of people roaming the desolate, irradiated Great Wastes, megacities emerged from the dust of deserts. Where there was once crumbling roads and dancing dust devils now stand skyscrapers towering over hundreds of thousands of roaming pedestrians walking the streets of Jeriko City, located on the East Coast of the once powerful United States of America.

Neon Nights contains an astounding amount of content, including:

*Dozens and dozens of unique, build-friendly Perks

*Dozens of occupations that make your character feel fleshed out and original

*Dozens of skills attached to each occupation that feels personal and useful to your character

*A plethora of weapons and supplies that make your loadout feel personal without too many things to keep track of

Neon Nights also has near infinite build freedom, making each of your playthroughs feel unique and interesting. No more classes and no more level-specific spells or skills!

*Want to specialize in long-range combat using sniper rifles? Go for it.

*What about using deception to trick and lie your way to victory? It’s here!

*What about a steroid-fueled maniac who craves nothing more than gore on their baseball bat? This game is perfect for you. 

Freedom is paramount in this RPG, and the moment that you begin playing will be all you need to fall in love with this completely new and original system designed by Ethan H. Reynolds.

So, will you follow the law, and use the state to pave your way to power? Or will you rebel, and watch banners fly because of your courage? It's up to you to decide.

Tales from the Aerosphere

Tales from the Aerosphere is an original steampunk TTRPG that is powered by the Neon Nights system, a system that prioritizes seemingly limitless character creation freedom.

In this game you will find…

-HUNDREDS of interesting, unique, and fun Perks

-DOZENS of weapons, CogWare augmentations for your body, equipment upgrades, and items to add to your beginning character

-OVER 20 unique and dynamic NPC sheets that are simplistic and accessible to use at any table.

From medics, to assassins, to mechanics, to a literal barbarian, there are THOUSANDS of character combinations you can play  in Tales from the Aerosphere.

The game also includes free updates whenever a new patch is released that adds content or fixes errors. 

Wrath of the Undersea

"The Great Ones promised retribution for the folly of Man. Their empire spreads across the once great kingdoms that now reside below the ocean's depths. Only then did we, chosen of great Dagon and Mother Hydra, climb ashore to heretical ground to lay our foundation once more. We gave the usurpers the children of the sea to feast upon, and ancient shells that whisper hints of prophecy in exchange of resettlement.

This was the way it was...until betrayal plagued our kind."

Wrath of the Undersea is a 17 page game where you play as Lovecraftian monsters seeking revenge on the people who kill your kin and have stolen your land. Use powerful Incantations to cast spells, pray to the Great Ones for help, or use fang and spear to reclaim the shore for yourselves once more.

Disk Masters

In Disk Masters, a party of 2-4 players and a Game Master create the Summons (monsters) of their dreams. Using these Summons, players can explore the Gatcha region created by their GM and become the Disk Masters of the land by either battling their way to victory or saving the Gatcha region from a terrible threat!

In this handbook, you will find…

-DETAILED graphic artwork of Sample Summons you can plug and play easily with!

-STRATEGIC monster-led combat that will test the skills of each player!

-INFINITE Summon varieties and ways to build your monster!

-EASY TO UNDERSTAND RULES that will be a breeze to digest!

Become the Disk Master you were destined to become and download Disk Masters today!

------

All of these games AND MORE can be found on my Linktree attached below!

Please support a disabled and trans game developer today!

#ttrpg #indie ttrpg #trans #queer #gamedev #indie #game dev #tabletop rpgs #tabletop #tabletop games #roleplaying games #ttrpg community #tabletop roleplaying #tabletop gaming #rpg #ttrpg design #ttrpgs #ttrpg art #ttrpgfamily #retro #fps #retro fps #neon nights #MOURN #wrath of the undersea #disk masters #tales from the aerosphere #games #gaming

[darklordazalin]

Azalini Reviews: Darklord Rag Man

Domain: Histaven Domain Formation: Unknown Power Level:💀💀💀 ⚫⚫ (3/5 skulls) Sources: Domain of Dread: Histaven (4e) from Free RPG Day 2011

The vengeful undead known only as the Rag Man is the Darklord of Histaven, a Domain plagued by blight that was pulled into the Mists, because of the actions of two individuals forever locked in their selfish hatred and vendettas.

Histaven was once a prosperous, peaceful village ruled over by Count Histaven, a retired adventuring bard who thought his charms alone gave him the rite to rule. Not too surprising. I often find that adventurers have lofty opinions of themselves. The citizens adored their Count. Of course, the peasantry rarely look beneath the mask their rulers wear. In truth, Count Histaven was a ruthless, petty individual who held his power in a vice grip through the subtle assassinations of potential rivals and dissidents.

Political rivals were not his only targets. Indeed, one such ‘rival’ was a young man who married a fiery haired woman the Count wanted for himself. That puts me in mind of a particular Count I would rather not think of, but suffice to say, redheads in the Mists often inspire the murderous tendencies of others. Count Histaven had the young man killed, which in turn caused his mother to kill herself in grief. One of the Count’s sons, Artius, witnessed these events, yet did not lift a finger against his father.

Artius, as any dutiful son would, followed in his father’s footsteps. He became just as ruthless and vindictive as his father. He played the part of the charming hero for the townfolks while orchestrating plots that lead to the deaths of all his siblings

After he successfully killed off his siblings, Artius waited ‘patiently’ for his aging father to die. At this time a ragged soldier appeared in Histaven, wielding his blade without prejudice against guilty and innocent. Artius found entertainment in the ragged soldiers acts, doing nothing to stop it. That is, until the soldier made his way to the Count’s estate.

He targeted Artius, exposing him as a villain and not as the hero he pretended to be. Enraged, Artius attacked the Rag Man, letting his hatred and selfish ambitions drive him. In turn, the Rag Man was consumed in his vendetta against Count Histaven and attacked his son with nothing but thoughts of revenge in his mind. In this moment, the mists claimed them both and Histaven with them.

There is another version of this tale, in which the two men fought one another for the love of a woman with fiery hair. Naturally this is nothing more than poetic nonsense and the result of the forgotten history of Histaven’s former Count, who slaughtered a young man for being married to an object of his desire. It is interesting, however, that both the Rag Man and Count Artius are said to be drawn to a redheaded Vistana named Naeva who reminds them both of a woman from their past. No doubt, she resembles the young woman Count Histaven desired who was married to this nameless ‘Rag Man’.

After the Mist claimed it, the once prosperous village of Histaven was plagued by blight and rot, acting as a mirror to the Rag Man and Count’s own corruption. The coming of the Rag Man is known as the Season of Rot in Histaven. For even if he is slain, the Rag Man always returns.

The Season of Rot begins on the new moon when the Rag Man appears in Histaven at night as a beggar, silently extending his hand out as villagers pass him by. Any that dare disturb him during this time, are slaughtered for their efforts. As the moon waxes, the Rag Man murders any he believes to be an ally of Count Artius. The more he kills, the stronger he becomes. Finally, on the night of the full moon, the Rag Man forces his way into Artius’s manor and the two face each other and the violence that ensues inevitably ends one of their life’s.

If the Rag Man dies, the blight persists. If Artius dies, Histaven experiences a brief respite from the persistent rot. Regardless of who dies, both are reborn in time. It is said that the only way to end this cycle is to have the two men forgive one another for their past deeds. Perhaps Naeva is the key to this rather unlikely event, but that is none of my concern.

The Rag Man, on the surface, appears to be a mindless killer bent on vengeance and, for the most part, this is exactly what he is. However, when not harassing the people of Histaven, the Rag Man resides in a grove in the Nightwood forest that surround Histaven. The grove is a peaceful place, full of life and a crystalline pool that the Rag Man often stares into, brooding.

The grove is a form of torment for our little slasher-happy murderer. Here, every night ghosts of his past dance happily around the grove, reminding him of what once was. One of these ghosts resembles Count Artius, though is likely his father. Another is a young, fiery haired woman who, just before sunrise, places her ghostly hand upon the Rag Man’s shoulder before disappearing.

The Rag Man is clearly a revenant, rising every new moon to seek vengeance against the one who wronged him. Yet, unable to seek out Count Histaven, he is reduced to seeking out the man’s son and no matter how many times he kills Artius, the Count comes back. A rather pathetic cycle of vengeance. I will grant him 3 skulls since he is, techincally, difficult to kill.

#azalin rex #darklordreviews #ravenloft #dnd #rag man #histaven #this one is odd why bother with the father if the son is going to somehow inherit his dad's obsession with a redhead? #in its defense. it was free #also the rotting town moon cycle aspect is interesting