#railsea

[leona-florianova]

captain Abacat Naphi

#whats up im re reading railsea #because #mole interest #captain naphi #abacat naphi #railsea #my art #sketches #new weird #mole interest is a philosophy #kapitáni se dělili na nohaře a rukaře #i love that china mieville just #genderbend Captain Ahab... switched the name to Abacat Naphi.. #n instead of Moby Dick the giant white whale #she hunts a giant white mole #from a train #its perfect

[kidlit-queen-competition]

The bracket is done!

Now, this is literally impossible to read because it's so busy, so matchups are under the cut! Polls will be up tommorrow!

the train from Animal Crossing vs Casey Jr from Dumbo

the Red Zephyr from Friends At The Tavle vs the Mirage Express

the Beast from Girl Genius vs the Supertrain from Supertrain

Old Puffer Pete from Chuggington vs the Mighty Hooterville Cannonball

Rusty the Steam Engine from Starlight Express vs the Phantom Express from Cuphead

the Mystery Train from Adventure Time vs The Mede from Railsea

the Metro from Pikuniuk vs the Train from Unrailed

the Friendship Express from My Little Pony vs the Runaway Express from Soul Eater

The Celestial Spear from Drawtectives vs Emma from Jim Button

Lemon Demon's Trains from My Trains vs the Sea Train from Spirited away

the "I Like Trains" train from asdfmovie vs the eponymous Stardew Valley train

Ivor The Engine vs the Deep Sea Metro from splatoon 2

the Polar Express vs the Monorail from the Simpsons

the Old Black Train from Over the Garden Wall vs the Accordion Train from Jack and the Cuckoo-clock Heart

the Magnet Train from Pokemon vs the Limitless line from Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion

Snowpeircer from Snowpeircer vs the Infinity Train from Infinity Train

the Ratatosk Express from the Bifrost Incident vs Big One from the Galaxy Railways

the Mugen Train from Demon Slayer vs Blaine the Mono from the Dark Tower

Chargeman from Mega Man vs the fallout 3 train head npc

Lil Chew Chew from TF2 vs the train from Kirby

the Ghost Train from Monster High vs the Owl Express from A Hat in Time

the train from Inception vs the Ghost Train from Paranatural

The Little Engine that Could vs the Molentary Express

the Phantom Train from Final Fantasy vs Every Single Troublesome Truck from Thomas the Tank engine

the train from Spider-Man 2 vs The Excess Express from Paper Mario: the Thousand Year Door

the Spirit Train from Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks vs 401 from Mark of the Dragonfly

Thomas from Thomas the Tank Engine vs Steam Tank Obsidion from Octopath Traveller 2

The Starflight Express from Dragon Quest IX vs Your Locomotive from Sunless Skies

the snail train from precure vs the blind train from Malorie

Iron Girder from Discworld vs the Taffy Train from Toonkind DND

Senca from unprepared Casters vs Titipo from Titipo Titipo

The Dinosaur Train from Dinosaur Train vs the Train to Busan from Train to Busan

#If i try to edit this post it explodes so sorry for the formatting #Thomas the tank engine #ttte #Discworld #friends at the table #paranatural #demon slayer: kimetsu no yaiba #Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion #Stex #starlight express #The murder of sonic the hedgehog #cuphead #railsea #mark of the dragonfly #sunless skies #titipo titipo #dinosaur train #train to busan #im not tagging 64 fandoms i need to go to bed #fictional train fight blog admin

[thefiresontheheight]

Idk what the FUCK it is, British weird nautical vibes but not really and also steampunk, or whatever, but Sunless Sea, Railsea, and Mortal Engines are all the same genre to me.

#sunless sea #Railsea #mortal engines

[boatmediatourney]

⚓Boat Media Tournament⚓

Round 2, match 9

#bmt2 round 2 #bmt round 2 #boat media #boat media tourney #one piece #railsea

[tanglelegs]

We are all, have always been, will always be, Homo vorago aperientis: person before whom opens a vast & awesome hole.

China Miéville, from Railsea

#china miéville #railsea #quotes #about the author

[lilliankillthisman]

Ok so. "Book by a Marxist about the ravages of capitalism contains Marx references" shouldn't and doesn't surprise me. But if I am completely 100% honest "killing a big mole is a Marx reference" somehow did not occur to teenage me as an option??

#Europe will leap from its seat and exultantly exclaim well grubbed old mole #⬅️ statements dreamed up by the utterly deranged #railsea #china mieville

[chellsartblog]

"Do please expedite this journey relevance-ward."

#china miéville #china mieville #railsea #captain naphi #abacat naphi #character design #man.....how many designs have i done for her over the past 8 years?? #my art #artists on tumblr

[resident-dumb-fuck]

[mbenday railsea voice] what the fuck. what the fuck. what the whole entire fuck.

#railsea

[the-malfunctioning-somnambulist]

Just thought about how in Dracula, the two points Dracula leaves on the neck are a sort of punctuation mark, a colon made of flesh wounds, something to stop the speech of life in its flow.

For Dracula, it signifies a list, some elements belonging to the group that goes before the colon. "My victims : Jonathan, Lucy, and Mina". Everything after the colon is marked as his.

For Van Helsing, it's a colon in the sense that it provides an explanation. "Look at these marks : something must have left them". (Also in some cases the colon is used instead of the dash for game scores, when something on your side of the colon is what the opponent did not reach in time to save. "He killed our Lucy, we got his brides whom he had turned long ago. That's 3:1")

#dracula #dracula daily #dracula spoilers #dracula daily spoilers #abraham van helsing #count dracula #it's kinda how china mieville used & in railsea

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2023. UN LUN DUN by China Mieville. Clearly the natural progression of Driscoll Vibes is from VanderMeer to Mieville, right? This one has been languishing on my TBR for a while, but it’s finally time!!

#photography #my photography #un lun dun #china mieville #books of 2023 #weird to more weird let's goooooo #i did like railsea a lot!! #and i liked perdido street station up until that fucking ending reveal #also: i about ran out of driscoll-adjacent things lmao BUT!!! #i then ordered a bunch more for independent bookstore day XD #i am. slightly daunted. by how long this book is #(almost 500 pages like WHY please it's sold as YA but it's not built like a YA book) #fingers crossed that it goes speedily i need to ANNIHILATE something

[heartyearning]

china miéville insane fr

#just finished railsea. scream. he's so real to me

[kidlit-queen-competition]

Poll: the Mystery Train from Adventure Time vs The Mede from Railsea

(image descriptions in alt text)

#railsea #the medes #china mieville #adventure time #mystery train #polls #fictional train fight round one #fictional train fight polls

[earlyspringtranscendence]

hi 😌💭💘📖 9&11 pls

hi <333333333

9. Did you get into any new genres? i got slightly more into some classic scifi but it was not a suuuuper positive experience unfortunately 😔 i read a historical detective which was rly good and some other historical magical realisms with a focus on fantasy which i enjoyed !!! but those are like micro genres so not really

11. What was your favorite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read? oh man senlin ascends for sure.. technically all the books i read this year were books that have been published for a while (or at least most of them are) but im highlighting this one bc its actually been vaguely on my radar for about 4 yrs and it did NOT disappoint, its so good

#like for 11 the other answer is of course railsea & whatever else i read by china this year (p sure its only railsea tho) #but like that doesnt count bc this is only my 2nd yr of being into china mieville for the most part so yk #yusufsmoon #hey hi how r u <3333333

[thefiresontheheight]

“People have wanted to narrate since first we banged rocks together & wondered about fire. There’ll be tellings as long as there are any of us here, until the stars disappear one by one like turned-out lights. Some such stories are themselves about the telling of others, an odd past time, seemingly redundant or easy to get lost in, like a picture that contains a smaller picture of itself, which in turn contains, and so on.”

-Railsea, China Mieville

#railsea #china mieville

[boatmediatourney]

⚓Boat Media Tournament⚓

Round 1, match 11

#bmt2 polls #bmt2 round 1 #boat media #boat media tourney #railsea #skies of arcadia

[theresattrpgforthat]

THEME: Mint's Fave Games (Part 2/2)

This is part 2 to a very difficult ask in which I managed to narrow it down to 12 games that I'm very normal about but still couldn't fit all in one post. 6 games left! I'll put the link for Part 1 here. Let's go!

Exceptionals, by Bramble Wolf Games, aka @sahonithereadwolf. (Purchased, not yet played)

I’m not a big comics fan, but X-Men has always been my favourite form of superhero media, particularly because I love the care and purposefulness of talking about marginalization and bigotry in a nuanced way. The creator of Exceptionals loves that very same thing about X-Men, and asks about what life is like for your average neighbourhood mutant.. This is a game where you can play Genodivergent folks, people who experience a process called Claremont-Simonson Mutation.

The game system uses d10’s - 2d10’s for any given roll, while you can use other d10’s to track the Bonds your characters have with each-other. Characters are made up of 4 “protocols”, lists of words and phrases that describe your mutation as well as your role as a community member. These pieces will not just give you advantages - they’ll give you disadvantages as well, which will affect the outcome of your rolls.

This is not a game about superheroes. This is a game in which superheroes exist, but your group is more likely going to be figuring out how to keep their neighbourhood safe when the police are one of the constant dangers, learning how to care for community members who have unique problems, and making noise when asking nicely for others to respect your rights doesn’t work.

The Wildsea, by Felix Isaacs. (Purchased, not yet played)

I was sold on setting alone for this one. The Wildsea is inspired by works such as Railsea, (a re-telling of Moby Dick), as well as Firefly, Blades in the Dark, and Sunless Sea. You are sailors on a verdant ocean of giant trees, hunting leviathan squirrels and trading with various outports and settlements. Character creation involves three parts: your Bloodline, Origin and Post, combining species, background and job to allow for some highly customizable, evocative characters.

The Wildsea prioritizes narrative play, allowing players to determine how their stats affect their actions, and using an in-game mechanic called Whispers and Charts to help you create locations as you play. Travel is never boring, as everyone has a role to play and the wonders of The Wildsea never cease. The community behind this game is wildly inventive, with oodles of home-brew and character inspiration. You can pick up the free version of the rules here, and check out the Storm and Root Expansion at the Kickstarter link.

HouseHold, by Two Little Mice. (Unpurchased)

Two Little Mice are known for gorgeous games and this is no exception. Household is a game about little people living inside an abandoned house, each room of which is a different nation. Will you dance with a Boggart princess at the ball of the Chandelier? Cross the Long Hallway and survive to tell the tale? Are you a Sluagh with a mouse steed or a Sprite with a beetle companion? Do you wear the finest of bee furs, or is mushroom leather what you prefer to wear?

This game is unique on this list in that I don’t actually plan to run it - I play to play it, with a friend of mine who backed the game on Kickstarter. He’s already got the full version of the book, plus its expansion, and let me tell you, it’s deliciously beautiful. The game uses the same system as Broken Compass: your character choices will give you strengths in certain arenas, and you’ll use pips to give yourself strengths in subsets of skills within each arena. The game uses card symbols to represent Society, Academia, War and Street - these characters won’t just be fighting spiders and bringing down rats, they’ll also try to catch the eye of an aristocrat at a dinner party, or pick-pocket the keys off of a palace guard. Character advancement is chronicled as Memories; your play the game as if your character’s stories have already happened, and are in the process of being written down for posterity.

If you’re interested in this game I’d recommend checking out the linked website above, as the 96-page Quickstart and the character sheet are free to download!

Brinkwood: The Blood of Tyrants, by Far Horizons Co-Op. (Played)

This game has the most hardcore slogan that I’ve ever seen, and it has not failed to get people stoked about it - Drink the Rich. It’s Robin Hood meets Castlevania. A powerful Faerie helps you fight against Vampire Capitalists using magic-infused masks, and a sanctuary hidden inside a wild wood. This is yet another Forged-in-the-Dark game that shows you how to build a rebellion via three different strategies, and has a well-written and well-thought-out Codex that allows you to put the game in different settings, as well as an Almanac (included in the base game) that immerses you in the milieu of Cardenfell.

My favourite aspect of Brinkwood is the communal Mask playbooks. As characters, you’ll have your own personal character sheet, but when you go out on different forays, you’ll have the opportunity to share the Masks that are available to the group. This means that players can choose strategically-optimal playbooks for missions that require more stealth, combat, or social control, and it also means that you’ll never feel nailed into a specific role. I very much want to see more of this kind of setup in games, even if I have to design it myself.

Moth-Light, by Justin Ford. (Purchased, not yet played)

You are humans that have fled to a planet after the fall of your civilization. In this speculative future, your new home must be shared with giant, predator insects called Moths. Your future depends on your ability to develop trust, form pacts, and work together.

This is (you guessed it) another Forged-in-the-Dark game with a really unique implementation of the group playbook. Depending on the Pact you choose, you don’t just determine what kind of story you want to tell, you also determine what action ratings are available to your characters. This makes sense, as a story about different villages banding together to achieve peace will provide different challenges then a story about a series of war-games, in which your characters are desperate to prove their worth. The spectrum of stories available within this game are broad-spanning, and I’m itching to get this game to table sometime before the year is over to see how it plays.

Moth-Light is still in beta, but after your first purchase you’ll receive new updates about the game as they come out! When I bought this game, only the Promise and the Scavengers were available - now the creator has updated the file to include the Slayers and the Jammers! I’ve also created my own Pact for this game, inspired by the Chronicles of Pern. It’s called RIDERS, it’s about people creating sympathetic bonds with the Moths in order to stop an even greater threat, and you can find it here!

Apocalypse Keys, by Rae Nedjadi. (@temporalhiccup ) (Played)

I just finished running this game and I don’t know how to express to you the emotional rollercoaster that it led us on. Rae Nedjadi is a fucking amazing designer and you can tell he intensively play-tested this game because Apocalypse Keys is tight. The mystery setup gives you an idea of how long a single mystery will take, and the generative style of play allows you to not just fill out the world, but also come up with the answer to the mystery as you unlock clues.

The central focus of the game involves Grasping Keys, which is a move that allows your character to find clues that will eventually be connected to core facets of the mystery for a very dramatic roll. Also, unlike a lot of PbtA games, your characters use a token system reminiscent of Belonging Outside Belonging games instead of stats, which you can spend to increase your chances of success - but roll too high and you are too good at what you do, possibly causing collateral damage in the process. If you love Hellboy, if you love monsters, if you’re queer… you really need to check out this game.

Finally....

If you want to see what other games are currently living rent-free in my noggin that I hope to pick up at play someday, you can check out the Games that Intrigue Me folder I've started on Itch. There's currently 148 games in there that I haven't played yet!

#dnd #tabletop games #indie ttrpgs #game recommendations #asks #Mint Plays Games #I really like Forged-in-the-Dark games apparently