#the three of them playing decision based horror would be so chaotic

[neonganymede]

Last night, I talked myself out of writing a one shot of the doa playing a horror game. Today, however~?

#I'm sleep deprived and capable of making bad choices #i deserve a fun doa one shot. as a treat. #the idea would work with skk too #but i think it would be more effective with the doa dynamic #the three of them playing decision based horror would be so chaotic

[youllallriseintheink]

Prison Cell, chapter 2

This is a story taking place in an AU where the studio became the sketch dimension before most of the sacrifices were made.  While this AU will have an emphasis on horror, especially in the later chapters, I also want to show the resilience of some of these characters.

---

"Can I be the one to go down there?" Susie asked.

"No," Abby answered firmly. "First we need to decide what we're going down there for. And I'm sorry, but I don't think it's going to be a rescue mission. I don't trust you not to turn it into one. Beyond that, though, whoever it is, it has to be someone at least somewhat nondescript. So, not you- you're pretty well-known, and your size alone is pretty distinctive. And not me, either- there are no other black women in this studio, so there definitely aren't any who are loyalists. And not Henry- he's a wanted man. Any volunteers?"

In the end, Jack was chosen for the first mission. He was fairly forgettable in appearance, and the one of the two people down there who knew him well wouldn't be one to call him out. Of course, the other was Joey Drew, but he was nonetheless the best candidate.

After Jack had been assigned, there was a brief discussion about where to hide Henry, they found someone to replace Norman as the projectionist, and a circuit of people were chosen to keep watch of the elevator at night so that no one would be attacked.

---

The next day, Jack put on the loyalist robes, traded his hat for a mask, and headed down in the elevator. The first lower floor that the elevator stopped at was at the old breakroom. Two men were there, playing pool in uniforms but no masks. It was strange how normal it looked. Jack figured that the masks must have only been for specific uses, including any visits to the upper floors. Hopefully he didn't stick out like a sore thumb.

"Hey," he said to them, trying to disguise his voice somewhat, "I have to check on the prisoners. I'm covering for a buddy. But he forgot to tell me where they are. Can you help me?"

One of the men gave him a funny look. There were a thousand things that could have given him away. Maybe all loyalists already knew where the prisoners were kept. "Floor 3B. Take two lefts. You can't miss it."

Jack thanked them and left.

Floor 3B was the second-to-last one, and it opened in a nondescript hallway. Once he’d followed the directions, he got to what looked like an unremarkable row of office doors. They looked like that, but Jack could hear someone crying within them, and could smell human waste. This was, undeniably, the place. Jack tried a few doors and found them to be locked. So, after checking to make sure that there was no one else nearby, he tried talking to the people within them. There were six prisoners in total. One of them was Emma LaMonte. Four of them had been a part of a small insurrection early on. Their stories broke Jack’s heart. One of them, Lacie, had been left with a broken leg that they had done nothing to treat. It had set incorrectly and was now a permeant cause of pain and poor mobility. Another of them, Shawn, had been fed ink. The final prisoner was also a surprise.

“Allison? I thought you were a loyalist.”

“I was, but I wasn’t very good at following the rules. Tom caught me breaking a pretty big one. He doesn’t want me to end up dead. So, he dragged me in here, and told the others that I’d done something less severe. Something that would get me locked up a long time, but not killed. I get treated better than the other prisoners, and Tom comes to visit me and take me around most nights like I’m a free person, but he still doesn’t trust me not to get myself killed. I know it’s only temporary, though.”

“Temporary?”

“Well, Tom says that Joey is working on a way out for all of us. I hope that’s true. But I’ve been in the dark pretty much since the beginning.”

Jack nodded. “I’m real sorry this has happened to you. Can I ask what you were doing? Oh- and do you know where there might be more prisoners?”

“I don’t know about other prisoners. But as for what I was doing- I was visiting the outside without permission. I actually did it several times before I got caught. If you want to do it, the portal is on floor 2B.”

“Okay. Thanks again,” Jack said before leaving.

The portal was not hard to find. A door like any other on floor 2B was in fact marked with the word, “portal.” Someone had left their keys in the door. Jack pocketed the keys and went in.

The inside of the room had, in addition to many typical janitorial supplies, a rack of small vials of dark, nearly-black liquid, a set of post-it notes, and a set of instructions. The instructions read, 

Step 1: write where you want to go on a note and stick it to a door.

Step 2: pour a vial of blood at the base of the door.

Curious as to how specific one had to be and how far the door’s powers extended, Jack wrote “China” on a note and poured out a vial. He opened the door, and on the other side was wilderness. Perhaps this was the very center of China. After being stunned for a moment at being able to see greenery and smell fresh air for the first time in months, Jack realized that, since the portal worked, there was a much better way he could be using it. Giddy, he wrote down his old address and repeated the ritual. The door opened to a closet in his own house. He could hear his dog barking and the voice of one of his kids, and for a moment he considered abandoning the studio and everyone in it.

Then the door shut, and opened again. Jack was roughly pulled through it, back into the supply closet.

“What were you doing!?” a woman yelled at him. Then, her voice dropped to a whisper. “Okay, give me back my keys and don’t tell anyone I forgot them, and I won’t tell anyone that you snuck a trip through the portal. Got it?” she was clearly just as frightened as he was.

“I won’t tell anyone. But could you please just let me have this? Just for ten minutes. Please?”

The woman appeared to mull this over. “Sure. But seriously- you can’t go through there dressed like that. Here, I’ll hold your mask...” the woman reached for his mask. 

Jack backed up against the wall. “Actually, I changed my mind. But don’t worry, I still won’t tell anyone.”

“Wait... you seem familiar...”

Jack opened the door and scrambled to the elevator, not looking back to see if she followed. 

---

“Okay, so the good news is that we know that the insurrectionists are alive,” Abby began after Jack had returned back and composed himself enough to report his findings. “And now we know about the portal. That’s very interesting. The bad news is that the prisoners are being kept in awful conditions, and they’re probably going to suspect anyone who’s wearing the mask in public places from now on. I guess the best thing to do is use someone who looks specifically like someone from down there. So, try to remember how the people down there looked. And thank you, Jack. That was very brave of you.”

Jack nodded and left Abby to her work. Planning an insurrection was difficult, and especially so on top of directing the art department. Shortly after Jack left, there was a knock on her door. It was Susie.

“Susie! Hi! did you get that list I asked for?”

Susie smiled. “Yep. Went to every department. There’s a good dozen or so people who are ready to hit the demon with an ax!”

Abby smiled back. Susie had been a big help to her. “Great! I’ll assign them floors.” hopefully the gambit would pay off. Hopefully they weren’t just throwing good fighters away. The forced blood extraction might have been frightening and violating to the people who received it, of whom there were more than a couple, but who knew when the insurrectionists might need their best fighters? If the demon just dragged them away anyhow, then this wasn’t the best use for them. Of course, being a leader in these times meant making a thousand decisions like that with limited information and hoping that things turned out for the better.

---

Days wore on. The guard system on the elevators had lasted all of a single night. The demon, finding a guard on each floor, had taken to eviscerating one of them. By the time the other guards arrived, the demon was standing over a corpse that appeared nearly inside-out. The demon scurried back to the elevator, and left before anything could be done to him.

The missions went poorly as well. Security had increased after Jack had nearly been found out. While the insurrectionists had managed to map out the lower floors (save for the very basement, which was sealed off), and found out that a great many of the loyalists were sick of a mysterious disease that caused blackened, shiny skin, they were unable to steal keys, free the prisoners, or access the portal again. After two weeks of no progress and three deaths, two of which had been killed after having been found out, Abby called the rebellion off. She felt it was what was best for everyone’s welfare, and since the loyalists had banned wearing masks on the lower floors, going undercover had become immensely more dangerous..

Susie continued to bring people together for meetings. She was not organized and dominant as Abby had been, and her meetings tended to be chaotic. The people were angry and had been emboldened. One night, a man stole a uniform and snuck down to the lowest levels. He killed a man with a knife and injured another before being imprisoned. The next day, Sammy came to the music department and escorted Susie to the basement.

"Where are you taking me?” Susie asked as Sammy clicked the elevator button to bring her to the lower floors.

“Don’t worry. No harm is going to come to you yet. This is something that Joey Drew is explicitly allowing. He knows that he needs to stop this rebellion, so he’s going to use sticks and carrots. And, well, this is the carrot.” Sammy’s face was unreadable.

They went into the room labelled “portal.”

“The first thing that I’ve been asked to do is tell you why all of this is necessary. Susie, your blood can open the portals to the outside. There were only six people in the entire studio with the right blood properties to do that, and your rebellion killed one of them last night.”

Susie nodded. “What I’ve never understood is why you don’t just let everyone out. I mean, you have a portal.”

Sammy took off his shirt, revealing a black growth that had spread across his chest, stomach, and shoulders. “If I spend more than a day or two out there, I will get sick and die. The same is true of everyone who was in the room when the ink machine exploded. Some of us are too deformed to even be allowed through the portal anymore. Joey is looking for a way to cure us so that everyone can be free. And until then, he needs your blood.”

“That doesn’t explain why he’s keeping everyone else.”

Sammy cringed. “That’s probably his own selfishness- wanting to maintain his studio the best he can. He’s not exactly as sane as he used to be. But... you’ll find out about that soon enough. For now, Susie, I’m supposed to give you your carrot. We have some money to spend, and I’ve been given permission to take you anywhere in the world you want for the day and send you back with an offering of gifts.”

Susie thought on this. “What if I told you that I wanted my gift to be Norman?”

“You’ll find out about him tonight. He’s a part of the bargaining.”

Susie’s face lit up. “Okay, wonderful!”

The two of them spent a day in Paris together. Afterwards, Sammy sent her back with two first-aid kits. One of them was fully stocked and then some, as it contained much of the contents that had been in the other one. The other they had emptied. Anything from it they couldn’t pack into the first box had been abandoned on the street, and they had filled the box with knives.

“Please promise me that you won’t use these unless absolutely necessary. Joey doesn’t want it to come to war, but if it does, there is a lot he could use against you. The loyalists could poison you with ink, or they could refuse you access to any resources and starve you into compliance. And thankfully, we don’t have guns, but if things ever escalated, we could get them, and you couldn’t. So, please, for own safety, only use these for self-defense.”

“I won’t let anyone know about these. But I'm not sure I can control them. Angry people that feel like they have nothing to lose are... really hard to lead.”

Sammy went quiet.

“Something wrong, Sammy?”

“Well, I told you that we were planning on using sticks and carrots, right? Well, Joey- if I can still call that thing “Joey”- is about to give you your stick. He wants to crush the rebellion with shock and awe. And I’m scared that he’s just going to make everyone angrier.”

Susie didn’t know what to say to that. “It’ll be okay, Sammy.”

“I sure hope so,” he replied, starting to cry.

Finding the portal again was easy- it was right where it had been at the beginning of the day, in some supply closet in some department store. A loyalist checked over what Susie had brought back, but Sammy had made sure that the person to do so would be another sympathizer, so they were let go. They stepped onto the elevator again. “Alright. Time for the stick. I’m supposed to deliver you to the very basement. I’m sorry.”

#Bendy and the Ink Machine #susie campbell #sammy lawrence #abby lambert #Jack Fain #Story: prison cell #my fanfiction

[cake-writes]

Options

Pairing: Stucky x Reader

Warnings: Angst, Red Room References, Fluff, Polyamory, 18+

Word Count: 1.6k

Requested by Anon: Could I get a Bucky/Steve or Bucky + Steve work based on “Love Me or Leave Me” or “Three Empty Words”? Dealer's choices.

Here we go! I used Love Me or Leave Me as inspiration. Enjoy!

There was a certain time of the year that always put you on edge.

November.

You’d spent it strapped to a cold hospital bed at the tender age of twenty, courtesy of the Red Room.

Steve knew the date by heart. You’d told him once in a moment of weakness. It wasn’t something you liked to talk about, and aside from that one time, you never, ever spoke of it again. Not with him, and not with Bucky.

Bucky didn’t know the exact date, but then again, you never shared it with him. It wasn’t that you kept it from him on purpose; you loved them both equally, him and Steve, but you never told either of them what had happened. You could never bring yourself to.

All they knew was that it involved the Red Room, but they could hazard a guess at what it was. Natasha had told them enough, and the scars on your abdomen made sense of the rest. They never pried.

There were signs that the two of them started to look for around this time of year. Sometimes Bucky would find you at home, crying into the sheets of your shared bed and Steve would motion for him to leave you be, as torturous as it was for them both to leave you feeling so miserable. Instead, the two of them would share a bottle of whiskey in the living room while your sobs echoed through the small apartment the three of you shared. It was always the same. No conversation, just the bitter taste of liquor and misery.

Other times, you were too quick to anger, too impulsive, too destructive. Aside from the risky, dangerous decisions you made out in the field around this time of year that drove your boys up a fucking wall – and oh, how you argued afterwards – it spilled over into your home lives, too.

Once, you screamed at them and threw every single plate in the kitchen at the wall. You played it up like you were actually aiming for them, but you weren’t, and they knew it, too. Your aim was impeccable. It was painfully obvious that you were lashing out because of what you couldn’t do, what was missing, what had been stolen from you. You only managed to take about two steps through the broken glass in bare feet before Bucky swept you up into his arms and pressed kisses to your face, your forehead, the sweet spot behind your ear, telling you not to be so stupid, he loves you, they love you, Christ, they love you more than anything—

While Steve tended to the cuts on your feet. He cleaned them and bandaged them with all the love and care in the world, and when he was done, he kissed his way up your legs, to your thighs, and when Bucky lay you down so gently on the bed, Steve worshipped you with his mouth and Bucky kissed the breath out of you until you forgot why you’d been so upset to begin with.

It was a temporary fix, but it held you together. For a while.

Every year, you seemed to break just a little bit more.

You’d been so blissfully happy with them once. You always loved the way Steve was so brutally honest about his feelings for you. He told you how much he loved you and cherished every single part of you, even the horrors of your past, the things you’d been forced to do. You loved how he stroked your hair and admitted that he could imagine having a life with you – with both of you.

Bucky wasn’t nearly as open with his feelings, but he didn’t need to be. He let his guard down around you, shared things about himself and his past that he’d never spoken aloud – let you kiss him and touch him despite how downright scared as he was to be treated so kindly. You and Steve had broken down his walls, but they’d never been able to break down yours.

They were both so happy with you once, too. Your relationship had always been a chaotic mess, but it worked. You cooked. Steve cleaned. Bucky did laundry. It was sweet and domestic, and for a while, it worked. The three of you just worked.

The longer you were together, though, it became more and more apparent that you’d never be able to give them what they really wanted: a family. Maybe not now, but that was where things were heading. The writing was on the wall. You could read it plain as day.

On some particularly passionate nights, Steve would whisper into your ear that he needed to fill you up, and true to his word, he’d leave you absolutely filled to the brim with his cum. Bucky didn’t say it aloud, but his actions said enough: he made sure that whenever he came, it was inside you, and every time, he held himself there just a little longer.

You knew what they wanted, but you couldn’t give it to them.

You still loved them. Of course you did. You loved them entirely too much.

When November came around again, they returned from a mission to find that you’d left without a trace. You left them to find what they so desperately wanted, but couldn’t have with you. There were plenty of other willing women and, considering who they were – Avengers – you knew that they’d have quite a selection to choose from. They’d be fine.

Except they weren’t. Not at all.

You didn’t get far. Tennessee. Your plan was to lay low in the mountains while you figured out a game plan. It wasn’t like you to be so impulsive and your mind was screaming at you to go back, to stop this, you were being stupid, you were giving up the only shred of happiness in your miserable existence – but you pushed on anyway because you were too ruined to be fixed.

You couldn’t give Steve and Bucky what they wanted – what you’d also started to want so badly with them. For a long time, it never used to bother you, at least until you found the two of them. Then you realized what was missing.

How could you expect them to stay with you? Why would they even want to? To be with you was a fate they’d never willingly choose, and you’d only hold them back.  

It took just two nights before they managed to locate you in a little log cabin in the woods. You’d gone out to fetch some firewood, and when you returned, your boys were there.

They were there and your resolve shattered the moment you saw them. Broken apologies spilled from your lips just as easily as the tears rolled down your cheeks, “I’m—I’m sorry—”

Steve caught you in his arms just as your knees gave out.

“Oh, sweetheart, don’t be sorry,” Steve spoke to you so gently that you felt like your heart might burst. His arms were a welcome weight around your waist, and he slouched down to hold you tight against him, your chin coming to rest in the crook of his neck and shoulder. “You never have to be sorry.”

Bucky’s metal hand was a welcome chill against your cheek, and he gently turned your face to look at him, his thumb brushing tenderly against your cheekbone. Those lovely pale blue eyes were full of anger, hurt, and betrayal – but primarily relief.

They found you.

They found you.

“Don’t do that again,” Bucky told you, but his voice wavered just slightly on the words. It wasn’t an order, or even a request. It was a plea.

Don’t leave me again.

“I won’t,” you croaked, hot tears streaming down your face. “I love you. Both of you. I’m sorry.”

Bucky’s eyes softened, then, and he pressed a kiss to your forehead just before Steve lifted you into his arms. They’d never been here before, but it was easy enough to find the bedroom – not that either of them intended to do anything but spend time with you. Time was precious, fleeting, and no one knew that better than the two of them.

Steve threaded his fingers through your hair as you lay your head on his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat. Bucky spooned you from behind, one of his hands tracing delicate patterns up and down your side and across your stomach. 

That was always how it started. Sweet. Gentle. Loving.

It always finished in the exact opposite way: hair mussed, cheeks flushed, lips swollen; your body trapped between theirs, slick with sweat and saliva and pure, unbridled ecstasy. Your boys never failed to make a mess of you, and this night was no different.

Except it was different. 

You could feel the desperation in Bucky’s kisses, the longing in Steve’s caresses – for you, and only you. Not for what you couldn’t provide.

The next morning, the three of you sat on the sofa together, sipping on hot cups of coffee. It was casual and comfortable, just like always, like you hadn’t spent the last few days running away – but they knew why. They’d known for awhile, really, but neither of them knew how to bring it up. It was too sensitive a topic and the last thing they wanted to do was upset you.

The fact that you left them because of it was what sparked the conversation. Bucky slung his warm arm around your shoulders as Steve held a file out to you. 

“There are options,” Steve said softly as you accepted the file. Bucky immediately felt you tense at the unspoken subject – but then, as you flicked through the pages, you noticeably began to relax.

Adoption.

Surrogacy.

There were options.

The three of you had never discussed it, but the writing was on the wall. Steve and Bucky could read it just as well as you. They knew what you wanted, because it was what they wanted, too.

A family.

(If you like my work, please consider donating to my Patreon or my Ko-Fi!)

#steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x you #steve rogers x y/n #steve rogers imagine #steve rogers #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes #request #completed request #options

[sureivy]

is that HALSEY? no, that’s just IVY CALDER. SHE is TWENTY-FOUR years old and is an EMPLOYEE AT DON’T FRET & PAWS 4 LOVE. rumor has it they’ve been in town for FOUR MONTHS / TEN YEARS. on a good day, they’re CREATIVE & VERSATILE. but watch out! they can also be IRRESPONSIBLE & VOLATILE. TRIGGER BANG BY LILY ALLEN (FT. GIGGS) plays in my head whenever i think of them. can’t wait to see them around springhill!

hello my pals ! i’m amy ( 20 // est // she/her ) and i am super excited to be here! we also over here bringing back a fairly old muse (i,, apparently,, play her during election years,,) with a couple of tweaks, so we love that for me! also! pls forgive me if this is lowkey disorganized, we’ve been in and out of airports all day! can’t wait to contract that sexy corona!

QUICK FACTS:

full name: ivy rose calder

date of birth: may 2, 1995

*does not perfectly reflect the below big three zodiac chart because that’s too much math

zodiac big three: taurus sun, pisces moon, aquarius rising

gender & pronouns: cis woman & she/her

sexual orientation: bisexual ( preference for women bc we luv that for her but we also luv leaving things open to chemistry )

education: high school diploma

enneagram: 7w8?

mbti: enfp

moral alignment: chaotic neutral

positive traits: creative, versatile, passionate, compassionate

negative traits: irresponsible, volatile, impressionable, hedonistic

BACKGROUND INFO:

triggers: brief implied sexual abuse, suicide, a lot of death talk?, drug abuse ( desoxyn ), overdose

ivy lived the first eight years of her life in newark, nj. she had a mere family of three – her mother, a model-turned-stay-at-home-mom, her father, a politician, and herself. she was much closer to her mother, but she and her father were close at night.

when her mother finally found out about this, she wasted no time in taking ivy’s father’s side. what a good mom! instead, ya girl was already getting in touch with cps herself... but wow... it was gonna ruin his career in politics :\

“Now, one thing I lerned from Storys is, when something big is about to okur, a riter will go: Then it hapened! This tells the reeder: Get Reddy. Here I go: Then it hapened!” - fox 8

then it happened!

humiliated, clearly never getting a platform back, and absolutely bitter, ivy’s father killed himself before being sent to prison. 

Very Tragique™

ok. so. to distance themselves from the poor memories, but to save money, ivy and her mother moved to springhill, temporarily sharing ivy’s aunt’s apartment while her mother began collecting enough money to buy an apartment of their own and keep it.

during this time, ivy was seeing a lot of people and she didn’t know why! they asked questions about her mental health, but she didn’t know why! i mean, totally not traumatic, right?

yes. instead of managing communication well, she became very fascinated by the concept of death. she had many questions about it, she, a youth, had some extended conversations with clergymen about it –– she never killed any animals, god forbid, but she was absolutely fascinated when she ran across them.

SO CLEARLY THAT WAS ALSO TRYING TO BE DEALT WITH.

ok, i’m gonna skip ahead a little. now in teen years and still fascinated by death, but in a healthier way!, and no longer in therapy because... like... that costs a lot of money!

she dealt with it the best she could. became enamored with music... because why wouldn’t she? some covers here and there, some originals here and there, living that youtube lyf, but not expecting anything to come of it. just liked validation! mood!

she also dealt with it the worst she could! became enamored with drugs! naturally, it started out small. some weed, some lsd, some molly –– you know, just drugs that you don’t typically think of as addictive. although her grades suffered, it was harmless enough...

upon graduating high school, she figured... no college. instead, with barely any money to her name, she was like “i... will go to new york... and i will become famous.”

and she did! she did go to new york! she found a few sketchy places that didn’t charge much for a few nights as she began networking - both socially and “i would like to be known for music” (i literally just forgot the word for networking like..... employment wise.... y’all i’m so dumb). when she’d made some friends, she began crashing on couches that were not quite as sketchy! 

but :\ she did meet these friends in sketchy places :\ and they were like “ok here r some new and more addictive drugs for u to try!”

what she wound up abusing using the most was desoxyn. it kept her awake, it kept her focused, it even shed a few pounds to create an excellent figure! what wasn’t to love! 

i mean it’s literally a prescription methamphetamine,,, when abused,,, literally almost exact same effects as meth,,, but when meth mouth, skin lesions, acne, etc aren’t occurring as a side effect? who was she to care!

20, she released an actual ep with the help of a super cool friend who made everyone call him puppy mills! wow! things were excellent! it wasn’t necessarily seeing mainstream traction, but there was a decent enough following! enough to release an album at 22!

perfect timing, btw! desoxyn was starting to become too expensive for puppy to afford and trying to fake having such a severe form of adhd that desoxyn would be prescribed as opposed to something like ritalin or adderal when it’s literally illegal to prescribe in some countries now?? too hard :\ but the money from the album helped her and puppy!

*olaf vc* puppy died. *end vc*

she was there for it too. she thought it was just a freak-out, took a LITTLE too much, but not OVERDOSE worthy... then he l i t e r a l l y died. and it was a painful death!

“oh wow! maybe prescription meth isn’t super cool after all! shucks!” but that was also an opening?? to visit death herself?? like... she didn’t necessarily want to die (sort of), but she wanted... an answer to the question that had plagued her her entire life... so she was like “ok hope i die then someone revives me but if i die then :\ i guess i die!”

did not die. but also did not get a satisfying answer to her question. the only way it would’ve been truly satisfying? if she had been dead for longer than a minute - then it would’ve given a definite answer! because the answer she received was just nothingness which, while peaceful... is it true?

she tried to detox alone, what because rehab is a business, and it... only... sort of worked. she would be clean for a few weeks, then fall back in, then clean for a few weeks, then fall back in. whenever she wasn’t just naturally focused and awake, or whenever what she was focused on was the past, she would fall back in.

i mean, a side effect is memory loss, so win/win!

she made the semi-wise decision to move back to springhill. wisest would’ve been to just move to a town/city she had absolutely no memories in, but better than moving back to newark!

so... without much to show, and with an unreliable streak, she knew she wouldn’t be able to start looking for much of an occupation – but she still needed money! so she began working at don’t fret out of a love for music, then began working at the animal shelter after completing training.

the main training was, of course, for putting animals to sleep.

FULL CIRCLE.

ah yes. how she pretends it’s healthy... even tho there are studies and statistics relating suicide to veterinarians and shelter workers who euthanize animals... ah yes.

has been back for four months now. love that. do not know how to finish this.

TL ; DR:

born in newark. moved to springhill at 8. childhood trauma that she is still carrying causes fascination with death. “i love music.” moved to ny at 18 because realistic. childhood trauma also causes dependency on desoxyn. releases an ep and an album. does not become famous, but they both have decent traction. moves back after an overdose. relapses... often. now sells records and puts animals to sleep. miss american dream since she was 17, amirite?

PERSONALITY / MISCELLANEOUS INFO:

one person one week, a totally different person the next.

wants to please people, but also wants to be her own person? it’s a whole deal!

in spite of her slight icarian incident, she still hopes to maybe one day become a real musician and performer. until then, we selling records and saying ‘goodbye’ to sweet animals!

can truly flip like a switch in interactions! does love ruining things for herself! almost always feels bad after bc :\ damn :\ alright :\

i’m very bad at these sections i really hate that i always include them!

is still avoiding healthy coping mechanisms. love that for her.

favorite movie is, unironically, the bee movie. favorite horror movie is cats.

SO GOOD at memorizing random lines or trivia. could probably recite literally all of who’s afraid of virginia woolf? other than that?? her memory is so bad. hate drugs for that :\

she uses her hair to express herself! (that sounds really boring.) ...she uses her hair to express herself!

but no. seriously. wears the black shag weave the most, followed by the blue/yellow combo ( we stan the badlands aesthetic ). occasionally forays into other colors and styles when money permits, but it’s usually gonna be one of those two!!

was an envy on the coast stan in high school which makes an inappropriate amount of sense.

will go out and steal the dumbest shit when she’s drunk. has a history of stealing chickens.

once again: hate that i always include these!! feel free 2 j consult the personality parts in the quick facts!!

CONNECTION IDEAS:

ok we gonna list some general ones for right now! all are open to multiple people unless there’s an asterisk by it!

close friends –– moonie, teagan,

ride or die

childhood friends –– moonie,

bad influence ( mutual or her on them ) –– veronica ( mutual ),

good influence ( them on her ) –– presley, hayden, gabrielle,

exes ( can be from high school or something like that if based in springhill, can be from 20s in new york if based in new york )

fwb –– trent,

will they, won’t they –– presley,

someone who knew her music ( can be neutral, a fan of it, or hate it afhkjsl ) –– presley, moonie, teagan, indiana, 

will also possibly be sending in some wanted connections for things that are! more specific!

truly anything!! also up to brainstorm and/or look at yours if you have them!!

UPDATE: i have created a wc page so we luv that for me.

OK. like this or hmu if you’d like to plot!

#springhillintro #DONT WORRY THERE'S A TL;DR I. DIDNT KNOW WHEN TO STOP. #also!! am gonna leave the ooc post up for a few so i have reference for who liked it bc i must!! #depart for about an hour and a half and i do not want!! to forget!! y'all idk what im doing today.

[fyrapartnersearch]

It’s 𝔉𝔞𝔫𝔱𝔞𝔰𝔶 𝔗𝔦𝔪𝔢, y’all.

Well hey there, stranger! My name's Samvs and I'm kind of in the market for a new writing partner or two. Let me save you some time and give you the important deets up front:

⭐ 21+

⭐ M/M

⭐ Multi-Para / Novella

⭐ Modern or Premodern Fantasy/Horror

⭐ Discord and/or Email

⭐️ EST (if that matters? I guess?)

Still with me? Rad~

Like everyone else posting on here, I'm a huge nerd, y'all. I'm absolutely the type to make playlists for every character and universe, to make big ass Pintrest boards for muses and locations and pets (its an excuse to look at dog pics, tho, lets be real,) and I absolutely love sharing stuff like that with my writing partners. That being said, if that's not your style, that's totally fine! I'm absolutely cool with most styles of collaboration!

That's really what roleplaying is about for me - collaboration. I love writing SO MUCH, but I'm not the type of person to write out a whole novel on my own, so I absolutely adore ooc chatter about the plot, the characters, the fucking memes they would send each other, whatever it may be!

I swear I won't chew your ear off all the time, but you're cordially invited to fantasize with me ✨

As for content, I’m pretty open. Yeah, there’s those few taboo subjects that most folk agree not to touch, but violence, sexuality and dark themes are the salt and pepper of literature. Gotta have a little darkness in your paintings according to Bob Ross, and his word is law. I don’t make the rules.

I don’t like fading to black unless the scene feels repetitive, and while I don’t have any specific kinks to insert, I can’t imagine most of my characters (or anyone else, tbh,) being solely into vanilla missionary.

This is the part where I admit I'm probably not going to be a good match for you if you crave daily replies. I also crave daily replies, but I literally cannot manage my life, my chores, my job, my stupid needy cat and everything else WITH as much writing as I'd like to do a day. I'd guess my average rate of response is a day to three, but there are going to certainly be times when I can hit you back much faster.

In short, I might need a little patience, but I'm more than happy to extend the same to you.

Speaking of, I'm also really not the type to be too butthurt if you bail. It's nice to get a message, but I mean, that's really awkward and I FULLY UNDERSTAND being overwhelmed and stepping away from writing for a bit. If you wanna come back, but the fire sort of faded for the story, hey, that's fine! I have about a billion plots to launch your way and as long as we get along, I'll be here when you're ready to work on something new!

On to those plots, though, because that's the good shit, right? Like, that's what we HERE FOR. Below you'll find a list of concepts I already have rolled up fairly tight into almost-plots; they're flexible and destructible and if combinable, so if anything really speaks to you in pieces, we can work with that! I’m a huge fan of larger casts, too, so if you’re here for an expanding universe, then I am too! In most of these, I don't have a preference for role, but in those that do I've bolded the role that I would prefer <b>you</b> to play.

<I> As a heads up, I've been listening to a lot of true crime podcasts lately so you might spot a bit of a theme in some of them lmao</i>

MODERN:

⭐ Journalist x <b>Investigator/Retired Officer </b>:

<i>[A little bit like modern D&D.] A charismatic Tiefling crime journalist meets an experienced investigator through work and talks this delightfully rough subject into a series of in-depth interviews. Though they have very little in common aside from an expansive mental catalog of crime scene photography, they find themselves talking long after the recording stops each time they meet. When the journalist finds himself suddenly embroiled in real danger, and without the benefit of being able to take it to the police, he turns to his newfound friend. What seemed like simple violence is only the tip of the iceberg, though, and it's up to the two of them to do what they can to divert the Titanic.</I>

⭐ Professional Witch x Client:

<I> Magic mingles with the mundane, and like with every other aspect of western life, cash is king. As long as you have money, witching agencies will be happy to help you find a mystic solution for your mostly monotonous worries, whether you need to break a curse... or cast one.</I>

⭐️ Werewolf x Dog Lover:

<I> There’s been a big, strange dog laying in the alleyway beside your house all night, and it’s dumping rain. You can’t just leave the poor pooch out there, right? Maybe he needs a home! </I>

⭐️ Drug Dealer x <b>Cop</b>:

<I> There’s a new party drug on the scene, and it’s making habitual users go feral. Literally. The morphing power of the euphoric powder known as Glimmer isn’t intended, however, and when it’s Fae producer is confronted by an officer on the case of a disappeared partygoer, they realize that there’s more going on here than just a little too much Hoovering. Fae politics and human laws have trapped them in a tight labyrinth that they’ll need each other’s help to navigate and survive.</I>

⭐️ Bonus Concepts:

<I> Fae realms, the intersection of fantasy and politics, odd couples, modern adventuring parties with diverse casts, nonhuman subculture </I>

HISTORICAL/MEDIEVAL:

⭐️ Fae x Adventurer

<I> It’s not every day one stumbles upon a mystic being and survives, and it’s even less common to come out on top. When a wandering adventurer finds a Fae trapped in an iron hunter’s snare in the wilderness, he’s wary to wisdom about setting it free. After cajoling and bargaining and begging, the Fae finally strikes a deal with the mortal; freedom in exchange for a wish. The adventurer can’t make a decision, though, and soon realizes that the Fae can’t leave him until he does, bound by the law of his own magic. Desperate to keep the powerful and beautiful creature with him, he stalls as long as he can. Maybe his wish is just not to be lonesome any longer. </I>

⭐️ Witch x <b>Inquisitor</b>

<I>Most villages have themselves a witch or a cunnung woman, a sage whose strangeness is tolerated in exchange for advice, cures and the promise of peace and prosperity through a little magic when the gods aren’t looking. This village happens to have a cunning fellow, who, perhaps unwisely, takes in a burgled and beaten stranger found on the roadside. It’s not until the unconscious man is already in his home that the witch realized he’s carried back a debilitated inquisitor, a stranger who may bring word of such country practices back to his leaders. Afraid that the burning arm of the church might turn towards his home, the witch has to either hide, show the inquisitor that his people are harmless, or... well, the dead don’t talk, after all, even if that does go against the his vow to defend life. What’s a witch to do? </I>

⭐️ Witch x <b>Fae/Demon</b>

<I> Same inquisition, different witch. Captured by the church and set to burn at the stake, there’s little hope for this one. Resigned to die, the witch is more than surprised when an otherworldly creature offers him a chance at freedom. It comes at a cost: he will be bound to the creature, in body and soul. Depending on his chaotic sponsor’s temperament, that could mean a life of learning deeper magics... or a life of torment and enslavement. A bad life is better than being on fire, though, right?</I>

⭐️ Thief x Warlock

<I> What’s shady, nasty, and might dirk you for a copper piece? Well, it’s both of them, actually. Two adventurers squabble over the prize stored in the city auction house, having both decided to steal it on the same night in unfortunate coincidence. One desires it’s power, the other, it’s weight in gold. Neither realize that they’ve both stumbled into an ancient trap until they split the burden of the curse the artifact truly bears. The curse binds them, and they have no choice but to work together to lift it before it claims their lives. Perhaps fate brought them together... or perhaps it was the wicked call of ancient spirits, begging for release. </I>

⭐️ Bonus Concepts:

<I> Dark magic, pacts and promises, curses, metropolitan adventures and sewer spelunking, social inequality based on fantasy aspects.</I>

It’s a lot of shit, I know. I wrote it. On a <I>phone</I>.

If any of that sounds like your jam and you’re interested in writing with me, then hit me up!

Contact me at <b>[email protected]</b> and we’ll talk it out!

✨

#independent roleplay #oc rp #smut rp #indie rp #short term #long term #multiple paragraph #email #para #messenger #submission

[syrupwit]

Letter for Trick or Treat Exchange 2021

-

Hello there, and welcome to my letter for Trick or Treat Exchange 2021! I appreciate that you’ve taken the time to read this letter. I hope that it will provide you with clarification, inspiration, or whatever else you may happen to be seeking from it.

Although I’ve written more for some sections and less for others, rest assured I would be thrilled to receive a gift for any of the requested fandoms, characters, or fanwork types. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out through the mods.

I have requested Fic Only, Tricks and Treats for all canons.

Please see the table of contents below:

Likes

Do Not Want (DNW)

Fandom - Dishonored

Fandom - Fallout: New Vegas

Fandom - The Magnus Archives

Fandom - Stellar Firma

Fandom - What We Do In The Shadows (TV)

-

LIKES

I have a very long list of likes here.

For Treats, some general things I like are:

Absurd, silly, or situation-based humor

Surreality, weirdness, crack treated seriously

Lore and worldbuilding

Unusual team-ups

Dramatic rescues

Get togethers and first times

Halloween tropes and trappings that tend more towards the fun or cheesy (pumpkins, candy, trick-or-treating, costume parties, bad horror movies, haunted houses, autumn weather, friendly supernatural creatures, black cats having a good time)

For Tricks, some general things I like are:

Dark comedy, gallows humor, horror-comedy

Psychological, paranormal, gothic, and cosmic horror

Creepy lore and worldbuilding

Unreliable narrators

Corruption

Hurt no comfort (esp. emotionally)

Supernatural creatures and goings-on of all kinds

-

DO NOT WANT (DNW)

Characters depicted as under age 18 involved in sexual situations

Characters having sex without mutual sexual attraction

Hate speech or hate crimes (discussions/mentions of bigotry are fine)

Harm to pet animals (the existence of ghost pets is OK, and it’s fine to mention pet animals that have canonically died, but I don’t want to hear about injury, abuse, or noncanonical death of pet animals)

Bestiality

Scat

Necrophilia (sexual activity involving ghosts or sentient skeletons/undead is OK, just not inanimate corpses or remains)

Sexual activity involving worms / spiders / insects

-

FANDOM - DISHONORED

Ivan Jacobi's Grandfather

This character is so inconsequential that he only shows up for a few sentences in an in-universe memoir in Death of the Outsider, but the little glimpse we get is fascinating. Tell me more about this stubborn old man who moved into the family crypt and let his impressionable grandson sleep over among the skeletons. I want to hear his ancestor stories, the creepier the better.

Kirin Jindosh

My favorite antagonist from DH2! I'd love to hear more about his abominable creations, his alliance with Delilah, and what he got up in his brief studies at the Academy of Natural Philosophy. I ship him pretty hard with Emily, but I'm open to any pairing. (Note: I'm fine with mentioning or exploring his canon nonlethal fate, though I'd prefer it not be played for comedy.)

Billie Lurk

Of the Dishonored protagonists, Billie is my favorite. Someone, I can't find the source, once described her character arc as "atonement without redemption" -- I really like that. Death of the Outsider highlighted a intriguingly cocky streak of hers I hadn't noticed before, also (the things she says about the bank job!!).

I'd love to hear more about her years as a ship captain, the connections she built across the isles; her early years with Daud and the Whalers, how those relationships changed; and anything post-canon. Gen-wise, I really enjoy her interactions with Daud, Sokolov, and the Outsider, and I'd like to see how she didn't get along with Galia Fleet.

Ship-wise, I like her with Daud or any female character. Seriously -- Billie/Teresia Cienfuegos! Billie/Thalia Timsh! Billie/the surviving witch in the basement jail in that one mission of Death of the Outsider! Ooh, what about Billie/ghost!Deirdre? I am, as they say, just spitballing here. I also like Emily/Billie, Delilah/Billie, and Billie/Lizzy, for some less rare pairings. :-)

-

FANDOM - FALLOUT: NEW VEGAS

Dean Domino

Vengeful petty bastard. He was my favorite of the three companions in Dead Money, and the reveal at the end blindsided me. I really liked the atmosphere and story in Dead Money -- I'd love more about Dean Domino's pre-ghoul days, how he survived, and what it takes to sustain a grudge for centuries.

Mr. House

Everything about Mr. House and the Lucky 38 is fascinating to me. I'd love something about the years he spent waiting and planning, or the dynamic between him and a more evil or chaotic Courier.

Doctor Mobius

Old World Blues is my favorite DLC for this game, and I loved the showdown/reveal with Doctor Mobius! More roboscorpions, more ridiculous schemes, or interactions with the Courier and the other Big MT scientists and denizens would be great.

Stealth Suit Mk II

Why is the suit cute, and why won't she/it stop trying to give me Med-X? I'd love to hear more about this adorable sneaky suit and her/its relationship to her/its wearer. If you want to go to a shippy place there, please feel more than free.

Ulysses

So dramatic, so tragic, so vague at times. I really, really like his relationship with the Courier and the way it develops in Lonesome Road -- I ship them romantically, one-sided on Ulysses's part and reciprocated, but I also like their many possible dynamics as gen. (I have no preference on gender or alignment for the Courier -- feel free to write the character however you prefer.)

Ulysses strikes me as very lonely, and he seems to be finally feeling grief that he suppressed. I'd love something where the Courier rescues or comforts him, or where the possibility of being rescued/comforted occurs to him but is never actualized (PAIN). Alternately, interactions between Ulysses and any random character, the more unexpected the better, would be great, as would Ulysses solo gen about what he gets up to post-DLC.

Yes Man

My favorite amoral AI! His passive-aggression is hilarious, but I love that he's also genuinely scary. I'd enjoy hearing more about his origins and development, his dynamic with Benny, and his relationship with the Courier and anyone else he might encounter.

-

FANDOM - THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES

Adelard Dekker

Dekker is cool! I like that he's pragmatic and competent, not without a sense of humor, and somehow genuinely religious even in the world of TMA. I ship him with Gertrude, but I also enjoy them as friends. I'd love anything about his pre-canon adventures, origins, relationship with the Web, or interactions with unexpected characters.

Harriet Fairchild

An incredibly minor character (she shows up for a few lines in MAG 21, "Freefall"), but I'm so curious about her. What is her relationship to Simon Fairchild, and how did she become associated with the Vast?

Neil Lagorio

In-universe fictional media is one of my very favorite things, and I loved the episodes with Neil Lagorio. I'd enjoy hearing more about his filmography, strange experiences on his sets, criticism of his films, popular reception, or anything along those lines.

Peter Lukas

An unrepentant monster, and a terrible boss, but awkward and petty in enjoyably human ways. I would love to see how he interacts in a fish-out-of-water scenario, a meeting with other avatars, or a situation where he feels threatened. Seeing him interact with Gertrude would be fantastic. I ship him romantically with Martin, one-sided on Peter's part or grudgingly reciprocated, but I also really enjoy their gen interactions.

Original Statement Giver(s)

I'm always down for original statement fic, whether it's about an encounter with a specific entity or something more ambiguous. <3

-

FANDOM - STELLAR FIRMA

Bathin

We've heard so much about Bathin, but what is he really like, outside that one recording? I ship him with David and/or Trexel, but I'd also like to just hear about him.

Enola

Post-canon, what do they get up to aboard The Terpsichore's Vaunt? Vent gremlin to captain of a Star Puncher Class vessel must be a bit of a leap.

David 7

Poor David has been through so much. I'd love something about them post-canon, figuring out the wider universe beyond Stellar Firma, or a canon divergence AU from any point. Additionally, I think it could be fun to explore common fic tropes with them -- coffeeshop AU part 2, fake dating (which is also their first time doing anything dating-like?), arranged marriage because *handwave*, time travel or time loops.

I ship David with Bathin and/or Trexel, and with Trexel and Hartro in a triad, although I'm open to other pairings. Platonically, I like them with I.M.O.G.E.N., or meeting anyone outside the station.

With regard to David's gender and pronouns, I don't have a strong preference or headcanon -- please feel free to go with your favored interpretation.

Trexel Geistman

Trexel is my favorite. I enjoy the childish, silly side of his terrible self, but I also love it when canon decides to take his issues seriously. Please let him bumble around like a jackass making poor decisions, projecting onto those around him, and occasionally providing his own brand of "help" or insight.

I ship Trexel with just about everyone, but particularly David 7, Hartro, and/or Bathin. I really enjoy him as the pining party in a ship, whether his pining is one-sided or reciprocated. In general, though, I just really like Trexel.

For Halloween-related prompts, I'd love something with him as a horror host a la the Cryptkeeper, or maybe something with him encountering the ghosts of the Board or one of his more illustrious ancestors. Less Halloween-related, a Groundhog Day time loop AU with Trexel as the POV character could also be fun.

Hartro Piltz

Hartro is also my favorite. She's... god, she's ridiculous. I love her interest in the arts and her taste for Drama. I was really pleased with her transition from antagonist, to semi-frenemy, to antagonist again, and finally to tentative ally.

Ship-wise: I ship her super hard with Trexel and David as a triad and Trexel as a pairing, although I also love the three of them as a gen group. We haven't seen Hartro interact with a lot of other characters in canon; there are no other canon dynamics that ping me as particularly shippy, that "yum" from IMOGEN and the bit of flirting with Sigmund Shankeray notwithstanding. However, I am open to any pairing or gen interaction for her, including OCs. Seriously, please go for it! I just really like Hartro.

Promptwise: The last bit of bonus content, "No Love For Spies," involved impromptu scripted roleplay with Hartro, David, and Trexel. I'd love a scenario like that, but maybe shippy or awkwardly sexy (well, more awkwardly sexy than it already is, with evening-gown!Hartro lounging around on tables). I'd also enjoy something set pre-canon, something about her life outside of work during canon, or post-canon exploring how she gets along in a post-Stellar Firma universe.

Also, I realized I forgot to say so, but I opt into the foot thing. Lol.

-

FANDOM - WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS (TV)

Guillermo de la Cruz

I recently watched this series for the first time, and Guillermo is far and away my favorite. The way he compartmentalizes what he's been doing for the vampires, the repression, the hints of manipulativeness, and then the fact that he's just really cute -- he's great. I'm enjoying the slayer!Guillermo storyline and the sort of power reversal, or power redistribution, that's come about because of it.

I ship Guillermo/Nandor pretty hard, one-sided and reciprocated, but I'd also love Guillermo solo gen, friendship fic, or ensemble fic. For a Treat, canon-typical slice of life would be great, or something about what he gets up to on Halloween. For a Trick, perhaps he encounters a hostile vampire or other creature, defends or rescues the others, or himself needs to be rescued? Guillermo gets yanked around and disappointed so much in canon; I'd love something where, no matter what trials he is subjected to, the vampires come through for him in the end.

#optional detailed letters for exchanges tag #this signup is no longer in progress!

[gibberingcultist]

Arkham Horror: The Card Game

Designers: Nate French, Matthew Newman Artists: Christopher Hosch, Marcin Jakubowski, Ignacio Bazán Lazcano, Henning Ludvigsen, Mercedes Opheim, Zoe Robinson, Evan Simonet Players: 1-2 per base game. Playtime: 60-120 minutes per scenario. BGG Weight: 3.31 / 5 Mechanisms: Action Point Allowance System, Cooperative Play, Deck / Pool Building, Hand Management, Role Playing, Variable Player Powers

Arkham Horror: The Card Game is a cooperative Living Card Game® set amid a backdrop of Lovecraftian horror. As the Ancient Ones seek entry to our world, one to two investigators (or up to four with two Core Sets) work to unravel arcane mysteries and conspiracies.

Their efforts determine not only the course of your game, but carry forward throughout whole campaigns, challenging them to overcome their personal demons even as Arkham Horror: The Card Game blurs the distinction between the card game and roleplaying experiences.

I would consider Arkham Horror LCG as one of my favorite games at this moment so why not take some time to touch on it even though the game came out three plus years ago. I was introduced to the base game last year by a friend and I haven’t stopped playing and in turn buying additional expansions, mythos packs, or standalone adventures ever since. It’s been a costly endeavor however an enjoyable one. Currently I’m only half way through The Path to Carcosa campaign so I will try to touch back when I finish that campaign and any future campaigns. I will be playing them all eventually.

Arkham Horror LCG is a great two player game. My girlfriend and I like to fit one of the scenarios into our busy work week whenever we can. AH-LCG can be a bit chaotic at four players, due to each player drawing at least one or even two cards from the mythos deck (bad events) each round. This addition of more enemies or obstacles can overwhelm an already complicated board state. But in turn, having additional players can help with achieving particular goals or taking care of all the monsters that have spawned over the last few rounds. Personally I tend to just stick to 2-player games of AH-LCG, as it cuts down on the time between turns, keeping those with short attention spans, like me, engaged from start to finish. But I’m happy and willing to try a scenario with any additional players as well.

Replayability

One might think you play each scenario only once but really you could play each of them numerous times. Not only does most of the scenarios have multiple strategies to win and in turn multiple outcomes but also you could play with different characters who are using slightly different decks. I have played the base game composed of 3 scenarios, 3-4 times, each with different friends and playing as different characters. I’m on my second play through of The Dunwich Legacy Campaign and I am enjoying it just as much as I did the first time around. There is also a harder difficulty that I might attempt someday. Probably once I have all the necessary asset/event cards from all the different mythos packs.

Playtime

Each scenario will be set up slightly different so the set-up of the game can take a bit of time. But with the help of other players experienced in AH-LCG, this can go rather quickly. Most scenarios tend to play in 1.5-2.5 hours I would say. The harder scenarios playing a bit longer as there is more discussion and consideration regarding what should be done to succeed. But this is an story-driven experience so the time it takes to play a scenario is an engaging one!

Night of the Zealot

The base game of AH-LCG comes with only three scenarios unfortunately. But it’s a decent primer for what you will be getting into with future campaigns. Part I: The Gathering You and your partners have been investigating strange events in your home city of Arkham, Massachusetts… A quick and easy scenario and a great test scenario for any and all future characters you might later acquire. It throws you right into the action with all those strange occurrences you were supposedly investigating, coming to investigate you. Part II: The Midnight Masks A rather difficult scenario with just the base asset/equipment cards but this scenario shows you that you can’t do everything you want to do each scenario. You will need to know when to cut your losses and run! Part III: The Devourer Below So I’ve played this (mini?) campaign three times now and I’ve only got two of the three end campaign resolutions. It’s hard! But again, I haven’t played it with any of the expansion cards so maybe another go at it is in order!

Return to the Night of the Zealot

This will be the next campaign(?) I start after the Path to Carcosa. I imagine there will be a Return To… for each of the five major expansions. Plus I just love owning these expansions in particular mostly for the boxes that they come in. They are a great way to store and organize all the cards you will inevitably amass.

Final Thoughts

Pros: + One of the best storytelling experiences within board gaming that I have found. Besides straight up RPG. + Really fun to build a deck for new characters or improve a deck for a current character through XP generation. + LCG means I don’t have to waste time and money searching for one card in particular. I know exactly what cards will be with what expansion. + Really enjoyable campaigns where the decisions you make during and after play will have direct outcomes and lasting effects that carry over from scenario to scenario. Cons:    – There’s much to purchase. Each Mythos Pack and standalone scenario will run you $10-15 (USD). A second base game is needed to play 3-4 players which can run you another $20-40. Additional major expansions are $25-30. I spent at least a $100+ to fully customize the box, sleeve the cards, use coin capsules on the tokens, buy a decent sized mythos bag to pull from, etc. – Some scenarios can have vague rule sets and will usually result in you as the player googling rule clarifications. And other scenarios can be just downright frustrating.

Andy’s Rating: 9 / 10

#Action Point Allowance System #cthuhlu #h.p. lovecraft #Arkham Horror LCG #fantasy flight games #Living Card Game #Arkham Horror #Matthew Newman #Nate French #Hand Managment

[simul16]

In No Way Is This A Comprehensive Review of Rime of the Frostmaiden

First off, an admission -- this is not a wholly unbiased review of "Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden". I purchased the adventure after seeing that the Season 10 Adventurers League Player's Guide mentioned it as a '+1 resource', which suggested that there was sufficient player-focused material in the adventure to justify making it an option for players to choose it as their secondary source for their characters' abilities, spells, etc. However, after realizing that most of that material is background-specific, which generally isn't restricted in the same way, the AL Admins removed the book from the list of +1 options in the 10.1 revision of the Players Guide, by which time I had confirmed that the only player-specific material in the book consists of three wizard spells. As I wrote on Twitter, I regret my decision. This review is part of my revenge. "Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden" is a decent 32-page classic TSR adventure for level 6 to 8 characters, somewhat recklessly padded out to 320 pages in order for Wizards of the Coast to be able to publish it as a far more expensive hardcover adventure. Let me break all of that down. The title of the adventure, and the art on both the standard cover and the alternate art cover feature Auril, the Frostmaiden, prominently -- specifically an avatar of Auril that your players will actually encounter when they face off against Auril in the adventure. And on the back cover of the book, an evocative bit of flavor text describes a scene in which the characters open up a passage to something called the Caves of Hunger in order to pass through it to a more dangerous area. You might be forgiven if you thought that more dangerous area was where Auril herself was lurking, and that the party needed to get there in order to defeat her and free Icewind Dale from her bitter machinations. But that's not actually true -- in your campaign, the scene described on the back cover might well happen (and indeed is paced in the actual adventure to happen) after the player characters have already defeated Auril and ended her threat to Icewind Dale. The actual part of the adventure where the player characters find and engage with Auril and defeat her plan takes up sixteen pages of text in the adventure. Add in monster stat blocks and artwork, plus maps, and you can easily see how this would fill out a classic TSR-era 32-page adventure module. And while some of the earlier material has ties to Auril, in that the adversaries the characters face are posited as being worshippers or servants of the Frostmaiden, defeating them only helps them defeat Auril herself in the sense that defeating the lesser evils helps them level up from first level to become powerful enough (over the course of a week or two, of course) to take on Auril's avatar herself (thus the 'level 6 to 8' comment in that opening paragraph). Now it's not automatically a bad thing that Rime of the Frostmaiden contains some introductory material: Wizards has done this before, and to good effect. Arguably, the entirety of the first hardcover adventure published by Wizards, "Hoard of the Dragon Queen" is basically setup to get the characters to the level they'll need to be to directly take on the Cult of the Dragon's plan to bring Tiamat to Faerun in "Rise of Tiamat", but the first adventure that explicitly used 'introductory' material to allow 1st level characters to 'level up' into the adventure proper was "Curse of Strahd", which included the mini-adventure "Death House" to get 1st level characters up to level 3 (if they survived) so they could start their proper adventure in Barovia. "Rime" attempts this same sort of alchemy, making use of introductory material that draws on the themes of the main adventure in order to give a satisfying and thematically appropriate intro to the main adventure. The problem is, as noted, the actual encounters the party has with Auril do not comprise the main text of the adventure in "Rime of the Frostmaiden", in the same way that exploring Castle Ravenloft and uncovering Strahd's weaknesses were the main text of "Curse of Strahd". In Rime, literally half the book (from page 22 to page 185, or 163 pages of the 320 page book) is involved in describing encounters, encounter areas, and adversaries which are, at best, peripheral to Auril and her plans -- defeating these enemies doesn't really give the PCs any special insight into Auril (as certain encounters in "Curse of Strahd" do for Strahd), nor do they sufficiently weaken her or give the party specific advantages over Auril (as recovering the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind does in "Curse of Strahd") In fact, the part of the adventure that deals with Auril herself, the character the adventure is named after and whose image is prominently featured in the adventure's marketing, is roughly the same proportion of "Rime of the Frostmaiden" as "Death House" was to "Curse of Strahd". These 163 pages of filler text, which from their sheer volume would seem to be important to the story being told here, only exist to get the characters up to level 4. But wait, I hear you ask, didn't I say the Auril part of the adventure was suitable for characters of level 6 to 8? Yes I did. That's because after spending half the book getting the PCs ready to take on Auril, the book then launches the great threat to Icewind Dale of...a mad duergar who built a dragon out of that crystal stuff in that one Driz'zt Do'Urden book (and gives us an excuse to have a Driz'zt reference which we totally needed in this adventure, obvs) and then unleashes the dragon onto Ten Towns? Yes, this adventure, which various WotC folks have stated online has prominent themes of isolation and the horror that isolation can create, interrupts its own narrative halfway through the book to spend eight pages to remind you that the game is called Dungeons and DRAGONS, not Dungeons and Snowy Owl Women with Horns. The good news is that once they deal with the dragon, they will very likely be level 6 or even level 7 and can then move on to deal with the reason the players wanted you to run this adventure in the first place. That is, if the party is willing to work with a member of an evil organization in recovering something she wants that Auril is said to have taken and hidden from her, so much so that the adventure explains to the DM: "The rest of the adventure depends on the characters agreeing to help" the totally not evil NPC who totally helped them fight the giant dragon (did we mention you can buy a special edition miniature of the GIANT DRAGON??) by throwing magic missiles at it and who totally doesn't have ulterior motives for wanting her stuff back, no sirree. (Is this part of that 'isolation' theme we've heard so much about? Like 'an isolated NPC mage can't complete her objectives without the assistance of unwitting PC adventurers'?) In actuality, only the parts of the adventure that come after the party deals with Auril (such as that evocative scene described on the back cover) rely on the characters agreeing to help this NPC, so in effect the 'rest of the adventure' is just 45 more pages of stuff that, once the characters have already beaten Auril, is likely going to feel like going through the motions for the benefit of a few extra character levels. About which: "Rime of the Frostmaiden" continues WotC's push toward making use of Milestone Leveling rather than traditional XP leveling. When WotC first started making use of the milestone leveling mechanic in their hardcovers, I appreciated the move; it helped ensure that parties that dealt with challenges in ways that didn't necessarily involve killing everything in their path still got appropriate character experience and weren't unfairly punished for finding a different route through the adventure. (This also makes it less important for PCs to be highly-optimized combat monsters, because if they can gain the info they need through good role-playing and a well-timed skill check backed by Inspiration, they don't need to be able to know exactly what their character's DPR happens to be, and players who insist on pushing their fellow players in the direction of optimization can be shown with actual in-game results that optimizing isn't the only way to succeed in an RPG adventure.) However, after reviewing the encounters in this adventure as well as in Tomb of Annihilation (another adventure that relies heavily on milestone leveling), I've come to suspect that the use of strict milestone leveling is more based on a need to be able to build adventures quickly without having to pay strict attention to whether or not there is enough XP in the adventure budget to get the characters to the level they need to be by the end in order to be high enough level to tackle the next set of challenges. This isn't just my observation -- Mike Shea at Sly Flourish has written about how published adventures simply don't give enough XP to level characters as quickly as they need to in order to handle the challenges thrown at them. If you put in appropriate milestones, though, hey, that's not a problem anymore! If you're a completist, you've probably already bought this book, so I'm not sure why you're even reading this. If you're reading this hoping to get my thoughts on whether or not it's a good adventure to run for your players, my suggestion is this: wait until they ask you to run the adventure for them, then pray that by then someone will have published a DMs guide to the adventure as they have for previous hardcover adventures, so that you'll have a better idea how to wrangle this chaotic mass of introductory material with a classic TSR module-sized payoff lurking in the middle. Or, if you can't wait, run them through "Horde of the Dragon Queen" and then, instead of heading to Waterdeep, have the caravan the PCs follow go all the way to Icewind Dale so that the party can have a few encounters, gain more XP, deal with Auril, and get back on track to deal with Tiamat, only at the appropriate level for the encounters they'll have in that other hardcover that, in theory, had way more development time.

[reverencerp-blog]

It's a looong read, but we promise it's worth the trouble!

PLAGUES AND THE LUCK SYSTEM

We’ve decided to implement a luck system on Reverence. It’s meant to help guide your characters’ interactions with the plagues, combat, illness, and pregnancy and is perhaps one of the most important elements of how the site works.

Each character will be assigned a number from 1-10, 1 being the most unlucky, and 10 being its opposite. Nearly all characters will fall somewhere between 3 and 7. If your character happens to be on the lower end of the spectrum, it simply means they’re more likely to have a harder time avoiding misfortune. Characters who have it easier will likely wriggle out of sticky situations unscathed, but might face jealousy or resentment from their peers as a result, which could be all the worse in a situation where you’re kept in one space with the nobility of two nations.

To be clear, “misfortune” doesn’t necessarily coincide with death. Yes, characters can die on Reverence - but only with permission from their players...unless they’ve been played as a risk-taker. If a character has 3 dances with death, which are entirely selected by the player, his or her luck number will decrease by 2. If their new luck number is 1, staff will flip a coin for each of their “riskier” threads written after the decrease in luck to determine whether they live or die. Staff will be using this coin flipper and we’ll send a screenshot of your results to your OOC account via the Paragon of Death account.

Misfortune does coincide with the frequency of which your character will interact with the plagues. Plagues will not always be enormous, ugly monsters from the wound with a hankering for human flesh. Your character can be possessed by a plague, given strange or violent thoughts, lose control of their ability to lie or keep secrets, come down with a never-before-seen illness, or anything up that kind of spooky alley.

All plagues are considered site events. Whenever there is a site event, we will randomly select 10 characters and roll dice for them. If they roll their luck number or lower, they will have to interact with someone affected by the plague. If they roll higher than their luck number, they will be directly affected by the plague. Those with characters who are directly affected by the plague will receive a message from the Paragon of Death staff account, which will include a list of details about that specific plague. We will allow you to make creative choices about your character’s interaction with the plague within the limits of those details. Please do not share the details of the upcoming plague with other members. Let your posts do the talking, it’s more exciting that way!

When it comes to other luck influenced elements, like pregnancy, regular illness, or combat, let staff know when you intend to thread about such things and we’ll roll dice for you. To give an example of how this will work, if your character’s luck number is a 4 and they (IC) hope to get pregnant, they’ll have to roll a 4 or lower to conceive. Staff will be using this dice randomizer and we’ll send a screenshot of your results to your OOC account via the Paragon of Death account.

Also, please do not mistake your character’s luck with restrictions. You are free to plot and play out your character however you wish. The luck system is built to keep true to your character. That is, if your character has had an unlucky life so far (undesirable marriage, weak personality, bullying, abuse, etc.) and your character wants to have a turn of events to better their life, the chances of such a turn-around are low because they were always unlucky. That is not to say their life will never turn around, it just means that it will take time - and a lot of bumpy roads. (Yay for character development!)

Two staff members will decide your character’s luck number upon reading his/her application. We’ll take your character’s history, physical and mental strength, and your preference for mature content into account before making our decision. Again, nearly all characters will fall between 3 and 7, and it is extremely rare to have characters with extremely high luck or low luck.

GETTING MORE LUCK

Don’t be fooled into thinking that you as the player won’t have any influence of your character’s luck. Our awards system on the site feeds directly into the luck system and could be the difference between a favourable and unfavourable outcome.

Luck points are awarded when players reach milestone achievements or win member awards for standout participation in character and out of it. A character may have a maximum of 5 luck points cashed away at any given time and when it comes to any scenario with your character that will require rolling the dice to determine the outcome, you will be asked whether or not you would like to use any luck points to influence the decision. You may use some, all or none of your stored points.

The use of luck points is sadly, related only to luck based events outside of Plague or Site Events. Gotta keep the big things chaotic, you know.

Using your luck points will influence the outcome as follows, using the previous example as a guide. If your character’s luck number is 4, and they hope (IC) to get pregnant, they will need to roll a 4 or lower to conceive. Before the roll, you decide to use one luck point. The dice is rolled and the outcome is 5, but as you used one luck point, 1 is deducted from the roll. The final number is 4 and your character may enjoy the horrors of pregnancy.

Whether or not any used luck points will actually influence the decision is also a matter of luck. Staying with the previous example, if one luck point is used and the dice roll comes to a 7, even with the deduction of a luck point, the overall outcome is still not pregnant. The opposite, where the outcome is already favourable and used luck points make no difference is also possible. The more points used, the greater the likelihood of a favourable outcome, but that’s still not guaranteed.

But isn’t that the fun of it all?

TIME PASSAGE

Tiratha still has four seasons, just like much of our real world. The main difference between Tiratha’s calendar and our own is the Paragon’s influence over the weather, which you can learn a bit more about within our religious lore on the site.

Otherwise, each season is broken down into three separate months. We’ll use our winter months of December, January, and February for examples. In Tiratha, those months would be “Early, Mid, and Late Winter”. Pretty simple, right? Here’s a list of all in-game months converted to our real-life ones.

January - Mid Winter February - Late Winter March - Early Spring April - Mid Spring May - Late Spring June - Early Summer July - Mid Summer August - Late Summer September - Early Autumn October - Mid Autumn November - Late Autumn December - Early Winter

Most of the time, our real-life seasons will coincide with the ones in game. Let’s say you’re reading this on August 3rd, 2017. In game, that’d translate to The Third Day of Late Summer, 1790. You do not have to stay true to the real-life day your thread is written on, but threads written in August should all take place in Late Summer and be labeled accordingly, unless they belong to the Past & Present board. There are two points in the year where this rule will not apply. We like to call them our “Schlump Periods”.

During the months of May and November, things tend to get very busy for college students. We know it’s hard to post during or just before finals. So kick back and take it easy - time and activity are fluid in Late Fall and Spring. What this means is that these seasons will be dedicated to finishing up old threads, posting in character development events and contests, and adding information to pre-existing apps. Writing in-character during this time is totally optional! It’s almost like a time-skip. (Don’t worry, everyone else! There will still be lots to do!)

All threads from the preceding seasons will be archived just before the beginning of Early Summer and Winter, so they offer great opportunities to get back into writing after what was probably a whole month of studying and tearing your hair out.

#reverencerp #previews

[waynekelton]

Essential RPGs on Android & iOS

The best RPGs are ones that offer unique environments, well-rounded/written characters, and unusual, original plots. Some of these games are more action-oriented while others are strictly turn-based, but they all have distinct, immersive visions in which the player might find their own ego subsumed, for a time, as deeply as is desired.

Bored of RPGs? How about some board games instead?

Below is not only a collection of great games, but they're also paragons of the genre and represent ‘role-play’ at its finest whether you're playing on Android or iOS.

Community Favourites

Our readers have their own wishlists of top RPGs they'd want to celebrate. We can't we'll be able to rotate them into the main list, but that doesn't mean their voices can't be heard. If you're looking to widen your RPG net, these recommendations from other PTers might fit the bill:

7 Mages

Severed

Monster Hunter Stories

Avernum series

The Quest HD

Aurum Blade

Dungeon Chronicle

Partia 3: Knights of Partia

Demon's Rise 2, Shieldwall Chronicles & Strike Team Hydra

Battle Chasters: Nighwar (Review)

Developer: Handy Games Platform: iOS Universal, Android Price: $9.99

It took as a while to get a review of this out the door, but it was well worth the wait. This indie darling has proven very popular amongst the PC crowd, and with it's slick performance, engaging turn-based tactical mechanics and engaging narrative, it's no surprise it was a hit with us as well. It's a little on the pricier side of but well worth your money if you're looking for a fully-fleshed out RPG experience with all the trimmings.

Not much more to say about it beyond that - you can check out Brittany's review for a more comprehensive verdict but this is a pretty good RPG that's been expertly ported to mobile, and we're all the better for it.

Star Traders: Frontiers (Review)

Developer: Trese Brothers Platform: iOS Universal, Android Price: $6.99

One of 2019's best releases so far and an excellent addition to the RPG roster, STF is the culmination of nearly a decade's worth of effort making quality premium games on mobile. You customise your captains and your crew and sail amongst stars trying to eek out a living in a hostile universe. Trade, go on missions, fight pirates and aliens... this is a very diverse sandbox RPG in space, and an excellent port of the original PC version.

The only thing to keep in mind when jumping into Frontiers is that there's a lot to consider all at once, and the openness is almost intimidating. There are some tool tips and an initial main quest that will teach you some ropes, but beyond that one criticism is that its not very good at explaining itself. Still, trial and error is not the worst thing and the more you learn, the more fun you'll have as you explore all the different play-styles and gameplay options. On top of that, the developers are constantly updating the game with free content, so you'll be well served in the future.

Barbearian (Review)

Developer: Kimmo Lahtinen Platform: iOS Universal Price: $8.99

Nick sums up our thoughts perfectly on Barbearian in his review: 

Barbearian is a real-time action/RPG that features frenetic combat full of huge hits against vast hordes of enemies. The constant motion, explosive hits, and overwhelming odds of it reminds us of running around Diablo III maps looking for more things to kill. It looks great, is loaded with smashy goodness and visceral feel, and is a ton of fun to play. It offers plenty of challenge without nearing the rage-quit-and-never-look-at-the-game-again reaction some similar games seem to elicit. The ability to micromanage the difficulty and completely control the UI layout is just icing on the cake.

An easy one to recommend to RPG fans and definitely GOTY material.

Demons' Rise

Developer: Wave Light Games Platform: iOS Universal, Android Price: $7.99

This dark fantasy, turn-based RPG is a favourite amongst PT staffers, and the sequel reviewed very well when it came out. Even three years later, it still manages to draw new players with its deep approach to tactical combat, and it's D&D-style treatment of the game world. While there's an argument to be made that Demon's Rise 2 should also be on this list (either in addition to, or instead of), which one you end up picking up you're not going to regret your choice.

Fans of tactical RPGs, Dungeons & Dragons, and MMO-style combat will really take to the campaign and won't regret adding this game to their collection.

Also look out for: Wave Light have recently released another fantasy-themed tactical RPG called Shieldwall Chronicles. We quite liked it, although whether it's better than Demon's Rise is a matter for debate (we think probably not). Still, if you've already checked out DR and are looking for a new challenge, Shieldwall would be a good place to start.

Planescape Torment: Enhanced Edition (Review)

Developer: Overhaul Games Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $9.99

Planescape is strange and idiosyncratic, its characters ranging from a chaotic fire-lord whose passion is simple, total consumption and destruction of the world around him to a cherub from the Brothel for Slaking Intellectual Lusts. Its take on a D&D system isn’t particularly balanced, for the stats and character builds favor wisdom above all, both in terms of raw bonus experience and the extra interactions and dialogue options. But the story is to die for. 

The multiplanar quest of an immortal, tormented, amnesiac main character to know thyself is at once alien and deeply human. Enjoying this pre-millennium classic before its enhanced edition debut last year meant overlooking a multitude of practical shortcomings; the non-scalable and at times grainy graphics, to say nothing of bugs and lost content. Now one can meet the protagonist and experience his joys and sorrows with ease, if not comfort. The game’s peccadillos are entirely the point, its strange, singular vision undimmed by age.

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic

Developer: Aspyr Platforms:  iOS, Android Price: $9.99

In a galaxy far, far away, in a distant time immemorial, the Sith and Jedi wore very different masks. To make something as nostalgic and cherished as Star Wars new again, BioWare and LucasArts flung their players millennia into the past and pitted them against Darth Malak in a struggle for the fate of the galaxy.

The characters remain iconic and memorable to this day (HK-47 as a murderous, seemingly punctilious droid, for example), and the now-standard paragon-neutral-renegade trifecta of alignment-based decision rubric for RPGs was a natural fit for the Star Wars mythos. Choose light or dark, good or evil: these archetypes resonate because they work, as does the class- and skill-systems which were tweaked from the paper RPG baseline.

Legend of Grimrock (Review)

Developer: Almost Human Platform: iOS Price: $4.99

What is Grimrock? Four prisoners marked for death are flung into the heart of an ancient mountain to see trial by the elements. By delving deeper as a party, defeating the enemies and unravelling the riddles, you will overturn your sentence and start afresh. The mysteries of the game’s titular dungeon, whose design indicates was intended a prison for a multitude of strange beings, mount with each level until the mother-horror is finally met on the deepest level. An old-school game with grid-based real-time combat, riddles, puzzles, traps and hand-crafted (read: non-procedural, non-roguelike) levels. Good looking and thoughtfully made, its battle pace and minimal input requirements make it a natural fit for mobile.

Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition (Review)

Developer: Overhaul Games Platforms: iOS Universal, Android Price: $9.99

D&D spent a long time banished to the corners of a select few lives, shining for hours at a time in small gatherings held regularly among the elect. There have been many implementations of the various settings and rule systems of the original grand-daddy of pen-and-paper RPGs, but Baldur’s Gate is perhaps the most significant and enduring of them all. (Sorry, Temple of Elemental Evil and friends, close but no cigar).

Chrono Trigger

Developer: Square Enix Platforms: iOS Universal, Android Price: $9.99 

A journey for the ages, with a motley crew visiting each era to repair the mistakes of the past and break other timelines, zig-zagging across character arcs and plot holes with aplomb. The RPG elements are just as great as the story, both of them equally...timeless. And the soundtrack is nuanced and varied, with mysterious, mournful threnodies as well as rousing boss-battle hymns. The game keeps popping up everywhere, and for good reason, for its characters, music and story both exemplify the JRPG genre and somehow transcend it. Chrono Trigger is Chrono Trigger; to play it involves learning about RPG conventions and mechanics but to experience it is so much more, a different creature altogether.

Titan Quest (Review)

Developer: THQ Nordic Platforms: iOS Univeral, Android Price: $6.99, $8.99 

A diabolic, pan-Hellenic action-RPG whose loot system and mythic references have earned its place in the pantheon. See the world, from the Aegean to Bosphorus, to the Nile, slay its beasts of prominence. At the time of its release in 2006, the game seemed redundant and derivative; now it shines in a mobile market where a premium game with fascinating, nay, compelling, rich pool of random loot, none of it locked behind premium currency or lootboxes, is something of a rara avis. Serviceable combat, shiny loot, excellent pacing and nice controls: this is good simple fun.

Transistor

Developer: Supergiant Games Platforms:  iOS Universal Price: $4.99

The world is falling apart, being destroyed from without while society crumbles and the citizens of Cloudbank panic and retreat from their formerly comfortable lives. Transistor’s pace has only one setting, relentlessly pushing the player to new areas while a narrator overdubs the scenery and battles with evocative, if florid, prose. Transistor’s techno-utopia has clearly gone wrong at some point, and the whole city is flooded with swarms of the Process, a monochrome enemy whose various forms eerily mimic lifeforms.

The modular battle system with its flexible customization options is fun and satisfying, for any program you acquire can be equipped either as a primary (active) ability, a modifier boosting another active, or as a passive. The relative small number of programs means that this mix-and-match is always interesting, never burdensome. The combat itself is real time with the special ability to ‘pause’ the game and plan out actions.

Final Fantasy IX

Developer: Square Enix Platforms: iOS Universal, Android Price: $20.99

Nick once considered this the best of all of Square's Final Fantasy ports, so now that we're officially adding JRPGs to the list (for the moment, might spin them off to their own list-ED), we thought we'd pay homage to the grand-daddy of all JRPGs with their finest mobile offering. FF9 was released at the turn of the millennium, and moved the series forward with new mechanics whilst also paying homage to the classical games.

As far as the mobile version is concerned, you couldn't ask for more. Officially it's a remaster of the original game with features such as HD movies and in-game graphics, and they added in an auto-save feature which is essential for the drop-in/drop-out nature of mobile gaming. The only downside of this and any of Square's FF ports is the pricing - at £20 full price, which is far more than what most mobile gamers are willing to pay.

Final Fantasy-like Alternatives

Once upon a time, we posted a feature of Final Fantasy alternatives. We're trying to consolidate a bit, so we're migrating that information here for your convenience. We'll expand on this section during a future update, but for the moment, here's a shortlist of Nick's recommendations if you're looking for a FF like game, but don't want to pay the price of admission:

Doom & Destiny

Doom & Destiny Advanced

Symphony of the Origin

Revenant Dogma

Dragon Quest

Dragon Fantasy

Phantasy Star II Classic

Hall of Fame

These games graced the list in a previous life, but have since past on into legend. Here's a reminder, in case we forget:

The World Ends with You

Avadon: The Black Fortress

Shadowrun Returns

What would your list of the best mobile RPGs look like? Let us know in the comments!

Essential RPGs on Android & iOS published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

[neonganymede]

is the quarry a fyolaigma fic? *vibrates intensely*

The Quarry itself is a video game! It's a decision-based horror game with really fun couch co-op ^^ The snippet I posted for WIP Wednesday is of the three of them playing the game together, so it will be~! I just think the three of them playing a horror game together would be so fun and chaotic :3

#i've!!! written a couple of other things for the ship too!! #i have an anastasia au that i posted a fic-sized preview of a few weeks ago #and then i've shared a couple wips for some fluff that i'm writing as a side story to a skk fic sequel~ #if that makes any sense

[patheticphallacy]

This is part of my Music Monday series on my blog, where I talk all things music, from recommending songs to discussing my favourite music videos to compiling playlists based on prompts.

Summer is over!

I don’t want to say finally, because being off University has been pretty great, but I’m also so relieved the weather is going to get cooler. The weather fluctuated between INCREDIBLY HOT and ACTUALLY IT’S QUITE CHILLY in July and August and I just want it to be over please oh please.

So for Music Monday I figured I should do a little wrap up of the music I’ve enjoyed! I’ve made about 5 new music playlists for absolutely no reason at all other than I have no self control, and I keep having to edit down my 2019 playlist due to impulsively adding songs and then realising two weeks later that I honestly didn’t really love the song that much.

FAVOURITE SOLO ARTIST

My favourite solo artist this Summer was probably Sigrid. Generally with solo artists I get into one or two of their songs, and while those songs list in my favourite songs, the artist generally isn’t a new top favourite.

I’ve been a fan of Sigrid since 2017, and I finally felt like I was in the right space to listen to her new album Sucker Punch, which ended up solidifying her as one of my new favourite solo artists. She has a really intriguing voice and I love that you could dance to over half of this album because of how upbeat it is. There’s something to be said for lyrics that aren’t complicated, are easy to understand, because sometimes that makes them all the more relatable for a listener.

I also love how so much of her music is inspired by more than just romantic issues. There are crushes and friendship songs, songs about breaking free from toxic friendships– something that helped me as I reconcile with some of the more toxic elements of relationships I’ve had in the past– and there’s also a song inspired by not only Studio Ghibli, but also her attempt to control her image in the media, which is something I always love in music. Artists can be publicised so much we forget they are real human beings, and hearing their music about their public image is always humbling.

FAVOURITE BAND

  (Take This To Your Grave isn’t here because it wouldn’t fit, don’t fight me)

2008 Connie and 2019 Connie have one thing in common, and that’s their intense adoration of rock bands that formed in the 2000s. I’ve always been a fan of Fall Out Boy since I was little, but it’s only the past year I’ve actually started listening to all of their discography properly and begun appreciating what they’ve come out with.

This might be divisive, but I honestly think Fall Out Boy, of the ol’ rock/punk rock scene, have had the most consistently good albums since their debut. I think other bands have had decent albums and, in some cases, bad ones that only have one or two good songs in my opinion (Paramore’s self-titled album, I’msosorry), but not ones that have absolute hits.

Fall Out Boy are always great for me, every song on their albums that I’ve heard so far, and that’s why they are my favourite band of the Summer. They’ve changed with the times and the kind of music that’s popular in the moment without ever losing what made their earlier music so great. It’s just all very idiosyncratic, from the music videos to the content to the actual song titles, and I love them.

ALBUMS I LIKED

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Doom Days // Bastille

While doing some research on this album, I discovered that the concept for Doom Days is that it follows different points in the night at a party, a party that has a lot of “turbulent emotional chaos”. This explains why I love it so much.

In general, Bastille are a band that put a lot of thought into their music, and I think some really visceral imagery can be created from the concepts they shape the album around.

The titular song is actually my favourite of the album. It describes escapism from modern anxiety, and how, no matter how fucked the world is, you need to shut off sometimes. I struggle a lot with this– I constantly describe my own anxiety, something that I struggle with a lot, as having an IV line of straight modern horror flowing into me that I can’t disconnect from– and I think, as a song, it confronts modern fear– from climate change denial to porn addiction– without ever demonising those who make the decision to shut their brains off from it sometimes.

I think the Peter Pan reference especially reaffirms this. Yes, Peter Pan himself is a symbol of innocence, but at its core, Peter Pan’s narrative is about a girl who finds escape from the ‘real world’ long enough to figure out the issues of adulthood and growing up without losing herself along the way. In a way, that’s what this song, and the rest of the album, enforce. Escapism is good sometimes.

Third Eye Blind // Third Eye Blind

God of Wine has been one of my favourite songs for god knows how long, and after listening to a really bizarre mash-up of Welcome to the Black Parade with Semi-Charmed Life, I finally figured I should give the rest of the band’s music a try.

I’ve started with their self-titled first album, just because it’s easiest as I make my way through their discography, but I kind of stopped on this one. I just really love it. It mixes different sounds, sometimes crossing several in one song (Narcolepsy has an ending that jolts you out of your seat), with grim lyrics reflecting on suicide and mental health conditions, crystal meth, and sexual abuse.

Fun story: Semi-Charmed Life was very familiar to me before I’d even listened to the album, and when I researched into it, I realised that was because it was used in trailers for The Tigger Movie and, as a massive Winnie the Pooh fan and YouTube user, I had most definitely seen the trailer when I was younger and not put the pieces together. These trailers were obviously recalled because the song is about crystal meth, but I just think that’s a fun look into how little people actually pay attention to lyrics!

Sucker Punch // Sigrid

I’ve obviously discussed Sigrid in length earlier in this post, so I won’t say as much here. My favourite songs on the album are Basic, Don’t Kill My Vibe, and Business Dinners.

FAVOURITE SONGS

Arms Unfolding // Dodie

Oh, our fire died last Winter 

Heavy Metal Heart // Sky Ferreira

I describe the chorus and instrumentals of this as the musical equivalent of a headache, and I stand by that. Sky Ferreira’s voice is great, and I love the chaotic noisiness of this song.

Django Jane // Janelle Monáe

I actually only just listened to Dirty Computer. I tend to prolong listening to things until well after the hype surrounding them dies down, and I’m glad I did, as I’m not sure if I would have enjoyed the album otherwise.

I’m With You // Avril Lavigne

Can you tell I grew up goth? I remember memorising the lyrics to this when I was in year 3.

The Archer // Taylor Swift

Definitely the best song to come out of Taylor Swift’s latest album so far! I love the juxtaposition in the lyrics. I also wrote a whole post assigning her songs to Shakespeare Plays, if you’re interested in that sort of thing!

goodnight n go // Ariana Grande

I… don’t have much to say about this? It’s one of three songs I actually like off Sweetener. 

A Brand New Day // BTS&Zara Larsson

Everytime the first notes of this song play I get immediately hyped. I love the instruments used in this song, and I think the voices and sounds of the different collaborators in this (V and J-Hope, and Zara) all compliment each other really well.

Nightmare // Halsey

I Smile // DAY6

DAY6 were sold to me as a Korean rock group and I immediately jumped on that. I really love their album Sunrise.

Doom Days // Bastille

Someone You Loved // Lewis Capaldi

This has some iffy messages, especially concerning the idea of your partner– or a sole person– as a sort of therapist instead of pursuing other avenues (i.e. actual, paid-for therapy) to help you begin to tackle emotional issues. I do love Lewis Capaldi’s voice, though, and I think there are more ways to look at the song than just that. Remember kids: it’s okay to ask for help from loved ones and there should be a quid pro quo of support, but if your emotional issues are that bad, please seek professional help!

Kataomoi // Aimer

Baby Don’t Stop // NCT U

After how much time I’ve spent crafting paragraphs about music I love and trying to remain somewhat intelligent, I’m breaking that here: this song is just sexy. That’s the whole reason I love it. I’m sorry.

Ça Ira // Joyce Jonathan

This is a really fun song, it kind of reminds me of Sara Bareilles, only French. The fact that the music video is staged as her going on blind dates with people of all genders  is also really adorable and not something I see a lot of in music videos!

FAVOURITE MUSIC VIDEOS

Spring Day // BTS

I spend most of my time attempting to deconstruct every music video BTS have ever come out with, but Spring Day is almost the be-all-end-all for me. There’s so many layers to this music video, from the philosophical references– The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula K Le Guin is a direct inspiration for the music video– to its context within the general BTS ‘Universe’ they’ve created with their music videos. I know this isn’t considered a direct part of the BTSU, but it is to me, and I love it. I really love the music video for Lights as well!

Nightmare // Halsey

This is a fact not many people know about, but I desperately wanted to both be in a rock/heavy metal band when I was younger, and also date someone in a heavy metal band. So all of those black and white sequences of Halsey as the frontwoman for a rock band are honestly my favourite thing ever. I love the messages of this song; I know people are divisive over their opinion on Halsey, but I’ve always loved her honesty, so I really love this song.

Kataomoi // Aimer

It’s a very quiet music video and I love that! People can do a lot with smaller budgets and minimal people partaking, I think this music video is beautiful. My best friend actually recommended this song to me with the assurance that Namjoon from BTS talked about it before.

Winter Bear // V

Speaking of quiet music videos: THIS. It’s soft and mostly uses shots and clips V got himself walking around and touring, including a few Jimin got for him. I’m very much on both ends of the spectrum concerning music videos: I love so many large-budgets videos, but I also love ones that are minimalist and filmed on smaller budgets (if you don’t count the cost of what Taehyung is wearing, obviously).

What have you listened to this Summer? I’d love some music video recommendations especially, I think it’s amazing how carefully people can form stories and messages without ever using speech, especially when the imagery isn’t overt and you can do research into shots used to understand what it could mean.

Thank you for reading!

If you liked this post, consider buying me a coffee? Ko-Fi. 

Goodreads|Twitter|Instagram|Letterboxd

Music I Enjoyed This Summer This is part of my Music Monday series on my blog, where I talk all things music, from recommending songs to discussing my favourite music videos to compiling playlists based on prompts.

#bastille #fall out boy #music #music monday #playlists #sigrid #summer music #third eye blind

[waynekelton]

Essential RPGs on Android & iOS

The best RPGs are ones that offer unique environments, well-rounded/written characters, and unusual, original plots. Some of these games are more action-oriented while others are strictly turn-based, but they all have distinct, immersive visions in which the player might find their own ego subsumed, for a time, as deeply as is desired.

Bored of RPGs? How about some board games instead?

Below is not only a collection of great games, but they're also paragons of the genre and represent ‘role-play’ at its finest whether you're playing on Android or iOS.

Community Favourites

Our readers have their own wishlists of top RPGs they'd want to celebrate. We can't we'll be able to rotate them into the main list, but that doesn't mean their voices can't be heard. If you're looking to widen your RPG net, these recommendations from other PTers might fit the bill:

7 Mages

Severed

Monster Hunter Stories

Avernum series

The Quest HD

Aurum Blade

Dungeon Chronicle

Partia 3: Knights of Partia

Recently Released

One recent release of note is Nomads of the Fallen Star (pictured), a sci-fi sandbox RPG with a tactical turn-based strategy layer. It's been ported from PC and would be a shoe-in for this list, if it weren't for some lack-lustre implementation. The mobile interface especially is well below what you'd expect for a game of this nature. Still, we highlight it because it's the kind of game we like seeing on mobile, and there's always the chance the interface will be fixed in the future.

Star Traders: Frontiers (Review)

Developer: Trese Brothers Platform: iOS Universal, Android Price: $6.99

One of 2019's best releases so far and an excellent addition to the RPG roster, STF is the culmination of nearly a decade's worth of effort making quality premium games on mobile. You customise your captains and your crew and sail amongst stars trying to eek out a living in a hostile universe. Trade, go on missions, fight pirates and aliens... this is a very diverse sandbox RPG in space, and an excellent port of the original PC version.

The only thing to keep in mind when jumping into Frontiers is that there's a lot to consider all at once, and the openness is almost intimidating. There are some tool tips and an initial main quest that will teach you some ropes, but beyond that one criticism is that its not very good at explaining itself. Still, trial and error is not the worst thing and the more you learn, the more fun you'll have as you explore all the different play-styles and gameplay options. On top of that, the developers are constantly updating the game with free content, so you'll be well served in the future.

Barbearian (Review)

Developer: Kimmo Lahtinen Platform: iOS Universal Price: $8.99

Nick sums up our thoughts perfectly on Barbearian in his review: 

Barbearian is a real-time action/RPG that features frenetic combat full of huge hits against vast hordes of enemies. The constant motion, explosive hits, and overwhelming odds of it reminds us of running around Diablo III maps looking for more things to kill. It looks great, is loaded with smashy goodness and visceral feel, and is a ton of fun to play. It offers plenty of challenge without nearing the rage-quit-and-never-look-at-the-game-again reaction some similar games seem to elicit. The ability to micromanage the difficulty and completely control the UI layout is just icing on the cake.

An easy one to recommend to RPG fans and definitely GOTY material.

Demons' Rise

Developer: Wave Light Games Platform: iOS Universal, Android Price: $7.99

This dark fantasy, turn-based RPG is a favourite amongst PT staffers, and the sequel reviewed very well when it came out. Even three years later, it still manages to draw new players with its deep approach to tactical combat, and it's D&D-style treatment of the game world. While there's an argument to be made that Demon's Rise 2 should also be on this list (either in addition to, or instead of), which one you end up picking up you're not going to regret your choice.

Fans of tactical RPGs, Dungeons & Dragons, and MMO-style combat will really take to the campaign and won't regret adding this game to their collection.

Also look out for: Wave Light have recently released another fantasy-themed tactical RPG called Shieldwall Chronicles. We quite liked it, although whether it's better than Demon's Rise is a matter for debate (we think probably not). Still, if you've already checked out DR and are looking for a new challenge, Shieldwall would be a good place to start.

Planescape Torment: Enhanced Edition (Review)

Developer: Overhaul Games Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $9.99

Planescape is strange and idiosyncratic, its characters ranging from a chaotic fire-lord whose passion is simple, total consumption and destruction of the world around him to a cherub from the Brothel for Slaking Intellectual Lusts. Its take on a D&D system isn’t particularly balanced, for the stats and character builds favor wisdom above all, both in terms of raw bonus experience and the extra interactions and dialogue options. But the story is to die for. 

The multiplanar quest of an immortal, tormented, amnesiac main character to know thyself is at once alien and deeply human. Enjoying this pre-millennium classic before its enhanced edition debut last year meant overlooking a multitude of practical shortcomings; the non-scalable and at times grainy graphics, to say nothing of bugs and lost content. Now one can meet the protagonist and experience his joys and sorrows with ease, if not comfort. The game’s peccadillos are entirely the point, its strange, singular vision undimmed by age.

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic

Developer: Aspyr Platforms:  iOS, Android Price: $9.99

In a galaxy far, far away, in a distant time immemorial, the Sith and Jedi wore very different masks. To make something as nostalgic and cherished as Star Wars new again, BioWare and LucasArts flung their players millennia into the past and pitted them against Darth Malak in a struggle for the fate of the galaxy.

The characters remain iconic and memorable to this day (HK-47 as a murderous, seemingly punctilious droid, for example), and the now-standard paragon-neutral-renegade trifecta of alignment-based decision rubric for RPGs was a natural fit for the Star Wars mythos. Choose light or dark, good or evil: these archetypes resonate because they work, as does the class- and skill-systems which were tweaked from the paper RPG baseline.

Legend of Grimrock (Review)

Developer: Almost Human Platform: iOS Price: $4.99

What is Grimrock? Four prisoners marked for death are flung into the heart of an ancient mountain to see trial by the elements. By delving deeper as a party, defeating the enemies and unravelling the riddles, you will overturn your sentence and start afresh. The mysteries of the game’s titular dungeon, whose design indicates was intended a prison for a multitude of strange beings, mount with each level until the mother-horror is finally met on the deepest level. An old-school game with grid-based real-time combat, riddles, puzzles, traps and hand-crafted (read: non-procedural, non-roguelike) levels. Good looking and thoughtfully made, its battle pace and minimal input requirements make it a natural fit for mobile.

Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition (Review)

Developer: Overhaul Games Platforms: iOS Universal, Android Price: $9.99

D&D spent a long time banished to the corners of a select few lives, shining for hours at a time in small gatherings held regularly among the elect. There have been many implementations of the various settings and rule systems of the original grand-daddy of pen-and-paper RPGs, but Baldur’s Gate is perhaps the most significant and enduring of them all. (Sorry, Temple of Elemental Evil and friends, close but no cigar).

Chrono Trigger

Developer: Square Enix Platforms: iOS Universal, Android Price: $9.99 

A journey for the ages, with a motley crew visiting each era to repair the mistakes of the past and break other timelines, zig-zagging across character arcs and plot holes with aplomb. The RPG elements are just as great as the story, both of them equally...timeless. And the soundtrack is nuanced and varied, with mysterious, mournful threnodies as well as rousing boss-battle hymns. The game keeps popping up everywhere, and for good reason, for its characters, music and story both exemplify the JRPG genre and somehow transcend it. Chrono Trigger is Chrono Trigger; to play it involves learning about RPG conventions and mechanics but to experience it is so much more, a different creature altogether.

Titan Quest (Review)

Developer: THQ Nordic Platforms: iOS Univeral, Android Price: $6.99, $8.99 

A diabolic, pan-Hellenic action-RPG whose loot system and mythic references have earned its place in the pantheon. See the world, from the Aegean to Bosphorus, to the Nile, slay its beasts of prominence. At the time of its release in 2006, the game seemed redundant and derivative; now it shines in a mobile market where a premium game with fascinating, nay, compelling, rich pool of random loot, none of it locked behind premium currency or lootboxes, is something of a rara avis. Serviceable combat, shiny loot, excellent pacing and nice controls: this is good simple fun.

Transistor

Developer: Supergiant Games Platforms:  iOS Universal Price: $4.99

The world is falling apart, being destroyed from without while society crumbles and the citizens of Cloudbank panic and retreat from their formerly comfortable lives. Transistor’s pace has only one setting, relentlessly pushing the player to new areas while a narrator overdubs the scenery and battles with evocative, if florid, prose. Transistor’s techno-utopia has clearly gone wrong at some point, and the whole city is flooded with swarms of the Process, a monochrome enemy whose various forms eerily mimic lifeforms.

The modular battle system with its flexible customization options is fun and satisfying, for any program you acquire can be equipped either as a primary (active) ability, a modifier boosting another active, or as a passive. The relative small number of programs means that this mix-and-match is always interesting, never burdensome. The combat itself is real time with the special ability to ‘pause’ the game and plan out actions.

Final Fantasy IX

Developer: Square Enix Platforms: iOS Universal, Android Price: $20.99

Nick once considered this the best of all of Square's Final Fantasy ports, so now that we're officially adding JRPGs to the list (for the moment, might spin them off to their own list-ED), we thought we'd pay homage to the grand-daddy of all JRPGs with their finest mobile offering. FF9 was released at the turn of the millennium, and moved the series forward with new mechanics whilst also paying homage to the classical games.

As far as the mobile version is concerned, you couldn't ask for more. Officially it's a remaster of the original game with features such as HD movies and in-game graphics, and they added in an auto-save feature which is essential for the drop-in/drop-out nature of mobile gaming. The only downside of this and any of Square's FF ports is the pricing - at £20 full price, which is far more than what most mobile gamers are willing to pay.

Final Fantasy-like Alternatives

Once upon a time, we posted a feature of Final Fantasy alternatives. We're trying to consolidate a bit, so we're migrating that information here for your convenience. We'll expand on this section during a future update, but for the moment, here's a shortlist of Nick's recommendations if you're looking for a FF like game, but don't want to pay the price of admission:

Doom & Destiny

Doom & Destiny Advanced

Symphony of the Origin

Revenant Dogma

Dragon Quest

Dragon Fantasy

Phantasy Star II Classic

Hall of Fame

These games graced the list in a previous life, but have since past on into legend. Here's a reminder, in case we forget:

The World Ends with You

Avadon: The Black Fortress

Shadowrun Returns

What would your list of the best mobile RPGs look like? Let us know in the comments!

Essential RPGs on Android & iOS published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

[waynekelton]

The Best RPGs on Android & iOS

The best RPGs are ones that offer unique environments, well-rounded/written characters, and unusual, original plots. Some of these games are more action-oriented while others are strictly turn-based, but they all have distinct, immersive visions in which the player might find their own ego subsumed, for a time, as deeply as is desired.

Bored of RPGs? How about some board games instead?

Below is not only a collection of great games, but they're also paragons of the genre and represent ‘role-play’ at its finest whether you're playing on Android or iOS.

Community Favourites

Our readers have their own wishlists of top RPGs they'd want to celebrate. We can't we'll be able to rotate them into the main list, but that doesn't mean their voices can't be heard. If you're looking to widen your RPG net, these recommendations from other PTers might fit the bill:

7 Mages

Severed

Monster Hunter Stories

Avernum series

The Quest HD

Aurum Blade

Dungeon Chronicle

Partia 3: Knights of Partia

Star Traders: Frontiers (Review)

Developer: Trese Brothers Platform: iOS Universal, Android Price: $6.99

One of 2019's best releases so far and an excellent addition to the RPG roster, STF is the culmination of nearly a decade's worth of effort making quality premium games on mobile. You customise your captains and your crew and sail amongst stars trying to eek out a living in a hostile universe. Trade, go on missions, fight pirates and aliens... this is a very diverse sandbox RPG in space, and an excellent port of the original PC version.

The only thing to keep in mind when jumping into Frontiers is that there's a lot to consider all at once, and the openness is almost intimidating. There are some tool tips and an initial main quest that will teach you some ropes, but beyond that one criticism is that its not very good at explaining itself. Still, trial and error is not the worst thing and the more you learn, the more fun you'll have as you explore all the different play-styles and gameplay options. On top of that, the developers are constantly updating the game with free content, so you'll be well served in the future.

Barbearian (Review)

Developer: Kimmo Lahtinen Platform: iOS Universal Price: $8.99

Nick sums up our thoughts perfectly on Barbearian in his review: 

Barbearian is a real-time action/RPG that features frenetic combat full of huge hits against vast hordes of enemies. The constant motion, explosive hits, and overwhelming odds of it reminds us of running around Diablo III maps looking for more things to kill. It looks great, is loaded with smashy goodness and visceral feel, and is a ton of fun to play. It offers plenty of challenge without nearing the rage-quit-and-never-look-at-the-game-again reaction some similar games seem to elicit. The ability to micromanage the difficulty and completely control the UI layout is just icing on the cake.

An easy one to recommend to RPG fans and definitely GOTY material.

Demons' Rise

Developer: Wave Light Games Platform: iOS Universal, Android Price: $7.99

This dark fantasy, turn-based RPG is a favourite amongst PT staffers, and the sequel reviewed very well when it came out. Even three years later, it still manages to draw new players with its deep approach to tactical combat, and it's D&D-style treatment of the game world. While there's an argument to be made that Demon's Rise 2 should also be on this list (either in addition to, or instead of), which one you end up picking up you're not going to regret your choice.

Fans of tactical RPGs, Dungeons & Dragons, and MMO-style combat will really take to the campaign and won't regret adding this game to their collection.

Also look out for: Wave Light have recently released another fantasy-themed tactical RPG called Shieldwall Chronicles. We quite liked it, although whether it's better than Demon's Rise is a matter for debate (we think probably not). Still, if you've already checked out DR and are looking for a new challenge, Shieldwall would be a good place to start.

Planescape Torment: Enhanced Edition (Review)

Developer: Overhaul Games Platforms: iOS, Android Price: $9.99

Planescape is strange and idiosyncratic, its characters ranging from a chaotic fire-lord whose passion is simple, total consumption and destruction of the world around him to a cherub from the Brothel for Slaking Intellectual Lusts. Its take on a D&D system isn’t particularly balanced, for the stats and character builds favor wisdom above all, both in terms of raw bonus experience and the extra interactions and dialogue options. But the story is to die for. 

The multiplanar quest of an immortal, tormented, amnesiac main character to know thyself is at once alien and deeply human. Enjoying this pre-millennium classic before its enhanced edition debut last year meant overlooking a multitude of practical shortcomings; the non-scalable and at times grainy graphics, to say nothing of bugs and lost content. Now one can meet the protagonist and experience his joys and sorrows with ease, if not comfort. The game’s peccadillos are entirely the point, its strange, singular vision undimmed by age.

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic

Developer: Aspyr Platforms:  iOS, Android Price: $9.99

In a galaxy far, far away, in a distant time immemorial, the Sith and Jedi wore very different masks. To make something as nostalgic and cherished as Star Wars new again, BioWare and LucasArts flung their players millennia into the past and pitted them against Darth Malak in a struggle for the fate of the galaxy.

The characters remain iconic and memorable to this day (HK-47 as a murderous, seemingly punctilious droid, for example), and the now-standard paragon-neutral-renegade trifecta of alignment-based decision rubric for RPGs was a natural fit for the Star Wars mythos. Choose light or dark, good or evil: these archetypes resonate because they work, as does the class- and skill-systems which were tweaked from the paper RPG baseline.

Legend of Grimrock (Review)

Developer: Almost Human Platform: iOS Price: $4.99

What is Grimrock? Four prisoners marked for death are flung into the heart of an ancient mountain to see trial by the elements. By delving deeper as a party, defeating the enemies and unravelling the riddles, you will overturn your sentence and start afresh. The mysteries of the game’s titular dungeon, whose design indicates was intended a prison for a multitude of strange beings, mount with each level until the mother-horror is finally met on the deepest level. An old-school game with grid-based real-time combat, riddles, puzzles, traps and hand-crafted (read: non-procedural, non-roguelike) levels. Good looking and thoughtfully made, its battle pace and minimal input requirements make it a natural fit for mobile.

Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition (Review)

Developer: Overhaul Games Platforms: iOS Universal, Android Price: $9.99

D&D spent a long time banished to the corners of a select few lives, shining for hours at a time in small gatherings held regularly among the elect. There have been many implementations of the various settings and rule systems of the original grand-daddy of pen-and-paper RPGs, but Baldur’s Gate is perhaps the most significant and enduring of them all. (Sorry, Temple of Elemental Evil and friends, close but no cigar).

Chrono Trigger

Developer: Square Enix Platforms: iOS Universal, Android Price: $9.99 

A journey for the ages, with a motley crew visiting each era to repair the mistakes of the past and break other timelines, zig-zagging across character arcs and plot holes with aplomb. The RPG elements are just as great as the story, both of them equally...timeless. And the soundtrack is nuanced and varied, with mysterious, mournful threnodies as well as rousing boss-battle hymns. The game keeps popping up everywhere, and for good reason, for its characters, music and story both exemplify the JRPG genre and somehow transcend it. Chrono Trigger is Chrono Trigger; to play it involves learning about RPG conventions and mechanics but to experience it is so much more, a different creature altogether.

Titan Quest (Review)

Developer: THQ Nordic Platforms: iOS Univeral, Android Price: $6.99, $8.99 

A diabolic, pan-Hellenic action-RPG whose loot system and mythic references have earned its place in the pantheon. See the world, from the Aegean to Bosphorus, to the Nile, slay its beasts of prominence. At the time of its release in 2006, the game seemed redundant and derivative; now it shines in a mobile market where a premium game with fascinating, nay, compelling, rich pool of random loot, none of it locked behind premium currency or lootboxes, is something of a rara avis. Serviceable combat, shiny loot, excellent pacing and nice controls: this is good simple fun.

Transistor

Developer: Supergiant Games Platforms:  iOS Universal Price: $4.99

The world is falling apart, being destroyed from without while society crumbles and the citizens of Cloudbank panic and retreat from their formerly comfortable lives. Transistor’s pace has only one setting, relentlessly pushing the player to new areas while a narrator overdubs the scenery and battles with evocative, if florid, prose. Transistor’s techno-utopia has clearly gone wrong at some point, and the whole city is flooded with swarms of the Process, a monochrome enemy whose various forms eerily mimic lifeforms.

The modular battle system with its flexible customization options is fun and satisfying, for any program you acquire can be equipped either as a primary (active) ability, a modifier boosting another active, or as a passive. The relative small number of programs means that this mix-and-match is always interesting, never burdensome. The combat itself is real time with the special ability to ‘pause’ the game and plan out actions.

Final Fantasy IX

Developer: Square Enix Platforms: iOS Universal, Android Price: $20.99

Nick once considered this the best of all of Square's Final Fantasy ports, so now that we're officially adding JRPGs to the list (for the moment, might spin them off to their own list-ED), we thought we'd pay homage to the grand-daddy of all JRPGs with their finest mobile offering. FF9 was released at the turn of the millennium, and moved the series forward with new mechanics whilst also paying homage to the classical games.

As far as the mobile version is concerned, you couldn't ask for more. Officially it's a remaster of the original game with features such as HD movies and in-game graphics, and they added in an auto-save feature which is essential for the drop-in/drop-out nature of mobile gaming. The only downside of this and any of Square's FF ports is the pricing - at £20 full price, which is far more than what most mobile gamers are willing to pay.

Final Fantasy-like Alternatives

Once upon a time, we posted a feature of Final Fantasy alternatives. We're trying to consolidate a bit, so we're migrating that information here for your convenience. We'll expand on this section during a future update, but for the moment, here's a shortlist of Nick's recommendations if you're looking for a FF like game, but don't want to pay the price of admission:

Doom & Destiny

Doom & Destiny Advanced

Symphony of the Origin

Revenant Dogma

Dragon Quest

Dragon Fantasy

Phantasy Star II Classic

Hall of Fame

These games graced the list in a previous life, but have since past on into legend. Here's a reminder, in case we forget:

The World Ends with You

Avadon: The Black Fortress

Shadowrun Returns

What would your list of the best mobile RPGs look like? Let us know in the comments!

The Best RPGs on Android & iOS published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/