Header Art by Abby Howard.
24. Way too into comics and obsolete music.
Sci-fi/fantasy sideblog, Capes sideblog, Deep dream art sideblog
from our limited perspective it seems to be a harrowing moment for the young beetlegirl comedian when her finest jokes are met with the sound of crickets, until the camera pans to reveal that the audience is full of cricketgirls as amused and chipper as can be
zitongzi asked:
i am always surprised WoD doesnt get more love on tumblr. Its got literally everything tumblr wants. Gay vampire and where wolf, queer metaphors, and the whole setting is about playing as the outcasts and monsters. Not to mention the punk influence of the franchise. Like yeah WoD has its misses and issues but so does DnD and that didnt stop tumblr from treating DnD as the best and most progressive thing ever
thydungeongal answered:
Yeah, like I’m endlessly nostalgic for late 90s and early 2000s WoD even though it has aged very poorly in most places! And the cool thing about WoD is that it actually does, as a game line, support multiple different themes and vibes, as opposed to D&D which is quite singular in its focus: you have Vampire for basically playing undead mafiosi, you have Werewolf for actually fighting the power and raging against the machine (to an extent), you have Mage for the philosophy major, Changeling if you want to deal with themes of the loss of innocence and the power of stories, and Wraith if you’re depressed!
And as said, WoD isn’t perfect, but neither is D&D, and WoD is actually like perfectly unhinged for that side of Tumblr that loves posting about absolutely bonkers lore. Like, so many characters from WoD are perfectly blorboable! I want to see really stupid Tumblr discourse about the Brujah’s noble Carthaginian experiment!!!
Anyway yeah. WoD rules but it’s also really stupid and it’s also pretty dang gay. You’d think it’d have more reach here.
Chronicles of Darkness is also great!
Changeling: the Lost is just core tumblr material, Hunter: the Vigil going "But who are the real monsters here?" and doing it well enough that Hunter: the Reckoning just went "Yeah, let's just be Vigil instead"
And then there's my personal favorite in Deviant: the Renegades which is basically "You got fucked up, now you have superpowers, kill nazis!" the game.
It's mechanical, and proud of it. Listen to that engine purr. We offer it all, from pure mathematical beauty to the slapdash comfort of duct tape and string.
It repeats. The grounding of a four on the floor kick, the steady chugging of a train on tracks, the constant rotation of a blade slicing pasta. Factory fiction for the on-demand age.
It's omnivorous. We're hungry monsters, and we're not too picky to eat trash. It all blends the same, so drink up, baby.
It's open. If you've got nothing but your secret technique, you're dust in the wind. Everything from skin on down is available for your perusal.
It's growing. With each new machine comes mastery of another technique, another square inch conquered. A tower to the heavens built one brick at a time.
It's consistent. Every issue contains a poem, a horoscope, and a cutting-edge CompuNovella. Our promise to you.
Vexations issue #1 coming March 16, 2025.
I don't think the data supports "lone wolf" terrorism as uniquely American, but if I was doing the worldbuilding, it would be. The country that famously prides itself on individualism having a social problem that's a reflection of its values? It's just too good.
"Oh!" said Charles Rambert, "have you finished talking about Fantômas? It was so amusing!"
"For my part," the president answered dryly, "I do not find stories about criminals 'amusing.' "
But the lad did not detect the shade of reproach in the words.
"But still it is very odd, very extraordinary that such mysterious characters as Fantômas can exist nowardays. Is it really posssible that one man can commit so many crimes, and that any human being could escape discover, as they say Fantômas can, and be able to foil the cleverest devices of the police? I think it is—"
The president's manner grew steadily more chilly as the boy's curiosity waxed more enthusiastic, and he interrupted curtly.
"I fail to understand your attitude, young man. You appear to by hypnotized, fascinated. You speak of Fantômas as if he were something alluring. It is out of place, to put it mildly," and he turned to the Abbé Sicot. "There, sir, that is the result of a modern education and the state of mind produced in the younger generation by the newspapers and even by literature. Criminals are given halos and proclaimed from the housetops. It is astounding!"
But Charles Rambert was not the least impressed.
"But it is life, sir; it is history, it is the real thing!" he insisted. "Why, you yourself, in just a few words, have romanticized this Fantômas to an extent that makes him absolutely fascinating! I would give anything to have known Vidocq and Cartouche and Rocambole, and to have seen them closeup. Those were men!"
President Bonnet contemplated the young man in astonishment; his eyes flashed lightning at him and he burst out:
"You are mad, boy, absolutely mad! Vidocq—Rocambole! You mix up legend and history, lump together murderers with detectives, and make no distinction between right and wrong! You would not hesitate to put the heroes of crime and the heroes of law and order on one and the same pedestal!"
"You have said the word, sir," Charles Rambert exclaimed; they all are heroes. But, better still Fantômas—"
The lad's outburst was so vehement and spontaneous and sincere that it provoked unanimous indignation among his listeners.
Fantômas, by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre, William Morrow and Company Translation
In his own room, with the lights out and the curtains closed, Charles lay wide awake, a victim of nervous excitement. He turned and tossed in his bed. In vain did he try to banish from his mind the words spoken during the evening by President Bonnet. In his imagination Charles saw all sorts of sinister and dramatic scenes, crimes and murders. Hugely interested, intensely curious, craving for knowledge, he generally was given to concocting plots and trying to unravel mysteries. If for an instant he dozed off, the image of Fantômas took shape in his mind, but never twice the same way. Sometimes he saw a colossal figure with bestial face and muscular shoulders; sometimes a wan, thin creature, with strange and piercing eyes; sometimes a vague form, a phantom—Fantômas!
Charles slept, and woke, and dozed again. In the silence of the night he thought he heard creakings and heavy sounds. Suddenly he felt a breat pass over his face—and then nothing! And suddenly again strange sounds were buzzing in his ears.
Bathed in cold sweat Carles started and sat upright in bed, every muscle tense, listening with all his concentration. Was he dreaming, or had he really awakened? He did not know. And still, still he was conscious of Fantômas—of mystery—of Fantômas!
Also why is it always "D&D was always for the freaks and outsiders" and never Rolemaster (a game whose contributors included a gay man), or Cyberpunk (a game created by a pioneering black game designer) or Vampire: the Masquerade (made from the outset as open for non cishet guys) or Fudge (published and promoted by a company founded by a woman whose contributions made it as popular as it is) or Monsterhearts (gay gay homosexual gay) or Nobilis (women)? Why do we have to keep trying to revise a history where D&D was always woke when there are almost five decades' worth of roleplaying games actually made by marginalized people and for other marginalized people?
Rhetorical question of course: it's because many people who flaunt this idea are D&D players to the exclusion of other games and acknowledging that games outside of D&D have been openly inclusive when D&D was still regressive runs counter to the narrative.
And like I get being happy about the fact that D&D culture is better these days. But I often feel that both the takes coming from within the D&D community and the stories about this phenomenon in the media are a bit too quick to treat this as somehow D&D's doing and not something where D&D is late to a party the rest of the hobby has been having for years? Like, "good news D&D players! After thirty years of calling Vampire: the Masquerade 'gay' and 'for girls' and 'for stupid gay goth girls,' we have finally decided to make Vecna and Kas bitter gay exes."
Everyone in the notes who's reacting with excitement to any of the games mentioned, reacting with excitement to just the very fact that games other than D&D are being mentioned, or mentioning other games (because my list was in no way exhaustive and in fact barely scratching the surface) is actually now one of my besties okay I don't make the rules
Anonymous asked:
hello...what is this "eidolon playtest". i thought it was perhaps some kind of MTG since you like that and "playtest" but then i keep seeing like.....random character art. is this a tabletop thing. is it mtg and i just dont understand mtg. i know i can probably google this but jt seems like something you wnjoy and id like to hear you talk about it :^)
txttletale answered:
eidolon playtest is an actual play series in which the creators of the ttrpg ‘eidolon: become your best self’ and their friends – as the name implies – playtest aforementioned TTRPG. it has a pretty interesting format in which the same GM runs two separate campaigns for two different parties which slowly become more and more intertwined until they start crossing over directly. so far they have two pairs of campaigns finished, eidolon POP and ROCK (seasons 1 & 2) and eidolon SKA and DISCO (seasons 3 & 4), and season 5 (eidolon VGM and EDM) currently ongoing. they also have a couple of short mini-campaigns of 3-4 sessions each, which i’m not going to list all of because there’s a lot.
eidolon playtest is really good for so many reasons i can’t possibly provide a comprehensive account but here’s some:
tldr: its like homestuck but good
I’ve been watching some Louis Feuillade (<- French director, known mostly for his 1910s pulp crime films)
Was anyone going to tell me that the first book of the incredibly influential 1910s crime series Fantômas had a forcefem subplot
ALTSon you must pay for your horrible act of murder. Put on the maid dress
This was prompted by the story’s detective trying to force a kiss. I can only assume that this is what happens in Dorely Hall
BTW the big twist ends up being that “Etienne Rambert” is actually the killer and is only pretending to be Charles/Jeanne/Fandor’s dad. For some reason after successfully pinning the blame on Charles, he went to the trouble of convincing his “son” to fake his death rather than just killing him. The duplicitous and criminal left is manipulating our young men into wearing maid dresses.
