Cheshire_Cards

Next I want to make a circus layout including the tent and the grounds, an abstraction briefing (since it works a little differently in the AU), plus some ideas for what adventures would look like. I also wanna make a logo. Lots of digital collage work incoming, it'll be fun to experiment lol.

All comic panels are on a light blue background; characters are in thin black linework.

[FIRST PANEL: External shot of Hatchetfield's Church, surrounded by trees and greenery.]

Grace Chasity: Mom, Dad you guys go ahead.

[SECOND PANEL: Ext. Church zoomed in to Grace standing outside the church doors. Her parents walk away, Karen waves goodbye to her. Grace waves back.]

Karen Chasity: Are you sure, sweetie?

Mark Chasity: Oh, let her pray, mother.

Karen: She's so devoted. Alright dear, we'll see you at home.

[THIRD PANEL: Int. view of Grace's side profile, lowering her hand, smile faded. Behind her on the wall is a stained glass window depicting Eve Tempted By The Serpent by William Blake. All the glass pieces are varying shades of blue, navy, muted light and dark teals. The only thing in vivid color is the apple in lime green. It hangs above Grace's head before she walks back inside, revealing the whole painting. She kneels at a pew and sighs.]

[FOURTH PANEL: Front-on view of Grace, hands together in prayer. There's a ping of a notification, and she opens an eye to look.]

[FIFTH PANEL: She glances over to a group chat. In it are Max, Grace, Ruth, Richie, Pete, and Steph. The texts read as follows:

Max Jagerman: hey nerdz, party @ Kyle's

Richie: We're invited??

Max Jagerman: txt 1- ya U saved my life dumbazzes lol. just dont b lame / txt 2- will u b there, Grace / txt 3- two flirty face emojis

Grace slams the phone face down.]

[SIXTH PANEL: Grace holds her hands in prayer tighter, looking grumpier and grumbling under her breath. Her head perks up at a voice; a black speech bubble with lime green text appears on the right.

Man: This world needs a cleanse, don't it?]

[SEVENTH PANEL: Grace over to her left, our right. Beside her Wilbur Cross, palms together in prayer obscuring a smirking face. Side profile of Grace trying to refocus but she can't help but side eye.

Grace: I don't know if you're new here, but for future reference: it's rude to interrupt somebody in prayer.

Wilbur Cross: Oh, but God's always listening anyway, ain't he? He knows what's in your heart.]

[EIGHTH PANEL: View over Wilbur's shoulder; devious eyes, serpent smile.

Wilbur: Maybe I know what's in yours, too.

Grace grabs her things and stands up to leave.

Grace: You, sir, don't know anything. Now please, if you'd excuse me.]

[NINTH PANEL: Grace, walking away, is stopped in her tracks when Wilbur next speaks.

Grace (mumbling): Criminy, some people...

Wilbur: That Maxy-Poo really got to your pretty little head there, Amazin' Grace.]

[TENTH PANEL: Grace looks back, altar behind her. Wilbur leans back and laxly rests his arms on the pew.

Grace: What... you...

Wilbur: Not so hasty now. Come on, sit yourself down, I won't bite.

Grace hesitates, then sits down a few pews ahead of him needing distance but... listening. Pew by pew, Wilbur inches closer.

Wilbur: I'll cut right to the chase, Grace. This world is... dirty. Lot of Jagermen out there making OUR jobs a whole lot harder. What job is that? Serving the Powers That Be. Now, I get the feeling that this is really tearing you up inside. And you hold it all on your shoulders, 'cause no one understands.]

[TENTH PANEL: Wilbur, synthetically sympathetic face, puts a hand to his heart. Grace looks over her shoulder and looks troubled.

Wilbur: But I do. And I say it's okay. UNLOAD that burden.]

[ELEVENTH PANEL: Shot of Grace from the lips down, legs crossed tight and body tense. Accompanied are an image of Max, a close-up of Wilbur's eyes in which his view of Grace is reflected in full color, and a close-up of her hand flexing and wanting. Her speech bubbles, originally a buttery yellow, start fading to green.

Grace: Ever since that creep-- MAX JAGERMAN-- started bothering me, things have gone to all heck. I'm feeling things that are so... u n n a t u r a l. My mind's been POISONED.]

[TWELFTH PANEL: Close-up of Grace's hand by her crucifix necklace. She reaches for her cross, Cross reaches for her.

Wilbur: And this is what makes us kindred spirits, you and I. That thing in your heart. WRATH.]

[THIRTEENTH PANEL: Grace front-on, quiet fury on her face. The page is colored dark black at the top and fades back to light blue towards the bottom. His words surround her from all sides.

Wilbur: Don't it just burn you up inside? The injustice? The grime? The FILTH? ... 'Course, it doesn't have to. You can make it go AWAY.]

[FOURTEENTH PANEL: Grace has a tentative expression, wanting to believe. Behind her Cross smiles and gets up. He's won his kill

Grace: I... I can?

Wilbur: 'Course you can. After all...]

[FIFTEENTH PANEL: Wilbur behind her, leaving. Grace is still looking forward contemplative. Her speech bubbles have become Wilbur's inverse, lime green on black text.

Wilbur: YOU, Grace Chasity, are the most important girl in the world.

Grace (confused, whips head): Me? What are you--]

[SIXTEENTH PANEL: Wide shot Grace looking over her shoulder, church interior sprawling behind her. Pews, high ceilings, crucifix statue behind an altar table. Back to front-on shot of her. She looks forward and then downward.]

[SEVENTEENTH PANEL: Atop her phone is a green apple that wasn't there before. Close-up view that takes up most of the panel of her hand holding the apple. View zooms out, all surroundings have faded, save for Grace from the torso up assessing what's in her hand. One step closer to darkness.]

So apparently the cold streak/cold dice thing exists in both gambling & DnD circles. Not surprising, given that with the laws of probability that's bound to happen sometimes. What did surprise me was the various methods and lengths that DnD players would go to in order to "punish" their dice for "misbehaving" and getting bad rolls

Now, I've only ever actually played DnD casually once or twice with a few casual acquaintances, and we all used a communal pool of dice. I just didn't have enough IRL nerd friends nearby to do any more than that. So I didn't know any of this stuff until I started researching Which finally brings me to my first point

Dice Jail

I already made a post about this earlier before, but apparently one of the most common ways that DnD players punish their dice is to stick them in dice jail, so that they can "reform" and roll a better number next time. The threat of dice jail is supposed to keep them from rolling low numbers

Now I could sort of see this one, if the idea was to keep consistently low-rolling dice separated permanently. Most dice aren't created to be weighted perfectly evenly, and occasionally some of them will just be weighted towards rolling low numbers. But stuffing a dice in there and then taking it out again after it's "reformed" is not going to sway the laws of probability

But also,

Think about the poor Pippins that get stuffed in there for something entirely outside of their control. Can you imagine a Lightner being mad at you for a number they rolled and then being punished for it? Are they teased & mocked by other Pippins/other Darkners for being in there? Do they actually try to find ways to make themselves roll better next time? Does it affect their self-worth as a Darkner? Is this what the jail cells in the dungeons of Card Castle were originally used for?

Is that why they don't care about being put in the Goulden/Sulliver Sam cages in TV World? They figure that it's nothing compared to the Card Castle Jail

I also found a "milder" version of Dice Jail, the Dice Time Out Chair, complete with a tiny Dunce cap. This one does absolutely nothing, besides giving the players a good laugh and some stress relief Again, imagine the poor Pippins though! This one is definitely meant for humiliation. Would other Pippins/Darkners be sympathetic, or would they laugh at & mock them? Would this make the poor Pippins desperate to prove that they're not an idiot and can do better? Or do they just give up because they decide that there's nothing they can do about it?

While researching I also found two more variations on Dice Jail - the Shame Bag, which is basically the same thing, just with a cheaper dice pouch instead of a structure, for more money savvy players. And Dice Jails turned into DIY torture devices for dice. Yes you read that right. That one's probably going to need an entire separate post. You are supposed to make the other dice "watch" while you do this. To intimidate them. Yeah… Pippins angst/whump ideas galore.

I have more about the other ways that players "punish" their poorly performing dice, but this is getting long, so I'm going to split that into a Part 2.

Part 2 is here: [Link] - Dice Punishments

Part 3 is here: [Link] - Neutral & Positive