Build-a-Seriph Workshop

really don't know how to explain to people Azune is horse-coded not dog-coded.

I’m just saying if Daniel Radcliffe, the literal protagonist of the Harry Potter franchise since the age of ten years old, was able to disavow JK Rowling and move on from the HP universe then actually what the fuck is anyone else’s excuse. There is no one else on the planet who can say their entire childhood was HP more than that guy and he still cared about trans people more than the average tumblr user who says “we’re protesting by making all her characters queer and trans!!” like you can do better. You should do better.

YELLING the SPEED at which Azune pivots from full sobbing to "but Occtis can come with me" Luis / Azune is truly on some next level shit, bc the breakdown and his fears are both SO genuine and raw and true but also the immediate demanding Occtis is like, some part of him must've been aware that his very real and genuinely happening breakdown would weigh the scales there in his favor. especially the really pained reaction to Occtis saying that Azune is, even right and still now, a good person.

I think azune should fuck off from dol makjar and just join king gus and his cohort of gay knights. that'd probably fix him

Yanessa Halovar's theatre intervention is a commentary on racial and social politics implicated in art in a time of religiously motivated authoritarian takeover, and it is a very incisive one at that. It is also an exposing of the endpoint of the logic behind "we are uncomfortable when we are not about me???" type of evaluations of art. We individually may not have the systemic weight of an oppressive religious organization backing our grumbling to this end, but it does stem from a similar framework of instrumentalization and entitlement.

A feature of my RPG designs, which was not intentional but has become clear to me in many projects, is how often I tie the fate a character mechanically to the decisions of a different player. In "The Extraordinarily Horrible Children of Raven's Hollow" all the PCs (Horrible Children) are against each other. But as the children are eliminated their players continue on as Ravens. Ravens have kingmaker powers. Any player who wants to be the last child standing AND survive the mob of angry adults NEEDS at least half the Raven players' support. In "Haunted" the murderer is at such a massive mechanical disadvantage they need help. Either some of the supporting characters need to start helping the murderer with their goals OR the murderer has to somehow win over the ghost of their victim OR the murderer needs to start making restitution for their crime AND the other players need to see and acknowledge that. And now I'm working on "Variations on a Quiet and Lonely Hell" which features two GMs who are also in-universe cosmic forces and pretty much hold the Fate of the PCs in their hands. I describe the game as "God and Devil arguing over the worth of sinners" and the mechanics reflect that in that the player characters have to demonstrate to God and The Devil they are worthy of absolution for their crimes. I think this is a subconscious reaction to how inflexible I find people in play. You tell two players their characters hate each other and they will just hammer that note for eternity regardless of what happens in play. Tell players that scenes should have conflicts and they will go out of their way to manufacture conflicts where none existed. All my games end in blood, tears and tragedy IF NO ONE RELENTS from hostile initial conditions. If the players refuse to assess the fiction and change their positions everybody dies. If the players and by extension their characters aren't flexible in their perspectives, then the trains WILL crash. When was the last time your character changed just because the fiction of the game moved you to have them change? Not because a meter filled up and you had to mark a trauma box or because you and the GM colluded on a story beat, but were genuinely MOVED to play differently?

The EFFICIENCY of that Thimble and Julien scene. Zero to crying in ten seconds flat.

It's especially like, the final beat of recognizing that after years of loathing each other, they suddenly are not only on the same side, but are each one of the few people they have left who are tied to their home and invested in and capable of saving their home. It was such a simple recognition and alignment, and even though the two of them haven't spoken since Thimble got in Julien's face and Julien grabbed her by the wings, just this exchange alone is all they need to get there.

teor 🤝 kattigan: has one (1) interaction with Yanessa Halovar and fucks up a deception roll so bad they immediately become public enemy number one to the Candescent Creed.