Artist With a Social Life

Clueless college character by day. Artist by night. 25.

[wnq-writers]

let me tell you something: no one is going to look at you, broken and shattered and think - damn, you are beautiful. no one is going to come pick up your broken pieces off the floor and assemble them into a beautiful whole. hell, you won’t even look at yourself and think - I made broken look beautiful. you know why? because all those writers lied to you. yes, all those with their poems of scraped knuckles and blood dripping down chins, pomegranate songs and loves that ripped through you like hurricanes. liars. so you and i, we are going to make a plan. you are not going to romanticize days when your brain tells you to smash that mirror, you are not going to romanticize the lover who doesn’t understand you but still writes about you. here is what you are going to romanticize instead: you are going to romanticize the first day of spring, its gentle hands all over your body, lifting you up until you are as light as a feather. you are going to romanticize the tea and honey kind of love, no hurricanes, but sunshine that builds you up from within, that helps you make it through the worst days. you are going to romanticize gentle hands of a friend in yours, telling you that it is going to be okay. because it is. and don’t trust poets, we’re no good, we love pretending that our jagged edges tantamount to a beautiful disaster, but in reality - there ain’t nothing beautiful about shaky hands holding a cigarette and empty eyes staring at the cracks in the walls. you know what is beautiful, instead? the days when you can look at yourself in the mirror and smile, scars and all. music that makes your soul flow like a river, books that offer comfort, families flocking together like overgrown birds to keep you safe and warm, friends that give you strength when you can find none, lovers who make you laugh through tears. baby, from now on you are going to romanticize healing; honey dripping down your fingertips, August nights that stick to your skin, the day you find your purpose, long car rides and singing so loud that no one can shut you up now. bad news: no one is coming to save you. good news: you can save yourself.

Lana Rafaela (via wnq-writers)

[wnq-writers]

Here I am blaming my lack of inspiration to write on my lack of creativity when in reality the only reason I stopped writing was because you’re not in my life anymore. I can’t write about a broken heart because I don’t have one. Not anymore.

a-non-y-mous-bree (via wnq-writers)

[ayoitselaine]

played D&D for the first time with @inktho AND @dunesand !! Here’s sketches of Eryn, a half mountain elf ranger 🍃 and other scribbles during our second session haha

[your-kami-sama]

This is so totally how my group tries to RP XD

[gilgalahad]

Gray Goblin Warrens by C. Brackett for the 2009 One Page Dungeon contest.

[dnd-5e-homebrew]

Power Ranger Fighter by McToomin27

[annazees]

This scene was amazing

[d-dplothooks]

How to squash metagaming

Metagaming is an inevitable challenge to face as a DM. Your players most likely have an INT score above 10 and are aware of common tropes and dangers the D&D world has to offer. On top of that, “table talk” and players coaching other players what to do in an encounter (often while they’re not there themselves) can spoil the suspense of a scene. Here are a few tricks I’ve picked up since beginning my campaign to mitigate metagaming and keep players at the edge of the couch. 

Night Shift Notes

When players take the night off and have lookouts take turns keeping watch around the campfire, have the lookout roll Perception. Write what they see on a piece of paper. Be it good news, danger, or nothing out of the ordinary, do this every time one character is visually or audibly checking something out on their own. It beats giving everyone in the party the same visual description simply because one of the PCs rolled high on Perception. Plus, it keeps things moving if you’re managing many party-splitting players at once. 

It’s also fun to leave things ambiguous for that lookout player. Describe sounds that could be tree branches scraping against the window, that could be nothing, but it could also be something… else. This trick may have varying effects, depending on what’s going on in your story. But just like a good horror movie, the simple act of farming out mundane info to just one player can build suspense, and gives a single player a bit of the spotlight as they time-manage what they can do between what their senses can pick up and how fast they can alarm the others of what they think is happening.

Fog of War

Whenever the party explores a dungeon or dangerous area they’re unfamiliar with, try revealing fractions of your playmat at a time. I always show a 15x15 starting point, like the entrance to the dungeon, and show enough in that small space to tease the corridors the PCs can travel down, at the risk of stepping into the unknown. 

You can also draw the map as you go, beginning with a blank canvas and taking your wet erase markers along the path as they explore it. To hint at what’s around the corner, be sure to have audible clues prepped in case someone is waiting before stepping into the next fraction of the map you’ve prepared. 

WIS and CHA Saves

Sometimes a single player is experiencing a condition that removes the option of choice. Perhaps a PC has been charmed in secret, or was possessed while separated from the party. Similar to how I deal with lookout encounters, I write an “If… Then…” guideline to follow, otherwise I let them role-play as normal. 

You’re under the effects of an enchantment spell. If you see one of the royal guard, you must alert them to your presence and the presence of your friends by any means necessary. You otherwise behave completely normal. 

It’s as if you’ve taken on the hatred of someone, or something, that can’t stand the sight of the living. If you hear the sound of laughter or merriment, you must take steps to remove yourself from the area or attack the source of happiness. Whenever possible, find the local gravekeeper: you believe there’s unfinished business with him, though you’ve never seen or met him before. 

Are there special steps you take to squash metagaming at your table? Let me know by reblogging and sharing your wisdom!

[epicroll]

10 One Sentence Adventure Hooks

1. Your party stumbles across several open graves, each has a stone marker with a party members name engraved and tomorrows date

2. Several villagers have spotted very odd looking bipedal hoof prints in the snow

3. The city’s beggars are disappearing at a rapid rate each night, but the citizen’s don’t seem to care

 4.The duke has not been seen in weeks, but new and conflicting orders keep coming from his keep. 

 5. The water in every well in the village has turned to blood.

 6. A band of highwaymen are waylaying all of the baron’s men, or are they…

 7. A black cat keeps crossing the path of your adventurers.

 8. A traveling circus appeared in town, and the day they left several items and people were missing

 9. One member of the party keeps seeing and hearing things that the rest of the party cannot

 10.A very large dark tree sprung up in the center of town overnight, it gives off a troubling feeling and has a fetid reek

Have fun with these! Let us know if you make anything of them!

-deo

[yuoling]

Been loving he Twits and Crits series from Funhaus and I’ve had this image in my head floating around for a while. Finally put it down on paper! 

Pulp cover inspired style

[xspierwit]

[9-arcs-blog]

There's a bunch of hopeless romantics on this site, and sadly I'm one of them... But lately I don't feel like it.

[askboxmemes]

Reblog this if I can vent to you? Like completely skip all the awkwardness and just start talking to you.

[artmania-feed]

ART PRINTS BY NORMAN DUENAS

More by the Artist Here

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[goldenglider-archive-deactivate]

[na-kim]

[theliteraryjournals]

BOOK OF THE DAY:

My Heart and Other Black Holes  by Jasmine Warga

A captivating and emotionally-charged read, Jasmine Warga’s My Heart and Other Black Holes intelligently treads the lines between humor and tragedy. A treat for fans of Jay Asher and Laurie Halse Anderson, we are introduced to sixteen-year-old physics nerd Aysel, who is obsessed with plotting her death. But there’s one huge factor impeding her ultimate annihilation: her fear. Aysel hasn’t mustered enough courage to commit the crime, until she discovers a website called Suicide Partners.

When she meets Roman, she believes to have found a solution.  As their suicide pact becomes more serious, both teens begin to heal each others wounds and fill the empty spaces in their lives. They are both are plagued by sadness and inescapable family complications, which prevent them from obtaining happiness.

The unexpected prevails. Both members begin to question if their death is what they truly desire.

A powerful meditation of love and its transformative power, Warga instills in us a deep insight into the loss of self-esteem, alienation, isolation, and how one simple word or feel has the power to diminish, such pathos.

Read excerpts from the book here!