Cheyenne Stone

(she/her) Queer writer, ttrpg enjoyer, content maker, psych major, youth worker and gendered violence advocate 🍁 Loves: fanfiction, horror, comics, witchy vibes, anime, and occasionally writing and getting crafty

[thryth-gaming]

Choosing and Blending Playbooks - K-Pop Demon Hunter of the Week

Spoilers Ahead

---------------------------------------------------------------

So last night (or early this morning depending on how you're counting) I finally watched K-Pop Demon Hunters and was pleasantly surprised. You can find my general rambling impressions of it on my bluesky profile. I'm also going to post a link to this article about all the references to Korean culture in the story.

Which Playbook to Use

Anyway, in monster of the week, there is often the question of which playbook or team playbook a particular character should be. Part of the confusion here is that any one fictional character could be easily represented by a number of different playbooks depending on what facet of their story you're talking about.

Some examples:

Batman fits The Wronged, The Gumshoe, The Covenant, and The Expert

Fox Mulder fits The Flake, The Professional, and The Searcher

Lara Croft fits The Crooked, The Hard Case, The Searcher, and sometimes The Wronged

This is less of a thing with team playbooks most of the time, but you do get exceptions. For example, let's look at Huntrix in K-Pop Demon Hunters since that's what's sparked this discussion in the first place.

Huntrix

Starting with the team as a whole we can look at the following

They fit the Chosen and Entourage with a "First Among Equals" style. All told, all three are "chosen" and objectively are equally required for their magic to properly function.

They fit several styles of the Storied Hunter Lineage because they have carried on a long tradition of performing shaman and exorcists. Rumi especially is blood descended from prior hunters.

They fit a "Superheroes with Fangs" Coven because they are a group of supernatural beings with related powers that have sworn an oath against evil.

They fit the "Ancient Tradition" style for League of Double Lives due to how far back the hunter tradition goes and the amount of ways their public obligations intertwine with their hunter obligations.

And they fit the Touring Band team playbook explicitly because they are literally a trio of performing artists who use music to perform big magic and hunt monsters.

Looking at specific hunters. The movie gives a lot more focus to Rumi than to Mira and Zoey, but here's what I can see.

All Three

They each can fit the Spellslinger playbook as they are combat spellcasters.

They each can fit the Spooktacular because they members of a traveling supernatural show. Though one with better funding than most.

They each can fit the Celebrity because they are fall famous people whose performing career is rooted in the occult.

They each can fit the Initiate as they are members of an ancient, if small, sect of monster hunters.

They each can fit the Chosen as wielders of magical weapon literally selected to fight evil with supernatural powers.

Mira

The Hard Case fits somewhat because she seems to be more focused on confrontation and conflict than the other two.

The Abandoned fits due to how she was neglected by her family for not fitting the mold.

Zoey

The Mundane fits because she's very much the heart of enthusiasm and supporting her friends.

The Flake is an obtuse fit if you focus on manic energy more than information gathering. Also fits her being the main lyricist.

Rumi

The Changeling fits because she is unaware of how to deal with her demon heritage and has been actively lied to about it.

The Monstrous fits because she's half-demon and she is actively struggling with how her demonic nature is progressing.

Handling these Overlaps

There are several ways to handle these overlapping concepts and for hunters, a lot of them are built right into the system as it exists.

For hunters, taking moves from another playbook and changing playbooks both covers these situations. This lets you contextualize the hunter's main theme with these other applicable themes. And if you feel like you have wrapped up a particular story arc, then you can change playbooks and focus on a different core theme moving forward.

When all the hunters share a common theme together, that's what team playbooks are for. For example, while all three members of Huntrix could be the Celebrity, it might be better to hit that theme via a Team Playbook that hits it as a shared aspect.

So, overlapping, shared concepts on the hunter scale are easily addressed within existing frameworks. And I discuss this in more detail in the Slayer's Survivor Kit (it's not quite public yet, might link this up to it's store page later when it is). Overlapping themes for a whole team is a bit trickier since Team Playbooks aren't meant to change often if at all, but they can still use each others' asset and move lists.

Some teams do have additional mechanics that aren't normally in the list of moves that can be picked-up by other Team Playbooks, but as with hunters being able to borrow other playbooks' mandatory and unstated moves, it feels like something that can be done here as well... and while I don't think it's very necessary, I might be doing a little of that here.

The Build

Okay, moving on from general discussion of the game and approaching it to the specific build.

Monster of the Week in general assumes that a hunter has been doing monster hunting for a while before the first mystery happens. They all have a presumption of at least one major supernatural encounter, often more than that. So the fact that Huntrix are an experienced hunting team doesn't require giving them level ups... but... I think it is something that can be done for a shorter game like a one-shot or limited run story. And also, it's just fun and will help me show the broader build a bit here.

So, what am I looking at here is:

5 Team advances

7 Hunter advances each

Yes, this is a lot, and I anticipate not being totally satisfied. This is usually why I prefer to build low level characters and then work up to a more experienced version (reminds me I need to finish reading Katalepsis book one... finally). Building straight to high level always makes me worried I've left a narrative or mechanical hole somewhere and while mechanical isn't terribly important in a theoretical fan build, the narrative is an important thing.

But the key thing is that the movie feels like a complete story, so I feel like I should represent that by building them as a late game team.

The Huntrix

The two I come down to at center are League of Double Lives and Touring Band, and I am going to lean into Touring Band for this.

For style, there's the following options:

Pop which K-Pop is a variation of, though it's end session question is "Did we look awesome?" and that doesn't feel like it hits the core of the Huntrix.

Hip-Hop has the end-session question of "did we improve things for the local community?" which fits the core idea and Hip-Hop has a lot of influence on K-Pop.

Punk has the end-session question of "Did we fight for the downtrodden?" which fits the core as well, but is a very different style of music.

So instead, I'm going with the custom option and creating the following:

Idol Singer, at the end of each session ask "Did we uplift our fans?"

Team Enemy and Allies are easy

Team Enemy: Gwi-Ma, a demon king of shame, anxiety, and self-hatred.

Team Ally: Bobby (I considered the Fandom... but that's basically what the move Famous gives them)

For the first Team Move ... that's a little harder for finding one to start with because they all fit so well. But I'm going to start with "Famous" because that's what the movie hits you with right off the bat.

For Team Asset... I'm going to give them something custom as well. Depending on how each table feels this would be a one-point or two-point asset and it is "Signature Weapons", which I will design like Chosen weapons. Since this is a theoretical I'm going to go for a single point and spend the second point on Home Venue.

Technically, I could have had the hunters pick-up a Chosen weapon as another playbook's move, but I feel like if you're using a Team Playbook, then this sort of whole-team thing feels better as a team thing.

As to advances I'm giving them the following:

Two points of Assets: Slush Fund (from Always on the Road) and Studio

Two point of Assets: Headquarters

Team Move: In the Groove

Team Move: Sacred Songs of Power

Team Move: Hit It

Those moves do the following:

For the Signature Weapons I went with the following. I linked an article above for where I got their names, but I'm going to re-link it here. It has some neat concept art.

Rumi's Four Tiger Sword (2-Harm Hand Holy Focus)

Form: Handle (1-Harm Hand Balanced)

Business End: Blessed (add "Holy"), Blade (+1 Harm), Focus (+1 to first weird move in a new location)

Material: Soul Energy

Mira's Gokdo (3-Harm Hand/Close Heavy Holy)

Form: Haft (2-Harm Hand Heavy)

Business End: Blessed (add "Holy"), Blade (+1 Harm), Long (add the "close" range)

Material: Soul Energy

Zoey's Shinkal (1-Harm Intimate/Hand/Close Holy)

Form: Handle (1-Harm Hand Heavy)

Business End: Blessed (add "Holy"), Throwable (add the "Close" range), Tiny (add the "Intimate" range)

Material: Soul Energy

As a note: everyone here has Use Magic as their basic weird move.

Rumi

For Rumi, of all the playbooks that she could fit, the one I think best fits her is the Chosen, because while all three of the characters are Chosen, the duty and the destiny is very much the focus of Rumi's story.

So, to that regard, I'm going to start with determining Rumi's Chosen Fate. This involves two Heroic and two Doom tags. For that I think I'll go with the following.

Heroic: You can save the world, Mystical Inheritance

Doom: Sympathy with the Enemy, Doubt

I considered Treachery to cover both her aunt's toxic approach to raising Rumi and encouraging her to hide herself and lie to her friends and also her own lies toward them... but I think Sympathy with the Enemy covers her core conflict more fully and Doubt very heavily outweighs Treachery.

One of Rumi's vocal lines is "I know I'll believe" indicating that she doesn't yet believe but she hopes she will soon.

For moves, she takes the mandatory ones: Destiny's Plaything and I'm Here For a Reason. I'm also giving her Dutiful.

(honestly, Rumi having an XP generating move should realistically mean she gets one or two extra advances, but eh, I'm fine with this)

I'm not giving her a second Chosen weapon over the one I'm giving the whole team. But that's fine, to be honest.

For ratings, she has to have a high Charm and a decent weird given the magical nature of her task, so let's see what's available.

Not much with both good Charm and good weird to be honest. But that can be where some of her advances go. I'm going to play around with shuffling one of the ratings (allowed as long as you hit the same balance per Mike Sands) so I think I'll give her the following:

Charm +1

Cool -1

Sharp +1

Tough +1

Weird +2

Now, moving on to her advances. I'm giving her +1 to Cool, bringing it to +0. She has some of the most obvious emotional control problems, but she's also good at teamwork, so that feels like it should at least be average. I'm giving her +1 to Charm, bringing that to +2 because its sort of her main thing, and +1 to Tough, bringing that to +2 as well, because she's good in a fight.

I'm giving her The Big Entrance as another Chosen move. I'm giving her Dark Desires from Pararomantic as something she learned during the story to explain her manipulating Jinu since monsters can't normally be manipulated.Then I'm giving her "There's Always Tomorrow" from the Abandoned (a stretch goal from Slayer's Survival Kit, not yet officially released, but it was publicly available to backers and playtesters, so it's out there, as a note, that's why it is formatted differently from the other two moves in the graphic below... I only have the working files to paste from).

And then I'm doing something interesting.

I'm going to change her playbook to The Divine.

At this point, I think she has moved past her Fate and replaced it with a Mission. She'll keep Dutiful but drop Destiny's Playing because it never really appears during the story.

I considered Envoy, but the direct nature of her role is more Divine. For Mission I'm doing a unique one "uplift and protect humanity".

And I believe this happens right before the last scene of the movie, in the scene where she confronts her aunt. My thought is that she triggers Dutiful in that scene, gains an XP and immediately transcends into The Divine. So she has a few runs of very bad rolls (low rolls grant XP in Monster of the Week) followed by a moment of making a decision about her life.

She then gets three Divine moves which I'm going to make Angel Wings (yes, I know she only ever teleports once), Soothe, Cast Out Evil. (I considered Smite, but think Cast Out fits narratively better... perhaps Gwi-ma is destroyed at the end, but it's also possible she banished him before the girls then reformed the Honmoon.)

I did consider improving one of her stats, probably Charm, to +3, but overall I think the moves are more important narratively than a bonus. I also considered Advancing some of her basic moves, but honestly, I think the big things she does at the end are covered by Cast Out Evil and There's Always Tomorrow. And there are quite a few playbook moves that feel like advanced versions of basic moves.

Mira

My choice of Abandoned here hinges almost entirely on Mira's line of "I don't get to have a family." near the end of the movie. Since the Abandoned was built toward the idea of someone who appreciates the value and precious nature of friendship and family, but also has had it stolen in the past and thus is constantly afraid it will be lost again.

Starting with moves, I'm going to choose her Abandonment as Neglected, on the idea that her family had no patience for her behavior and thus basically pretended like she didn't exist.

For her starting two Abandoned moves I'm giving her Underdog and Trust Issues.

This means that when something happens to put her on the back foot (such as being severely injured or disoriented) then she has a benefit that helps her carry on.

For ratings, I'm going to do a bit of juggling again and go with the following.

Charm -1

Cool +1

Sharp +0

Tough +2

Weird +1

So, Abandoned doesn't normally have a +2 Tough option, but this felt good. I'll raise the Charm with level ups, but she's the least sociable of the three, so this feels fine. She's a competent ritualist and keeps her head in the game well, so +1 Cool and Weird felt right. And is definitely very much about fighting.

Which brings us to her improvements.

I'm going to give her +1 to Charm to bring it to +0 and +1 to Cool and Weird to bring them both to +2, which makes her so far the best at teamwork and resisting hazards... and she feels like the anchor of the team, so that seems right.

I'm giving her Furnace from Hard Case so she has a building Fire meter that she can burn off for bonuses. Then Tactical Genius from the Professional so she can get a good tactical read out of the situation. I'm also giving her another two Abandoned move in the form of Mostly at Night.

Then getting to the advanced improvements I'm raising her Charm again to +1 and then I think changing her playbook as well, because I feel like this ends her Abandoned story arc definitively.

And I think it's going to go to the Hard Case. She's already got Furnace, so that carries over. I think she keeps Underdog and Mostly at Night, but drops Trust Issues.

For her Hard Knocks Choice, I'm going with Street Fighter. I'm not sure she actually did a lot of streetfighting, but it dose fit under the term "wild" and fits better than any of the other options. Especially since it talks about fighting alongside an ally. I'm not sure that's meant to include other hunters since "ally" is a game term, but I'd play it that way at my table.

Then she gets two Hard Case moves. So, I'm giving her Always Angry and Stone Cold.

And that wraps her up. Once again, I did consider a +3 stat or advanced moves, but I'm thinking I'm keep the characters at about the same level.

Zoey

As a character for whom her abilities as lyricist are the most front and center, that's what I'm going with here. And to start with, I'm going to pick her show as "Problem Solvers"

Then she gets two Spooktacular moves and I'm choosing Easygoin' and Pay it Backward which do the following:

For ratings, I'm choosing the following (doing a bit of slight juggling of ratings again.):

Charm +2

Cool +1

Sharp +1

Tough -1

Weird +0

So, really good with people off the bat, not so good in a fight initially, but observant and cool under pressure while being okay at magic stuff. Don't worry, I have a plan. It might not be the most efficient, but it feels cool.

Now, on to improvements. I'm giving her +1 Sharp to bring it to +2 and +1 Weird to bring it to +1. Then I'm giving her a second show option in the form of "Supernatural Creatures" which I will then use to give her the "Ancient Fighting Arts" move from Initiate... that kinda stretches the definition of a "supernatural move" but her martial arts is magic and she's using a type of knife often used in rituals to cast out evil, so it fits.

Then I'm giving her Area of Study: Violence from Action Scientist so that she can Kick Ass with Sharp. And Expert Troll from Interface to represent her skill with lyrics and diss-tracks.

As for Violence, the way I'd run it for Zoey is give her the +1 Harm or +1 Forward if she describes herself doing something particularly clever with the nature of her magic knife.

Then for her last two, I'm going to give her another +1 Weird and I considered changing her playbook as well, just for symmetry, but then I don't think she particularly did or needed to conclude her act as a performer. I suppose I could change her to Celebrity or Mundane, both fit in ways. But I think instead, I'll leave her as a Spooktacular. And Instead give her another basic advancement by giving her a third Spooktacular move in the form of Put on a Show.

Which wraps up Zoey.

However, this build does leave out my solution for the -1 Tough making her bad at Protect Someone... Ancient Fighting Arts brings that to +0, but originally I was going to get Let's Get Out of Here from Mundane which would let her protect someone using Charm. Still... I think this is okay.

So that leaves us with the collective and excuse me as I grab the format from my Katalepsis write-ups.

Huntrix

Team Playbook: Touring Band

Team Style: Idol Singer

Team Ally: Bobby

Team Enemy: Gwi-ma

Team Move: Famous, Hit It!, Sacred Songs of Power, In the Groove

Team Assets: Signature Weapons, Home Venue, Headquarters, Slush Fund, Studio

Improvements

Take another Team Playbook move: Hit It!

Take another Team Playbook move: Sacred Songs of Power

Take another Team Playbook move: In the Groove

Take two points of Team Assets: Slush Fund and Studio

Take two points of Team Assets: Headquarters

-------

Rumi - The Chosen The Divine

Charm +2

Cool +0

Sharp +1

Tough +2

Weird +3

Fate: We Are Hunters

Heroic: You can save the world, Mystical Inheritance

Doom: Sympathy with the Enemy, Doubt

Mission: Uplift and protect humanity

Moves

Basic Weird Move: Use Magic

Chosen Moves: Destiny's Plaything, I'm Here For a Reason, Dutiful, The Big Entrance

Divine Moves: Angel Wings, Soothe, Cast Out Evil

Borrowed Moves: Dark Desires (Pararomantic), There's Always Tomorrow (Abandoned)

Harm: 0/7 (Unstable at 4, Dead at 8)

Weapons:

Four Tiger Sword - 2 Harm Hand Holy Focus

Improvements

Get +1 Cool, max +3

Get +1 Charm, max +3

Get +1 Tough, max +3

Take another Chosen move: The Big Entrance

Take a move from another playbook: Dark Desires (Pararomantic)

Take a move from another playbook: There's Always Tomorrow (Abandoned)

Change this hunter to a new type.

-------

Mira - The Abandoned The Hard Case

Charm +1

Cool +2

Sharp +0

Tough +2

Weird +2

Moves

Basic Weird Move: Use Magic

Abandonment: Neglected

Hard Knocks: Street Fighter

Abandoned Moves: Underdog, Trust Issues, Mostly at Night

Hard Case Moves: Furnace, Stone Cold, Always Angry

Borrowed Moves: Tactical Genius (Professional)

Harm: 0/7 (Unstable at 4, Dead at 8)

Weapons:

Gokdo (3-Harm Hand/Close Heavy Holy)

Improvements

Get +1 Cool, max +3

Get +1 Charm, max +3

Get +1 Weird, max +2

Take another Abandoned move: Mostly at Night

Take a move from another playbook: Furnace (Hard Case)

Take a move from another playbook: Tactical Genius (Professional)

Change this hunter to a new type

-------

Zoey - The Spooktacular

Charm +2

Cool +1

Sharp +2

Tough -1

Weird +2

Moves

Basic Weird Move: Use Magic

Show: Problem Solvers, Supernatural Creatures: Ancient Fighting Arts

Spooktacular Moves: Easygoin', Pay it Backward, Put on a Show

Borrowed Moves: Expert Troll (Interface), Area of Study: Violence (Action Scientist)

Harm: 0/7 (Unstable at 4, Dead at 8)

Weapons:

Shinkal (1-Harm Intimate/Hand/Close Holy)

Improvements

Get +1 Sharp, max +2

Get +1 Weird, max +3

Take another Show option: Supernatural Creatures (Ancient Fighting Arts)

Take a move from another playbook: Expert Troll (Interface)

Take a move from another playbook: Area of Study: Violence (Action Scientist)

Take another Spooktacular move: Put on a Show

Get +1 to any rating, max +3 (Weird)

------------------

There we go.

[dariakonnova]

NEW PAYMENT INFO

Full prepayment

An add character goes for a full price 

You can contact me through: Email  [email protected] Tumblr -  https://www.tumblr.com/dariakonnova Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/dariakonnova.bsky.social

 if you're interested or have any questions feel free to dm me  Reblog are appreciated  🧡💛💚💙💜

[dariakonnova]

I'm still open for commissions. 🧡💛💚💙💜

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

I just saw a review of 19 that said that it was bad because it sympathizes with fascist. It was certainly a take any thought.

Dehumanization is a hell of a drug.

[thecottageinthedark]

[princeseerow]

cassie gets so much criticism for things that the other characters ALSO do that it's hard to see it as anything other than poorly disguised misognyoir

her pacifistic ideals are another big one that she receives a lot of hate for, despite the fact that A) she commits just as many acts of violence as the other characters and struggles with this fact just as much as anyone else does and B) the other kids have also been in situations where they could have killed an enemy and also found themself unable to

ax and marco have been in positions where they could have killed alloran and visser one/eva respectively, but somehow cassie not murdering a young child in cold blood means she's the devil incarnate. okay.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

[cheyennestone]

Cassie was my absolute favourite member when I was a kid, to the point where I would search for only her books to read at the library. As I'm older I understand more the frustration of a pacifist character in such a high stakes secret war situation. But, I was still taken aback initially that my childhood favourite seemed to largely disliked by fans.

[sexysilverstrider]

the group chat when i ask whos available to hang out next week

[medusasstory]

Honestly this is one of the best formatted jokes of all time.

[dogray]

northern hemisphere babes we made it to the longest night of the year. we made it. for the next 6 months, every day will give us a little more daylight than the last. let's go. take my hand. climb out of the darkness with me

[inthefallofasparrow]

southern hemisphere babes, they're stealing our fucking daylight!

[alexkaneinq]

Cultist's Gamble: Start Here!

Welcome! So I decided I wanted to do a writing game/exercise and this is what I settled on! I'm using the system from Reincarnated as the Unlovable Villainous as the base, but I will be modifying it and not playing the game as fully intended. Namely, the main character is a man and has not actually been reincarnated in an otome game. I'm just using this as a flat base for romance writing and intrigue! I'm using the paranormal version that I have further modified into a more fantasy setting that develops throughout the gameplay. I did pair down some aspects of the Love Interest's backstories so they can develop more organically throughout the course of the story. And with that, let's get into the game setup and characters! 

Main Character: Kasper Kosk

Race: Human

Role: Cultist

Lore: 3

Love: 3

Relationship to Rival (Penelope): Opposite sides

Love Interest 1: Grady Ristol

A half-human investigator with heterochromia. He is cheerful and outgoing and is loved by those around him.

Relationship with Penelope: 3 hearts, friendly

Love Interest 2: Eric Fernward

A vampiric doctor with tattoos. He is falsely cheerful and outgoing and is hated by those around him.

Relationship with Penelope: 6, warm admiration

Love Interest 3: Vellum Pew

A freshly turned werewolf and paladin of the Church. He has a facial scar and comes across as cool and aloof, but may have a hidden soft side. He is well-respected among his peers.

Relationship with Penelope: 3, respectful and polite

Rival Penelope: She is driven and resolute. Her hobby and job is science. She is resentful towards Kasper due to her inability to prove his guilt for practicing occult magics and her feelings towards the love interests are platonic. 

There are a number of Bad Endings that can be triggered on a run that can end the game prematurely. These are predetermined and as follows.

Bad Endings:

On Round 2: Kasper is hunted by Penelope because he's challenged the rules/principles by which their society functions. DC: 2

On Round 5: Kasper is hunted by Eric because he has exposed supernaturals. DC: 3

On Round 13: Kasper is killed by His Cult because he's betrayed Grady. DC: 4

On Round 22: Kasper is tortured by The Government because he's been tricked by the supernaturals. DC: 5

On Round 23: Kasper is tortured by Vellum because he's challenged supernaturals. DC: 6

On Round 24: Kasper is killed by Eric because he's exposed Eric. DC: 7

If all Bad Ends are avoided, then there will be 30 rounds each walking through different scenarios and dates. I think that's all the background needed! Let's dive in!

*I have no idea how far the dice will take me romancing these characters, but if I hit 10 hearts this story will absolutely become Explicit! As with all things on my blog, 18+ only.

First Round | Last Round (Spoilers, obviously)

[cheyennestone]

Ah, my friend made this game! I still get so excited seeing people play it in the wild.

[nunalastor]

a moment of silence for our spotify wrapped playlists this year after hazbin hotel 😔

[cheyennestone]

Yeah, mine was interesting this year.

[cheyennestone]

Luke's Place

Yesterday was the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women and I created a thread on my socials and want to add the information here as well because I think it's really valuable.

I don't often talk about my day job as a frontline crisis counsellor and care lead at a women's shelter on here because frankly it's a stressful job and I need healthy boundaries between it and my personal or online life.

However, one of the biggest challenges faced once women enter the shelter after leaving the person who caused harm is navigating the legal system. A tool we have accessed for aid in Ontario law (this is important the laws are different everywhere, so this is specifically for Ontario, Canada where I live) is Luke's Place. Many people who follow me are American, but for Ontarians, this is an invaluable resource.

Luke’s Place was founded because of the tragic death of Luke, a 3 ½-year-old Durham boy, killed by his father during his first unsupervised access visit. They have free info on their site for legal and family court support, free summary legal advice, court and custody survival workbooks, and much more.

In addition to all that they do research and policy reforms, service provider training and resources including the After She Leaves Manuel, Tech Safety Toolkit, and Emergency Motions Toolkit. Some of the safety advice will apply even outside Ontario.

lukesplace.ca/for-women/

[frownyalfred]

Why is it so hard to find ppl that actually understand bruce? I am tired of either finding ppl that see him as an abuser or others that only love wfa version of him I am really tired of this like really I can't even join a Fandom without getting my favorite character not getting mischaracterized left and right 😔

I'm going to rant a little bit here, and I apologize in advance. This isn't really directed at you. But I'm kind of tired of this flavor of ask. I get it a lot -- half of these asks are praising me for having a "good" interpretation of canon, and the other half are blasting me for being too "fanon" and bending too much to fandom tropes in my posts and writing. And of course the nonstop WFA hatred in my inbox is tiring.

Be the change you want to see in the world. If you don't like what the fandom is doing to your blorbo, write him your way. But sitting at the edge of the playpen complaining about how someone else is playing with their toys isn't useful. And it's really getting annoying to me, as a content creator.

I'm also tired of the superiority some canon-adherents have over those who write/draw more fanon tropes. So many of you are SO bitter over the idea that fandom is "ruining" Bruce or your other Batfamily blorbo because how DARE they write your blorbo in that way that is so OOC. How DARE they! And yet, you sit on the sidelines and create bitchy tumblr posts about how those fandom participants are stupid, or ill-informed, or simply don't have the higher thinking ability to understand your blorbo like you do.

And yet. You don't write Bruce the way you "enjoy." You don't create content or share posts or promote those canon characteristics you so highly value. Instead, you write posts complaining about the others in this fandom and deride them for being stupid like adhering to canon strictly somehow makes you better than anyone else. You mock their acceptance of fanon tropes as canon as if there is required reading in this fandom, entirely dismissing the idea that the line between DC fanon/canon is confusing as hell on a good day, and ignoring that the natural progression of engaging in fandom is finding out -- sometimes on your own timeline -- what actually happened in canon. Especially when canon is so vast.

And guess what? At the end of the day, we are all on the fandom website(s). You're still reading fanfiction at the end of the day. Canon or fanon or some blend of the in-between, you are still a fan participating in fandom content in some way or another. And we are all equal in that respect.

We are all here to enjoy these characters. Fanfiction is a medium that allows us to further explore canon, yes, But it is also a way to explore the OOC, the what-if's, the out of character but fandom-fave ideas and tropes people want. The fact that OTHER people enjoy those things should never impact your enjoyment of fandom.

If you cannot handle someone else playing with the same toys as you, but playing with them in a way you don't like, you need to go back to preschool. And if someone won't give you your toy back, find another one. Write the story. Create the post. Build your own engagement from the ground up, finding likeminded people if you can. They are definitely on here.

But I get the impression that when people complain about fanon "ruining" fandom, what they're actually saying is "I'm upset that canon content isn't as popular as fanon content." And that, I can't help you with. We can't always change what other people love or want to engage with.

I'm sorry that this rant is blunt, but it's been simmering inside me for a while. I'm really tired of getting and deleting this ask 15 times a day. You will not find much sympathy on this blog for canon purism and the derision of fanon/fandom, and for that I apologize. But it's the truth.

I enjoy consuming content about both "fanon" and canon Bruce. I like the contrast and complexities. But I have seriously had to stop following a ton of blogs in the last year who don't create "canon" content anymore and instead spend their time complaining about other people in the fandom who are just enjoying themselves and creating their own content. It's incredibly disheartening and frustrating.

[cheyennestone]

This was specifically about the DC fandom/Bruce fans, but I think this is an interesting take on fandoms as a whole and a lot of people could stand to read it.

People are only going to make the content they enjoy. And if you are upset about the fanon characterization or fanon ships being popular or whatever, you can feel sad that there isn't as much content with the thing you enjoy, but people are never obligated to cater to your interests.

Content creators in fandom are already writing, making art, and more all for free because they enjoy it and are passionate about it. They aren't going to switch up and creating something they don't like just so that there is more content for it and they shouldn't feel like they have to.

[daystobestholliday]

Today is the day, dear friends. Go forth and have fun, stay safe, and get spooky!

There are 365 days until HALLOWEEN

[iamreeder]

GM, starting the session: "Alright folks! Who's ready to die?"

My character sheet:

[maester-cressen]

List of vetted Palestinian fundraisers (Set. 15)

All of these fundraisers are either vetted by competent vetters like @/90-ghost or @/nabulsi and/or have been vetted by association. I urge everyone to please donate to at least one of these campaigns and to boost this post so more people can see. These are real people with real struggles and even the smallest of donations can make a difference.

@mohamed-mikki / proof of vetting / donate ($2.120/$20.000)

@dinamahammed99 / proof of vetting / donate ($5.795/$15.000)

@alaakh99 / proof of vetting / donate (€11.132/€15.000 short term, €11.132/€100.000 long term)

@heba-baker / proof of vetting / donate (€4.563/€60.000)

@abdelmutei / proof of vetting / donate (€12.928/€25.000)

@emanabosedo / proof of vetting / donate ($1.146/$50.000)

@fidaa-family2 / proof of vetting / donate ($30.392/$75.000)

@savepalestineinfamily19 / proof of vetting / donate (€7.347/€50.000)

@alaakhateeb-gaza / proof of vetting / donate (£28.914/£56.000)

@ahmad-syam-blog / proof of vetting / donate ($4.517 CAD/$40.000 CAD)

@karamrafeek / proof of vetting / donate (€13.880/€20.000)

Taglist (send me an ask if you wish to be removed from this list):

@papenathys @heliopixels@nimbooz@hiveswap@fiqrr

@irhabiya@feluka@anneemay@tumkaafiho@fleshdyk3

@paandaan@itsfookingloosah@himejoshikaeya

@colombinna@br-eddrolls@0luna123@block-swing-perry

@divineclouds@error-core-animations@juneybug@apocalyptic-dancehall@kingofthebookcase

@briarhips@dirhwangdaseul@mahoushojoe@rhubarbspring@three-croissants

@specialmouse@thehollyraven@the-olive-gardens

@transmutationisms@timetravellingkitty

@schoolhater@pcktknife

@wellwaterhysteria

@deepspaceboytoy@post-brahminism@khanger@kibumkim

@7bitter@tortiefrancis @buttercuparry

@toiletpotato@fromjannah@omegaversereloaded@vague-humanoid@evillesbianvillain

@aristotels@komsomolka@xinakwans

@ot3@amygdalae@lonniemachin@dykesbat

@watermotif@stuckinapril@mavigator@lacecap@yugiohz

@socalgal@chilewithcarnage@ghelgheli@vakarians-babe @naetaesarya

[senatortedcruz]

I am calling for a total and complete ban on tiktok pop psychology until we can figure out what the hell is going on

[cunt-inent]

your childhood was spooky and scary

[cheyennestone]

Idk, I think Halloween was just objectively super fun for me personally. And not much related to my shitty childhood.

[frownyalfred]

I don’t know how to say this in a non-obsessed way, but I need the ao3 status updates to be beamed straight into my head whenever the archive goes down. I need that shit announced like we’re in a plane attempting to make a risky landing. Oh we’re down for another 20 minutes because of a server in the Pacific? Sure, thanks. I’ll just wait here.

[studiooutthere]

[batmanego]

fuck this time loop im leaving (walks into a different, worse time loop)

[charlesoberonn]

[queergamesbundle]

We're proud 🌈 to present the 4th Queer Games Bundle, with 500 games, TTRPGs, comics, and more from LGBTQ+ creators around the world.

For the price of one AAA game, you can directly support queer artists today. Buy it here for $60 (or $10+):

https://itch.io/b/2506/