we gotta get back to torrent distribution, i just watched someone eat eight grand in bandwidth charges because they ran a direct-download piracy site with local file hosting through cloudflare. torrents were invented literally for this exact reason
i have a file or folder on my pc that i want to share with other people. let's call it gayshit.mp3
unfortunately gayshit.mp3 is 750mb and im not paying for discord nitro so i need another way to send it
i put it into qbittorrent and it makes a torrent file. this is essentially a very small file that points to gayshit.mp3 so other computers can find it. kinda like a treasure map
i send this tiny file to my friend, who loads it into qbittorrent. their computer takes a moment to find mine over the vast expanse of cyberspace and then (as long as my pc is running and the file is still where it should be), it gets copied from my hard drive to theirs
this is the cool part: if somebody else loads that tiny file, they can download it from both of us. if i'm offline but my friend is on, the third person can still get it. this also means that if two people have separate halves of the file, they can download the other half from each other. as long as some combination of people have the pieces between them, they can all have the whole thing.
crucially this does not require a server!!! you can just upload the file to a few people and as long as they keep it, it's still accessible. as long as somebody, somewhere is still connected, it's available forever. the only way it goes away is if everybody disconnects from it.
With JoAnne Fabrics going out of business I feel it is my duty as a cosplayer, historical costumer, and general sewing gremlin to help teach y'all how not to be reliant on evil overpriced mediocre big box stores for fabric and cosplay supply, cause if I catch y'all going into Homophobia Lobby to get cosplay fabrics imma have to start throwing hands. And frankly you guys all deserve better.
- Find a neighborhood full of brown people. Probably a slightly poorer neighborhod. I know, I know, but they will have small independent fabric stores. Selection in each may vary. Hispanic and Caribbean areas will give you prints that EAT. Muslim areas will give you fabrics with amazing drapery. Indian and Southeast Asian areas will give you beading that would make the House of Worth wet with envy. (Try to avoid oldwhitelady quilting stores unless you are a knitter or are specifically trying to cosplay Kirsten Larson.) (Also ask while you're there for lunch/dinner spot recommendations. Your fabric store guy usually has a buddy with a joint nextdoor with the best *insert relevant ethnic food here* you'll ever put in your mouth.)
- DEVELOP A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE OWNER OF SAID STORE. This I cannot stress enough. Abdul, my fabric guy, can and will get me whatever I want cause he knows me, knows I bring in other young people, and knows I will be back every month for more. Indie fabric stores tend to have older clients. They are anxious to see faces under 60. Just chat with whoever is in there about the kind of stuff you want and need and they will help you. This also frequently leads to discounts. I have not paid listed price for fabric in years and just walked out of Abdul's with 7~ yards of gorgeous teal satin for 10 bucks. Not a yard. Total.
- Do not be afraid of mess. The best shit comes from stores that look like a hurricane went through them. Don't try to understand the organization. (One day, 4 years into your relationship with the store, suddenly the fabric gods will reveal the knowledge to you.) Again, talk to whoever is in there about your project. They'll help.
- Give up on one stop shopping. Get your crafting supplies elsewhere. Like a small independent hardware store. There's usually an old guy in there that reminds you of an uncle who will also help you.
-Worbla and whatever other Cosplay Specific Material you're using is a fatphobic material straight from Satan's hot taint, you do not need it, and any old hardware/tractor supply dad will help you find better, more durable armor/weapon/detailing material. Don't snub your nose at paper mache and plaster of paris. Venetian Mask makers have been using it for years. Balsa wood is also your friend. Hardware store Uncles will teach you to work with both.
- Elderly people are your bffs. If you see an old person TALK TO THEM. They know how to do all kinds of shit. I know there's a hesitation around old people because of the political climate and a fear that they may be homo/trans/whatever-phobic, but hey....minds are changed by making friends. My elderly Muslim fabric supplier is an Our Flag Means Death fan because of me gushing about the teal I needed for Stede Bonnet. He wishes me happy pride now. He put bolt of rainbow in the window in June and kept it up all summer. And he'd never had a thought about queers before me.
- Don't feel limited to Craft and Fabric stores. Hardware stores are cool. They stock outdoor fabrics and umbrella and furniture covers that are very durable....my first cosplay was made out of patio furniture covers. Also upholstery stores and upholsterers have velvets and damasks and faux leather and real leather and all sorts of rich textures. Most of them will part with a few yards pretty cheap. Second hand sheets and bedspreads and curtains also make some really cool garments. A significant amount of my ren fair garb started as household goods.
- If you are forced to order fabric online, please for the love of all that is holy DO NOT BUY FROM MOOD or any other famous store. You're paying for their branding and their place on certain reality shows I will not mention. Indie is always cheaper for the quality and usually not abusing their workers.
- If the fabric/hobby/hardware/upholstery/etc store you develop a relationship with is inconveniently far from you, see if said owner is willing to take your order via phone and send it to you. You'd be surprised how accommodating people in the crafting and sewing world can be.
It all really comes down to having to form a community. I know finding multiple small stores is a lot less convenient than Joannes. But forming a relationship with a local supplier will, in the long run, yield you much better results AND put money and good back into a community near you.
(And if you're in the NYC area DM me and I'll put you in contact with Abdul. He's the absolute best and I'd do anything to help him and his business grow!!!)
Kill La Kill is mostly action and mostly heterosexual, but there's plenty of ecchi magical girls, and the main heroine ends up with a girl in the end. It tries to Say Stuff About Gender, and opinions are divided about whether it succeeds.
Re: Cutie Honey is about a magical girl(magical woman? she has an office job) fighting sex themed goons with the power of cosplay while her coworker who is extremely in love with her and annoyed about it tries to figure out her secret identity.
Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid is about a bunch of lesbians who give their girlfriends orgasms to turn them into cool weapons, doing a big battle royale. it's 100% just lesbians doing stupid badass action shit and groping each other's big bouncy boobies.
Seven Mortal Sins is about a bunch of sexy demon ladies competing to seduce this one catholic girl. this one is basically just smut with slightly more excuse plot than normal, but if you liked mahoako, it should be right up your alley.
Choosing the Beast: Modern Folklore Heroines Embrace the Animal Husband
“I choose the bear.” The refrain rang out across the web, with many a woman nodding in agreement or at least understanding, and certain men huffing with indignant outrage. Just a meme, really, but did it speak to a deeper truth? Is it merely age-old mistrust of patriarchy talking, or a true desire for the beastly, the wild, the untame?
I’m no sociologist, of course, but I have noticed an emerging trend in fem-gaze media that seems to reflect this view. In movies like I Am Dragon (2015) and recent shows like My Lady Jane and The Acolyte, the heroine chooses the beast, loving her animal husband in his wild form rather than requiring him to transform back into a mundane man to earn her affection. This is such a departure from the typical folktale pattern that it’s difficult to even find an historic example where this occurs.
Commonly thought to reveal the desire to tame a dangerous mate in a patriarchal society, most animal husband tales (ATU 425a) feature a hero who ultimately transforms permanently into a human. This is viewed not only as freeing him from the maddening effect of his wild form, but also saving his bride from committing the sin of bestiality. In these tales, the animal mate’s transformation is necessary for the salvation of both.
Is the modern heroine then damned by choosing her husband’s beastly form? Or does she actually free them both from the yoke of patriarchal expectations?
Bathing: Discovering the Wild Masculine
The first motif that stands out in these modern screen examples is bathing. In animal spouse tales, there is often a dynamic of the hunter and the hunted, and thus a moment when the hunter comes upon their would-be lover unawares. Perhaps they find the animal spouse sleeping, or they cast a light on them unexpectedly, see them without their animal skin or disguise, and so on. And of course, they often come upon the lover at their bath.
There is an implied eroticism in this discovery, finding one’s quarry not only undressed, but also in the most private of activities. Water of course symbolizes fertility, but bathing is also purifying, symbolically washing away all that might make a mate undesirable. And this, perhaps, is the reason that historically this motif is used almost exclusively for animal brides, not animal husbands.
For the animal husband, he either actively chooses to reveal himself to the bride (perhaps on their wedding night), or she violently strips away his disguise, often armed with “flame and steel” like Psyche and her many avatars. Animal brides on the other hand are nearly always discovered at a body of water, bathing. The hunter will then capture her either by stealing her animal skin or cloak, or by placing his own clothing on her. What does it mean, then, when it is the husband who is discovered bathing in a body of water, held as an erotic object in the feminine gaze?
In The Acolyte, Osha follows Qimir to a pool where he slowly undresses, in full knowledge that she is watching. On the shore, she steals his lightsaber, just like the hunter who steals the animal skin, symbolically claiming him. When he emerges, Qimir dons new clothes, as if acknowledging that he is a different person than before he entered the water, almost purified in a way. Osha is forced to confront that there is more to the murderer in the mask than she realized.
Similarly, in My Lady Jane, our heroine goes looking for Guildford just before sunrise on their ill-fated wedding night, only to discover him bathing in the stables. The scene is gratuitously filmed from Jane’s (very horny) perspective, flipping the script on the countless scenes in screen history shot with the masculine gaze. Immediately after she discovers and confronts him, Guildford transforms against his will into a horse, and Jane realizes that he is an Ethian, a creature she has been taught is demonic and unnatural.
And in I Am Dragon, Mira makes several discoveries in quick succession: first, she deduces that Arman is actually the dragon. In the next moment, she slips from the island’s peak and falls, saved only when Arman transforms at the last moment and breaks her fall with his dragon form. The water begins to wash over his unconscious body, and at first Mira thinks that she will allow him to drown. But the sight of Arman in his human form after he rescued her, worried over by his animal familiar, stirs her to pity and she wraps him in a sail and drags him to safety. In this way, she clothes him, claiming him as her own.
Each of these heroines discovered a new aspect of her husband at the bath, finding him unexpectedly alluring, and ultimately choosing to begrudgingly claim him. Each animal husband tried to wash away his beastly form, to separate himself from the wild masculine. These men feel a sense of disassociation from a part of themselves, but now that their brides have discovered it, there will be no more hiding. Further, the bride now holds the power in the relationship, evidenced by how her husband needs her: Qimir needs Osha to be his apprentice, Guildford needs Jane to help him “break the curse,” and Arman needs Mira to heal him from his wounds.
Playing House: The Half-Husband
The second feature of these stories is a period of domesticity for the couple. For a brief time after the husband’s beastly nature is revealed, the lovers “play house” like children. While sexual tension is present, they typically do not consummate their union during this time, but instead cook, eat, rest, and care for one another. What’s more, they ignore or even attempt to actively destroy the husband’s animal form. They deny that this is part of him and therefore part of their relationship.
In I Am Dragon, Mira heals Arman, and wakes the next morning to find he has left food for her (dragonfruit, appropriately). Together they begin building a home out of shipwreck debris they find scattered around the island. A cheery montage shows them decorating a living space, choosing clothes, playing music, and dancing. But the specter of Arman’s monstrous form lurks on the edge of their idyllic life. Mira has nightmares, and tells Arman how much she fears “the dragon,” notably not referring to them as the same person. And eventually, it emerges that Mira has been planning to escape, rejecting Arman’s dragon form entirely.
After he sheds the helmet and robes of The Stranger, Qimir turns his attention to caring for Osha: he heals her, lets her sleep in his bed, provides clothes, and cooks for her. In turn, after some lightsaber-wielding, Osha becomes more comfortable in his home and accepts the food he offers, eventually even trying on his helmet. Later, they bicker amiably on their way to Brendok, like an old married couple on a road trip. When not facing down Jedi, Qimir leaves his menacing persona behind and transforms into an empathetic, protective, and alluring partner.
Jane Grey, meanwhile, finds herself using her honeymoon sequestered away in a private cottage to try to cure Guildford of his Ethianism. With her knowledge of medicine, she concocts various potions and magical cures, but none of them succeed. Guildford often checks in on her after these disappointments, making sure she’s getting enough sleep and taking care of herself. It’s also clear that they’ve been regularly dining together when Jane suddenly dashes off to rescue her friend. Guildford follows her and the two protect one another, followed by an almost-tryst. Even when they move into the palace, their day-to-day (or rather night-to-night) life is one of comfortable domesticity, although they continue to deny Guildford’s horse form.
In each of these cases (although less so in The Acolyte without Season 2 to continue the story), playing house can only last for so long while the husband’s animal nature is denied. There is a part of him that is suppressed, rejected, and this leads to him being incomplete, a half-husband. Each hero is unable or unwilling to accept and celebrate his whole self with his bride. Eventually, it is that denial that leads to a rift between the couple, which can only be healed not with the transformation of the husband, but with the embrace of his animal form.
Enforcing Patriarchy: The Rival
Each of these relationships exists in direct opposition to the dominant culture in the story: Arman as the Dragon is the literal enemy of Mira’s people, Qimir as Sith is the enemy of Osha’s Jedi masters, and in My Lady Jane, intermarriage between humans and Ethians is punishable by death. By choosing to stay with their animal husbands, even for a brief time, our heroines are openly defying the patriarchal norms of their societies. But no oppressive society is about to take that transgression lying down. In each story, a rival emerges to enforce the patriarchal order, kill the beastly husband, and retrieve the bride.
In I Am Dragon, Mira’s betrothed and descendent of the dragon-slayer, Igor, journeys to rescue her from the dragon. Over the course of the story, it becomes clear that Igor cares nothing for Mira herself, and merely feels entitled to her as his bride. Dragon-slaying is his heritage, so he must find her, kill the dragon, and take his place as the hero of his people. Even the marriage ceremony illustrates his ownership of her: he takes hold of a rope tied to her boat and reels her in, thus binding her to the patriarchal order. Contrast that to Arman, who offers her the power of flight, a symbol for freedom.
In Osha’s case, Qimir’s rival for her loyalty is clearly Master Sol, who wants to keep his former pupil dependent on him and the Jedi. Sol takes patronizing fatherliness to an extreme, constantly rescuing Osha rather than letting her stand for herself, teaching her to deny her feelings and instincts, and lying to her to “protect” her. The Jedi refuse to allow that there might be any other way to access the Force than their own, thus invading the home of the Brendok witches and ultimately orphaning the twins. Sol continues to press this dominance to the end, challenging Qimir and insisting to Osha that his own lies were justified.
In My Lady Jane, there are two rivals, both women. Lady Frances attempts throughout the show to dominate her daughters and crush their wills, forcing them into unwanted marriages, applying political pressure, and even counseling Jane to abandon Guildford to save herself. The other rival is Mary Tudor, who is determined not only to emulate her father’s violent, oppressive, and misogynistic reign, but to crush anyone she considers “unnatural” or who poses a threat to her rule. These characters stand as clear examples of how women can enforce patriarchy, too.
In each story, there is a moment when the rival briefly recaptures or “rescues” the bride from her beastly husband, bringing her to a moment of decision: will she stay within the bounds of patriarchy like a good little girl? Or will she make an act of defiance to choose her own path?
Marriage: Choosing the Beast
The bride’s choice will ultimately decide not only her fate, but that of her mate as well. As an independent character, the wild masculine is deeply wounded, separated from himself and thus from his bride. He longs to transform not into a greater, more whole person, but into a lesser, half-person. Alone, without the embrace of his anima, he cannot see the value of his beastly form. Instead of healing, he faces annihilation.
As a part of the bride’s psyche, the beastly husband represents her innermost desires, the truth of her heart, and a spirit freed from the expectations of her society. He is her animus, her missing wild masculine. If she transforms him into a man, then she will tame his wild nature, bringing him to heel under the boot of the patriarchy. Choosing the human form and rejecting the beast means rejecting her own psychological needs. It would be just another form of psychic dismemberment.
Fortunately and unusually, each of these modern brides chooses her beastly husband without demanding he transform. When Osha finally agrees to become Qimir’s apprentice, she takes his hand under the willow tree, clasping the newly-bled lightsaber between them. A few scenes later, this wedding imagery is repeated when they hold hands over the saber again, this time looking into a sunrise/set. Notably, at the moment they “marry” under the willow tree, Qimir is wearing his beastly helmet with rows of menacing, wolfish teeth. He has not come to the light side or shed his Dark Side persona, but Osha has embraced him anyway without fear. And while they might not both be healed (yet), they are more whole together than they were apart.
When her efforts to cure Guildford of his Ethianism repeatedly fail, Jane begins to suspect that his “condition” cannot be cured at all. But listening to her Ethian friends Susanna and Archer finally convinces her that the truth is Guildford doesn’t NEED to be healed - being an Ethian is who he is, and it’s nothing to fear. Unfortunately, Guildford still associates his beastly form with his mother’s death, so he is unable to accept it as Jane encourages, and flees. After a near-death experience, he uses his equine speed to return to the castle just as Jane is deposed and captured. As our heroes battle toward the end, Guildford comes to learn that there are many other proud Ethians, and that his family loves and accepts him in any form.
Still, he’s unable to transform at will, and when Mary captures him and sentences both husband and wife to death, it seems their story may end in tragedy. But as Guildford has been struggling to accept himself, Jane too has been battling with her own conscience. Does she renounce Guildford to save herself? Use her wits to kill the guard and escape? Bend to her mother’s manipulation? Jane confronts each temptation, and ultimately chooses to face death rather than betray Guildford or herself. But when her Ethian friends (the wild instinct) appear to disrupt the execution, our heroine seizes the opportunity to rescue Guildford. Unable to free him from the burning pyre, she confesses her love for him, and they kiss amid the flames.
Fire is often a herald of transformation, burning away illusions to reveal the truth. And when Jane and Guildford exchange their vows in this symbolic marriage ceremony, Guildford’s fears and illusions are finally burned away. Now that his bride has accepted his beastly form, he can accept it too, and so he at last transforms at will into a horse so that they can escape. Their story ends with them married and whole before the sunrise.
Among our modern heroines, Mira is the boldest in her embrace of the beastly husband. Offered yet again as a bride to Igor, she realizes that this is not what she wants, and casts off the tether from her boat. She declares “I love the Dragon!” using the name of her husband’s animal form rather than his human name. Then, she sings the song that will call the dragon to her, and he appears to carry her away again.
But their story is not over yet! Earlier in the story, Arman told Mira of how he loses control when in dragon form, and that dragons are compelled to reproduce by burning maidens to death and retrieving their offspring from the ashes. Returning to the island with her a second time, the dragon drops her on the altar and prepares to spew fire, but Mira lunges up and kisses him. This act of love, even when he is a monster, stuns the beastly husband. Again, Mira declares her love and kneels before him, saying she does not wish to be parted. We might expect the animal husband to transform in this moment, but instead he lays his fearsome head in her lap as a lover. Their story ends with a child and a flight in the sky, silhouetted by the sun just like the other couples.
Each bride, when confronted with the option to return to the patriarchal limits of her childhood, chose instead an act of love and acceptance for her wild masculine. This embrace helped the beastly husband to accept his whole self, and he is healed without having to cut off the wild parts of himself.
What Does It Mean?
Again, this story is so rare in world folklore that it’s difficult to even find examples. On fleeting occasions that the woman chooses an untransformed beast, it is presented as a cautionary tale. These women are framed as a danger to the community for their bestial impulses and abandonment of the social order, much like witches who were said to consort with the devil. It was certainly never presented as a happy ending, insofar as we can tell from written accounts.
So what does the emergence of this tale mean for our culture? I would argue that this is just the latest step in our ongoing reckoning with historic gender roles, as well as renegotiating with other forms of systemic oppression. People of all genders are pressured to reject a part of ourselves, cutting us off from our own truth and desires that run counter to the enforced social order. We must not challenge patriarchy, must not embrace different gender expressions, must not blur established hierarchies of power, must not find joy and power in our identities, and so on.
This enforced denial does tremendous damage to everyone caught in the system, and so through story, we dream our way to escape. We dream of embracing the dark, wild parts of ourselves, of flying free on a spaceship or a dragon or enchanted horseback, and of being totally loved for who we are.
It’s clear patriarchy is still fighting back against this emancipation of the wild feminine and wild masculine, given that both The Acolyte and My Lady Jane were canceled not long after their release. In the case of The Acolyte in particular, there was a sustained campaign from its announcement to harass and silence the creators. Demoralizing as this phenomenon may be, it’s important to remember WHO ultimately owns these stories:
“Fanfiction is a way of the culture repairing the damage done in a system where contemporary myths are owned by corporations instead of owned by the folk.
-Henry Jenkins, NYT 1997
Ah, an oldie-but-goodie. But Dr. Jenkins is right. Corporations may greenlight, film, release, and then cancel these stories, but ultimately they belong to the people. We take from these tales what speaks to us, leave what does not, and then retell them ourselves in fanfiction, in art inspired by the stories, and in lessons we pass on to our friends and families. If the embrace of the wild masculine speaks to you, let the story take root in your own life. Do you know someone who needs to be embraced, just as they are? Do you need to accept the parts of yourself that society tells you to hate? Do you want to be free, healed, and whole?
If so, then let these stories show you how, and tell more like them. Embrace the beast, and find your joy.
Sources:
Beauty and the Beast Tales From Around the World by Heidi Anne Heiner
In Search of the Swan Maiden: A Narrative on Folklore and Gender by Barbara Fass Leavy
And a relevant song for you, as a treat:
Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype by Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D.
Dungeons & Dragons' owners think the brand is "really under monetised" and have a plan to fix that in the future.
I think there's been some talk about how one of the design goals of One D&D seems to be a focus on making the digital tools more important and given that there's talk inside Hasbro along the lines of D&D having more potential for monetization I wouldn't be surprised if WotC were to try some kind of "D&D as a service" thing.
Now is a great time to remind people that there are so many good RPG systems out there. Just because D&D is the biggest name in the industry doesn't mean it's the right system for your game, even if you are running some high fantasy type stuff. Take time to explore and see what's out there.
Yeah. And like, as much as I like playing D&D the fact is that besides it not being the perfect system for every type of game, I feel its overwhelming market dominance isn't necessarily a net positive for the hobby.
They all laughed when I kept hyping up Rolemaster. Well, who's laughing now? Well, it's still them, but nevertheless,
While you won't ever hear me wag my finger at someone suggesting people pirate D&D books because they are expensive as fuck and you need like three of them at minimum to have the "core game," I think more people should just play other RPGs. While by pirating D&D books you're not directly supporting the cultural behemoth that D&D is, if you have any interest in the hobby in general then I feel it is more productive to actually tangibly support other games.
Cause here's the thing: D&D is actually one of the few games out there where you need to buy three $50 books to play the game, most games will give you a full game at the price of a single book costing $50 or less depending on the game. Paying $150 dollars for the core rules of a game (which you have to buy separately if you want them to be available digitally) is absolutely not the norm. (For an example, Free League's The One Ring RPG costs 518.00 kr which comes out to approximately $50, while something slimmer like Blades in the Dark will only set you back like $30, and that's for the physical editions which come with PDFs included. Most publishers these days are involved in some program where even if you bought the game physically at a brick and mortar store, you can still get the PDF for free.) That's a full game for one-fifth to one-third the price of D&D's core rules, and that's not even taking into account the fact that a lot of these games are available for even cheaper in digital formats.
(Sidenote: one of the large profile D&D alternatives, Pathfinder, also follows the multiple books strategy, but its approach isn't quite as egregious imo as D&D's: firstly, you only need two books, the actual core rulebook and a bestiary, and secondly, all the rules are available online for free, yes you heard that right, all the rules, not just some Basic rules to get you started)
And then of course there are a bunch of indies. There are way too many good indie RPGs out there but here's a little sample:
Hard Wired Island by Paul Matljevic and Freyja Katra Erlingsdóttir. Amazing cyberpunk RPG that avoids pretty much all of the common pitfalls of the genre.
Flying Circus by Erica Chappell. Basically Porco Rosso the RPG, air combat in a fantasy setting with an approximately WWI level of technology.
Fellowship by Vel Mini. If you absolutely need your fantasy fix Fellowship is a great twist on the formula that pits a fellowship of heroes against the forces of an evil overlord.
Esoteric Enterprises by Emmy Allen. Modern occult horror which just oozes style and with a system clearly inspired by older editions of D&D.
Wanderhome by Jay Dragon. Pastoral fantasy with anthropomorphic animals this game is so gosh darn wholesome I love it.
Again, all of these games will set you back a fraction of the cost of D&D's core rules, each is a complete game in one book, and you know the money will directly support the author.
Listen I know I'm Excessively late to this particular party but there are, I cannot stress enough, SO many good options out there that you can find for either cheap as fuck or flat-out free
FATE is a system you can literally get for free(i got PDFs of the core rules literally while writing this!) That can be expanded and adapted to fit anything from high fantasy to cyberpunk cosmic horror(yes, seriously). It even has tie-ins with established properties, like The Dresden Files, if you're a fan of those
Apocalypse World(and its literal hundreds of offshoots in Powered by the Apocalypse) is a low-numbers system which is, again, endlessly customizable(PbtA games dont even necessarily all use the AW rules, even!) The core rules for AW are free, and various flavors can run anywhere between $8 and $50 USD for the full version of that flavor. With most versions, you can explain the basic rules to a new player and start creating a character within the first hour and be ready to play!
Finally, Savage Worlds is another setting-agnostic ruleset, and the only one of these three to require your standard set of polyhedral dice(both previous sets run entirely on six-sided dice). I played my first game at a convention and I got the rules explained to me, created a character, and ran a one-shot in the span of three hours, and had an Absolute Blast doing it. There are a couple of versions of this one, the most recent edition being the Savage Worlds: Adventure Edition(abbreviated to SWADE) but between the two you'll probably be looking to pay between $5-$40 USD for the entire core set of rules, depending on if you want physical copies or just PDFs.
These are just the few I can come up with off the top of my head! Please please PLEASE look into other games besides Just Dungeons & Dragons. I actually really enjoy dnd and am in multiple campaigns, but trying to make it the be-all to end-all for every type and style and setting of game is just going to probably make you loathe those games. You have options! If you really want to go fully-independent, head on over to itch.io's TTRPG tag(the link is specifically for the free games btw) and scroll until you find something that sounds fun!
I don't know if it'd work for killing time at work, but I thought 1000-Year-Old Vampire was a good solo journaling RPG, about losing your humanity and memories and becoming a monster.
Seconded 1,000 Year Old Vampire, should work imo. A few more!
Ironsworn - Free and paid versions on DtRPG/itchio. Low-fantasy medieval, Tolkeinesque. Optional "Oracle rules" for solo play.
Ironsworn: Starforged - Same as above, but space opera.
Quill - A pay what you want, historical letter writing/speech making game. With a bunch of different settings. On DtRPG.
Solo in the Dark - Rules to play Blades in the Dark alone. (If you look up your favorite games + solo on DtRPG, I'm sure someone has made an add-on. There's ones for D&D, Pathfinder, Numenera, Fate, PbtA, etc., etc.)
i saw a post on tiktok about dying in battle and your last words to a member of your party is a confession of your love. but then you get resurrected and have to face the consequences. and i want that but like. as a character backstory. you get resurrected which you didn’t realise your cleric could do and the person you’re in love with is like uh hey? and so you pretend to go back unconscious to continue recovering until the party rests for the night and you fuckin’ book it. change your name change your class get a new adventuring party. don’t be suspicious (don’t be suspicious)
everyone thinks you have some dark and edgy backstory but really you’re just an idiot who was so afraid of being rejected that you faked your death.
Added a proper Credits & Acknowledgements section – please let me know if you sent feedback on version 0.1 and I missed you
Expanded the preamble with better explanations of how to roll a d66 and what counts as a “duplicate result”, as well as some guidelines on voluntary re-rolls
Collapsed “Angels” and “Demons” into a single roll on Subtable A10: Outsiders, and moved “Tourists” from Subtable A14: Professions, Other to fill the resulting gap
Added “Idle Gentry” to Subtable A14: Professions, Other to fill the gap left behind by “Tourists”
Replaced row 25–26 on Table C: Genre and Tone with “Family friendly or young adult fiction” (was: “Family friendly”); hopefully that’ll make it more flexible when the dice try to combine it with another tone that can’t really be made G-rated
Replaced row 45–46 on Table C: Genre and Tone with “Post-modernist or deconstruction” (was: “Parody or satire”) to make the intent clearer and more congruent with the subject matter
Split Table D: Rules Toys into subtables and added eighteen new entries, bringing the total up to 54
Moved the explanations of what the entries in Table D: Rules Toys mean to a separate section below the subtables, and expanded the discussion throughout, including some brief remarks on common combinations
Finished writing the promised Part Five: Milieu, including a new 36-entry Table E.
Adjusted fonts and formatting for improved readability
The document is now feature-complete, albeit not content-complete; I can see a few areas that will definitely need expansion in version 0.3:
Part Four: Rules Toys is currently a bit light on character creation and advancement options, and entirely omits any discussion of oddball magic systems. I have a few ideas on how to fix that, but it’s going to require me to write at least three additional subtables, and I didn’t want to rush it just for the sake of getting the latest revision in front of some eyes. Next time!
I should probably add some writeups for the entries in Table B: Genre and Tone like I’ve done with the Rules Toys and Milieu elements, since folks keep asking me what a “grindhouse” is.
Part Two: Priorities and Objectives could likely stand to be broken into subtables and expanded, since some of the more esoteric motivations are coming up a little more often than I’d like – but then, I always think random tables could use more entries, so probably not my top priority here.
In any case, y’all know the drill, folks: if you have a moment, please give it a spin and let me know what you think!
Part 1: The Core Classes - Fictional Characters, Cursed Artifacts, Vampires, and Zombies
Part 2: The Goal - Come of Age via Indulging in sports, games, or other hobbies
Part 3: The Genre - Post-modernist/deconstruction, and tragedy, switching between them
Part 4: The Mechanics - A relationship system, and Loot
Part 5: The Setting: Diegetic Archetypes and Crossroads.
You live in the HOLY DOME OF SPORTSBALL, Capital of SPORTSBALL LAND. Players, amateur and expert, come from around the land the visit this landmark, among other things. if you aim to STIKE IT BIG, however, you’re gonna need help.
Each different class would play different sportsballs to seperate them mechanically (with overlap), but also different people would be willing to play with them. Someone who likes playing anti-soccer with a zombie may have a much less fun time playing with a vampire, after all. The relationship building would have these visitors be potentially recurring, as the holy dome of sportsball is notoriously difficult to traverse, in addition to the many wonders contained within. Wonders that you don’t have the skills to access, at least not at first- the reward for successfully getting a good enough relationship would, depending on the character, either be an upgrade to you in the form of coaching, or an item that cannot be obtained by yourself.
Lategame - or perhaps “post”game, with the game being split into “setup” and “realization” phases - would involve actually obtaining items directly, with allies, and either striking it big in the holy dome of sportsball via. I don’t know. commiting some grave sin to show how sports is dangerous to those playing it and in the culture im from frequently draws attention and resources away from other pursuits, or trying to make your way out of the holy dome and possibly out of sportsball land for good.
also if you fuck up your allies WILL die and your favorite courts WILL be ruined or destroyed. thats the tragedy.
(One of my friends also did this and got what we ruled as “you play as a sapient MMO NPC that doesn’t know they’re in an mmo and thinks that the world is ruled by fickle monsters with insane powers that will stomp you in a moment, but that’s a framing device for a dramatic dating sim involving catgirls”, which everyone else agreed fucks absolutely.)
(I’d apologise for spamming these reblogs, but there’s just too much great stuff here. Seriously, I’ll stop now, but y’all should absolutely check the notes!)
I think it’s interesting that tabletop warlock bargains generally operate on the idea of eternal servitude or owning your soul or whatever but there is a world of alternatives that range from funny, dramatic, or just plain interesting. Consider:
Patron was sealed for a long period of time, and more than seeking their revival, they miss the world and its experiences, and thus seek warlocks who are willing to share their senses with their patron and thus ameliorate the loneliness and fatigue of ages
Patron likes money and valuables and will bequeath power in exchange for a warlock who will share their adventuring fortunes.
Patron has a chaotic sense of humor and likes fire and explosions; causing spectacular destruction pleases them.
Patron is just kind of a (relatively wholesome) frat bro who gave the warlock powers because they decided the warlock was chill and could hang, maintaining powers hinges on navigating said relationship. Patron may manifest physically for the exclusive purpose of fistbumping warlock if they do something really cool.
Patron is a foodie and warlock is a chef traveling the world looking for rare ingredients and lost techniques to construct dishes that please their patron’s palate
Patron is a literal patron- warlock is an artist of any form and the patron commissions them for works from time to time.
Warlock babysits (or performs another service) for patron, who prefers to pay them in dark powers.
Variant on above where warlock is occasionally ordered to perform various esoteric tasks such as delivering an object to a site or obtaining something and sending it to their patron- they are simply running their reclusive patron’s errands as the latter would rather not leave home.
Patron and warlock promised to be best friends forever when one or both of them was a small child and patron takes that very seriously
Patron likes blood but is disinterested in full-body sacrifices as their particular taste means that some people are exceptionally delectable to them, and it seeks to prolong those people’s lives as long as possible in exchange for semi-regular ‘blood donations’
Patron was disembodied and in exchange for being allowed to inhabit the warlock’s flesh, is willing to fight to defend the shared body.
Patron specifically seeks to cultivate adventurers and support them throughout their career, in a manner similar to a professional wrestler’s manager.
Warlock was a child sacrifice, offered live, at a dark altar; patron has an interesting definition of what ‘the child is now mine’ entails.
Patron is an alternate timeline ‘potential future’ of the warlock’s who is either trying to influence events to ensure their timeline or prevent it.
“ Patron likes blood but is disinterested in full-body sacrifices as their particular taste means that some people are exceptionally delectable to them, and it seeks to prolong those people’s lives as long as possible in exchange for semi-regular ‘blood donations’ “ This likely confuses most vampires.
Depending on your interpretations of vampires, you could roll this WITH a vampire as a patron. Just imagine an eccentric and highly out of touch ancient vampire noble who doesn’t get out much and is like a weird old high society uncle who chortles at your latest antics like ohohoh, delightful, take this and go give them what for, would you? and hands you an extremely evil sword.
Hi consider this your blessing from a certified forever GM, to please make your TTRPG characters Mary Sues.
Listen if you spend enough time in the hobby you will inevitably get people turning up their nose, saying you need to make your PCs “realistic”. These people are wrong! Especially when it comes to DnD. There’s nothing wrong with tropes but after a while all the human fighters who used to be in the army, and elf wizard trying to live up their family legacy start to blur together.
The same cannot be said for the diamond-skinned demi-goddess cleric who started her prayers with “Hey mom, it’s me”; the self-described “slutty pyromaniac” tiefling sorcerer; the ranger who wanted to domesticate an army of rats and declare herself “queen of the sewers”; or the slightly macabre mushroom druid who became a sheepgirl while trying to cast “trans your gender”.
There is literally only one hard-and-fast rule in D&D character creation, which is one of basic courtesy to the DM and others–you have to create a character who, for literally any reason at all, would join an adventuring party.
(Like I said, this is basic courtesy; nothing is worse than the player who, when the DM introduces a plot hook, responds with “but why would MY character care? why would I get involved in this monster attack? MY character would just let the town guard handle it!”
The answer to “but why would my character want to get involved?” is “Because you’re not the only player at the table, and you’re not the main character in a novel.” Pulling the session to a grinding halt around your character’s…lack of interest in the entire game….is rude and unfair. This is a team-based game, and an understood rule of conduct is that you are going to be playing a character who will–reluctantly perhaps, warily certainly, out of fear or self-interest by all means, but will nevertheless–join forces with the rest of the group and have some form of engagement with the plot)
And get this.
The vast majority of players snottily talking down to the actually interesting and engaging character concepts for not being “realistic” enough? They violate that one rule all the fucking time. A lone-wolf jaded rogue sitting by themself in the corner might be “realistic,” but if they keep no-selling plot hooks and refusing to engage with the plot because “it would be out of character”, then they’re not a good character for D&D and their players should have made a better one.
Literally the only law of character creation is to make a character who will in some way, shape, or form engage with the fucking story.
Make characters who are INTERESTING and ENGAGING and FUN TO PLAY and yes, don’t let assholes ruin your fun, but also: You are probably objectively better at this than they are and you deserve to keep that in mind.
NEVER take character criticism from people who only have one rule they’re expected to follow and still can’t figure it out.
The thing that gets me about most arguments against accessibility features in video games is that they’re not just grossly ableist, they’re also hypocritical as hell. Video games have always had accessibility features: we just documented them poorly and called them “cheat codes”. Indeed, having a robust library of difficulty-modifying cheats was considered a mark in a game’s favour! The only difference is that a cheat code is theoretically a secret, which allows it to be framed as elite knowledge, even though it’s functionally identical to having an “infinite lives” switch on the options screen.
Here’s a thesis for you: the Konami Code was the first well-publicised accessibility feature.
I’m going to assume you’re not being disingenuous here and take this as a serious question. In brief, very few people are generically “bad at video games”; in most cases, difficulty engaging with interactive media stems from one or more of a wide range of physiological conditions, including:
visual deficit (including colourbindness; colourblind individuals often have difficulty identifying threats in action games because they don’t stand out from the background for them)
repetitive strain injury in the hands, wrists or forearms (common for anyone who performs manual labour for a living)
arthritis and other degenerative joint conditions (both those due to age and those comorbid with many autoimmune disorders)
dyslexia (a common symptom of even mild dyslexia is the inadvertent mirroring of sensory-motor responses under pressure, e.g., moving your hand left when you meant to move it right - which is a big problem for action games!)
sensory processing disorders (delayed reaction to visual stimulus is a common symptom)
spatial processing disorders (see above)
chronic pain
propensity for motion sickness
This is, of course, only a partial list. Many of these issues are individually rare, but taken together, we’re looking a huge chunk of the population - up to 40%, by some estimates - who have at least one condition that would impact their ability to play the shooters and action-platformers that are held up as the gold standard for hardcore gaming.
hot tip: if your disability makes you bad at a thing, maybe either put in the extra effort to get good at it or just don’t do it instead of demanding people make the thing easier?????
Here’s the a better question: why is it an issue for you? Accessibility features in video games are entirely transparent to those who choose not to use them. Your experience of play isn’t affected by their existence in any way whatsoever unless you deliberately turn them on. Complaining about the mere existence of such features is like claiming that your viewing experience of a movie is being ruined by the fact that the disc has a subtitle feature on it, even though you haven’t actually turned subtitles on.
(And no, don’t try to frame this as video game developers somehow being victimised by unreasonable demands. The vast majority of developers are more than happy to include accessibility features in their games - and quite sensibly, because, you know, they’re businesspeople, and they want to sell things to as wide an audience as possible. The popular backlash against accessibility features is entirely on the player side.)
i just want to appreciate the genius in this thread who unironically typed what amounts to “if your disability makes you bad at a thing, try being good at the thing instead”
Here is a pretty nice playlist about how to design video games for different disabilities! Many of them are pretty easy common sense things, a shame they aren’t seen as often as they should be.
Hello! I've realized I really want to play a heist game. Do you know of any video games or ttrpgs with that as a basis? Ideally I'd love something that has or decently simulates actual defensive forces, multiple roles for the attacking team, and a cooperative format. I'm not looking for a simple stealth cat burglar game or like, armed robbery game to be clear. Thank you!
(continued) Largely I want Leverage the tv show the rpg/video game I guess? but with a focus on a cooperative aspect of planning a heist and pulling it off with your friends, and not just a single player 'play through the story of the job'. I want it to be sandboxed if that makes sense?
There’s actually a very good official Leverage RPG. Unfortunately, it’s presently out of print due to an expired license, and used copies can go for upwards of $200 when they’re available at all, so you may need to be creative about getting your hands on it.
If you’d prefer something that’s readily available via legitimate channels, you have a few options:
First, the Leverage RPG is based on an earlier edition of the Cortex system, so it wouldn’t be terribly challenging to port it to the system’s latest edition. However, this comes with its own set of access challenges; the game’s current publisher is positioning it as an always-online “digital sourcebook” that has to be linked to a Google or Facebook account, and while it’s possible to obtain a PDF for offline viewing, you have to jump through some hoops to get it. It’s also a toolkit system, so you’d have your work cut out for you narrowing down the right set of options to use.
Second, you might have a look at one of the various games built on the Forged in the Dark system, an Apocalypse Engine derivative that plays with many of the same ideas as the Cortex-based Leverage RPG. The system’s flagship title, Blades in the Dark, is largely informed by grim-fantasy heist media like Arkane Studios’ Dishonored and Scott Lynch’s Gentlemen Bastards series, so it’s clearly not suitable for what you’re going for; some of the system’s other published variants, such as the Star Wars inspired Scum and Villainy. the romantic fantasy Songs For the Dusk, or the forthcoming Neuromancer-meets-Ocean’s Eleven Adrenaline, maybe more up your alley. Fair warning: adapting the system for a strictly non-magical contemporary setting may be a challenge, if that’s your goal.
Thirdly, this one’s slightly orthogonal to what you’re looking for, but if you’re into heist narratives in the style of Burn Notice as well as Leverage, you could check out Elizabeth Sampat’s Blowback. Out of all the recommendations on this list, this one has probably the strongest focus on the planning and preparation phase, with NPC relationships serving as a central game-mechanical resource. Consequently, your group needs to be on board with spending at least as much time playing out their characters’ mundane relationships and obligations as they do on committing crimes; if you just want to focus on the heist bits, this isn’t the right system.
Finally, this suggestion is more than a bit off the wall, but if you’ve got some time to kill you might be able to productively adapt Fate Core to the purpose by borrowing a few key mechanics from the licensed Atomic Robo RPG. Collateral consequences and brainstorming (the latter of which allows players to score game-mechanical bonuses by wildly speculating about what they’re up against) would be fantastic tools for running a Leverage-style heist game, as would the Atomic Robo RPG’s method of handling of science-based skills if the relevant mechanics were to be expanded to cover esoteric specialties of all sorts.
one of my favorite d&d podcasts is doing a one-shot based on the friday the 13th movies. except the DM hasn’t told any of the players that it’s based on friday the 13th. he has them convinced it’s based on a sex-comedy coming-of-age film they’ve never heard of (that he made up). which is so fucking genius. because the characters in a slasher flick don’t know they’re in a slasher flick, why should the players? if you’re going for genre accuracy, make your players think they’re acting out animal house or something, or else they’ll end up weirdly genre savvy. it’s perfect.
and like, throughout the whole session, to keep the players convinced that the fake not-horror movie is real, the DM keeps mentioning weird, specific details about the fake movie, like, “oh yeah, didn’t i mention? your character is played by crispin glover before he was famous” or “so in the actual movie, you got lost and had a nice scene in an orchard, but so-and-so succeeded on his navigation roll”
and this has the players lulled into a false sense of security for the most part. but over the course of the game they get more and more suspicious of all the weird, doom-harbinging horror-movie details the DM keeps sprinkling in. every once in a while a player will be like, “okay so these identical hitchhiking twins are hot, right? wait, why are they speaking in unison”
it’s so genius. the DM introduces a small child who creates and collects ultra-realistic, cinema-quality latex monster masks, and none of the players even bat an eye. they don’t clock this creepy horror movie child at all. they’re too busy trying to hit on his older sister, just like their characters would be.
at one point one of the players gets weirdly, genuinely angry, and is like, “WHY DO I CARE??? so this old couple is talking about a tragedy at the local hospital, SO WHAT????? aren’t i just supposed to want to get laid right now?! why did you put this in the story, man?!?! was this couple even in the original movie? i don’t know, because you won’t let us look it up on IMDB, even! what is going on?!” and i know it’s an auditory medium, but fuck, i could SMELL the shit-eating grin the DM must’ve had on. that’s so fucking awesome
#the DM even gave them homebrewed game mechanics based on love and sex so that they’d be distracted by their characters’ personal goals#which is so perfect for a slasher game. why else would your players be distracted by a trashy sex scene #theyre TRYING TO WIN. and to win. they have to have sex with so-and-so #and it keeps them distracted the whole time before the reveal bc a lot of their actions towards each other affect their relationship stats #it’s just. so fuckin funny. i had to pause the podcast multiple times to shout ‘YOU FUCKING LIAR’ at the ceiling. it was so funny #The Film Reroll is the name of the show btw if u wanna check it out or w/e
