Stepping Stones Universe Guide

[steppingstonesuniverseguide]

Stepping Stones Reading Guides

By Story Order

By Publication Order *highly suggested for first reading*

By Subjective Timeline Order

Tags List

Source

#from discord- things said in my discord.

#asks- asks answered on this blog

Facts

#fun facts- Small little lore facts that don't really affect things.

#story facts- Already established things in the story people may have missed.

#character facts- Facts about characters

#relationship dynamics- Facts about how two+ characters interact

#universe facts- Facts about the universe at large

#power facts- Facts about how powers work

#relation to cannon- Any time I talk about how Stepping Stones interacts with the DSMP cannon

Hints about the Future

#future vague posting-vague hints about the future

#future hints-more info hints about the future for the theorizers

#spoilers- a little bit spoilery ;)

#fun quotes- things i said that don't fit under anything, but I want to include

Talk about AU's/ Alt Timeline

Timeline alpha (not a tag)- When I refer to timeline alpha, I'm talking about the timeline that One Step Forward and Like Footprints on the Seashore take place in. In this timeline, Technoblade meets Phil at 14 and Wilbur has been dead since he was 8. Note: In general I do not count small resets done by Techno as separate timelines.

Timeline beta (not a tag)- When I refer to timeline beta, I am referring to everything set after the reset at the end of One Step Forward and Like Footprints on the Seashore. One More Step Out of the Pit takes place in this timeline.

#timeline alpha b- (Sometimes I call this timeline alpha.2) Timeline where Techno didn't reset everything at 20 and timeline beta never existed. Techno eventually meets up with Tommy and Tubbo living in the words as feral children. (Same location of the house in timeline beta)

#timeline beta villain tubbo au- what it says on the tin. During OMSOOTP Tubbo goes nuclear.

#timeline beta unmasked tommy au- SBI does not unmask Tommy. Tommy goes back to being a hero, but continues to get "accidently" kidnapped because they SBI are nice.

Bonus Content

#deleted scenes- scenes that didn't make the cut because I decided to do something else

#behind the scenes- things like my outlines and general plans

#sneak peak- sneak peaks of things coming up

#author thoughts- my thoughts about Stepping Stones and me reacting to how people think about them

#memes- Stepping Stones memes

[theflutterqueen]

baby's first ficbind!

This is One Step Forward and Like Footprints on the Seashore by @adrianainthesnow (Stepping Stones blog, AO3)

It's also double sided!

[video desc: op flipping the book over to reveal that both stories are on the opposite sides of the same book, with one cover for One Step Forward and one cover for Like Footprints on the Seashore]

I stole this gimmick from Lauren Oliver's Replica - it's 2 perspectives of the same story in the same way so I figured the format fit

[steppingstonesuniverseguide]

So cool!!! <3

[unshedtearsblog]

Since I have a tumblr now, I can show off all my printed fanfics! :D

First up we have the Stepping Stones series by @adrianainthesnow. They’re a little rough around the edges, being the first books I’ve ever formatted, but I still really like them, especially my color choices for the covers!

I picked red and gold for One More Step Out of The Pit because Tommy is the Red Glider and gold just looks good with red, white and blue for One Step Forward because hello, Antarctic Empire (side note, I swear it’s more vibrant in real life. I literally color picked them directly from the Antarctic Empire flag my camera just hates them), blue and yellow for Like Footprints on the Seashore for Ghostbur’s blue and his yellow sweater, and green and purple for Out of Step because it’s Tubbo and Ranboo’s story.

(also the reason the books are kinda beat up is because I’ve been loaning them to my kid sibling because they are Obsessed with this series. Like, they must have read each one at least a dozen times at this point. Actually they just came in to ask me if they could borrow One Step Forward and Like Footprints on the Seashore so they could re-read the “baby Techno stories”)

[steppingstonesuniverseguide]

So cool! I love this sort of thing! <3

[artboyo]

Favorite chapters of the prequel series for Stepping Stones by AdrianaintheSnow! Highly recommend you read it if you like SBI; it’s my personal favorite fanfiction. If you are interested in giving it a shot, all goodies are detailed under the cut :)

Stepping Stones is a public series of fanfiction on Archive of Our Own. The link for the entire series is here. The official universe guide is @steppingstonesuniverseguide.

If you know your way around ao3 and want to read the series in the way the author considers best, the link for the universe guide by publication order is here. But if that looks scary and confusing, don’t worry about it; reading the fics in the ao3 series order is completely fine. That’s how I read them, and I had a lovely time.

The specific fics that this scene is from are One Step Forward and Like Footprints on the Seashore, chapter 15 and chapter 8, respectively.

If you have any confusion that’s stopping you from trying this series, please comment down below, send me an ask, or shoot me a message and I will do my best to get back to you ASAP. Please please please try Stepping Stones, it’s awesome <33

[steppingstonesuniverseguide]

Awesome! Thank you so much! I always appreciate art of my stories! ❤️

[steppingstonesuniverseguide]

In present day, when is the last time Techno died?

The event mentioned by Tubbo at the begining of OMSOOTP where he was taken by surprise by a group of heroes. He doesn't really die much anymore because he's very skilled.

[steppingstonesuniverseguide]

Had a dream where Dream discovered SBI house and it was him versus Phil Wilbur Techno Tommy and Tubbo. This was before Ranboo joined the gang so he wasn’t there.

So Dream STABBED TOMMY non-lethally and was now holding a knife to his throat so that the rest of SBI couldn’t beat the shit out of him

Techno tried to talk Dream down and while he was distracted Tubbo used his powers to make a vine yoink Dream into the air and away from Tommy

And everyone except Tubbo ran over to Tommy and Wilbur was whipping out the bandages but then Tommy seized so they had to hold him down and his bones were CREAKING and then he stopped seizing and PASSED OUT and then he WOKE UP and his eyes were GREEN and GLOWING and Dream started talking through him because DREAM HAD POSSESSED TOMMY

Tommy got up but it was Dream puppeting him so Phil grabbed his arm using his super strength to keep him for leaving but haha Dream doesn’t care so he just pulls forward enough to BREAK TOMMY’S ARM and Phil lets go because “OMG I JUST BROKE HIS ARM 😱”

So Tubbo intercepted him but then Dream–Tommy wrapped his fingers around his own neck, threatening to choke himself to death, so Tubbo backed off and Dream–Tommy went and laid down next to Dream-Dream (who had been yeeted at the ground earlier ig) and Dream–Dream woke up, picked up Tommy, and super speeded away

😔😔😔

Interesting that your subconscious seems to think Dream has mind control powers! Interesting. There is no textual evidence of this at all. /s

It'll be fun for you to discover which things above could not happen in cannon. ;)

[steppingstonesuniverseguide]

We’re reading 1984 in English and I am realizing that Stepping Stones had altered my brain, how dare you.

Ah yes, dystopians. Such a genre.

[steppingstonesuniverseguide]

Hello! I was wondering if you could help settle an argument.

About half a year ago, I started reading One Step Forward to a friend of mine. He loved it, so then I read Like Footprints on the Seashore, and then Two Steps Back. Now, I know that is a weird way to read the series, but this friend had never seen a Dream SMP video in his life. I feel like One Step Forward is a bit easier to understand as it mainly deals with Phil and Techno, and then Footsteps introduces Ghostbur and spends its whole length on establishing his character. I didn’t want to start with One More Step Out of the Pit because of the sheer amount of characters at the beginning. While these characters are well-known to anyone in the fandom, this would be the first time hearing about them for him and I didn’t want to scare him off.

Ok. Now. In present day, we have gotten completely caught up with the prequel series, and I think it would be very reasonable to move onto the main series. He’s been introduced to SBI and has gained an understanding and affection for them, which will make One More Step Out of the Pit understandable and enjoyable to him. He is smart enough to piece things together as we go along, and would have a lot of fun doing so, in my opinion.

But noooooooo. “Spoilers, Anonnnn, spoilerssss 🤢😭🤢”

It is his belief that we should wait for Two Steps Back to be completed and any further prequel work so we can read the series in completely chronological order. Which I think is silly because that’s going to take so long and there’s so much other stuff we could be reading right NOW and enjoying and it would be so gooddddd

I beg of you, Great Author Ye, tell my silly friend that he is silly and we should read the main series. ❤️❤️❤️

Hello! I'm glad your friend is enjoying Stepping Stones despite not knowing the sorce material and that you liked it enough to share.

Reading the prequel fics first is an interesting way to read stepping stones. Following the Technoblade/Wilbur timeline is a valid way to experience the story, but in my opinion not the optimum experience.

One thing to note was I did not start writing the prequels while still releasing omsootp because I got bored with the main story. I wrote them because the stories all are meant to weave together despite taking place in different times and even different universes.

I publish chapters of different stepping stones stories in a particular order for a reason. That doesn't mean you can't still enjoy them in a different order, but publish date has a certain drama to it sometimes. For example, we briefly mentioned a mayor in One Step Foward. Then, we had part of a story revolving around Werner in One Step at a Time. Then we met Werner in One Step Foward. Then, the end of One Step Foward happens right before resolving the Werner story in OSaaT. (This dropped I think the same night.) You can go back into those OSaaT chapters and see the evolving perception of Mayor Werner, and it's really cool.

Honestly, your friend is slightly spoiled for OMSOOTP because of reading the prequels first. A big mystery in the main story for a while was the timeline inconsistencies that are explained by the end of OSF. Technically, we still have not explained what Techno's powers are or how Ghostbur came to be in the main storyline (though this has been heavily hinted at). For a long, long time, through the entire first story, people were wondering what could happen to make Techno reverse time so far back.

The drop I'm the most excited for is near the end of One Stone Loose and Two Steps Back Part 1. I've been building up to that for forever, fowshadowing both what's going to happen in the prequel and the main story since the start of omsootp. It's the climax of both stories. I literally will be inserting the climax of Two Steps Back into the middle of the One Stone Loose climax. It's going to be so awesome!

Even for smaller things, I think it's so much funnier to hear Techno mention the "Doritos Incident" offhand in the main story only to months or years later see said incident in the prequels.

In conclusion, if your friend wants fewer spoilers, it would make sense to catch up with the main storyline and then read things as they come out. Plus the foreshadowing and mysteries work better. Also more fun drama! There is a publish date reading order guide on my blog if you need it.

[steppingstonesuniverseguide]

In OMSOOTP when Ghostbur wakes Techno up to watch Tommy and proceeds to blab Tubbo’s identity and the boys’ ages after keeping it a secret for a year(?)

Was that actually on purpose on his part?

If not, what changed? Why is he suddenly so bad at keeping a secret when for the rest of the series he seems perfectly capable?

It was somewhat on purpose. Ghostbur would blab about anything always. Ghostbur+ is what usually stops him. He decided to let Ghostbur go at that point.

If you don't know who Ghostbur+ is, it's the entity we follow through LFotSS and is who we are following before Wilbur starts taking over again in Two Steps Back. That is the one who knows a lot more than he's saying all of the time. It's hinted he knows about Ranboo even though both Wilbur and Ghostbur are oblivious. Ghostbur+ is an accumulation of everything he ever learned in both timelines and all of that literally cannot fit into a human sized brain all at once. (He crossed the event horizon that usually shreds entities that end up in the ghostly plane when he pulled himself back together in Chapter 11 of LFotSS and can never really be a normal human consciousness anymore.)

[steppingstonesuniverseguide]

In timeline beta are Kurtis and Deedee brought up to speed? If so, how’s that conversation go?

Unless that’s top secret

I don't think they are brought completely up to speed. I don't think they necessarily want to know.

...However, Kurtis has found a blue ghostly figure in his sheep pin and some things did have to get explained.

[steppingstonesuniverseguide]

Which work in Stepping Stones is ur fav? Which chapter is ur fav? Who’s ur fav character to write about? Who’s ur fav character to write a POV from?

I think Like Footprints on the Seashore is my current favorite. My favorite chapter is the one where Ghostbur first introduces himself to Tommy. My favorite character to write about is probably Tommy or Techno. My favorite POV is Techno especially when he's looking at Tommy or Wilbur like "what is this things?"

[steppingstonesuniverseguide]

Remember that kid in timeline alpha that Techno wouldnt kill in the fighting ring and then he left

Are they

Are they ok 😭

In timeline alpha certainly they were not okay. Timeline beta is a different timeline but, like, I'm not sure if anything would prevent them from ending up in the fighting ring. So... probably not okay.

[steppingstonesuniverseguide]

Ok so stupid question but I swear there was a time when people could send asks for like prompts for One Step at a Time. Is that a thing? Can people still do that? Obv not forced and with the understanding that you can decide not to for anything for any reason, but would it be annoying to send stuff to be reviewed or is that welcome?

Sometimes I call for prompts. I currently have a backlog at the moment. I don't particularly mind if people send one or two but I'm not currently looking for any.

[steppingstonesuniverseguide]

Just finished rereading the whole series and it is so good. I cannot wait to see where everything ends up.

:D It will be a fun ride!

[steppingstonesuniverseguide]

Okay so I had a dream about Stepping Stones and is was very weird

So it was Wilbur, Techno, Tubbo, and Tommy in some building having some sorta fight against Dream. Except that Tommy was loopy and down for the count because Dream had used BUG SPRAY and we all know how that affects Stepping Stones Tommy amiright 😭😭😭

And then Dream was using some sorta power to drain Tubbo’s life force and it was super brutal and Tubbo was screaming and crying in agony

So then Wilbur decided to use his very well-known powers to open up a RIFT underneath the building thry were in (I remember he made like a protective bubble around Technoblade, but nothing for clingy duo) and the plan was to make the building collapse so then he could grab Tubbo

And then I woke up

Now, you might be thinking, “Anon, that sounds like a DSMP dream, there was nothing in there that aligns it with Stepping Stones and plenty in there that contradicted it with Stepping Stones” but I swear to you in the dream it was Stepping Stones and it all made so much sense to me at the time 😭

Your unconcious brain should probably swap Tommy and Tubbo's weaknesses tbh. Wilbur could 100% open some sort of rift under a building with his powers if he wanted to so that's accurate.

[steppingstonesuniverseguide]

Do you wanna get mentioned on Tumblr posts with Stepping Stones fanart?

Yessssssss. Please tag me on any stepping stones related things! (If you don't want those thing reblogged here, put a note, because otherwise I will take that as permission to boost any fanart.

[steppingstonesuniverseguide]

Ok so weird question but uh

Who gave Techno the talk?

OK HEAR ME OUT he’s in some fighting pit where he’s super dissociated, nobody’s having much discussion with him, can’t imagine he figures anything out there

Then he’s running for his life in the over world, still dissociated, don’t feel like he’d piece much together without someone sitting him down and explaining to him

Then he’s in jail and not talking to anyone

Then he’s with Phil and I don’t think it would really come up since they’re living in isolation and everything

Then they’re on a farm with two farmers who believe Techno is Phil’s foster kid and at the very least has gone to public school where that would be explained to him

And then he turns 18 and watches an R-rated film with I am 99% sure is implied to have a sex scene and that’s why they stopped watching partway through

And he doesn’t seem confused at that point, he just makes fun of Phil for picking out the movie

So I’m pretty sure Phil gave him the talk at some point during train yard bro arc and I’m not saying that has to be awkward and played for laughs but based on Phil’s reaction to the movie I feel like it very well could be so I wanna know

Oh there is no way it was Phil who gave him The Talk. Honestly, I don't think Techno ever was properly given The Talk. The closest he got was Kurtis because he saw two animals procreating and asked what they were doing. Has he ever had a talk about humans procreating? No, but he has, in fact, figured it out.