#scrap princess

[wasabiburger]

Can't remember if I already posted it here, but my last video is a fun one for anybody who enjoys really insane and quirky worlds for their TTRPGs.

[dreamblasterharuka]

You asked to send an AC couple so I'm here to deliver.

Avril x Cossette with 19

19. The “good fucking God, I’m so excited to see you” hug.

I've never written for this pairing before, so I hope I did it well. The title comes form Things I Miss by Moxie. Thank you!

Also on AO3

Things I Miss

Avril had to admit, this wasn’t how she thought her life would turn out.

When she was little, before she knew how garbage the world could be, she wanted to be a pilot. Just like everyone in her family before her. She wanted to be like the heroes on TV and in the old war stories. Then her dad died and her grandpa forbade her from joining the military in any form, so she found another love in being a mechanic.

It was the only thing that kept her sane while she was in the penal unit. Probably the only thing that kept her alive, too. For a while there, she thought that was it. Either she would get snuffed out in the war or spend the rest of her life rotting in prison with a bum leg that only served as a reminder that she would never get to be a pilot.

Hanging out in a private jet to Erusia so she could act as an advisor to the new queen was not something she had on her bingo card, but here she was.

She didn’t need a private jet, or the armored security detail she was supposed to meet up with, but Cossette insisted. While the civil war ended a while ago, Erusian politics were still a powder keg a few nasty words from going off. An Osean in a position of potential power wasn’t going to help. Especially with the rumors surrounding their relationship.

Cossette was definitely taking a risk by doing this. For a young, sheltered princess, she sure seemed to take them a lot. At least this time she wasn’t running face first into enemy power or base jumping in the middle of a dogfight. Avril respected the hell out of it, none of them would still be around if not for that bravery, but she could do without the constant heart attacks.

Despite the risks, Avril had to admit she was excited to finally be there. After the war ended, she wound up sticking around, helping out wherever she could and providing emotional support and advice when asked. Eventually, Cossette offered for her to stay permanently. Of course she accepted.

There wasn’t anything for her back in Osea, except for paperwork, and unfortunately, there was a ton of it. What was supposed to be a quick trip back to get her affairs in order turned into a three month slog through bureaucratic crap. Video calls that lasted way too long into the night, even with the different time zone excuse, kept her going, but it wasn’t nearly as good as the real thing. And as cheesy as it was, absence really did make the heart grow fonder.

After tens of hours doing nothing but traveling in a straight line, she finally felt the plane turn. She closed the windows hours ago in a failed attempt to catch some sleep, and opening it was nearly blinding. It took a couple minutes for her eyes to adjust enough to see the city off in the distance. They were landing at a private airstrip on the outskirts of town to avoid any press they didn’t want.

The landing was shockingly smooth, much smoother than all the military transport she was used to. Smoother service, too. As soon as she got the go ahead to stand up and get her luggage, an attendant got to it first. Even if it was nice to not have to carry stuff on her leg, it was still incredibly weird watching someone else haul everything she owned down to the group of very obvious security guards. Avril caught a glimpse of a much shorter, blonde figure, dressed in her trademark white, flitting between them.

She smiled to herself. Of course. Cossette told her that they wouldn’t see each other until she arrived at the castle, but she should’ve expected something like this. There was probably an official security reason for it, but she wouldn’t be shocked if it was all for the sake of a surprise. Well, it definitely wasn’t unwelcome.

Avril was only on solid ground for a moment before Cossette darted past them, clearly faster than they were expecting. One made a move to grab her, but she was already gone. Avril snorted. She couldn't even blame him for missing her. She started to amble over, even though she knew she wouldn’t get very far.

Cossette slowed down just before reaching her, giving her just enough time to really see her. The rest of the world faded into the background. The look on her face was brighter than when she opened the window by an order of magnitude, yet she wanted to drink in every detail. Grainy video calls really didn’t do her justice. 

They flung their arms around each other, hanging on to each other like something would rip them apart at any moment. Cossette was clearly minding her leg, but in that moment she didn’t care if they went tumbling into the dirt. They were there, together and safe, and that made it all worth it. All of the paperwork and travel, all of the fighting and risk taking. Totally worth it.

“You have no idea how much I missed you.” Cossette’s voice was warm in her chest.

She didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to. All she did was lean over and kiss her.

[demongirl99]

Type: Common Zug-Zug

Species: Zug-Zug

Other Names: Red Hunter, Red Tyrant, Hunting Burrower, etc.

Location: Zug-Zugs can be found in either hot, dry plains or in heavily wooded areas

Coloration: Dark red fur, blood red quills, black claws, and yellow eyes

Size: 6'0" feet (adult), 3'0" feet (young)

Weight: 250 pounds (adult), 25 pounds (young)

Language:

Human, Zug-Zug Tongue

Personality: Relentless, fearless, tireless and very smart. Zug-Zugs are some of the most dangerous monsters humans have ever encountered, they see everything in their territory as theirs and theirs alone with few monsters save for other Zug-Zugs willing to challenge them for dominance. Very few creatures can pose a threat to these mighty beings such as large human communities and as well as monster communities and because of that the Zug-Zugs who have villages residing in their territory hardly advance past tribal stage due to the Zug-Zug with kings, tribe leaders, and religious leaders who attempt to unify the tribe into large masses end up "going away" a short time later

Abilities: Zug-Zugs are apex predators within their territory with good reason, they have abilities that make them difficult to kill as well as make them dangerous to fight off if one encounters them:

Impenetrable Hide: The hide of a Zug-Zug is strong, really strong. So strong in fact that bullets and blades can pierce through it

Deadly Quills: Zug-Zugs have long thick quills covering their backs which prove extra protection against would be enemy attacks and making grappling Zug-Zugs all the more difficult. The only major downside with the quills is that Zug-Zugs' movement below ground is greatly hindered and making crawling backwards in their tunnels impossible without digging forward  

Deep Digger: The claws of a Zug-Zug are strong, thick and durable like their limbs, allowing them to dig deep into the earth to form their burrows or slay their prey. The burrows can be a big and deep as it likes and can make smaller ones for quick escapes

Double Jointed: The limbs of a Zug-Zug are double jointed and durable. Any attacks aiming at the legs or arms, such as war-hammers would only dislocate the limb before it pops back into place

Parental Instinct: Zug-Zugs are not only deadly monsters but great parents too. Zug-Zugs are solitary creatures and really interact well with others of their own kind who for the most part see as a threat to each other but when they due meet other than fighting its for mating season as either the male or female would sneak behind the other in order to mount them. Once mating is done and the female has given birth to a single kit (they rarely produce more than one kit) they will protect the kit with their lives. An odd twist to this parental instinct is that will never harm children ever no matter if they belong to humans or monsters, they have no problems hunting and killing adults but children, such as those who get lost in the woods, will gain a Zug-Zug guardian and keep them safe

Big Eater: Zug-Zugs have large appetites and are capable of eating anything but their most favorite food is honey. It is capable to eating things that are dead or alive, some even lay corpses out and hide in them in order to spring out and catches hungry vultures

Info: Zug-Zugs are human sized monsters and some of the most dangerous creatures people have ever encountered capable to killing off large herds of animals to starve towns and villages and even setting up traps for would be enemies to fall into just to protect its vase territory. The Mystery Kids were unfortunate enough to encounter a lone Zug-Zug who was hibernating under the gnome village deep within the woods of Gravity Falls. In order to appease the Zug-Zug, the gnomes end up abducting some towns people including Wendy and her friends which caused the kids to go after them before they become the Zug-Zug's next meal

P.S. Zug-Zugs are based off the monster of the same name featured with in the OSR (Old School Roleplaying) book Fire on the Velvet Horizon

Zug-Zug (c) Fire on the Velvet Horizon, Patrick Stuart and Scrap Princess

[theruinof9]

Summit in the Big Mouth.

The ambassodile, knowing all languages thanks to the invasive species of hyperfungus that lives in its nervous systems, allows dignitaries to make parlay and legislate in its cavernous mouth. The ambassodile stores it’s mediation disk in its stomach, but coughs up the Arthurian round table for special occasions.

[manyworldspress]

Scrap Princess, “Unspecified Daemons.” Instagram, September 22, 2020.

https://bit.ly/3dReZb0

__________________________________________________ Our shop: https://bookshop.org/shop/manyworldspress

[vintagerpg]

Veins of the Earth, by Patrick Stuart and Scrap Princess, is a Lamentations of the Flame Princess…source book? Campaign setting? Whatever it is, it is a formidable book (357 pages!) filled with interesting and horrible ideas (in the good way).

Foremost among them is the elaborate and groundbreaking system for designing and mapping cave systems. Underground exploration in RPGs tends to be orderly and fairly linear. That isn’t something you tend to encounter in real world cave systems, which tend to be circuitous, dangerous, claustrophobic and disorientating. The mapping system encourages creating tight spaces, dead falls, loop backs and dead ends while several random tables provide colorful atmosphere. There are also clever rules for light management, spelunking and environmental hazards, all of which are novel and tending a bit toward the cruel.

Veins also populates this underground world with ecologies and cultures of a nightmarish sort. The section of new monsters weighs in at 170 pages – surely these caverns are close to the entrance to hell. Scrap Princess’ expressionistic art does much to emphasize the horror in the darkness.  

The downside is that the book, particularly the monster entries, is written in a tone that alternates between the Extremely Casual and High School Goth Poet, which I think clashes a bit with the oppressive atmosphere of subterranean horror that the material seems to want to convey. For me, the vastly imaginative ideas more than make up for this (and honestly, I have a soft spot for casual gothy poets, I guess), but you mileage may vary. If you want to inject your D&D dungeon delves with a hearty dose of the horror movie The Descent, then pick this up. And consider using the Angler Lich – that’s an instant classic of a monster…

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[zedecksiew]

A Night At The Golden Duck

Travelling strangers shelter from the storm in a lonely inn. Serving dinner, the landlady tells of a great treasure, secreted somewhere on the premises:

“Le Canot D’Or - The Golden Duck! IT HAS NEVER BEEN FOUND!”

A mystery / heist adventure in sixteen pages -- half of it folds out into a map.

+

So Scrap Princess went to visit Patrick Stuart and they made this in a fit, “in between watching squirrels, terrible bus journeys and episodes of the Jeremy Brett Granada Sherlock series”.

And just like that I am sold. Because anything made under the influence of Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock -- 

aka The Best Sherlock, and I will physically fight anybody who says otherwise; I will probably lose the fight, but not the argument, because Jeremy Brett is the The Best Sherlock 

-- is worth it.

( Sharon is also a mega-fan. )

Also anything by Scrap or Patrick is worth it?

+

I love the premise. Echoes Rough Night At Three Feathers. (Also reminds me of Castle of Crossed Destinies, for some reason? I dunno.)

But weirder: the inn is a giant tree stump. The landlady, Miss Tricks, is a bug; she serves sap and aphid bacon.

There’s an ape who is a royalist with an extreme French accent, but cannot speak French. (An understanding of French is integral to figuring out the central mystery.)

There’s this gentleperson -- “I was cursed from birth with a medium flaw which makes me steal from those I meet. however, the act, once completed, I amend in equal wize [Hands back a small pickpocketed item]”:

+

The characters in this are great. Well-drawn -- both in Patrick’s text and in Scrap’s scrawly illustrations. You are given enough information to know how each would react to events.

Because the NPCs are so distinct, so memorable, this doesn’t need a Rough Night-style detailed timeline. Feels like a GM can just Let Shit Happen.

+

(An aside: I’ve never run Rough Night At Three Feathers. I admire it, but I imagine prepping for it is a chore? Its timeline is in blocks of text; you’d have to translate all that into a flowchart, on your own. I’m glad for all the RPG layout innovations we’ve got, now.

Also how does that timeline survive player action, anyway?)

+

Am trying to figure out how to describe the feel of this.

Patrick’s text is chitin-and-cravats odd-dark comedy? (Love his prose -- full of little poetic flourishes.) Scrap’s art is basically as her name says: a magnificence-from-broken-toys aesthetic. (Love the way she uses smudges and white-out in her drawings, to create emphasis.) 

Both seem to love the surprise of contrast, of assemblage?

Sorta like that Wind in the Willows toad, wearing a punk jacket overloaded with badges.

+

GET IT HERE.

[rattlesnek-art]

Being a monster maiden seems pretty tough