#thehauntrpg

[nadics]

                                                     he offers a h a n d s h a k e,                               c             r             o             o             k             e               d                                                                 five fingers.                                                           they form a PATTERN                                                       y e t  to be  m a t c h e d

                                                                                                       - pagan poetry, bjork

[isnotgold-blog1]

are you awake? are you dreaming? you hear a familiar voice, a shriek, a shove at your shoulders. "get out!" but you can't can you? you can't get out of bed. your body is frozen. "you did this! you!" open your eyes, rowan. open your eyes.

“This place is a tar pit,” she says.

The city shines bright below you, casting her in reds andgreens and golds. Her curly black hair clouds round her face, and where itobscures her smile, you find yourself wanting to brush it back, to see her—to really see her, not the tough façade sheputs on at school, but the bright-eyed, laughing girl whose depths you haveonly just begun to ascertain.

This rooftop is your sanctuary. You’ve been coming here for sixmonths at least, usually when one of you needs an escape. Tonight it’s her,though you don’t know why. Sometimes you talk about it. Sometimes you don’t. It’senough to be in eachother’s company, to feel the cool breeze kiss your faces, towatch the judgments that weight your daily lives scurry far below like so manyants. You dangle your feet over the ledge and imagine you’re squashing them,one by one.

“You don’t seem to be sinking,” you say, and there’ssomething warm and soft and wanting in your tone, a side of yourself that youshow to no one. No one but her.

But something’s wrong. It looms over her, soft tendrils ofdoubt wrapping wraithlike round her shoulders, plucking at her smile. You wantto ask what’s on her mind, but when you open your mouth, the words don’t comeout.

“No,” she begins, turning toward you slowly, surely, andwhen she does, her eyes are marbles, shiny-black and bottomless. “But you are.”

You’re falling before you can process the shove at yourshoulders, screams wrenched from your lips and torn to shreds in theatmosphere. The ants are rising up, up, up to meet you, and you’re sure anymoment you’ll feel the splat—

But it never comes. It’s a moment before you’re even able toopen your eyes. Your head is pounding and your cheeks are wet, though you don’tremember crying. You try to rise, but you’re strapped in at the chest by aninvisible belt—a laugh—headlights—trees burst into view, and your hand’s on thetransmission.

“Drive,” she says. You shift to sport. You can’t feel your legs, yet you know implicitly that yourfoot’s pressing on the gas. Beads of sweat trickle down your forehead. Thewindows are open, and her hair whips around her face and yours, blocking yourvision.

“I—I want to get out,” you stutter.

“So did he,” she says. “Faster.”

The needle on the speedometer ticks up—

“Please, Malia—”

You round the bend. Suburban road gives way to concretejungle, streetlights strobing as you pass.

“I wonder if he said that as we were lowering him down,” shesays. “Faster.”

You floor it. You try to lift your foot, to pull the emergencybreak, anything, but you’reparalyzed, hands stuck to the wheel, foot straining at the gas pedal.

“Or maybe he used his last words to name his killer.”

Your cheeks are wet again—are you crying? You can’t lift ahand to check.

Seeing this, she leans in close with a devilish smile.

“You did this,”she murmurs, so quiet it makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

Up ahead the road converges on a beige wall, solid andimposing.

“You did this.”The speedometer is maxed out now, and the wall is approaching fast.

“I know.”

“You did this!” she’sshouting in your ear now, so loud you can’t think straight. You screw your eyesshut, unable to face it, even though you know exactly what happens next.

“Open your eyes. Face what you’ve done!”

You open your eyes and there’s the wall, and you did thisyou did this youd id this youdidthis you didthis it’s you you you you youyouyouyuo youy

.

Rowan’s eyes flew open. His breathing tore raggedly down histhroat, hands clutching the sheets. His cheeks stung with tear trails. It feltlike an eternity before he could lift a hand, sweaty and shaking, to wipe an erranttear away. Sitting up, he grimaced as his back peeled away from the sheets andreached for a water bottle from the nightstand.

He felt like he’d been hit by a train, but the sun wasshining and the clock red ten exactly. Shaking his head in disgust, he rose on shaky legs and went to wash his face. It was just another day.

[ofxjasper]

you are currently being possessed by WRATH. haunting period ends: 11.16.18 at 12am est.

[bewareofthorns]

you're closing up for the night. the other person with you went outside for a smoke break. behind you, you hear footsteps slowly walking in in your direction. you ignore it, it's nothing new here. That is, until you hear her voice, so clear, and so loud behind you. "Run," your grandmother tells you. You feel her hand on your shoulder. Why can't you turn around? "You won't make it out alive, nieta. no one will." Your coworker walks through the door, and the familiar feeling of her vanishes.

what scares you the most is that there is no fear anymore. 

you run your hands under scalding water, the smell of dishwashing liquid filling the air. and it almost doesn’t matter that you heard her. it almost doesn’t matter that you felt her breath on your shoulder. that just a second ago you couldn’t have moved, even if you tried. 

those are things you are used to now. 

those are things you have made peace with. 

it is an unspoken rule in the diner, in all of sallybrook to be honest: when a sudden gust of cold wafts around your ankles, climbs up your spine, it is always just a draft (even though the windows are closed and the door is locked and no one else is in the room), just a reminder that you need to redo the caulking on your walls, throw an extra blanket on your bed. 

 it won’t help, of course, but that’s your fault. your coat has a hole in it. your walls are too thin. (if they’re not– then what can you do about it?)

the whole situation is hardly worth your time. as of right now, you have a stain on the apron of your waitressing uniform and getting it out it is much more important than whatever was just spoken behind you, whatever ghost has decided to visit, whatever useless fucking message that is being told to you from the beyond. 

after all, you have to work tomorrow. you don’t have time to be afraid, to parse some greater meaning from whatever encounter you just had. and, let’s be honest, what’s even the point? tomorrow, your grandmother will still be dead. she can tell you again if she likes.

run, she told you. you won’t make it out alive, she said. run–how? you think about the jar of tips under your bed that never gets any fuller and the way your feet ache from standing all day. you think about your father, who, though, just outside of sallybrook’s borders, will never really live a life again, at least not the one he used to. you can’t help shake your head. 

“oh,” you speak through clenched teeth, so quietly that you can barely hear yourself over the sound of the faucet, “you’re telling me.”

(on the parking lot, just before you get into you car, you step onto a piece of already chewed gum. as you lift your shoe to see the damage that has been done, you sigh and you shake your fist at the sky.

“ya sabe que estoy intendando, abuela. porfa, no es necesario que me diga eso ahora.”)

[activisthelps]

Hi! Could we get a review, please?

hello! i’d love to give you a review! see below the cut for a solid review on thehauntrpg based on aesthetics, information, posts, diversity, and accessibility.

AESTHETICS !

amazing. i don’t know if it’s just entirely my aesthetic, but i think you’re golden! the simple theme and background is very important for focus and to not overwhelm the senses. this applies to the photos used for the characters and locations too. i love that it all matches with a similar filter & the colors aren’t all over the place! 

the font in the sidebar is legible. the aesthetic for this makes me super excited to read every word, when done right aesthetics matter so much!! nice!!

INFORMATION !

the plot is beautifully written. love that there is a pinterest board and playlist. it’s organized so well. i feel i’m being super repetitive with the praise but wow i am,, amazed by this group?? 

the rules are pretty text-heavy, which i can see is necessary since there is a lot of things to mention. and none of your rules are unreasonable either, so obviously this is all up to you. but i can also see it becoming overwhelming or confusing for people trying to remember all of this or constantly referring to it.

same goes with the plot. like i said, every word contributes to its masterpiece, but maybe break it up a little to make it look less intimidating! split it up into more paragraphs, perhaps use more concise language, add some little visuals in there somewhere? it can be hard for some to concentrate long enough on the text which all looks so similar at once, if that makes sense.

POSTS !

i’m so happy that you are getting tons of attention and questions, that’s great! being active, consistently posting in the tags and answering all asks is key to a group’s success! 

your answers are also very well thought out and friendly, which is awesome and makes you seem very approachable and reasonable. great traits for an admin!! bonus points for using proper capitalization & punctuation!! that’s something i wish i had the patience to uphold. on top of all of that, the posts look nice too.

DIVERSITY !

the cast of skeletons is so diverse which i appreciate a lot, but as always you can never have too much diversity or representation! you are doing awesome by requiring certain characters to be poc and nonbinary, but i would encourage you to provide prospective members / anons with poc / nb alternatives for their cis white suggestions, as i noticed there is a lot of that going on.

it might be worth your time to go through and suggest or prompt a variety of disabilities, mental illnesses for some of the skeletons, and perhaps even provide resources for those who are hesitant to app for that character because they don’t know how to write those things. just saying they’re responsible for the research may not be enough incentive to convince players that you want them to get out of their comfort zone!

you could also add in some older characters, in their thirties or forties! i might be preaching to the choir right now since i see that there are more batches possibly with all of these coming. if so you’re doing great!!

ACCESSIBILITY ! 

yes, yes yes yesyes!! love the rule that only small and medium gifs are allowed. this is so important. the size of the font and color contrast makes everything easy to see, and i love that there isn’t a mascot and instead a signature. this is an excellent idea! that probably eases a lot of anxiety for members who like to know who they’re hearing from.

no complaints here. really, keep up the good work. you are doing awesome, kass! i really hope this group stays active and thrives.

[jacktherph]

thehauntrpg is gr9

yeah it is!! i’m friends with one of the admins!! it looks like such an amazing group and i’m so glad the horror genre is still thriving. go check out @thehauntrpg guys, it looks like a really cool place to make a muse!!

[nadics]

you are currently being possessed by PRIDE. haunting period ends: 11.22.18 at 12am est.

[elliotbxnes-blog]

you are currently being possessed by ENVY. haunting period ends: 11.22.18 at 12am est.