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So although this blog started out as my repository for all things D&D, I've actually moved away from creating playable content and am focusing entirely of turning my 250k+ words of worldbuilding into an actual novel.

This blog will now be dedicated (primarily) to things about and for my novel series, Fractured Songs.

Not to say D&D content won't creep in here from time to time, simply because that was where the book started, but it's going to be mostly about writing the book.

My other story writing will be on @weareallfallengods , and my main @whatevercomestomymind will still be full of the weird randomness it usually is.

I will re-post some of the actual story bits I've already posted on other blogs here soon.

#new content #new purpose #writing #focus #how to write a novel #fantasy #worldbuilding #epic series

pygmi-says-hi

STOP DOING THIS IN INJURY FICS!!

Bleeding:

Blood is warm. if blood is cold, you’re really fucking feverish or the person is dead. it’s only sticky after it coagulates.

It smells! like iron, obv, but very metallic. heavy blood loss has a really potent smell, someone will notice.

Unless in a state of shock or fight-flight mode, a character will know they’re bleeding. stop with the ‘i didn’t even feel it’ yeah you did. drowsiness, confusion, pale complexion, nausea, clumsiness, and memory loss are symptoms to include.

blood flow ebbs. sometimes it’s really gushin’, other times it’s a trickle. could be the same wound at different points.

it’s slow. use this to your advantage! more sad writer times hehehe.

Stab wounds:

I have been mildly impaled with rebar on an occasion, so let me explain from experience. being stabbed is bizarre af. your body is soft. you can squish it, feel it jiggle when you move. whatever just stabbed you? not jiggly. it feels stiff and numb after the pain fades. often, stab wounds lead to nerve damage. hands, arms, feet, neck, all have more motor nerve clusters than the torso. fingers may go numb or useless if a tendon is nicked.

also, bleeding takes FOREVER to stop, as mentioned above.

if the wound has an exit wound, like a bullet clean through or a spear through the whole limb, DONT REMOVE THE OBJECT. character will die. leave it, bandage around it. could be a good opportunity for some touchy touchy :)

whump writers - good opportunity for caretaker angst and fluff w/ trying to manhandle whumpee into a good position to access both sites

Concussion:

despite the amnesia and confusion, people ain’t that articulate. even if they’re mumbling about how much they love (person) - if that’s ur trope - or a secret, it’s gonna make no sense. garbled nonsense, no full sentences, just a coupla words here and there.

if the concussion is mild, they’re gonna feel fine. until….bam! out like a light. kinda funny to witness, but also a good time for some caretaking fluff.

Fever:

you die at 110F. no 'oh no his fever is 120F!! ahhh!“ no his fever is 0F because he’s fucking dead. you lose consciousness around 103, sometimes less if it’s a child. brain damage occurs at over 104.

ACTUAL SYMPTOMS:

sluggishness

seizures (severe)

inability to speak clearly

feeling chilly/shivering

nausea

pain

delirium

symptoms increase as fever rises. slow build that secret sickness! feverish people can be irritable, maybe a bit of sass followed by some hurt/comfort. never hurt anybody.

ALSO about fevers - they absolutely can cause hallucinations. Sometimes these alter memory and future memory processing. they're scary shit guys.

fevers are a big deal! bad shit can happen! milk that till its dry (chill out) and get some good hurt/comfort whumpee shit.

keep writing u sadistic nerds xox love you

ALSO I FORGOT LEMME ADD ON:

YOU DIE AT 85F

sorry I forgot. at that point for a sustained period of time you're too cold to survive.

pt 2

#reference

unbearable-lightness-of-ink

okay hey real question: what are good ways to describe fat characters?

I see a lot of 'have more fat characters' and I'm Here For It but as someone who is skinny and in a world where most existing literature makes characters fat only as a joke or an indication of some variety of moral badness, I'm not really sure how to describe them in a way that's not objectifying or insulting. like, I've grown up on poetic descriptions of thin characters ('long slim fingers' and 'willow figure' etc etc) but I haven't read flattering descriptions of fat characters and I don't know where to start. I've seen a lot of 'how to describe poc' or 'how to describe disabled characters' or whatever and I've seen art ref posts for drawing fat characters, but no posts about how to write them well. so. open call for advice or for examples you've found and like??

fraddit

I remember at least two posts about this subject. Alas, I was only able to find one.

bacchicly

Howdy! Fat short white woman here. I've got some hopefully helpful thoughts on this which I will share a little later (I've got a few things to do first sadly).

In the meantime, OP (or anyone else) if you have specific questions about what it feels like for me to be in a fat body or what I personally do and don't worry / think about... I'm more than happy to answer.

In the meantime - I know you said you've seen ref posts for drawing fat characters...but here's one I like (in case you haven't come across it) that is nicely wordy: https://www.tumblr.com/bacchicly/677854396964634625?source=share

bacchicly

Ok here's an actual one about writing fat characters that I've skimmed and that has some good advice!

[Social media resources updated 9/20/18 – Article resource update in progress] Are you a skinny writer? Do you want to write an awesome fat

bacchicly

Ok as promised I've written my own post - idk if it will be helpful to anyone - but here's the link:

https://www.tumblr.com/bacchicly/740728531300073472/a-few-imperfect-thoughts-about-writing-fat?source=share

Happy writing!

liz-squids

This is a super useful set of sources, especially as I (a fat lady) work on my novel, in which a bunch of the adults are variously stout, plump, soft, generous, round and so on.

And, eventually, I just call characters "fat", but here's my tip: if you are writing for young readers, they will see "fat" and assume it is a negative. Because we live in a fatphobic society. And I can't even blame JK Rowling for this, but I do hold her a tiny bit responsible for the fact that young readers see a character described as "fat" and immediately dislike them, and assume that is the author's intent.

So my strategy is to make the reader love that character first (even if they maybe turn out to be the villain), and then drop the euphemisms. (Unless they are the villain, because the goal here is to not link villainy with fatness, just to have people with a range of body types doing different things. Including maybe taking over the world! But she has reasons for it!)

Adult readers don't need this much hand holding -- or, at least, they shouldn't -- but I am happy to extend that grace to kids, in the hope that one day it will stop being necessary.

taraljc

I read a lot of Olivia Dade and Talia Hibbert and they do a great job writing romance novels featuring almost all fat female leads who are AMAZEBALLS. I particularly love Olivia's thinly veiled Game Of Thrones with the serial numbers filed off RPF because it's fantastic and stands incredibly well all on its own and actually has one of the most accurate characters with ADHD I've ever seen in fiction.

Rose Lerner also has some really fun historical romances with lots of different body types and not a single duke in sight.

thedollardm

For reference

#reference

Been a while since I updated!

Work continues on the novel.

I fleshed out the culture of the Kingdom of Elios, both before and after its invasion by Whitemouth.

I created a major religion for Elios.

And I designed 3 new card games as well as an entire deck of playing cards unique to the country of Shearmarch, including custom artwork that depicts various members of the 4 major houses. All so I could have something in-universe to describe for ONE FREAKING SCENE! OK, it's an important scene, but still!

I might have to bring these card games back as a recurring thing so it doesn't feel like wasted effort lol.

Here's an example of the King of Crows:

I might publish the rules, since each of the 3 games can be playedbwith a standard deck of cards, even if it doesn't quite have the flavor of the in-universe ones 😉

#writing #fantasy #worldbuilding #games #card games #side quests

fels-fantasy-hoard

Tales from the Aether: What is is?

Masterpost // Next Post (Player Stats)

I think I'm gonna try talking about bits of the ttrpg system I'm making as its getting to the more completed stages and I'm just polishing and expanding different areas of it but the core mechanics and game play loops are pretty much completed - I even started play testing the character creation and combat mechanics a few months ago :D but had to stop because of my health XD

Right now the document is nearly 100 pages of mainly notes that haven't been polished or expanded on - which is my main priority right now now that my health is starting to even out again (fingers crossed)

So I guess I'll start by giving some background info about it!

Tales from the Aether (name still to be determined this is a placeholder lol) is a d20 fantasy ttrpg system designed around player freedom in both creating their character and the stories they want to tell. It is a system that revolves around monster slaying as well as adventure and community. The combat system and mechanics have been designed to keep players engaged and the story moving with role play elements baked into the action. Meanwhile, there is a strong focus on activities and skills for the players to explore outside of combat such as Blacksmithing, Fishing, and Entrepreneurship in addition to a dozen others. The social aspects of story telling are just as important as brutalizing your enemies as I explore many different ways to spice up these aspects of the game with mechanics such as Reputation and Stress.

As some background for the system's creation process, we've gotta jump back over two years ago when I wanted to make a small ttrpg system to play in the Elder Scrolls setting - mainly Skyrim because yes I'm still not over that game sue me XD However, over time the system became so much more than just an Elder Scrolls adaption that I dropped that idea entirely and combined it with another game I was adapting into something wholly unique.

This system may share some traits with other fantasy ttrpg systems as those are what shaped my experience in the ttrpg community but many familiar staples such as Classes, Spell Slots, and the six attributes we know and love (strength, con, wis, etc) are no where to be seen here.

I'll go in depth into these different aspects in future posts as this is just an introduction. I am very excited to start sharing this project with you all :D

thedollardm

This looks interesting

calamitys-child

Adhd will have you too burnt out to eat or shower but give you the hubris to decide you can homebrew an entire d&d system on the back of a receipt

thedollardm

Bro, I did NOT need to be called out like that

prokopetz

Dungeons & Dragons fact: Evil wizards often prefer to confront the party in high places.

Dungeons & Dragons fact: When statting up high-level spellcasters, GMs often neglect to include basic utility spells like, say, feather fall.

Dungeons & Dragons fact: The battlemaster fighter's "Pushing Attack" manoeuvre doesn't actually say it has to be a melee attack.

dungeonmalcontent

Dungeons & Dragons fact: an eladrin can cast lightning lure and use the Fey Step ability on the same turn.

Dungeons & Dragons fact: an 11th level fighter can shove an opponent 6 times in one round using action surge, moving the opponents up to 30 feet. Under the influence of the haste spell that same fighter can perform an additional 3 shove attacks and move a creature an additional 15 feet. (At 20th level, with haste and action surge, a fighter can perform 12 shove attacks in a single round, moving their target up to 60 feet.)

Dungeons & Dragons fact: the 5th level spell telekinesis requires a creature to make a Strength saving throw against being moved by it, making it ideal for pushing around spellcasters.

thedollardm

This is genius.

THIS is how melee classes even the odds.

Barbarian: ok bub, you go ahead and keep poppin' off those lightning bolts and magic missiles, I can take it. Just wait until I shove your ass off the fuckin' mountain - we'll see who's laughing last.

catchymemes

thedollardm

Ummmmmm...

Yeah, no one ever finishes reading the rules

tilthedayidice

If YOU were a dnd character, what would your class be? If you’d multiclass, leave the secondary in the notes. I’m just curious!

Articifer

Barbarian

Bard

Cleric

Druid

Fighter

Monk

Paladin

Ranger

Rogue

Warlock

Wizard/Sorcerer (sorry ran out of space)

Voting ended onSep 28, 2023

I personally would be a Bard just for glitter, insults and music, and then a druid for equally stupid reasons

thedollardm

What would I WANT to be? Sorceror for sure.

What am I ACTUALLY? 10000% Bard. Repartee, banter and stories are what I AM.

iguanamouth

kept getting requests for gryphons so heres a bunch of them At Once

mirrorbird

this post is seven years old, I think about it every day

kedreeva

I love these but now I must wonder about the sphynx mix- the hairlessness of the sphynx cat is caused by a mutation in the keratin gene (KRT71). In fowl, at least, this mutation in the keratin gene causes frizzled (curled/twisted) feathers, the same way the rex gene(s) (the keratin mutations) in cats do. A double dose of the mutated keratin gene in fowl causes the same thing as it does in cats- nakedness. taking this into consideration, I have now pictured an entirely nakey gryphon, and I feel like everyone else should suffer this, too.

aurpiment

I had a dream I was playing a TTRPG with a group of friends of a person i sort of knew, who all knew each other but who I didn’t know, and there was a complex mechanic for tracking your character’s emotional state which I will draw for you because it was insane. I don’t know what the game was about. They kept saying “it’s not hard, you’ll pick it up so quick.”

I have no idea how it worked, only how it looked

The other players insisted it would make sense in a few rounds

I don’t know what oonduh and eönduh meant. I think eo means horse in a tolkien language but this game was more sf-alien-politicking-themed than fantasy-themed

This was a card game with events and points

I don’t recall what character trait/ emotion i had chosen for my upper righthand quadrant. You could choose what to put in each quadrant

I wound up with two pegs in the Succumb zone for anger and asked “is that bad?” And the GM said “not necessarily” and that i could “flip it for a character choice” since she (my character) was 15

“Flipping succumb pegs” visually meant exchanging two red pegs for a slightly larger red lentil-shaped disc, and in gameplay meant… i have no idea what it meant.

I was having a wretched and confusing time at the table

What the fuck?

Makes no sense, girl. This was a stress dream.

Makes perfect sense. You must git gud, or at least act with more oonduh.

Voting ended onSep 17, 2023

thedollardm

This definitely has potential for a ttrpg system, I'll have to give it some thought

about-your-oc

I have a suggestion:

What D&D/Pathfinder class is your OC?

(yeah sorry, i'm on a 5-years-and-counting ttrpg hyperfixation lol)

thedollardm

Salazar di Carron is 100% a College of Swords Bard, with the Gambler and Rogue backgrounds.

(I'm currently focused on Salazar, even though he's really more of a main supporting character, since his journey with Reagan through the southern Wilds of Shearmarch have a major impact on the ultimate battle with the BBEG of Book 1)

wtf-fun-factss

Crows and owls are natural enemies. Click to read the full fact.

thedollardm

Found a new solution to the owlbear problem

everythingfox

Talented boy

(via)

thedollardm

THIS is how familiar work!

probablybadrpgideas

Summon unskippable hour-long deep dive into a random topic.

thedollardm

New spell/cantrip: INFODUMP

Lv 2 spell. For each level higher this spell is cast at, the duration doubles (lv 3: 30 mins, lv 4: 1 hr, etc)

Components: Verbal (adding Somatic components of hastily drawn diagrams, graphs or other topic-supporting items (such as string tied to pushpins linking other components) will add 1 to the save DC per Somatic component, up to a maximum of 5)

Requires: Concentration

All creatures (and we mean ALL - even non-sentient creatures) within earshot must make a successful DC 12 + the casters CHR modifier WIS save or be held uncomfortably captive, unable to do anything more than shift their weight awkwardly as they are compelled to listen to an impromptu, in-depth lecture on a topic of the caster's choosing.

The lecture lasts for 15 minutes, or until the caster's concentration ends (longer at higher levels).

*DM NOTES* PCs who use this are required to speak for a minimum of 5 minutes of real time on their chosen subject. If they stop before that period is over, their PCs concentration ends, terminating the spell after 3x the number of minutes they spoke for IRL. Example: Player A speaks for 4 minutes about frogs IRL. Their character's spell ended after 12 minutes in-game.

#rpg #D&D #dnd #spell idea #autistic mechanic #how to RP a neurodivergent character #dont give me this spell #this is unapologetic “it me” bait