All Paths Lead Somewhere

abe's IF/VN Game fanblog | Askbox : OPEN

[to-where-all-paths-lie]

Hello and Welcome!

I’m abe and welcome to my IF/VN fanblog. 

This blog will be full of everything fan-related to games that belong to the Interactive Fiction or Visual Novel category.

------

Character Catalogue

FAQs

Fan-Related Content

Art

Writing

Playlists

Picrews

Others

------

[mewfromshadows]

Reblog if you’re OK with people sending you asks about your OCs, ‘sonas or even about yourself

[judasrpc]

WEIRDLY SPECIFIC BUT HELPFUL CHARACTER BUILDING QUESTIONS

What’s the lie your character says most often?

How loosely or strictly do they use the word ‘friend’?

How often do they show their genuine emotions to others versus just the audience knowing?

What’s a hobby they used to have that they miss?

Can they cry on command? If so, what do they think about to make it happen?

What’s their favorite [insert anything] that they’ve never recommended to anyone before?

What would you (mun) yell in the middle of a crowd to find them? What would their best friend and/or romantic partner yell?

How loose is their use of the phrase ‘I love you’?

Do they give tough love or gentle love most often? Which do they prefer to receive?

What fact do they excitedly tell everyone about at every opportunity?

If someone was impersonating them, what would friends / family ask or do to tell the difference?

What’s something that makes them laugh every single time? Be specific!

When do they fake a smile? How often?

How do they put out a candle?

What’s the most obvious difference between their behavior at home, at work, at school, with friends, and when they’re alone?

What kinds of people do they have arguments with in their head?

What do they notice first in the mirror versus what most people first notice looking at them?

Who do they love truly, 100% unconditionally (if anyone)?

What would they do if stuck in a room with the person they’ve been avoiding?

Who do they like as a person but hate their work? Vice versa, whose work do they like but don’t like the person?

What common etiquette do they disagree with? Do they still follow it?

What simple activity that most people do / can do scares your character?

What do they feel guilty for that the other person(s) doesn’t / don’t even remember?

Did they take a cookie from the cookie jar? What kind of cookie was it?

What subject / topic do they know a lot about that’s completely useless to the direct plot?

How would they respond to being fired by a good boss?

What’s the worst gift they ever received? How did they respond?

What do they tell people they want? What do they actually want?

How do they respond when someone doesn’t believe them?

When they make a mistake and feel bad, does the guilt differ when it’s personal versus when it’s professional?

When do they feel the most guilt? How do they respond to it?

If they committed one petty crime / misdemeanor, what would it be? Why?

How do they greet someone they dislike / hate?

How do they greet someone they like / love?

What is the smallest, morally questionable choice they’ve made?

Who do they keep in their life for professional gain? Is it for malicious intent?

What’s a secret they haven’t told serious romantic partners and don’t plan to tell?

What hobby are they good at in private, but bad at in front of others? Why?

Would they rather be invited to an event to feel included or be excluded from an event if they were not genuinely wanted there?

How do they respond to a loose handshake? What goes through their head?

What phrases, pronunciations, or mannerisms did they pick up from someone / somewhere else?

If invited to a TED Talk, what topic would they present on? What would the title of their presentation be?

What do they commonly misinterpret because of their own upbringing / environment / biases? How do they respond when realizing the misunderstanding?

What language would be easiest for them to learn? Why?

What’s something unimportant / frivolous that they hate passionately?

Are they a listener or a talker? If they’re a listener, what makes them talk? If they’re a talker, what makes them listen?

Who have they forgotten about that remembers them very well?

Who would they say ‘yes’ to if invited to do something they abhorred / strongly didn’t want to do?

Would they eat something they find gross to be polite?

What belief / moral / personality trait do they stand by that you (mun) personally don’t agree with?

What’s a phrase they say a lot?

Do they act on their immediate emotions, or do they wait for the facts before acting?

Who would / do they believe without question?

What’s their instinct in a fight / flight / freeze / fawn situation?

What’s something they’re expected to enjoy based on their hobbies / profession that they actually dislike / hate?

If they’re scared, who do they want comfort from? Does this answer change depending on the type of fear?

What’s a simple daily activity / motion that they mess up often?

How many hobbies have they attempted to have over their lifetime? Is there a common theme?

[stephschoices]

2025 Christmas art giveaway winners🎄🎁

in order from left to right;

@fenharel 's Arabella Von Valancius

@tealfling 's Coren

@clumsyfirefly 's Finyla Lavellan

@rosesnink 's Melantha Tyrell

@to-where-all-paths-lie 's Carnelian Rose

i had to make a few creative choices so i hope you all like them owo merry christmas!!!

[ashenmaw-if]

A bit more on the sibling characters. Spoilers for those who want to discover this themself ingame.

Red:

Aldithia (f) and Anveras(m) : Twins, drakes. Every since their mother the Queen has grown more erratic and unwell, so have the twins. Aldithia has become an outright menace, seemingly seeking to make everyone around her (especially Anveras) miserable. She's grown overly rebellious and doesn't shy away from breaking rules on the regular. Usually with the intention of getting others (Anveras and Vaelias) into trouble. Anveras, meanwhile seemed to have gone into the opposite extreme, his health taking a massive nose dive, forcing him to spent a lot of his time in his mortal guise and in bed. He still tries his best to keep his sister out of trouble (or stop her from getting others into trouble at least). With his deteriorating health he has grown more paranoid about the things going on in the Court, much to his father's and Vaelias's concern.

Green:

Verdamiru (m): A quiet, stoic drake and experienced adventurer. Great archer who puts all his energy into keeping peace. Strong as anything, self-appointed bodyguard of Teailumi.

Black:

Lyttekenhoi (f): Drake, similarly time-displaced as Acazabri. Where Ace fell through time, Lyttie was frozen in time for several thousand years. She can be short-fused when faced with nonsense, but has the heart in the right place.

Blue:

Acazabri (m): Drake, time-displaced due to some unknown mishap in Salbri's laboratory millennia ago. Kind-hearted, scatter-brained, and trying to figure out just what happened to him.

Gray:

Krytharimonos (m): Whelp, bright-eyed, bit scatterbrained, with a tendency to act long before thinking. Determined to find out what happened to his sister Aramyne, another winter whelp who went missing decades ago.

Personalities and goals are bound to change, though.

💝🐉

[stephschoices]

Stephschoices 2025 Christmas art giveaway 🎄🎁

Entry period: December 1st-18th

Number of winners: 5

Rules:

Only original characters

Reblog or comment with what your character tag is here/a few pics/where I can see any refs of your character

Only reblog once (= 1 entry), likes will count as +1 extra entry

You don't need to follow me but it's appreciated!

Good luck!

What will you get if you win:

A bust/headshot of your character

Simple/flat colors

Simple background

Winners will be announced on December 18th (I'm in EST)

Feel free to ask me any questions if you're confused~!

ex. of what the winners pieces may look similar to under the cut ;

[to-where-all-paths-lie]

Carnelian Rose, Disenchanted by dakota tag: #carnelian rose (disenchanted)

[papercreaseart]

Padamonos, Ashenmaw IF

[ashenmaw-if]

So beautiful 😍

[justmusings]

it's not summer without popsicles

[ddwcaph-game]

Dear Diary, Hi! I was thinking about DDWCAPH again and in particular the whole trait system this game uses for developing the MC! I think it's really neat and not something I've seen in other IFs before. I was curious if this mechanic was inspired by anything in particular or if it's just something you came up with? Hope everything is going well for you!!

Hello there! I'm doing alright, thank you! I've taken a break for some self-care and to avoid burnout, but I'm mostly back to writing again!

History of the Traits System

Yes! It was indeed inspired by an old demo in Dashingdon (RIP) called Set in Stone. I liked how the adjectives in the customization choices in that game were bolded. It's just a simple formatting change that improves clarity, but to me that bold text feels like it was highlighting some important aspect of your character. I remember some planned stuff in the stats screen listing traits like if your MC was creative or attractive based on your choices, but it never got updated past the prologue.

The trait system wasn't in the first version of the game (back when it was still titled TILAEYO), but that's how the idea of traits started in the first rewrite. It was mostly physical characteristics at first, then some twin dynamics like the Leader/Follower Twin. It's mostly for adding flavor text, but somewhere along the way, I decided to put some personality stat bonuses to the traits. The idea is that if your MC is the Leader Twin, your Outgoing Personality will stay relatively high to reflect that, even if you pick reserved choices, and so you don't feel "forced" to keep picking outgoing choices.

From there on, I kinda got addicted to adding bonuses to all the other traits. It always annoyed and bothered me when IFs add all these customization choices which then get forgotten and never acknowledged later. The Traits system is my way of showing the player that YES, I keep track of the customization choices. That's why I also added the emoji markers, to show which traits specifically made certain choices (un)available.

That eventually led to more trait ideas (basically anything that could add potential flavor text later), until I fully embraced the RPG aspect of the game and added the Ancestry/Heritage Traits. It was mostly boring stat bonuses at first, but the introduction of the NP system allowed me to do more creative and flavorful stuff with them.

And then that culminated with the Locket Upgrade system that I'm adding in the next update, which allowed me to be more liberal with adding EXP bonuses. Think of the upgrades as unlocking "traits" for your locket. 😄

Other Mechanics

Since we're on the topic, the secrets mechanic in the game was also inspired by Evertree Inn, one of my favorite mystery CoG/Hosted Games. It has a clue system that keeps track of your discoveries, and the text in the stat screen would update whenever you uncover a new detail. Not all of them were particularly important, which is partly why some of the secrets you can discover in my game aren't always plot relevant. It also fits the diary theming, so there's that. Not everything in your diary is super important, although some of them could be foreshadowing later, hehe.

The Trinkets mechanic was partly inspired by the game 'The Binding of Isaac', which had trinkets you can collect for a minor passive bonus, although you can only keep one or two at a time. So that's why the random collectibles also give you minor bonuses. It didn't make sense for MC to only keep one trinket, but the idea sort of stayed now that I've added the Souvenirs.

***

Anyway, thanks for sending in this question! I'm still very much alive, I just keep adding new stuff so that's why it's taking a while. 😅

[ashenmaw-if]

Romantic Bonus Scene - Vaelias

(No idea when this will actually be in the story, aside from after the MC is at least a drake)

Enjoy

(Note: Unbetaed)

You fly a wide curve over the vineyard and land on a secluded little terrace overlooking the swooping hillside where Vaelias is resting.

He, rather reluctantly, raises his head in greeting before nestling down again with a sigh.

"You do not need to have come here, you know that."

"I'm not here out of any sense of duty, unless you want to count being worried for you as one."

You lie down next to him, neatly tucking your front paws under your body.

"I've made quite the fool of myself, haven't I?" Vaelias wonders, watching the sunset.

"A little, yes. But you didn't know better."

Vaelias gives a short howl of despair.

"I am a red dragon. I am supposed to navigate situations like that with ease. I am supposed to know things like that, and know them better."

You carefully and very gently drape a wing over him.

"If it means anything to you, it was quite an impressive spectacle."

Vaelias snorts briefly.

"Thank you," he says, and sighs once again. "Phyron's going to kill me for that, isn't he?"

You ponder, though not for long.

"He'll certainly try. But I have it in good authority that his success rate with that kind of endeavor is nothing to write home about."

Vaelias quirks a brow at the beaming smile you give him, and a grin wisps over his face.

"Still," he mutters and leans closer to you. "And you have my gratitude for tackling Phyron."

You laugh.

"Well, he's already very much dead-set on killing me, so it's not going to get any worse at least."

"Your's is the crime of having hatched, I think I broke his nose. He might get a little more enthusiastic about seeing things through."

You sigh softly.

"You're not wrong. But I'm certain Alerhon and the others will have a bit of a say in that, too. Not to mention under the given circumstances, Phyron might actually show some gratitude."

Vaelias nods with a bit of a grimace.

"Is that better or worse than him wishing one dead?"

"Going by personal experience? Marginally worse."

Vaelias chuckles very wryly, and gives you a small nod.

"Well, for what it's worth, thank you, too, for coming here to keep me company."

"You need it. You looked like you'd faint and or throw up, if not both."

"That is because I was. You know me, I don't handle situations like that well."

"I think you are handling this one quite well." You nuzzle a little closer and there's the faint golden glow of a blush dancing over Vaelias' cheeks.

"T-Thank you," Vaelias stutters, and you chuckle.

"It's only the truth," you say, and nudge your tail against his. Vaelias stiffens a little, before looking at you, a little confused, a little flattered, and maybe a little much out of his depths.

"C-correct me if I am misinterpreting this," he begins, tail twitching nervously, "but… are you just being very nice right now, or is there something…"

In response you nudge your snout against his dewlap, and Vaelias squeaks, folding his wings over his head. You chuckled gently.

"Sorry. Maybe that was a bit fast."

Vaelias peeks out from under his wings.

"No. It's… it's fine, actually. I just… I just didn't expect it. I mean…" He looks at you for a long moment, before folding his wings on his back again and leaning closer, rubbing his neck against yours and nuzzling against your cheek.

You chuckle again.

Vaelias smiles softly at you, finally relaxing with a gentle sigh.

"If this is what punching Phyron results in," he muses after a long moment of consideration, a slightly mischievous grin on his face, "maybe I ought to consider punching him more often."

You laugh and nuzzle his dewlap again, getting a mirthful squeak out of him.

"I would argue punching Phyron on a regular basis is a good idea, no matter the outcome," you joke, and cuddle a little closer. "But jokes aside, you really shouldn't get yourself into trouble."

Vaelias harrumphes amused.

"That might be quite the task in your proximity, and you know that. But… being around you… that's worth the hassle." He pauses briefly. "So… Would you like to watch the sunset with me?"

You smile at him and rest your head on his neck, giving a gentle chirp.

"I'd like that," you say, and very carefully, slowly and tenderly entwine your tail with his.

[gb-patch]

In OL2 mini demo, I’ve seen MC mom with the lovely kinda cranberry red eyes, and that’s very similar to Tamarack’s. Everyone else though I’ve seen with darker colored eyes like brown and black. Would you say that the Cranberry red eye color is more unique. Like would someone see Tamarack’s eyes and go, “Oh wow, that’s so cool you’ve got red eyes!”

The shared modern day universe world of GB Patch does have an in-universe scale for what's more typical and what's not, even with the unusual hair/eyes colors people can have.

Eye colors from rarest to more common:

Red

Yellow/Gold

Orange

Purple

And then it's ordered the same way as it is in real life

Hair colors from rarest to more common:

Blue

Green

Silver/White from birth rather than age

Purple

And then it's ordered the same way as it is in real life

So, Tamarack's true red is very rare and Opal's purple-y red is rarer than black/brown/blue/green/etc. but not as rare as Tamarack's shade.

FAQ    

Ask Archive    

Update Only Side Blog

[ashenmaw-if]

A little bit more on the Gods of Sildrys, so far

---

Aethedus ('The Guiding Fire' sun, summer, fire)

Heleia ('Beacon of Souls' soul guide, moon)

Malevhorn ('Sight of the Unseen' death, winter, magic)

Eastria ('Soul of the Forest' life, water, nature)

Ehaar ('Shadow of War' war, storms)

Zojaja ('Weaver of Night' night, stars)

Chakythion ('Scribe of Fate' fate, time)

Nharana ('The Whisper in the Breeze' spring, air, love)

Oyumuri ('Shaper of Heroes' Earth, craftsmen)

Aiolos

Nisha

Nimeyo

Salein ('The Eternal Disequilibrium' trickery, thieves, merchants, secrets)

As over the years I shifted names and domains around, right now I can only provide 10 out of 13 with their domains Dx

Also if any of the names so far has a meaning I am not aware of, please let me know.

Also Also what other domains do you think need to be covered? Also I might ultimately shift domains around for some.

[ashenmaw-if]

probably going to move 'air/wind' from Nharana to Aiolos. Also Nisha (name pending) will likely be goddess of hunt and harvest.

Should I also list the relationships between the gods?

[creation-help]

🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈PRIDE THEMED OC ASK GAME🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️

Bc I wanted one and didn't find it so. Here

[Send ask aimed at a specific character]

1. What's your oc's gender identity? What's their relationship to their gender?

2. What's your oc's orientation? (Romantic/sexual/platonic alterous ect) Do they have opinions about it?

3. How did your oc discover themself? Did something cause them to question, or did they always know?

4. Is your oc's environment supportive about their identity? How does this impact them?

5. How did you figure out your oc's identity?

6. How does your oc feel about labels? Theirs, or in general?

7. Is there something that could cause your oc to question their identity? What?

8. Have they had struggles with their identity, be it due to internal or external reasons?

9. Are there cultural or lore specific aspects to their identity? If applicable, does their species affect it?

10. Does your oc celebrate Pride? How?

11. Is your oc open about their identity? Are they more lowkey or more blunt about it? Why or why not?

12. Does/did your oc ever wish they could change the way they are? Why? If it's in the past, how did they get over the feeling? (this can be about internalized homo/transphobia)

13. Would your oc be open to a poly relationship? Why or why not?

[Not aimed at a specific character] / [Aimed at creator]

14. Do you have ocs on the aro or ace spectrum?

15. Do any of your ocs use neopronouns? Which ones?

16. Did you ever change an oc's identity when they were already established? Why?

17. Do you share identity with any of your ocs? Which ones?

18. Do you prefer to give your ocs specific labels, or keep it unspecified? Why? If applicable, do you change their labels depending on circumstance?

19. Do you have preferences about depicting homo/transphobia in your stories? What, and why? Does it vary by story?

20. Have your ocs helped you in self discovery? How?

21. Free ramble card wee

[ddwcaph-game]

Hello everyone!

As I mentioned earlier, I'll be sharing more information about the new EXP/NP mechanic! Hopefully this should tide you all over while you wait for the next update. 😊

What's the new mechanic about?

Before I begin, let me preface this by saying that I plan to keep DDWCaPH! character-focused and NOT a stats-focused game. In fact, I've designed the new mechanics to be as simple and as unobtrusive to the story as possible, with the side effect of making some of the current traits/souvenirs with overloaded effects simpler.

The old EXP System

Alright, so the EXP system has always been kind of an afterthought (since leveling up from 12 to 13 takes very long). It feels like gaining EXP has no point at all, especially when you get more bonuses from acquiring traits and discovering trinkets.

With the introduction of NP, I tried to solve this by increasing your Max NP whenever you earn a certain amount of EXP. I still wasn't satisfied, but now that there's an NP mechanic, I was finally able to think of a solution to that, along with another problem I had: How do I introduce the special interactions from Ancestry/Heritage Traits without being too jarring? It would be weird if Dragon MC can suddenly just fly, and it would also be weird if they always knew they could.

I didn't go with a traditional leveling up system at first, since I wanted to keep the age = level thing, until I realized that it doesn't have to be MC leveling up, it could be the locket instead!

Introducing: Locket Upgrades!

Starting the next update, earning EXP will now level up your locket! Leveling up increases your Max NP, and gives you 1 Locket Upgrade point to spend.

Since I don't want it to be distracting, you can only spend the upgrade points at the end of every chapter. I'm also including a chapter summary in the next update (instead of just the end-of-playthrough summary), so that felt like a natural, non-disruptive place to put the Locket Upgrade menu. I might change it so that you can upgrade whenever in the VN version, but that's how it'll be for now.

What kind of upgrades can I get?

The Locket Upgrades are divided into 4 categories:

Stat Upgrades

Narrativium Upgrades

Relationship Upgrades

Special Upgrades

Here's a preview of what the upgrade menu looks like:

Most upgrades can be upgraded up to ten times. So if something says +2%, the maximum would be +20%. However, to encourage spreading out your points and not just dump all of them into Knowledge, the upgrades will have level restrictions.

The 2nd upgrade is unlocked at Level 5, the 3rd upgrade at Level 10, while the 10th upgrade is unlocked at Level 100. This will most likely change, but you'll be able to reach Level 20 at around 90,000 EXP, while Level 100 can be reached around 1,300,000 EXP (the original EXP required to level up from 12 to 13).

The first four stat upgrades (the Rubescent ones) will have a different name according to your locket's gem, and your locket shape will determine whether you get Heartful Innocence or Starful Sophistication (I'm only showing both for demo purposes).

I didn't want it to be overwhelming, so some of the upgrades are locked until you finish certain chapters, when they become relevant.

I tried to add a variety of upgrades for each playstyle, so even if you don't spend any NP, you can still benefit from the upgrades.

Special Upgrades

The Special Upgrades category is way too long to show here, so here's a list of all the upgrades instead. All of the genre-exclusive upgrades are only unlocked once you finish Volume 1 (you get upgrades for both your favorite genres), but most of them are one-time upgrades (that cost 5 upgrade points to unlock).

Here's where you unlock the special interactions. I've always planned Fairytale MC to be able to talk to animals, but now I can avoid the "jarring" problem: now you need to unlock "Aesop's Wisdom" to be able to do so. This also has the bonus of making the progression feel more "earned", rather than MC being able to automatically talk to animals just because you picked Fairytales as your fave genre.

Some of the special upgrades are just stat bonuses, but that allows me more freedom to spread out the effects of the more complicated traits/trinkets. Most souvenirs now have less/weaker effects at the beginning (which helps avoid the problem of overwhelming the reader during the prologue), but you will be able to upgrade them later to be much more powerful. This delayed upgrade means I can add more fun effects to the souvenirs without worrying about "this is way too powerful for the first chapter".

The upgraded Ancestry traits (the "+" versions) that you get when you choose fantasy are now called Legacy Traits, and is now locked behind the "Daddy's Legacy" upgrade. Meanwhile, all sources of Enhanced Senses are now temporary. Enhanced Senses was way too polarizing (you also had no idea which traits grant it), so now everyone has the option to unlock it permanently after Volume 1.

Closing Thoughts

I've always loved coming up with game mechanics ever since I was very little, which is how the idea of MC pretending to be in an RPG came to be. I'm not spoiling what the other upgrades do for now, but I guess you can always peek at the code later. I did have a lot of fun brainstorming the upgrade effects and the upgrade names. You can tell I got some of them from TV Tropes.😄

That said, I hope this makes you more excited for the next update! Most of this has been coded already (minus the parts you can't unlock yet), so you don't need to worry about that. I really think tying the story and game mechanics this way will make the overall game experience much better.

Let me know what you guys think! I'd also love to know what kind of upgrades you'd want to focus on (or if you have any speculations about what effects the other upgrades do)!

[gb-patch]

Announcing: The Step 1 voice actors for the roles of Qiu, Tamarack, Ren, and Baxter! 👏

We want to sincerely thank all who auditioned. It was such a blast to hear so many renditions of these Golden Grove icons!

With that being said, we are honored to celebrate the following cast actors:

TAMARACK BAUMANN: Ariel Graham

Website: arielgrahamvo.com

Twitter: https://x.com/Super_Geek_Girl

BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/supergeekgirl.bsky.social

QIU LIN: Emily Sun

Website: https://emilysunvo.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/emilysunnyville

Instagram: https://instagram.com/emilysunnyville

Twitch: https://twitch.tv/emilysunnyville

REN MURRAY: Willow Engel

Twitter: @WillPowerEngel

BlueSky: @willpowerengel.bsky.social

Website: WillEngelVO.com

BAXTER WARD: Cody Stevens

Website: https://yasgedtesting.my.canva.site/codystevensvoartist

[art-and-sterf]

Clothing references

All References Male Clothing Female Clothing

Genres High Fashion Steam Punk Goth Street Fantasy

Modern Vintage Historical

Shirts Blouses Vests Jackets Coats Cloaks Hoods Corsets

Pants Leggings Skirts

Accesories Bags Jewelry Necklaces Rings Fans Parasols Tiaras

[starpyrate]

I have to reblog this

[valesbloggingadventures-deactiv]

MERCI MERCI

[ashenmaw-if]

Ashenmaw ROs: Tea (Teialumi)

Flight: Green

Gender: Female (she/her)

Age: Drake, a little younger than Vaelias

Mortal Guise: Forest-Elf

Studious, curious, inquisitive, absent-minded, full of secrets

(That's 'Tea' like the drink)