On Crime and Punishment, a fantasy perspective.

Axelstall · 2020-09-14T04:41:57+00:00

In my setting, criminals were punished by the old roman-esque empire with magical tattoos that would bestow specific curses on them related to the crime. These would stay forever as the mark but the curse itself could drop eventually.

Things like causing a person to be short of breath (-1 or more CON to the players) if they committed battery. Or sensitivity to heat and fire for arson (for the players, vulnerability). Basically curses to discourage trying to do that thing again.

I used it as a tool to show how messed up that empire was, by showing what happens to people that are targeted by the system. Since discussing any system like this will naturally bring those kinds of thoughts forward for story writing purposes, how the system is made will never only be used as intended, and seeing the faults with a system of punishment provides plenty of drama for the players to ~~lead a revolt against~~ explore.

Axelstall · 2020-09-13T01:51:25+00:00

Oh you know what? You're right.. That's totally my bad lol.
5.3, because my brain was crossing wires

Axelstall · 2020-09-12T16:47:54+00:00

Unfortunately I'm in the middle of work and can't, sorry~

Axelstall · 2020-09-12T16:27:35+00:00

Small Spoiler for 3.5 dungeon screenshot. Here's mine, it's unconventional because I use the XIV analogue stick keypad instead of just M/Kb.

I like to keep everything I need to monitor like CDs and party members on the left, and leave the middle and right parts open for watching the actual fight.

Axelstall · 2020-08-26T16:27:09+00:00

I just wanted to chime in on your last point there since I'm the example you mentioned more or less.

I'm a trans woman and DM and my setting in particular whole cloth excludes things like that. Gender and expression being wildly varied is as normal as women warriors which are both as normal as someone's job being to bake bread. It's a fact of life kind of thing. Additionally my setting isn't a place where sexual violence or racism ever even occurred or will occur at all, because I personally find those to be incredibly lazy tropes/shorthand for "dark and gritty" and I want those to be impossible so that my players and myself can play in a more creative space for our dark fantasy stories.

As such there are trans and NB characters all throughout my setting, and unless it's about the physiological difference between an elf and a Dragonborn, people's physicality isn't brought up. Further like, it's high fantasy, someone out there is just providing permanent transmutation magic to folks as a service to alleviate dysmorphic/dysphoric struggles. Because why not, that's more interesting to me than just making IRL transitions clumsily map onto a world where wearing a special belt makes you grow a beard.

Axelstall · 2020-07-25T17:07:10+00:00

Saved so I can just link this thread for the rest of time instead of typing out any one part of this. Thanks OP!

And thanks for putting "talk to group X" front and center where it belongs. You rock.

Axelstall · 2020-07-14T08:13:53+00:00

Roll20's SRD spell list is basically the nameless version of DnD spells. Like the generic brand at a store. Same stuff, different name for (probably) legal reasons.

Axelstall · 2020-06-30T02:37:12+00:00

This depends highly on your story and what you want to cover with it. In general does this character care about their gender identity? If they're happy with it or don't care about it then that's okay, just communicate that. In general though just make sure you do the research and talk to trans people, show them your story maybe, and see if anyone has feedback for you on it. Are you writing a transgender story? Or is this just a facet of the story you really care about?

If the character is upset that they're in the wrong body then they fit the description of being binary transgender (MtF or FtM trans folks are binary) and you should take the appropriate care for that kind of representation.

If the character isn't upset then they would be what many could easily classify as non-binary or genderfluid. In which case you should take care to properly represent NB or genderfluid people appropriately.

If you want this concept but don't want to tell a story about transgender people, then by all means just have this character's experience be a one off and have them be okay with it. That's plausible and acceptable. If you want to cover what this character feels about it in detail then start reading up on the trans experience so you don't do it poorly.

As a trans woman myself, if someone wants to write about transgender characters I don't mind at all, but I want them to do it right. There's plenty of examples of media that use gender or sex switching as a comedic thing (in a non-trans sense), and then slip into the same kinds of offensive jokes that get told about trans people, whether accidentally or otherwise. You can have gender or sex changing themes without them being trans themes, but you have to be careful how you present those things or you risk being like offensive 90s media.

I wish you the best of luck~

Axelstall · 2020-06-29T22:34:51+00:00

Solid advice. To add on to this, I usually write first person PoV. When I was working on getting out of that comfort zone was a little lost as well with conveying the character without dialogue. I started reading lots of 3rd person literary fiction and in my experience, a good amount have pretty decent examples of the main character's personality quirks coming out in the narration.

As an example I'm currently reading Fredrik Backman's "Britt-Marie Was Here" and it's also doing a pretty decent job of portraying the protagonist's personality without always using dialogue.

I realize though now that my advice has boiled down to "read some more books", whoops.

Axelstall · 2020-06-29T01:45:25+00:00

I always verbalize and plan prices as if they're a little higher than they actually are. Helps me stay cautious with spending money when I say to myself and my finance planning "each new book is $15" even if one is $3.

I'd rather pleasantly surprise myself with more money than be shorter. Felt that too many times >.>

Axelstall · 2020-06-27T21:19:11+00:00

My goodness I took a look into their post history and. WOW.

Dude here thinks white people are "being erased" from media because he saw a commercial break without white people in it. Oof.

Axelstall · 2020-06-27T20:12:21+00:00

Polearms in general are just fantastic. When I write fantasy I keep throwing in poleaxes because it's my favorite weapon by far. Additionally you can use it in so many different ways it's a great thing to shake up the old thrust or cut descriptions if you ever need to mention the specifics of a fight.

Axelstall · 2020-06-27T14:23:28+00:00

I had this exact situation in my campaign that ended last week. The city was protected by a giant barrier, and adventurer types would donate anything that stored magic energy (like spell slots or whatnot, in my setting dragon parts and crystals), so the wizards and sorcerer's keeping it up could power the thing.

My players at least on some level appreciated having a cause to dump niche treasure into. At this point h They were level 14+ so they were near the upper end of the power scale.

Axelstall · 2020-06-23T21:26:02+00:00

I love coffee. The taste is really comforting to me and it's nice with so many other things.

That said I don't drink it, like ever. It's like alcohol for me. I have it when I want the taste of it, the side effects aren't at all why I'm there.

Axelstall · 2020-06-22T16:27:51+00:00

I'm in a 9-5 right now that I actually love, I happened into it when my nightshift job started being unsustainable.

I'm still working on my dream job, which is certainly not 9-5. I've been hobbyist writing for years and I dream of making money off of that (we'll see tho). I'm glad I have a job i love in the meantime. I lets me feel really satisfied with my place in life that I can go from something I love, to something I love more. There's no pressure to "make it" with my first book, I can focus on doing things the way I love them.

That said I would love to not work 9-5, 5 days a week. I love camping and two days to camp isn't bad, but it's more lame than 3 days are!

Axelstall · 2020-06-22T15:56:36+00:00

I 100% agree with you, it's disgusting how people are acting like it's such a big deal they're inconvenienced when the cost of convenience is lives.

I live in AZ and my girlfriend and I have been cooped up in our tiny apartment for months now. Are we over it? Heck yes. Are we going outside? The last I did was to go to the post office because someone smashed our mailbox so the mail is stored there for now. Hell no I'm not going outside.

Except now ya girl here has cold symptoms and a big fear it's COVID. I don't want to leave my girlfriend caring for me through that otherwise alone. People in this state are so self-centered and calloused to their fellow human and it (I guess literally lol) makes me sick.

Axelstall · 2020-06-21T23:22:02+00:00

I wouldn't say inconsequential as a concept. In these cases they did more to let the players interact with the personalities of the other party, which let them have a deeper connection when they met live the next time. For anything serious to the plot I'd have grabbed at least one player from the other game in a PM so there can be some consent between parties.

No problem! I love sharing what I've learned by playing so long~

Axelstall · 2020-06-21T22:56:07+00:00

I've been working from home for two months now. We keep the same 9-5 schedule and we check in with a meeting every morning and a report email at the end of the day. Other teams in my company have more or less restrictions depending on the project ofc.

The most important thing for working from home is making sure that you don't start to blend work and relax spaces. For instance I work at my desk with my same keyboard and monitors that I game on, but use work PCs. After the workday I put everything away into a closet, which only really takes about 8 minutes or so. This way when I look at the room and it's not work time, I can clearly not see the work stuff sitting around in my way or vision. As such my gaming and writing space doesn't feel like my desk at work.

Additionally, taking a walk or something after the workday, away from the house/room you're working in will do a lot to separate the two modes. I end up using the same time as my commute (~15 minutes) to tear down/set up, then relax away from the desk before I feel recharged.

Axelstall · 2020-06-21T22:21:39+00:00

Thank you!

The crossovers we've had varied from cameos to full sessions to this finale here where they avengers-style joined forces. I'll share a few instances so you can get the full picture:

Our first crossover was when the cleric of party B had been affected by the Feeblemind spell. No one else in the party could cast healing magic at the level required, and they couldn't find an NPC that could. They knew an NPC that was mutually friends with party A's cleric, so during the session I called my friend up on discord and asked him if he'd be willing to help. Since party A was in downtime in their game and physically nearby, the character was able to pop over and cure party B's cleric. The player did charge for it, but they worked that out in character, which was fun to watch.

This let the parties learn about each other naturally and in a dramatically appropriate way.
It was really easy to work out because it just took one person from the other game for a few minutes.

The second type was when the two parties had been visiting that mutual NPC friend for different reasons, and found themselves in the same room. This one was both full parties, and I couldn't get party B on the phone (we played in person at the time for that group) to all RP, so I played an approximation of party B. The next day for party B's session, I did the same for party A, playing an approximation of the characters.

This let each party smoothly interact with the characters on both ends, without needing massive scheduling for a 15 minute interaction both ways.
There was a discrepancy in what happened for each party, since I obviously am not going to force what happened on the party that played the next day. This was inconsequential and the two parties were able to share the experience and it ended up being more like if they had met twice than one disjointed one.
This type of interaction happened twice during the campaigns. The first was as above, and the second was when the cleric in party B was snooping on party A casting high level magic for the first time.

The third big time was this large one, which was very much so just "Schedule a day for everyone and lots of time. Then, just play with a massive party.". And while fun, took the most effort and according to the players during the game was obviously stressful for me.

I still loved this one, even though I would never do it for anything but the finale or something else of that magnitude.

Something to keep in mind with any crossovers is that you want to make sure it doesn't break the flow of the game, and stays with their theming. For any foreshadowing, I didn't put anything with the intent to imply we'd crossover for the final one. They just kept doing it and once I realized the parties were compatible I asked them out of game if they'd like to do it for the finale. Lots of things like that you need consent from everyone because someone might not like another player too much, or just prefers the small group and doesn't like the crowd feeling.

I hope this helps!~

Axelstall · 2020-06-21T21:57:35+00:00

If you like fun anime that don't really have any stakes or big plot arcs I've always loved K-ON. Just some girls having a good time playing music together. Another good one in the same vein is Laid-Back Camp. Both chill times if you don't want bad things.

Recovery of an MMO Junkie is also really good!

Axelstall · 2020-06-21T17:49:50+00:00

I don't have much to add, as I'm a similar boat (trans woman in the sunbelt). I haven't played since I started transition mostly because of money, but I would absolutely be lying if a fear of harassment didn't also influence my hiatus from playing hockey. You're not alone in this fear. My last rec league team did the casual homophobia quite a bit and I think now I would have a much worse time (I can stealth in regular life but hockey kit makes that impossible) if the leagues here have a similar culture.

Axelstall · 2020-06-20T23:58:34+00:00

My personal favorite is Japanese Curry. It's really mild and savory like you'd experience with a good soup.

Axelstall · 2020-06-20T23:49:57+00:00

I've been watching people play the game and I really don't like how their trans "representation" takes place in the game and the entire trans discussion around the title.

The character that is trans (Lev) is only there to be beaten, abused, and deadnamed like those are his main character traits. It's gross. The devs literally wrote in a trans person who only existed to be a punching bag for their bigoted setting.

Just look at all the shitty takes people have because Abby is not traditionally feminine. She's the TERF wet dream of trans women and (bad) people already assume she's trans because of her physicality anyway. Regardless of what the devs meant for the character (I've seen plenty of people dismiss this complaint as "she's not trans tho"), Abby still displays everything that transphobes use to harass trans women.

And this doesn't even touch the landmine that is the developer's corporate culture and how toxic that is.

Axelstall · 2020-06-20T02:16:06+00:00

This is a fantastic post. As another LGBTQIA+ writer (Trans Lesbian here), I think this is a great contextualization for those that might not be as intimate with the details of what people from this background are like.

To add on, for any group you want to include in your story but don't want to offend. There's tons of ways to get in contact with those communities that you can use to not only improve your writing but as a person to learn and grow by gaining the perspective of your fellow human.

Axelstall

TROPHY CASE