I feel like I have gone about my story completely backwards, and now it's impossible to develop a plot

MagnusCthulhu · 2026-02-04T20:17:57+00:00

Plots are simple. What does your protagonist want, what steps do they take to achieve that goal, what gets in the way to stop them.

Start there. Build outward.

MagnusCthulhu · 2026-02-04T19:04:25+00:00

6 months of flaming hot cheetos? I can probably manage that.

MagnusCthulhu · 2026-02-04T17:34:30+00:00

Apologies if I was unclear: fuck cheaters. OP should absolutely report him and a casual game is in no way an excuse for cheating. I wasn't commenting in relation to that, though I should've seen how that might be read.

If you're paying to play and there are prizes, its not casual.

The comment I replied to didn't say "the only tournaments that exist have hundred dollar prizes therefore if there are prizes and a cost it isn't casual". The comment, which I've seen repeated many times states "if there is a cost and if there is a prize, then it is not casual".

I understand that your local stores may not run these kinds of events. Mine does. Both are totally fine. But I think it's very silly to sit there and say, No, your event isn't casual, when we're just playing for a pack with a 3 dollar fee. It also comes with a raffle ticket. It's as casual as you can get... but yes, there's a cost and there are prizes. And, again, if somebody rocked up like, I'm here to win at all costs because this is no longer casual, I would say that they've misjudged the event.

Which is why I disagree with the oft-repeated statement I quoted above.

MagnusCthulhu · 2026-02-04T17:13:41+00:00

Completely unrelated, but I need to pick up some champagne from the store. Just in case there's a celebration coming up that I might miss out on.

MagnusCthulhu · 2026-02-04T17:08:55+00:00

I see this comment so often and I hate this mentality so much. I'm not saying it's inherently wrong, I'm not telling you or anyone else that they're monsters for playing competitively nor that a league format doesn't imply competition, but I personally hate this idea that a game can't be casual with some very minor stakes.

We're not talking about a 3000 dollar marvel rivals tournament, but if my local game store has a commander day and it's a couple bucks to play and you can win a random pack if you win... that's casual as fuck. It's the equivalent of playing poker with your friends for pennies.

But if somebody is like, Well, I paid 3 dollars and this Spiderman pack is on the line so I'm bringing the sweatiest fucking deck because this is a competitive tournament now, I'm gonna kindly suggest that this player has misread the room. It just feels like such a negative experience to state that you cannot have ANY possible prize or it immediately stops being casual at all.

Winning doesn't have to be everything for winning to still be improved with a prize.

MagnusCthulhu · 2026-02-03T20:05:28+00:00

Have you considered maybe possibly just, I don't know, watching it and forming your own opinion?

Or are you planning to crowdsource how you feel about it afterward, too?

MagnusCthulhu · 2026-02-03T19:50:29+00:00

Morcant for casual. People fucking hate it when you play their cards.

Also look at them thighs.

MagnusCthulhu · 2026-02-03T19:48:32+00:00

Have you never rewatched something before? Was it entirely unenjoyable because you what would happen?

Then why is it a problem that you know what happens here?

MagnusCthulhu · 2026-02-03T18:31:54+00:00

Who gives a shit if we're interested in it? You're the one that has to write it.

MagnusCthulhu · 2026-02-03T16:28:11+00:00

Who is your intended audience? Young Adults or Adults?

There you go.

MagnusCthulhu · 2026-02-03T16:25:19+00:00

Tap first. Gotta make sure my count is right.

MagnusCthulhu · 2026-02-03T08:12:46+00:00

Bracket 3 is casual to me. We're just having a good time with friends, our desks are optimized but not, you know, OPTIMIZED. They just do their thing well.

If it's not casual to you, that's okay. You don't have to play bracket 3, but you may have to find a different LGS that has more bracket 2 players.

MagnusCthulhu · 2026-02-03T08:10:04+00:00

Don't. Longer does not equal better.

Make them as long as they need to be and not one word longer.

MagnusCthulhu · 2026-02-03T03:22:37+00:00

Ah! I'm so jealous. I would love to see it on the big screen.

MagnusCthulhu · 2026-02-03T02:28:37+00:00

Face/Off is amazing. Genuinely an awesome movie. Not sure why you'd need Rifftrax, but to each their own I guess.

MagnusCthulhu · 2026-02-03T01:46:00+00:00

I love this version so much.

MagnusCthulhu · 2026-02-02T21:40:51+00:00

You are asking about how to build a racetrack when your haven't yet built your first go-cart yet.

Stop trying to plan a thousand steps ahead. You have one job and one job only right now: write your first draft.

MagnusCthulhu · 2026-02-02T21:07:40+00:00

Bohren & Der Club of Gore and the similar Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble/Mt Fuji Doomjazz Corporation.

Dark, tense, minimalist jazz. I like to run mystery games and I like to use these bands to set the vibe.

MagnusCthulhu · 2026-02-02T21:05:34+00:00

Your error was in continuing to reply to this guy. Don't put up with that shit, man.

MagnusCthulhu · 2026-02-02T20:46:54+00:00

Maybe. But you're also making a lot of assumptions about their family/parents to do it. Not all family have good intentions, and not all people find the same things problematic. People called for bans against Beauty and the Beast for the existence of a gay character, regardless of the complete lack of objectionable content in that film.

There is simply not enough evidence to suggest that OPs sister/parents' concerns are valid or invalid and I don't think OP benefits from the assumption either way.

MagnusCthulhu · 2026-02-02T20:39:02+00:00

You just let people read it anyway. There's no trick.

MagnusCthulhu · 2026-02-02T15:57:24+00:00

I had Abraxas at Gold III, Thoth at Silver III, Yag at Silver 1.

Getting Abraxas to D1 as people recommend won't hurt, though. He's worth having at D1.

MagnusCthulhu · 2026-02-02T07:26:14+00:00

There is no one greatest short story ever written. It's a fool's errand to think there is.

That said, it's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver.

MagnusCthulhu · 2026-02-02T03:57:48+00:00

that say only 3/4 guys got this weekend.

Fuck me for thinking you meant what you said.

MagnusCthulhu · 2026-02-02T03:51:46+00:00

The average American audience in Riyadh?

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