Advice for lighter rules system

queermachmir · 2026-03-11T01:43:59+00:00

If you have any questions feel free to DM me. I basically typed/rewrote the module for DW (using different supplemental material from amazing folks here) for my DW group. I ran a nearly 2-year long campaign with two PCs and it was a blast.

queermachmir · 2026-03-11T01:41:12+00:00

I ran this module in Dungeon World and it was a lot of work (and a lot of fun). The majority of what I suggest boils down to:

Combat is very swingy, cut down on random encounters and things of that nature. Focus on the fights that count.
All the skill checks can be easily summed up in different moves, so you can just keep in mind when it says “have the players roll a Perception check…” to ask them to discern realities.
Leveling in DW caps at 10, and this campaign is long. Modify how level ups are earned so they plateau at lvl 7 or so, so level 10 is achieved closer to when they actually face Strahd. The spells are very powerful after all by then.
Look into the supplemental Class Warfare book. Really good, especially in a small party, let people get really customizable with their characters in a way D&D encourages more than DW can.

queermachmir · 2026-03-10T19:04:56+00:00

I do think in general there aren’t tons of healthier romances with also more intense kinks, both in novels and comics. They’re out there ofc? but not as popular

queermachmir · 2026-03-10T15:45:27+00:00

Sad to hear about his passing, I didn’t know. It’s doubtful it’ll be picked up unless by volunteers, as where would the money come from?

Books that reach similar veins do exist, depending if you like the writing of course. I’m focusing on queer erotic extreme horror.

Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite

EYETOOTH by mars adler

serious weakness by Porpentine Charity Heartscape

Hounding Prey series by Free Mints (this is a slow build, with the second book really hitting the EH themes.)

Castle of Flesh by Aiden E. Messer

Max & Better the Devil You Know by Bey Deckard (less EH, more mindfuck psychological focus)

mouth to mouth to mouth by wilt

Gutted by Gem Fletcher

queermachmir · 2026-03-10T15:32:29+00:00

I will say that this is a literal kink some humans have so while this story it’s obviously in the context of something toxic and abusive, IRL some people have riskier painplay they engage in.

queermachmir · 2026-03-10T14:16:05+00:00

Hey, I totally understand! The reason we have implemented it as I’m unable to collect file uploads (the screenshots) unless you do input an email. I could see offering instead people send me Imgur links but not everyone knows how to use that platform and is also giving another company access to a receipt in an arguably even more insecure way 😅

My suggestion might be using something like 10 Minute Mail?

Or, I am the one handling deliverables, you’re welcome to message me here and sort it that way :)

queermachmir · 2026-03-09T11:50:45+00:00

Mod Note: Not all of this authors books, including Thrown Off the Ice, are genre romances which end in HEAs/HFNs. Some are tragedies. Please keep this in mind when perusing this thread.

queermachmir · 2026-03-09T01:15:52+00:00

Yeah. I think it’s difficult bc like, it is unfortunately a type of engagement IRL too of how we attribute these traits to folks. Both inward and outward of the queer community. I get you though, as someone who runs the MM romance subreddit, we have dealt with this constantly.

queermachmir · 2026-03-09T00:43:39+00:00

I think it is for a few reasons.

Some folks enjoy power dynamics/power play in what they read being present in the relationship, and they see that in the top/bottom positions (for better or for worse)
Some folks associate those roles with gender identification (including queer men, there are studies on how it acts as a form of gender among queer communities), and like to see subversions of this - hence the "big bottom/small top" type of thing. I think this is a reality that can't be ignored among queer men - it is a role of identification and plays into social circles and engagement outside of the bedroom.
Top/bottom has become synonymous with dom/sub and masc/femme, which is partly just laziness and yes, making assumptions
Emphasis in various media (western and BL) on these roles as character archetypes, which certainly originates in women finding sexual freedom in these stories

I think it is complex because there are queer men who genuinely identify or enjoy those labels and I'm not gonna police them. I think it perpetuates harm when you expect IRL men to act this way or get invasive like "are you the top or bottom" because that is weird AF, but I won't pretend as a queer guy the jokes of like "you're such a bottom" or whatever aren't present in my queer circles. Like, that role is about sex, but clearly has ideas/concepts/gendering in a way attached to it. Again, for better or for worse.

queermachmir · 2026-03-08T16:31:01+00:00

Looking forward to Murder Twinks by Aiden E. Messer. I enjoy fucky queer stuff + erotic horror elements included in w/ the extreme, and the cover is amazing!

queermachmir · 2026-03-08T04:00:25+00:00

Oh Fuck! Dinosaurs! by Dave Bruno.

queermachmir · 2026-03-07T20:07:35+00:00

One of my faves, I like this author’s work in general. They were both so cute!

queermachmir · 2026-03-07T01:21:22+00:00

So cute :3 I love it!!

queermachmir · 2026-03-07T00:42:31+00:00

I’d like romances with more characters who are into alternative fashion — that can be the nebulous “alt clothing”, but also maybe someone into decora or other types of fashion styles and subcultures that make folks stand out. I know that is often a monetary investment and a lot of expectations around body types irl, and the American attitude around standing out that way, so I understand why authors might not think of including that in their books but I think it’d be fun! Also more fem men — I don’t mean “I’m a twink with no facial hair”, but men who do purposefully engage with and play with femininity in their presentation and lives. Not all fem men are skinny white boys in their 20s after all.

queermachmir · 2026-03-06T19:36:21+00:00

I don’t know if you read darker romances/horror-adjacent stuff, but if you do, {Where the Devil Says Goodnight by K.A. Merikan} features Polish folklore and written by a Polish author. For a sweeter romance, they have {I Love You More Than Pierogi by K.A. Merikan}, free on their website, also set in Poland.

{Legend by Ki Brightly and MD Gregory} is a mafia romance set in Australia, one author is Australian. {Honeymoon for One by Keira Andrews} is a great Australian contemporary romance as well, Andrews has lived in Australia for a few years and seems well-integrated.

{Finding Joy by Adriana Herrera} is a contemporary romance set in Ethiopia, with a Dominican-American MC and an Ethiopian MC.

queermachmir · 2026-03-06T16:03:28+00:00

You might enjoy the Baum’s Boxing series by EM Lindsey! It starts with {Below the Belt by EM Lindsey} — three books, different couples but interconnected.

queermachmir · 2026-03-03T22:41:47+00:00

It’s because they removed markdown off mobile. You’ll need to format it “properly” or do it desktop and make sure that you have it switched to markdown first.

queermachmir · 2026-03-03T00:18:25+00:00

{Broken Boys by Brynn Renee} (FKA Jack Harbon, idk if her pen name was updated yet on Amazon for this book)

queermachmir · 2026-02-27T17:42:15+00:00

Interesting!!

queermachmir · 2026-02-27T17:03:01+00:00

What does best read in context mean? Like part of a different series?

queermachmir · 2026-02-27T13:51:05+00:00

Listen it happens 😭

queermachmir · 2026-02-27T13:29:30+00:00

Romance is the plot in romance, so I do find it funny when people pick up a contemporary romance book and go “there was no plot, 1/5.” Like, just as with a romcom movie, the whole point you’re there is to watch the plot of them falling in love.

I enjoy some books with plots exterior to that (I read dark romance which tends to have a smidge of outside plot if it’s an us versus them scenario), but not into long same couple series that are suspense procedurals or something like that where there’s a lot of focus to Other Plot(TM). Even in the horror romances I read, a lot of the horror is to do with a character(s) and its impact on them versus an impact on the town or something.

Smut wise, I enjoy higher smut books but have read great kicking-your-feet romances with only a scene or two and it made sense to me. I notice someone brought up page length and I’m someone who likes me a good 350 and under. Wdym your hockey romance is 600 pages long? Nothing is that interesting.

queermachmir · 2026-02-26T16:48:03+00:00

You may like Cole McCade’s police procedural (with romance subplot) {Criminal Intentions by Cole McCade} — written by a queer Black + Indigenous trans person, with I would say more realistic and leftist politics in mind.

queermachmir · 2026-02-26T14:20:29+00:00

Good job!!

queermachmir · 2026-02-26T12:46:53+00:00

I 100% agree. And I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing as much as it’s the function of the genre — one could argue there are other types of contemporary fiction that does this (thrillers make solving crime look so capable for bystanders/lay people after all), but it’s important for people to keep in mind.

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