fandom things
10 July 2025 11:41![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snickfic- As of July 6th, I'd written more words this year than I had in all of 2024. Mostly this tells you how much 2024 sucked creatively, but also damn, that's a pretty good pace! I'm currently working on something for Summer of Horror and daydreaming about that Liam/Liam/Noel time travel fic that I may finally go back to working on.
- H/C Exchange finally went live! I got Re-Animator mpreg, which was DELIGHTFUL, and I wrote... something completely unexpected, literally on the day of the deadline after I finally gave up on all previous plans.
- I did end up signing up for Battleship. I'll participate for the eight days of it that happen before I leave for vacation. I also prompted a variety of forever OTPs (Liam/Noel) and rarepairs I haven't thought about in ages (Dawn/Illyria). Hopefully someone will be inspired.
- I picked up a couple of things in the summer Steam sale, and thus have done basically nothing the last 2-3 days but play Cult of the Lamb, the cutest little cosmic horror game you ever did see.
- H/C Exchange finally went live! I got Re-Animator mpreg, which was DELIGHTFUL, and I wrote... something completely unexpected, literally on the day of the deadline after I finally gave up on all previous plans.
- I did end up signing up for Battleship. I'll participate for the eight days of it that happen before I leave for vacation. I also prompted a variety of forever OTPs (Liam/Noel) and rarepairs I haven't thought about in ages (Dawn/Illyria). Hopefully someone will be inspired.
- I picked up a couple of things in the summer Steam sale, and thus have done basically nothing the last 2-3 days but play Cult of the Lamb, the cutest little cosmic horror game you ever did see.
A walk around historic Kensington and Chelsea
9 July 2025 11:45kazzy_ceeYesterday I went to London to meet up with the National U3A group for a guided historic walk around the Kensington and Chelsea area. We began our walk at the Victoria and Albert Museum's imposing entrance.
The V&A was created after the 1851 Great Exhibition, when it was decided that a permanent site for collections should be created, and in 1852, Marlborough House was opened as the first public museum site called the South Kensington Museum. It was the first museum to have a café so that researchers could dine.
The current site was originally the home of the Brompton Park Nursery, growing produce for the city. In 1899, Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone for the current building (although she did not live long enough to see it completed nine years later), and the building was renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum.
More under the cut with photos of the area - including statues, churches, stables and architectural features.
( Read more... )
The two-hour walk took us around in a loop of the V&A and was very interesting. Many of the areas I'd not walked around before, and I shall definitely be exploring again another day.
The V&A was created after the 1851 Great Exhibition, when it was decided that a permanent site for collections should be created, and in 1852, Marlborough House was opened as the first public museum site called the South Kensington Museum. It was the first museum to have a café so that researchers could dine.
The current site was originally the home of the Brompton Park Nursery, growing produce for the city. In 1899, Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone for the current building (although she did not live long enough to see it completed nine years later), and the building was renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum.
More under the cut with photos of the area - including statues, churches, stables and architectural features.
( Read more... )
The two-hour walk took us around in a loop of the V&A and was very interesting. Many of the areas I'd not walked around before, and I shall definitely be exploring again another day.
the smokestack twins by devilswalkingstick (SFW)
9 July 2025 12:56mific posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fanart_recsFandom: Sinners
Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: Stack & Smoke
Content Notes/Warnings: none
Medium: digital art
Artist on DW/LJ: n/a
Artist Website/Gallery: devilswalkingstick on tumblr
Why this piece is awesome: Another take on this favourite scene for artists. I like the simplicity of the planes of colour, and how their signature colours are emphasised - red for Stack, blue for Smoke.
Link: the smokestack twins
Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: Stack & Smoke
Content Notes/Warnings: none
Medium: digital art
Artist on DW/LJ: n/a
Artist Website/Gallery: devilswalkingstick on tumblr
Why this piece is awesome: Another take on this favourite scene for artists. I like the simplicity of the planes of colour, and how their signature colours are emphasised - red for Stack, blue for Smoke.
Link: the smokestack twins
rydra_wongEspecially while it's at 75% off in the sale, making it 62p:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/406150/Refunct/
For anyone who might want to sample some easy platforming with a very very low entry threshold.
Chill and rather lovely environment (okay, probably depends on you liking brutalist architecture, but still -- there's a day-night cycle! there's sunshine! the water is gorgeous! the music is gentle!) with no time pressure and no penalties for failing a jump hundreds of times (except that, at worst, you fall in the water and have to swim about and haul yourself out again).
N.B. Most reviews describe this as a half-hour game, and there are achievements for speedrunning it in under 8 minutes or under 4 minutes.
It took me over five hours of playtime to beat it, which should be indicative of the co-ordination and skill levels I'm working with here. And yet it did not at any point feel stressful or humiliating for me. It felt like a pleasant, relaxing environment in which to fail repeatedly and experiment.
It started at a level low enough that I could manage it, and then had a really satisfying difficulty curve. If I was stalling on the next objective, I could still run and parkour round the environment purely for fun (and sometimes ended up working out how to pick off the optional achievements in the process).
Towards the very end, I started to think that the last jumps might just flat-out exceed the limits of what I am currently capable of, and it felt like if that did happen, I would still be able to walk away pretty happily having already got way more than 62p's worth of enjoyment out of it.
Will absolutely be playing it again.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/406150/Refunct/
For anyone who might want to sample some easy platforming with a very very low entry threshold.
Chill and rather lovely environment (okay, probably depends on you liking brutalist architecture, but still -- there's a day-night cycle! there's sunshine! the water is gorgeous! the music is gentle!) with no time pressure and no penalties for failing a jump hundreds of times (except that, at worst, you fall in the water and have to swim about and haul yourself out again).
N.B. Most reviews describe this as a half-hour game, and there are achievements for speedrunning it in under 8 minutes or under 4 minutes.
It took me over five hours of playtime to beat it, which should be indicative of the co-ordination and skill levels I'm working with here. And yet it did not at any point feel stressful or humiliating for me. It felt like a pleasant, relaxing environment in which to fail repeatedly and experiment.
It started at a level low enough that I could manage it, and then had a really satisfying difficulty curve. If I was stalling on the next objective, I could still run and parkour round the environment purely for fun (and sometimes ended up working out how to pick off the optional achievements in the process).
Towards the very end, I started to think that the last jumps might just flat-out exceed the limits of what I am currently capable of, and it felt like if that did happen, I would still be able to walk away pretty happily having already got way more than 62p's worth of enjoyment out of it.
Will absolutely be playing it again.
Nah, we cousins by crunchycerealisgood (SFW)
8 July 2025 12:27mific posting in fanart_recsFandom: Sinners
Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: Smoke & Stack (the smokestack twins)
Content Notes/Warnings: none
Medium: digital art
Artist on DW/LJ: n/a
Artist Website/Gallery: crunchycerealisgood on tumblr
Why this piece is awesome: I just watched the movie Sinners, which has inspired an avalanche of excellent fanart. This scene of the smokestack brothers is a favorite for artists - here's one version, which includes a WIP gif. Stack is in the red hat, Smoke the blue cap (both played by Michael B. Jordan). I like the strength of the painting, and WIP vids are always fun.
Link: Nah, we cousins
Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: Smoke & Stack (the smokestack twins)
Content Notes/Warnings: none
Medium: digital art
Artist on DW/LJ: n/a
Artist Website/Gallery: crunchycerealisgood on tumblr
Why this piece is awesome: I just watched the movie Sinners, which has inspired an avalanche of excellent fanart. This scene of the smokestack brothers is a favorite for artists - here's one version, which includes a WIP gif. Stack is in the red hat, Smoke the blue cap (both played by Michael B. Jordan). I like the strength of the painting, and WIP vids are always fun.
Link: Nah, we cousins
In Praise of a Classic Text: Understanding Comics - Part I
7 July 2025 18:54![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
fanhackers_feedI debated writing this post, because I tend to assume everyone knows Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics - but then again, it’s not often cited as a classic fan studies text, though it absolutely is, and a key. Not only is it a fantastic theoretical and practical explainer of the art form of comics in general - and so is a crucial text to comics fandom, as well as all kind of fan art - but I think it is useful for fandom broadly because of its description of storytelling technique and, even more specifically, its understanding of identification.
McCloud argues (for example on the page below the cut) that readers identify more strongly with a more roughly-sketched face - in its most basic form, a smiley face - than with a fully-fleshed out, realistic or photorealistic portrait. In other words, we all see ourselves in a smiley face - or, for example - in somebody simply drawn like Charlie Brown - whereas if we see a very specifically drawn person, McCloud says we see the other–another, one who is not-me.
I believe this and I think it has a couple of interesting implications for fandom.
Interesting Implication the First: There is a way in which fan art tends to create a kind of quick, cartoonish iconography for popular fannish characters that can–not rival, it’s not a competition!–but provide a very different kind of fannish pleasure than a very realistically drawn image. To be an old, and draw on an old fannish frames of reference like Stargate Atlantis, there is a way in which John Sheppard is represented by a particular flip of upswept messy black hair that makes him - (hear me out!) - look different from actor Joe Flanagan; similarly, Rodney McKay is characterized by his sandy brown hair, heart shaped <strike>ass</strike> face, and slash of a mouth. See chkc’s wonderful chibi McShep below:
Chibi Mcshep - 2010-05-02 - Uniform (0 words) by chkc
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Characters: John Sheppard, Rodney McKay
Additional Tags: Fanart, Chibi
Summary:
John smooches Rodney while in uniform.
I would argue that a fanartist working in a mode like this makes Sheppard more rather than less real–in a way, the further Sheppard gets from Flanagan, the realer he is, and the closer he is to the John Sheppard who took up a lot of real estate in my mind for a while there. Who is NOT Joe Flanigan, and who can disappear for me if he looks too much LIKE Joe Flanigan. (Similarly: Han Solo is not Harrison Ford! Misha is not Cas! Etc. ) YMMV of course, and certainly there is wonderful realistic art, but I think that fan art serves a lot of different purposes, and there’s something wonderful about more iconographic art…
Next week: Interesting Implication the Second!
Today is the twentieth anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings.
7 July 2025 20:41nanilaI have been struggling to concentrate today. It was hard not to spiral back to that day. I had been living in London (and therefore the UK) for less than a year. I spent much of the day unable to contact family and friends to reassure them I was OK because the mobile networks were overwhelmed. I remember walking the crowded streets to meet friends and my then-partner. The faces of the shuffling Londoners. The relentless wail of sirens.
I'm coping by watching the BBC documentary series on the bombings. For some reason I need some kind of external validation for feeling the way I do today and this is providing it.
(Access locked) Posts from that date: DW, LJ
Here is what I wrote on the 8th of July, 2005. I don't think I agree with myself here, not entirely. I was rationalising my own fear. The body count is also the point.
Terrorism isn't about the reality of statistics. Of the several million people living in or visiting the greater London area, a tiny percentage were physically hurt or killed by the bombings. A slightly larger percentage witnessed them firsthand, and a huge number of them were temporarily inconvenienced by the shutdown of the London Transport system. The chances that the next bus or tube journey that the average Londoner makes will have a bomb on it are not much greater than they were yesterday or will be tomorrow. But, as I said, this is not about statistics. It's about the perception of statistics. However miniscule your chances were and are of being blown to bits by a terrorist attack, they are now at the forefront of your mind, whether you want them to be or not.
Terrorism isn't about the frequency of occurrence of terrorist acts, or of similar kinds of attacks made during open war. Londoners of different generations experienced the Blitz and the IRA bombings of the 1980s. Many of them have been through this before. However, it is the very unpredictability of terrorism that makes it so frightening, that makes a return to normalcy as difficult as it was the last time, because the ordinary citizen has no way of knowing when, where or if another attack will happen.
People deal with this in a myriad of ways. Some become defiant, others resigned. Some find themselves swallowing down fear for weeks, months or years after the events, every time they board a bus or enter an Underground station. This is the real point of terrorist attacks, not the body count. All emotional responses are fully permissible, but it is the way that we act upon them that will determine whether or not we build a world in which the slight probability of terrorist attack on the average citizen will continue to be a weapon that can wield so much power.
I'm coping by watching the BBC documentary series on the bombings. For some reason I need some kind of external validation for feeling the way I do today and this is providing it.
(Access locked) Posts from that date: DW, LJ
Here is what I wrote on the 8th of July, 2005. I don't think I agree with myself here, not entirely. I was rationalising my own fear. The body count is also the point.
Terrorism isn't about the reality of statistics. Of the several million people living in or visiting the greater London area, a tiny percentage were physically hurt or killed by the bombings. A slightly larger percentage witnessed them firsthand, and a huge number of them were temporarily inconvenienced by the shutdown of the London Transport system. The chances that the next bus or tube journey that the average Londoner makes will have a bomb on it are not much greater than they were yesterday or will be tomorrow. But, as I said, this is not about statistics. It's about the perception of statistics. However miniscule your chances were and are of being blown to bits by a terrorist attack, they are now at the forefront of your mind, whether you want them to be or not.
Terrorism isn't about the frequency of occurrence of terrorist acts, or of similar kinds of attacks made during open war. Londoners of different generations experienced the Blitz and the IRA bombings of the 1980s. Many of them have been through this before. However, it is the very unpredictability of terrorism that makes it so frightening, that makes a return to normalcy as difficult as it was the last time, because the ordinary citizen has no way of knowing when, where or if another attack will happen.
People deal with this in a myriad of ways. Some become defiant, others resigned. Some find themselves swallowing down fear for weeks, months or years after the events, every time they board a bus or enter an Underground station. This is the real point of terrorist attacks, not the body count. All emotional responses are fully permissible, but it is the way that we act upon them that will determine whether or not we build a world in which the slight probability of terrorist attack on the average citizen will continue to be a weapon that can wield so much power.
I am now the proud owner of a secondhand Steam deck! Rec me games!
5 July 2025 07:02rydra_wongA whole world of games not playable on Mac has opened up to me, and it's Steam summer sale time!
Please rec me your favourite games, bearing in mind that I have very limited reflexes/co-ordination.
(I'm not completely ruling out games involving them, but the threshold for entry has to be very very low. I am currently enjoying Refunct because it allows me to try some simple platforming in a very chill and pleasant environment with no time pressure and no penalties for taking several hundred tries to get a jump.)
Please rec me your favourite games, bearing in mind that I have very limited reflexes/co-ordination.
(I'm not completely ruling out games involving them, but the threshold for entry has to be very very low. I am currently enjoying Refunct because it allows me to try some simple platforming in a very chill and pleasant environment with no time pressure and no penalties for taking several hundred tries to get a jump.)
A Medieval visit to London
4 July 2025 10:01kazzy_ceeYesterday, a friend and I went to visit The Charterhouse in London. I've been several times, but she'd never been, so it was fun to go back again.
The Charterhouse's history goes back to 1348 when the site was used as an emergency cemetery for plague victims in London. The 'Black Death' killed 60% of the London population, and a Chapel was built on the site for mourners to pray for the victims' souls. Following this, a Carthusian monastery (known as a Charterhouse) was built nearby in 1371 and thrived for many years.
In 1545, following the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII (which led to the death of the monks and the seizing of the land by the Crown), a Tudor manor house was built using some parts of the old monastery. You can just see some of the original stones above the bench in the frieze at the base of the building if you click the photo.
In 1611, Thomas Sutton, a wealthy landowner, bought the site and turned it into a charitable institution which included a school for 'poor' boys and almshouse accommodation for 80 impoverished 'poor Brothers'. Today, the school has relocated, but it is still home to 43 people who are given free accommodation if they meet certain criteria. This is still fully funded by the charity Sutton set up and is maintained by Governors (including King Charles II).
More under the cut with photos.
( Read more... )
The criteria for becoming a Brother at The Charterhouse in 1611 - you would have to be “either decrepit or old captaynes either at sea or at land, maimed or disabled soldiers, merchants fallen on hard times, those ruined by shipwreck or other calamity”. It was originally a Faith-based charity.
Today the criteria are: you must be single, and over 60 years old; in financial, housing or social need and have no significant debts. You must be able to live independently, be keen to contribute to a community and have the right to live in the UK.
I'd love to live there, but there are a couple of criteria I don't meet! LOL!
It was a fascinating tour, and even though I've been before, I learned some new things, which is always good!
The Charterhouse's history goes back to 1348 when the site was used as an emergency cemetery for plague victims in London. The 'Black Death' killed 60% of the London population, and a Chapel was built on the site for mourners to pray for the victims' souls. Following this, a Carthusian monastery (known as a Charterhouse) was built nearby in 1371 and thrived for many years.
In 1545, following the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII (which led to the death of the monks and the seizing of the land by the Crown), a Tudor manor house was built using some parts of the old monastery. You can just see some of the original stones above the bench in the frieze at the base of the building if you click the photo.
In 1611, Thomas Sutton, a wealthy landowner, bought the site and turned it into a charitable institution which included a school for 'poor' boys and almshouse accommodation for 80 impoverished 'poor Brothers'. Today, the school has relocated, but it is still home to 43 people who are given free accommodation if they meet certain criteria. This is still fully funded by the charity Sutton set up and is maintained by Governors (including King Charles II).
More under the cut with photos.
( Read more... )
The criteria for becoming a Brother at The Charterhouse in 1611 - you would have to be “either decrepit or old captaynes either at sea or at land, maimed or disabled soldiers, merchants fallen on hard times, those ruined by shipwreck or other calamity”. It was originally a Faith-based charity.
Today the criteria are: you must be single, and over 60 years old; in financial, housing or social need and have no significant debts. You must be able to live independently, be keen to contribute to a community and have the right to live in the UK.
I'd love to live there, but there are a couple of criteria I don't meet! LOL!
It was a fascinating tour, and even though I've been before, I learned some new things, which is always good!
Fancake Theme for July: Working Together
3 July 2025 09:23runpunkrun posting in fandomcalendar
fancake is a thematic recommendation community where all members are welcome to post recs, and fanworks of all shapes and sizes are accepted. Check out the community guidelines for the full set of rules. This theme runs for the entire month. If you have any questions, just ask!
(no subject)
3 July 2025 11:21lotesseAlas that stress also means need for dentist. I think the filling repair my dentist did last month already broke; it might not be the only bit of my dentistry crumbling under the current tension levels. And going to the dentist is so painful and scary :(
Joy: The Interdisciplinary Edition
30 June 2025 18:27fanhackers_feedI am always on the lookout for academic works that talk about the kinds of joy that I feel are characteristic of fandom. There are a lot of books about art, literature, music, etc. but their analysis doesn’t often take into account the pleasures of those activities (Barthes notwithstanding.)
One book that I like a lot for the way in which it conceptualizes joy in collectivity is William H. McNeill’s Keeping Together in Time: Dance and Drill in Human History. McNeill says something that, to me, is obviously true but rarely said: that people like to move together! The book is about the emotional bonding that happens when people move, together, in time: McNeill’s two examples are dance and drill (by which he means military drill - so Beyonce gives us a two-fer with Formation! ) Obviously this is a pleasure familiar to anyone who likes dance of any kind, or synchronised swimming, or drum circles, or marching bands, or yoga or tai chi, or participating in church services, or cheerleading, or doing the wave. I used McNeill in my Vidding book–but I also think of fandom’s love of a good power walk on any TV show! (For a great example check out the last few beats of the Clucking Belles’ Vid “A Fannish Taxonomy of Hotness”, below - power walks are the subject of the last section.)
Hot Hot Hot [Fanvid] : Clucking Belles : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Some orienting quotes from the start of the book:
Reflecting on my odd, surprising, and apparently visceral response to close-order drill, and recalling what little I knew about war dances and other rhythmic exercises among hunters and gatherers, I surmised that the emotional response to drill was an inheritance from prehistoric times, when our ancestors had danced around their camp fires before and after faring forth to hunt wild and dangerous animals…. (p.3)
The specifically military manifestations of this human capability are of less importance than the general enhancement of social cohesion that village dancing imparted to the majority of human beings from the time that agriculture began. Two corollaries demand attention. First, through recorded history, moving and singing together made collective tasks far more efficient. Without rhythmical coordination of the muscular effort required to haul and pry heavy stones into place, the pyramids of Egypt and many other famous monuments could nnot have been built. Second, I am convinced that long before written records allowed us to know anything precise about human behavior, keeping together in time became important for human evolution, allowing early human groups to increase their size, enhance their cohesion, and assure survival by improving their success in guarding territory, securing food, and nurturing the young. (p.4)
Our television screens show continuing pervasive manifestations of the human penchant for moving together in time. American football crowds, South African demonstrators, patriotic parades, and religious rituals of every description draw on the emotional effect of rhythmic movements and gestures. So of course do dancing, military drill, and the muscular exercises with which, it is said, workers in Japanese factories begin each day. Yet, so far as I can discover, scientific investigation of what happens to those who engage in such behavior remains scant and unsystematic. (p. 5)
1SE for June 2025
30 June 2025 22:04nanilaI can't quite believe how much has happened this month. At least 60 days of stuff were packed into June's 30. And now we're halfway through the year. Dear Time, Please slow down, Love, Me.
Rebuilding journal search again
30 June 2025 15:18alierak posting in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_maintenanceWe're having to rebuild the search server again (previously, previously). It will take a few days to reindex all the content.
Meanwhile search services should be running, but probably returning no results or incomplete results for most queries.
Meanwhile search services should be running, but probably returning no results or incomplete results for most queries.
For anyone I've successfully lured: my top Disco Elysium tips
30 June 2025 15:19rydra_wong* SAVE OFTEN, especially in the early game when you may be very fragile and the game's auto-save is infrequent.
BUT -- don't reload from a save unless you actually die or otherwise hit a "game over."
This game is about failing, and it rewards you for playing forwards through failure. Some of the best moments in the game come from failed checks. There are always alternative routes and ways forwards. If you tried to savescum it, you would miss most of the game and all of the point. Embrace failure.
Okay there are those two specific checks where failing is so emotionally devastating I would not judge anyone for savescumming. But apart from those.
* You can just pick one of the Archetypes for a starter build, and leave messing around with custom character creation until you've seen the stats in action and understand how the system works. Don't stress about it. Or, if you want, you can throw yourself into custom character creation despite not having a clue how it works, and you will also have a fun time. Your initial build and your later choices about what you put points into will radically change your experience of the game, but you can't do it "wrong"; there are no optimal builds which are "better".
* Press tab to highlight objects you can interact with, or activate "detective mode" in the settings to do it automatically. Yes I know this is the sort of thing that is probably obvious to people who have played video games before.
* If your Health or Morale (displayed on the lower left of the screen) fall to zero, you have about 5 seconds to apply a healing item (if you have one) by clicking the cross above that stat.
This is the one timed element in the game, and also the one mechanic that some of us initially have trouble grasping.
With all the other mechanics in the game, you can not only learn them by flinging yourself in and floundering about, this is IMHO the best and most enjoyable way to learn them. No idea what the Thought Cabinet is or what Internalizing A Thought means? Try it and find out!
* Perhaps the most important tip of all:
If you feel you are flailing around and failing on most of the checks you try and you've just been informed you have acquired a Thought you can internalize in your Thought Cabinet and you have no clue what that means or maybe you just had a heart attack and died before you even got out of your hotel room or you had a nervous breakdown because a child insulted you and you have no idea what you're doing and it's been three days and you still haven't got the body down from the tree --
THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE PLAYING THE GAME "BADLY". THIS IS IN FACT THE UNIVERSAL DISCO ELYSIUM EXPERIENCE AND MEANS YOU ARE PLAYING THE GAME CORRECTLY. WELL DONE.
BUT -- don't reload from a save unless you actually die or otherwise hit a "game over."
This game is about failing, and it rewards you for playing forwards through failure. Some of the best moments in the game come from failed checks. There are always alternative routes and ways forwards. If you tried to savescum it, you would miss most of the game and all of the point. Embrace failure.
* You can just pick one of the Archetypes for a starter build, and leave messing around with custom character creation until you've seen the stats in action and understand how the system works. Don't stress about it. Or, if you want, you can throw yourself into custom character creation despite not having a clue how it works, and you will also have a fun time. Your initial build and your later choices about what you put points into will radically change your experience of the game, but you can't do it "wrong"; there are no optimal builds which are "better".
* Press tab to highlight objects you can interact with, or activate "detective mode" in the settings to do it automatically. Yes I know this is the sort of thing that is probably obvious to people who have played video games before.
* If your Health or Morale (displayed on the lower left of the screen) fall to zero, you have about 5 seconds to apply a healing item (if you have one) by clicking the cross above that stat.
This is the one timed element in the game, and also the one mechanic that some of us initially have trouble grasping.
With all the other mechanics in the game, you can not only learn them by flinging yourself in and floundering about, this is IMHO the best and most enjoyable way to learn them. No idea what the Thought Cabinet is or what Internalizing A Thought means? Try it and find out!
* Perhaps the most important tip of all:
If you feel you are flailing around and failing on most of the checks you try and you've just been informed you have acquired a Thought you can internalize in your Thought Cabinet and you have no clue what that means or maybe you just had a heart attack and died before you even got out of your hotel room or you had a nervous breakdown because a child insulted you and you have no idea what you're doing and it's been three days and you still haven't got the body down from the tree --
THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE PLAYING THE GAME "BADLY". THIS IS IN FACT THE UNIVERSAL DISCO ELYSIUM EXPERIENCE AND MEANS YOU ARE PLAYING THE GAME CORRECTLY. WELL DONE.
Dionysus by capitanpoops (SFW)
30 June 2025 23:06mific posting in fanart_recsFandom: Kaos
Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: Dionysius & Dennis
Content Notes/Warnings: none
Medium: digital art
Artist on DW/LJ: n/a
Artist Website/Gallery: capitanpoops on tumblr
Why this piece is awesome: Lovely, vibrantly coloured art of Dionysus, with lots of movement and character in the drawings. Dennis the cat is very cute, too.
Link: Dionysus
Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: Dionysius & Dennis
Content Notes/Warnings: none
Medium: digital art
Artist on DW/LJ: n/a
Artist Website/Gallery: capitanpoops on tumblr
Why this piece is awesome: Lovely, vibrantly coloured art of Dionysus, with lots of movement and character in the drawings. Dennis the cat is very cute, too.
Link: Dionysus