schneefink: Babylon 5 (Bab5)
schneefink ([personal profile] schneefink) wrote2025-07-14 08:33 pm
Entry tags:

Stars Without Number, With Adventures

We've now played four half-day sessions of our "Stars Without Number" campaign and I'm having a lot of fun.

Our party owns and operates a mining ship, and our first two sessions featured quite a bit of asteroid mining, and also a rescue mission and exploration. Then the space pirates attacked! Not us directly but the space station we are currently based at, so we helped fight them off. And then our latest session was mostly shopping & intel gathering & planning: it sounds like there's an entire fleet of pirates, likely from outside the system, and they've sabotaged and possibly taken over several stations/planets/routes. We'll find out more next time!, which sadly won't be until September because of vacations.

I really like my character. I'm a teleporter! (Talk about wish fulfillment.) Partial psychic/partial expert, because I thought being a full psychic would be overwhelming and I was mostly interested in one discipline anyway. Being able to teleport is so cool. I can teleport 1000 kilometres already and take three people with me.
I'm also really happy with my role in the party. In our main campaign I'm the youngest cat in a group of older and more headstrong cats, which I found difficult sometimes. This time I decided to play a character with more authority, and I've enjoyed it a lot. While all of our party members own the ship together and have equal say, on the bridge I'm the captain; and more importantly, I'm the one keeping track of our money and inventory. (Idk why our GM was surprised that I made a budget and business plan after the first session ^^ )
Our DM told us to prepare back-up characters in case we die, and I did, but I really hope I survive. I even ordered a nice mini figure for her :) As a party I think we've good odds of survival: we have a medic, a biopsionic (=healer), and I can teleport us out in emergencies. Fingers crossed.

I also really enjoy the system, both the setting and mechanically. Playing in a sci-fi world is a welcome contrast after around three years playing in a fantasy world as cats. And playing someone with supernatural abilities feels especially cool after three years as a non-magical archer.
One thing I didn't expect to enjoy this much is leveling up. In our previous system we earn adventure points and we can spend those on improving abilities/skills/etc., but it's more gradual, which tbh makes more sense in-universe. Buuut, leveling up just feels cool. Especially when I can pick new abilities.
What I like less is how ship combat works. So far it's been a little tedious as it seems like half the party always has very little to do; but I suspect that's also because our combat options as a mining ship are limited. We'll see how it goes. We just upgraded our weapons because of the pirates.

Once again our GM has underestimated how long it'll take us to get through his plot so we'll have to see how far we get/what happens when our fifth cat comes back from her year abroad. But until then I really look forward to our next adventures.
schneefink: Taako looking excited (TAZ Taako excited)
schneefink ([personal profile] schneefink) wrote2025-07-10 10:17 pm
Entry tags:

Simple Life and more Life soon

New Life series already!! First episode confirmed to come out tomorrow 5pm BST. Which is right when L and I are checking out a free beginner's swordfighting class, but I'm pretty sure that'll be cool enough to be a good distraction xD

I realized I never posted about this year's April Fool's special episode, Simple Life. It was a lot of fun. Superflat was a good concept to play around with for a one-off. I watched Cleo and Scar and half of Grian's, and then I planned to watch a few more but didn't get around to it and forgot to post about it.

Simple Life )
sineala: (Avengers: Tony: And there you are)
Sineala ([personal profile] sineala) wrote2025-07-10 11:02 am

FIC: Establishing Shot (Iron Man, gen, T)

Establishing Shot (7854 words) by Sineala
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, Iron Man (Comics)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Henry Hellrung & Tony Stark
Characters: Henry Hellrung, Tony Stark
Additional Tags: Character Study, First Meetings, Alcohol, Acting, POV Outsider, Comic: Iron Man Vol. 1 (1968)
Summary: When Henry Hellrung lands the role of Tony Stark on the upcoming Avengers TV show, he's thrilled. But first, he needs to know what makes this guy tick. But when the cameras are on... Tony's acting. Who is Tony Stark, really? Henry meets Tony in person, to see if he can learn the truth. What he finds is something he never expected.

It's been a while since I posted a fic, hasn't it? This is actually a gen fic written for the zine Transistor-Powered Heart.

It's also not actually as long as it looks; the second chapter is a bonus version with several deleted scenes.
schneefink: Hotguy and Cuteguy thumbsup (Hermitcraft Hotguy and Cuteguy)
schneefink ([personal profile] schneefink) wrote2025-07-09 11:18 pm

July recs: MCYT AUFest Battleship recs part 2, 13 fanworks

The promised part 2 of MCYT AUFest Battleship recs! I still have a few dozen works bookmarked to read later, but this felt like it was hanging over my head so I wanted to get it done, especially since I easily had enough for a list. There might even be a part three, but no promises.

9xfic, 2xwebweave, 2xart; Hermitcraft, Life Series, QSMP, DSMP, MCYT RPF )
schneefink: Scarland castle (Hermitcraft s9) with the sun shining through it (Hermitcraft Scarland)
schneefink ([personal profile] schneefink) wrote2025-07-08 08:23 pm
Entry tags:

AO3 stats update

Last year at the end of May, so just a little over a year ago, I made an AO3 stats post, and I thought it would be fun to look at it again and compare.

Numbers )
schneefink: Hotguy and Cuteguy thumbsup (Hermitcraft Hotguy and Cuteguy)
schneefink ([personal profile] schneefink) wrote2025-07-07 11:02 pm

I wrote eleven (11) fics for MCYTblr AUfest Battleship

I wrote eleven fics for MCYTblr Aufest Battleship. Eleven! And I actually like all of them and am even proud of some. Go me!

A Cast of His Face for [archiveofourown.org profile] Kaesa, Hermitcraft
1k, Bdubs/Etho, fantasy AU
Summary: Twelve days, five hours, and twenty-two minutes after Etho died, he walked into Bdubs' office.
Author's Note: The first fic I wrote for this event. I had the idea for a story combining Major Character Death + cloning + paperwork and this came out. I tried for a combination of funny and heartbreaking, and from the comments I succeeded :)

Undeath Certificate for [archiveofourown.org profile] salemoleander, Hermitcraft
0.3k, Cub&Cleo, afterlife
Summary: There's been an error with the paperwork regarding Cleo's afterlife.
Author's Note: Another case of "I looked at a tag combination and got an idea I really liked," in this case immortality + deity AU + paperwork. Perfectly suited for ZombieCleo, of course, and manager Cub.

In the Oldest Cell for [archiveofourown.org profile] januarymorning, Hermitcraft
1.6k, Grian/Cub/Scar, fantasy AU outsider PoV
Summary: I'd been alone in my cell for fourteen years when they finally threw someone else in with me again. An avian, with red and purple and blue feathers.
Author's Note: Same thing again. I loved coming up with stories for specific words even back in school. And writing low pressure first person outsider PoV was fun and surprisingly easy.

The Last Task in Grumbot for [archiveofourown.org profile] Kaesa, Hermitcraft
0.9k, Grian & Mumbo & Scar, among us mech AU
Summary: Mumbo had insisted on checking on Grian's mech one last time.
Author's Note: We were getting closer to the end of the board and needed more hits on Major Character Death, among us AU, mech AU, darkfic, and a few others, so this happened. Also featuring tasty betrayal.

Who will you eat tomorrow so we can rule together for [archiveofourown.org profile] zoewinter1, Hermitcraft
0.3k, Docm77, Among Us AU
Summary: The massive solar storm that made it necessary for all planetary bases to evacuate to the orbital station was the best thing that could have happened for Doc's cover. The dragon was a nice bonus.
Author's Note: We were close to clearing the board and needed more Among Us AU, iirc I wrote this on my way to work on public transport. Did not expect to write vore tbh ^^ and I had never written Docm before but I think it came out well.

I wrote these first five fics in four days btw. Something in the lava down in the Nether.

Soulmate Bond (Homebrew) for [archiveofourown.org profile] ggumdrop, Hermitcraft
0.6k, Cub & Scar, D&D AU
Summary: "Cub, I need you to listen to me."
"Who are you?“"
"I'm your soulmate. That's why you can hear me even in the antimagic field."
As soon as the voice mentions being your soulmate, you recognize where it's coming from: there's a tug inside of you, an invisible string connecting you to someone else. (Don't worry about it, it's homebrew.)
Author's Note: I rested during the first boss fight but came right back for the second board, and I think the idea of using 2nd person PoV for a D&D-style narration was cool. (I wrote parts of this during my lunch break at work. Seriously what was in that lava.)

Sounds So Splendid for [archiveofourown.org profile] zoewinter1, Life Series
0.3k, Gem & Scott & Impulse, space opera AU
Summary: “Impulse. We're a rock band on a space station. Why in the never-ending event horizon have you signed us up to be background musicians for an opera?"
“Because of the tax break, of course."
Author's Note: Iirc someone mentioned hitting space opera by having an actual opera in space somehow and I could not resist. I was also glad to get a hit on "taxes," I would have been disappointed otherwise. And I was particularly happy with the title for this one.

Teammates for Life for [archiveofourown.org profile] Sharo, Hermitcraft/MCC
0.8k, Cub&/Scar, canon divergence
Summary: Scar is anxious to meet his MCC teammate Cubfan135 for the first time.
Author's Note: I thought "canon divergence" and "different first meeting" would go very well together, thought of Convex, and then of MCC. I had fun with this one, especially making up a history for AU Cub (yes he won Minecraft Monday together with Techno, because I said so.) I had to do research!, look up MCC records and stuff, that was fun too.

A Dangerous Prize for [archiveofourown.org profile] Alice_not_Alice, Hermitcraft
4.2k, Etho & Cleo, fantasy AU
Summary: King Ren gives Cleo to General Etho as a war prize, not knowing that there are plans in motion.
Author's Note: Alice likes fae!Etho, fey bargains, power imbalances, situations where Character A is compelled by outside forces to hurt or bind Character B, and a bunch of other tasty things, and I was planning to write them something from the beginning. It took a while to finish because I had to figure out the ~scale, but I was happy with the roles I found for the characters. My one contribution to the grand battle against the Wither Storm.

The Upside of the Downside for [archiveofourown.org profile] Odaigahara, Hermitcraft
2.9k, Grian/Cub/Scar, Pyre fusion
Summary: As the Nightwings' Reader, Grian has a difficult choice to make before his first Liberation Rite. Who should have the chance to be freed from their exile? Cub and Scar would make the decision easier, if he could believe them.
Fusion with Pyre (Video Game)
Author's Note: Speaking of fics that I planned early, took me a while to figure out, and where I was happy with the roles I found for the cast: this one. I saw "video game fusion," looked at my Steam library, saw "Pyre," and could not get the idea out of my head. And it seems like I succeeded in making it understandable for people without knowledge of the game, which is good. I really like how the fusion turned out and might even be thinking of writing more in this AU one day (will probably not happen but who knows.)
I was very efficient with tags on this one considering how long it is (I got 27), that also felt good.

Potato Blossom Magic for [archiveofourown.org profile] im_always_stressed, Dream SMP
0.4k, Technoblade/Philza, sex pollen aftermath
Summary: Admittedly, out of everyone to get caught in a potato blossom cloud with, Philza wasn't the worst option.
Author's Note: We were very close to finishing the third board and sex pollen was one of the few tags still needed. I don't remember how I got the idea for this Techno/Phil snippet (which I wrote on my phone during my commute) but it was fun. It's been a while since I watched either of them so I rewatched parts of Techno's turtle stream and was reminded just how great they were together.

Aand that's it! 11 works and 13.469 words in total, over 17 days. I had such a great time. Hermitcraft is now my most-written fandom on AO3 with 20 works, followed by SGA with 17.

And I could not resist signing up for multifandom Battleship, which starts this weekend. I'm planning to take it a little slower, and I still need to add more prompts, but I also wasn't planning to do this much for MCYT Battleship so who knows.