Dice Scum, the series.

[Lithos]

Send me a private message for the password to edit docs. I've thrown it up there for a select few to read and edit. My only requirement is you choose a color to put your annotations and edits in.

 

[Lithos]

I had a bout of inspiration this morning after three cups of cafe con leche at a Cuban cafe down the way:

Spoiler: Episode fuckall, act I

Episode whatever the fuck.



Thursday Organic Universe night. Harold is running the game. The players are Aidan, Chris, Nastya, Gloria, Onan, and Hayden. Oxford comma, bitches.



Harold: I thought I'd shake things up a little. I'm going to run a game where you guys are the “other side”. Everyone does the knights in shining armor. This week, you guys are going to play the feral races: The Lion Legion of orcs, catfolk, and the like.



Nastya (filing her manicured nails): He has been playing that computer game for twenty-four hours...



Harold (flustered): Uh huh... sure...



Nastya rolls her eyes.



Harold: I've got the quick-start rules and stats for the wild races here.



Stephen: Wild races? So, I get to be a Nekojin samurai?



Harold: Um, what?




Stephen (sighs): Catfolk.

Harold: Oh, no. No samurai. You're a wild race, remember?

Stephen: Baka! Fuck that. I'm sitting this one out.

Aidan: Holiday sale at the pet shop. He can't make it today.



Onan: We're not going to play the good guys?



Gloria: Good is subjective. We're sentient creatures, right? We have brains, we can decide our fates.



Onan: Oh, okay. Um. I guess... catfolk?



Nastya hands a blank character sheet to Chris. Everyone else follows suit.



Nastya: Orc.



Aidan: Um. Orc.



Onan: Catfolk.



Hayden: Catfolk.



Gloria: Orc.



Chris: Half-Orc. What does everyone want to play?



Nastya (shrugs, then looks to Harold, eyes narrowed): Cleric.

Chris: Orcs suffer a penalty for high divine spells... Shaman would be better...



Nastya (shrugs again): Fine. Shaman.

Aidan: Barbarian...?

Gloria: I was going to try that, but since you do so well at those, Aidan, go right ahead.

Aidan: Fine. Rogue?

Chris: Okay, but you'll have to sacrifice some fortitude if you want the best thief skills.

Aidan: Sure. I'll take the challenge.

Chris: Gloria?

Gloria: Barbarian.

Chris: Okay, that'll be easy. Onan?

Onan: Uh... ummm... (flips through various classes) Paladin?

Harold: No. No Paladins. You're one of the ferals.

Onan (flips through book again): R... ranger?

Chris: Good choice for a cat folk. Natural tracking skills. Hayden?

Hayden: Sorceress!

Gloria: Fucking surprise.

Hayden: Look, we need a magic user and no one else is playing one.

Chris: No games require magic-users and we have a shaman. It's just a matter of optimizing your charac...

Hayden: Sorceress.

Chris (cowed): Okay. I should be able to do this. And I'll be a Blaggard.

Onan: Blaggard?

Hayden (perks up): Blaggard? That sounds Scottish. I change my mind. Can I play that?

Gloria: Please let her play that. It'll get her away from being a damn sorceress.

Chris: Okay, then I'll be a sorcerer.

Hayden (smirks): I thought you said we don't need another magic-user.

Chris: But I think I can make an orc sorcerer work. I'm going to take Dragon-Blooded, that should make up for the bad stats.

Onan: Blaggard?

Harold: Anti-paladin.

Onan: HEY! You said no paladins!

Harold: Anti-paladins are absolutely evil to the core. I'm not sure you're ready for that.

Onan: Oh. Okay.




The store's clock ticks away. Only 10 minutes pass before Chris is distributing character sheet. Harold is visibly frustrated.

Harold: Gee, no one could think of, you know, a personality instead of numbers. I thought this was role-playing, not roll-playing. That's R-O-L-L.

Nastya: We are playing game soon as possible, da?

Harold: Fine. Okay.




Nastya leans over and whispers to Gloria. Gloria gets a wicked grin and starts whispering around. Onan blushes some, but nods, and there's some erasing going on. Chris looks very, very confused, but also does some erasing on his character sheet. Harold quirks an eyebrow, but sees that they aren't altering any stats and just goes on.




Harold: Okay, the Iron Lion Legion is laying siege to the Light of Sariahlia Keep. It is the home of the Order of Sariahlia, a knightly order dedicated to the god of the sun. They are sworn to root out and eradicate evil wherever it may lie. The other kingdoms have called upon them to protect their borders and keep the feral raiders out. The Iron Lion Legion has decided to strike first at the keep in hopes of stemming the Order's influence and holy power in the land. The fight seems to be a stalemate, but the Lord-General Nermgail of the Lynxmen has come to you and requested the aid of you and your men...




Nastya: Women.

Harold: Well, yes, some of you are women, duh. But Nermgail has requested men to his...

Nastya: Women.

Harold: What?

Gloria: We're all women. He's requested us band of women.

Hayden: Yeah! Because the men are too busy dying at the walls. And he addresses me. I'm the leader with all my charisma bonuses, and I'm a blaggard.

Gloria (whispers to Aidan): Don't interrupt her. This is going to be fucking amazing.

I'll have it up on Google Docs tonight.

 

[Adamska]

The best part is this does sound like something a group would do. Very much akin to the time I had two of my group want to use a wrestling move after they chunky-salsa'd a guy with it due to accidental exploding dice.

 

[Lithos]

Okay, Episode Fuckitall is up. I sent out invitations. Working on Act II. It might be insanely long, and I have only the vaguest notion of a denouement. I'm hoping to get back to the point of mocking Hayden Black and his fake SJW nonsense.

 

[Adamska]

I am not an artist by any stretch of the imagination, and I have no idea if these sketches can be exploitable for this project, but I did some doodles of several characters, based on how I imagine them from their repsective bios.
I was hesitant to post them, but since we seem to be a little dry on the art at the moment, here they are, in all their low-res glory because I have no scanner:

Note harold's facial asymmetry my or may not be intentional...
Also missing Frank, I just coudln't imagine what he looks like.

Umm @varvarstvo ? Think you can repost them if possible? I hope so since you're the only one to do sketches of most of the characters and some of them were ace.

 

[女鬼]

Umm @varvarstvo ? Think you can repost them if possible? I hope so since you're the only one to do sketches of most of the characters and some of them were ace.

Aw, thanks!

Imgur deleted the album for some reason, and I don't have time to clean up the pictures right now, so I'll post old ugly photographs, since I still don't have a scanner.

Spoiler: crappy sketches

And here are some more details on these designs, for reference:

I admit [Mathis] does look a little bt like a Generic Metalhead #38. I was thinking of making him have very light eyes, because those tend to make peole look like they have a wild-eyed stare.
By the way, it doesn't really show since its a pencil sketch, but he's supposed to have graying hair.

I tried to base [Sveta/Nastya's] style on what I saw girls wear in Russia, actually. I envision her having really long hair as well.
As an aside, I'm not really sold on the name Svetlana because it feels a little too stereotypical for a Russian
mail-order bride, but I'll let the writers decide.

I have no merit, in both cases[Aidan and Stephen] it's somebody else's design

I saw [Onan] as sort of a beanpole actually, but that's because I designed him after a fundie I used to know IRL.

I actually envisioned Frank as black too, but couldn't get a definite idea in my head and all my sketches looked like arse, so poor Frank got axed.

I gave Tram that haircut because that's one I like, but it's probably easy to make it a bit more androgynous. Maybe change the fringe.
Admittedly, I definitely have a problem with making everyone I draw look too feminine.
In this case, I think we could get rid of the red lips and eyelashes and we should be OK.

I wasn't sure what kind of hair to give [Chris], but he seemed to have longish hair on the sketch in the OP, so I went along with that. That's easy to change.
And yeah, that particular sketch is supposed to be him during a "down" period. I can try to do another sketch of him looking a little les haggardd for comparison- if you can stand more of my crappy doodles, that is.
I debated giving [Gloria] long hippie hair, but decided againt it because I didn't want to make her too much of a caricature. I gave her short hair, gray or white, because she seemed to me like the kind of "natural" woman who doesn't bother with elaborate hairstlye, hair dye etc...
Still, that can be changed.

I imagined [Hayden] as having some kind of weird wadrobe, where he mixes kilts and other Scottish shit with wanna-be punk elements like a faux leather jacket etc, like a rebellious teenager would wear. Maybe add in the occasional fandom shirt or accessory for added Tumblrness.
The haircut and facial piercings are based on what I saw on various Tumblrines, but I can alter them if they're too caricatural.
He could regularly dye his hair to different neon colours, like ADF and the Assigned Male mother.

Well, [Harold] might be based on a certain someone we all know from the Gen Zed thread...

PS. I much prefer Nastya for the Russian girl's name, sounds less sttereotypical than Svetlana.

 

[Lithos]

Aw, thanks!

Imgur deleted the album for some reason, and I don't have time to clean up the pictures right now, so I'll post old ugly photographs, since I still don't have a scanner.

Spoiler: crappy sketches

View attachment 70884 View attachment 70885 View attachment 70886 View attachment 70887 View attachment 70888 View attachment 70889 View attachment 70890 View attachment 70891 View attachment 70892

And here are some more details on these designs, for reference:


PS. I much prefer Nastya for the Russian girl's name, sounds less sttereotypical than Svetlana.

As the new writer, I tend to picture the characters as I write them. In conversations with @Adamska, I joke I've laid claim to Hayden, and the vision in my head is pretty much exactly as you drew them. Nice work.

I hope I can do justice to your guys' project.

Powerlevel: I wrote scripts for crappy d-list werewolf movies. Like, Asylum grade. This is kind of a different track for me.

 

[Lithos]

I wish I could poll our transgendered participants.

The way I've written it is that Aidan tends to go for the macho races, even though he's waifish and likely sporting a sad teenstache from hormone therapy (do correct me if I'm wrong), while Hayden, the SJW feminist, tends to play powerful sorceresses. Is that too stereotypical?

What's funny is that the two MtF transgendered both pre- and post-transition tended to play super-violent manly types, though, which would contradict what I've imagined the characters as.

 

[APerson]

I wish I could poll our transgendered participants.

The way I've written it is that Aidan tends to go for the macho races, even though he's waifish and likely sporting a sad teenstache from hormone therapy (do correct me if I'm wrong), while Hayden, the SJW feminist, tends to play powerful sorceresses. Is that too stereotypical?

What's funny is that the two MtF transgendered both pre- and post-transition tended to play super-violent manly types, though, which would contradict what I've imagined the characters as.

Not trans myself, but I see Aidan as comfortable enough in his gender that he wouldn't need to play a stereotype. So he'd play reasonably powerful, balanced races and characters (not ultimate stat machines like Chris). I can totally see Hayden as that--I'd say sorceresses with revealing costumes (think comic book characters), but I'm not sure.

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

I have the day off tomorrow, so I'll look through all the scripts and see if I can come up with any fun scenes like I did with the death of Stephen's week boo character in episode 2

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

Okay, so it's been a while since I've gone over the general plot from episode to episode, but I remember that Hayden shows up for the first time and outs Aiden at the end of episode 2. And I remember discussing that at the start of episode three, maybe Aiden hasn't been back to the shop since he was outed and it had been a few days. Did we ever make a judgement call on that?

I also remember talking about the other character's reaction to Aiden's trans status, like how Stephen would actually be fairly supporting and accepting of Aiden in his own weird way. Hang on, let me see if I can find the post.

EDIT: Got it!

Is it weird that I think Stephen would be completly fine and accepting that Aiden is transgender simply because of the fact that there's tons of anime that features gender-swapping and the like? Like his reasoning about it all is a bit off, but in the end he treats Aiden the same way he always has. Aside from kinda suspecting he's a magical girl at times lol

EDIT: got us a Twitter and tumblr account reserved too. https://mobile.twitter.com/Dice_scum
http://dicescum.tumblr.com/

 

[Lithos]

Okay, so it's been a while since I've gone over the general plot from episode to episode, but I remember that Hayden shows up for the first time and outs Aiden at the end of episode 2. And I remember discussing that at the start of episode three, maybe Aiden hasn't been back to the shop since he was outed and it had been a few days. Did we ever make a judgement call on that?

I also remember talking about the other character's reaction to Aiden's trans status, like how Stephen would actually be fairly supporting and accepting of Aiden in his own weird way. Hang on, let me see if I can find the post.

EDIT: Got it!

Actually, I put in a "suggestion" in the World of Darkness episode that @Adamska is writing as to why Stephen would be supportive. It's a very brief insert that can be put in any episode, but it would explain some quirks.

Why is Stephen's family rich? Well, obviously the parents have huge jobs. Often times, with some rich kids, the parents may not be entirely involved with their children's lives, but they still need a "leash" on them. In the case of Stephen's mom, she buys him an insanely expensive smart phone so she can text/call whenever she needs him to pick up something, or to check on him in general.

Stephen has a knack for forgetting to bring the phone, even if it has a cover that features some weeby character he likes, with a few bangles that are more often seen on girls' phones in Japan and China. And believe me, where I work? All the Asian girls have phones with enough charms on them to triple the weight of the things. You can hear them coming through the echoing hallways form the jingling they make.

Stephen leaves his phone one day and his mom tracks him down in one episode, embarrassing the hell out of Stephen about the phone.

Why is Stephen accepting? She's a popular fashion designer forced to live in... South Carolina, but she does it because her husband's more stationary job is there. She gets to go to Milan and Paris all the time, so she doesn't give two fucks. She probably immediately recognizes trans people with but a mere glance. A near supernatural ken. She works with all body types, and designs around them. She may not always remember "proper pronouns", but she respects trans decisions (unless they get all SJW on them, and then it's all Meryl Streep in "Devil Wears Prada").

Stephen: Mom... my friend is trans?

Mom: And you fucking care... why?

Stephen: Um... point.

Spoiler: Here's an example of the mom scene:

Stephen's running a game where he's dressed to the nines in what he thinks is a traditional samurai kimono.


Mom: Stephen. There you are. You forgot your phone. I’ve been trying to contact you all afternoon.


Mom slams phone on the table.


Mom: Don’t forget it again. And why are you dressed like a woman?


Stephen: I am not! It’s a kimono! It’s traditional Japanese clothing!


Mom: Yes it is, but you’re wearing a furisode. The sleeves, son. The SLEEVES. My god, is this what that five hundred dollar charge on the Visa was for that import company last month? Jesus Christ. Get UP!


Stephen: What?!? It’s samurai wear and…


Mom: It’s women’s wear, now get up. Christ, this flower pattern is so damn cheap. Ugh, this silk is horrid. Had you just asked me...


Stephen gets up, blushing furiously. Mom grabs for the belt.


Mom: If you’re going to look like a woman, goddamn learn how to tie an obi properly. (Mom fixes the obi). Do you want me to fix your hair to match your pretty, pretty HIME dress? There. Done. Now you can look like an albino geisha transvestite all you want BUT DON’T FORGET YOUR FUCKING PHONE NEXT TIME IN CASE THERE’S AN EMERGENCY!


Hayden: Hah, momma’s boy has to dress him.


Mom: Talk to him like that again and I will hang you with that abortion you call a tartan, BOY.


Hayden: I… I’m not a boy...


Mom leaves. Tram rubs hands together and has the most evil expression imaginable during the 20 or so seconds of awkward silence.

Hayden: Your mom... she's so full of microaggressions...

Mother doesn't turn around and flips the bird behind her.

Mom (shouting): Nothing micro about that!

 

[Adamska]

Actually, I put in a "suggestion" in the World of Darkness episode that @Adamska is writing as to why Stephen would be supportive. It's a very brief insert that can be put in any episode, but it would explain some quirks.

Why is Stephen's family rich? Well, obviously the parents have huge jobs. Often times, with some rich kids, the parents may not be entirely involved with their children's lives, but they still need a "leash" on them. In the case of Stephen's mom, she buys him an insanely expensive smart phone so she can text/call whenever she needs him to pick up something, or to check on him in general.

Stephen has a knack for forgetting to bring the phone, even if it has a cover that features some weeby character he likes, with a few bangles that are more often seen on girls' phones in Japan and China. And believe me, where I work? All the Asian girls have phones with enough charms on them to triple the weight of the things. You can hear them coming through the echoing hallways form the jingling they make.

Stephen leaves his phone one day and his mom tracks him down in one episode, embarrassing the hell out of Stephen about the phone.

Why is Stephen accepting? She's a popular fashion designer forced to live in... South Carolina, but she does it because her husband's more stationary job is there. She gets to go to Milan and Paris all the time, so she doesn't give two fucks. She probably immediately recognizes trans people with but a mere glance. A near supernatural ken. She works with all body types, and designs around them. She may not always remember "proper pronouns", but she respects trans decisions (unless they get all SJW on them, and then it's all Meryl Streep in "Devil Wears Prada").

Stephen: Mom... my friend is trans?

Mom: And you fucking care... why?

Stephen: Um... point.

Spoiler: Here's an example of the mom scene:

Stephen's running a game where he's dressed to the nines in what he thinks is a traditional samurai kimono.


Mom: Stephen. There you are. You forgot your phone. I’ve been trying to contact you all afternoon.


Mom slams phone on the table.


Mom: Don’t forget it again. And why are you dressed like a woman?


Stephen: I am not! It’s a kimono! It’s traditional Japanese clothing!


Mom: Yes it is, but you’re wearing a furisode. The sleeves, son. The SLEEVES. My god, is this what that five hundred dollar charge on the Visa was for that import company last month? Jesus Christ. Get UP!


Stephen: What?!? It’s samurai wear and…


Mom: It’s women’s wear, now get up. Christ, this flower pattern is so damn cheap. Ugh, this silk is horrid. Had you just asked me...


Stephen gets up, blushing furiously. Mom grabs for the belt.


Mom: If you’re going to look like a woman, goddamn learn how to tie an obi properly. (Mom fixes the obi). Do you want me to fix your hair to match your pretty, pretty HIME dress? There. Done. Now you can look like an albino geisha transvestite all you want BUT DON’T FORGET YOUR FUCKING PHONE NEXT TIME IN CASE THERE’S AN EMERGENCY!


Hayden: Hah, momma’s boy has to dress him.


Mom: Talk to him like that again and I will hang you with that abortion you call a tartan, BOY.


Hayden: I… I’m not a boy...


Mom leaves. Tram rubs hands together and has the most evil expression imaginable during the 20 or so seconds of awkward silence.

Hayden: Your mom... she's so full of microaggressions...

Mother doesn't turn around and flips the bird behind her.

Mom (shouting): Nothing micro about that!

This is so goddamn beautiful it hurts. It's definitely in.

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

Actually, I put in a "suggestion" in the World of Darkness episode that @Adamska is writing as to why Stephen would be supportive. It's a very brief insert that can be put in any episode, but it would explain some quirks.

Why is Stephen's family rich? Well, obviously the parents have huge jobs. Often times, with some rich kids, the parents may not be entirely involved with their children's lives, but they still need a "leash" on them. In the case of Stephen's mom, she buys him an insanely expensive smart phone so she can text/call whenever she needs him to pick up something, or to check on him in general.

Stephen has a knack for forgetting to bring the phone, even if it has a cover that features some weeby character he likes, with a few bangles that are more often seen on girls' phones in Japan and China. And believe me, where I work? All the Asian girls have phones with enough charms on them to triple the weight of the things. You can hear them coming through the echoing hallways form the jingling they make.

Stephen leaves his phone one day and his mom tracks him down in one episode, embarrassing the hell out of Stephen about the phone.

Why is Stephen accepting? She's a popular fashion designer forced to live in... South Carolina, but she does it because her husband's more stationary job is there. She gets to go to Milan and Paris all the time, so she doesn't give two fucks. She probably immediately recognizes trans people with but a mere glance. A near supernatural ken. She works with all body types, and designs around them. She may not always remember "proper pronouns", but she respects trans decisions (unless they get all SJW on them, and then it's all Meryl Streep in "Devil Wears Prada").

Stephen: Mom... my friend is trans?

Mom: And you fucking care... why?

Stephen: Um... point.

Spoiler: Here's an example of the mom scene:

Stephen's running a game where he's dressed to the nines in what he thinks is a traditional samurai kimono.


Mom: Stephen. There you are. You forgot your phone. I’ve been trying to contact you all afternoon.


Mom slams phone on the table.


Mom: Don’t forget it again. And why are you dressed like a woman?


Stephen: I am not! It’s a kimono! It’s traditional Japanese clothing!


Mom: Yes it is, but you’re wearing a furisode. The sleeves, son. The SLEEVES. My god, is this what that five hundred dollar charge on the Visa was for that import company last month? Jesus Christ. Get UP!


Stephen: What?!? It’s samurai wear and…


Mom: It’s women’s wear, now get up. Christ, this flower pattern is so damn cheap. Ugh, this silk is horrid. Had you just asked me...


Stephen gets up, blushing furiously. Mom grabs for the belt.


Mom: If you’re going to look like a woman, goddamn learn how to tie an obi properly. (Mom fixes the obi). Do you want me to fix your hair to match your pretty, pretty HIME dress? There. Done. Now you can look like an albino geisha transvestite all you want BUT DON’T FORGET YOUR FUCKING PHONE NEXT TIME IN CASE THERE’S AN EMERGENCY!


Hayden: Hah, momma’s boy has to dress him.


Mom: Talk to him like that again and I will hang you with that abortion you call a tartan, BOY.


Hayden: I… I’m not a boy...


Mom leaves. Tram rubs hands together and has the most evil expression imaginable during the 20 or so seconds of awkward silence.

Hayden: Your mom... she's so full of microaggressions...

Mother doesn't turn around and flips the bird behind her.

Mom (shouting): Nothing micro about that!

What a awesome mom.

 

[Lithos]

What a awesome mom.

Too much? I can tone it down. But awkward rich kids usually are held on a metaphorical leash, nowadays manifesting as a cellphone.

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

Too much? I can tone it down. But awkward rich kids usually are held on a metaphorical leash, nowadays manifesting as a cellphone.

No, I was being serious. The phone thing shows she's a tad flawed(which is great for any character), and I love the hell out of her "doesn't give a shit" attitude towards Hayden.

 

[Lithos]

Slightly off-topic. I talked about running a "A Time of War" (Battletech RPG) game. Now that I have access to the super-secret Games forum, I was thinking of posting the ad for it there. It would require a lot of resources to play online, from using MegaMek to do mech combat (if people want to all be Mechwarriors), to the core rulebook and supplemental (for games taking place in eras other than what the book suggests). Of course, most of this would be for help in a mecha episode.

I think it might be fun to set a game in the nation known as "The Magistracy of Canopus", which is literally a weeb and SJW's paradise. It's a matriarchy where men have little status. It's full of hedonism, and many, many people get surgery to look like nekojin. But beyond that, they actually have a cool backstory of manipulating the universe.

Back on point. Should I advertise? Never did any online advertisements other than "hey, you guys wanna play <x>?"

Edited to add: Jeez. 25 years of fluff on the Magistracy, and the semi-official Wiki for the game is only a stub? The hell? Canopus has had books published on it...

 

[Lithos]

After discovering and posting images of one of Sophie's Guillaume's pettiest Facebook arguments, I want to get this shit done. I'll put my other writing projects on hold and try to churn stuff out on the weekend. Still needing more input since it's still your project.

 

[Lithos]

I'm going to write in another "Aidan gets a ride home" scene. I'm thinking this could be a kind of running gag as well, at least for a few episodes, that give subtle hints at his transgender status. For Nastya, probably a snide comment like, "Your arms. They are like little girl." Stephen's mom would mention something like "How can you BREATHE in that thing? And that teenstache is horrible. Are you sure you want to go for that look?" Even though he wears clothing like Aidan in Assigned male (a loose shirt with a short sleeve button-up over it), mom sees the binding underneath.

Speaking of, did you guys decide of Aidan binds or not?

 

[Adamska]

I'm going to write in another "Aidan gets a ride home" scene. I'm thinking this could be a kind of running gag as well, at least for a few episodes, that give subtle hints at his transgender status. For Nastya, probably a snide comment like, "Your arms. They are like little girl." Stephen's mom would mention something like "How can you BREATHE in that thing? And that teenstache is horrible. Are you sure you want to go for that look?" Even though he wears clothing like Aidan in Assigned male (a loose shirt with a short sleeve button-up over it), mom sees the binding underneath.

Speaking of, did you guys decide of Aidan binds or not?

Binding at the moment makes sense to me personally, since I wouldn't imagine a college student having the scratch to get top surgery yet.