Dear Trick or Treat Writer/Artist
Sep. 19th, 2015 04:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
everysecondtuesdayIf you check out my last Yuletide letter, you may notice that I've copied a lot over, including some of the structure.
General stuff first!
I love all of the fandoms and characters I'm requesting, so if one section seems longer or shorter than another, it's due to how much I had to say, not how much I love the request. (And also maybe an indicator of where I was when I started running out of energy and ideas.) They are all fandoms of my heart, and I'm excited at the possibility of receiving any of them.
Also, this letter is super long, so please don't feel obligated to read it all. If you already have an idea of what you want to do from just the AO3 requests, go for it! This is all to (I hope) make it easier on you, and I am a big believer in optional details being optional. There being fic or art for my fandoms will make me happy. Everything else is icing on delicious, delicious cake.
This year I'm requesting art or fic in four video game fandoms: Don't Starve (Any), Dwarf Fortress (Any), Fallout (Gary, The Puppet Man), and Long Live the Queen (Arisse, Charlotte, Elodie). Each section will include prompts by character, then some general prompts, including both trick and treat ideas. I am terrible about art ideas, so if none of this is helpful for that, I am so sorry. Whatever you make me, I am sure it will be great and I will love it to bits.
Fair warning: this letter will contain spoilers, so if you haven't played a game and want to go into it with fresh eyes, you'll want to skip that section.
A note: I've received fic in the past for both Dwarf Fortress and Long Live the Queen, which I loved! I just want more. Once they are no longer Yuletide eligible, maybe I will stop requesting them wherever possible! But for now, if you matched me on one of the two, I am sure I will love whatever you make me, whether it's along the lines of the gifts I've already gotten or something new entirely.
For ease of stalking: tuesday on AO3, everysecondtuesday on tumblr
General Likes:
I'm happy with gen or romance. If you go the romance route, I'm good with f/f, f/m, m/m, poly, and ace.
I like both long and short fic, so go where the story leads you! That said, I am honestly not expecting a story longer than the minimum, so please, please don't let this letter intimidate you: remember, a lot of it was cribbed from my Yuletide letter. (And a lot that wasn't is going to be used in my next one.)
A list of tropes and themes I adore include AUs (modern, regency, historic, magic, college, cyberpunk, steampunk, canon divergence, everyone lives, end of the world, all the AUs), arranged marriage & marriage of convenience, soulbonds & soulmates, pining, first times, apocalypse, worldbuilding, friends to lovers, IN SPACE, family, found family, friendship, political machinations, intrigue, time travel, mysteries, time loops, didn't know they're dating, magic, ghosts, shenanigans, drunken shenanigans, woke up married, prank wars, wooing, extended courtships, whirlwind romance, political negotiations, alliances of convenience, training, slice of life, character study, plot, pwp, developing relationships/friendships, character has the chance to re-do/relive events, aliens, robots, mermaids, monsters, dragons, reincarnation, pregnancy/adoption/kid fic, matchmaking, mysteries, isolation, trapped together, comedy of errors, competence, communication, codas, future fic, fusions - this list could go on forever, so I'll finally stop myself here.
Feel free to go as dark or fluffy or creepy or cracked out as your heart desires. I'm excited for the possibility of either a trick or a treat.
Triggers:
Literally the only things that could keep me from reading a gift fic are non-con and rapeplay.
Some General DNWs:
Because I listed AUs above, I feel like I should mention there are AUs I'm just not into anymore (though I have enjoyed some fic with them in the past) - slavery, serial killer, mafia, prison, and sex worker AUs.
I'm not really into infidelity (poly or marriage only as an arrangement is fine! I just prefer everyone involved to know and be okay with what's going on), underage (sixteen or up is fine), incest (my exceptions are not in any of these fandoms), or eye trauma.
Usually in exchanges I ask for even unhappy endings to come with a grain of hope, with exceptions listed for each fandom, but not this year! (Or, at least, not this fest!) You may kill the characters (all the characters) as much as you please. Please do tick the little warning box for permanent major character death, though, so I'll be prepared for it going in?
Don't Starve (Any):
Short summary/promotion: Don't Starve is a game in which your character has been tricked into getting stuck in a new dimension. Balance sanity and hunger, explore forests, caves, and deserts, guard against wolves, spiders, and angry trees, gather minions and allies, and above all, don't starve.
Links:
DS Wiki
DS on Steam
Klei's (the creators) DS page
General Talk: There is so much I love about this game, including all of the characters. Whoever you want to write about whether an individual or a group (or whether it's someone I even nominated), I am sure I will be delighted. The game has a lot of potential for tricks and treats.
Prompts by character:
Charlie: Oh, man, Charlie just makes me so sad, but also terrified. What does Charlie even do with all those dead bodies she collects? Why does she attack people? Does she lurk outside people's campfires, making sad little faces about how she can't get warm (or is prevented from attacking)? Or maybe something pre-game in which Charlie has a good day, with Maxwell or alone.
Chester: Eeee, Chester! He is so adorable (and delightfully creepy!). If you want to write a treat, maybe something with Chester as a good dog-chest-thing? Chester gets to play fetch! Chester is so happy to have a new master who'll keep him company and leave him back at camp when they go off into battle! Chester has a good nap curled up by the fire in winter! For a trick, maybe something from his owner's point of view about this creepy dog-chest-thing following them, about the horror of retrieving things from his gaping, toothed maw, about how no matter how many times he dies, he just keeps coming back. And that eye-bone, with its gross eye, staring, always staring.
Terrorbeak: The first time I experienced a terrorbeak, I had no idea what was going on. I was used to the roly-poly nightmare creatures, and suddenly I was confronted with this super fast, super relentless, super strong thing instead. When I tried to run for it, it followed me despite my having acquired a cane by that point. Point is: tell me a story about how terrifying they are. Alternately, for a treat, maybe something about what the terrorbeaks do when they are not being horrifying nightmare creatures? Maybe they have some delightful civilization in the caves which those lighted cracks lead to. Maybe they play with the roly-poly nightmare creatures. Maybe they hang out with Chester when you aren't around and they play fetch.
Webber: Poor, poor Webber. Body horror about his symbiotic state? Maybe Webber used to think spiders were super creepy? The creepiness of those mean pigmen? There's a lot of options for tricks with him. For treats, maybe Webber has a good day! He's always liked spiders, and he found one of those set pieces with nine tier three cocoons, so he has lots of friends to play with and keep him safe. Maybe he discovers that he's happier being wrapped up in the spider that tried to eat him now that he's never alone and always warm.
Wendy: Wendy and her dialogue, oh, man. She is such a delightful downer. Between feeding the flower blood and sacrifices for her ghost sister and her tendency to see death as the inevitable fate of everything, she has a lot of potential for tricks. For treats, maybe something before her sister died? Or maybe she has a super satisfying day all by herself - plenty of food, a well-built camp, and all the logs she needs for a campfire.
Wickerbottom: I was so delighted when Wickerbottom was introduced, you don't even know. A librarian! One who has the power to summonCthulhu tentacle spikes! Why does she never sleep? (Other than, y'know, the options being uncomfortable.) Perhaps she actually does summon Cthulhu (or some other eldritch abomination) one day. What happens when the lack of sleep catches up with her? For a treat, maybe Wickerbottom plays with one of her pet birds, or gathers a huge self-published library that she maintains in the hopes of teaching the pigmen literacy, or finally finds a super-comfortable bed and is able to catch up on all that missed sleep.
Wigfrid: Who was Wigfrid before she became our umlaut loving viking woman? What is it like losing bits of yourself as a character actor? Does she do it on purpose, or is this some sort of curse? In her quest for meat (any meat), has she perpetrated horrors? (After all, those pigmen drop tasty, tasty pork.) Or maybe Wigfrid's name really is Wigfrid, and she's having a blast pretending to be the character she was assigned! Perhaps she has a lot of fun making costuming things, and that's why she comes with her own spear and helmet recipes.
Willow: So I played Don't Starve from very early in the beta, and it was really great when Willow came out and could set everything on fire when it was dark out. Her pyromania has endeared her to me forever, even now that it's kind of inconvenient at times with the way the game developed. I feel like you could write a trick or a treat about her love of fire. If you wanted to write an AU, I think she could've been either a super hero or villain with her immunity to fire, but especially the latter with the way she sets fires at random when low in sanity. For a trick, maybe the fire is low and she has almost nothing left to burn! Or those creepy, gross pigmen won't stop following her, why did she give them that monster meat (besides maybe the hope it would poison them)??? For a treat, Willow's newly planted forest has finally grown enough and now it is time - time for the ultimate bonfire!
Some general DS prompts and ideas:
Tricks:
-Trying new food and promptly losing all sanity.
-Everything is on fire. Fuck summer and lightning and building the fire too high.
-The caves, agh, the caves.
-The darkness encroaches.
Treats:
-Trying new food, and it is delicious!
-Everything is on fire, and it is all going according to plan. Yay, charcoal, yay, the angry ents are burning.
-The caves, so many shiny things.
-The darkness encroaches, and (character) is a creature of it.
Dwarf Fortress (Any):
Short summary/promotion: Dwarf Fortress is a (free!) simulation game with a steep learning curve, but a huge pay-off in highly entertaining emergent story-telling and weird dwarven decisions. This can include anything from new mothers in the military taking their babies into battle to use as shields to tantrum-throwing dwarves (upset that their babies are now full of arrows) destroying the whole fortress and killing everyone in it by hitting the lever to your "magma solves everything" doomsday device. I'm including in the links several comics that illustrate many of the best things about DF.
Links:
Tim Denee's illustrated tale of Bronzemurder (includes transcript of comic's text)
Tim Denee's Oilfurnace (no transcript, spoilers for hidden fun stuff)
Three Panel Soul, "Bug Fix" (Illustrated patch notes, e.g. "Stopped vampires from pinning their crimes on children.")
Losing is fun!
DF Wiki
DF Official Site (includes download link)
General Talk: I will never not love this game. When I first started playing it, it was a very different game than it is now, but it has only gotten better. I have embraced the mantra that losing is fun, discovered all the hidden fun stuff, and even managed attempts at mega projects and tried my hand at silly dwarf tricks. (Few survived the first several attempts at a magma-fall through the main dining room, but those few left were delighted at how neat it looked! . . . For however long they lived after the ensuing grief stricken tantrum spiral. Apparently a magma fountain can only do so much.) Whether you want to write about one of the races and their civilizations, a fortress, a lone adventurer, what a Forgotten Beast does when not ravaging fortresses, a necromancer's attempts at self-publishing, an anthropomorphic representation of an evil biome . . . whatever I nominated (or even something else entirely!), I am excited for art or more fic for this fandom.
Prompts by character:
Dwarf | Dwarves (Dwarf Fortress): Tell me about a fortress! Is it well-run, with plenty of booze and food, peaceful surroundings, and a highly competent military to take care of any problems? Is it located in a hellscape (perhaps even literally if they colonized hell), with no beds, saltwater, and rampaging undead elephant skeletons clambering at the gates? Or maybe something with the last dwarf of the fortress, walled in without escape? Or for another single dwarf prompt, tell me about a dwarf crafting their masterpiece, whether they're finally delighted to make that metallic cheese figurine that came to them in a dream, or have been struck by a fell mood, and they know just the perfect dwarf for that femur throne that haunts their darkest nightmares.
Elf | Elves (Dwarf Fortress): Forest fortresses! What are those like? Do they have herds of unicorns to supply their war mounts, or does every elf get their own pet unicorn? Or maybe you want to write a trick, in which case there is a lot that can be done with the elvish diet. Or perhaps you'd like to tell me more about that fan theory that as elves age, they turn into trees, whether focusing on the body horror aspect of that, or the part where elves make everything out of wood, never mind they'll go to war with any other race that would do the same.
Evil Biome (Dwarf Fortress): Whether you want to make the area sentient, write about an anthropomorphic representation of one, or set a story there, I am excited to see where you might take this. On a side note, three stories of my experiences with evil biomes: First evil biome, there were murderous goat skeletons. The fortress did not last out the spring. Second evil biome, my dwarves kept going into the evil mist. Not to gather anything - no, just as something to do on their break. Thanks to dwarven mothers bringing their babies along, this is how I got a roaming horde of zombie toddlers to staff my labyrinth. Third evil biome, it rained blood every day. All my dwarves would hang out in the statue garden, covered in blood, and be happy that they had "bathed" recently.
Forgotten Beast (Dwarf Fortress): What's a forgotten beast doing when it isn't going on a rampage through a dwarven fortress or terrorizing travelers? Or maybe a story about said rampage?
Fortress Overseer (Dwarf Fortress): Tell me about a good, bad, or incompetent overseer! Why have they made the decisions they have? What decisions have they made? Do they grow frustrated with their population and the creative interpretation of orders, or do the various and unexpected consequences amuse them?
Goblin | Goblins (Dwarf Fortress): Goblins! Tell me about how goblin society works? We know baby dwarves are happy when they're kidnapped (rescued, more like) from fortresses. Is it the same for other races? What's it like for the new goblins? Can goblins ever have peace with the dwarves? Or maybe something about a goblin invasion.
Kobold | Kobolds (Dwarf Fortress): A kobold (or kobolds) has a good day! It found something super shiny and wasn't caught in any traps and stayed well out of range of that leashed war dog, then brought it home as a toy for its younger siblings. Or a kobold has a bad day. The war dog was not leashed, and in fleeing, they hit a stone trap, and they never even got close to the shiny thing before their ignominious retreat from the militia. :(
Necromancer (Dwarf Fortress): Tell me about a necromancer and their books and tower! Do they keep all those undead around to protect their libraries? Maybe that invasion of undead is simply because they're unhappy with their new dwarven neighbors and they're just trying to protect their peace, quiet, and property values. Feel free to go as creepy or cracky as you like. Necromancers.
Some general DF prompts and ideas:
Tricks: Angry ghosts! Monsters! Caves! Magma! Hidden fun stuff!
Treats: Ghosts hosting parties! Monsters defeated and turned into soap and legendary meals! Magma! Hidden fun stuff!
Fallout (Gary, The Puppet Man):
Short summary/promotion: Gary and The Puppet Man are both from the Fallout universe, in which an alternate Earth failed at diplomacy, but succeeded wildly at mutually assured destruction. Several games (and other forms of media) tell stories about the wastelands that resulted and also the vaults that sheltered a chosen few from the initial blast and kept them safe from the resulting radiation - but not from the vaults themselves or those who designed them. After all, the vaults were never meant to save anyone.
Links:
The Puppet Man's wiki page
Archived copy of the comic whence Puppet Man came, "One Man, and a Crate of Puppets"
Gary's wiki page
Fallout 3 on Steam
General Talk: I love, love, love Fallout, and everything canon doesn't give me, the fandom usually does. That said, I really love the idea for fic for either of these, and I feel like they have a lot of potential for tricks. If you feel like surprising me with a treat instead, though, I am sure it will be great!
Prompts by character:
Gary: Did each successive clone realize the extent of their deterioration? What would it be like, waking up knowing you're a poor copy of someone and that your successors will be poor copies of you, each with more "information" loss than the last? What happened to the original Gary? What was the Gary uprising like? Or for a treat, maybe the Garys have great parties when there aren't any non-Gary people around to throw them into a rage! They'd play fun party games like musical chairs and "Gary, Gary, Gary!"
The Puppet Man: There is so much you can do with the puppets, with the horror of your average person facing The Puppet Man when he leaves the vault (maybe he becomes something of an urban legend), or just with the isolation he faced. How is he still alive after all this time? Alternately, maybe either the golden days of his time with the puppets, before all the murder (maybe they had tea parties!), or perhaps something soft and happy, like the joy of fresh air and the night sky after all that time cooped in a bunker, with knowledge that finally he can see and speak with other human beings.
Some general Fallout prompts and ideas:
Tricks: Isolation, vault experiments, the PC meeting the Puppet Man or Gary, or The Puppet Man or Gary having to face the PC.
Treats: Cozy safety in a well-stocked vault. Party games. Making friends, even if it's with yourself, your fellow clones, or an unexpected number of puppets.
Long Live the Queen (Arisse, Charlotte, Elodie):
Short summary/promotion: You play (and plot the development) of Elodie, Nova's princess and soon-to-be queen, recalled from boarding school with the death of her mother. Elodie has one year of tutors before she's crowned and takes on full-time duties, but she's still expected to make major decisions that will determine the shape of Nova's future (and her own). This game is a delightful mix of cracky and serious, with political intrigue galore. It's entirely too easy for Elodie to go on to her grave instead of to rule, but there are any number of vastly different play styles that can see her through, and the game lets you know what skill checks it makes, so you'll have an idea of what you might want to work on in future playthroughs. It's a quick game if you're concerned just with beating it, but if you're curious about the world and the possibilities, it can eat up a lot of time, as there are a ton of options for both how to win and how Nova (and Elodie) turns out.
Links:
LLtQ Dev site
LLtq on Steam
LLtQ Wiki
General Talk: Okay, confession time: I ran out of energy once I hit this section (and even removed two other requests), so a lot of this is going to be copied and pasted from my last Yuletide letter and/or short, but! I do love this fandom, and I am sure if you matched with me here, I will love your fic or art, whether trick or treat!
Prompts by character:
Arisse: Arisse has so much going on! All the bits revealed by intrigue are just, well, intriguing! What's going on with her family? Oh, man, and the variety of relationships you can have with her - from a great ally to out to oust you. I pretty much fell in love with her, though, when Elodie danced with her at the ball. Also, the needlepoint cushion! Did she make that herself?
Charlotte: Charlotte is adorable. She is such a good cousin and such a good person. She strikes me as really tenderhearted and kind of sheltered (almost as much as Elodie when you first start the game) - how did that happen with how sharp and delightfully scheming her mom is? Her relationship with her parents, her relationship with Elodie, her discovery of her Lumen powers (and how it works that she can use the healing side of them without her mom's crystal - is this like with what you find out about Elodie's extra powers if you have high enough Lore?), there is just so much about her I'd like to see explored.
Elodie: Elodie has my love in all her incarnations. My favorite playthroughs involve her being a Lumen, but wow was it satisfying to go all "softer" options and still win the day through the power of singing and words. Whether you write Elodie kind or cruel, intensely militaristic or into intrigue, a lumen or looking to win the day without magic, I'm sure I'll enjoy it.
Bonus: Not feeling any of these characters for some reason? There is always worldbuilding! Lumens and Nova's history both fascinate me. What exactly happened with the last capital? How do other countries treat Lumens? Are there other lurking horrors like the kraken, sleeping deep beneath and all too easy to wake? (Are there people who want to wake them?) There's a lot of interesting stuff that comes up in the flavor text and that's inherent to the setting. Feel free to explore any of it!
Some general LLtQ prompts and ideas:
Tricks: Lumen powers gone wrong! Assassins and intrigue! A monarch with a taste for blood! Roaming monsters and horrors in the deeps! I feel like there's a lot both in the setting and with the characters that can be made (or already is) as creepy or horrifying as anyone could ask for.
Treats: What is court like? What's the average day in the life for [character of your choice]? What are their motivations, and what are they willing to do to achieve their goals? How do [f/f ship of your choice] deal with the practicalities of line of succession/the need for an heir? The Elodie end option of openly taking a companion? The Elodie end option of arranging marriages in name and for progeny, but done in such a way as to more easily facilitate their preferred relationship? Naming a relative as successor and ignoring marriage entirely? Something else altogether?
If you've made it this far, I'd like to thank you for participating in Trick or Treat. This is my first year participating, and I am excited for and about it.
My number one hope for my gift fic or art is that you have a good time with it, so let me emphasize again that I'm just happy that there will be another fanwork for one of these fandoms. This monster of a letter was mostly an excuse to enthuse about these fandoms, and I truly hope it doesn't put you off or make you worry about whether you can make any of the prompts work. Whatever you end up writing or drawing, I'm hoping it's something you enjoy about the fandom and have fun creating.
Have a happy Trick or Treat! ♥
General stuff first!
I love all of the fandoms and characters I'm requesting, so if one section seems longer or shorter than another, it's due to how much I had to say, not how much I love the request. (And also maybe an indicator of where I was when I started running out of energy and ideas.) They are all fandoms of my heart, and I'm excited at the possibility of receiving any of them.
Also, this letter is super long, so please don't feel obligated to read it all. If you already have an idea of what you want to do from just the AO3 requests, go for it! This is all to (I hope) make it easier on you, and I am a big believer in optional details being optional. There being fic or art for my fandoms will make me happy. Everything else is icing on delicious, delicious cake.
This year I'm requesting art or fic in four video game fandoms: Don't Starve (Any), Dwarf Fortress (Any), Fallout (Gary, The Puppet Man), and Long Live the Queen (Arisse, Charlotte, Elodie). Each section will include prompts by character, then some general prompts, including both trick and treat ideas. I am terrible about art ideas, so if none of this is helpful for that, I am so sorry. Whatever you make me, I am sure it will be great and I will love it to bits.
Fair warning: this letter will contain spoilers, so if you haven't played a game and want to go into it with fresh eyes, you'll want to skip that section.
A note: I've received fic in the past for both Dwarf Fortress and Long Live the Queen, which I loved! I just want more. Once they are no longer Yuletide eligible, maybe I will stop requesting them wherever possible! But for now, if you matched me on one of the two, I am sure I will love whatever you make me, whether it's along the lines of the gifts I've already gotten or something new entirely.
For ease of stalking: tuesday on AO3, everysecondtuesday on tumblr
General Likes:
I'm happy with gen or romance. If you go the romance route, I'm good with f/f, f/m, m/m, poly, and ace.
I like both long and short fic, so go where the story leads you! That said, I am honestly not expecting a story longer than the minimum, so please, please don't let this letter intimidate you: remember, a lot of it was cribbed from my Yuletide letter. (And a lot that wasn't is going to be used in my next one.)
A list of tropes and themes I adore include AUs (modern, regency, historic, magic, college, cyberpunk, steampunk, canon divergence, everyone lives, end of the world, all the AUs), arranged marriage & marriage of convenience, soulbonds & soulmates, pining, first times, apocalypse, worldbuilding, friends to lovers, IN SPACE, family, found family, friendship, political machinations, intrigue, time travel, mysteries, time loops, didn't know they're dating, magic, ghosts, shenanigans, drunken shenanigans, woke up married, prank wars, wooing, extended courtships, whirlwind romance, political negotiations, alliances of convenience, training, slice of life, character study, plot, pwp, developing relationships/friendships, character has the chance to re-do/relive events, aliens, robots, mermaids, monsters, dragons, reincarnation, pregnancy/adoption/kid fic, matchmaking, mysteries, isolation, trapped together, comedy of errors, competence, communication, codas, future fic, fusions - this list could go on forever, so I'll finally stop myself here.
Feel free to go as dark or fluffy or creepy or cracked out as your heart desires. I'm excited for the possibility of either a trick or a treat.
Triggers:
Literally the only things that could keep me from reading a gift fic are non-con and rapeplay.
Some General DNWs:
Because I listed AUs above, I feel like I should mention there are AUs I'm just not into anymore (though I have enjoyed some fic with them in the past) - slavery, serial killer, mafia, prison, and sex worker AUs.
I'm not really into infidelity (poly or marriage only as an arrangement is fine! I just prefer everyone involved to know and be okay with what's going on), underage (sixteen or up is fine), incest (my exceptions are not in any of these fandoms), or eye trauma.
Usually in exchanges I ask for even unhappy endings to come with a grain of hope, with exceptions listed for each fandom, but not this year! (Or, at least, not this fest!) You may kill the characters (all the characters) as much as you please. Please do tick the little warning box for permanent major character death, though, so I'll be prepared for it going in?
Don't Starve (Any):
Short summary/promotion: Don't Starve is a game in which your character has been tricked into getting stuck in a new dimension. Balance sanity and hunger, explore forests, caves, and deserts, guard against wolves, spiders, and angry trees, gather minions and allies, and above all, don't starve.
Links:
DS Wiki
DS on Steam
Klei's (the creators) DS page
General Talk: There is so much I love about this game, including all of the characters. Whoever you want to write about whether an individual or a group (or whether it's someone I even nominated), I am sure I will be delighted. The game has a lot of potential for tricks and treats.
Prompts by character:
Charlie: Oh, man, Charlie just makes me so sad, but also terrified. What does Charlie even do with all those dead bodies she collects? Why does she attack people? Does she lurk outside people's campfires, making sad little faces about how she can't get warm (or is prevented from attacking)? Or maybe something pre-game in which Charlie has a good day, with Maxwell or alone.
Chester: Eeee, Chester! He is so adorable (and delightfully creepy!). If you want to write a treat, maybe something with Chester as a good dog-chest-thing? Chester gets to play fetch! Chester is so happy to have a new master who'll keep him company and leave him back at camp when they go off into battle! Chester has a good nap curled up by the fire in winter! For a trick, maybe something from his owner's point of view about this creepy dog-chest-thing following them, about the horror of retrieving things from his gaping, toothed maw, about how no matter how many times he dies, he just keeps coming back. And that eye-bone, with its gross eye, staring, always staring.
Terrorbeak: The first time I experienced a terrorbeak, I had no idea what was going on. I was used to the roly-poly nightmare creatures, and suddenly I was confronted with this super fast, super relentless, super strong thing instead. When I tried to run for it, it followed me despite my having acquired a cane by that point. Point is: tell me a story about how terrifying they are. Alternately, for a treat, maybe something about what the terrorbeaks do when they are not being horrifying nightmare creatures? Maybe they have some delightful civilization in the caves which those lighted cracks lead to. Maybe they play with the roly-poly nightmare creatures. Maybe they hang out with Chester when you aren't around and they play fetch.
Webber: Poor, poor Webber. Body horror about his symbiotic state? Maybe Webber used to think spiders were super creepy? The creepiness of those mean pigmen? There's a lot of options for tricks with him. For treats, maybe Webber has a good day! He's always liked spiders, and he found one of those set pieces with nine tier three cocoons, so he has lots of friends to play with and keep him safe. Maybe he discovers that he's happier being wrapped up in the spider that tried to eat him now that he's never alone and always warm.
Wendy: Wendy and her dialogue, oh, man. She is such a delightful downer. Between feeding the flower blood and sacrifices for her ghost sister and her tendency to see death as the inevitable fate of everything, she has a lot of potential for tricks. For treats, maybe something before her sister died? Or maybe she has a super satisfying day all by herself - plenty of food, a well-built camp, and all the logs she needs for a campfire.
Wickerbottom: I was so delighted when Wickerbottom was introduced, you don't even know. A librarian! One who has the power to summon
Wigfrid: Who was Wigfrid before she became our umlaut loving viking woman? What is it like losing bits of yourself as a character actor? Does she do it on purpose, or is this some sort of curse? In her quest for meat (any meat), has she perpetrated horrors? (After all, those pigmen drop tasty, tasty pork.) Or maybe Wigfrid's name really is Wigfrid, and she's having a blast pretending to be the character she was assigned! Perhaps she has a lot of fun making costuming things, and that's why she comes with her own spear and helmet recipes.
Willow: So I played Don't Starve from very early in the beta, and it was really great when Willow came out and could set everything on fire when it was dark out. Her pyromania has endeared her to me forever, even now that it's kind of inconvenient at times with the way the game developed. I feel like you could write a trick or a treat about her love of fire. If you wanted to write an AU, I think she could've been either a super hero or villain with her immunity to fire, but especially the latter with the way she sets fires at random when low in sanity. For a trick, maybe the fire is low and she has almost nothing left to burn! Or those creepy, gross pigmen won't stop following her, why did she give them that monster meat (besides maybe the hope it would poison them)??? For a treat, Willow's newly planted forest has finally grown enough and now it is time - time for the ultimate bonfire!
Some general DS prompts and ideas:
Tricks:
-Trying new food and promptly losing all sanity.
-Everything is on fire. Fuck summer and lightning and building the fire too high.
-The caves, agh, the caves.
-The darkness encroaches.
Treats:
-Trying new food, and it is delicious!
-Everything is on fire, and it is all going according to plan. Yay, charcoal, yay, the angry ents are burning.
-The caves, so many shiny things.
-The darkness encroaches, and (character) is a creature of it.
Dwarf Fortress (Any):
Short summary/promotion: Dwarf Fortress is a (free!) simulation game with a steep learning curve, but a huge pay-off in highly entertaining emergent story-telling and weird dwarven decisions. This can include anything from new mothers in the military taking their babies into battle to use as shields to tantrum-throwing dwarves (upset that their babies are now full of arrows) destroying the whole fortress and killing everyone in it by hitting the lever to your "magma solves everything" doomsday device. I'm including in the links several comics that illustrate many of the best things about DF.
Links:
Tim Denee's illustrated tale of Bronzemurder (includes transcript of comic's text)
Tim Denee's Oilfurnace (no transcript, spoilers for hidden fun stuff)
Three Panel Soul, "Bug Fix" (Illustrated patch notes, e.g. "Stopped vampires from pinning their crimes on children.")
Losing is fun!
DF Wiki
DF Official Site (includes download link)
General Talk: I will never not love this game. When I first started playing it, it was a very different game than it is now, but it has only gotten better. I have embraced the mantra that losing is fun, discovered all the hidden fun stuff, and even managed attempts at mega projects and tried my hand at silly dwarf tricks. (Few survived the first several attempts at a magma-fall through the main dining room, but those few left were delighted at how neat it looked! . . . For however long they lived after the ensuing grief stricken tantrum spiral. Apparently a magma fountain can only do so much.) Whether you want to write about one of the races and their civilizations, a fortress, a lone adventurer, what a Forgotten Beast does when not ravaging fortresses, a necromancer's attempts at self-publishing, an anthropomorphic representation of an evil biome . . . whatever I nominated (or even something else entirely!), I am excited for art or more fic for this fandom.
Prompts by character:
Dwarf | Dwarves (Dwarf Fortress): Tell me about a fortress! Is it well-run, with plenty of booze and food, peaceful surroundings, and a highly competent military to take care of any problems? Is it located in a hellscape (perhaps even literally if they colonized hell), with no beds, saltwater, and rampaging undead elephant skeletons clambering at the gates? Or maybe something with the last dwarf of the fortress, walled in without escape? Or for another single dwarf prompt, tell me about a dwarf crafting their masterpiece, whether they're finally delighted to make that metallic cheese figurine that came to them in a dream, or have been struck by a fell mood, and they know just the perfect dwarf for that femur throne that haunts their darkest nightmares.
Elf | Elves (Dwarf Fortress): Forest fortresses! What are those like? Do they have herds of unicorns to supply their war mounts, or does every elf get their own pet unicorn? Or maybe you want to write a trick, in which case there is a lot that can be done with the elvish diet. Or perhaps you'd like to tell me more about that fan theory that as elves age, they turn into trees, whether focusing on the body horror aspect of that, or the part where elves make everything out of wood, never mind they'll go to war with any other race that would do the same.
Evil Biome (Dwarf Fortress): Whether you want to make the area sentient, write about an anthropomorphic representation of one, or set a story there, I am excited to see where you might take this. On a side note, three stories of my experiences with evil biomes: First evil biome, there were murderous goat skeletons. The fortress did not last out the spring. Second evil biome, my dwarves kept going into the evil mist. Not to gather anything - no, just as something to do on their break. Thanks to dwarven mothers bringing their babies along, this is how I got a roaming horde of zombie toddlers to staff my labyrinth. Third evil biome, it rained blood every day. All my dwarves would hang out in the statue garden, covered in blood, and be happy that they had "bathed" recently.
Forgotten Beast (Dwarf Fortress): What's a forgotten beast doing when it isn't going on a rampage through a dwarven fortress or terrorizing travelers? Or maybe a story about said rampage?
Fortress Overseer (Dwarf Fortress): Tell me about a good, bad, or incompetent overseer! Why have they made the decisions they have? What decisions have they made? Do they grow frustrated with their population and the creative interpretation of orders, or do the various and unexpected consequences amuse them?
Goblin | Goblins (Dwarf Fortress): Goblins! Tell me about how goblin society works? We know baby dwarves are happy when they're kidnapped (rescued, more like) from fortresses. Is it the same for other races? What's it like for the new goblins? Can goblins ever have peace with the dwarves? Or maybe something about a goblin invasion.
Kobold | Kobolds (Dwarf Fortress): A kobold (or kobolds) has a good day! It found something super shiny and wasn't caught in any traps and stayed well out of range of that leashed war dog, then brought it home as a toy for its younger siblings. Or a kobold has a bad day. The war dog was not leashed, and in fleeing, they hit a stone trap, and they never even got close to the shiny thing before their ignominious retreat from the militia. :(
Necromancer (Dwarf Fortress): Tell me about a necromancer and their books and tower! Do they keep all those undead around to protect their libraries? Maybe that invasion of undead is simply because they're unhappy with their new dwarven neighbors and they're just trying to protect their peace, quiet, and property values. Feel free to go as creepy or cracky as you like. Necromancers.
Some general DF prompts and ideas:
Tricks: Angry ghosts! Monsters! Caves! Magma! Hidden fun stuff!
Treats: Ghosts hosting parties! Monsters defeated and turned into soap and legendary meals! Magma! Hidden fun stuff!
Fallout (Gary, The Puppet Man):
Short summary/promotion: Gary and The Puppet Man are both from the Fallout universe, in which an alternate Earth failed at diplomacy, but succeeded wildly at mutually assured destruction. Several games (and other forms of media) tell stories about the wastelands that resulted and also the vaults that sheltered a chosen few from the initial blast and kept them safe from the resulting radiation - but not from the vaults themselves or those who designed them. After all, the vaults were never meant to save anyone.
Links:
The Puppet Man's wiki page
Archived copy of the comic whence Puppet Man came, "One Man, and a Crate of Puppets"
Gary's wiki page
Fallout 3 on Steam
General Talk: I love, love, love Fallout, and everything canon doesn't give me, the fandom usually does. That said, I really love the idea for fic for either of these, and I feel like they have a lot of potential for tricks. If you feel like surprising me with a treat instead, though, I am sure it will be great!
Prompts by character:
Gary: Did each successive clone realize the extent of their deterioration? What would it be like, waking up knowing you're a poor copy of someone and that your successors will be poor copies of you, each with more "information" loss than the last? What happened to the original Gary? What was the Gary uprising like? Or for a treat, maybe the Garys have great parties when there aren't any non-Gary people around to throw them into a rage! They'd play fun party games like musical chairs and "Gary, Gary, Gary!"
The Puppet Man: There is so much you can do with the puppets, with the horror of your average person facing The Puppet Man when he leaves the vault (maybe he becomes something of an urban legend), or just with the isolation he faced. How is he still alive after all this time? Alternately, maybe either the golden days of his time with the puppets, before all the murder (maybe they had tea parties!), or perhaps something soft and happy, like the joy of fresh air and the night sky after all that time cooped in a bunker, with knowledge that finally he can see and speak with other human beings.
Some general Fallout prompts and ideas:
Tricks: Isolation, vault experiments, the PC meeting the Puppet Man or Gary, or The Puppet Man or Gary having to face the PC.
Treats: Cozy safety in a well-stocked vault. Party games. Making friends, even if it's with yourself, your fellow clones, or an unexpected number of puppets.
Long Live the Queen (Arisse, Charlotte, Elodie):
Short summary/promotion: You play (and plot the development) of Elodie, Nova's princess and soon-to-be queen, recalled from boarding school with the death of her mother. Elodie has one year of tutors before she's crowned and takes on full-time duties, but she's still expected to make major decisions that will determine the shape of Nova's future (and her own). This game is a delightful mix of cracky and serious, with political intrigue galore. It's entirely too easy for Elodie to go on to her grave instead of to rule, but there are any number of vastly different play styles that can see her through, and the game lets you know what skill checks it makes, so you'll have an idea of what you might want to work on in future playthroughs. It's a quick game if you're concerned just with beating it, but if you're curious about the world and the possibilities, it can eat up a lot of time, as there are a ton of options for both how to win and how Nova (and Elodie) turns out.
Links:
LLtQ Dev site
LLtq on Steam
LLtQ Wiki
General Talk: Okay, confession time: I ran out of energy once I hit this section (and even removed two other requests), so a lot of this is going to be copied and pasted from my last Yuletide letter and/or short, but! I do love this fandom, and I am sure if you matched with me here, I will love your fic or art, whether trick or treat!
Prompts by character:
Arisse: Arisse has so much going on! All the bits revealed by intrigue are just, well, intriguing! What's going on with her family? Oh, man, and the variety of relationships you can have with her - from a great ally to out to oust you. I pretty much fell in love with her, though, when Elodie danced with her at the ball. Also, the needlepoint cushion! Did she make that herself?
Charlotte: Charlotte is adorable. She is such a good cousin and such a good person. She strikes me as really tenderhearted and kind of sheltered (almost as much as Elodie when you first start the game) - how did that happen with how sharp and delightfully scheming her mom is? Her relationship with her parents, her relationship with Elodie, her discovery of her Lumen powers (and how it works that she can use the healing side of them without her mom's crystal - is this like with what you find out about Elodie's extra powers if you have high enough Lore?), there is just so much about her I'd like to see explored.
Elodie: Elodie has my love in all her incarnations. My favorite playthroughs involve her being a Lumen, but wow was it satisfying to go all "softer" options and still win the day through the power of singing and words. Whether you write Elodie kind or cruel, intensely militaristic or into intrigue, a lumen or looking to win the day without magic, I'm sure I'll enjoy it.
Bonus: Not feeling any of these characters for some reason? There is always worldbuilding! Lumens and Nova's history both fascinate me. What exactly happened with the last capital? How do other countries treat Lumens? Are there other lurking horrors like the kraken, sleeping deep beneath and all too easy to wake? (Are there people who want to wake them?) There's a lot of interesting stuff that comes up in the flavor text and that's inherent to the setting. Feel free to explore any of it!
Some general LLtQ prompts and ideas:
Tricks: Lumen powers gone wrong! Assassins and intrigue! A monarch with a taste for blood! Roaming monsters and horrors in the deeps! I feel like there's a lot both in the setting and with the characters that can be made (or already is) as creepy or horrifying as anyone could ask for.
Treats: What is court like? What's the average day in the life for [character of your choice]? What are their motivations, and what are they willing to do to achieve their goals? How do [f/f ship of your choice] deal with the practicalities of line of succession/the need for an heir? The Elodie end option of openly taking a companion? The Elodie end option of arranging marriages in name and for progeny, but done in such a way as to more easily facilitate their preferred relationship? Naming a relative as successor and ignoring marriage entirely? Something else altogether?
If you've made it this far, I'd like to thank you for participating in Trick or Treat. This is my first year participating, and I am excited for and about it.
My number one hope for my gift fic or art is that you have a good time with it, so let me emphasize again that I'm just happy that there will be another fanwork for one of these fandoms. This monster of a letter was mostly an excuse to enthuse about these fandoms, and I truly hope it doesn't put you off or make you worry about whether you can make any of the prompts work. Whatever you end up writing or drawing, I'm hoping it's something you enjoy about the fandom and have fun creating.
Have a happy Trick or Treat! ♥