Tuesday (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
everysecondtuesday) wrote2018-09-14 01:30 pm
everysecondtuesday) wrote2018-09-14 01:30 pm
Dear Trick or Treat Artist/Writer
If you check out my last Trick or Treat (or even Yuletide) letter, you'll probably 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, but rampant copy/pasting from past letters (with brief editing) means some sections are waaaay longer or shorter than others. It's due partially to a) how much I had to say, but mostly to b) how much energy I had at the time it was originally written. Length of a section has nothing to do with how much I love the request. 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 considering the minimum word count, so again, please don't feel obligated to read it all (or at 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 and/or fic in seven fandoms: Dragon Age (Varric), Dwarf Fortress (Cat, Forgotten Beast, Necromancer, Overseer), Fallout 4 (Deacon), Naruto (Guy/Gai), Rubyquest (Red), The Scumthorpe Files (any), and Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (Kreia). Each fandom section will include subsections as follows: short summary/promotion and links (for smaller fandoms), general fandom talk, character-specific prompts (where applicable), trick prompts, treat prompts, and art prompts. Feel free to skip straight to what you feel is most relevant. :D
Fair warning: this letter will contain spoilers, so if you have it on your "to watch/to read/to play" list and want to go into it with fresh eyes, you'll want to skip that section.
A note: I've received fic and art in the past for several of my requested fandoms, which I loved! I just want more. If you matched me on one of those, I am sure I will love whatever you make me, whether it's along the lines of the gifts I've already received or something entirely new.
For ease of stalking: tuesday on AO3, everysecondtuesday on tumblr (though, uh, it has been a long time since I knew what my tumblr password is and about as long since I've posted anything there)
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, both detailed art and sketches, and both traditional and unusual modes of art/storytelling, so go where the muse leads you! That said, I am honestly not expecting anything more than the minimum, so please, please don't let this letter intimidate you: remember, a lot of it was cribbed from past letters, and what's new will probably be copy-pasted for future letters in other fests/future Trick or Treats.
General Likes: worldbuilding, AUs (modern, magic, cyberpunk, steampunk, canon divergence, everyone lives, end of the world, (almost) all the AUs), IN SPACE, family, found family, friendship, political machinations, intrigue, time travel, mysteries, time loops, magic, shenanigans, drunken shenanigans, prank wars, political negotiations, alliances of convenience, training, slice of life, character study, plot, porn, developing relationships/friendships, character has the chance to re-do/relive events, aliens, robots, mermaids, dragons, reincarnation, mysteries, comedy of errors, competence, communication, codas, future fic, tropes (all the tropes).
Ship Likes: arranged marriage & marriage of convenience, soulbonds & soulmates, pining, friends to lovers, first times, woke up married, wooing, extended courtships, whirlwind romance, pregnancy/adoption/kid fic, matchmaking, didn't know they're dating, tropes (all the tropes).
Trick Likes: Ghosts/ghost stories, monsters, isolation, trapped together, aliens, robots, apocalypses and the post-apocalyptic life thereafter, murder mysteries, creeping horror, non-euclidean geometry and architecture, eldritch horrors, unethical experimentation, cannibalism (by choice or by necessity; knowing or unknowing), the undead, A.I. gone horribly wrong, A.I. gone horribly right, body horror, monkey's paws, artifacts of doom, mimics and people lures, plant monsters and killer horticulture, both everyone-lives and everyone's-fucked, gallows humor.
Art Likes: I like rough sketches, bright and dark colors to set mood, comics, scenery, single and group character poses, the cute and the creepy. It's always difficult for me to say what I like in art, because the truth is, everything. All stages, all skill levels, all types, I always like seeing what someone else comes up with.
In general 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. For art, in addition to the previous, if you're ambitious enough to do a gif, please no strobing/flashing effect, as that can sometimes trigger a migraine.
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, incest (my exceptions are not in any of these fandoms), or eye trauma (with an exception for non-graphic stuff referencing battle injuries for DF/RW or, uh, any potentially rampant organ industries in RW).
In each fandom section (and in my sign-up), I have a list of characters I'd prefer not to die, but other than those, feel free to go wild on the character death.
Dragon Age (Varric):
General Talk: Not gonna lie, Varric is my fave. I am still disappointed I did not get to make Hawke/Varric be an in-game thing and will probably be torn between delight and indignation if we're ever allowed to romance him in future games. Hawke/Varric is my OTP, but I am honestly not expecting anything shippy. (On the off-chance you do want to write/draw me this, I am good with any version of Hawke. My favorite is sarcastic female mage Hawke, but I love all Hawkes.Just like Varric.)
I haven't played all of Inquisition, as I am easily distracted, but I am nearly 100% spoiled on everything (including the romances; especially the romances). While I haven't read the comics or done more than glanced out non-game DA material, I'm perfectly fine with you including stuff from them. In sum: don't worry about spoiling me on anything.
I'd love anything set at any point--DAII, Inquisition, pre-DAII, post-Inquisition, that gap between, whatever you'd like to write/draw. I'm good with anyone you want to throw in for Varric to interact with, though if you want to make just a sketch of Varric writing his next masterpiece or 300 words of Varric doing battle with his accounting or what-have-you, I'm sure I will love that, too. I am super easy, is what I am saying.
Fandom Specific DNWs: Character death of Varric, Hawke, Hawke's dog, Morrigan, Sandal, or any cats.
Tricks: The Deep Roads. Red lyrium body horror. Bad endings. Swamps and hands waiting under the water. Spell gone wrong. Rifts and the things that come through them.
Treats: Camaraderie. Defeating writer's block. Trading tales over drinks or the campfire. Silly side quests. Something like happily ever after.
Art: Alternate tarot card, the Deep Roads, quality time with the crossbow,"quality time" with the crossbow, "why is it always dragons?"
Dwarf Fortress (Cat, Forgotten Beast, Necromancer, Overseer):
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.) It may be small fandom, but I am determined to never let it die.And if it ever does, I will become the necromancer.
Fandom Specific DNWs: I would like to note that while I recognize solving the two cat problem by means of meat, leather, and soap industry is definitely a thing, I could never do that. Usually, the only way a cat would die would be by brave military action (their hatred of goblins was legendary), including the occasional kitten landmine - in which all of the extra kittens were loaded into one cage that had been constructed in a building destroyer's path, and when it inevitably destroyed that, dozens of kittens with tiny bodies and small hit boxes would strike at once, leading to high casualties, but also adorable, fuzzy victory - or by old age. As female cats in cages can't breed, I usually put all but the breeding female(s) in a cat zoo, where my dwarves would throw parties and delight in all the fuzzy kitties. What I am saying is - if you want to include cat death, please don't let dwarves murdering them be the cause.
Prompts by character:
Cat: Tell me about cat adventures! Maybe a cat adopts a dwarf? Maybe a cat recognizes that none of these dwarves are worthy and simply wanders the map, murdering every fluffy wambler unfortunate enough to cross its path. Maybe a cat adopts a necromancer dwarf, who keeps it alive - or "alive" - through darkest magic and the deep desire to never let Sir Fluffington go. Maybe something about a squad of cats and their determination to take down bigger game, like that goblin that blundered through the traps and is making their bleeding way directly into the cats' path.
Forgotten Beast: What's a forgotten beast doing when it isn't going on a rampage through a dwarven fortress or terrorizing travelers? Or maybe a depiction of said rampage? Tell me about your favorite Forgotten Beast! The dread creature that consumed your fort! Create one of your own! Whatever the case, I am sure I will be excited to see it.
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.
Overseer: 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?
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 4 (Deacon):
General Talk: I haven't played every faction, but I am (mostly?) aware of how they go, so don't worry about spoilers. I like all canon ships/romance options, as well as Sole Survivor/Nick Valentine and Sole Survivor/Deacon. Specific to Deacon (he is who I requested, after all *g*), for ships, I like both male and female Sole Survivor shipped with him, as well as Deacon/Tinker Tom.
Fandom Specific DNWs: Cats as food, character death of Deacon, Dogmeat, or Codsworth.
Tricks: Raiders, mutants, deathclaws. Exploring vaults or finding last notes. Radiation, sickness, starvation. The Switchboard (as it happened, or how it felt to revisit it). Losing packages and people. Loss of identity/the lies build up/sometimes even Deacon no longer remembers what was real and what the lie.
Treats: Finding friendship and people who are worthy of trust. Victory party. Being the sidekick to The Silver Shroud/convincing the SS to do a reprise. Stolen moments. Things get better for synths, but better for Deacon, too.
Art: Deacon curled up with an old book. Costume change. Someone steals his sunglasses and pickpocketed his extras, too.
Naruto (Guy/Gai):
General Talk: I adore the many characters of Naruto, so feel free to throw in anyone else you'd like. Especially if that someone else is Kakashi. But really, even Guy on his own is going to delight me no end. I am sure he could carry any work, fic or art, all on his lonesome, both hands tied behind his back and with his feet hobbled. Guy/Kakashi is my favorite if you want to write me ship fic, but I'm good with gen, too.
Fandom Specific DNWs: Any of Kakashi's dogs dying. Kakashi dying. Guy or any of his team dying. (Yes, I know where canon went. Let's kick canon in the face.)
Guy: If you're going for fic, I should mention that while I usually go with the Guy spelling, I'm fine with either, so feel free to use Gai if that's your preference. I ship Guy/anyone in his age group, and I'd be interested in reading Guy&anyone at all. Guy/Kakashi, as said above, is my absolute OTP, but I will be genuinely happy with whatever.
Trick Prompts: Mission gone wrong, bad dreams, injuries, genjutsu.
Treat Prompts: Downtime, challenge, a dream accomplished, comfort, cooking, trading tales of missions gone wrong in the most ridiculous ways.
Art Prompts: Injured, team photos, Guy's Good Guy pose (while poised on a tortoise summons, perhaps?).
Rubyquest (Red):
Short summary/promotion: Rubyquest is a quest game that follows the eponymous Ruby, an anthropomorphic bunny with a mean right hook and no memories of life before she wakes up in a metal coffin in an underwater facility overrun by eldritch abominations. Though the game is finished, the glory of /tg/'s run lives on.
Links:
Rubyquest (the entire comic/game on one page)
Wiki (includes links to the original archived threads)
General talk: I love Weaver's work so, so much (still disappointed that he seems to have disappeared in the middle of a new quest) and watching Rubyquest unfold was amazing. I loved all the characters, so anyone you want to include, I will be all over. Ship-wise, canon was everything I wanted for Ruby/Tom; what I would really like from fandom is Red/Ruby. If you don't ship it, I am also a big fan of gen.
Fandom Specific DNWs: Explicit sex--unless you want to go with a human AU. Of course, feel free to keep the third eye/pointy smile that never ends/assorted body horror stuff . . . unless you don't want to, in which case, yes, sure, humans without horrifying extras.
Tricks: Eldritch abominations! Body horror! Unethical medical experimentation! Murder! Glasgow smiles! Rubyquest is full of the dark and disturbing, and it is delightful. Whether you want to document the Glen's (and Red's) slow slide into madness, to tell me about a much less successful Rubyquest run, five ways Red dies, or something else entirely, I am here for it.
Treats: A fourth survivor appears via hand-growth resurrection--Red lives! (In all fairness, this could be a trick, too.) Life outside the Glen. Life before everything went wrong in the Glen.
Art: Red smiles. Red plots and scrawls out his plans on the floor, having run out of room on the walls of his hiding place. Red gets punched in the face. Afriendly face in the dark.
The Scumthorpe Files (any):
Short Summary/Promotion: Its TV Tropes page describes it best: "Having begun as a collection of comedic short stories posted on the Mod The Sims forums by a user named MinghamSmith in 2012, the series has since evolved into a much more complex narrative centred around the lives of Lester, Carrie and Lolita Scumthorpe- a long-suffering set of triplets trying to grow up vaguely sane in a bizarre, twisted version of SimNation where Finagle's Law reigns supreme."
Links:
TV Tropes Page
TV Tropes Character Page
The Scumthorpe Files (I would suggest making liberal use of ctrl+f for MinghamSmith after the first couple pages. Someday I will complete my project compiling a list of links to easily skip the fan reactions and discussion, but that day is not today.)
General Talk: If you want to bring in additional characters from those I nominated/requested, I really love the Scrap Row boys and Class 6F. I'm not really into most of the rest of the extended Scumthorpe family, though some of them make great foils. While I'll mention unrequested characters in my prompts, I am truly not expecting anyone but one of the characters I've requested. I usually use this space to mention my fave ships, but I'm giving it its own section due to length. /o\
Fandom Specific DNWs: Please no adult Sprog. Specific to Nathan Bajek, this may be a weird request, but please don't have a focus on the dog attack. For personal reasons, a fic centered on that would be . . . not ideal. Acknowledgment of his disability and the cause is fine. A focus on the consequences is, um, dicier? Like. A fic in which Nathan gets covered in puppies who just want to lick his face as part of immersion therapy? Totally okay! A fic about the attack/having to cope with seeing that dog/dogs owned by that person? Nope nope nope, I will have to nope right out. Wrt character death, I am okay with secondary character death, just please not anyone of Class 6F or their contemporaries/generation. In most fandoms, I'm happy to receive explicit fic or art, but not for this one.
Ships: Nikki/Rhett, Nikki/Davina, Nikki/Carrie, Nikki/Abigail, Nikki/Tara, Nathan/Trent, Nathan/Carrie, Nathan/Carrot, Lily/Lester. I'd actually be happy with pretty much any Carrie femslash, so long as they're not related. Same with Lolita. I also feel like Nathan and Nikki have chemistry with everyone. While this fandom section is the only one with its own shipping section, that doesn't mean I would not be happy with gen, just that I ship all the things. Seriously, I would love gen.
Tricks: It would be great to see more of any new or old lore. Give me Lovecraftian horrors! Creepy aliens! Ghosts and monsters! Urban legends that are unfortunately true! References to kid!Sprog are totally fine here, because man, even in a world of monsters, the biggest danger was a childhood serial killer.
Treats: Class 6F's class camping trip was amazing, and I would happily read all the fic about future class trips, be it to a museum, a state park, a laboratory, or someplace else entirely. Or maybe another Scrap Row boys adventure a la The Hardy Boys meets Cthulhu. Or Scumthorpe triplet sibling bonding. Or Nikki solving mysteries. I especially love the strange lore of the Scumthorpe Files, so anything you would like to add to or explicate from it, creepy or not, I would be all over that.
Art: Roasting marshmallows on the campfire. Telling a scary story, complete with flashlight. Fleeing from an eldritch horror. Lolita giving someone a make-over.
Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (Kreia):
Short Summary/Promotion: Steam summary: "Five years after the events from the award winning Star Wars® Knights of the Old Republic™, the Sith Lords have hunted the Jedi to the edge of extinction and are on the verge of crushing the Old Republic. With the Jedi Order in ruin, the Republic’s only hope is a lone Jedi struggling to reconnect with the Force. As this Jedi, you will be faced with the galaxy’s most dire decision: Follow the light side or succumb to the dark…" This and KoTOR are fantastic and fun, and though the graphics may be horribly outdated now (and second game suffers from rushed development), both are absolute must-plays if you have any interest in Star Wars, sci-fi, or RPGs.
Links:
Wookiepedia page
On Steam
General Talk: My general talk section for Yuletide in which I take the chance to talk about Kreia and really run with it, if you want to read 900 words about Kreia, Kotor II, Star Wars, and the Force.
tl;dr: I'd prefer female Exile, but otherwise I'm good with all play choices and spoilers and interested in all Kreia theories and motives. Just please don't kill my favorite space witch.
Fandom-specific DNWs: Character death of Kreia, the Exile/Meetra Surik, or Atton Rand. Kreia using her mind powers to mess with the Exile. Male Exile. Any explication of/focus on, "I suffered indignities."
Exceptions to my Likes/DNWs: Kreia is free to use her mind powers on the Exile's companions.Just like canon. The only acceptable way to make me read a story with my favorite space witch dead is if she immediately goes on to be a space ghost haunting the Exile and the two live happily ever after (or, y'know, as close as one can get in a Star Wars 'verse).
Ships: Exile/Kreia is my very favorite.
Trick Prompts: Force ghost romance, wounds in the Force, the Dark Side, death of the Force, the creeping sensation Kreia/Traya gives that something is wrong and the horror/resignation that [character] ( ... probably the Exile) is going to trust her anyway. Inscrutability and ignorance and walking eyes open into a situation that, depending on your viewpoint, might or might not be betrayal. Chaos theory and ripples in the Force. Force bonds, willing and unconscious, and the effects they can have in either/both directions. More prompts can be found at my last Yuletide letter.
Treat Prompts: Force ghost romance. Loyalty even in betrayal. Mentoring (a) promising student(s). All According to Plan (TM). A moment of peace. Chaos theory properly harnessed and plucking a string in the Force like an instrument well-played. A plan up-ended in the best possible way. Healing, physical, spiritual, or mental. Force bonds, willing and unconscious, and the effects they can have in either/both directions. More prompts can be found at my last Yuletide letter.
Art Prompts: The Dark Side, Force juggling an intimidating number of lightsabers, Force juggling ridiculous and/or random items, pulling back the hood (literal or metaphorical), Kreia/Traya's terrifying(ly attractive) smile.
If you've made it this far, I'd like to thank you for participating in Trick or Treat. This is a delightful exchange, 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, but rampant copy/pasting from past letters (with brief editing) means some sections are waaaay longer or shorter than others. It's due partially to a) how much I had to say, but mostly to b) how much energy I had at the time it was originally written. Length of a section has nothing to do with how much I love the request. 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 considering the minimum word count, so again, please don't feel obligated to read it all (or at 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 and/or fic in seven fandoms: Dragon Age (Varric), Dwarf Fortress (Cat, Forgotten Beast, Necromancer, Overseer), Fallout 4 (Deacon), Naruto (Guy/Gai), Rubyquest (Red), The Scumthorpe Files (any), and Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (Kreia). Each fandom section will include subsections as follows: short summary/promotion and links (for smaller fandoms), general fandom talk, character-specific prompts (where applicable), trick prompts, treat prompts, and art prompts. Feel free to skip straight to what you feel is most relevant. :D
Fair warning: this letter will contain spoilers, so if you have it on your "to watch/to read/to play" list and want to go into it with fresh eyes, you'll want to skip that section.
A note: I've received fic and art in the past for several of my requested fandoms, which I loved! I just want more. If you matched me on one of those, I am sure I will love whatever you make me, whether it's along the lines of the gifts I've already received or something entirely new.
For ease of stalking: tuesday on AO3, everysecondtuesday on tumblr (though, uh, it has been a long time since I knew what my tumblr password is and about as long since I've posted anything there)
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, both detailed art and sketches, and both traditional and unusual modes of art/storytelling, so go where the muse leads you! That said, I am honestly not expecting anything more than the minimum, so please, please don't let this letter intimidate you: remember, a lot of it was cribbed from past letters, and what's new will probably be copy-pasted for future letters in other fests/future Trick or Treats.
General Likes: worldbuilding, AUs (modern, magic, cyberpunk, steampunk, canon divergence, everyone lives, end of the world, (almost) all the AUs), IN SPACE, family, found family, friendship, political machinations, intrigue, time travel, mysteries, time loops, magic, shenanigans, drunken shenanigans, prank wars, political negotiations, alliances of convenience, training, slice of life, character study, plot, porn, developing relationships/friendships, character has the chance to re-do/relive events, aliens, robots, mermaids, dragons, reincarnation, mysteries, comedy of errors, competence, communication, codas, future fic, tropes (all the tropes).
Ship Likes: arranged marriage & marriage of convenience, soulbonds & soulmates, pining, friends to lovers, first times, woke up married, wooing, extended courtships, whirlwind romance, pregnancy/adoption/kid fic, matchmaking, didn't know they're dating, tropes (all the tropes).
Trick Likes: Ghosts/ghost stories, monsters, isolation, trapped together, aliens, robots, apocalypses and the post-apocalyptic life thereafter, murder mysteries, creeping horror, non-euclidean geometry and architecture, eldritch horrors, unethical experimentation, cannibalism (by choice or by necessity; knowing or unknowing), the undead, A.I. gone horribly wrong, A.I. gone horribly right, body horror, monkey's paws, artifacts of doom, mimics and people lures, plant monsters and killer horticulture, both everyone-lives and everyone's-fucked, gallows humor.
Art Likes: I like rough sketches, bright and dark colors to set mood, comics, scenery, single and group character poses, the cute and the creepy. It's always difficult for me to say what I like in art, because the truth is, everything. All stages, all skill levels, all types, I always like seeing what someone else comes up with.
In general 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. For art, in addition to the previous, if you're ambitious enough to do a gif, please no strobing/flashing effect, as that can sometimes trigger a migraine.
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, incest (my exceptions are not in any of these fandoms), or eye trauma (with an exception for non-graphic stuff referencing battle injuries for DF/RW or, uh, any potentially rampant organ industries in RW).
In each fandom section (and in my sign-up), I have a list of characters I'd prefer not to die, but other than those, feel free to go wild on the character death.
Dragon Age (Varric):
General Talk: Not gonna lie, Varric is my fave. I am still disappointed I did not get to make Hawke/Varric be an in-game thing and will probably be torn between delight and indignation if we're ever allowed to romance him in future games. Hawke/Varric is my OTP, but I am honestly not expecting anything shippy. (On the off-chance you do want to write/draw me this, I am good with any version of Hawke. My favorite is sarcastic female mage Hawke, but I love all Hawkes.
I haven't played all of Inquisition, as I am easily distracted, but I am nearly 100% spoiled on everything (including the romances; especially the romances). While I haven't read the comics or done more than glanced out non-game DA material, I'm perfectly fine with you including stuff from them. In sum: don't worry about spoiling me on anything.
I'd love anything set at any point--DAII, Inquisition, pre-DAII, post-Inquisition, that gap between, whatever you'd like to write/draw. I'm good with anyone you want to throw in for Varric to interact with, though if you want to make just a sketch of Varric writing his next masterpiece or 300 words of Varric doing battle with his accounting or what-have-you, I'm sure I will love that, too. I am super easy, is what I am saying.
Fandom Specific DNWs: Character death of Varric, Hawke, Hawke's dog, Morrigan, Sandal, or any cats.
Tricks: The Deep Roads. Red lyrium body horror. Bad endings. Swamps and hands waiting under the water. Spell gone wrong. Rifts and the things that come through them.
Treats: Camaraderie. Defeating writer's block. Trading tales over drinks or the campfire. Silly side quests. Something like happily ever after.
Art: Alternate tarot card, the Deep Roads, quality time with the crossbow,
Dwarf Fortress (Cat, Forgotten Beast, Necromancer, Overseer):
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.) It may be small fandom, but I am determined to never let it die.
Fandom Specific DNWs: I would like to note that while I recognize solving the two cat problem by means of meat, leather, and soap industry is definitely a thing, I could never do that. Usually, the only way a cat would die would be by brave military action (their hatred of goblins was legendary), including the occasional kitten landmine - in which all of the extra kittens were loaded into one cage that had been constructed in a building destroyer's path, and when it inevitably destroyed that, dozens of kittens with tiny bodies and small hit boxes would strike at once, leading to high casualties, but also adorable, fuzzy victory - or by old age. As female cats in cages can't breed, I usually put all but the breeding female(s) in a cat zoo, where my dwarves would throw parties and delight in all the fuzzy kitties. What I am saying is - if you want to include cat death, please don't let dwarves murdering them be the cause.
Prompts by character:
Cat: Tell me about cat adventures! Maybe a cat adopts a dwarf? Maybe a cat recognizes that none of these dwarves are worthy and simply wanders the map, murdering every fluffy wambler unfortunate enough to cross its path. Maybe a cat adopts a necromancer dwarf, who keeps it alive - or "alive" - through darkest magic and the deep desire to never let Sir Fluffington go. Maybe something about a squad of cats and their determination to take down bigger game, like that goblin that blundered through the traps and is making their bleeding way directly into the cats' path.
Forgotten Beast: What's a forgotten beast doing when it isn't going on a rampage through a dwarven fortress or terrorizing travelers? Or maybe a depiction of said rampage? Tell me about your favorite Forgotten Beast! The dread creature that consumed your fort! Create one of your own! Whatever the case, I am sure I will be excited to see it.
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.
Overseer: 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?
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 4 (Deacon):
General Talk: I haven't played every faction, but I am (mostly?) aware of how they go, so don't worry about spoilers. I like all canon ships/romance options, as well as Sole Survivor/Nick Valentine and Sole Survivor/Deacon. Specific to Deacon (he is who I requested, after all *g*), for ships, I like both male and female Sole Survivor shipped with him, as well as Deacon/Tinker Tom.
Fandom Specific DNWs: Cats as food, character death of Deacon, Dogmeat, or Codsworth.
Tricks: Raiders, mutants, deathclaws. Exploring vaults or finding last notes. Radiation, sickness, starvation. The Switchboard (as it happened, or how it felt to revisit it). Losing packages and people. Loss of identity/the lies build up/sometimes even Deacon no longer remembers what was real and what the lie.
Treats: Finding friendship and people who are worthy of trust. Victory party. Being the sidekick to The Silver Shroud/convincing the SS to do a reprise. Stolen moments. Things get better for synths, but better for Deacon, too.
Art: Deacon curled up with an old book. Costume change. Someone steals his sunglasses and pickpocketed his extras, too.
Naruto (Guy/Gai):
General Talk: I adore the many characters of Naruto, so feel free to throw in anyone else you'd like. Especially if that someone else is Kakashi. But really, even Guy on his own is going to delight me no end. I am sure he could carry any work, fic or art, all on his lonesome, both hands tied behind his back and with his feet hobbled. Guy/Kakashi is my favorite if you want to write me ship fic, but I'm good with gen, too.
Fandom Specific DNWs: Any of Kakashi's dogs dying. Kakashi dying. Guy or any of his team dying. (Yes, I know where canon went. Let's kick canon in the face.)
Guy: If you're going for fic, I should mention that while I usually go with the Guy spelling, I'm fine with either, so feel free to use Gai if that's your preference. I ship Guy/anyone in his age group, and I'd be interested in reading Guy&anyone at all. Guy/Kakashi, as said above, is my absolute OTP, but I will be genuinely happy with whatever.
Trick Prompts: Mission gone wrong, bad dreams, injuries, genjutsu.
Treat Prompts: Downtime, challenge, a dream accomplished, comfort, cooking, trading tales of missions gone wrong in the most ridiculous ways.
Art Prompts: Injured, team photos, Guy's Good Guy pose (while poised on a tortoise summons, perhaps?).
Rubyquest (Red):
Short summary/promotion: Rubyquest is a quest game that follows the eponymous Ruby, an anthropomorphic bunny with a mean right hook and no memories of life before she wakes up in a metal coffin in an underwater facility overrun by eldritch abominations. Though the game is finished, the glory of /tg/'s run lives on.
Links:
Rubyquest (the entire comic/game on one page)
Wiki (includes links to the original archived threads)
General talk: I love Weaver's work so, so much (still disappointed that he seems to have disappeared in the middle of a new quest) and watching Rubyquest unfold was amazing. I loved all the characters, so anyone you want to include, I will be all over. Ship-wise, canon was everything I wanted for Ruby/Tom; what I would really like from fandom is Red/Ruby. If you don't ship it, I am also a big fan of gen.
Fandom Specific DNWs: Explicit sex--unless you want to go with a human AU. Of course, feel free to keep the third eye/pointy smile that never ends/assorted body horror stuff . . . unless you don't want to, in which case, yes, sure, humans without horrifying extras.
Tricks: Eldritch abominations! Body horror! Unethical medical experimentation! Murder! Glasgow smiles! Rubyquest is full of the dark and disturbing, and it is delightful. Whether you want to document the Glen's (and Red's) slow slide into madness, to tell me about a much less successful Rubyquest run, five ways Red dies, or something else entirely, I am here for it.
Treats: A fourth survivor appears via hand-growth resurrection--Red lives! (In all fairness, this could be a trick, too.) Life outside the Glen. Life before everything went wrong in the Glen.
Art: Red smiles. Red plots and scrawls out his plans on the floor, having run out of room on the walls of his hiding place. Red gets punched in the face. A
The Scumthorpe Files (any):
Short Summary/Promotion: Its TV Tropes page describes it best: "Having begun as a collection of comedic short stories posted on the Mod The Sims forums by a user named MinghamSmith in 2012, the series has since evolved into a much more complex narrative centred around the lives of Lester, Carrie and Lolita Scumthorpe- a long-suffering set of triplets trying to grow up vaguely sane in a bizarre, twisted version of SimNation where Finagle's Law reigns supreme."
Links:
TV Tropes Page
TV Tropes Character Page
The Scumthorpe Files (I would suggest making liberal use of ctrl+f for MinghamSmith after the first couple pages. Someday I will complete my project compiling a list of links to easily skip the fan reactions and discussion, but that day is not today.)
General Talk: If you want to bring in additional characters from those I nominated/requested, I really love the Scrap Row boys and Class 6F. I'm not really into most of the rest of the extended Scumthorpe family, though some of them make great foils. While I'll mention unrequested characters in my prompts, I am truly not expecting anyone but one of the characters I've requested. I usually use this space to mention my fave ships, but I'm giving it its own section due to length. /o\
Fandom Specific DNWs: Please no adult Sprog. Specific to Nathan Bajek, this may be a weird request, but please don't have a focus on the dog attack. For personal reasons, a fic centered on that would be . . . not ideal. Acknowledgment of his disability and the cause is fine. A focus on the consequences is, um, dicier? Like. A fic in which Nathan gets covered in puppies who just want to lick his face as part of immersion therapy? Totally okay! A fic about the attack/having to cope with seeing that dog/dogs owned by that person? Nope nope nope, I will have to nope right out. Wrt character death, I am okay with secondary character death, just please not anyone of Class 6F or their contemporaries/generation. In most fandoms, I'm happy to receive explicit fic or art, but not for this one.
Ships: Nikki/Rhett, Nikki/Davina, Nikki/Carrie, Nikki/Abigail, Nikki/Tara, Nathan/Trent, Nathan/Carrie, Nathan/Carrot, Lily/Lester. I'd actually be happy with pretty much any Carrie femslash, so long as they're not related. Same with Lolita. I also feel like Nathan and Nikki have chemistry with everyone. While this fandom section is the only one with its own shipping section, that doesn't mean I would not be happy with gen, just that I ship all the things. Seriously, I would love gen.
Tricks: It would be great to see more of any new or old lore. Give me Lovecraftian horrors! Creepy aliens! Ghosts and monsters! Urban legends that are unfortunately true! References to kid!Sprog are totally fine here, because man, even in a world of monsters, the biggest danger was a childhood serial killer.
Treats: Class 6F's class camping trip was amazing, and I would happily read all the fic about future class trips, be it to a museum, a state park, a laboratory, or someplace else entirely. Or maybe another Scrap Row boys adventure a la The Hardy Boys meets Cthulhu. Or Scumthorpe triplet sibling bonding. Or Nikki solving mysteries. I especially love the strange lore of the Scumthorpe Files, so anything you would like to add to or explicate from it, creepy or not, I would be all over that.
Art: Roasting marshmallows on the campfire. Telling a scary story, complete with flashlight. Fleeing from an eldritch horror. Lolita giving someone a make-over.
Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (Kreia):
Short Summary/Promotion: Steam summary: "Five years after the events from the award winning Star Wars® Knights of the Old Republic™, the Sith Lords have hunted the Jedi to the edge of extinction and are on the verge of crushing the Old Republic. With the Jedi Order in ruin, the Republic’s only hope is a lone Jedi struggling to reconnect with the Force. As this Jedi, you will be faced with the galaxy’s most dire decision: Follow the light side or succumb to the dark…" This and KoTOR are fantastic and fun, and though the graphics may be horribly outdated now (and second game suffers from rushed development), both are absolute must-plays if you have any interest in Star Wars, sci-fi, or RPGs.
Links:
Wookiepedia page
On Steam
General Talk: My general talk section for Yuletide in which I take the chance to talk about Kreia and really run with it, if you want to read 900 words about Kreia, Kotor II, Star Wars, and the Force.
tl;dr: I'd prefer female Exile, but otherwise I'm good with all play choices and spoilers and interested in all Kreia theories and motives. Just please don't kill my favorite space witch.
Fandom-specific DNWs: Character death of Kreia, the Exile/Meetra Surik, or Atton Rand. Kreia using her mind powers to mess with the Exile. Male Exile. Any explication of/focus on, "I suffered indignities."
Exceptions to my Likes/DNWs: Kreia is free to use her mind powers on the Exile's companions.
Ships: Exile/Kreia is my very favorite.
Trick Prompts: Force ghost romance, wounds in the Force, the Dark Side, death of the Force, the creeping sensation Kreia/Traya gives that something is wrong and the horror/resignation that [character] ( ... probably the Exile) is going to trust her anyway. Inscrutability and ignorance and walking eyes open into a situation that, depending on your viewpoint, might or might not be betrayal. Chaos theory and ripples in the Force. Force bonds, willing and unconscious, and the effects they can have in either/both directions. More prompts can be found at my last Yuletide letter.
Treat Prompts: Force ghost romance. Loyalty even in betrayal. Mentoring (a) promising student(s). All According to Plan (TM). A moment of peace. Chaos theory properly harnessed and plucking a string in the Force like an instrument well-played. A plan up-ended in the best possible way. Healing, physical, spiritual, or mental. Force bonds, willing and unconscious, and the effects they can have in either/both directions. More prompts can be found at my last Yuletide letter.
Art Prompts: The Dark Side, Force juggling an intimidating number of lightsabers, Force juggling ridiculous and/or random items, pulling back the hood (literal or metaphorical), Kreia/Traya's terrifying(ly attractive) smile.
If you've made it this far, I'd like to thank you for participating in Trick or Treat. This is a delightful exchange, 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!