Scrying can be defined as the mantic art of gazing into or upon a crystal or dark mirror, allowing the physical eyes to relax, thus letting the inner psychic eyes begin to open and receive desired visions or information. The use of the black mirror is one of the best methods of achieving the state of mind required for entering trance and for scrying work. It not only acts as a focal point for visualization but can become a doorway into the astral plane.
this is by far the funniest jigsaw_quotes post i genuinely cannot stop thinking about the sight of like, jigsaw opening his wallet in the checkout line at the Death Trap Lowe’s and he has like two pennies and a dime in there. and he just sighs
Established regulars maintain the atmosphere and tone and communicate it to newcomers
Examples in the world include bars, barber shops, sewing circles, bingo parlors, game rooms, 90s malls, Elk lodges, book groups, student rec centers, D&D, and Tumblr.
I actually wrote a really long post about it one time if you want to see my hypothesis
I think a lot about how we as a culture have turned “forever” into the only acceptable definition of success.
Like… if you open a coffee shop and run it for a while and it makes you happy but then stuff gets too expensive and stressful and you want to do something else so you close it, it’s a “failed” business. If you write a book or two, then decide that you don’t actually want to keep doing that, you’re a “failed” writer. If you marry someone, and that marriage is good for a while, and then stops working and you get divorced, it’s a “failed” marriage.
The only acceptable “win condition” is “you keep doing that thing forever”. A friendship that lasts for a few years but then its time is done and you move on is considered less valuable or not a “real” friendship. A hobby that you do for a while and then are done with is a “phase” – or, alternatively, a “pity” that you don’t do that thing any more. A fandom is “dying” because people have had a lot of fun with it but are now moving on to other things.
I just think that something can be good, and also end, and that thing was still good. And it’s okay to be sad that it ended, too. But the idea that anything that ends is automatically less than this hypothetical eternal state of success… I don’t think that’s doing us any good at all.
This is a mushy sort of question that maybe gets too into the game design weeds, but what comes to mind when you think of a game with the tension of loss or failure always looming?
Like you’re playing, but you’re always checking health and stats and inventory because you’re barely getting by, just on the edge, and every successful battle or encounter feels like it’s a hard-fought victory?
Because to me, it feels like a very difficult thing for a game to achieve that kind of tension. Tension is the key feeling, not like a discouraging sort of friction, but just this sense that you’ve threaded the needle as the game intended. You’re always on the edge of your seat, thinking you’ve prepared but barely coming out of the next sequence alive.
I know perma-death games really lean into this, the scenarios where you can permanently lose a comrade or skill during the course of the encounter. The games that come to mind for me are Hogs of War and Valkyria Chronicles, both turn-based combat games which do involve losing soldiers along the way, resulting in some tense battles and narrowly won (sometimes pyrrhic) victories.
Well anyway, that’s a lot to say there’s a certain kind of game I’d like to play, and I’m hoping others know that feeling of tension I’m chasing down.
ALT
