PAT 626 is over the whelmedbow.

@pat626.bsky.social

435 Followers 134 Following

They/Them. Former DJ. Writer. Gamer/GM. I'm thinking too much about everything and passing the rants on to you!

Picrews of 8 Mobius Trip characters: Jack, Mabel, Manuel, Gwendy, Malone, Auren, Midge, and Teeghan.
Pat 626 holding a plushie of the "I'M THE ONE WHO TELLS LIES" fish from Amazing Digital Circus.
Still shot of closeup of Human League singer during the video for "Don't You Want Me Baby"
Two images of Harrison Ford as Colonel Graff from Ender's game. The gray-haired form wears a future military's jumpsuit in front of scifi tech. In both frames, he looks weary. Text quotes the words he speaks in this scene. TOP FRAME TEXT: You're never "ready" BOTTOM FRAME TEXT: You go when you're "ready enough"
Heavily pixellated image, purposefully done to hide what the image even is. To describe it too much would be to give away the secret. Let's just say it's a bunch of pixels in various shades of black, purple, and green. It's a teaser for an upcoming Mobius Trip game!
Black text on white background. Much of the text is redacted with thick black lines, but reads as follows. [REDACTED] Common Sense Challenging: You should book. [REDACTED] Reasoning Challenging: [REDACTED] Common Sense Medium: You should book. [REDACTED] Common Sense Easy: You Should book. [REDACTED] Common Sense Trivial: You’re almost certainly going to die.
Selection from a character sheet for the Songs From The Cage game Mobius Trip. Character's 4 attributes (Logos, Pathos, Kratos, and Ethos) are split into 20 skills (Data, Enigmas, Reasoning, Innovation, Awareness, Moxie, Chimera, Insight, Promotion, Presence, 6th Sense, Muscles, Panache, Vigor, Spryness, Nitty Gritty, Common Sense, Prowess, Technical Savvy, and Poise) as well as 4 Continua of Being: Certainty, Willpower, Health, and Self-Control.
Beta Character Sheet for Songs from the Cage.
Purple Fish from Digital Circus saying "I'm the one that tells lies."
A little bichon puppy named Starbuck tries, desperately but unsuccessfully, to get on the table and eat the Christmas cheese ball and bacon-wrapped dates.
Black text on white background: The Trump administration has defended the strikes as a success, saying they have prevented drugs from reaching American shores, and pushed back on concerns that they are stretching the bounds of lawful warfare.
Excerpt from "Scientists harvest stem cells from blastocysts created by parthenogenesis" by Owen Dyer in the NIH website, 2003. Excerpt reads: Scientists from the US biotechnology company Stemron have managed to obtain stem cells from eggs that they have grown into blastocysts by a process of parthenogenesis. The procedure could provide an alternative source of stem cells for research, since using stem cells from human embryos is banned in the United States.
Star Trek Tuvok & Harry meme. First panel, a woman asks "are you two friends?" Second panel, Tuvok, labeled "Biologists" says, "No," while Harry, labeled, "Transphobes," says, "Yes." This meme is hilarious. Unless you're a transphobe; then it's devestating. You're devestated now.
Excerpt from a Wikipedia entry about the TV show Super Force. Black background with white text. Text reads as follows: Satori, a recurring villain in Season One, was played by G. Gordon Liddy, the man famous for planning the Watergate scandal break-in. Other guest stars included LSD guru Timothy Leary and former adult film stars Traci Lords and Ginger Lynn.
Rules from the alphatest document of Songs from the Cage. Black text on white background. Text reads as follows: Self Control (Poise+Ethos) In a world of appearances and temptation, holding yourself together is key. Determined by your Poise and modifiers, Self Control represents how well you can navigate professional/social interactions as well as keep your vices in check. Self Control is usually lost during Cock-ups while resisting intimidation, seduction, and the like, but can also be spent to automatically resist these attempts. Ironically, Self Control can either be regained through dedicated resistance of vices or indulging them at the right place and time. Unfortunately if you run out of Self Control, you are suddenly unable to choose what goal you pursue. The Taleweaver picks one of your current Minor Quests; You auto-fail any checks that can’t be argued to be in service of that goal. This state lasts until you fulfill that Quest, roll a Cock-up in pursuit of said Quest (“Taking The Hit” doesn’t count), or sufficiently indulge in a vice that your character would feel guilty about (you regain Self-Control instead of suffering Will loss, so that counts for something, although you still feel fucking awful about it, you guilt-ridden sod, you).
Pat and Jasper posing together. Pat's making a goofy shocked face and Jasper's trying to smile as if Pat isn't a total doofus... or maybe because they are?
Image from the Songs from the Cage game Mobius Trip. Black background with a strange rune engraved into it in red. Overtop, spray-painted in light blue at an odd angle are the following words: ASK THE BLIND MAN WHO SAW IT TOO
Promotional image for the I Was A Teenage Exocolonist card game, showcasing several cards laid out on a table. Taken from thegamecrafter.com/games/i-was-a-teenage-exocolonist
An excerpt from the Songs from the Cage Trope rules in progress. Black text on white background. Text reads as follows: Cassandra - Description: Your intuition causes you to give great advice, but for some reason no one listens to you. Maybe it’s your delivery? - Plot Hook: Gain 1 XP when someone else comes to harm for ignoring your advice. - Advantage: Cause anyone, including you, to redo the last roll if its current standing would contradict one of your predictions. Dead Cat - Description: You can’t help it. You’re bloody curious and that leads to both tremendous finds and disastrous encounters. - Plot Hook: Gain 1 XP if you or another player comes to harm due to you being somewhere you shouldn’t - Advantage: Autowin one Awareness check involved with snooping where you shouldn’t. Scholar - Description: You have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and you’re about to make it everyone’s problem. Even if you don’t have a bad attitude about it, your need to know overrides just about everything. - Plot Hook: Gain 1 XP if you or another player come to harm in the pursuit of some new knowledge. - Advantage: The first expenditure of Willpower in the name of not giving up your quest for answers is free.
Preliminary rules for the Songs from the Cage ttrpg. Black text on white background. Text reads as follows: Chimera - How immersed are you in the waters of imagination: do you step a toe in, swim in them regularly, or drown in your fantasies? Whether forging out-of-the-box hunches or fantastic worlds not like our own, you are not bound by the thought patterns of reality or the prison of Data. Chimera creates the spark, the Innovation skill fans it into the flames of Art. Uses: creative ideas, unpredictable plans, making sense of dreams and visions
Snippet from my draft for a Songs from the Cage character worksheet. Black text on white background. Text reads as follows: I recommend the first section be mandatory. However, players recognize the Taleweaver reserves right to improvise any issue here the player doesn’t address. That in mind, I also recommend at least reading through the whole sheet and writing “DNU” (“Do Not Use”) next to any item you don’t want to come up in game (for your character at least). Stuff the Taleweaver NEEDS to Know 1. Name 2. Age 3. Gender identity 4. Assigned gender at birth 5. Physical description 6. What are they objectively good at? 7. What are they objectively terrible at? 8. What are they proud of? 9. What are they insecure about? 10. Game-specific Question - NR: You’re driving in your car towards some important new thing. Where are you going and why? - MT: You boarded a train without a ticket. What are you running from, literally or figuratively? Why?
Photo of a scene from the Good Place, where Michael originally says "Jason figured it out? JASON?" but the caption has been replaced with "The NRA figured it out? THE NRA??"
Photo of a scene from the Good Place, where Michael originally says "Jason figured it out? JASON?" but the caption has been replaced with "The NRA figured it out? THE NRA??"
Text with a friend on Messenger where I asked: "Okay, what's the name of that horse game you play? I'm gonna make the worst Blue sky post ever."
Quest rules from the ttrpg "Songs from the Cage." Black text on white background. Text reads as follows: Quests are the main way characters gain XP. They are goals set by the Player or Taleweaver. For the Player, setting Quests not only keeps their priorities fresh in mind, but also signals to the Taleweaver what kind of story they wish to play. If all of the Players’ Quests involve getting dates to the upcoming ball, this may not be the time for that massive brawl you have planned, unless you can somehow turn it into a way for the Players to achieve their aims in a satisfying way. There are a variety of Quest types, delineated by roughly the amount of game time it takes to achieve them. Each Quest type is worth a different amount of XP. Minor Quests Minor Quests are things that shouldn’t take more than one or two Episodes to accomplish. They can be stepping stones to larger goals, something the Character has been putting off, or even something they know is going to happen. Because of the hopeful ease of achieving these Quests, they each award 1 XP. However, because they are simple, grand actions in the plot can affect them, so these are also the types of Quests most often abandoned. That said, course correction should be considered if a Player has to constantly abandon one or more Minor Quest. Players should have 1 or 2 Minor Quests ready before the first Episode of a game so as to give the Taleweaver ideas.
Album cover for "egodram" by the band Das Ich
Excerpt from a draft ruleset for the TTRPG Songs from the Cage. Black text on white background. Text reads as follows: Teamwork As much as we sometimes want to power through life all on our own, that not only sucks but is also impossible. You’re not the only person in The Cage, so through clever planning and teamwork a group of people can succeed where one might fail. First, some basic terminology. In a teamwork action, the Primary Check is whatever check is being turned into a teamwork action. Any checks meant to add modifiers to the Primary Check are Secondary Checks. The Primary Actor is the player who will roll the Main Check once all teamwork modifiers have been calculated. Secondary Actors roll the Secondary Checks. Most teamwork actions occur per the Situational Modifiers rules above: Secondary Actors suggest Secondary Checks (using different skills than the Primary Check) that can help the Primary Actor. Secondary Check successes drop the difficulty of the Primary Check by 1. However, maybe multiple players are good at the same skill. In this case, they can choose to all be the Primary Actor. Doing so drops the difficulty category by 1 for each additional Primary Actor (say, from Legendary to Formidable or Challenging), thus dropping the DV more severely. The flipside is that all Primary Actors must beat the new DV; a single failure counts as a total failure. Worse, while multiple Badass Successes can stack, so can multiple Cockups. Ultimately the Taleweaver arbitrates how many people can help with a check, whether it can be a teamwork check at all, and which teamwork ruleset applies (possibly both!).
Black text on white background. Text reads as follows: LIVE GAME: No Regress “To resist it is useless. It is useless to resist it. His cigarette is burning but it never seems to ash.” – Cake, “Comfort Eagle” This trip was supposed to be a new start. Maybe a new job. Maybe a new home. Maybe you finally got out of a bad situation or maybe you’ve been given the second chance you never thought you’d get. But whatever was waiting on the other side of that storm will have to go on without you. First you hit a flood. Then an intersection that can’t possibly be real. And now you’re the guest of a small town, its strange cult, enigmatic mayor, and a clocktower that’s either the disease or the treatment. In order to leave, you’ve first got to figure out where the hell you are and just why so many different things knock on your door, begging to be let in.
Christina Ricci as Misty Quigley from the TV Show Yellowjackets, wearing a curly blonde wig, glasses, and nurse scrubs.
White Bichon named Starbuck posing with various pool toys.
Screen capture of a Wall Street Journal article, which states that the election of Mamdani could cause a socialist experiment which will hurt New York so bad the country will have to bail it out. Written by Bennet Nuss.
A screenshot of a draft for rules for the TTRPG system (I'm Making My Own RPG... With) Blackjack and Hookers. Black text on white background. Text reads as follows: Teamwork As much as we sometimes want to power through life all on our own, that not only sucks but is also impossible.
Black text on white background, taken from the rules for (I'm Making My Own RPG... With) Blackjack And Hookers! Text as follows: Situational Modifiers Blackjack & Hookers intentionally starts players off with lower stats to encourage them to roleplay their way into easier challenges. For instance, a bouncer who cannot be easily swayed might block the way into a club, but the Taleweaver could take points off the difficulty depending on how much time the players spend getting to know her. Finding a place to hide might be easier if a character spends time casing the joint first. In this way, characters can rely on more than the points on their sheet to conquer situations. Because of this, games run in Blackjack & Hookers tend to be much more non-linear than certain RPGs. Rather than every scene having challenges that are either succeeded or failed and then moved on from, Taleweavers can introduce seemingly impossible challenges that players can take note of and then return to (hence the rule of not being able to retry a challenge until circumstances change - new stats, new info, new episode, etc.) But who knows… you gotta roll Boxcars sometime, right?
Text concerning character tropes for a horror game in progress: Believer Description: Carrying a very specific set of beliefs, The Believer follows their faith, even into hell or hellish actions. Martyr Description: The Martyr has a contradictory view on life. Every life is precious and must be saved except theirs. Guide Description: You’re not there to save the day; you’re here to show someone else how to save the day. Cassandra Description: Your intuition causes you to give great advice, but for some reason no one listens to you. Maybe it’s your delivery? Dead Cat Description: You can’t help it. You’re bloody curious and that leads to both tremendous finds and disastrous encounters. Scholar Description: You have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and you’re about to make it everyone’s problem. Even if you don’t have a bad attitude about it, your need to know overrides just about everything. Hunter Description: Something hurt you. You’re going to make sure it never hurts anyone again. Depending on the type of game, this could be a wild beast or something supernatural. Sheriff Description: You might not be an actual cop, but right now you’re obsessed with order above all else. It might be your insistence on keeping to rules that keeps everyone alive. Last One Standing Description: Luck, looks, survival skills—whatever it is, something’s keeping you alive, hopefully to the end.
Black text on white background: And he was a mass-murdering fuckhead, as many important historians have said. But there were other mass murderers that got away with it! Stalin killed many millions, died in his bed, well done there; Pol Pot killed 1.7 million Cambodians, died under house arrest at age 72, well done indeed! And the reason we let them get away with it is because they killed their own people, and we're sort of fine with that. “Ah, help yourself,” you know? “We've been trying to kill you for ages!” So kill your own people, right on there. Seems to be… Hitler killed people next door... “Oh… stupid man!” After a couple of years, we won't stand for that, will we?
Exchange in Comments on a Facebook post. Two people, names and faces blotted out in blue. First Person: Congrats to chatgpt for being the first job AI replaced. Second Person: broke: Chinese taking jobs from Americans Woke: AI taking jobs from people Bespoke: Chinese AI taking jobs from AI>
G.I. Robot from Creature Commandos suspiciously eyes Elon Musk.
Screenshot of a Playstation App screen showing the free acquisition of The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe.
Photo of an exchange on Blue sky. George Takei says' "Oh myyy, a million followers here at The Good Place! That’s an unexpected milestone, especially in my 88th time going ‘round the sun. "Let’s make the world a bit of a better place together, shall we?" Mark Hamill responds with, "For George:" and a birthday cake emoji.
4 panel hand-drawn comic, originally posted by Facebook user Chris Carter on a Homestar Runner facebook group. Panel 1: Homestar Runner says "Party rockers in the hou--" Panel 2: Strong Bad corrects, "It's 'party rock is,'" Panel 3: Homestar stares frustratingly at Strong Bad. Panel 4: They kiss.
From season 1: Julie escapes a massacre at Colony House.
From Season 2: Tabitha and Victor in the tunnels below town.
Anakin/Padme Meme 1st Panel: "I'm going to make a TTRPG mechanic based on the clothes your character is wearing." 2nd Panel: "So you're going to research a bunch of different clothing styles, right?" 3rd Panel: Anakin's smug, silent face. 4th Panel: "You're going to research a bunch of different clothing styles, right?" but more worried.