Peekaboo

Note: I claimed a community copy for this game, so while I did not pay money, I received it for free.

Exquisite Biome was pointed my way by one of my Discord community members as something I'd be interested in, and oh my God, they were right. As a professional ecologist and wildlife conservationist--and a fan of all things spec evo/bio--Exquisite Biome is everything I love conceptually, and it even had the audacity of being fantastically designed.

Caro Asercion on itch.io has managed to make a masterpiece of a GM-less game for one to three or four players, using only a single deck of cards. It's incredibly simple and intuitive, with much of the interaction coming from the human element. In fact, I loved the test run I gave it. Exquisite Biome (is it named after Exquisite Corpse? I'm pretty sure right?) uses drawn cards to guide player(s) through the designing of a speculative species, from the creation of the biome it lives in, to its most notable features and how it interacts with other species within the ecological web. Each designed species culminates in a scene played out, almost akin to a nature documentary, of an important part of the animal's life--giving greater insight into both its daily existence and its most important evolutionary aspects.

I can't give too much detail as to how, exactly, the game parts function, or what they are, but they are precisely balanced between detailed and loose enough to allow players the structure/random element needed for fun and guiding through the process, while leaving the vast majority of the imagination up to them. A traditional Exquisite Biome session is intended to be done with creating three unique animals, seeing how they all intersect with each other, but there are also other options for various modes of gameplay given as well!

My favorite aspect of Exquisite Biome, however, may be what isn't in the game just yet. The system itself is so perfectly intuitive and genius that it lends itself instantly to conceptualization of further deep-dives into specialization (speciation?) of different biomes and concepts--expansion packs, in short. What would a variant of EB look like in a xenobiological setting? Or perhaps an entire variant dedicated to rainforest or tropical reef biomes (or the various listed ones, even--even deserts have great biodiversity!)? Caro Asercion has managed to hit upon something here that I would really hope to see find success, because I can envision it having an incredibly dedicated and loyal fanbase for years and years to come.

I'd recommend this game to anyone who loves nature documentaries, who is passionate about life sciences, and who enjoys worldbuilding natural elements for tabletop settings! For fans of Monster Hunter, In Other Waters, Pokemon, Pikmin, and Wingspan, definitely give it a look to see if you'd be intrigued!

And, bonus round--a sketch of my own Exquisite Biome's first animal, the Shepherd Spider!

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A highly territorial species of cobweb-spiders, shepherd spiders create various 'pastures' with their webs where small insects such as beetles, flies, butterflies, and aphids can safely use as nursery habitats. By hiding within the webbed pastures, they obscure their location from predators, allowing an easier chance to reach adulthood and pass on their genes.

Additionally, the shepherd spiders tend to avoid immature specimens as much as possible: they prefer to hunt adult prey at the end of its lifespan, or sickly or otherwise 'unfit' food. In doing so, it ensures itself a steady supply of food, keeping a 'pantry', and opportunistically feeding on the young as needed when times are dry.

Shepherds mate for life, and their courtship rituals are based on the large, iridescent eyespots of the chelicerae. During rainy seasons, male spiders will gather up dew and rain and daub them on themselves, magnifying their false eyes to greater proportions and causing bright refractions in the water's reflected curves. A female will choose her mate based on the brightest display. There seems to be a growing subpopulation of males with prominent pseudopupils as well, which may affect apparent fitness during these rituals versus specimens with smaller or nonexistent pseudopupils.

Hell yah! I can finally read all of your WIPs.

Writeblr Reintroduction

How do you do fellow writeblrs, it’s ya girl that never actually posts anything about her writing. It’s been ages since my first intro and basically all of my WIPs have completely changed so I thought it was time for an update!

Anyway, my name’s Nicole. I’m 17, and when I’m not procrastinating on writing or homework, I draw (mostly OCs of course). My favorite genres to read and write are fantasy, sci-fi, and adventure! I have more OCs than I know what to do with, and an inability to focus on one project at a time.

My WIPs:

The Temporal Heart (duology) - tag

Hardly content to suffer silently from the mysterious curse that’s slowly killing him, Ezra Hartwell is willing to do anything to stop it. After he finds a girl claiming that there is a lost city deep within the Rift, he is hired as a medic on an expedition to find it, deep within a massive abyss between continents that no one has ever returned from. Soon, however, the entire mission goes off the rails as the crew is left to navigate a land surreal and treacherous, while Ezra himself races to find the artifact that might save him from his own magic. But the almost sentient Rift holds its own grim secrets, and from a gilded cage, a queen mad with revenge and an insatiable thirst for power sees opportunity.

fantasy, steampunk, adventure; ya

The Strike That Shattered Midnight (possible series?) - tag

Not yet a fully-fledged fairy godmother, Theodosia Lark has only one task left to complete her training: to create a happy ending for her assigned fairy goddaughter. All seems to go according to plan; that is, until her charge, Ella, is found dead at the ball. Now implicated in Ella’s murder, Theo goes on a quest to solve the mystery of her death, soon joined by a prince trying to break his curse and a grizzled detective who can’t seem to escape the meddling of magic wherever he goes.

fantasy, mystery, romance; ya

Beyond the Iron Gates - tag

There are three rules that every resident of Sommerfeldt knows to abide by. First, the bleeding willow is sacred. Harm it, and you shall face the consequences. Second, never make any promises, especially to anything that knows your true name. Names have power, and you never know what could be wearing a human face. And third, most importantly: never, ever, open the iron gates. Margareta knows all of these rules by heart, but when her baby brother is taken into the forest of eternal winter that surrounds Sommerfeldt, she must journey beyond everything she has ever known to rescue him.

fantasy, adventure; mg

I’ve got some more backburner WIPs, but these are my main ones at the moment! I’d like to be more active in the community, so feel free to drop an ask or reblog/like this post! I’m always down to ramble about characters and worldbuilding

Note: My WIP pages are just as in-progress as my WIPs bc I despise html with a passion

so I got into grad school today with my shitty 2.8 gpa and the moral of the story is reblog those good luck posts for the love of god

HAPPY FLORUKKAH ↳ ft. ARIA DRAFT 1

my e-spouse, my beloved pris @serpentarii has done it again (made graphics for the holidays) ILYSM KITHES MWAH

↳ and featuring select excerpts from the perspective of florizel “vegan in spirit but not in practice” von hauenstein

transcripts and taglist under cut (send an ask/dm to be +/-!):

Keep reading

Oklahoma School for the Deaf has opened up FREE ASL COURSES for the Fall season this new school year and anybody can join. The courses close on December 31st of this year (2023) so if you've been thinking about learning ASL here is your opportunity to get professional lessons for FREE

If you're interested, here's the link: https://courses.osd.k12.ok.us/collections

This is a GOLDMINE for information because not only do you get free video lessons by professionals that you can do at your own pace, but there's also graded quizzes as well as resources to educate you on the history of Deaf culture as well as sub-communities within, with links to loads of different websites to read up on Deaf-related topics.

The Dreamer by Norman Duenas

just do what he says  (ﾉ ˙꒳​˙ )ﾉ*: ･ﾟ✧

skin color ref because some of yall non-black poc and whites keep fucking up as if yall don’t know there’s other shades of brown when u racebend for woke points or something 

(non-black artists please reblog)

I’d like to introduce everyone to my new theme song