There doesn't seem to be a convenient way to introduce oneself on this site (barring the New Member introductions) without creating a post in a game. So, here it is, a post in this game. I'll try to remember it's here and update it with new information.
Anyway, my name is Aethera (eth-eer-uh). This is not a given name, but a chosen one. It has more meaning to me than a username (I use it here and there as such), though very few people I interact with actually use it in conversation. That may change, but it doesn't really matter to me what people call me as long as I'm aware they mean me. Aethera is a promise I made to myself, a goal for life, and if I'm the only one who uses it, that's all that matters.
I'm disabled, and I fill my time with multiple games on this forum, freelance writing and editing, ghostwriting novels (currently a range of modern to fantasy romance), and I've posted a few of my poems here as well. It's harder to post longer pieces, or I'd try to post those. If I have any hope of a publishing contract, though, I can't make public any of the manuscript(s) I hope to publish. It is what it is. (I've got one finished manuscript, but chapter one needs hack'n'slash revision before I can try to find an agent or progress further. And yes, if you ask me about novel writing I'll gush and go all 'fangirl' on you. )
As a gamer or storyteller I consider myself fairly skilled, but it should be noted that about every three months I've disappeared for a week or so, outside my control. I get migraines that make me too sick to keep my regular medications down, which then means I hit really nasty withdrawal. This will likely happen in the future as well, there's nothing I can do to prevent it, just minimize it. This last time it wasn't a week, and I didn't truly leave, but my posts dropped to next to nothing in-game. I hope this means progress.
My Games:
Ill-Met by Gloomlight (13th Age) I have a single solo thread started, and due to my unpredictable schedule, I am not ready to start too many others just yet.BETA-TEST IN PROGRESS
Multiple adventures [will be] set in The Midderlands, a grimmer, eldritchgreener, medieval England, specifically in not-EnglandHavenland's capital city of Great Lunden. I will be taking on tired adventurers who are looking to settle down in Great Lunden, whether that's to retire or to open a shop that will probably be less dangerous than the adventures of the PCs prior. That's the plan, anyway, even if there will definitely be things going bump in the night. I'm intending solo play until there's reason to combine. Think West Marches, where people can jump in or out of specific portions. It will be entirely possible to play solo without encountering other PCs should you wish (and I have the time), but the city will be a shared world in as much as I can handle.
>> Ideas / Interest Check
The Bats of Saint Abbans (13th Age) A year after agreeing to take a hiatus, we're back! The plan is to wait on the Amazing RPG Race (9–23 July 2023) and then jump back in!REINVIGORATED
Within the same setting as the games above, a grimmer, eldritchgreener medieval England, the Abbey-Cathedral of St. Abbans is infested with oversized church bats! With events planned and visitors coming soon, even the duo—who arrived there for another purpose entirely—are going to have to help out!
>> About Our Adventure
That Fine Line Between Genius and Insanity (13th Age) Hall of Fame 2020Though I would have wished to continue past the third chapter which had just wrapped up, due to life, player attrition, and everything... it's unlikely that we'll pick this back up again.INDEFINITE HIATUS
Set on a quest to take the princess to a safe haven in the face of many dangers threatening the Empire, the six PCs are going to have a hell of a time figuring out what to do next now that they have woken up realizing they are the main characters in a fantasy adventure novel. They'll have enough facing them to continue on, but sooner or later someone's gotta ask... we're the PCs, right? We can totally [insert dumb idea here]. Right?
>> Our Story So Far...
My Characters:
Seiri Diennour in mad_gondsman's Eberron: Fallen (aka the Deathsgate Guild of Adventurers)(D&D 5e)
This half-elven lass has seen too many storms for her own good, and yet, with the Dragonmark of Storm embedded in the scarred cheek under one near-ruined eye—scars from a spectacularly explosive airship crash when she was little more than a girl—she's undoubtedly going to find herself in the eye of yet another all too soon. For now, she's taken up with the Deathsgate Guild of Adventurers in Sharn, a group known to be less refined and more cutthroat... but she's joined them by way of a decade of piracy, so she'll fit right in. Though Seiri had never expected to be away from her pirate beau for long, when forced to recover from a shattered lower leg in an actual hospital, Seiri, the stormy child of the air-marked House Lyrandar, discovered the plane of Syrania's hold on the city. What city was built for a flying storm sorceress if not the city of towers?
❧ storm-tossed character concept
Kitty Ingraham, in FraterChad's Monster of the Week Multiverse(Monster of the Week)
Katherine Ingraham was a baby resulting from the Great War veterans' return, and had always heard her father's tales as adventures, rather than horror stories. So much so that when the second World War broke out, she was among the first women in her state to sign up to help the war effort. She was good with her hands, and quickly joined the ranks of blue-collar women who worked on automobiles, engines, and other engineering that could be learned on the job. Kitty was particularly good at pulling off strange jury-rigged mechanics that would hold in a pinch, even if they usually broke down further as a result—this skill was apparently what caught the eye of The Agency. (They never volunteered a name beyond that, and she knew better than to ask. What agency they might have been, if any legitimate agency at all, is something she'll have to discover later on.) They encouraged her into creating weapons to deal with other things she would prefer to pretend didn't exist. When WWII ended, Kitty returned home to a society that didn't want to let her continue working... that didn't go over well. She rented a room near a mechanic's shop and strong-armed the owner into taking her on for three months to prove she was just as good as any of his other hired hands. By the end of the three-month probationary period, she'd been promoted to watch over other mechanics' work as well as taken on long-term. If there were occasional blasts of exploding parts from Kitty's workbench in the back, that was why it was in the back, then, innit?
❧ playbook: Maintenance Gal
Site Moderation
In June 2016, the admins invited me to join the site moderation staff (otherwise known as "the reds"). My duties change periodically, but mostly I keep track of The Library, pinch hit with the multiple Advertisements subforums (including the game approval process), and now I facilitate the Hall of Fame nomination/voting process. Feel free to contact me for anything you need, though, whether it falls into those categories or not! I'm happy to help with whatever I can.
I do have a to-do list in the staff forum, but for obvious reasons, it's only accessible by staff.
Hall of Fame! (yearly, starting Mar 15th)
I'm in charge of watching over the Hall of Fame process each year. Mostly you all go and nominate the best games and then I check through them to make sure each fits the criteria, and so forth. Then nominations become a public poll and there's oversight required to keep it on course. Finally the Community Supporters vote on the favorites from the public poll.
13th Age Resources
I'm a big fan of the new (2013) 13th Age game system. It's streamlined and story-oriented, with just enough mechanics to get by, without getting hung up on minutiae. hippo started collecting resources in one place to try and fuel more community members getting involved. I signed on to help with the resources, as I'd love to see a bigger 13th Age footprint on this site. Likewise, when Outplay could run it, I jumped on the chance.
Writing Prompts and Critique
In the interests of encouraging writing outside of gaming, I've posted two challenges so far to prompt people to write; a 100 Themes Challenge, with (yes) a hundred prompts to respond to, and a Zodiac Cycle Challenge, which challenges a writer to use aspects of the Greek Zodiac to write several pieces of a longer story (for the novelists among us).
Short Story Competition (monthly)
Every month I post a theme and a few challenge elements for anyone to write a short (500- to 3K-word) piece. At the end of the month, popular vote determines the winner. For 2013, I'll be giving away quarterly 3-month subscriptions to the site. I dropped the ball for October, so your next chance to enter is November. Unfortunately due to lack of activity, I've ended the competition for the time being.
Outplay (every summer)
Outplay is an annual player-focused competition that pits groups of players in a double-elimination-style tournament together against common sorts of challenges a player might face. I'm not up to the speed of the competition as a player, so I'd rather help organize it. Starting in 2012 or so I helped write content beforehand, then as of 2016 I went bonkers and decided to try and organize it, as well as GM the 13th Age bracket. Pray for my soul, ye faithful, as I fear it slipping away. This year Bhelogan took it on, but I'll still help him with whatever he needs.
Outplay 2016 (13th Age)
So much for my 'minor role' in Outplay, I went bonkers this year and decided to try and organize it, as well as GM the 13th Age bracket. Pray for my soul, ye faithful, as I fear it slipping away.
Game Tutorials
We already have New Player Solo Games, which introduce new site members to the play-by-post format. What about those people who want to learn a new game system but haven't the opportunity (either in real life, Games Seeking, or other venue)? I posit that there ought to be a similar tutorial style game for existing members (eg. no site how-to involved, unless there are dice roller codes or advanced BBcode that will enhance the game) to dip their toes into a new game. This would require volunteer game masters to run simple/beginner adventures, whether published Adventure Paths (APs) or newly created adventures.
Note: due to site hiatus (October through December 2016), my activity on this project ended abruptly. I'll return to this as soon as I am able. In the meantime, there's a thread in General Discussion for "If someone was offering to teach it, what game system(s) would you want to learn?" with a lot of discussion on the subject.
My Poetry:
Damsel in Distress - a poem about feeling alone and helpless, couched in fantasy
Of Earth and Fire - a somewhat spiritual poem in which I call myself a child of the elements
Sad Tree - inspired by the tree out my window and how similar 2020 makes me feel
If I think of anything worth telling you all, I'll update this.
Last edited by Aethera; Jul 6th, 2023 at 03:48 PM.