Neverafter: Once Upon A Time

The Unsleeping City: Chapter 2

I just finished this season last night and wow this was such a cool fucking season. The first season was the first campaign I watched for Dimension 20 before I got the dropout subscription and quickly fell in love with everyone.

This season was so heartwrenching and had so many wholesome moments. I'm so glad that all of the characters had such wonderful character arches that really fleshed them out even more than the first season did. Plus all of this insane worldbuilding of this world that both is a real place but also this underbelly of the city going into fantastical realms really just expanded so much this time around.

Also, all of the research that Brennan and the team went into for the sobriety roles that Pete and Sofie were having to do. It was a nice touch for that realism and a bit of a callback for Adaine in Fantasy High. I really love just how much they dive right into research for things like sobriety and it just shows how much they care about showing these realities that everyone faces.

I absolutely love how everything tied up in the end. Between decimating the hold that Gladiator was gaining on New York and banishing Null back to the deeper dreaming really encapsulated just how powerful believing in your community and believing in yourself really is. We always joke and note that Brennan somehow always is anti-capitalist and brings that into the campaigns he DMs, but I think it brings up the best point of it all. How so much stronger the common person is when they have that chance to grab their dreams and goals with the help of others like them doing the same thing than any corporate entity ever could think of doing.

It was a beautiful season and will stand in the spot with season 1 as one of my all-time favorite campaigns thus far.

Now, I am off in the world of mischief and magic with the beautiful Aabria. I can't wait to tell you all about my reaction to it.

oh to smoke a joint with the intrepid heroes. talk about a dream rotation my god

no but if sandralynn dated bobby dawn her taste in men is hysterical cause so far her known dating history is -cleric of sol -literal devil -werewolf with a wild past turned kindly school counselor -gilear

seeing that they’re doing another minis auction and it’s their biggest one yet and for fantasy high so presumably gonna make bank and they’re doing it to help send aid to Palestine rather than make a profit made me weep, i truly think no other streaming service can come close to comparing to dropout

PSA since it seems like a lot of people don't know this: Zac Oyama is a DM! He has a podcast! They've done 11 story arcs so far!

The Rotating Heroes Podcast is so good, you guys. Most of your Dropout faves have been on it, and the world Zac's created is fascinating. Jasper William Cartwright has also DMed at least one arc.

Just a note, because a lot of people seem surprised by him briefly taking Brennan's seat lol

So what if Lucy frostblade wasn't possessed when she submitted to change her god but what if someone in the rat grinders is a changeling. And what if that's why Ivy wasn't surprised when she saw Lucy at the party because she assumed someone else was pretending to be her. And what if that someone is kipperlily and that's why she's such a good rogue

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To Ragh; or, On Fatness

Hi! Below is an actual play mini-essay. These are written as part of a personal writing practice of thinking critically about actual play. I hope you find this reading engaging and know that all I write reflects my own interpretations rather than as an official representation/canonization of these shows.

Ragh Barkrock may be one of the most beloved NPCs in Dimension20. It would be easy for Ragh, a bloodrush player good enough to potentially play professionally, to be presented as hypermasculine. In fact, the freshmen year art for Ragh, when he was antagonist rather than beloved ally, showed him in a muscular, inverted Dorito shaped body typical of a jock.

He's, obviously, built, and his cut jaw and cheekbones only bolster that image. As Ragh comes to terms with being gay at the end of Fantasy High, his countenance changes. When we see him again, the new art reflects a chubbier, happier Ragh.

The show aligning weight gain with acceptance and happiness already works against prevailing stereotypes that use weight loss as a quick metaphor for improving yourself and being the "real you." Moreover, connecting Ragh's acceptance of his sexuality with what seems like a larger comfort in his own body is a strong indictment of hypermasculine gay culture. As Gabriel Arana writes, gay men "must reconcile their sense of masculinity with their failure to conform to its heterosexuality." Not doing so has negative mental health outcomes, as Arana points out, and contributes to a culture that devalues fat queer people (see the popular "no fats, no femmes, no Asians" that often is touted in masculine gay subculture).

All of this, I think, is why Ragh's art for Junior Year was particularly impactful for me as a fat queer person. If being a gay man (or half-Orc, in Ragh's case) means having to situate your life in relationship to failing compulsory masculinity, then it seems there is an inherent queer aspect to embracing, celebrating, and showcasing a beloved NPC in an explicitly fat and happy body.

Ragh is still strong and he is still fat. His body radiates a commitment to the power of fat bodies to exist in spaces they are often violently unwelcome in, such as gyms. Existing in gyms and sports spaces as fat people means dealing the "impossible standard that rejects nearly all of us" and upholds a diet culture rooted in impossible, Eurocentric and colonial body standards. In TTRPGS or actual plays, there is a unique opportunity to think about how bodies might exist in worlds different from ours, to imagine bodyminds as otherwise. However, as queer critics like Paul Preciado have noted, sci-fi and fantasy representations of cyborgs and other transformative bodies often lean into "fixing" disabled people or moving gender nonconforming bodies more easily towards technologies upholding a normative standard rather than questioning the standard all together.

Spyre is a world that deals with similar issues to ours, even without direct one-to-one correlations, so it, too, is a place where the narrative and artistic choices should be examined in how it helps us interpolate the world the audience resides in. From the Applebees cultish adherence to a deity-based nationalism to the various representations of parental neglect and abuse and every side story in-between, Dimension20's flagship show does not shy away from difficult realities even when recasting them through fantasy. Ragh, as a half-orc gay son of a disabled single mother, then, I see the arc his fat body goes through as meaningful and intertwined with his self-acceptance and queerness. He moves away from the toxic masculinity engineered into his blood rush team to instead pursue coalition comraderie with his friends to the point that he and his mother end up joining a communal living situation with those friends and their parents. Ragh's body expands as his family does, as his ties to community do, and to me, the gift of his fatness is the invitation to expansion that it holds out to us as viewers.

I'm autistic and I currently feel like shit checklist

Hi there. Are you autistic? Do you currently feel like shit and don't know why? Try this checklist to see if you can Fix The Problem!

When was the last time you used the bathroom? If you answered "I don't know" or "at least 3 hours ago", go now!

Do you need a drink? Go get one if you don't have one in front of you.

When was the last time you ate? If you haven't eaten yet today, consider eating A Meal, or perhaps A Snack. Something is better than nothing, eat whatever you feel able to!

Is there something in your immediate surroundings that is bothering you? If the light is too bright, turn it off. If there is an annoying sound, make the sound stop or reduce your ability to hear it (earplugs, headphones, etc.). If your clothes are bothering you, change them.

Is your space messy? Pick one area of your room and clean it up as best you can. Clean your whole room if you have the energy!

When was the last time you did An Activity? Scrolling on social media doesn't count. Try actively doing something fun! Play a game you like, read a book, make something, or go for a walk.

When was the last time you Spoke to a Person? Consider talking to a person you like if it has been a while.

How long has it been since you did something Special Interest related? Make some time to do that today. Infodump to a friend, have a nice long research session, look at related images or gifs, make art about it, whatever works best for you!

Try stimming actively! Put on some music and dance, spin in circles, go to the park and use the swings!

If you still feel like shit after trying all of these things, you might be tired or sick. Go to bed early and get some rest. Hopefully you will feel better tomorrow!

Hope that helps :)

Moodboard