@IsobelLynn

#Shroompunk is a subsubgenre of "sword" & sorcery fantasy that focuses on the intense action and intimate stakes of pulp sword & sorcery (think Conan and Thongor) with the fairytale logic and candy-coated aesthetics of 80s cartoons and videogames, like Super Mario Bros and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

It's a thing I'm trying to make into a thing.

I'm also developing it as a #TTRPG because there's so much more to "old school D&D" than the #OSR wants to acknowledge.

Day 2: "Where do you find inspiration for your stories?"

There isn't much original in my stories. I just take things that aren't normally combined and try to combine them in novel ways.

My #AppendixN for #Shroompunk looks like the Mario and Zelda games, the entire Masters of the Universe franchise, the Final Fantasy games, Conan the Barbarian (All of It), Thongor of Lemuria, Thundarr the Barbarian.

All of my projects look like this.

2/31

Day 0: January #WritingWonders

After such a marvelous response to last month's entries, I'll be repeating this experiment again, referring to my novel #WIP "The Oathbreaker King: a Shroompunk Tale" and my main character Giuvano.

See December's entries here:

https://dice.camp/@vkfarfalle/109484985677944035

0/31

#fantasy #writing #FirstNovel #shroompunk

Day 18: "What does the MC's home reveal about him?"

Most things that matter to Giuvano, like books and maps and love letters... aren't on physical media in #Shroompunk. He stores them, like everyone else does, on his tablet.

Giuvano's tablet is remarkable because of the number of different functions enchanted on it-- astrological calendars for multiple Worlds, road maps and topological maps, and newsfeeds for court gossip, philosophy, and husbandry for many different kinds of horse.

18/31

Day 17: "Is therea belief system that plays a role in your MC's life?"

Not... particularly? I haven't given #religion in the #Shroompunk setting half as much thought I ought to have.

I have got a very general idea that the stars, and primitive astronomy/astrology form the basis of most religion-- the prophecy at the heart of TOK is astrological-- with specific stars representing specific emotional states or abstract concepts.

More practical religion? I don't know yet.

17/31

#WritingWonders 🧵

Gonna be answering from #Shroompunk and #TheOathbreakerKing since they're the closest any of my works are to being in-progress.

@ChaskaTheMagicDog

1993. AD&D 1e. The game was awful in every way an AD&D game could be awful, but it informed every bit of playstyle and aesthetic that would eventually become #shroompunk.

For everything positive that D&D has brought into my life... it's a minor miracle I stuck with it until it got good.

@Emmacox

Most #Shroompunk Worlds have a caste system that's reinforced and homogenized by natural magic.

It's complicated by the Shine (think XP), which favors nobles and royals by quantity, but outcasts and outlaws by quality. Royal houses scramble to "prove" that shiny adventurers are long-lost relatives.

Human magitypes are tricky, as they're all equal except when they're not... but they're also only partially hereditary.

Gender and sexuality only really matter for the upper classes.

@Emmacox

It's a topic of heated scientific debate in #Shroompunk; some scholars believe the Warp Zone is a living organism, like a plant, and Worlds are its fruit. Others believe that Worlds rise and fall on their own, and that the Warp Zones only grow around and through them.

They're all wrong.

In my space fantasy, it's much like in our world-- the Academy and the Church waste a lot of time and effort reconciling the conflicting scientific and theological theories that are still all wrong.

I haven't figured out what I'm doing with #shroompunk entirely yet. It's tied into the power sources, natch; Psychic, Astral, Umbral, Elemental, and Warp.

The central authority in my Space Fantasy setting has two religions as the One True Faith. One's based on Anime Catholicism, and the other's based on... the mishmash I mentioned in 9. They're both the Inerrant Truth, they openly contradict each other and, pointing that out is the greatest heresy in both.

11/XX

Currency in #Shroompunk is spontaneously generated in 9 denominations of ascending value, color, and radioactivity. They're named after the planets of our Solar System.

They don't fall if left hanging in mid-air, and they spin-- enticingly-- when floating.

People can divide a coin into several of its next smaller denomination, or split a coin into several of its next largest. The exchange rate and amount of deadly ionizing radiation produced are based on moneychanging skill.

#WhatThatVictorDo Untitled Space Fantasy Edition

#RPGDesign The same #BECMI design as in my #shroompunk post, but hewing closer to traditional D&D: martial/psychic, arcane, divine, primal. in a sprawling galaxy of high-tech fantasy worlds.

Aliens are based on D&D ancestries with sci-fi twists: graceful faerie elves, strigine desert dwarves, coldly rational lizardfolk, and so on.

Heavily influenced by #StarWars and #PhantasyStar and, of course #Spelljammer and #Dragonstar

#WhatThatVictorDo

#Shroompunk Edition; click for definitions.
#RPGDesign #OSR #NSR

Shroompunk is essentially a #BECMI D&D clone that incorporates #PlayersOption and #TomeOfBattle mechanics to spice up combat and represent the pervasive magic of the Worlds. Gonzo, savage #HeMan #SuperMarioBros D&D.

@Cher #Shroompunk is my life's work, an attempt to codify a new subgenre of sword & sorcery fantasy and revitalize a forgotten playstyle of old school D&D.

It takes place in a multiverse of (mostly) lush, vibrant worlds connected by a living network of dungeon-like "warp zones". It's pre-industrial and post-information and runs on "everything is magic" mythical and fairy-tale logic.

#AppendixN : Super Mario & the Witcher, Conan & He-Man, Hercules & Xena, RuneQuest & Dragonfist, BECMI & D&D 4E

@drevrpg That's a magical healing spring. Limited charges, but the ground around it is usually littered with the smaller variety of healing mushrooms.

Drinking too much of its waters, too often, will start to adapt your spirit to the spirits of the forest. This could be an additional benefit... or a reason to use the fountain sparingly.

#shroompunk

@wordswithnima #shroompunk #theoathbreakerking

There wasn't time to grieve; not yet, not soon and... Giuvano shoved the thought aside. No time for self-pity, either. No time for despair. No time to drink his feelings and smash furniture like his brother, Goakine.

Not when Baotrice had left behind a household staff, several small children, and a mountain of war debts. Giuvano sniffled and hit the 'send' rune; his next stave was addressed to one of the most powerful moneylenders on Hargulum.

#Shroompunk , my life's work. BECMI clone on (roughly) the same lines as the space fantasy above... but it's a (mostly) Bronze Age sword & sorcery setting trying to recreate the vibes of #RuneQuest and #Dragonfist via a... shroompunk reimagining of the Super Mario Bros and Masters of the Universe settings.