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SilverwindBlade

Stephen Doyle
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I've long been a fan of roleplaying, and especially as part of my furry fandom experience. But it seems like it's all died off now, and what used to be a large and thriving community of online roleplay through e-mail, forums and chats has sort of dwindled away. I'm not sure if it's because it's all migrated to other services or places, like Discord and VR, or just because it's not a thing as much as it used to be. Or whether it's because roleplaying has now taken on a 'cringey' or 'bad' rep because of all the damn memes that go around about it, and that people don't take it seriously anymore as a result, and the instant reaction is tiresome 'OwO blablabla' jokes rather than anything actually constructive or interesting, if you ever dare to mention it - which is why I rarely do.

But I used to absolutely adore some of the role-play settings I'd come up with. Thunderbolt Black was a play-by-e-mail game I ran involving furry fighter pilots who were mercenaries in a post-world war three world. It went for ten years, and had a full plot, excellent character interactions and loads of action. And it just sort of... fizzled out.

I also ran a game called GEARs (in capitals as it was an acronym) which had a really in-depth setting I plotted out and wrote about to the point it might as well have been a wiki, and that got a lot of attention on an RP forum for a good few years too - but, people kept dropping out just as it was really starting to hit its' stride... which ended up burning me out on the setting, and on that particular forum for roleplaying as well. And now it seems to be more-or-less dead anyway.

And while it is possible to find people who want to roleplay, most of the time there's a lack of interest or motivation other than 'I want to hump your character(s)' which is like, great and all, but I'd kind of like something a bit more in-depth, motivated, captivating and with some kind of plot and engagement to it than 'AND THEN THEY FUCKED!' Or it's slice-of-life, romantic stuff with characters that lack in any kind of drive, agency, or energy, and players with - sad to say - any kind of flair, energy, or enthusiasm for their writing and roleplaying in general, and little to add to a scene, plot, or conversation. And for the love of everything, yes, I know that there's a high proportion of gay men in the fandom. And yes, that is a lovely and wonderful thing. But I'm very, very tired of being approached by them when I say I'm interested in RP and having to say 'sorry, no, neither me nor my character is gay, and I'm not interested'.


I'd love to get back into running and playing more text-based online RP's, through chat or forums, and with some actually involved and invested roleplayers - but it seems like there's no interest in anything much other than slice-of-life, which very much does not interest me, or suit my characters, or just plain screwing. And anyone who is already involved in RP is already doing it with their friends in some way, and isn't interested in new people.


And maybe it's my characters too. Because they're not whatever flavour of the month it is, and are more than vacuuous walking sex toys, and not 'omg so cute'. I see plenty of other people with cool characters, cool backgrounds and stories... but not much interest in my own, sadly.


TBH, I think I'm just venting my disappointment at how things have changed, and frustration at not finding a way to participate at the moment.

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Thanks all that commissioned me - working through my list now. The money had really, really helped, as has the boost to my confidence in my art, too. I'd lost a lot of confidence in my art in the months before Christmas, what with one thing or another and hadn't managed to put pencil to paper at all and feel like I was doing anything. Thankfully that changed recently, and actually having people take me up on commissions really made a hell of a lot of difference, too. Still open for more if people want them - just message me if you do!

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Tomorrow I'm going to be doing a 24 hour gaming stream to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. Please check in and visit to share in the fun. I'll be rocking around on Fallout 4 on Xbox One, building stuff, chatting nonsense, and generally doing silly things in an attempt to raise awareness and support for Macmillan. My father died from cancer recently, as did my uncle, so it's an important personal cause for me.

I'd love to see as many of you there as can spare the time to drop in. I'll be gaming from 12 midday on Saturday, to 12 midday on Sunday, UK Time!

I've never done any kind of streaming before, so this is all new for me. But it's for a good cause, so I'm determined to do it.

Follow the link below to the page where you can watch and donate!

https://gameheroes.macmillan.org.uk/fundraising/silverwind-blade

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Hello all. I'm looking into and gathering ideas for founding my own business, based around geeky and fandom related concepts. Essentially, it'll be like an events organization and planning company, but I'm specifically looking at concentrating on the geek/fandom/niche side of things.

I'm also especially interested in things like how fandoms and engaging with other fans has helped people with alternative lifestyles or mental and emotional health issues, and also things like putting them in touch with other creatives and professionals involved, and involving that somehow in whatever I come up with as a proposal.

Any information you can help me with would be wonderful, and equally so, if you can spread the survey around to other people and groups to gather a wider range of information.


https://forms.gle/Jh8N3L7cfiwH6RPF9


Thanks in advance


Silverwind

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Old Artwork

1 min read
Just finished re-organizing the folders (physical ones) I have that I keep my drawn and coloured art in. I've got five full ones, and one that I've just started to put new stuff in. Some of it is really, really old as well; more than ten years in some cases.
How many of you who do art keep your old pics, and for how long? And do you have all of your physical art still?
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Featured

Streaming for Charity by SilverwindBlade, journal

Research for a new venture by SilverwindBlade, journal

Old Artwork by SilverwindBlade, journal

Changing Species! by SilverwindBlade, journal

Wylde Fyre - the Original version. by SilverwindBlade, journal