Thinking About Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead Again. I Think One Thing About It Is That It's Such

thinking about rosencrantz & guildenstern are dead again. i think one thing about it is that it's such an excellent example of the sort of thing you can do in a fanfiction/transformative work that you can't really do in an original work? there is no R&G without the greater context of hamlet: hamlet both as a play and a wider cultural phenomenon. we know how these characters' stories will end, not just because we've read the title of the play, but because their ending has been etched into the literary consciousness. the tragedy extends beyond the bounds of either play and seems simultaneously more massive and more absurd because of it

How To Support Indie TTRPGs

A lot of indie ttrpg people are coming back to, or trying out tumblr for the first time. For better or for worse (I'd argue worst lol), twitter has been the main marketing tool and driver of sales for a lot of indie people. Whether or not twitter is going to completely fade away, who knows! But it's never a bad idea to take some eggs out of that single basket.

So what does that have to do with tumblr? Well, if you see a post about an indie ttrpg (games, art, podcasts, streams, design, whatever!) give it a reblog! Same as you'd do for any cool art, gif, video, or music!

Want to take it a step further? Go check out that person's links (which related, to all the posters out there, make sure your links to your itch pages, drivethru pages, personal sites, etc are handy!) and here's the crucial part, if you think something is cool, buy it! Indie ttrpg stuff is nearly always wildly underpriced (which is a convo for another day), so chances are you can find something that's within your budget.

If you can't buy it, bookmark it for later! Also, it's super common for itch.io creators to have a pool of community copies freely available for their games. Take one! Check out the game! If you like it, buy it later! If you grab a community copy, an extra cool thing you can do is leave a 5-star rating!

I would love to see the indie ttrpg sphere flourish on tumblr, but that can't happen without support! So show your favorite indie ttrpg creator some love, and also go exploring to find some new favorites!

macbeth really is such a fascinating guy because when he's thinking about doing the murder he actually sits with himself for a second and goes "if i do this, i'm signing over my immortal soul, and i'm probably going to be miserable with guilt" and then he does it and is miserable with guilt. and it makes him very very interesting! because it's not an impulse thing! he knows! so what makes a person make that choice? what amount of personal ambition, what lust for glory, what amount of wifely-pressure-fueled conception-of-masculinity-as-violence can get someone to do that?

because it isn't idiocy. he knows damn well. and none of his asides, none of his elaborate visually-fantastical speeches or deft metaphors, are the words of a blundering dumbass. personally, i think the core of macbeth is exactly what we find out before he ever steps on stage: he's a soldier, and more than that, he;s a killer. and he's extremely good at it. fuck diplomacy--basically every single problem he faces in the play is one he tries to kill his way out of, because it's the only strategy he knows. at some point, i don't even think it's just manhood-as-violence for him; it's personhood-as-violence. in 3.1 he threatens to get into the lists against fate, against the price of his own defiled soul; at the end, he resolves to go down fighting no matter what. as much as people love to joke about macbeth being foolhardy and easily-pressured and not looking more than five minutes into the future--the guy knows. but all he's ever done, all he can do, is fight. he's not a fool. he's a machine.

but also, fascination aside, what the fuck is wrong with him lmfao my guy you KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN

TONIGHT at 7:00 PM EST, it's The Dovecote with Barclay Travis from Tabletop Book Club. Join us as we discuss TTRPGs and the latest TTRPG news!

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YORK CAN READ?? (NOT CLICKBAIT!!)

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