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1989dreamer · 5 years

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On the Grounds Where We Feel Safe--Chapter One

Story on AO3

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One year and two months later, this story is finally complete (or as complete as I'm going to make it). (Sorry it took so long.)

This is written for TLM, who bid on me for the Fandom Loves Puerto Rico auction, and then patiently waited for her story even though she saw me every day (until I moved) and could have but didn't badger me about it.

Fair warning: this is not a fandom that I am active in. I have seen one half-season and it wasn't the first or second, of which this story follows more closely. There are things that I got wrong, simply because I don't know them or didn't have the energy to look them up (I tried, though, watching recaps and asking TLM for clarification).

I did my best with a show (and fandom) that I just cannot get into. Not without my friend watching with me.

Title comes from Go to War by Nothing More.

~ * ~

The attack was successful even if Ragnar Lothbrok’s particular method was…devious. He had been punished for assuming to know more than the gods and currently was laid upon a bed of furs, his wounded leg lifted by two of the strongest men of the clan while another, a healer of sorts, pressed a heated blade against the bleeding hole where he’d dug out an arrowhead.

Ragnar threw his head back and howled his displeasure even as he tried to hold still to ease the process. It was necessary if he didn’t want to die of infection.

As it was, he already had fever, and his bones ached worse than just being pierced by iron.

The healer pulled back, shaking his head. Ragnar could not hear what he said, but he knew from the way that his leg was lowered, a cover thrown over him, he was not expected to live through the night.

It was life, but he could not help the anger and bitterness he felt that his gods would abandon him when he needed them most.

Well, if they were expecting him to wait around to die, then they would be waiting for a very long time indeed. Ragnar pulled himself up, swinging his injured leg off the bed. It buckled the moment his heel touched the cold ground and he followed it down, sprawling into the dirt, breathing through the pain.

He groaned in disgust and shoved upright, blinking into the sudden sun. He had been in a hut, constructed on the edge of the battlefield. Now he was kneeling in a field, the warm sun beating down on his skin, heat spreading across his bare skin.

Voices, sharp and suspicious, sounded near him, and Ragnar lumbered to his feet, wishing for his blade or a club. Anything to use for defense.

He stared at the strangely dressed people as they surrounded him. He had never seen such manner of clothing, wondering at the vibrant colors, the thin layers. Leading the group of people was a familiar face.

“Lagertha,” he murmured, uncertain if sound passed his lips, so shocked was he to recognize his wife.

Lagertha stopped too far away for him to reach, studying him with a flat expression. “Ragnar,” she finally said. “Done playing in the woods, then?”

“Your voice,” he marveled. It was as strange as the green dress she wore. “What has happened to you?”

Lagertha’s eyes widened, and she shook her head slowly. “I could ask the same of you, Ragnar.”

“But I have not changed.”

“You have,” Lagertha said, sharply. “Don’t lie to me.”

“I would not dream of it, wife,” Ragnar told her, bowing deeply to her. She scoffed and turned on her heel, marching away from him.

He made to follow her, but his leg buckled under his weight and sent him sprawling again. He groaned, in annoyance, in pain, kicking his good leg at the ground. Ahead of him, Lagertha paused.

“You are hurt?” she asked.

He nodded. “Most gravely.” He rolled onto his back, staring up at a sky so blue he wondered if he was not in Valhalla after all.

Lagertha stared down at him, her head blocking the sun so she looked as if her head was on fire. Ragnar squinted up at her, reading her deceptively blank face.

Years had taught him that when Lagertha studied something with no words, she was worried, mind spinning through the different actions she might have to take. She was a great warrior and a better commander.

Right now, though, he did not see the same leadership he had grown to recognize. Instead, Lagertha looked afraid even if she was still hiding it well.

“Well then,” she finally said. “What’s wrong with you?”

“A poisoned arrow,” Ragnar said, pointing down at his barely lanced wound. “Gained in battle.”

“Battle for what?” Lagertha demanded, and Ragnar almost heard her voice under the strangeness of her voice.

“A raid for more land,” he explained. “For farming. To raise crops to help Kattegat and her people.”

Lagertha looked over her shoulder, shaking her head at something before focusing back Ragnar. “Kattegat doesn’t need battles,” she said, “or farms. We have everything we need.”

Ragnar looked where she was pointing. The dwellings looked as odd as the clothing.

“Why do you stack your homes?” he asked. “Does this not create problems with weight?”

“It doesn’t,” Lagertha said, and Ragnar waited for more explanation that did not come.

“Why?” he prompted. If he could learn the secrets of stacking dwellings, he could take that knowledge and use it to increase the farmland of Kattegat, although, looking around, he had to admit there was not much land left for farming. Much of it had been covered with a grey surface that resembled a stone road.

There were a few bushes and other vegetation around the building but it looked ornamental instead of practical.

“How do you have everything you need if you do not even have a patch of ground for food?” he demanded, turning on Lagertha. She startled, covering it quickly by glaring down at him.

“We have no need. There is an Irma just down the road. Where would we put a garden anyway?”

“A crop, a field,” Ragnar said. “Surely there is fertile land here?” The ground he was still lying on was green, lush and soft. “Why not here?” He sat up, holding his leg still as he moved. He grabbed at Lagertha’s hand, ignoring the way she jerked under his touch. “Why rely on something that could fail when you can care for yourself?”

Lagertha pulled away. “In all the time it’s been here, Irma has never failed. On the other hand, I cannot get my plants to grow. I would rather have a sure thing than risk it all on something that cannot work.”

Ragnar laughed. “There is the Lagertha I know,” he said. She huffed out a breath.

“Are they coming?” she demanded.

“I called them,” a new, familiar voice replied, and Ragnar twisted around to stare at Floki. He had a strange item pressed to his ear and kept shooting worried glances at Lagertha and Ragnar. “They said ten minutes. That was nearly seven minutes ago. They should be here soon.”

“Who?” Ragnar demanded. He tried to stand but his leg buckled yet again and he cursed it loudly.

“Silence,” Lagertha said sharply. “There are children here who do not need to learn those words.”

“Children?” Ragnar looked past Floki and saw only familiar faces starting back at him. Forefront was his son Bjorn. “Why are you all dressed strangely? Why is Kattegat a tower of buildings? Is this part of the fever dream?”

“If you like,” Floki said, soothingly. “This is all part of a dream. When you wake up, everything will be back to normal.”

Ragnar studied his old friend, finding him to be speaking truth. He lied back down again, motioning for Lagertha to come closer. When she did, he smiled at her. “I shall see you again, wife.”

“Of course,” Lagertha replied, “husband.” Her pause settled thickly between her words, and Ragnar found it to be less truthful than Floki’s words. He was beyond exhaustion and needed rest, but it was not safe, and even as his eyes closed of their own volition, he tried to sharpen his ears, to hear the murmurings between his wife and friend, but he did not know what ‘ambulance’ or ‘paramedic’ meant, and he fell asleep before he could demand explanations.

~ * ~

#Vikings (TV)#Vikings Fanfiction #FLPR #My Story/My Writing

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builtinadaygames · 6 years

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itchy tasty: Free Games on itch.io, issue #3

Hi, I'm Kevin Beissel and I make videogames under the name Built In A Day (@builtinadayKB).

This is the third post I've done about games on itch.io, you can read the others here or you can read them on my personal site, builtinadaygames.com/blog

This post is slightly different than the others. The devs covered in this post have released well-regarded indie games thru publishers like Devolver and Adult Swim (Terri Vellmann and Andrew Morrish) or self-published on platforms other than PC (Powerhoof). The previous posts focused on devs with only self-released work (and no titles on Steam).

I had played games by all three of these devs on Steam and was pleased to find they had work posted on itch as well. Since itch has all types of games, especially small and experimental work, it was fun to play something by these devs that could explore a bit more and see them try things that might not work in 'commercial products'.

Not to say that they're work on Steam is generic or traditional or (worst of all) 'safe'. But there is value in watching an artist experiment, fail, take risks, embrace weirdness and just try stuff, whether they 'succeed' or not.

So, my motivation for this post is basically two-fold: to let other gamers know that itch has cool, experimental work by devs you already know and love, and to encourage devs of all types to keep making new stuff (especially the small or weird ideas they have).

Here are the ground rules:

The purpose of this series is to cover some of the free games on itch.io, from a developer and fan perspective.

Before we get to the games, I just want to clarify why I'm doing this and what I hope it accomplishes. So here's the what, why and how:

The WHAT

Discuss free games available on itch.io

I've got a list of profiles to check out, but please send along any recommendations.

There are no restrictions on genres. The whole point of this is to be curious and ask questions. So no dumb rules like "No walking sims" or "No puzzle platformers", which would prolly eliminate half of the available games anyways.

The WHY

I want to become a better developer and playing experimental/small/art/trash games should help.

Getting an audience is hard and getting constructive feedback is even harder. I can't help the devs covered in these posts with the former but maybe I can with the latter.

The HOW

There is no rating system.

There is no alter ego here, these are not 'angry' reviews.

These aren't even really reviews.

The goal is to focus on the design choices that were made and discuss the reasoning behind them.

I don't really care about being right, I don't really care about sounding smart ("Yeah, no shit" the reader grumbles), I don't really care about agreeing with you. I'm more interested in looking at the hierarchy of ideas (to borrow a phrase) that form game design. By working at the ends and working in the middle we can find out more about it, right?

Enough with the formalities, let's get started.

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Profile: Powerhoof (@Powerhoof, powerhoof.com, powerhoof.itchi.io)

Games: Murdercide 2017 and Peridium

Style: point and click adventure games, cyberpunk/comedy and horror/suspense respectively

Powerhoof is the two-man team (Dave Lloyd and Barney Cumming) behind 'Crawl', the excellent local coop dungeon-crawler on Steam. They have a diverse selection of games on itch, but I'll be covering only three of them, tho each one is worth a look.

The point and click genre offers the chance to show off their narrative skills, with plenty of good dialog and superb voice acting. Their games always have appealing visuals, so it was exciting to see that skillset paired with a good narrative. It's also remarkable that both games are so different in tone, yet work so well.

Each game can be played in less than ten minutes, so describing the plot would spoil a huge chunk of your playthru. So think of them like this: if you like Douglas Adams or 'Blade Runner' then check out Murdercide and if you like 'The Thing' or 'The Shining' then check out Peridium. And if you like all those things and were also a fan of LucasArts adventure games, then for sure check out both.

Also, these games are much more about atmosphere than they are about the traditional elements of point and click games. Yeah, you will have to use an inventory item to interact with some scenery, but none of it gets in the way of the setting and the story.

If I'm not mistaken Powerhoof has hinted at doing a full-length adventure game someday. I've been mistaken before tho (turns out if you mix an acid with a base you get a reaction, you know like mixing drain cleaners?), so they'll prolly make something else that's dope.

Game: Riders of Rhea

Style: top-down, action, roguelike

Elevator pitch: It feels like an 8-bit version of 'Mad Max'. I guess this is the perfuntory part where I point out that Powerhoof is based in Australia. But this elevator ride is almost over, so fuck it.

You ride on a motorcyle thru a desert wasteland and track down groups of enemies using a mini-radar. Another panel displays stats about your bike (armor/shield, heat, speed). When you defeat enemies you get random drops, usually a small decrease from one skill (-1 usually) and a larger boost to another skill (+2 or higher).

The controls took awhile to get the hang of, but I eventually could take on small groups. I can get overwhelmed easily (are we still talking about the game?) but that level of challenge makes each success feel more satisfying.

I've been searching for interesting action games lately and this one certainly fits. Great minimalist art-style, nicely blends offensive and defensive tactics, and has a 'one more run' charm to it.

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Profile: morrish (@int_main, andrewmorrish.net, andrew-morrish.itch.io)

Game: Tough Love Machine

Style: puzzle, pretty colors

Andrew Morrish has two games available on Steam, 'Super Puzzle Platformer Deluxe' and 'Kingsway'. I haven't played the latter, but SPPD has a great concept, fantastic visuals, tight controls and a diverse group of playable characters. I didn't know he had stuff on itch, but TLM was recommended by Steven Miller (@stevenjmiller37, who also has a bunch of cool games on itch too). It's a great puzzle game: fun, intuitive and a joy to look at.

There are two hearts and two arms on the screen. Using the arms (WASD for the left and arrow keys for the right) you reposition the hearts until they are either stacked or side-by-side. This seemingly simple formula yields impressively deep results.

One thing I always look for in puzzle games is how clearly they visually communicate concepts and rules. In games like 'Stephen's Sausage Roll' or 'Baba Is You', the concept and mechanics work seamlessly, because the visual cues and puzzle design are so well done.

Those games ('Roll' and 'Baba') force you to very carefully consider the space you're given and how the rules you know can be applied to them. I know that sounds like something that ALL puzzle games should do, just like regular exercise is something that ALL people should do, but we know that's not the case.

So when I got stuck in 'Roll', it usually meant there was some part of the level I wasn't utilizing, despite the design/visual cues clearly pointing me towards it. TLM does a similarly good job of keeping the puzzle design uncluttered and avoiding bullshit red herring solutions, another common puzzle game pitfall.

BTW, I haven't actually beat it yet. I'm stuck on the level called "you might actually be getting worse". My God, this game sounds like my ex-wife.

Just kidding, I don't have an ex-wife. I'm not kidding about being stuck but don't spoil it for me. You can spoil it for my ex-wife tho, she always hated surprises. Or maybe she just hated me.

Whatever the imaginary case may be, just make sure you don't hate 'Tough Love Machine'! You could say it's TOUGH not to LOVE it. You could say that, especially if you wanted people to hate your writing style.

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Profile: terriv (@terrivellmann, terriv.itch.io)

Game: TANKITA

Style: roam-around tank-shooter

Terri Vellmann recently released 'High Hell' (which I'm very excited for) but I've been playing 'Heavy Bullets' for just about a year now and I love it. I was a bit put off at first and it took awhile to develop effective strategies (I can get to level six out of eight so far), but a good run in 'HB' is super satisfying, even tho they all end in an abrupt death.

TANKITA (or 'Bounty Hunter Tankita') is a tank-shooter with nice 'roam-around' style maps. Each map has bases to destroy or enemy waves to fight off. All of it is done in a low-res style but with bright colors and appealing cartoon-style character/vehicle designs.

You control the tank's movement with the L-stick and weapon aim with the R-stick. The left and right bumpers are your main and alt fire, and the A button is jump.

As much fun as the game is, the control style caused some mild frustration. The only issue I have is with the jump. Circle-strafing enemies is pretty effective, except you have to keep moving your right thumb to jump or risk taking heavy damage from missiles.

However this frustration led to a worthwhile thought experiment: If I were to remap the controls, what changes would I make and how much would they change other gameplay elements?

I'll preface this by saying (or writing, at least) this:

A lot of well-intentioned game design feedback suffers from a common problem: the proposed solution has far-reaching consequences and would alter so many facets of gameplay that the amount of work necessary would far exceed being just a 'small tweak'.

So, my first instinct is to eliminate the jump entirely and focus on the weapons. The problem with that is the tank is now largely defenseless, so the enemy behavior and the map layouts have to change drastically to compensate. For starters, the enemy's missile fire rate would need to be adjusted (even tho you can shoot them down with your own missiles) or the amount of damage they do has to be heavily nerfed.

My next idea was to eliminate the alt fire and just have the main weapon and the jump ability, and map them to LB/RB. This allows a good balance between offense and defense, but still requires that many enemy/level elements be reworked.

I like the second solution better. Either solution would take a lot of time, but the second has a higher 'ceiling'. You could compensate for the lack of an alt fire several ways:

Create opportunities for 'massive' or 'chain' style damage - like lure a group of enemies near a fuel truck, pepper the truck with your main gun and watch the explosion cause a chain reaction among the enemies. Incentivizes the player to group enemies together and utilize environmental elements, which would mean reworking each map's layout.

Have Contra-style weapon drops - sometimes you get just the right weapon and other times you pass it up. It's asking a lot of the player to go thru a game (even a short one) with only one weapon type. The control style is still simplified to jump/attack, but the player can still have some variety.

Still, 'TANKITA' is worth checking out, as is Vellmann's other work on itch. I like his visual style and something like 'mundo lixo' is a good chance to admire the aesthetics without any pressing gameplay demands.

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Well, folks, thanks for reading. May other people indulge you to the extent that you've indulged me.

Love & Respect,

==KB==

#itchio indiegame

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