What Makes a Monster Scary
Big teeth, big claws, and big glowing eyes should work, right?
Meh.
Simply mashing together hyper-predatory traits isn’t scary. It’s just cool. A monster that can devour me in one bite may be threatening, sure, but it’s not frightening.…
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Free Online Planet Building Tools
While I’ve been working on Aerill, my own fantasy extraterrestrial planet, I’ve come across a number of awesome, free, web-based tools to help realistically generate or view your planet’s surface.
Fractal World Generator by drow – https://donjon.bin.sh/scifi/world/
Quick and easy to use; takes a minute to load the generated 2D map on a new page, but it also provides you with randomized planet aspects such as the physical dimensions, gravity, atmosphere, and other fun inspirational thoughts.…
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Flight Rising Dragon Species Review UPDATED
Flight Rising is a browser-based game in which you raise, breed, and battle dragons. There are currently 14 15 species of dragons, with different art for the baby, male, and female versions. There are numerous patterns (“genes”) and colors for the body, wings, and all-over patterns.…
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Cringe Culture
We are social animals. We rely on norms set by others to know how to behave.Shame actually serves a vital role in keeping us within the boundaries of acceptable so that we are not made outcasts. After all, in previous eras, outcasts were likely to die.…
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“Monster” as an Identity
Just as gender, cultural identity, and sexuality are critical aspects of a person’s identity, so can what I call monstrousness. Monstrousness affects our relationship with society’s rules regarding self-expression and creativity.…
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Favorite Gen 3 Pokémon
Continuing from my post on Favorite Gen 1 and Favorite Gen 2 Pokémon, let’s look at my favorite creature designs from Generation 3 and explain a little bit about why I like them.
Aron
Nubs! This Pokémon’s name always made me snort because it just sounds like a normal human dude name.…
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Designing a Monstersona
Wanna make a monster persona? Let’s do it! Monstersonas are awesome because there are no rules or restrictions – it can be almost entirely human-looking but with bizarre behaviors, or completely bestial, or abstract and surreal. Anything goes!…
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Favorite Gen 2 Pokémon
Continuing from my post on Favorite Generation 1 Pokémon, here are my favorite creatures from Generation 2 and my review on their design elements.
Crobat
This furious little purple demon is the final form of the blind, obnoxious Zubat, though I always thought it looked more like an alternative to the huge-mouthed Golbat.…
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Talking To Yourself
Do you talk to yourself?
Yes!
It’s not as weird – or detrimental – as some might have you think. I hear a lot of people, people with absolutely zero understanding of psychology, claim that talking to yourself is a sign of insanity. Really, it’s just socially awkward.…
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Favorite “Dragon Quest VIII” Monsters
Warning: this contains minor spoilers for plot events!
“Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King” is a PS2 game that I inherited a copy of from a family member with no context or prior knowledge of the series. I hadn’t even really played a JRPG before – I know, madness.…
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