⋮ No. 13110 >>13109 I'm not OP, but we could sorta use a thread dedicated just to discussing stories. /blue/ is for random shit that doesn't fit anywhere else, /gensokyo/ is for discussion about Touhou games, music, stories and/or site issues.
In other words, /blue/ is THP's own personal /b/, but with less faggotry.
>Want to have a protracted argument about why writer x is a faget who should die in a freak kitchen accident? Fire your shots here. This sort of stuff should go to the rage thread though. This thread should be reserved for genuine discussion about stories rather than childish bitching.
>Just keep it germane to THP stories and we're all good I don't see any particular reason for this though.
⋮ No. 13132 >>13115 >>13117 ...Which story would that be?
>>13131 >Histories of Gluttony and Labor >>>/underground/12675 HoGaL is a currently-updating story over in /underground/ which has a Dwarf (of the Dwarf Fortress variety) show up in the underground. It's pretty fun and I haven't seen it discussed that much outside its thread. It isn't very long so far, though, and it's raring up to go full PLOT. We'll see if I say the same thing in ten updates or so, which should probably be in a month or something given THP's update ratio.
The first updates are pretty sice-of-life, but due to PLOT it's going to have a bit less of that in the future. That may be good or bad, depending on your preference.
⋮ No. 13138 >>13137 The question is in essence about morality. I can give you my answer, but the likelihood that someone else has a different answer is high.
Though, I think it’s because of the relation to the “victim”. Your sister is someone you’ve (likely) been with for the majority of your life and is (likely) blood related to you. She’s family. Your lover on the other hand is someone “replaceable”. “Friends and lovers come and go your entire life, but you only get one family” or so the saying goes where I’m from.
I think it’s basically because you can get a new lover, and showing enough fondness to raise her from the dead is just considered pure madness.
Shadow of the Colossus was a great game though. Irrelevant? Somewhat. Whereas you only “get” one irreplaceable sister, raising her from the dead, while still madness, is understandable madness.
Take Animating Gensokyo for example. The MC’s sister has been there for him his entire life, even after she died (literally). A lover wouldn’t be able to have accomplished that to the same degree.
Though, that brings a question to mind. If the lover happens to be a childhood friend whom you’ve considered a sister for your whole life, where would that put her on the scale of madness and understandable madness?
⋮ No. 13165 >>13164 Funny, because before I began to make out their personalities, I looked around the canon to find out as much as possible (mostly because the fandom seemed to overwhelming at first (still is in many regards)).
Canon material already mentioned that Nitori "deep down thought that she was superior to other species."
And looking at Kisume's design and origin, without the colored waifu glasses, it was pretty obvious. I mean, the youkai she's based of killed humans, took their head and put it in a bucket, which they then used to scare other humans as they prey on them.
Then again, when I was introduced to touhou, all these materials already existed, which wasn't the case for the fans who initiated this.
⋮ No. 13256 >>13239 You're not likely to, very few writers have Deme's talent for things, and they certainly don't write on /th/.
>>13244 /th/ is mainly the newbie board with shoddy copies of old stories and other short lived things.
If only we could talk them into setting up shop in the other boards and maybe try to avoid all the classic THP writing blunders.
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>>13243 >AWiY will return when SWQ does >he doesn't know that /tg/ already kicked Deme out ⋮ No. 13554 >>13541 You mean all the
action and fighting?
I can't stand the resolution of The Game. That one part, specifically. No matter how much it had to happen, it's a stain on an otherwise fantastic story.
⋮ No. 13564 >>13554 Whoops, walked off for days without meaning to.
I'd count the action as the resolution, so, yeah, I saw it coming. I was referring more to
Orange reviving Sanae afterwards and the general implications that the whole story was the result of a bet. Granted, I'll say that there was writing on the wall in places, but it wasn't enough to puzzle all that out.
Also, as much as I resented the fact that
Sanae death was the only way out, it was necessary. If things had been resolved without it, I think I'd have been even more angry. Especially in light of
the bad end. Taking away that would have negated a fair amount of the denouement's impact.
I found (some of) anon's bloodlust leading up to the whole affair to be equal parts funny and pathetic, though.
⋮ No. 13604 >>13601 LSL had a few of those, and a tank girl too.
>>13602 I think most would be slow to accept outsider tech as it'd undo Gensokyo's stability. It was Science that did a nasty number on youkai. Also in PoDD, I believe Rikako is called a Heretic by Reimu for her belief in science.
That being said, there'd be pockets which embrace such tech completely. That and Gensokyo's culture wouldn't remain purely Meiji era as while most villages wouldn't the technological marvels, there would be traces of other cultures around.
⋮ No. 13735 >>13734 As someone else who's read Forest Mix, I can soundly second its recommendation. Christie is one of the weirder characters we've had for a protagonist but I get a kick out of her oddball way of thinking, and Rinnosuke is a pretty chill dude himself. The story's mostly about them, with the occasional arrival of a different touhou to mix things up.
I admit I bounced off it a few times in a row when I first tried reading it, though,but then I just jumped to the second thread and right into the Christie/Rinnosuke interplay, and it was really good. So if you have difficulty getting into it, I recommend skipping to the next thread in line, finishing that one, then jumping back to the first.
This was only the case for me, of course, so take my opinion with a cup of salt.
⋮ No. 13790 
>>13789 It was good.
A typical romance story but with some slow and interesting plot development and a good portrayal of the girls. (and the MC was almost sue-ish, but not really, which was a nice balance)
However, it is true that the moment helped a ton (and it made a lot of writefags to move their asses, like Being Meiling did a few years back) So it's like half and half.
⋮ No. 14259 >>14246 A loudmouthed,
radioactive fairy.
I should have guessed she would be from the underground but somehow didn't. And I have to say that the portrayal of Cirno is actually palatable compared to a lot of stories. There's only one other story to wit that has fairies as salt-of-the-earth types, and it tickles me to see it again.
⋮ No. 14274 >>13784 Pff. PFF. Don't... don't make Nefer laugh. There are still some very good stories out there.
Let's see... there's Fonzi the Survivalist's big work, that's a good one over on FF.net...
Vaati Star's crossover works are about on the same level, although the grammar is about Dr. Hartmann's level than anything else (not to mention he just can't type damn as damn...)
Over on MOTK, the two I'd recommend are Miniking and Stuffman...
Yeah. I am Nefer Nightbug, The Black-White Roiling Darkness, Ph.D in Referralology, Outside World Human Shinto God of Insects and premium Unpopular Opinion Puffin.
And I think you should try RECRUITMENT.
>>14259 I think there was this one FF.net story that had Cirno with a
Texan accent and none of the stupidity...
⋮ No. 14534 >>14510 At least a point where one could wrap things up yet perhaps resume them. It'll be interesting to see what happens and how many remember the story.
But a story reviving and finishing somehow would be great for the site.
Some advice for SoL: think of things like episodes (something going on to help frame up things and direct the goings on)
⋮ No. 14615 >>14614 >ironically autistic Sounds about par for the course for /th/.
And it's still autistic, even if you're being ironic. Jokes aside, this isn't the "old era" of THP. People aren't going to bumrush your thread because they think you're "unworthy" if it's shit. They're just going to move on after a couple of shitposts. So don't sit around waiting to get permission from any of us; post away.
Just try not to die after two posts. That sinks peoples' involvement in everything thereafter and only worsens the lethargy that perpetually grips this site.
P.S. They're CYOAs here, not quests.
⋮ No. 14632 >>14629 Agreed.
>>14630 And also agreed. The classic THP conundrum.
>>14631 Are PC98 characters that much of a turnoff? If some newfag doesn't know anything about them, then what would the difference be between a PC98 character and an OC as a narrator? They would both be unknowns. And stories with OC narrators, whether self-inserts or established characters of their own, seem pretty popular to me at least (SPACE MARINE, Awoo, Forest Mix).
Though I do agree that getting into a story when it already has quite a few threads can be a little daunting if you're just looking to do some drive-by voting.
⋮ No. 14640 >>14632 Granted, PC-98 characters are both established characters that have a few certain traits. (at least as much, if not more, characterization than some windows characters/midbosses before the printed work and secondary sources are counted). However, there is typically
much less in fanon characterization than for the newer stuff. OCs in general are just blank slates. PC-98 tends to be in this quasi-state of many not knowing enough to identify and knowing too much to project.
NST is currently at 2 continues/ask the author anything points, and nearly at 3, so they would have the leeway to try something. He has allowed by decisions that ended up poorly to be rewound. (Though making poor decisions intentionally did result in a loss of privileges in the story first time around)
⋮ No. 14641 Overall, from what I've heard around, the main turnoff has generally been the difficulty. PC98 may not be as popular as sliced bread, but they're a loaf unto themselves, at least in certain audiences. Seriously, look at Mima fans. They wanted her so bad that they've more or less become a meme.
However, when my stories get hard, votes as well dwindle. But my stories are a tad tonally bipolar, so that can shift as quick as saying a particularly long word.
Heck, that Hina Moe story over in th has quite a good response to PC98, a lot of voters, and is balls to the wall hard of late. Maybe it's not the hardness...?
>>14629 Ohh, and before I forget, I was talking about the consistent 1-3 votes, not anything to do with update speed.
>>14631 Seeing as I've a pretty popular story stuffed to the gills with PC98 and a gender swapped PC98 protag, and a story where the very same character that is the current PoV is a love interest, I have to wonder about that.
⋮ No. 14643 >>14642 Considering one of my stories is based on an OC, I understand I just meant that many stories, the OC serves as a vehicle for the reader to view the story from.
An OC can also be exceedingly well developed and stand on their own, but that takes them and puts them in the category of the canon characters, which are well defined and fleshed out.
Basically, they're one extreme or another, while PC-98s occupy an awkward middle ground.
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>>14650 Well, it fit the "x Gensokyo" theme I had going on. Besides, now it is a reader problem (can't make a plan worth shit) so even if the author mans up, it won't move forward.
Shit, I forgot to add AWIY to the list, too.
>>14651 That was the one.
Although I enjoyed the Yukkuri thing too, specially when the smut died down, it was a pretty niche story.
⋮ No. 15155 >>13708 Actually, the Meiji era was something of a period of reactionary formation of a national identity by the warrior castes, who decided that they needed to go back* to having the emperor in control, as opposed to a shogun. Though it kind of seems like they went gaga for foreign things at the time, overall Japan was more wary of external powers than ever; they felt like they were on the verge of becoming a tributary state to the European nations and wanted to build up their image as modern so they wouldn't be seen as a weak and 'backwards' nation. Humanity in Gensokyo would probably fall into a similar mindset of being curious about new outside influences while being highly suspicious of them. Everything in the print material suggests that humans in the setting have a strong collective identity, and while I doubt that they have a strong consciousness of the greater nation-state of Japan, they probably do band together under a sort of cultural brand.
Part of me thinks that the overall aesthetic of the village would be at least partly re-built Edo period styled buildings and partly Gensokyoan imitations of outside buildings (probably very cheap looking compared to what we're used to). I've seen some old run-down shopping arcades in Japan that would probably fit right into Gensokyo.
(*) The emperor was always the nominal head of everything, but the military powers always overshadowed him in practice.
⋮ No. 15161 >>15155 >re-built Edo period styled buildings I should probably clarify that when I say re-built, I mean that the buildings would be reconstructions of buildings of that period, not buildings of the age that have been repaired.
Something that a lot of people don't seem to know is that Japanese buildings aren't built to be permanent structures. Much the opposite, they're built to be torn down every so often and rebuilt the same way. That's how so many historic shrines and temples in Japan have retained their forms from centuries ago. The same principle carries over to peoples' homes, for better or for worse.
By the way, most castles in Japan are concrete recreations of the old castles since most of them were either destroyed long ago or burned up in WW2. That's why they're not all that interesting or worth seeing beyond an outside photo-op.
⋮ No. 15651 >>15650 Dude, mad props to you for giving a shit about the stories out there. Who cares if this isn't the recommendation thread man - it's always cool to get some discussion around here because god knows we need more of that on THP.
And on that note, I push all you other anons to talk about the latest story that you're reading (or have read). I'll start first with a story not yet mentioned here: A Lively Graveyard.
It's a story about a nonchalant zombie trying to get a
party funeral set up and then hijinks ensue. I know it's an awful summary but bear with me here because it's a fun read and other people should go check it out. I like the protagonist in particular because their indifference to their own death makes for an interesting perspective. Before I go full middle-school book review on you guys, I'll leave it on that note and ask you, if you already haven't started reading it by now, to go read it.
⋮ No. 15652 The ones I'm really watching at this point are
From the Scarlet Moon Flows the Spring and
Rural Concord in Small Sense. The former is probably helped by having a (relatively) newer 2hu to inject some new blood (rimshot goes here) in an otherwise blase and overrepresented setting. The latter is a perspective that isn't very well represented in much of anything, and I always delight in getting a low-level view of Gensokyo.
Hakurou is decent too, but I consider it separate from the others on account of not being strictly original to this... competition? Event? Whatever you want to call it.
Honourable mention to
The Train Home. I wasn't wild about the opening, but the setup is enough of a hook. Sadly, the pacing leaves some to be desired despite the short updates. I suppose I can't ask for much, though, as this whole NaNoWriMo thing comes across as rather improvisational on the whole.
Still, I'm surprised at the level of the stories we've got this time around. They're reasonably consistent and entertaining stories for the most part.
>>15651 Something about that story makes me suspicious. Like, I can't shake the feeling that it's a stealth crossover with something I'm not familiar with and the writer is laughing his ass off at those of us who are ignorant. Maybe that's not
actually the case, but...
>>15650 >boring concept boy fite me
⋮ No. 15819 Huh. Guess a ghost excavated this thread.
>>15791 Sometimes I wish I'd actually paid more attention to stuff outside of
/at/ back then.
Also, neither here nor there, but it's a goddamn shame most of the stuff from that NaNoWriMo is dead or stalled now. I know that's not a new turn of events, but there were a few things actually worth reading there.
Keeping my fingers crossed for another one this year. 
