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submitted by awesomeme99
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Dear Papa Bear,

I feel I have closed myself off from most of my family and friends the last couple months. In December I had two family members and a dog die, and January I had another family member and dog die. My family in the house tried to soften the blow by getting a new puppy. But I feel that out of everyone in my house and at school I've been spending most of my time either locked away in my room or with the puppy. I don't know why but I just feel like either I'm dismantling myself from others or I'm just slipping under the radar and they don't notice me. How do I try to fix this?

Thank you,
Trademark Pain

* * *

Dear Trademark,

I am so sorry for the loss of your family members and your dear pet. It’s not uncommon for people who experience personal loss like this to withdraw into themselves. When you suffer multiple losses like this, one train of thought that those in mourning might have is this: “The fewer people I have in my life, the less vulnerable I will be to loss. And if there is no one in my life that I feel love for, I will never have to suffer the pain of losing a loved one ever again.”

But isolating yourself like this is not the answer; it will only lead to more depression and sadness. You must realize this, Trademark, since you wrote to Papabear for help, so I’m glad you did.

What your family did—giving you a new puppy—was nice, but it doesn’t solve the problem. In fact, in a way, it is avoiding the problem, sort of like sitting a young child in front of a television because mom and dad don’t feel like spending time with their kid. What you and your family should be doing is talking about your shared loss, even though that is hard to do.

I know it will be difficult, but what you need to do is force yourself, little by little, to interact with people again. It’s kind of like going to the gym for the first time. You really don’t want to do it; it makes your muscles sore and you get all sweaty and you get embarrassed maybe because you can’t lift very much weight, but, if you work at it consistently, you will get better and even enjoy working out. Same with overcoming this urge to become a hermit in your own home.

Start by selecting the family member with whom you feel the closest bond—especially someone who was as close to the departed as you were—and start talking to him or her about what you are feeling. Share memories of the person who has gone, but do so in a celebratory way. What do I mean? I mean celebrate the good memories you have of them and don’t focus on how much you miss them (that’s a given). This is what is done in traditions such as the Irish wake and the New Orleans jazz funeral procession. Focus on the joy and how lucky you were to know this person in your life while they were here.

Sharing these things with your family will bring you closer together, bonding you more tightly in a loving, spiritual sense than you ever have been before. It will also remind you to appreciate those who are still with you in the here and now.

The secret to healing, Trademark, is not isolation; it is bonding and celebration. The first few steps may be hard, but they are essential. We all suffer losses in our lives. Learning to cope with them, and to grow stronger because of them, will enhance your life by giving you a better appreciation for all the joys still to be experienced.

Hugs,

Papabear

A steamy jungle strangling a civilization in vines and mystery, and nameless servants from an unknown past finding themselves…

The Clay that Woke: A Game About Minotaurs

Kickstarter ending 3/15/14

The Kickstarter era has done good things to indie tabletop role-playing games, and to quirky little fandoms in general. Back in the day, the only way you’d ever be able to get your paws on an obscure TRPG is if you happened to bump into the author at a convention, or lived in the city where the thing was produced. On the plus side, you wouldn’t ever hear about it, so no harm, no foul. Now, with crowdfunding and print-on-demand/PDF sales enabled, authors can get the finances for their obscure projects, consumers can catch a copy of the latest and weirdness for their ebook reader, and just maybe your local game store might even get a few copies from the first print run. Hey, it could happen.

I’m blessed to have a big, BIG game shop in town, and they have a shelf full of those little, dark, artsy, and terribly readable little games. I’m pretty sure I even saw Paul Czege’s popular and clever game, My Life With Master (“[a game of] villainy, self-loathing, and unrequited love”) on the shelves next to Engine Hearts. Any game that lets you play Igor and has “self-loathing” as a character sheet stat is a gem.

Anyway…on to the furry content. The Clay That Woke is, like the book says, a game about minotaurs, and a new take on them, inspired more by the monster in the labyrinth than World of Warcraft’s Taurens.

It’s hard to know where to begin–and what these little games do best is settings and ideas, which just makes it harder! Imagine an ancient stone city, Maybe Roman, maybe Mesopotamian, maybe Conan. There are philosophers, open markets, gladiators. Imagine that it’s lost in a dense and mysterious jungle, isolated and alone, trapped by the wilderness and the powers of an unknown past.

Imagine that you are a laborer here, a second-class beast of burden. You have no name, but you do have a profound sense of your mission, your purpose in life. Maybe someday you’ll have a name. For now, names are for humans. Your breed was lifted from the mud of the Eternal River some thousands of years ago…but for what purpose? To serve man? To find their past? Realize the destiny they feel inside them? Ultimately, that’s the player’s quest to uncover.

Reviews of CTW suggest a moody, claustrophobic world, a city on the margins of the wilderness, hemmed in by trees and its unknowable history. And evidence suggests that Czege does mood and tone quite well. These may not be the minotaurs you know, though they feel ancient and mythical in tone. It seems like you could tell the same story with golems or, well, name your slave underclass. But classically minotaurs come from an ancient past, a joke played by cruel gods, creatures of violence, but of puzzles, imprisonment, claustrophobic labyrinths, lost islands, too. Maybe they’re the perfect trope for a game of exploration and meaning in a tiny, isolated world.

I can’t judge the game play aspects, and most of these little games just end up on my shelves as bundles of ideas instead of on the game table anyway, but the core mechanic makes me nervous–a bundle of icons on tokens and a cleverly-named pot, with a table to compare to for a list of set resolutions. There’s a lot of clever here, players can choose icons to pick their preferred resolutions and game masters can sculpt the terms of the challenge. The icons themselves become scarce commodities on their own–suddenly you’re out of, say, “mind” or “strength” or “patience” and have to go and restore that asset somehow. A mechanic like this can do a lot, but a part of me sees “consult Table XX for your results” and flashes back to the bad old days of color-coded colums and “FASERIP” charts. Perhaps that’s unfair, but having to run to a chart is limiting and awkward, in my experience.

The Kickstarter itself–well, it’s hard to argue with success, after three days or so Czege’s fan base has shoved him over goal and into his stretch goal territory. The reward categories are reasonably cut and dried, but there’s a little “precious” here and there that makes me twitch (“A TRUTH: Backers at this level receive a truth that’s unique to them…” and the video, which clocks in at almost ten long minutes, has the strange vibe of a college professor talking to a five-year-old, it’s really off-putting. But Czege’s niche seems to be challenging and intellectual RPGs, and that’s not a place for the humble.

The product’s got strong art by Nate Marcel, a strong indie pedigree, I don’t doubt for an instant that Czege’s a skilled writer, and it’s a rich bundle of ideas. And as crowdfunding goes, the fans have spoken. Take a look.

(PS: Rarely in an elevator pitch video does a fundraiser send me running for the dictionary. “Frondice”?)

Note: Images used above are included to promote the work of crowdfunding artists, and are owned by the original creator.

I am wondering out of a little bit of curiosity and for a online friend so was wondering if someone could let me know how to get started in this world. Explain like we are utter noobs as we kinda are :D

How would one go about making a fursona and is there any good websites to meet people on and such.

Thanks for your help in advance! :D

submitted by Rainbow230592
[link] [9 comments]

I'm not well known among the furry community but I am an artist, I'm considering taking YCH type commissions, the thing is, I need people to be my labrat and offer their characters for me to draw as a sample to potential customers, So I'm offering a free YCH.

I need people besides my friends to enter, because I know they will enter XD, But I have drawn them so many times, and they are the only ones who comment usually. link here http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5510249/

submitted by Skangryph
[link] [4 comments]

trying to become a furry artist

submitted by Pup-star
[link] [1 comment]

Ever since I became part of the fandom, I have always felt like my fur friends were family. I felt accepted for who I was. Being with furs was the first place I ever felt free to be me.

So it is really quite amazing some of the things I hear come out of some of your mouths!

I have heard people use the term faggot and make fun of gays. I've heard people make fun of new furries... I've heard people make fun of nerds... make fun of bronies... And even be racist. People make fun of pretty much everything.

Today, someone on this subreddit called someone a faggot for wanting to find someone to role-play with, and simply asked to be pointed the right way.

Where the hell do you, as a furry, have the right to make fun of people?

Next time you furries judge someone, remeber that people make fun of and judge furries all the time. You, as a furry, are just as different and weird as you see all those people you make fun of. Furries are weird! I am one, and I can say, we are different! So you have no right to make fun of people you don't feel are normal because neither are you in that way.

If you can't help but to be a dick, keep your mouth shut! If someone asks a legitimate question, you can respond politely, point them in the right direction, or not say anything at all.

Outsiders always look down on the fandom because of misrepresentation of the fandom that they, themselves, have never even seen. I look down on the fandom for the way some of you ACTUALLY treat people. I have seen it.

submitted by BlueFoxalope
[link] [12 comments]

Heya everybody, just looking for some suggestions. I've got a giftcard for amazon that I'd like to use to pick up some new books for my kindle, but I'm not sure what to get. I don't read as much as I'd like to, really only limited to a few Stephen King books and almost all of the Redwall series. I'd like to read something of the more fuzzy variety, if anybody has any good recommendations?

submitted by JaxNeesen
[link] [1 comment]

Been playing around with the game for a while now with friends, wondering if any other furries play?

My name in game is 'Poor Life Choices' if you want to add me.

submitted by DarkheroX
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submitted by FizzyFoxy
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Super Valentines Edition! We talk about our usual bullshit, get some rather uncomfortable questions from Tumblr, and some guy is kind of a scumbag. Use our coupon code ‘knot’ at AdamEve.com for a great deal. Episode 243 - TFW No BF

submitted by Kansyr
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Ukrain Furry Gathering
http://www.flayrah.com/5551/furry-gathering-held-ukraine-despite-unrest

Snow Leopard
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/01/140125-snow-leopard-pakistan-animals-science-world-endangered-species/

Call-in guest:
Harley Upshaw

submitted by Necoya
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submitted by popgoeskia
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Me and my mate are looking for ears that are pretty realistic she is a husky and I a wolf. And help would be appreciated

submitted by WikedJ
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submitted by TwistedHound
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Kangaradar

submitted by Rozelroo
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submitted by hashigo
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submitted by Ice_tail
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