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Man and Mountain: A Xianxia/Cultivation Quest

Would you like to see the rolls?

  • Yes, I want to see rolls and any other mechanic information

    Votes: 38 97.4%

  • No, rolls break immersion for me, keep it strictly background.

    Votes: 1 2.6%
  • Total voters
    39
  • Poll closed .
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Vanguard_D said:
I think I see what type of character you are going for and that is a hard pass for me. Really never liked that type of character in any media I have seen em.
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It's more...

Like, seriously, have you read any of these stories?

The default approach is "Everyone is a horrible idiot, because everyone learns early on to replace critical thinking with more cultivation". Doubly so, we're playing a female protagonist in this genre, which means that we're also having to deal with the problem inherent in "You are inherently second stringer to male characters".

It'd be more unreasonable for our character to be a polite and refined person in light of those two Inherent Problems, doubly so if our ambition is ultimately to scream "CAPITALISM HO!" and achieve heaven through economic supremacy and careful doses of ultraviolence.

Being naive doesn't really fit, and Impatience is...

Impatience is potentially a death sentence in this kind of setting.

Really, all of the flaws are really awful, I just like the idea of our character having the face of an angel but the behaviour of a little goblin to be funny.
 
[X]Plan True Phoenix
-[X]Used a bucket of Icewater.
-[X]Study for the Imperial Exams
-[X]Practice Etiquette and Court Politics.
-[X]Elegant
-[X]Quick to anger
-[X]Become an Immortal!
-[X]Be free
 
[X]Plan True Phoenix
-[X]Used a bucket of Icewater.
-[X]Study for the Imperial Exams
-[X]Practice Etiquette and Court Politics.
-[X]Elegant
-[X]Quick to anger
-[X]Become an Immortal!
-[X]Be free

i want to lean more into the pheonix heritage and our beauty traits. it makes sense to me that they would train their showcase pet to behave well enough to actually be shown off in court. elegance helps fit with our beauty trait. quick to anger i think is appropriate for a captive but proud phoenix and can lead to some interesting plot twists if we blow up in the wrong spot, also goes with our arson. we dont do it intentionally but its a result of our temper tantrums.

and obviously become an immortal and be free because we dont want to stay a slave. we a proud phoenix damnit.
 
I'd say that "Actually leaning into that is a good way to lose most of the player base". Because that's the kind of thing that's incredibly difficult to portray in text and also not really something a lot of people care about. So when you try and crowbar that into being a core element of the character, you're going to risk running into problems.

There are very few authors who I would trust a 'Maximum Elegance' build to be done justice by, and most of them have hundreds of thousands of words behind them.

Just because you can do something doesn't mean it's a good idea
 
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well i wasnt here for the most important bit of making our character. i didnt want the beauty trait but if we are going to go so far as to be a "transcendent beauty" then i want to use that to our advantage and not just as a background detail. several points were spent on it after all. so its not "crowbared" into being a core element of the character. its been one since the first vote.
 
DangerKitty said:
well i wasnt here for the most important bit of making our character. i didnt want the beauty trait but if we are going to go so far as to be a "transcendent beauty" then i want to use that to our advantage and not just as a background detail. several points were spent on it after all. so its not "crowbared" into being a core element of the character. its been one since the first vote.
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I wasn't here either, the impression I got was that "People trying to stack as many advantages as they can without actually paying attention to them or the consequences of it"

Just because an undesirable decision was made early on though doesn't mean we're obligated to lean into it.
 
Alectai said:
I wasn't here either, the impression I got was that "People trying to stack as many advantages as they can without actually paying attention to them or the consequences of it"

Just because an undesirable decision was made early on though doesn't mean we're obligated to lean into it.
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i agree but i also don't think its a good use of resources to abandon that trait entirely. taking the etiquette and grace options don't have to be character defining, it can just mean that we know how to use our beauty to get what we want. being able to coax some guards or important individuals can get us a lot of leeway with our status and help us maybe run away or negotiate better terms in deals in the future. so no, i dont want to lean super heavy into it but i do want to invest just enough to see actual benefit from our beauty trait.
 
DangerKitty said:
i agree but i also don't think its a good use of resources to abandon that trait entirely. taking the etiquette and grace options don't have to be character defining, it can just mean that we know how to use our beauty to get what we want. being able to coax some guards or important individuals can get us a lot of leeway with our status and help us maybe run away or negotiate better terms in deals in the future. so no, i dont want to lean super heavy into it but i do want to invest just enough to see actual benefit from our beauty trait.
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I could argue that "True Phoenix" completely dumpstats our much greater capacity to learn and indulge in the arts of violence in favor of leaning hard into elegance though.

Like, the fact exists that the advantages taken gives a massive social benefit in and of itself with the caveat of "It'll include Problems as well", that doesn't mean it's being wasted and that we're 'Obligated' to lean into a single element of a large set of advantages our PC started with.

The character sheet is a hot mess because character generation is going fast and the player base is small, that doesn't mean we're forever locked into leaning into one fraction of the initial winning vote or we're 'Wasting our time'

I mean, hell, look at what's happening here, I present an option and provide possible rationale as to how it all fits together, and I've not gotten a single vote supporting it. The current winner is basically identical except that it wants us to want to be an Immortal from the start and wants to go with a different flaw. True Phoenix is just a bunch of traits stacked up in a row, and your only defense for it is that "It exploits a single special trait we started with" and a name that sounds authoritative.

I mean, hell, the spread I took, the point of it was "A bunch of picks that make narrative sense" combined with "I picked a flaw that I think is amusing, playing with the juxtaposition of having the face of an angel but the manners of a thug" Sheer bleeding edge optimization at the cost of characterization is boring as heck.
 
Alectai said:
I could argue that "True Phoenix" completely dumpstats our much greater capacity to learn and indulge in the arts of violence in favor of leaning hard into elegance though.

Like, the fact exists that the advantages taken gives a massive social benefit in and of itself with the caveat of "It'll include Problems as well", that doesn't mean it's being wasted and that we're 'Obligated' to lean into a single element of a large set of advantages our PC started with.

The character sheet is a hot mess because character generation is going fast and the player base is small, that doesn't mean we're forever locked into leaning into one fraction of the initial winning vote or we're 'Wasting our time'

I mean, hell, look at what's happening here, I present an option and provide possible rationale as to how it all fits together, and I've not gotten a single vote supporting it. The current winner is basically identical except that it wants us to want to be an Immortal from the start and wants to go with a different flaw. True Phoenix is just a bunch of traits stacked up in a row, and your only defense for it is that "It exploits a single special trait we started with" and a name that sounds authoritative.

I mean, hell, the spread I took, the point of it was "A bunch of picks that make narrative sense" combined with "I picked a flaw that I think is amusing, playing with the juxtaposition of having the face of an angel but the manners of a thug" Sheer bleeding edge optimization at the cost of characterization is boring as heck.
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well i personally kinda want a hot head mc myself so i want the quick to anger flaw even if it is a little cliche for the fire bird stereotype. every xianxia i've read always has a coolheaded mc. shounen always has hotheaded mc's. i think if you changed urs to hothead it'd be alot more attractive imo. i've never seen a protag who is hot headed but smart. They know what they should do but sometimes their temper gets the better of them and they ruin their own plans. thats usually like a villain or rival trait or something.
 
Alectai said:
I mean, hell, the spread I took, the point of it was "A bunch of picks that make narrative sense" combined with "I picked a flaw that I think is amusing, playing with the juxtaposition of having the face of an angel but the manners of a thug" Sheer bleeding edge optimization at the cost of characterization is boring as heck.
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While it seems like it would be funny at first, that juxtaposition loses it's charm quickly imo. Mostly because when it comes up, the reactions don't seem like it would be varied. It comes off as an occasional gag, but I guess if its a frequent issue it would come down to execution on Ninjastar's part.
 
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[X] Plan: Big Brain Cultivator-chan V2
-[X] Used a bucket of Icewater.
-[X] Study for the Imperial Exams
-[X] Go to the market
-[X] Intelligent
-[X] Quick to anger
-[X] Be free
-[X] Become the wealthiest person in the world!

literally just changing the flaw because that dynamic of being intelligent but having poor self control would be cool and in my opinion, if not original then at least not overused as just being intelligent or having anger issues is. the just being crass reads more as a near non-flaw to me. only upitty noble types would care about that and even then not as much because they already look down on us due to our inhuman traits so it doesnt matter much anyways. i'd rather have an ACTUAL flaw that will matter and have interesting dynamics with intelligence.
 
[X] Goddess of War sans Wisdom
-[X]Used a bucket of Icewater.
-[X]Study for the Imperial Exams
-[X] Practice Etiquette and Court Politics.
-[X]Intelligent
-[X]Naive and innocent
-[X]Be free
-[X]Become the world greatest artist

Because being an ivory tower intellectual who picks up wisdom as the quest progresses, and/or avoid* doing so due to Heavenly Luck sounds like fun.

For the details steadfastness is useful for snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

The Imperial Exams are important for developing the Art of War, and Politics is just an extension** of war.

The smarts to actually write a book on the art of warfare, and starting out Naive seems like it would add to the character development down that line.

The freedom for the protagonist to write her book, and a desire to make it the best work on the Art of War there ever shall be.

Besides this permits future generation to gain insights through debating what the metaphor in various passages like the one on getting reinforcements when the opposition punches a hole in your line through taking a right on the nearest stree corner, tripping over the conveniently placed stone, and politely ask the heroes passing through to go defeat the evil that just go through aforementioned battle lines.! :V

Okay, but seriously the life goals, and flaws should make for an intresting story involving character development.

*While Heaven mutters about how some people never change.
**This is backwards I know.
 
Other plan
[X]Plan Phoenix in Cage
-[X]Played music.
-[X]Practice The 4 Classical arts of Zither, Chess, Painting and Caligraphy.
-[X]Practice Etiquette and Court Politics.
-[X]Elegant
-[X]Naive and innocent
-[X]Be free
-[X]Become the world greatest artist

A slave that was raised only like an exotic pet and that want to break the cage for her freedom
 
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just a quick poll. I will be rolling sometimes for certain things, that's why traits like heavenly luck exist. Would you like the rolls to be shown so you can see what's going on, or would you prefer that I don't show them? Since I know some people find rolls and such to be immersion-breaking and jarring.
 
Perhaps place them on spoilers so people can opt-in if they want to see the rolls? For my part, I do like seeing those.
 
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