Puella Magi Imperatrix Mundi, or: Wherein Half Of Japan Tries To Kill You
Idea!
Disconnect their bodies. Hook them up to a plushy. Hold body hostage.
- Location
- Here
Maybe we should be calling for backup here. Now that I've reviewed what these things are up to, they seem to be a clear and present danger to civilians, somewhat more so than witches in the aggregate, because we've got some unknown number of magical-emotion-beasties, who cause significant dangerous disruptions on their own, and they've spent maybe as much as a day creating familiar-alikes that seem significantly more aggressive than usual Witch-familiars.
As for immediate needs, it's fairly likely that we'll need a meguca or two to safely handle Muhou and/or Kyoufu, and we only have two meguca on hand, and on top of that it's fairly urgent to find and stop the source of these things.
As a general policy as well, getting people used to the idea of calling for backup when things get hectic seems generally productive. I won't have time until later today to fill in details of this suggestion.
As for immediate needs, it's fairly likely that we'll need a meguca or two to safely handle Muhou and/or Kyoufu, and we only have two meguca on hand, and on top of that it's fairly urgent to find and stop the source of these things.
As a general policy as well, getting people used to the idea of calling for backup when things get hectic seems generally productive. I won't have time until later today to fill in details of this suggestion.
Could you put the winner vote when you write a new post that would make it really easier for those like me that are using reader mode to catch up .
Echo
Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before
- Location
- "echolocation" dur hur hur
Yui: *waves hand in front of Naoko's face* Helloooo? Anyone home?
Naoko: *blinks once, twice, then nods slowly*
Yui: Uh, great. So! How do you feel?
Naoko: *tilts head, blinks, shrugs*
Yui: ...yeah, this didn't work out the way I hoped.
Maiko: I don't know about that.
Yui: Huh?
Maiko: I mean, strictly speaking, this is an improvement...
Like, copy the winning vote and put it in a spoiler at the start of the following update? I've seen quests that do that and I considered it, but it always felt kinda disruptive to me as a reader. For a more crunchy-mechanics-oriented quest it might be necessary to provide context, less so in an almost entirely narrative-driven quest like this one.
Ideally, if you stripped out the voting-option blocks and combined all the posts into one document PMIM should still read as a coherent and self-consistent narrative. That's my goal, at least.
Anybody else have any thoughts on the matter?
- Location
- United States
Well you could make a separate post for the winning vote right before the story post.
Olivebirdy
mook.
I read quests as quests, so I like to know what the voters intended when things start to backfire. It's not always clear what people voted for after the QM writes their updates. A spoiler is very easily ignored if the reader doesn't care about the meta.
My preferred format for all quests is for votes in the beginning, along with bought upgrades, then at the end an updated character sheet and finally an author's note. All neatly spoilered.
The reason for the character sheets is because if there's only one, continually updated, later readers will be either spoiled or left without context.
My preferred format for all quests is for votes in the beginning, along with bought upgrades, then at the end an updated character sheet and finally an author's note. All neatly spoilered.
The reason for the character sheets is because if there's only one, continually updated, later readers will be either spoiled or left without context.
When I catch up on quests, not knowing which vote won is annoying. When using reader mode, it doesn't detract from the immersion because when you see the spoilered voting results, you have just scrolled past the unspoilered voting options. When not catching up, it doesn't detract from the immersion for me, because the spoiler box is right at the top and I haven't started reading and getting immersed yet.
In short: Oh god yes please
That said, it isn't that bad with quests like this one (but absolutely horrible for quests with more choices, especially CK2 stuff)
You could make a post before the chapter with the results, but that would be annoying for people using reader mode.
Echo
Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before
- Location
- "echolocation" dur hur hur
Nah, that'd be even more awkward--either scrolling up when reading by threadmarks, or not appearing at all in reader mode.
When I catch up on quests, not knowing which vote won is annoying. When using reader mode, it doesn't detract from the immersion because when you see the spoilered voting results, you have just scrolled past the unspoilered voting options. When not catching up, it doesn't detract from the immersion for me, because the spoiler box is right at the top and I haven't started reading and getting immersed yet.
In short: Oh god yes please
Hunh, okay. I suppose I can start doing that, then? Unless there's another contingent that absolutely hates the idea or something.
Yeeeeaaaah, that reminds me that I should probably start tracking stuff like Grief Seed reserves, ally Soul Gem corruption levels, and stuff like that. Or rather, I should actually update the tracking information I already have. Want me to start posting some of that at the end of updates as well? And if so, any thoughts on what info and how it should be organized?
- Location
- Earth, Milky Way
I have a strong preference for putting the vote in a spoiler. It's annoying not having it, I feel lost without it. I think part of it is that I want to know what the playerbase decided in a straightforward manner, not just having to infer it and go to the previous post to figure out what the vote options where.
- Location
- United States
I can see where you're coming from, but as someone who's trying to reread the quest right now, I gotta agree with the man. Trying to go back to where you listed the vote can be pretty irritating, and one does like to know what exactly was voted on. The idea of it being a 'consistent narrative' is also somewhat broken up by the fact that each section ends with a bunch of vote options, rather defeating the point.
If you do want to keep the results out of the chaoter, you can just repost the poll right before you post the update - that way, it's not mucking up the story, but easily accessible for the curious.
Guile
Having a really great time right now
S'fine either way.
If you left the vote at the top of the post, then some people would be annoyed when Yui prunes it into shape with her sociability and ability to read cues and stuff.
Echo
Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before
- Location
- "echolocation" dur hur hur
Yeah, the overall preference seems pretty clear at this point. Whoops? Kinda wish someone had brought it up sooner, because--ironically--I often paste the winning vote into a blank text document when I start writing so I can refer back to it more easily and then delete lines as I write the relevant bits.
Was rereading and I noticed something kinda weird.
She calls the unfamiliar her friend, and then two seconds later says there's no such thing as friendship for the forsaken. Either she's contradicting herself, or she's saying that Yui's the forsaken one.
Olivebirdy
mook.
When it becomes important, relevant, yes. So far you've been quite good at telling us in text how much Corruption Yui has and more or less her Grief Seed situation, but as her coterie grows, tracking who has what and who's doing what becomes more important.
DarkLight140
Credit to Team
- Location
- Lost in my thoughts
I kind of don't want that. While it would be useful in a mechanical way to have constantly-updated summaries of Yui's knowledge and available assets, it also undermines the narrative nature of the quest. The constant presence of an "inventory" or "status sheet" is inherently something which pushes players toward a gamist mental frame of reference instead of encouraging us to treat things as a controlled story. That's troublesome enough already.
Unless it's narratively relevant, we don't and shouldn't care about whether we have eight grief seeds or ten, or whether a given girl is at 10% or 30% grief. "Your grief seed stockpiles are running low, hunting is below replacement" or "one of your friends is letting her gem stay at high corruption for extended periods instead of cleansing" are things we do need to care about, but those are best presented, approached, and handled in a narrative fashion instead of by tracking sheets.
The problem of having so many people and fiddly details that it becomes difficult for the players to keep track of narratively exists, but at that point it's a narrative problem with a narrative solution- Yui is also likely to be having difficulty keeping track of things and should be coming up with blanket high-level solutions to widespread problems, delegating more, and otherwise doing the things that people actually do when they're hitting management issues.
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Echo
Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before
- Location
- "echolocation" dur hur hur
...uh. Yeah, that one's on me. I was doing some last-minute tweaking of Kyoufu's dialogue and didn't catch the apparent contradiction.
What she's trying to say/should have said/whatever for the first part is describing the unfamiliar as a "friend" in the sense of "attributing personhood and agency to a loyal pet", while the second should be more "it is inherently impossible for an independent being to desire friendship with me".
I mean, there's still a bit of a contradiction in there, but that's part of why Yui thinks Kyoufu seems less "lucid" than Muhou.
Fair enough.
I mean, I still need to do a better job tracking stuff for my own sake, but at least for now I'll leave it at that.
- Location
- Here
I propose a simpleminded modification of Plan: Hold my Sanity. I really think we ought to get some more meguca involved in the situation sooner rather than later so we have more options later. In meta-commentary I wish this vote, which I find otherwise satisfactory, were less wordy so as to be easier to parse. Solitary change is in green.
[X] Plan: Hold my Sanity (rev b)
-[X] You're not really sure if the other magical girls have really seen you angry before. They've seen you pout adorably, of course. They've seen you frustrated, annoyed, even desperate when fighting Naoko, and you got by on bravado and borrowed authority when you first met Yumi and Koharu. Now though, now you're pissed.
--[X] Part of it is the aura of course. Part of it is an intentional decision to get on the same wavelength, to 'speak their language', in a sense. But really, there's a lot to get angry about. These things stealing emotions from people, or forcing them on others. The way Muhou just savagely beat a defenseless Kyoufu as she tried to crawl away. The magical girl casting off these emotions, causing problems. Other magical girls fighting, witches, hiding things from friends, just EVERYTHING.
---[X] Okay, deep breath. Focus. You can't do anything about 'everything' right now, but you can fix what's right in front of you. To do that, you need to find the magical girl who created these... Living issues. To do that, you're going to interrogate Muhou.
-[X] First, explain all this to Maiko. Quickly. Ask her to hang back, stay lucid. Be your anchor. Bruised knuckles might be part of the plan, but she's gonna make sure you don't go to far. If Maiko says stop, you stop.
--[X] Ask Maiko to find a couple of available allies and call them in to help contain the situation. Leave the specifics to her judgement, since yours is about to be impaired.
--[X] Finally, time to act. You're sure Muhou can feel your anger somehow, but you want to make it easy on her. Your eyes, your voice, your body language. You'll talk, anger to anger, and you'll get your answers one way or another.
-[X] Questions revolve around three subjects.
--[X] Their creator. The magical girl that cut them off and sent them away. Why? When? How? Who? Most importantly, for you to get to the bottom of this, where? (Or maybe who is more important, but you just want to act right now... Focus. Stay on plan.)
--[X] Muhou. Why is she beating down Kyoufu, what does she want, what will it take for her to stop? The violence right now, but also the general process of stripping emotions from people and creating those unfamiliars.
--[X] Kyoufu. Actually, you don't really have any questions about her. You'll ask her yourself, later. On that note, you're taking her. That wasn't a question either.
-[X] Later with Kyoufu, you'll try to talk to her again based on the results of your talk with Muhou. If it worked, you'll try to direct your fear and speak face to face in a language she understands. If it was rough, didn't work or perhaps just drained you entirely, then you'll take her someplace safe and leave a note. Or something like that, you'll deal with it later.
[X] Plan: Hold my Sanity (rev b)
-[X] You're not really sure if the other magical girls have really seen you angry before. They've seen you pout adorably, of course. They've seen you frustrated, annoyed, even desperate when fighting Naoko, and you got by on bravado and borrowed authority when you first met Yumi and Koharu. Now though, now you're pissed.
--[X] Part of it is the aura of course. Part of it is an intentional decision to get on the same wavelength, to 'speak their language', in a sense. But really, there's a lot to get angry about. These things stealing emotions from people, or forcing them on others. The way Muhou just savagely beat a defenseless Kyoufu as she tried to crawl away. The magical girl casting off these emotions, causing problems. Other magical girls fighting, witches, hiding things from friends, just EVERYTHING.
---[X] Okay, deep breath. Focus. You can't do anything about 'everything' right now, but you can fix what's right in front of you. To do that, you need to find the magical girl who created these... Living issues. To do that, you're going to interrogate Muhou.
-[X] First, explain all this to Maiko. Quickly. Ask her to hang back, stay lucid. Be your anchor. Bruised knuckles might be part of the plan, but she's gonna make sure you don't go to far. If Maiko says stop, you stop.
--[X] Ask Maiko to find a couple of available allies and call them in to help contain the situation. Leave the specifics to her judgement, since yours is about to be impaired.
--[X] Finally, time to act. You're sure Muhou can feel your anger somehow, but you want to make it easy on her. Your eyes, your voice, your body language. You'll talk, anger to anger, and you'll get your answers one way or another.
-[X] Questions revolve around three subjects.
--[X] Their creator. The magical girl that cut them off and sent them away. Why? When? How? Who? Most importantly, for you to get to the bottom of this, where? (Or maybe who is more important, but you just want to act right now... Focus. Stay on plan.)
--[X] Muhou. Why is she beating down Kyoufu, what does she want, what will it take for her to stop? The violence right now, but also the general process of stripping emotions from people and creating those unfamiliars.
--[X] Kyoufu. Actually, you don't really have any questions about her. You'll ask her yourself, later. On that note, you're taking her. That wasn't a question either.
-[X] Later with Kyoufu, you'll try to talk to her again based on the results of your talk with Muhou. If it worked, you'll try to direct your fear and speak face to face in a language she understands. If it was rough, didn't work or perhaps just drained you entirely, then you'll take her someplace safe and leave a note. Or something like that, you'll deal with it later.
redzonejoe
Vaguely Pastafarian
- Location
- Canada
So unlike several of you, I actually didn't go back and reread anything to refresh my memory for this update. That said...
What I do remember is having a meeting, and deliberately assigning tasks to people. Yumi, you don't get to watch TV, you're now going out with Minami IN A PLATONIC CONTEXT to speak to some new girls. Maiko you're with me to deal with this new problem, etc.
I think if anybody was easily available, we'd have called on them then; we very specifically disrupted Yumi's relaxation time after all. It's like calling somebody in on their day off for overtime.
So I'm hesitant to call for yet more reinforcements right now when we don't even have a vague idea on how to deal with the situation. Minami and Yumi are both viable once their job is done. Minami is currently on overwatch. But again, what would we actually ask them to do?
Echo
Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before
- Location
- "echolocation" dur hur hur
Minami and Yumi are pretty well committed to what they're doing--you could pull them back in an emergency, but doing so would potentially make a bad impression on the noobgucas they're making contact with. Furthermore, you currently have Maiko actively involved, which is an issue with anyone that doesn't know about her involvement (e.g., Rio's group). It's also late enough that Koharu probably can't go running off to help.
I think your options are basically Himari (and possibly Haruka), or trying to convince Sayuki and/or Shinobu to come help. If you leave it up to Maiko, she'll probably fall back to known quantities and contact her old teammate, leaving it up to them whether Haruka comes with or not.
- Location
- Here
@redzonejoe So, to preface, don't mistake my level of commitment to any of this. My situational awareness right now is low, and I'm not yet particularly confident in anything.
I think all of those task assignments are correct, but I don't think we're close to a high level of utilization of most of our allies. For example, Rio's group is fairly likely to not be engaged in anything that they'd badly mind dropping for an hour or two to help us contain these emotion-clone things. Tomo may well be available. Whatshername and her girlfriend.
The purpose I have in mind is that if this encounter ends up with us having to babysit one or more emotion-clones to prevent immediate harm to civilians, that prevents us from searching for the creator.
It's a bit unusual, but I put these emotion-clone things as somewhat more urgent than "we found a Witch" but likely to require more meguca-power to deal with. Even if we could safely drop one or more of them safely, someone would still have to cart the body around. That at least would be doable, but there's also a victim already.
Edit: Getting Shinobu's help would be great, actually. It's not even hunting a witch, she clearly gets to be a good guy, and her powers are great for this exact situation where we need nonlethal options for containment. Maybe Shinobu specifically would be good to ask for?
I think all of those task assignments are correct, but I don't think we're close to a high level of utilization of most of our allies. For example, Rio's group is fairly likely to not be engaged in anything that they'd badly mind dropping for an hour or two to help us contain these emotion-clone things. Tomo may well be available. Whatshername and her girlfriend.
The purpose I have in mind is that if this encounter ends up with us having to babysit one or more emotion-clones to prevent immediate harm to civilians, that prevents us from searching for the creator.
It's a bit unusual, but I put these emotion-clone things as somewhat more urgent than "we found a Witch" but likely to require more meguca-power to deal with. Even if we could safely drop one or more of them safely, someone would still have to cart the body around. That at least would be doable, but there's also a victim already.
Edit: Getting Shinobu's help would be great, actually. It's not even hunting a witch, she clearly gets to be a good guy, and her powers are great for this exact situation where we need nonlethal options for containment. Maybe Shinobu specifically would be good to ask for?
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Would be quite interesting if the new girl can use this ability against magical girls, imagine removing one of Yui's emotion or she remove despair from a magical girl, would it reduce the grief corruption in her soul gem if she's close to witching.
Volunteers needed unless new girl already tested the effect on herself.
[X] Redzonejoe
Echo
Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before
- Location
- "echolocation" dur hur hur
Ohyeah I knew I was forgetting somebody. In my defense, this quest totally has too many characters. I blame the QM.
In any case, Maiko would still be more likely to contact Himari if you leave it up to her.
Keep in mind that while I've confirmed Shinobu's wish magic OOC, in-character all Yui has is knowledge that it's something unpleasant and communication-related and a current guess about the details that's pretty close to correct. If you want to pull Shinobu in specifically to use her compulsion magic, you'd need to be pretty aggressive about getting a confirmation from Shinobu and then convince her that this is a situation where she can and should use her magic for good purposes. Which it arguably is, but Shinobu may need some convincing.
- Location
- Can't read map
[X] Plan: Hold My Sanity
Yui: Umm... Am I just imagining connection between humans, magical girls, witches and thiose new things? Or I just need to clear my head from emotion auras?
Well there's that mobile phone game with trick characters pull there.Maiko's gonna be real disappointed if this happens and nobody gets a Persona out of the deal.
Yui: Umm... Am I just imagining connection between humans, magical girls, witches and thiose new things? Or I just need to clear my head from emotion auras?
- Location
- Here
So, coming back to this quest after the hiatus, I had no idea who Muhou might be, so when an elementary-schooler-looking girl started beating up Kyoufu my first guess was untransformed Tomo. It was fairly eye-popping, until I understood what was going on.