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A Sword Without a Hilt: A Song of Ice and Fire/D&D 3.5 Crossover

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nixter said:
Another quest in the Shadows of the Past universe would be really interesting, you created a very interesting world that should be explored. When it comes to quests, just keep practicing and improving after every quest. It took Sage of Eyes at least 2 quests to develop his AGG system and at least 2 more quests to refine it. Hope this link helps you develop your next quest.
Quest Mechanics Discussion / Orientation
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Thanks for that link.
 
Crake said:
I told another QM who I think appreciated my input and presence that I don't have the energy to be a serious poster in two quests. Granted, this person was investing so much energy in a quest that fundamentally didn't appeal to me outside of what setting he used.

They're a good writer too.

I still only have room for ASWaH though.
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Which quest was this?
 
Azel said:
I'm seriously getting the feeling I should go back to writing something...
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You seemed exited for the HP omakes...?

Which, btw, I didn't see coming :V
TalonofAnathrax said:
Nothing is truly better than Dreaming of Sunshine's recent arcs,
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Pff, Walk on the Moon is the supreme naruto fic. It's better than the original.
Azel said:
Also two more ideas, but those came up during talks with @TotallyNotEvil and @Tomcost respectively and I'm not poaching stuff that I suggested for their work.
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Sorry, but you are going to have to refresh my memory on that. At this point I don't recall specifically what you are referring to.
 
TotallyNotEvil said:
Pff, Walk on the Moon is the supreme naruto fic. It's better than the original.
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Dreaming of Sunshine is the original Naruto. I dunno who that Kishimoto guy thinks he is, but he's clearly just a fanfic writer who got his hands on the rights!

Seriously though, I hated canon Naruto (even the manga) and couldn't even properly get through the pre-shippuden arc, despite strong peer pressure to read it as it came out from every single male I knew under the age of 30 (and a few weird uncles).
I just read spoilers and nodded uncomfortably until the topic of conversation changed, or left
Meanwhile Dreaming of Sunshine was just fantastic.
I read other people's comments bitching about "filler arcs" or "canon plotlines" and I couldn't tell the difference. Both had character development, made sense (for a fighting anime), and interesting worldbuilding (this is DoS after all). It didn't have much shitty SI!angst, it didn't have endless internal monologues, and it did have strong themes and a great ensemble cast. And it just got better as time went on! All the loose threads started coming together, I got better at reading through the unreliable narrator, and even the author's prose improved! And it kept doing weird but fantastic stuff like "going to meditate for a chapter with weirdo monks" or "internal bureaucratic reorganizations" - and it stayed awesome, but in new ways every time!

Walk on the Moon is absolutely gripping. I really really really wish it would update, and it's what got me reading any other Naruto fics after I finished binging DoS and how slow the update rate really was (weeps).
However, it suffers from several terrible flaws that hold it back from truly being better than DoS:
  • It's early internal monologues. I understand that they are a crucial part of the slow psychological degradation that makes the fic so good and interesting, but they became a pain to read at the start. Especially seeing as every single update seems to have them! I wish that some of them had been conveyed differently, that's all.
  • It's "visual anime prose". That is, it loves to write out descriptions that may look cool in an anime but just sound completely stupid and pretentious in a written medium. Especially focusing on eyes (I know, it's a Naruto fic, but still!). If you want the MC to have a terrifying gaze, don't spend 5 paragraphs on it in every update. Write her interactions with other characters in a way that lets us understand it!
  • The fact that it still isn't finished. :'(
Still, overall I'd rate Walk on the Moon 9/10!
It has a great plot, fantastic themes, and neatly avoids almost every single issue that comes with having a powerful and socially important SI. It's great!

I confess. I get into fandoms with one or two fics recommended to my by IRL friends, then weep as they nver update and search fruitlessly for other of equivalent quality. Applied Cultural Anthropology got me into Harry Potter, and Todeswind's stuff got me into Dresden Files before I'd even read the books!

Of course, sometimes this pays off magnificently. My desperate search for good stuff made me stomach the terrible and cliched start to Vapors (Naruto has a twin and she's awesome! and there's a lot of mopey Kakashi PoV! and she makes out with the author's favorite female character!) and then got me to discover that it somehow has EVEN BETTER CHARACTERIZATION THAN WALK ON THE MOON!!! Every chapter with Tsunade or medic-Sasuke in it is just a joy, and that's not even touching the incredible awesomeness of the MC's PoV later on. Midgame-Aiko there is how you show character development (and PTSD) and that carefree weirdo attitude that everyone else wishes they could write without sounding like an edgelord. And she just reads as so incredibly human, too!
There was a whole sequence about buying furniture, and it was more fun to read than most climactic fight scenes in lesser fiction. And Aiko in Canon was like, 50% slice of life for a while there and it was just perfect! And then right as I thought the series could get no better, it did! With Isobu introduced as a constantly present character with perfect banter skills that somehow didn't take over the whole story but just gilded it, and also some perfectly handled politics!
And Aiko is beautifully petty too. It's great.

If you haven't read it, do so. It's a joy, especially the later parts and the latest sequel (Aiko in Canon).

Azel said:
Kobold city states, ruled by the little blighters, though nominally under the command of their dragon puppet-rulers.
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That line alone is a sufficient pitch for any new quest, no matter what weird system it's experimenting with and how terrible the protagonist is.
There is obviously infighting, right? Plotting? Kobold ridiculousness and deadly stakes?
 
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TalonofAnathrax said:
That line alone is a sufficient pitch for any new quest, no matter what weird system it's experimenting with and how terrible the protagonist is.
There is obviously infighting, right? Plotting? Kobold ridiculousness and deadly stakes?
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It would be a mix of Game of Thrones, DnD and zany Skaven antics. Should I ever do this, I might even go all out and veer a bit towards Discworld style lampshades everywhere. I did slip into that a bit during the Anya omakes already, due to them involving so many clishees that I couldn't control the urge to poke holes into them.
 
Azel said:
It would be a mix of Game of Thrones, DnD and zany Skaven antics. Should I ever do this, I might even go all out and veer a bit towards Discworld style lampshades everywhere. I did slip into that a bit during the Anya omakes already, due to them involving so many clishees that I couldn't control the urge to poke holes into them.
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FUND IT.
 
Azel said:
It would be a mix of Game of Thrones, DnD and zany Skaven antics. Should I ever do this, I might even go all out and veer a bit towards Discworld style lampshades everywhere. I did slip into that a bit during the Anya omakes already, due to them involving so many clishees that I couldn't control the urge to poke holes into them.
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Crake said:
FUND IT.
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Hmm. I'm throwing money at the screen but nothing is happening?:confused:
 
Hello guys! Back from the shivering ice, and I've got a hell of a lot to--

Wait... my multiquotes?! Where are my multiquotes! WHERE ARE MY DRAGONS MULTIQUOTES!!!

Only the last ones actually made it... why?!


Deliste said:
Pokemon ultra-realism?
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I've fantasized a lot about a realistic, gritty pokemon setting. A sort of Pokemon themed GTA where you can do what you want (theoretically at least, getting away with it is another thing). A world where pokemon battles are depicted as the real bloody gladatorial combat it is, where Team Rocket is a genuine mafia organisation with prostitution rackets, turf, guns, the works, instead of only just trafficking pokemon. A world where religious fundamentalism exists, a world where geopolitics exist and Kanto's Central Government has battalions of Steelix's with armored cuppolas on their back, mounting anti tank cannons. Both war pokemons and their crews resting wearily in their military barracks, still on R&R after the disastrous 'policing action' in central Jotto against the Hoehn Revolutionary Guard's backed freedom fighters/terrorists. A world where corruption and idealism intermix, and where a lone, young MC with a level 5 charizard is chump meat for any number of horrors both of the human and pokemon/mystic variety... a world where the potential growth in power and character for such a small fry would be monumental. I'd pay for a well written Quest tackling a setting like that, going from a downtrodden disillusioned no-one living in the de industrialized rural nowhere to a master trainer (Read: sentent WMD) with a squad of level 80 pokemon who world powers court and appease.

Azel said:
*cough*

Guilty as charged.

The mechanics have become a real drain to manage and that pretty much killed my motivation.

That's a pretty random idea to bring up.
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Snowfire said:
You were just heading into a mass combat section, weren't you?

Been there, came out the other side via ritual murder of mechanical bloat - I wrote most of ten thousand words of mechanics for only three times that in narrative. No, seriously. If you think it's fixable - it usually is - shoot me a PM and I'd be happy to try and help. We need more good, well cared for, Original quests.
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I'd love to write a Quest, but the mechanics side is a serious downer for me. In my heart of hearts I'd be like 'Okay guys, lets drop the bullshit. I don't give a flying fuck about numbers, lets just tell an awesome story together!' which does not exactly make for good questing.

Azel said:
Well, I did learn quite a bit from the issues of both my quests. ToH never had the quicksandbox issue that SotP ran into, since I kept "the pressure up" so to speak.

Likewise, the mechanical issues of ToH are mostly inherited from it's predecessor, though they came out much more starkly due to seeing more use. That too is something I would fix for my next quest.

Ultimately, running a quest is rather different from a tabletop P&P and I ran into wuite a few preventable issues by not yet having a good feel for the medium. Especially since the ASWAH ecosystem is quite different from other quests, skewing my perspective.
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I've often spoke about this but ASWAH is a pretty unique case. The length -both in words and in time- have built a sort of proto-tribe where everyone kind of knows each other, guaranteeing problem solving and a cooperative approach to the quest. Those new to it are already primed to merge with the consensus after the million words of discussion, memes, and story. And their trickle is slow enough that the system is not overwhelmed, as by the time fresh blood arrives, older arrivals are already integrated into the 'nation'. A far cry from the mad splurge of contradicting, numerous, and often times plain irrational plans that flood other, lesser lived quests, each a piece of the white noise that drowns discussion and hardens postures.



Crake said:
The way things work here stems mostly from having more ideas than the QM at times about what to do, and a pre-existing setting to attach new components to readily.
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ASOIAF is a pretty good chassis to add stuff and to improvise. I've often wondered how much fun a Purple Days quest would be, but then realized that would be practically rewriting PD under a co op veil. Other time looping characters (along with different setting metaphisics) would be doable, like Viserys actually, but it would still tread known ground too much. The problem about making a Quest in a known setting is that you have to be a friggin expert on it, and that's not as easy as it sounds.
 
Vote closed.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Sep 27, 2018 at 10:22 AM, finished with 125 posts and 19 votes.
  • [X] Plan "Join me."
    -[X] "I did not mean to draw lines, for these matters are indeed far more interwoven then many realize. However..." Leave a small pause and smile at her. "The order in which you answered my questions belays just as much as the order in which I asked them." // Allowing a small glimpse at our motivations to build more familiarity. Also states to her that we value pure power more then an office. Kings can be toppled. But who is going to challenge those who stand among the gods as equals?
    -[X] "Myr would prosper under your rule, of that I have no doubt, though there is one matter that is a bit more thorny. The guild wields both coin and magic to a degree that none can match within the city and it has no sole master who could seize the throne without risking a civil war. It might not happen immediately and surely, the other leaders of the guild would proclaim their full support for your ambitions. For now. Though give them time to plot, their ruler too burdened by the demands of lordship to keep close eyes on their doings in the guild..." // We are offering her the post as Archon here. Then we go straight to the core of the matter, namely that the guild has gotten too powerful and is a risk for whoever holds that post.
    -[X] "Do not get me wrong, I do not wish to imply that the guild must be broken or dismantled. I merely see that it will need oversight, lest it's might becomes a source of instability, and I know all too well that the guild would have little love for the idea of surrendering their oversight over matters arcane to another institution. Though there are also many benefits it could gain, were it to return it's full attention on matters of trade and artifice." // After priming her to consider the guild a potential liability to her continued rule, something she considers important as per stating she wishes for her descendants to sit on a throne too, we blunt the implication from "removal" to "oversight". After painting them as potential traitors, this is a very mild measure.
    -[X] "For one, the exchange of knowledge would go both ways and I can assure you that I have amassed enough lore that the guild will hardly feel robbed after seeing what the mages they employ can learn at the Scholarium. It will also be uniquely situated to take advantage of quite a bit of it. My coffers are full and as the rumors might imply, I have a tendency to spend rather large sums on some of my projects. Something I could do freely if I knew the guild to not hold ambitions beyond coin. The other matter is that I have struck an alliance just a few days ago that would make it considerably easier to acquire materials, both arcane and mundane, and for rather low prices at that." Explain the Concord of the Spheres here. // Here is the carrot for the guild she can wave. They submit to the Scholarium and give up direct control over their mages, but in return, they can get more skilled people to hire, get considered for government contracts and get access to planar markets. On the flip-side, this is a threat and a pretty big one. We are allied with people vastly more powerful then them and by stating what we are after, they also know how things will go in case we can't reach a amicable agreement.
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bigbow said:
Hello guys! Back from the shivering ice, and I've got a hell of a lot to--

Wait... my multiquotes?! Where are my multiquotes! WHERE ARE MY DRAGONS MULTIQUOTES!!!

Only the last ones actually made it... why?!




I've fantasized a lot about a realistic, gritty pokemon setting. A sort of Pokemon themed GTA where you can do what you want (theoretically at least, getting away with it is another thing). A world where pokemon battles are depicted as the real bloody gladatorial combat it is, where Team Rocket is a genuine mafia organisation with prostitution rackets, turf, guns, the works, instead of only just trafficking pokemon. A world where religious fundamentalism exists, a world where geopolitics exist and Kanto's Central Government has battalions of Steelix's with armored cuppolas on their back, mounting anti tank cannons. Both war pokemons and their crews resting wearily in their military barracks, still on R&R after the disastrous 'policing action' in central Jotto against the Hoehn Revolutionary Guard's backed freedom fighters/terrorists. A world where corruption and idealism intermix, and where a lone, young MC with a level 5 charizard is chump meat for any number of horrors both of the human and pokemon/mystic variety... a world where the potential growth in power and character for such a small fry would be monumental. I'd pay for a well written Quest tackling a setting like that, going from a downtrodden disillusioned no-one living in the de industrialized rural nowhere to a master trainer (Read: sentent WMD) with a squad of level 80 pokemon who world powers court and appease.





I'd love to write a Quest, but the mechanics side is a serious downer for me. In my heart of hearts I'd be like 'Okay guys, lets drop the bullshit. I don't give a flying fuck about numbers, lets just tell an awesome story together!' which does not exactly make for good questing.



I've often spoke about this but ASWAH is a pretty unique case. The length -both in words and in time- have built a sort of proto-tribe where everyone kind of knows each other, guaranteeing problem solving and a cooperative approach to the quest. Those new to it are already primed to merge with the consensus after the million words of discussion, memes, and story. And their trickle is slow enough that the system is not overwhelmed, as by the time fresh blood arrives, older arrivals are already integrated into the 'nation'. A far cry from the mad splurge of contradicting, numerous, and often times plain irrational plans that flood other, lesser lived quests, each a piece of the white noise that drowns discussion and hardens postures.





ASOIAF is a pretty good chassis to add stuff and to improvise. I've often wondered how much fun a Purple Days quest would be, but then realized that would be practically rewriting PD under a co op veil. Other time looping characters (along with different setting metaphisics) would be doable, like Viserys actually, but it would still tread known ground too much. The problem about making a Quest in a known setting is that you have to be a friggin expert on it, and that's not as easy as it sounds.
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I had been kicking the idea around of making a tribute to Purple Days but with an even worse starting position, Viserys instead of Joffrey, which would even allow me to keep with my titling theme that I use for all my real standalone fanfiction that aren't omakes.
 
Alright, so now I have 5 ideas for original quests and 2 that I could continue or reboot.

:confused:

Indecision paralysis, here I come!
 
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